[Last Emperor] Chapter 33 - Fatigued Limbs

Tao Zi broke through the thickets of the forest trees and bushes, finally making it back to the clearing where his cave rested. He saw the familiar boulder covering the entrance with no new scars of claw marks. The replacement stones on the ground, the extra large rocks that he would use as even bigger options for his cave once he needed them. 

Yet, behind all that was the promised safety that was his cave. He could already imagine Su Da attempting to cultivate while Tigers rolled in her lap. Trying to get her to play. All the while Heron would have been doing its best to mimic Tao Zi, training as he would have been on a normal day. 

He let out a deep sigh as instant relief flooded him. He felt the tension from his entire body seep away and disappear. His shoulders sagged, legs started to feel heavy, and arms were difficult to pick up as all the energy in his body faded away. 

The imminent crash was obvious. 

All he could do was make his way towards the boulder and push it just enough for him to enter sideways. Then push it back.

He could hear Su Da bolting off of her bed. Scrambling to get away and act like she was cultivating only to tumble face first into the ground. She continued her mad dash to get into a cultivation pose and acted as though she has been working hard to circulate her Qi the entire time he had been gone. 

She was unable to hide the bleary eyes he noticed as he turned around. The unblockable yawns that she tried to fight off. Or the saliva she needed to wipe off her face in an attempt to hide any traces of exhaustion and sleepiness. 

"Master?” Su Da said. Faking her surprise as though he startled her. “Welcome back…? Is everything all right? You look really tired. So much time must have passed! I didn't even notice how long it has been because I've been so busy cultivating the whole time."

Tao Zi smiled. He felt empty and didn’t have the energy to go back and forth with the wily little girl. “Yeah. Everything's fine. Though I did not end up catching anything in my hunt. The forest was pretty empty.”

“Really? But you're so strong and so fast.”

Tao Zi started to make a string of elaborate excuses all surrounding a single lie. Mostly that he was simply too strong and that his injuries make it hard to hide his powers to sneak up. When asked why she couldn’t feel it, he told her that she was simply too weak. All the monsters and beasts in the forest were stronger than her. Even the little birds. 

He continued to push his narrative stating that everything within the forest had chosen to escape as soon as he arrived on the scene. Nothing remained for him to face, nothing dared to stand before him lest it died without meaning. Even as weak as he was now he was still an ancient being of immeasurable power.

All the monsters knew that quite well.

“—you said you were cultivating—”

Su Da paled. She nodded in hopes he hadn’t caught her little white fib. He didn’t feel the need to out her just yet.

“—good. Continue where you left off. Seeing you so willing to sacrifice and focus on growing stronger makes me very proud of you.” He patted her head in an affectionate manner. Covering her guilty facial expression. “I'll be watching from here, so make sure you don't accidentally fall asleep.”

She nodded as though her life depended on it. Running to her spot and jumping to a cultivation pose. Eyebrows scrunched in effort. 

Tao Zi let out another, but quieter, sigh. He finally got a chance to sit down and let his legs rest on the bed. It was getting hard to hide the shaking of his limbs from fatigue and exhaustion. It was increasing the longer he was standing, coursing through his body and finally settling at the point of leaving him empty. All he could do at this moment was pull out the system notifications and read what you had been bothering him to check out.

System Analysis - 

Green Scaled Forest Dragon (Juvenile Adolescent)

Qi Cultivation Journeyman Stage 1

Body Tempering Journeyman Stage 1

Warning -

There are tiers to everything. You are an insect before the higher tiers and ranks. Tread carefully when dragons roam the skies above.

Tao Zi stared at the message with wide eyes. He couldn't believe something that powerful and that large could ever be in the Journeyman Stage 1. A juvenile at that, the massive thing was not even its full size yet? Was it basically a child? How could something that strong not even be fully developed? Was all his work for nothing? Would he always be an insect before a dragon?

Or maybe…

He took a moment to breathe to let his chaotic thoughts sink and settle themselves. He could not have himself spiraling like this. The forest was filled with too many dangers that needed him to be fully focused and alert to deal with or notice when silently trekking. There was the dragon, the HellHounds, the orcs, or even an army of chimps figuring out where he lived and charging him head on.

There's simply too many dangers for him to not be fully focused and attentive during his outings or whether he was inside his cave. He couldn’t allow the safety of the cave to make him drunk or complacent. Any moment something with an opposable thumb could walk up to the large boulder and kick it out the way, pining them inside. He needed to grow stronger and cultivate his flames further than the last time. 

Even if he was jumped by a dozen foes, his wide spread fire Qi attacks should be enough to keep him, Su Da, and the orange rascal, Tiger, safe enough.

But that didn't mean he could be delusional and arrogant. That dragon could've taken a dozen of him and walked out without as much as a scratch on its green shining scales. He could not allow himself to buy into the illusion of his unbeatable strength. He need to be careful—

A shudder overtook his entire body, originating from his core and spreading out the edges of his limbs. He could feel the shaking in his fingers and toes. Tao Zi did his best to hide it from Su Da, but it wasn’t enough. 

"Are you okay, Master?” Su Da asked him. 

Tao Zi ignored her. Rather he focused on what was going on within his core. Making it seem like he was meditating and selling the thought that he was cultivating actively at the moment. 

The first thing he noticed was the black dragon within his core rolling around agitated and seemingly preoccupied with soaking itself with the liquid flames of his core. It roared in a sound he could not understand. Was it angry? Or was it in some sort of pain? There was no way he could tell what was going on. 

All he knew was that something was wrong. Something had either hurt it was affecting the way his meditation technique worked. He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on but he would need to figure it out as soon as possible. He could not afford the potential of the entire cultivation being ruined or facing massive defects that would cut off his potential for life.

He needed to be able to cultivate to the higher realms if he wanted to have any hope of surviving this rift spacial pocket. He couldn't imagine killing a dragon without being a full major realm above maybe even well into the Foundation Establishment Realms. As wild as that thought was.

Tao Zi tilted his head as he noticed an odd peculiarity. He focused on the dragon and noticed a small point of light directly on the center of its chest. He pushed to get a closer look, letting his Qi senses take over and do their jobs for him. Staring directly at it and unable to look away—

Darkness erupted around him quicker than he could react. Unconscious within seconds. He was unable to fight the instant change that occurred to him even if he recognized it happening. Tao Zi couldn’t even formulate a thought when floating within the shadows of a dark void. Listless and without any purpose for what felt like a few seconds of time.