Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

Watershaping form. Bringing his arms together, he took control of the water, fused it into a column, and speared it at the Kappa.

The closer it got to the creature, the more it was able to gain mastery over the water. It anchored itself and swam through its own form, sliding low while twirling its arms.  The column of water split into thousands of droplets, which it launched at Ryu like pulses from the shocktrooper’s minigun.

Closer to him, the water obeyed his command, and he lifted both hands to transform the droplets into a sheet of water. Charging forward to maintain dominance, he thrust his hands at the Kappa.

It spread its arms outward and charged. Halfway between them, the water spread out into a curtain as both tried to impose their wills on it.

Evenly matched, they drew closer until they faced one another on either side of the vertical sheet of water. Ryu punched through it, striking the Kappa in the hand. It rained down like a waterfall, sloshing into the sand and kicking up mud.

Ryu launched a slicing arm, sweeping kick, and then wheel kick, which the Kappa redirected with a Brush Hands, Twirling Fountain, and Undertow. It riposted with an attempted Surging Wave takedown, coming up from a low stance.

Give ground to take ground. Ryu’s own advice to his students rung in his mind. He retreated out of the reach of his opponent, transitioning to the low stances of the Earth Path, to guide the Kappa’s forward momentum down. As it headed into the ground, Ryu connected to his Core, opening his meridians to let Fire blaze through his blood vessels. He unleashed an onslaught of Fire Path punches into the Kappa’s shell, each blow sizzling with heat.

The Kappa slammed face-first into the ground, cutting off its screams. Its walking stick stood just beyond its reach, and it scrambled on all fours toward it. With the benefit of his Earth-enhanced muscles, Ryu sprang and reached the weapon first.

As soon as his hands wrapped around it, the Laboring Palace acupuncture points in his palms tingled. His Qi had linked to the stick’s runes. This weapon had been inscribed by a Fourth Rank Qi-Smith, and contained the Core of a Fourth-Ranked Cultivator, and two Cores from Third-Ranked practitioners.  It was imbued with speed, control of water, and more.

As he focused his Qi into it, the runes lit up. With muscles enhanced by Earth, blood vessels coursing with Fire, connective tissue linked through Wood, skin enforced by Metal, and bones fortified by Water, Ryu slammed the staff into the Kappa’s head.

Its bowl took the brunt of the force, denting from the impact with a resounding clang. The water started to trickle out, and this time, the Kappa did nothing to stop it. It clambered to its feet, wobbling.

Spinning the walking stick around, Ryu jabbed the creature in the chest, followed through with a hack to the side of the knee, and finished with a blow to the side of its head. Each landed with a cracking of bone. With a finishing technique, Ryu swept its legs out from under it. As its body went horizontal, he slammed down with Splashing Hands on its chest. Focusing his intention past its sternum, Ryu projected the force directly into its heart.

It slammed into the dirt and didn’t move.

Ryu shook out his arms and shoulders. It had been close when he’d been taken to the ground, but in the end, while humans could Cultivate the basics of many Paths while specializing in one, many yokai like the Kappa could not. Had they met in the World of Rivers and Lakes, where it would’ve still fought as a Fifth-Ranked Cultivator, it might’ve been a different story.

As if to prove the point, he looked over to where Teppin had easily vanquished his opponent, and was now waiting for Ryu’s instructions.

Ryu studied the stick, examining the materials that had gone into the runes. Maybe he could scrape them out, retrieve the Cores, and create a Pill that could help in his mission.

At his feet, the leader’s body had turned to jelly, leaving behind only its shell, the dented bowl, and its glowing black Core. Ryu knelt down and scooped them up.

“Master!” Kentaro yelled from the bridge.

Ryu looked up.

The guardrails only provided a view of Kentaro from his shoulders up, including his wildly gesticulating hand as he ran. The flash of golden hair was either Siena or Aya.

It was Siena—Aya was nowhere to be seen—now running toward Kentaro. Was Aya on the ground, beneath Ryu’s line of sight?

Coiling his legs, Ryu launched himself up to the bridge and landed behind the boy. Three of the Kappa were dissolving, their porcelain bowls empty of water. The fourth…

…was wrestling with Aya. Its leg was hooked around her neck in a triangle choke.

Chapter 24:

The Hacker

A ya gasped for air as the Kappa’s arms tightened around her throat. The attacks and counters that’d been coded into her neural pathways should’ve worked perfectly, but had failed to take into account the weakest link in the elements needed to fight.

Her.

Though the combat programming provided experience and knowledge, she didn’t have the strength, let alone the endurance, to execute the techniques. Not even against a tiny creature that didn’t come up to her chest. It was just too strong, its reflexes too fast.

It was lying in the Sunbathing Position, while she lay on top of it, face-up. Its legs had wrapped around hers, its ankles locked; the pressure between its arms tightened around her neck, despite her feeble attempts to pry them off.

She’d struggled to draw in a breath her entire life, yet none of that compared to the feeling now as it tightened its noose around