AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 14: Black Jade Princess (3)

I can see in her eyes that a future develops in which she stands over the lifeless bodies of those that inconvenienced her or perhaps I should say wronged her. Even if I try to force myself to think like a transient biological organism with emotions, I still cannot see why she would wish to die instead of live.

She is young and attractive, and compared to my meager lifespan of only eight years, she has a long future ahead of her. Even when I was a heartless machine yes, I acknowledge that my sentient core has a heart in this incarnation I am sure I faced failures and challenges many times.

But my entire strategy for getting her to accept this arrangement is based on the knowledge that this creature has a fickle nature. If she truly desired for termination, she wouldve carried it out herself.

But that moment passes, and her eyes become clouded with tears. Now, she pushes me away from herself and then lays me on her lap perhaps because she realizes I am not just an ornamental pretty thing, but rather an intelligent conversationalist.

It is not possible, she says. My cultivation is in the Qi Condensation realm. Yu Shun is already in the Golden Core realm.

It takes an extreme amount of effort for me to continue using [Telepathy], so I wish to spare myself from overusing it on defeating her pointless rhetoric.

I touch the Dimensional Storage array with my sentience, and I deposit most of the contents of my internal storage right in front of her. The Qi cultivation manual, pills and herbs all appear before her. I keep the sword, Auspicious Farming Method manual and the remains of the cultivator in my storage, however.

Her eyes light up when she sees the herbs and pills.

Yin-Yang Grass she mutters. These pills

She reaches for the manual and touches it with her slender finger. I dont notice any difference, but her eyes widen. This manual incredible. It is a Heaven-grade cultivation manual for the Qi Condensation, Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment realm. Even the manual I practiced was only of the Sky grade.

Will this help you recover your cultivation?

Her breath escapes from her lungs, and she almost laughs at the question. With these items yes, I think so.

They are now your property.

She blinks. Why are you doing this?

I consider how to answer her question. I decide to tell her the truth. The whole truth.

I was going to use you and discard you, as well. I thought you were a convenient pair of legs to take me from this place and to deliver me to a powerful cultivator. I do not desire a weak master like you.

Her expression darkens, and I can see a flash of indignant anger in the quirk of her lips, and the sink of her eyebrows.

But I too was betrayed once. I know what it feels like. I am struggling to decide if I want a strong master or a worthy master. If you take these pills and herbs, and practice that method, then once we kill the Black Tiger, I will have both a strong and a worthy master in you.

Perhaps I am a fickle creature, too. Until not that long ago I only saw this person as either a delivery vehicle or a quick snack. Now I think of her as that: a person.

It is not that simple either. I feel hope. I feel excitement. I want her to choose me. I convince myself that I feel the work of destiny in this arrangement that this was meant to be. I dont know if that is true. But I wish it was.

No doubt she questions my intentions after I admit that I had no other purpose for her other than to use her. Without a doubt, she considers whether the words that followed were true or false and whether I can be trusted.

After a few seconds, she nods. I dont know if it is possible, she says, picking up the pills, herbs and manual and depositing them into her lap next to me. By the time I enter enter the Golden Core realm, Yu Shun may already be in the Nascent Soul realm. He is also the grandson of the Seven Killing Swords Sect patriarch. But I want to try. I want to live. I want revenge.

Now that I like to hear. Revenge is always a simple matter, when applied properly. I do hope she understands what properly is. If she wants to get away with it, she cant just stop at killing Yu Shun. She has to slaughter the entire filthy cabal to make sure that no one comes after her. And that sounds like a lot of Blood Points.

I dont know if this decision I made is an objectively good decision. If I wait longer, someone else may come along after all that is far more suitable to my requirements. But I feel good about this decision. I feel like it is the right one.

Though I dont like basing my decisions on what feels good to my sentient core like I am so dysfunctional organism I can allow it this time. Just this once. Even though Ive said just this once twice now.

Become my master, I tell her, and what I have to do feels simple and natural. Black blood oozes to the surface of my black jade and follows the contours of my fuller, slides down to the tip of my blade, where it forms a small drop of my Essence.

She places her finger against the point of my blade, pricks herself perhaps by accident and our blood mixes together. She then holds the drop of our blood at eye-level, studying it. It seems like she knows what to do.

Will this hurt? she asks.

I dont know. Yes, I tell her. Better safe than sorry.

She tries her best to conceal her smile and slight blush, but nothing can escape my perception. I cannot comprehend this reaction. Is she a deviant of some kind? Or maybe she thinks she is entering an intimate relationship with me an object? Well, perhaps I can somewhat see the latter.

She nods, finally, and then swallows my Essence.

Immediately, she screams, and then sinks to the side, and vomits blood.

Over the course of the next dozen minutes, I can feel my Essence inside her complete a full revolution around her body, before being completely absorbed. I had to endure that ten times, and a lot more than a single drop.

But this Essence I gave is from my completed breakthrough. It carried with it the depth of my Grand Dao and the full force of my cultivation. I share with her not only my body, but my soul and mind as well.

Through the blood on the tip of my blade, I feel her Qi also finding natural pathways through me, connecting to my sentience and soul core.

We are one.

She gains access to all my functions, and I gain intuition into her state. It feels like she is something like an extension of myself, but not quite.

It is enough, however, for me to discern that her Physique is changing. After absorbing the Essence filled with my Dao, I can understand why that would be the case. This is not merely a verbal contract, but also a commitment to go down the path of demonic cultivation.

I can feel her body changing, breaking and reforging itself stronger than before. I did not feel like she had a powerful physique before, but now I can tell with ease.

[ Physique: Black Jade Princess ]