East Meets West (Cultivation World)

49- The Brown Book  

‘Shwaa..’  

The white light continued for a few seconds and then gradually the Brown book lost its light and returned to normal.  

I used the flashlight and opened the book, but the book was still empty. When I was thinking about what went wrong, the system’s notification rang  

‘ding’  

‘Host’s cultivation level does not qualify to access the information from the book’  

After I read the message, I was stunned but soon came back to my senses.   

It was just like I thought that it might not work. But I still had hope because right now my power is comparable to an Evolver stage human or monster. But the system said I cannot access the book as my cultivation level is not enough.  

Is it because I am crippled and deprived of all the cultivation?   

Looks like I need to hurry and get rid of the poison and restart cultivation. When I restart cultivation, I can achieve multiple things like  

- I can access the book. Which might contain a lot of information. And I am certainly interested in the ‘Posi-Nega-Tive sutra’ and would also like to know more about the old man.  

- I will be multiple times stronger at the same level, as my strength will be the combination of both my cultivation and the power from the system.   

     As I am right now nothing but a mortal, & my strength is equal to an Evolver Stage human or monster, and all that is with the help of the system. But when I reach the Evolver stage then the combination of both (Cultivation and system strength) will result in an increase of strength to 10 times or even 20 times compared to now.   

- From what I have observed, people are not able to understand my strength. Some think I am crippled or some think I have hidden my level.  

       For example, when the guards surrounded me, they thought that I was injured and Armelia thinks that my cultivation is at the Evolver stage or the Demi-Human stage. And they are partially right and wrong, because I am crippled and deprived of cultivation right now, and the strength I am showing right now is obtained from the system.   

       So, in a sense, I am equal to an Evolver stage human or monster but I don’t have any cultivation. Although this might look like a good thing, but it’s not. As my strength increases, I will be meeting formidable opponents, and also, I have to take revenge on my fiancée & friends; and when that happens, if people see that they cannot determine my cultivation level, they will suspect that I have an extraordinary cultivation art or a secret, which will develop greed within them and I will have new problem and enemies.   

     I am not afraid of making enemies, but I don’t like trouble, at least for now.  

- There is also one thing, that I want to experiment with when I am able to cultivate.  

(I will not mention this, you guys will have to wait and see. So, stay tuned.)  

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“Hey, why is the book not working? Is the book broken or something, or did the shameless old man trick us?”  

When I heard Armelia’s words, I wanted to laugh because now she has started calling the ’Old man’ shameless, but I held back my laugh and said,  

“It's not broken and the old man did not trick us. It's just that our cultivation level is not sufficient.”  

I cannot tell Armelia that it was because of me that the book did not work, as I always have to hide any weaknesses I have from the living beings of this world.   

And I cannot let Armelia know that I am crippled.   

Because I suspect that if she knows the reason, she might attack me or might try to probe the reason behind my strength and both of which are not the things I want to face.  

That's when I heard Armelia’s exclamation,  

“How is that possible? I am at the Evolver stage and if I guess right, you are also at the Peak Evolver stage or may even be at the Demi-Huma stage. And according to what the old man said, when we drop our blood together on the book, we can access information equal to our cultivation level. But after we dropped blood, nothing happened. This is clearly being tricked or the book is faulty.”  

With that Armelia started taking deep breaths. And when I saw her taking deep breaths I got confused and asked  

“Hey, are you alright?”  

Armelia’s expression changed and she quickly said  

“I... am fine. There is nothing wrong with me. It's just I am angry with the shameless old man for tricking us and I am also tired, as I had a fight with that man earlier and I have not recovered completely, & all the events that took place in a day have made me exhausted.”  

Although I am starting to have doubts regarding Armelia, I did not show anything on my face and nodded, and said,  

“Yeah, I think we should have rest and try to recover soon, as we have a long distance to cover tomorrow and we have to be in top condition if we encounter any danger.”  

Armelia nodded and walked away a little and leaned against the walls, took out a pill and swallowed it & closed her eyes.  

Seeing her resting, I also found a place and sat down & closed my eyes. But I did not let my guard down and if I sense anything or any kind of danger, I will get ready to fight.  

And just for insurance, I added 10 ‘Free stat points’ to my sense stat, which will improve my senses.