28 Two Years Later: Steady Progress & Desirable Results

The last two years were highly productive for Aksai.

He had made strides in every field he knew, making good use of accumulated resources and the neural link fabric.

His skills in talisman-making and elixir refining had improved significantly, followed by progress in knowledge related to Array Formations and weapon artifact refinement.

Often, Aksai would ask Aunt Reta to buy things he wanted from Lakir City, providing her with some benefits in exchange.

He seldom ventured outside his rental Spirit farm. But when he did, he would be gone for two or three days and nobody could figure out his deeds or whereabouts.

Aksai relied on purchasing books and scrolls from fellow cultivators and their connections to facilitate this progress. Sometimes he used sellswords to buy things from Lakir City's black market.

Although it cost him some additional spirit stones, it ensured his safety and anonymity. Aksai made use of the three puppets well during his dealings with the mercenaries who tried to scam him.

Unfortunately, the three puppets he had were already the maximum number of helpers he could gain by using puppet creation and control art. Otherwise, he would have created a small militia of puppets by this point.

Aksai's total number of puppets didn't increase but he replaced the two subordinate puppets when he managed to refine puppets with the cultivation level of the 5th stage Spirit Refining.

He didn't replace Nesha because he couldn't find a better puppet than her during his skirmishes with sellswords and rogue cultivators. He also used her as a sparring partner, improving his swordplay bit by bit.

During this time, Aksai officially started with his Spirit bloodline experiments. He couldn't increase the number of puppets beyond its existing state but he could always make use of rogue cultivators and robbers as the "guinea pigs" for his experiments.

When Aksai started encountering shortages of guinea pigs, he resorted to carrying out vigilante justice. He targeted robbers and rogue cultivators with bounties on their heads. While conducting these activities, Aksai prioritized his safety and ensured that he did not bite off more than he could chew.

The sporadic battles and the controlled manner in which he participated in them helped Aksai refine his swordplay skills and temper his battle style. It also helped him cultivate a distinct killer's instinct for himself, different from his natural instinct as a Spirit farmer.

However, Aksai's secret adventures during the last two years could be counted on one hand. For the most part, he barely stepped out of his comfort zone and preferred being seen as an ascetic personality focused solely on tending to his Spirit farm.

His Spirit bloodline experiments didn't produce conclusive results, mostly because he never rushed things by increasing the number of guinea pigs or seeking outside help.

Most of the captured guinea pigs Aksai experimented on were low-level cultivators. Consequently, they couldn't survive the Spirit bloodline experiments he performed on them.

Even the mid-stage Spirit Refiners ended up dying after surviving for a few days, indicating that Aksai needed to make some changes to his existing methods and the steps involved in the experiments.

However, Aksai didn't concern himself with the results of the experiments and merely conducted them for the sake of it. His main confidence stemmed from the neural link fabric that consistently enriched its database with every experiment he performed.

The neural link fabric allowed Aksai to analyze his previous experiments retrospectively before suggesting possible ways to quell or remove the hurdles involved. It performed various calculations and real-time analysis for him, turning him into a sort of scientist in a cultivation world.

No matter how hard Aksai tried to isolate his mind, these experiments were somewhat dark. The fact that he performed them on those who deserved it couldn't change the fact that they all bled and died screaming.

Since Aksai wasn't in a hurry, he didn't push himself too hard and gave himself much-needed breaks before proceeding with the next set of experiments. He always maintained his mind like that of a calm lake, barely having any ripples in it.

At other times, Aksai spent his time on talisman-making and concocting basic elixir recipes. He didn't plan to sell what he produced; he practiced in these fields solely for self-sustenance.

After all, Aksai had the Everwood farm that produced tons of Spirit ingredients every year. It would be a waste to sell them directly to brokers and shopkeepers. Learning to use them for his own needs was bound to create a synergistic cycle for him.

As such, Aksai didn't mind the slow speed or inferior quality of the products he initially produced. He was playing a long game, which often required sacrifices in the beginning.

Thanks to the use of the neural link fabric, Aksai didn't have to spend the majority of his time studying auxiliary fields of cultivation like talisman-making or elixir concoctions. Basic practice and virtual sandboxing on a regular basis were enough for him to keep updating his database.

All of Aksai's secret activities were performed in the isolated domain of the Everwood farm. It not only provided him a haven to carry on with his activities but also offered various benefits during his Spirit Spellcasting activities, improving the chances of experiment success with its multiple enchantments.

Aksai also tried to make progress in his Spirit cultivation during these two years. He relied on the automated cultivation ability granted by the neural link fabric to ensure that his cultivation didn't stop amid his various activities.

However, Aksai came to realize the challenges of Spirit Refining for late-stage cultivators. Despite using the automated cultivation feature, he barely made any progress. The problem wasn't simply related to the inferior quality cultivation method but also to the aptitude of his Spirit Root.

Nonetheless, Aksai was many levels ahead of his Spirit farming peers when it came to possessing all-rounder knowledge. He also faked his 5th stage Spirit Refining breakthrough to maintain the image of a diligent but less talented Spirit cultivator.

However, Aksai's most significant achievement during these two years was his progress in body cultivation and martial arts.