"Now , this is unexpected . What could the logic behind this even be ?" Xuhan said as his consciousness floated alongside Zhanxian inside his dao tower .

　　Today was a special day . Zhanxian , his first minion , was about to truly step on the path of a cultivator from this day on . The skeleton had reached the second layer of its artificial qi cycling system just a few days ago . It was high time for it to start constructing its dao base .

　　Xuhan had been quite surprised to learn that the artificial qi system wasn`t enough for one to create their own dao tower . How , or why , he had no idea . And it wasn`t as if he could go around asking his peers about this sort of evil techniques . Some extensive research in the library had bore some fruit , though .

　　Experts from the mosquito apocalypse era were the first one to officially recognize this subtype of cultivation technique . Due to the terrible outbreak of giant mosquitos all over the planet , many mortals were forced to actively fight them off . During the crisis , a handful of them got lucky and absorbed the meat of extremely powerful mutated mosquitos . The intake of the large amount of spiritually enhanced substance awakened them to some very barbaric , primitive methods of cultivation . After discovering this phenomenon , many sects guided these lucky ones into the path of real cultivation . However , due to the lack of proper foundation and resources , most of them died before reaching the soul reformation realm . This left their families with the primitive cultivation methods that hadn`t been , as quoted by scholar Long Aotian , `registered` by the heavenly authority .Thus , this subtype of cultivation techniques were given the title `Stub` worldwide . Although such incidents had happened before the mosquito apocalypse era many times , the apocalypse was the pivot point that caused the knowledge and popularity of the techniques to rise , which forced the proud ancient cultivators to acknowledge the subtype of cultivation officially .

　　Xuhan had no idea what the mosquito apocalypse was about . But based on his knowledge of this world`s history , ridiculous shit like that happened a lot . Regardless , he had gotten a rough idea of what went down after finishing the passage.

　　A technique can only go as far as its best practitioner , but the creator of the artificial qi cycling system died when he was at the third layer . If one wanted to build a dao base with it , they`d have to create their own path , and reach the final layer where they`d encounter the heavenly tribulation for the physique transformation realm . Their dao tower would be recognized by the heavens during the tribulation and grow rapidly to a normal state if they passed the phase .

　　Nevertheless , this tiny problem wasn`t enough to make Xuhan pause . What did make him pause was the anomaly that came afterwards when he made Zhanxian cultivate according to the manual of the `Zeroth Layer of Physique Transformation realm`...

　　"As your underling`s minion , should we let Zhanxian become a part of the mediocre cultivators around us , boss ? Since we have practiced the extra layer , we should let our underlings too !"

　　That`s the logic he would have thrown out to appease Mu Ran if he ever got found out.... But now , it seemed that the issue he had ended up creating was about to bite him in the ass again .

　　"Ah , I always wanted to be one of those guys in textbooks who discovered something new and unique . Guess that wish is about to be fulfilled . Why do I feel like complaining ?"

　　Once Zhanxian`s cultivation technique came into effect , it had ended up affecting Xuhan`s own dao tower rather than creating one inside Zhanxian`s consciousness . He had never heard of anything quite like this . But again , almost no one had been crazy enough in recorded history to summon minions with human intelligence and bear the expenses of their artificial cultivation .

　　Han Xuhan`s dao tower used to look like an ordinary building on a square plot of land . One storied , one room , four white walls outside , numerous ghastly graffiti covering the walls inside , and a plain roof overhead .Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

　　Now , one of the walls had been demolished and an extension that resembled a mini trailer occupied the space there . Zhanxian`s avatar , the palm sized floating skeleton had now moved on to that part . His second minion Tun Shi Tian was still within the original dao tower , hovering silently and watching the situation with great interest .

　　"Look at that , little Tian . Once you start following your senior brother`s footsteps , you`ll get your own apartment ! Aren`t you excited ?" Xuhan said with a light chuckle as his consciousness probed the extension of his dao base carefully .

　　"Hmph , trying to bluff ? Stinky brat , you`re a millennia too young to fool me !" The owl responded .

　　"You`re lucky I`m not making you pay rent , little birdie . I`m the landlord here . Better not take that tone with me or I`ll create a dog for my next project and let it chew on you all day long ."

　　"Dream on , you disgraceful human ! By that time , I`ll become much more powerful compared to my current form . My talent for cultivation surpasses yours by thousands of li !"

　　"True , true . But have you considered how far your monstrous talent can take you when I cut your resource budget and refuse to give you cultivation techniques ?"

　　". . .Ahaha , I was just kidding , master . I`m very grateful that I have a master as benevolent as you who even offers to give us worthless minions separate living space ! Who else can boast of such ridiculous feat ?"

　　With an exhausted tone , Tun Shi Tian admitted defeat and fell silent . Xuhan had figured out its true nature by now . The owl was even more greedy compared to Zhanxian , and million times more ambitious . As long as Xuhan kept a tight leash on it and didn`t let its rebellious streak go wild for too long , it would stay in line .

　　"Master , do you feel my part of the dao tower affecting your original foundation in any way ?" Zhanxian asked nervously .

　　"Nah , nothing feels out of place ," Xuhan said after a few more probes .

　　Floating away outside his dao tower , he took in the unfamiliar scene in front of him again . Zhanxian`s new apartment stuck out like a sore thumb from the original dao tower . His worries set aside , Xuhan couldn`t help but be curious to see what sort of abomination the tower would be once he reached the peak of physique transformation realm .

　　Would it become a condo ?

　　This was going to be quite fun if it didn`t backfire on him somehow .

　　Retracting his consciousness from the dao base , Xuhan opened his eyes and summoned Zhanxian and Tun Shi Tian . Both of the skeletons were cultivating together with him . Zhanxian had just made his breakthrough with the zeroth layer while Tun Shi Tian was practicing the artificial qi cycling technique . Xuhan was busy with his third project , a rattlesnake .

　　Able to live in many types of habitats , known widely for being one of the most venomous species of snakes , small enough to sneak around easily ; these three advantages of a rattlesnake would be terrifying when mixed with human intelligence and cultivation resources . After observing Zhanxian and little Tian , Xuhan had become sure that all summoned creatures retained their species-specific abilities . Right now , he had a human skeleton to act as his body double under a mask and a spy high above in the sky to keep a tight lookout .

　　A hidden , living weapon that could hide in his sleeves or scout underwater was the best choice for now . He had to be prepared for every type of environment .

　　"That`s another task I`ve covered so far..." he muttered as he ticked out a name from the list in his hands . Then , after a few moments of consideration , he wrote down a new line .

　　1. Put a bounty on the mad guy - done

　　2. Make the minions cultivators - done

　　3. Start working on the third minion - done

　　4. Pay Yuen Zhou`s weekly lecturer fee - done

　　5. Learn the spell for the resource transfer -

　　6. Complete the first transaction with Brother BB -

　　7. Make the minions cultivate the `Spiritual Bones` technique -

　　8. Discuss the dao base anomaly with elder Kong -

　　9.

　　10.

　　The list went on and on . To give himself a moral boost of sort and keep his current goals in sight , he carried the list everywhere and constantly added , retreated , or rectified the details . These days , too many things were happening at once , distracting him from his goals constantly . The list did wonders to keep his nerves under control .

　　The fifth goal , to learn the spell that would allow him to transfer brother BB`s resources , was also near completion . So far , he had been summoned to that realm of consciousnesses twice . Brother BB had almost thrown a fit when Xuhan had revealed that he had confessed to Xuan Zi . But the indication that Xuan Zi was interested in a partnership between their sects had calmed him down instantly .

　　Tonight , he said , they`d meet in the separate realm for the third time and Xuhan would receive guidance on how to transfer the resources .

　　Putting the list down , he sat beside the skeletons and started cycling qi again . He had everything he`d ever need to progress his cultivation . Wasting time wasn`t an option he could afford to choose .