My CEO Harem Cultivation System

She outmatched him in every way.

Speed.

Strength.

Dexterity.

Cultivation.

The CEO's gaze flickered to the right for one moment, and she read it instantly. "Did you want to pierce Taiga with that? You won't get it from Taiga, but you can try." The tigress spirit knew that this training session was escalating to an actual fight, but she didn't care about it at all.

She would not give it to him..

Taiga was no kind teacher.

This man could only use his head to help him survive, and soon she watched him promptly dart towards the left, clutching the stick in his hands. Sweat beaded on his forehead. His agility would fail him. If the man wanted the dagger, then his speed would fail him. One of the few options he had—

He headed right at her in a frontal attack.

A brave man.

Or a foolish one.

A scar on the face would be an excellent lesson to have him reconsider from attacking with no consideration to their differences. She smirked and swept her claws at the man. 

Claws struck wood. 

And wood prevailed—a stick that didn't break with her claws. 

Taiga blinked once and then attacked again, left and right. The stick blocked each slash and didn't break at all underneath her force. Li Yang jabbed it at her torso and she felt a heavy weight to it.

Thwack.

She recoiled back once and held a hand over her stomach. A dull ache formed in her torso. Not enough to give her any grievous injuries, but it had actually hurt. She narrowed her eyes at him, but then realized what was happening. "Ah… are you serious? Taiga wasn't expecting it, great job." She gave him a small grin. "Smart one, are you?"

He swung at her, and this time she was prepared.

Dodging him was easy enough.

Her eyes finally focused on the stick in his hand and the thin layer of qi coating it. It was done well enough that only a few might have noticed it in a first glance—a very subtle layer of qi reinforcing the stick could make it pack quite a punch.

It wasn't exactly using sword qi or other weapon qi… but it was good for a new cultivator without any prior training. And she could read his current stage and understand how he was going. He was still learning how to gather and condense qi into his body, but managed to alter its flow to a weapon?

There was a certain finesse to it.

Taiga was impressed, she wouldn't deny that. However, it didn't equate to fighting experience—she moved to his left and disarmed him. The stick fell to the ground, and she held his wrist in an uncomfortable spot. "Element of surprise, a good one. But you must understand that our differences in cultivation are far too apart for such things to defeat me."

"Do let go—I still have to work tomorrow, a broken wrist is unwanted." He grimaced.

Taiga blinked and immediately let go of him. She watched him rub his wrist, and it made Taiga scratch the back of her head, retracting the claws she had. "Haha, sorry about that, Bossman. You made Taiga go a little crazy, like a cat finding a mouse."

"A mouse, you say?" he raised a brow at her.

Taiga tilted her head. "A rich mouse." Would that make him feel better?

Li Yang rolled his eyes, but didn't look too upset. "Indeed. Thank you for the brief fight, I believe I've learned a bit."

Why was he selling himself short? "A bit? You started using qi techniques!" Taiga protested and picked up the stick. She concentrated her qi into the material and the tip burned. "Qi is used for one's spiritual and physical cultivation, but one can also qi for many purposes. You used it to reinforce this stick and Taiga doubts anybody told you of that. And even if someone did… this kind of thing is hard to do."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!" Taiga nodded and stepped closer to him. "Now kneel a bit, Bossman."

He gave her a look.

She pouted, "...Please? This is Taiga, your teacher! You should listen to Taiga if you want to learn."

He followed her instructions and bent slightly, Taiga placed her hand on top of his head and patted him. "Great job, Bossman! Taiga approves of tonight, let's fight—er, train more tomorrow? Taiga understands that lower-staged cultivators are still not exempted from food, sleep and other basic needs."

"Indeed." He gave her a pointed look.

She puffed her cheeks, "Well… food is fantastic. Taiga likes it. At the Shou Temple Sect all the people there always eat root crops and leafy vegetables to accumulate good karma or something."

"I see, there is benefit to it then."

The tigress spirit shrugged, "Taiga knows from personal experience that even animals can become cultivators and gain power—but Taiga wouldn't turn down a roasted pig, you know? Actually, a seventh-staged boar spiritual beast is quite a delicacy!" She salivated at the thought. "Maybe next time we can try hunting for one? There's not a lot left, because we're few and far in between, but wonderful food and the benefits to your qi and meridians are great!"

Li Yang gave her a look, but then nodded. "I'd like to do that. I'd actually want to try to finish off a creature with my own hands. It'd be an enjoyable experience for sure."

Taiga grinned at him, "Great! Somebody who understands the urge to hunt!"

He didn't reply to that statement, but instead picked up his dagger. "Miss Taiga, imbuing one's qi into different objects doesn't affect its durability? I have a notion that foreign qi are often invasive and destructive."

She scratched her ear. Not exactly that familiar with qi techniques. "Well… there is a chance that you can break something, but like Taiga said, it takes a certain finesse to it. And you did it well enough with the stick, so superb job! Do you want more head pats from, Taiga?"

—-—-

Author Note: Head pats are great, you know? :D Truth be told, I don't know a lot about cultivation and might conjure some stuff on my own. What's your take on sword qi and sword techniques?