Data-Driven Daoist

“All the Xianxia and Wuxia tropes I can remember,” Yu Han replied.

“Immortal Heroes and Chivalry of Martial Arts Tropes? What’s that? An Art?”

“Shush! Let me concentrate.” He wrote and wrote. After an hour, Huang Niuniu left huffing.

The rain came and went.

“Young masters, jade beauties, protagonists. Fatty best friend? Damn it, I’m going to be lean soon, and I’m not called Wang!... wait, didn’t Fang Zhao mutter the name of someone called Wang Shen? Okay, that’s eerie. Hidden grandpa, dark dragon sealed in left hand—wait! That’s an isekai trope, not Xianxia!”

Huang Niuniu returned and began searching through the hut while Yu Han was still scribbling down any amount of information that came to mind. He would later go through it in Deep Sleep by echoing Johan’s memories. It would deplete his Qi faster, but Johan had browsed some wikis and TV tropes pages about Eastern fantasy, so it was worth it.

“Found it,” Huang Niuniu said. She pulled out a pouch from under the bed with a stick. After dusting it off, she opened the pouch and took out a token. It looked like the one Dong Chou, the Elder Scribe in the Rookie Village, had given him.

“What’re you going to do with it?” Yu Han asked.

“He gave it to you,” Huang Niuniu said. “What do you want?”

“I’ll let you decide.” Yu Han wanted to keep the money. But he chose to live this life without shame, so as not to make his dad—Johan’s dad—disappointed. He was unable to honestly say that he would return the money pouch, though. Better to leave the decision to someone he could trust.

“I’ll return it,” Huang Niuniu said. She muttered as she sat down, “It would be unheroic otherwise.”

That’s more like it. So it was that ring that made her a money grubber?

Huang Niuniu bit her lips.

Yeah, doubt it.

“We should ask for compensation, though.” The mat was burnt, the brazier bent. The bedsheet was dirty, and not one clay pot or pan was left in one piece. The wooden ones fared better, as did the metal pot for boiling.

After another hour, Yu Han had written down all he could remember at the moment.

“You plan to take Fang Zhao too, don’t you?” Huang Niuniu said. She lightly swung her feet from the bed’s edge. Her garb was baggy and didn’t accentuate her figure, but there was something playful in her actions.

Yu Han didn’t deny it. He hid the notebook with the tropes and took out another one.

“Let’s talk about the Filth Eating Ghouls first,” he said, and Huang Niuniu sat up straighter.

“Unless something utterly unexpected happens, I don’t think the Filth Eating Ghouls will provide much of a challenge,” Yu Han concluded after flipping through his notes.

“We shouldn’t get careless, though,” Huang Niuniu said.

“But we shouldn’t overestimate our foes either. Although, I guess it’s better than underestimating them.”

The notes read as follows:

Type: Monster (Has core?)

Threat Level: Easy

Physical Description: Mismatched eyes, crusty skin with strange patches of hair growing out of it. Upper arms are longer, and legs are stumpy. Pointy teeth, rusty claws. �

Weaknesses: Noise, sound, physical damage. Maybe fire? Dislikes light, although unsure if it weakens them.

Yu Han had gone over their fights with the monsters many times in Deep Sleep and had discovered more.

Before speaking, though, he stared at Huang Niuniu. For minutes.

“What?” She shifted uncomfortably.

“Niu'er?”

“...It’s called the Flickering Sea Wisp Lineage, my trait,” Huang Niuniu said with a helpless sigh.

“A wisp.”

“When Qiao Jinhai saw me glow, became meaner.”

Mean is a weak word, Niu’er!

“He asked the name of my Trait. I told him of course—”

“Wait, he didn’t know? He asked mine immediately.” Yu Han was shocked.

“I don’t think he asked the Trait name of any Common Talent recruit.”

“He did so for me.”

“Maybe its because I’m from the Martial Eagle Kingdom? I don’t know.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“That incompetent—”

“It might’ve been worse if he knew from the start.” She smiled. It wasn’t the smile she showed him the day they met. “After I told him my Trait, he started cursing. He fed me that elixir. I forgot it’s name, but the same one the old men used on Wu Di.”

Yu Han couldn’t remember instantly either. He held her hand. It was cold.

“And your Bloodline art?” Yu Han asked.

“Bioluminescence.”

“Whoa!” That’s a bio-chemistry term. Did the Dao know biochemistry? Yu Han shook his head. Of course it did, and maybe it called it bioalchemy. “Why didn’t you tell me its name? I don’t know why the Verdant Blade Sect wanted it, but the Stormy Reef Sect didn’t lock you up in a cell. You don’t the Trait name to Elder Scribe, didn’t you?

She nodded.

”I don’t see anything bad about it.” Yu Han said.

Huang Niuniu bit her lip.

“It’s not useless either. I could come up with a hundred different uses in a minute,” he puffed up his chest.

“It’s not that.” Huang Niuniu looked down.

There were many things he could ask here. Johan would have tried to come up with a solution. Or lie. Or apply some communication hack he’d learned from a podcast. Yu Han was confused by the number of choices; his head swam.

It was good that Huang Niuniu wasn’t looking at him. Yu Han patted his thigh twice, then chose to wait. As a wise man once said, sometimes it’s better to shut up and listen.

“It’s mocking me,” Huang Niuniu’s voice sounded hoarse.

Is she angry?

“How?” Yu Han honestly had no idea.

“What’s a wisp?” she asked.

“Any living being that glows?” Yu Han thought back. That’s what wisps were in the White Lotus Kingdom. Creatures that produced light. “Like fireflies, moray eels, some weird squids too, and plankton.” It was like how creatures with tentacles were called writhers in the yellow tongue. They were mentioned in Creature Compedium, and the book on Gu too.

“You don’t know its other meaning?”

“Nope.”

“Dummy,” Huang Niuniu looked towards the ceiling. “I don’t want to tell you.”

“Hey now…” Yu Han could probably find out by asking Li Yao if there was another meaning. He wanted to. Maybe it would come in handy if he went about optimizing Huang Niuniu’s role in his team.

That was the long-term plan. Get trusted teammates. Gathering allies, as it were. The keyword here was trust. Would asking Li Yao be polite? Would it not break her trust by snooping around?

“Courtesans who die young,” Huang Niuniu said. “Sell girls and prostitutes. Women of the night. Concubines too, if their standing is low.”

She paused, bringing her hand to her chest.

“My mother was a wisp. Now I’m one too.”

“It has another meaning,” Yu Han said.

Huang Niuniu tilted her head with an unasked question.

“Something that’s impossible to catch,” Yu Han said. It was the legend of the Will-o’-the-wisp. “A sudden light in the marshes; no one knows what it is. It misleads travellers, often guiding them to their doom.”

“And that’s supposed to be better?” Huang Niuniu giggled.

“It can be a spirit, a ghost,” Yu Han racked his brain for more answers. “Or a fairy?”

“That’s better.” Huang Niuniu hopped up from the bed.

“Your Bioluminescence Bloodline Art is useful,” Yu Han went on the offensive. “The Filth Eating Ghouls are bothered by light. You can disorient them with your whip sounds. If they come too close, you can blind them too.”

“That’s it?” Huang Niuniu poked his forehead. “There has to be more.”

“We could use it for communication. You can make small lights to pass messages. Maybe if you get strong enough, you can—” Think, you fool! What else?—“shoot a laser!”

“A Lei Sha?” Huang Niuniu’s eyes widened.

“A condensed beam of light that can burn through stone, metal, anything.”

Huang Niuniu pursed her lips, then puffed up her cheeks as if holding in a laugh.

“Niu'er?” Yu Han tapped one of her cheeks. “Huang Niuniu? Little Cow?”

She laughed.

“That wasn’t a joke.”

“Light? Burning through metal? Isn’t that fire?” She slapped her leg, almost keeling over. After laughing for a few good minutes, she wiped her tears with her sleeve.

“It exists,” Yu Han got defensive. “If I had a magnifying glass, I could show you—”

“Show me,” Huang Niuniu said. She grabbed his hand. “You have all these ideas, don’t you?” She pressed it against her chest.

Yu Han nodded as if hypnotised. The look in her eyes was at times wonderous, at times demanding, and at times capricious.

“So many ideas. Who the heck uses chilli oil and pepper powder to fight? How’d you think of jumping off the stairs?” she asked, gripping his hand so hard he was afraid it might break.

“Just look at the data.”

“Data?”

“It’s everything. Information about the terrain, the enemy’s weaknesses, allies’ abilities. My own strengths.”

“Data.”

“Define your goal. Gather data. Clean it up. Transform it into a usable form. Mine it for knowledge. Visualize it if that makes it easier. Reach some conclusions. Based on all that, make data-driven decisions,” Yu Han said. “The data told me to beat Wu Di’s ass.”

“As I thought, you’re strange,” Huang Niuniu let go of his hand.

“Oi.”

“It’s a good thing!” She twirled around in place. “It’s the best thing. It’s refreshing. I can’t wait to hear how you plan to survive until next year. How that data or whatever will tell you to kick Sima Yan’s ass too.”

“Is my mortal peril amusing to you?” Honestly, if it weren’t for Johan’s narcissistic personality mixed with Yu Han’s, he would be offended. Johan, though, felt elated. He would kick Sima Yan’s ass.

“Are you hungry?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“I’ll make lunch then.”

“I said I wasn’t hungry.” It would be useless if he forced himself to ingest calories despite taking the fasting brew.

“Who said anything about you?” Huang Niuniu stuck her tongue out.

“Wait, you’ll cook normal food?” Yu Han demanded.

“I don’t need to lose weight, unlike you.”

“You—” The past month, he’d lived on stinky Spite. One reason he could endure it was Huang Niuniu joining him in the torture. “Traitor!”

“You’d look quite handsome if you lost a few stone,” Huang Niuniu left without mercy.

“You have a fat butt!” Yu Han shouted.

“You have a fatter butt,” Huang Niuniu shouted back.

“You—” Yu Han opened his mouth to counter and got a face full of mud. “Cough! Why you little—”

“Eat that mud if you want to.” With that, she left.

“Aaagh. That bitc—” Yu Han quickly rinsed his mouth. Mud was on his robe too. He was too lazy to change it. Putting it in the magical cleaning compartment at the Night Alchemist’s Yard would take care of it.

He went through his notes once more. Li Yao was used to fights, albeit against humans. Yu Han didn’t doubt that he’d get used to slashing up monsters in no time.

Fang Zhao was a wild card. There was his ring, his family, and the core disciple he somehow offended. Broken engagement, lost parents, cripple? A protagonist template if there ever was one.

A hero’s path was littered with sacrifice. Mainly of his friends and family as backstory. In Xianxia stories, the protagonist would luckily survive most disasters, coming out stronger for it. The same couldn’t be said about their friends, though.

In many other stories, however, when the protagonist ascended, their dogs and chickens ascended with them, not to mention family.

What opportunities would Fang Zhao bring? If Yu Han treated him with sincerity, like Dad so often preached, would that sincerity be returned? The data was polarizing. Many samples told him to stay away from Fang Zhao. Others told him to stick close enough that he could steal Fang Zhao’s opportunities, but not so close to become friends. The final ones told him to let life happen.

I won’t live with shame, Dad. Yu Han clenched his fist. He’d let life happen.

A few hours later, they met up with Fang Zhao and Li Yao.

“What do we do?” Li Yao asked. He was decked out in leather armour, his two swords hanging from his waist.

Yu Han threw him a shovel.