Chương 39: Meeting with Elder Shoa

An spent another two weeks behind the closed gate of his plot.

"After pushing the Beginning of the Body Qi Path pill to a 3% potency loss, working on the Golden Body Qi pill was simple. I managed to push it to a 2% loss, which is pretty good, considering that during these two weeks I spent much less time on alchemy..." During these two weeks, An decided to dedicate more time to cultivation, Qi training, and Soul training. Since the Golden Body Qi pill formed the basis of the Beginning of the Body Qi Path pill, pushing it to Peak quality posed no difficulty for him.

Standing up from the ground and placing the pill into a flask and then into his pouch, An walked to the shore, where Baldi was trying with all his might to catch a fish. Walking to the shore next to the bird, he sat down on the sand and looked at the water's surface, at the fishing line disappearing into the water. Checking with Qi what was on the other end of the line, he looked at the bird.

"Not that I think you can pull it out... Honestly, I'm shocked it hasn't pulled you in yet..." An smirked, then turned back to the lake, propping his head on his hand." CLUCK! CLUCK!" Baldi screamed at the top of his lungs. The bird felt offended and started swearing at him, trying to prove that An was wrong and that he, the mighty Baldi could handle it himself." BAWK!" Just as Baldi started stomping his foot, expecting an apology, something on the other end jerked the line.

The bird, without even having time to understand what had happened, flew into the lake, pulled by a fish dragging the line straight to the bottom. An waved his hand, and the bird froze in mid-air. Opening his eyes, he was scared at first and started flapping his wings, but after spinning around and seeing that he was already on the shore next to An, he immediately calmed down.

"I thought you had gotten smarter..." An shook his head and released him onto the ground." Cluck…" Almost silently, the bird sat down on the ground and lowered his head. PLOP! A huge fish fell right in front of him. Five meters long and more than a meter wide. Seeing the fish, Baldi jumped up and started clucking and circling around the now-forgiven human. An just smiled and began cleaning the fish, whistling a tune as he did so. Three weeks later.

An finished the Forming stage and moved on to the Calming technique. After a few minutes, he took out of the cauldron a pill that was completely white with green veins.

"Now you will be... Hmm, what name to give you... Fine, let it be Beginning of the Qi Path." He rolled his eyes at his complete lack of imagination, having not come up with a beautiful name for his new pill. He had taken as a base three different recipes with the effect of increasing the absorption rate of Qi during cultivation. It all started when he simply wanted to upgrade the Summer Dew pill recipe.

But after studying several pills from the book, specifically, the ingredients that made up those recipes, An decided to experiment. After about two weeks, he finally managed to refine a pill with an increase in Qi absorption rate of 70%, with a 40% potency loss. In other words, the effect of his new pill, Beginning of the Qi Path, was many times higher than that of the Summer Dew pill. However, the cost of refining this pill was much higher. To make it, An needed nine different spirit plants.

But there was a big ' however'. That was the number of spirit plants used in preparing the modified Beginning of the Qi Path pill, with an additional boost for cultivators with a dominant Wood Element. But what disappointed An was that the bonus was only 10% with this modification. That meant he didn't have to bother with the Wood Element modifications and just make the standard Beginning of the Qi Path pill, thereby saving spirit plants and ultimately preparing more standard pills.

Putting his first successful pill into a flask, An began concocting a new batch. His goal was to achieve a loss below 10% as quickly as possible, to obtain the status of Alchemy Practitioner. Then he could officially avoid performing mandatory missions from the Sect. At just the thought of it, a big smile spread across An's face, and whistling a little tune, he began a new batch. Two weeks flew by in a blur." Hehehe! My precious!!! Hahaha!!"

Holding the pill in both hands above his head, he looked at it with wide eyes and a wide grin.

"Baldi!" An spun sharply toward the bird's burrow, from which a trembling head was sticking out." BAWK!" Hearing his name, the bird dove back inside. He had just managed to hide his head when An's Qi enveloped him. Struggling and grabbing onto anything he could, he flew out of the burrow and up to the man with the crazy, slightly mad look.

"You owe me fish, but be careful! I need to go out, I'll be back in the evening... Here, take this while I'm gone!" An threw three Kavana fruits on the ground and released Baldi. Then, putting everything he needed into his pouch, he ran out of the gate toward the Outer Platform." Hmm?! Who's that?"

"I don't know… look... How grimy he is..." Since it was early morning, many disciples were walking along the path from the platform to the lake. Some were going to the fields where they grew spirit plants, others were returning home after a long night. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

As An ran past people, they noticed his condition: completely dirty, a grimy face, hair disheveled and covered in stains, traces of soot all over his body, and his clothes burned through in some places.

"W-wait, what is that aroma?"" Ah! What a smell!"

"Th-that's the aroma of a perfect pill!"

"What perfect?! That's just the smell of peak quality! Don't be ridiculous…"

"How do you know it's peak quality? Huh?!"" Heh, there was an open demonstration recently. Master Vota demonstrated the concoction of a first-rank pill, only for those of us who study alchemy, of course. She prepared a pill with a similarly rich aroma. So yes! I'm sure that's the smell of a peak quality pill."" Eh! Even if not perfect, peak quality is still an achievement, especially when you're at Qi Condensation... Wait… Wait! Who was that anyway?!"" Mhm! How should I know..."

More and more people began noticing the aroma that followed An. Knowledgeable disciples immediately recognized it. Some even wanted to follow An and see where he was rushing off to in such a hurry, anticipating some kind of show. But as soon as they tried to sense his cultivation level, they realized they couldn't even tell whether he was breathing or not. All their desire and interest immediately vanished, frightening even the bravest among them. Arriving at the Alchemy Hall, An managed to collect many stares.

Everyone was trying to figure out who this strange, dirty disciple was. The first reaction of the people around was disgust at his appearance, but it quickly changed to surprise when they felt the rich aroma of pills emanating from him. An didn't even notice the sideways glances. He had no time for that. Entering the Alchemy Hall, he headed straight for the left corridor leading to the classrooms. Climbing to the third floor, An entered the room where Elder Shoa usually held his classes.' Oh...

why did I assume he would be here... This is just a public classroom, not his office.' Standing in the doorway of the empty classroom, he frowned and began thinking about what to do. He turned around and decided to ask at the reception in the main hall where to find the elder. Just as he approached the stairs. <" Come up to the eighth floor, the last room on the right.

"> He heard Elder Shoa's voice in his head. Stunned for a moment by the suddenness, An looked at the stairs leading upward and remembered the barrier that had stopped him before.

"What about the formation?" An asked, not very loudly, looking up at the ceiling. <" Heh, don't worry, you can go up. The formation will let you through.

"> He heard the elder's chuckle in his head. Having received his answer, An began climbing the stairs. Reaching the fourth floor, he stopped at the huge doors leading to the floor itself. After thinking, he approached them and tried to open them. But as soon as he touched them, he saw a formation flash on the surface of the doors. It prevented him from opening them. Slightly disappointed, he continued climbing to the eighth floor. Reaching the eighth floor, An approached the large gilded doors and pushed them.

With a creak, they opened, revealing a view of a huge, wide corridor decorated with paintings, statues, and various precious stones inlaid in the walls. Walking along the very soft and springy carpet that covered the entire corridor, he kept turning his head, examining everything around him. Toward him, from one of the rooms, three people came out. A woman and two disciples, both looking no older than twenty.

Seeing An and his appearance, they were about to start yelling at him when they suddenly smelled the aroma emanating from this boy. They immediately closed their mouths and stared with wide eyes as he walked past them, his head slightly lowered, pressing against the wall, deliberately pretending not to notice them or their respected master. Seeing that this dirty, beggar-looking disciple had simply walked past her, the woman in front coughed loudly and turned toward him.

"Disciple! Where are your manners? Is this how you should behave when meeting your elder?" The woman's face slightly twisted, and with her dangerous gaze, she tried to catch his eyes. An turned and straightened up. Just as he was about to open his mouth, the woman's face went pale. She abruptly spun around, grabbed her disciples by the scruffs of their necks, and quickly began to walk away, not letting the stunned disciples say even a word. <" To the end of the corridor, the last room on the right.

"> He heard the voice in his head again. Immediately, the sound of an opening door echoed down the corridor. Turning, An quickened his pace and walked toward the room. Approaching the door and looking inside, he saw Elder Shoa sitting in a rocking chair by the window, smoking a pipe and blowing smoke rings.

"Come in." Elder Shoa pointed to the adjacent rocking chair standing next to him. Without hesitating, An walked over and sat down, throwing his gaze at the view from the window. Seeing what was there, An raised an eyebrow and turned to Elder Shoa with a strange look." Heh... Even great cultivators need a distraction from time to time... Don't judge!" Elder Shoa first felt a bit of shame, but remembering that the boy was only a little disciple, he regained his confidence.

In response, An said nothing, simply turning back to the window. As they both looked at the view from the window, Elder Shoa told him about the origin of what they were watching. From the window, there was a beautiful view of a small lake that had been artificially constructed by a group of female disciples several hundred years ago. Now, this lake had turned into a secret, very popular spot exclusively for exalted female disciples.

They came here to relax and forget themselves, even if only for a short time, swimming and sunbathing. Some in clothes, some topless, some without any clothes at all, depending on their courage and lack of modesty. The reason they weren't afraid of being seen or watched was that the lake was surrounded on all sides by tall grass, bushes, and impassable thickets. To get anywhere close to the lake, the only option was to go through the single very narrow path, where it would be immediately clear who you were.

And even if someone flew through the air, the tall trees and their foliage would block the view. The only thing the founders of this lake hadn't considered was the view from the Alchemy Hall, specifically, the eighth floor, the last room.

"What? Your expression clearly says you're still judging me!" Elder Shoa threw a quick glance at An's face.

"No... Only... I always believed that a cultivator should strive to leave all this ' worldly' stuff behind, so that later they wouldn't have mental problems during breakthroughs..." An tried to answer Elder Shoa in a way that wouldn't sound too strange.

"So you think that desires and attachments limit your path forward?" Elder Shoa turned his head toward him and looked at him carefully.

"To some extent, yes, I believe that... But again, it depends on what desires and attachments... and emotions… You cultivate so that your physical and mental body overcomes barriers and evolves, time after time, but..." An continued his thought, which had only recently begun to form in his mind, but stopped, unable to find the right words, rather, he didn't even have them in his head." Hmm... Your thought is both correct and very dangerous. Your thought...

can form into an idealistic one, where black and white blur, leaving only a faded, gray color all around… This path is not correct. It can both help you achieve what you want and take away everything you have and will have. It can even stop you halfway, completely breaking off... Leaving you hanging over an abyss, with no chance to grab onto a rope that has already been cut..." Elder Shoa shook the burnt tobacco out of his pipe and began packing a fresh one.

An remained silent and looked at the shore of the secret lake, pondering Elder Shoa's words.