Chương 135: Chapter 134: Drop by Drop

I am going to write the names of peaks in English from now on so you have a better idea of the place I am writing about. Yang got out of the tub and dried himself off. Once dressed in a clean set of robes he went back to the main room, stripped the bed, and put on fresh sheets. Finally, with all evidence of the body horror experience gone from both the room and his person, he was able to give proper attention to the changes in his body.

Senior Brother Liu Te's notes had mentioned three improvements following the first Molten Body Pill: qi absorption, healing response, and sharper senses. Yang could attest to one of them immediately. His senses had gotten slightly better. He could see more clearly and sharply, but he wouldn't call it a dramatic improvement. It was more like replacing a few years old television with the latest model.

The colours were better, the sound cleaner, but nothing as shocking as the changes he noticed after eating the beast cores. As for the healing, he was no masochist. He would be perfectly happy if he never had the opportunity to test that particular improvement, however impossible that hope was. The physical changes to his skin were more visible. He had grown up tanned, with a healthy lean build from the years he had spent in the forest, with a fair number of callouses and scars he had accumulated along the way.

All of that was gone now. Even his tan had reduced considerably. His skin and hair felt incredibly soft and smooth, as though the effects of years of harsh environment and wear had simply been wiped clean. His skin had a certain brightness to it, not unnatural but definitely noticeable. His nails shone and so did his hair. He had always had straight hair, as did nearly everyone he had encountered in this world, but now it was dialed up considerably.

When he combed his fingers through it, it felt like passing them through the finest strands of silk. And then there was the last one. The most important one. Better qi absorption. The notes had used the word "slightly," so he wasn't even expecting to feel a difference. But even a small improvement in absorption rate, as negligible as it might feel right now, would be worth its weight in gold as time passed and the gains accumulated over his life span.

Yang made his way to the meditation platform, settled into the cultivation mudra, and began absorbing the ambient qi in the air, performing the Heavenly Diversion. He completed three rounds before stopping, since he hadn't yet prepared the Pink Lotus Tea to abate the resulting headache. He didn't feel any different from before in the absorption rate, but that was likely because the improvement in absorption rate was too small to notice in a single session. Either way, he wasn't disappointed.

He hadn't really expected to feel a marked difference. This was real life, not one of those cultivation web novels where every pill taken and every treasure found performed miracles. In the real cultivation world, power was attained drop by drop. And it was exactly these drops that with time, formed an ocean of strength. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. In real life, every small improvement was worth taking seriously.

Speaking of improvements, he moved to the table, settled onto a floor cushion, and pulled the talisman papers and brush toward him. He dipped the brush into cinnabar ink and began inscribing. Two months later, a flying sword landed in front of him.

"Senior Brother " Yang gave a slight bow.

"Junior Brother, get on," Senior Brother Wu Nai said, and Yang quickly climbed on. The sword glided smoothly into the air and Yang let out a quiet breath of relief, thinking of how much better this was than that godforsaken flight with Senior Brother Zhen Hao. It had been two months since he had taken the molten body pill and gone through the Molten Skin stage, he had spent most of the time since then practicing talisman craft and cultivating when he was not.

He had also attended one of the final-stage Foundation Establishment alchemy competitions with Senior Brother Lin Yi. Senior Brother Liu Te had also been there, and Yang had thanked him for the pill and handed over several sheets of notes on his experience taking it. Senior Brother Liu Te had been genuinely pleased with how extensive and detailed they were, having never taken the pill himself nor known anyone close to him who had. Yang hadn't bothered attending any further alchemy competitions after that.

Even Senior Brother Lin Yi and Senior Brother Liu Te had grown quieter as the competition advanced, the ingredients and recipes on the stage exceeding what either of them could speak to with any authority. Yang had decided he was better served preparing for his own events than sitting in the stands as a spectator. He would have enjoyed watching the competition on its own, but he had his own event to prepare for. He had also completely skipped the tool refining events once he found out how long they ran.

Unlike alchemy and most other crafts, tool refining took the longest. The shortest of the beginner Foundation Establishment events had run for an entire week, with people attending daily over several days to watch the refiners work. Yang was a fledgling talisman crafter. There was little he could gain from watching tool refiners at this stage of his development. He would dabble in the craft one day, no doubt, but for now, baby steps.

He reflected that it was something of a default setting with him, this wanting to learn everything, watch everything, know everything. But life was certainly hammering patience into him one lesson at a time. He was actively working to suppress his urge to attend every event, knowing it would come at the expense of his own preparation. But he had allowed himself to occasionally take time for the more reasonably timed ones. Which brought him to right now.

He had contacted Senior Brother Wu Nai yesterday to arrange the trip because today's event ran for only a couple of hours, and Yang had been fascinated by it since he first heard of it. He could spare a couple of hours from his talisman practice and cultivation for this. Especially since he had already reluctantly abandoned his earlier ambition of watching everything. The cool mountain air of the sect swept through his hair and against his skin as they made their way toward a peak he hadn't visited before.

Thankfully, this event was being held somewhere closer than Cloud Fire Peak, where the alchemy competitions had been held. As they neared and began to descend, Yang noticed it was a remarkably beautiful peak, though in a way completely opposite to Lingcao Peak (Spirit Herb Peak), with its wild, dense greenery. This peak had more pavilions and buildings than any other he had seen so far in the sect, all of them keeping to the ethereal architectural style of White Cloud Sect.

Large pavilions and gardens with ponds and bridges spread across the landscape. Some rested against cliffsides overlooking seas of clouds, while others were tucked among bamboo groves and carefully designed water gardens. Every structure seemed positioned not merely for practicality but for harmony with its surroundings. If Lingcao Peak (Spirit Herb Peak) had felt untamed and overflowing with natural vitality, this peak was the complete opposite.

Every tree, pond, and stone path appeared intentionally placed with the whole in mind. Nothing looked accidental. Even the mist itself seemed curated. The flying sword came to a stop and Yang stepped off as Senior Brother Wu Nai said, "Junior Brother Yang, send me a message through the coin once the event is done," and flew off. Yang joined the stream of other disciples making their way toward the event venue, all of them moving in the same direction through the winding paths between the pavilions.

As he stepped into the mist that seemed to blanket the entire ground of the peak, he noticed something peculiar.