Chương 24: 17.1. Travel to the Capital

Foria hung around the mission hall, glancing from mission to mission. Her brother had disappeared 3 months ago. He'd said he was going into seclusion. Other outer sect disciples walked around in groups. She, however, had opted to do missions alone. Not by choice though. Foria realised she was in a bit of an awkward spot as far as the social hierarchy went. She had no clan or family powerful enough to back her up, but she had Faust, who had a reputation in the sect. He wasn't an ordinary Inner Sect disciple.

The first clue was the 12 Qi Transforms technique. Foria had gone to the technique hall and asked the overseer who manned the counter, a much more approachable man than most of the other hall overseers. She found out that the 12 Qi Transforms Technique required an immense contribution to the sect. The overseer had said it was a pseudo 4th level technique since it could —in theory— be used to manipulate Heaven and Earth Qi below the Golden Core realm. It hadn't reached that level yet.

But the overseer encouraged her to convince Faust to make another iteration of it. He had submitted several to the Technique Hall. The 5 Qi Transforms, which upgraded the original 3 Qi Transforms technique to include the whole five elements. Foria moved on from the mission board to another one. The elder had said Water Qi nurtures Wood, which burns into fire, which settles into Earth that is crushed into metal. But that was the easy part, the elder had said.

The hard part about making a 5 Qi Transformation technique was the Metal Qi into Water Qi transformation. Her brother had bridged that gap, making the technique a far cry from the original cycle of Wood Qi, Fire Qi, Earth Qi, then the Earth Qi nurtured more Wood Qi. That was all in the elder's words. And then, Faust had gone on to expand it further. Into the 9 Qi Transforms and then the 12 Qi Transforms technique. Foria picked out a mission slip.

A simple quest to kill a pack of 3 to 7 wolves at the body tempering equivalent. Low, first level beasts. While waiting for the mission hall deacons to process it, Foria continued to think of her brother's reputation. The second clue that pointed out how unusual he was, was in how others talked about him.

"Who would win between Faust and Satheon?"

"Have you seen how Satheon fights? Faust, obviously. You can't use body tempering very well in the air, but you can certainly bombard someone with every technique in the technique hall." Every technique in the technique hall. Was the line Foria focused on— Because that's what the Overseer thought as well. Faust had more or less bought out every single technique on the first and second levels of the technique hall. Foria took the processed mission slip from the deacon and wandered towards the Outer Sect courtyard.

On the way, she stopped by the stables, where there was a permanent mission to take care of the spiritual creatures there. Horses with dark blue hair and flowing manes grazed happily. One newer looking caretaker was looking around nervously as the horse he was trying to guide refused to let him brush their hair.

One of the more senior disciples had to come over and take the brush from him, explaining that the horses remembered who was good and who was bad at brushing hair and wouldn't let their hair be brushed by people they remembered as bad. Thankfully, Foria didn't have to worry about the horse's maintenance. She paid a fee to the merchant who ran the stable with the sect's permission and rode one of the horses out of the sect.

The third reason Foria didn't think her brother was normal was how almost every disciple knew him. Sure, rumors could travel fast. But it wasn't that kind of knowing. It was the kind of knowing someone that was usually reserved for the strongest or most important disciples, the kind people wanted to have a good relationship with. His name was spoken in the same vein as people like Rozaline from the Roze clan, Damarius and Qingyu from the Tang clan.

And the fourth clue was just how much the technique hall overseer knew about him. The day passed and Foria brought the spirit horse to a rest for the night. She wasn't quite ready to ride through the night. Not like Long Tao or Faust evidently were. Foria looked around. It was an official road that led to a shipyard of the empire that stretched from the provincial capital, through the Clear Mirror mountains and all the way to the east coast.

As such, it should be regularly patrolled by both imperial soldiers and sect disciples. Rolling out a sleeping bag, Foria tucked herself in to rest for the night. She sighed. Faust had told her it was fine to take her time. And that she should. But Tao and Aneroze were already at the late stage of Qi Refining. She rolled over and forced herself to stop thinking. She wished she could advance at the same speed as Tao and Aneroze, but her brother would probably tell her otherwise once he left seclusion.

Yellow light peaked over the horizon and Foria rose swiftly before mounting the spirit horse and continuing to the village in the Sunflower Plains. She passed over a bridge that covered a large river and entered a farming village, which lacked any form of defence, even a small militia waiting at the entrances. The people here didn't bow or gasp in awe. They probably saw cultivators passing through all the time. Foria didn't think the sect would tolerate bad behaviour so close either.

The village chief's house was obvious, a two story house made of planks instead of logs or packed mud and straw. But a passing labourer had pointed her to one of the massive fields surrounding the village to find the man himself. The village chief was a gray bearded man with a muscular physique. He spared no pleasantries and sent Foria south west to find the wolves. She did.

"Grrr…" One of two wolves in front of Foria growled, before shooting towards her. Foria had her sword drawn. She heard another wolf shooting towards her from behind and adjusted her feet. The wolves pounced and Foria twisted her body and swung her sword, keeping her feet rooted to the spot. Zing. Zing! Two strokes of the sword decapitated the two wolves, sending their heads to the ground with a low thunk as they hit the dirt.

Foria turned to the other three, they stopped growling, looking between her and their companions, then chose to bolt away together. Foria whistled loud, twitching her fingers. The spirit horse she had left a bit behind ran up to her and she mounted, urging it forward to chase.

"Neeeigghhh!" The horse cried, rearing up before thundering forward with heavy hoofsteps, breathing loudly as it rapidly gained on the pseudo spirit beast wolves. Zing! Zing. Zinggg! Three more strokes of the sword killed two wolves and sent the last tumbling. The spirit horse turned around, coming to a stop and letting Foria dismount. The last wolf struggled to stand. It glared at Foria, growling. A few purple hairs that differentiated it from the other wolves began to glow as it snarled.

Violet arcs of lightning formed between the hairs, some tracing along the ground around the wolf. Foria looked on calmly, her face unperturbed as she lowered her gaze slightly to meet the wolf's.

"Awoooo!" The wolf howled and purple lightning struck out at Foria. She held her sword up loosely, letting the tip fall towards the ground. 12 Qi Transformations. Lightning Qi transforms from Sky Qi, then follows metal Qi to the ground, joining the Earth. Foria recalled one of the passages from the technique her brother had given her, which proceeded to go into the mathematics of that statement. A bunch of stuff she didn't understand a word of and would need to make her own notes of to make any sense of it.

The purple lightning struck Foria's sword, then flowed down it and struck the ground around her feet. Foria watched it, then looked up at the wolf that was in the air pouncing on her— even as lightning poured out of its body. Zing! With another stroke of the sword, Foria created a small arc of blood that separated the wolf's head from its body, dying some of the overgrown golden grass and sunflowers red. Foria looked up for a bit, then sighed. She collected the heads in a bag and began returning to the sect.

Whenever she thought of being left behind by Tao and Aneroze, she felt sick in the back of her throat. Faust twisted and pressed the Spirit Glazed Platinum's Essence Qi into the third array inside his Inner Palace foundation. Once the Essence Qi was in shape, he poured one final thin layer of mixed Essence and Innate Qi, filling in the last centimeter of space between his already solidified spirit body and the boundary of the spirit body.

The mini Mountain Pressing Array did its work well, attempting to compress the Qi mix. Faust used his own Qi manipulation to further increase the pressure, matching the Jade Crushing Refinement Array. Soon enough, there was no more Qi that Faust could fit and compress into his spirit body. He exhaled deeply, before slowly inhaling again. As far as most would be concerned, Faust could start working on the frame of his Inner Palace.

Or rather, the various anchors he would have to create to fix his physical and spiritual bodies together. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Faust stood up. The ground was caked with a light frost that clung to every surface, even the undersides of the metal braziers as their flames began to waver. A chilly breeze blew across the yard, ruffling Faust's robes and disheveled, slightly overgrown hair.

He walked around the formations he had set up and checked the chest filled with spirit stones. A thin layer of iridescent liquid sat in small droplets at the bottom of the chest. He had really been cutting it close. Faust looked around, taking stock of the formation items, before meticulously disassembling each one. He wouldn't need any of these again, most likely. He fully planned to design his own versions of each foundation while at the Grand Archive.

It took until the sun was high in the sky to stow away everything, and a few hours more to fix his appearance. A bit past lunch, Faust found the overgrown stone dial that controlled the mansion's formations, changing it back to the first position. Then, he pushed the doors open and left. The sect was alive. Walking from Starry Mountain to Diamond mountain, there was a relatively flat grass field before the markets and administration.

Small piles of snow were starting to melt but walking into the market, countless Inner disciples and deacons were traversing the market. A rare sight compared to the only one or two Faust would glimpse on an ordinary day. Evidently, he hadn't been the only one who had gone into seclusion over the winter months. He had done it just out of coincidence, but he supposed most people didn't like the chilling bite of the Frost Qi— Which gathered at the same altitude most people flew at.

Faust walked through the market, navigating the crowd with practice. He didn't really have much to prepare. He would check on his sister first, make sure Long Tao wasn't making moves on her and then almost immediately set off for the imperial capital. After checking her residence in the outer sect and then the mission hall, Faust tapped his chin with a closed jade fan. The one he used to look like a young heir when he was bored. He didn't have a day-by-day timeline. He could wait.

"Hmm? My, my. Out of seclusion already Senior brother Faust?" Aneroze's voice chimed from the entrance of the mission hall. A few other outer sect disciples were trailing behind her. Two senior ones who Faust recognised and a few newer ones, from more middling clans. Faust guessed by them still wearing the sect's robes rather than their own, with only a few more ornamentations as earrings or hair pins setting them aside from the commoners.

"Mh." Faust hummed in acknowledgment, "Have you seen Foria around?" Aneroze closed an eye and held a hand to her face, looking to the side.

"Hmmm… Not recently. I know Tao went on a long mission. Something like… Two weeks ago? Foria didn't join him. So she should be on a small mission or in the sect somewhere. You would know better than I, surely?" She quipped. Faust raised an eyebrow. What was the point of that? Why was she prodding how well he knew his own sister? He shook his head. He could be overthinking things… Or, she could be subtly pointing out he should find her soon. Faust nodded, cupping a fist in respect.

"Thank you then. I'll keep looking for her. If I don't find her, tell her I'll be heading for a few years of study at the Grand Archive."

"My, my, asking favors of me?" Aneroze smirked, then waved her fan around, closing her eyes and pointing her nose to the sky.

"Very well. I'll ensure she knows." With that, Aneroze passed by, heading to the line of counters with the rest of her group. Faust decided to check again later. For now, he would talk with Sirius and Phalecia. Though both had probably already heard his plans at some point. Stopping at the alchemy hall, Faust asked the deacon at the counter for Phalecia.

"Senior brother Faust." Phalecia appeared some time later, cupping a fist in her hand. She must have just dealt with a failed pill formation since her light grey hair was singed and covered in black dust. She must have wiped some off her face before seeing him since Faust could see there were still some streaks of black powder across it.

"Junior sister Phalecia." Faust returned the greeting with his own salute.

"What do you need." Phaleica tilted her head, still expressionless, but emotive as ever. Faust shook his head gently.

"I don't need anything. I'm heading to the Grand Archive for a few years, so I wanted to ask if there's anything you'd like me to keep an eye out for." Phaelica was still for a few moments, before producing a list from her storage pouch.

"This is a list of items my master recommends, but are too expensive to buy from the sect." Faust took the list and scanned it. He recognised many of the herbs and minerals on it, but not all of them. He wasn't an alchemist after all. He would have to look them up at the Grand Archive before he could see if he could find them in the capital at a reasonable price.

"I'll see what I can find."

"Thank you, senior brother." Phalecia didn't stand on ceremony and quickly returned to her work. Faust went back to Purple Gem mountain and found Sirius wasn't at home either. He searched around her mansion briefly. A place she had given him a spare token too. He found a note on the kitchen counter, which was kept meticulously clean.

"In case your out of seclusion already. Don't worry about me! I know you're going to the capital to study for a few years. I'll come visit you if you're gone before I get back. I'm out on a mission with Satheon, Dan Chen and Yue Zong! Should only take 8 days all together!" Faust felt the corners of his mouth curl up slightly and he turned the note over.

"Then, I'll head out without you.:)" He wrote in response, before leaving the mansion. Faust wandered around the sect some more. With the influx of people leaving seclusion after winter, the markets were thriving. As the sun began to set, Faust weaved between the vibrant colours of temporary stores mixed with more permanent wooden store fronts and some people just lined up with carpet on the floor, spreading their wares.

Soft orange light lit up the path from festive lanterns hung on strings between the stalls, wooden posts and even nails hammered into the mountain side.

"... Ho Jinyou was with some of the new disciples from the latest batch…"

"... Do you think that idiot Long Tao will come back alive? I heard he offended quite a few people and he's just gone on a mission that takes him to the edges of sect territory…"

"... The Roze clan's youngest heir has been bringing around an experienced team and clearing out monsters left and right. What could she need all that merit for?"

"I heard that it's because as the youngest heir she gets the least resources, so she needs to use her merit with the sect to establish a foundation as strong as her elder siblings…" As people exchanged gossip and rumours in the densely crowded market paths, Faust could spot the information broker lackeys madly scribbling everything they heard down onto paper. Despite their methods, the brokers down in Peripheral village were geniuses who forcibly raised themselves to the open Palace realm through wealth.

The amount of information they could glean just from spreading their lackeys around to record random conversations was staggering. They followed the principle of where there's smoke, their fire to a T. Deducing events with enough accuracy that even the sect administration sometimes had to pay up. It was beyond Faust. His specialty was mathematics, ultimately— as much as he loathed it— rather than people and information networks. Faust ended up back at the mission hall.

This time though, he soon spotted Foria, rubbing her back after probably having ridden one of the spirit horses all day.

"Brother!" Foria spotted him first and ran up to him. Faust smiled and walked over.

"It's been a while. Though. It only felt like a few days to me. How has the last few months treated you? Have you gotten used to sect life?" Foria nodded, "I've been following your advice… But…" Foria looked down and to the side, Faust stroked his chin, looking down at her.

"How about you submit your mission first?" Faust offered, guessing she needed time to gather her thoughts. Foria nodded, before rushing past Faust into the mission hall to the counter of deacons. Faust watched her back, standing near the doorway of the mission hall, where light flooded out of the open doors and onto the market square where most of the hall's permanent buildings were concentrated. The sky had turned dark and the light spilling from the hall made it seem even darker.

The lanterns here were hung too high to light up the ground, their orange hues drowned out by the golden glow from the halls. Foria came out shortly after. For a while, she was silent, so Faust led them through the market path while she mulled over what she wanted to say.

"Tao and Aneroze have both reached the late stage of the Qi Refining realm." Foria eventually admitted. Faust looked at her briefly, then returned his attention to a strange jewel one of the people with their wares laid out on a carpet had set up.

"One is the likely son of heaven and the other is an heir of the most powerful clan in the province, with influence even in the imperial capital. Don't compare yourself to them." he responded bluntly. Foria went silent for a while again, trailing Faust as he slowly took them around the market.

"Why can't I?" Foria asked. Faust paused. We can. His mind immediately answered. He may have been a bit slower, but he could catch up.

"Resources, Training, Family support, generations of knowledge, Influence, Money, Destiny, bloodline…" Faust answered bluntly again.

"..." Foria looked at him, scrutinising his face.

"... I know we haven't seen each other as much as other siblings. But… I think you're lying when you say that." Faust paused for an instant.

"Maybe." He said.

"I'm giving you the safest answer."

"What if I want to take some risks?"

"..." Faust looked back at Foria. She stared at him right back. There was a gleam in her eyes, like a spark against the night.

"... You already are." Faust responded, looking away.

"What do you mean?" Foria's eyes narrowed.

"The 12 Qi Transformation Technique. You've been having trouble advancing because the normal way doesn't fit neatly into the technique's explanation."

"So you didn't do that as a mistake?" Faust shook his head.

"I planned for what I would teach you for several years even if it wasn't my main focus. It was on purpose." Faust turned and walked to the next stall.

"But why?" Foria rushed after him.

"Tao and Aneroze are blindly following a method. They don't understand it and because of that they're at the mercy of what methods they are able to find. By understanding the technique I gave you though, you'll understand the truth of how the Qi Refining realm works." Faust began to explain. He continued, "Ultimately. I'm not asking you to become a technique master. I just want you to have a rough understanding of how cultivation really works.

Unlike those people who get stuck at bottlenecks for years and can't figure out why." He stopped and turned to Foria.

"You'll match their pace eventually. But only if you're patient." He turned back and continued walking. Foria paused for a few moments, then quickly followed as the gears in her head turned. Faust watched his sister and then slowed his pace, giving her all the time she needed. He understood why Aneroze hinted he should speak to her. From how long she was taking to think it over, she was definitely planning to ignore his advice and try forcing things. Like Mue Dian and Persius had.

Eventually, the two passed all the market stalls and were wandering down the near pitch black path that winded down Diamond mountain and through some forests before eventually meeting back at the Outer Sect courtyard. As the two passed the giant supports of Clear Jade bridge, Foria suddenly stopped walking. Faust turned.

"Thank you brother!" She said, bowing deeply. Faust smiled.

"You're my sister, there's no need to thank me." Faust handed her another pouch.

"Here's some more resources that you'll find helpful and also another technique." Foria received the pouch, then looked up at Faust.

"Are you going somewhere again?" Faust nodded.

"For two or three years this time. I'll be at the imperial capital."

"The capital? Two or three years?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly.

"Don't worry about our parents. They'll remain healthy. I made sure of it on my last visit home. We can visit them together when I return." Foria seemed conflicted, looking side to side rapidly and fidgeting with the pouch in her hands, but she nodded anyway.

"Then… Tell me what happened with Long Tao. I heard he offended another person and then went on a two week mission." Faust asked. Checking his sister's relationship with the playboy was the last thing he needed to do. Foria seemed surprised for a moment, then smiled a bit.

"Don't worry. I've only been doing the easier missions with him. I told him your advice about focusing on the fast and easy missions rather than the high reward ones." Faust eye twitched. So she was still hanging around him.

"But, he got sick of it and wanted to do something more… Dangerous… So I followed your words and didn't follow him this time." Faust paused for a moment. Oh? She was learning? He had been pretty clear on why he didn't like him. But his sister had always been spoiled. Faust realised… Perhaps he had underestimated his own little sister. He grinned madly and then began ruffling Foria's hair.

"H-hey! What are you doing!" Foria tried to escape, thrashing around. But how could she escape someone two major realms above her in both cultivation and body tempering. Faust laughed, chasing Foria as she tried to run. He felt strangely liberated by the realization and there was nobody around anyways.

"Ahhh! Stupid big brother!" Foria cried as her neatly arranged hair became a tangled mess.