Hei Jun stood amidst a field, feeling the cold breeze of autumn brush against his skin. There were two others who stood beside him, backs straight and eyes set forward. Hei Jun recognised them to be the miners who’d gotten stuck inside the Qi vein alongside him. They’d all volunteered to be here today.Wooden spears, and some bows were on the ground in front of them, alongside a poorly made man from hay and sticks. He noted some boulders with giant gashes cut into them nearby as well, but he could not think of any use for them.Ru set his eyes forwards at the boy who’d gathered them all here. Zhang, he recalled his name to be. A cultivator, one of the ones who’d arrived here a few months ago with the old alchemist lady. Hei Jun had been part of the celebration for the boy’s recovery as he became a cultivator again. He didn’t quite understand how that worked, or how one even became a cultivator again, but his father had attended, and asked him to go, and thus he had.Things had begun c

After Yin’s Qi crystals had been a success, and I’d forbidden her from the lab to catch up on sleep, I’d sent a letter to the lord, telling him about my progress. I’d soon received a reply, marking today as the day of our visit. With such a short deadline, there had been a lot of things for me to manage, as I’d had Yin recreate the crystal once again after she’d rested, to see how reliably she could do so. The results had been satisfactory, and despite her nervousness, the newest batch of Qi crystals were even better than the one she’d created before.The time besides that had been spent coming up with a general model for the drug-nade vr 3.0. One which I had dubbed spirit-bomb, replacing a lot of the components inside it to create a spirit stone triggered explosive that could be used by anyone. The only real problem was figuring out the formation arts, and talismans that would be needed to create this, which is what I intended to rely on the lord with.Alongside the grenades, I’d als

Despite my best efforts, I had not managed to get everything done in time. With little choice left with me, I’d left whatever tasks had remained regarding the spirit garden with the village chief and granny Lang.“You have nothing to worry about, Yuan. The villagers are adjusting well to the spirit beasts, and the creature themselves have been fairly docile,” the village chief reassured me, as I handed the scrolls regarding the spirit herb distribution plans.Nodding, I sighed. Unable to stop worrying. But despite all of it, I knew it was time to go.“We’ll be back soon,” I told Guo Zou.The village chief gave me a nod. “Please, tell the Lord that this will be an honour.”“I will. Your daughter is wonderfully skilled, and has shown perfect capability to take up the task. I think the Lord will be more than willing,” I said, trying to smile in a reassuring manner. In truth, the Qi crystals were only a fraction of my concern.How will the Lord react, when I told him I had a weapon that c

“I’ve… been good. What’re you doing here?” I asked.“The Lord asked of this old man’s presence today. There is something you wish to share, I have been told.”I looked at the Old Man, memories of the talk he’d had about his grandson returning to me. He definitely deserved to know. I gave an acknowledging nod to him.“Let us not make the Lord wait then,” the Old Man said, glancing at Elder Tian Feng.The Elder took the lead, escorting us through the Lord’s manor. I noticed some guards walking around us as well, melded into the shadow, and well out of sight, but definitely there. I didn’t comment on them, walking quietly as we made our way into the manor propers.Before we reached the gate I’d grown familiar to be the Lord’s chambers, elder Tian Feng paused.“Yuan, the mortal girl, and Lao Zhang should follow me. The rest of you will be escorted to a chamber to rest,” he said to my party, glancing my way once to see if I had any complaints.I looked back without any change in my express

I watched the Lord pick up the book I’d handed him, as he flipped through the pages quickly. “This is not in a language we are aware of. Though one of them appears to be quite similar to the Azure-Jade script,” he said, before looking up at me.I nodded. “It’s written in the languages from earth. It protects the information.”The Lord glanced past me, at my reply, his eyes turning towards Yin. “Did you know of your grandfather’s origins?”Yin froze, standing dumbly for a moment, before I saw her give a stiff nod.“A different world. We had been aware that there had been souls drifting into our realms from somewhere beyond,” the Lord said, before looking down at the book. “Are there any others you know of? People from your world?”“None so far, my lord,” I replied.The Lord stood silently, yet I could feel his presence growing heavier and stronger by the minute. There was a palpable weight to the air around me, as the Lord inspected the tools and weapons in front of him.“Tell us more,