I heard gasps and murmurs coming from the younger boys and some men as they looked at me in shock. My recent displays had gained me a reputation greater than I had cared for. The association with the Divine tree, and the knowledge I brought had made some of the villagers believe I was a Divine messenger of some sort, and my efforts to dissuade them had only deepened their own beliefs.“Yup. Yan Yun’s still settling into her regained cultivation, and you’re the best fighter I know,” I said to Zhang, ignoring the whispers.I saw Yin’s brother, Hei Jun, shout at them as they quieted down, before he gave me a nod. I returned the nod, smiling. The boy I’d saved, who had been so helpless in the mines, had now grown a fair bit more muscular and confident. The training with Zhang had clearly been showing results.“Sure brother. Are there any rules?” Zhang asked.“We’ll spar till one of us concedes. Sounds good?” I asked.Zhang nodded, about to put his training spear away. “Keep it,” I told hi

Just because the world hated me and everything I do, I managed to get a fatal new problem sent into my lap as well. As I’d been walking on my way back, I’d noticed that my core had somehow returned. That was not the bad part, though I would’ve liked to have an understanding of how that worked. The part was when I realized that something was eating through my Chi inside my body, and tearing at my spirit itself. It didn’t take me long to figure out that it was the poison which had so conveniently just disappeared. Of course nothing would solve itself so quickly.To my relief, the poison stopped once again when I entered the village, which is precisely when my core seemed to vanish again. With my already annoyed mood, this was enough to make me pissed off. I didn’t notice it at the time, but the very wind, earth, and air seemed to be howling around me in anger and every creature, and person in the village was giving a wide berth as I walked past them.I opened Granny Lang’s workshop, fin

Time passed, and my nervousness regarding the situation only began to grow more and more. A part of me was worried whether my plan for the duel would even work or not. I had felt fairly confident before, it was unprecedented for a duel to be refused, the amount of face it would lose a sect would be too enormous. But uncertainty had slowly but surely crept into my thoughts, doubts and what-ifs filling my mind.But today, at last the Lord had sent a message to me. Apparently the Alchemy Hall Elder had already arrived and had agreed to the terms, with a date set as well in a week’s time. It felt like barely enough, even a month would’ve felt short, but it was what I had, so I’d just have to make do with it.The second good news came a little later, as Granny Lang told me she may have found a way. The “may” part was a bit worrisome, but at this point I was ready to take whatever I got.“There’s a way to effectively hold the poison within you for a small time without any harmful effects,”

I could not sleep at all, which mattered a lot less to a cultivator than it would a normal person. After the first few hours when I’d realized that sleep was a far off dream, I’d set off to roaming the village premises. Turns out I had not been the only one who’d been struggling with that problem. I noticed Yan Yun seated on a boulder outside. “Can’t sleep either?” I asked. “Not today,” she replied, before she scooted over, patting the boulder next to her for me to sit on. I accepted her invitation, letting myself sit next to Yan Yun, as we both spent some time simply gazing at the beautiful star and the moon shining above. The autumn clouds floated in the sky, causing rays of moonlight to peer through them in intervals, almost like a dance happening within the skies. Knowing the Lunar court’s existence, perhaps that was exactly what was happening? Flee would know more than me about that. “Hey Yuan.” “Hmm?” “Do you ever wonder what it might be like to go to the moon?” I l

For all my nerves making the ride feel longer, it barely took a few minutes before we’d arrived. The poison had already started working the moment we’d left Taizhou and I’d promptly taken the pill granny Lang had given me, taking it within the carriage. I could feel the working, the poison now swirling in my Dantian, slowed down to a crawl for its effects.Without much fanfare or word, I stepped outside alongside Zhang and Yan Yun. The carriage moved past us, as the three of us walked into the Lord’s chamber. The Lord was waiting for us, which made me concerned. Almost every time I had walked into his chamber, he had been working on something or other, but now he simply stood at the window, looking outside.“Greeting, Lord Zhou,” I said, bowing my head. Yan Yun and Zhang followed.“Raise your head,” Lord Zhou replied, regarding me. “We have been hearing reports from Qiao Ying. It seems your work has been showing results.”“Yes, the initial steps at least. Although we definitely can’t