The path up to the library felt exceptionally long today as I made my way, a smile still plastered on my face even as I tried to keep my excitement in control. I was trying to hold back my expectations on what I may find on the second floor, in preparation for potential disappointment by some vague mystical bullshit, but it seemed to be a losing effort so far. I walked in the library, my eyes vaguely glancing over where Elder Feng tended to be, I was momentarily surprised to see a different person present in the library right now, an older man in the 2nd realm. Meeting the man’s gaze, I bowed respectfully, showing my jade slip and handing it to them, as I turned towards the stairs leading up to the second floor. I took a breath, before I began to head up. The second floor wasn’t particularly visually different from the first one, a normal person would struggle to tell the difference between the first one and this one. But to my senses, it felt like a completely different world. The

I walked through the sect grounds, heading towards the little chamber the Old Man had to himself. The scent of alchemical elixirs mixed in potions drifted from the chamber, a smell that I’d become quite familiar with by now. “Ah, Yuan, come in. Come in,” the Old Man said, as his long sleeves swept to the side, brushing aside the Qi filled plume of smoke rising from his cauldron. “Master,” I bowed, greeting the Old Man, as I entered the chamber. “From the looks of you, it seems your quest for the library went well,” the Old Man stated, and I nodded. “I’d gotten some guidance from the spirit of an elder, and a companion to go with me. There were some troubles, but things turned out well,” I replied and the old man nodded, smiling. “Ah, how you’ve changed Yuan. It is good to see you at peace with your new path, child. This Old Man had sensed the turmoil that had always plagued your heart, the anger that you’d kept hiding within your chest. In its place, I see peace now, and curiosit

I nodded, getting up from my seat as I walked up to the cauldron. Walking around, I picked out the ingredients, grabbing the flaming grass at the very last. I placed the herbs one at a time, feeling the essence within them. I noticed the way the Qi flowed within the herbs, the way it responded to my own Qi. The spirit herb garden, and my cultivation method, had both added a new layer of insight, on the flow of Qi within the herbs root systems. There was a large network of interconnecting threads that kept these herbs filled with Qi. I almost felt as if I could reach out to the herbs in front of me, and guide the Qi within it, urging it to grow. I dropped the last of the herbs within the cauldron, before I took a breath and closed the lid. “Remember Yuan, do not fight the fire, let it flow out, before you guide it towards where you want it to be.” Old man said. I nodded, as I circulated the Qi within my dantian, letting it spread through my pathways. I extended my senses, letting m

Before she’d even stepped through into the chamber, Yan Yun felt her grandfather’s presence coming from within. His Qi embodied the mountain themselves, rumbling with the power of rolling thunder powerful enough to strike hundreds down with a single blow. It was a tempered strength, calm and controlled, waiting for the right moment to be released.It had only been her recent advancements in cultivation that had allowed Yan Yun to even begin to grasp at the vast strength her grandfather possessed. For all her life, he’d been like an insurmountable peak, so high above that she couldn’t begin to fathom the heights he had attained. But now, she was finally closing in, and she had no intentions of stopping now.“Come inside, Yu’an,” her grandfather said.Yan Yun took a breath before she opened the doors, entering the chamber as she greeted her grandfather with a bow.“Good to see you Cousin Yun, it has been a while,” a boy spoke.“Indeed, you’ve grown quite pretty Cousin Yun,” another boy

Plumes of smoke and the scent of various herbs had filled my room, slowly drifting out of the open window. I’d gone through many assortment of herbs and items in the last two hours as I’d been trying to make the right pill.I checked my notes once again, looking at the Qi amount estimates, the Qi flow pattern I was testing alongside the combination of herbs I was working at.This was the next step essentially, and something I’d be doing as an alchemist. Making my own unique pills. So far I’d only focused on refining the existing recipes and modifying them, which took out a major element of the alchemy process from the equation, which were the herbs, and the mixture of the right essence.It had been like I was given all the chemicals, and was told to simply execute the reaction correctly before. And I’d gone around playing with those.Now I had to find the right chemicals, understand how the essences interacted along with each other, and then connect those together to form the right pi