Copyright © 2020 by Dragon of Rochester aka T. D. Rochester

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Table of Contents

Dedication

This story is dedicated to Adam and Zane.

Story 1

Cultivating All Over Again

Part 1

Goddamn it! Now, I’ll have to cultivate all the fuck over again!

A thousand years ago, my American-who-barely-understood-any-Mandarin ass was transmigrated into a Xianxia novel. Even with all the culture shock and the decades of learning I had to go through, it wouldn’t have been so bad except this particular novel was one I’d only briefly heard about. I never actually read the fucking story!

What I could grasp though, was that my body’s initial owner, as “the girl next door,” had likely been destined to end up as one of the main character’s braindead wives.

Fortunately, I became neither brain dead nor his wife. Unfortunately, I failed my ascension to immortality and died only to have my soul fall into something strange, like a tear in space-time, causing me to return to the beginning of this dumbass Xianxia harem novel!

I clutched my aching head. It had been damaged from the fall that caused my original transmigration.

Was it my imagination or was my thinking very sluggish? Ah! Of course! There would be strange side-effects to stuffing a huge Immortal Ascension Stage cultivator’s soul into a tiny mortal’s body.

Whatever! This was all that asshole main character’s fault! He knew I was ascending that day and yet he decided to ascend at the same fucking time, like the idiotic shit donkey he was. Of course, since the tribulation worsened due to us ascending together, I was struck down by the overpowered lightning strikes. He, on the other hand, had a shield made out of plot armor that protected his ass.

Know what? This time around, I was going to find that insufferable cock mosquito and have him use this lifetime to make up for the death that he caused!

***

The main character and I grew up in the same place, this little seaside village where the houses were made of ocean stone and local wood, and the air scented of saltwater, and fresh breezes. Of course, us being from the same place made my ability to avenge myself easier. I used the tiniest portion of my divine sense, the only thing that stayed with me after my trek through time, to find his location; that of a dilapidated hut.

Ah, right, the kid was an orphan. His mother, a woman on the run, arrived here with him two years before the immortals came to recruit sect members. She died mysteriously a few months after arriving, leaving the child an orphan. Typical story lettuce.

I pounded on his door.

“Open up!” I would have said his original name but I’d forgotten what it was. A thousand years was a long time, after all.

The door opened to a dirty interior that stank of unwashed bodies. A six or seven year old child with messy hair and big black eyes peered up at me. Though young, the resemblance between the asshole and this kid stood out.

I tilted my chin up and looked down at him. Every angle and posture of my body gave me the appearance of an immortal child.

“In our past lives, because of your stupidity, you killed me. So in this life, you need to pay me back. From now on, you’re following me as my junior brother and must do whatever I say!”

I turned and took a few steps as if certain he’d follow. When I peered back I saw that he just looked tired and confused, so I stopped. “To say it another way, go pack your things, you’re coming home with me.”

His eyes grew wide and he slammed the door shut. Oh, I probably sounded crazy to him. Whatever. I’m older, wiser, prettier, and all-around more amazing than him at this point in time, so he can’t escape. Muahahaha.

I waited for a while. Honestly, I expected him to straight-up ignore me and take me as a loon, but eventually, he did come out with a bag filled with his worldly possessions. He stepped up to me, reached up, and pulled a dried leaf out of my hair. Ah, wasn’t that from my fall earlier? I’d been so angry I didn’t even notice. Whatever, I’ll pretend it didn’t happen. Onward!

I nodded with the haughtiness of an immortal and we trudged back toward my family’s large rural farmhouse, picking up small flat rocks along the way.

When I reached the front door, I froze. Shit. My body was only, like eight or nine. I had a large extended family that included brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and, of all things, parents. Parents I hadn’t seen or thought about for a thousand years. Filial piety was a big thing in this world. And I was no longer the Immortal Ascension stage cultivator of my past life, but a child with parents I had to show respect to. Damn it! Why couldn’t I kidnap a main character in peace?

Still, I made a quick plan and walked inside and up to my mother and father. For this time period, what exactly was the proper etiquette? Was I supposed to bow? Whatever. I bowed. A rock may have dropped but that didn’t matter. One couldn’t go wrong in first showing obedience to one’s parents in the mortal world.

“Father! Mother!”

They looked behind me at my little shadow then my father said my original body’s name, and after a few more pleasantries that showed how rusty I was at talking to mortals and people who I needed to respect as an elder, I finally got to the meat of the matter. Or the super-duper cliche lie  of the matter.

“Last night an immortal appeared in my dreams and took me in as her disciple. She also wanted me to accept this boy as my junior brother. After seeing where he’s living I can’t force my brother to live there. Please allow him to stay with us!”

I bowed again and hoped they’d agree without much effort. And I may have used a little pressure from my divine sense to convince them.

“This...”

“Don’t worry. He doesn’t eat much and in a few years immortal cultivators should arrive and take us to a sect.”

After that, they reluctantly agreed, and through my convincing words and a few more well-timed applications of divine sense, I managed to let him stay in my small room so I could privately teach him how to cultivate.

After I helped the dumbass main character’s child form wash up (which included the rocks) and eat (which did not), I brought him to my room and made a space for him and his things.

“We’ll cultivate here for now.” Reaching out with my senses, I felt the area’s thin spiritual energy. Disgusting. “The mortal world leaves something to be desired.”

I took out the rocks from earlier, wrote a few rough symbols on each of them with charcoal, and created the lowest leveled energy gathering formation I could remember. It was so low leveled that it didn’t even require anything except the formation itself and a few crude formation glyphs.

While I let that gather what it could inside the room, I stared at the little future harem lord. He hadn’t said a word so far.

“In your past life, your Daoist name was Bloodsword, but that’s the dumbest, most chuni name ever so I’m vetoing it. Also, your destiny is oftentimes connected to your name, and since, I would rather you not repeat the mistakes you made in that life, it’s better to change it. So, in this life, you’ll be known as Spring of the Universe Zhenren... no, that title is too good for you at this stage...”

“What were you named?”

Startled by him finally speaking I said, “Fairy Lin.” It was my last name in my original life and I kept it so I wouldn’t forget the world and culture I came from.

“That’s...”

“Shut up. I know it’s plain. Whatever. Fine, I’ll call you Little Spring, for now, and you can grow into the other one as you age and cultivate.”

He scowled and gave me a skeptical look. “Fairy Lin, do you lie often?”

“Are you referring to the lies I told my parents?”

He shrugged.

“They aren’t actually my parents so I don’t feel guilty. Now, enough talk. It’s time you learn to cultivate.”

Bloodsword and I had the same master, Fairy Verdant Bamboo, so technically he was also my junior brother back then. But then, like main characters of harem stories often do, he ended up taking our master in as one of his wives making him, as our master’s husband, above me in rank. Fuckers, both of them.

But, before those two turned me off to the idea of ever accepting a disciple, I did memorize all cultivation manuals that all my master’s disciples learned, just in case.

So, I taught him the breathing technique to help a cultivator sense spiritual energy while planning to recklessly give him the technique he learned in his last life once he succeeded.

Now, what should I cultivate? This was my chance to start over and build my foundations better, stronger, and do it faster.

Although my mind wasn’t working quite as quickly, and my memories, now that I lost my cultivation, were a bit fuzzy, I still recalled the personalized cultivation techniques I’d developed in my later years. The one I cultivated previously and the others I’d researched were all flawed in ways I found unacceptable in that they required stupidly expensive herbs or spiritual beast blood to activate my unique constitution. In frustration and boredom, I created a new and perfected one that would theoretically require no external measures while also increasing the speed of my cultivation. Who knew I’d eventually need it!

I sat down to cultivate the manual I’d named, Lin’s Fucking Kickass Cultivation Technique, No Peeking.

Breathe in, while moving the external spiritual energy inside the Dantian. Move the energy in a loop through a specific path designed to stimulate and slowly activate my constitution. Bring the energy back to my dantian and exhale the impurities. Repeat as needed.

After a very short time, I paused my cultivation because the area ran out of spiritual energy and I had to wait for my formation to gather it back up again. When I looked over to Little Spring I noticed that he’d fallen asleep. He curled in on himself and shook while mumbling out for his mother.

Well, this was awkward. What the hell was a thousand-year-old monster supposed to do with a grieving child main character? Leave him alone? Pat his head? Murder all of his family members so he can strive for revenge? Oops, that one was taken already.

I sat down next to him and pet his hair like a cat. Well, I was never good with sympathy, but maybe psychology would work better.

“It is okay to be sad. It is healthy to be sad. Live through your grief and grow stronger...”

Eventually, after my speech on grief had repeated a couple of times, his muscles loosened and he slept peacefully.

***

Sitting in our room, I stared at Little Spring, baffled.

“It’s been two months already! I’m at the second layer of Qi Condensation, but why haven’t you even sensed Qi yet?”

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled and refused to look me in the eye. I wanted to call him out on him sleeping instead of cultivating but stopped myself. He still didn’t trust me enough. I could tell. Maybe it was because I lied to my body’s parents, all the time, or perhaps he just thought I was crazy...

I thought back to how I treated him these past two months, and while I hadn’t exactly been bullying him, it probably hadn’t been the best experience for him either, with me forcing him to do my chores and me supervising him while huffing with arrogance everywhere I went. But he was responsible for my death, so, whatever.

I grabbed his wrist and sent my Qi into his body. There was something strange about it.

Eh? What was this? Did he have a super rare special constitution of some kind? Of course, he did. He was the main character. It was probably locked or something too by his whatever parents.

Now that I thought about it, I, unfortunately, knew little about special physiques and bloodlines, besides my own (though I’d certainly studied them more than most cultivators). I did, however, know novels.

With a sigh, I asked, “Do you have any keepsakes your parents left you?”

He hesitated for what felt like an hour. When he finally opened his mouth again a loud noise rocked through the village. Well, it was more a voice than a noise as it said, “The great Immortal Flower Thief orders you, insignificant mortals, to bring out your daughters and your food or I’ll burn this village to the ground. You have an incense stick worth of time. Tarry and die!”

Huh? Did something like this happen?

Wait? Yes! It did! It was hard to remember things from a thousand years ago but I remembered this guy. Ah, this flower thief was a loose cultivator who was just barely not a demonic cultivator, though what with the things he did he might as well have been.

I looked at the little kid who was shaking in terror.

“Little Spring!”

“Yes!”

“You heard this asshole?”

“Yes!”

“Don’t be like him. He’s scum, and he commits evil because he can.”

“Evil?”

I nodded sagely. “Things like robbing mortals, kidnapping mortals, killing mortals for no reason, and taking a ton of lovers then abandoning or killing them. Though, it’s more the taking of a bunch of lovers that’s—”

“Fairy Lin!” His face turned bright red.

“And above all else, if you ever dual cultivate with someone, never do it in such a way that you get all the benefits and they get nothing. That’s just rude and unfair.”

“What’s dual cultivation?” He asked as if he was putting up with a senile grandma.

“I mean, it should be something reserved for a cultivator’s one Dao Companion, but some people who happen to have a harem of wives or husbands use it with the ones they trust the most...” Just as I was about to go into further details I realized who I was talking to. Fuck. Maybe I am insane since I just started to give the standard lecture on Dual Cultivation to a six or seven year old.

His eyes had grown super wide.

“Right. Forget what I just said. Just know that he’s a bad person and I’m going to go murder his ass before he does bad things to the women in our village.”

He nodded, face pale.

I stood up and took a step only to realize that my sleeve was caught in Little Spring’s hand.

“Don’t go.”

I crouched down and grinned. “You think I can’t win?”

He nodded. “I’m a man, I’ll go instead.”

Aww. He was so adorable when he was a kid. The fuck happened?

I flicked his forehead and he rubbed it cutely. “For mortals, men are supposedly needed to protect women because they have the genetic strength advantage. But for cultivators, genetic physical strength doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is cultivation and skill. Because I have the highest cultivation in this village, as long as I’m able, it’s my responsibility to protect it from other cultivators. And, judging by this ignoramus shit snake’s power just now, he’s only at the fourth level of Qi Condensation.”

I ruffled his hair and pulled his hand away from my sleeve.

“Be good. And remember that you still owe me. If you are to pay me back in the future, you need to grow stronger.”

***

After losing the dumbass little shadow that followed me despite my repeated orders to go back home, I made my way to the center of the village. There were already women and food supplies gathered there. The women cried with gut-wrenching sobs and the men waited off to the side, eyes red, hands clenched into fists, shame and horror painting their faces alabaster.

Several men from the village had already tried to kill the evil bastard and, sadly, their corpses lay strewn throughout the square, making people who had seen less than me lose their lunch.

The culprit, a thin man with an odd double chin and a bulbous nose stood on a flying sword, laughing. That flying sword artifact was terribly made, but even Qi Condensation stage practitioners could use it and, frankly, since I currently had nothing of the immortal world, I needed it.

I walked through the carnage, a little smile on my face that was not of the happy variety.

“Daoist Immortal Flower Thief, I presume?”

He snorted. “You’re a bit on the young side, but you’ll do. Go get in line.”

I stood my ground, placed my hands on my hips, and sneered. This guy was the worst so I decided to have a bit of fun with him. “Surrender all your valuables, or die.”

He laughed and landed near me. “Little girl, you think you’re cute? Huh? Are you trying to throw yourself at me?”

“If you give me your sword now, I’ll be sure to keep your corpse intact.”

“If you’re trying to distract me, then you’re doing a piss poor job of it.”

Then he turned and grabbed something small that was about to attack him. He threw it off to the side. The crack of a bone breaking sounded in the quiet.

I blinked once and realized that my dumbass Little Spring was trying to kill the bad guy and failed because he had zero cultivation.

“Fucking idiot!”

Time seemed to slow down.

Two options. Go kill dumbass number 1 or go save dumbass number 2.

Because I was a logical person, and because the little main character had plot armor, I chose the first option.

Focusing on Flower Thief, I unfurled as much divine sense as I could without doing too much damage to my mostly mortal body and I threw out an immense amount of pressure on the asshole that to him would feel like I was a hidden master at the peak of Foundation Establishment. His eyes bulged and he prostrated before me. Which was good since he couldn’t see the nosebleed I’d given myself while his face ate dirt.

“You were having fun here, weren’t you? Gathering food and cultivation ‘vessels?’” I wiped the blood off my face with a handkerchief. “Hurting the people of this town, you maybe could have gotten away with it if I’d been in the right mood. And only after you left behind your items and cultivation. But hurting my little brother... That was a mistake.”

“Senior! Please forgive me! Let me go and I’ll give you everything, even the clothes on my back!”

I chuckled. “Just kidding. I was going to kill you either way.”

My new sword had fallen a few feet away from him. I picked it up using my spiritual energy then executed him on the spot. Then I grabbed his storage bag and searched for medicinal pills while walking to Little Spring. I found one that was a low enough level that it worked on mortals and took it out. I then scanned his body with my divine sense and froze. A chill ran down my spine and I regretted my previous choice.

This little idiot was mostly dead. And if I didn’t hurry, he’d be all the way dead.

I shoved the pill into his mouth. It melted on contact with his tongue. Without wasting time, I poured a small portion of my spiritual energy into his mortal body to take the healing energy of the pill and move it to the areas that needed the most attention. I used some of my divine sense to put pressure, off and on, against his heart to get it pumping.

A minute passed. Was this it? Did I fuck up so bad that even the plot armor couldn’t save him? I grabbed his hand tighter and kept cycling my spiritual energy through him. No! I would not let him die. So what if he was the main character of this novel? So what if in my past life he was a selfish, idiot harem master? So what if he killed me out of malicious ignorance? Right now, this little guy was just a sweet (mostly) innocent kid. He had no clue about any of that. And, without any cultivation, he still tried to protect me. Fucking adorable dumbass.

“Hey. You survive and I won’t make you owe me anymore, okay? Okay? Come on, Little Spring.”

Something inside his body gave way and — for a mortal — a torrent of bloodline power flooded the boy’s system. It traveled through the broken areas, healing and strengthening it. Making him live.

He coughed and breathed in. When he opened his eyes he grabbed my hand in terror.

“No, Fairy Lin! I still owe you. I still owe you. Please don’t throw me away.”

I grinned so wide that my eyes started to water. It definitely wasn’t because I was emotional or something.

“Come here!” I hugged him so tightly that he froze. “Don’t worry. I won’t throw you away even if you don’t owe me.”

When I released him his face blushed, then he looked around and paled. I knew the exact moment he saw the body of the flower thief by the horrified look on his face. He turned to me, mouth agape.

“Fairy Lin,” he started, his voice high. “You really weren’t lying about all that cultivation stuff were you?”

I glared at him. “Do you mean to tell me that all this time you didn’t believe a word I said? I bet you thought I was crazy right? Humph! You were sleeping instead of cultivating, weren’t you?”

“Ah! No! Maybe?”

I stood up, intending to kill him (but not really), except the boy, after his bloodline was partially released, was faster. He ran off yelling a sentence as one word, “I’llgocultivatenow!”

“Brat!”

I walked after him, ignoring the stares of the villagers near me, and making plans to join the sect early, now that I had a flying sword, a storage bag, and the villagers’ fear. That last point was the big red flag that told me it was time to get the fuck out of town.

But I kept walking, my thoughts drifted to the past future and the new future. I felt a little stupid for not knowing what Daoist Bloodsword had been through over the years. He was my junior brother after all, however gross I found his behavior to be, it was a tragic failure on my part that I never learned much of anything about him besides what he cultivated, what I overheard from his many braindead wives chatting on our mountain and whatever juicy sect gossip went about. And now I didn’t have the chance to learn more. Everything had refreshed.

But maybe, just maybe, if I didn’t fuck up too bad and get my little junior brother killed off, I could raise him as a better, smarter cultivator than Bloodsword. And maybe, by doing so, having to cultivate all over again wouldn’t be so bad.

Fairy Lin  - Lin meaning “Forest”

Spring of the Universe  - the pinyin is Yuchun and, according to the wonderful translator who helped with it, if read in different tones can sound like, ‘stupid’.

Zhenren  - I’m using it as a title attached to the end of a name but it means Perfected Being, Paragon

Story 1 Bonus

The Girl in Our Village is Crazy

Part 1

My mother had died a few weeks earlier and I didn't know what to do. She had been my only family. So, I just lived. Day to day. In our hut. Our ridiculously dilapidated hut with a thatch roof that needed patching, and a bed that smelled like death. But it and the items within it were all I had left.

If not for a kind neighbor who brought me his leftovers every morning, I would have starved. Still, it wasn't enough. I was alone, and tired and depressed. What was the point of living even? Maybe I could find the truth about the people who forced my mother and me to flee for our lives? Maybe get revenge? I cou—

I heard a knock, interrupting my dark spiraling thoughts.

In our village, there was a very pretty girl who had always been a little off and not entirely there. When I saw her at the door, with dirt on her face, a bruise on her temple, and a leaf stuck in her hair, I was dumbfounded. When she said insane words to me about a past life, I was certain the rumors were true. Then she told me to come with her, do what she said and she would become my family.

I slammed the door shut. Not believing her. I waited. She didn't leave. And eventually, I realized that she may be crazy, but did that matter? Maybe I could stay at her place and take care of her so she didn’t go around doing too many things that could get her in trouble and in exchange her family could feed and house me.

So, I grabbed my mother’s keepsakes and all of my things, shoved them into our worn travel bag then left. I did not look back.

She still had that leaf in her hair when I reached her so I pulled it out. Her cheeks turned slightly red from embarrassment but then she acted as if nothing happened and continued to walk along the path. She began picking up flat stones. Why was she picking up stones? Exactly what was going on in that weird head of hers?

Eventually, we made it back to her place, both of our arms filled. She stilled for a long while before entering and walking up to her parents. Somehow, looking as wild as she did, she still managed to convince them to let me stay. I don’t know if they believed her lies about an immortal but they seemed pretty used to her nonsense.

When we reached her room with all the rocks she picked up, she started writing nonsense on them with a piece of charcoal and set them down in a weird pattern that made my eyes hurt a little, probably from how ugly it looked.

Satisfied over her ridiculous rocks, she sat me down and gave me a new name, Spring of the Universe. Or Little Spring. But I already had a name, Wang Mingren.

Well, I’d let her call me what she wanted since she seemed like the type of person who wouldn’t listen anyway.

After a little while, she started spouting nonsense about, breathing in and out in a weird pattern to help sense the “spiritual energy” around me. I was too exhausted so I just fell asleep.

The next day I realized that she had no idea how to do any of her chores. I mean, she tried at first but made everything worse so I just took over since I’d been helping my mother do things like this for a while now, though, due to being too depressed, I hadn’t done them in weeks. She pretended to supervise me off to the side and said that I did a good job. Even though I knew she wasn’t all there in the head, her words made me happy.

Sometimes, I’d hear her humming strange songs and saying random nonsensical, barbaric sounding words in exclamation. When I stared at her, she’d turn her head and act like she hadn’t done anything.

At night, she taught me characters and words in the sand. At least, that’s what she said they were. I learned them anyway since if they weren’t real, then at the very least, we could share a written language. When she was done teaching, she would tell me to cultivate but I mostly just fell asleep while sitting down.

Sometimes at night, when I dreamed about my mother dying and felt that everything in this world could burn, I would feel a hand running through my hair, telling me that it was okay to be sad. It was healthy to be sad. It reminded me that I was not alone. And the pain would ease.

***

After two months of living together, a real cultivator came to our little village. Of all things that could happen, my cheap older sister said that she’d stop him.

Stop him? She wasn’t a real cultivator but an insane little girl, so how could she stop him? I tried everything I could to get her to not go and even followed after her, but she somehow managed to lose me.

When I reached the area people gathered and saw the bodies lying around, I threw up. I knew those people. Some of them were even kind to me. And now they were gone. Terror ran through every part of my body. And then I saw her. A little girl half of the evil cultivator’s size, hands on her hips, and spouting nonsense. If I didn’t do anything, she was going to get herself killed.

I didn’t know what possessed me but I ran up to attack him and everything went black.

In a haze, I heard her saying that I no longer owed her. But isn’t the reason I was with her today because I owed her from our past lives? Does that mean she’s going to throw me away? No! After losing everyone, I finally caught this cheap sister. There was no way I would let her leave me alone!

I wasn’t sure what happened but strange hot energy flowed through me and my broken body healed. I woke up, spoke my mind and she hugged me. It was embarrassing.

Then I saw the man who hurt me lying on the ground, headless. Had — had my sister done that?

The blood that splattered her clothes told me it was her. She still might be crazy, but she hadn’t been lying about immortal cultivation!

Wait. If all of the nonsense she spoke about cultivation was real then hadn’t I’d wasted two months by not gaining strength? If I had listened I could have been strong enough to protect her instead of being protected by her.

Embarrassed, and not wanting to deal with my older sister while she was angry, I ran back to our house. Then I realized that I left her there to deal with the aftermath and tried to return. We met at the door to the courtyard. After washing up she walked to our room and collapsed into the position she always cultivated in.

I sat beside her and this time when I practiced the technique to sense for the spiritual energy I let go of my misgivings and reached for the crazy unknown.

Story 2

Golden Fingers, Jade Boxes, and Other Treasures

Part 1

With a sword in my hand, I practiced long used positions, retraining my nine-year-old body to fight. As I moved, my appearance perfectly matched the description for a beautiful child immortal... at least, I assumed it did. Living in a rural farm area, I lacked any kind of silvered mirror like I used in my past-past life. And I currently couldn’t form a water mirror since that was a mid-level spell for Qi Condensation practitioners. It wasn’t worth the strain on my body.

Once I finished the familiar set of moves, a duck waddled past me as though I posed no threat. I glared at the stupid duck then sighed. Ever since I managed to collect this shitty sword from Immortal Flower Thief, I’d been practicing to gather more Sword Qi.

I’d been using the sword as my main weapon for a thousand years, so building up a reservoir of Sword Qi was fairly easy. If I had decided to go down the path of a Sword Cultivator, it would be a breeze to advance at first, but I would only ever do that if my current path failed. Sword Cultivators often needed to have epiphanies to advance significantly and I wouldn't reach immortality that way since I already knew too much.

There was also the issue that my body still had a mortal’s strength; meaning that, while my mind was excellent, my physical form —once again — limited my advancement. I could still kick the ass of anyone under the 8th layer of Qi Condensation with just these mere skills though. Probably.

And all of this practice was, of course, to facilitate leaving this stupid village for the immortal world. Because, after I let Little Spring get hurt, I realized that I couldn’t rely on my divine sense anymore. Once someone noticed that it didn’t match my level, I could get my ass handed to me by some dick nugget with a high enough cultivation —though I’d never make it easy for them.

As I readied myself to do another round of practice, the signs of Qi deviation spread through the yard, breaking my concentration.

Little Spring? But he hadn’t even reached the first layer. He was also in the middle of chores so how the fuck could he be deviating right now?

I ran around the corner to see my little martial brother on the ground, curled in on himself as he groaned in pain.

Had he tried to advance to the first layer while working? This shit for brains!

I knelt next to him and pushed my energy through his body to steady his cultivation. But I wasn’t strong enough and it easily started to go wild.

“Big sister Lin?” He said, voice straining with pain.

“Hush, idiot.”

The only thing I could do was pick apart the small amount of cultivation he’d already begun, making it so he’d have to start from scratch. The only good news was that, since he hadn’t had much cultivation to begin with —and since I took the time to actually unravel it instead of straight-up destroying it— this Qi deviation did no damage to him. He did, however, pass out from agony.

Since I was there, I took time to really look at the traces of what he’d cultivated before. Something didn’t add up.

I knew from my past life that our master had taught him this cultivation technique. She’d even mentioned how incredible it was that he could use it to cultivate so unbelievably fast...

Ah, was that it? Unbelievably fast?! Bloodsword never cultivated this technique in the past, did he? He only convinced us all that he had. That ignoramus fuck donkey.

Then what technique did he cultivate?

I groaned. Raising a main character was harder than I thought. Wait.... am I... am I raising this kid?

That would be negative. Nope. Not me. At most, I was guiding him to the right path, like a good older sister should.

***

I managed to convince one of my cousins, who had been running around doing chores, to help me drag the little dumbass to our shared room and place him on the bed. Then I waited until he woke up. I may have helped him along by poking his cheek which had started to fill out now that he was eating regularly.

“So, you want to explain what happened there?”

His face, which had previously looked deathly pale, flushed a little.

“I was practicing while working, even though you told me not to.”

I nodded sagely. “And?”

“And a cat attacked me out of nowhere. I was startled and I messed up.”

“That would do it. Listen, there is a reason we cultivate when we are completely alone, or when someone we trust watches our back.”

“But I’ve seen you cultivate out in the open before!”

I glared. “There is a difference between cycling your cultivation method to refill your well and actual cultivation to gain a layer. The first one can be interrupted at any time, but the second one, well, you just experienced that possibility didn’t you?”

I glared harder. He looked away.

“When you’re breaking through to another small level or trying to break through to another realm, you better believe that you need to be undisturbed. If your concentration breaks at that point, Qi deviation just might kill you or make it impossible for you to ever increase your realm again.”

He swallowed. “I just want to get stronger.”

“We all do. But cultivation takes time. It is a step-by-step process that will take as long as it takes. There are some things you can do to speed it up, and, once we get to a place where I can gather those things, I’ll help you, but I need you to not be a little idiot and use your brain.”

He touched his lower abdomen, over where his cultivation spiral had been and blinked rapidly as if trying not to cry. I handed him a handkerchief and pet his head a bit.

“It’s okay to cry if you need to. Don’t let any asshole tell you otherwise.”

He handed me my handkerchief back. “I’m fine. It’s just... I spent so many days and it’s gone.”

I nodded. “You will grow stronger. But, when you’re this new to something, you shouldn’t rush. Learn properly, or else you’ll only end up a half-taught dumbass and then what are you going to do when you’re a Nascent Soul cultivator with your own disciples?”

I mean, Bloodsword never took in a disciple, but this child was my family's Little Spring. Who knew what his future held?

But, now that I was thinking of his future, I needed to learn something about his past. Since he didn’t know anything about his real past yet, and I frankly didn’t care enough about him in my last life to find out, I could only see what he had on him that could give me any clues.

“You remember how I asked to see the items you brought with you several days ago just before Immortal Flower Thief attacked us?”

He froze then slowly nodded. “They’re over there.”

He pointed to the bag he originally brought with him, which had all his clothes and worldly possessions. I carried it over to him, and he started digging through it, taking out small item after small item and setting them on the blankets in front of him. There were several, obviously mundane items, but there were also three suspicious treasures.

One looked like a white jade hairpin. I was actually familiar with this one since Bloodsword’s first wife wore it all the time. She would often flaunt it in front of her sister wives to make them jealous. I seriously didn’t know how she wasn’t secretly murdered by everyone in that horrible shithole he called his harem. I mean, it was in our sect so the buildings and immortal caves looked nice but every one of his wives were fake princesses or criminal bitches. And all of them feigned as if they were brainless best friends in front of him while they —still brainlessly— worked on undermining each other in the background.

I picked up the hairpin and sent a strand of divine sense in to examine it. Yep, definitely the same one. It even had the same, oddly warm feel to it.

I took out a knife, scratched the back of my forearm, and dropped a bit of crimson onto the jade surface. It quickly absorbed my blood. Then I pushed my spiritual energy into it causing the stick to enlarge, morph and sharpen into a pure white blade.

Little Spring’s eyes bulged. He pointed at the sword in shock.

“This is a sky rank spiritual sword. It’s much better than my current weapon. When we start our journey to the sect, I’ll have to borrow it, but I promise to return it either when I find a new one, or when we enter the sect.”

“That...” He hesitated.

“I know this means a lot to you. I’m only using it because, right now, I am the strongest, and I need a good blade to keep us safe.”

His face turned bright red. I wasn’t quite sure what that was about, but he ended up nodding in the end.

The next item I examined was a sandalwood fan. As I suspected, it was a flying tool, like the one I looted, er, acquired from that dumb death-seeking thief. I put it away after explaining that neither of us could use it at this point as its level was too high.

Finally, I reached out to touch a very small stone bowl. It resembled the bowl part of a mortar and pestle, one that had been used to grind medicinal ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine. When I inserted a strand of divine sense, I couldn’t see anything.

That gave me pause. This usually meant that this bowl was so high leveled that I couldn’t pierce through what it hid. And, usually, that meant that this item was grade-A-treasure.

If this was grade-A-treasure, then that meant that it had some kind of a bloodline lock on it. Probably. It also meant that I couldn’t use my own blood to activate it, and, if I tried, the possibility of a backlash or straight-up death was high.

I took out a clean needle from the storage bag and held Little Spring’s arm.

His eyes grew wide.

“Don’t struggle. This is a good thing.”

While grinning evilly, I quickly poked the back of his arm. I didn’t want his little hands to get an infection, since I wasn’t about to use one of our few healing pills to cure a tiny stab wound. Then I pressed his bowl against his arm, right below the cut and let his blood drip into it.

And I waited. Nothing happened.

Just as I was about to jerk the item away from him, the world moved. When it steadied again, we found ourselves inside a minuscule world. The sky looked blue and bright, but there was no sun so the diffuse lighting caused everything to appear slightly flat. The ground stretched a distance of over three miles in diameter. A large crystal clear pond took up almost a third of the whole place.

In the exact center of the land, a cute building stood taking up the amount of space a one-car garage from my past-past life would have.

“As I expected,” I said.

Little Spring gave me a skeptical look, but I just ethereally waved him towards the building.

I anticipated it being locked somehow but, unexpectedly, he was able to enter it. Cautiously, I followed after him. This place had to be trapped in some way, right?

A pair of black eyes peered at me like I was crazy. I ignored my stupid martial brother and took in the interior of this small first room. It just had a very simple desk, on which rested a candle, a masculine necklace with a soul gem pendant, and two jade slips.

“What are these?” He asked.

“Two choices,” a man’s voice replied. It echoed with superficial authority and omniscience. “One is power, and the other is weakness. Which would you choose?”

A vein ticked in my forehead. Looked like this place had an asshat in it!

With a wave of my hand, I sent the necklace flying over to me.

“You’re not the owner of this place! Get out!"

I sent a vicious strand of divine sense into the necklace.

“What are you doing? Stop it!”

I laughed. “A trapped and weakened Nascent Soul attempting to hoodwink the owner of this place so you can steal his body and possessions?”

“Hey, little owner, little owner. I’m not like she says. She’s the one trying to hoodwink you. She obviously has the soul of a pre-immortal and is trying to steal your space!”

I rolled my eyes at his stupidity. I had no interest in this space, after all, the second rule in the Transmigrated into a Novel Club is that you don’t go against the main character if you want to live. This includes stealing his possessions because that’s a one-way ticket to the next life.

Of course, the first rule of Transmigrated into a Novel club was obvious.

“Let’s take a look at these manuals and see which one suits you best.”

The Nascent Soul scoffed. “You can’t! This space only allows for one person to read one of them. The other jade will disappear after the first one is finished.”

“Then I’ll just have to read and memorize them both at the same time. That way I can teach them to him at leisure and even correct any errors in their logic.”

“You can’t possibly!”

“Watch me!” I slammed the necklace down on the desk and centered my mind. Once I was perfectly calm, I split my mind into two and simultaneously sent a strand of divine sense into each jade slip. Then I memorized both scripts, all the way up to Immortal Ascension stage. Two complete inheritances.

The world began to dim.

“Quickly, take her to the spiritual lake!”

And that was when I blacked out.

Part 2

When I woke again, it was to getting dumped in cold spiritual spring water. I spluttered, then unconsciously started looping my cultivation technique as I absorbed the water into my body as fast as I could.

Gulping it down like a maniac in every way possible, I purified every pore and muscle. Eventually, I became full and woke up from my, frankly, lifesaving trance. I had greatly underestimated the rank of those cultivation techniques. In this particular story, most everything had a rank and a quality within that rank. The rank of these two particular techniques differed greatly. One was Golden rank with a High quality; the other was Black rank with a Low quality.

I went over the techniques in my mind. And I nearly passed out again. My mouth filled with blood.

Fuuuuck, this wasn’t good.

After using my divine sense in a way that far surpassed what my mortal body could handle, I had aggravated the difference between my soul and cultivation levels so much that it was causing me to slowly die. I needed to quickly increase my cultivation to at least the pinnacle of Qi Condensation or the dichotomy would absolutely murder my ass.

After some quick and depressing calculations, I only had half a year to live.

I crawled out of the water, looking a lot like a half-drowned cat.

“Are you alright?” Little Spring stared at me with a worried frown.

I nodded as I stormed like a turtle back into the building. When I reached the necklace that held our Nascent Soul interloper, I poked it, hard.

“So, one of these techniques that you’re trying to con Little Spring into practicing is a dark path that requires a lot of heavenly treasures, killing, and other unsightly things. It is a strong technique but it would leave him weak to mental attacks and takeovers from souls. It also has the possibility of distorting his personality.” And, frankly, I could tell that this was what Bloodsword cultivated in the past. It was also the higher-ranked technique but had worse flaws.

I turned to my little martial brother who pulled out a stool for me to rest on.

Once I took my seat I continued. “The next technique is a lighter path that requires a lot of introspection. It’s weaker, and a bit slower to cultivate, but it has minor flaws. Both were made for your bloodline. And both require a large amount of expensive and hard to find materials.”

“And which one do you think I should cultivate?”

“Neither. They’re both horrible!”

I could practically hear them drop with shock.

“What do you mean horrible?” The interloper asshat said. “These are both techniques above Transcendence rank!”

“They’re pieces of shit.”

“Then what kind of technique isn’t a piece of shit to you?”

“Mine. It’s kickass. I made it. It only has one major flaw, which is that it’s personalized so much that only I can use it.” I shrugged. Well, that and a few other minor flaws, but I wouldn’t mention those.

He snorted. “As if I’d believe you created a—“

I began to cultivate in front of him, letting go of the restriction I had to use due to the mortal world’s thin spiritual energy, and started pulling in a vast amount of this space’s gloriously thick spiritual energy, looping it around my body. Within a few minutes, I created the third layer and was on the brink of creating a fourth. The beginnings of Qi fractals began to show themselves. Then I stopped. The massive headache I’d been ignoring all this time eased a bit. I would have kept going but this little space didn’t have that much energy. It might be enough to get me fairly far, but that would just be a waste when it could be used for better things like raising rare medicinal herbs.

“What rank cultivation technique is that?!”

“What I did or did not create is none of your concern.” I tilted my nose up haughtily. “And why are you staying in that ball? Why don’t you come out?”

I poked him. A very translucent ghost of a middle-aged man flew out. He had black hair with hints of gray at the temples and a pair of downturned eyes. He wore his hair half up, with a white jade crown.

He looked like the typical evil mentor ghost who planned to take over the main character’s body. He would either fail in the end or start to befriend him to have him gather materials to make a new shell. Since I never read the book I had no idea which type he was. Maybe the author decided to subvert the trope somehow, and I was way off. Well, whatever. He’d been trapped in that soul gem for so long that he could barely project an illusory image of himself.

What a terribly weak Nascent Soul.

A tug at my sleeve had me look to Little Spring.

“You’re getting the floor wet.”

“It’s just spiritual spring water. It won’t harm anything.”

He nodded, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around my shoulders. Aww. What a cute kid! He was raised so well. What the hell happened in his past life to make him such a dark gross asshole? I highly doubted that it was just his choice in cultivation technique that changed him.

“So, if I can’t use those then could you create one for me?” His adorably hopeful eyes pleaded at me.

I grimaced and pinched his cheek. “Do you think creating a cultivation technique unique to a person is that easy?”

“Please?”

“Once you start down this path, you won’t be able to choose again.”

Well, technically, he could pick apart his own cultivation and start over again if he needed to but, I wouldn’t let him waste my precious time, brainpower, and effort by switching his cultivation technique on me like that. Not if I decided to put in the energy to make one for him.

“I understand.”

“And you’ll have to trust me completely.”

He hesitated.

“Ah! See, you’re not ready!”

“No! I’m ready! I trust you when it comes to everything cultivation related.”

I stared him down. He squirmed.

“You still think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

He shook his head far too quickly. As if I couldn’t tell when a kid was lying. “Whatever. This should be enough. Because trusting me with your cultivation technique is like trusting me with your future. It means I’ll decide your path until it’s time for you to create your own.”

His eyes widened. “I’ll need to create my own cultivation technique?”

I nodded looking like the beautiful child sage I was... though I may have still been a little wet. “When a cultivator reaches Immortal Ascension, they must decide on their path to immortality on their own.”

I wasn’t going to tell them because one's own path was their secret to keep, but, for me, my path was Unlimited. It was based on my unique Phoenix constitution. I am the Phoenix. I am the Undying. If I cannot die, then I can do everything I wish unfettered by mortality. If I can do everything I wish, then my future is unlimited. My past path, my present path, my future path. It was my path, is my path, and will be my path again.

Irritation ran through me, and I had the urge to throw something at Bloodsword. But he wasn’t here. And would never exist from this point onward.

I stared at Little Spring. “Then I will create for you a cultivation technique unique to you at the Unparalleled Perfection rank.”

The necklace dropped to the floor, and the ghost clung to the desk. “What did you say?”

I glared at him. “Unparalleled Perfection rank cultivation technique. Stop being so dramatic.”

“You can’t just make  an Unparalleled Perfection rank cultivation technique! Are you insane?”

“Some people think I am.” I stared at Little Spring who conveniently decided to look out the window as if I wasn’t talking about him. I turned back to our interloper and began my evil plot. “What’s your name, anyway?”

He straightened his spine and clasped his hands behind his back. “Old Master Violet Seal.”

“That’s a crazy stupid name. You’re now, Ghosty McGhostface.”

“I don’t understand a word you just said.”

“It’s a very well-liked name style from my past life.”

“But I have my own name. It’s a good name.”

“I don’t trust its future history.”

He looked so confused that it made me feel all giddy inside.

“Tell you what, you take this new name temporarily, help me help Little Spring become the pinnacle of this world, and I’ll make sure you survive as well as endeavor to create a new body for you.”

He froze, and his eyes narrowed. I think he realized that if he didn’t agree I would absolutely finish the job of whoever attempted to kill him off the first time.

“How are you going to help me create a new body?”

“What? You think I’m going to snatch a random one and shove your soul in it?”

He didn’t say anything and floated there skeptically.

“I mean, I did consider it for a hot second but that’s just too mean. No, if you’re good, I’ll teach you how to nourish your soul so you can create a new body. No hurting anyone or stealing anyone else’s.”

“Can you really give me those things?”

“You realize I was about to ascend before some dumbass interrupted me and caused my tribulation to become ten times more difficult, right?”

“If you’re so powerful, then why steal a child’s body?”

The urge to throw something grew. “This is my actual body. I didn’t steal it!”

I mean, I did transmigrate but it was directly into this body, not as a soul that happened to possess this body, so I always considered it my own. The whatever original owner could shove it.

He sighed. “Do I have to take that horrendous grouping of sounds as my name?”

“Absolutely.”

He ground his teeth.

“Just keep reminding yourself that it’s only temporary.”

He huffed. “Fine! I accept.”

And with that, the hidden enchantment I connected to that name attached to him. If he betrayed us, his soul would straight-up perish.

Frankly, it wouldn’t have worked except that he was weaker than a kitten from being stuffed in that gem and then trapped in this space. This binding I attached to his soul would only get stronger the more powerful he grew. If he knew about it and wanted to remove it, these next few days were his only chance to do so.

“So, how exactly are you going to create a cultivation technique for him?”

“You realize that cultivation techniques don’t just, appear out of thin air, right? Someone has to come along and create them?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“Well, to start with I only need to create the Qi Condensation manual first. And I already have two examples of high-end techniques to work with...” I began explaining the process and the testing, but it flew over both of their heads. Little Spring even looked like he would pass out any second.

With a sigh, I said, “Do you want to know what the difference is between Black rank and Unparalleled Perfection?”

Part 3

That woke them up.

“The difference is that Unparalleled perfection can only exist for an individual. For others, even if they have a similar enough physique, it can, at most, only work as a Black manual.”

“So, every Black manual was...”

“Yes. Most all were once techniques tailored to a single cultivator. You see, perfection can only exist in a vacuum. As soon as it’s exposed to other things, it becomes lesser.”

Ghosty’s eyes widened and energy seemed to surround him as he reached an epiphany. I wasn’t sure which of my awesome words made him realize something profound enough to gain the approval of the heavens but I hoped he used that energy wisely.

His projection crossed his legs and began to meditate while he absorbed the epiphany energy.

“Now, to start. Little Spring, go sit down.”

He did as I asked like the good junior brother he was. “First I need to inspect your body and make a hypothesis.”

I used the combination of my divine sense and cultivation to slowly inspect every cell of his body. I could have done it faster, but I couldn’t put any more strain on my body for a few hours.

After reviewing the Qi Condensation part of both techniques, I began to make highly educated guesses.

Hmmm. This. No this. Wait. Wasn’t this just my cultivation technique but mirrored? No. That would be... just what the dumbass author who wrote the original novel would think of and hide as an Easter egg. Fucking weirdo.

I glared at the author... well, I actually glared at Little Spring who looked uncomfortable and like he was about to cry but my glare was obviously meant for the author.

I ran my spiritual energy through his body in a pathway that was the mirrored version of mine. I could feel the restriction on his bloodline power unravel by a minuscule amount. Anyone but myself, who had created Unparalleled Perfection manuals before and was familiar with Bloodsword’s pre-ascension structure from the few times I helped treat his wounds, would miss it. Yep, this was pretty much his perfect Qi Condensation Technique.

I had a smidgen of hope that this would only be the case during this realm.

“You feel this?”

He nodded.

“Can you grab the spiritual energy in this space and cultivate using this method?”

He nodded, determined.

“In that case, this is what you should think while you cultivate. Breathe...”

After I told him, he reached the first level of Qi Condensation within two hours. He could have continued, but I stopped him because I didn’t want him to ruin his small space by consuming too much. That was the other issue with Unparalleled Perfection techniques, they needed way more energy for each breakthrough than a lesser technique. But cultivators who practiced them would end up stronger and have a more pure body... I assumed. This was the first time I was cultivating my own technique, after all.

Little Spring also needed to learn what the first level was like. Running through levels too fast at his age wasn’t good for him. That, and I felt like torturing him for a few days with the horribly thin spiritual energy of the mortal world.

“Alright. Good job. Now go soak in your spring while doing that, but without taking in spiritual energy. Instead, focus on consuming the water until you feel full.”

“Yes, Fairy Lin!” And off he went.

I moseyed over to Ghosty McGhostface. His image appeared more solid, and he opened his eyes only to move back in fright. Ah, I may have been too close to him, but whatever.

“Tell me about the person who put you in here.”

He didn’t say anything for a while and eventually sputtered, “I can’t.”

“Okay.”

He looked flabbergasted. “Just like that?”

“I know things about this world that you couldn’t even imagine. So when you tell me you can’t like that, I know you can’t.” Because the person who put him here was either a True Immortal or beyond, and they were most likely related to our dear main character in some way. Whoever that person was, they were not to be fucked with at our level. “Get ready, because we’re about to go traveling, and it’s dangerous out there.”

“At merely the third layer? You can’t be serious.”

I raised a brow at him. He didn’t say anything for a while, and we both stared out the window at Little Spring who sat submerged in water up to his lips.

Hesitantly, he said, “Are you at least going to tell him that you’re dying?”

“Heh, so you found out?” I took out a knife from the storage ring and started walking towards his soul gem, the thing that kept him alive as much as it kept him trapped.

“What?! No. I didn’t say anything! I know nothing.”

I stopped.

We sat in awkward silence and eventually I saw Little Spring start to walk back from his lake.

“I’m not going to die.” I grinned. “Just watch while I become more amazing than anyone, faster than you’ve ever seen!”

And I would do it using my own strengths.

***

When Little Spring returned, his once tan skin had turned as pale and smooth as a porcelain doll. He was starting to look more like an immortal child than myself!

Whelp, there was no hiding this. We needed to leave this village ASAP.

I had the little main character wear the soul gem with Ghosty McGhostface in it and use his will as the space’s owner to move us back into my room. Once I told him that we were leaving for the sect early we started packing up our things and putting them in my cheap storage bag, or into his space depending on the size of the object.

When I remembered my past and the beautiful space ring with literally cubic miles worth of space I’d created for myself, I wanted to cry. I went from that to lugging around a cheap second-hand bag like this that had —maybe— 5 cubic yards. It was so cheap, and well-used, that It surprised me every time I took something out and it wasn’t covered in this world’s version of glitter.

Whatever! I wouldn’t think about the past anymore.

I grabbed one of the stones that I’d used for my spirit gathering formation and a knife and started stabbing it while imagining Bloodsword’s stupid face. Huh? This stone wasn’t that bad... for something from the mortal world. It had absorbed a bit of the spiritual energy that moved through the formation. Hmm. I wonder.

While I’d never been a sword cultivator who made the sword a part of their cultivation, I did eventually come to understand a few levels past Sword Qi. I couldn't form sword quintessence at my cultivation level, but using Sword Qi with the ‘Any Blade is My Sword’ mindset was within my level.

I centered myself, breathed deeply, concentrated, and stared at the stone. Then, from a few inches away, I used a minuscule amount of the sharpest Sword Qi to cut the stone while my divine sense peered past the surface to guide the cuts within.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Little Spring peered at me like he thought I was crazy again. I sent him a smirk then blew on the stone. The surface, which had turned to dust under my ministrations, blew apart revealing the phoenix pendant I created.

His eyes grew wide and he practically jumped from his shock.

I placed a strand of my Will within the pendant, so I would know if it broke and walked out of my room. It was early morning, and the whole family had gathered for the morning meal. Some of my aunts looked shell shocked, and my uncles and cousins peered at me with suspicion.

I found my parents and bowed. They shared a look. Ah, they were really good parents. Not too strict or too lenient, and they really loved their children more than they loved themselves. For this reason, and because I had been a shitty daughter who hadn’t visited them once since I entered the sect in my past life, I decided to give them something, so, if the family was ever in dire straits, they could contact me by breaking the pendant, and I would help them if I could.

I explained that to them and let them know that my master wanted us to leave for the sect early so that we wouldn’t cause the mortals here any trouble.

At first, they refused to let us go saying that we were too young, but I lied and told her that immortals would meet us partway there and we had the great immortal’s protection.

They asked me if I needed any money, and I could tell by the look on my other lovely family member’s faces that they would get up in arms if I took anything, so I denied needing it. I had the loot from Immortal Flower Thief anyway.

And with that, we left the village. By foot. The last thing I wanted to do was freak people out after their scare the other day.

When I finally took out the flying sword and a spirit stone to power it, I ordered Little Spring to hide in his space and work on his reading and writing. The little idiot refused, believing that the two of us together would be safer. Which, of course, meant that, while I calmly flew the sword towards the nearest cultivator city I could remember, he clung to my back like a scared-ass koala. A quarter of the way there, while we still had light, I decided to stop and make camp... inside the space. Also, because I saw a good tree. Well, good for this low spiritual density area.

I landed and Little Spring left Ghosty McGhostface with me and rushed off to go use a sapling somewhere. Meanwhile, I stared at the beautiful massive tree. Ah, a Verdant King Birch. Perfect for creating low-level formation array flags.

As I used my divine sense to measure a million perfectly sized flagsticks, I took out the jade hairpin and turned it into a sword.

Hehehehe. This was going to be the most fun I’ve had in weeks!

If one cut can be two, then it can also be ten. And if one cut can be ten, then it can also be thousands.

I raised the borrowed sword above my head. “Thousand cuts!”

The tree shook but didn't fall. Ghosty McGhostface, hiding in his soul gem laughed.

“Hey, I’m not done yet.”

I slashed from right to left, moved around the tree, and, once again, made two slices that looked redundant. Then I repeated the process a few more times. Finally satisfied, I nodded. The tree seemed to still be intact.

“You ready for it?”

“For what?”

“This!” I grabbed my million sticks with my spiritual energy and increased the pressure from my divine sense to sever the last few parts that held everything together. As the tree came down around me, I used the last bit of energy I had to make a shield above my head to protect my body from the worst of the tree detritus. My nose started bleeding and I paled, but I managed to pile all of the flagsticks up neatly.

I grinned. “Pretty badass for a Qi Condensation practitioner at the third layer right?”

“Are you trying to kill yourself faster?”

I took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from the top of my lip. “I know what my body can handle. I may be pushing it, but this is necessary.”

I sighed and peered at my dirty clothes. Even though I’d protected my head and body from damage, it didn’t prevent the tree gunk and sawdust from floating everywhere and getting into inconvenient places.

I’d need to take another dip in Little Spring’s lake. Fortunately, spiritual spring water was self-cleaning and took out stains like a champion detergent, or else I’d be upset. Ah, when could I use the cleaning spell again? 5th layer? Yeah. The 5th layer was pushing it, but it could happen. Thinking about all those days I could have been soaking in hyper-cleaning water instead of suffering like a mortal, I raised my fist to the sky and shook it.

“Ah, Fairy Lin?” Little Spring, who had just arrived asked. He looked like he was slowly approaching a crazy person. “What did the tree do that made you so angry?”

I froze. Let’s see. Demolished tree? Check. Angry expression? Check. Shaking a fist at a demolished tree like it had offended me? Double-check.

I coughed. Whatever. Let’s pretend this didn’t happen.

Part 4

“Put those inside your space.” I pointed to my beautiful sticks then grabbed a few hundred for myself. Once I purchased the right silk and paint I would prepare proper flags.

Since we made such a large disturbance earlier, I decided to be safe and moved our camp a few miles south before settling down inside the space.

We had a nice dinner of Grain Liberation Pills. Little Spring was not happy but I didn’t know how to cook, so whatever. Also, eating mortal food would just undo the work the Spiritual Spring Water did, in purifying our body. Of course, when I mentioned that he glared harder and may have pointed to the very obvious large lake filled with spiritual spring water that was free for us to use. I didn’t acknowledge its existence.

And why waste time eating when there were plans to make and Little Spring’s cultivation method to develop? Preferably in a direction that wasn’t just a mirrored version of my own.

Since dinner, lunch, and breakfast for the next few days had been easily taken care of, it was time for bed. Our young and mostly mortal bodies still suffered from exhaustion and we hadn’t actually set up a sleeping area yet.

We entered the small building and trudged through the previous unexplored back door. There, we found several bedrooms (all thanks to folded space), as well as a Forging room, an Alchemy room, and an Herb Drying room. There may have been more but these were the rooms I cared about so I didn’t bother looking through the rest.

Seriously, this little main character had the best gold finger ever.

The kid thought we should continue to share a room. I complied. I mean, he was still grieving his mother, and he was only a little seven or eight-year-old. I wasn’t a total asshole. And it was also less work since we would have to clean the rooms up enough first before we could stay in them. While they appeared clean, I didn’t trust sleeping quarters that hadn’t had people in them for hundreds of years.

I also didn’t trust Ghosty McGhostface, even with the enchantment I placed on him. I set up a simple formation around the room and began my nightly routine of slowly cultivating (while not destroying the space itself) and then passing out on the bed we stole from my house.

***

It took us three more days of difficult travel before we reached the outskirts of Jade Lake City. I would have gone closer, but, when I saw it from above, I froze. My lips twitched. I kind of wanted to cry.

Back in the future, this city was a huge metropolis where cultivators would come to buy or sell items. It had a fair amount of tourism because of the closeness of the beautiful snow-covered mountains, the pretty verdant lake filled with delicious spirit-fish, and a lantern festival that all the lady cultivators interested in romance cooed about.

But this point in time was at least 100 years before it had turned into that sprawling mass. Right now, it was barely a tiny city, closer to a large town, not even a tenth the size it would become.

Right. I would need to buy a map. Relying on my memory of 1000 years ago was a bad idea.

A mile out from the future city, I dropped us to the road where we started the last trek of our journey.

We stopped in our tracks a few streets in, as two cultivators started fighting in the middle of the road. I had no clue what they were arguing about but I pulled Little Spring back to a place where we’d be safe and could still watch. This would be an excellent learning opportunity for him.

One fighter, who looked around 25, had broad shoulders and thick arm muscles as if he were a body cultivator even though he wasn't one. He wore slightly shabby dark blue robes.

The other fighter appeared to be 14 or 15. His well-kept seafoam green robes, fit his small build perfectly.

Both cultivators were at the 6th layer of Qi Condensation.

Blue and Seafoam exchanged blows from the handful of the lame-ass techniques they’d picked up from somewhere. I sighed.

“Okay, Little Spring, you see these guys?”

He nodded.

“They’re both really awful.”

He tilted his head in confusion.

“You see how that guy in blue is putting all his physical strength into each punch infused with spiritual energy?” As I pointed, the 25-year-old bodybuilder punched forward sending a blast towards Seafoam. He’d put so much physical strength into his punch that he moved forward an inch. “He’s a fucking dumbass.”

The blue guy tripped and fell face-first into Seafoam’s spiritual palm attack. He flew backward several yards but managed to steady himself. Then he coughed up a mouthful of blood. Since the original novel had been a typical Xianxia, one mouthful was considered minor internal damage. And frankly, it was the grossest way to determine damage.

“If the guy really wanted to hurt little Seafoam over there, instead of focusing on increasing his physical strength, he should be focusing on the momentum of the Qi in his body. The faster it goes internally, the stronger his attack will be. All this fucking around with bodybuilding is fine if he plans to become a body cultivator, but doing it now, while he’s obviously not practicing a body cultivation art is a pointless waste of time that could be spent increasing his realm.”

Blue’s cheeks turned bright red. Seafoam smirked and sent another spiritual palm at his opponent. Blue counteracted the palm with his fist, still making the same dumbass mistake.

“And this Seafoam wearing fucker.” Seafoam’s smirk froze. “He’s even worse than Blue. Blue’s technique is at least a decent technique with very few flaws for something at their realm. Well, it would be if he wasn’t shit at practicing it. Seafoam’s, on the other hand, is a palm attack. Which is fine if you’re going non-lethal or feel like wasting Qi to bludgeon your opponent to death.”

Seafoam sent someone near me a glare and received a spiritual fist to his face for his mistake. He then spat out a tooth and a half-mouthful of blood. Yeah, when I first arrived in this world, it took me a while to figure out how much blood constituted what, but I did it eventually.

“Eh, hitting his face is fine, but if I were Blue, I’d be trying to hit him on his weak points as he’s casting that flaw filled palm of his.”

“Techniques like this have weak points?” Little Spring asked.

“Absolutely! Pretty much all low-level techniques like these do. For example, Blue’s weak point…” Blue paled for some reason; maybe it was because of Seafoam’s fierce-looking grin. “Is on his waist, which is why you see him so carefully guarding it, while he’s performing the technique. If Seafoam wanted to do some major damage to him, he could easily do so by sending a strong strike right there.”

Seafoam ran through several simple hand seals and sent a powerful spiritual finger attack at Blue. This was definitely a better technique than his palm, but it used too much spiritual energy. He’d aimed it at the weak point that he’d finally noticed. It was good that he had since the dumb fucker was about to run dry. Blue also formed several hand seals and blocked the huge spiritual finger from crashing down onto him by building three spiritual barriers. Which was a foolish thing to do as it also used up too much energy. By the time the attack fizzled out, Blue was also running low.

“Well, it looks like the fight is almost over in a tie. But I think Blue could win if he manages to strike him on either his Touwei, Jimen or Shaochong acupoints. That palm attack is a really bad technique.”

“Wait, what are those?”

Right, I hadn’t taught him about anatomy and acupuncture points yet, so I super oversimplified it. “His head, thigh, or tip of his little finger. But, now that I think about it, he seems to be protecting his right armpit a little. It might be that that’s one of his cultivation techniques hidden weaknesses. So if…”

Seafoam sent another glare in our direction and bolted while Blue, looking exhausted, sighed in relief.

Wait a second. Seafoam was definitely glaring at me this time. Had... Had I spoken too loud and been overheard?

Damn it! I fucking miss this world’s version of telepathy. This wouldn’t have happened if I had it, but it was a higher leveled technique. Wait, wasn’t there a simple sound transmission technique I could have used? Shit. Well, it wasn’t like I could remember all of the crappy low-level skills that became obsolete at higher levels.

Since the fight was over and I didn’t want to get into trouble for interfering in a duel, I grabbed Little Spring’s hand and ran in the opposite direction of Seafoam.

During our sprint, I discovered a traveler's store and entered it. No one seemed to follow us, which was good since I really wanted to keep a low profile, and beating two 6th layer Qi Condensation cultivators as a 3rd Layer was just, way too eye-catching.

Since we were in the traveler’s store, we picked up some supplies for our journey, including a semi-detailed map of the continent with some of the few spirit stones I had left. Before we left, I asked for directions to the formation store since this city was too small to have a full guild.

The Formation store was in a small yet elegant building. As soon as we stepped through the door, I could feel the environmental control formation cooling down the room to a comfortable temperature. It was a simple level 1 formation, but it had been set up to near perfection.

A female employee stood off to the side. She took one look at us and sighed loudly.

I stepped up to her and smiled. “I’d like to see your supply supervisor.”

She glared at me. “And why is that, little girl?”

Little girl? Was she seriously disrespecting me right now?

I put my hands on my hips. “Because I am selling high-quality formation flagsticks and he’ll regret it if he doesn’t buy me out.”

She sneered and heaved her large bosom that was very much a staple for this world. Our dear oversimplistic fuck-brained author must have described the women in this weird-ass world as being, ”jade beauties possessing twin peaks with no equal.” And he did that for all of them. Every. Single. Fucking. One. As if the concept of back pain didn't exist.

“You’ll have to come back another time, ” she said, flipping a strand of wavy hair over her shoulder. ”Our Formation Supply Appraiser is out at the moment.”

Well, since we were here, it would be nice to go get something to eat so that Little Spring could stop bugging me... wait a second. I narrowed my eyes at her. “And when will he be back?”

”I don’t know. Come back another day.”

“No. I think I’d like to see him now.”

After rolling her eyes, she said, “Throw these kids out.”

A man at the peak of Foundation Establishment walked over. Shit! I didn’t realize there were such high leveled practitioners here aside from the leader of the city. Someone of this level could definitely kill my poor little self, even with all of my past life’s knowledge.

Little Spring stepped in front of me and bowed while showing a pained smile.

“Please forgive my older sister, she’s... well. You can guess.” He pulled out a handful of my sticks and held them up to her. “My formation master gave us these to sell for him since he’s far too busy to come here himself. He’s a very-very powerful practitioner and if we don’t sell them and get back to him in a couple of hours he’ll come here asking questions.”

The employee sighed with heavy-handed exasperation. “Why didn’t you just lead with that?”

He bowed again. “I’m sorry.”

“Follow me. Our appraiser will be back shortly.”

She brought us into a back room and left us. As soon as she turned the corner, I hugged Little Spring and patted his hair. “Good job.”

He blushed, and I let him go.

It looked like he was learning from me and using his brain. Especially since I totally would have thought to bring in a fictional master if he hadn’t gotten there first.

Part 5

After around two incense sticks worth of time, the supply appraiser finally arrived. They gave our fake master face, and we quickly sold several thousands of my flag sticks for 1000 spirit stones, a good amount of the correct flag silk, paint, and brushes. Eventually, I’d use those to fully finish a few sets.

The purchase was so large that the assistant almost fainted.

After that, we left quickly to take a stroll around the city. I pointed out common cultivation items to Little Spring, such as a poorly made copper alchemy furnace that I was tempted to buy, or a few talismans with very weak protection spells.

Eventually, we reached a gated yard filled with uncut jadeite stones. A few groups of cultivators wandered down the isles in colorful yet elegant clothes, but there were also a few mortal merchants walking around.

Then I had a fantastic idea.

“Let’s do some stone gambling! It’ll be fun.” While I’d worked with raw jadeite before as a crafting material, I’d never had the opportunity to come to a place like this. Aside from a few difficult tasks I did for the sect and a dozen horrible experiences inside secret planes and forbidden areas, I mostly stayed within the sect and cultivated or learned professions like Formation Mastery and Alchemy.

Little Spring nodded, and we strolled up to the entrance where an old man with thin gray hair sat on a single-legged stool. I grinned up at him and tried to look as much like a normal child as possible. He narrowed his eyes at me.

“So, what are the rules, and how does this work?”

He tossed us a stack of thin talisman-like paper that had his energy on it. “Attach your spiritual signature to this, place it on the stones you’d like to purchase then go tell the seller at the back. You can pay him to cut the stones for you if you need.”

I nodded happily and — considering my current low realm — I bowed in respect to this hidden master. He snorted and waved us by.

Little Spring stared at me cautiously. “Fairy Lin.”

I paused and looked back at him and he whispered, “Are you sure we should be spending money on this? Isn’t jade very expensive?”

“Jade is a special material. It is precious to mortals and useful to cultivators. The difference is quality. All the highest quality jade is sold to cultivators because they need it to hold items filled with spiritual energy or use it to create interesting tools. While the lower qualities go to mortals who use it for jewelry and other things.” As we walked through the stone-filled yard I gave more explanations about the properties of jade and how it was used in the creation of Spiritual Tools. I also let him know that jadeite varied based on the location it was mined from. This location would not have any lavender or black jade, but it would have green, white, and possibly some other colors.

“So, now that you know a little about jade, let’s test your luck.” I handed him three of the little talisman papers. “Go place these on any three random stones.”

He gave me that look like he was questioning my sanity again.

“Come on, we’re just doing this for fun!” But actually, there was something I was curious about. The luck of a main character was often, unbelievably good. Since I’ve changed things so much I wanted to know if it was still good or if, as I suspected, my interference in the plot had changed his fortunes.

My mind unconsciously went back to when I’d almost gotten him killed, and he’d unlocked a little of his bloodline.

Maybe a main character had both the best and the worst luck.

But even if this little guy was this world’s main character, right now, he was only an innocent child. Hopefully, I could let him stay that way for a while longer.

I walked up to a few dozen pieces of rough jadeite stone and sent a trickle of my divine sense into each to visualize their quality. When I couldn’t sense it at first, I increased the level I used. The stone’s composition became clear, but a sickening sensation flooded the back of my throat. I suppressed the mouthful of blood I was about to cough up.

Shit. I was overusing my divine sense again.

That was right. I’d forgotten that it took a divine sense at the pinnacle of Golden Core to peer into stones like these. While I could handle that several times, it really wasn’t a good idea. I could practically hear Ghosty McGhostFace’s mocking laughter in my head. Whatever. Finding my current limits was also important.

Little Spring’s sudden yell drew my attention. I ran to him, pulling out my jade hairpin and turning it into a sword.

One of the groups of cultivators consisting of three men and two women, stood in front of him while wearing mocking smiles. One of the women had a scarred face and the other stood behind a taller man, so I could only see part of her robes.

One of those men was that idiot from the fight before, Seafoam. He was in the middle of tearing off the talisman Little Spring had placed on a large stone.

“Stop right there!”

Seafoam did not stop and tore the talisman off before slapping his own on it. He then turned to me and smirked.

“This is the brat I was telling you about.”

“The one who cost you that fight earlier?” A voice I was hoping I’d never hear again said.

That was when I really noticed her. A young woman, in the foundation establishment stage, around 17-18 years old, with a chest even larger than that shop assistant from earlier, and wearing seafoam to contrast with — of all the stupid fucking things — her damn glittering pink hair. I assumed that this story had been popular enough to get a manhua adaptation because it seemed like almost everyone in the world had black or brown hair and eyes except for the people who would either be Bloodsword’s worst enemy or one of his harem members. The exception was my body’s original but that was likely because she’d been the girl next door/ older sister type.

This girl crossed her arms under her chest while glaring at me and Little Spring. She was, obviously, one of Bloodsword’s braindead wives. His third one to be precise. Her name was Effervescent Sea Pearl.

I remembered when I first met her. She had just married into the sect and brought several maids. Each of them had a scarred face. At first, I thought that she liked taking women who had been in bad situations and giving them hope for a better future. Then she became jealous of me for my good looks and for the fact that as Bloodsword’s Elder Sister, I had been close-ish to him since he joined the sect. She believed that no woman could resist his allure (gross). Eventually, the bitch tried to slice my fucking face off!

Seriously, if she was a jealous type of person, then she shouldn’t have married a man with a harem. While I wasn’t a fan of the various different types of poly relationships myself, even I knew that jealousy didn’t belong in them.

And then that motherfucker, Bloodsword arrived while I was defending myself against her. Instead of stopping her, the ignoramus tit llama fought me off and forced me to apologize. Me! He was lucky I knew he was the universe’s favorite, or I‘d have utterly murdered his wife’s ass.

And now I was facing this scum person again! I grabbed the talisman that Seafoam placed on the stone, and pulled. It refused to come off. Their group laughed, so I placed two of mine next to it and they stopped laughing.

When Seafoam came to tear mine off, I pointed my sword at one of his weak points and started cycling my spiritual energy.

The other cultivators in that group, aside from the stupid Sea Pearl, all pulled out their own weapons.

A sudden spiritual pressure crushed us. A sickening sensation rushed through me, and I coughed up that mouthful of blood I’d repressed earlier. I glared at the hidden master’s general direction, and the pressure vanished.

“There is no fighting here. Only stone gambling,” his old gruff voice reached our ears through sound transmission.

I wiped my bloody mouth with a handkerchief, put away my sword, and crossed my arms as if my world hadn’t just been on the verge of going dark a moment before.

“He has a point,” I said. Plus I was in no shape to take on a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment.

“Yes, he does,” Sea Pearl said. “So, let’s gamble. Whoever can purchase a stone with the highest value jade inside gets to buy this stone.”

“As you can see, my junior and I are poor so, while I agree, we need to keep the price of each one low. Let’s say, stones worth one spirit stone or less.”

“Fine, but we'll each buy three.”

I cringed as if I was truly that poor and nodded.

Little Spring stepped up, his hands shaking, “The loser should apologize and pay for the winner’s stones.”

I shot him a questioning look, but he only glared fiercely at the group.

“You both should apologize for ruining my subordinate’s fight but what, exactly, should I apologize for?”

“If you hadn’t pulled my paper off and started a fight with me, my sister wouldn’t have been injured. I want you to apologize to her.”

“If you hadn’t put your mark on the stone I wanted then I wouldn’t have had to order him to do that.”

“I was here first.”

Alright, now he was starting to sound like the child he was.

“Enough. I’m fine with the loser apologizing and paying for the winner’s stones. We shouldn’t argue too much with our seniors.” He nodded and I smiled. “Since, as a Foundation Establishment senior, I’m sure Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl won’t bother coming after us or sending people to kill us if we do win.”

A blood vessel bulged on her forehead. “Of course not.”

Heh. I knew this bitch well. Of course, she was planning on it, but, by mentioning it, she’d at least send someone in the same realm instead of going herself. Even if the main character was on my side, I had no interest in going up against his past life’s wives. Then again, I’d changed reality so much, maybe it was possible that he wouldn’t marry this one bitch, at least.

 Part 6

I walked over to the stones I’d already scanned. Little Spring traveled next to me while cautiously observing our opponents.

“Hey, which three you would pick out of these.”

He randomly pointed to several stones. From my past perusal of them, I knew that they were either duds or low-quality jade.

Looks like I wouldn't trust his luck too much then. Knowing what exactly was in each of those, I placed my mark on the three most promising ones and started walking back to the conflict stone, which was what I nicknamed the stone we were fighting over.

After a tug at my sleeve caught my attention, I turned to Little Spring who pointed at a group of stones to my left that were fairly small. He wanted me to look through all of those? Was he trying to kill me?!

He looked up at me with adorable pleading eyes. Fuck it. An elder’s duty was to spoil the younger generation a bit.

I could only use my divine sense at Golden Core stage for a very short amount of time, so it was best to do them all at once. I reached out to the whole section of stones and peered inside each stone simultaneously for a half-second. My world dimmed. I nearly blacked out.

“Fairy Lin!”

Little Spring caught me before I fell. He stared at me, shock and concern evident on his face.

”Don't worry. I'm fine. It’s just an injury I sustained.”

He tightly clenched his fist and bit his lip.

I pulled out a few more talisman papers and put my mark on two more stones.

Okay. Here’s hoping whatever she picked wasn't as good as my selections. Because I was done using my divine sense for the rest of the day. It should be the rest of the week, but I doubted the enemies we were about to make would let us off for that long.

I walked up to the poor sales clerk and had him move my three best stones over to the conflict stone. I also paid for the stones as well as the cutting.

It didn’t take long after that for stupid Sea Pearl to find three stones she was satisfied with and move them over as well. I think she must have had some kind of tool to help her choose since she proudly stood while peering at us with a mocking smile. If that was the case, then I definitely couldn’t let this bitch take away Little Spring’s stone.

At this point, we’d started to draw in a crowd. Even people from outside the yard came in to spectate.

“So, how does this work?” Little Spring asked.

“The shop assistant will cut open our stones based on where we tell him to, then they’ll do a preliminary examination and an appraiser will let us know an approximate price. They judge the quality based on Color, Transparency, Texture, and Spiritual Retention. The jade with low or no Spiritual Retention would be sold off to non-cultivators while the higher quality ones would be sold exclusively to cultivators. Of course, this means that the Spiritual Retention grade is what matters most because, given a choice between paying in spirit stones or gold, most people would prefer to pay in gold.”

“Do we have any gold?”

“No, that’s why I said ‘most’ people.”

Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl rolled her eyes. “Let’s just get this over with, so you can pay for my stone, and we can finally leave.”

I handed one of my three best stones to the cutter and explained to him where he should slice first. I could have technically used micro-thin sword Qi to slice it, but I decided against that. If she did end up sending someone after us, I wanted to keep my combat ability hidden.

Once he opened mine, a large stone a foot and a half long, a beautiful white jade appeared. This was the pure white jade, perfect for creating the highest quality herb storage boxes. Though, I personally preferred green jade. Hm. Maybe I’d make Little Spring wear green to match his name. And then I’d give him a green jade crown to wear on his head... Wait, green. On his head. Wasn’t there that story about the guy who wore a green hat when his wife cheated on him, making green a very unpopular choice for headwear? Okay, I wouldn’t make him wear a green crown. As the main character, he could remember that and hold a grudge. After all, the third rule of Transmigrated into a Novel club was: If you don’t seek death, you won’t die.

A pull at my sleeve brought me back to the present, and I blinked. Yeah, okay. Using my divine sense like that hadn’t helped my mental situation. I needed to cultivate to the next level as soon as possible or else more of this zoning out and thinking of nonsense would happen again. And zoning out at the wrong time was a death sentence.

Several people made bids based on this one slice. And an appraiser that the stone yard hired came forward.

He used a spiritual tool on the stone and nodded. “The Color Quality and the Transparency for this white jade are both Heaven rank. The Texture is, unfortunately, Sky rank, but its Spiritual Retention is Transcendence rank. As long as the stone keeps this quality throughout, it will be an excellent jade, perfect for crafting high-quality herb storage boxes and pill bottles. It could be sold for at least 155 spirit stones or 155 thousand gold teals.”

I nodded. That was my take on the matter as well. I stored it away in my bag.

A few of the crowd called out prices from 160 thousand teals of gold to 165 spirit stones.

“I won’t sell any of my jade,” I said to the spectators. “My forging master will use it to teach me how to forge spirit items and weapons.”

That stopped most of them, but a few braver guys kept pushing.

Sea Pearl glared at me and handed her own piece of jade to the cutter. After some instruction, he cut a perfect slice into the stone revealing a fiery orange jade.

The crowd murmured at the rare color. The appraiser used his tool even as a few brave people in the crowd threw out some tempting offers to purchase it. “For this lovely orange jade, the Color Quality and Texture are both Sky rank. The Transparency and Spiritual Retention are both Heaven rank. Since it could be sold for at most 110 spirit stones, the more valuable stone is this fairy’s,” he said, gesturing to me.

Even as her face turned red and her cheeks puffed out from anger, I sent her a saucy wink.

“Do the next one,” she said, with grim finality.

Since I went first last time, naturally I went first again.

The stonecutter followed my instructions and made a slice in the stone, right down the middle. One half of the stone was just regular rock, while the other half had a portion of beautiful green jade. The appraiser's eyes sparkled. And he placed his tool on my jade.

“This beautiful green jade has a Color Quality and Transparency that are both Immortal rank. The Texture and Spiritual Retention are Transcendence rank. But this is only a very small piece that at most could make two rings and two pairs of earrings or the gem on a sword pommel. But it could still be sold for at least 230 spirit stones.”

I raised a brow at the bitch. See, I knew how to pick stones. You can’t beat me! Muahahahaha.

She handed over her next stone and had it cut over and over to reveal a piece of large green jade.

“Fascinating!” After the appraiser used his tool, he continued. “The Color and Transparency of this lovely jade are Heaven rank. The Texture is unfortunately Earth rank, but the Spiritual Retention is also Transcendence rank. Considering this jade’s size, as long as it stays the same quality throughout, it will be worth at least 310 spirit stones.”

Fuck. I was hoping I could win this without revealing my last stone, since, frankly, it could get me into trouble.

“So,” the bitch smiled. “Should we call it here, or do you want to be humiliated further?”

That boast didn’t deserve a response. I picked up my final stone and tried to hand it to the cutter, but Sea Pearl reached him first with her own. She winked facetiously.

“I want you to see this. So you know how truly hopeless your situation is.” She chuckled.

The poor stone cutter sighed and looked to Sea Pearl for instructions on how to cut her stone. Soon he made a slice down the left side and then used a spiritual tool to slowly grind away at it until a beautiful white jade appeared. It was even more beautiful than the one I had. The only issue was that it seemed to be a small piece. The appraiser, eyes twinkling with excitement, used his tool and then grinned. “This is a very small piece of white jade, but its quality is... Well. Immortal for everything except Translucency, which is Heavenly. This would make an excellent jade slip or protective pendant. It is worth at least 1 medium tier spirit stone or 1000 regular spirit stones.”

There were several people in the crowd crowing that they’d pay 1010 or 1200 for her stone but she calmly put hers away. Shit.

I handed him my last stone and told him to cut in on a thirds line, then I asked him to carefully grind it.

He ground it down using a special tool and then stopped and wiped the stone down with a cloth, showing a beautiful translucent green jade. This was a little bigger than Sea Pearl’s white jade but not by much.

The appraiser took his tool and his hand started trembling. “T-this...” he coughed. “Color, Translucence, Texture, and Spiritual Retention are all at the Immortal level, and are so close to being Golden rank in quality that I want to cry. I estimate that this jade is worth at least 2 medium tier spirit stones or 2000 regular spirit stones.”

There were a few people who spouted out a price that was a little under the 2000 price, but no one dared spend a medium-tier spirit stone on jade even if it was higher quality jade. I ignored the crowd and raised a brow at Sea Pearl.

“Looks like I win!”

The bitch glared at me. I could practically see the thoughts in her head as she likely made plans to murder me and take the stone she wanted. She handed four spirit stones to the shop associate and moved to leave.

“Hey!” Little Spring yelled and Fairy Sea Pearl jumped. “You haven’t apologized yet! And also, the loser pays! Four spirit stones aren’t enough to pay for the stone we were betting over. Unless you can’t afford it.” He looked at her with sympathy. “That’s it, isn’t it? You picked a fight with us because you couldn’t afford this stone.”

Effervescent Sea Pearl stomped her foot, turned as if possessed, and marched right back over to us. She tossed over a bag of spirit stones to the shop associate, then glared at Little Spring. “Don’t push your luck, child. I’m not apologizing.” Then she left in a huff with her glaring group of seafoam friends.

Little Spring looked like he would go after her, but I grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t push her. She has a higher cultivation base. Just remember her name and face. You’ll be able to exact revenge in the future if you desire. The cultivation world is small, after all.”

I experienced a bit of joyful schadenfreude when I thought about how I was encouraging the main character to avenge himself against one of his past life’s wives... I was sure it would all turn out okay.

Hmm. The braindead wives used to talk to each other about how they met Bloodsword, as if sharing their stories proved that he loved them more.

What was her story again? She met him in her clan’s forbidden area after he won a spot to enter from a tournament. Then she fell for him at first sight as he was taming another spirit beast, so she followed after him. He found her annoying, but still protected her along their journey. He was looking for a certain item he’d heard that her clan had in the forbidden area... But actually, her clan had moved it to their safe.

Oh! That’s right. He married her to get that item as well as for her large dowry of spirit stones and treasures. Ugh. What was that item again? Well, whatever. He was on a different path now, so it probably didn’t matter.

Shit! I was zoning out again! I looked to Little Spring who peered around us. While he kept his face mostly emotionless, I could still see hints of worry in the tightening on his lips and the strength he held the corner of my sleeves.

“We need to grab our stones and go,” he said.

I nodded.

Part 7

We were being followed. Well, of course, we were being followed. While raw jade wasn’t an immortal level treasure, it was still a treasure. And treasure was all about perspective. A pound of sugar would be invaluable to an ant, after all. And we looked like scruffy little kids just out of the mortal world. So I decided to do something I should have done in the first place.

I dragged Little Spring to a clothing store and purchased a variety of expensive ready-made clothes for him and myself in several different colors, but mostly white with clouds, or in imperial jade green with stylized vines. The sets cost us 5 whole spirit stones. A pure fortune for mortal silk and cotton. Of course, If I’d had the 5000 gold teals for it, I wouldn’t have spent the spirit stones since I still needed most of those for my cultivation and as travel expenses.

After we changed, we picked up some supplies for easy-to-make food since Little Spring kept bugging me about it. Then I had us slowly leave the city, as if we hadn’t noticed our various tails.

When we reached beyond the boundary of the city, I immediately took out my flying sword, grabbed a few spirit stones, and booked it as fast as I could go in a direction away from the sect. Behind me, Little Spring clutched at my waistband and buried his head into my shoulder. Who knew that this kid would be such a little wimp? If it weren’t for the fact that we were running for our lives while hiding his space’s existence, I would have asked him to get inside it already.

We traveled non-stop for a half day. I waited until an hour before sunset before I set us down in a sparsely forested area. Little Spring ran off to take care of whatever while I did prep work and some other things. Mostly, I took out the flag silk and paint from before as well as a few dozen flag sticks. Then I started to put together formation flags as if my life depended on it because it did.

I think somewhere in there Little Spring came back, but I was too focused on my work to pay him any attention. He may have asked if he could help, and I may have sent him into his space to do his homework... I mean practice his characters.

Before he left, the sweet kid made me a campfire and left Ghosty to me for some reason, as if that specter could help in his weak ass condition.

Finally, as the last vestiges of light vanished from the sky, I finished the flags and started placing them on the ground around the fire. Before I could place the last several and finish my formation I sensed fluctuations of spiritual energy at the 6th layer of Qi Condensation. It was a good thing that I could sense it since I still couldn’t use my divine sense, as damaged as I was.

The back of my neck itched. I knew what that meant. Hidden weapons in the form of thin needles flew toward my nape. Unfortunately, my mostly mortal physical reflexes were shit.

I grabbed the weapons with several strands of spiritual energy and changed their trajectory enough to avoid my body. After I gathered the last of my flags into my off-hand, I took out my borrowed hairpin and turned it into a sword. I sent a slash of sword Qi into the darkness where I sensed the assassin.

He dodged, of course, then dashed behind a tree so he could face me from a new direction. Another barrage of hidden needles flew at me. After I tossed them aside again, he ran at me with a spear out. Since he hadn’t learned to harness spear Qi yet he couldn’t use his weapon from a distance. Unfortunately, a lucky enough attack would still kill my ass.

I sent a single slash of sword Qi at him, but he dodged. I backed up two steps, wrapped the flag in a strand of my energy and used that to plant it into the ground. To distract my opponent, I simultaneously sent another slash toward his head.

Right, two steps. Another flag into the ground. Sword Qi slashed towards a pale neck. Jumped to avoid a spearhead. Spirit palm to the man’s face. He backed up. Two small steps away from him. Placed a flag. Turned counterclockwise. Jumped up to avoid a spiritual fist strike. Backed up four steps. Placed a flag behind me so he wouldn’t notice.

And that was when the four other cultivators waiting to attack, finally made their move. These were obviously not associated with my current assassiny foe, but they were also the reason that bitch Sea Pearl only bothered to hire one asshat.

It may have been because I wasn’t the main character, but these guys said nothing and just started to join in on the fight. Their bloodlust rose when they ran towards me. It was as if, in silent agreement, they all decided to kill the kid first. Reprehensible child-murdering fucks.

Between them, one used a dao, two just used techniques and the last one was some kind of sword cultivator. Considering that the man was going after weak children, I doubted that he was a real sword cultivator as they tended to be righteous little cun— Shit! I used a spiritual shield technique that should only be possible for a 5th layer cultivator to stop their simultaneous strikes. Well, mostly. The tricky asshole with the dao got through by stabbing in the same spot as his buddy and gouged a slash into my right kidney area. I coughed up several mouthfuls of blood from that and the backlash of pushing myself to use techniques beyond my cultivation level.

Of course, these guys were really trying to straight-up kill me, so they wouldn’t let my need to recover stop them from making the final blow.

Once again, their weapons zoomed toward me and I shielded myself.

My knees dropped to the ground without my consent, and the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth and poured from my lips, staining my new white robes, crimson. That was when I placed the last two flags and activated my confusion-slaughter formation.

The spear assassin was in the middle of thrusting the tip toward my heart, so I had to immediately roll away then step out of my formation, before it caught me up in it.

Now that I was in the eye of my ring-shaped formation, I saw a wall of fog and heard the slashes and screams from the five cultivators inside. If any managed to escape this trap, then I’d let them leave with their life, since I wasn’t in any shape to go after them... but if any were still alive by the time we left in the morning, I’d kill them myself. Fuckers who would murder children for a little jade didn’t deserve to live, let alone cultivate to immortality.

I sighed. Little Spring was still just a little kid. And someday he would have to kill but I wanted him to stay pure and innocent for as long as possible. I wanted him to have a better peaceful childhood than he had in his last life.

There would be plenty of time to teach him how to kill once he became an adult.

Honestly, I’d prefer not killing at all, but this was a cultivation world that was, unfortunately, created with the unrealistic mindset that the strong ruled and the weak had to obey or die. A little cannon fodder like me couldn’t afford to show mercy to those who might come back in a decade to get revenge for making them lose face.

Seriously, the people in this world were the worst.

***

I wanted to move from my spot next to the tree but my adrenaline had eased, making it too hard to ignore the injuries I’d sustained.

I took out the best medicinal pill I inherited from the Immortal Flower Thief and downed it. From there, I used its energy to slightly heal my kidney area and some internal injuries, but I’d need better medicine to fully heal.

“Fuuuck.” I’d need to buy alchemy supplies at our next destination so I could make the pills myself. I couldn’t trust other alchemists to make them for me, since there were a lot of discoveries in the field between this point in time and the era when I was about to ascend. These discoveries lead to higher quality pills with fewer impurities and side effects. But that would be for another day.

I couldn’t enter Little Spring’s space on my own, nor could I cultivate out in the open. Since I was waiting an indeterminate amount of time anyway, I took out a bunch of round pebbles and the first white jade I had the yard open for me. I had plans for this. Spirit stone making plans. Muahahahaha!

Using the pebbles and a spare spirit stone, I created a small formation around the jadeite. This was a secret formation of crafters, used to make a material malleable but still strong while being cut. I could have used it on the tree earlier but I hadn't thought of it since wood was easier to work with than stone.

Once I had my makeshift workstation set up, I set the sword beside me in case those people who were tired of living broke out of my formation, then I brought out my trusty knife.

There were several ways to make jade boxes, but the ones that had been the most popular in this time period were the set of same-sized boxes —the type stores prefered so they could sell them off piece by piece— or the Russian doll set —this type that was popular with collectors and was more expensive since it required a special method to create.

The first thing I did was cut the stone down to a reasonable size, exposing the entire piece of jade. I threw the excess stone into my storage bag as I could use them to create simple pendants later.

Next, I used my sword Qi to cut within the stone. I did this slowly, because I couldn't use my divine senses. But I had control, precision, and a thousand years of experience. I cut and cut, then paused and cut some more.

After I made my last curved bend, Little Spring reappeared from his space and stood in front of me.

“Junior brother! Come take a look at this!” I waited for him to get close enough to see, then used my spirit energy to break the last bit of jade that held the shape together. I peeled away the excess to reveal a beautiful, though plain, white jade box. Then I lifted the lid to reveal dust. I gently blew on the dust revealing another white jade box.

I grinned. These were going to earn us the spirit stones for our cultivation.

I heard a sniffle and looked up at the boy. He wiped his large watery eyes. “Fairy Lin... Y.. you’re hurt.”

I quickly put the boxes away.

He wrapped his arms around me and started bawling into my shoulder. The world spun. Splash! My clothes became soaked in his lake water. I patted his back as soothingly as could while the spring water went to work cleaning the dirt and blood that had hardened.

While just letting the boy sniffle. I revolved my Qi and, slowly, a bit of my Phoenix constitution’s energy flowed out. I directed it toward the worst of my wounds. It healed it and strengthened those areas. Mostly.

As long as I didn’t jerkily twist in the wrong direction my body would be able to function as if I was at the second layer of Qi Condensation. This meant that I would still need to go create medicine soon, but this was enough to get me to the next city.

Now that I was relatively healed and mostly spotless I patted the little kid’s head.

“Hey, I’m fine. What’s the matter?”

“You need to listen to me when I speak!”

Ah, had he been talking while I was cultivating and healing?

“I told you to come into the space but you wouldn’t listen and now you’re hurt again!”

Fuck, I’d probably looked like a stab victim on the verge of collapse. I may have given this poor kid a slight trauma.

How the hell did a person comfort children, again?

I wiped away the tears on his face, feeling a bit awkward. He stopped crying and his cheeks puffed with anger.

I guess I never told him what I was doing. I mean, really? What adult could take time they didn’t have during a situation like that to explain it to a child who would be protected completely anyway? And maybe knowing the reason I didn’t hole up in his space would help.

“Little Spring. Do you know why I stayed out here to defend our location?”

He shook his head.

“Well. There were a variety of reasons. But the main one was that these people were following us from the beginning. If they reached our location and found that we had just up and vanished, they would suspect that we had a space like this.”

His swollen eyes narrowed further.

“This space is a very special treasure. It will be sought after by everyone under the immortal level, and possibly even immortals. People who would murder thousands just to get their hands on it. So we cannot let anyone even have a hint of its existence.”

“It’s not worth anything if you get hurt.”

Damn. What a cute innocent little kid. Seriously, what the fuck happened to change him into gross-ass Bloodsword?

“Yes, it is. Because this treasure can save your  life if you are ever in such a desperate enough situation that you wouldn’t be able to survive without hiding within it.” I patted his head. “Also, I did it because I needed to see my current combat limits. While I can estimate fairly accurately, not knowing for sure might get us killed one day, and I won’t let that happen.” I was also hoping that it would help to unlock more of my constitution than it did. The fight might not have been desperate enough. Regardless, I refused to get into a worse situation if I could help it.

“Elder sister. Can you start teaching me how to fight?”

Good. While I didn’t want him to kill, having him learn to defend himself from an early age could only be a good thing. “Tomorrow, after I’ve rested I’ll add more training to the schedule.” I sighed. “Now go get dry and rest up. I’ll join you in a bit.”

He nodded. And began to walk off then he paused, and, while not looking back, said, “You said that this place is supposed to be a treasure, and I know it’s nice, but I’d still rather have you be safe.”

Then he ran off.

Ah, such a cute kid. He’d eventually figure out how awesome this place was. Actually, I knew a guy who could appreciate it and what I did to protect it.

I floated in the spirit spring and poked at Ghosty’s necklace until he made his appearance off to the side. He let out a loud sigh as if life in general pained him. “What is it?”

“Ah, Little Spring has such a good golden finger in this space right? Isn’t this the best?”

He looked at me oddly. “If you’re talking about a cheat-like existence that can help a person immensely, then I think, Fairy Lin, that actually, you’re Little Spring’s best golden finger. And that boy may not know that consciously, but he certainly knows it unconsciously.”

Holy fucking shit snakes! I am really the main character’s golden finger? For some reason, I wanted to cry but instead replied while feeling like I lost my soul, “Yeah. That sounds about right.”

I sunk down into the water and blew bubbles while trying not to even contemplate my life choices.

Just as I was getting up the courage to go into the cottage, Little Spring returned with a towel and a cup of warm water. Did he use the alchemy room to boil this?

I accepted both, thanked him, and patted his soft hair. “You did a good job today.”

The tips of his ears turned red and he mumbled his thanks. That was when I remembered...

“Right! We need to check out that stone you won and see if there is anything good inside.”

He frowned but nodded determinedly.

I took out the heavy stone and set it on the grass then grabbed my knife. Just as I was about to take a little slice off the top, the whole thing dropped into the ground like a brick into water.

I blinked.

The earth shook and distorted. Grass-covered chunks split off, like broken ice in the sea. I hugged Little Spring to steady my still injured self. The land around us began to extend out. It expanded for miles. The once flat horizon suddenly jutted up, turning into a ring of massive mountains.

“ Holy shit !” That stone just upgraded this farm-sized space into county-sized space!

When the ground stilled, Little Spring collapsed.

I caught him. Sharp pain from my injured side, jolted through me. I just barely managed to bring us both down onto the grass safely.

I lied down next to him, too tired and in too much pain to move.

Was the stone we won the item Bloodsword originally married Effervescent Sea Pearl for? If it had the power to upgrade his space, it was possible.

I frowned at this kid. Why did this upgrade make him faint though?

***

It took him a full 24 hours to recover, and since I couldn’t leave the space without his permission, I was just as stuck in here as Ghosty had been. Fortunately, I used the time to set up a spirit gathering formation with around 25 spirit stones and used those to reach the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Condensation. My constant headache eased a bit more and my mind seemed to clear a bit.

I could have continued, but I wanted to solidify my base a bit more... That and cultivating aggravated my injuries. I decided to heal myself first before continuing, rather than pushing it.

I sighed and handed my little martial brother who had just sat up, a grain liberation pill and a cup of spring water. He grimaced but consumed them.

“Feeling better?”

He nodded, then shook his head. He held his hand out and narrowed his eyes at it until a glowing orb appeared in his palm. “The jadeite was some kind of special spiritual earth element. It expanded and briefly woke up the spirit of this space...” He bit his lip. “I argued with it... so I could give you this. Take it before it changes its mind.”

I froze. The glowing ball pulsed happily. While I’d never seen something like this before, it was easy to guess what this was.

“A key,” I said. Or a permission slip. Free access to the main character’s second-best golden finger. My hand trembled.

A chill ran down my spine.

Some might think that I would love to get my hands on this particular treasure. While I did enjoy its amenities and convenience, the truth was, I wanted nothing to do with it. A treasure like this came with massive karmic ties. Little Spring was already the owner of it so he wouldn’t have been able to avoid those ties regardless of using the stone or not... but my own self? No fucking thank you.

But I also couldn't say no to having a key. Since we were traveling together, I needed to access this place.

Last night, even though I managed to deal with everything perfectly, I was still injured and had to wait for Little Spring to come out before entering. And that was not ideal. If I’d been attacked in that injured state, I could have died... not easily, but still. I had no right to refuse.

But I wanted to. Taking this key meant breaking rule 5 of Transmigrated Into a Novel Club - Don’t get too close to the main character as you are squishy and do not have a protective halo.

I closed my eyes. Well, I’d already broken that rule several times over, hadn’t I?

I slowly took the key and rested it against my glabella. It entered my body and I transferred it to my divine sense. This would keep it safe since it would be attached to my soul instead of my body.

The space became a solid presence in my mind. While I didn’t have permission to do much with it I could definitely enter and exit it at will.

I stared at Little Spring. “If there ever comes a day when you want to take it—“

“—I won’t—”

“You will. You should. And when it happens, I’ll freely give it up. This space is yours—“

“No, this space is ours.”

Fuck. He really isn’t making it easy to deny this massive karmic debt.

He smiled brightly as if he’d just given his favorite person an amazing gift.

I sighed. “Just... Don’t bring anyone else in here. At least not until you’re strong enough to protect it.”

His face turned bright red and he nodded. “I won’t. But promise me you’ll use this space to keep yourself from getting hurt too.”

“I can’t promise you that I won’t get hurt, but I’ll absolutely use it if I get injured and need to escape. Okay?”

He smoothed my hair happily. “Mhm.”

I had a horrible feeling that my distant-future wouldn’t be as peaceful as it had been in my past life. But, on the plus side, I’d taken care of our tails, collected supplies for our journey, and earned us some desperately needed spirit stones. At least, having a peaceful near-future seemed like a strong possibility.

Naming Notes for Old Master Violet Seal:

Lao Zifeng directly translates to Old/Master Violet Seal which sounds similar to Lao Fengzi which translates to Old Codger/crazy person.

Story notes:

Ranks:  Mortal, Earth, Sky, Heaven, Transcendence, Immortal, Golden, Black, and Unparalleled Perfection.

Qualities:  Low, Medium, High, Pinnacle, Perfection.

Transmigrated into a Novel Club Rules 1-5:

Do not talk about being transmigrated into a novel.

Never steal from the main character

If you don’t seek death, you won’t die.

Always stay on the main character’s side, even if the odds seem bad.

Don’t get too close to the main character as you are squishy do not have a protective halo.

Story 3

Spiritual Vines and a Smokey Pill Cauldron

Part 1

Little Spring and I walked in a forest made up mostly of spiritual bamboo, thick special grasses, luscious crawling vines and some few shrubberies... More accurately, he walked and I blurrily stumbled toward the destination I'd seen with my divine sense. With how many times I’d already fallen today, I was glad that I insisted on us wearing our old mortal attire.

It had only been a half-dozen hours since we first arrived and, out of the five spirit plants we had still needed, we’d already collected three. These were for my Lin’s Super Awesome Repair Dan, a pill I’d come up with a few hundred years before... Or would it be seven hundred years from now? Whatever.

It was a pill that could perfectly heal these damn injuries so they wouldn’t come back to haunt my ass when I broke through to Foundation Establishment.

My side burned with pain. I clutched it even though I knew it wouldn't help.

This body was so disappointing. I wanted my literal old one back so I didn’t have to train it all over again.

With a grimace, I listlessly gestured to a group of vibrant grasses. Little Spring grabbed my arm, used to this already, and helped me over.

I sat down on a nearby stone and pointed to the indigo tip on one of the blades. “You see this?”

He nodded.

“This deep blue-purple is one of the ways you can tell it’s a Verdant King Spiritual Grass.”

He grinned. “That’s the next one on your list!”

“Yep! You can also tell by its size. It’s not crazily large but a perfect...” I placed my open palm near the plant to show scale then paused. My hand had been larger before I time-traveled... “Well, it's the size of a beautiful woman’s hand.” I huffed in annoyance. “And do you know how else to tell this blade apart from other grasses?”

He bit his lip as he stared at the needle-like plant. “It’s curved like a tube at the base but flares out closer to the tip?”

“And?”

I could see him try and remember the lecture I gave him on our flight over here that consisted of twenty of the thousands of spirit plants and hybrids that I’d memorized back in the day.

“You shouldn’t touch it directly because that might harm the grass, but if you did, it would feel soft to the touch instead of smooth.”

I beamed at him. Ah, main characters were so smart. “Good job.”

He blushed.

“And do you remember how we collect them?”

“By slashing a wide hole around it to ensure we don’t hurt its roots and then moving—“

“Zip it!” I cut him off and placed my index finger to my lips. “How do normal cultivators collect this particular grass?”

I’d already lectured him on learning to fake it so others couldn’t tell he had a space.

He rolled his eyes and said, “But there is no one around here.”

“When you’re out in the open in an area with heavy spiritual energy, you can never be too sure. There are very old monsters hidden everywhere. They have a tendency to make a cave somewhere and cultivate for a hundred years. But as unlikely as it is to meet one of those assholes, you can never be too safe.”

He nodded with a sigh.

I admit, since my injury and increase in realm, I’d become paranoid. I liked to think that I had a healthy amount, but sometimes Little Spring gave me a look like I was pushing it. Whatever.

I held up a finger. “Rule one?” For Little Spring’s Rules for Using the Space.

“Don’t talk.” Don’t talk about the space unless you use telepathy.

“Rule two?”

“Keep Hidden.” Keep the space hidden. Keep yourself safe.

“Rule three?”

“Use formations.” If you’re going to use the space, make sure to use an obfuscation formation.

“And the last?”

“Emergencies.” If you are about to die then use the damn space. We’ll deal with the aftermath later.

“Excellent!” I reached out to pat his head, but I didn’t want to get up just yet so I held my arm out awkwardly.

“...”

“...”

After air-patting his head, I dropped my hand and politely cleared my throat. “Now the real way to collect this?”

Part 2

“Since the roots are unusable in alchemy, it’s best to find where they begin and cut it at its base. This also allows for a new Verdant Spiritual Grass to grow and possibly become another King.”

I nodded happily while grabbing my formation flags out of my storage bag.

After briefly studying the surroundings and while staying comfortably seated I attached some energy to the bottom of the flags and carefully flicked each one to a specific location. When I finished, a low-level obfuscation formation obscured our actions.

Then I grabbed my borrowed sword hairpin, expanded it into a beautiful sword, and used sword Qi to lazily slice out that whole section of grass. With a wave of my hand, I moved the chunk of land to one of the holes I had prepared near the spiritual spring water-filled lake.

Hmm. We should probably name that.

Bluey? Pondy? Fairy Lin’s Life Saving Water? No.

I threw the problem at Little Spring who was in the process of helping me to my feet. “Hey, come up with a good name for your lake.”

He peered at me skeptically, but still said, “I’ll do my best.”

I then took out the map I purchased in Jade Lake City’s precursor and marked down this location while adding a note to plant seeds for a Verdant Spiritual Grass here in the future.

Next, we needed to find a fairly rare spiritual vine called the Vine of Stellar Rebirth. Since the environment around here had rich dark brown soil infused with spiritual energy, a near-constant fog, and many small water sources I was pretty sure we could find it nearby.

Bracing myself, I released a pulse of my di-vine sense (hehehe) and covered most of the bamboo forest. A barrage of information came back at me that I sifted through near automatically. Since I didn’t want to hurt myself more than necessary I kept the information vague.

In the eastern direction, a couple of low-level spiritual beasts fought. In the west, many common spiritual plants grew. In the south... Nope, I did not want to see that... And I refused to think about it. To the north. There they were.

As luck would have it, three beautiful batches of vines grew fairly near each other. Unfortunately, it would take us a full hour to reach them with my new slow-ass walking speed. But it wasn’t like they were going anywhere. Very few people needed to use this vine during this time period, and then, they usually only took a few of its flowers.

I pointed to the direction we needed to head in then started walking. Little Spring quickly caught up.

Ten minutes in and sweat sparkled at my brow while I gracefully panted... I assume. This was  me after all.

Little Spring glanced at my face worriedly then wrapped an arm around me and slowly half-carried my injured self.

Ah, fuck it. If I had to accept this much help from a 7 or 8 year old I might as well waste the spirit stones. This would appear impolite to other cultivators but we hadn't run into any yet, and I was in too much pain to give a shit.

I stopped us then took out my flying sword and powered it. After some finagling to get it to not slice my skin open, I basically used it like an electric wheelchair from my past-past life. We then continued our journey forward.

It took a quarter of the time it would have to reach the first batch of vines... Or what would have been the first batch of vines.

I stared dumbfounded at the torn-up ground near what had once been a cute pond.

Some asshole got here before me!

Wait, there were still two more locations! But it hadn't been that long. And whoever had grabbed these were fucking fast. Could those inconsiderate shit shovels have gone to the next batches as well?

Since I knew the exact locations, I merely reached out with my divine sense in the direction of the other two. I nearly coughed up blood from the fury and strain.

The second one was already fucking torn up! That left the third as the last vines. And this group of trashy ass-weasels were already halfway to it. Fortunately, a spiritual beast guarded this particular group of vines.

We needed to bypass them and grab at least one of those vines before they could.

The only issue was that this group consisted of two Golden Core cultivators, one man and one woman; and three foundation establishment cultivators, two male, and one female. A team that could kill the current me with little effort.

What the hell were these high-level cultivators doing here? This part of the forest was barely a danger for those at the peak of Qi condensation. Unless they were Spiritual Plant Strippers. Shit. I’d almost forgotten those existed.

Back in the... now —fuck— cultivators would form teams to strip the safer forests of their natural treasures, including spiritual plants. They would then either store them in jade boxes to sell quickly, plant them in a garden where they would often die because people didn’t yet know how to care for rare herbs, or dry them for use in lower leveled alchemy pills.

Needless to say, but this type of thing would come back to bite cultivators in the ass several centuries later. By then I’d been a Nascent Soul and could go into the more dangerous areas to treasure hunt, but that didn't make it any less troublesome.

At one point, I’d done testing on spiritual plants along with several other colleagues. We discovered the best ways to care for many of the nearly extinct varieties and managed to save them. Because the need was so dire, we also researched and developed pills that used alternative or hybrid plants. My headache worsened just thinking of those stressful decades.

Part 3

I switched to standing on my sword and turned to Little Spring. “Hop on!”

He jumped behind me and I flew us above the forest then towards the vines.

I zoomed over bamboo and a few rare spiritual trees. Small green bird-type spirit beasts appeared to race us but we quickly passed them. Which was good because those things could be annoying little shits.

Soon, I stopped the sword's momentum and hovered near a clearing. It had a rocky cliff on one side where a small waterfall flowed into a clear pond. On the side of this cliff, a mass of vines had wormed their way up, clinging to blueish-grey stone.

From this distance, even in the daylight, the thick vines resembled a glittering field of stars against a dark night sky. If I were closer, I’d be able to see small shining flowers, slowly open and close, giving off an illusion of heavenly bodies dying then being reborn. These were the vines we were looking for, and it was easy to see how they received the name Vines of Stellar Rebirth.

A roar rocked the surrounding area. If it had just been a loud sound then, we would have been fine, but unfortunately, this rage-filled yell contained the vicious bloodlust of a spiritual beast.

The massive pressure from it hit my weak body like a hammer and a sour feeling bubbled at the back of my throat. I coughed up a half-mouthful of blood.

I checked on Little Spring since he had a lower level. His skin had turned pale. The poor kid must have also coughed up blood.

After taking out a handkerchief and wiping my mouth, I quickly handed him a clean towel and one of the few crappy healing pills we had left. He tried to give the pill back but I moved us farther away from the impending fight and stared him down until he ate it.

The beast, who was in the middle of Stage 2, had the appearance of a bear made from rock and fur. Its two black eyes glared ominously at the group of cultivators that posed a threat.

The team all wore different style robes, some were nice and others, shabby. The most expensive-looking clothes were worn by the female Gold Core Cultivator. Though I couldn’t see much of her face through the trees, my divine sense picked up that her pastel purple robes were made from Shark Spun Silk, an expensive and rare material even back during this time. This very rich woman also wore a fluffy pill testing beast like a scarf for whatever reason.

The two male Foundation Establishment cultivators brought out very nice swords for their realm and started to attack the spirit beast while the others watched on, bored.

Now was our chance. I slowly lowered us down behind some mundane bushes, pulled out my sword, and crept toward the vines.

The wealthy woman suddenly appeared in front of us. Her familiar, friendly-seeming face, grinned down at us as if we were adorable little rascals.

Holy shit snakes! During this time period, this greedy little ass-possum worked as a stripper(the plant type)?!

“Violet Pill Fairy?” One of her minions called.

“Oh, nothing. I just found some cute little kids getting in over their heads. It seems like they’re after my vines.”

Your vines... Bitch. They aren’t your vines until you have them in your hand. Those are the basic rules of treasure hunting.

The male Gold Core left the Foundation Establishment folks to their fight and swiftly tore out the vines with his bare hands. He likely threw them into a rare storage ring that had a stop-time property.

Fuck. I needed those.

She smiled down at us. “Now that these vines are in my possession, I don’t mind selling you a few of their flowers. How about it?”

I closed my eyes and sucked in a breath. Do not fall for it. You know her. You know what she’s like.

“We need ten flowers,” Little Spring said before I could stop him. I shot him a warning look.

Her smile widened. “I’m currently selling each flower for a mere thousand spirit stones.”

I actually did cough up another mouthful of blood.

“Elder sister!” He wrapped his arm around me and helped me stay standing.

Fuck! How can she be worse now than in the future? A thousand spirit stones a flower? Was she shitting me? Usually, even during this time period, they’d only go for one flower for one. Maybe three if it’s a scarce year.

Part 4

“I’ll take that as a no.” Violet Pill Fairy briefly frowned. “Too bad you won't be able to find them for free. I’ve already scoured every area a thousand li from here for these pretty things, so you’ll just have to hope you can still find some for sale in Golden Aspect City. Or you can buy them from me now. The price will only go up, you know.”

If I were really a dumb kid, I might even believe her.

Little Spring glanced at me worryingly. I shook my head at him and he nodded.

“That’s a lot.”

“Oh? That little and you don’t have it?”

Fuck, was she trying to kill me with her words? Couldn’t she see that the oldest of us was barely nine?

“No,” I choked out.

“That is a shame.” She tapped her finger against her cherry red lips. “And you really-really need them?”

Little Spring nodded seriously.

“Tell you what. Since you two are adorable kids, I’ll give you a special price.” She held up ten fingers. “Only this many spirit stones for each flower.”

Fuck. That’s still ten times the price.

My junior brother glanced at me, worried. I knew that look. He wanted to go ahead and buy them. I shook my head again. I would not fall for her lies. And even if I did have to purchase them at ten times their normal price, I would not buy them from her. She cheated me enough in my past life. Seriously, fuck her.

“We’ll find another herb. It doesn’t have to be these ones,” I said, putting my sword away since this bitch wouldn't kill us and ruin her sweet image.

She chuckled and shook her head. “That is unlikely. It’s very difficult to find a replacement spiritual plant for a pill recipe.”

“If my elder sister says that she can find it, then she will.” I really wanted to hug this cute kid. So much faith in me. Well, he wasn’t wrong. I was that fantastic.

She peered at us and reminisced. “You know, you two remind me a bit of myself when I was younger. I was just a poor branch member of the Viridian Orchid clan and living in near-squalor. Barely able to cultivate. I was worse off than a loose cultivator.”

Wait. Did this bitch assume that we were poor because of our mortal clothes? Okay, so she wasn’t entirely wrong, but she would be!

“I worked hard every day by going into the forest. I risked my life to find natural treasures I could use in my alchemy.” She flipped her straight amethyst hair back over her shoulder and disturbed the fluffy white pill testing beast around her neck. It squirmed a little then went back to pretending to be a scarf. “Though I’m still nowhere near as wealthy as a sect or guild, I’m still very successful. I was even adopted into the main branch.” She winked and gently smoothed Little Spring’s hair. “I’m sure intrepid little herb gatherers like you will be able to make a big profit in the near future.”

She touched her jade ring and took out a single flower. Its condition was okay but it had taken a bit of damage. Technically it could still be used but the chance of the pill succeeding would decrease by fifteen percent.

She handed the glowing flower to Little Spring. “When that day comes, be sure to remember how kind I was, giving you a flower worth a thousand spirit stones, for free. There is no need to hide it. You can tell others I helped you out, too.”

He looked grateful and nodded. I almost threw up more blood.

“You’re a good brother to your sister.”

She waved us off. Her minions must have taken that as the signal since they gathered up their kill and all ran to somewhere else.

I stumbled over to a boulder and sat down. I placed my head in my hands and screamed silently.

“Fairy Lin... Are you okay?”

I considered this young junior brother of mine. “What did you think of that person?”

Part 5

He bit his lip in thought then answered, “If we’d reached the vines before her, she could have stolen them or killed us for them.”

I nodded. That wasn't a bad analysis of the situation from the 7 or 8 year old. If we had managed to grab a vine and placed it directly into the space, while she wouldn't have been able to get them, she would have realized that we had a treasure when she searched us and didn't find it.

”She didn’t have to talk to us or give us a flower at all so...” he shrugged, ”I think she seemed nice.”

I glared. “She does seem nice. She’s very good at  seeming  nice.” The bitch certainly fooled me when she entered Bloodsword’s harem in my past life.

That’s right. I fucking ran into another of those braindead wives. Though, if any of them weren’t braindead, it would be Violet Pill Fairy.

She was the star alchemist of his harem, more brilliant than even he was at pill forging. The main character not being the best at alchemy was a bit unusual for a Xianxia... And now that I thought about how this world was unusual...

Our master? Way older than him. Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl? Older than him. Violet Pill Fairy? Also, definitely older than him... His other wives? Oh yeah. They were also, all older than him.

While cultivators tended to not care too much about age, I wondered about our dear original dumbass author. Did he happen to have an appreciation for mature women? Considering other tropes that... existed... this normality of the author was actually quite refreshing for fucking once.

Of course, them all being older than him meant that they were already born and any interference from me changing the timeline wouldn’t result in their nonexistence... I could run into any of them at any time.

I suddenly had the urge to hit my head against the cliffside.

“Is Violet Pill Fairy...” Little Spring’s words broke me from zoning out again. It was getting worse again. ”...not a nice person then? She didn't have to give us one for free so...”

I sighed. “Is she pure, unadulterated evil? No. But she is a consummate capitalist. That isn’t necessarily an evil thing....” I grabbed the flower and put it inside one of the small boxes I made out of the leftover white jade. I then shoved it deep inside my bag. “But she has no conscience when it comes to profit. She’d even risk lives if it meant she could make a few spirit stones.”

“But she didn't seem that—“

I glared and he shut up. “That’s not out of kindness. That’s like a drug dealer giving out a sample, knowing you’ll come back for more.”

“A what?”

Shit. He’s just a kid. I rubbed my temples.

My constant headache was also getting worse. Fuck. How much time did I have left before my Immortal Ascension stage divine sense overwhelmed my poor little Qi Condensation body? Four months at this point? Yeah. Four months. I’d made some bad life choices when I looked into those jade stones and in the subsequent fight.

I needed to heal myself so I could cultivate properly. Then I needed to cultivate to the peak of Qi Condensation so I didn't die.

”Her giving us a flower is like a merchant who knows that he has what you want and gives you a sample to earn goodwill and trust from you and others. It could also be like a bad person who does one really good thing to fool you into sharing that news and improving their image.” Those were the more accurate versions.

I peered down at the broken dirt that was all that was left of the vines I needed. That gold core had been pretty adept at grabbing them, but I knew something about them that I doubted these strippers (not that type)  even gave a shit about.

I concentrated my divine sense on the area around where the roots had been and penetrated into the earth to find very small hard objects. And there were several of them.

I grinned. Vines were tenacious little bastards.

While most flowering plants tended to do the flowers-pollinated-to-become-seed-pod thing, this particular vine did not need pollinating. It absorbed spiritual energy through its flowers and used that to produce seeds at the end of its roots. Those seeds didn’t always stay in one place either. They had a tendency to move through the dirt as if it were water to find a better spot to root itself. This also made them a pain in the ass to plant in a specific location.

It was a real crazy vine but cool shit like this flourished in this dumbass author’s kinda badass setting.

Part 6

“Fairy Lin?” Little Spring frowned worriedly at me.

I blinked. Shit. I’d zoned out again.

I patted his head in thanks. “Not everything is lost. There are seeds down here, and we can use them to grow our own Vines of Stellar Rebirth.”

I took out a batch of my formation flags and quickly set up an obfuscation formation around the dirt piles. Because of the large area and complicated terrain, this actually took a good hour.

Since my junior brother couldn’t exactly help, he went off to go do whatever over by the pond.

Once I finished setting up, I grabbed my sword, then I once again used sword Qi to slice into the area where a good amount of seeds were located and transplanted them into the space. With a thought, I had the space dump a bit of spiritual spring water on them.

While I was grabbing stuff, I brought in a few of the larger blue-grey stones from the cliffside and set them up near the seeds so they could eventually climb up them. I’d need to construct a proper trellis later but this was a start.

I’d done some tests on earlier plants we’d picked up, and while it didn’t increase the growth rate that much, it did make plants stronger and more vibrant over a very short period of time.

This meant that we’d still need to buy some from the nearby city.

When I finished, I wiped the sweat off my forehead and nearly collapsed onto my boulder seat. My side ached like a bitch. It wasn’t a good sign that my injuries were getting worse over time instead of better.

The scent of cooked fish blew past me and I peered over at Little Spring, who’d somehow managed to catch a couple, gut them and cook them in that short amount of time. He brought one of them over to me and grinned.

“You should eat something when you're hurt. It helps you heal.”

I nearly grimaced at the mundane fish on a stick but took it anyway.

“Thank you. You did a very good job,” I said, not meaning a word of it.

He put in a lot of work for this, and while I didn’t like that he was so focused on some mundane useless thing like cooking, I appreciated the sentiment.

Still, I peered suspiciously at the charred exterior. This was fine... Right?

I took out a clean knife and peeled away the black scales. The outside portion of fish looked cooked. Promising. I grabbed a bit of salt from my bag and sprinkled it over the cooked meat.

Ever so slowly I took a bite. The flavor of fish overwhelmed my tongue. I nearly spit it out. Maybe it was the way he cooked it but this thing was beyond fishy. Still, I forced myself to finish the bite. I peered up at him. He looked so hopeful.

Fuck.

I took another bite and swallowed quickly. I placed my hand on my stomach and handed the fish back to him. “Ah, I’m so full. I had a grain liberation pill earlier so...”

He bit his lip and his eyes looked a little watery. “Fairy Lin. We’re both still growing. We need to eat. If we don’t eat then we can’t grow big and strong.”

I opened my mouth to respond and then closed it.

In fact, I wasn’t entirely sure that a growing body could grow better by just living off spiritual energy. I mean, it sounded plausible but, I hadn’t done careful research into it. And, part of me was hoping that not eating would stunt my growth in certain chesty areas.

Seriously, fuck that dumbass author.

I sighed. “In my past life, I practiced grain liberation. Those few things I did eat were spiritual dishes made by Immortal Chefs. Those are cultivators who create special food and tea infused with spiritual energy which help a cultivator become stronger. So, to me, mundane food is practically unpalatable. I only ate it before because I would die if I didn't.”

He nodded sagely.“So it’s not that my cooking is bad, it's just that I don’t make the kind of food you're used to.”

“Exactly! You’re an excellent little chef. I’m just used to things you can’t make.”

“Then we’ll have to find some you can eat.”

“Sure,” I lied. Immortal dishes were too expensive. How the fuck could our currently poor asses afford them? “In the meantime, I’ll stick with grain liberation pills. I’ll even make my own once I get a good cauldron. They’ll be very nutritious, I promise.”

“Then we’ll do that. But I still think you should try and eat some normal food sometimes.”

Part 7

Around dawn the next morning, we changed into our new silk robes and flew to Golden Aspect City. Unlike the Jade Lake pseudo-town we visited, this was a true massive center for cultivation.

From outside the no-flying-sword zone that had been set up, I briefly hovered high in the air to take in the view for both myself and Little Spring who stared in awe at the giant metropolis.

The mayor’s ostentatious palace jutted from the center of the city. It was surrounded by several sprawling manors likely owned by the large clans of the era.

A wide river carved a scar past quiet homes and businesses. Several large arched bridges allowed commerce to flourish on both sides. Ships, both immortal and mundane were moored to the provided docks.

The flying sword traffic around the city had been blocked. This meant Little Spring and I had to enter through the front gates. Three long lines snaked their way out from the entrance. After asking around I found that one was for mundane travelers, one for mundane cargo and the last was for all practitioners.

We had to wait in the practitioner line surrounded by adults of varying ages who had a beautiful tendency to mind their own fucking business.

At least the line went quickly.

Unfortunately, since we were visiting and not residents of the city, they had us pay two spirit stones each. Infuriating. Sure we could afford it now but, just a few weeks ago, that would have been a large portion of our funds.

Whatever. I’d just have to make more later.

As we stepped onto the unpaved roads, a crowd of people swarmed around us. Most of them were cultivators with low realms. Still, since we didn’t have a specific direction, we followed the flow of traffic down the sizable main street.

Little Spring grabbed my hand tightly and warily squinted at everyone around us.

I mean, did he not have faith that I could get us through this maze of streets? Cities like these were popular destinations for a reason, and that was the security. Not even the major clans could run around killing people on reflex... Probably.

I glanced at the little main character. Shit. Were we going to run into one of those infamous Young Masters, yelling, ‘You dare?!’ everywhere for minor slights? Doubtful. But with him around... No. While people like that existed, they were so few in number that it was more probable that we’d run into a street gang before that. Or the rarely seen pickpocket...

Nervously, I moved closer to him and used the smallest amount of divine sense I could maintain to keep track of the people around us and our items. Ah, this could be my new paranoia making itself known, but I decided to go with it since I had a majority of our funds inside my storage bag. The rest was safely tucked away in the space.

I noticed a kid standing off to the side. His clothes looked old and worn but he was mostly clean. He looked like trouble. Which meant that it was time to employ rule number three of Transmigrated into a Novel Club.

“Should... we ask him for directions?” Little Spring tightened his grip.

“No need. I’m pretty sure he’s a trap.” (Not that kind) [  I’m pretty sure he was set there to guide unsuspecting idiots new to the area down a dark allies to get kidnaped.”]

I sent an unobtrusive pulse of divine sense out, avoiding the interior of buildings, rickshaws, and the odd carriage where I might run afoul of a grumpy old master or two... Having been a grumpy old master myself it wasn’t hard. Instead, I searched exteriors for the familiar sign. A simple cauldron embossed with real gold.

My sense touched on the buildings, people, and carts. I even noticed some poor fool getting mugged down one of the alleys by a pair of Foundation Establishment cultivators. He seemed a little familiar but I couldn’t quite place his aura. Well, since we didn’t have the strength to help, it wasn’t our responsibility. Besides, they were just overpowering him and not actually murdering him. Yep, that was somebody else’s problem.

There. A few streets over where an even more massive crowd gathered. The familiar golden pill cauldron glittered in my mind.

It hadn’t changed much over the past thousand years. Oh, the design changed with updates and different stylistic choices, but the gold cauldron always remained the staple for the Alchemists' Guild.

Instead of being dumb and going down a dark alley to reach it, I swiftly had us traverse the main streets. It took us longer —and I was out of breath and clutching my aching side by the time we entered the formation chilled building— but we avoided the random ruffians mugging people.

Since the Alchemists' Guild was a mainstay for the profession, it could afford to have the arena-sized building it did. But this location was unusually crowded today. I quickly understood why when I saw the large poster attached to the center of the traditional job request board.

Still holding Little Spring’s hand, I dragged him over to it. A majority of its surface was covered in small beautifully written pages. Each one detailed either a requested ingredient —from various alchemists— or a needed pill —usually from clients. The large announcement in the center cut through all those like a weird rectangular exclamation point. It listed the date in this world’s calendar, an approximate time, and the contest’s information.

Basically, A small youth tournament would be held in a few hours for alchemists under fifty.

Part 8

At this point in time, the Alchemists’ Guild had only been around for a mere two hundred years. They had yet to fully develop their ranking system. Because of this, they would often hold strange imbalanced tournaments where anyone in an age group or cultivation level could join. It was an odd way to do things but did help the promising younger students find alchemy masters.

Eventually —after the more irritating founding guild members ascended to immortality— they would rank alchemists by the highest level of pill they could concoct regardless of cultivation level. Since some ranks of pills could only be concocted by someone with a larger amount of spiritual energy, this also limited the higher ranks to higher realms.

But the important information on the announcement was the prize for this tournament — a brand new cauldron! And not some simple beginner’s one either. This one was made by a soon-to-be-famous genius in spirit-item-forging.

Of course, part of that fame came from this particular item... Because it would be won by a renowned alchemist and entrepreneur, 37-year-old Violet Pill Fairy.

And the reason a spirit item this good was the prize for a youth tournament? That genius wanted Violet Pill Fairy to win it. According to her, back in the day —which was now— he fell for her at first sight.

He eventually came to regret his life choices after that dumbass, Bloodsword, beat him up for asking her out for tea in the middle of the street. They then proceeded to cheat him out of well over half his wealth. He eventually died horribly —and suspiciously— in some secret realm while trying to recoup his losses.

And that was also the story of how the two worst people first fell in love. They seriously deserved each other.

I had a beautifully terrible idea.

It was really breaking the whole third rule that I’d just used earlier but... I wanted that cauldron.

While I did have plans to make an excellent one in the future, it would have to wait until I reached a much higher realm. Meanwhile, this one would work beautifully for the pills I had planned.

I also, technically needed it. The pill I needed to make to heal myself had a high energy requirement that would be difficult for a mundane one to handle.

But I also wanted it to spite Violet Pill Fairy. In my past life, she was a better alchemist than I was. Medicinal Qi cultivation was her path, after all. But I was almost as good. It frustrated the shit out of me that her pills were always that smidge better than my own.

But in this time period, I was now the better Pill Master. At least currently. I had no doubt, she would still eventually surpass me given another two thousand years or so, But she wouldn’t be doing it with this cauldron. Hehehe. Wuahahaha!

Little Spring shot me a worried look and tugged at my hand.

Shit, I was zoning out again. Right. I needed to buy a cheap beginner’s version and then pay to enter the tournament. Fuck. Hopefully, we had enough funds.

I dragged Little Spring through the crowd and went up a Qi Condensation cultivator employee at the main desk. I smiled happily and pretended to be a child.

He gave me a professional smile, “I’m Stone from the Western Riverside. How may I help you, young miss?”

“My master sent me to enter the tournament last minute... but I forgot my cauldron at home. Does the guild provide them for the tournament?”

He smiled apologetically. “We’re sorry, but the tournament is already full.”

What now? Full? Fuck.

“You also have to be a member of our guild to enter... Are you a member?”

Double fuck.

I stared off into the distance feeling like I’d just lost my soul. All those plans...

“I see.” He bit his lip then looked around. He leaned in. “Tell you what. If you join the guild today and pay to enter the tournament, if someone doesn’t show up for whatever reason, you can compete in their place. But you’ll also need to purchase a specific used cauldron.”

Ugh. A specific used cauldron? This was obviously a ploy to get rid of a troublesome item donated by a big shot that no one wanted. It had likely survived an explosion or two and was on its last legs.

But there was something I remembered from my scan of the city earlier.

I grinned like a dumb brat. “That sounds fine... But, can I get it in writing and stamped with the guild’s seal that if anyone doesn’t show up, I’ll be the first person to get their slot in the tournament?”

“That...”

“It’s fine.”

“Manager!”

A harried-looking man stared at the door to the back room as if recalling some horrifying past event. “Anything to get rid of Old Smokey,” he muttered.

Part 9

We spent some time doing the boring but necessary paperwork, enrolling me into the guild, signing the standard agreements, and entering me into the tournament as a backup. Then I received the iron guild badge that symbolized my status as a youth member, as well as the stamped paper that outlined our agreement.

All of this cost us 800 spirit stones. My heart bled. Fortunately, I managed to not  cough up blood this time, especially since I learned even used beginner cauldrons were priced at 2000 and up.

I used a bit of spiritual energy to stick my badge onto the left side of my chest like the rest of the guild members, then Employee Stone led us into a nice back room set up for private conversations.

A short time later the manager came in. With a wave of his hand, he made an extra-large cauldron appear and land on the table. The wood bent with its weight.

Worryingly, aside from a few spots where the original gold color showed through, the surface of the cauldron appeared covered with smoke stains from centuries of use. But what hit me the most was the smell. One I couldn’t ignore even after I closed my nose aperture.

Little Spring gagged and immediately covered his nose. I could not blame him.

Sure, I could describe it as a smoke odor but that didn’t do this intensely repugnant stench justice.

The only other thing that smelled close to this horrendous abomination was something from my first past life. Something I thought I had forgotten about.

I had, at one point in my stupid youth, microwaved a piece of frozen chicken. The instructions were to put it in for ten minutes on low... I did it on high... by accident... presumably.

But what appeared after that was a charred liquidy mass. It seemed to melt and boil unnaturally. And it stank like an Eldritch Poultrygeist had descended from the Demon Realm to curse my family’s kitchen... or exactly like Old Smokey.

That incident was also responsible for eternally turning me away from ever cooking. Fortunately, I became a cultivator and never needed to learn.

After taking one look at it, Little Spring quickly tugged at my sleeve. I patted his shoulder reassuringly; after all, it might not be as bad as it looked. Because it couldn’t possibly be as bad as it stank.

“This is Old Smokey.” The manager, gracefully pretended that he wasn’t giddy with joy to be rid of this monstrosity. But the corners of his lips turned up, giving him away.

After I scanned the cauldron with divine sense, I stared at this manager with all seriousness. “And how long until the tournament starts?”

“We’ll begin around late-morning.”

I nodded. That was in about two hours. “Allow me to use this room until then.”

“Feel free,” he said before he and Employee Stone practically bolted from the room. They only stopped to swiftly slam the door closed, trapping us with the stench. I locked it behind them to give us privacy.

With his eyes watering, Little Spring said, “Fairy Lin!”

“I know!” I had already pulled out my flags and started the simplest obfuscation array since I didn’t have time or space to do a more complex formation.

As soon as I powered it with a spirit stone Little Spring vanished into his space. I followed shortly after, but I sent the cauldron directly into the weapon/item smithy while I sent my body to a spot near the lake.

I sucked in deep breaths of fresh air. Fuck, the smell was still stuck in my nostrils!

I jumped into the spring water and cleansed my entire body. A minute later, the unbelievable stench had vanished.

Seriously, this space was the best.

Now that I was free and able to think, I considered my options. Old Smokey was an interesting specimen of a cauldron.

Judging from that divine sense scan I did, it wasn’t a spiritual tool, but it was the highest level a non-spiritual pill cauldron could get. At least it had been at one point. The metal was excellent, but it had a lot of wear and tear from having actually survived many low-level explosions.

And, I could tell, that despite its current condition, the past owner had loved Old Smokey a lot. So much so that, even in this alarming state, they couldn’t bear to scrap it and instead entrusted it to the Alchemists' Guild to be sold to poor new students. Either that or they did it as a joke. But I doubted that. The guild would have trashed it were that the case. Likely this belonged to one of the higher leveled alchemists the guild couldn’t afford to offend. Someone who loved this old cauldron.

And it was loved for good reason. Beyond the excellent materials it was made with, it had a beautiful yet highly functional design for an antique.

Unfortunately, It was just a little too big for my preference. It was almost as if it had once been intended to be a spirit cauldron that was able to resize into a weapon but the smith forgot to add the right ingredients at the last minute. This, of course, caused it to become one huge bastard specializing in producing mass quantities of low-quality pills.

It made me wonder. If good Old Smokey had been turned into a spirit tool, would it have developed an item spirit by now?

Shit. There I went zoning out again. I didn’t have a lot of time. I had to plan how I was going to quickly get this cauldron in good enough shape to use during the tournament.

Little Spring suddenly appeared beside me, submerged his head into the lake, and stayed there for a full minute. Then almost two. I forcefully lifted his head up.

He coughed and I patted his back until he started taking in huge gulps of air.

“Um... so, this water might be really good for you but... you still can’t breathe it, no matter how much you want to.”

He sent me a look as if asking me if I understood who was responsible for his current predicament.

I ignored it. I also made a mental note to teach Little Spring how to close his nose aperture. Poor kid.

“If you’re done drowning, let’s get to cleaning.”

Part 10

“Are you sure you’re willing to risk contaminating this lake with whatever evil stench is on my cauldron?”

Little Spring glared at me. Right. It was better for it to be out here than for it to contaminate our cottage. We slept in there, after all.

I used my access to the space to move Old Smokey to the bottom of the lake, which still hadn’t been named. The spring water bubbled ferociously above where I set it.

Originally, I had wanted to bring a bucket and actually scrub the thing myself but, I wasn’t exactly in a condition where I could do that. Not in the under two hours we had left. There was too much I had to do to get it ready for the tournament and not enough time. So that meant, I had to take shortcuts and prioritize.

Shortcut one. Leave the cleaning to the spiritual lake and hope it worked like a pro, without sacrificing the already limited structural integrity.

I did not have much hope on that last part as I was pretty sure some of the smoke gunk helped fill in the microfractures and increase stability. But I needed a clean cauldron to work from more than a structurally sound one. Clean and not smelling like a thousand fiery chickens all shitting at once.

As much as it amused me to think of distracting my opponents with that smell, I would not be able to stand it myself. It was the type of scent that didn’t improve with increased exposure.

I waited for the bubbles to chill out before pulling it up from the depths. It still stank like a bitch and had smoke stains covering it so I sent it back down for another twenty minutes during which I rummaged around in the old weapon/item smithy. Fortunately, it already had a normal earth flame which I turned on to heat up the forge.

Then I looked around for tools, praying it had the bare minimum. And it did. They were hiding in an alcove I hadn’t seen before. Tongs, big hammer, little hammer, scrap metal, a surprise sanding and polishing spiritual tool that I cried over... I missed the future.

I didn’t really think much about it since getting thrown back to this time period, but —fuck— I missed the future. The tools, the infrastructure, and the people, many of whom might not even be born this time around. If I hadn’t been mentally prepared to leave them all behind when I ascended anyway, I might have gone mad... more mad? Whatever.

I had a shitty patch job to do.

With a wave of my hand, I brought Old Smokey back and placed him on one of the heavy stone worktables. It was completely dry, exactly like I needed it to be. That was just one of the things that made this space so worth the trouble.

The good news was that the super special spiritual spring water —that really was not meant to be treated like the all-in-one cleaning solution we often used it as— had done a fantastic job at removing the vile charred demon-chicken stink.

The bad news was that some of the caked-on smoke stains still remained. Especially the ones inside the cauldron itself... How the fuck did those get there?! Did some asshole decide to set off a hundred mini-bombs or something? I mean, interior smoke stains were expected with a cauldron that had been through several explosions, but this? The fuck was this?

Part 11

I expected to see interior smoke stains on the lid, but on the bottom? Was his past owner working on a damn anti-gravity pill? Maybe they went up into space to concoct?

Wait! Was Old Smokey actually a space-exploring Pill Cauldron?!

Amusing, but highly unlikely.

Whatever. It was time to get shit done.

I brought out the precious-precious sanding and polishing tool. I used a spirit stone to power it and carefully, but still quickly, cleared away the stains and residue that the poor spring water couldn’t get to in a mere twenty minutes.

As I ran the tool over each inch, caked-on smoke turned into polished gold... Well, technically it was a spirit-energy-infused auriferous metal called Golden Impenetrable Adamantine Steel. One of the best, Heaven rank spiritual metals a smith could use for low to mid-ranked spirit cauldrons.

By the time every bit of the surface was clean, a full half-hour had passed and Old Smokey practically glowed. Now that the caked-on smoke was gone, the elegant vine filigree on the sides and lid clearly stood out. It really had been a very cute beginner cauldron at one point.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop to enjoy my hard work. I had to achieve my second shortcut — patching.

There was about an hour left, and I needed to use it to fix the most disturbing of the micro-fractures.

Earlier, in the small bucket of scrap pieces where the tools were hidden, I’d discovered a chunk of Golden Impenetrable Adamantine Steel. I grabbed the extra steel and placed it in a spiritual ladle (a tool made to hold molten spiritual metal). Then I tossed the thing in the white-hot and blinding furnace.

While that worked on melting I began heating the cauldron by converting a small portion of my Qi to have a fire-aspect and then flowing it over the cauldron in a specific mysterious pattern.

This essentially created another of those secret crafter’s formations. It would heat the item, turn it malleable and force it to mostly hold its original shape during the repair process. Unfortunately, this drained my available spiritual energy by a small but significant portion.

Now that the metal was malleable, I quickly used an ancient forgettably named tool and carved into the worst fractures. I created a shape that would help me strengthen the patched area. Granted, it wouldn’t be as good as reforging the whole thing, but I didn’t have time or the spiritual energy for that.

Once finished, I grabbed my ladle of molten steel and brought it over. With a quick hand seal, I used a technique to create a mold out of tiny shields of spiritual energy. While concentrating on those, I poured the metal into them like the badass professional I was. Not a single drop more than necessary landed on Old Smokey.

I tossed the ladle aside, and by that, I meant, carefully placed it where it needed to go so I could keep working.

Sweat, annoyingly, ran down my forehead.

I wiped it with my sleeve and grabbed the little hammer off the tool rack. Once I sensed that the metal had cooled enough, I released my spiritual mold and hammered it just enough —both inside and out— to help with the next part.

I made several hand seals, using a technique to force the metal to bind, blend, and become one. Or, nearly one, since my cultivation realm wasn’t high enough to use this technique at its required level. It was still really badass at doing quick patches like this... Unfortunately, it also left a residue of spiritual energy, so a cauldron could no longer be used for pills that required an absence of energy contamination. But that wouldn’t be a problem for lower leveled tournaments like this one.

With a thought, I teleported the cauldron into the spiritual lake to quench. A short time later I moved it back to the worktable in front of me and scanned Old Smokey with my divine sense.

After a few quick uses of the polishing tool, good Old Smokey shimmered like new and exuded classic beauty.

I grinned.

I was responsible for that! And now I knew this old guy’s structure inside and out. He was ready to be used as a proper furnace again, instead of something to torture guild employees with.

I glanced around the forge and sighed. It irked me, but cleaning up in here would have to wait. Also, I needed to save my physical energy for pill concocting.

While my injured side burned internally, the pain was currently at an ignorable level. That would change as the day wore on.

I stored Old Smokey in my second-hand storage bag and opened the door to see Little Spring hold out a cup of cold spring water. I gulped it down. After quickly cycling my cultivation technique I had replenished what I’d used.

He pulled out a towel from the looted bag I gave him a few weeks back, then he poured water on it. “How did it go?”

As I started to reply he began to wipe my face clean. “It went well. There are a few insignificant microfractures but it will hold as long as I don’t fuck up.”

“The chances of that—“

I held out my hand to stop him and he cut off, also moving his towel away from my forehead. “For low-level pills like these, even using mostly ancient techniques, the chances that I’ll cause an explosion without outside interference is beyond null.”

He blinked and wiped clean my hands that were still in his face. My cheeks burned.

I’d just let a kid help me get cleaned up as if I were the damn kid... or, as he likely thought of me, the damn daft old senior.

Whatever, I was technically injured anyway, so getting a little help was fine. Little Spring was a very thoughtful child. I ruffled his hair.

Smiling madly, I asked, “How do I look? Am I presentable? Do I appear to be the beautiful immortal I am?”

He kindly patted my shoulder. “Fairy Lin. I think you should go get changed and fix your hair.”

Huh? I glanced down at my ruined outfit...

Ah... it might be my imagination but I was pretty sure the costume I wore belonged to a victim of an ancient structure fire.

Right. White mortal silk —unlike the armor quality robes I wore in my last life— did not make a great forging uniform. Especially when grinding off smoke residue. Well, shit.

Part 12

I decided to take a brief dip in the spring water. Since I was there, I checked the unnamed lake. It did not look any worse off for having scoured Old Smokey for us, but I’d expected that. Spiritual spring water cleaned and purified like a boss.

I changed my robes and redid my hair, before heading out of the space and into the conference room.

Little Spring appeared next to me and we sat down. As we rested, he handed me a cup of spring water and waited for me to take a sip before he asked, “How are you going to explain the fixes to the cauldron?”

I nearly spat.

Coughing, I sent him a glare.

He patted my back.

I briefly wondered if he’d done that on purpose but doubted it. My family’s Little Spring was still a cute innocent little kid, after all.

“If they even recognize it, I’ll tell them that I used a secret technique from our master.”

He nodded.

It didn’t take long for Employee Stone to return and knock. After we let him in, he awkwardly wrung his hands. “One of the contestants was mugged earlier and is in no condition to participate.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I said politely.

I was, in fact, expecting this. Earlier, when I had scanned the poor mugging victim, he had seemed familiar. When I went to enter the tournament, everything clicked.

I had met him at an alchemy contest, back in the day. He was very good but extremely jealous of Violet Pill Fairy. He had complained how, if only he hadn’t been robbed and beaten twice just before the tournament started, her special cauldron would have belonged to him. The guy even boasted that he’d been the better alchemist at the time.

Now that I thought about it... had Violet and that stupid genius separately hired people to stop this guy from entering?

Whatever. I couldn’t prove anything, but I wouldn’t put it past her.

Stone nodded his head like a chicken picking up rice. “The thing is, this competition is not appropriate for a little child. There is a cultivator at golden core participating, after all.”

Ah, I knew they were going to try and get me to back out. I merely pulled out my letter stamped by the guild. “It says right here that as long as I purchase Old Smokey, that I get the slot if someone isn’t able to make it.”

“Of course, of course. But the thing is. We’re worried—“

“Our master would not have sent my sister here if he didn’t think she could win,” Little Spring lied, surprisingly skillfully.

Stone opened his mouth but closed it for a moment. “And which esteemed alchemist is your master?”

Little Spring turned to me for help. Right. I actually hadn’t really talked about our original master to him.

In this life I would not take her as a master. I’d also considered if there was anyone who I believed could be a master to us. Someone who knew things even I didn’t. There was only one name that came to mind.

At one point in my life, I had been struggling with learning alchemy and ashamed that concocting pills was so difficult, when it seemed so easy for others. Then I ran across a pile of old notes inside the sect library. Notes from one of the many sect elders who’d Ascended to Immortality around 300 years before I even arrived at the sect.

It was these notes that explained so clearly what had been bothering me the whole time I was learning alchemy from others. They broke down and even listed the reason things were in near scientific detail as opposed to the ‘It happens like this because this is the way things have always been’ bullshit that the other elders kept trying to shove down my throat.

It was these notes and these theories that I later proved and expanded on that allowed me to become an alchemist that could compete on the same level as those who make alchemy their Dao.

So, in this life, if I had to take a pretend master, then I would confidently claim him as mine. It also helped that he was in the immortal realm and couldn’t exactly nay-say me.

“Our master likes to keep his privacy, as he’s an immortal. We’re also currently on our way to the Indomitable Will Sect to officially worship him.”

He peered at us skeptically.

I grinned.

“I’ve memorized all the esteemed immortals that ascended from the Indomitable Will Sect. Which one are you referring to?”

I raised a brow.

Little Spring added. “Are you even capable of keeping his name secret?”

Part 13

“If an Immortal Zhenren really took you both as his disciples then, yes, we can keep his name secret. This is the third-largest headquarters of the Alchemists' Guild, so we do have that ability.”

I folded my arms. “I won’t say his name until you’ve prepared the room to prevent eavesdroppers. There should be several formations prepared here with that function. Am I right?”

He closed the door and moved an innocuous flag on the wall to the correct location. I’d noticed it earlier but left it alone since it was useless for our purposes.

Once he returned to his seat, he nodded. “I’ve turned on the sound sealing formation.”

With that, I had no reason to stall.

There was no going back after this lie. I just hoped that if he was still alive in the immortal realm, that he’d forgive my use of his name.

“Immortal Zhenren Sword Within the Light of Virtue is our master. Originally named Blade Within Blessed Light. Ascended... what is it?” Employee Stone paled. “... About three hundred years ago? And known for his logical alchemy methods, though he was known better for wielding a sword and cutting down evil demonic cultivators who crossed the line.” I grinned at him. “Ring a bell?”

“If I’m not mistaken, Daoist Blade Within Blessed Light did not take any disciples.”

“And that should show you how incredibly special we are, and why this absolutely has to stay private.”

“If you really are his disciples—“

“Are you doubting my elder sister?” Little Spring practically jumped up.

Look at this kid, supporting me with fantastic acting. Pride nearly overwhelmed me. Still, I held his shoulder down.

“As I said. We are, but we need to reach the sect first to officially worship him.”

“You said that your master sent you to participate in this tournament? How exactly?”

I mentally rolled my eyes. I mean, while it wasn’t impossible for immortals to descend to the mortal realm, it was highly unlikely. They had better things to do. But what they did have was a variety of ways of contacting the mortal realm such as remnants of their will they left behind or... “Through my dreams, of course. The same way he taught me about alchemy.”

His frown deepened. I could tell he was waffling and needed a small push.

“I see that you’re an alchemist too.”

He raised both brows in surprise. Not all employees of the guild were alchemists but I could tell this one was from the residue on his hands... and the silver badge I sensed in his pocket. He may not be a manager, but he was certainly a high leveled employee, who had likely decided to help out on a busy day to earn some points from the guild and help him purchase some expensive herbs.

“I’ll give you a special one-time deal.” I held up the index finger with a broad smile. “Ask me what you’re having trouble with, right now in your pill concocting and I will solve it for you. This could be your only chance to have the disciple of an immortal answer your question. So, make it good and not some stupid test.”

His eyes took my measure. “When concocting a Blue Heartfire Dan, I have trouble solidifying the pill into its final form and it fails nine batches out of ten.”

Let’s see, his eyes were focused, not as if he were curious about the answer but as if expecting me to fail. While I could figure it out, I refused to waste my time and his.

I glared. “I said to not give me a stupid test.”

He blanched. “You’re right. I do. I just... wanted to confirm it.”

“Stop. Give me a real question.”

“But a cultivator at your age—“

“—Yes. I may not have worked with those pills and ingredients myself, but I have memorized all the knowledge my master sent to me. Are you sure you want to waste this opportunity on a confirmation?”

He studied me for a long time then, as if releasing pent-up air, began to speak. As he did so his cheeks turned pink. “When working on Yin-Yang Meridian Widening Pill — although I’ve only tried to concoct it a couple of times — with every attempt I make, my cauldron explodes. Even when I pair the Yin attributed plants with the Yang, it still explodes. How do I prevent that from happening?”

“What spiritual herbs are you using for it and in what order?”

He listed the herbs. Then he went so far as to tell me how many breaths between each one as well as the techniques used to prepare them.

I mentally went over the formula and the plants. One had gone extinct between now and a thousand years from now so I had to dig deep in my memories for that information.

Once finished going over everything, I ran through the concocting process in my mind, imagining myself creating the pill using the exact techniques mentioned. I frowned.

This seemed a little...

“What temperature are you using with these?”

Part 14

“The instructions I received told me to keep the flames at a constant medium temperature.”

As I suspected! “That’s your main issue. The constant temperature mentioned in the instructions was misleading. They should secretly mean that the concoction, itself, not the fire should remain at a constant.”

It was a bit obvious when one had a lot of experience in dealing with odd instructions in pill formula. To hide the true methods, the creators would often leave deceitful directions like that, or add in unneeded plants, then misorder them to confuse anyone who wasn’t their disciple.

“You need to adjust the flames for each ingredient you add. High flame for Yin and low flame for yang.”

“Of course.” He grimaced and the tips of his ears turned red. He probably thought it was obvious now that I pointed it out. But there wasn’t a need to be embarrassed as every alchemist started off falling for this type of bullshit. He likely would have figured it out in another batch or two.

“There is one other issue. You also need to add in the Yin’s Harmony Lilly and the Yang Monarch Grass first and together to keep the temperature stable. But this means that you’re going to need to prepare them differently than you have been. Remove the lilly’s stem as you only need the flower. And for the grass, remove the yellowed part of the roots with a wood knife.”

He nodded. I could tell that he realized something as he practically vibrated with the urge to immediately try what I suggested.

I smiled. “Believe me now?”

“Y... Yes. I do.”

“And the tournament?”

His face turned red. “Of course we’d never keep the disciple of an Immortal Zhenren out of the tournament.”

I beamed. “Thank you.”

“I’ll go explain it to the manager... Of course, I’ll keep your master’s name a secret.”

“Good.”

He hurriedly left the room, leaving the privacy formation in place.

“Is... our master really an Immortal Zhenren?”

I sighed. I hadn’t really spoken to Little Spring about our master much. It was... a weird conversation that I wasn’t looking forward to having. How does one explain to a kid that, in his past life, he took his master as one of his many wives?

Nope. Not touching that.

“Our original master was someone else who... well, they aren’t qualified to be my master in this life. Sword Within the Light of Virtue... Let’s just say that in our past lives I learned many things from him.”

The employee returned and smiled broadly. “I explained the trouble I was having with the manager and he thinks your solution is viable.”

No shit.

“He also informed me that of course, the guild would never go back on its agreement.”

I sighed, “Of course not.” They would just try to fool a child into not participating so some other alchemist with an impressive backer on the waiting list could have a shot.

“The tournament will begin shortly so I was asked to escort you to your position.”

“Thank you!” I thought of something. “By the way. I need flowers from a Vine of Stellar Rebirth. Can I purchase them at this guild or is there a good herbalist who can sell me some?”

“Oh! Those? They’re sold out everywhere for a thousand li.”

I stopped walking. “What?”

Employee Stone stopped as well. “Apparently someone discovered a few days ago that they can be used in a few different pills in place of a more expensive ingredient. They released that information and are receiving quite a large sum for their hard work.” He gestured for me to continue so I did. “But if anyone had them and was willing to sell, it would be Violet Pill Fairy. You’ll meet her in the tournament.”

I did not like where this was going. “Do you know what price she’s selling them at?”

“Last I heard? Around 1200 per flower, I think. Which is a steal compared to the price of the original ingredients for those pills.”

Fuck. I see what she did. Hadn’t she mentioned this incident at one point? Well, I remember it a bit but I’d forgotten the exact flower.

Piecing it together, she’d discovered that this vine’s flowers could be used in place of an expensive hard to find ingredient. Before she patented the information at the guild, she purchased a majority of the flowers and searched for the vines in the wild so she had a monopoly on them. Then she upped the price all the fucking way up. But it was still much lower than the plants that it replaced.

Violet Pill Fairy ended up making millions of low-grade spirit stones from this monopoly, even though it only lasted a year.

Fuck! I thought she was trying to price gouge a couple of little kids. Turned out she was price gouging everybody!

I sighed.

Comparatively, in the forest, she treated us quite well... then again, her whole fake persona was one where she adored children.

Price gouge a slightly rare spiritual herb? Doing it to pay for research to help cultivating children for some nonsense reason.

Selling a healing pill to cultivators at 10 times the normal price in a secret realm? There is no need to be angry since she’s putting that extra money toward helping needy orphans.

Find a cure for a spiritual energy-resistant plague and sell it at 1000x the price of the ingredients? But she was doing it so she could give children the cure for free.

If those excuses had been the truth, it would have been amazing... Too bad the numbers never added up.

I sighed.

Whatever. We still had one flower. One shot at making the pill I needed. If I could get that cauldron, then the chance that I failed to make it on my single try would lessen.

And I needed it soon. My injuries were only worsening as time went on.

Part 15

We reached a large arena built almost similar to a massive version of the college lecture rooms from my past life. It had a standing room at the back, various people sitting in seats in the middle, and special guests in their own private sitting near the front.

On the stone arena floor, the guild had set up forty stations, each one with a provided earth flame, a table, tools for prepping ingredients, and isolation formations around each so that sounds from the people around them couldn’t distract the student alchemists from working.

Fortunately, in this world, alchemy was normally set up so everyone could stand like reasonable people. Because if you were going to be dealing with explosive substances, sitting was a bad idea.

In the front of the staging area, on a raised platform, was a table set up for three currently absent judges.

Several participants had started setting up the provided tools in familiar locations or taking out tools they prepared from their own storage rings.

Employee Stone brought us to my station, an awkward position near where people would pass to turn in their pill to the judging panel.

Considering the traffic, it was a shit spot. But since I was participating last minute, I didn’t blame them for shoving me there.

“I’ll leave you here.” He bowed, then brought Little Spring over to a seat in the stands.

The little main character waved at me but the worry on his face showed even from this distance.

He’d be fine.

I began my setup.

Using traditional seals, I lowered the earth flame. Then, with a wave of my hand, I set Old Smokey over it. His golden sides gleamed as if declaring that he was back and ready to concoct.

I turned the flames up a bit to begin the slow warming process. Because he was still a little damaged I wanted to avoid sharp increases and decreases that could aggravate his situation.

Once he was heated up, I increased the flame slowly. A small bit of smoke started to come up from the bottom.

The fuck?

I peered under him. There was no reason why this was happening.

A thousand years of alchemy experience and I had no clue! I mean, I could figure it out given time to research, but this was truly baffling. Unless...

Shit. Old Smokey was cursed! Presumably.

Who the fuck hated his past owner so much they’d put such a lame curse on a mundane pill cauldron?!

Whatever. This smoke, wherever the fuck it came from, was partially the cause of his previous condition. And likely how he got his name.

Well, since I couldn't cure the disease (right now), I had to treat the symptom.

The first step was to prevent the smoke from contaminating the eventual contents. I couldn’t use spiritual energy for this since I needed all of it for the actual alchemy. This meant that I had to rely on my knowledge of formations.

I needed a formation that was limited to smoke. And it had to let heat through. With the way the room was set up... Then I had to use another of those secret crafter’s formations. One used when forging a material that gave off damaging smoke. It was a small array, the least obtrusive, and, most importantly, it wouldn’t affect the contents of the cauldron.

I took out my stones and set them around my space. This was tricky because they also needed to be in areas I wouldn't casually kick.

Fortunately, setting it up didn't take long.

As soon as I placed my last one, and powered it with a couple of spirit stones, the little bit of smoke began falling unnaturally to the floor where it stayed like wisps of black fog. Satisfied, I looked up. Then I blinked.

The manager stared down at me with a business-like smile. With that eye of his twitching, he also looked miffed.

“Fairy Lin. We’re beginning soon. Please step out of the isolation formation and wait with the others.” He gestured to where thirty-nine cultivators of varying realms gathered near my station to await the judges.

Most of them were sending me impatient glares.

Fuck? Had everyone been waiting for me?

Part 16

Fortunately, everyone here knew the unspoken rule of, Don’t fuck with a Formation Array Master while they’re setting up a formation... Unless you’re trying to kill them... Or yourself.

Since they couldn't hear me, I awkwardly bowed in apology, then I used a gesture to decrease the flame.

When I stepped out I used my best impression of a child who knew they’d done wrong. ”I suppose I should have asked for permission before setting up a formation?”

The manager sighed deeply. ”Absolutely... But seeing as all our expensive and carefully arranged isolation formations haven't collapsed, it’s fine.” He peered back at my setup. “By any chance, is that cauldron...”

”Old Smokey.” I confirmed.

He practically stumbled in shock. “How?”

I grinned. ”I have a good master.”

He guided me to a spot next to an unfamiliar alchemist, then took front and center.

He welcomed everyone and quickly introduced the three judges.

The first one was an alarmingly beautiful woman with long black hair. They called her Pill Master White Lily and her realm was at the early Nascent Soul stage.

One of the judges had a middle-aged countenance and visible signs of kidney deficiency from overindulgence in the bedroom. A disturbing thing to see in someone at his cultivation level. His name was Pill Master Burning Tyrannical Stallion. Considering the situation of his body, he should change that name to something that matched him better. Maybe keep the burning part though.

The last judge was introduced as Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine. He had the look of a man who was a little over intense. Like he took life too seriously and wanted to force others to do the same.

Considering that he wore robes that had a pattern of cauldrons all over them and had a pendant at his side in the same shape I wondered, was he like... an intense alchemy otaku?

Whatever. It was still a very prestigious lineup of judges for a youth tournament. It also confused me. I mean. I could see those at the peak of Golden Core judging this, but Nascent Soul? For a youth tournament?

Was it because of Violet Pill Fairy? She was a genius to reach the very beginning of Golden Core by her age. It might be that the guild was giving her face by having the judges be so high in realm.

And considering that at Nascent Soul a cultivator started to understand the soul I was a tiny bit worried. But that was just my paranoia acting up again. As long as White Lily didn’t rip out my giant Ascension Stage soul to study, I would be fine.

“For the first round, we’ve placed a large variety of pill recipes on the board for Pill Master White Lily to choose from.”

She made a grasping gesture and one of the recipes flew off the board and into the manager’s hands.

When he read the name silently to himself he opened his mouth for a second, shocked, but quickly returned to his consummate professional mask.

“For the first round, you’ll all be making,” he paused. The tension in the room could have been cut with a knife. “A medicinal pill that is very useful for cultivators who enjoy life.” Again he paused.

He stared us down as if daring us to do or say something. “The pill you’ll create is the Five Stages Bowel Clearing Dan!”

I coughed... others in the crowd cried out in alarm.

“You can’t be serious. That pill is—“

“—a needed medicine for cultivators who prefer to not practice grain liberation... and overindulge a bit too much.”

I mean, technically he was right, but it was also a poison that caused a cultivator to go through 5 stages of diarrhea... each one worse than the last.

One could even say it was the perfect prank pill.

He wrote the recipe on the board so everyone could see it. It had 15 spiritual herbs, but the tricky ones were the Crimson Blush-Chrysanthemum, Tearful Lapis Hawthorn Berry, and Festering King Root.

I mean the names themselves were just... well, it was a dumb harem Xianxia world. I couldn’t expect much. At least they weren’t based on random references to Classical Chinese literature that had absolutely nothing to do with the spiritual plant themselves...

The participants rushed to their stations. I found Violet in the crowd. She took off a brown pill testing beast and passed it to her attendant in the stands before walking towards her spot.

Seriously, another pill testing beast scarf? Did she have one for each outfit or did she accidentally kill the last one in some ill-conceived experiment?

I didn't have time for this since the employees were already rushing to give each cultivator boxes of ingredients.

After taking a few steps to my station, I turned up the heat on Old Smokey and gave him a pat for good luck. This old worn-down cauldron had just missed becoming a spiritual item and then went on to be used and abused. And finally, he was cursed... I assumed.

But today, he would help me win.

An employee ran to my station, placed fifteen jade boxes on my worktable, then placed a basket next to it with instructions to return the boxes when done.

After agreeing, I shooed them away. There was planning to be done! Muhahaha!

First, I reviewed my knowledge of each herb and of the recipe itself, while scanning every plant with my divine sense to ensure that it was the best possible for this pill.

A lot had changed in the past thousand years, and while I’d created a pill with the same name and effect before, the recipe was slightly different.

Part 17

I especially had to review the tricky spiritual plants.

The first was Crimson Blush-Chrysanthemum — a spiritual flower with many red and pink petals that had properties that focused on the bowel region and was one of this pill’s main ingredients. But the temperature had to be very specifically prepared so it would melt just right instead of burn.

Tearful Lapis Hawthorn — a red spiritual hawthorn with bright blue teardrop-shaped marks. The properties often revolved around making things flow. Hehehe.

This was also one of the main ingredients and had a slight yin nature so it needed to be paired with a yang-natured herb that wouldn’t overwhelm it. I would pair it with the Warm Salt-Crusted Grass.

Festering King Root- a white radish-shaped spiritual root that appeared as if it was rotting. It also had wrinkles in the shape of the King character. Its properties... well, this was basically a poison that gave people the shits... only with spiritual potency. But it was tricky because I would need to slice it in half just before I threw it in. I couldn't use sword Qi to do it either.

Because this pill also needed to work in five stages, that meant I would have to use a specific shaping technique combined with specific herbs. It wasn’t exactly a time-release coating like pills from my past life but it had a similar effect.

I mentally noted the three grasses that created those effects. They would need special attention and had to go in last.

Since I didn’t want to get strange looks, I would use antique methodology while hiding some of the improved ones within.

So, not only did I need to make a high-quality diarrhea pill, but I also had to hide my advanced techniques behind a cloak of inane outdated hand seals.

I sighed. Shit was hard... but that was why the Five Stages Bowel Clearing Dan existed.

When I looked up from my trance, I noticed that many of the young alchemists around me had already begun.

I started to work on the specific parts that could be prepared in advance.

For this batch, that entailed trimming unnecessary portions of three roots, soaking one flower in a special mundane spring water, and in one rare case, crushing a grass into paste.

Alchemy was actual hard fucking work —especially with an injury— and the fact that I was almost certain the original author would have glossed over the descriptions of how intensely hard it was... well, fuck him.

I calmed myself down and increased the fire with a hand gesture.

Once I was focused, I ensured that the temperature within the pot was perfect then I grabbed a shimmering stalk called Glittering Golden Dryweed with my spiritual energy. This would contaminate it and the pill itself with my energy, but for most pills it didn’t matter.

This weed was a good neutral plant to start this pill off with. I lifted the lid and tossed it inside. Using steady even breaths as my guide, I began counting. Simultaneously, I grabbed the next herb, the one that had been crushed into a paste. Once I reached the count of 22 breaths, I opened the lid and threw the paste into the furnace. I closed the lid and monitored the interior.

The paste melted and melded evenly with the liquified Glittering Golden Dryweed. This was now called an alchemical solution.

From there I waited several dozen breaths for each spiritual plant to fully melt before adding in the next several, while adjusting the fire and thus the temperature inside Old Smokey as needed.

When the temperature was right, I added the Crimson Blush-Chrysanthemum. As my side started to ache, I threw in Tearful Lapis Hawthorn then waited three breaths and threw in its pair.

Then, like the beautiful pro I was, I grabbed the Festering King Root and one of the provided knives and sliced it perfectly in half. Then using my spiritual energy, threw both sides into the pot. The solution bubbled but quickly calmed as it melted.

It was finally time to add the last three time-release-effect plants.

First the stalk of Vibrant Orange Pearl Grass, then, four breaths later, before it had fully melted, add in the Snail Viscous Snot Root.

Wait eight breaths for the first one to completely melt and then split the Daylight Bending Grain directly in half. Add the first, wait thirteen for the root to fully melt, then add in the other half.

I closed the lid then counted for fifteen breaths until the last half melted.

Now!

Making a series of hand seals, I formed the pills into perfectly round balls. Quickly, I lifted the lid and slapped the side of Old Smokey in the traditional, ’evacuate the pill from the cauldron,’ gesture, causing a dozen pills to fly up where I caught them in a jade pill bottle the guild provided.

I may have also burned my hand a little. Stupid low realm. Stupid traditional methods.

Part 18

Ignoring my slightly reddened hand, I peered into my bottle and grinned.

This pill had a recipe that was Sky rank, meaning that the difficulty in its creation and the effectiveness of the medication were the equivalent of a sky rank pill when done properly. When done improperly, this could lead to the pills becoming low quality, and if done poorly enough, they could even drop a rank or two.

When I inspected my own pills with my divine sense I discovered that, while they were all at sky rank, their quality varied. Six were at the pinnacle, four were at high, and the rest were at medium.

I sighed. Well, this was the limit of ancient methods, even with me hiding a few modern ones in there. If I’d fully used the newer methods, near all of the pills would have come out at the pinnacle.

Still, it didn’t look so bad. This should be enough to get me into the next round.

When I looked up from my focus I noticed that a majority of the crowd and the judges were staring at me.

Had... had I been too eye-catching or was I the last to finish?

No, there was some fancy-looking guy in the back just adding his last two herbs. Oops, he forgot to split that last one in two. And over there, Violet Pill Fairy had just put in her Crimson Blush-Chrysanthemum. Wow. Even at this young age, she knew to be careful with every step, even if it meant taking her time.

Well, much like food, pills were best judged while still hot.

I quickly brought my pill bottle up to the judges. Pill Otaku... I mean Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine stared at my bottle as if it were a rare special edition figurine from a beloved anime... It made me feel a little uncomfortable.

After bowing to the judges, I set it down in front of them then backed away. Pill Master Ruthless had the presence of mind to not grab it right away but he did stare at it while talking to me.

“...”

“Alchemy Apprentice Lin?”

Wow! It had been a long-ass time since someone called me that. “Yes, Pill Master?”

“Who is your master?”

“He would like to keep his privacy for now as I have yet to go through the official ceremony.”

“Then what realm is he?” White Lily asked.

“He would definitely be your elder, Pill Master.”

Her eyes glittered. I had tried to keep it vague but she understood that they were above Nascent Soul. But that also limited the number of people it could be since there were only around ten to twenty thousand cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm on this world at any given time.

Burning Tyrannical Stallion picked up the bottle, poured the pills into a jade bowl, and examined them. He could have used his divine sense so he likely did this out of politeness for the younger generation who wouldn’t understand how that sense worked. With an almost bored expression, he nodded to me and turned to White Lily.

He smiled seductively —at least that was what I assumed he was trying to do— and handed the bowl to her as if she were a delicate flower.

White Lily —obviously not interested in him— took it, examined the contents, and smiled at me.

“Your master taught you very well, but it is also your own effort and skill that allowed you to create this many Pinnacle quality Sky rank pills.”

She placed the bottle on the table and slid it over to Ruthless Divine Medicine. This Pill Otaku gently took the bowl and moved the amber-colored pills around it as if visually checking every micrometer for flaws. Finally satisfied, he nodded and poured the pills back into the bottle.

“So many pills at pinnacle quality! They even have a sophisticated pill fragrance! And you managed this at such a young age. Impressive. Very impressive. I think we can all agree that you pass to the next round!”

Yes!

I bowed. “Thank you for your assessment, Pill Masters.”

Before I could grab my pills and return to my station to clean up, Violet Pill Fairy sauntered up to the judges. After greeting the judges, she placed her pill bottle right next to mine as if she was, once again, mocking me for being just that much worse than her.

Not this time, bitch.

Part 19

Ignoring my slightly reddened hand, I peered into my bottle and grinned.

This pill had a recipe that was Sky rank, meaning that the difficulty in its creation and the effectiveness of the medication were the equivalent of a sky rank pill when done properly. When done improperly, this could lead to the pills becoming low quality, and if done poorly enough, they could even drop a rank or two.

When I inspected my own pills with my divine sense I discovered that, while they were all at sky rank, their quality varied. Six were at the pinnacle, four were at high, and the rest were at medium.

I sighed. Well, this was the limit of ancient methods, even with me hiding a few modern ones in there. If I’d fully used the newer methods, near all of the pills would have come out at the pinnacle.

Still, it didn’t look so bad. This should be enough to get me into the next round.

When I looked up from my focus I noticed that a majority of the crowd and the judges were staring at me.

Had... had I been too eye-catching or was I the last to finish?

No, there was some fancy-looking guy in the back just adding his last two herbs. Oops, he forgot to split that last one in two. And over there, Violet Pill Fairy had just put in her Crimson Blush-Chrysanthemum. Wow. Even at this young age, she knew to be careful with every step, even if it meant taking her time.

Well, much like food, pills were best judged while still hot.

I quickly brought my pill bottle up to the judges. Pill Otaku... I mean Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine stared at my bottle as if it were a rare special edition figurine from a beloved anime... It made me feel a little uncomfortable.

After bowing to the judges, I set it down in front of them then backed away. Pill Master Ruthless had the presence of mind to not grab it right away but he did stare at it while talking to me.

“...”

“Alchemy Apprentice Lin?”

Wow! It had been a long-ass time since someone called me that. “Yes, Pill Master?”

“Who is your master?”

“He would like to keep his privacy for now as I have yet to go through the official ceremony.”

“Then what realm is he?” White Lily asked.

“He would definitely be your elder, Pill Master.”

Her eyes glittered. I had tried to keep it vague but she understood that they were above Nascent Soul. But that also limited the number of people it could be since there were only around ten to twenty thousand cultivators above the Nascent Soul realm on this world at any given time.

Burning Tyrannical Stallion picked up the bottle, poured the pills into a jade bowl, and examined them. He could have used his divine sense so he likely did this out of politeness for the younger generation who wouldn’t understand how that sense worked. With an almost bored expression, he nodded to me and turned to White Lily.

He smiled seductively —at least that was what I assumed he was trying to do— and handed the bowl to her as if she were a delicate flower.

White Lily —obviously not interested in him— took it, examined the contents, and smiled at me.

“Your master taught you very well, but it is also your own effort and skill that allowed you to create this many Pinnacle quality Sky rank pills.”

She placed the bottle on the table and slid it over to Ruthless Divine Medicine. This Pill Otaku gently took the bowl and moved the amber-colored pills around it as if visually checking every micrometer for flaws. Finally satisfied, he nodded and poured the pills back into the bottle.

“So many pills at pinnacle quality! They even have a sophisticated pill fragrance! And you managed this at such a young age. Impressive. Very impressive. I think we can all agree that you pass to the next round!”

Yes!

I bowed. “Thank you for your assessment, Pill Masters.”

Before I could grab my pills and return to my station to clean up, Violet Pill Fairy sauntered up to the judges. After greeting the judges, she placed her pill bottle right next to mine as if she was, once again, mocking me for being just that much worse than her.

Not this time, bitch.

Part 20

The first thing I did when I returned to my station was clean everything using the provided supplies a helpful clerk brought me. I also vehemently complained about my inability to use a damn 5th Layer technique due to it risking a worsening of my internal injuries. And that Little Spring couldn’t help me. Fuck, I was bad at cleaning by hand, but it was necessary.

The others, who could all use the cleaning technique were already started preparing the ingredients.

After I was done wiping down my worktable, my side hurt like a bitch. But it was just the normal burn I expected.

Shit. Why didn’t these assholes let people rest after each pill?

I secretly made imagined plans to eventually overthrow their leadership. Then I kept going.

The trick to dealing with constant pain was to keep momentum. Momentum helped me get through each day with a headache, and it would help me get through this tournament with internal injuries.

Another Employee came over with the various white boxes filled with spiritual plants and set them up at my station before leaving.

Since I was in too much pain to give a shit about what others thought of me, I sat in the lotus position on the floor of my workstation and cycled my cultivation technique to refill my well and to briefly clear my mind. This eventually turned into thinking.

Nine Snakes Explosive Tempering Dan. I hadn't practiced this pill before, but I had concocted higher-ranked pills that were even more volatile, so I knew how to handle this one. I also understood from the description that the volatility of it, the near explosivity of it, was what Body Cultivators needed.

This pill would first cause immense pain to the ones taking it as it broke down cells then repaired the damaged areas using spiritual energy. Of course, this saturation of energy in the body would strengthen and reinforce it. This meant that one pill could make a body cultivator jump a whole small realm.

But it was also a pill that could only be taken three times at most, with diminishing returns each time.

Next, I reviewed what I knew about each plant in the recipe and discovered the two most volatile of the plants... They also happened to have the most redundant names, Frozen Yin Ice Grass and Scalding Yang Fire Peony.

This beautiful peony was so hot it could literally catch things on fire. The only reason it stayed peacefully in its box was that it had formations within it to keep it chill. It also had a massive amount of very positive energy.

The next, Frozen Yin Ice Grass, was a crystal clear chunk of grass that resembled a maze of ice crystals. It could freeze things that came near it. And it had a massive amount of very negative (not in the evil sense) energy.

If someone from my original plane of existence came around and read a book on these two plants, they might think, ‘Oh, I’ll just put these two together and they’ll cancel each other out.’ And there were a few rational people from this world who might think that way too. But this was not the case.

Instead, when you put these two opposing forces together it, for some god unknown reason, broke the damn universe and instead caused a violent energy-filled reaction. This was also what made them the most important main ingredients in this crazy pill that only someone insane like a Body Cultivator would take. But, because of this reaction, they needed to be placed first and last.

Next, were the two oddest spiritual plants in the bunch — Vibrant Dual Serpent Weed and Bitter Root of Thwarted Arrogance.

Vibrant Dual Serpent Weed was a bright green weed that grew in the shape of two serpents attempting to consume each other. There was this whole mythology going on with this plant about two snake-type spirit beasts but it was just cute bullshit that didn’t matter in the long run.

What was important was that this was one of the ingredients so significant that it helped give the pill its name.

This spiritual plant, when paired with Nine-Starred Ghost Anise, was actually a very good healer at the molecular level, for injuries that had immediately occurred. So, it was useless to me in my condition.

But this pairing needed to go into the cauldron near the end. And, since it didn’t work well when placed near the Frozen Yin Ice Grass, that meant that the Peony had to go in last.

I wasn’t exactly happy about that part since finishing a volatile solution with the second most volatile plants in the pill was a ‘recipe’ for disaster. I could still make it work, though, being as impressive as I was.

Of course, the most volatile was the Fire Poisoned Stinging Lilly, but it was also the easiest to deal with as it could be paired with the Frozen Yin Ice Grass.

Part 21

Anyway, the second oddest plant was the Bitter Root of Thwarted Arrogance. This spiritual plant looked a lot like a white carrot morphed into the form of a ‘beautiful’ arrogant face (it was still a plant so don’t expect much). A face that was filled with bitter regret. There was a whole mythology around this plant as well, but it was a bit long so the TL;DR of it was... A white carrot was stuffed with the divinely punished soul of an arrogant young master.

I didn’t believe it was true myself, but if it was... then I certainly did my part in helping the soul receive its punishment and reincarnate faster.

But what was important about this spiritual plant in this recipe was that it had the weird ability to shrink volatile reactions while having the solution keep its potency. Almost as if the soul of the bitterly regretful young master was trying to at least stop one thing from getting out of hand... But that was just a fanciful thought.

It was just a root. A weird root, but still just a root.

And since it was such a useful plant, it needed to go in when the reaction neared its worst but before it actually blew. This would be a quarter away from the last plant I’d add.

Now that I was done mentally going through the steps, and ensuring that I had everything ready I stood and began prepping the plants I could ahead of time.

I first scanned each one. There was a fantastic-looking Vibrant Dual Serpent Weed, that I had really lucked out on. And that Scalding Yang Fire Peony needed a little extra work to get it ready, but it would still do...

Oh, shit!

That was not a Fire Poisoned  Stinging Lily.

It was in my box filled with them, and even looked like one, but it was definitely not one. It had an extra line of fiery orange on its petals.

This was a Yang Fire Infused  Stinging Lily.

If I had used this, even with my skills, poor Old Smokey would have been blasted into detritus. But what was insidious about this little herb, was that, not only was it extremely volatile, it was stealthily  volatile. It built up and compressed its energy, hiding until it was too late to do anything about it.

This Yang Fire Infused Stinging Lily, while definitely of the same family as the Poisoned version, was only given to alchemists at the middle of Golden Core or above because of the danger involved.

It was a good thing that it was placed in my box instead of one of these young alchemists who might not notice a single extra line on a lily.

I took out the correct flower and set the box aside so I could explain the mistake to the employee when they came round to pick up the boxes. Then I finished my scan of the plants and began the hard work of prepping them.

For this round, that entailed, cutting off useless extras, twisting a blade of grass into a knot, and weirdly breathing on the roots of a flower before slicing them off. Frustratingly, even though I researched it, I didn’t know why that last one had to be done that way, I just know it worked.

Then I turned up the heat and added the Frozen Yin Ice Grass. Old Smokey shuddered on his three legs. At this point, I was positive that if I hadn’t taken the time to repair him, then I’d already be down a cauldron.

Since I knew that grass wouldn’t melt without a paired herb, I threw in the Fire Poisoned Stinging Lilly. The two herbs clashed but they both melted like they were supposed to.

With the first hard step done, I counted breaths until the next one. After 24, I threw in the next flower then waited for 30 breaths, and threw in the next grass. The cauldron seemed to groan with the strain. Admittedly, it was difficult to keep everything together at my low cultivation level, but I managed it.

When I reached a little over halfway through the recipe, vibrations rocked the room.

That... was not supposed to happen. I spread an unobtrusive divine sense out beyond my isolation barrier.

Someone’s cauldron exploded? Ah, poor kid. But the others wouldn’t be affected by a little explosion like that.

Part 22

Of course, while continuing to eavesdrop with my divine sense, I simultaneously counted my breaths and picked up the next herb with my spiritual energy. I tossed it in.

Boom!

Oh... double shit. The contents of two other alchemists’ furnaces blew. Since they were right next to each other, they amplified and rocked the entire room. Several isolation formations went down.

I put in the next spiritual plant and counted. Before I even hit the count of two I felt the impending explosions of eight other cauldrons. Eight! At the same time.

Motherfucker. This was gonna hurt.

First, to save Old Smokey and the pill, I threw in the Bitter Root of Thwarted Arrogance together with the plant that was supposed to come before it.

I sped up the spiritual energy within my body and used the technique beyond my level for shielding, covering my body, my remaining spiritual plants, and my cauldron.

At first, for a mere moment, my isolation barrier held against the initial shockwave. It even held as the subsequent fiery blast wrapped around it. But then, the barrier dropped.

The burning billows of flames, energy, and medicinal Qi hit my shield. It held... for a breath. That was long enough for the Bitter Root of Thwarted Arrogance to melt a little and stabilize my solution.

I coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Closing my eyes, I curled in on myself, bracing to feel the tail end of the turbulent energies. Bracing for more injuries. But I felt nothing. When I looked up, I realized that I and the jade boxes filed with the guild’s expensive plants had a Gold Core level shield protecting us.

Right. I wasn’t by myself. And I wasn’t the only adult. There were people around me, strong cultivators whose jobs it was to save my ass from other people’s mistakes. I almost cried.

But I hadn’t stopped counting.

And, while they had shielded me, they hadn’t done the same for Old Smokey.

Oh, he was fine, technically.

Cauldrons, like Old Smokey, were built to withstand explosions, even from the outside. The issue was that the energy of that explosion affected the contents.

I knew it would happen, which was why I added Bitter Root of Thwarted Arrogance early. But I’d underestimated these explosions.

No, I estimated correctly based on my knowledge of the herbs involved. They should not have been that bad, to begin with!

Fuck, had some of the others gotten the wrong herb like I had but hadn’t realized it?

Well, what mattered now, was how to make a pill form in a solution that was definitely going to explode regardless of what I did — it was only a matter of time.

One of the things I learned from the notes of Immortal Zhenren Sword Within the Light of Virtue was that concocting pills was, in fact, similar to the first several realms of cultivating.

While alchemists used a cauldron to take energy from different sources and build a pill with the wanted effects, cultivators used their own bodies as a cauldron to build a ‘pill’ called a golden core (I assumed this was why realms got weird after that). But this meant the same tactics used when cultivating difficult, near explosively energetic techniques could also be employed to balance out the energies, at least temporarily, and direct the explosion when it happens. In my journey to develop my own technique, I'd also researched many others and subsequently developed methods to improve my alchemy as well. So, I used one of those methods.

I concentrated on the boiling ball of solution and energy within and spun it in a specific spiral. While this sounded like I was just stirring a pot of boiling water to keep it from boiling over, it was far more complicated than that, though the concept was the same.

Since I still needed to add the last few ingredients, I grabbed those with my energy and pulled them into Old Smokey. I kept them above the solution and spun them in the same direction of the spiral, waiting for them to melt.

Part 23

Sweat ran down my forehead and into my eyes. I closed them. I wasn't using my vision at this point anyway.

Then, one after the other, in the order I was supposed to throw them in originally, I swiftly dropped the liquified ingredients into the main solution. The energies began to destabilize again, but that was fine because a portion of them were perfectly stable. I focused on that perfect portion and used the hand seals for forming a pill, plus one extra, just before...

Boom! It exploded as I jumped back to avoid the blast. The fiery eruption knocked the lid off Old Smokey. Since I had, using a specialized hand seal and a majority of my remaining Qi, directed the energies, they burst from the opening.

Thankfully, I had controlled it enough to focus it away from the newly formed pill. Unfortunately, my poor Old Smokey, my first cauldron in this life, was no longer in working order. He had cracks that started from the opening that spread down into the bowl.

Damn, that poor old —and probably cursed— cauldron had finally concocted his last pill.

”Apprentice Lin, ” a little employee came up to me and bowed. She looked at me with sympathy. Yeah, he was a good cauldron, I did need sympathy. ”Please go wait in the seats with the other contestants who didn't concoct a pill this round.”

I huffed. Didn't concoct a pill? Who the fuck did she think I was?

After taking a jade bottle off my prep table, I walked up to the cracked remains of poor Old Smokey. With a wave of my hand, he vanished into my storage bag. My single perfect chartreuse pill dropped and I collected it into the bottle with a gesture.

The noisy room quieted down. Then I walked up to the judges at the same time as Violet Pill Fairy and another cultivator, this one at the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment. The corner of Violet’s lips turned up and she placed her bottle on the judges’ table and bowed.

Not wanting to let her have all the momentum, I did the same. And the other guy went last.

”Please judge my work, Pill Masters.”

Pill Otaku stared at the bottles as if he were eager to examine every inch of them, but he didn’t snatch them from their spot.

White Lily also didn't touch them at first. ”By rights, I should call a halt to this tournament after what happened. But the fact that a young Qi Condensation Cultivator still managed to concoct a viable product through all that... Well, it would be a disservice to her to not keep going. We had also expected a fair amount of cauldron exploding, though the guild hadn't prepared for this much.”

Pill Master Burning Tyrannical Stallion, who was turning red with the effort of holding it in, haltingly said, ”We’ve decided... To judge you based on the pill quality. The two with the best quality will go on to the final round.”

Fuck... There was going to be a final round after what happened?! My side hurt like a bitch, my legs had the stability of slightly cooked noodles, and I had given myself more internal injuries when I used a shielding technique beyond my level, while still injured from the last time. The urge to sit down and take one of my remaining cheap-ass healing pills was nearly overwhelming. But I had no strong friends here to watch my back. I couldn't allow myself to show these cultivators any weakness regardless of how safe this place was.

But I still needed to finish this tournament. There had to be some way...

“Perhaps the guild should base the winner off these pills?” Violet Suggested. “My young junior seems to have lost her cauldron in that explosion. And, I believe the guild just sold the last spare one a little while ago.”

I narrowed my eyes at her and turned to the crowd to spot Employee Stone. He gave me a sheepish look. When I turned back to the bitch, I noticed that her expression was neutral but the corners of her lips turned up.

Had she suspected something like this would happen and had someone purchase all the affordable cauldrons in the guild? Had she even been the cause of it? Perhaps by paying someone in the stock room —through a proxy— to ’accidentally’ fuck up?

Part 24

I had no proof. And as a Qi Condensation Practitioner with an ’imaginary’ immortal backing me, I wasn’t in a position to find it either.

Regardless, I didn’t mind laying the blame for Old Smokey’s untimely demise on her silk-clad feet. I mean, she was the same woman who managed a monopolistic take over of a single spiritual vine and raised the price on it by 120,000%. And people fucking thanked her for it because it was still cheaper than the previous herbs.

“I have a suggestion,” I spoke up with confidence. White Lily raised a brow at me. The Pill Otaku finally took his eyes off the bottles and considered me. Pill Master Burning looked like he just wanted to get the fuck out of here and wouldn’t listen to anything I had to say. Seriously, he should just take a break if he needed it.

“I fully admit that I am injured, and I’m sure there are others here who were also injured and require some time to recover. Once you’ve finished judging the pills, Why not allow us to take a short recess for recovery and to allow the guild to investigate this mishap, and then we can continue.”

Pill Master Burning rolled his eyes. “You don’t have a cauldron, if you pass, how are you going to have us continue the tournament?”

I grinned. “Let us have a pill debate for the final round!”

Violet raised her brows at me. “Interesting. How old are you? Eight? Nine?”

“Nine,” I said with feigned proudness.

“Yet you believe you could debate and hold your own against me?”

“What? Are you scared that you’ll lose face after you’ve lost to a child?”

“I won’t lose.”

“They haven’t even judged our pills yet,” The poor extra Foundation Establishment cultivator said. “Who knows. I could come in first.” He smirked.

Violet and I shared a look, for once.

“Then it’s decided that we’ll take a recess and then you both shall participate in a pill debate for your final round... if Apprentice Lin passes and not Apprentice Golden Grass.”

The extra apprentice, who actually had a name, huffed. A vein ticked in his forehead, likely from being ignored.

We nodded.

With obvious impatience, Pill Master Burning grabbed all three bottles.

He brought out three white bowls and poured the pills from each into them.

All of the pills were a translucent chartreuse, just with varying levels of yellow to green ratio and cloudiness. My single pill, which stood out among the rest by its loneliness, was slightly more green than yellow, and it was perfectly translucent without a single cloud within it. A truly beautiful pill.

Pill Master Burning Bowels gestured to the first batch that had Extra Apprentice Golden Grass’s set of ten pills.

“Your highest quality pill is on the low end of pinnacle quality. But there is only one of them. The rest are all Medium and Low. You were also in the very back of the room, so your cauldron wasn’t affected by the mass explosion like your two fellow apprentices.”

“I second that,” Pill Master White Lily said. “Apprentice Golden Grass, you are excellent for your age... but you’re going against two geniuses.”

Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine just glanced at the bowl and grimaced. Then he waved the poor kid away.

Poor Extra Apprentice Golden Grass seemed to have physically taken a wound to his heart. He shuffled over to his pills, poured them back into the jade bottle, and walked off. He tripped a bit on the stairs leading to the stands and sat down forlornly on the first available seat.

“I think we can go on break now,” Pill Master Burning Bottom said.

“Hold on,” White Lily sent us a gentle smile that seemed to warm the soul. “These two deserve to have their pills be judged. As well as have their amazing actions today highlighted.”

”You’re right. Of course.” The man sighed deeply and then turned to me. His sharp glare would have sent a chill down my spine if I were a real nine-year-old.

“Apprentice Lin. You are in over your head,” Pill Master Burning Jerkface said. “Am I impressed that you were able to save your concoction and make a single perfect pill at your cultivation level? Yes. But you shouldn’t have done it. You were risking your own life doing something so stupid when you should have just backed out of the tournament. So, while I pass you onto the next round, know that it is with reluctance.”

I would have rolled my eyes at this if I weren’t pretending to be a kid. Instead, I bowed, “Thank you for your advice, Pill Master.”

He huffed and handed the bowl with my pill to White Lily. She examined it carefully. “This is, one of the most beautiful examples of the Nine Snakes Explosive Tempering Dan that I have ever seen.”

Damn straight it was.

“But what I’m more impressed with, is the bravery in the face of an explosion that I witnessed from you. Although you are a small Qi Condensation cultivator, you didn’t hesitate to notice the trouble outside of your isolation formation. And when you saw something suspicious, you took action to protect yourself and your concoction.”

I am super awesome.

“You must have an amazing master. That said, Pill Master Burning Tyrannical Stallion is also correct.”

What now?

“You risked your life to create a pill. When you realized that there was something wrong with the situation, you should have run away. Your life is more important than that. Especially since I believe you might be the most talented alchemist of your generation... That said, I also agree with you moving onto the next round.”

Wow. White Lily was super sweet for a Nascent Soul. A little misguided, but still sweet.

I bowed. “Thank you for your advice, Pill Master.”

Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine brought the bowl over to him and studied the pill for way longer than I thought he would. I almost wondered if he were doing it on purpose to make Pill Master Burning Asshole over there suffer more.

“With this lovely color, clarity, and scent, this is a prime example of what a Nine Snakes Explosive Tempering Dan should look like. While that in and of itself makes this pill lovely, the fact that this pill was created under such circumstances and by such a young cultivator should be applauded. You pass onto the next round,” He turned, slightly to the other two, “With enthusiasm. Alchemists need to risk their lives to advance in their craft, just like other paths. So, while being careful is fine, taking chances to create something beautiful is also part of our profession.”

Damn. Well said, Pill Otaku. I knew you were my favorite for a reason.

I collected my pill and returned to the side to watch the assessment.

Finally, it was Violet Pill Fairy’s turn.

Pill Master Burning Tyrannical Stallion, who by this time had a skin color that was not unlike a cooked lobster, seemed to waver a bit between wanting to act suggestive and taking care of his problem. “Apprentice Violet Pill. Yours are almost all at the pinnacle. And your best one, when put next to Apprentice Lin’s appears to be equal in quality.”

Are you kidding me right now? We fuckin’ tied? No, wait. She had more pills so, if we tied for quality then she technically would have won this round. Bitch.

“When you realized that there was trouble with the exploding cauldrons. You immediately worked to protect yourself and your concoction. You even rescued a few nearby cultivators so the guild’s team of enforcers didn’t have to work as hard.” He sent her a brief smile, “Because of these reasons, I strongly approve of you moving onto the next round.”

And she even helped people? What? Was she having a guilty conscience for putting those poor cultivators in that situation in the first place?

“Thank you for your approval, Pill Master.” She bowed elegantly. The corners of her lips turned up even higher.

White Lily took the bowl and scanned the contents. “I agree with that assessment, and strongly approve of you moving onto the next round. Excellent work. And it was fantastic to see you helping your fellow apprentices.”

“Thank you for your approval, Pill Master.”

Pill Master Ruthless, pulled the bowl over to him. He squinted at it then nodded. “They are very similar, though I believe Apprentice Lin’s is slightly clearer and has a bit more efficacy. But not enough, unfortunately, to say that it is definitely better.” He rolled the batch of pills around in the bowl. “Regardless, there is no winner during the rounds only a pass or fail. So I will not say that anyone won this round. But I will point out, that while you were impressive in both your concoction and your ability to help others while creating such a high-quality pill. Apprentice Lin’s cauldron, literally exploded, where yours did not. She is a mere Qi Condensation practitioner while you are a glorified Golden Core. These facts should speak for themselves.”

He paused for a long moment and finally looked into Violet’s eyes. “You pass. Congratulations.”

Damn, Pill Otaku. You tell it like it is .

“Thank you for your approval, Pill Master.” Violet bowed but the smile had finally been wiped off her smug ass face.

Part 25

Employee Stone collected me then Little Spring. He escorted us to the same private meeting room we used last time.

On our way, I informed him about the incorrect spiritual herb that I’d noticed and pointed out that other boxes also had to have contained some of these for the explosions to get so large. He promised to look into it. I had no energy left over to deal with it myself so I decided to throw the problem at the guild’s employees.

After that short conversation, I settled into the room and activated the privacy function. We didn’t have much time, only an hour so I set up the simple array and jumped directly into the spiritual spring... I kind of wanted to call it Lake(in Mandarin) Lake(in English), but that was my good ol’ earth-human naming sense coming in.

“Have you decided on what you’ll call this lake yet?”

Little Spring, who had been practically vibrating with restless and nervous energy since I finished the last round glared at me. “Fairy Lin. You don’t have a lot of time. And you’re still injured.” Then he bit his lip. ”Please focus on healing yourself.”

The kid practically threw himself down into the lotus position on the shore. He let out a frustrated sounding breath then started cultivating. He pulled in spiritual energy like crazy.

Fuck, was he trying to break into the third layer, already? No wonder he was so restless.

He also wasn’t wrong. I needed to heal what I could immediately.

I lowered myself into the shallow part of the lake, popped one of the few remaining healing pills we had, and began to slowly cultivate myself. I let the energy run through me and heal some of the internal damage that the backlash from using the shield had done to me. As it did this, it left some nasty impurities in my body. Fortunately, since I was in the spiritual spring, those impurities were immediately leached out.

After a while, I was still worse off than where I had been when I started the day, but better than I was after the second round.

My body was starting to worry me. The constant headache that I lived with was the least of my troubles at this point. My side hurt like a bitch while my internal organs felt like they’d taken several jabs.

I sighed. If I could just win this, I’d get a new cauldron. Then I could quickly succeed in making my needed pill. Well, considering that concocting it would normally be difficult for someone in Foundation Establishment, I had my work cut out for me.

Fuck. I wish I could break through to the fifth layer without harming myself further. An increase by a small realm would help.

I glanced at Little Spring who had just finished breaking through to the third layer. Maybe I could get him to assist me in concocting it. I could use some main character good fortune right about now. Making it in one shot might be too difficult otherwise.

Perhaps I could find more Vines of Stellar Rebirth nearby, or find a way to purchase some for cheap (from someone other than that bitch Violet). Otherwise, we would only have one chance at it.

I stood up, the aches in my body unexpectedly caused the world to dim for a second. I sighed. It may have come out as a groan.

The hardest part about living with pain was starting. The easy part was keeping momentum. As long as the momentum didn’t cause me to crash and burn, then I was fine.

I grinned. With a thought, I appeared dry and next to my junior brother. “Let’s go!”

Little Spring, slowly stopped consolidating his new realm and opened determined eyes. “Fairy Lin.”

“What?”

“I want you to be able to rely on me.”

Aww. What a cute kid. I smoothed his hair. “Okay. In the future, I will rely on my younger brother,” I straight-up humored him. “But, for now, just concentrate on having a good childhood. Grow up strong and be a decent person... And a righteous cultivator.” I proudly pointed at my chest with my thumb. “Follow my example and you can’t go wrong.”

The worry on his face grew exponentially. Ah, right. Maybe he still had doubts about my sanity. Whatever.

I left the space and Little Spring followed. Just after I put away the array, Employee Stone returned. He brought us back to the arena.

Aside from the judges’ desks, one earthen flame, two seats, and a single prep table, the whole staging area had been cleared. The stands were still filled with cultivators and judges had returned to their spots.

Pill Master No Longer Burning But Still an Asshole, had a normal color on his face. Seriously, this guy did not have healthy habits and needed to rethink his life choices if he wanted to reach Nascent Soul in the next 500 years.

Employee Stone stayed with me until I reached my spot where a nice seat had been set up for me.

He bowed and left. Little Spring did not follow him. He stayed at my side, hands balled into small fists. I gestured for him to go but he ignored me, his jaw clenched tight.

Those explosions hadn’t worsened his trauma from my last totally-not-close-to-near-death-experience, right? I mean, I was obviously not dead. This meant I was fine. Mostly.

I looked around. Well, as long as the guild didn’t say anything then I’d let him do what he wanted.

Soon, Violet Pill Fairy was escorted to her seat. She glanced over at me. Then her eyes briefly wandered over to Little Spring... Probably because he sent a glare her way.

She huffed out a delicate laugh. I ignored her.

Finally, the guild manager walked to the center of the arena floor.

”Welcome back, everyone. First, I would like to take the time to explain what happened during the last round, where three apprentices were severely injured and another seven came out with mild burns.” Even though it had only been a short hour, the poor man looked like he needed a break.

”We discovered that the root cause of the initial cauldron explosions was a consequence of a misplaced spiritual plant. Earlier today, two of our clerks who work to sort plants had an accident while carrying boxes of lilies that had similar appearances. Some of the boxes spilled and the lilies ended up mixed. This was due to the negligence of our clerks who both failed to notice their errors. This caused a volatile herb that would normally only be sold to Golden Core cultivators to end up in the hands of inexperienced Foundation Establishment cultivators.”

He stared into the crowd, his gaze sharp. It was like he was trying to say that he knew what was going on and he wasn't having it. ”We’ve fired those two clerks. And we will begin to institute policies to ensure that this mistake never happens again.”

He let out a breath.

Ah, so either it was really a mistake or he couldn't afford to go against the clan backing Violet. Well, I couldn't blame him. I had no energy to go against them either. Besides, I was going to beat her ass at alchemy soon anyway. May as well let her get away with something.

“Congratulations to both Apprentice Violet Pill and Apprentice Lin for making it to the final round. Whoever wins this will be awarded the newly forged Heavenly rank Spiritual Cauldron by local master craftsman Three-Tiered Flame Hammer. A cauldron perfect to last a cultivator up to their Nascent Soul Stage.

“The second place will receive a beginner’s cauldron and a thousand spirit stones.”

Damn. The difference between first and second was massive.

“Now, to begin I’ll tell you the rules. Each participant gets to choose one topic about pill making. This topic has to be about unusual problems in the concocting process. Or normal problems that have yet to be addressed but the participant has a theory on how to deal with it.

“Once both participants have presented their theories. One of the judges will test it out, and if needed we’ll use a pill testing beast to provide evidence.”

“If there is no clear winner, after two topics provided by the participants, then Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine will choose a topic.”

That Pill Otaku? I wanted to see what he’d choose but I also didn’t think poor Violet Pill Fairy would have the chance to even get close.

”Apprentice Lin. Since you’re the youngest, you may go first. Please propose a topic.”

Let’s see. A topic. The thing is, I had too much knowledge of the future. It would be easy to just pick something impressive from the millions of facts and discoveries over the years. What I needed was a nearly harmless fact that hadn't been discovered yet.

I glanced at the judges and my eyes stayed slightly longer on Pill Master Burning With Too Much Lust.

Or I could try to appeal to judges.

”Everyone knows that taking pills often leaves a buildup of residue that can be harmful to the body. But one of the more serious residues is left by, none other than the various aphrodisiac pills, especially the Happy Pulse Auspicious Dan. It causes kidney damage, heartburn, headaches, nausea, and if taken too much, it could even limit the potential of a cultivator, lowering their chances of ascending to the next realm.

”I would like to propose a theory on how to decrease the impurities in the Happy Pulse Auspicious Dan so that cultivators who take this medication will no longer have to worry about the impurities lowering their chances to ascend to a higher realm.”

The manager, whose face was bright red, coughed a bit. “Apprentice Lin! Isn’t that topic a bit inappropriate for a contest like this? Especially coming from someone your age?”

I tilted my head and blinked at the host like I had no idea what he was talking about. “I don’t understand. Aphrodisiac medicines, when used appropriately, are there to help cultivators who desire it, have cute little babies.” I blinked my big watery and innocent nine-year-old eyes again. “At least that’s what my master told me,” I lied cutely.

With his face still bright red, he nodded. “Right, as you said. When used appropriately, it is a medicine.”

I blinked again. “I don’t understand that part either. Why would anyone use it inappropriately?”

He swiftly turned to Violet Pill Fairy. “Do you have a problem with the proposed topic?” His eyes seemed to tell her that she should.

She smirked. “I don’t.”

Then he turned to the judges as if desperate. “How about our esteemed panel of judges?”

“We do not.” White Lily said. “As Apprentice Lin said. It is a legitimate medicine... when used appropriately.”

As if giving up, the guild manager said, “Then, Apprentice Violet Pill. Have you thought of a method to decrease the impurities?”

Part 26

Violet nodded sagely. “Happy Pulse Auspicious Dan is the most classic aphrodisiac medicine designed to help a paired couple ‘produce cute babies.’ Not only does it allow a cultivator to experience an... internal heat that is the hallmark of those types of pills but it also activates organs that normally lay dormant in cultivators with more advanced realms. I’m sure everyone here is aware how difficult it is for those in a higher realm to have children.”

It was very difficult. By the time I became a Nascent Soul, I already had several friends of the same realm who regretted not having children when they were a golden core. Even with the improved version of the Happy Pulse Auspicious Dan, only a few of them managed to have children. Others settled for raising a disciple. Still, it gave them better odds by a large margin than the old version.

Violet then listed out the ingredients. The manager helpfully wrote them for everyone to see.

“And your recommendation?”

“While I honestly haven’t thought about this all that much I have considered that the Red Burning Resplendent Vine could be replaced with the Splendid Glittering Chimera Root. This would lessen the intensity of the medicine and the subsequent effects.”

“And, judges? What is your opinion? Would the solution work?”

“There is no need to test it. It works, though there are definitely still side effects,” Pill Master Burning Eyes said while once again staring warmly at Violet... now that he was no longer Burning Bowels.

Violet appeared to not notice his regard.

“Then, Apprentice Lin. What is your suggestion?”

“I would instead leave the Red Burning Resplendent Vine, but replace the Orange Viscous Shroom, with Opalescent Yang Root. Then add in a Charcoal Incandescent Yin Peony. Then you need to ensure that the Brown Crowning Spider Lily has its roots cut off just before you place it inside the cauldron. You must also trim off the gills and smash the Golden Oak Mushroom Vine....”

I went on with the preparation changes for a good minute more.

“That should be it.” I didn’t worry that these cultivators didn’t memorize what I’d said since memory improved exponentially with an improvement in realm.

Pill Master Burning practically vibrated with excitement. “I’ll test these changes.” He hopped down from his seat and landed gracefully by the earth flame. A swift employee brought boxes with the requested herbs.

From there I watched Pill Master Burning take out his cauldron and follow my instructions to the letter.

Well, I could say what I wanted about his private life and bad habits but I could not deny that he deserved his title of Pill Master for someone of this era. A good twenty minutes after he started, he slapped his palm against the side of his cauldron and collected the dozen pills that flew out. They were all of a Pinnacle or High quality.

He held the bowl up and stared at them as if he’d found his saving grace. Yeah, he should switch to these before ascending became a pipe dream for him.

“Do you need to test them in order to see how they’re improved?” I asked.

He looked like he wanted to ask for a couple of hours to do just that, but Pill Master White Lily said, “No need. I can tell that these are superior with far fewer impurities.”

Pill Otaku looked like he wanted to snatch the bowl to study them and the only reason he didn’t was his iron self-control.

They should find it fascinating since decades of other people’s hard work went into creating the revised recipe. Ah, now that I thought about it... maybe I overdid it? But I really wasn’t interested in a pill like this and only learned this recipe in passing during an Alchemists' Guild convention sometime in my youth, when I was a mere hundred years or so old.

“I believe that we’re in agreement that, Alchemist Lin’s proposal for a change in recipe to remove the harmful side effects has been accepted.”

“Yes.”

“Since this is just a major change, as per guild regulations, for the next fifty years, Alchemist Lin will receive 15% of all profits off pills using this revised recipe with an additional 5% going to the guild.”

Oh shit. Well, profit is nice but earning spirit stones off a pill like that... Whatever. Best not to think about it. Best to really not think about it and just, enjoy random money falling out of the sky.

Fuck. I really should have thought this through.

Then again... It wouldn’t be a bad thing if more cultivators who wanted them had children. And these pills did focus more on the pregnancy than on the... other aspects. Then again, I wouldn’t know what to do if ten years from now some 9-year-old kid came up to me and told me that they existed because of my ‘contribution’ to alchemy. Yep. I would stop thinking about it here.

“Apprentice Violet Pill,” The guild manager began, “What is your topic?”

For the first time, I saw her look nervous. Then she squared her shoulders. “I propose the theory that it is possible to stabilize the Crushing Imminent Tribulation Lightning Dan so it has a better success rate.”

Interesting! That was similar to a Golden Core’s Lightning Tribulation Transcending Dan. It might also be the precursor to it.

“Do you accept this proposal, Apprentice Lin?”

“Can you please place the recipe on the board?”

Once he did I took a few minutes to think about what this ancient recipe would turn out like and then nodded. “I’m fine with this proposal.”

Violet grinned.

“Then how would you stabilize this pill, Apprentice Lin?”

“Give me a moment.” This time, I slowly analyzed each spiritual plant in my mind and made a plan for how I would create this pill perfectly. When I finished, its recipe still had impurities in it but the proposal was stabilization, not purification.

Once I was satisfied with my stabilization methods, I listed in detail how to concoct the pill. This included the most important part, ”The Ice Containing Vine needs to be thrown in first and then two breaths after, put in the Burning Yang Illustrious Grass...”

Once I finished the list White Lily said, “I suppose it's my turn to test this out. I’ve always had trouble making this pill.” She gently flew to the testing area and took out her cauldron. An employee brought her the necessary jade boxes. Then she started to prepare based on my instructions.

I watched as she perfectly followed every last piece of advice. Then she slapped the side of the cauldron. Six beautiful pills popped out.

Fuck. Why were there only six? There should be a dozen at least.

Did I make a mistake?

I quickly ran over my methods in my mind. No, they were perfect. Then the problem must exist with the alchemist’s cauldron, body, or spiritual energy.

I ran through the various things it could be then barely stopped myself from jumping to my feet in shock. Pill Master White Lily must have a Pure Yin Body! If that’s the case then the instructions I gave her were wrong. I turned to look at Violet.

The bitch had a smug-ass look on her face. She fucking knew!

And I couldn’t reveal that I knew about Lily's bodily constitution because that would put this lovely little Nascent Soul Cultivator in danger from some unscrupulous person looking to turn her into their cultivation furnace.

Seriously. The people in this Xianxia were the worst.

Of course, I also couldn’t tell anyone because she could crush me like a twig, but that was beside the point.

“I admit that this pill did come out easier than normal, but it didn’t stabilize enough.”

“Then we’ll attempt Apprentice Violet Pill’s instructions.”

“If you please?” White Lily said.

The bitch said, “Of course. While Fellow Apprentice’s instructions were spot on for the most part. I propose that it would work better if you started with the Burning Yang Illustrious Grass and didn’t add in the Ice Containing Vine until the end.”

Of course. Because White Lily’s Yin nature would balance out the low yang content of the Illustrious Grass. Ice Containing Vine had too much Yin, and adding on Lily’s constitution they would overwhelm the poor herb, causing an imbalance that would only get worse as the concoction went on. While it would still create good quality pills, the number of them would decrease.

Part 27

As I watched the Pill Master create this pill using the adjusted method, I contemplated how Violet managed to discover White Lily’s constitution. I mean, if it were easy to figure out she wouldn't have made it to Nascent Soul.

Special constitutions only affected alchemy in very rare cases. I myself had run into this issue with my own constitution only a handful of times, and those weren't always obvious. And then it often took a bit of trial and error to figure out how to improve those pills while taking my constitution into account.

The only thing I could think of was that Violet either had a Pure Yin Body as well or was very close to someone who had one.

If she were familiar with the habits of someone with that constitution, and she researched the judges before the competition like she usually did, then she could have made a hypothesis on this and used it to her advantage.

But this would expose herself to White Lily. But then, those who had Pure Yin or other types of Yin-based constitutions tended to protect each other (even in this shitty society). So this was all calculated risk on Violet’s part.

The only reason I was able to figure it out so fast was because I was familiar with this issue and had researched special constitutions back when I was developing my personalized cultivation technique.

But just because it was a rare issue, didn't mean that other well-educated alchemists couldn't figure it out. And some of them, if they tried this revised version, would likely realize that Lily had a special physique of some kind. It was, however, doubtful that they’d deduce exactly what it was... unless they were a genius like me.

I studied the other two judges.

Ah, from his coldly furious expression, Pill Otaku had realized the issue. It was also possible that he already knew about her physique beforehand. And since he wasn't saying anything then he didn’t want to expose her. Were... were these two actually super close friends? It seemed likely.

And of course, Burning Crotch over there was too interested in watching Lily’s ass to consider anything else. Seriously, how the fuck had he survived this long?

I briefly glanced at the faces in the crowd. If anyone else managed to discover it then they weren’t showing it on their face.

White Lily slapped the side of the cauldron and twelve near-perfect pills popped out. Once I saw them I hung my head.

“This method is indeed better, ” she showed the blue and yellow pills in the bowl to the crowd. ”Congratulations, Apprentice Violet Pill for winning this round. While the guild won’t update its methodology to make yours standard, I know that I personally will switch to using this method.”

“Thank you, Pill Master.”

Lily, keeping her face neutral seemed to stare at Violet for a long time before letting out a brief longsuffering sigh. She returned to her seat and perfectly pretended to be completely relaxed.

“Since you have both won the topics you proposed,” the manager said, “we’ll now have Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine propose a topic for you.”

Pill Otaku’s black eyes calmly stared at me. He knew I should have won already. Ugh, he probably also knew I figured it out but kept quiet to protect Lily, costing me the last round. Then he peered with narrowed eyes at Violet Pill Fairy. The corners of his lips turned up. His eyes were not smiling.

“The Raging Yang Fire Dan is used when entering yin saturated environments to protect the body. It is also a pill used to help cultivators with the pure yang physique when they’re trying to unlock it. Unfortunately, creating it requires an alchemist with a Pure Yin Body or other types of Yin-based special constitutions. Those alchemists, for obvious reasons, prefer to stay hidden. I would like you to propose theories for normal cultivators to create such a pill.”

How did he realize that I would definitely know such a thing?

Ah. He really was a pill otaku. He must have seen Immortal Zhenren Sword Within the Light of Virtue’s notes before. Or, since it had only been 300 years since he ascended, he may have even met him. Either way, somehow Ruthless recognized my methods as originating from Immortal Zhenren Sword because in his notes it mentioned a similar proposal.

They listed a theory that it could be possible for cultivators without a Pure Yin Body to create the few pills that usually required one... It took me several years of research, but eventually, I discovered a method. And this really was my own technique. It helped a lot of Pure Yin Body Alchemists hide in plain sight.

“Apprentices. Do you accept this proposal?”

Fuck. If I said yes, right away, this tricky bitch would know that something was up.

“Um. We just need to propose a theory, right? It doesn’t need to actually work?” I said nervously. Look at my badass acting. I was so brilliant.

“That’s right.” The manager said with a smile. “Though, if it does, then you’ll really be hailed as the Alchemy Guild’s little genius.”

“Then I accept.”

Violet Pill Fairy stared at me suspiciously but then shook her head.

Yes. That’s right. Believe that there is no way a little nine-year-old would have anything to do with such an advanced method! Muahahaha!

“Fine, I accept.”

“Since Apprentice Lin went first last time, Apprentice Violet should submit a proposal for this topic.”

“I will, thank you.” She calmly thought for several minutes and then a gentle smile appeared on her jade-like face. “I propose a theory that if a regular alchemist takes the Superior Yin Blood Dan, that they will then temporarily have a body filled with yin energy and be able to create pills like the Raging Yang Fire Dan.”

Pill Master Ruthless nodded. “That is indeed an excellent theory. Others have proposed it in the past but the issue they’ve found with it is that the Superior Yin Blood Dan, and the other similar Yin pills all left harmful energies that greatly damaged the body in those who’ve tried it for this purpose. While it technically could work, the fact that it injures the body so severely is alarming. This method cannot be used.”

The bitch looked sour even with the fake neutral expression she wore.

“But, since this method still technically works, if Apprentice Lin doesn’t propose something better then you will win.”

The other two judges nodded to this.

“Apprentice Lin. Please tell us your proposal.”

I grinned. “You can create pills like Raging Yang Fire Dan without a Pure Yin body by simply taking Frozen Yin Ice Grass, Cold Durability Ghost Flower...” I listed the other six inexpensive herbs of the recipe’s spiritual plants, then continued. “You need to dry those, then crush them into a fine powder. Dust that mixture onto your hands, though I suggest using Mountain Goshorn Silk Gloves. Then you must use your hands to move the plants and cannot contaminate them with your spiritual energy.” I nodded. “Of course, this won’t work for an alchemist with a Pure Yang Body.”

The pill otaku’s eyes glittered with ardency further for the process I just listed. He turned to the guild’s manager. “I request that you collect those ingredients as well as the ingredients for the Raging Yang Fire Dan. I am willing to test this method right here.”

The poor manager nodded. “The guild agrees to your request. Please wait.”

By the time they returned with everything, I was almost falling asleep. It had been a long day, and while the pill debate solved my lack of cauldron problem, it made this tournament over twice as long as it should have been. But, surprisingly, instead of fewer people in the stands, there were actually more.

Then it clicked. Ah, to everyone here, if this worked then this would basically be a historic moment...

I grabbed Little Spring's hand on instinct. This kid had stayed standing here without saying anything for the entire time.

“When this works,” I whispered. “An entire group of people will have a little more protection. Sure they had a niche product that only they could sell but at the cost of possibly exposing themselves. Not everyone will be happy about this. But if they're good enough alchemists to make those niche products then they’ll be good enough to make other products as well.”

Then I watched as Pill Master Ruthless Divine Medicine methodically set up his workstation. He ground the pre-dried ingredients and mixed them together in the order I said them. Smart that. While it wasn't necessary, the order I used was the most effective one.

Once complete, he put on blue gloves. My eyes widened. No way. The Alchemists' Guild actually found a pair of those during this time period?

He then poured a dollop of the glittery white powder onto the gloves and rubbed them together as a surgeon might soap up his hands. He thoroughly covered every part of the gloves in that powder then began choosing his plants and prepping them. He sliced a root off a flower here and cut a stem in half there.

Soon, everything that could be prepared had been.

Ruthless increased the temperature of the cauldron. And began the careful process of concocting a new pill for the first time. He threw in ingredient after ingredient, all while using his glove-covered hands.

Everything seemed fine at first, but toward the end, the cauldron started to rumble.

He glanced at me and I rubbed my hands together like I was washing them. He followed my suggestion and reapplied the powder. I nodded. That was right. It may need reapplying.

The next plant he threw in calmed the solution down immediately. From there it didn't take long for the last of the plants to follow.

He slapped his gloved hand against the side of the cauldron and nine pills flew out. He caught them in a bowl.

He was probably the first alchemist in this life to, without injuring himself, concoct a pill that normally was only produced by someone with that special constitution.

I really wanted to clap but instead, I grinned and said, ”Congratulations on your successful concocting, Pill Master!”

Part 28

Pill Otaku had a stunned look on his face. It must have hit him that he’d become the first person to create a pill like this in public without having a Pure Yin Body.

He placed the bowl in front of White Lily. She really held it together well. The only sign that her emotions overwhelmed her were two unnecessary blinks.

”And, how do you feel, fellow Pill Master?”

”I'm in perfect condition. There was a little situation in the middle but it just required a reapplication of the powder.”

She nodded. ”Then we have to congratulate Apprentice Lin for winning this youth contest.”

I stood up and bowed to the Pill Masters and Violet who did not look happy.

”Did you come up with this theory yourself?”

I grinned. ”My master came up with the initial idea, but I worked on it until it was viable.”

”In that case, according to the guild rules, for coming up with an original recipe, for the next 150 years, you will receive 20% of the profits from any powder that is sold. And during that same time period, if an alchemist uses your powder to create a pill, you will receive 1% of those profits.”

That was new. When I came up with this in my last life the guild wasn’t that generous, but since this was White Lily handling this I imagined that she considered it a gift for helping Pure Yin Body cultivators hide better. Of course, they could also choose to not pay and let people suspect, but that was their freedom.

In general, the fact that the guild even had something like copyright for things like this was what helped rocket the level of pills and pill making in the future.

But I imagine the author merely used this to let Bloodsword earn more money in the original novel. Well, it benefited me so I wouldn't complain.

I happily smiled at the judges.

”Apprentice Violet Pill,” White Lily said while a guild employee ran up to her and handed her a storage bag. ”You did well in this tournament, you helped others and contributed to the guild. You may have lost in the end, but you still won second place. I present you with a beginner’s cauldron and 1000 spirit stones. It’s not much compared to the top prize but it is still something.”

Violet Pill Fairy accepted the bag with her prize inside it with grace and confidence. She bowed to the judges, then to me.

“Thank you, Pill Masters. Congratulations, Fellow Apprentice Lin.” She then elegantly walked out of the hall with her head held high.

Damn, but her acting was good. Knowing her she would wait until she got into a private place then break the shit out of everything not valuable. But leaving this way allowed her to save face and possibly caused some cultivators to have more respect for her.

A guild employee ran up to White Lily then handed her another storage bag. She nodded and smiled gently at me.

“Apprentice Lin. Congratulations on winning today’s youth tournament! Please come up and collect your prize.”

I cautiously walked to the judges’ table. White Lily, after some swift hand movements I couldn't see with my current realm, placed a small storage ring in front of me.

“The ring is yours too,” she said. “It’s my donation to first place and it will resize to fit your finger. It holds the Spiritual Cauldron as well as a little gift from Pill Master Ruthless.”

I took it and imprinted my own signature onto it then took a look at the contents. It had a very impressive and familiar cauldron in it, space for almost a cubic li, three jade slips that would prove my guild copyrights and a protective talisman that could defend against an attack from a Nascent Soul cultivator once, or thirty attacks from a peak Golden Core.

That talisman could also defend against cauldron explosions allowing me to stop hurting myself by using techniques above my realm. Pill Otaku was seriously the best.

“Hey, don’t leave me out of this.” Pill Master Burning Tyrannical Stallion tossed me a cheap storage bag. “I recently purchased some prep tools but found that I don’t like the looks of them. Since they’d just go to waste, I’m donating them to be part of the first-place prize.”

Did... did this guy just turn into a tsundere? Well, I did need new tools so I wouldn't reject them.

“Thank you, Pill Masters!” With a bow, I gratefully accepted my prizes.

When I turned around I stilled in shock at the crowd. It had somehow become even larger since I last noticed it. And there were various people in the peak of Foundation Establishment or in Golden Core who looked like they wanted to eat me up. This amount of attention was not good. Why had I joined this tournament again? A spiritual cauldron... And it was just supposed to be a simple youth tournament.

I jerked back to the judges in panic. I mean, I’d been powerful in my past life and given lectures to crowds larger than this, but as I was now, these people could crush my body like a bug. And I didn’t know what they wanted from me. Did I need to escape or something?

White Lily smiled gently at me. “The appropriate response here is to thank the crowd for coming to watch you win. It’s not every day a young child beats out the city’s famous Golden Core alchemist. I believe everyone here is interested in hearing more about our Alchemists' Guild’s new young genius.”

What? They were here just for that? As the forever second place, I usually ended up leaving like Violet during these things.

Heh. Now that I thought about it, after one thousand years of being in second place, I finally fucking won.

I bowed to the crowd. “Thank you, seniors, for coming to watch me win. Though I’ve only joined the guild recently, please look forward to seeing more of me in the future.”

***

Thanks to a little help from Pill Master White Lily and Pill Otaku, Little Spring and I managed to escape the guild without getting involved with the crowd that wanted to converse with me. Since it had been such a long day, I really did not want to explain how I spent years coming up with a solution for that powder.

I was also too damn tired to come up with a plausible lie.

Eventually, I found a nice hotel in the city and paid to spend a week there.

That was right. Now that we finally reached a city, it was time to make some spirit stones. But first, I needed sleep so I could concoct my medicine the next day.

After I had laid down on the bed and covered myself with the blanket my little brother came in and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked like he had something serious to say that he’d been holding in for a while. “Fairy Lin!” he yelled loudly, with a face more furious than I had imagined.

I jerked and stared at him with wide eyes. “What?!”

“You are not allowed to risk your life anymore!”

I blinked. This little cutie. Slowly, and painfully, I sat up. I couldn’t let myself be in a disadvantaged position for this conversation. “Hey. Listen. It wasn’t supposed to be dangerous. I was even more surprised than you were.”

“You noticed that it was about to explode. You could have run away and saved yourself. Then you wouldn’t have gotten injured! Tell her, Senior Ghosty McGhostface.”

The middle-aged gentleman floated right outside our bedroom door, peered inside the room. He nodded seriously. “Your life is too important to risk for a simple spiritual cauldron.”

Et tu, Ghosty?

But... it wasn’t a simple cauldron. It was a spiritual cauldron that made history in my past life. Granted, given enough time, materials, and my original cultivation realm, I could make something much better, but it wouldn’t replace the history of a thing...

But that history hadn’t happened yet.

I sighed. And also, I’d participated to finally defeat my rival in alchemy. But considering how she was just a young apprentice, even that win felt a little hollow... Only a smidge though. The rest of me still felt pretty good about it.

Humph. The only reason that bitch managed to come so close to defeating me was because of the unscrupulous tricks she (probably) played.

Back to the point, Little Spring had already lost everyone close to him at this point in his life. I was his very last family member, though I was technically just his elder martial sister. But seeing me get hurt over and over again had probably caused him to have a bit of a complex... maybe?

I sighed. “In dangerous situations, I will always act before I think, so I can’t promise I’ll run away when it’s possible to. While, it’s only recently I’ve remembered everything from my past life, those memories of being powerful affect how I think when dealing with situations. But I will try to avoid meaningless dangers. Are you satisfied with that?” I still hadn't told anyone that my past life was technically the future. Nor did I ever plan to.

Little Spring hugged me. His weight was a bit too much for my injured self so I fell back onto the bed. He buried his head into my shoulder and nodded. “As long as you’re safe.”

I awkwardly smoothed his hair. This poor kid.

I thought he was going to head to his bed but instead, while still hugging me he quickly passed out. Well, whatever. Everyone needed comfort sometimes, and this kid had already been through too much in his life. Stupid fuckin’ author of this dumbass harem Xianxia making his young protagonist go through unnecessary hell during his youth. Like, fuck, if you wanted your reader to sympathize with him, I understood but isn’t this a little fucking much? Leave him at least one or two friends or family members for him to care about. After all, why would someone strive to live longer when their life was shit? Revenge could only take a person so far.

And giving a character a harem wasn’t a fucking replacement for family! It was a damn collection. Especially in Bloodsword’s case since he seemed to just marry them and leave them in the sect so he could go on his next adventure and collect more. As if he married them but couldn’t stand actually getting close to any of them because of losing too many people in the past. I don’t know. Maybe I had it all wrong and he really did love each of his wives but also decided to live a life of constant adventure and improvement?

I gently stroked the kid’s hair. Was I Little Spring’s last chance to have a normal life... well, for a cultivator? If that was the case I’d kind of been fucking that up.

That was it. From here on out, I would focus on our safety. There would be plenty of time for adventure once he was older.

We also still needed to reach the damn sect sooner rather than later. But I was certain that we could avoid dangerous adventures while traveling there. Probably.

 Part 29

As soon as we both woke up we ran towards our home’s alchemy room... Well, it wasn’t exactly right away, we did the normal morning stuff like getting dressed, washing up, and collecting the spiritual plants we needed from our nicely growing garden, but that was beside the point.

It was finally time to make Lin’s Super Awesome Repair Dan!

While I’d looked in this room before, this was the first time I’d actually entered.

A long and beautiful stone prep table ran along one wall. While the room didn’t have tools, it did have various nooks in the wall where I could store mine. There were no windows but, because the space had diffuse lighting, its lack thereof didn’t affect visibility. Most importantly, it had several useful formations for isolation and explosion containment that just needed a few spirit stones to power.

From my awesome new ring, I pulled out and then set up my tools. If I remembered correctly, they weren’t bad quality for the time period. There was a jade knife, perfect for slicing spiritual plants in two that couldn’t touch metal. There was a Star Crushing Flame Metal Knife, for plants that needed to be cut with metal or flame. The set even had an Evergreen Seven-Star Bamboo Knife for those that needed to be cut with something of the wood attribute. There were also several other tools, but none quite so impressive as these.

“Today, we have one chance to make my Repair Dan. If we fail, then I’ll have to make quick money to buy up a few flowers from a Vine of Stellar Rebirth.” Unfortunately, during this time period, I couldn’t borrow from the Alchemists' guild using my copyrights as collateral... And I doubted that Violet would even sell me them after I thoroughly thrashed her in the tournament.

I focused every ounce of my attention on Little Spring. “I need your help to make it. Can I count on you?”

I wasn’t telling him this, but frankly, we couldn’t afford to wait more than two days. I could feel my health slowly deteriorating even as I stood there.

He froze. “Just let me know what you need me to do.”

I grinned and patted his head. “Good. I want you to be my spare battery .”

He tilted his head at the unfamiliar English word.

Right... “You’re going to help me control the flames so I don’t run low on spiritual energy during the refining process. So, for now, I want you to practice these hand seals.”

I went over the few low-level seals that were created in the future, the ones that researchers discovered had the best effect when controlling fire.

“...But the most important thing about these hand seals is how you move your spiritual energy through your body during them. So even if you fuck up and point your pinkie when it should be curled, you’ll be mostly fine as long as your energy is right.”

He nodded very seriously.

I watched him practice with the alchemy room’s earthen flame for a good ten minutes. While I needed to get the pill done soon, it didn’t need to be done in the next hour or two. If we had to, we could even wait a whole day for him to learn these to a significant enough mastery to help me. I was good enough that I could make up for his mistakes, so they didn’t have to be perfect.

But we still needed to finish this soon. I didn’t like how fast my body’s health deteriorated. Even now, I fought off the deceptive urge to lay my ass back in bed and not come out for a week. Due to the nature of my injuries, that wouldn’t help.

Once I was satisfied that Little Spring had the basics down. I left him to practice on his own.

First I left the alchemy room and traveled through the spacially warping corridor to the spiritual weapon forging room. I took out the remains of good Old Smokey and placed it on one of the built-in shelves.

When I had the realm, the materials, and a remove-curse talisman, I’d rebuild it. Make it harder, better, stiller, stronger. And then I’d pass Old Smokey on to Little Spring so he could work it.

I patted it for good measure then returned to the alchemy room.

Little Spring continued to practice on the earthen flame. When I saw how he had already perfected them, I practically face-planted from where I stood.

Fuck. That’s some hardcore protagonist energy there.

I left for like, five minutes.

It took me a week of hard work to learn these hand seals to that level... and I had a high realm!

I shoved my fingers through my hair.

Calm down .   There was no point in comparing oneself to the universe’s favorite. That was how arrogant young masters began their downfall.

Once collected, I waved my hand and rested my shiny new and very large cauldron on the spotless stone floor.

I’d seen it before in my past life because it was one of That-Bitch-Violet’s favorites. Being new, it obviously looked different. The wear and tear from overuse had gone, replaced with a shiny new metallic surface the color of highest-quality jade. The designs on the side were of a dragon and a phoenix. I narrowed my eyes at that.

I mean, they were certainly common motifs in Chinese culture and thus very common in Xianxia, but it still sent a chill down my spine, like the original author of this dumbass world had put this cauldron here for the main character and my body’s original owner to use together. Especially considering the suspicions I had about Little Spring’s unique bloodline.

I clenched my hands into fists and sent a glare at said imaginary author.

“Um.. Fairy Lin. Do you not like your new cauldron?”

I coughed. “This is an excellent furnace.” I took out a knife, scratched the back of my arm, and placed it against the side, claiming this massive cauldron for myself. I eased my spiritual energy into it and had it shrink in size until it was perfect for my use.

Oh yeah. That felt good. Granted, I could make a better one (once I increased my realm significantly). But having not touched a spiritual cauldron in months, and after using Old Smokey...

I sent it to rest over the flames next to Little Spring. He lowered them skillfully. The new cauldron hummed with joy as if being in a space with both of our energies made it happy.

At least it didn’t smoke. That was a cool feature.

Still, I had this horrible feeling that if Little Spring and I worked on a lot of pills together, then its personality would grow worse. Thankfully, it wasn’t at a high enough rank to actually have a real spirit, just a pseudo one, that could turn into a real one given a hundred years or so...

“Fairy Lin. I’m ready to help you!”

“Drink your lake water and refill your energy first.”

I started taking out the spiritual herbs and lining them up on my spotless prep table. When I took out the jade box with the flower from the Vine of Stellar Rebirth, I had the space teleport a cup of spring water into it and let it sit.

“Since you’re ready, we’ll start now.” It was time to teach the kid the methods of concocting a pill. “The first step in alchemy is to make sure your cauldron is in good repair. If it’s not, then there is no point in starting the process. But since I already inspected it, let’s move on to the second step.

“Always, even when you know the recipe like the back of your hand, review it. So what spiritual plants are in my Lin’s Super Awesome Repair Dan?”

“Vine of Stellar Rebirth Flower, Verdant King Spiritual Grass, Monkey’s Palm Rose, Vine of Resplendent Ocean Seeds, Dying Ice Lemongrass, Yang Heart Burning Weed, Ghost Horse Bone Flower...” He continued to list the various spiritual plants and gestured to each one he listed. When he finished, I nodded in approval.

“Perfect! And you listed them in the order I told you. This is excellent because I gave you them in the order they should usually go into the cauldron. Normally, when doing a new recipe, you’ll have to go through each plant and switch them up as necessary since a lot of recipes are created by unorganized idiots who think having a weird sequence will protect their intellectual property.”

I smiled then picked up the jade knife. “Anyway, set each plant in front of you, then you need to inspect them. That is because, unless you raise them in a protected space, they’re never-ever perfect. This means that you may have to adjust the order or how you trim each to compensate.”

I stared at the spiritual plants that we had brought into our protected space and used essentially magic water to make perfect. Even the damn Vine flower Violet gave us now looked spotless and brand new while floating in that cheat-water.

I coughed.

Little Spring gently patted my back, his face filled with concern.

“Moving on!”

Part 30

“Now we have to trim the unnecessary portions of the plants off those we can. Some of these need to be done right before they enter the cauldron so you need to really know your plants. In this instance...”

I went ahead and sliced the unneeded roots of Yang Heart Burning Weed, and the tips of the petals on the weirdly shaped Ghost Horse Bone flower. The others, I’d all already cut properly when I took them from where we’d planted them. I also did the other extra prep work explaining each step as I went along.

Finally, it was time to start the concocting process.

“Go ahead and use the hand seal to lift the flames so they’re at a medium height.”

He did so easily and I nodded. ”And remember that these hand seals stay between us. They’re not for outsiders to see. I'll teach you the more traditional hand seals later.”

”I understand.”

I grinned and resisted the urge to pat his head.

Now I had to explain about timing.

“When you cultivate, you breathe in and out in a specific rhythm. When you concoct a pill, you also must breathe in a specific rhythm. A breath is a unit of time, and if you don’t get it right, you’ll fuck up your pill. Now, practice breathing with me, like this...” I breathed like an alchemist and with each breath, I held up a new finger to show the count. After 60 breaths, one minute, I stopped. “Don’t worry about being perfect right now since I’ll count for us, but eventually you’ll need to learn.”

He nodded, seriously, but continued to breathe in the rhythm I gave him.

“Now, for alchemists above Qi Condensation, they have divine sense, limited though it is, that they can use to sense the inside while the lid is closed. Since you don’t have that, you’ll have to rely on your perception of spiritual energy to guess what the energies inside are doing.

“Now. I’m going to start the pill. But before I do, when I do this...” I made the stop hand gesture. “I need you to back off and let me take over. During that time, drink some water and replenish your energy so you can take over later. And when I do this...” I made the thumbs-up gesture. “I need you to take over.”

He nodded. And since I wasn’t too sure I practiced with him for a bit. He caught on quickly.

I teleported the Vine of Stellar Rebirth’s flower over to me to automatically dry it. Then I lifted the lid and threw it into the cauldron. And I counted.

125 breaths.

Next Verdant King Spiritual Grass. This one I had to cut in half lengthwise before throwing it in.

208 breaths.

I raised the fire higher and waited another three breaths before adding the Monkey’s Palm Rose. I was still okay, but my side ached, so after 23 breaths I gave the sign for Little Spring to take over for me.

He deftly used the hand seals I taught him to keep the fire steady.

I brought out a cup of the spring water, downed it then cultivated for 100 breaths. When done, I noticed that the concoction appeared even more stable than usual. Was that Little Spring or the perfect plants? Whatever.

I grabbed the small vine that had mini brown coconut-looking pods. This was the Vine of Resplendent Ocean Seeds. I poked a hole in each of the mini-coconuts and threw the whole thing into the furnace by the 56th breath. Using my divine sense I watched it melt into the concoction.

Once again, I took over for Little Spring.

I continued to throw plant after plant into the cauldron and we continued the back and forth where one of us rested while the other manned the flames. This felt more and more natural as the concocting process went on. The dumb cauldron even started to hum in my head expressing its happiness.

Then I threw the last plant in, waited 42 breaths for it to melt fully, and then made the improved hand seal for creating pills.

Once done, I lifted the lid, made the new non-hand-burning pill collection seal, and caught a dozen fleeing little pills into a beautiful jade bottle.

Worryingly, that was one of the smoothest pill concoctions I’d ever been a part of. But why? Was it just Little Spring and his protagonist’s energy making things go smooth? Was it because of our similar but reversed energies? This new cauldron? Was it special or something? The fact that we were working with perfect plants?

“Fairy Lin? Did we succeed?”

I poured out a single pill into my palm. Since I was about to take it anyway, it didn’t matter if it touched my skin. Then I stoppered the rest and threw them into my storage ring.

Pinching the pill between two fingers, I held it up so both he and I could see it.

“It looks good?” He asked nervously.

I nodded. “It looks beyond good. This is near Unparalleled Perfection in quality, which is a quality that is impossible to get so no one ever mentions it.”

“It’s very clear... and blue. Are pills supposed to be that clear and blue?”

“This one is...” though I’ve never seen it be so perfect. To soothe his nervousness I grinned and he relaxed. “You did well. Did you enjoy your time performing alchemy?”

He nodded happily. I smoothed his hair. “Good. We’ll do this again then. But for now. I need to heal myself. Can you take care of the excess?” I pointed to the messy work table that had plant remains strewn all over it.

He nodded and I teleported directly into the spiritual lake... that I remembered still didn’t have a name. Once I sat in the lotus position near the shallow end, I popped the pill.

Healing energy bubbled forth from it. It spread from my center through my body. Each area the energy touched, renewed, grew stronger, and became purer. The damage I’d taken through my overuse of techniques beyond my level, the wounds and harmful energy I’d sustained from that fight, and even the slight malnourishment my body had from nine years of inconsistent meals, all of that had healed completely. And whatever minimal amount of bad residue this pill would have left was immediately cleared away by the spiritual spring.

I released a turbid breath.

The extra impurities that the spring water hadn’t been able to touch before this pill, slowly cleared away, turning my already good skin beautiful and perfect. Inhumanly so.

I was looking forward to seeing what my body would look like once I reached Foundation Establishment. Hehehe. Muahahaha! I would be the most adorable child immortal cultivator in the world! Everyone would bow before my cuteness!

Seriously, I loved this healing pill. It was so fucking badass!

Grinning like a damn fox cultivator, I stood up from the lake. I turned to see Little Spring shuffling his feet and looking down.

“Are you feeling better now, Fairy Lin?”

“I’m all better!” Well, I still had a troublesome headache and a time limit of four months before I died, but that would be resolved soon as well. It just required spirit stones. Lots of spirit stones.

He sighed, the relief on his little face palpable.

“By the way. Have you thought of a name for this lake yet?”

He turned bright red and nodded. “I think we should call it...“ He mumbled the rest.

“Speak up!”

“I said, ‘Fairy Lake!’”

I laughed and sent him a thumbs up. “Good job.”

Let’s see. I won new alchemy supplies, gained connections in the guild, taught my adorable junior brother many things he needed to know to be a good alchemist, and healed my physical wounds. All in all, it had been a good couple of days.

The only thing left was to go make some cash while staying safe. Really, things were looking up.

Story 4

What Happens in a Slaughter Formation, Stays in a Slaughter Formation

Part 1

ON FAIRY LIN’S TIMELINE: AROUND 400 YEARS EARLIER...

While grinning, I poured Sect Leader Peerless Resolve another portion of the Fragrant Resplendent Plum Wine I’d purchased for him. Several bowls and hours in and his old cheeks had a healthy red glow.

”So what is this really all about, Sect Leader?”

”So impatient.”

What?! Really? Did he want to drink for a whole day before getting to the point?

”Fine. I know that look... I'm going to retire soon.”

”Congratulations!”

”Hush. Let me finish.”

I poured myself another bowl and took a sip. I had a feeling I'd need it.

”I’m considering having you take over as sect leader.”

I managed to swallow my drink just before I could accidentally do a spit take. Instead, I coughed. He patted my back but I waved him away.

”Me? Have you met me?”

”It took you around four hundred years to reach the Immortal Bone Creation realm. And the only reason you haven't reached Immortal Ascension yet is because you spend too much time researching when you could be cultivating. You are the second most brilliant cultivator of your generation.”

I glared at him for the ’Second most’ comment. Just because Bloodsword was always a half step ahead of me...

”You’re a genius.”

That was better. Unfortunately, I couldn't accept this position. ”A sect leader needs to be good with people. And genius doesn't necessarily mean anything close to that. In fact, it’s often quite the opposite.” It also didn’t mean, ‘always right.’

He sighed deeply and took another sip of his wine. ”Trust me, I know, ” he mumbled. ”You just need more practice at it.”

”What? And being the sect leader will force the issue?” I’d rather continue my research. Handling the day-to-day operations of the sect sounded beyond boring.

”Yes. It would.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. ”This is why you’ve given me all those tasks lately! I thought you’d just been giving poor Daoist Li a break. You know, he thinks you’re going to give him the sect leader position.”

”The leader of this sect needs to be above Nascent Soul.”

And Daoist Longest Li was not.

”Frankly, he should take a break to spend more time cultivating before it’s too late... Like it is for me.”

I stilled. ”What do you mean, too late?”

”I have a few years to train my successor then I need to go into emergency closed-door cultivation. If I can’t reach the Immortal Ascension Stage...”

He would die.

My hand shook a minuscule amount, but it was enough to show how out of sorts I was.

I took another gulp of wine. It was hard to believe that I'd lose another friend to time... No. He would breakthrough. This was the Sect Leader here!

”Anyway. I think this position will be good for you.”

”How?”

”Because you have a tendency to want to be alone. And I worry that with me gone, you'll hole yourself up in your cave and never come out until you ascend. As it is, you’re well on your way to becoming an awkward hermit.”

”You’re one to talk, old man.”

”Hey!”

”Sorry, sorry. But, you have to admit that outside of your position you’re just as much of a loner as I am.”

”Humph. I wasn't always like this.”

”What happened?”

He sighed. ”It must have been a year or two before you even joined the sect; after I was poisoned by that idiot from the Demonic Blood Eye cult. I fell into a coma and the only cure required several specific spiritual plants that we didn't have on hand.”

I took a sip while I deduced the poison and replied almost automatically with the names of the flowers he was most likely speaking of, ”The Resplendent Ochre Narcissus of at least fifty years, the Five Petaled Windy Spider Orchid at three hundred years or greater, and one of the harder flowers to find, the Blood-Soaked Resonant Rhododendron.”

”The way that mind of yours works....” He shook his head. ”You’re correct.”

His hand swirled the liquor inside the bowl then he finished it. ”At the time of that incident, the peak elders all thought it was a good idea to send out several teams to find these spiritual flowers. And one of them consisted of Unyielding Firestorm, my inheriting disciple; my nephew; as well as a few others, including my disciple’s girlfriend at the time.”

He sighed.

I poured him another cup.

”The girlfriend and my nephew came back, but my disciple and two others didn't. And frankly, the whole thing reeked of something unpleasant.”

”Oh?”

He glanced at me sideways. ”Keep in mind that this is all according to my late nephew.”

Right! His nephew, Glittering Iron Omniscience, died in a secret realm. Poor dude was unlucky enough to get sent to one of those with Bloodsword and his first wife.

I was there too but that was a really horrible memory that I tried not to think about.

Anyway, the guy never came back.

”So, what did he say about it?”

”He was a brilliant diviner and managed to have good fortune in finding a place with all three needed plants. It was called something like Three Kings Mystical Forest.” He grimaced. ”But even if he did divine the right location, he couldn't see the tragedy that eventually occurred.” He sighed and stared into the distance as if recalling the past.

”Don't leave me in suspense like that. What happened?” This was one of the forbidden topics in the sect that everyone refused to speak of. After hundreds of years, I was only now finding out.

”Everything went well up until they reached the last flower.”

”Ah. The Blood-Soaked Resonant Rhododendron.” I nodded. It was a flower that could only exist with the help of a naturally formed slaughter formation. And the only way to collect it was by passing through the formation without dying and reaching the center of that hurricane-like array. But as long as someone knew where to safely enter and had the path memorized, it was fairly easy to traverse.

”He divined the right place to enter the array from but the formation master they brought with them — I believe her name was Third Peach Sapling, one of Persistent Red Bone’s kids — Anyway, she said that it should be from a different location.

”They argued and eventually, Unyielding Firestorm decided to follow her advice over my nephew’s. When he didn't return, his friend went after him. He also...”

He sighed deeply as if the heavy weight of years rested on his chest.

“Eventually, my nephew trusted his own divination despite not being trained in how to go through the array. He used his divination to find a safe path through, reached the flower, and returned with it.

”And on the way back, that incompetent formation master who got my disciple killed — the disciple who I loved like my own child — died when they set up camp.

”There were some Star Snake Poisonous Killing Vines in the area that attacked her in her sleep.”

I frowned. “Leaving your nephew and the girlfriend... I see what you mean.” That was fucking suspicious.

He briefly smiled but then it seemed like he remembered what we were talking about and delved deep into depression. “According to rumors, Third Peach Sapling was very- very  close to my disciple’s girlfriend. With an unhealthy obsession for her. And she did not like Unyielding Firestorm at all.”

I narrowed my slightly blurry eyes at him. “You think she gave him the incorrect information on purpose?”

“And then, once they were leaving, my nephew avenged him by letting her sleep on top of a grove of those vines.”

Daaaamn! I tried to recall what I could about Glimmering Iron Omniscience but there wasn’t much. He kinda seemed like a very confident person and he always had that weird chicken-like spirit beast he tamed perched on his shoulder. Which was why I didn’t go near him.

Ugh, even after living in this world for near 600 years, low leveled spirit beasts still didn’t get along with me. It was as if they could sense that I came from a different world and they wanted to kill me for it. Or run away from me in terror... I mean, I actually liked  animals. But it was hard to deal with spirit beasts when they kept attacking me for no reason.

“Thanks to my nephew, I did manage to wake from my coma... but the cost wasn’t worth it.”

I could have tried to comfort him in some way. Told him the truth, that I was glad he was still around. But, I didn't think that would help. I also wasn’t exactly a social expert so I decided to change the topic instead.

“You haven’t really inspired me to take over for you here.” Besides, with my luck, if I was named Sect Leader, the universe would make Bloodsword my martial ancestor.

The old cultivator scowled at me.

“How about you give me Virtue Peak and let me become a Sect Elder instead?”

“Again with Immortal Zhenren’s Peak? You know that it was purposefully abandoned after he ascended. I don’t even think it’s livable right now. And my whole purpose for inviting you here was to have you stop  being such a hermit.”

“I’m just... tired of living with—”

“I know. But if you didn’t live with them, you’d run off to be somewhere all alone and then spiral into depression.”

“Hey! No, I wouldn’t. I adore myself! What's the point of striving for immortality otherwise? And I am perfectly happy alone! I live for myself and do what I love. Which is better than trying to rely on someone else to make me happy.” Like certain ridiculous harem members.

And if I’m alone then I don’t have to miss the friends who leave me behind.

I poured another glass for the Sect Leader and waited for him to lift it to his lips. ”Those ladies are lucky that I'm not willing to take in a harem of male concubines just to spite them.”

It was his turn to nearly do a spit take. He coughed and I patted his back with a grin.

It was a thought experiment I called Spite Harem. Hehehe... But while interesting in theory, I wasn't so depraved that I’d demean myself and others just to spite people I loathed.

“I can’t believe you said that.”

“And I told you that I wasn’t Sect Leader material.”

But even as I smiled and took another sip of wine, my mind couldn’t help going back to that story.

I was still curious about what happened back then. Had the late junior sect leader really died by accident from an incompetent Formation Master? Or had that Third Peach Blossom purposefully given him the wrong information?

FAIRY LIN’S PRESENT...

I grinned up at an employee of the Formation Masters’ Guild as he, with a heavy sigh, placed a small bag of spirit stones, flagsticks, and flag silk in front of me. Without seeming eager, I grabbed it, emptied the contents into my ring, and gave the bag back to him.

“Will that be all, Fairy Lin?” He asked, obviously wanting me gone. But I was too excited to give a shit about leaving immediately.

This was the last bit of spirit stones I needed to reach the 12th layer of Qi Condensation. And for Little Spring to reach the 8th... But what was important was that the 12th layer was my path’s peak of Qi Condensation!

Each path was, of course, different. Some peaked at the 8th layer, others the 16th. But more layers did not necessarily make a better path. What mattered, was what was right for the person. And 12 happened to be right for me.

This also meant that I would finally be out of danger of dying from the dichotomy between my massive soul and tiny body... Probably. For the most part.

I was also hoping that this would end my headaches and completely clear my head... but having a soul like mine in my current body, to put it in terms from my past-past life, was like running a Windows 10 program on hardware that could run Windows XP at most.

The program wouldn’t work, but if you managed to get it to work there would be some massive issues.

Considering that, I think I’d been doing quite well for myself.

Take, for instance, my newfound cleanliness obsession. Once I was finally fucking able to use that cleaning technique, I found myself constantly casting it on myself, the area I stood in, and those around me.

Mostly Little Spring.

I couldn’t seem to remember if I had this habit back when I was at Immortal Ascension stage but I think I did, I just didn’t notice it. After all, who would complain to someone at the peak of the world, that they kept cleaning everything around them?

But this was also one of the reasons this employee gave me the stink eye. I sheepishly bowed to the super clean guy. “That is all, thank you.”

He appeared relieved and hurried away.

I turned to Little Spring who, in the past three months since the pill tournament, had shot up several inches and gained some much-needed weight and muscle.

I think he may have had a birthday in there somewhere making him eight years old. I was almost ten.

All this meant that it was about time we continued on our journey to the Indomitable Will Sect. In fact...

“The Sect Leader of the Indomitable Will Sect lost to the head of the Demonic Blood Eye cult?!”

My ears twitched. I turned to see two old men, one an employee of the guild and the other a customer. The customer leaned in.

“That’s right. Last I heard. He’s in a coma. The sect put out all kinds of requests searching for specific plants to cure him.”

Before I knew it, I had walked up to the man. I clasped my hands behind my back so I wouldn’t grab him by his collar and demand the information. Instead, I forced myself to smile like a cute child.

“Excuse me, senior. I don’t mean to be impolite, but did you say the Sect Leader is in a coma right now?”

The man turned to me and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “I did.”

“Do you happen to know how long it’s been?”

“Around five days.”

I bowed. “Thank you, senior.”

My mind started running through that old conversation I had with the Sect Leader a few years before he went into closed-door cultivation and never returned.

I grabbed Little Spring’s hand and very calmly walked all the way back to our current residence, a small traditional-style courtyard I rented after the first week here.

I bolted the door shut and immediately activated the privacy, obfuscation, and defensive formations I’d installed in our courtyard. I let out a long sigh.

“Fairy Lin, that poisoned person...”

“He’ll be our sect leader in the future so address him as Sect Leader.”

He nodded in agreement. “Will he be okay?”

“Absolutely. Because we’re going to help.” I grinned.

Part 2

Little Spring eyed me suspiciously. ”By helping, will we be put in danger?”

Oh shit. I had promised that I’d stop getting us into unnecessary trouble.

”Hey! I’ve been extra careful these past few months. I’ve even taken care of my health and eaten everything you told me to.”

He sighed. ”So that’s a yes?”

“I’ve saved many healing pills. Some cultivation pills — actually, we sold most of those. But I created tasty and nutritious Grain Liberation Dan! And! And! I even progressed in making all the general antidotes I know... including some for more specialized poisons.”

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and raised a brow.

I grimaced, why was this kid so sharp at only eight?

”Okay. Yes. There will be danger, but I will do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t affect us.”

“What do you have in mind?”

I sat down at the table in the main courtyard, loosely crossed my legs, and stared out at the quaint garden... Well, it used to be more quaint but I had moved some of the boulders and benches. Also, a few of the droopy-looking plants... So they didn’t interfere with my formations.

They were awkwardly piled in a messy corner of the courtyard judging me for my poor aesthetics. Whatever.

Little Spring sat down across from me. By now, this kid had already stopped judging me. Probably. Or at least he’d given up hope that my aesthetics could improve.

“I know the poison the Sect Leader is inflicted with. And I know the specialized plants they’ll need to create the antidote.”

I pulled out the updated map I had purchased a few weeks back in preparation for our ongoing journey. A clump of sketched pines had the characters for Three Kings Verdant Mystical Forest scrawled above it.

“This forest right here has the perfect environment for all three of the needed ingredients to grow. And it has dangerous enough plant life and spiritual beasts that low-level plant strippers would avoid it.

“I’m likely not the only sect member to realize this, so if we go to Three Kings Sanctuary.” I gestured to the little cluster of painted buildings next to the gate representing the forest’s entrance. “Then we’re likely to run into some sect members. If we help them with their task to collect the spiritual plants, then they’ll owe us. We can hitch a ride with them back to the sect. And we can use their favor to get us a meeting with the Sect Leader so we don’t have to wait for the official entrance test.”

See how amazing I was?! With this plan, we’d be able to take care of two things! Getting into the sect and saving someone. And likely more than just one person.

“Are you sure we need to help them?”

And he didn’t realize...

“The thing is, at our current cultivation levels, the sect won’t accept us without a backdoor of some kind. And absolutely no one there would create one for strangers like us.

“If we don’t do something special, then we’d need to tell some random sect member about our master. But the chances that they’d believe us and get us in front of someone who could actually recognize our skills...”

“I understand that we’d need to do this to enter the sect but when I see how well we’ve been living here...” He bit his lip. “Why can’t we just stay? Why do we even need to join?”

The kid stared at me with big adorable eyes.

I sighed and briefly patted his head. Doing so was a bit awkward, as I had to lean over the table (which dug into my side) but I managed.

After plopping back down into my seat, I tilted back so it balanced on two legs. I considered how to answer his question.

I could just put my foot down, but Little Spring was a good kid. We’d been living what must have seemed like a charmed life to him here. And I was disrupting our peace once again for something that might look unnecessary.

At the very least, this kid deserved some explanation.

I placed all four legs on the floor. “There are a few good reasons. One is that the sect is our  home. At least I hope it will be.” This time around as well. “Another is that we need protection.”

“Right now, we’re small Qi Condensation Cultivators. I’ve been noticed by others due to my awesomeness. And while most of that notice is good, there will eventually be people who want to kill us, just for being outstanding.”

Like Violet Pill Fairy, who had let us get away with the top prize. There had yet to be any retaliation from her. At least, none that I knew about.

“Danger lurks everywhere. And while the sect isn’t completely safe, it is more so than anywhere else in the cultivation world.”

Or, more accurately, anywhere else in this stupid harem Xianxia that was filled with evil pumpkin-headed shits.

There was also Little Spring’s past to consider. Some kind of powerful entity had chased after him. I didn’t know if it was an immortal or a massive faction of some kind — but whatever it was — it had orphaned him. If it discovered his existence, I was positive it would come after him again.

Frankly, the reason why — in Bloodsword’s past life — the dick for brains reached adulthood at all was because merely being a disciple of the sect protected his ass.

When Little Spring reached sixteen, I’d explain his actual situation. But right now the kid needed a mostly happy childhood. The best one I, as his martial sister, could provide.

“And the last reason why we need to go to the sect, is that they’ll be able to give us better opportunities for advancement than any other place. Especially since we’re currently considered loose or rogue cultivators. Loose cultivators have no protection or anyone advocating for them. It is a very difficult path. I refuse to do that to us.”

Little Spring stared into my eyes for a long time before he nodded. “Okay. Let’s go then.”

While grinning, I raised my hand for a classic high-five, something I kinda missed from my original world and thought kids liked to do.

After rolling his eyes, Little Spring completed the high-five. Just like I taught him.

I jumped to my feet. We had a lot to do today to prepare to leave this place tomorrow. And it wasn’t just things like packing and putting the yard back in place either.

“Alright! Let’s cultivate the next layer!”

***

It started as a whim. Like, oh, hey, we are basically cultivating the same technique only reversed, so why don’t we sit back to back and see if that improves our cultivation somehow?

I mean, the worst thing that could happen was looking dumb, right? Frankly, I had long since given up on being beautiful one hundred percent of the time. If something could improve my cultivation without touching my moral bottom line, I’d do it. Even if it looked dumb. Like sitting back to back.

After trying it, as if the damn author of the original story was laughing at me, it fucking worked.

With the same amount of spirit stones it would take just me to increase by half  a layer, we were not only able to cultivate much faster (my technique already being insanely quick) but it improved both of our levels by a full layer! A. Full. Fucking. Layer.

When I learned this, it did not make me happy. It felt like the damn original author had his grubby little words in my body’s makeup. But I needed to increase my realm quickly and cheaply. Or die. So why the fuck not?

There shouldn’t be any weird side effects later... probably. Fuck it. I’d figure it out when the time came.

So, I once again turned to the spirit gathering formation I’d already set up. This one was a more advanced version with proper flags and everything. It required me to dump the exact amount of spirit stones in the precise location and sit with my junior martial brother. Then we cultivated.

Breathing in the good, cycling it, and breathing out the bad. Taking in the energy of the heavens and the earth, and gathering it bit by bit to form another layer of Qi Fractals.

As I pieced together the very last strands of this layer, my mind, soul, and body stabilized and synchronized... a little. It was enough.

Maybe it was just that I’d finally reached this point but this finished final layer appeared absolutely gorgeous. It glittered in my dantian like a cut diamond of not  dying.

These twelve layers were also important for another reason. They would be my very solid base. The cornerstone to my Unlimited path. And with just a little bit of effort and time (and a lot of money), I had finished them!

Little Spring also completed his 8th Layer. Which was fine. But I wasn’t going to die anymore. Which was better!

I kinda felt like I needed to repeat the fact that I wasn’t dying anymore.

Of course, since we were cultivating in the house instead of the spring water our bodies had become covered with the impurities that we’d expended. I mean, there wasn't much, but it was enough to make me feel gross.

With a wave of my hand, while forming the proper seal, I cast my new favorite technique. The grossness and dirt left my body. It also left the area around me spotlessly clean. This included the kid.

Feeling better, I stood and stretched.

Little Spring eyed me as if I’d done something weird again. “Fairy Lin... Is your overuse of that technique the reason you're so bad at cleaning?”

I narrowed my eyes. Was this brat actually getting cheeky with me?

“I believe it’s time for you to practice the sword. If you aren’t able to create a blade of Sword Qi by the end of the day then you should prepare to suffer.”

His eyes widened and he started to run away.

I yelled, “If you don’t seek death—“

“—You won’t die!” He cut me off before I could finish then turned a corner.

I grinned. This kid. I’d never actually punished his ass but for some reason, he was terrified of whatever I’d come up with.

Actually, I had a purpose for sending him to train before we left. He needed it to consolidate his base and get used to his body’s increase in realm. While Dantian cultivators like us weren’t body cultivators, cultivating still strengthened and changed the body. If we ran into trouble on the road, he’d need to be used to his new realm so he could protect himself.

I, on the other hand, had different things I needed to prepare before we left tomorrow.

With a plop, I returned to sitting in the lotus position.

There was always a chance that we’d run into a random Nascent Soul who could discover my secret. If that person was a dickhead with no morals then they’d turn me into a nutritious snack. And, for obvious reasons, that was the last thing I wanted. So, I had to hide my soul’s appearance from curious eyes.

What was fun about Xianxia settings was that there was no one set way to do a thing. This setting, in particular, was a bit odd. It was as if the original dumbass author grabbed all the things he found cool and just shoved them together haphazardly. And amazingly, it somehow fucking worked (and it probably shouldn’t). Take for instance just a few  of the weird-ass paths to reach ascension.

The majority cultivated by taking in the energy of heaven and earth and storing it in their dantian. They slowly built upon this foundation, in a variety of ways, purifying their body to create the perfect vessel to ascend.

A few righteous and insanely talented people could cultivate by practicing the sword. Eventually, this would create sword Qi. By internalizing it in various ways, their body and soul would become one with the immortal concept of the sword (and the main reason why this path required energy blessed epiphanies). At that point, they would ascend naturally, but it was very difficult to get to that point. Those brilliant people who walked this path were terribly strong for their realms.

There was also the Medicinal Qi cultivator. By concocting pills, a strand of medicinal Qi would enter their body. They stored these strands inside their hands as twin cores. Aside from the placement and number of cores, this path was actually pretty close to normal dantian cultivators.

Then there were those crazy people who broke down each cell and bone to repair it with spiritual energy. This, for some fucking reason, continuously strengthened those absolutely insane body cultivators. This path was one of the hardest ones, and very few people in history had reached immortality using it. But it was still possible.

Each Dao was different but had advantages in its own way.

That said, there was no pure soul cultivator. Because the soul was the domain of those in Nascent Soul or higher. All paths, when they reached that level, worked on improving their soul. Yes, even those crazy-ass body cultivators.

A powerful soul was necessary for ascension. Especially, if one accidentally failed but wanted to keep living. Like me.

I shook a fist at Bloodsword for fucking up my plans. For once, Little Spring did not catch me.

So, what happened when a dantian cultivator reached Nascent Soul? They would first analyze their own soul. Then they would use their golden core to birth a copy (well, several copies the higher in small-realm a person reached). This copy meant that if their original soul was about to die, then their duplicate could take over and die for them. And in the worst-case scenario, take over for a dead original soul.

Nascent Soul in this world was like having a second chance at life. Well, as long as they had a copy alive and a new body. But body construction was best started before a person died in the first place.

Ghosty McGhostFace could probably speak of his own horror story, of how he hadn’t had a body prepared, and was then caught by the original owner of Little Spring’s space. At least he could if he wasn’t under a geas.

So, what if one’s soul was larger than their body’s cultivation level? Like myself for instance.

This could be resolved in a variety of ways.

Like using a Nascent Soul Four Arts Cultivator to damage the soul until it had lost some of its cultivation (not recommended).

Having someone at an equal cultivation level to the soul cast a high-level enchantment to hide or suppress the soul (doable if I knew someone at the peak of Immortal Ascension stage that I could trust, which I did not).

And lastly, and the only one I could manage myself, a seal.

I had to seal my soul’s appearance so it looked like the soul of someone near or at Foundation Establishment.

This seal would also limit my divine sense to the top of Golden Core. Not because I wouldn’t be able to use it at higher levels, as the seal would merely disguise the appearance of my soul, but because using that much divine sense would break this weak-ass seal. This would bring unnecessary attention to me. Which I couldn’t afford.

This particular seal required a set of treasures. Fortunately, I’d gone shopping with Little Spring a week ago. His protagonist's luck helped me find a poor merchant who didn’t know what he’d had. The guy still made a ton of spirit stones off me, as I wasn’t completely heartless, but it was still nowhere near what the treasures were worth.

From my ring, I pulled the Midnight Spectre Bone Brush, the precious Divine Pine Wood Ink Stick, a jar of Graveyard Well Water, and a Coldfire Inkstone.

After setting them on the floor in front of me, I grabbed the well water first. I poured a single drop onto the cool black surface of the inkstone. When the black ink stick touched the water and I started grinding it in little circles I might have expected it to appear just as dark as normal ink. It did not. It came out bluish green. And it glowed. Significantly.

I worried for a second that it was radioactive. I mean, it wasn’t, but even if it had been, this had to get done.

And this was how I began the horribly mind-numbing process of slowly grinding up ink. So. Fucking. Mind-numbing!

It took a whole superbly boring hour for me to finish grinding up just some  of the ink I’d use for this seal. Even as a cultivator my arms ached a little at the end of it and I had to cycle my cultivation.

When ready, I dipped my brush in the ink then lifted it to a comfortable spot in front of me. At this point, I probably looked as if I were about to write on an imaginary signboard.

The sealing technique came to my mind as I poured spiritual energy into my arm and then my brush.

With a deft stroke, I left a mark in mid-air. Then another. And another. I kept building on each character until I wrote the first line of symbols for my seal. The line wrapped around me in a full glowing circle.

Now I just needed five more lines.

And I had already run out of ink. Fuck! I wanted to cry.

Part 3

Several hours later, I finished the last stroke of my seal. Six circles of glowing text surrounded me like a ball. I even sat on a whole section of writing. But that was fine. By the time the ink dried, it wasn’t corporeal.

But there was an issue. I only had this one shot. If I messed this up, then I might not know until some evil cultivator started munching on my soul.

So, I meticulously reviewed each part to ensure the perfection of every stroke. I even moved out of the seal so I could check from the outside.

While I had confidence in myself and my ability, I wasn’t stupid enough to not review every inch of it in a situation like this. Not when I couldn’t even see it working. Stupid low cultivation. Stupid Bloodsword!

My eyes traveled down the last bit of the final line. Perfect! Down to the last stroke. Now it just needed power and a drop of blood.

I returned to my seat in the center of the ball and took out one hundred spirit stones — I’d been saving them for living expenses but this seemed like a good place to use them. With a gesture, I grabbed their energy and saturated the seal with it. The glow intensified, becoming nearly blinding. I scratched the back of my arm and threw several crimson drops onto the text.

“Seal!” I yelled.

The lines of glyphs grew closer to me, shrinking. Something in my mind tightened almost painfully. My eyes watered. A hurricane inhabited my cultivation room. The flags I’d so carefully placed, scattered even as they became drenched. A loud screeching sounded as if the laws of the world bent and broke.

My cloud-patterned robes blew in every direction. One blue-trimmed sleeve smacked me in the face. And stuck there. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was finishing this damn seal!

And the indignity of having my own fucking robes attack me then plaster itself to my nose, eyelids, and cheeks... Well, that merely had to be endured.

Then the text vanished inside of me and everything stopped.

This seal had very strange side effects, but I’d seen weirder.

Little Spring burst into the room — his hair disheveled and his eyes terrified. When he saw me he came to a screeching halt.

“Um. Fairy Lin. Are you okay?”

I peeled my sleeve from my face. “I’m fine. Why?”

“Um. You might want to adjust your clothes... And hair.”

I looked exactly how you’d expect a child with flowy clothes to appear after riding a bike in a fucking storm. There really wasn’t a need to point that out.

I glared at Little Spring. “Did you learn how to create sword Qi?!”

He beamed. “Just before I came in here!”

“Then hurry up and show me!”

“Yes!”

He stood in the perfect stance I’d taught him and swiftly moved the sword while stepping forward. A single, beautiful and pure blade of sword Qi flew from the attack. It looked nothing like the bloody, disgusting Qi that saturated Bloodsword’s every slash in our past life. But, unfortunately, while it looked beautiful it did not stop mere inches from the wall. Instead, it bore into it, causing a large crack. And these walls were made of expensive ironwood!

I breathed out a sigh of frustration. “You realize that we’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“And that we have to pack up the yard and house tonight and tomorrow so we can leave.”

He nodded.

“Then why did you add more work onto our plates by ruining the wall?”

“Um. You told me to show you?”

“I thought we would move outside, first!” Or that he’d stop it before it went too far at the very least!

“You’re the one who told me to do it,” he mumbled under his breath.

This kid. Was he already showing the classic Protagonist’s trait of destroying things he really shouldn’t?

“Come on. If we hurry, we might make it to a lumber shop... before everything closes.”

***

The next day — after spending a sleepless night repairing a damn needlessly broken wall and packing our belongings — we began putting the yard back in order. Just as I threw a boulder into my space ring(to later place in its original spot), I received a sound transmission from White Lily. Apparently, she and Ruthless (Pill Otaku) waited outside my courtyard.

I’d sent them a message earlier informing them that I was leaving today so this was not entirely unexpected.

As the older and more respected sister, I sat my ass down at the outside table and had Little Spring go fetch them. I didn’t think that this was the proper etiquette for this era or area, but the two higher realm cultivators didn’t seem to mind it so, whatever.

They arrived in front of me. I stood and bowed to them since they were technically my Nascent Soul seniors. A week ago, I’d learned from Ruthless’s little assistant that the Pill Master had finally increased his realm. Of course, that was all thanks to a comment I had made in passing.

Even my accidental wisdom was that good! Mwahahahaha!

But, New Nascent Souls found it hard to resist peering at others. Something I knew from experience... The first time I’d done it out of curiosity was when I’d peered at the blinding mass of oddness that was Bloodsword’s soul. Needless to say, I quickly learned that some things were better left unseen. Harem protagonists did not tend to have beautifully pure souls. (And if they did, it was likely from a soul cultivation of some kind, or the author ‘Gary Stuing’ it up.)

So, for the duration, I’d had to avoid Pill Otaku.

By now, he likely suspected something was up with me and wanted to take a good look at my soul. I planned to use his curiosity as an opportunity to test out my seal.

I stared at Pill Otaku, a polite smile fixed to my face.

Now, the question was, would this particular Nascent Soul resist the urge, or would he succumb?

And when he inevitably succumbed, would my preparations be good enough to hide my massive soul?

“Greetings Pill Masters. What brings you to my humble home?” I grinned and resisted the urge to use the cleaning technique on these two. I had already used it twice on myself while I waited for them to walk up to me.

“Apprentice Lin!” Lily said with a beautiful pout. “You’re leaving so suddenly and you have the guts to ask us why we’re here?”

I scratched my head and sheepishly smiled. “Oh. That.”

“Oh, that.” She raised a brow.

“Hehehe. Well, Little Spring and I are planning to meet up with some sect members soon and then we’ll travel to the sect together.”

“And where are these sect members meeting you?”

Ugh. So nosy. “That’s a sect secret,” I said proudly, pretending that I was just a kid keeping an important secret for the first time.

She looked like she was about to fake cry. “At least tell us what direction you’re going.”

I crossed my arms and shook my head. I was getting better at this acting-like-a-child thing. “It’s not safe for non-sect members to know.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was just planning on sending someone to guard you. And if you were willing, to escort you there by immortal boat. You two are a bit too young to travel by yourselves. And your realms are still too low.”

Well, she had a point.

“And as a genius of the Alchemists’ Guild,” Pill Otaku said, ”we need to do our part to protect you.” And that was when I caught it, the slight narrowing of the eyes. Baby Nascent Soul Cultivators did that when peering at souls.

And his reaction? He looked disappointed. Then impressed. Was that disappointment because I wasn’t an immortal inhabiting a child's body? And perhaps he was impressed that I was so intelligent while still being so young and adorable? I’d have to assume so.

The only correct reaction to seeing an Immortal Ascension stage cultivator’s soul for the first time was to shiver in fear. And possibly fall on one’s ass. I’d seen it happen one too many times.

Thank you for being my tester, Ruthless. Once I become a higher realm I’ll definitely send you a gift or two.

I bit my lip, considering their offer. Honestly, I couldn’t afford to say no to an escort. Especially one that came with a free ride on an immortal boat.

Doing the calculations, from where we currently were, it would take Little Spring and I six to seven days with little to no breaks to reach the forest. And this was going at our normal slow-ass speed. Meanwhile, it would take the Junior Sect Leader and his group a good twelve to fifteen days to get from the sect to the forest. It had already been six days. And I doubted that they were taking their time.

This meant that there was a chance that we might miss them. And that was unacceptable.

This also meant that we had no extra time to spend being chased down by any of the enemies I’ve made.

“In that case,” I said with all due respect, “I would appreciate your offered escort.”

White Lily beamed at me. “I’ll have them waiting out here in an hour then.”

I bowed deeply. “Thank you, Pill Master!”

She ruffled my hair and I scowled a bit. I was an adult on the inside, damn it!

“And here, take this.” She handed me a cheap storage bag. I briefly peered into it and my hands shook. Why was there so much money? She’d placed a variety of copper, silver, gold, and a few hundred spirit stones in there for me. I emptied it into my ring and bowed once again and handed her the empty bag back.

She was such a sweetheart. Then again, this might be her way of repaying me for the recipe I created that would help give those who shared her constitution a little more protection.

Pill Otaku handed me a bag as well. “Here. It will be a long journey to your sect, and you might get bored.”

When I peered into it I was flabbergasted... Was he seriously giving me a small library?! There were books on alchemy! That whole section consisted of treatises on basic cultivation! Wait, is this a fucking crate of herbs off to the side?

“Pill Master. This...”

“Take it. This is quite literally the least I owe you for your advice. And if you feel like it’s too much, then just remember to write to me when you come up with any new advancements in alchemy.”

Aww. Pill Otaku. You’re making me want to give you some secrets.

“You’ll be the first one outside my sect that I inform.” I bowed once again. And I took out two stacks of jade boxes. Each set was beautifully engraved. Pill Otaku’s set had a lovely cauldron design that matched the one on his clothes and Lily’s had her favorite orchid carved into the top. I’d created these myself from some raw jade that had recently made my wallet bleed.

“Seniors, these are a small thank you for all that you’ve done for us while we’ve been here. Please don’t hate them. I carved them myself.”

I was pretty sure the reason why I hadn’t been harassed by Violet’s underlings while in the city was because I was under the protection of these two. So this gift was also the very least I could give them.

Lily looked touched but quickly hid her reaction and put the boxes away.

Ruthless immediately put them in his ring and nodded. Eh, he’d be excited later once he figured out how good those were. Hehehe.

We chatted for a little longer before saying our goodbyes.

The life of immortal cultivators was long, and the cultivation world was small. There was a large chance that we’d meet again in the future.

I did find it a little odd that I’d never heard of those two in my past life, but it was always possible that we’d just run in different circles.

Or, maybe something terrible happened to them.

If that were the case, then I hoped that my brief intrusion into their lives flapped enough butterfly wings to change that outcome.

***

Two Golden Core cultivators arrived at our front door named Red Three and Red Seven. I double-checked with my divine sense to make sure they were who they said they were. I mean, if I hadn’t and they were actually assassins sent by Violet, we’d be dead before we left the courtyard.

The gold cauldron embroidered on the hem of their uniforms marked these two as guards for the Alchemists' Guild. Their names also signified that they were once loose cultivators who had sold themselves and their allegiance as warriors to the guild in exchange for the continuous supply of pills to help raise their cultivation.

Red Three had broad shoulders and a dark mole on his left wrist, while Red Seven had a white crescent scar under his right eye. He carried a bow slung over his shoulder and a sword at his belt.

Just how important of an asset was I? Or maybe, those in the know were terrified of my fake master and didn’t want to risk the ire of an actual immortal.

Well, whatever. I’d accept them as my temporary guards if it made my life easier and did no harm. The two brought a small immortal boat with them in the shape of a leaf and a permission token to leave via the nearby docks to save time.

With their help, Little Spring and I quickly finished returning the courtyard to normal before we all walked to the docks. I sent sound transmissions informing a few key people of our departure. Like our landlord. The tutors I hired for Little Spring. That one guy I had a standing order with.

As we pushed off from the docks and into the water, I found out that these guys didn’t have a problem with me randomly using the cleaning technique on them and their boat. Yay!

They didn’t even give me the side-eye. I think they may have been warned.

Our boat sped down the river until we crossed a translucent blue wall signifying that we passed the city’s flight ban. We rose high in the air and almost immediately bolted towards the opposite direction we needed to go.

For one last time, Little Spring and I admired the city that we had briefly made our home. It looked just as beautiful now as it did then.

“Ah, sorry about this,” I called easily since the properties of the immortal boat diverted the wind. “But we actually need to go down the south road.”

They merely shared a look then smoothly obeyed my directions.

After traveling a few minutes I realized that at least one of the two watched us at any given moment. Were these two not only our guards and escort but also spies for the Guild? Had I been too amazing, again?!

Well, as long as they didn’t get in my way, I could handle spies.

I took out a few of the books Pill Otaku gave me on general cultivation practices and handed one to Little Spring. Then I painstakingly went over each part and each character. Little Spring sent me that familiar look — like he thought I was crazy — then he went along with it.

I would have to explain to him later that one of the best ways to deal with spies was to bore the shit out of them.

Part 4

Under clear and brilliant skies, we flew south the whole night and into the next morning. Until we reached an expanse filled with dark, quickly-shifting clouds. This left us a single safe route; the space between the clouds above and below us. It was like floating through a dark and fluffy tunnel. Then one grey poof rose from its original position to envelope us.

Water moistened our clothes. But, beyond just the clouds being annoying or obfuscating our vision, they were also dangerous. Not in the, ‘Hey, these might be from some asshole’s tribulation,’ as we’d be able to sense that; but in the, ‘Someone could easily be following you,’ way.

Red Three tensed and took out a massive spear from his ring. From the energy around it, I could tell that it was a Sky rank weapon.

Red Seven spread his spiritual pressure around us to prevent anyone from overexerting their influence on our fragile bodies. Then he grabbed a handful of medium-tier spirit stones, shoved them into my arms, and unsheathed his own sky rank sword.

Clearly, he wanted us to drive the boat. Shit was about to go down.

I sighed and handed the spirit stones to Little Spring.

His eyes grew wide.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t used them with a flying spiritual tool. I had taught him how to use the sword... that one time... a couple months ago.

He should be good. Right?

While a large ship like this was different from a small sword it wasn’t all that  different. He just wouldn’t be able to control it very well without divine sense. Whatever. He’d make do.

Just after I expanded my hair stick into its full size, a slash of thin Dagger Qi zipped toward my face. I leaned slightly to avoid it the same time as the Reds avoided their own barrage of bad news.

Our boat wobbled. I spread my divine sense out into the distance where a group of three cultivators who, like some kind of sky bandits, rode atop flying swords.

The one in Golden Core used a technique to control the cloud around us, turning it into more than just water vapor. Something inside, confused those with divine senses lower than — and slightly affected those at — Golden Core.

The boat slipped closer to the assassins.

Little Spring’s eyes had grown wide. He looked like a kid who’d stolen a car but didn’t know how to drive it.

I sent him a message using the telepathic technique (a better and higher leveled spell than the ol’ sound transmission everyone preferred),  ::Just keep the boat steady! Ignore everything else! Don’t even try to move in a direction.::

He nodded.

A slice of dagger Qi shot toward the kid. I slashed it with sword Qi. The energies canceled out.

Fuck. If I had actually been a mere 10-year-old girl in Qi Condensation, he might have died right there...

Red Three threw out several hand seals. The spiritual pressure around us increased significantly. Fog dissipated from the area surrounding our boat exposing the flying sword trio. For the first time, I was able to see our opponents. Everyone paused.

Of the two cultivators not controlling the cloud, one had a black cloth mask and the other left his face bare but sported a sparse mustache that he needed to shave. Mr. Sparse Mustache glared at Red Seven with seething hatred. He didn’t even look my way.

::Hey, how much do you want to bet that barefaced assassin over there is here to avenge himself against Seven?:: I telepathically threw at Little Spring .

::I think they’re likely after us.::

::Naw, look at that guy. He practically reeks of the phrase, ‘My name is Assassin For Hire. You killed my Clan. Prepare to die!’::

::If you really think so?:: The kid smirked. I guessed he was starting to get used to controlling the boat. ::Then I dare you to call him out on it.::

::Oh? Hehehe.::

I pointed exaggeratingly at the guy. “It’s you! Mr. Sparse Mustache, Assassin For Hire! How dare you take a job to kill me just to hide your real target — poor Red Seven here?!”

Mr. Sparse Mustache appeared startled and downright confused. Everyone looked at him.

“Come, tell us how you swore your vengeance!”

The masked guy next to him had such an intense flabbergasted expression that I could see it even through the mask. He glided over to the guy and gave him a friendly but rough tap on the shoulder. “You too?! Then let’s achieve our vengeance together!”

Barefaced guy opened his mouth to say something but before he could, the masked guy pointed at Red Seven. “That’s right! This job is just an excuse to kill you! You may have sold yourself to the Alchemists’ Guild, but I’ll never forgive you and your clan after they stole my treasure and murdered my family! After decades of planning and killing them off one by one, you’re the last left!”

I rolled my eyes at the monologuing. I mean, it was a trait that people in this universe, who had low intelligence, seemed to have. Probably to make it more realistic that villains and cannon fodder the protagonist faced would also monologue?

I really didn’t understand how the original author got as popular as he had. It was to the point where even though I’d never read the original story, I’d heard enough about it to recognize my predicament just a few years after transmigration.

But, all that aside... Holy fucking shit! I actually got it right! I mean, sort of. Wrong person. But what were the chances?

“So, prepare yourself, ’Red Seven, to meet your family on the way to drink Meng Po’s tea!”

Masked guy started attacking in earnest while continuing to spout nonsense. But at that point, I tuned him out and focused on the techniques. Because, despite saying that he wanted revenge, a lot of his attacks were aimed at me. Same with Mr. Sparse Mustache.

My two guards had to work double-time, not only protecting themselves but my ass as well.

Fortunately, the guild never hired incompetent people. The Reds were stronger than all three of these guys put together.

These idiots had only survived this long due to a life-saving talisman attached to each of their sleeves. Theirs were similar to the one I received from Pill Otaku after winning the tournament, but definitely not from the same source. The inferior products had frayed ends and an erratic spiritual signature that grated on my nerves.

It wouldn’t be long before these assassins either ran or died.

Behind me, an arrow of spiritual energy touched my divine sense. It zoomed toward Little Spring.

Blood drained from my face.

I turned to throw a slash of sword Qi at it, but my cultivation was too low. I fucking missed!

Just then, Little Spring dropped all the spirit stones I’d handed him. The boat plummeted. He bent, picking them up and quickly taking back control.

But, in that time, the arrow passed the kid by a fucking hair. His protagonist halo was too strong!

Well, at least he was safe.

Turned out that these bandit-like assassins were a distraction all along!

First, I briefly checked to make sure we hadn't startled our guards by our sudden drop. They hadn't moved, having used the Golden Core ability to create a pocket of air under their feet (it was the precursor to the literal flight Nascent Souls learned).

Next, I extended my divine sense out further, almost reaching the peak of what I could safely handle without breaking my seal. A very strong Foundation Establishment archer stood in an immortal boat far above us and even further away. Her attack had come from so far that they’d had to take into account the damn curvature of the ridiculously Xianxia-sized planet we lived on. Which was actually an exaggeration, since even the snipers from my original world never had to do that.

That said, the attack was still really fuckin’ far away.

And it had been aimed at Little Spring.

It also wasn't her only attack. Several dozen arrows of hyper condensed spiritual energy followed after that one, and they were aimed at me.

I had two options. I could waste my energy attacking these arrows, which were at a level much greater than my current cultivation could easily handle, or I could dodge.

Since I’d recently taught Little Spring a really fantastic movement technique with the horrible name, ’Consistent Step, Impossible Leap,’ then I may as well show the kid how useful it was.

This technique had two parts. The first was long-distance speed running — perfect for places with flying sword bans — and the second was for when a cultivator was fighting and needed to be across the room, near immediately.

I grabbed Little Spring (who had finally picked up the last of the spirit stones) and used the second version to move us to the other side of the boat.

Red Three and Seven finished a series of hand seals for a massive co-op attack. An enormous pill cauldron formed of spiritual energy weaved into existence. It opened its lid and gulped down all three of the assassins. It quickly shrunk. The cries and moans from the people being crushed within it echoed through the vast sky.

Well. That was one way to make their poor excuses for protection talismans useless.

Unfortunately, it would still take time for this attack to entirely overcome the protection charm.

“Bow!” I yelled at Red Seven. He used his free hand that wasn’t contributing to the attack to touch his spacial bag and remove a different bow than the one slung over his shoulder. After he tossed it to me, I noticed that this one would actually work for someone between Qi Condensation and Formation Establishment. I assumed it was his old bow.

I grabbed it and pulled the string back.

As a general rule, I hated working with the bow. A lot of cultivation stories I’d read hadn’t included them for a reason. This world happened to not follow that design though, being created by a guy who just threw nearly everything into one big world and shook it up.

But the reason I hated the bow (other than the fact that the dumb author took what should have been a powerful weapon and nerfed it), was because it took too long to form the arrow making it really only good for very long-distance attacks. At least up until Nascent Soul. After that, bows couldn’t do shit. But combat at that level changed significantly anyway.

To pull a bow and use energy as an arrow, one had to pull the string taut, and as they pulled, create an arrow using a pattern that super condensed the spiritual energy. They then had to use the spiritual weapon as an aid to shoot the energy forward swiftly. And, while spiritual energy wasn’t that affected by gravity, it was  affected by distance. If one didn’t take the time to super condense the spiritual energy it would dissipate before it reached the target. This made quick shots impossible for cultivator archers. Well, they could be just as fast as a mortal archer but that was still slow as fuck for a sufficiently high enough cultivator.

That said, there was one way to shoot arrows very fast. And that was to create several at the same time. Which was harder than it sounded.

A cultivator needed to be able to split their mind and create each arrow by using each section to concentrate. And, I just so happened to be able to do that. In fact, the last time I had was when I read Little Spring’s two cultivation techniques when we first entered his space.

This time, because my body could handle it, I split my mind into four and super-condensed four arrows at once. I then shot each consecutively while ensuring that they had the right spin to move the way I wanted.

And just as I predicted, the archer dodged the first attack, she even dodged the second, I could see her mocking smile with my divine sense. But I did it this way on purpose. So she’d let her guard down, after all, what Foundation Establishment cultivator would believe a Qi Condensation child could hurt them. And in this case, when they merely dodged my third arrow and thought my fourth would veer left, it veered right, into the eye of the archer. That should  have killed her instantly. If only she didn’t also have a protective talisman.

However, seeing that she’d almost lost an eye and had just seen their other compatriots crushed to death, the archer chose wisely, and ran.

And all of this would have happened in the blink of an eye... if it weren’t for all the crosstalk.

***

We spent four more days traveling the south road. Red Three and Seven took turns scouting.

They ended up stopping a few more assassination attempts, but by the third day, those dwindled to nothing.

I continued pretending to be boring... which the two Reds may have seen through during a lecture on the third day where I corrected some of the false concepts written in the books Pill Otaku had given me. And I think that lecture might have also enlightened them since they started treating me exceedingly politely.

Well, whatever. My knowledge could just be blamed on my master anyway. No big deal.

On the fifth and final day of travel, we neared Three Kings Sanctuary. So, I had a little chat with the two.

They knew, that I knew, that they were spies. And we all silently agreed to not talk about it.

However, after that silent conversation, I learned that their priority was my safety and not spying (though they were definitely still spies). So, I made a deal, they would use a small illusion formation I set to fool our assassins into thinking we were still on the immortal ship. Then they would lead our enemies away from us (this would get everyone off our asses for a couple of days) and in exchange, I would meet back up with them and allow them to do their job — protecting us until we actually entered the sect.

Apparently, White Lily wanted to be doubly sure of my safety so she had hired them to take me all the way there. Doing as I had planned to do and leaving them entirely would have caused problems.

So, I figured that I’d do them a favor and allow them to guard us... after I saved the Junior Sect Leader.

***

As we closed in on the small town, I decided that it was time to do some skydiving.

As I instructed, we skimmed through the top of a massive cloud. I placed the last flag of the illusion formation, took out my flying sword tool, and hugged Little Spring. Then I saluted my two guards and forced us to fall backward off the boat.

We plummeted through the cloud.

To his credit, Little Spring did not scream. He did, clutch onto my robes like a kitten being saved from a tree.

I allowed us to free-fall until just before it would have been too late to stop us from exiting the cloud. That was when I placed the sword under our feet and brought us to a stop mid-air.

My brother did not stop clinging to me. Ah... I may have scared the shit out of him. He had agreed to this ahead of time though. I even said, “Hey, you want to try something fun?” And he was like, “Sure, Fairy Lin.”

Though, not telling him exactly what we were doing was a bit of harmless revenge from our past life... Okay, so I shouldn’t have taken my revenge out on him but it was too funny to resist.

I yawned as I waited for the cloud to pass by us. This was also to give the assassins enough time to follow after the boat.

Then I slowly took us down to land right at the entrance to Three Kings Sanctuary. It was a small town with a massive defensive wall and an expensive shielding formation that would activate when the beasts from the forest ran rabid and attacked the town.

Beast Tides didn’t happen all that often, though. Just often enough that the town was built to defend against them.

Although it was a town, it was large enough that it had many shops that catered to rich adventuring cultivators. Thus we were easily able to pick out the various inns throughout.

Since there were only four in total, it wasn't that hard.

Considering that the Junior Sect Leader was from one of the biggest sects on the continent, I automatically assumed that the team would go to the largest and most expensive inn.

I tugged Little Spring through the front doors and into the huge tasteful foyer.

He bit his lip. “I don’t like that Red Three and Red Seven left. Are you sure letting them continue ahead was a good idea?”

”Yes.

”Before we even locate the members from Indomitable Will Sect?”

Calculating the approximate time it would take our sect members to get here, they would arrive at night. Though it was possible (but unlikely) that they arrived earlier. Still, I was pretty positive that we landed our asses here before them.

“We just need to bribe the town’s innkeepers. If they can keep track of cultivators who resemble our sect members, then they can send us a message when they arrive.”

“Should we split up?”

I grinned. “Not a bad idea.”

“Who should I talk to?”

I smoothed his hair. “I want you to stay here and watch out for them. It should be a medium-sized group of five to seven cultivators. And they’ll be wearing white robes with cloud patterns on them.”

He stared at me oddly.

“What?”

“So, like them?” He pointed to a group exactly like I described who had entered just after I started talking.

I felt like coughing up a mouthful of blood from embarrassment.

Part 5

I ruffled Little Spring’s hair in revenge. He scowled up at me.

“Exactly like them. Good job pointing them out.”

“So what do we do next?”

“Watch them first, to find out their personality types, and make sure we have the right group.”

Of course, I could tell by the chicken-like spiritual beast that perched on a thin young man’s shoulder that this was the correct group. While I couldn’t remember the exact face of the Sect Leader’s nephew, I definitely remembered that vicious little spirit beast. It had scratched me a couple times when I was just a Qi Condensation cultivator in the 4th layer. And its scratches left a nasty itchy poison that took me a month to heal.

While I adored animals, spiritual beasts just did not like me. It was why I never made a contract with one in my past life. Frankly, I felt like one of those cat lovers that couldn’t own cats because they were allergic and their apartment had an evil no-pet policy.

But, as long as I kept my distance, they didn’t try to attack me... or run away from me in abject terror. Both reactions were exceedingly disconcerting.

But this particular chicken was a vicious little prick. So I’d need to keep my distance from that nephew.

That said, I easily recognized the little formation master, Fairy Third Peach Sapling, since she wore the traditional Formation Master’s Compass as a pendant. Her dark brown eyes were droopy and hooded. They constantly moved over everything as if expecting an attack at all times. She nibbled her bottom lip nervously.

Wait, nervous? Why was she nervous? Hadn’t she come along because she was into the Junior Sect Leader’s girlfriend and wanted to stop their relationship? Was she nervous because she was already planning ways to get rid of him and worried that she’d be discovered?

And speaking of being discovered... I moved Little Spring and myself closer to the wall where we could pretend to chat while we kept spying on the group without them noticing.

Hopefully.

My low-realm counter espionage skills were rustier than I remembered them being, so my espionage skills might be a bit rusty too.

A cool-looking, super-serious sword cultivator scanned the area with sharp eyes. That was the best friend, right?

He stood still, back straight, with perfect posture, and waited while the tired group behind him looked like the only thing that kept them standing straight was pride. I imagine that they pushed themselves hard to get here so fast.

Then there was the Junior Sect Leader who I picked out because, of the three men, he didn’t have a bird or the disposition of a sword cultivator. He also, while still tired, appeared chipper... well, chipper for someone who was on a desperate quest to save his master. This guy had a sharp jawline the superheroes in comics would envy and a polite friendly smile.

“We’re staying for the night to rest up, but then we need to head out. For those not practicing grain liberation, I hear this inn has spiritual cuisine. Though it’s expensive. But that’s up to you. Just be aware that we’re only staying here for a short time, so spend it resting. Because there will be little rest once we head into that forest.

“Any questions?”

Ah, so that’s why everyone loved this guy. His caring yet firm attitude. Seriously, I‘d only just heard this one speech and thought he suited the Junior Sect Leader position. But that was just charisma.

I’d see if he was really as good in reality as most everyone claimed; if he was worth all the heartache. Because of his absence, the whole sect had remained in mourning for a year and then in depression for years after that.

I remembered what it was like in the sect when I first arrived. Most everyone moped about, depressed or upset. As someone who’d never met this guy, it was difficult for me to understand.

Could the absence of this one person really make a whole sect that suffocatingly depressing?

And that was when I saw the fiery blue hair of someone I hadn’t expected.

I grabbed Little Spring's arm on reflex. He looked at me like I was crazy and I laughed uncomfortably and released him.

“Sorry. I thought I just realized something shocking but I was mistaken,” I lied.

Because it was shocking.

Why the fuck was Fairy Blissful Jujube here?!

A realization hit me as connections I hadn’t given enough of a damn about before finally connected.

Fairy Blissful Jujube was, of course, the first wife of Bloodsword. He married her back when he seemed mostly normal. Of course, there were still signs back then that I didn’t recognize until later, but that was a different subject.

What happened between Blissful Jujube and that dumbass was actually an interesting story.

When we first entered the sect, she was the untouchable perfect (but still a little dense) ‘princess’ of the sect. She was the daughter of one of the sect elders and took another sect elder as her master. She had always seemed kind, gentle, and very sad.

The soulmate she’d planned to marry had passed away. Though, no one would say exactly who it was... and I didn’t exactly give enough of a shit to look too deeply into it.

Frankly, I only gathered this much information through various sources of gossip that I’d accidentally overheard. And even when she became the first wife, she never spoke of her dead fiancé.

So, by fiancé did they actually mean boyfriend and were just being polite? And the Junior Sect Leader was that boyfriend! Holy shit!

But I was getting off-topic again.

Years after being in the sect, I realized that almost every man (and a few of the women) had a crush on the pretty fairy with golden peach blossom eyes that exuded a delicate sadness.

My junior martial brother was no exception.

But the fairy refused all advances and said that she would never love again.

Then around when we were 16 and 18 and in the peak of Foundation Establishment, the sect sent us to a secret realm that had opened up. It was supposed to give us opportunities to advance to Golden Core.

This was also the same secret realm the nephew died in.

I managed to snag a spot due to my alchemy so I saw some of what happened... But, personally, I did not have a good time there.

In fact, I wanted to go there again just so I could kick the ass of every dickwad and spiritual beast that chased after me while I was stuck there. I mean, just because I snatched a spiritual fruit that could help a cultivator create a perfect golden core! Well, whatever. It was in the past... or rather, the future. Muahahaha!

Anyway, in those types of secret realms, as soon as one entered it they would be transported to a random location. This would also test the luck of the individual.

Bloodsword managed to get teleported to a spot near Fairy Blissful Jujube. They traveled the secret realm together and their relationship grew through the hardships they overcame. By the time the two returned, they were already quite close and even held hands in front of everyone.

Just this simple action caused the men attracted to Jujube to cry as their ’goddess’ had been stolen from them.

It also caused the women to rage at having their prospective husband taken from them by that perfect fairy. After all, if he had her, he would never want any of them.

A few years later, he married Blissful Jujube in a quiet ceremony and she joined our peak as his wife.

It was quite the adorable story of a depressed lonely woman finding love again after going through hell with one of her suitors...

At least it would have been if that suitor wasn’t the sociopathic asshole main character of a dumbass Xianxia harem novel.

Because once he had ‘captured’ Fairy Blissful Jujube, he left for another quest and brought home another wife. The nasty faithless fucker. Seriously.

At the time, while I wasn’t close to her, I still felt for her situation. I even brought her out to go drinking so she didn’t have to stay in the area while he and his second wife had their honeymoon.

I still remembered that brief conversation because it was one of the few interactions I had with that group of braindead idiots where I actually took the initiative to talk to them.

She had looked so sad and upset after seeing the new wife, as if she’d been betrayed.

And of course, when I got her alone and lubricated with good wine I asked, “Why don’t you just divorce him?”

After looking terribly shocked at my suggestion she gave me a sad smile and shook her head. “I swore to him that even if the sky fell I would be with him. That we would be husband and wife for the rest of this lifetime.”

I nodded, but I honestly didn’t understand that sentiment. If I married someone and they brought home another wife I would fucking straight-up murder the asshole. And if I couldn’t legally do that, then I would divorce his ass.... and then proceed to make his life a living hell... but I was spiteful like that. (That was also why I decided to just never have a relationship and save myself the trouble.)

That said, Bloodsword really did not understand healthy relationships.

I wasn't into poly romances but even I knew it was fucked up to bring home another spouse without talking things over with your first ones.

“So what you’re saying is that you can’t leave him, right?”

“I’ll never leave him.”

“Well, I mean, if he can have a second wife, then why can't you take a second husband?”

She coughed.

“What? This immortal world has poly relationships, there is no reason why you can’t legally take a second husband.”

She then proceeded to glare at me. “Are you trying to get me killed? Do you hate me that much?!” She then stormed off.

“What?” I rubbed my nose. “I thought it was a good idea.” I mean, if one person in the relationship didn’t remain faithful, then why should the other person?

Hold on... I think I’d heard of something like this... Was I... was I encouraging a Harem story to turn into an NTR story? No. No. He’d cheated first, after all.

I nodded, satisfied by my reasoning.

Of course, years later and after dealing with her husband’s various idiotic wives, Fairy Blissful Jujube turned into a vicious bitch.

However, now that I looked back on it, she had a point that my suggestion would have gotten her killed.

Protagonists of most harem novels were creepy hypocritical assholes like that... Demanding purity out of their wives while they became powerful bags of scum and feces.

And at this moment, that poor perfect (slightly dumb) girl was here as the Junior Sect Leader’s girlfriend.

I glared at Little Spring. He shrunk back, confused. Right, this kid was not that gross dumbass. And I’d make sure he never would be. I kindly patted his head.

And since I was already saving the Junior Sect Leader, I’d also save this poor girl from becoming the unloved first wife of a sociopathic asshole.

***

I studied the group as they went up to their rooms, especially our possible murderer, Fairy Third Peach Sapling.

As we followed them I noticed that her movements were all very... Well, she had a habit of trying to take up as little space as possible. If there was a wall, she’d practically hug it. If there was a corner, she’d go stand in it. If there was a room with only one bed, then she likely slept on the floor.

Frankly, if she purposefully killed the Junior Sect Leader then she had God Tier acting chops. I wasn't ruling that out entirely, but I thought it was more likely that she’d caused those deaths by accident.

Fairy Blissful Jujube entered a room and Fairy Third followed her in.

The sword cultivator and Glittering Iron entered another room.

And our dear Junior Sect Leader entered the last in this wing of the inn.

While staying mostly unnoticed, I waited to give him a good fifteen-minute break.

I also needed time to figure out how to convince this guy to bring two little children along with him on a dangerous sect mission.

Hell, even I wasn’t entirely sure bringing Little Spring was a good idea, and I’d trained him. But, I figured that we might need his protagonist's luck to get us through this.

As long as it was good luck.

When the protagonist's luck turned bad, things got deadly.

When I’d finally come up with something, I stormed up to the room and knocked loudly.

“Junior Sect Leader Unyielding Firestorm,” I called softly in my sweet little kid’s voice.

Very cautiously, he opened the door. Good work. It was never good to let one’s caution drop while away from the sect.

I smiled up at him and he stared at me in confusion.

That’s right, as the Junior Sect Leader he would have seen every new disciple's face, but he had never seen mine. This was the first time in two lifetimes that we met. Also, at this range, I could tell that his bone age wasn’t high. He was probably in his very early twenties. So damn young.

I bowed. “Greetings Junior Sect Leader. I’m Lin and this is my Junior Martial Brother Little Spring. I’d like to come in and have a talk if you have a free moment. It would get awkward if we speak about things out here.” Little Spring grabbed my hand and squeezed. “I mean, we both would like to come in.”

“You’re not a member of my sect.”

I grinned wider. “No. Well, not yet. I’ll explain if you give me a chance.”

His face softened a little. Yep, I was just too cute. How could anyone with a soul deny my simple request?

“It’s not appropriate for a girl to be seen in a man’s room, even if her brother is with her. Let’s go somewhere else to talk.”

Ugh. Stupid ancient etiquette bullshit. Fine, whatever. At least, as a harem Xianxia, the rules of etiquette weren't as bad as an actual historical setting. Because fuuuuuuck that. Fuck it all the way to my original universe and back again.

***

We followed the Junior Sect Leader to the restaurant attached to the inn where they gave us a private room with a mediocre obfuscation formation built into it. He ordered spiritual tea and side dishes for us to share.

We waited patiently for our food to be served before I calmly said. “I’ll get right to the point. We were sent by my master to help you find the Resplendent Ochre Narcissus, the Five Petaled Windy Spider Orchid, and the Blood-Soaked Resonant Rhododendron. Because you will need the help of a formation master to get your hands on the Blood-soaked Resonant Rhododendron.”

His sharp eyes bore into me and a warning pressure fell upon us. In this world, there were two ways in which a cultivator could suppress those in a lower realm. One way was to use spiritual pressure, and the other was to use divine sense.

This guy used his divine sense to intimidate me. Unfortunately, for him, that kind of low-level pressure didn’t really work on me. But his divine sense did affect the kid.

Little Spring clutched my hand as his face paled.

Part 6

 I used my own divine sense to ease the strain on the kid’s body and mind. His complexion slowly returned.

“Calm down! My master is a senior from the sect... I just haven’t worshiped him as an official master yet.” The pressure eased.

Dealing with the Junior Sect Leader in a straightforward and (mostly) honest manner was actually my strategy. Because, not only was it a bad idea to spout lies to the leadership of the sect, but this was also a test for him.

If he didn't react, then I would know that something was wrong with him. If he cared at all for the Sect Leader, he shouldn't be completely calm in a situation like this. While I would still save him, I would know to keep an eye out for him in the future.

If he tried to kill us without attempting to learn anything else, I would have used the talisman I won in the tournament to protect us, then proceed to make our escape. In the worst case, I would hide behind something and move us into the space.

Of course, if he did take that route, then I would have left him to his untimely fate.

But instead, on reflex, he put pressure on us.

That meant he was beyond stressed. Reasonable for someone trying to save his mentor and father figure.

“My sister and I heard from our master that, at our cultivation, we wouldn’t be able to enter the sect without a back door of some kind. And he currently won’t get us one. So, allow us to work for you to collect those spiritual herbs, but in exchange, please help us meet with the Sect Leader.” Little Spring stood up and bowed very politely.

“Our talents are too good,” I explained. “We’ve already cultivated to the 8th and 12th layers of Qi Condensation.”

The Junior Sect Leader Unyielding Firestorm sighed and rubbed his temples. He gestured for Little Spring to relax and he sat back down. “Who is this master of yours? I don’t like the fact that he sent children here, instead of coming himself.”

Heh. “That’s a secret. Let’s just say, he’s a senior of the retired Sect Leader.” I grinned. “Someday you might have to call me, Little Great Aunt.”

He chuckled. “Little Great Aunt, huh?”

I nodded with a huge grin on my face, liking the sound of that.

“Because you were so straightforward with me I’ll tell you what I’m thinking. I’m suspicious of you.”

I nodded. Considering his mission, he would be regardless of how I approached him. But with a straightforward method, we could resolve his suspicions all at once.

It also helped that we were kids and could get away with a lot.

“As soon as we arrived here, you two were spying on me and my team.”

Little Spring started putting food in my bowl. “We were looking for the cultivators from the Indomitable Will Sect so we could help them,” He explained. “We wanted to make sure we had the right group.”

“Sure, but you have to admit that it looks suspicious. Our sect is in a precarious situation right now, and I don’t know you two. Even now, you could be lying.”

Little Spring then started to fill up his own bowl.

“But, if you really need to see the Sect Leader when he gets better, I will gladly help you see him. I’d like it if you two stayed here. Where you’ll be safe. I don't like the idea of taking two children into that dangerous forest.”

That was not acceptable.

I sighed. “What if I could prove to you that I am loyal to the sect? Would you allow us to help you then?”

“That is a problem but your age is also a problem... Why are you so desperate to help, anyway?” He narrowed his eyes.

I raised an eyebrow. “Have you seen your formation master? You honestly expect that incompetent amateur to help you find the correct entrance into a natural slaughter formation?”

He chuckled. “And you aren’t an amateur?”

I pulled out my Formation Master’s badge that showed my high rank for my low cultivation level. Frankly, if I had a higher cultivation then I’d be able to show off more, but whatever. After I passed my tribulation I’d just need time, spirit stones, and a safe place to cultivate. That would solve that problem. Muahahaha.

“As you can see, I’m not an amateur.” I sent him a proud adorable smile.

He touched his chin in thought. Hah! He was considering it. Good.

Next, I pulled out a paper, brush, and some pre-ground ink. Then I proceeded to swiftly write down the three-page intro to the sect manual that I’d been forced to memorize when I first reached the sect. But instead of only writing it word for word, I also wrote down the details of each section on the margins. Things that only members of the sect would understand and actually give a shit about.

“The Indomitable Will Sect only accepts those with a strong will. If one is to reach immortality, more than any other trait, a resolute mind is an absolute necessity,” I quoted as I handed him the pages I had quickly written.

I grinned at Little Spring. He was glaring at me.

What?

He sighed, took out a cloth, poured some of his spring water on it, and began wiping my ink-stained hands.

Oh. Hehe. Then he handed me my chopsticks and pointed at my food with a glare.

I rolled my eyes but started eating. Ah! Was this spiritual food?! It wasn’t of high quality but it was edible. I quickly started devouring the beautiful bites of red meat and the nearly glowing vegetables. By the time I’d finished, the Junior Sect Leader had as well. He looked up at me, the surprise clear on his face.

That was right, motherfucker. I was a genius and I was a goddamn member of the sect. You will not keep me from my home!

“What does it mean to be part of the Indomitable Will sect?” He asked.

“That depends on one's position within the sect.” I crossed my legs beneath the table and relaxed. “For outer sect members, it’s serving the sect and improving their abilities so they can one day become part of the inner sect.

“For those in the inner sect, it’s about empowering themselves so they can be the backbone and strength of the sect. It is their responsibility to protect the sect during times of war.

“For the leadership of the sect, it is to handle the day-to-day affairs and ensure that every disciple is being taught to the best of the sect’s ability.

“And lastly, for those closed-door elders in Immortal Ascension Stage, it is their responsibility to protect the juniors of the sect from threats of the same level.

“But regardless of one's position in the sect, we all agree to put the sect first. Because it is our home.” I grinned at him.

He stealthily bit his bottom lip as if to stop himself from smiling. “Very concise, Little Lin.”

“What about you, senior Unyielding Firestorm? What do you think it means?”

He obviously wasn’t expecting me to turn it around and slid his finger along the side of his teacup to stall for time. “It’s interesting that you call the sect home so vehemently when you’ve never been there. But, home is how I see the sect as well. My master took me in when I had just been orphaned and left for dead on the street. Without him, and without the sect, I wouldn’t be here.”

Since he answered so well, I decided to give him a little bit of the truth, “My master teaches me through my dreams. All this time, he’s shown me scenes from the sect. From those visions, I could see that, aside from a few outliers, people treat each other with genuine warmth there. And I look forward to seeing that warmth with my own eyes.”

Unyeilding’s eyes seemed to glitter with understanding. He cleared his throat a bit before continuing, “Then what cultivation technique does the sect teach?”

“Trick question. The sect teaches the best available techniques for each disciple, within reason.”

“Which technique has your master taught you?” He seemed genuinely curious.

Shit. I grimaced. “I have a special constitution so my master developed a personalized cultivation method.”

“You trust your master that much?”

I tilted my head. “With his realm, wouldn’t you?”

“What was your master’s realm again?”

Ah, he was trying to get me to admit specifics so he could catch me in a lie. I grinned.

“I told you that he teaches me through my dreams and that he was a senior to the previous sect master. What is the previous sect master’s current realm?”

His eyes widened a bit when he realized my meaning, after all, the previous sect master retired and ascended to immortality around one hundred years ago.

“Ah, that explains... quite a lot. But if that’s the case, then what is your master’s name? There aren’t that many esteemed seniors who’ve ascended in recent years.”

Fuck. I wanted to avoid using him again since it was possible that by lying like this, I could offend him if he found out. Lying to the Alchemists’ guild was one thing but to my actual sect? The sect that had ways to contact the person? But there was a reason why it was ‘hard to dismount after riding a tiger.’

I sent him a telepathic message, ::Immortal Zhenren Sword Within the Light of Virtue . ::

His eyes narrowed. “He never took any disciples. I heard from my master that he loathed the idea. You’re lying.”

“So sure I’m lying?” I tsked. Well, he actually wasn’t wrong about him. It was a well-known fact. But I’d done more research on Immortal Zhenren than anyone else I knew. “The reason why he despised the idea of taking a disciple was because he never met a person brilliant enough to take in. He also believed that taking a disciple would hinder his progress to immortality. So, don’t you think his previous attitude might have changed with a change in his situation?”

I could tell that he immediately connected the dots.

“The only issue is that we have yet to officially join the sect and take him as our master.”

“Then why hasn’t he informed my master about you two yet?”

I rolled my eyes as if I were really a little girl and the answer was obvious. “He wants us to see how far we can get on our own. I shouldn’t have even told you his name, but you were too pushy! We’re really only supposed to use his name if we get into a tight situation. But I think it should be okay if it’s you since he sent us over here to help.”

He hid his smile behind his cup of tea then took a sip. “Alright. Let’s say I believe you. But how could I possibly risk-taking the disciples of such an esteemed master into the forest? You need to stay safe. Once my team comes back we’ll head to the sect together.”

I shook my head. “Safety is often arbitrary. We could meet with a mishap here just as easily as in the forest.”

“But an incident is much less likely to occur here,” he pointed out.

“The difference is that you’d be able to protect us if we’re by your side. Besides, you’ll need me.”

His jaw tightened. This guy still didn’t want to agree. He was stubborn, like any good member of the sect. But he was doing it out of kindness and his responsibility. And that made a big difference.

I patted his shoulder with a grin. “Trust me. Once your master is better and I officially join the sect, I’ll become your martial great aunt. We’ll basically be family.”

His expression froze. Then he nodded. “You keep insisting that you can help—“

“—Because I can.”

“—But we have plans to leave in the early morning. We have to find the spiritual plants and immediately bring them back to the sect. If you can’t make it or keep up with us, then you’ll need to stay here.”

Ah! I saw what he was doing.

I grinned brightly, showing my sharp teeth. “We can keep up. And even if we lose your team, I’ll be able to find you.”

”If you can keep up then do so.” He stood, getting ready to leave.

Little Spring also stood. He stared into the Junior Sect Leader’s eyes. ”Senior, my sister is a bit too eye-catching. I’d appreciate it if you’d help us keep her abilities hidden for now... even from the other members of your team.”

Aww. Was this kid still worried about me? And he probably had a intuition about these new strangers.

Unyielding paused then nodded. ”I won’t say anything. But your sister will have to do her part as well.”

Hey! It was hard being low-key when I was this awesome!

But seriously, even though I found hiding my strength in this instance to be idiotic, I would still follow along. There were a variety of reasons for this. First, I had promised Little Spring that I would keep us safe. I would do that to the best of my ability. Second, the universe fucking loved this little guy. I could even say that it was created for him. So, if he had a bad feeling — a truly bad feeling — then I would listen.

Lastly, I would follow Rule 4 of Transmigrated into a Novel Club: Always stay on the main character’s side, even if the odds seem bad.

***

In the middle of the night, just as I suspected he would, the Junior Sect Leader gathered everyone and escaped. This stubborn guy was trying to leave our asses behind to protect us.

Good thing I’d used my divine sense to watch his door or we would have missed him.

Of course, if I had been in his position where a couple of kids were asking to tag along to a dangerous mystical forest I’d probably do the same thing. So it wasn’t like I blamed him.

In fact, I was happy. This was an opportunity to show him what I could do. Hehehe.

That young man probably didn’t think a Qi Condensation cultivator would be able to go after his team. But he’d learn.

After letting them get a bit of a head start, I woke Little Spring up, took out my flying sword spiritual tool, and left via our room’s large window. Fortunately, this town didn’t have a flying ban like the previous city, though it was still considered to be impolite. But fuck it. Nobody had time for that shit.

I spread my divine sense out and tracked their progress. They were about thirty li into the forest already and moving fast.

Then they reached a clearing and stopped. They started setting up a small camp. Since their realms were all in the Foundation Establishment, they still needed some sleep every now and then. They’d probably already exhausted themselves to get to this place so fast so they couldn’t afford to not rest more at this point. But that just made things easier.

Muahahaha. It was time to show them that they couldn’t escape from my clutches.

I landed right outside their campsite. Little Spring clutched the back of my robes and yawned. The kid looked too cute so I patted his head. He was doing well, enduring this. Children needed more sleep than adults. Even those who cultivated.

While walking toward their camp, I collected our flying sword into my ring. I huffed. This flimsy isolation barrier array Fairy Third Peach Sapling had erected had too many flaws. I stopped right in front of one.

Ugh. This camp had a terrible setup. The tents were only in an okay location, and this array was not a good one to use to defend an open campsite like this. It was like they were asking to be attacked.

I sighed. Just what the fuck were they teaching these kids back... now?

I grimaced, covered my foot in spiritual energy then kicked a spot low on the ground, knocking a once invisible flag over. The isolation array vanished and the sword cultivator rushed over to us before I could even say a word. He pointed the blade tip at my face and glared at me.

Man, this guy looked cool. He was probably very popular with the girls who liked that mensao-type. I grinned up at him.

“Greetings, senior. I’m Lin. The Junior Sect Leader may have mentioned me.”

Part 7

The sword cultivator narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the kid.

The little main character let go of my robes, straightened his back, and stared up at the muscular man with clear and steady eyes. He stood tall for a child and showed no fear. But, maybe a little anger.

I resisted the urge to pat his head and tell him, ‘good job.’

The man sheathed his sword and let out a single short sigh. Then he turned and walked to an elaborate tent.

I guessed this guy was the silent type.

“We have visitors,” he succinctly called.

Some shuffling noises came from inside and the Junior Sect Leader exited. He frowned when he saw us.

I smiled so large that I was pretty sure my eyes turned into little crescents. “I told you that I had my ways. Even if you run a thousand li, I’ll find you.”

Okay, taken out of context, I sounded like a crazy ex-girlfriend... Whatever.

He sighed deeply and rubbed his temples. Poor guy looked exhausted.

“Fine. Since you’re here already, we’ll make sure you stay protected.” He then peered over my head and narrowed his eyes. I guessed that he noticed the isolation barrier I’d wrecked.

“Can you fix that and then set up your own tents? Or do you want to bed with the girls and have Little Spring stay with me?”

I frowned. Was there really a point in separating little eight and nine-year-olds by gender? That seemed a bit overprotective. But, it wasn’t like I was a good caretaker for children, so what would I know? Most of the time it was Little Spring helping me out since living like a mortal again had been far too strange.

I glanced down at my junior brother but he grabbed my sleeve. “I’m staying with my martial sister.”

I looked helplessly at Unyielding Firestorm and said, “We’ll set up our tent and fix the array.” I bowed. “Thank you for letting us stay and help. You won’t regret it.”

He frowned, looked like he was about to say something, but sighed instead while waving us off. Looking done, he went back into his tent.

Little Spring took out our pre-set-up tent from his storage bag and began affixing it to the ground, while I moved several of the flags to a better location and then reactivated the formation.

With an array as bad as Third Peach Sapling put up, it was no wonder she died so easily.

With my improvements, we wouldn’t have to worry about some irritating spiritual beast finding our campsite and murdering us in our sleep... As long as it didn't get very lucky or have an obscenely high realm.

***

While the stars still glittered in the early morning sky a loud voice echoed, startling me awake. With a brief glance, I realized that Little Spring wasn’t in his spot. He must have woken up already and gone out... or he was in his space since I’d set up the obfuscation formation around us before we went to bed.

Bleary-eyed and wobbling, I wrapped a robe around my shoulders, stepped into my shoes, and shuffled my way outside. I may have tripped a bit as I walked to where the noise originated.

Fairy Blissful Jujube’s voice blasted out from the Junior Sect Leader’s tent. “You know what. It’s late. I’m done arguing with you about this!”

I wasn’t the only one who showed up. The nephew — also bleary-eyed — and the sword cultivator both walked over, obviously about to complain.

“We’re not done discussing this!” The Junior Sect Leader’s voice called.

Jujube stormed out, her long sleeves floating behind her, Unyielding hot on her heels. When they saw the crowd gathered in front of the tent, the two froze.

They shared an awkward look as they likely sent secret sound transmissions to each other.

There was no doubt how bad this looked. Like Jujube had really snuck in for a late-night rendezvous of the intimate kind, that ended with an argument instead.

But I doubted that was the case. She would have been quieter if she’d been planning that. There was also Unyeilding’s desire for upholding some semblance of propriety.

No, this had to do with something else. Something I was missing.

But this did seem to tell me that their relationship wasn’t as good as I’d thought.

Strong sword Qi suddenly emanated from the direction of the Junior Sect Leader’s tent. Then the structure loudly collapsed into a pile of wood, silk, and bedding.

I jumped aside, expecting more attacks. Was this someone trying to kill the Junior sect leader?

I rushed to the back to find Little Spring, holding a sword, his face pale.

“What happened?” Did a monster actually pass through my formation? One that this kid fended off with such strength that he accidentally hit the tent?

Then Little Spring’s cheeks turned bright red. “I was practicing and made a mistake.”

I opened my mouth several times.

Wait, don't tell me. I turned to find that everyone had followed. And they were staring right at us...

The Junior Sect Leader looked like he was about to fall asleep where he stood and had no time for this. Fairy Jujube bit her lip as if she wanted to laugh. The sword cultivator had the normal expressionless look on his face. And Glittering Iron Omniscience curled his upper lip like a judgmental neighbor about to yell at some kids for being too loud.

I closed my eyes and ran a hand down my face. It was too fucking early for this shit.

Little Spring bowed at a ninety-degree angle. “I apologize to the Junior Sect Leader!”

Fuck. The protagonist's poorly timed destruction trait had reared up again.

I bowed to Unyielding and echoed the apology while also adding, “We’ll make you a new tent in the future. But in the meantime, I can try to fix this one.”

He waved his hand. “It’s fine. I have a spare. Let’s all go back to sleep for a couple of hours and we’ll talk more when we wake.” He turned to the sword cultivator. “I’ll squeeze in with you in the meantime.”

The quiet man nodded and they quickly set about collecting his things.

Since I wouldn't lecture Little Spring in front of others if I could help it, I waited for them to leave. And this was a good opportunity, I watched them.

This also served a second purpose, which was to make the kid squirm while he nervously anticipated whatever punishment I’d give.

I noticed Glittering Iron pulling Fairy Jujube aside. He no longer had that arrogant look on his face but seemed genuinely concerned. “Are you alright?” He asked using a soft voice.

She briefly smiled at him. “We just had a tiny little argument. Nothing to worry everyone over.”

He nodded. “If you ever need anything—”

“I know. Thank you, Senior Brother!”

Jujube yawned her way back to the tent she shared with Fairy Third (who apparently slept like the dead), and Glittering Iron made his way back to his own.

Unyielding Firestorm and the sword cultivator disappeared into a blue tent.

Satisfied that everyone was gone I crossed my arms and raised a brow at my junior brother.

He had the most adorably uncomfortable and chastised expression on his face. I was not going to let that stop me from doling out a lecture.

After crossing my arms to appear stern, I said, “What were you doing out here?”

“Practicing?”

“Why?”

“Because I want to get stronger.”

“And what did I tell you about that?”

“That it takes time and effort and can’t be done overnight.”

At least, it shouldn’t be done overnight. I’d witnessed Bloodsword do shit like that plenty of times, but it wasn’t healthy. And it didn’t lead to a stable base. That instability had him constantly running around on adventures just to find treasures to fix it.

I nodded. "Rest is also an important part of getting stronger. Don’t look down on it!” This was by far the most helpful, yet least heeded, advice.

“Yes, Fairy Lin!”

***

When we officially woke up in the morning, they hadn’t left without us. Which was nice, because it would have been irritating to chase after them again.

Instead, they patiently waited for us to put our things away. Which, frankly, was just me waving my hand over the tent to throw everything into my ring.

Still, they watched us as if we were suspicious people, which was kinda fair considering what happened a few hours ago. And also, because the cultivation world was filled with sick individuals. One couldn’t even be unwary of children as there were child-looking cultivators that could crush a bitch... And even some demonic cultivators who could do depraved things to someone against their will.

Seriously, fuck the original author.

I sighed then remembered where I was. Right. Since I still hadn’t officially taken Immortal Zhenren as my master I had to act as a junior to these kids. Ugh.

I bowed and Little Spring did the same, then surprisingly the little guy stepped in front of me. “Greetings seniors! I’m Little Spring, and this is my Older Sister, Fairy Lin. We’re here to help in whatever way we can. Though we might not be able to help much.”

I blinked. Was this kid still trying to hide how awesome I was? I mean, it was an impossible task because my amazingness exuded from every pore of my body, but I’d let him try it if he wanted to.

“Both of you already know that I’m Unyielding Firestorm,” the Junior Sect Leader said then gestured to the sword cultivator. “You already met, Sword Disciple, Justice Reaching Divine Blade.”

Oh! That was his name.

Justice stiffly nodded to us.

Then the nephew stepped close, using his adult height to loom above us. His dark green eyes focused on Little Spring then turned to me. The bird on his shoulder bobbed its head as if it wanted to peck my eyes out. But that could just be my bias. At this point, I was used to spirit beasts hating me. Fortunately, the fowl creature was tamed enough to not randomly attack people.

This nephew eyed us both as if we were ants. Or incompetent.

“I’m the sect leader’s nephew, Diviner Glimmering Iron Omniscience. You two better not get in our way. If you do, you’ll regret it.”

Damn, Sect Leader, you never told me your relative was such an asshole.

The shithead then took out a large turtle shell, flicked his sleeve, and stormed off, I assumed, to do some divination or whatever.

Maybe he was just super stressed over his uncle’s condition but not a total prick? Considering how kind he was to Jujube last night, and how much the Sect Leader had loved his nephew, I’d give him a shot.

“Ignore him!” Fairy Blissful Jujube flitted over to us. “You two are so adorable! Are you actual siblings or do you just share the same master?”

I mean, did we fucking look related?

“We share the same master, but she’s my only family,” Little Spring said while looking both very proud and a little sad.

Aww. He was too cute. And the more I hung out with this kid the more it baffled me. Seriously, how the fuck did this cutie become that sociopathic dumbass?! Maybe, if I retraced some of his past life’s steps I’d figure it out.

“You’re so handsome. When you grow up, I’m sure all the girls in the sect will adore you.”

He glared at her with skepticism. She tittered, covering her mouth. She must have been only 17 or 18 during this time period. “Anyway, I’m Blissful Jujube, a Four Arts Cultivator. But you can call me, ’older sister’ if you like.”

Holy shit. Who the fuck knew that Blissful Jujube was such a fucking bubbly person in her teens. No one fucking said anything. Wait. They may have mentioned that she used to be a happy person before, but wasn’t this a little too happy?

Little Spring did not look impressed. Still, he said as if having his teeth pulled, “Older Sister Blissful Jujube.”

She nodded happily. Thank fuck she was giving all her attention to the kid because I might throw up if I had to call her that. It was bad enough that I had to call her sister-in-law in my last life.

“Oh! Right. This is my friend. Fairy Third Peach Sapling. She’s a very talented formation array apprentice.” She waved Fairy Third over.

The girl cautiously came closer, like a deer crossing a meadow. Her eyes glittered when they landed on JuJube, then she blushed and nervously bit her lip. She then unenthusiastically focused on us.

This was the girl who was unhealthily obsessed with Blissful? I didn't see it. At most, she seemed to have a little crush. But I wasn't always a good judge of these things. I might also be missing something.

Little Spring and I both bowed again and he still took the initiative, “Greetings Fairy Third Peach Sapling.”

“Greetings fellow Daoists,” she replied softly. “If you excuse me, I need to take down my array.” She then stealthily tugged at Jujube’s sleeve before leaving.

::Fairy Lin,::  Little Spring sent me a telepathic message. ::I don’t like most of these people. Let’s hide your abilities for now.::

Yeah, I’d already figured out that we were doing that, but since he was asking, I’d play along. ::Sure. Though it may be a little late for my formation skills.::

::It’s fine. I’ve covered for you!::

I wasn’t sure how a kid could cover for me, but he was a main character so, maybe he had something in mind.

“Alright, everyone! Glittering Iron has divined the location of the spiritual plant. He said that will be the best one for us to pick up first, so we’re going to head there now. Since we now have two children with us who need defending, we’re going to switch up our formation. These two will be in the center between Jujube and Fairy Third Peach Sapling. Any questions?”

I could take care of myself but, since we decided to not bring attention to myself, I did not comment. Neither did anyone else.

“From this point onward, there is a natural flying ban in the forest so we’ll have to go on foot. Let’s run, but make sure no one is left behind.”

I’d been training our bodies daily, and slowly activating both of our special constitutions. I didn’t fear that we wouldn’t be able to keep up despite being a realm under these guys.

Soon we all ran like the wind through the vast forest. We passed by beautiful tree-covered hills and little valleys filled with spiritual bamboo. As we neared them, several small beasts bolted into the dense underbrush.

A few spiritual birds flew through the air, unhampered by the ban, due to the natural nature of their flight. I just hoped they wouldn't shit on my new robes. That... happened to me more than I would willingly admit.

While running, Little Spring and I moved in perfect sync. The others tended to always be either a little ahead or a little behind. I figured that it was because we both used the same special movement technique, so... Wait a second.

After thinking about it, wasn’t running in sync like this a little weird even if we had the same technique? I mean, we weren’t in a marching band or something. Well, if it helped us stick together, then whatever.

Part 8

It took us hours of running before we finally came to a stop near a small stream surrounded by trees.

Even with my advanced movement technique, my legs felt like they were on fire. I glanced at my brother who had both hands on his knees and breathed in great gasps. He was even more exhausted than I was. We shared a look, then stood back to back to briefly cultivate.

If I were a mortal, I would probably be stretching my calves like my life depended on it. But as a cultivator, I could rely on cycling my base to purify the wear and tear on my muscles, then exhale those impurities and cleanse my aches. It wouldn't get rid of all the pain, but most of it would vanish.

Of course, if we were in Foundation Establishment, we would be able to run at this speed for days on end without experiencing these types of fatigue.

With the insane speed at which we cultivated, it only looked like we stood for a mere minute without doing anything besides resting.

” Okay , ” Unyielding’s voice sounded next to my ear thanks to a secret sound transmission. ” After scanning ahead, I realized that there is a High Rank 2, Violet Single-horned Python. It seems to be guarding the Five Petaled Windy Spider Orchid. It has lost its left eye. I believe it wants to use this orchid to help heal its injury. ”

That was dumb. It wouldn't actually regenerate much without other herbs to help it along. But a spirit beast this low level wasn’t actually that smart.

In this world, they didn't gain true human intelligence until they reached Low Stage 3 (the equivalent of a high Golden Core Cultivator) and they didn't gain the ability to change forms and speak until they reached the equivalent of Nascent Soul... Unless we were talking mystical beasts (creatures like Nine-Tailed Foxes or Mystical White Snakes), who had human intelligence at birth... Then there were ascendant beasts. They were scary fuckers who had above human intelligence.... but that was a whole different story since they were creatures like Dragons, Qilins, White Tiger Gods, and Black Turtles. And one did not fuck with dragons and the like.

” We could take the python in a fight if we had to, but, considering that it is higher than our own cultivation, that wouldn’t be easy. Nor would it be quick. So, let’s first try to avoid an all-out fight if we can. ”

Shit. Out of all the pills I’d concocted during my months in Golden Aspect City I’d forgotten to make things like sleeping powders. Those might have been useful here... Then again, all bodies worked differently. So it might have been useless even if I had concocted some.

Well, I wasn’t that fond of poisons, so it was easy to understand how I forgot. I didn’t even have any herbs on me that would let me make some either.

“ If it is asleep, which it appears to be, then I’ll tie it up with the Anti-Spiritual Essence Rope. ”

That was a rope used by sect enforcers to tie up unruly cultivators under Golden Core.

It had a strange effect where, after it was thrown out, it would then wrap around the cultivator or spiritual beast and prevent them from using their energy for however long they were wrapped up. The victim's spiritual energy would be stolen to sustain the tool’s enchantment. However, if it touched the cultivator and wasn't able to properly wrap around them, it would waste its charge and need to refill itself. Because of its design, it couldn't recharge quickly. And those who tried, ruined the rope. But it only took 16-24 hours to recharge from ambient spiritual energy.

” If the rope doesn't work, then we’ll distract it first while we have Little Jujube collect the flower. Once she’s collected the flower, we’ll all escape.

” Worst case scenario, we fight it to its death. I’d rather we not do this as we’ll likely sustain heavy injuries. We have more than just this one plant to collect. We can’t afford to get hurt. Understood?”

We all nodded.

” Good,” he smiled confidently. “Diviner Glittering Iron Omniscience, and Fairy Third Peach Sapling, you're on guard duty. Stay here and protect the kids. ”

A vein bulged in Glittering Iron’s forehead but he nodded.

Fairy Third clutched her sleeves and bit her bottom lip but still nodded.

Junior Sect Leader stepped up to Jujube and looked into her eyes. She blushed prettily like a girl helplessly in love.

I kind of wanted to gag. Weren’t the two of them just in a fight? I did not believe for one moment that they were on good terms again just like that.

”Are you sure you’re up for this?” Unyielding asked, voice deep and serious. ”It could be very dangerous.”

She put her arms behind her back and cutely swayed side to side. She smiled showing the two pear dimples that caused some of the weaker-minded sect members to fall in love with her. ”I know. I'm a cultivator too. And I'm the only one here who has experience caring for and collecting spiritual herbs.”

That... Worried the fuck out of me. Fairy Blissful Jujube was not what I would consider skillful when it came to spiritual herbs and we desperately needed this herb to be perfect for the sect leader. I took a step forward to volunteer but Little Spring grabbed my hand and shook his head.

Right. I was trying to stay low-key. Sometimes it was so hard to let kids do things on their own.

Whatever. It was probably for the best since if I got near that beast it would try to rip my head off. Then I’d have to use that talisman Pill Otaku gave me for winning the pill tourney to defend myself.

I did not want to waste it like that.

“But I don’t like the fact that we’re relying on the spirit beast to stay asleep,” Fairy Jujube continued. “I brought some sleeping powder with me. I concocted it myself so it should be very good. Why don’t I spread it on the snake while I pass by to flank it from the back?”

He smiled, his eyes turning into crescents. “Okay. We’ll do that.”

Unyielding, Blissful, and Justice Reaching Divine Blade, all moved stealthily through the forest. I watched them using my divine sense and started telepathically giving Little Spring a play-by-play so he could learn something and wouldn't get bored.

::They’re nearing the area with the horned python. Fairy Jujube is circling around back. She just used her spiritual energy to spread her sleeping powder all over the snake’s head.::

::Justice has unsheathed his blade. Wow, his stance is perfect. We’ll have to see if he can exchange notes with you later.::

Little Spring snorted. ::He’s not as good as you.::

No. No, he was not. I grinned at the kid. ::So what? You need to fight a variety of opponents to improve::

”How... How long do you think it will take them?” Fairy Third Peach Sapling had brought out a handkerchief. She started nervously twisting it into a spiral.

Meanwhile, Unyielding made the first move by sending out the Anti-Spiritual Essence Rope.

Hold up... That snake was not asleep. Jujube’s powder had done shit, and possibly even awoken it. How did these guys not sense that?

The rope neared the snake’s neck.

My eyes widened.

Its tail struck the tool in just the right spot that it flew off to the side and almost hit the Orchid. Unfortunately, this meant that the charge had been expended, making it useless for a day.

Unyielding must have quickly realized that his rope trick wouldn't work since he followed up with a massive blast of fire aimed at the snake’s eye. The beast twisted its noodle body just enough to avoid getting burned.

::Oh damn! The snake just dodged Unyielding's attack! Now it’s using its tail to smack Justice in the face. Holy shit! His ass just went flying!::

Justice jumped back to the fight, blood streaming down his face from both nostrils but he merely wiped it with a handkerchief before sending a barrage of sword Qi strikes at the snake’s side then backing away so the serpent had to slither forward.

Unyielding, created a series of hand seals, forming a massive dragon-looking fire attack that surprised both the snake and me. That was a powerful attack called the Fire as Dragon technique. Unyielding shouldn't be able to use at his realm. No wonder he was the Junior Sect Leader.

Just as I thought the snake would turn into barbeque, it used its horn to deflect the dragon-like flames.

Finally getting around to answering Fairy Third’s earlier question, Glittering Iron said, ”It’s a higher level beast so it may take them a while to get it away from the Orchid.” He yawned arrogantly then smirked at Fairy Third. ”Would you like to make a bet on how long?”

She straightened her spine, but her knuckles were still white. ”What are the terms?”

”One mid-grade spirit stone that we won't see them for at least an hour.”

”Deal. We’ll see them within an hour. Fairy Jujube is with them. So, I can't lose.”

He snorted.

I ignored their bet and kept watching the fight.

Just then the python used a technique to grow huge bat-like wings. It started flapping them. Each beat sent it another foot off the forest floor.

It used its natural ability to fly to strike from a superior position. The attacks coming from it pushed the two Formation Establishment cultivators back faster than ever.

That was when I noticed something...

One eye? Check.

One horn? Check.

Flying? Double-check.

Purple? Triple-check.

Were these cultivators basically fighting the Python Monster equivalent of a 1950s Halloween song?

Yes... yes, they were.

I coughed to stop myself from grinning. This wasn’t the right situation, no matter how humorous I found it.

With each strike, the pair lured the snake further away from the Orchid. Then Unyielding brought out the Fire as Dragon technique, burning the giant snake’s side.

It bellowed in pain and, while still in mid-air, curled into tight coils.

As this was the distraction they were waiting for, Jujube arrived with a whole fucking shovel. She swiftly dug the Orchid out of the ground... But she took way too much dirt. How the hell was that supposed to fit in a damn box?!

Then she took out a fucking enormous jade planter the size of a massive wine jar, stuffed the orchid in it, and stoppered it. After putting it in her storage bag she bolted into the forest. Then after traveling a minute, she dashed toward our direction.

Wait, fuck. Why was she running this way?!

Having finally noticed that something was up, the flying purple python monster glanced back at the flower’s original location. By the way it twisted its body, I could tell that it had become blindingly enraged. Instead of continuing the fight, it flared its snake tongue, probably using it to sniff out the scent of Fairy Blissful.

The spirit beast’s hiss echoed through the forest, hurting my ears even from where I stood. In a flash, it soared over Unyielding and Justice and flew furiously in our direction.

I glanced at Glittering Iron and Fairy Third who had stopped watching the fight with divine sense and had started an argument about an error in the text for the Yin-Yang Blazing Dance Movement Technique. Well, it was more like Glittering Iron argued that the spiritual energy had to pass through the Yongquan acupoint during the casting but Fairy Third meekly pointed out that it could be the Fuliu acupoint.

They were actually both wrong... But what was important, was that they’d stopped paying attention to the fight because it had taken too long.

Seriously? Were these idiots going to tell us to move, or what?

”No! You’re wrong. How could you possibly even consider that?!” Glittering Iron said.

”But my Master even—”

”—Your master, what?”

“How is the fight going?” I asked casually while feeling like I was about to go insane. There was a fucking enraged monster heading our way and these two dumbasses were talking nonsense. We needed to get the fuck out of here.

Glittering Iron glared at me, “How dare you interrupt your seniors.” He stalked over to me and used his superior height to loom. The beast on his shoulder wiggled its bird head aggressively. “It’s bad enough that we have to watch over you useless kids, but now you’re demanding to know information from your superiors? What gives you the gall?”

Bitch. Who the fuck are you calling useless. You may be the damn nephew of my friend but that doesn’t mean I won’t smack you upside—

The rustling of leaves and heavy footfalls of a running Fairy interrupted my thoughts. I stared in horror as the swiftly flying python chased after Jujube... in my goddamn direction.

And as if things weren’t bad enough, she passed within five feet of me before heading into the forest.

This would not have been that bad if I were a regular cultivator. The python would have continued to chase after her to kill her and collect its stolen plant. And if it were angry enough that it had lost all reason, it might have ignored me altogether. But by passing near me, that left the python no choice but to do the same... By passing near, it connected in its little snake brain, me to the person who stole its plant... and because of my Spirit Beast Hatred Attracting Aura — that I just decided the name for —, it paused. Its remaining golden eye slowly faced me.

If it could kill me with its gaze, I would be paste on the forest floor. The giant monster snake coiled up and hissed, showing off its venomous fangs and figuratively killing me with its gag-worthy breath.

I did not wait to die. Instead, I turned and fucking ran, using the shit out of my Consistent Step, Impossible Leap.

“Mooootherfuuuuucker!”

I pulled out the talisman Pill Otaku gave me and slapped it on my arm for protection. Because, even as I ran, I knew that my cultivation level just wasn’t nearly high enough to take on this creature. And I wasn’t some main character from a Xianxia who could suddenly make a breakthrough to defeat it.

Well, not if I didn’t want to die from getting struck by tribulation lightning.

The snake snapped at me with its pearly whites and I jumped to the side, rolled on the ground, and dodged a tail swipe.

I continued forward, using the second part of my movement technique. It was almost as if I teleported a dozen meters, but it also drained me of most of my energy. So I kept running.

But, fuck, I couldn’t keep this up.

I had to get back to the Foundation Establishment disciples. It was their job to take care of this thing... And considering its hatred for us and how advanced its level was, they would have to kill it.

But that was the thing with living in a world like this. One either had to adapt and learn to kill when necessary or one would die. And I had adapted long ago.

I at least stuck with my own moral compass. It wasn’t a good and pure and honest one, but it was my own. I’d been criticized for being too kind. I’d been criticized for being too vicious. And after all the criticism I learned that the people calling me out on it really didn’t matter all that much in the first place. They could go fuck themselves.

Some beings really needed to mind their own fucking business... Like this ridiculous Halloween Python! I wasn’t the one who actually took the fucking plant, goddamnit!

Seriously, where was a giant mongoose spiritual beast when I needed one?

Part 9

I noticed a massive tree with thick low foliage and aimed for it. With absolute elegance, I slid under the low branches the snake couldn’t pass through, jumped to my feet, twisted my upper body to avoid a spray of venom, then I kept running.

Unfortunately, it quickly rounded the tree and attacked.

The python sent its tail, whipping forward to catch my side. I dodged as well as I could in my current body but it still caught me. My talisman, though good, wasn’t as effective as I had hoped. I sustained several stinging scratches from this one attack. Still, I would rather take a small injury than have my chest caved in, any day.

This attack also sent me flying into a clearing. There I saw Unyielding just rounding a massive tree. His face hardened as he took in my situation and his hands started creating seals. Soon a flame burst from the tip of his fingers and distracted the beast that was just about to chomp on my head.

Then Justice arrived carrying his sword. He didn’t hesitate to jump between me and the snake.

Finally, Jujube, carrying a zither, ran into the clearing. Even though she looked serious, she seemed far too perky and put together.

I darted past them until I reached the treeline where I turned to watch.

Jujube set her delicate fingers against the strings and thrashed. Her vicious-sounding song stopped the snake in its slithery tracks. It hissed and flapped, sending a blast of air toward the fairy. Her music’s soul striking effectiveness dissipated until Justice came along and cut a slice into the wing membrane.

It roared from pain and pulled its wings back into its body as if they’d never existed. Then it glared in hatred at the sword cultivator.

Even though I felt bad that Justice was taking the brunt of the snake's anger, I also rejoiced that I had finally stopped being solely targeted by that damn one-eyed, one-horned, flying purple python monster... And I realized that saying it all together like that made it sound like a nickname for a really gross—.

I turned sideways to avoid a tail attack.

Right. This wasn’t the right place or time to zone out.

Since I didn’t want to distract my mostly useful seniors — or become the snake’s target again — I headed back to where I’d left my other team members. It took several minutes but I found Glittering Iron keeping watch.

Once I stood next to him, I sighed with relief. I used my divine sense to see Fairy Third running over with Little Spring. They would arrive shortly

Feeling safer, but not entirely safe, I contemplated how we (mostly they) fucked up so bad.

The first thing was the plan. Personally, I preferred to deal with spirit beasts by holding them down with my overwhelmingly powerful cultivation while I plundered any natural treasures I needed, then releasing them with a bit of compensation. But that wasn't always possible. And with my issues, dealing with spirit beasts was exceedingly difficult. I really didn't have that much experience with them. That said, it wasn't as if I’d never heard from or witnessed other cultivators handle them.

In a case like this where the beast was injured or was missing a limb, it was possible to attempt to make a trade: medicine for the plant they were guarding. This didn't always work. Quite often, one side or both would betray each other. Or they wouldn't make the trade at all due to not trusting the other side and that would end up leading to the inevitable fight. This world seriously had fucked up people in it (and spirit beasts counted as people once they hit the level of human intelligence).

Of course, this method only worked if the cultivator had the appropriate medicine. In this instance, the spirit beast was missing a body part it had to re-grow, requiring a more complicated pill. One that I needed a higher realm to create — even relying on Little Spring as a battery. But it was possible that one of the others, with their background, had one on them. I just hadn’t considered it.

But even if they did, I had believed that skipping over the possible betrayal was appropriate. I mean, why bother risking a fight that put us at a disadvantage when we could steal to save the Sect Leader’s life?

Of course, that didn’t turn out how we’d hoped. And if Unyielding had kept this option in mind, he might have been able to calm the snake and attempt it. Still, it was such a long shot, that I didn’t blame him for not thinking of it. Not when the man he considered as his father was dying.

Which lead to the second fuck up. The sleeping powder Jujube used. I knew that Jujube wasn’t an amazing alchemist. But I thought that, at most, it wouldn’t work. To think that it actually helped the snake to wake up. I really overestimated her abilities... Or she was trying to get her boyfriend injured out of spite for the fight they’d had. Then again, maybe she was trying to murder him. But these were all mere speculation. And I wasn’t about to publicly point my finger at someone without solid evidence. Especially not one of Bloodsword’s harem members.

That way led to face slapping insanity.

Before I could keep analyzing all the fuck ups, Little Spring returned... He and Fairy Third had probably tried to chase after me.

His eyes appeared red and watery. The kid ran up to me and practically tackled me with a hug. I smoothed his dark hair down.

“Hey. I’m fine.” I then proceeded to use the cleaning technique on us both because I was filthy and he wasn’t much better.

Glittering Iron snorted. “You’re crying? Just over this?”

I glared at him. What the fuck did this guy know, huh? “He’s a kid.”

“You’re a kid. You’re even injured with scratches all over. You’re not burying your head in someone’s shoulder.”

Nope. I was done. I wasn’t even going to deal with this unsympathetic shit.

Little Spring lifted his head. He was, in fact, not tearing up. He glared at Glittering Iron Omniscience. “Someone who doesn’t know what it’s like to lose an important person should remain quiet.”

He took a step forward. “What did you say, brat?”

Fairy Third Peach Sapling yelled, “They did it! They killed the python. Junior Sect Leader is injured!”

Fuck?! Really?

Taking this chance to escape, I grabbed Little Spring’s hand and ran over. The clearing that had been fairly pristine, looked trashed. Its new scorch marks, gouges, and pools of venom sketched how intense the fight had become. Since I couldn't see the body of the massive snake, I assumed someone planned to make use of it and threw it into a space ring.

That was something I approved of. Death in the original author’s vicious Xianxia world was a fairly regular occurrence. If I had to live in this damn world then the very least I could do was not let any spirit beast’s death I was part of go to waste. Cultivators who killed merely for the beast’s crystal core drove me crazy.

Fairy Jujube and Unyielding held hands as she broke up a blood coagulation pill and dusted it onto the small scratch on his arm.

Did Fairy Third say he was injured to break up the tension or was that not the only injury he sustained?

I stepped up to him and pressed two fingers to his arm while saying, “Pardon me, Junior Sect Leader.”

I examined his wounds with my divine sense. As I suspected, he was worse off than just a damn scratch. Internal injuries. A bruised meridian near his heart. Even some minor internal bleeding.

I glared at Fairy Blissful Jujube who peered at me with confusion. Yep. She never had been that good at medicine. She could play a mean song though. Really soul-damaging.

I took out a bottle of repair dan. This particular variety wasn’t one of my best ones, but he didn’t need my best one. It was, however, better than what was on the market from someone in my realm.

I poured one into his palm and glared up at him. “Take this and cycle your energy.”

“I have my own. You should save it for yourself.”

I rolled my eyes, poured another one into my own palm, and took it, then briefly cycled my cultivation technique where I stood. “Not poisoned,” I said then stormed off to go check that poor beat-up sword cultivator.

Fairy Blissful Jujube giggled at me as I left. Hey. How was that funny? Whatever.

“Just take it. She’s so cute,” I heard her say.

Damn straight!

But I didn’t want to hear that from her. After that stunt with the snake... Well, she was an incompetent alchemist, or in the worst-case scenario, an attempted murderer. And I wasn’t sure which one was worse.

I paused. Actually, considering that they killed people while wanting to help, an incompetent alchemist was worse.

Once I could get the Junior Sect Leader alone where he could hide his reaction, I’d warn him to be more careful. And to definitely never trust Jujube’s alchemy skills again.

When I found the sword cultivator he was already sitting in the lotus position and about to cultivate. He stared at me with cold eyes.

I ignored him. “Pardon me, senior.”

I pressed two fingers to his arm and checked his condition. As I suspected. While he had a tough body, he’d sustained a lot of internal injuries. Some of them had even come from his training. And the pill he took to heal those injuries had too many impurities for it to be effective.

Sometimes, it made me so angry that very few cultivators bothered to learn much about pills aside from alchemists.

I wondered if the original author did that on purpose to make Bloodsword look cooler. Sucked for everybody else though.

The best option to heal Justice would be to give him spiritual spring water and a better healing pill, but since I didn’t feel right giving away Little Spring’s water I decided to go with option two, which was to hand him a Five Grass Meridian Cleansing Dan and a Soothing Organ Repair Dan.

“Take these. This place is dangerous and we need you in top condition.”

He eyed my hand skeptically.

“I’m not an idiot who would harm my own team members.”

Cautiously, he took the pills from me and swallowed them. I nodded. Now that I looked at this cold guy, he was really just a kid as well. Maybe 16 or 17. Pretty impressive for his age.

Something cool and refreshing ran over my body removing all the dust and dirt that had accumulated on me since the last time I cast the cleaning technique. I peered at Little Spring who smiled up at me.

I grinned and patted his head. “Good job!”

That was when I noticed Fairy Third hovering off to the side, looking like she wanted to go over to Jujube and check her for injuries. I walked toward her. This seemed like a good time to get to know her a little better and see if she really did have obsessive thoughts.

I could try to reassure her that Fairy Blissful was a fucking ghost in a fight. Nobody could touch her. Which was one reason I hadn’t bothered to check her for injuries. Another was that she was the one who put me in fucking danger in the first place.

Plus, she obviously didn’t have a scratch on her. Even her clothes appeared utterly perfect despite running through the forest and dodging attacks. But, the original harem members did all have frighteningly high visual specs.

I walked over to Fairy Third and smiled like a kid. “Beautiful Senior Third Peach Sapling! Isn’t Senior Blissful Jujube so kind? Is she your friend?”

Ugh. I wanted to slap myself but I held it in. Information. I needed information.

Fairy Third’s face turned bright red. “Uh. Y-yes. She is my friend.”

Before I could keep asking, the Junior Sect Leader used a sound transmission to gather us in front of him. He held the massive pot that Jujube had placed the flower in and grinned.

“It’s been a long day and we have another long run to reach the next location. Since this part of the forest is not safe at night, I decided that we’ll run towards the next location for another two hours then find a spot to set up camp.” He patted the pot. Most everyone glanced at it with uninterested eyes. I thought I saw a flash of desperation from Glittering Iron, but that was likely due to his worry over his uncle. He may be a dick to us, but the sect leader never said anything harsh towards him so he couldn’t be all bad.

“I’d also like to thank everyone for helping us collect the Orchid. When we get back to the sect, I’ll make sure you all get the credit you deserve.”

He then moved the pot into his storage ring.

“Alright. Let’s go!”

***

We’d set up camp near a rocky cliff wall (I had secretly gone to each of Fairy Third’s flags and adjusted them to the correct position) but there was still a bit of light left. Fairy Third and Fairy Jujube were off talking together. Fairy Third kept stealing glances at Jujube and it was pretty obvious that she liked her in that way, but Jujube was oblivious.

That said, I didn’t see the signs of obsession that Glittering Iron Omniscience mentioned to his uncle.

It was possible that I just couldn’t recognize it or that she deeply hid it. Or, it was possible that he was just an asshole and confused incompetence for maliciousness. Not that there was much of a difference in the outcome. I decided that I couldn’t trust the original report he gave to the Sect Leader. Not in its entirety at any rate. The guy was a pretentious bird-brained fuck head. Who knew what he embellished?

Just thinking about this upset me.

I needed to cool my anger and Little Spring needed to practice so I dragged him over to Justice who was slowly practicing the sect’s basic sword stances, then moving onto the Foundation Establishment level ones. Finally, he poorly practiced just the movements for the Golden Core basics. It may have been poorly done but the fact that he learned them in Foundation Establishment was impressive.

::Are you sure I have to practice with him?::

::Are you scared?::

::He’s not as good as you are.::

::Hehehe. You’re just scared.::

::Am not.::

::Just shut up and practice.::

I took out my hairpin and changed it into its sword form.

Little Spring brought out the blade I purchased for him while in Golden Aspect City. We stood side by side and waited for Justice to start the Qi Formation stances. Then, in sync with him, we started to move. Of course, since this was just practice, we held back on producing sword Qi, but the positions felt good, and while we weren’t pure sword cultivators like him, they did benefit our cultivation of sword Qi.

Beautifully, we all finished the basic Qi Condensation stances. Since I had yet to teach Little Spring the Foundation Establishment set yet, he practiced some of the other techniques I’d taught him.

I continued, following along through the Foundation Establishment set. It was about time I started getting ready for that, which required practice to get this young body used to the movements.

Somewhere in there, Justice had stopped and watched me. Since I had instructed cultivators before, this didn’t bother me. When I reached the end I noticed that his eyes that used to be cold, glittered.

Wait, fuck. I was supposed to keep a low profile right?

“Impressive!” He seemed to vibrate with potential energy. ”Your stances were almost perfect.”

That was because I hadn’t practiced them in this new body yet, or they’d be perfect. Still, I bowed to him. “Thank you, senior.” I bit my lip, pretending to contemplate something. “Senior, would you care to exchange notes... with my brother? He’s only ever sparred with me and needs practice.”

He looked like he’d rather fight against me, but he still nodded.

Justice suppressed his cultivation to the 8th layer of Qi Condensation.

But there was something I suddenly remembered... Back in my original world, coaches would record training sessions and performances to show their charges their mistakes. This helped them improve significantly. Since I was the one always fighting with Little Spring I hadn’t really thought of doing that, but this might be a good chance. Unfortunately, I didn’t have one of the expensive devices used to record images and sound... But I did have jade on me...

While jade slips weren’t exactly recording tools, a cultivator with divine sense could record information onto one and share it with others. And technically someone at the peak of Qi Condensation could learn to use their divine sense, though it was rare.

Usually, Jade slips were used for things like manuals or text and simple image documents. But in my past-past life, we had computers, so to me, video and audio were just mere pieces of information and easily transcribed into the jade. I took out a good carving knife and the jade that helped me win the bet against Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl. It was a shame to use it like this but it wasn’t a bad use for it either. I could even make it record multiple times.

Within a minute, while the two eyed each other up, I carved out a high-quality jade slip with the appropriate sealing glyphs and formations carved onto it. If my old spiritual tool teacher had seen me do this, they’d likely faint from shock at my speed.

Just after I completed the tool, they both bowed and began attacking.

I shoved the jade into my hair for convenience and concentrated on turning the images I saw into pictures recorded onto the jade.

Justice went straight for the kill, using a technique that distracted an opponent and reached behind them to attack their skull. It was a really vicious move to start with.

I approved.

Little Spring did not disappoint as he managed to see it coming, just barely, and raised his sword to stop Justice from hitting his head. He then kicked out at his opponent’s open side. But the sword cultivator wasn’t an amateur. He dodged easily and brought his sword back in only to lash out in a feint.

And look at this kid. Only a few months ago and he was a complete novice. Now he was viciously attacking a far superior opponent like his life depended on it, yet also remaining cool-headed. No wonder he was the universe’s favorite.

Little Spring made a stab toward Justice’s weak spot, just like I’d taught him. It seemed like he’d had a breakthrough in his contemplation of sword Qi since a little leaked out. Unfortunately, it was aimed at Justice’s heart.

Sensing danger, the sword cultivator released his suppressed cultivation and attacked Little Spring’s sword a little too hard. It sent the kid flying toward Glittering Iron Omniscience who stood with his divining tortoiseshell close to the rocky cliff. If Little Spring kept going then he would land right on top of him.

I would have tried to stop him myself except I was certain Glittering Iron would catch him before he landed... Except, the asshole stepped out of the way. He didn't even slow him down.

In fact, the kid seemed to speed up when he neared the cliff wall.

I stopped concentrating on my recording.

A fury like I hadn’t felt since I landed back in this time period nearly overwhelmed me...

I expected to see Little Spring crash hard against the rocks and started to mentally prepare a list of what I’d need to heal his injuries.

Instead, he vanished into the cliffside. It rippled like water, then hardened.

My little brother was nowhere to be found, even after scanning the stone with divine sense.

He was fucking gone!

Part 10

I used Consistent Step to reach the wall quickly while casually pulling the jade slip out of my hair and throwing it into my ring. Then after strengthening my arm with spiritual energy, I punched the damn stone.

It was solid. Didn't even crack.

If I had been in my previous realm I could have ripped this shit apart with my bare hands. Hell, I wouldn't have even needed to use my hands.

And I wouldn't have lost the kid.

My breathing quickened as I imagined that poor little 8-year-old who knew absolutely nothing just a few months ago dealing with all the horrors I’d seen in this fucked up Xianxia world. Like that one realm almost entirely made up of killer plants. Or that dumb dual cultivation trap I’d seen Bloodsword walk into that earned him another wife. Or that Demonic Cultivator blood bowl that squeezed the blood out of its victims... This kid was not ready for any of that shit!

I knew it wouldn’t work but I still sent a slash of sword Qi at the wall. A thick gouge was carved into the stone.

I had fucking promised to keep us safe! And I couldn’t do that if he wasn’t beside me!

I produced slash after slash, trying to dig my way into the wall. Of course, I did this out of frustration and not a belief that I could actually enter this way. My current weak cultivation was fucking Bloodsword’s damn fault. And even though it was a chance to do things better... I still hated being as weak as I was. Normally, I didn’t let it bother me. Normally.

“Hey, Little Fairy Lin. Stop,” Unyielding’s calm voice penetrated the haze in my head. “You’re not going to be able to enter like this.”

Fuck. I needed to calm down and think. Logic was king.

This was obviously an Inheritance dimension. It made sense that the damn universe’s favorite protagonist would randomly stumble into one of those. Of course, these places were beyond dangerous. They had killed greater cultivators and raised lesser ones to unknown heights.

Often they were created by dying masters who had yet to take a disciple but wanted to pass on their knowledge to those who deserved it... And if I had been at my previous realm, I could have cracked it open like a fucking egg and picked out my brother with little effort.

But I wasn't that near-immortal anymore.

So what could  I do?

First, I had to have faith that my little brother’s luck would hold out. That he’d come through this trial mostly unscathed. He had his space. He had Ghosty McGhostFace. He had some medicine I made sure to leave in his bag. And he had all the things I had taught him.

Wait. He had his space, so maybe?

I tried accessing it myself but there was nothing... Or more accurately, the connection was still there but spread so thin that I couldn’t enter it, even with just my mind.

That meant, I had to wait for him to come back... but I couldn’t just sit here and twiddle my damn thumbs. Okay, that wasn't exactly true. I could technically stay here... if I wasn’t positive these people would leave me behind. And if they went without me, they’d — once again — run into that slaughter formation and end up dying.

That would make this whole goddamn trip worthless.

So, I couldn’t stay here.

Inheritances like this usually had the person who earned them come out in a completely different location. This was for the disciple’s own safety. Which meant that Little Spring would come out in a place that wasn’t here. Then where?

I spread out my divine sense and quickly found the spot. It had a similar feel as this rock.

I let out a breath and opened my eyes.

The Junior Sect Leader, looking concerned, peered at me. “Don’t worry. This seems to be an Inheritance Dimension. Your brother has a good chance of returning from it.”

I nodded.

”Unfortunately, we can only give him until daybreak. How about we set up a camp for you here if he’s still not back by then?”

I shook my head. “He won’t return here. When he does return, it will be at another location. We’ll have to find him then. Rather than wait. I'll set up a safe space for him. When he returns, he’ll find it and wait for me there.”

He frowned.

Fairy Blissful Jujube walked up to me. I guess she’d arrived earlier and I hadn’t noticed. “Are you sure? Won’t you be worried about him?”

I straightened my spine. “I have faith in his luck, if not his abilities.” What was that saying? ‘Luck was part of one’s strength?’

My eyes landed on Glittering Iron who stared out at the clearing where we’d set our camp up. He acted as if he wasn’t part of this. I decided that I was too upset to deal with him without trying to outright strangle his ass. So, I moved onto Justice. His face seemed to look cold but I could see the remorse in his eyes. And I once again realized how young this kid was. He really hadn’t experienced much of the world.

I sighed. It looked like I had to be the adult in a group of children.

“Senior Justice Reaching Divine Blade. Thank you for sparring with my junior brother. Although you did push him a bit too  hard at the end, he still improved thanks to your exchange.” I bowed. “Also, because of your exchange, you’ve given him this opportunity. So, thank you. That said, you need to spar more with lower realmed cultivators in the future so that you don’t accidentally hurt them again.”

He nodded quickly, and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks.

Now that I was mostly calm, I turned to my friend’s nephew and glared. “Senior Glittering Iron Omniscience. When you saw that my very young junior brother was about to crash into a wall, instead of catching him, you let him hit it. You even stepped away from him.” I used the few acting skills I possessed to make my eyes water. “Why? He could have been injured. Did you do this for revenge? I know he was rude to you earlier but he’s still just a child.”

Fairy Jujube frowned at Glittering Iron and he blanched, then he sent me a brief scowl.

Ah, was I making you lose face by letting everyone believe you caused a little girl to cry? Well, fuck you. You deserve it for purposefully stepping away from Little Spring.

“Senior Brother! They’re just kids. Please apologize.” Jujube said.

His jaw tightened. The bird spiritual beast on his shoulder peered at me with one eye as if it saw its worst enemy. “Why should I? She should be thanking me! If I had saved him, he wouldn’t have entered that Inheritance Dimension. This is a huge, once-in-a-lifetime chance for him.”

I wanted to laugh at that. Once-in-a-lifetime? More like once in a decade. Pretty soon dying old masters would be falling at his feet to give him their precious inheritances... If he survived this one.

“So, you feel no remorse for refusing to help a little kid?” I asked.

He crossed his arms over his chest. “He’s not a kid. He’s a cultivator. And as a fellow cultivator, I think I gave him the best possible help .”

He then stormed off to go do whatever in his tent.

Fuck this asshole. Did he really think I would want my brother to get stronger like this? Frankly, suspicious old men or women handing out random and strange techniques was not a good way to build a solid cultivation base. I just hoped that Little Spring recognized that and didn’t fall for any tricks.

***

Later, I briefly left the group with the excuse that I wanted to look for him. Unyielding refused to allow me to go on my own and escorted me to the location where Little Spring would end up. It was in a shallow cavern. Surprisingly, no creature seemed to have ever taken up residence there, though that might have been due to the master of the dimension’s preferences.

“Senior Unyielding Firestorm, Please keep watch as I set up the protective formations.”

He frowned. “Are you sure that this is a good location?”

I sighed. It was so hard pretending to be a little kid. “Yes. My brother will find this spot and will be able to make camp here if it takes us a long time.” This was a little lie since I couldn’t exactly tell him that I knew because I was a badass — someone who had once been at Immortal Ascension Stage. Because that would sound stranger than the lies I’d already given him.

I turned to the small cavern. After some brief planning, I grabbed several dozen flags and placed them to form a protective isolation barrier... And while I was at it, I set up an obfuscation array so Little Spring could safely enter his space once he returned. While I had recently been teaching him a very basic obfuscation array, I’d still rather take care of it myself until I was positive he was ready.

I took out paper, ink, and brush and left a very short note for him to wait here for me. Using spiritual energy, I pinned it to the wall.

Not certain he’d see it, I took out the super cheap night pearl I’d purchased back in Golden Aspect City and attached it to the top of the page.

But just to be sure... I wrote up a few more notes and pinned them to various spots. That extra bit of paranoia I’d developed a few months back had reared its ugly head up again. Well, whatever. I must have seen too many movies as a kid where notes were accidentally knocked off tables causing huge — and stupid — misunderstandings.

As long as the kid didn’t return blind he’d fucking see it. The only other thing that I could have left that would be better, would be a recording (If I’d had one). I needed to grab an actual recording spiritual tool when I had the money for one. Too bad they were so damn expensive.

I sighed. His ass better be safe when he came back or I would find some way to punish it!

When I stepped back out of the cavern, I saw the Junior Sect Leader give me an appraising look.

“It seems like your Formation Masters badge wasn’t a fake, after all.”

I snorted. “Of course not! Once we reach the slaughter formation, you need to trust me. Even if I have to go in there all by myself, I’ll make sure we retrieve those Rhododendrons without issue.”

He nodded.

Just as I was about to leave, he said, “Fairy Lin, I haven’t known your little brother for long, but he seems like a reasonable child. I choose to believe that he’ll return triumphant from that dimension.”

I grinned. “Oh, he’ll return! Most definitely!” His return wasn’t what worried me.

***

The next morning I attempted to access the space. Of course, I couldn't. Little Spring wasn’t back. I sighed.

He was taking far too long for an inheritance at this level. Was he really going to come back safe, unharmed and as the same little kid I’d been raising as my little martial brother? Or would this incident irrevocably change him in some way?

If he came back as fucked up as the original Bloodsword...

No. I had to trust him. And trust that my brainwashing—er, ’training’ took.

Once again, the Junior Sect Leader gathered us together for the pre-leaving check.

That meant that it was time to go — without him.

“Soon, we’ll leave to the location of the second spiritual flower, the Resplendent Ochre Narcissus. We need one of at least fifty years, but the higher it is in age, the better for our purposes. Knowing the terrain these flowers usually bloom in, we can expect a location with many poisonous plants and insects, so everyone should take this antidote pill now. It should last a full day.”

He pulled out a bottle. With a few super cool-looking flicks, he sent one flying to each of us.

I poked at the red-orange antidote pill. Then I used my divine sense to double-check its quality. Since it wasn’t too far off from one I could currently make myself, I took it. While I had my own antidote pills, I’d prefer to save them for an emergency. They were different from this one; covering a larger and different variety of plants.

“Also,” he continued. “Be wary of the spiritual flora in this area of the forest. Many of them are dangerous and some may have small spiritual beasts protecting them. Carry your weapons at all times! Any questions?” He paused. When no one asked anything he nodded. “Then let’s go.”

***

It took us a little over four hours of straight running to reach the field of yellow flowers where the Resplendent Ochre Narcissus bloomed.

If I’d been ignorant of spiritual flowers, I might have thought I’d hit the jackpot. But while these flowers did look similar, in that they were all a dark gold yellow, most of these flowers were not the Narcissus we were looking for (which looked like a spiky daffodil). They were instead mutated flowers of varying types, and all very poisonous. Some were somniferous. Others itch-inducing. And that one to the right of me had pollen that was a bitch to get out of white silk.

I took a step further to my left to avoid it. I mean, I only had so many clothes. Most of my fortune had gone into cultivation.

Glittering Iron pointed to one that practically glowed in the sunlight. It appeared to be a perfect example of the flower we needed and with an age closer to two hundred years rather than the fifty we needed! It could produce higher quality medicine, making it easier for the Sect Leader to recover.

Asshole he may be, but Glittering Iron’s divinations could pinpoint a damn fine spiritual plant!

Part 11

“The best place to start from to reach that flower would be here,” Glittering Iron said.

Unyielding seemed to practically vibrate with excitement after seeing the Narcissus. But he calmed himself down right away and considered the terrain. “Because this area is so dangerous, we’re going to take it slow and safe. This means no jumping to a spot then clearing it. While faster, doing things that way could get one or more of us killed.”

“So we’re going to clear a path?” Jujube asked.

He nodded.

Since we couldn't use flying swords, and considering the possible hidden dangers within the meadow, this course of action wasn't wrong. And, I was also curious how the whole team worked together rather than only Justice, Unyielding, and Jujube. Their actions in a fight could help reveal more about each person.

“Justice will go first while I back him up. Then I want Diviner Glittering Iron Omniscience to guard the center with Little Fairy Lin. Fairy Third Peach Sapling and Jujube, I’d like you both to guard the back. We’ll move like this unless I say otherwise.”

Ugh, I did not want to be next to that asshole, but this might also be a good chance to let this dickhead get eaten by spiritual fleas or something... Not that I would actually do that to my friend’s nephew... no matter how much he deserved it.

Since this area appeared hazardous, I slapped my talisman back on. I wasn't taking any chances without the little main character here to watch my back.

“Alright, let’s go collect that flower. Stay in formation and if you see something strange, say something.”

Slowly, we carved out a path through the natural flower field. Justice took point. He sent slash after slash of sword Qi to cut down any dangerous plants then, if the plants were still harmful, Unyielding would blast them with fire.

I had my sword out, but, so far, I hadn't even needed to do anything.

Glittering Iron took out a few ancient iron coins. He sent them flying into the flora to attack tiny spiritual beasts who came too close.

The few bugs that Glittering Iron didn’t take care of were handled by Third Peach Sapling’s whip. It cracked loudly behind me as she killed bug after bug. She worked it so much that Jujube didn't have to lift a finger.

This team, surprisingly, worked well together... when they weren't being inexperienced kids or incompetent assholes. Of course, doing things this way made our pace up the slope, fucking grueling. But it was  safer.

I didn't like that we were killing swaths of plants, but it was only a temporary death. No one touched their roots, so they would eventually grow back... likely stronger and extra vicious.

Around twenty yards from us a mustard-colored flower the size of a table swayed unnaturally. There was definitely something weird going on with it, but we should have been out of range to aggravate any creature that used it as a home. Unfortunately, as we neared it, the sound of buzzing became clearer.

We shouldn’t have been all that close to it, but a swarm of four-inch, wasp-type beasts (the type that never made it past stage 1 in their lifetimes) flew out from the foliage surrounding the flower. The wasps had built their nest under those massive thick petals.

The bugs descended on our group in a wave of grossness and hostility. Beady little bug eyes burned with hatred for us (and especially me). Black little stingers attached to their asses glistened with poison. Their loathing, lack of intelligence, and numbers made these insects disregard the difference in our realms.

I grimaced. Looks like I’d finally need to do something.

I fucking hated spiritual insects with their creepy faceted stares and tiny size that let them infest small places. Not to mention that numerous breeds helped spread infections.

The only good ones were those that helped improve spiritual plants, but those were rare. I would be more likely to find ones that hollow out plants and use them as a breeding ground.

Unyielding shot a flame dragon out at them, burning well over a tenth of their number.

Swarms like these were also the bane of most young sword cultivators. Poor Justice was good, but he only threw out Ten Cuts, bringing down a few hundred bugs when we were dealing with thousands. Ten cuts was a fine achievement for his age... But what a swarm like this needed was Thousand Cuts. Something I could do... if I felt like showing off and wasting my energy. Which, I did not.

Glittering Iron used a technique to create a massive translucent field in the shape of a tortoiseshell. He made it only large enough to surround him, likely to conserve energy. With a flick of his wrist, he flung one of his small iron coins towards the wave of monster bugs. As the currency spun, it grew in size and weight but kept the same trajectory and speed. It took out a large number of buzzing wasps.

Fairy Third must have suddenly become nervous because she fumbled her whip. Once she’d dropped it, she didn’t bother to pick it up. Instead, she exchanged it for a simple giant palm technique; one with the force of someone at the beginning stage of foundation establishment. It was very effective.

Another tenth of the bugs became pancakes on top of the yellow plants.

The second time she threw out a palm attack I also threw one out to hide the strength of my own technique. Hers squished another portion of the spiritual wasps and mine caught the stragglers.

Then I hid behind Glittering Iron and sent sword Qi potshots at a couple of bugs that came well within my range and appeared to have gotten missed by the larger techniques being used.

Several yellow and black insects came at me at one time. Almost as if that Glittering asshole had let them through on purpose. I simply used my off hand to create the seals for a double palm technique. This sent out two palms made of spiritual energy to flatten them all like the bugs they were.

A few minutes later, the few members of the swarm that survived retreated. The mustard petals went from swaying to shivering, as if scared.

We waited for a bit to see if the wasps would be dumb enough to return but they didn’t. At least, not those particular wasps.

We faced a few more swarms like that but handled it just as easily. Also, one, very dumb giant rat spirit beast who attacked Justice while his back was turned but died before it could even take a bite.

At one point a Giant Shit-flinging Beetle poked its massive green head above the flower canopy. Recognizing this creature as one of the banes of my existence, I quickly murdered it. It only took a very quick and powerful slice of sword Qi severing its evil looking head.

By the time we reached the Narcissus, sweat droplets had formed on my forehead and I had to resist the urge to sanitize everything. I needed to save my energy. And constantly scrutinize everything around me.

My little Qi condensation nerves couldn’t keep up with what I needed them to do. It was at times like this that I missed having that kid watch my back. But only a little. I was the adult, after all.

Justice used long slashes to clear an area of a few yards around the Resplendent Ochre Narcissus. Behind him Unyielding burned anything suspicious that remained into ash to give Fairy Jujube room to work.

She once again took out a massive jade jar. I really wanted to say something. I mean, you just didn’t fucking need that big of a container for a little daffodil like this as long as you collected it properly.

She took out her shovel, and just before she made her first cut into the earth, Fairy Third beside me sucked in a breath.

I turned to her. She’d gone pale. Her eyes rolled up and she dropped exactly like a sack of rice.

Fuuuuck.

Glittering Iron pointed to me. “You! What did you do to her?”

I didn’t even bother glaring at him and instead used my divine sense to check her body and the area around her.

I pointed to a vine with a needle-like spike on the end of it that slithered back toward the yellow meadow. “There. A Star Snake Poisonous Killing Vine! Destroy it before it kills more of us.”

When I saw Justice running over to intercept the plant I knelt next to poor Fairy Third and concentrated on her body. The venom was working its way through her system too quickly.

She was fortunate that I was here or she would be one dead little fairy.

I shoved one of my own antidote pills into her mouth then sent my spiritual energy into her. To first stop the spread, I cycled the energy from the antidote through her body.

More sweat appeared on my brow as the poison neared her brain and heart. If it infiltrated these areas, then she really would die.

Fortunately, I reached it in time. Once the spread completely stopped, I used my spiritual energy to guide the antidote towards the most affected areas. Like her heel where the needle originally pierced her. The antidote soothed those agitated areas but there was still some damage done that would take a while to heal. I did have my personal Repair Dan that could help if her condition worsened but she just needed time, rest, and cultivation.

Besides, that pill was too miraculous for its level during this time period. I wasn’t going to take it out unless someone was dying... and I actually liked them.

I sighed.

A vine zoomed toward my head. I leaned to the side to avoid it. A strong hand wrapped around it right before its needle would have touched my glabella if I hadn’t moved.

“EEP!” I exaggerated.

Then I purposefully fell backward onto my ass and took a couple schooches away from the wiggling vine.

Unyielding, who clutched the plant with a vice-like grip, burned the shit out of it.

“Are you okay, Little Fairy Lin?” The Junior Sect Leader, kindly asked.

I nodded.

While Unyielding did manage to grab it in time, this made me realize that I might be trusting these teammates a little too much. Or maybe I had somehow gotten used to Little Spring always pointing out to me when I was losing focus on reality in nonoptimal locations.

Whatever. I was alive. And if I was alive then I could see my little martial brother again.

I stood up and grimaced down at Fairy Third. While I technically had the strength to carry her in a fireman hold thanks to my cultivation, I really didn’t want to. Actually, I had a better idea.

“Let me go collect the flower. I’m a bit more practiced at this than Fairy Blissful Jujube.”

He raised a brow at me. “Why didn’t you volunteer earlier?”

I shrugged then smiled cutely. “I was giving the beautiful fairy some face.” Fairy Jujube had come running over and knelt next to her friend. She had tears in her eyes. The girl looked adorable while crying. But that came standard with Bloodsword’s harem members.

“Uh-huh.” He sighed. “Alright. You take care of it.

“Hey Justice!” He called, “Protect her flank.” He then stood watch over Fairy Jujube as she cried over her friend.

As I walked towards the Narcissus I noticed Glittering Iron Omniscience wore an expression like he wanted to hold and comfort Jujube. What a fucking hypocritical asshole. Jujube could cry but not Little Spring? Also, she wasn’t even his girl!

Whatever.

I stepped up to the spiky petaled flower. It swayed in the wind producing a delicate fragrance that made a person feel refreshed. This was it. One of the three plants that would heal my old friend. It felt good to have a part in collecting it.

Grinning like a madwoman, I pulled out a jade box and a small trowel. I used my divine sense to see where the roots were, then carefully, but still quickly dug around them in a practiced motion. Soon I had all the roots carefully dug out. Gently, I pulled the flower from the earth, then placed it in my jade box, and sealed the lid. Still holding back on my urge to clean everything, I hugged the box to my chest and stood.

That was when I noticed that over to the right, about two hundred yards, and lower on the slope we’d traveled, was another Resplendent Ochre Narcissus of around seventy years. It appeared to be a much safer location too. And easier to get to from the forest. But it was surrounded by larger yellow flowers so it would be impossible to see unless we saw it from this incline.

But it wouldn’t be impossible for a diviner to know about.

So then why did Glittering Iron Omniscience have us come all the way over here and deal with so much fucking useless danger? Maybe he wasn’t as fucking brilliant as he thought. He did assume I’d betrayed them all a little too fast.

Maybe I was thinking too much. Perhaps the Sect Leader was in more danger than we all thought and needed a Narcissus with a higher age, so his nephew had us collect this one.

I marched over to the Junior Sect Leader, Justice following behind me. I handed him the box with both hands.

“This is a very good spiritual flower. Please be careful with it.”

He nodded solemnly, then with a wave of his sleeve, he collected it into his ring. “Always.”

“Let me see your condition.” I placed two fingers on his wrist. While he hadn’t taken any damage from all the fighting we’d had to go through, he was low on spiritual energy. “Looks like you’re fine. But take a Qi Restoration Dan if you need to.

“Of course.” He then gestured to Fairy Third. “How did you manage to save her?”

“I have some of my own antidote pills that cure the effects of different poisons than the one you handed out. It just happened to be effective against this plant. She’s fine but it may take her a couple of days to wake up. Someone will have to carry her.”

He turned to Fairy Blissful Jujube and she nodded. The Fairy picked her friend up and carried her like a princess.

Oh my. I think Fairy Third would actually want to see this. I’m sure she’d blush from the ends of her toes to the tips of her ears.

I glanced away from the two who would have made an adorable couple if Fairy Blissful had been bi and amenable. Of course, I didn’t know for sure that she wasn’t since there were many harem stories where the ladies would ‘occupy each other’ while their husband was busy. But I didn’t think this particular Bad Harem Xianxia Author had even that much openmindedness.

My gaze landed on Glittering Iron Omniscience and caught the asshole briefly looking at Unyielding with some kind of intense jealousy or hatred. Then, as if that expression hadn’t existed, his face turned into one of natural arrogance.

Not everyone adored the Junior Sect Leader after all.

I’d have to keep a closer eye on this asshole.

***

Since staying in this spot much longer wasn’t a good idea, we used the path we’d made to quickly retreat to a safer location.

Unyielding Firestorm then gathered us together and spoke seriously. “I know that we have an injured team member, but we need to keep going. Justice, I’m going to rely on you and Jujube to protect Fairy Third Peach Sapling.” Justice nodded and Jujube held her even more tightly.

Unyielding turned to Glittering Iron. “Can you divine the next location for us? I know you mentioned it was closer to here than our campsite.”

“Fine.” He flicked his sleeve and sat in the lotus position with his divining tortoise shell on his lap. He took out several iron coins (likely the same size-changing ones he used earlier) and began divining. Which was one of those skills that just didn’t come naturally to me. But I would damn well learn it eventually!

He then pointed in a direction. “A dozen li that way.”

“Alright. Everyone, we’re going deeper into the forest so keep an eye out for dangerous spiritual beasts. We’re not here to fight, we’re here to get in and get out. So, stay safe.”

Well said.

***

When we reached the location it appeared to the naked eye to be just another tree-covered span in the forest. Maybe with a little thicker foliage, but nothing worrisome. There even appeared to be a few birds and other wildlife spread through the terrain.

But if one was a formation master with my skill level... Well, basically I could easily see that a mere ten feet in front of us was a naturally formed slaughter formation. One wrong step within it could lead to death.

“It’s here, right?” Jujube asked.

“Absolutely. My divinations are never wrong.” Glittering Iron straightened his back and tilted his chin up.

“With poor Peach out of commission, how are we supposed to enter this formation and collect the plants?” Jujube asked. She bit her lip and stared at Unyielding with hope.

I wanted to roll my eyes. With me here there was no reason to worry.

But before I exposed my abilities, I wanted to see for myself what my friend’s beloved nephew would do.

Glittering Iron took out his tortoiseshell and — once more — began throwing iron coins into it. One toss. Two tosses. Three tosses. Sweat beaded on his forehead. Then he pulled out a stick from some nearby shrubs. He spent some time removing the excess branches.

Once clean, he stepped up to the boundary of the formation and set the branch down like a flagpole. Ever so slowly he moved it to the left by a half foot. Then he released it. It dropped, leaving it half in and half out of the formation.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead with a white handkerchief and pointed to the stick. “Here. The safe place to enter is here.”

That was not the correct place to enter. It was certainly close to it. So close, in fact, that one might think he merely made a small mistake. Unless one remembered that he’d moved the pole over an extra half foot.

A cultivator with no foundation in formations, and possibly even a shitty amateur like Third Peach Sapling might believe this was the right spot as well. But it wasn’t. That mere half foot was the difference between life and death.

That purposeful move of a mere half foot turned this from accident-waiting-to-happen into murder.

Part 12

I had discounted my friend’s nephew for far too long. But I had my reasons. For one, he didn't have a motive to kill the Junior Sect Leader. Oh, sure, he liked Jujube... but was removing her fiancé for a possible chance with her worth hurting his beloved uncle like that? Not to mention that he never got together with her in my past life. It seemed highly unlikely that this was his motive.

That meant that there was another reason. One I still needed to discover.

Aside from the missing motive, I also knew from my past life that just because someone was an asshole did not mean that they were a murderer... Of course, this was me giving the author of the original bad harem novel too much credit. I mean, if he really wanted to surprise people, he could have made a nice kid like Justice Reaching Divine Blade the murderer.

But an asshole like fuck face over there? Too easy. Easier than making the one who did it, a butler.

But, I’d been dealing with pleasant people for so long recently that I’d forgotten the golden rule of this Xianxia. Sometimes an asshole was just an asshole, but, more often than not, they were actually murderers... In fact, everyone was a killer. Here, you either became a killer, or you died.

Another thing. I’d been too arrogant, believing my mere presence here would be enough of a catalyst to change the outcome. Since, really, I was just that remarkable.

That had turned out to be false. I mean, I was still amazing. But, since my presence didn't change the outcome, then that meant Glittering Dickhead over there had been planning this since before I even arrived.

Looking back on everything that happened during my time with this group, I could see what Glittering Iron Omniscience had been attempting.

First, was the Purple Python Monster. He must have divined that Unyielding and Justice would both be badly hurt during the fight, making his death seem more and more like an accident when it came time to collect the Blood-Soaked Resonant Rhododendron.

Of course, he was pissed at Little Spring and I for coming along because our presence added uncertain variables into his plan. He must have quickly divined how to get rid of my little brother by standing where he did. Because if he hadn’t stood there, I would have stopped him before he even neared the wall.

Next was the Narcissus. It was my belief that he dragged us to that flower instead of to the other one because he needed Fairy Third out of commission to enact his final plan.

This fight would also force the injured Justice and Unyielding to push themselves to the limit.

He may have also believed that this fight would have taken me out as well... Except that I had been hiding my strength this whole time. And without me telling someone, he would have no way of knowing my true ability. Not to mention that my Immortal Ascension stage soul would completely throw off any divination he attempted to do for me.

Which brought me to the nail in Unyielding’s coffin.

Without Fairy Third and with a mourning Fairy Blissful Jujube, the group would have stood in this exact spot where they relied solely on Glittering Iron’s divination to enter the right path.

He’d gotten them here with his perfect divinations. Surely, his talent was reliable enough to risk one's own life on. And he was the nephew of the Sect Leader. He also loved and respected his uncle. So, of course, he wouldn't try anything nefarious.

Except, he did.

Using just his devious divinations, he took out three of his party members and returned a hero.

And the only reason he was able to get away with it was that the dim-witted Jujube was so grief-stricken that she likely wasn't even there for his report. And if she wasn't there, she couldn't contradict it.

To be honest, I wanted to applaud the asshole’s genius and audacity.

Except that he was scum.

And, he made a small mistake.

::Junior Sect Leader. Don't trust Senior Glittering Iron Omniscience. He’s trying to kill you.::

His eyes narrowed slightly, but I had his attention.

::What makes you say that?::

::He had the right spot, but he purposefully moved it.::

::I saw that, but I thought he was correcting his position. Are you sure he’s trying to kill me?::

::Am I sure? Who do you think I am?!::

::...::

::I’m your martial great aunt.::

::Not officially. And he’s my master’s nephew,::  he pointed out.

::Doesn't mean he can't still be a murderer.::

::He also led us here.::

::But not without issue. Didn't everything seem a bit too perfect yet also perfectly dangerous.::

He didn't respond. He was a smart kid and must have figured it out as well.

::Just let me handle this and back me up.::

::Very well.::

I stepped up to Glittering Iron Omniscience and tilted my head cutely. “Senior. Are you sure this is the right spot to enter the formation from?”

He nodded, back straight, arrogance exuding from every pore. “Absolutely.”

“Would you stake your life on it?”

His eyes narrowed and he glared at me as if he could kill me.

“You’re questioning my skills in divination?”

“Yes. Because if you were willing to stake your life on it then you’d be willing to stick your head in the formation, right there, for the time it takes an incense stick to burn.”

I grinned up at him.

“Nonsense! Of course, this is the right location. In fact, not only am I willing to risk my own precious life on this fact, I’m willing to risk the Junior Sect Leader’s life as well. His life is worth far more than my own.” He said this as if he was confident that Unyielding would defend him.

Except that the Junior Sect Leader knew I was a master at formations and agreed to let me handle it. And because this wasn’t a democracy, his opinion as the leader of the group was the only one that mattered.

While the members of the team may have posed ideas or asked questions, they still always followed his orders in the end. Because a sect had a hierarchy, and because, right now, he had the greatest authority here (at least until I officially became his martial great aunt).

When Glittering Iron didn’t hear Unyielding step up to defend his ability, he glanced over. I followed his gaze to see the Junior Sect Leader with a frown on his face and his arms crossed under his chest.

Unyielding stared at the diviner, face a mask of skepticism. “If you’re so confident, diviner Glittering Iron Omniscience, then why don’t you do as she requests?”

“Nonsense!” His bird spirit beast clucked in outrage.

“Are you reluctant because you know it’s a death trap?” I asked, a wide grin on my face.

Glittering Iron moved his hands behind his back and glared at me. The stupid chicken on his shoulder did the same.

Seemed like this asshole needed a bit more pushing. I pulled my hairpin from my head, turned it into a sword, and made a slash into the ground where the real entrance was.

“This, right here, is the safe place to enter the formation.”

He scoffed. “That’s only a half step.”

“Anyone who knows formations, knows how precise they need to be. And a precious natural formation like this may have a bit of leeway but not that much.”

“You expect me to believe a kid like you knows formations?”

I merely smiled and turned to Unyielding who nodded.

“Most of you,” I addressed Unyielding, Justice, and Jujube, “May have already realized the place where I drew my line is exactly where you,” I pointed to Glittering Iron, “originally had the stick. That was a poor move on your part. Sloppy work.”

He sneered. “So what if it was? I was just adjusting it based on my divination. If it was incorrect then it was merely that my divination was slightly off.”

“What are you then? An incompetent diviner or a murderer?”

“Even the most competent of diviners make mistakes every now and then.”

“True. But not you. Not for this. You’ve made perfect predictions so far, leading us here, to this point. Haven’t you? All to get our dear Junior Sect Leader to enter a false door.” I pointed the tip of my sword at him. “And no one would have had a clue, except for one small thing. There was another flower in the meadow. One of the same variety but a slightly lesser age. It would still be usable, and it was in a far less dangerous area.”

Jujube gasped as she finally understood. She had stood where I had earlier and must have seen it as well, but it had only clicked for her after I laid out the facts.

“If it wasn’t for my antidotes, your divinations would have purposefully gotten Fairy Third Peach Sapling killed.”

“Senior brother! Tell me you didn’t hurt Third Peach on purpose!” A tear ran down Jujube’s cheek.

He didn’t say anything — just stared at me, spine straight, as if nothing could touch him.

I glared into his dark eyes. “You are so damn arrogant, aren’t you? And you believe you’re right. As if no one could be more intelligent than you.” I shook my head. “You are smart. A genius when it comes to divining. I’ll give you that. But, you’ve forgotten the first rule about being a genius. Which is to remember that it doesn’t mean ‘always right.’”

He chuckled. “Do you really think they’ll really believe you over me?”

“Don’t they already?”

Justice strode up to us, cold fury clear on his face. In general, sword cultivators attempted to remain honorable and virtuous — one of the reasons I respected them. This betrayal must have triggered his sense of righteousness.

Glittering Iron stepped back, face pale. “You can’t seriously believe her! She’s not even a member of our sect!”

“Why are you frightened?” Unyielding asked with narrowed eyes as he followed his friend over. “You were fine when you thought I would be going in there.”

“She said, ‘it was the wrong spot.’”

“But you don’t trust her.”

Justice’s hand wrapped around Glittering Iron’s neck. The chicken spirit beast attacked him, but the Junior Sect Leader stepped up and caught it by the base of its wings. It flailed around uselessly.

Glittering Iron took out a dagger from his spacial ring and jabbed it toward Justice’s heart. The sword cultivator easily grabbed that hand and disarmed it.

Glittering Iron should have known better than to fuck with a sword cultivator like that. And he did.

While Justice was distracted with the unexpected knife the diviner’s tortoiseshell came out and knocked him away by several feet. Glittering Iron must have realized that his situation didn’t look good because he left his bird behind and stepped backward into the formation. And he managed to enter the exact spot I had indicated.

Fuckin’ idiot.

Justice took a step toward the formation, but I threw out an arm and stopped him.

He glared. “We have to prevent him from harming the rhododendron.”

Just as I suspected, he was absolutely furious.

“Never go into a slaughter formation when you’re upset. You’ll make mistakes and mistakes will lead to death. Or at the very least harm. I’m the formation master here. I’ll go first. You can follow when you’re calm.”

“He’s in Foundation Establishment, and you’re just in Qi Condensation. You’re not his match.”

I grinned. “In a formation, he’s not mine. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he comes back alive, so he can be charged for his crimes.”

I stepped into the formation’s safe entrance. Immediately, the world around me that had been trees, foliage, and vines, turned into motion.

The ground that had been flat moved me up and down. It even turned me around. Every effective slaughter formation had a type of illusion or confusion aspect to it.

Those who just entered from any other position might try and take a step back, only to realize too late that their step back was actually a step forward. This would bring them deeper into the formation and trap them inside.

Of course, this disorientation would help hide any of my more advanced techniques.

In a perfect slaughter formation, there would be no pathway like this. Those who entered would be helpless unless they happened to have a formation master’s compass and the knowledge of how to avoid whatever killed people within. The exception was natural formations. These types always had imperfections, leaving small pathways open to a lucky individual who might find it. And I, luckily, knew how to move through this formation regardless of if I had a compass or not. But, I happened to have one.

I took it out with my offhand and held my sword with my right.

I used the compass to find the correct direction Glittering Iron would have fled in. Since he was the Sect Leader’s nephew, he would have several life-saving talismans. That meant I didn’t have to hold back as much!

I estimated how long it would take him to divine his way through, then with a seemingly casual motion, I slashed in that direction. Thousand cuts!

It felt good to use that technique, especially since I went wide with it to account for any errors.

I didn’t hear any yells, but I didn’t expect to. Not with this illusion obfuscating everything around us so well that even divine sense couldn’t penetrate it.

But I knew I hit him.

I slowly took two steps forward. Each step felt like I was on a little boat in a fierce ocean storm. But I ignored that feeling. This was normal.

Once again, I estimated where he would be and sent another thousand cuts over to him.

I turned to the left and the already spinning and dipping world turned sideways. After taking one step backward it appeared as if I were traveling through a starfield of greenery.

I heard the steps of someone in the distance. That meant I was very close to him!

A massive spinning coin appeared out of nowhere.

I ducked down low, to both avoid the coin, and because that was the next step in getting past this formation.

The world stabilized for a single beautiful moment even as the coin flew above my head.

But this spot was a trap, if I stayed here for too long, I’d get sucked right the fuck on into the deepest part of the formation, so (while still crouched) I quickly shuffled to the right a few feet. Then I sent another Thousand Cuts towards the direction the coin came from.

A grunt of pain managed to reach my location, then a footstep.

I stood up. The luscious green foliage bloomed with strange crimson flowers... I really doubted that those were real. In fact, the way everything looked still yet still moved made me think they were actually poor low-level spirit beasts the formation had caught and was slowly draining of blood.

There was a reason the rhododendron was called ‘Blood-Soaked.’

Another coin came at me from the front. This time aimed lower. I had to move forward next, or I would get stuck in the formation again.

I jumped up and over the coin, while moving forwards. Those flowers around me vanished, and the world turned dark.

I spun around as if doing a spinning sidekick. This time the coin zoomed towards the foot I was standing on. I jumped, but it still clipped my little silk shoe and knocked me off balance. My foot ached like a bitch.

At least I still had a foot. Fuck. If I hadn’t had my talisman or if I’d been any slower...

I thought I heard laughter, but that was just the illusion of the formation. I stood up and then took another step forward, gritting my teeth and ignoring the pain.

The world cleared. A small clearing lay before me like a shallow bowl in the ground. Small streams of liquid spiraled down into the bottom of the bowl where a little bush with small red flowers bloomed. And a quarter of the way to that spiritual plant was Glittering Iron who ran so fast he practically flew.

Most of his clothes were ripped to shreds, and he bled from various spots, but, according to my quick divine sense scan, it was only surface damage. Tch. The difference between Qi Condensation and Formation Establishment was too high, especially when life saving spiritual tools were involved.

And how had he gotten so far?! Hadn’t I been right behind him? How the fuck had he gotten through the formation so fast... unless it was a lie that he didn’t know his way through!

Shit! He was likely trying to get to the plant first to use it as blackmail. Either we forget his crime, or he’d destroy the only chance to save our Sect Leader — his own damn Uncle. This Fucker!

There was no time to pop a healing pill to repair my foot, so I ignored the pain and ran.

Part 13

I put my compass away and sent a single massive slash of sword Qi towards his feet. Attempting to get my revenge.

He must have been using his divine sense to watch the area around him because he dodged to the side. Then he threw out another of those damn size-changing coins.

That was fine. I tossed out several more slashes to distract him. Then I used Impossible Leap to reach our shared target first.

The massive bush filled my vision with clusters of ethereal red flowers—each bunch glimmering with spiritual energy.

These were all called Blood-Soaked Rhododendrons but what I needed was the only one of these bunches that could be used in the Sect Leader’s antidote. The Blood-Soaked Resonant Rhododendron.

And I immediately noticed it. It was in the middle of the clearing which was also in the exact center of the donut-shaped slaughter formation.

What made it “Resonant” was that, unlike the other silent flowers that might rustle in the wind, this one hummed very quietly—like a tuning fork.

If I were any other person I wouldn’t have been able to find it as quickly. And Glittering Iron, whose eyes had gone wide with shock at seeing a little Qi Condensation cultivator reach the bush before him, would have cut me down before I had the chance to do this...

I quickly used a bit of sword Qi to perfectly and properly cut the resonating bunch from the bush. It dropped.

I pulled out a jade box and caught the flower with it before it touched any other part of the bush. Then, just as my friend’s nephew threw another coin at my head, I used my technique again to sidestep it and get farther from that asshole. Of course, it drained my spiritual energy significantly. I wouldn’t be able to cast this technique for a while. And I still had several yards before I could enter the formation again.

“You! Give those to me!” He threw out a net spiritual tool that pulsed with lightning energy.

“Who would?!”

I threw out a simple Ten Cuts and changed its trajectory enough so it missed me. It struck the dirt as it landed, sending bits of debris flying everywhere. Some splattered against my face and robes, ruining the pretty white silk. At least the fucking net’s electric charge had dissipated, so he wouldn’t be able to use that again so soon.

Even though my foot still hurt like a bitch I ran towards a spot exactly a half step away from the correct entrance. If I could make it in there and use my compass to reach the actual safe entrance then I could fool this asshole into killing himself. Fucking poetic justice.

And it would make it easier for myself in the future.

This would still plunge my friend into depression so I would rather not. Unfortunately, with my near-empty reservoir of internal Qi, this was my only option. And, if it didn’t fool him, it could still buy me some time.

Glittering Iron closed on my location. He threw another coin at my head. And at that moment Unyielding and Justice exited the formation.

”Rope!” Justice said even as he threw a volley of ten cuts out to obliterate the coin.

Unyielding reached for his ring. A familiar golden rope appeared in his hand and he tossed it toward Glittering Iron. It wrapped around him like a snake then constricted.

The asshole fell to the ground and skidded to a stop.

I blinked. So easy?

Why the hell hadn’t they used that earlier?! Could I complain to management?

I gave them the benefit of the doubt. They’d used that tool on the snake yesterday so it must have only just recharged.

I needed to remember to grab one of those when I had the chance. It did a fantastic job of holding Glittering Asshole down and preventing him from using his spiritual energy.

I briefly considered crippling his cultivation, but he’d only find another path. And probably make it his mission in life to kill me.

The prick’s face had turned red from anger and he shouted, “You have no proof that I was trying to kill anyone! My Uncle will never believe you! You can lock me up or cripple my cultivation, but as soon as he finds out, he’ll release me! Then he’ll make all of you pay.”

I popped a pill to start the healing process on my foot then narrowed my eyes at him.

He glared back.

“And you!” He wiggled toward me like the worm he was. “I’ll make sure you never even reach the sect let alone enter it. You’re dead. You and your little brother.”

I nodded fake-happily while a flame of fury burned within my chest and made it difficult to think clearly.

He was right. We needed proof. Then I remembered the jade slip I made earlier to record Little Spring’s fight.

I took it out and stuck it into my hair. With narrowed eyes, I concentrated on recording everything I saw, which was superbly difficult to do while this upset. That was another reason I preferred recording tools.

I limped up to him. “Not only did you plan to kill poor Fairy Third Peach Sapling, and our dear Junior Sect Leader, but now you’re plotting the murder of two little kids. How superbly impressive of you, Senior .”

That shut him up.

“True. We have no proof to bring along. It will merely be our words against yours.” I crouched down low and glared into his dark eyes. Then my injured foot flared up and I fell to one knee instead. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I ignored it.

“But if you think the Sect Leader trusts you over his beloved disciple,” I managed to get out through clenched teeth, “then I think you’re going to have a very rude awakening. Because everyone loves and trusts Senior Unyielding Firestorm. Especially his girlfriend and the Sect Leader. And you hate that fact. Don’t you?”

“Shut up!” He hissed.

“You hate that fact so much you tried to kill him. So was it love? Were you really so stupid  to think that Fairy Blissful Jujube would like you once he was gone? Are you that much of an ignorant little shit? Because I think you are. So unintelligent it makes me depressed for the future of the sect, especially if... say... you were ever put in charge instead of the Junior Sect Leader.”

He started struggling. Strands of his hair that had come loose in the fight fell over his face. If his eyes could kill, I’d be dead right about now.

Fuck. Trying to manipulate people was harder than it looked. I really didn’t like doing this. Main characters were always so good at this shit. He’d have confessed right about now if it had been that kid saying these things instead. Fucking cheat-like-existence.

I sighed and cycled my cultivation a bit. The pain in my foot eased. “You must have hated that your uncle didn’t take you in as his inheriting disciple. It must have driven you mad believing that you should have been put in charge, after all. You’re the smart one. Unyielding Fire Storm was just some charismatic orphan the sect picked up. He wasn’t even that talented.”

“Hey!” Unyielding said.

I rolled my eyes.

“Fairy Lin! You can’t say that about the Junior Sect Leader!” Justice pointed out.

Guys! Get with the picture, I was trying to get a dude to confess! Please, for the love of all things cultivation-related, help my ass. Don’t fucking hinder me!

“Those are Senior Glittering Iron Omniscience’s thoughts.” I patted the jerk’s face.... then cast the cleaning technique on myself and him. He looked at me as if I’d insulted him. What? The cleaning  technique of all things offended him? Fuck. What a weird little shit.

“Isn’t that right? These are the reasons you  wanted to get rid of our dear Junior Sect Leader. Poor Fairy Third Peach Sapling was just an innocent bystander.”

“Her? Innocent?! If anyone here needs to die, it is that perverse bitch.”

“Perverse?”

“Let’s just say that she deserves death! And she would have died too if you hadn't come along with your extra antidote.”

Internally, I sighed deeply. So very deeply. This wasn’t the first time I came across this sort of nonsense. Hell, I even met people like this in my original life.

At least there was one good thing that came of this horrible bullshit.

I grinned evilly. “You realize that you just admitted to attempting to kill her.”

His face paled.

“I’m sure you already know, but it is very forbidden to murder a sect member whether you’re within or outside the sect. Any sect member.”

“But, you are a good actor. I mean, you made a bet  with someone you despised so much that you planned to kill then frame your following murder on.” I shook my head and tsked.

He swallowed. “How did you—” he cut himself off. I guess he realized he was about to admit to everything. Damn. So close.

I glanced at Justice and Unyielding who both looked like their minds had exploded.

“But what I don’t understand is why?”

I just needed one last confession then I could end this damn recording. Fuck, my head hurt worse than my foot.

“But I guess you were just going with the flow, huh? I mean. It must not have taken that  much planning since we caught you so easily.

“You must have just been doing this all on a whim.”

“Are you joking? A whim?!” He raged. “I started planning all of this as soon as I heard about the teams going to collect flowers. It took several divinations and two days of work and study to get this plan to be perfect and yet stay simple enough to succeed.

“And you fucking ruined it!” He glared at me. “As soon as my uncle releases me, you and your brother are dead. This is just a minor setback.”

Although I'd gotten the confession to the deed there was more I needed from him to really put a nail in this asshole’s coffin. So, I continued.

“Okay. I get that you have a motive to kill Fairy Third. A dumb reason, but still a motive that I have unfortunately seen before. But why kill the Junior Sect Leader? You know how much your uncle loves him. He’s the equivalent of your adopted cousin!”

“Don’t you see?” He practically sat up but fell back down like the worm he was. “Everyone thinks he’s so perfect! That he couldn’t possibly make a mistake! But he’s constantly failing. He’s an idiot and should never be in charge of the sect my Uncle has raised to ultimate greatness!”

I sighed. “Leadership is something anyone can be trained to do. And the Junior Sect Leader is still learning—of course, he’ll make mistakes. So, what’s the real reason? While I can see your will to take over is part of it, what makes you loathe him enough to plan this? Is it Fairy Jujube?”

He paled. “No, she has nothing to do with this. Fairy Jujube is perfect.”

“So you did it to get her away from him?”

“Don’t you dare bring her into this.”

“Then tell me the truth!”

“Fine. You want to know why? It’s because he never gives people the credit they deserve! Not once did he say that I divined the location of the plants, just that we had a new location. Nor has he praised others for their contribution! Not a single time! And this wasn’t the only time he’s done it!”

“That’s not true!” Unyielding Firestorm said. “I constantly praise everyone. And when I return from a mission I make sure to hand the Sect Leader a list with every little thing each person does to contribute!”

“You say that, but every time I’ve worked with you, you’ve shown no appreciation for me! And because you haven’t spoken to my uncle about my deeds he hasn’t noticed how brilliant I am! If he had then he obviously would have offered me  the Junior Sect Leader position over you !”

There we go. This asshole finally revealed his real motive.

I ended the recording and fell on my ass breathing a sigh of relief. “He admitted to it.” After casting a protection technique on the jade slip’s contents to prevent tampering or decaying, I tossed it to the Junior Sect Leader. “There’s your proof.”

I grinned at Glittering Iron Omniscience who had no idea what I meant and just looked confused.

I grinned wider.

Unyielding put it to his temple. His eyes bulged as he saw the contents. Then they narrowed. He tossed the slip into his ring.

“Alright. Let’s take him back to the sect,” Unyielding glared down at Glittering Iron.

Justice grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder in a fireman carry.

As I watched the sword cultivator and the diviner enter the formation, I had a sudden crazy thought.

What if Fairy Blissful Jujube, after she had finished mourning, realized that Glittering Iron had set up everything? That he killed her friend and boyfriend. And then — while in the secret realm where people died all the time — she worked with Bloodsword to murder him for revenge. Then, in repayment, she became his wife.

Did she, perhaps, never actually love him? Had she, like so many women in harem stories, just been with the main character because of his strength, good looks, and good prospects?

It was possible that Bloodsword also saw her kill Glittering Iron and blackmailed her, but I doubted that because there had been some affection between them. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have had a look of sadness and hurt on her face when he brought home his second wife.

My guess was that she’d promised to be with him to get him to help her, but had told him that she would never love again and that he was free to find someone he did love. That she wouldn’t get in the way. And when she had finally realized how much she liked him and wanted to try and be a real couple, he’d already found a second wife.

I may have misunderstood her feelings of hurt and regret for betrayal. Since I was so young — still in my 20s — I likely projected how I would have felt in her position onto her (had I been stupid enough to fall for a bleeding shit monkey like Bloodsword).

But that past didn’t exist anymore, and never would again. All I had to confirm was highly educated guesses.

The Junior Sect Leader took a step to leave but I tugged on his sleeve. I had just a bit more I needed to say to him. And this was the perfect place to do so.

He turned to glance down at me with eyes that had a bit less happiness in them than when I’d first met him.

“You would probably save yourself some time and trouble if you just... tossed him into the formation and broke that jade slip I gave you.”

He grimaced. “I know. But while it would break my Master’s heart to know that his nephew tried to kill me, it would break his heart even more if he died.”

“It’s good that you know this.” I patted his shoulder and smiled. “You’re doing the right thing. And that’s why you’re the Junior Sect Leader.”

Of course, it might be the right thing to do, but might not be the correct thing. Not in this messed up world created by one messed up author.

At least, my friend wouldn’t have to mourn either his nephew or his disciple this go around. And that was my ultimate goal.

I sighed. Unfortunately, succeeding at my goal would cause trouble later. For both Little Spring and myself.

And speaking of Little Spring… It was time I went to pick the kid up.

Find out what happened to Little Spring in Story 5 - A Sharp Inheritance

Story 5 Will be in Little Spring’s point of view. It is around 8k words fully edited. I will break it up into 3 parts so that I have time to write and content edit Story 6 in time to start publishing it immediately after Story 5 and its bonus story (which is in Fairy Lin’s POV) are finished.

Story 5

A Sharp Inheritance

Part 1

Everything ached. My head. My hands. My back. Was that a rock digging into my kidney?

I should get up, but I didn't want to move. Invisible weights pressed my body down into the cold stone floor.

But worse than my immobility was the weight that crushed down on my mind, whispering dark thoughts.

They called in sweet voices, ‘Hey, you, why don’t you just go back to sleep? Wouldn’t that be fun?’ or the more insidious, ‘Starting the day is just too hard, lying still is easier and more fun!’

Why even try to do anything? That was so much work! Especially when I could do nothing.

But there was a thought tickling the back of my mind.

Fairy Lin. Was she okay?

I had experienced that new sensation of sword Qi extending out from my blade. This time it felt right. What I’d been missing all those other times... I finally understood. And then Senior Justice Reaching Divine Blade’s attack landed too hard. I flew backward. Everything blurred.

Everything except the concern on Fairy Lin’s face...

My martial sister didn't always show it, but she worried about me.

Me and everything.

When I first saw her before she remembered her past life, she’d been the village's girl who wasn’t all there. But the people there didn't pay her antics any mind. And there were plenty of worse-looking children who did far stranger things.

Then, at my darkest moment, she walked into my dreary life like a storm of crazy. And she needed me just as much as I needed her.

Not in the big ways. But — as I later realized — the little important ways. The ways that mattered but nobody thought about or if they did, they didn't think much of them.

Those little things made life worth living.

Just this morning, I’d snuck out early — again — to move the formation flags back to their original positions. This was to hide her impressive skills from those cultivators. I had a bad feeling about them.

There was also the time just after we’d woken up and changed to fresh clothes, I’d noticed that her belt was askew.

She had been mumbling something about beating someone up and hadn't been paying attention. With a sigh and a quick tug, I fixed it for her.

I’d thought that she hadn’t noticed, but she soon looked me right in the eye and — with a smile — said I did a good job.

That was the thing with Fairy Lin. She always had something out of place.

It wasn't that she didn't care about her appearance. Because she did. It was more that her mind worked differently.

She was often focused on concepts I couldn't even comprehend given a hundred years. And then, she’d move on to something else entirely before going back to the original topic. And if that wasn’t strange enough, she’d connect the two in impossible ways.

Or at least that was what it sounded like when I asked her about what she was thinking one day. I quickly learned not to do that.

But this also explained why she was always so... distracted. And her being distracted led to her not seeing things. Often those things were obvious to me. Like a leaf in her hair, or a droopy hairpin.

She was very attentive, but when she became focused on her thoughts and zoned out — or became hyper focused on one thing — she could miss things.

For instance, when we’d gone shopping in Golden Aspect City...

***

I trudged along behind her, waving a fan to keep myself cool in the hot midday sun.

Her eyes focused on an inkstone and brush set resting on a merchant’s cloth. She told me she absolutely had to have those. At any cost.

There had been a team of pickpockets working the nearby streets, stealing small bags and spatial rings.

Because she’d taught me to look out for unusual happenings, I’d become aware of them when they moved onto our street.

But she hadn’t.

Not because she couldn’t, but because she was too focused on something else at the time. Something important. And if it was this important then it probably had to do with our survival.

So I had to step up.

A thin man walked towards us. I’d noticed him earlier as he grabbed a thick spatial bag off an unsuspecting victim. He was about to fake a trip right next to Fairy Lin who was focused on bartering with the merchant.

I formed a seal and used a technique to create a spiritual hand. It steadied the man, stopping his fake fall, and moved him along.

He didn’t bother looking back and ran away as if I’d chased after him.

***

I wanted to keep helping her like that... because it made me happy.

The weight pressing down on my mind vanished.

But pressure still forced my body to stay still. Since that was the case...

I tried to access my space, but not take anything from it. Good. I could! I could step into it if I wanted to. But I currently wasn’t in danger and Rule Two was: Keep the Space Hidden. Keep Myself Safe.

It was an important rule.

Once I asked her why we couldn’t just pretend to take the items in my space out from my bag.

***

“Most cultivators wouldn’t notice. But we’re not hiding from most cultivators.” She grinned at me, a hint of viciousness showed in the way she lifted her lips to show teeth. “We’re hiding from monsters in the Immortal Bone Creation or higher. They could rip out our souls, crush our bodies then take your space before we even knew what hit us. Then they would kill everyone in the area just to hide their tracks. People like that wouldn’t even bother asking us ants to give your space to them first.”

She leaned in as if telling me a dark secret.

“And what’s even scarier... cultivators of that level would divine it from thousands of li away. We would have no way of knowing that we’d stepped into their divine sense range... So we have to take proper precautions. And since all it takes is a little obfuscation array, why not be safe rather than dead?”

***

After that, I did as she recommended.

I didn’t know if I was alone here, but I couldn’t take the chance that I wasn’t.

Wait a second. I wasn’t alone here!

I used the telepathy technique to send a message to the soul inside my necklace. He was in the middle of practicing an adjusted technique my sister had given him to increase his strength faster.

::Senior Ghosty?: :

::Here, kid.::

::Where is this place?::

::Hehehehe. You want to know?::

I sighed. He was probably going to ask for something ridiculous again. While he wouldn’t order my sister to do anything, that didn’t mean he didn’t try it with me.

All the time.

::If you’re not going to cooperate then forget it.::

::No! I’ll tell you. You’re in an inheritance space. You’re one lucky kid! I’ll tell you that. These places always have good stuff.::

::Not interested.::

::Don’t say that. You might find something that changes your whole life in here!::

::More than Fairy Lin?::

::...::

::...::

::Look, kid, mosquito meat is still meat.::

::How do I stop this thing that’s pressing on me?::

::Will power. You just have to power through it.::

I grimaced. Ever so slowly — while my muscles throbbed with each small move — I rolled onto my side and pushed myself up. I groaned with the effort it took. My body that had been getting lighter and lighter with each day, now had invisible hundred pound weights strapped to each limb. And this was after I used spiritual energy to strengthen my body.

I huffed out breath after breath, gathering my energy. It was barely helping.

::Come on, kid! You got this. Go! Go! Go!::

If I had the stamina, I’d yell at him to shut up.

With a sigh, I leaned forward and used my arms to stand on my knees. I opened my eyes to see a dimly lit cavern. The floor was a cold blue stone. The walls that surrounded me were either blue or gray with lines of brown here and there. A light flickered in the distance. That was where I needed to go to escape.

I also noticed that very close by lay the sword I’d held when I fought Senior Justice Reaching Divine Blade. My entire body shook with the effort of just moving my arm a few handspans to touch the blade. But from there, I was able to place it in my spatial bag.

Slowly and painfully, I stood on my hands and feet.

I had to keep going. I had to. I was only partway up.

But sweat poured down my face. My arms trembled. I could barely keep myself in this awkward position, let alone attempt to stand. The world started to dim.

A trickle of something familiar began to flow through my body. It was the energy from my bloodline special constitution that Fairy Lin kept telling me I had. Well, if there was ever a time to use it, it was now. Using the pathways I’d carved by cultivating my technique, I forced that energy to spread through my body and improve my strength.

The heaviness still weighed me down, but it had eased significantly. Or maybe it was just that I was stronger so I could take it now.

I used my arms to throw my upper body up. And I stood.

It took near everything I had to stop myself from falling back over.

::Good work, kid! Now you just have to take a step forward.::

I nearly growled at Senior Ghosty. ::Do you want to come out here and try it?!::

::Calm down. Take your time.::

Sweat stung my eyes. I wasn’t able to wipe it from my forehead in my weighed down state.

But I just needed to move. That was all.

I didn’t bother lifting my foot off the ground and just slid it forward. Then I shifted my weight and moved my back foot up.

My goal was that light in the distance. If I could reach it then — maybe — I could uncover some answers.

I took a step, then another to reach the wall. With one hand touching stone I propelled myself onward. Moving seemed to get easier the closer I made it.

When I was halfway to the light I noticed that it was actually a bright room filled with murals. Ones I couldn't make out from this distance. Maybe they could tell me more about this place and give me some hints to help me through it.

Fairy Lin was always telling me to be aware of my surroundings and question everything. And to think. Always telling me to think. Which was easier than questioning. I wasn’t quite sure how to question everything , but I tried to question the things I was curious about at least.

Why was there a mural? Why a cavern? Was there some significance to the number of lines in the wall? And why did the world suddenly turn into the night sky?!

I stopped.

“Hohohohoho! So. A little brat is here to try for my inheritance.” A deep masculine voice echoed through the room. I could practically feel it inside my bones.

Ah. I realized immediately that stopping was a mistake. That’s what this voice wanted me to do. And my hand still felt the cold stone beneath it. With it as my guide, I took another step.

“What if I told you that you were going the wrong way? Would you listen or ignore me?”

I ignored him and kept going. The stars moved dizzyingly. I closed my eyes, but I could still see them. The only thing I could rely on was my sense of gravity and the touch of rock beneath my hand.

I inched myself forward.

I had to be most of the way there by now.

“Ah. A man who trusts his own gut is indeed a worthy student for my techniques.”

If I were an idiot, I might believe that he was agreeing to give me his inheritance. But I was not an idiot. Just young. But I’d grow up. And I would learn.

I opened my eyes and took one last step. The world solidified into the mural room. I saw bodies in strange positions just before a semi-translucent hand blocked my eyes.

“Hey!”

::You’re too young for this, kid.::

I frowned. “Let me look. There might be information hidden in the murals!”

::No. Not yet anyway. Give me some paper.::

I grabbed the stacks of homework I’d written over the past few months and handed them up. I didn’t know if Ghosty could do anything with it since he was just a soul.

::Close your eyes. And don’t even try to peek. If I let you see this, Fairy Lin might actually kill me.::

I did so. The sound of a hundred papers tearing echoed through the small room. They crinkled and swished through the air before they slid onto something.

::Okay. Open them.::

I opened my eyes to see scraps of my homework acting as clothes for the women depicted in the murals.   A few squares were almost entirely covered with paper!

I turned to Ghosty and raised a questioning brow.

::I’ll tell you about it when you’re an adult, kid.::

::I don’t think I’ll want to know.::

::Oh, you’ll want to know.::

Ah. Was he planning on using this to get me to do stuff again? I folded my arms.

Not happening.

It turned out that not all the figures in the mural had my homework scraps covering them. But every image featured the same man. He had a topknot and a white jade crown. A crimson sword was always either sheathed at his waist or pointing towards large spirit beasts out of legend.

That must be the creator of this space. Wait, was he using this mural to brag? That couldn’t be the entirety of it, right?

I looked around for an exit to this place but only saw the opening where I’d come into the room.

“Why would you do that to my beautiful murals?!”

The voice reappeared again. He sounded genuinely upset.

“You covered the glorious twin peaks of my favorite conquest!”

I looked around the mural to try and find which mountains he was talking about. There really wasn’t much in the way of background to this artwork, but what was there didn’t show any mountain peaks. There were, however, obvious boxes around each individual image.

I glanced at Ghosty, hoping he would illuminate the answer for me. His translucent cheeks turned red. He turned his head and cleared his throat, obviously not willing to answer my question.

I sighed.

“And what did you do to Fairy Dry Almond? She was one of my favorites. And let me tell you, when I was done with her, she wasn’t dry at all.” The voice chuckled.

I... really didn’t understand. I once again turned to Ghosty. His face turned redder than a hawthorn berry.

:: Do me a favor, kid. Tell this guy that you’re just a kid and to be more appropriate::

::Can’t you do it?::

::He could just be a piece of will left by the creator of this dimension. If that’s the case then, it’s fine. But if he’s a soul like me, then I’d make a nice snack for him. Right now, only you can hear and see me .::

I repeated what Senior Ghosty told me to say.

“Ah! So you’re talking to me, finally!” He chuckled. “Tell me. What did you think to pass my test of the mind? Was it revenge?”

I ignored him. My eyes caught on something at the bottom right on each of the mural walls. There appeared to be a square missing.

“Okay, so it’s not revenge.”

If it wasn’t for Fairy Lin, I probably would have been obsessed with finding out the truth of what happened to my mother. I wouldn’t have stopped until I found out the truth and punished those who were responsible. While I still planned to find out and get strong enough to exact revenge, it wasn’t my whole world. I still had a martial sister who cared about me. And if I tried to find out the truth now, while we were both still weak, then we would be in danger.

I’d also already learned a lesson in revenge from my sister.

***

I watched her pay more for a spiritual plant than it was worth. I did, try to get him to lower the cost but he treated us both as if we were dumb rich kids.

It infuriated me.

But Fairy Lin didn’t seem to care.

As I wallowed in my need to get back at that seller, she grinned. “Do you think I don’t know what he did?” She ruffled my hair.

I hated when she did that and scowled in displeasure. Her laughter sounded pleasant and somewhat soothed me.

“Let’s say, a fly decided to land on my arm. If I killed it there, I’d be getting its guts all over myself. It would be pointless and gross. It’s just a fly.”

“But, he has a higher cultivation. That’s someone who isn’t a mere fly,” I pointed out smartly.

“Oh yeah? Let’s say I did want revenge against him. Like, really desperately wanted revenge. At my current level, it would be pointless. He would smack me down. But, I am an immortal cultivator who knows that I can cultivate faster than him. I will live for thousands of years, maybe even millions if I reach immortality. For this one single man who slighted me... I could cultivate until I was much higher than him, and then crush him like a bug. Because this world only appreciates strength.”

She flicked her sleeve and strode off, head held high and smiling.

“When you cultivate faster than everyone else alive, revenge can always wait. And may not even be necessary at all.”

***

“Then, it must be a woman. Or family? A woman who is also your family?”

I clenched my jaw to stop myself from telling him to shut up.

“So it is! Hah!”

After staring at the mural. I finally figured it out.

“Why don’t you tell me about her? Is she pretty? Is it your mother perhaps? No. Then sister? Not blood-related then? Your master? No.”

I pushed one of the mural squares toward the empty slot. It moved!

Just to try it out, I started moving another.

“Your little fiancée?”

My hand slipped.

First of all, I was only eight!

Part 2

While arranged marriages were a thing in mortal society and — from what I’d heard in the city — in the cultivator clans; most of the time, they at least waited for the person to come closer to the age of marriage. Secondly, I was sure my sister would tell me to go practice the sword until I stop thinking of nonsense if I even joked—

“That must be it.”

Please don’t say such scary things. I’m trying to concentrate here.

I focused on moving the blocks again when I noticed that there was something in the silhouettes. A picture started to develop in my mind of what this final image would look like, and I moved each one to match that.

Without Senior Ghosty placing those scraps of paper, I never would have noticed.

When I finally had them all rotated to the right spot, I stepped back to view a massive image of a man holding a sword in the starting position for a sword technique.

“Congratulations! You finished the first mural. Let’s see if you can do the others.”

Rumble.

Pebbles peppered my head. I peered up while shading my eyes. The ceiling opened to show — that far above me — a heavy metal plate filled with sharp spikes slowly descended. Some kind of spiritual iron door slammed down over my only exit. (At least it would be if I didn’t have my space.)

“By the way... there is a time limit for you to solve the other two.”

I scowled up at the spikes then rushed to the next mural.

This one appeared to have no empty squares. Briefly, I worried that I wouldn't be able to solve this, or that I’d have to remove all the squares. Then I noticed that the center square was actually empty, but that someone had painted part of the mural onto the back wall!

After covering the center painting with a tile, I immediately deduced the next picture. I threw several panels over, rotating the squares like a circle. My hands and brain had only ever had to work so fast in concert when practicing alchemy with Fairy Lin.

Soon, I clicked the last square into place revealing, the next silhouette. This one showed the second position in a sword technique.

I glanced up at the spikes. They started moving faster. The screech of metal on metal filled the room.

The voice chuckled. “Did you think it would stop if you solved a second one?”

I dashed to the third and final mural. Worried that I wouldn't have enough time, I solved for the squares at the top then worked my way down. I pushed and pulled so quickly that the frames rattled. It was a wonder that they didn’t break apart from the force I exerted.

Then I shoved the last square into place. The spikes still hadn’t stopped. But they had slowed, at least. They were only a half dozen feet above me.

“Congratulations! Too bad you’re still trapped in here.”

I grimaced.

The voice wanted something from me. If I had to guess, It wanted me to use this technique to escape. To show that I could cultivate it.

But I didn’t trust this old man. And I didn’t like his tests. They felt more like games. As if he were just toying with me.

At random, I picked a wall and decided on the most powerful slashing attack I could currently use. I took out my sword and stood in the position my sister had taught me.

Remembering the feel of the Qi leaving my blade and the movements I used in the fight with Senior Justice, I raised my sword and struck. A blade of Qi flew out destroying part of the mural.

“Hey!” the voice yelled.

Then I used that technique, again and again, digging into the wall until I’d created a small path to a dark passageway. I assumed this was the next room and stepped into it.

This new place looked like a stone tunnel. The moist floor quickly dampened my silk shoes and the chill air seeped into my robes.

“That wasn’t how you were supposed to solve my puzzle! I can’t believe you’d do that to beautiful Mirror Lake’s assets. And the picture of me single-handedly killing the Level 5 Black Serpent spiritual beast.”

The voice kept lamenting about his mural as I walked through this tunnel but I ignored him.

I had no way of knowing where this would lead but I didn't want him to distract me. Fortunately, there wasn’t much of a choice in directions. Either back or forward.

“You were supposed to demonstrate to me how fast you could learn that easy sword technique. Then I would let you through the right door. Now you’re gonna have to find your own way to the next trial. Hehehehe.

“By the way... you never did mention what your little wife was like...”

After an hour where he droned on and on, trying to get me to talk to him he finally said, “You’re no fun! Your little fiancée will never marry you if you keep being this boring.”

Finally. Blessed silence.

::That guy finally shut up!::  Ghosty sent.

Or it would be.

I sighed and continued on my way, with another ghost talking in my head.

After spending hours walking through that dark tunnel, I had to stop to take one of Lin’s Grain Liberation Dan and drink some of my spiritual spring water.

::This isn’t working, kid. Why don’t you take out that fan flying tool you inherited from your mother? You could use that and some spirit stones to really speed through this place.::

::Alright. We’ve already taken too long. My sister will be worried about us. And I don't like all of the people in that team we left her in.::

I was out of ideas anyway and bored out of my mind. I had to quickly make it back. There was no telling what would happen if I wasn’t there watching her back...

Okay, she would probably be fine, but probably wasn't definitely.

::Hey! Your sister is beyond tough, kid. She was at the peak of Immortal Ascension before her rebirth. You should worry more about yourself. I don’t like this guy or this inheritance. While it’s not that unusual for spaces like this to be this difficult to get through — and sometimes even more so — they usually aren’t so vicious. At least not at first.::

I bit my lip but still took out my fan and a few of the spirit stones Lin gave me. She told me that she was paying for my help on some of the more advanced pills she worked on, but — considering how little I helped — I think that she just wanted an excuse to give me an allowance.

The energy from the stones slipped into my hand, and I directed it into the fan, enlarging it to the size of a sedan chair. I sat on it and gently had it carry me forward. Then I increased its speed. We moved faster and faster.

Several incense sticks worth of time passed.

No, there was something wrong with the tunnel. While I didn’t feel it curve, it must be curved. Because there was no way a hidden inheritance dimension this large could exist unless the original owner was an immortal. Of course, that was judging it based on my own space.

And speaking of my space. Didn’t it have a spirit I could talk to? One I hadn’t spoken much to since I gave my sister access.

Maybe it had a way to help me exit this place!

“ Hello? Spirit? ”   I carefully sent the spirit in my mind. This type of communication was more direct than a telepathic technique because the spirit always rested in my sea of consciousness.

“ Greetings, master! ”A chipper voice replied.

“ There is something weird going on with the space I’m in. Can you help me figure out what? ”

“ Of course! ”

I kept flying.

And kept flying... The spirit still hadn't responded. It had to have been around an hour.

I’ve had enough.

“Spirit! Have you found anything yet?!”

“Yes!”

I clenched my hands into fists. Patience. I just needed patience! Because I wanted to bop the thing on top of its nonexistent head. “ Then why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because it’s important! An exact location! Must find it!”

Now, I remembered why I hadn’t spoken to the spirit for so long. Getting it to say anything straight was like trying to get Fairy Lin to clean correctly.

“What is important?”

”This inheritance space has something shiny! I need it to grow!”

I sighed. ”Aren't you already big enough?”

”I have more uses! Many more! But you can only use them if you find the right sparkly.”

Like the stone, my sister won off Fairy Effervescent Sea Pearl when we were in Jade Lake outpost.

”Not interested! I just want out of this place.”

”Please, Master! I really want this sparkly!”

I sighed. ”Will it help me get out?”

”Well, no.”

”Then what use is it?”

”The sparkly might unlock my ability to hide. Even from higher realmed cultivators... Probably.”

I stilled. ”So I wouldn't have to keep using an obfuscation array?”

”Yes! Yes! Even for an Immortal Ascension Stage Cultivator. You disappear, and they’ll think you have an amazing movement technique! Space hidden!”

That would be useful. And I was stuck here anyway.

”Alright, fine. What do I need to do?”

”Just keep flying, master! I'll tell you when I’ve located it.”

***

Several unbelievably boring hours later, I finally heard Spirit again, ”There! Turn left! Now!”

Startled, I barely managed to turn left. But there was a stone wall in my way! It came closer and closer, before I could come screeching to a halt, Spirit yelled, ”Keep going! Is illusion!”

More terrified than that one time my sister pulled me off our immortal boat, I closed my eyes and kept going.

Something in the air changed.

I opened one eye.

A building with a classic hip roof — a roof style that fancy government buildings had — appeared in front of me and grew larger and larger... No, it was me! I was closing in too fast! I was about to crash into it!

I used my spiritual energy to push against the wall, even as I slowed the flying fan.

A finger width from the wall, I stopped. My heartbeat drummed in my ears.

::That was a close one, kid. Keep your eyes open next time!::

::...I’ll try.::

::But at least you’re not in that horrible tunnel anymore. I was starting to fall asleep.::

”Master! Master! It’s inside this building!”

”What is it anyway?”

I collected my fan into my bag and cautiously walked up to two massive golden doors inlaid with dragon patterns.

Do I just... enter? I swallowed and pressed my hand to one of the doors. Then I pushed. It didn't budge.

Okay, maybe it required more strength? I used the technique to push spiritual energy towards my limbs to strengthen my muscles and pushed as hard as I could.

Nothing.

”Hey, Spirit. Any ideas on how to enter this place?”

”The same way you became my master.”

Blood?

I took out my sword and rested its edge against the back of my forearm. Then I hesitated.

This would be my first time doing something like cut myself on purpose. Fairy Lin had always done it for me.

::You okay, kid?::

::Yeah, I just realized...:: How much Lin actually did for me.  ::I think I need to try and be more independent.:: Just a little.

::Excellent idea, kid. How about, after you enter that sect of yours, I’ll take you adventuring by ourselves? Sounds like fun right? Just you and me and—::

::Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not even an adult yet. And my older sister is still the best person to adventure with.::

::Then when you’re an adult?::

::Only if it doesn't affect my cultivation. I refuse to get too far behind.::

Determined, but still scared, I gently ran my blade over my forearm barely scratching myself. I winced, then threw the blood drops I'd collected onto the doors.

They slowly separated and opened. It worked!

I dabbed at my scratch with a towel soaked in my spiritual spring water and the wound quickly scabbed over.

Cautiously, I stepped inside the dark interior. A long line of wood pillars lined the room and held up the ceiling. Each had intricate designs carved into its top and bottom. When I took a second step. Fires along the wall burst to life, illuminating the lengthy structure. I could also make out the golden walls carved with dragons and phoenixes. On reflex, I held my sword higher, ready for anything.

I hoped this wasn't going to be another test by that voice. So far, he’d tested my mind, my body, my comprehension, and my patience. Who knew if he was going to test my fighting ability next?

But no one spoke. And as I stood there all alone, the ridiculousness of the situation made me realize that I’d thought too much. I let out a breath and then began to trudge toward the other end of the building.

When I reached the center Spirit’s voice piped up. ”Master! Here! Here!”

”Where?”

“The big pillar in the center. Take it! Bring it into me!”

I stared at the massive pillar the width of a small bedroom. My mind blanked on how to deal with this.

Only one option came to mind... set up the very basic obfuscation array and then cut out the pillar with sword Qi and throw it into my space.

I bit my lip and nervously pulled out a handful of my beginner formation flags. While Fairy Lin had praised me on my obfuscation formation and told me that I learned too fast, I knew that I was still lacking.

Slowly, I started placing the formation flags.

“Master, what are you doing? Hurry up! Grab the pillar!”

“I need to set up a formation first.”

“Don’t bother. This building already has a bunch.”

“Oh...”  I threw my sticks back into my bag. That was probably for the best. Lin told me that multiple arrays could sometimes cancel each other out — or turn them dangerous. Even just adding my beginner formation might turn an advanced obfuscation array into a slaughter array if I wasn't careful. ”Hey, Spirit, any ideas on how to take this thing into you?”

”Yes! Same thing with the doors! Then shrink it down.”

”Okay.” I scratched the back of my arm again and tossed a drop of blood onto the giant pillar. I felt the connection form and willed it to get smaller. With a soft pop, it shrank into the size of a formation flagstick and dropped into my hand. I then moved it into my space.

”Is there any other treasure that’s good in—”

The sound of crunching echoed through the room. Over by the door I entered from, one of the smaller pillars holding the ceiling up leaned. Then it tipped. Then it crashed to the ground and blocked the doors. Before it could finish wobbling the next closest leaned. And the next.

My breath caught. This was bad. Not only was my way back blocked, but soon the way ahead would be blocked as well.

Not stopping to think too hard, I activated my technique, Consistent Step, Impossible Leap. While I was still working on the Impossible Leap part, I had the Consistent Step down.

The pillars were dropping faster and faster.

Now that a significant number of pillars stopped holding it up, the roof started caving in.

Just as I reached the back door, the last pillar fell. I burst through it and accidentally flew through a second doorway. I turned to look back. Slam! The door disappeared, replaced with shards of wood and rubble.

I skidded to a halt. This new room was just as dark as the original cave, but it had a single crystal or glass ball that was as tall as I was.

”There you are!” That voice appeared again. ”You just ruined my special hall! How did you even manage to do that? How did you manage to even make it in there?!”

Once again, I ignored him and focused on what was in front of me.

::Senior Ghosty? Do you know what that sphere is?::

::Yeah, kid. It’s a test of your spiritual purity. This should be one of the last steps before we make it into the main room.::

I nodded, then stepped up to it.

”And another thing, by going the way you did, you bypassed all the rooms that showed how incredible I am, and how lucky you are to even be considered for inheriting the techniques of a genius like me!”

I wasn't sure where to start. Did I just put my hand to the glass surface?

”There was the room where I showed off my hundred wives. The room where I showed off my thousands of kills. The hallway where I explained my many talents and how I blew my competition away with the skill I possessed in one finger.”

This guy was annoying.

Fairy Lin didn't need to show off or explain her past. She just was.

And any story I was lucky enough to hear from her past life was often told to me as an explanation of what to do or not. They were lessons more than boasts of how amazing she was. And she was amazing, though also a bit weird.

I was so lucky to have such a wonderful senior sister.

I placed my hand on the smooth round surface.

Nothing happened.

”Well, you’re stuck here now! You’ll never set foot outside. I set this testing orb for the highest purity pos—”

Then I practiced my cultivation technique, and the ball shattered almost immediately. A golden door opened up beside me, and I quickly stepped through. I wanted out of this stupid place already. And it was beyond time I left.

Part 3

I stepped into an ostentatious golden room lit with glowing white pearls. Two massive pillars held up a high and dark ceiling. Behind those were stairs leading up to a marble coffin.

A translucent man in dark red robes stood arrogantly between the two pillars. He had symmetrical facial features, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and long black hair that had turned white at the temples. A simple jade crown held part of his hair up.

He stared down at me as if judging a rare stone that he wasn’t positive he wanted.

“Congratulations! It’s good to finally see you in the flesh. And you’ve also passed all my tests... but one!” He held up a finger.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but, since it was polite, I bowed. “Greetings Senior.”

“So. You’re finally acknowledging my genius self’s existence?”

Using a trick I’d seen Lin use, I blinked up at him and tilted my head as if confused, “How can I acknowledge you if I don’t see you?”

He huffed and mumbled something about dumb kids who don’t know— “Alright! This is the last test!”

I nodded, ready to take on whatever he had planned.

“Your test is to choose an inheritance to suit you.”

He gestured and threw out a few items that started to float in front of each gold-covered pillar.

In front of the left hovered a massive book and a set of knives that appeared ordinary at first glance. Each blade was a different shape. The largest was very thick and heavy looking. It appeared to be a tool rather than a weapon.

In front of the right pillar, a stack of manuals floated behind the red sword that I’d seen pictured in the murals. The sword pulsed with energy as if it called to my blood and bones.

This had to be a trap. “That’s all?”

He nodded.

I looked around to see if I could find the exit and just leave. This guy was untrustworthy, and his inheritance was likely not worth the effort.

A vein popped in the ghost’s forehead. “What are you doing?”

“Looking for the exit.”

He sighed. “The exit is inside a pillar, and the pillar will only open once you choose an inheritance.”

“Tch.” Neither of them looked all that appealing. “Can you tell me about each one?”

“The one on the left is my friend’s inheritance. I owed him a great debt and told him that I’d pass on his skills to the next generation if I found a worthy talent. The book is his life’s work. They contain Immortal Cuisine Recipes and Knife Techniques.” He gestured to the shiny but mundane appearing blades. “These knives were his best toolset.”

Then flicked his sleeve and gestured to the right. “These, however, are my personal Sword Technique Manuals. It’s far more powerful than whatever nonsense you’ve been practicing on your own. Even that move that you used to break through my poor murals was nowhere near as powerful as mine.” He chuckled. “If you had used the positions that were in the mural then it would have only taken one slash instead of several. With my technique, you’ll be able to crush your enemies with unadulterated power.”

As he continued to tell me the virtues of his own methods, I was reminded of the lesson my sister gave me.

***

She tossed a sheathed sword at me and I caught it. “There are many things to consider when choosing the best sword technique. Since each body is different, you won’t find one that fits every cultivator. You’ll need to practice one that works for you and your cultivation technique.”

She paused. Her dark brown eyes scanned my body from the top of my head to the bottom of my robes, yet it seemed like she wasn't looking at me, but what I could become.

“Even if it works well with your cultivation, you also need to be aware of a technique’s four main attributes before you fully commit to learning it. Those are Accuracy, Precision, Speed, and Power.” She counted them with each finger. “Well, there is also size, and some subcategories but we’ll go over that later as they don't matter nearly as much.”

“But I thought you said that absolute strength is what matters most.”

She grimaced in irritation and pushed my glabella with two fingers, silently telling me to think. “Of course it matters most in this world!”

I rubbed where she pressed.

“But there is a lot more to strength than just having stopping power; though, that is  important too. Strength comes in various forms and a variety of things contribute to it. There is no single overpowering strength type. Only ones that work for an individual against an opponent and those that don’t.”

“Like, the difference between a Sword Cultivator and a Medical Qi Cultivator?”

“That’s right!” She lifted her hand for the ‘high-five’ she taught me, and I reluctantly complied. “Of course, every opponent you’ll face will be different, so you’ll need to learn a variety of ways to attack, defend and retreat, but we’ll go over that later.”

I scowled while thinking about how much work that would be later. Would learning all this stuff really help improve my fighting capability?

She ignored me.

“Now, for a body like you’ll possess in the future, you’ll naturally want a technique with the best of everything. But you’re not going to find one.”

“Why not?”

She grinned. “Because perfection—”

“—Can only exist in a vacuum,” I finished the familiar sentence.

“That’s right! So, if you have one that is extremely powerful, chances are it will lack speed, precision, and accuracy. If you have one that’s extremely fast, then it likely lacks in the other attributes as well. If you find a Qillin of a technique that is both strong and fast, then you’re likely sacrificing precision and accuracy. It also won’t be as strong and fast as the ones designed specifically to emphasize those attributes.”

She took out the hairpin she borrowed from me and turned it into a sword. After dipping her blade in the tiny pond beside her she brought it up so it was horizontal to the ground, leaving a single drop of water to rest on the tip. “It’s all a balance. And while your own talent in those attributes can make up for your technique’s lack, it’s only to a certain extent. It will require a lot of practice to get good and overcome weaknesses. Plus it will take mental energy to constantly make adjustments so that it’s right for you and what you need.

“Of course, this is concerning when you’ve practiced it to the highest levels. Before that, you’ll be too imperfect for any of this to matter that much. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think ahead now.”

“Then what about the ones you’re about to teach me?”

Then she went through several simple movements as she spoke. Amazingly, she managed to keep the drop of water on the tip each time her sword went horizontal.

“These are the most basic of basics. And they will not work that well for your current body type. I mean, you’ll be able to use them just fine, but they’ll only show their worth once you’ve grown into your adult body and increased your cultivation.” She paused and then began a series of movements that looked more advanced than what she’d just shown. Again, she kept that same drop of water on her blade tip.

As I was, I couldn't pull those movements off, yet she was casually running through them like she’d practiced them a billion times.

“But, once you start to learn better and more advanced techniques, these will be the basics you’ll fall back on and knowing them will enhance your ability to practice and learn what will come next.”

I nodded. My stomach rumbled. The growls echoed through the courtyard.

Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure you understood all that?”

With a shrug, I said, “It’s not that hard.”

She grinned evilly and flicked her sword at me. The water droplet flew forward and splashed onto my forehead.

I scowled and wiped the water away with a handkerchief.

“Then what are the four main attributes? And which one do you think is most important for you?”

***

The man’s laughter brought me out of my reminiscing.

“By that gleam in your eye, I can tell that you’ve figured out the right choice.”

I nodded. “How do I collect an inheritance?”

“Just grab it.”

I started toward the left pillar.

“Hey, you’re going the wrong way.”

“I don’t think so,” I said, as I reached for the recipe book and knives. As soon as my hands grabbed them, whatever had been holding them up vanished.

I jumped back as I heard a loud crack.

The pillar broke down the middle revealing a small chamber with the characters for ‘go out’ written in beautiful calligraphy on the inside.

I stuffed my new recipe book and knives in my spatial bag. Then, as I was just about to step into the hole, the ghost’s arm fell across my path.

I stopped and glanced into his cold eyes that seemed to stab down at me.

“Why didn’t you take my inheritance? Do you find it unworthy?”

I tilted my head confused. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s worthy of me or not, what matters is if it works for me. And I don’t know enough about it to be able to tell.”

“What do those things matter?! We’re talking about the Strongest Sword Technique! Overwhelming strength is all that matters!”

“If your technique was really that powerful, then why are you dead?”

He sputtered.

I rolled my eyes. “Besides, there is a lot more to strength than just being able to crush someone with pure power. While strength is important, it’s useless if you can’t actually hit the person you want with your attack.”

He opened his mouth like a fish drowning in air.

“So I chose based on what I wanted to learn. I want to cook for myself and my sister. Something we can both enjoy. So, I’ll take the recipes and knife techniques.” I bowed. “Thank you, senior.”

“Wait! You’ve passed my final test! You get to take mine too!”

I sidestepped him, but he kept stepping in between me and my exit.

Frustrated, I stopped and glared at him. “Are you saying that I have to take yours too?”

“You have the perfect bloodline to use my inheritance! You’ll definitely regret it if you don’t take it with you.”

There was no chance that I would trust this guy. I took a step forward, determined to walk through the translucent person... And I ended up hitting my head against something solid. I scowled up at the ghost and rubbed my forehead.

He smirked. “You’ll find that I won’t let you pass unless you bring my inheritance out as well.”

::Careful, kid! This guy is a real soul and not just a leftover will.::

I sent the Spirit in my consciousness the message, “What do you think?”

“This spirit is currently upgrading. Be cautious! Your space will not be available while this is happening.”

Well… that was upsetting. I also had no clue how long it would take to upgrade this time, but I had a feeling that it might take days or weeks. I couldn’t wait that long!

Well, technically I could, but I refused to let my sister wait that long.

::Senior Ghosty, do you think it’s safe?::

::This man was originally at the Immortal Ascension stage before he died and something prevented him from creating a new body. He is weak. I think he’s at the end of his life here. I think it’s worth the risk.::

::Okay!::

I stepped up to the crimson sword and the tomes. Very cautiously and wary of a trap, I rested the tips of my fingers against the pile.

Nothing happened.

I let out a sigh of relief then grabbed them.

A ghostly hand shot out from the books and shoved itself into my glabella. Pain like I’d never experienced before, in a place I didn’t even know I could feel pain sent sparks of torment through my mind. The edges of the world darkened.

“What?! Why is there no hole in your defenses? You’re just a child. This can’t be! Fine! Then I’ll just have to make one myself.”

Outside myself, I could see Ghosty leave his soul gem for the first time. And not just the image he projected to me and Fairy Lin.

Inside myself, I could feel the intruder pull up memories I had long forgotten. Or forced myself to forget. And he showed them to me.

... A new city loomed above me. My mom, her maids, and a few others walked beside me. Her warm hand engulfed my small one and stopped me from stumbling on the uneven ground. Other strangers walked down the street. They crowded us, making the maids nervous. Everyone nodded and turned left down a thin and deserted road.

A nearby maid suddenly dropped to the dirt road. Something black and needle-like stuck out of her neck. People fell from the sky and threw attacks at us. They wore black robes with an azure trim showing a vicious curling wave.

Within minutes most everyone died. But my mother somehow escaped, carrying me in her arms, keeping my head buried so I couldn’t see anything.

... I was a few years older sitting by my mother’s side as we rested on the side of the road. She coughed into a white handkerchief and swiftly hid it from me. But I’d seen it. Brilliant red that had stained the pale cloth.

“We’ll be moving again. But don’t worry. This is the last place. Family friends will be there to help us.”

... The friends she had thought would be in the small town had died a very long time ago, and their descendants had left for some distant city. But the people there were kind. Even to strangers like us. They helped us when we needed it. Like when we first moved in, or by teaching us how to plant the things we’d need to survive in this backwater village.

... My mother had once been so strong. I hadn’t understood how strong until she became weak. Now she needed me to help with everything . It wasn’t fair! The other kids played or helped with fun chores, while I had to take care of the yard, the chickens. Set traps in the forest to capture small game just to add a little more variety to our diets.

I even had to learn how to cook congee from what little rice we managed to bring.

And she would just lay in bed, not even trying to get up. Even though I still respected her... I hated  her.

... I reached out to try and wake her up for breakfast. She... didn’t move.

“Mom?” I shook harder. I sometimes had to do this. She still didn’t move. “Mom!” Everything felt so unreal, but I remembered her once mentioning that this could happen. There was something... I had to get the local doctor or what passed for one.

I ran faster than I ever had before. We even returned quickly... but I was still too slow... They told me to say goodbye and that I had to help perform rites as the eldest son.

This didn’t feel real. Why didn’t this feel real?

I didn’t  hate her. I promised I’d never feel hatred for her again. Please... Couldn’t I have her back?

... Everything in the world could burn, and I doubted that I’d care. But there was something nagging at the back of my mind. Those people I saw long ago. The ones in the black and azure. They’d poisoned my strong and beautiful mother. They had to have been the ones to kill her.

I wanted them all to die so their loved ones could feel the pain I was going through now. Maybe if I focused on revenge—

Knock!

... A new city loomed above me. My mom, her maids, and a few others walked beside me….

The memories repeated just like that. Always ending at that one familiar knock.

This evil ghost somehow forced me to relive my darkest memories, over and over. He was trying to do something. Manipulate me. Make me forget what mattered to focus on the dark depressing thoughts of my past.

But that knock kept me sane. Because I knew what came after, even if it was only for a brief moment before I relived everything. Over and over, faster and faster.

“Those people took everything from you. Forced you to go through a horrible experience. It’s all their fault.”

Pressure on that thing inside of me ached.

“I can help you find them and take your revenge! Just open yourself to me!”

No!

“Hurry! What are you waiting for?! This is your chance! You’ve seen how incredible I am. I could help you easily crush them beneath your heel. Just. Let. Me. Enter.”

Go Away!

“This is your last chance, boy! I’m not giving you a second one!”

Leave me alone!

“Hey! Your sister! Stop! NO!”

A sensation on my forehead, like lips sucking at my skin, sent creepy crawlies slithering down my back. Then it vanished. The pressure and pain I'd been experiencing too.

I opened my eyes to see Ghosty slurping down the arm of another soul. Then he burped.

::Hahahaha! Fairy Lin is great. If I hadn’t been practicing that technique she adjusted for me, I might not have been strong enough to easily swallow this Daoist Bloody Crimson Sword Edge.::

::That was his name?::

::Oh yeah. Devouring him came with some of his memories. Oof. Real piece of trash, that one. But his soul was a good meal!::

::How long have I been out?::

::Just a minute, kid... You okay?::

::Yeah. For some reason, it felt like a lifetime.::

He paused for a second and sent me a worried look. ::Make sure you tell Fairy Lin what happened so she can check you out. Though I was a bit slow there, I did get him in the end.::

I nodded.

::Now I gotta digest this, so I can grow stronger. Don’t contact me for a while. I’ll contact you.::  He slipped back into his soul gem, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

That had been, to put it lightly, a very rough experience. I was mentally exhausted. And I just... wanted to sleep. But I wanted out of this place first.

I grabbed the tomes and red sword that I must have dropped in my confused state and threw them into my bag. Then I stepped through the exit.

The first thing I noticed was fresh air. The second thing was a glowing night pearl pinned to the wall of a cave. It had a familiar spiritual signature. A paper was attached to it.

Then a warm body slammed into me, forcing me to stagger for a moment. Thin arms wrapped around me in a tight soothing hug. And I smelled the refreshing scent of my spring water.

“You’re back! Are you safe? What happened? Are you injured? Do you need rest? You didn't follow some weird cultivator down a dark tunnel because he promised you candy or treasure, right?”

There must have been some dirt or something in the air because my eyes watered. I buried my head into her shoulder and hugged her back. “I missed you!”

That hug made everything seem right in the world.

My sister didn’t tell me that she missed me too, but she did smooth my hair and briefly squeezed me tighter. “Good job coming back.”

At that moment, it didn’t matter that I’d gone through a horrible experience. It didn’t matter that I relived the most horrible moments of my past. As long as I came back safely to my sister’s side, I knew that everything would be alright.

Story 5 Bonus

A Beautifully Bad Meal

Part 1

After doing my best to calmly listen to Little Spring’s story that was, frankly, poorly told and out of chronological order, I had the urge to drag that fucking no-good Ghosty McGhostface out of his soul gem and let the sun’s yang energy burn him to death.

How dare he let Little Spring — a damn child — risk his life just so he could consume that guy!

But that would be for later.

I didn’t allow my fury to show on my face and merely did my best to pay attention and look interested in what the kid had to say.

“So...” Little Spring hedged as he started taking down the papers I’d left up in the small cave. “I want to cook Immortal dishes.”

I blinked. He wanted to learn Immortal cooking? As far as I knew, Bloodsword had never touched that field—though one of his wives was an Immortal Chef.

And that reminded me that at one point I’d secretly come up with a game called, Harem Bingo. I’d listed each of the various types of cultivators and placed them randomly on a few cards. Every time he came home with a new wife I’d place a dot on the square she matched.

I think it took me 300 years to get bingo.

“Alright! You can learn to cook Immortal dishes. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to help you much aside from gathering or planting ingredients.”

“I know,” he said with so much confidence that I wanted to cry. I guess my lack of cooking skills were well known to him by now. “But that’s one of the most important parts,” he said almost comfortingly.

It wasn’t that I couldn’t learn  to cook... It was that I refused  to! There was a difference!

“Well. Read the manual and tell me what dish you’d like to make. We can gather the ingredients together.”

He nodded then hesitated, his cheeks turned a little red. “I’d like to make something now.”

I paused for a bit as I stared at him.

He fidgeted. “Aren't you tired? You looked tired earlier.”

“I’m fine now!”

Well, he did rest a bit while telling me his story.

“Okay. Find a simple recipe and we’ll see.”

He looked excited and started furiously reviewing the recipes in the beginning of the thick book.

This... seemed like it would take a while.

Well, since he was doing that I could start to put some things in order.

Events that happened in my past life started to add up.

Most had been so small that I hadn’t given them much thought. Plus, he became an asshole I wanted nothing to do with — so there was that.

When Bloodsword was 15 — and before he took up his daoist title — I noticed him in our peak’s Scripture Pavilion researching the soul. Every day. Like clockwork. For months. But I thought he was just trying to get ahead of himself.

But what if, he’d gone on a sect mission to this area and encountered this inheritance. Something he obviously had fate with if Little Spring encountered it in this timeline—and far before he was supposed to!

To line events up in a chronological order, I had to start at the beginning...

Two years before we were picked up by the sect recruiting team Bloodsword’s mother died. I supposed that happened around a month or two before I transmigrated as I’d never actually seen her alive.

The little guy lived in our village and, besides getting leftovers from kind neighbors, he was mostly a loner.

Of course, during this time I was still freaking out and learning the language better. I hadn't even known I was in a goddamn Xianxia universe yet (which I still think is much better than being stuck in mundane ancient China).

During this time where we were still innocent kids living in the village, the Sect Leader was poisoned by the leader of a demonic sect.

Unyielding, Justice, Jujube, Glittering Iron, and Third Peach made their way into Three Kings’ Forest to find the rare spiritual herbs to cure him. Unfortunately, only Glittering Iron and Jujube made it out alive. But they were still successful!

They brought the plants to Alchemy Peak where they were put in a pill to cure the Sect Leader.

And the antidote worked!

However, having heard about the death of Unyielding, our Sect Leader was plunged into a deep depression.

A year and a few months later sect members came around with talent measuring orbs, searching for those who had fate with immortality.

I'd learned the language well enough to know most of what was happening to us. But I was too young to have a say in whether I went or not. And Bloodsword had just been another fellow kid being abducted by weirdos in pretty robes.

Our kidnappers.... I mean, escorts, brought us directly to the trial where we challenged various tests and even fought with fellow prospective disciples. In the end, both of us earned spots as Fairy Verdant Bamboo’s first disciples.

And around this time, on Violet Seal(Ghosty)’s advice, Bloodsword started practicing that horrible technique that would leave him wide open to takeovers from other souls.

When we were around 14 and 16 years old, Fairy Verdant Bamboo threw us out to go do sect missions to gain experience. Since Three Kings Forest was a spot our sect sometimes collected spiritual plants or spirit beast bodies from, Bloodsword and the weak Violet Seal (Ghosty) must have come here at one point and encountered this inheritance space. They went through the various trials, collected treasures, and reached the end where Bloody Crimson Sword Edge waited—trap set.

The corrupting shit mosquito tried to take over Bloodsword’s body, but Violet Seal attempted to protect him at the last moment.

Instead of consuming the weak-ass dickhead, Violet Seal (who wasn't that strong himself) partially failed. He just couldn’t completely eradicate that Bloody Crimson Sword Edge no matter how much he shredded him.

Now. I wasn’t entirely sure what happened. But I think, somehow, bits of their injured souls infiltrated the very open to other souls Bloodsword... And merged.

But it didn’t happen all at once. The kid fought off being absorbed by these two partial souls for a long time. He did a lot of research into souls to figure it out... But in the end, likely to gain power or to survive, he merged his soul with theirs.

This created a different person.

One who was talented, had godly luck, attracted women like honey did flies, and who was a complete and utter asshole.

Of course, this didn't mean that Little Spring couldn't get corrupted by bad influences and turn into an asshole at some later date... So I still needed to make sure he was taught properly. But this did explain how he turned into that gross-ass shit for brains in my last life.

It helped that, since he was using my perfected technique, Bloody Crimson wouldn't have been able to enter Little Spring without his permission. Something the kid was too smart to give.

Now that I considered this whole merging thing... While I didn’t know exactly  when the final merge happened I could guess. Extrapolating from the assumption that he was corrupted at the age of 15 (when I saw him researching souls) I think it may have been completed around when he married his first wife but possibly before he met the second.

“Fairy Lin!” Little Spring’s voice broke me out of my reverie.

He pointed to a page where a simple vegetarian dish was described. It required several different spiritual roots that were common enough. So common that we could probably find them around here.

I’d have to get this kid some actual spiritual cooking equipment that could handle the spiritual energy of the plants he’d work with in the future but for a recipe this low level, mundane equipment would work fine.

Let’s see. A Spiritual Lotus Root, Spiritual Garlic, Humming Wood Ear Mushroom, Mushroom Essence Oil, Shimmering Ginkgo Nuts, Wild Creeping Carrots, Dried Fire Chili Peppers and Verdant Snow Peas. And all of this will go over Spiritual Rice. Which we happened to have a few bags of.

Simple my ass!

Shouldn’t a simple recipe be, like three or four ingredients? Like eggs, sugar, tomatoes, and rice?

I glared at Little Spring.

He shrugged. “It sounds good. And if we keep the seeds we can plant more of the ingredients in the space so we can make it again.”

I sighed. “Alright.” I spread out my divine sense and as I suspected. Everything we needed was close by... Well, within a few square miles.

“Come on. Let’s quickly gather the ingredients then come back.”

***

We collected the Mushrooms that we needed to make the Essence Oil, right near the cave. Then we had to go a half-mile out to find the Humming Wood Ear Mushroom.

They were dark, weird, ear-looking mushrooms, attached to a massive moss-covered tree root. Each shroom vibrated suspiciously but this was definitely the right fungus. I knew about these since they were also beginner alchemy ingredients.

Just as I took out my sword to dig around the tree’s roots in an effort to take the whole thing into the space, Little Spring spoke up. “Fairy Lin! We can’t use the space right now.”

Right. Somewhere in his awkwardly told story, he’d mentioned that he picked up a treasure to improve the space but this locked us out for the next couple of weeks—or however long it took.

I sighed.

Well, we could always gather them again somewhere else.

With a few slices of my sword, I collected the Mushrooms into a jade box.

***

Next was the Lotus Root. There was a small stream that winded its way through the forest. It emptied into a small pond where several large lotus flowers managed to take root. While most of these were either mundane or too young, there was one that was perfect for our use.

I didn't bother wading into the water, instead, I sent a hand made of spiritual energy into the pool and pulled the whole lotus out of the water.

With a few deft slashes, I collected the root and stored the rest of the plant in one of the larger jade boxes.

Then I took a few dozen steps into the forest and pulled up a plant that looked a bit like a tall weed. A Wild Spiritual Garlic bulb appeared, attached to the plant.

Did we need to dry this before use or something?

I glanced at Little Spring who stared at me with glittering eyes.

Awkwardly, I rubbed the tip of my nose... This was bad. I may have given him the impression that the world was our garden by how casually I found everything so far.

“We’re lucky that these are all very common in this area.”

He nodded.

“And spiritual vegetables are usually prevalent in forests like this. While all spirit beasts fight each other to consume their enemy’s core, not all spirit beasts consume the leftover meat to survive. A fair number of them survive on plants like these.”

I picked out a clove from the thick wild spiritual garlic — leaving some of its papery husk on — then I stuffed it back into the ground and poured a bit of the spiritual spring water on top.

I found pleasure in doing little things like this to help keep the forest thriving. Though I couldn’t do this all the time, doing it when I could made things just a little better.

Plus, in a universe where Karma and Fate was a real fucking thing that affected cultivation, every little bit of good I did to offset the bad helped.

***

Next I brought us to a clearing. It was obvious that this place hadn’t always been a rough meadow like this. There were signs of battle between massive spiritual beasts, likely at the fourth or fifth level. This had possibly happened decades ago since most of the uneven ground was covered in grasses and white flowers.

I casually pulled up a handful of the flowers and showed Little Spring the pale Wild Creeping Carrots. The roots still attached to the main carrot part wiggled as if trying to escape. But it didn’t have any actual intelligence. Just spiritual energy and instinct. I threw them into one of the few empty jade boxes I had left.

Little Spring crouched down to look at one of the still planted creeping carrots. He poked it, and it literally pulled itself out of the ground and crept away.

His eyes grew wide.

Yeah. It was fuckin’ weird. There were plenty of things in this messed up world that I hated—its strange vegetation was not  one of them.

***

Next I found a Spiritual Maidenhair Tree that had clusters of Shimmering Ginkgo Nuts clinging to its branches high above. In the dim lighting, they almost looked like clusters of golden green grapes. But the smell was startlingly terrible. Like bad dog shit or really good cheese.

I eyed them.

“Fairy Lin! Do you want me to help you up?”

I grinned at the kid. Then I pulled out my sword and a jade box,

I sent a slash of sword Qi at a bunch then dashed up and caught them in the box before putting them away. Easy. A little too easy.

But life wasn’t all running from spirit beasts and stopping murderers. Sometimes, it was collecting stinky fruit with an adopted family member and peacefully walking through a dangerous forest.

I used my divine sense to double check that the way was clear, and once again we ran to the next two items on the list.

***

These next plants were the most difficult to collect. They tended to grow next to each other but also clashed as their natures were the polar opposite. Fire Chili Peppers and Verdant Snow Peas.

However, that clash, much like grapes growing in the desert, made them taste better. At least that was what I’d heard.

Fire Chili Peppers was a low level alchemy ingredient as well, used in pills that a cultivator would turn into powder and then thrown at an opponent to burn them. Since I could have used these as well, I decided to collect double the amount.

When we reached the plants, I noticed that they were very small and young. The pepper plant had gorgeous red chili peppers hanging on it. Each one seemed to pulse with energy and heat.

Meanwhile, the small snow pea plant appeared to have ice crystals forming on the tips of its leaves. The green pea pods even appeared a bit chilled, as if someone had stuck them in the freezer for a half hour.

Unfortunately, the two plants I found were very small and young. They did not produce many peppers and pea pods, and half of that was already eaten by the wild life.

I sighed.

Little Spring started toward the bushes.

“Stop!”

He paused, then looked back at me.

“Never assume that a plant is completely safe. Not unless you know it inside and out and have scanned the area around it for possible spiritual beasts.”

He nodded seriously.

“Notice how the ground around the pepper is brown and black as if something had caught fire.”

“Yes! And the area around the Snow Peas is a little white, as if it’s covered in a thin layer of snow.”

“Good job!” I grinned and patted his head. He scowled at me. ”There is a trick to collecting these.”

“Aren’t you just going to use sword Qi to cut off the peppers and pea pods?”

I raised a brow at him. “Do you think everything is that easy to collect? Also, do you know how much skill and how precise you need to be to cut a small pepper from a distance without harming the plant itself?”

“You can do it.”

I straightened my spine and crossed my arms. “Of course I  can. But that doesn't mean that it’s the correct way to collect these two.”

“Then how?”

I grinned. “I’m not collecting them. You need to learn this, so you’re doing it.”

His eyes widened.

Part 2

“What you need to do is take this knife and this box,” I said as I pulled jade versions of those from my ring. “Then, you go collect one Snow Pea Pod and one Pepper in the same box. And, if you can, don’t contaminate them with your spiritual energy or touch them with your hands.”

He swallowed. “Fairy Lin... How are we supposed to eat something if we can’t even touch it with our hands?”

I struggled a bit but eventually admitted, “While I haven't studied this field I have heard that there are a couple similarities between alchemy and immortal cooking, much in the same way chemistry and cooking share certain aspects.”

“What’s... ‘Chemistry?’”

“Ah, don’t worry about that... What I’m saying is that you’ll need to balance out the energies of ingredients, and in some cases, prepare them in advance. Also, if you touch peppers with your hands then rub your eyes, you’re gonna have a bad time.”

Realization spread on his face, then he nodded. He probably likened these peppers to the ones popular in mundane dishes. It was actually a decent comparison.

“Collect four of each. We won't need more than that for this recipe…” Probably.

He stared at the two small bushes as if facing a dangerous enemy. Well, he wasn't wrong.

He stepped towards the plants. As he grew closer and closer, I could tell that he realized that there was something I hadn't mentioned. That there was a reason the area around the two looked charred and icy.

He adjusted his position so he stood in between them then quickly collected one Snow Pea pod into the jade box. Because the box was open it started to freeze. His eyes grew wide, and he turned to deftly cut off a pepper.

Then swiftly went back and forth three more times before closing the box and using Consistent Step to remove himself from that situation.

He breathed quickly and shot me a betrayed glare.

I grinned. “Yes, this was a test. And you passed.”

“What was it a test of?”

“Although your cultivation hasn't increased, your physical body has become stronger and more able to take damage. You’re also using your head, though, you should have realized that the environment was more intense than it appeared from the signs around you.”

He nodded.

“You still have room to improve, but not bad.” I held out my hand for a high five. He reluctantly gave me one. But he wasn’t as reluctant as he usually was. This one actually made a soft clapping sound.

Very satisfying. The kid was definitely starting to adore high fives! Muahahaha!

***

Having collected all of the ingredients, we returned to the cave. Little Spring brought out the cooking supplies he kept in his bag. These weren’t as good as the ones we left in the space, but they were good enough for now.

“Fairy Lin! How do I dry the peppers?”

I frowned... And stared at the box that contained the bright red peppers and the green snow peas.

Well, if I were going to dry an herb for alchemy the fast way...

“To dry medicinal herbs you’d usually hang them up and let them dry out naturally. But there is a way to speed up the process if you need to. This only works on a handful of herbs at a time.”

Of course, there were other more convenient techniques I could use once I reached a higher realm. But I was limited right now.

I took out several stones and placed them in a small secret crafter’s array. Then I placed a spirit stone in the center.

After I strengthened my hands with Qi, I tossed the contents of the jade box up into the air and separated them into hot peppers on the lid and icy peas in the box. I placed the peas off to the side where they could chill the room. Then, using jade chopsticks I placed them on top of the array. The peppers shrank and wrinkled to the naked eye. Once they looked about right, I pulled them out of the array and dumped them back into the box with the peas.

His eyes glittered with excitement. He pulled out the mushrooms that we’d collected to make the mushroom essence.

“The instructions say that I need to extract the essence of the mushrooms and ferment them.”

“Fermenting takes time, you know.”

“But I’ve seen you use a technique that speeds that up.”

I groaned. It wasn’t a speed-up time technique as much as it was an increase in the plant’s rate at which it rotted. Like how apples would stay good for months but strawberries would mold if you looked away from them for a couple of hours. Of course, there were different reasons for that, but it was a similar concept.

I took out the mushrooms and frowned at them. Then I glanced at Little Spring. He looked so hopeful.

With a sigh, I placed them on the folding prep table he’d set up and stabilized with a few pieces of homework paper.

Wait! Wasn’t this table the portable alchemy one I’d purchased for him while we were in the city? Yes.. yes it was.

I sighed. Well, as long as it was sanitized properly it would be fine...

Cringing, I picked the shrooms back up and used the cleaning technique on the table a few more times. I nodded when I was positive the table was spotless.

The kid sighed and looked at me like I was doing something pointless again.

“Hey! Someday, when you fuck up because your table wasn’t washed properly after you handled a material, you’ll become paranoid about this too.”

“Not as much as you,” he mumbled.

I sent a brief glare at him then poured the mushrooms onto the tabletop, then tossed the jade box back into my ring with its lid turned over to let me know that it needed disinfecting later.

I pulled out a small jade bowl.

First, collect the essence. With a few specialized hand seals, I removed the essence and energy from the mushrooms on the table. They visibly became dry and twisted while the juices and energy moved into the bowl I’d prepared.

Next, ferment.

I was pretty sure chefs did this naturally. But, whatever. Worst case scenario we’ll go collect more and wait for Little Spring to try again once the fermentation process was completed naturally.

Then I pulled out thirteen spirit stones.

This meal better fucking be worth it.

I set them up in an array around the bowl of amber essence. This was actually a slightly advanced technique for my current realm, one that required both a crafter’s array and hand seals.

I set the thirteen stones in the formation along with a few other components. Then I formed several complex seals and waited. Slowly, the amber liquid turned black and reduced in size by more than half. Then I stopped.

I handed it to the kid who already had a chopstick out. He dipped it into the liquid and tasted it. Then he tilted his head, took out salt and added several pinches full then stirred with a fresh chopstick. My eyes widened. Did this kid seriously just randomly add salt to something?

Well, whatever. He could deal with the consequences.

He then dripped a drop of the salted liquid onto the one he used before and tasted it. Apparently satisfied, he nodded with a small smile on his face.

I seriously looked into Little Spring’s eyes. “That’s it, kid. These are the only two things I’m helping you with.”

He nodded then took out the book and started to review the recipe.

I went and sat down on a surface I meticulously cleansed with several blasts of the cleaning technique. Then I watched him.

He brought out a pan and bowl and knife. And considering how short he was, it was a bit funny to watch him use everything. But, the table I’d bought him was the perfect height for his short ass.

He began by measuring rice and spiritual water and placing them in a covered pan.

He used the portable alchemy pedestal as a makeshift stove... I wanted to cry.

I made note of every little thing I’d have to get him so he could keep his alchemy supplies completely separate from his cooking supplies.

God damn it! This was going to be fucking expensive.

Once the rice was cooking, he began cutting up several of the vegetables and leaving the peppers and pea pods whole.

I hoped this wouldn’t take that much longer. We eventually needed to head back to the camp where the Junior Sect Leader’s team agreed to wait for me. He’d given us a day before the majority of the group would leave for the sect.

But even if we didn’t make it back, Fairy Jujube had volunteered to stay behind and escort us due to my help in saving her friend’s life.

But, fortunately, this kid had made it back right as I stepped into the cave leaving us a good chunk of time to catch up and play around with immortal cooking.

Little Spring made the flames rise a bit too much and winced. The scent started to fill the small cave.

Seeing him be a (mostly) normal kid made me wonder about his situation in my past life. Something I couldn't help but ask.

Why did the Dumbass Author of this dumbass harem Xianxia choose to take this child and ruin his personality the way he had? This wasn’t entirely unlike other stories I had read, though this take was a little  unique.

Had the author, perhaps believed that his adorable and slightly revenge-minded protagonist needed the extra boost to help him survive this fucked up world? Or — in what I considered was the more likely scenario — had he decided to get more popular by suddenly changing his main character’s personality and switched to focusing on a more popular type of Main Character? One that was darker, perverted, and focused on building a harem?

Authors did have to make a living. But was that really a good excuse to turn an adorable kid like this into fucking Bloodsword ? I didn’t think so. But I’d also had to live through this twisted messed-up world he created. Maybe if I had actually read his story I would think differently... No. Probably not.

Well, I knew that the author, at the very least, started the story before we entered the sect... Because the incident that made me realize I was in a book and not in a random Xianxia alternate universe occurred during the trial to enter the sect.

But, if all went well, we wouldn’t have to endure that again. I mean, how lame would that be? Seeing old friends and enemies who were now children. Living through something that seemed like hell at the time but would be ridiculously easy to pass now.

It seemed like it would be a bit pointless to face that all over again, right?

Little Spring sat down in front of me, breaking me out of my thoughts. He set my bowl on the stone floor I’d scoured. Like a Yin Yang symbol, it was half-filled with spiritual rice while the other was filled with the Spiritual Lotus Root stir-fry. He handed me a pair of chopsticks.

I stared at the food and examined it. The white lotus root appeared to have gone beyond caramelization toward the charred end of the well done spectrum. The Snow Peas Pods drooped, having been overcooked. The dried red peppers looked like they wanted to kill me with spice in revenge for what I did to them earlier. And the wood ear mushrooms looked like sinister black squiggles, glistening with malice.

“Did you already taste this?”

His lower lip stuck out and he glared at me as if I’d offended him.

Not trusting him, I lifted my eyebrow.

He brought his own matching bowl up, picked up a malice-filled mushroom, and took a bite. It didn’t seem like he was in heaven, but he also didn’t seem to dislike it.

Ever so slowly, I pinched out a bit of fluffy rice and laid a slice of a partially charred Spiritual Lotus Root on top of it. Then I brought it to my mouth and bit down.

It did not taste great . And its spiciness burned my mouth, showing that the ratio between peppers and snow peas wasn’t right.

But it was edible. Barely.

Not letting anything show on my face. I continued trying each piece... Well, at least the kid knew how to cook spiritual rice the way I liked it. And the mushrooms were soft and not actually filled with malice.

The spiritual energy inside me slowly raised. Since I’d used a lot of it during the day, this was helping me to refill what I’d spent.

Once we were both finished eating, I set both my bowl and my chopsticks down. I stared at the kid.

Little Spring squirmed. “What do you think?”

“It did not taste good at all,” I said.

He hung his head. “I... might not have any fate with cooking, after all.”

“Hey! I wasn’t done.”

He nodded.

“It wasn’t good. However!”

He jerked his head up and sat up straight.

“This is your first attempt at cooking spiritual cuisine. And while it didn’t taste amazing, it was at least not poisonous. It didn’t produce any bad side effects. And it gave the person who consumed it a boost to their spiritual energy.

“While not good. It was still edible, which is better than most chefs’ first time cooking something this complex.” I grinned. “Good job. Work at getting better. All it takes is a lot of practice.”

His eyes seemed to say that he didn’t believe me.

“And never say that you ‘don’t have fate’ with anything you truly want to do. It might be harder for you to accomplish than for others, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t find time to practice it, if it brings you joy.”

“Yes, Fairy Lin.” He clasped his hands and bowed.

I grinned. And I wasn’t lying about being filled with spiritual energy. Even now, I had to suppress the urge to call on the tribulation lightning... Because I could feel it at the edge of my consciousness, like a giant storm of hatred and heavenly will waiting to finish the job the previous tribulation failed.

This tribulation would not be the normal lightning that a cultivator should experience when ascending from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment. This had the same intensity as the one I experienced when I created my golden core in my past life. Maybe even a little stronger than that.

This meant that I actually wouldn’t be able to casually raise myself up to Immortal Ascension like a walk in a park.

Of course, this was just a slightly harder challenge. The heavens couldn’t allow things to get too easy after all.

Fairy Lin and Little Spring will return in  Story 6 [Volume 2 Start] - Slapping Faces and Entering Sects

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the writers of the Silver Pen. This story would have never been written without you and your support.

Special Thank you to Bapper, my content editor who helped me fix the endings of all of these stories so they end on a positive note. I have learned so much from you that I can say I wouldn’t be the writer I am today without your excellent input.

Lastly, thank you to all my Patrons who made this series possible. It would be hard to keep going without your support and love. The reason this epub is created today is because you supported me even though I was sick and filled with anxiety. You are the best readers a writer could ever ask for.

About the Art

The cover art was originally sketched by Ms. Tsuu, but colored and inked by T. D. Rochester.

The first two images of Lin and Little Spring were created by AI and edited by T. D. Rochester.

The image of Little Spring and Lin together at the end of Story 1 was completely created by T. D. Rochester.

The images of Bloodsword’s Wives were all created by AI and edited heavily by T. D. Rochester.

All other images in this book were created by T. D. Rochester.