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Chapter 237 – Bestowing Tasks
🕑 Added 2025-04-09 03:06:00 +0000 UTCWan Ai was as happy as she’d ever been. While she’d expected being the leader of the Alchemy Pavilion to be problematic, she was mostly left alone either to cultivate or practice her craft. Only Zou Tian and Bai Xinyi ever disturbed her.
The first, of course, was never a bother, and the second… Well, Bai Xinyi was heavens sent. The girl actually enjoyed all the administrative stuff, even managing the other members and teaching lessons. All Wan Ai had to do was meet with the girl occasionally to compare notes on what they were both learning, and all the rest of organizational duties were handled.
Zou Tian worried a bit about handing so much authority over to someone else, said it took away from Wan Ai’s prestige, but she had laughed at the concern. If Bai Xinyi could convince the sect leader to let her have the pavilion, that was just fine.
Wan Ai would love nothing better than to concentrate on her three passions—cultivation, Zou Tian, and her alchemy. Which was coming along quite well, thank you very much!
Since getting past the issue with the herbs in the area being influenced by Nature qi, everything had fallen into place. She successfully created every mortal pill in the beginner manual the sect leader had gotten for her, and with her knowledge of her herb technique at Mastery, she could judge which parts needed to be trimmed just by looking at a plant, no spiritual sense required.
Of course, once she reached Foundation Establishment and started dealing with spiritual herbs more complex than the ones they used for the Bronze Body Cultivation baths, that would change. There was only so much mortal sense could comprehend. Creating real cultivator resources would require her to maximize spiritual energy and minimize toxins, both of which could only be achieved with trained spiritual senses. In fact, when she advanced, she’d already decided that the first technique she requested would be one that enhanced and fine-tuned her senses.
One of the books the sect leader had bought for her said that a lot of novice alchemists started with heat control in order to better control the pill creation process in the cauldron. That choice, in the opinion of the book’s author, was a huge mistake. The better the materials an alchemist put into the cauldron, the better the pill that would emerge could possibly be.
Realistically, both techniques would be required. Good ingredients with poor control equaled just as bad a final result as poor ingredients with good control. Since the Rising Tide Sect was focused heavily on Body Cultivation, it was more beneficial to everyone that she optimized ingredient preparation first.
Just the fact that she had the opportunity to choose her path was another indication that everything was going so well. Between her and Bai Xinyi, they almost had enough vitamin pills to give one to each of the villagers. Even though the pill was a simple mortal grade nutrient, the books said that they were very beneficial, especially to mortals who lived in poor villages who didn’t get much variety in their diets.
Wan Ai was barely even an alchemist, and she was already on her way to helping people. She chopped up the ingredients for yet another vitamin pill, feeling her control over her knife improve slightly. Large Success in her dagger technique wasn’t far off.
Yes, everything was going perfectly.
The sect leader suddenly appeared before her.
“Ah, Wan Ai,” he said. “Just the person I was looking for.”
Trying to hide just how startled she was, she cupped her hands. “Greetings, Sect Leader.”
He glanced around the room, obviously looking for something, but she didn’t know what. Apparently, he needed an empty spot on a table because he strode across the room to the only one not covered with herbs. An instant later, that table, too, was piled high.
“The cultivation world is a dangerous place,” he said, “and I’ve already had to send Yang Xiu and Yang Ru out on one mission away from the sect. I would feel so much better about their safety if they were at the peak of Silver Body Cultivation instead of Bronze.”
She was a bit disconcerted at his sudden appearance. Besides that, she wasn’t great at dealing with people in general. When it came to the sect leader, her discomfort was dialed up about tenfold. Thus, it took a few moments for his words to sink in.
Wan Ai rushed over to the table and examined the new herbs he’d just deposited. Several of them, all different types, were tied together with string. In fact, all the herbs were tied into bundles, at least sixty of them total. Upon further investigation, she discovered that half the bundles contained one set of herbs and the other half a completely different set.
It wasn’t the quantity that bothered her, though. Just like with cultivating, she could spend hours and hours processing and not get bored. No, the problem was that her technique let her identify each of the herbs in each of the two types of bundles.
“Sect Leader, these herbs are too advanced for me to use. The qi surely flowing through them… I’d need to be at least at Foundation Establishment before attempting to prepare these.”
A younger her would have wept to be given a tenth of the amount of taels the herbs on that table surely cost. The thought of her unskilled hands ruining them was more than she could bare.
“Look, Wan Ai, I understand your reluctance, but the truth is that you’ve risen to every challenge I set before you. Making the baths for Bronze Body Cultivation. Figuring out the problem that was preventing you from creating the mortal pills. You can do this. I have faith in you.”
She hung her head. Though she’d done both those things, neither had been easy, and neither success meant that her next effort wouldn’t result in a failure.
“I’m not asking you to make a pill with these herbs,” he said. “That is way beyond your current capabilities. One wrong move in either preparation or execution simply ruins an entire batch. Baths are different. If I just threw these herbs in water as they are now, the bath should still work. The resultant body refinement would be much, much less powerful, but it would work. Right?”
“Yes, Sect Leader.” As much as she hated to admit it, she had to. It would kill her to create such an inferior product, but it definitely could be done.
There was a chair in the room that Zou Tian used sometimes when he watched her work. The sect leader sat in it. “I don’t want to ask you to do something you’re uncomfortable doing, and I really don’t want to put too much pressure on you. I think, though, that I need to make sure that you understand the circumstances. Okay?”
The sect leader normally came across as really super confident in everything he did. She hadn’t ever seen him look so vulnerable.
“The Rising Tide Sect is at war with another sect. It’s an undeclared war but a war, nonetheless. I’m sure you know this?”
She nodded.
“My greatest hope is that this war never touches you or Zou Tian or any of the other sect members, but I can’t guarantee that. And the two who are most likely to see combat because of this war, who have already seen combat due to this war, are Yang Xiu and Yang Ru. I’ve given them resources for protection, and I’ll surely give them more in the future. For the moment, though, the thing I believe will protect them the most is increasing their Body Cultivation.”
Wan Ai swallowed hard.
“I bought thirty bundles for each of them,” he said. “Only twenty-seven are needed. That gives you three each to practice with. And honestly, it’s pretty easy to get you more if you need them. Are you willing to at least try?”
Zou Tian thought that Senior Sister and Senior Brother hung the moon. Besides the sect leader, he didn’t respect anyone as much as he respected those two, and some of his feelings had rubbed off on her. Wan Ai also remembered how kind the two had been to her right after she’d been made a disciple.
She liked both of them and hated the thought of anything bad happening to either of them. Worse, though, was the thought of anything bad happening to them due to her failure.
“I’ll do my best, Sect Leader.”
###
Jin LiJuan threw a stick. Ganzou bounded after it like a puppy and returned it to her. She threw it again.
It honestly was kind of boring, but the wolf seemed to find the activity enjoyable. And trying to make her bond happy had become much easier since she’d started learning that Quiet Mind technique that Master had gifted her.
Waiting became easier as well. Two days had passed since the pup had made it to the peak of rank three. Its next step, rank four, was the same as reaching Foundation Establishment was for her. Which was exactly what she expected to happen.
According to what everyone around her said, that realm was where one could truly be said to be a cultivation, gaining the ability to do things with qi outside one’s body that seemed like magic to her. Since the day Master first appeared at the orphanage, she had dreamed of one day reaching such a high realm, had been so impatient for it to happen that she’d done something really stupid.
After while waiting for Master to return, she’d honestly thought she was going to die, but Master saved her, had even gone so far as to restore her ability to cultivate. A little, anyway. He’d warned her that her channels and meridians were so damaged that she might not ever make it to Foundation Establishment.
Yet, there she was. On the edge. Just waiting for Master to not be so busy with the important stuff he had to do to find time to approve the beast core for Ganzou.
Soon, she’d be on the same level as Senior Sister and Senior Brother. Actually, she’d soon shoot past them as long as Master was willing to supply the cores. Which was not guaranteed.
Nor should she expect such a thing. Pan Jiang had already told her that a sect focusing resources on her like Master did was highly unusual. At some point, she had to earn her own way.
The thought sounded good to her. What Master had done for her was amazing, but each thing extra was more debt. She wanted to pay him back.
Jin LiJuan sighed. “Ganzou, after you reach rank four, what do you think about hunting for beast cores ourselves?”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” a voice said behind her.
She spun around. “Master!”
“Is power that is simply handed to you really power?”
“No, Master. Not really.”
“Up to this point, the two of you were simply not strong enough to hunt on your own. Not safely. To do so, you’d have to venture to the valley, and there are still plenty of beasts wondering around that area that could kill the two of you easily.”
Jin LiJuan nodded. If anyone knew how dangerous beasts were, it was her.
“At Foundation Establishment with the proper training and techniques, however, that’s a different story. Your progress will to slow. You’ll have to practice hard and learn the techniques you need before I even consider letting you outside the sect grounds. But once you prove your proficiency, I think it’s the right move.”
She cupped her hands. “Gratitude, Master.”
“Okay, both of you, I need to check your cultivation.”
Jin LiJuan gave him her hand first, and Master did whatever it was that he did. Then, Ganzou cautiously extended a paw, and Master did the same thing.
“Okay,” he said. “Ganzou, you’re doing great. No issues with the accelerated ranking at all.”
The pup barked, its way of signaling her that it was pleased.
“You, young lady, are improving,” Master said. “At this rate, you may eventually be able to cultivate on your own, though I’m not sure how that would work in actuality. Still, I see no reason to stop you from advancing.”
Jin LiJuan grinned. Even though she felt she hadn’t truly earned it, she was looking forward to being a real cultivator.
“Here’s the thing, though,” Master said. “Even though you’re advancing through your bond, your available qi still appears to be based on your talent level, especially since you’re not really using the technique I gave you. Which means your qi pool is … pretty small.”
She took in a breath and let it out sharply. Her impatience had cost her a lot, including possible some of her potential power. The small amount of qi for techniques was just one of the results she’d have to live with.
“I gave the twins pills that increased their pools by ten percent,” he said. “I can do the same for you, but you need to be aware of two factors. One, the process will hurt. A lot. Two, because your qi pool is so much smaller than theirs, the increase, in absolute terms, will be smaller as well. It might not be worth the pain for you.”
“I’ll take the pills, Master.”
He shook his head. “I knew you were going to say that. Such a crazy world. Very well.”
Master handed over pills and a rank four core. “When you’re ready, go to the Healing Pavilion. I’ll send a message explaining your situation, so they’ll be expecting you. The first step is to feed the core to Ganzou. After he has advanced and you have advanced, stabilize your cultivation if necessary.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Did you have to stabilize it for your last two breakthroughs?” he said.
“I meditated, but I don’t know if it was necessary or not, Master.”
“Typically, more stabilization is needed after jumping major realms, so you might need it. Your situation is unique, though, so I’m not sure what will be required. Anyway, after you are absolutely sure your cultivation is good, take the pills and be prepared for pain. Once you’re done, find me and we can talk about your next cultivation method and techniques.”
Jin LiJuan cupped her hands. “Gratitude again, Master.”
Comments
richard bond
"Your progress will to slow." - something needs to change in this sentence. :)
Xiver
Thanks for the chapter. I think the story is progressing nicely and am thoroughly enjoying it! Edit suggestion: "that realm was where one could truly be said to be a cultivation" cultivation -> cultivator
