Zeron trained day by day. Even if it was very difficult and made him faint most times. He gritted his teeth and continued.
Gradually he got used to the pace and stopped fainting.
The current him could beat ten of his old self at the same time.
That showed the level of improvement he had made.
On the mountain top. Inside the hut which looks like it can collapse at any time but is very stable sat Zeron and master raging bull
They sat cross-legged, facing each other.
"It's been two months now." The words were spoken from the mouth of master raging bull.
He looked at his young disciple and was shocked by the speed of improvement.
Though Zeron did not break through in his cultivation, he has rectified his deficiency caused by his rapid advancement.
He continued by saying, "I am amazed by your speed of growing stronger. If you continue at this rate, you will shock everyone in the year-end competition."
Zeron only nodded. He looked at his master, who had put him through hell this past months.
Instead of feeling resentment for his hard and almost impossible requirements for him
He feels grateful. His master was only strict with him because he wanted him to be the best he could be.
Most times, when he fainted while completing the task, it was his master who took him to bed.
He cooked for him and applied medicine to his bruises. So Zeron was feeling grateful.
"master, since I have completed the training, I want to look around the sect. Apart from my apartment and your place, I have not gone to any other location." Zeron said to his master who replied, "Okay, the first phase of my training for you is over. It's also good to relax and not be tense every time."
"I will give you one week to rest. After that week your training would resume. So you can go now."
The door automatically opened as soon as master raging bull was done speaking.
Zeron stood up. He cupped his hands and bowed before leaving the hut.
….
Sword River Association Sundai region outer court has everything a sect has.
It has the market, the training halls, the medicinal plant gardens, the alchemy hall, the library, etc.
It has everything a cultivator would need, and its close proximity to the Wyrm mountain range means an assortment of rare plants and demon beast materials.
Zeron was strolling through the market. There were shops and stores opened by disciples and elders of the sect.
He stopped in front of a rundown store. Even though the store was nothing to write home about. It was still a store which is difficult to acquire.
Walking out with a large stride was Sake, who jovially hugged Zeron.
"Sake, you have gotten more fat," Zeron says as he laughs happily.
Sake scratched the back of his head and just grinned embarrassingly.
He was feeling embarrassed because he relented in his cultivation and ate more, thereby increasing his fat percentage.
The joyful thing is that he doesn't look disgusting but looks cute, like a panda.
"What brings you here Zeron? I thought you would still be doing your mad training."
"Man, you scared us with your crazy action this past month. Chulan and Rale were also worried about you."
Zeron could only release a sigh at what Sake had said
He knew his actions this month were borderline insane, but cultivation is not child's play.
With his ambition, if he relents for a second, his bones will be buried and stepped on.
Zeron and Sake talked as they walked into the store.
They were discussing casual things about what happened in the sect.
It was just Sake narrating the interesting gossip that happened in the sect.
The store looked deserted, with only one receptionist on the ground floor and two attendants.
They are among the new disciples. Sake employed them
The store was a two-story building.
Alchemy products and medicinal herbs were displayed on the last floor, while the first and second floors were empty.
The alchemy products were only tier 1 pills which are only applicable to body tempering rank cultivators.
The tier 1 pills in the store were the worst kind, which are only used by skin refining and muscle tempering stage cultivators.
The names of the pills are the skin peel pill and the muscle strengthening pill.
They are both tier 1 pills but are used in the different stages of the body refining rank.
Skin peel pill is used in the skin refining stage and muscle strengthening pill is used in the muscle tempering stage.
"Wow, Sake, you are really talented," Zeron commented as he took out a single muscle-strengthening pill from a pill bottle.
A pill bottle contains six pills.
He looked at the round pill, which was the size of a bead, and threw it into his mouth.
He swallowed it. A few seconds later, he felt a heat current wash over his muscle.
This showed that the pill had taken effect.
"What luck to have an alchemist as a friend." Zeron smiled as he said.
It was Sake that gave him the bottle of pills and he took one of them.
Sake is an alchemist.
An alchemist is a branch of cultivator that transforms spiritual medicines into pills which have many uses.
The master who accepted Sake is an alchemist.
Zeron has seen him once. The most striking feature of him is that he is also a fatso like Sake.
Sake was admitted into the alchemy hall.
Alchemy does not need only fire spirit root for a cultivator to practice alchemy
That was only done in the ancient time.
Modern-day cultivators have built alchemy furnace that contains fire force, hereby allowing other cultivators with different spirit roots, such as Sake with his earth spirit root, to practice alchemy.
With that revolution, alchemy became a very powerful force.
Zeron and Sake walked up the stairs to the first floor where they sat down on the chairs, with the attendants serving tea and refreshment.
"Are you done with your preparation?" Zeron asked Sake.
"Yes, I am done." He replied.
Sake master, gave him a test where he had to go to Wyrm mountain range to pick up the plant materials needed for the bone tempering stage pill.
That was three days ago. Zeron asked him to wait for him to finish his training, which would soon be completed.
He wants to protect Sake when he leaves the sect
Even if it is the outermost region of the Wrym mountain range, it does not contain much danger. He still wants to follow Sake.
It was because he had a bad feeling that the trip would not be as easy as he thought.
If not for it being a test from the Sake master to make Sake experience sourcing out herbs in the wild, he would have advised Sake against going.
"How many people are going with you?"
"Seven including you and me," Sake replied.
He continued, "four aperture opening stage senior and one qi accumulating class senior."
Even if Sake's master gave him a test, he still assigned a bodyguard to Sake.
"We will meet at the Eastern gate tomorrow morning." Sake said.
Okay, was Zeron's only reply as he thought about the bad feeling that was constantly getting stronger.