That floating fortress was one of the Ten Strategic Weapons of the sect, he knew well how powerful it was. Legend said that it once decimated an entire empire by simply activating its killing formation a single time, nothing remained out of the once powerful nation, not even the ground, which was simply sent to oblivion, leaving behind a huge, almost eternal, gaping abyss.
"...An all-out extermination war, huh?" Ji-Yoon muttered bitterly, "Just what a weakling like me needed." He then shook his head and went to the Alchemy Pavilion to redeem his pay.
After getting the contribution points, he spent part and requested an Alchemy test immediately. The test was simple enough, just to concoct some basic low-level pills and answer some questions from the examiner, and he passed without issues.
After receiving a small jade pendant with the symbol of a single star, representing his One-Star Alchemist Rank, he happily hung it on his waist and exchanged some other basic pill recipes and herbs.
In the end, his sect's account became void again. Although he had energy crystals, he didn't plan to exchange them for contribution points for the time being.
After finishing his affairs in the pavilion, he went directly to his cave abode to cultivate and practice alchemy, he was feeling extremely pressured by the recent events.
Just a few hours after entering a round of secluded cultivation, he reached perfection in the three Dao Arts he got from the Human Dao Pavilion along with a perfect understanding of the disposable Cultivation Technique, even without activating the 'IQ booster!'
The changes brought by the Dao Mind Refining Technique are beyond his expectations, making him doubt life in the place of the other cultivators.
After getting those results, he began to practice alchemy. He immediately noticed a change in his perception and fluidity when concocting pills. The amount of information he received from the Flow was much more detailed, while his movements and doings were much more precise and seamless.
He successfully refined a pill from one of the new pill recipes on the first try, and it had an amazing quality too.
'I'm already pitying those who spent years learning alchemy...' Ji-Yoon thought to himself, 'I should be careful and avoid getting too cocky. All I have today is not because I'm awesome and better than others, but just because of unknown luck.'
[Ding! Ding! I know, I'm great!]
Ji-Yoon tactfully ignored the system, which was getting more and more childish, and skillfully refined the other's pills. He didn't fail once and concocted perfect pills.
Looking at the pill bottle in his hand, Ji-Yoon felt it won't be long before he climbs the ranks in the Alchemy Way.
'I'm getting more and more reckless...' he thought with a bitter smile and drank a mouthful of Mi Baijiu, 'But I guess it's not bad to demonstrate extraordinary talent in alchemy, I might be more protected and avoid being sent to the front lines of an eventual war.'
After resting and drinking for a few hours, he dispelled the 'alcoholic qi' from his body and went to see Elder Yang.
"Yo, Junior Brother Yun!"
"Senior Sister Feng, what are you doing at Elder Yang's cave's entrance?" Ji-Yoon asked with a slightly annoyed heart, "It's still not the time for the weekly lesson, right?"
"I came to report my leave," she answered while showing her One-Star jade badge, "It seems Junior Brother has passed too, as expected from cutie!" She smiled charmingly while approaching Ji-Yoon.
Ji-Yoon frowned with a sigh, 'It seems this woman will never change her behavior.'
"Senior Sister, please behave yourself, I'm not interested in you," Ji-Yoon said bluntly, without fearing revenge like before, "I hate this kind of forced behavior." He then glanced at her for just a moment before sitting close to the stone statue.
"Hoo, it seems Junior Brother is getting more daring..." Feng Ling narrowed her eyes but didn't seem angry with his behavior, "But it only excites me more!"
Ji-Yoon twitched his mouth for a moment before sending a voice transmission to her, "Why are you so interested in younger boys? Do you have no shame?"
Feng Ling smiled and answered with her voice instead of a transmission, "Why should I be ashamed? I never tried to hide my preferences, and never forced anyone to submit to me as well."
Ji-Yoon shook his head and thought, 'Sure thing, nothing is stranger than a person's mind.'
"Hmm? Why are you silent? Lost interest in talking to me?" she asked as she sat next to him.
Ji-Yoon closed his eyes to meditate and ignored her, he knew she was a helpless case.
However, he almost cursed when she began to touch his face with her hands as if toying with him.
"You are so cute," she muttered, "It's a pity this is a righteous sect."
"Fuck!" Ji-Yoon cursed and slapped her arms away, "Stop provoking me, I'm already at my limit."
"Limit?" Feng Ling muttered with an amused tone, "Which kind of limit can a kid have? I'm ~ interested."
Ji-Yoon massaged his temples with a defeated expression and could only try and ignore her as she toyed with him. Anyway, he would soon have no reason to ever meet her again, as he would stop having lessons with Elder Yang.
Feng Ling, seeing he stopped reacting, clicked her tongue and stopped her mischievous behavior too, as if bored.
"Ji-Yoon, enter" a voice transmission came from Elder Yang. He sighed in relief as he entered the cave in fast steps.
Feng Ling just shook her head with a smile after seeing this and waited for her time.
"Elder Yang!" Ji-Yoon greeted him with a respectful tone.
Elder Yang was sitting in front of a broken cauldron as if thinking about something important. He momentarily ignored Ji-Yoon and then said, "Sit."
Ji-Yoon took his cushion from his storage ring and sat in silence, waiting for Elder Yang to open his mouth first. He knew that Elder Yang should already be aware of his hanging jade badge.
"Do you know how it came to be like this?" Elder Yang asked with his eyes still firmed on the stove.
Ji-Yoon focused a bit and interpreted some of the information coming through the Flow. He immediately frowned strangely and said, "Someone tried to refine a pill of a higher grade than it could support."
Elder Yang looked a bit surprised and nodded, "It seems your perception is indeed extraordinary.
"This is an old cauldron of mine, from a time when I was yet to become an Elder," he began to explain, "I was eager for quick success and almost died because of this."
Ji-Yoon said nothing after hearing it.
"But, because of this, I also got the attention of a Core Elder and became her disciple," Elder Yang continued, "Our situations are a bit similar."
Ji-Yoon's eyebrow twitched slightly and he said, "Is Elder talking about my previous incident?"
"That's right!" Elder Yang nodded.
Both stayed silent for moments before Ji-Yoon asked, "Does Elder intends to take me as a disciple?"
"No!" Elder Yang shook his head with a smile and caressed his short white beard, "But we might turn into fellow disciples soon."
"Fellow disciples?" Ji-Yoon muttered in shock, "You mean..."
"My master wants to meet you," Elder Yang confirmed, "Do you get it now?"
Ji-Yoon opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally said, "But, why?"
Elder Yang looked at him begrudgingly and said, "Isn't it what you wanted? To attract my attention with your talent?"
Ji-Yoon caressed his cheek with a bitter smile and nodded.
"So? Congratulations, you not only did it but also did better," Elder Yang laughed and waved his hand, "Go away, come here tomorrow at this hour, I will accompany you to see my master."
Ji-Yoon nodded and bid farewell with a somewhat expectant heart.
"Hoh? Already out?" Feng Ling noticed him immediately.
Ji-Yoon looked at her for a moment before politely bidding farewell and walking away in a hurry, not bothering to listen to a word from her.
"Tsk tsk" Feng Ling clicked her tongue and entered the cave just after.
As he walked, Ji-Yoon decided to visit Old Li, the old man had been silent since their last spar, he wondered how much he benefitted from that.
"Hey hey, brat, what are you doing? Do you want to be killed without even putting up a decent fight?" Old Li shouted harshly as he "disciplined" Li Feng with a straight tree branch. It was a bit red from the poor's kid's blood. Every strike was aimed at Li Feng's weak spots.
"Please have mercy, Granduncle, I'm doing my best!" Li Feng cried out with tears in the corners of his eyes, he repeated the same movement over and over: Stabbing with the spear!
"You even have a higher cultivation base than me, how can you let yourself be so humiliated!?" Old Li shouted with explicit rage and a hideous expression and struck more violently, without a cent of pity in his expression, "Have I cared for you all those years in vain!? How can you be so gutless!? Strike back!!"
Blood began to bathe the earth beneath Li Feng's feet, but he didn't dare to counter-attack and continued to repeat the same motion despite the pain all over his body.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
"Li Mo old fellow, what the hell are you guys doing?" Ji-Yoon asked as he saw Li Feng finally fall to the ground, completely exhausted and pale.
"That's my line!" Old Li snorted and threw the tree branch away, "I'm not interested in sparring with you anymore."
"Yes?" Ji-Yoon caressed his chin and grinned, "I see you made some progress since the last time."
"Nothing to do with you!" Old Li said and dragged Li Feng by his leg inside his cave abode, "I'm occupied trying to make something useful out of this bag of skin and bones!"
Ji-Yoon followed them inside without asking permission and said, "I thought he already got himself a master."
"And what a great master she is!" Old Li said mockingly, "I'm pretty sure she is just interested in this kid's strange luck. She might even be thinking about how to extract it from him right now."
"G-G-Granduncle!" Li Feng astonishedly stared at him with huge panda eyes, dripping blood from all his orifices, and said, "Please be careful with your words, master cannot be offended!"
Old Li tossed him into a huge cauldron, full of medicinal fluid. "Shut up! I'm too old to be afraid of death!"
Ji-Yoon grinned and shook his head after hearing it.
"Why are you laughing!?" Old Li stared at him and cursed, "You bastard is another who lacks what a man needs the most!"
"Don't try to play riddles with me, old man!" Ji-Yoon narrowed his eyes and said, "Besides, aren't you the one that most lack guts?!"
"Hmph! You don't know this old man at all!" Old Li muttered as he began to heat the furnace with special firewood, their flames were as black as the night sky.
"The heck is this?" Ji-Yoon asked with a frown.
"Something the master of this brat gave me," Old Li said while gritting his teeth, "She left the boring work for me, but still wants to be called his master!"
"Grand Uncle, I think this is getting way too hot..." Li Feng muttered weakly, "Please take off some of it, okay?"
However, Old Li suddenly struck him in several acupoints, knocking him out.
"It's easier this way, he won't be able to cry out of pain," Old Li said without changing his expression.
"It seems his luck began to expire!" Ji-Yoon mocked, but he was still a bit envious of Li Feng because of his practical luck.
[Ding! Dong! Host, this is not the case!]
'Shut up! Ji-Yoon begrudgingly sighed, feeling that his system liked to spoil his good mood.
[Ding! Dong! Beware, host! Protagonists that became narrow-minded might become stepping stones!]
'Who the fuck are you calling narrow-minded?' Ji-Yoon got angry but maintained his composure.
[Ding! Dong!]
After a profound breath, Ji-Yoon barely recuperated his cool and began to observe the process Li Feng was going through.
"This is a very powerful, and expensive, medicinal liquid," Old Li suddenly began to talk, as if finally bored, "It's useful to improve one's aptitude for sensing the Dao and strengthening the whole body."
"In other words..." Ji-Yoon muttered as he massaged his temples.
"It's a waste that it's being used on him," Old Li completed with a complicated expression.
Both sighed, not acknowledging their envy.
Ji-Yoon was a bit better since his hands already got incredible opportunities granted by his system, but Old Li never had the opportunity to even see such a precious treasure before, so he was envious of his nephew.
"Originally, this medicinal liquid was crystal clear, but after eight baths, it became black like this," Old Li said as he began to put more firewood beneath the cauldron. The temperature of the whole cave abode was already beyond what a Qi Refining Cultivator could support, one could easily imagine the temperature inside the cauldron.
"Before each bath, I tried to make this brat get at least a small foundation in the nine basic spear martial variations," Old Li said and sighed, "I can only hope this brat doesn't turn more useless after this last bath."
"Hmm? Isn't it something learned before even opening their dantian in the mortal martial arts world?" Ji-Yoon was a bit surprised and asked, "Why even bother to try and teach him it? He is already in the Golden Core Realm!"
"I got what you mean," Old Li said and shook his head, "But this is something his master personally asked me. Perhaps she thought it would be a good method to start reinforcing his foundations."
Ji-Yoon nodded and said, "It makes a bit of sense, but it's too inefficient. An adult naturally does what a kid tries to learn."
"Well, an old monster surely knows more than us," Old Li shook his head and stopped talking.
"Sure thing," Ji-Yoon agreed. He knew he had no way to compare himself to someone who probably lived thousands of years, who knows how much this person managed to learn?
Moreover, as the new sect master, she surely had a deep background. Not something Ji-Yoon could compare to temporarily, even if he had an unreasonable cheat.
After a few hours, Li Feng's body finally reacted and began to heal at an alarming rate as it seemed to absorb the black medicinal liquid. After a few minutes, the cauldron had no more liquid, and only a black mass was at the bottom of it as Li Feng was levitating above with his body naked, his clothes long destroyed by the excessive heat.