Xuan felt his world lit up with hope, he was standing there as a gust of wind passed by.
He looked at her eyes as a few drops of tears escaped from his eyes, leaving behind a trail on his cheeks.
"what? What happened?" Duan Zi asked, looking at him.
She immediately went to his side and tried to comfort him.
He wiped his eyes and smiled. "Please, teach me alchemy!"
He wanted to concoct pills so that he could sell them and make some money to help his mother.
She looked at him with a frown, "why do you want to learn alchemy?"
Hearing that Xuan stopped, he pondered for a while and still couldn't answer her question.
She sighed and looked at him, "alchemy isn't an easy process, and it takes time. You must have the motivation to learn alchemy. You can't concoct a pill half-heartedly."
He nodded his head in understanding.
"and, you need to become a cultivator, in order to learn alchemy. Alchemy basically focuses on soul strength and your mental strength. You need to be at least qi gathering realm 5th stage to use the alchemy flames. And the other factors also depend on your mental and soul strength." she gave him a brief explanation about alchemy.
"I see… so I have to become a cultivator in order to learn alchemy, but I don't have a cultivation technique, how am I supposed to become a cultivator?" he asked.
"You don't have a cultivation technique? I see… don't worry, I will give you my cultivation technique," she said with a proud smile.
"really? Are you going to give me a cultivation technique? Aren't cultivation techniques supposed to be valuable?"
He asked, doubting her.
"Well, I don't know, but I don't mind sharing it with you..." she said with a bashful tone
Xuan felt his face burning in excitement when he saw her like this, which is the complete opposite of when they met.
As they were walking down the road in a certain direction they noticed some people ahead of them.
"don't resist young miss, we will take good care of you, hahaha.."
"now now… young miss, don't be shy, look how many of them want to take care of you"
"You! How dare you, once father knows about this, he will behead you all and feed it to the fishes in Thornspell" a pretty young lady shouted. Struggling to untie the ropes.
Looking at them both of them stopped, Xuan and Duan Zi stopped and watched them from a corner.
"Xuan, what are these people doing?"
Duan Zi asked, not understanding anything.
"They look like bandits and the girl over there seems to belong to a prominent family," Xuan Explained to her.
"Then are these bad guys? Mom told me that there are a lot of bad people around the outside world." Duan Zi asked innocently.
"Let go of young miss, if you dare to lay a finger on her, you will face the wrath of the whole Meng Family." A maid beside her young miss grunted in anger, as she was also tied along with her young miss.
"hoo? Don't worry we will give you enough attention too, ahahhaaa…" a bandit with the longest beard started to laugh.
Xuan gritted his teeth looking at the bandits in front of him.
Duan Zi too became angry looking at them. She turned to Xuan and asked, "Xuan, let's stop them, they are bullying those girls!" she said with a furious expression.
Xuan grabbed her hand and stopped her, "wait! They are a lot, how are we gonna stop them?" Xuan said, trying to stop her.
She became irritated and looked at him, "these are just 7th or 8th stage qi gathering realm cultivators. Even if millions of them come, they can't do anything to me."
She said and moved forward.
She walked out of the covering tree and stomped her foot. "hey you! stop it at once!"
She shouted, making them turn their heads.
"huh? Who is this chick? God! She is such a beauty."
"yes boss, let's capture her too, and have fun with her. Heheh…"
"you two shut up! I will make her my bitch!"
"haah? That is cheating. We always have fun with the captured women together, you can't keep her for yourself."
*clang*
*arghhh*
The guys kept talking and didn't notice when her sword reached their necks.
in a flash movement, she waved her sword, which sliced their neck in half.
*arghhhh…*
The horrific screams resounded as their neck rolled over the road.
Within a few seconds, she slew all the 13 bandits.
Duan Zi looked at her blade which was soaked with their blood. She looked at it as if this wasn't a big deal at all.
But the young miss and her maid looked horrified.
Duan Zi turned to Xuan who was already helping the girls untie the ropes.
"T-Thank you very much, for saving us." the young miss bowed in respect.
Xuan looked at the corpse and raised his eyebrows in amusement.
But this was the same for him too, he didn't feel anything at all looking at these men lying over there.
"Why are you two alone in this forest? You seem to be from a good family, don't you have bodyguards?"
Xuan started to scold them, while they kept stealing glances at Duan Zi.
"The bodyguards were with them. They are the ones who set us up. Once the carriage stopped the guards left immediately and the bandits showed up immediately." the maid said while gritting her teeth.
Xuan noticed her gaze and didn't ask further.
The young miss kept looking at Duan Zi and her beautiful silver hair, with her eyes shining in admiration.
Then she bowed to her and said, "Hello, my name is Meng Yi, daughter of the Meng family's elder."
Duan Zi looked at Xuan when he nodded in approval, she turned to Meng Yi.
"My name is Duan Zi, and he is my companion Xuan Yu. We are on our way to the nearest city." Duan Zi greeted them with a straight face.
"Senior Duan Zi, thank you very much for saving us. If not for you, we might have been…" Meng Yi stopped and looked at Xuan Yu.
Her gaze was a bit cold, "hello, Xuan Yu."
She then turned to Duan Zi and looked at her with glittering eyes.
"Senior, please come with us to the Meng Family, I want to properly thank you," she said and grabbed Duan Zi's hand.
In reflex, she shook her hands off and turned to Xuan.
"um… Miss Meng, we are in a bit of a hurry. So please, we will excuse ourselves." Xuan Yu smiled wryly.
Meng Yi frowned and glared at him, "I am asking senior Duan Zi, why are you Interrupting us?"
Duan Zi narrowed her eyes and looked at her coldly. "looks like you don't get it, I said, we are companions. That means we travel together. And I am not going anywhere without him."
Meng Yi gulped at her gaze and turned silent.
"I am sorry, senior, we didn't mean to offend you. But if you're in a hurry, please at least let us accompany you to the nearest city. From there we can contact the Meng Family to come and pick us up."
The maid said politely.
Xuan Yu sighed and went closer to Duan Zi, and whispered something in her ear.
"Okay then, you can tag along with us to the spring city." Duan Zu said.
The young miss Meng Yi and the maid smiled and nodded their heads in acceptance.
Xuan Yu collected all the valuables from the corpse lying there and put the collected items in his inventory.
'I was such a coward, while she is so brave and upright. No doubt they will admire her…' Xuan Yu thought to himself.
Then they started walking.
After half an hour of walking, they reached Spring city. But unlike the previous time, they were able to enter the city without any tokens.
Because the guards knew Meng Yi, they didn't have to face any problems.
It was an amazing sight to behold for Xuan. But Duan Zi was more thrilled than ever. Duan Zi was startled to see so many people, but also curious to find out more about it.
After contacting her family members with a communication jade, they went to an Inn.
The inn was nice and clean, they got two rooms for them. one for Meng Yi and her maid, and the other for Xuan and Duan Zi.
Duan Zi looked outside the window with glittering eyes.
Xuan couldn't even believe that this was the woman he met before. She had such a cold look on her face which was now replaced with a bright smile.
Xuan felt proud knowing that it was his doing.
After getting freshened up, the duo sat on the bed with his eyes closed and her hand touching his forehead.
"...In the Dao Physic realm, you have to comprehend your Dao and integrate your soul with it.
Then your physical body will be enhanced by the Dao and your Physic will be improved."
After she was done explaining some information about the cultivation realms, her hands on his forehead started to glow.
Xuan felt a warm energy invade his body and a cozy feeling ran through his whole body.
He suddenly felt a profound energy surrounding him. He couldn't grasp the feeling but he could tell that it was gentle as the touch of the breeze that flows through the bay, yet it was destructive as the stormy gusts.
He felt his heart racing, as the spiritual energy surrounding him, started to enter his body.
The energy moved around his whole body and reached the center of his spiritual body, his Dantian.
As it entered his dantian, he felt the energy directly through the air.
He kept sucking and absorbing the surrounding energy within him.
After five minutes Duan Zi removed her hand from his forehead, and let the process proceed automatically.
As the dantian was filling, his stress was building in his mind and the pressure from the expansion of his dantian was becoming unbearable.
He just sat there in the lotus position, and let the energy accumulate in his dantian.
As the pressure was becoming heavier and heavier, he put a lot of effort to compress it.
After another half an hour, he finally felt the pressure lifted, he sighed as his clothes were now soaked with sweat.
< ding >
[ congratulation to player Xuan to complete the beginner's quest. ]
[ the host has successfully shattered the mortal shackles and broken through to the 1st state of the qi gathering realm. ]
Xuan breathed out and looked at Duan Zi with a smile.
"Duan Zi, I have broken through to 1st stage of the qi gathering realm," he said excitedly.
Duan Zi smiled back and then handed him a towel. "go get yourself cleaned. Before we go to for a walk."
Xuan nodded and went to the bathroom of the Inn, to get himself cleaned.
Xuan felt all his fatigue waste away as new energy took over his body.
He no longer felt any laziness. He no longer felt any negative thoughts.
"This feeling is amazing!" he shouted and punched the wall in excitement.
*thud*
He was expecting pain, but surprisingly, he noticed that his fist went through it creating a hole in the wall.
He immediately pulled his fist back and got out of the bathroom wrapping the towel around him.
Duan Zi was sitting there, her eyes caught the sight of him, only his lower part covered by the towel whereas his upper body was naked.
As Duan Zi looked at his well-built body, her cheeks turned red.
She immediately turned her head away. "w-what are you doing? Put your clothes on."
She turned around shyly, as he approached the bronze mirror on the wall.
"huh? Who is this stud?" as he looked in the mirror, he couldn't believe himself.
In the mirror, he saw a handsome young man with a ripped body.
His muscles were so refined that the bodybuilders and the calisthenics experts could not match his body.
But the most surprising part wasn't the body but his face. It looked the same as his original body but his dark circles were gone. His skin had become jade-like smooth, with all acne scars gone.
He touched his face in disbelief. Then he realized that his face wasn't bad at all.
He was incredibly handsome, with symmetrical proportions.
The only thing different was he was in his best condition.
He realized that if he could take care of himself in the real world too, wouldn't he become a top-class model?
'haah just kidding! but still, I will become like this in the real world too, wouldn't that be awesome?'
His thoughts began to run wild with the thought of the girls in his college fighting for him.
"What are you doing? put your clothes on" she said, with a red face.
Xuan looked at her with a smile. "Surprisingly, she knows about these stuffs." he thought to himself.
He quickly took out a robe from his inventory, which he had received as a beginner gift.
It was just a plain white robe, without many patterns, Which he liked.
He went to the bathroom and changed into the robe.
"come on, I am ready, let's go," he said.
She turned her head to see him well dressed and ready.
They went out.
It was a very beautiful city. And the sun was nearing the top. It's been 6 hours since he logged in, yet he could feel the energy.
Sometimes he doubts if this was really a game? The people around, the environment, it was really suspicious.
They took the main road and walked towards the market area.
Duan Zi kept stopping at different shops to shop or just chat with the people.
She was smiling the whole time, making Xuan feel a little envious.
He did not know, when was the last time he enjoyed himself like that.
He went along with her to every store or shop she went to. And kept spending some money they borrowed from Meng Yi.
After two hours, they were back at their Inn.
"Looks like I have to go, it's already lunchtime, I have to visit my mother," Xuan said, looking at her.
She frowned upon hearing him.
"your mother? I thought you live alone…" she mumbled and looked at him in a daze.
Xuan smiled helplessly. "Well, I haven't told you, but I am not from this world. I am from a world where all people are mortals. There are no cultivators, beasts."
Duan Zi stared at her in disbelief, she took a moment to speak, "so you're saying you're not from this world, and from a mortal world, yet, you can come and go to this world as you please?"
She asked in disbelief, but suddenly she remembered that her mother once told her that, in the vast universe, there exist countless worlds.
And the mortal world might be lacking spiritual energy, but they can do countless things which seemed impossible to cultivators.
She nodded in understanding. Then said "is it really necessary to go now? When are you returning? Tell me about your world."
She started questioning him a lot.
"um… it's really necessary to go, my mother is really in serious condition, and is in the hospital. I have to go visit here and bring some food." Xuan said, with a pained expression.
Duan Zi frowned and looked at him firmly. "What happened to her? I don't know if I can help, but if you need my help…"
Xuan looked at her with an understanding smile. "don't worry, the doctors said, she will be alright, as long as I have the money, they will start her treatment."
He said the last words slowly, still enough for her to hear.
"I see… but if your mother is a mortal too, I think concocting a body-tempered pill could cure her easily…" she started as he looked at her with doubts.
He was having suspicion about this 'game'.
He stared at her for a few minutes then spoke, "actually I can't bring anything with me to my world."
She pondered for a few seconds then said, "then, how about it, I will teach you how to concoct the pill and you can do it yourself back in your own world.."
She said with a delighted voice.
Xuan wanted to tell her that he is just a mortal in his own world, so it was impossible for him to concoct a pill.
Then an idea hit his mind, 'wait if I can cultivate in real life, wouldn't that be awesome?' he thought to himself as a smile formed on his face.
"well, we will talk about it later, for now, I have to go, I will see you in the evening."
He said, before logging out.
…
Xuan woke up from his bed and put the VR helmet down.
He was once again back to his weak and fragile, trash body.
But something was different about him. He looked relaxed and determined.
but, as he was about to stand up, his body fell on the ground.
"oh, shit! I haven't eaten since yesterday, now I was immersed in the game from the morning, so I forgot to eat breakfast."
He cursed inwardly trying to stand up.
He slowly went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of orange juice.
He gulped down the full juice bottle.
"I have to go to the hospital, she must be waiting for me."
He thought as he looked at the phone on the table.
There was a name showing "Ling Bai,"
"Ling Bai? She finally decided to call me?"
He thought for a second and picked up the call.
"Hey! Xuan! What are you doing? I heard about aunty's health. Is she alright?"
A gentle voice came from the other side.
Xuan's hand trembled a bit as his voice struck his throat.
"hello?"
She asked again,
"oh hello, and yes, my mother has liver cancer. And doctor said, it will take a lot of money and time,"