But this wasn't the point – the point was that the person in front of Ludwig was actually an ethereal body much more solid that his. It was as if the other party was an independent entity, not only a projection like he was.
He looked deeper at the person, but he saw that the other person was endless far away, when he didn't focus, it was as if they were right in front of him. He couldn't see the face of the person, but spiritual power escaped from their hands and Ludwig could feel that this was the spiritual power encasing his yard.
When he felt the spiritual power deeper, Ludwig cupped his hands and bowed "Thank the Grand Steward for the assistance!"
On the other side, when the Grand Steward saw Ludwig leaving the building much earlier than anticipated, he was surprised, and when he saw the state of Ludwig, he was even more surprised. But, after all, he was a great cultivator of a much higher state, and he could recover his composure in a matter of milliseconds.
"Hahaha, I didn't expect, I didn't expect!" He began before he shook his head "I had originally asked the supreme elder to hand out some journals to you, those that depict the rise to foundation establishment, but you did it all on your own. Not only did you do it properly, but you used a special way of advancement, the 'Three Pillars of Perfect Balance forming a Sphere'!"
When Ludwig heard this, he wasn't surprised. He had assumed that since he was able to guess such a simple thing, a clan of great foundation would have long known the state of being. Naturally he also understood that this wasn't easy to achieve, else everyone would do it.
"I wonder if this is a good thing?" He asked curiously. No matter how many guesses he had, the true heritage and experience of an elder were much more precious for him than some light knowledge he knew in his past life. Although he guessed everything right this time, it could have gone wrong, so he wants to have a deeper understanding. This time, it could be said that he entered a half-state of enlightenment, but he wouldn't be so lucky every time.
"Of course it is good! You need to reach this stage to create a Great Balance Core, if you don't do that, it will only be a basic core. Naturally people can reach it during and after the Core Formation, but the earlier you reach it, the easier it will be and the more benefits it will bring! This Great Balance Core is one of the requirements for a much more important thing later!" At this moment, the Grand Elder stopped and didn't say more.
Ludwig understood that these things were simply too out of reach for him, the grand elder saying so much was probably a small reward for making it on his own, if he didn't even do that, then he would probably never have known about it. 'The Grand Steward emphasized balance… yeah, in a cultivation world, balance between all elements, especially the inner elements of a cultivator, is one of the major points. No wonder the library elder also strongly recommended such a thing…'
As Ludwig was contemplating on the words, Guo Heng spoke once more "You have brought satisfactory results, which should be rewarded. Is there anything you wish for?"
Ludwig didn't hesitate at all "If possible, I would like to receive my first natal plant. The elder of the library recommended me one of pure yang power." He didn't make any demands but just said that it would do better for him. No matter what, even if he was shameless, he couldn't be disrespectful towards a person of much higher rank.
Ludwig wasn't so narrowminded as to be mad about something like this. He would be respectful to such a person, just as he was respectful to professors during his time as a student.
When Ludwig himself became a professor, a renowned Doctor of Psychology, he would still talk somewhat respectful, but none of the ones he spoke respectfully to would speak disrespectful to him, it was basic courtesy and manners, and at least in this regard, Ludwig didn't lack anything. His shamefulness came from his newfound curious free spirit. It didn't matter if he behaved like a kid. Even if he added his age from his previous life, he would still be a kid in the eyes of this elder, so it was better to use the kid-card and be a bit more shameless when he was able to do so, who knew if this was possible later on!
"Haha, is that so?" He asked laughingly "Alright, then how about I give you a plant as reward."
Then he took out a vine from his sleeves, it seemed as if the vine was moving. Ludwig was greatly surprised because this vine was actually able to traverse the ethereal world, but upon closer inspection, he saw that this plant had no soul attributes at all.
"Rare plants and beasts of high bloodlines are able to traverse all three worlds, no matter their stage. Their abilities are often incompatible, so when they enter a world, their influence is the least, but unlike us who have to start with various means to even perceive the ethereal world, they can fully enter the ethereal world from birth and live in it."
Ludwig noted this but he looked deeper at the vine. It was, turquoise, but whenever spiritual power passed through it, a golden shine came from the centre of the emerald, green vine, it was as if the emerald, green vine that moved around as smooth as water, gave off the vitality of wood, seemed to be made of metal!
"This is a rare plant bred in the deepest grounds, it is a variant of one of the rarest plants." He said as he looked at the vine "The origin of this vine is killed the 'Lifevine', although it is also rare, it is much more common. You might have heard of it, it is a vine with a great lifespan, many spiritual planters take this plant to enhance their lifespan.
As a variant, the same is for this vine, but it is the rarest of its kind. The Underground River Lifevine. It lives in the rivers deep underground, traversing great distances with each moment, catching it is incredibly difficult. Our family guardian beast caught it when it passed it by, it was kept in the treasury until someone worthy came, and now I give it to you."
Ludwig cupped his hands once again and wanted to thank the elder, but the elder shook his hands "There is no need, this vine is very suitable with your roots, so I will give it to you. How you use it is for you to decide. This vine is of great yang attribute, after absorbing the yin attributes of metal and water, it reversed them and turned them to be beneficial for its initial wood yang attribute, it has the solidity of metal and fluidity of water, contained together in the wood energy that will make both thrive for endless years to come."
With a last swing, the grand elder threw the vine as well as a light onto Ludwig. The vine landed in his hands as he looked at it, while the light went through him, to his dantian and entered his physical body. Ludwig was shocked, but he didn't say anything. He bowed once again, and when he looked up, he saw that the elder was gone.
He took the vine, looked at it for a minute, but didn't dare to delay, so he quickly pulled at the line between him and his physical body, he was quickly pulled back to his initial position before his perception changed once again and he was again in the physical world, this time a vine was still in his hands, curling it.
The light that shined before landed already on a token in his room, when Ludwig looked at it, he saw the token change from 'Steward in Training' to 'Envoy of the Steward Palace'.
The normal course would be for him to become a Branch Steward now, and since that was his path, he naturally knew what all positions above were. For Branch Steward, there are only two possible promotions – becoming a Clan Steward, also called True Steward, or become an Envoy Steward, who would still act outside but have great authority inside.
An envoy was on the same rank as an elder! Naturally Ludwig knew he couldn't really act as if he was an elder, but he still had all the privileges of one! Still, this wasn't what truly shocked him.
'I could have been killed so easily.' This was what was going through his mind from the moment he saw the light. He didn't care about the fact that the grand elder was many ranks above him – this wasn't important, because he knew the light could have been projected from a core formation cultivator, since he was able to perceive the power of it.
Any core formation cultivator, even if they weren't soul cultivators, if they saw him and had even just a bit expertise in the ethereal world, would have been him to use the connection between his projection and dantian to determine his position and threaten his life!