"You're not a disciple of the Yanxia Sect?" Han Yeyue asked casually, hoping this kid wouldn't provoke her any further. She had just botched a batch of Yanling Pills and was in no mood for nonsense.
"Nope, just staying at Yanxia for a while," Leaf replied, keeping it short. This woman was dangerous, and he didn't want to test his luck with her temper.
Han Yeyue turned around and sized Leaf up and down, like a cat eyeing a particularly intriguing mouse.
Then, a smile played at her lips. "You forcibly dispersed your cultivation to rebuild your meridians. You're hiding here at Yanxia because you're currently powerless, aren't you?"
Leaf's heart skipped a beat. This woman might be a volatile, pill-obsessed weirdo, but she was sharp.
"You don't need to answer. Regardless of who brought you in, as long as you're at Misty Moon Peak, you'll obey me. I need an assistant for my alchemy. If you mess up like those other idiots, I'll kick you out myself." Han Yeyue didn't wait for a response. With a flick of her wrist, she whisked Leaf away, shooting straight to the peak.
Misty Moon Peak was a sight to behold: elegant buildings with sweeping eaves nestled among lush greenery, babbling springs, and cranes gliding gracefully through the air—a true celestial paradise.
Despite the vast complex, Han Yeyue only used the central alchemy hall. The rest of the place was eerily empty, though meticulously clean. Every ten days, a steward would come to cast a spell to clear away dust, keeping it pristine.
"Here are two basic alchemy manuals and a guide to identifying ingredients. You have three days to master them. After that, we start pill-making. Find an empty room to settle in." With that, Han Yeyue vanished into the alchemy hall, leaving Leaf standing there, bemused.
Leaf rolled his eyes. Fate had really thrown him a curveball this time, being caught in Han Yeyue's net.
"Wait a minute, how did she even find me? Unless someone tipped her off..." Leaf's eyes narrowed as he remembered that senior brother. That little punk had set him up! Leaf, the master schemer, tricked by a kid?
Leaf decided to confirm his suspicions later. No one played him like that.
Just then, his stomach growled loudly. He suddenly remembered he wasn't a Golden Core master who could live off spiritual energy. After ten days of rebuilding his meridians without a drop of water or a grain of rice, he was starving.
Leaf glanced around, hoping to find some food. "First things first," he muttered to himself. "Can't study alchemy on an empty stomach."
Leaf suddenly felt a pang of despair. Han Yeyue hadn't bothered to tell him where to get food. Was he supposed to beg in the spirit herb garden every day? Considering he couldn't use any flying artifacts at the moment, hiking down the mountain would take two hours. Round trip, that's four hours. How was he supposed to manage three meals a day like this?
But Leaf wasn't one to be easily defeated. His eyes sparkled with mischief as he spotted some cranes splashing around in a nearby spirit pool. He had no qualms about roasting a few birds if it meant filling his stomach.
Unfortunately, these cranes were smarter than they looked. Sensing Leaf's ill intentions, they let out a few cries and took off, leaving him hungry and frustrated.
Half an hour later, Leaf was sitting under a big tree, munching on a roasted rabbit he had managed to catch. With one hand, he flipped through the books Han Yeyue had given him.
After satisfying his hunger, Leaf tossed the books aside, muttering, "Who reads books these days? Everyone uses jade slips to directly transfer knowledge to their minds."
He knew that in the great sects of Shenzhou, only the most crucial cultivation techniques and vital information were recorded in precious jade slips. Everything else was written in books, which were cheaper and more plentiful.
Leaf was well-versed in the basics of alchemy and ingredient identification from his time in the Haotian Secret Realm, where he was a top-tier tribulation cultivator. Alchemy wasn't his passion, though. Back in the secret realm, he'd simply trick or rob others for the pills he wanted.
Feeling content and relaxed, Leaf stretched. It was time to start cultivating again.
He sat cross-legged, focusing his energy and began practicing the basic Qi Accumulation technique of the Skytop Art.
The first step in cultivation was sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, drawing it into the body, and storing it in the dantian to unblock the surrounding meridians.
Typically, opening one meridian was the first stage of Qi Accumulation, increasing the speed at which one could absorb spiritual energy. The second stage involved opening another meridian, and so on. Usually, nine stages equated to opening nine meridians. However, some gifted individuals could open more than ten meridians, giving them a significant advantage in the early stages of cultivation.
Leaf's rebuilt meridians were extraordinary. With ninety-nine perfectly unblocked meridians, he activated the Skytop Art, instantly attracting spiritual energy from a ten-mile radius.
If a Foundation Establishment cultivator had been there, they would have seen a massive vortex of spiritual energy forming around Leaf, stretching a hundred meters in diameter.
Such a phenomenon would surely attract trouble if seen by others. Even the most talented spiritual veins, like the Nine Yang or Nine Yin veins, would only create a one-meter vortex during their first cultivation session. Fortunately, apart from Han Yeyue, there was no one else on Misty Moon Peak, and her alchemy hall was more than twenty miles away.
As the starlight bathed the tranquil Misty Moon Peak, Leaf exhaled a breath of spiritual energy. The energy flowed excitedly through his ninety-nine meridians, finally converging into eight drops of spiritual liquid in his dantian.
"Qi Accumulation Stage Eight, in one day and night?" Leaf's expression was a mix of amazement and amusement. He had confidence in the Skytop Art and his rebuilt meridians, but this was beyond his wildest expectations.
The real power lay not just in his unblocked meridians but also in the basic Qi Accumulation technique of the Skytop Art, which was ten times more effective than the old technique he had practiced. It even purified the spiritual energy.
Despite its power, the Skytop Art was incredibly demanding. It required a near-death experience to forge a pure soul. Who would have thought of that? If not for his unique circumstances, he wouldn't have survived the ordeal.
"Fast cultivation speed is great, but I can't get carried away. Even though I reached the eighth stage of Qi Accumulation in one night, my body's refinement by spiritual energy is far from complete. I need to perfect each stage before moving on. That's not going to be easy." Leaf calmed down quickly. He knew that achieving perfection at each stage was legendary. While the early stages of Qi Accumulation and Foundation Establishment were well-documented, what constituted perfection beyond that was a mystery even to most immortals. It was up to him to explore and understand it on his own.