It was nearly five in the morning when Baiyun got up.

Basked in the warm light from the dawn sun peering through the window, he stood up and did a few quick stretches before heading out. A disgruntled grumble came from his sleeping brother as he shut the door.

Baiyun's body was no longer sore like the previous night, now welling with what felt like endless energy. He didn't think a day would come where he'd be excited to train in brutish martial arts, but he felt a strange enthusiasm today.

With a grain ball in hand, he munched absentmindedly as he strolled. This time, he actually remembered to eat.

Right now, he was supposed to head to the Martial Temple. But with how fast the spirits had been dragging him back and forth, it was quite difficult for him to keep his bearings.

"Light spirit!" he called out. "I'm a bit lost, can you point me to the direction of the temple?"

He stood there for a few minutes, finishing the rest of his meagre breakfast.

But she didn't respond. Baiyun frowned. He could still sense her field of spirit sense, so it seemed she was just ignoring him for whatever reason.

Wait. Was it because she was still unhappy about him enrolling in the Martial Temple? Baiyun shook his head in frustration.

At the very least, he knew the general direction of the temple. That would have to do for now.

Baiyun did a few stretches in preparation for a long run. He only had about an hour to get to his destination, so there was no time to dawdle.

He lowered himself slightly and bent his knees, then took off with a sprint! Around him, the grass and trees turned into blurs of green as he cut directly through, ignoring any paths. He had no choice as he didn't know which road would take him there. Grass sap stained his shoes from the speed he ran.

The pleasant breeze rushed over him. With his soul bringing out the full potential of the Rock Ginseng Pill, he felt stronger than ever!

In the past, were he to run at such speeds, he would be out of breath in just a few minutes. The pill had only strengthened his muscles moderately, but its true purpose was to increase his stamina.

Baiyun ran and ran, finally coming to a stop 30 minutes later. He took a few deep breaths, reaching into his bag for a water gourd, drinking in satisfaction. This was the might of pills and elixirs! In his eyes, they were the very pillars the cultivation world rested on.

But just as quickly as he thought that, he let out a sigh. When would the day come when he could get his hands on a pill furnace once more? Perhaps this was what lovesick couples felt after being separated for years, wishing for nothing more than to be reunited once more.

He continued his run uneventfully, until a forested mountain came into view. Baiyun paused his steps and did a double take. Had he gone in the wrong direction?

Luckily, he had learnt a simple trick to verify that. He closed his eyes and focused on the field of spirit sense around him. The WanLing sect left no corner unsupervised, countless spirits standing guard everywhere. The same spirits were usually assigned to the exact same posts each day, so Baiyun could tell them apart with their spirit sense fields.

So all he needed to do was confirm the same spirits were nearby! He wondered if the spirits would be insulted if they knew he was using them as bootleg compasses.

Baiyun sensed the large field of a wood spirit and immediately knew he was in the right place. It had not shown itself to him, but he recognised it as the one keeping watch of the temple. He continued his run towards the landmass.

As he got closer, it became clear why he didn't realise the temple had been on a mountain. It was missing its tip, its upper third sliced off to create a large flat ground for the temple to stand on. With such a huge cross section and a dense forest engulfing its entirety, it was no wonder he didn't realise he was so far above ground level.

Baiyun looked to the skies and tried to make some vague time estimates. It was a bit hard to glean with the clouds in the way, but it seemed he had about 20 minutes left if he wanted to arrive an hour early.

Unacceptable. He needed to hurry! He ran for the nearest path up the mountain.

But a peculiar scent entered his nose. Baiyun's eyes widened slightly; he squatted down suddenly and skidded to a stop before a tree. On its bark was a brown bracket fungus covered in little white spots.

He grabbed it and used Divine Touch, immediately sensing its contents. It was a herb rich in Earthsoul essence! It was also full of poisonous essences, but it was nothing he couldn't deal with. He hurriedly pulled out an axe and harvested it, tossing it into his bag.

Baiyun scooted around the tree and to a pile of crumbly soil. Tall sprigs of delicate purple grass sprouted, as if peeking shyly above the shoulders of its robust green cousins that surrounded it. Baiyun's eyes lit up as he harvested them all.

Golden fern shoots! Purple bamboo shoots! Some kind of fragrant mugwort! Small blue flowers! Black walnuts! Even a cabbage of sorts. What was a domesticated plant doing here?

None of these were spirit plants, but Baiyun ran around the mountain harvesting ingredient after ingredient, giddy with joy. This mountain was a treasure trove!

But he suddenly froze. What was he doing? He was here to train!

To think someone his age had gotten so carried away... Baiyun coughed to himself, feeling somewhat embarrassed. Luckily, no one was watching. He put the last of his spoils into his bag and hurried up the remainder of the path, grateful that his search had taken him closer to the peak.

Soon, the mountain's bisected peak came back into view. He had no time to take the nearby stairs, so he grabbed the edge of the mountain’s flat peak and climbed on. There was still a bit of forest left to go, so Baiyun cut through it with an awkward zigzagged run between the trees, finally arriving at the temple.

He wiped the sweat off his face and panted as he glanced at the skies. Just in time!

Mohei stood alone at the training grounds, swinging a spear that glinted under the morning sun. He turned to Baiyun and tossed a mace over, the weapon clattering to the ground beside his target's feet.

"Baiyun! Let's spar!" Mohei said as he swung his spear through the air.

Baiyun stared at the boy's earnest eyes speechlessly. He really wasn't in the mood for this.

"That's your speciality weapon, isn't it?" Mohei asked.

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"No. I only picked it because the wolf was armoured." Baiyun said.

"Then do you want me to give you another weapon?"

"No need."

Baiyun tossed the mace back to Mohei. Then he began to do quick stretches and punching routines, the temple's warm up exercises.

"I see... You need to prepare first, to avoid injury." Mohei said thoughtfully.

Baiyun nodded silently. Seeing that, Mohei decided to follow suit, doing the exercises as well. The two of them performed punches and kicks, this time Mohei's at a normal speed.

The clouds above drifted far away as they trained. 30 minutes had passed; Mohei began to grow impatient.

"Baiyun... this is taking a while. When can we start fighting?" he grumbled.

"Just a few more minutes." Baiyun shrugged.

“Fine!"

The two resumed training. The gentle wind swayed the trees and yellow leaves fell, sliding across the flat training grounds. Soon, another 30 minutes had passed.

Baiyun took a quick peek at Mohei and realised the boy had gotten fully immersed in the training routine. He held back a laugh. This kid was too gullible! Once the other kids arrived, he'd weasel out of the spar. But he frowned a moment later.

Weren't the disciples supposed to arrive already? They were still the only two here. He wondered if he had miscalculated the time somehow.

"Mohei. Where are the rest of the disciples?" Baiyun asked finally.

"Eh?" Mohei snapped out of his trance.

Then a smug look overtook him.

"Hah! There's no training today, stupid!" he laughed. "But I came here anyway because I knew you didn't know!"

"Oh."

Baiyun stood there blankly.

"So, let's spar-" Mohei said. "Wait, where are you going?"

He yelled as Baiyun suddenly took off running.

"Later!"

Echoes of Mohei's angry shouts came from the distance.

Baiyun laughed as he rushed back down the mountain. Now that he knew today was a day off, how could he miss out on the treasures of the mountain?

He had already collected 13 types of essences. With a little more luck, he'd find all the ingredients for Aoyang's Qi Recharge pellet!

It was a pill he invented in his past life, during his younger years. Back then, he was so proud of it that he even named it after himself. Most pills and elixirs would only contain the qi of whatever ingredients were used. But Aoyang had a certain idea. What if cheap mortal ingredients were used, but with a composition that absorbed qi?

A pill made solely of mortal ingredients, but capable of absorbing qi to become a qi pill! But it was ultimately fated to be a novelty; mortal ingredients couldn't hold much qi after all.

Worse, he later found out there was already a similar invention: Spirit Pills. They were pills made with actual spirit herbs, placed into specialised miniature formations that would form an artificial spirit within, one that could cultivate the pill.

Baiyun suddenly remembered his time with his disciples in his past life. Of the many life stories he'd tell them of til they grew bored, this was one of them. He missed how easily they could be coerced into listening to his past accomplishments.

A slight sadness entered his heart, but he shook it off. That was enough reminiscing. Either way, while the pill might have been useless to his past self, it might prove useful to him this life.

Only two more essences were needed for the pellet, one of water and one of fire. But the third and last ingredient he needed would be the most annoying. He needed a reagent suited to holding qi, often a property found only in qi absorbent ores deep underground. And it also needed to be safe for consumption, narrowing the list further.

Baiyun sighed. In his previous life, any ingredient he lacked could just be casually bought from alchemy workshops at his convenience.

He paused.

Or was that still an option? Baiyun stoked his chin as an idea suddenly came into mind. While servants didn't usually have access to the sect's currency, what if he asked Guan Qiang to reward with it for winning the combat trial with the wolves next week?

It might be possible for him to head to the main district of the WanLing sect, to buy the herbs he needed directly! Baiyun nodded to himself, pleased by the idea.

There was also the option of heading back down the underground caverns to search for spirit herbs and the ores he needed. Even that poisonous fungus was far more valuable than what he had gathered here, though sadly, it had been destroyed in the fight with the serpent.

But Baiyun had no desire to reenter the underground caverns now that he was wise to its dangers. He had only resorted to that previously out of desperation, not knowing how else he would cultivate. It wasn't as if he could wait several more years for his next breakthrough from just herb discards from the servant canteen.

If he did return, it would only be after he had gotten far stronger, perhaps after breaking through into Elixir Condensation!

In the Classic path of cultivation, Foundational Establishment came after Qi Gathering. But Baiyun planned to follow the same cultivation path he followed in his past life: Elixir Stream. It had notable flaws when compared to the Classic path, but it was far more suited for an alchemist.

Baiyun resumed his search, wandering around aimlessly and poking at random plants. Not being able to use divine sense without alerting the spirits was quite annoying. But the sound of distant flowing water made him pause. Good, he would be able to find herbs with water essences there!

He followed his ears and weaved between the trees, soon entering a clearing.

A massive lake parted the endless forest, a thin stream flowing through it. Its waters were greenish, its depths cloaked by the sea of lily pads and duckweed that covered every inch of its surface. Several deer and rabbits drank from the water happily, a pile of discarded duckweeds at their side.

Baiyun felt their qi sense in the air; to think there would be spirit animals here! He hesitated for a moment but approached the lake, seeing that they seemed fairly docile.

One of the rabbits raised its ears and turned over to stare at him. It was much larger than the rest and surprisingly muscular, perhaps the leader of the group. The rest of the rabbits seemed uninterested, some even dipping their paws into the water to wash them. As for the deer, they did not spare him a single glance.

Baiyun wasn't surprised by their lack of reaction. The servant body was a prison of qi, so he appeared to be just a harmless mortal. Not that they'd have worried about a 3rd level Qi Gatherer either.

He pulled out a pitchfork from his bag and marched over to the lake. The spirit beasts all turned to look, their attention drawn to the weapon. But he only stabbed it towards the lake, digging out various aquatic plants and tossing them to the side.

Baiyun poked at his soggy "harvest" with a finger and frowned. All of these were useless! Within the water, there was little he could do to discern essence from smell alone, nor could he easily touch plants to identify them.

The clump of lily pads further into the lake had flower buds that looked promising. But to retrieve them, he would need to swim into the lake waters, which seemed surprisingly deep.

But Baiyun did not want to be mauled by crocodiles, alligators, large predatory fishes or whatever potentially lurked beneath. Did they even dwell in waters like this? If Guang Qiang was responsible, he'd have removed any threats for the safety of his disciples; they had to climb the mountain to reach his temple after all.

Still, it wasn't a risk he was willing to take. He needed to confirm if anything was hiding beneath.

Baiyun stood around and thought for a moment. After glancing at the rabbits, a ridiculous thought suddenly entered his mind, almost enough to make him laugh.

He walked towards the rabbits and pulled out a few strands of purple grass from before, waving it at them.

The muscular rabbit hopped over, a few of its underlings in tow. A rabbit suddenly leapt towards the grass in Baiyun's hand, but he managed to pull it back in time.

"There!"

Baiyun suddenly tossed the grass into the water. The rabbits stared at him in confusion.

For a moment, they all stared at each other in awkward silence.

...well, he wasn't sure why he thought they would jump into the water merely for some grass. It really was quite the silly idea.

Baiyun reached for the water and prepared to take the grass back. But a few small bubbles suddenly appeared beneath its surface as something beneath tugged at the sprigs.

A few small fishes showed themselves, nibbling on the grass. Even under the slightly murky waters, their scales glimmered a familiar vibrant blue. He immediately recognised it; that glimmer was caused by water essence! If only he had a net.

Baiyun knew he needed to be a little more creative. He pulled out a bottle gourd and drank the last of its water, then snatched the purple grass from fishes and stuffed it into the gourd.

With his "trap" now prepared, he forced it underwater and wedged it into place with a rock, watching as bubbles rushed out, a sign of the lake water filling the gourd.

Baiyun backed away slowly, not wanting to scare the fish away. But he did not have to wait long.

A few moments later, the first little fish swam in. He laughed as he stood to the side with the rabbits, watching as more of the tiny fishes flooded in. His idea worked this time!

Baiyun snatched the gourd out of the water and stuffed the cork back on. He quickly probed the gourd with divine touch and confirmed the fish indeed had the essences he needed.

Too easy. He walked off in triumph, but turned around as he heard the rustle of grass behind him.

The rabbits hopped after him; one of them even began to tug at his pants with its teeth. Baiyun's eyes twitched. What exactly were they thinking?

He took off running with one rabbit hanging to his leg. Behind him, the swarm of rabbits gave chase!