The old man and the boy sat in the grove in silence for some time. Alex wasn’t wrong – the night was beautiful. Of course, he would’ve preferred to spend it in meditation or if he had to spend it with another person, his first choice would’ve been a hot girl and not a smelly old man, but one couldn’t have always what they wanted, right?

“Who exactly are you?” Lou Chen finally broke the silence, “Who taught you the ‘Soul merge’?”

“The ‘Soul merge’? Never heard of this technique.” Alex said, but seeing the old man furrowing his brows again, rushed to explain, “No, seriously – I’ve never heard of a technique by that name. Although, truth to be said, I didn’t learn many techniques back home.”

Even though Lou Chen was not the smartest person on the planet, he was experienced enough and clearly saw there was something unusual about his companion.

“You want me to slap the truth out of you?” He asked in annoyance.

“No, seriously!” Alex said, “I understand you’re some kind of a local big-shot – you can check on me if you like to. I’m Alex Long, from the Long family – around two months of travel distance to the west. It’s just a small aristocratic family …”

“Wait! Didn’t you say you were from Ma family?” Lou Chen asked and Alex felt an urge to facepalm.

“Ye! Why the hell I would say my real name to a random innkeeper?”

“But how can I know you are telling me the truth now?” Lou Chen furrowed his brows.

“Seriously? You are calling out fancy names of Qi techniques like ‘Soul merge’ and can’t even tell if a child is lying from his Qi fluctuations?” Alex asked in exasperation.

He was used to dealing with smart old people like Adil and talking to this guy was starting to give him headache. But seeing Lou Chen’s expression turn ugly, he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you. My conversation skills might be lacking – I haven’t talked much to others since I left home. In fact, even before that …”

“Alright, I know you have no clue what the ‘Soul merge’ is, but there has to be something similar.” Lou Chen interrupted him.

Noticing the surprise on Alex’s face, he explained, “You see, it’s not a ‘Qi’ technique. But don’t get your hopes up – I’m not telling you about it. It’s taught only to the core disciples and ...”

He abruptly stopped and Alex felt how not only the mood, even temperature in surroundings dropped.

This old guy behaved like a moody teenager ... but then Alex understood.

“So that’s why you were planning the assassination attempt! They killed your disciple!” He said in realization.

“Not ‘they’! But ...” Lou Chen corrected, “Sigh … anyway. Formally Hui Dong went over to the Immortal realm – it’s the highest honor any disciple of the Immortal Gate sect can have.”

The last part the old man said sarcastically while forcing out a laugh.

“Except there is no such thing, right?” Alex said and sighed as well, “The world is f*cked up. But … you know, old man, there is always tomorrow. You might still have your vengeance … just … don’t plan it so openly next time and you might succeed.”

Lou Chen shook his head and said, “That’s a fool’s dream. The sect master is too strong – so strong many actually think he is the God, but I … I am not very smart …”

“Just run your plans by me the next time you think of doing something and you’ll be fine.” Alex laughed back and, seeing the weird look on Lou Chen’s face added, “Don’t tell me you’ve said too much and now are going to kill a child! Aren’t we friends? We ate and drank together so many times, didn’t we?”

Only now Lou Chen realized he carelessly spoke with a stranger about the most sensitive subjects. He awkwardly scratched his head not knowing what to do, but Alex only laughed. He enjoyed teasing this old man of monstrous strength and simple mind.

Of course, Alex understood that his own playful attitude and sometimes the inability to hold back was the side effect of his child’s body, just like every single time he was reincarnated. But in this case he was certain it didn’t matter – he could swear that the old man was harmless through and through.

The duo spent the night chatting. They talked about myriad of things – from cultivation and immortality to food and drinks. Even though Lou Chen was a bit of a simpleton, he had lived a long life and was quite knowledgeable, and thus – an interesting person to converse with. They didn’t share any particular cultivation techniques though and mostly spoke about life, and it was hard to say who gained more from the discussion.

When the sun came up, Alex finally had a clear understanding about the Immortal Gate sect and it’s politics. Turns out his new acquaintance was one of the fifteen grand elders of the sect and theoretically had quite a lot of influence, but in reality didn’t care for it at all.

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The fifteen grand elders were directly reporting to the sect master and acted similar to ministers, each overseeing their own fields – military, education, medicine etc. Long time ago Lou Chen was one of the three generals who lead the sect’s forces in conquering the last independent continent, but afterwards stepped down from his position and stopped paying attention to inner and outer politics. On Alex’s teasing ‘how a person like him could become a military leader’, Lou Chen blushed and awkwardly explained that he was actually very good at fighting, but the troops were mostly commanded by the ‘other two’.

After retiring he intended to leave the sect, but as it turned out it was impossible to renounce his position of the grand elder since it was hereditary, thus he had to ‘keep showing up at the boring meetings’. The passing of his beloved disciple, Hui Dong, was also instigated by one of the other grand elders, although technically it was called ‘transcending to the Immortal realm’ and was executed by the sect master himself.

Lou Chen couldn’t understand the reasons for such scheming and much more preferred a direct confrontation. It was only logical that if someone wanted his position they could fight for it, even if it was to the death. Since he could not step down from the grand elder’s position on his own, he would’ve gladly had a good fight instead, but to provoke him through killing his disciple was a ‘dishonorable move’.

Alex guessed correctly – there was no such thing as Immortal realm or immortality, at least Lou Chen thought so based on his intuition, but there were many strange things he could not explain. For example, he had no clue how old the sect master actually was. He had been a middle aged man when Lou Chen’s master joined the sect and during the time his master’s master joined as well. And now, when Lou Chen was over three hundred years old, the sect master was still the same middle aged man.

At first Lou Chen, just like everyone else, believed the concept of immortality, but during the past centuries he noticed minuscule changes in the sect master’s appearance and every time they happened when one of the most talented disciples ‘traversed to the Immortal realm’. A tad larger eyes or a longer nose by a width of a hair or two, or something else similarly inconspicuous that after a month returned to the previous state indicated physiological changes the sect master was experiencing and for some reason Lou Chen thought it mattered a lot, although refused to explain why. The rest of assumptions were based on his own intuition, but that was not what shocked Alex.

What Lou Chen considered ‘normal’, Alex saw as anything but that. First of all – the time flow. According to Lou Chen, the inner sect and the core part of it had special formations that altered the flow of time – that was the reason for the longevity of its core members. Apparently, compared to the few other grand elders, even Lou Chen with his three hundred plus years was a toddler, although an incredibly talented one. The formal version was that these formations were brought over from the Immortal realm hundreds of millennia ago, but Lou Chen seriously doubted it.

The second part that shocked Alex was the ‘Soul merge’ – the technique Lou Chen accused him practicing earlier. Although the old man was vague in describing it, Alex figured it was not a Qi technique per se and had more to do with the soul particles. And it was not a creation of a soul brand either, but at the same time somehow increased the physical capabilities of the practitioner. It also had something to do with reincarnation, because when Alex cautiously explained he had memories of another life, Lou Chen knowingly nodded as if it was something he already expected.

Be as it may, when the sun was already above the trees, both parties stood up to say goodbyes, satisfied with the time spent.

“So, what are your plans now?” Lou Chen asked.

“I’ll go take a look at the exams. I want to know the level I have to reach in five years.” Alex said.

“What? Why?” Lou Chen got upset, “Didn’t you listen to anything I said? The sect is a terrible place!”

“Yes and no.” Alex patiently explained, “It is terrible if you are part of the big politics, but if you are a random nobody like I – it’s a great place. Especially if you get to learn and see new things, and leave as soon as you’re done.”

“Then what exactly are you looking for?” Lou Chen asked.

“First of all, I want to get the access to the library. With how big …” Alex wanted to explain, but Lou Chen interrupted him.

“What’s a library?”

Hearing that question Alex almost fainted on the spot. No matter how simple the old man was, he was not that stupid.

Gathering his willpower to maintain a straight face, Alex explained, “It’s the place where all the knowledge is gathered in a written form – usually books and scrolls. You see – I really like to read.”

“Oh, I understand.” Lou Chen nodded, “But you’re out of luck – there is no such place in the sect. After the extermination of the mind cultivators few thousand years ago, the sect master destroyed their knowledge along with them. And when we conquered the other countries we destroyed their writings as well. According to the standards of the Immortal Gate, everything has to be passed on from master to disciple in an oral form.”

“Sigh …” Alex shook his head in disappointment. He could understand why the biggest tyrant of the world would try to control the flow of information this way, but it felt wrong, especially after spending over twenty years working in the library, copying books and absorbing the knowledge, “How barbaric. Well … in that case – there are two things I want to see in the sect. First is the time altering formations you mentioned – I’m really curious about the principles behind those. And the second – there has to be a place or maybe even several with particularly rich natural Qi. I want to spend a few decades practicing in such.”

“Oh? If it’s only that I can help you out.” Lou Chen’s eyes lit up, “You probably won’t get much from staring at those rock formations, just like anyone else, but the last part is easy. Even though there are no natural Qi springs in the sect, we have quite a few Qi gathering formations. Even my residence has one – you can use it if you want to.”

“What about you? Where will you train if I take up your Qi pond?” Alex asked.

“‘Qi pond’? What a weird name … but it fits well.” Lou Chen said, “Don’t worry about it – I reached the cultivation bottleneck over hundred years ago and I don’t think I can improve anymore. Just be my guest and practice.”

“But are the outsiders even allowed to enter the inner sect?” Alex doubtfully asked.

The old man was honest in his offer, but there was no need to put him in a difficult position, especially considering the political situation.

“Hmph! I’m still one of the grand elders and if I wish to bring a guest to my home, I want to see who’ll try to stop me!” Lou Chen proudly said, but then turned serious, “But I won’t teach you anything, especially the ‘Soul merge’!”

“Sure thing!” Alex happily agreed.

He had enough of his own techniques to practice and the creation and strengthening of the soul brand was an endless process. If there was an opportunity to spend a carefree life soaking in a Qi pond, he would not refuse such offer.