On the other side of the gate the scenery changed once again. The two mountain ranges came closer and the space between them now clearly resembled a long mountain valley. Of course, the evening added to the mysteriousness of it, but Alex guessed that during the day the thick forest in front of them was something completely out the ordinary.

“Welcome to the real Immortal Gate sect.” Lou Chen said. Then he pointed at the few tall stone slates that seemed much higher than the ones Alex previously saw and continued, “These big things are part of the time altering formation of the core sect. You’ll feel slight discomfort after entering, but just revolve Qi inside you and you’ll …”

“Wait! Lou Chen!” One of the grand elders suddenly arrived at their side.

Earlier he was one of the two who didn’t enjoy Tang Hai in ridiculing Lou Chen.

He glanced sideways at Alex and said, “Maybe let him prepare together with my newbies. You go ahead, I’ll take care of him.”

“Thanks, Wang Hao, but no need. He’ll be fine.” Lou Chen patted the man on the shoulder, “I’ll come by in few days, then we can talk.”

Then he grabbed Alex by the collar and disappeared in the distance leaving Wang Hao shaking his head and sighing.

“Who would’ve guessed … our monster found someone similar to him … as if it could’ve been any other way.” He murmured to himself and went back to the newly joined disciples.

Meanwhile Tang Hai already began instructing them.

“In order to enter the core sect, you’ll have to prepare for a couple of days to avoid the backlash and I’ll teach you a Qi technique that will allow you to do exactly that. Now, everyone, calm down … for you to be able to attend the sect master’s lecture you first have to get inside the formation, so shut up and listen!”

The crowd of the new core disciples immediately fell silent focusing their attention on the grand elder, other than Muchen who still stared in the distance, his eyes full of disbelief, even though Alex vanished already some time ago.

Truth to be said, Alex currently would’ve much more preferred to be with that group. The last thing he noticed was Lou Chen grabbing him and dashing away, just like he did last night, but this time Alex felt he might actually die. First of all entering the formation was like hitting a rock wall, except they didn’t stop and Alex felt as if his innards were left at the border and that was followed by splitting headache and nausea.

This time he couldn’t enjoy the sight of the world spinning around him – because of the pain that came form both inside and outside the body, he barely could focus on revolving Qi and at least that somehow helped him to stay conscious. Of course, Alex would’ve preferred to pass out, but there was no telling if in that case he would receive any lasting damage.

Fortunately half an hour later, that, needless to say, to Alex felt like an eternity, they arrived at a small pavilion. The moment Lou Chen let Alex go, he dropped on his knees and continuously vomited stomach juices until he passed out.

Seeing that Lou Chen awkwardly scratched his head and mumbled something that sounded like ‘oh, right, I forgot about that’. Afterwards he checked Alex’s condition and since it was more or less fine, carried him inside the pavilion.

Alex woke up only in the late afternoon. It took him a while to realize who and where he was, and then, silently cursing Lou Chen to himself, began to observe the surroundings.

He was currently lying on a stone floor in a room that has its walls and the floor covered in strange markings. In some ways they resembled the ones he had around the Qi pond back in the Academy of saints and soon he realized why. After sitting up in a cross-legged position and focusing on the Qi flow, he felt as if he suddenly were in the middle of a waterfall, except instead of water an endless amount of Qi washed through him. The strangest part was that without any effort he could feel hundreds, maybe even thousands of loose soul particles happily dancing around and the moment Alex noticed them, he immediately began to grab all he could and add to his soul brand.

Another day later Lou Chen came over a bit worried to take a look, but, after seeing Alex deep in meditation, left with a content smile all over his face. It was just a couple decades ago when he brought Hui Dong over and the boy recovered similarly quickly. The nostalgic memories did make Lou Chen sad, but he had experienced plenty losses in his life and knew how to deal with those, although the last one was particularly painful.

Alex came out only eight days later. Refreshed and full of strength he stepped out the pavilion to find himself at the side of a picturesque lake encircled by a thick forest. He stretched a bit, then threw off his clothes and jumped into the lake.

He couldn’t even remember when was the last time he went for a swim like this, thus he carelessly floated there for almost an hour until Lou Chen returned from who knows where.

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“You won’t catch anything like that.” He said, “Want me to teach you?”

Even before Alex replied, the old man broke off a longer branch, cleaned it from leaves making something like a primitive spear and jumped in the water with his cloth on. After a minute he surfaced with a loud laugh and a huge fish on that spear.

Quarter of an hour later they sat near the bonfire and roasted the catch.

“This is a ‘western trout’ – the tastiest fish in the world!” Lou Chen said.

“’Western trout?’” Alex repeated.

“Mhm. I brought them back when we conquered the western continent and since it’s a trout I named them ‘western trout’.” Lou Chen proudly explained, “Unfortunately I have to be frugal, otherwise my pond will become empty again.”

“Pond? Again?” Alex looked back at him in confusion, but then he remembered the view of Lou Chen’s ‘fishing’ style and everything became clear. If one methodically ‘harpooned’ everything in the lake, of course it would become empty in few days and in that case it could be considered a ‘pond’.

He said, “Your style of catching the fish is just wrong. If you had a master blacksmith around here, I could teach you how to fish properly.”

“Oh? That can be easily arranged.” Lou Chen immediately said, “Although a child teaching an old man how to fish sounds weird.”

“You don’t have to tell anyone about it, do you?” Alex grinned back.

“Sigh, but some people are capable of noticing things.” Lou Chen’s mood suddenly fell.

“Oh, right! I intended to ask you about it before you … well … almost killed me.” Alex said, “What is the deal with the sect leader’s headband? Have you ever seen him taking it off?”

“No, he always wears it. Why?” Lou Chen was confused.

“Remember I mentioned my memories from the other life? Well, according to those there are people who have enhanced mind abilities and sometimes they can grow a third eye. My theory is that your sect master is such person.” Alex explained, “I think some time ago he eliminated all the mind cultivators along with their techniques to become the remaining one in this world. That would make him untouchable.”

“I don’t think so. He had never used a mind technique before and I known him for three centuries.” Lou Chen shook his head.

“He used one on me just the other day.” Alex grinned back, “Except I know how to protect myself from that. Even if he is stronger than you, he can kill me, but can’t mess with my head.”

Seeing the surprise on Lou Chen’s face, Alex explained, “You see, that world practiced peculiar techniques that allowed to create something like shields from the loose soul particles and from what it looked like the sect master could see or feel the existence of the shield, but could not get past it. Want me to teach you how to make your own shield?”

“Loose soul particles?” Lou Chen asked in confusion and Alex could only shake his head and sigh. The old man had lost him half way.

“Well, how to explain it to you better?” Alex scratched his head, “You mentioned the ‘Soul merge’. It might also have something to do with particles of your soul. And there are similar particles that don’t belong to anyone, hence the ‘loose soul particles’.”

“And you can teach me that?” Lou Chen asked in a slight disbelief.

“Of course! I have to pay for the tasty fish somehow, don’t I?” Alex laughed back, “But one step at the time. Let’s first get that blacksmith of yours … oh, right! I hope he’s in the core sect – I don’t want to experience again the hell you put me through anytime soon.”

To Alex’s great surprise the ‘blacksmith’ turned out to be one of the grand elders he met few days ago – Wang Hao. It’s impossible to describe the look on the old man’s face when Lou Chen arrived and informed him he needed to ‘craft some fishing gear’. Luckily Alex managed to prevent a misunderstanding explaining their plan and inviting Wang Hao over to also enjoy the process of fishing the ‘new way’, and the next morning he arrived with a handful of freshly made hooks.

Truth to be said, the craftsmanship left Alex speechless. With pure strength of his fingers and without using Qi, he found it impossible to bend the thin hook that was only in a size of his little toe. Of course, he didn’t pry on methods and materials used, but seeing these hooks gave him an idea that could be executed later.

Earlier last night he asked Lou Chen to find some strings that could be used as the fishing lines and the old man brought braided silk, a bit thicker than hair, but incredibly durable. He, of course, mumbled something about ‘toys costing a fortune’, but Alex ignored him.

Now both old men curiously watched how Alex attached the line to a long, thin branch and tied a hook at the other end. Then he quickly caught a grasshopper, put it on the hook and threw it in the lake.

Unfortunately nothing happened for several minutes, but Alex didn’t become disheartened. He caught a different kind of bug, but no fish took fancy in that one. Afterwards he ran to the forest and dug up several kinds of worms and tried those as a bait, and only after a couple of hours he managed to catch a palm size trout.

The two elders watched Alex’s joy in disbelief, especially Lou Chen, who just yesterday ‘caught’ a fish five, six times larger and it took him only a minute. Both of them understood that Alex was more than capable of catching the fish more effectively the old fashioned way, but for some reason he chose this hassle.

The confusion lasted for several minutes until Wang Hao’s eyes lit up.

He laughed and said, “Hahaha! I understand! I finally understand! Lou Chen! Don’t look at me that way – it’s really simple! It’s a form of cultivation! It’s basically a fishing cultivation technique!”

Even Alex’s expression turned weird, but before he could say anything, Wang Hao continued, “Don’t you see? It involves patience, concentration, research and practice! All the necessary components of the cultivation! And in the end you are rewarded with a tasty meal! Damn, old man! Your student is a genius – he saw your reaction when you met Tang Hai and wants you to learn patience and restraint!”

While Long Chen’s eyes also lit up, Alex could only scratch his head in embarrassment. All he wanted was to provide some entertainment for the elderly, but if they thought it was a form of cultivation, it was fine as well.

The next days Alex spent in the small pavilion while Lou Chen mostly sat at the lake, fishing. The old man quickly fell in love with the activity and even Wang Hao came to visit every other day to enjoy it.