After giving her a ring through the grumpy old man-ephone, the sect leader arrived in a matter of minutes. As soon as she arrived she immediately looked at Yan Qingxue in confusion.

Wasn't she the Yan girl? The one engaged to that bastar- that boy, Chen Jun? What was she doing with her disciples? Actually, what had happened with her disciples today, anyway? What was up with the whole following in secret thing? What was that about?

Well, it wasn't too important. If they were together like this, then she could be sure Will hadn't done anything that bad, since Ranna would be more emotionally perturbed. The main issue was what the Yan girl was doing with them.

“I see you made a new friend, Will?”

She tried to scope the situation out first.

Will seemed weirdly deep in thought for the question that was posed, and stopped being deep in thought weirdly quickly as well.

“Maybe.”

Well, that was just great. A non-answer. What now?

Will thankfully explained the situation, not in the mood for another back and forth question dodge session.

“She's coming with us.”

The sect leader felt like she should probably take offense at how brazenly this kid had invited someone into her home, but she'd heard about the Yan girl's situation already, and pitied her a fair bit. If Will wanted to help ease her burdens, then just like she'd done when the Yan's contacted her this morning, she wouldn't get in the way.

“Alright. Come along then.”

She motioned the three to hop on her sword, under the shocked faces of both Ranna and Yan Qingxue.

They arrived at the house as quickly as always. Everyone hopped off and went to move inside, though hesitantly so in Yan Qingxue's case.

As they walked, Will went to talk to the sect leader.

“Can we talk in a bit?”

The sect leader, of course, replied in the affirmative. Will was her disciple, and she didn't really have anything that pressing to do. Most of the scheduled events had been the exact same for like a hundred years, so most of the managing work had been sorted out by now. Though, there was a bit more for the admission test after the Will incident.

“Just ask a servant when you're ready. They'll know where I am.”

Will beamed brightly and thanked her, then headed off to deal with Ranna and Yan Qingxue. They were both just standing in the hallway unsure what to do right now.

“Fowwow me.”

Ranna and Yan Qingxue obediently followed, not knowing what else to do. After a bit of walking, Ranna noticed that they seemed to be heading directly for her room. This was then confirmed, as Will walked up to her room and opened the door.

“Why did you take us to my room?”

Yan Qingxue looked between Ranna and Will in confusion, having assumed this was Will's room with how casually they'd walked in.

Will looked at Ranna like she was an idiot.

“Don't you wemember what she was doing when you met?”

“Singing in a spring?”

“Bathing! She was bathing!”

Yan Qingxue looked like she wanted to say something but decided not to. Instead she followed along as Will led them to Ranna's bathroom.

The bathrooms at the sect leader's place were a lot like the ones at the waiting area, only with a design less like a public bathhouse, being more personal instead.

Past the door was a big open room, with a huge adjustable pool in the floor, and the door to the bathroom and and the door to the shower room and the door leading to a more spring style area were along the walls. It was very nice. Will took them to the spring area.

He was immediately surprised to see that the spring seemed to just be outside with no walls. It was only upon further inspection that he saw there was a forcefield. After reading a note on the wall that explained it, he learned that it was a one-way see-through forcefield. All in all, it seemed perfect for someone who liked to bathe outside like Yan Qingxue.

The area within the forcefield was beautiful, with a waterfall feature, plants that looked all cool and fantasy-like, and a bunch of amenities as well. The view was great too, being on the tall mountain the sect leader lived on.

Will hadn't actually seen this area in his room. He'd only stepped into the bathroom once and then left, he hadn't actually explored it.

After being brought to such a nice spring, Yan Qingxue looked pretty happy. Will turned to the two and spoke.

“Now get undwessed and play in the water.”

Yan Qingxue had in fact put clothes on after they left the spring. Though she seemed pretty close to forgetting at the time. She seemed prone to forgetting she was naked from what Will had seen. He attributed it to her resistance to cold from her ice powers making the temperature difference between clothes and unclothed less apparent.

After a look to Ranna that got returned with a shrug, she undressed again, Ranna following suit after washing the makeup for her crossdressing off. Yan Qingxue looked at her face, confirming that the second picture Will showed was in fact of her normal look.

“Oh, Ranna!”

Will called out.

“Hm?”

“If she twies to go home, don't let her!”

Ranna looked confused and against the idea, while Yan Qingxue was just confused.

“It's fow her own safety.”

Ranna looked even more confused.

“Her own safety? What would she be in danger from?”

Will looked her dead in the eyes, face an emotionless mask. After Ranna was sufficiently freaked out (after a couple seconds), Will smiled innocently.

“You know what.”

Ranna didn't, actually. She had some ideas, sure, but no knowledge. Either way, it was scary, and she decided it was probably in Yan Qingxue's best interests to stay here.

The reason she didn't know was mostly because there was nothing to know, though. Will just wanted her to stay here. He could come up with some reasons if he had to, but he was pretty much just lying currently.

Yan Qingxue watched the whole situation in confusion, not understanding why Ranna would be getting so scared over a toddler.

Will stuck around for a while after that, watching Ranna and Yan Qingxue interact, but he got bored quickly since they weren't really doing anything interesting. Thus, he headed off to meet the sect leader. Though Sarah butted in while he was on the way.

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Will ignored her.

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She understood perfectly. Will being bored explained most things he did, really.

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Sarah cut him off.

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He continued.

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Will had slowed down his walk to give Sarah time to speak, so he only now reached a servant to get directions from. The servant brought him over to the door to an office and left. Will opened the door and stepped inside.

Inside was the sect leader, lounging in a chair with her feet on the table, eating from what looked vaguely similar to a bag of chips. As soon as she saw him she put her feet down and placed the maybe-chips down on the table.

She didn't seem like she was distressed because she got caught or something like that. She just exited her chill mode and entered her normal mode.

“Have a seat wherever.”

Will took the seat across from her.

“What is it you wanted to talk about?”

He had a few things actually, but he just started with one for now.

“Beast taming.”

That was a topic, certainly, but she was expecting a question. This always seemed to happen between them. Was she just bad at asking questions? Was that it?

“Alright. Beast taming. Do you want to learn it?”

Will shook his head.

“I alweady know how. Weww, fow one beast anyway.”

An actual answer. She could respond to this!

“So you tamed a beast?”

Will nodded.

“What kind?”

Will almost said Colossal Lightning Snake but decided not to.

“A big snake.”

“That's nice. Where is it now?”

“Not sure. I weft it to wun off somewhere when I got near the sect.”

She didn't get why someone would just… leave their tamed beast? It's not like anyone would have an issue. As long as it's with a person, it's assumed to be a tamed beast, especially right outside of a sect.

“Why?”

“Weasons. I can stiww talk to it though.”

She decided to not dig too deep.

“What's its name?”

Will realized he'd never actually named it.

“Haven't named it yet.”

Weird. So weird. Did this kid not do anything normal?

“Alright. In that case, what do you want to know about beast taming?”

“Other stuff.”

Great. A non-answer again.

“Alright. I'll go pick up some beast taming stuff for you, then. Is there anything else?”

Will nodded.

“Can you make sure Yan Qingxue doesn't leave?”

Wait, was that… that sounded like a common feeling of not wanting a friend to leave! Which meant it was normal. She didn't think the kid had it in them.

“She'll need to leave eventually. But she can always come back. I'll make sure of it, okay?”

Will shook his head while the sect leader delighted in the cute childish behavior of her little disciple.

“It's fow her safety.”

The sect leader paused. Safety? Huh?

“What do you mean?”

“What if she's at Chen Jun's house when it goes kaboom?”

She didn't know what “kaboom” meant but from the arms expanding gesture that Will did while saying it, she got the impression it probably had something to do with an explosion.

Which meant this wasn't the selfish wants of a child, but preparations for a bombing? This kid really couldn't be normal after all.

“Why would Chen Jun's house go… “kaboom”.”

She emulated the gesture Will had done.

“Because I blow it up.”

Yeah, she already knew that would be the answer.

She probably should say to not do that. But she kind of hated Chen Jun. He was also incredibly suspicious. She sighed.

“Do you have to?”

He nodded.

“Yeah.”

Of course that was the answer.

“Whatever. As long as you don't get caught.”

Will didn't have to worry about that. He wouldn't get caught. He had stealth.

Will beamed brightly.

“Thanks!”

She hesitantly smiled back.

“Alright. Then, is that it?”

Will thought for a moment, then came to the conclusion it was.

“Yep. Bye.”

He got up and headed out.

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<<… I guess I can understand the sentiment.>>

Will skipped along happily. He didn't actually know how he would make an explosion. He needed to figure that out. For now, though, he wanted to check on his pals in the spring.

He found they were still not doing anything. He headed back to his room.

Once he arrived he brought out the pill he'd bought yesterday. He held it before him and inhaled.

He placed the energy he'd sucked from the pill in his third dantian where the SDSMG used to be for now as he realized what he'd done. He looked in his hand, at the pill still sitting there.

He'd just made the pill a dud. He found that really funny. It just did nothing now. He put the pill in his ring and turned back to the energy he'd taken from it.

It was violent and pulsing like a raging inferno. Interesting. Inferno. Fire.

He brought out the fire that never goes out but does nothing and put it in the dantian with the angry energy, then watched closely. It seemed like mixing them had worked, at least to some degree.

The fire looked redder, like the energy was, but more than that it looked like it was burning in fast motion. It was weird. He took out the other nine angry pills and inhaled the energy from all of them, mixing it with the fire.

It was moving incredibly fast now. He decided to do another test.

He took a piece of the fast fire and slapped it on his spiritual roots. It luckily didn't spread, just staying in one spot. It didn't burn them up, either, since the fire couldn't actually burn things, just burn on them.

Now that he could control it a bit, he brought a wooden board from his ring, then sent a tiny piece of the fire to it. The entire board set on fire instantly. Almost instantly, his hand did as well. He inhaled all of it back in before it spread too far.

Interestingly, he had more of it now. He put the new stuff on his spiritual roots. As he did he noticed it didn't feel like it did as much as the first time. Was there a difference between the first piece of fire and this one?

He looked really closely, trying to find a difference. Then he saw it. The first flame was realer than the second. Weird.

He pulled out the qi recovery pills he was given by the Dragon Flame Clan and inhaled the energy out of them all, putting it in the dantian with the fire. The fire immediately turned purple as the blue of the new pills mixed with the red from the earlier ones.

It didn't seem to do much though. He decided to try using Harmony With Nature on it. He pulled back the piece of main flame on his spiritual roots, which was hard. He usually just put things on, so taking them off was a challenge.

Once he had the main flame all together, he began. It wasn't hard. The flame was very “social” in a way. It wasn't a self-contained thing like the SDSMG. It was something that spread around.

After he finished the first half of Harmony With Nature, he noticed something. The pill energy was left behind. And combined together, more than it seemed like it should be.

As he began to do the stretches, he felt that feeling again. Another improvement was possible.

He began doing his gross stretches, only this time, there was fire moving in patterns along his body. Up his arm, down the other side, a little swirl on his back, a spiral down the other arm, stuff like that. Then he pushed it a bit further.

The flame now came off his body at parts, surroundings him in rings of flame. One would jump from his shoulder, do a ring around his head and land on his chest. Flames moved in strange patterns all around him. Then he took it even further.

The flames began warping, becoming misshapen and odd as he mixed in the SDSMG abilities. He finished soon after and took a look at the flame again.

He finally knew what it was. And he knew why the Dragon Flame Clan thought it was useless too.

It was an alchemy flame. Kind of. Not like a normal one, though.

This was a flame that, like, did alchemy. It was a cauldron and a flame at the same time. He could make a pill right now if he had the ingredients. Sadly, he only had one of the ingredients in a pill and a bunch of poison. Well, he had corpses, too, but he didn't have any recipes with those yet.

It was pretty cool. He was definitely going to show off with it at some point.

He looked at his third dantian, where the fused pill energy was. The flame let him tell what it was, somehow. It was a deviated strengthening qi recovery pill. Which was pretty much a more time-consuming way to say “literally useless garbage”. Even Will couldn't make use of this thing. Well, maybe he could eventually, but he couldn't cycle it like was necessary to use it. That was also something he learned from the flame, that it was used by cycling it.

Well, that was fun and cool and all, but it wasn't very useful right now. He couldn't exactly make a “blow up Chen Jun's house” pill. He would love to do that, but he was pretty sure that wasn't possible. Definitely not with the ingredients he had on hand right now. That being pretty much nothing.

So… what now? He didn't really have much else left to play with. He looked through his rings, trying to find something useful. Then he came across the stuff he stole from the Sick Freak. Specifically the stuff he took from his trials.

Sure, the trials were tacky, stupid, lazy, and unoriginal, and sure they didn't do shit to the beasts that barged through them, but the scraps may very well be explodable.

Will took out one that he'd seen shoot lightning one and looked closely. It looked weird, had a weird shape, and he didn't know how it worked.

He brought out a demonic one. It looked weird, had a weird shape, and he didn't know how it worked.

The same situation repeated itself ten more times until he gave up. He had no idea how he'd put this crap together to do anything, much less explode a whole house.

Wait. Put a bunch of things together. To do something. A specific thing. That was what Sarah did. She made a legendary sword out of a bunch of random crap, so just making it explode should be a piece of cake for her, right?

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Fair enough. He specified.

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Will sent Sarah an image of everything he had in his rings, along with all the information he knew about each one.

He remembered how the last thing she'd crafted could kill immortals and clarified.

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She finished looking through the materials over the course of a few seconds. Will heard her scoff, seemingly unintentionally. Like it just slipped out.

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And so they got to work on bomb making. Will struggled a bit with getting things precise, but Sarah had already accounted for that and front loaded all the parts where fucking up wouldn't matter much so he could get practice while keeping the necessary level of precision low in general as well.

It was honestly pretty fun. Like an advanced robotics kit, but with more supernatural stuff.

It took a few hours, but it was finished without issue. And it wasn't even that expensive. All in all, he was down the parts from the Sick Freak's trials, the corpse of a big raccoon looking thing, and the corpse of an ox that had two floating heads. Better yet, it had a remote detonator.

Will had to admit, Sarah was right to call herself a genius. Now all he had to do was bring it to the site and kaboom it. But it was also a bit late. He put the bomb and the detonator in his ring, then headed off to go check on the spring buddies.

Opening the door to Ranna's room without knocking, he found them sitting on the bed in pajamas chatting. He waved at them and left.

He headed back to his room, deciding to cultivate once more and then go to bed. He took out what looked like a giraffe with a short neck and placed his hand on it. After a few minutes, the corpse 'pop'ped, and he felt squished. He started practicing his new and improved scary stretches, now with pyrotechnics.

He finished up quickly. He noticed that the new cells seemed to mesh better with the old ones now. Interesting.

Now that he'd finished his cultivation, he hopped in bed and soon fell asleep. He needed his rest.

He had a house to explode tomorrow.