“What do you mean, who the hell am I?” Seph asked his teacher with a confused look on his face.
Still, wide-eyed, the ghost answered, “Soul attacks are very rare in the cultivation world, and they certainly don’t come this early to green horns like you! Also, that mantra was really ominous. That’s not how you show respect to the Lord of the World, Avalokitesvara, but the opposite. How did you come to possess this martial art?”
“In another room in the trial, I killed one of the Yin cultivators, and inside his spatial sack was this martial art. I have been practicing it ever since. My appraiser skill informed me that only one person throughout history completed this martial art. I only have one part of nine, but it’s really powerful.”
“That’s super interesting. I have no recollection of this martial art from when I was alive.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that, even lord Scorn had no clue about it, it certainly wasn’t a part of his trials!”
The ghost looked like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water on top of his head. “Did you say Scorn? The Scorn? Is he here?” The ghost kept looking around frantically, fearing that Scorn was close by.
“Yes, he actually made this entire labyrinth. Why, do you know him?”
Seph feigned ignorance in order to learn what the ghost remembered from his history with Scorn.
“Know him? Young man, he is the last thing that I can remember. My last memory is of me joining a campaign to take out Scorn. I was sure I could beat him with alchemy, and I don’t remember if we beat him or not. I have no memories after embarking on the campaign.”
Seph was listening carefully, with one hand over his mouth, to hide any reaction he might get from the ghost’s tale. He looked deep in thought, and rightly so. There was something mysterious about all of this.
Is Scorn’s legacy really his story? That seemed highly unlikely.
And if his story wasn’t really the legacy, then what was the real purpose of this entire labyrinth?
Also, where does Zhi Zixin fit into all of this?
“Seph… SEPH, are you still with me?” the ghost shouted after he found the cultivator zoned out.
“Oh, yes teacher sorry, it’s just I had so many talks with Scorn so far. This is the 11th trial in his labyrinth, and he never mentioned your name.” Seph answered after getting pulled out from his reverie.
“I don’t have a memory of meeting him, but there is something very wrong here. How do I, as the empire’s alchemy advisor, know so much about Yin cultivators' pills?” The teacher asked thoughtfully.
“That never crossed my mind! So you don’t know how you came to possess this knowledge, either?” Seph asked him hesitantly, hoping to find out more.
“No, I don’t. My mind is empty in that regard. Anyway, why don’t we make the pills now? And we can further discuss these matters later, after I think them over for a while,” Zhi suggested, and Seph took the opportunity by saying, “Sure thing, teacher!”
Seph headed for the furnace, and put his palm on it, and started projecting his energy to move the heavy lid aside. Then he added the first ingredients, the skittish grasshopper, and the mind sharpening mushroom.
“Good, now for the start, you need the heat of the second degree you are capable of,” Zhi said in his strict guiding tone of voice, as all his instructions have to be followed to a tee.
Seph closed his eyes and started projecting the heat. His mind imagined fire… candle fire… the fire lit inside their humble house… dancing around on top of the candle, illuminating his mother’s sleeping body. His emotions became turbulent. He knew he would get out to find her still alive, so that he could give her the vitality grass and some of the gold he had found. He knew that only one hour would pass outside of the labyrinth.
But that’s one hour for her, not for him. Seph had been here for two months. He missed her so much; he was fearful of what might have happened to her in his absence.
Mother, you might not feel the time that passed for me, but, I promise that no one and nothing will beat me in these trials, I’ll win, and I’ll come and save you, my new looks will give me trouble if someone sees me, but even if there is a thousand of them, I know I am going to save you.
“Seph… Seph, control your heat, youngster. You are projecting too much!” Zhi ordered him frantically.
Seph snapped back from his reverie, over his sick mother, and said, “I am sorry teacher, it’s just that my mother is really sick, and my entire purpose is to be strong enough to get out and save her.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Seph toned down his heat projection to middle stage, while the teacher sighed and said, “That’s peak pill potential gone right there, might even have lost top grade potential too, we will see. So what is this you are telling me about your mother? What ails her?”
The young cultivator concentrated further on the heat and said, “Her body is very weak. She might die in a day if I don’t get the vitality grass for her! Fortunately, time is compressed inside the labyrinth. Only one hour will pass in the outside world after I spend a year here.”
Zhi had a surprised look on his face again. “Wow, only extremely powerful cultivators can use time dilation, and Scorn could make this? Maybe it was a fool’s errand to go after him myself, after all.” The alchemist sighed deeply before he continued, “About your mother... Don’t worry. We can make a concoction or a pill, or something that will heal her. We will just finish making your pills, and see what we can use from the left-overs. I know many more recipes for humans than I do for Yin cultivators after all.”
Seph became teary-eyed after he heard they can even make something better for his mother when they get out and started thanking his teacher profusely.
To which Zhi shushed him by saying, “No need to thank me, young one, just doing what’s right by my pupil. I am really invested in your progress right now, so keep at it. Only good things will come out of your dedication when you are with me!”
Two hours later, the first phase was done, and Zhi told his pupil to put five sinister nails in the furnace and reduce the heat to the first degree.
Seph could feel the energies become turbulent. A fight was going on between the energies inside the furnace and the heat he was projecting. But it wasn’t very wild, since the energies inside the furnace didn’t give a strong pushback, because of the heat reduction. He kept at it for one more hour, then the last ingredient was the windchime flower. His teacher informed him to keep the heat at the first degree.
The windchime flower’s liquefaction was so gentle. It felt like the liquid produced by heating this herb was enveloping the other liquids inside gently, and he finished one hour later. When he felt the mix inside the furnace congealing to make the pill.
Moment of truth, Seph was thinking, he knew he fucked up bad making this pill. He checked it out with the eye of the appraiser.
Appraising…
Name: Mid Grade Deadly Cunning Pill.
Type: Pill.
Quality: Uncommon.
Effect: Consume to get +3 intelligence.
“Mid grade pill.” Seph muttered.
“Don’t worry, youngster, we will make more. You can make three more, because this pill has gentle ingredients that don’t require max heat at any stage.” Zhi said in a consoling tone.
“Understood, Master. Let’s make the second one right away,” Seph said with an energetic voice, completely ready for the arduous alchemy process to come.
Seph started making pill after pill. He finished making all three pills he could make, since the sinister nails ran out first.
He got two top grade pills, and one peak grade. He turned to his teacher and asked him, “But master, you never told me, how many of these pills can I take? The power progression seems too much, if all cultivators can just use these pills endlessly!”
“You can take 5 pills of each kind per cultivation stage. You took pills that were designed for the death dismantling stage. Some perfectionists hold out to get peak pills in all available categories, but the ones who can achieve that are usually the rich cultivators that come from an established family of cultivators. While the ones who are not so rich, they rarely make it, because their lifespans run out before they have gotten the materials, or made the peak pills in time.”
“Interesting! What other pills are available for Yin cultivators?”
“Well, there is a lot. The cultivation world is just littered with pills everywhere. There are pills that give you enough Yin energy to cultivate to higher stages, there is a pill for life span, there is a pill for each of the attributes, and more, much more.”
“Great, I can’t wait to learn which pill we get to make next. I’ll use these pills now before resting for today, and then I’ll do the next cultivation level tomorrow!”
Seph swallowed the pills and checked his status screen.
Name: Seph ???
Class: Undead Buddhist lvl 3
Cultivation Stage: Body Dismantling stage (II)
Lifespan: 18/35 years
Strength: 34
Dexterity: 6
Intelligence: 26
Wisdom: 7
Constitution: 18
Perception: 25
Luck: 10
He saw the extra 16 intelligence points.
Then he thought to check on his Artisan jobs screen as well.
Artisan Jobs
Herbology: Level 1
Mining: Level 1
Alchemy: Level 2
Seph was really pleased seeing that his alchemy skill reached lvl 2 already. He hadn’t looked at his artisan jobs since the first time.
After that, he had nothing else in mind, so he went to sleep, with Sun sleeping right beside him.