Their new home was a squat and wide building, painted in earthy tones—green and brown. It only reached a single story in height, and it had a circular roof resembling an umbrella or a mushroom cap, whichever was closer to heart. To properly get to the house, one had to walk along a winding path through the small courtyard walled off by a flimsy fence. On either side of the path was dark soil—loose and friable, but overgrown with dandelions, mugworts, and thistles, which looked twice as big when compared to regular weeds.

“Hasn’t it only been a few days since it was abandoned?” Jun asked, and Chen Hao, for once, mirrored his statement.

“The qi-infused soil helps regular plants grow incredibly quickly. It’s a shame that he plucked everything that could be of use,” Li Xia said, pulling at a thistle with her bare hands. It didn’t budge in the slightest.

The deep, earthy smell that was present made Jun’s body relax. He took in several deep breaths, savouring the sensation. Compared to the smell of alcohol, piss, and vomit that was always present in the inn, this was practically heaven. He was a city boy at heart, but everyone had to appreciate nature.

When they stepped inside, the expected stone was replaced by a wooden interior. The floor was thick and sturdy, and the walls had thick roots running through them. In the middle of it all was a round table with twelve seats and a similar number of jade cups. The kitchen was lightly used, but the cupboards were stuffed with every kind of common plant one could think of—a large collection of blue tea leaves being one of the disciple's favourites. Hanging on the walls were red and blue flowers, left there to dry and make the place smell nice.

After fully examining the previous room, Chen Hao opened a thick stone door leading to further in, and a wave of heat immediately blasted him in the face. Peering further inside, their attention was immediately caught by the large pill furnace, made from bronze and engraved with the image of the White Tiger. It was round, ornate, and stood on three legs on top of a stone platform. Its bottom was thick and wide, but narrowed near the middle until it met the lid, which sealed it so tight that not even air could get in.

Underneath the thing, in a pit lined with black bricks, burned an orange flame so hot that it took one’s breath away as soon as they stepped inside the room. From time to time, it flickered with green, increasing in intensity. Nearby were empty bookshelves and regular shelves that would have once held instructions and materials.

Now that Jun thought about it, maybe he could start learning a bit about making pills. If he were to grow his own herbs, then wouldn’t it make sense to also make the medicine? He could always feed it to unsuspecting villains even if it came out poisonous.

Closing the door to the pit of hell without walking in, they stepped inside the final room of the house. It was small but cosy—a large bed with silk sheets coupled with a small window that let the light shine down on the empty windowsill just begging for a few potted plants. A large wooden workbench still had an old mortar and pestle, as well as a small cauldron suspended above a brazier. Toppled vials littered the table now.

Jun critically eyed the room before finally spotting a formation underneath them. It took a while to analyse, and when he finished, he had to admit that it was incredibly complex. The way the thing worked was simple—it attracted a large amount of spiritual force and used both the surroundings and the formation to convert it into earth qi. Normally, this process was done when circulating the spiritual force through your meridians while using your cultivation method. For example, Chen Hao’s Ninth Abyss Lake Art turned spiritual force into water qi.

Now, by already having it be converted, a cultivator could absorb qi much, much faster. While the formation wouldn’t be as effective for them as it was for the former disciple, it was still better than anything Jun could engrave by the virtue of attracting more spiritual force. It would counterbalance any issues of having to convert stone qi, and allow them to cultivate twice as fast with half the effort.

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‘God, I needed to summarise an entire month’s worth of lessons to figure this thing out,’ Jun sighed, massaging his head. He would need to further study the thing, but he guessed that earth qi in general made plants grow better and stay fresher.

‘Hopefully, I won’t turn into a hippy just by breathing in the air,’ he shuddered. ‘Wait. Didn’t they primarily do weed, have sex, and do even more psychedelic drugs? I can get down with that.’

Jun ignored the movement aspect of it and the more intricate details. After all, wasn’t life just picking and choosing certain parts you enjoyed and integrating them into your personality? The whole point of it was to have fun while you were still here and to die without regrets when you had to go.

‘Hard to do that when life bends you over when you’re just twenty-two.’

He shook his head, dispersing memories he would rather not recall. Jumping onto the bed, Jun stared at Chen Hao and Li Xia, arguing about what the room needed and how it should be decorated. For now, he would live in the present and not worry about the past or the future.

At some point, the two parted, and the girl promised to bring some much-needed decorations tomorrow. As for Chen Hao, he made his way back to the disciple’s quarters, seeking out room #7 and Wang Lei, the so-called formation master. Jun took the chance to scatter, heading into a nearby alley before beginning to howl in laughter. If only the boy knew.

The two reunited after some time, and Chen Hao headed back to the Half-Moon Inn, putting on his beggar’s clothes again. He would spend one final night here before taking his stuff and moving out, so once again, it turned into him getting drunk and partying all night. As for Jun—he was a responsible dog and had a job to do. Heading over to the secret servant’s room, he collected payment for the services and the spare key before heading back to his own home.

Then, he spent the entire night working beyond anything the boy had asked for. The “formation expert” was feeling generous considering they shared the home, and thus would completely renovate the place. Using months of formation lessons and insights from He Ming about breaking into houses, Jun engraved layer after layer of formations on every entry point, and then cleverly linked each to a small alarm formation if they were ever to be broken.

He worked harder than he had ever before just to finish it all before sunrise, and when it was done, he marvelled at the beauty of it all. The formations weren’t complicated—he simply didn’t have the mastery for it—but any would-be thief less skilled than He Ming would surely be caught in the traps.

“A gift for returning safely,” he wrote on a bamboo slip, leaving it by the front door. Then, he returned the spare key and headed back to the inn. They would be returning there often, but their true home lay somewhere else now.

The next few days passed in relative peace—the place was slowly being declared by Li Xia, and the boy spent his time talking to her, cultivating, and practising his techniques. Meanwhile, Jun scoped out the neighbourhood, getting used to the new smells and unfamiliar alleys. He resumed receiving free lessons from the various halls and learning formations with Xu Peng every day.

In the undersect, he continued polishing the Arrogant Stone Ram, trying to fully immerse himself in the mentality of the lion. He had gotten the basics of the technique down, but to fully master it, it would take months. Despite that, he was ready to begin learning Earthquake Stomp as soon as he learned more about stone qi in general.

And just as luck would have it, Wang Lei would pull through for him. During one particular night, he received a note from the boy about two books he had finally found in the library. Unfortunately, a major obstacle stood in his way.

“Elemental Qi and the Cultivation World.” ~ 25 contribution points

“The Human Bloodline.” ~ 100 contribution points

While the first book excited him, the second almost made him go into a frenzy. Granted, it was about humans, but it was bound to contain precious knowledge about bloodlines. After all, how else had the author learned about them if not by analysing various beasts?

Now came the tricky part. Contribution points were valuable—they could only be obtained by completing missions, working directly for one of the halls, performing certain services and handing in valuable resources. In a way, you could buy up herbs and pills from the market for spirit stones and offer them to the sect, but it was incredibly inefficient, and Jun simply didn’t have the money now.

So, the question arose. How was he going to get contribution points?