109. Human Kingdom, Gentris

It is a gloomy and pouring afternoon and a messenger black eagle flew through the skies unobstructed against each raindrop that bounces of its feathers.

*Scree

The black eagle circled below the clouds and slowly descended towards a military outpost a few kilometers away from a Xu Fan City.

*Swish

The bird landed on the thick arm of an armored captain who is sitting on the second floor balcony located at the center of the barracks. After it landed, the eagle pecked a rolled white water resistant paper attached to its feet then handed it to the captain.

The man opened the small piece of paper and injected his Qi to reveal the contents.

ALCHEMIST TRISTA. TIER III- TWO STAR - RED FOX

Upon reading the letter, the captain’s aura radiated from his body scaring the eagle away then he jumped and softly landed on the wet grasses in front of the house attracting the attention of the five guards standing on guard.

“I’ll be back in a few.”

The captain sprinted towards the city. He wanted to spread his wings and fly but the city has strict rules that only Core Formation Expert and other important figures can freely levitate and fly to or over the city.

In less than a minute, the captain has already reached the gates of the city and with his identity, he passed through the guards straight to the city lord’s mansion.

Meanwhile, within one of the covered courtyards within the city lord’s residence, an old man with a long white beard is practicing with his grandkid using a wooden sword. The old man sensed the arrival of the guard but ignored it until his grandchild used all his strength.

*Hya!

The kid stepped his right foot forward and strike with all his might but the old man did not budge an inch and with a simple slant of the wooden sword, the strike was blocked and due to the force generated by that impact, the boy felt his grip loosening from the recoil but did not let go.

*Pant

*Pant

The boy is trembling in exhaustion and at the same time, the old man turned around to see the captain who had been standing and had been waiting for more than five minutes. The fact that the captain did not disrupt them meant it was not urgent so the old man allowed him to wait.

“Please tell me it’s not something my son can’t handle.”

“Your Lordship Xun, our scouts have spotted a carriage from Central Alchemist. The competition will definitely push through but from the looks of it, it seems it will be administered by a Tier III Alchemist. The caravan is lead by Alchemist Trista.”

The captain slightly bowed and saluted with his fist.

“How long before they arrive?”

“They refused aerial travel and we should be expecting them tomorrow noon.”

The city lord paused as he was in deep thought. He spent a huge sum sponsoring the event and to make sure that the Alchemy competition will be held in his city but the weather had not been cooperative. And to make matters worse, the Tier IV alchemist he had been wanting to build connection with will not come because of the gloomy weather. He has a granddaughter who is considered a prodigy and he would like a Tier IV alchemist to take notice of his granddaughter’s skills yet it looks like his plan had failed.

“Make sure the road is clear and bring them to the reception. I’ll prepare a banquet.”

“I understand.” The captain bowed again then left.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of a dense forest overlooking Xu Fan City, a small tent sits peacefully as it showers from the rain. Like a fortified structure, the wind bounces on the roof unable to cause any sound perfectly keeping Clay from any distractions.

“There goes another set of ingredient.”

Clay watched as the as pill he was expecting to solidify burned and turned into ashes.

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“Why can’t it form damn it!”

Having no arms, he can only rely on materializing his Qi and shape it in place of his missing limbs. Seeing the wasted herbs and what remained of the Fire Crystals, he stored the cauldron into the spatial ring then lay on a mat.

He closed his eyes and tried to think what he is doing wrong. He can concoct Foundation Establishment Breakthrough Pills yet other Tier II pills elude him.

*Sigh

Nearly two and a half years since he had travelled north to where humans were the majority. He travelled across Gentris Kingdom and having collected all the necessary ingredient of Barnachea Healing Pills, he celebrated as he could finally grow back both of his arms.

However, what he thought was an easy pill to concoct had always ended in failure. Counting the number of failures, that should be his eleventh set of wasted ingredient.

Two and a half years ago after he escaped that terrifying suicidal act of Jesha, he looted the spatial rings of the dead and he was surprised that some of the rings contained the ingredients he was looking for to concoct Barnachea Healings Pills. Some even had Fire Crystals in them.

And for the next six months after that gruesome experience, his only focus was to keep traveling north west where mana is almost non-existent and where humans were a majority race. He had no choice but journey to a place where his cheat is advantageous.

Many times did he encounter unknown and frightening magic beasts and he had always surprised them with his Dao Powers but there was a beast as strong as a Nascent Soul where his attacks failed and it was at that time Clay realized that his Dao Power was not that all powerful. He was lucky the beast was apprehensive towards his Dao Power that he managed to scare away the beast.

Despite the perils in his adventures, he did manage to collect thirteen sets of ingredients after a year.

He then secluded himself and attempted to refine a Barnachea Healing Pill. Like many pills he had concocted, extracting each herb essences were effortless however when he tried combining them, it was then that he understood why the success rate was less than 1 percent.

For the first time, he had a problem with Alchemy and it is not about control nor strength as he had Fire crystals assisting him.

For some reasons, whenever he combines the herb essences together to form a pill, those essences just won’t combine. It was like oil and water that even when placed inside a bottle and shaken for a day, it will still be the same separate mixture.

His pride did not let him stop and after wasting his third set of ingredients, he remembered how the Barnachean Tribe used this pill to pass their Dao legacy so he thought of doing the same.

After his inspiration, he tested imbuing his Dao Power during the combination of the essences. Clay was delighted he saw a leap of improvement but during the coagulation process, the reaction of the essence when combined was too fast that when a pill is about to form, everything just burns and dries up instantly and leaving nothing but smoke and ashes.

Having realized the secrets to concocting the pill, Clay tested on the remaining sets of ingredients and tried multiple ways of incorporating his Dao Power during the pill concocting but no matter how much he tried, every attempt all failed and turned into dust.

After numerous failures, he believes the problem lies on limiting his Dao Powers during refinement. He can control it but not to the point at which he can control it to a minute level. He can easily make thin strands of hair from his Spiritual Qi yet, he can barely shape his Dao.

Just thinking of how much he had been through to secure the ingredients would make him want to cry but he was not the kind of man to easily gets demotivated. He came out of seclusion and changed his plans. Since plan A failed, he decided to venture out again but this time he wanted to find a Rebeclum Flower.

He spent another year traveling westward. Since he lost his both of his arms, he primarily relied on controlling his aura to control everything. Given his limited amount of Qi reservoir, he decided to breakthrough to Early-Mid Qi Condensation to increase his strength. Usually for Early-Mid Qi Condensation, it involves two Qi Nodes from both each arm but he decided to open it on his feet.

Clay is careful every time he opens a Qi Node. He did not want to experience the same problem where he was unable to break through because he needs a Nascent-like body constitution from having opened all his meridians. As a cultivator, he understands that the number of Qi Nodes opened in one’s body must be proportional to someone’s level of cultivation.

Clay stopped counting how much time he spent travelling however when he was getting closer to the border of Warzone, he had an encounter with a Kulfagar Demon and a Foundation Establishment Expert at that. Clay was not surprised with the appearance of the demon as he had encountered countless hideous beasts during his adventures but unlike your typical monster, a Kulfagar’s skin is like diamond.

Clay’s Dao Power could disrupt his enemy’s flow of Qi but no matter what he does, the Kulfagar demon remained unscathed.

Had that demon not careless and fixated on killing him, Clay was sure he can only escape. Since the demon was arrogant and only saw him as dirt, he relied on his Essence Flame and found the perfect timing to burn the demon to crisp.

He had always thought that by incorporating his Qi with a Dao Power even twice that of Lord Lao’s Dao yet time and again, he would almost die when encountering danger.

Having realized the limitations of his Dao Powers, Clay knew that venturing out further was no longer an option so he changed back his route. He was lucky it was not a stronger demon he met. His intuition is telling him he should be able to overpower anyone with his Dao but he just can’t figure out what he is missing. Given the fact that he had to struggle to kill a Kulfagar Demon, he needed to retreat for now and study and investigate what he is lacking.

After coming up with a solid plan, he decided on joining another sect. As he walked on his journey, he can’t help but retrospect on his previous sect. Now that he had encountered innumerable life and death experiences, he now thinks that staying in the sect doing menial jobs for 30 years is actually worth it. But since he can no longer go back, he will stick to a more viable plan this time.

While heading towards a non-famous sect, news about Alchemy competition was the talk of every town he passed by so he decided to participate during the selection. Who knows he might encounter a pill that would help him re-grows limbs by attending.