116. Meeting a Rebirther
It has been an hour since Clay lay on the bed and he is grateful his roommate stopped exercising however just when he thought it becomes quieter, he heard the sound of a metal clanking similar to wok.
“Should I knock this bastard out?”
Clay covered his head with a blanket but after a minute, the smell of a grilled and roasted meat waft out causing him to get up involuntarily. Clay blankly stared at his roommate who looks like reheating a pot of unknown meat from a stove powered with Fire-type Formations.
After a few minutes, Clay’s roommate removed the lid of the wok revealing a whole body of a chicken and it’s dripping with oils and spices. The aroma filled the room causing Clay to feel even more hungrier.
Clay hopes his roommate would take notice of him and give him a portion but his roommate just took a slice and placed it in his mouth and did not even look at him.
Clay swallowed his saliva and assessed his situation. There must be a way he could get a taste of that chicken!
After his roommate took the third bite, Clay could no longer take it so he took out one of his pill and threw it towards the young Elven.
The young Elven was on alert and caught the rounded object thrown at him.
“That’s a high quality pill in exchange for that chicken.”
The young Elf opened his palm and sniffed the pill then looked at Clay with curiosity.
“The name is Liom Chen and yes you can have this chicken.” Liom stopped eating then threw the pill into his mouth and got up and sat on the opposite bed.
“It’s Clay and thank you for the chicken.” Clay walked towards the wok and ate like a hungry wolf. As a cultivator, he can go starved for more than a week or more but since he has yet to completely heal himself, he most definitely need sustenance.
Clay lost track of time and continued to eat and after a few minutes, only bones were left on the wok.
*Burp!
Clay licked his fingers. “Good thing I picked this mission.”
He summoned his flame to burn away the oils on his palm before hitting the bed again. He felt the stress and fatigue had been cured by that meal.
As he laid on the bed, he felt a faint ripple coming from Liom. From the looks of it, Liom is trying to break through to 2nd level of Early Qi Condensation.
“Now that I think about it, almost all of the kids I saw earlier were Peak-Early Qi Condensation.”
Clay slightly rolled on his bed and activated his Godly Eyes and looked at Liom.
“Wait, is that what I think it is?”
Clay got up and sat on the bed and focused on Liom. Although Liom is only a Low-Early Qi Condensation, Liom’s soul is unusually large which is almost a meter. Liom’s soul does not have any colorful hue around it that would signify what he believes to be Spiritual Elemental Affinity but at the base of the soul is a small bluish circular mist.
Clay suddenly got reminded of Re’y’s soul. The structure of the soul is almost the same. There is this presence of a cloud-like outer layer surrounding the soul and the pattern of the bluish mist resembles a foundation of water elemental formation.
“Is this guy a rebirther? And a Water Dao Practitioner!” Clay thought to himself. So young and had already achieve Dao Powers!
*Hmph
Clay shrugged his shoulders and lay on the bed again. While it would be nice to be able to speak with a fellow anomaly of the reincarnation cycle, they will probably end up fighting if he suddenly brings up the topic. He is guessing Liom probably had his own circumstances and is hiding his identity. Clearly Liom is a Dao practitioner and could have had easily gained a spot and rise through the ranks of being a disciple but this guy chose to remove insects on the sect’s rice fields instead.
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He is probably like him, someone with no Spiritual Affinity. If there is an Elf version of him, it is probably Liom. He closed his eyes and concentrated on falling asleep.
The following morning, Clay went to find the Deacon and was assigned a hectare of wheat-looking field. There are insect that can resist the organic pesticides that it requires manual removal and it is his task to ensure these insects will not hide and multiply. The task is no different from his farmer life back at Arizan Conservatory so it was easy adapting.
What he finds it challenging is that after eating Liom’s chicken last night made him not appreciate the food served at the canteen. Nevertheless, he still ate and after a long day, he went back to his dormitory.
Just like last night, Liom is exercising again to which Clay gladly ignored however, after another hour, Clay heard the sound of a wok again causing him to wake up and stared at whatever fish-looking meal Liom has prepared.
“It’s two pills this time and has to be the same quality as yesterday. This fish may not look much but should be beneficial to a human at Mid Qi Condensation.” Liom carefully explained as he mixed powder and few spices and put back the lid.
Clay summoned the last of his two pills and threw it them to Liom then said, “It’s the last of my pills. If you want pills, bring me the ingredients. Unfortunately, my fee is expensive, as expensive as the meal you prepare.”
“Deal”
Clay inwardly laughed. Concocting pill is nothing to him as long as they are Tier I pills. The food on the other hand is not just delicious but good for his body as well. The way Liom speaks and that devious way of extortion, and that ability to discern how much he needs to improve his body constitution just proves that Liom is indeed another rebirther.
Clay enjoyed another meal of delightful and tasty and exotic food.
The following day, Clay tended his field then stored the dried rations served at the canteen before going back to his dormitory.
He was expecting a sweaty muscular young Elven doing crunches but he was surprised Liom is waiting for him. As soon as Clay closed the door, Liom opened the wok revealing a mouthwatering chicken and closed the lid again.
“You should have had been able to feel the effects of the fish meat I served you yesterday and different from the chicken two nights ago. This time, this quail was mixed with herbs. This quail may look ordinary but its effect is seven times from last night.”
“And might I ask where did you steal the quail?”
“Stole? This guy escaped from a barn and voluntarily took shelter on my wok.”
For a moment, Clay lost his reason and thought, “It’s already cooked anyway. So what if I become an accomplice. Will they really convict a personal disciple?”
Clay moved closer to the wok and wanted to remove the lid but Liom grabbed his wrist.
“Hmmmmh. You seem to be forgetting something my human friend. Hmmmm. Right! Pills” Liom’s eyes widened and purposely scratched his neck then continued, “Was it pills we talked about last night. Because I’m sure it was pills.”
Clay started to feel like he is trading with a drug dealer for some weed. He walked and sat near his bed then summoned his cauldron.
“Bring it out.” Clay opened his palm signaling Liom to hand him the ingredients.
Liom on the other hand took out seven boxes of ingredients for Body Forging Pill and slowly opened each box causing Clay to be surprised.
“Unlike your regular ingredients, these herbs have an age of at least 500 years. You can have half of the pills if you can set them to the same quality as the pills you have given me the past two days.”
Clay inspected the herbs then looked Liom’s smiling face. He is curious as what this guy is thinking and based on the Liom’s flow of Qi, Clay confirmed Liom is circulating Qi around his eyes. He’s beginning to feel wary of him but as long as this guy does not have any malicious intent, then he should be fine. However the soonest he feels the slightest of killing intent, he will seal this guy’s dantian and burn him later.
Since the herbs are not ordinary and almost similar to a Tier II pill in terms of the amount of essence, Clay took out three Fire Crystals and inserted in the cauldron. After which, he placed all the ingredients into the cauldron in one go.
He was expecting Liom to react but Liom had already spread his divine sense observing the cauldron.
The herbs started to react and slowly melted. After a few minutes, three of which turned into a fluid state. This is the first time Clay has extracted so much essences from one herb and the density of energy is like heaven and earth.
Judging the amount of pure essences, he estimates he could form 9 superior pills.
After a few more minutes, Clay has reached the final stage and began to coagulate the pill.
Meanwhile, Liom retracted his divine sense to interrupt.
“Hmmp” Clay silently snorted. He just got another clue that Liom is an Alchemist.
Earlier, he thought Liom would form the same pentagram pattern around his eyes but after closer inspection, Clay confirmed it is a different technique.
Suddenly, Liom stood up and summoned a table and a chair on space near the door. And like a waiter, he carefully arranged the plates and even summoned a bottle of wine.
Clay planned on setting the pills to 80 or 90 percent quality but seeing Liom’s actions, he decided to make it his own version of Flawless High Tier Pills.
After ten more minutes, Liom walked towards the cauldron and removed the lid. Since majority of the pill essences had been sealed into the pills, the cauldron only emitted a hot vapor.
“I’m going to breakthrough to Mid-Qi Condensation and I don’t like anyone barging in.” Liom seemed to know that the pills have already completely formed even when Clay had not given the signal. Liom retrieved six of the nine pills and stored 5 into a bottle and the last one to his mouth before sitting on his bed and got to a meditative position.
Clay wanted to complain and would like to have 4 pills but seeing that serious look on Liom’s face, he let it go. He stretched his legs and stored bottled the three pills and stored the cauldron and walked towards his reward.