In the backyard of the homestay stayed by the Leyan Family, Tal was practicing his Martial Skills accompanied by Tasya.
'Martial Skills' was just an old term that continues to be used until now. A long time ago, before cultivation advanced and improved to what they had today, cultivators of the old days used existing martial arts in the mortal world and combined them with Qi applications creating Martial Skills for cultivators.
As time passed, the Qi applications progressed further and evolved into more complicated and intricate things such as creating something using Qi, manipulating things using Qi, and more. All kinds of methods, spells, manuals, and techniques have been created ever since, but the cultivation world would still call them Martial Skills. When people say Martial Skills, it wasn't just referring to martial arts anymore. It was anything you could do using your Qi.
"Tasya look! I did it! It moved the way I wanted it to!" Tal excitedly said to Tasya who was watching him.
"Hooray! Hooray! Tal, now you can fight too!" Tasya was jumping while cheering him.
A clay puppet resembling a Chess pawn piece but with hands and legs was holding a clay spear and thrusting it around. Tal had finally reached complete mastery in the first level of his Clay Golem Army Martial Skill. It took him almost a year to reach this level.
As an Earth-attributed cultivator, Tal felt like this was the most suitable martial skill for him when he and Tasya were choosing martial skills for themselves at the Treasure Pavilion.
Due to his interest in Chess, he immediately imagined himself using the Clay Golem Army Martial Skill to create a whole life-sized chessboard and all the chess pieces to fight for him.
Today, he could finally manipulate one of the pieces he designed as he wished freely. The next step was for him to control more pieces at the same time, and Tal knew that it would be way harder.
As for Tasya who had a fire-attributed spirit root, her martial skill was just the fire-controlling method that Anda passed down to her. She only used it for cooking and felt the fire-controlling method was unsuitable for fighting.
"Tasya, now you can use it for piggyback instead of me. I will control it." Tal said without thinking much.
"Why? You don't want to give me piggyback anymore?" Tasya raised her eyebrows high making her eyes bigger while staring at him.
"You are getting bigger now, ugh.." As soon as said that, Tal realized he had chosen the wrong word.
"Are you saying that I'm FAT now?" Before Tal managed to rephrase his words, Tasya was already looking like a fire demon.
Her hair raised high in the air and it was on flames. This was what Tasya always did now every time she was mad at Tal. She used the fire-controlling method for a weird appearance like this.
She probably could scare some demonic beast looking like this. Tal thought inwardly. He didn't dare to say it out loud or Tasya would turn into a real fire demon.
"I didn't say fat. I said bigger, but I used the wrong word," Tal tried to explain calmly.
He was used to Tasya's temper. His master said girls at this age are easily emotional so he shouldn't be upset at her. Although he didn't know why, Tal was understanding and never escalated things whenever Tasya was angry.
"What was the correct word then? Wide? Whale? Heavy?" Tasya's eyes got bigger.
"I was trying to say that you're not skinny anymore. A year ago we were both looking like skeletons, now you look great, thanks to Master and Sister Anda." Tal finally thought of convincing sentences to say.
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"Really? I looked great now?" Tasya's demon hair returned to normal, acting cute again.
Tal praised his master in his heart. It really works every time. He only needed to compliment Tasya and she would stop getting angry. No wonder Master had many wives, he knew many ways to handle girls.
Contrary to Tal's belief, it was Anda who brought all the women to Leyvi's lap.
Tal nodded at Tasya. "I think you are going to be a great beauty!" Tal added. Although he said that to calm Tasya down, it wasn't false. Tasya did look prettier in his eyes.
"Ehehe, don't compliment me too much, I'm going to be shy. Anyway, I'm not piggybacking that thing, only you. Understand?" Tasya acted shy from Tal's compliment.
"Yes, Young Lady Tasya." Tal wanted to end this fast so he could continue practicing again.
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Homun Family,
"Where is that damned girl Dorin? She was supposed to go to the Holy Cat City with us later but I haven't seen her for a few days!" A middle-aged man with a handlebar mustache asked angrily.
"Patriarch, she had left for the Holy Cat City with her admirers. I heard she was up to her usual antics, harassing people using our family name." One of the family elders replied.
The middle-aged man with the handlebars mustache was the current patriarch of the Homun Family, Tordin Homun.
The Homun Family was one of the three famous Alchemist Families in the South Region. Their clan rose quickly after the catastrophe that happened a thousand years ago and stayed at the top ever since.
This generation, it was said that an Alchemist prodigy had appeared in the Homun Family that could rival their Supreme Elder's achievements a thousand years ago.
BANG!
"Dammit, this cursed girl! Who let her out? Punish whoever let her out. Admirers my ass, they only want to take advantage of her wealth. Nobody in their right mind would like a weird girl like her." Tordin slammed his palm on his grand-looking chair's armrest.
"Father, she is your daughter too, don't use degrading words to describe her." A beautiful blue-haired girl in a purple dress was reprimanding the way Tordin talked about Dorin.
She was Norin Homun, the 12th Young Lady of the Homun Family, the twin sister of Dorin Homun. Although they were twins, they didn't look alike and their personalities were entirely different.
Tordin turned his head towards Norin, his expression softened, and sighed, "Even if I didn't use those words to describe her, the entire world probably has. Why is she so different from you? If not because she is your twin, I might already think she's someone else daughter!"
"She was only acting arrogant, it's not like she actually harming people. Don't be so hard on her. Just let her act freely, let the responsibility to carry the family's legacy fall on me." Norin said.
She knew that her twin sister became like that because she was always being compared to her. She was prettier and had better alchemy talents than Dorin, causing Dorin to resent her silently. Although she wanted to get along with Dorin, it couldn't happen due to that. In the end, Dorin's behavior became weirder and weirder.
"If anything bad happened, you take responsibility then. I won't care about her anymore until she behaves properly. And Norin, just because you are a prodigy, it doesn't mean there aren't any people better than you, don't get too overconfident." Tordin said while touching his mustache.
He had been around for more than 400 years, he had seen many prodigies fall into obscurity.
"Fine. Lia, Tia, let's go." Norin turned her body elegantly, called for her maidservants, and walked out of the family Discussion Hall.
She would prove her father wrong and let her sister act any way she wanted and maybe they could get along again like when they were kids.
Tordin sighed slowly watching his daughter leave. He didn't expect the difference in talent between his twin daughters would cause things to be like this.
"Elder Rubin, please send someone to protect Dorin in secret," Tordin instructed.
Dorin was still his daughter after all. They would depart for the Holy Cat City a week before the Alchemy Conference started, so he needed to send someone to protect his daughter for now.
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"Layla, are you sure this place might have some hints about higher-tiered Alchemy Formulas?" Leyvi asked.
Leyvi and Layla had been going around the city in the past few days looking for a way to get their hands on tier-4 and above Alchemy Formulas but everything was pointing towards joining the Alchemy Association or joining the other big alchemy organizations like the three famous alchemy clans and the three big alchemy sect.
The three famous alchemy clans were the Homun Family, the Clover Family, and the Goldstone Family. To join them, you have to marry into their clans.
On the other hand, the three big alchemy sects were the Medicine Valley, the Pill Ascension Sect, and the Pill Palace.
Sometimes in the past, they acquired Alchemy Formulas from somewhere and managed to rise to prominence.
Leyvi heard that the Alchemist sent from these places would be the main contenders and favorites to win the Alchemy Conference as it has always been.
"Husband, you can trust my clones, they worked hard last night to find this clue," Layla replied.
"Good job Layla! You are the best secretary! Come to my office tonight. I will reward you." Leyvi started roleplaying out of nowhere.
People in the surroundings stared at them weirdly.