He did conduct one other experiment: he grabbed removable ink and scribbled it on the page. Erasing it resulted in erasing it from his mind. He decided on writing with removable ink.

He wanted to find out if the same could happen, if someone else wrote on the paper. Would it appear in his mind or theirs? Would there be no result at all? He didn’t have any other person so, that one had to be on hold.

It was all very confusing, with multiple unknowns. It was overwhelming. I should just work with what I know.

He’d been practicing his writing for hours. The parchments were covered from to toe in tiny scribbles. It was enough practice for now.

He copied over the Green Dragon and Blue Tiger Mantra. It consumed one half of a page. He put it down with all of the flowery language, he didn’t understand it enough to boil it down.

He felt like a cave fish adapted to the dark, exposed to the sun for the first time in its life. His understanding was so…limited. Both of these mantras were complimentary. Blue Tiger was focused on body cultivation while Green Dragon was a combat focused art. Blue Tiger increased flame tolerance and saturated the body in essence in order to increase its capacity for essence. If he had to rate it, it was lower than Green Dragon and overall, in this area it would be low-tier. Green Dragon was a step up as Mid-Low.

He copied over the essence condensation manual and it resulted in enhanced understanding as well. He had a realization: My control is bad. I should stop cultivating until I increase it.

He had a method in mind. It belonged to a character in his webnovel. He was a mentor to the MC. He grabbed a sash of his robe and cut off a piece using his dagger. It looked like a wide ribbon. He infused it with essence and even that was a little hard for him. He had to hold essence in the ribbon and infuse it with more. At times he would lose control and the essence would dissipate away.

The next step was manipulation. A whole thirty minutes of failed attempts resulted in him throwing the sash away and getting up in a huff. I need a walk and a better weapon. The dagger would be insufficient in a head-to-head confrontation.

He didn’t have much money, so he headed down to the notice board. It had a long series of quests.Most outer disciples were recovering, participating in the make-up or preparing for the next test which meant he had his pick of the lot.

He looked around and decided on a strange task. It was to assist Elder Wind in his brewing. Why doesn’t he have an apprentice…? It was a little odd but he decided to take it anyway. It promised 500 Stones for three hours of work. The Notice Board disciple gave him a strange look when he brought in the sheet but said nothing.

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A Rank Servant accompanied him to the Elder’s Workshop and left. He knocked and stepped inside. It was barren and deserted with no people.

He felt a tap on his side and flinched. Someone was beside him. His robe’s were so dirty that it was hard to tell their original color and the smell. It was god-awful. He had a flask on his hip.

“Girl, what are you doing here?”

He raised the task sheet. “I saw this on the notice board.”

He grabbed the sheet and started scanning through it. Musnuf took a step back to avoid the smell.

“I posted this a long time ago…I needed a disciple at the time. Come along…I’ll give you something to do.” He’s…an Elder? Every other at least looked like their mental faculties were intact…and took showers.

It was an open courtyard with about twenty cauldrons. Tiny, disgusting bit and pieces of materials were scattered around. One of the cauldrons looked like it’d blown up with a massive crack across its side. In the middle of it was a cauldron to the side. The flame was burning underneath it and steam was rising from its surface.

“Clean this up.” The Elder took a swig from his flask and walked off. Musnuf was regretting this more and more with each second. It’s just for three hours, let’s get down to it.

The courtyard floor was marble, it revealed itself when he scrubbed the gunk off. This place hadn’t been cleaned up in weeks.

He was curious as to why more people weren’t here. Potion brewing should be a priority for any sect.

Cleaning out the cauldrons was the hardest. He had to use his flame to burn off the gunk. He still had to scrub them off. My traps aren’t built for this.

“You look like you’ve done this before.” Someone whispered in his ears and Musnuf gasped. Elder Wind was standing behind him.

“You need to stop doing that.” Musnuf said.

“Do what? Come, let me show you something.” Musnuf was a little hesitant. He waved at him and Musnuf groaned.

He led him to the last cauldron. The flame was blazing away. He stood over it for a second and placed his hands on the side of the cauldron.

Musnuf could feel the amount of essence he was pouring in. A small crack formed on the cauldron’s side but he kept on going.

The cauldron blasted open and Musnuf dived for cover. He felt something nick his ankle. This crazy fuck!

His face turned into an ugly caricature and he shouted at him, “What is wrong with you!?”

The Elder waved his sleeve and a ball of fire started going around. It was like a magnet in that the fire burning on the cauldron pieces was sucked up into it.

“Try this.” The Elder had a soft milk-like substance in a potion bottle. Musnuf sighed with exasperation.