“Took you guys long enough.” That’s how Su Rong welcomed the triumphant return of his companions to their temporary base, leaning lazily as he was against the side of its entrance.

His words were met with only a collective chorus of grunts, which made the fiery cultivator snort in amusement, the worn down cultivators being too tired to even humor him.

Su Rong left his place at the entrance of the cave, meeting the group halfway and immediately gravitating towards his sister. His sole remaining hand reached for her face, the younger girl weakly trying to slap his hand away to no avail, as he rubbed away at a couple of splotches of dirt that had stained her features.

As he fussed over his sibling the gruff cultivator’s eyes landed on something resting in between Lin Fen’s hands.

“So, is that what you were searching for?” He prodded the group.

At the question, the feline alchemist raised the, quite literal, fruits of their mission to his chest, every present cultivator’s gaze instinctually falling on the precious treasure.

The spiritual fruit looked quite similar to an orange if only completely green outside of a few spots of white on its unripened skin. It was roughly the size of an adult man’s fist, with its surface feeling coarse and porous to the touch, perfectly round and blemishless, save for a small spot at its top where a stem used to connect the fruit to the parent tree’s branch.

“Yes.” Answered Lin Fen, his eyes drooping from weariness and relief, but even his sorry state couldn't hide the spark of determination shining through his silvery eyes. "With this, we can finally put senior brother Chun back on his feet." His eyes narrowed then. "And then we will finally be able to put an end to this cursed imprisonment."

Every single one of them already knew this in their minds, but before then no one had dared to speak it out loud, not wanting to jinx it somehow, but as they all finally acknowledged the coming end of their disastrous mission a wave of relief swept through their midst.

Now feeling more at ease than before, the group of young cultivators made their way inside their humble abode, although Feng Liu had to be half carried inside by Yu Xiang as he'd used up every single grain of both spiritual energy and Intent he'd had, their group chatting animatedly despite how physically worn they were feeling.

<<<>>>

Lin Fen sat with his legs crossed in Chun Dai's chamber, the injured core disciple having now returned to his meditative slumber after he'd woken up to greet them upon their return.

The young alchemist's eyes were closed in silent contemplation, the ingredients he'd gathered for the swordsman's remedy laying in front of him in a neat row, with an unfamiliar cauldron waiting for him just a little farther.

The recipient had been handed to him by Chun Dai, who'd taken it from his spatial pouch with supreme nonchalance, with an off handed comment that he could even keep it if he wanted to, as Chun Dai himself had no interest in the art of alchemy.

Lin Fen was more than happy to take him up on his offer, even if he was momentarily puzzled by the reason why the stoic swordsman carried it around with him if he didn't have any intention of ever using it.

The young beastfolk took a deep steadying breath as he prepared himself mentally for his work, his focus honed to a point as in his hands he summoned the most fundamental spiritual art known by all alchemists.

A small, colorless flame appeared in his cupped palms, countless tiny flecks of silver shining through the hazy spiritual fire.

How long had it been since he'd learned this particular technique, the first one he'd learned for that matter?

Years upon years, an entire decade maybe. Just a bit longer than the last time he'd seen his wayward master in the flesh.

He'd been but a boy at the time, living a fairly mundane life, the only difference that separated him from any other child was the daily meditation sessions that his mother pushed him into.

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"You shouldn't be content with living the life of a farmer or a shopkeeper." She'd told him with the sweetest smile on her face, her hands gently brushing the top of his head and the base of his ears in a way nobody but his closest companion had managed to replicate since then. "You should aim higher, becoming a mighty cultivator!" She flexed the arm that wasn't occupied massaging his scalp playfully then, a fake frown, her best rendition of a fierce battle hungry warrior, marring her pale features.

Lin Hua was her name, forest flower, and her beauty was even more apparent than her name implied.

A blemishless rotund face framed by warm brown locks of hair that reached all the way down her back, held together in a loose tail with a simple tie and left hanging on her front, resting on her shoulder.

Two clear forest green eyes twinkled with barely restrained amusement as she looked on at her cute child, pampering him without restraint as her full red lips curved into an unrestrained smile of pure joy.

The small Lin Fen's arms closed around his mother's sides, his nose buried in her clothes and catching the flowery scent that seemed to always hang around her no matter the time of day. "I don't care about cultivation! I just want to stay with you, mom!" He'd told her, his mind as far away from matters of immortality and battle as it could possibly be.

He was a child, content with his lot in life, ready to smile as long as he had his mother at his side, because to him, her presence was more radiant than the sun's and twice as vital.

She'd laughed, then, a sound so warm and inviting that Lin Fen had no trouble imagining even a lofty existence like that of an immortal cultivator being instantly captivated by it. "Don't say that!" She responded between her giggling, patting his scalp in a 'threatening' way. "What will you do once I'm all old and gray?"

The young feline ignored her words, simply snuggling deeper into her embrace.

Those had been happy times, wonderful memories that he could always turn to even on his darkest days, but like most good things in life, they were not meant to last.

Tragedy struck quickly and with impunity, taking on the hideous form of a sick and malformed spiritual beast, looking like somebody had knitted together the flesh of various animals together to produce a foul abomination.

Few were the survivors of that tragedy, and there wouldn't have been any if it wasn't for his master.

"What a sad state of affairs." She'd said in a sad tone, sounding so genuine in her distress that Lin Fen almost thought she'd known someone in the village.

Most of her body was hidden under a traveling cloak, the only parts of her body visible being her hands and the lower part of her face.

She'd escorted Lin Fen and the other survivors to the nearest settlement, doing her best to make their journey as safe and comfortable as she could, but the young feline had been too broken inside to pay her any attention.

The only thing his mind focused on was just how useless he had been. What if he'd focused on his training just like his mother always told him to? Would he have had the power to defend her then? Or could he have at least died while trying his best?

Which, in his own mind, would still have been a better outcome for the whole ordeal.

It was only days later, as their trip came to an end, that he finally snapped out of his funk. As she came to give them all their farewells he approached her, filled with righteous fervor and fury, directed both at himself and the absent figure of his father, who in his naive eyes could've saved them all with no more effort than that required to turn his hand.

She looked at him then, so full of rage and loathing, she gave him a gentle smile and accepted his selfish request.

That's how he spent the next few years of his life, learning the ins and outs of alchemy while training under the watchful eye of his gentle mentor, finding in her something of a second family, although he never could let go completely of the memories of his dear mother.

Snapping back to the present, Lin Fen infused his Intent into the flame, watching with interest as the bits of silver shining inside the flame grew both in size and number, until it had become a silvery flame with small flecks of colorless fire added in.

Carefully, he placed the flame at the base of his new cauldron, picking up the various ingredients and placing them inside the pot one at a time.

It wasn't a terribly complicated medicine the one that he was cooking up, the trouble was in the sheer amount of energy that he was trying to contain, and as much as the high quality cauldron helped he still couldn't handle it all on his own.

Yu Xiang and Jin Shui came to his help then, the two of them having by far the finest control over their spiritual energy, and with their combined efforts the feline alchemist was finally able to compress all of the fruit's power, given precise purpose by his will and the other ingredients, into a small yellowish pellet, no bigger than a walnut.

With trepidation, he offered the newly made remedy to the core disciple, who didn't hesitate for even a second before he popped the medicinal ball into his waiting maw.

It took him a few moments to react to the pill, moments he spent in quiet meditation while Lin Fen and the others fidgeted nervously, some of them on the verge of having a panic attack.

All of a sudden, he shot to his feet, sending his juniors sprawling backward in a startled full body flinch. Spiritual energy erupted from his body, so thick and heavy it was noticeable to the naked eye as a supremely sharp azure aurora emanating from around him.

Chun Dai, core disciple of the Golden Peak sect and aid to the Golden Prince, was back in action.