After introducing themselves, Yi Yun and Mei Mei followed Tang Xing to an area that was about 500 meters from the village.

This area had a fortress surrounding it, it was guarded by several disciples.

Inside, there was a farmland that wasn't very large, but various types of plants grew on it, each emitting a spiritual light.

As they passed through the farmland, Tang Xing said, "Although there are different types of skills that Alchemists possess, refining pills is the most important, and it requires spiritual herbs. Later, you have to study them, from their names, their characteristics, to their uses."

“That was quite tiring, fortunately our Alchemy Hall has the manifestation of over 10,000 Spiritual Plants, even though they are not real, you can still feel their aura through them, learning is much easier by observing them. These things are not shared by other sects on par with us. They can only study the traditional way or go to the Alchemy Association.

"Look at that, it's our hall." Tang Xing pointed at a five-story building that looked old, it was also very quiet.

They went to the building while Tang Xing continued to talk.

“The most basic thing about cultivation is absorbing the spiritual energy in nature, then refining it before it is condensed into spiritual essence which will be stored in the Heart Space, and later it will become our energy source.

“There are different types of spiritual essence, each of them possessing techniques that are compatible with them. The reason Alchemists need transparent spiritual essence is because in refining pills, there are many details that we need to pay attention to, from the temperature of the fire, concocting the ingredients, fusion of ingredients, pill formation.

“The former can be set up with other spiritual essences, but the other can only be done with the energy produced by transparent spiritual essences. No other energy can make different ingredients blend perfectly.

"Do you understand this explanation?"

"Yes." Yi Yun and Mei Mei nodded.

They finally arrived in front of the building and went straight in.

There was no one inside the building, but there was plenty of firewood neatly tied together. The window there was left open so the sun shone on the firewood.

There was a staircase leading to the top floor, Tang Xing led them to the stairs while explaining about the woods. "Pill refining requires fire but Alchemists cannot create fire, therefore, we need wood, every Alchemist must gather wood like they collect money. If you see good wood, take it."

On the second floor, there were many cauldrons hanging on the walls, some already destroyed and some new.

"The cauldron is even more important, this is the soul of the Alchemists."

Tang Xing still didn't stop there, they went to the third floor. Here, there are many cupboards full of books.

"These books record pill recipes and various Alchemy techniques, some are history and geography books, if you want to read them you have to do it here, you can't take them away. Of course, you are not allowed to read until you become a cultivator."

Unfortunately there was no one here either so they went straight to the fourth floor.

On the fourth floor, Yi Yun saw hundreds of bottles neatly arranged on the shelves.

Inside each bottle was a plant seed that seemed to be frozen in ice.

This time, they met a woman in her 20s, wearing a rather disheveled outfit and some traces of smoke on her skin so that some parts were black. Maybe she would be very beautiful if she cleaned her body because even now she could still be considered beautiful.

Seeing their arrival, she was a little surprised.

"There are two new disciples today, Tang Xing, did you trick them?" she asked.

Tang Xing smiled wryly. He cleared his throat before saying, “Senior Luo recruited nine disciples today, two joined us, they joined on their own initiative, so they will definitely train hard. I think we need to give them more resources, maybe they will reach the Xiantian realm 15 years later. At that time, our work will be less."

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"That's the old man's business, just ask him."

"Ohh, but you are the granddaughter, maybe you can give him some advice."

"That's none of my business, I will soon leave this sect that has no future anymore."

After saying that, she descended downstairs, leaving Tang Xing with a helpless expression.

He then looked at Yi Yun and Mei Mei, “don't listen to her words, things are not as bad as she said, our sect existed before the Great Era, there have been over three hundred Monarchs born since our sect was founded. We have always been the strongest sect in the Overturned Ark Mountain Domain since then. In the penultimate generation, we even had a peerless genius who was close to becoming a Monarch. How can it be that our sect has no future. Later, there will definitely be an even greater genius. Let's go to the fifth floor, hopefully Elder Lin is there."

He quickly stepped onto the stairs that led to the fifth floor.

There was something interesting about his words, this sect turned out to have a genius who was almost a Monarch. Mei Mei couldn't help but ask, "Senior, who is that genius who almost became a Monarch?"

“Young Monarch Shengguang Buyu, he has the bloodline of the Holy Light clan, just like the founder of our sect. His appearance was quite surprising at the time as the clan had not shown themselves for a long time. But he is indeed a member of that clan because he can master the five Holy Light Merit Laws, allowing him to defeat any genius who challenges him.” Tang Xing looked excited as he explained it as if it was himself.

He added, "before our sect became what it is today, we had the Five Halls of Light where each of them became the hegemony."

"Then, what happens next?"

“Unfortunately the final fortune to become a Monarch went to Young Monarch Chu, who eventually became the Monarch of that generation. (Lightning Arrow Monarch) In fact, Young Monarch Shengguang Buyu had defeated him several times, but yeah, the heavens seemed to be jealous of him so thwarted him.” This time Tang Xing shook his head and started to get sad.

After that, he gritted his teeth. “No Monarch interferes with the sects of their enemies after they become a Monarch, but the Lightning Arrow Monarch did the despicable thing to make our sect what it is today. We continued to decline from time to time until even the small sects dared to mock us and the big sects forgot about our existence. He even did something to our Merit Laws so that their strength decreased, not as great as they used to be. It's said that he won as well because he used a forbidden method."

"Really evil, how could such a person be a Monarch." Mei Mei also looked angry.

"There is no justice in this world, even the devil can be the final victor, that's why we must rely on ourselves, not just rely on fate."

'Relying on yourself huh. Yeah, that's the only thing that can be done in this world,' thought Yi Yun.

They soon arrived on the 5th floor.

It had a desk and some locked cupboards, there was also a room door.

“Elder Lin, are you here?” Tang Xing called, but after a few times, still no answer.

""Oh, looks like Elder Lin has left, whereas yesterday he was still around, I'm not sure when he will return. But you don't have to worry, I will take care of you and teach you... First..."

He then walked to one of the cupboards, he seemed to have the key, so he could open it.

Inside the cupboard, there were dozens of small bags that seemed to fit in a pocket.

He took two bags and handed each of them to them.

"Inside, there are tokens indicating that you are sect disciples, a Merit Law, an Awakening Pill that will speed up your breakthrough to the first stage, ten Low Grade Spiritual Stones, a book that explains the basics of cultivation in full, and some clothes. Before starting to study Alchemy, you need to cultivate first because you need a cultivator's senses to make detailed observations, so in these few days, focus on cultivating until you reach the Houtian first stage."

Out of curiosity, Yi Yun opened the bag, he was quickly surprised because he found the space inside the bag was very large, maybe two meters in diameter.

"It's a Spatial Artifact called the Spatial Bag, so the space is wider than it looks, and there are many better ones like the Spatial Ring.

"Alright, now let us go to where you guys will be staying."

Not far behind the building, there was an area where there were dozens of pavilions that were very similar to each other.

"Our Alchemy Hall has no status division, we all live here, other hall disciples are forbidden to come, so you guys can live quietly here.

"Choose your pavilions, that, that, and that are pavilions that are still empty," Tang Xing pointed at several pavilions in a short amount of time.

"I'll choose that one." Mei Mei quickly pointed at the pavilion in the middle while Yi Yun stared at the pavilion in the corner.

Tang Xing nodded. "Well, now you go in first, don't worry about food, every mealtime, the sect will send food to your residence. After you guys break through, meet me again. I live there, if I'm not around, just wait!"

Yi Yun and Mei Mei looked at each other for a while before they walked to their chosen pavilion.

Yi Yun did not go straight in, he looked around for a while.

In the distance, the Inverted Ark Mountain was clearly visible, it felt very close, but he knew it was very far away.

'This cultivation world is vast and there are many powerful existences with Monarchs being the most powerful of them all, I'm not sure of my future destiny,' he thought.

Becoming the strongest, who wouldn't want it, is just like on earth where almost everyone once dreamed of being the richest. But dreaming and actually making it happen are two different things.

The former is easy to do, but the latter is something that won't just appear. It takes opportunity, determination, motivation, and never-ending hard work.

"Well, I'll take it easy. The most important thing is safety," he said before entering the pavilion.