Aiden unleashed the new skill on the corpse of a beast sprawled in a shadowy corner within the cave. Mana surged from his body as the carcass burst with a thunderous crack, scattering decaying fragments like deadly projectiles in all directions.

A searing void tore through Aiden's mana core, unleashing brain-wracking agony as 1000 mana vanished in an instant. 1000 mana left his mana core half empty, and the feeling was not good. After a few brief breaths where he felt like he could die any moment, his muscles eased up and he could relax once again.

"Fuck! That was intense." He cursed. Losing 1000 mana at go left a bad taste in his mouth, and he vowed to not repeat it again.

Good that he used the skill deep inside the cave. If he had cast this skill outside, it would have attracted a lot of attention, and he would be in trouble, but the inner walls of the cave were so deep that even a small explosive wouldn't wake anyone from their light afternoon sleep.

Aiden stepped out from behind a natural rock formation, his nostrils filled with the acrid stench of scorched flesh and stone dust. The area of the explosion, once black and gray, now bore a gruesome hints of deep reds and scarred earth surface. The explosion was powerful, but not as much as he would have liked it to be. At most, he would be able to clear the corpse, but he could do the same with Corpse Bloom, so there was no practical use of this skill.

Corpse Explosion

Grade: Low Tier Gold Grade

Rarity: Epic

"In the dance of life and death, the fallen become instruments of chaos. Harness the echoes of their final breath, and unleash a symphony of destruction."

Detonate a corpse, causing explosive damage to the surrounding area equal to 20% of the corpse's maximum life force.

100% chance to successfully explode a corpse below your cultivation level.

1% chance to successfully explode a corpse above your cultivation level.

Cost: 500 qi/1000 Mana.

System: Do you want to deconstruct the skill Corpse Explosion?

Aiden chose no. The skill was useless considering its Epic skill tag.

Shaking his head, he turned back and walked out of the cave. In a few hours, he would go under the fire control trial for the alchemy hall trials, and then the next day, he had to process some herbs. He had enough theoretical knowledge to excel in both the trials, but he lacked the practical knowledge. Only after successfully passing the two trials he could call himself as an Alchemy Hall Disciple.

In short, he needed herbs to practice both the skills, and before becoming a outer sect disciple, he won't get his hands on any.

He didn't want to do it, but he had to do it, anyway. To survive, he had to become an outer disciple first.

After deciding his next course of action, he quickly moved toward the labor disciple huts. From the descent of the mountain, the row of the huts looked like a giant snake coiling around the base of the mountain, and the mouth had a few special huts that only a few people could live in. Despite being the lowest dregs of the sect, there was discrimination in the labor disciples, and those huts belonged to the lackeys of the outer disciple powerhouses.

One of them was Rayu Guda, a petite woman with a fierce cut on her face. She was a hateful person and bullied Li An many times. Li An's memories of her weren't any good, and she worked for Wang Renmei.

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Any other time Aiden would have ignored her, but she monitored the labor disciples who collected the common herbs from the mountain. In the Alchemy Hall's eyes, these common herbs were treated as weeds, but for mortals and labor disciples, these herbs could mean a difference between life and death.

These herbs were used to make some powders for low-level disciples. Like healing powder, wound sealing powder, pain suppressing powder etc. Although these powders weren't as effective as a real Healing Potion, these could still seal a few wounds here and there, and save one's life in the dire situations.

Aiden stopped outside the small line marked around the seven huts in the middle. Labor disciples called it as a Poverty Line. The people outside of the line were poor as fuck, and those inside lived an extravagant life compared to other labor disciples. These people collected taxes, charges from other disciples and had made a cartel of their own, and no one said anything to them.

Aiden let out a weary breath. This wasn't a place where people got a say in things. Here, only brute force mattered. He thought back to Earth, where even so-called free societies crumbled when war broke out. The world had fallen apart, and from the mess of lawlessness, a handful of big companies had taken control of everything. Wasn't he a victim of such an atrocity?

No. He didn't call himself a victim back then and he wouldn't do it here as well. Whatever happened, he would mark his own way through it.

Slowly, he pulled down the make-shift mask he had prepared for this small event. It wouldn't protect him forever, but it would save some trouble for him today.

"Brother Gu, slow down. I'm not going anywhere." A moan caught Aiden's ears, and he froze. Some moans and growls followed, so he stopped outside.

"Brother Gu, senior sister Wang Renmei, has returned from the weekly quest, and she is heavily injured. Some jerk from the Dark Realm hurt her badly that she had to use an escape medallion."

"And you are telling me this now?" The male voice shook up and something fall over and shattered, like a glass or something. "What the hell happened, Rayu?"

"I don't know, but I know for sure senior sister won't visit us to collect the taxes for a few days."

A male chuckled followed.

"That's great. Increase the living tax on the labor disciple and collect it before senior sister visits us."

"Brother Gu, if elder find out about this we will face consequences."

"Don't worry about the elders for now. They are busy with something critical. I heard the Alchemy Hall examination is deferred for two days."

"But if they find out about this, we will be in trouble," the female voice said.

"As long as senior sister doesn't find out, then it's fine. Senior sister reports to inner disciple Song and he rules over the labor disciple section. Even elders don't cross with the Song clan. So what do we have to fear?" The male voice chuckled, his arrogance leaking through his tone.

Aiden chuckled inwardly. Everyone was corrupt. From bottom to the top, and that made his life simple.

Without knocking, he stepped through the door. The tiny lock of the wooden door was nothing in front of him, and with a push it broke.

The duo was lying in each other's embrace, half naked.

Rayu Guda covered her plump breasts with the sheet with a fearful face while the guy with a long beard and chiseled upper body got up with an unbridled fury in his eyes. His light gray eyes turned red as he stepped close to Aiden.

"Motherfucker, I don't care who you are, but today you will pay for this." He raised his hand to slap Aiden.

Aiden grabbed his hand in the air and twisted it backward, dislocating it from the shoulder socket.

Gu Watang opened his mouth, but Aiden slapped it shut.

Gu Watang fell on the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head as he passed out.

"Who are you?" Rayu Guda shuddered, her hands clenching the cloth tightly as if she expected the masked assailant to rape her.

"Open the storage pouch for the herbs," Aiden said, shifting his voice slightly. Although he doubted they had ever heard Li An speaking. Also, Li An had no memorable voice, so he shouldn't have to worry much. Other than Lan Yueya, no one should remember his voice.

"You can't take them. Those are for the sect." Rayu Guda shook her head frantically. "They will find you and kill you for stealing something that belongs to the sect," Rayu Guda said, her voice full of fear and hesitation.

Aiden put his shoe on Gu Watang's crotch, slightly pressing them down. He didn't care about anyone investigating this as these two won't report this to elders as it would attract attention to their other businesses.

Rayu Guda stared at him, giving no reply.

Aiden pressed harder, eliciting a twitch from Gu Watang's unconscious body.

"Please don't." Rayu Guda finally broke into a deep sob. "I'll give them to you." She extended her hand and retrieved a small pouch from her clothes lying next to the bed-roll and tossed it to him after opening it.

Aiden checked on the material, and there were two hundred sets of five herbs. It must be a week or two collections, and it should be enough for him to practice his own alchemy.

Snorting coldly, Aiden kicked Gu Watang into her lap and then turned away. With these many herbs, he had enough material to practice the fire control, and with the exam deferred by a day, he had enough time to practice his craft.