A trickle of perspiration slid down Aiden's spine as the elder San approached with measured steps. All eyes bored into him like he'd committed some offense in plain sight. The sensation mirrored what he'd felt when they'd led away the initial group of captives to be put to death himself among them.
Fuck! Why was he feeling the same sensation once again?
His breath ragged up when the elder San stopped next to him and placed his hand on Aiden's shoulder. As if a hundred pounds settled on his shoulder, he almost buckled under the pressure before his fighting will fight against the pressure. His spine straightened, and his neck stood erect.
“Lan girl, if you make any noises then I will kick you out of the exam, and you brat, if you want to help her, then do it without making a noise.” The old man's words echoed in Aiden's head, but as he glanced around, it appeared no one else had caught him speaking.
Did elder San speak in his mind?
“Node if you understood it.” Elder San’s sharp voice struck his ears once more, and he nodded lightly.
The elder went back, and the exam resumed. A new herb appeared in front of him. It was a White Cicada Plant, and when he looked left, he saw a Burned Umber Jelly on Lan Yueya’s table.
After whispering to her about her herb, he wrote down the descriptions of his own herb in detail. White Cicada Plant was another good ingredient for poison curation, and it made him wonder if he could have saved Xu Ma’s life with this or the previous herb he had.
Maybe not. It was just one of the ingredient in the actual pill, and he would need Payu Peru Grass and Pure Qi Water and Mana Extraction Talisman to concoct the potion.
What will elder San do if he realizes Aiden knew all the pill recipes old man Li knew? Would he capture him and turn him into an experiment? The pressure elder San put on him a minute ago was definitely qi pressure. He had experienced what a qi pressure could do when he possessed old man Li's body.
What cultivation level elder San possessed? Was he too at Marrow Cleansing Realm? No, that wasn't possible. Only a few elders were at that level, and they were called as High Elders, and Sect Protectors. Then at what cultivation level elder San was?
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The cultivation levels had distinct names. The first level was the Refinement Realm, and then Foundation Realm, Bone Baptization Realm, Marrow Cleansing Realm, and then Boiling Blood Realm. There were few more, but old man Li didn't know about them.
Last night when he had compared old man Li with Li An, he realized how little Li An knew. It was like comparing an ant's brain and an elephant's brain. That bastard didn't want to study and just wanted to be a top dog everywhere, which he wasn't. Well, he was in his town when he awakened Holy Alchemist class. Li An thought he would be unrivaled throughout the world, but when he came to the sect and saw hundreds of Holy Alchemists, he gave up and just wanted to find a shortcut to the success.
And then he failed. He couldn't pass the outer sect disciple exam and become a common laborer disciple.
When he couldn’t become what he wanted to, he tried to ride on his handsome face and flirted with girls here and there, and ultimately messed with a wrong girl. That one mistake took him from a common laborer to one scrubbing toilets. It didn't end there, and he ate a pill he wasn't supposed to and died.
Taking short cuts had never worked in anyone's life, and Aiden had learned it a hard way back on Earth.
Maybe this life would be different. Aiden came here with a cheat code - old man Li's memory and only time would tell if he could use it to his own advantage. There were just too many of old man Li's memories, and Aiden hadn't even scratched the surface yet.
“Brother An, what is this herb?” Lan Yueya’s whisper woke him up, and he glanced at her herb. It was Blackwood Grass, used for a Pure Qi Water potion.
“Blackwood Grass. 10 year old because it only has one Tree Vein inside.”
“How do you find a Tree Vein?” She asked, her eyes going muddy.
“If you cut at the position of three fingers from the stalk, you will find the Tree Vein Lines.”
Lan Yueya used her sharp nails to make a cut and saw a black line running through the internal structure.
“Brother An, you are awesome.” Her eyes became lovey dovey and Aiden focused on his own herb and started jotting down the notes. These herbs were all low-level herbs and used to make common potions. Alchemy Hall was responsible for making all low-level potions for the sect, and they recruited hundreds of alchemist every year.
“Brother An, what is this herb?”
A glance and Aiden told her about the Jetroot Root Vein. It was an herb which could cure common creases from face and could be used as a paste as well. Apparently, old man Li had researched this plant to treat his first mortal wife’s ugliness.
Wait, old man Li had two wives, but Delia said he only had one wife. Something was wrong with these memories.
Suddenly an influx of memories appeared in his head, a pain shooting through his brain like someone sat inside and carved pieces of it while he was still conscious. He felt like neurons in his brain exploded and if it didn't stop, then his brain would explode any moment and paint everything in red and white.
"Found you, Aiden. You have my memories, and I was searching for you for so long." A girl's voice chuckled in his mind and then everything become dark.