The city was a called Blue Wind City and it had a Marrow Cleansing expert as the city lord. Before his breakthrough, Ye Meng was confident in killing Dan Forming Experts but now he could be said to be the strongest in the city. He decided to hide his cultivation using a technique he got from Ye Qing as going from no cultivation to peak of Spirit Forming stage in a couple of weeks is inhuman in this backwater area.
He saw the middle sized city and he approached the gates. The Foundation Building guards saw his ragged clothes and dirt covered all over him along with his lack of cultivation. They disdainfully said, “No beggars allowed in the city. ”
Ye Meng was at a loss for words and Ye Qing was laughing like a madman due to the guard’s reactions. Ye Meng is quite friendly with the guards and they should recognize him even if he was from 1,000 meters away. “Hahhaaha! They’re calling you a beggar! Hhahahahahah!” wheezed Ye Qing. Ye Meng felt a tinge of annoyance in his heart as he pulled out his Alchemist’s Association blood bounded card.
The guards saw the card and they almost spurted out blood. They were scared of offending prestigious people but they did just that. A revered Tier 3 alchemist in the city had the appearance of a beggar! Who would’ve expected that?! They knew that Ye Meng was an eccentric who didn’t care for many things so even if he slightly resembled Ye Meng they would’ve asked a bit more respectfully. But, his stature was completely different than the normal Young Alchemist Ye they knew. The difference between the two was like heaven and earth! You have to understand that one word of one of the two Tier 3 Alchemists in the city, who can refine pills for Dan Forming cultivators, can have their families killed. The quickly kowtowed on the ground without an ounce of shame and begged the young man in front of them, “Young alchemist Ye, please excuse our words back then!”
“It’s alright, I had just been in the Magical Beast Range looking for herbs and I managed to get dirty. I also managed to make a breakthrough in my body refining technique which transformed my body.” When the guards heard that they wanted to die. How is this a breakthrough in a body refining technique?! This is must be a transformation technique! How can a body refining technique make someone go through puberty?! But, the guards don’t dare to say it out loud in case of offending the young alchemist in front of them another time.
The guards got up and let Ye Meng in with awkward smiles on their faces. Ye Meng entered the city and headed to his house in the city. He quickly washed himself and then he went to go say goodbye. He walked to the branch of the Alchemist’s Association after getting some tasty food from food stalls.
The Alchemist’s Association was the number 1 power in the world without a doubt. They have branches everywhere around the world and alchemists are ranked by tiers through 1-9 with Tier 1 Alchemist's being able to refine pills for Spirit Forming cultivators. A Tier 2 Alchemist could refine pills for Foundation Building cultivators and so on. No one dares to offend the Alchemist’s Association because they can call cultivators to aid them by giving them expensive pills.
He entered the building and went to the branch leader’s office. There was an identity checking array up ahead and he just flashed his card. As soon as the arrays picked up his identity they informed the branch leader. Ye Meng waited for a while and the door opened up to reveal a mature woman in her mid thirties wearing beautiful robes walking out out. As soon as she saw Ye Meng, she knitted her eyebrows because he seemed familiar. After a while, she exclaimed with shock, “Little Meng?! What happened to you?!”
Ye Meng scratched his head and he innocently said, “I made a breakthrough in my body refining technique. Anyways, I’ve come to tell you that I’m leaving to join a sect after I finish up some loose ends.” When she heard that, her beautiful eyes starting tearing up and she hugged him, “Remember to eat well and don’t start unnecessary fights! Sects are dangerous but with your talent you’d be given the utmost care!”
Even with Ye Meng’s current strength he felt crushed under her bear hug. He remembered that she was pregnant 15 years ago but her child died due to an enemy’s attacks so she thought of him as her own child. His heart warmed whenever he was reminded of that because he lost his parents when he was younger and he subconsciously thought of her as a mom during the 3 years.
“Don’t worry Aunt Chen Bing, I’ll be fine. I have a special parting gift for you and a secret to tell you.” He patted his interspatial pouch and a couple of fragrant pills appeared in his hand. As soon as she saw the pills she shuddered with excitement and she exclaimed, “Tier 5 pills! Where did you get those?!” He wryly smiled and he proudly said, “Would you believe me if I told you that I made these?” She stared at him with shock and her pretty face broke out into a huge grin, “Uuuuuhhhh! Little Meng’er, you were hiding your true capabilities!”
Ye Meng told her to give the pills to her husband, the city lord of the city and he left the building. A cold light gleamed in his eyes and he thought, “It’s time to pay back Wang Feng with the blood of his family” . He went to a weapons store and bought an expensive bow and sharp arrows for 65,000 silver liangs. He also bought a map of the nearby million li along with a wooden face mask.
Currency in this world is in silver liangs and spirit stones with 10 silver liangs being the average income of a mortal family. Ye Meng has around 800,000 silver liangs due to his frugal living conditions which is pretty wealthy amongst Tier 3 Alchemists. Low grade spirit stones are worth around 100,000 silver liangs each which is an exorbitant cost just for their purpose which is to increase cultivation speed.
He walked out of the city and looked at his map. Ye Meng knew the city where Wang Feng’s family resided in due to his endless boasting in the sect. It was quite far away from Blue Wind City, even for him. He saw that it would take a couple of weeks before he got there if he ran at his full speed. Whenever he thought about Wang Feng and the Dongxue Clan, he immediately became enraged. He clenched his palms until they bled whenever he thought about Wang Feng’s actions towards him. He never did anything against Wang Fang but Wang Feng wanted to kill him just for talking to a girl. He thought about how the Dongxue Clan killed his parents just because his mother refused to ‘serve’ the young master of the clan. When Ye Qian saw how Ye Meng was enraged, he was reminded of his past self, so he decided to help him out.
“Hey brat, let me give you some advice. You may have the necessary strength to get revenge but don’t be rash. What if a Divine Sea cultivator is visiting the Wang Clan? You might be able to dominate against Marrow Cleansing cultivators but if you come upon a Divine Sea cultivator you’d be dead. One of the biggest struggles of being a cultivator is growing stronger to make sure you get your revenge. All cultivators must’ve endured some form of being wronged or they aren’t true cultivators. But, they begin blinded by hatred and it causes a heart demon for them. It makes their cultivation unable to advance. It doesn’t matter if you cultivate The Sovereign’s Body, you won’t be able to ascend without reaching the pinnacle of the realm. Don’t be rash and use your time wisely. Don’t create heart demons by obsessing over revenge. You should wait until you reach Foundation Building and I can tell you the secret.”
Ye Meng took some of it to heart but he shook his head and said, “I’m sorry old man, there are some things I can’t agree with you on. If I don’t get my revenge as soon as possible, I’m afraid I’ll go mad. Hatred is like a water leak, it keeps accumulating until it overflows. You’ll need to empty it or else it’ll overflow.”
Ye Qing sighed and he didn’t say anything else. Ye Meng started his journey to the city where the Wang Clan resided in. He spent most of his Qi using his movement technique during the day, so at night he concocted pills and meditated to replenish his Qi. He took the pills he concocted to slightly increase his cultivation. One day, Ye Meng was running very quickly towards Wang City when suddenly, a terrifying roar came from behind him.
He almost tripped due to shock and when he looked back his expression turned gloomy. There was a Tier 4 deadly beast behind him charging right for Ye Meng which made him run the fastest he has ever run in his entire life. It was one of the strongest of Tier 4 deadly beasts called the King Black Bull. Ye Meng’s body was as strong as an AVERAGE Tier 3 deadly beast and along with his techniques, he could fight an average Tier 4 deadly beast to a standstill. But, the King Black Bull wasn’t an average Tier 4 beast, as Ye Meng knew that the bull was several tens of thousands of jins stronger than an average Tier 4 deadly beast. Ye Qing was very confused because even in the Immortal Realm magical beasts and deadly beasts have their own territories, it was almost like a natural law.
The chase lasted for a couple of minutes and the King Black Bull almost caught up to him. Ye Meng sighed and thought, “I guess I have no other chance than to fight.” Ye Meng saw a giant 300 foot wide tree ahead of him so he thought up a quick plan. He ran to the tree and used his powerful legs to push off the tree towards the King Black Bull like a spring. The King Black Bull totally didn’t expect that to happen as it reacted a lot slower than it should have. Ye Meng flew towards the King Black Bull and he pulled out his best sword called Windfreeze from his interspatial pouch. Windfreeze was a Tier 3 Artifact made by the materials of a Tier 3 deadly beast that he bought for 80,000 silver liangs.
It looked like a thin blue estoc and gave off a chilly aura. With the slight amount of time he gained from that skillful maneuver, Ye Meng reached the back of the bull and stabbed his sword toward a particular weak spot with all his strength. The estoc made a rather deep 6-inch hole in the bull’s back and the bull angrily roared at Ye Meng. Scarlet blood rapidly gushed out of the wound and Ye Meng quickly retreated back towards safety.
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He ran towards another giant tree and climbed up the tree hoping to waste time for the bull to be severely weakened by the blood loss. The King Black Bull upon seeing that the opponent was a coward snorted with disdain and ran towards the tree with full speed. Upon getting close to the tree, the bull leaped towards the tree with the force that could cause cracks in mountains. The bull’s large horns pierced the tree’s hard trunk deeply and the bull was now hanging down from the tree unable to get off.
Upon seeing the hilarious sight, Ye Meng sneered with disdain, “Hmph! As expected from a deadly beast.”. He carefully walked along the branches of the tree until he was right above the bull while hanging upside down from a branch. He propelled himself towards the bull and aligned his sword perfectly towards the eye of the bull. Like an arrow, he pierced the eye of the bull and penetrated it’s brain. Ye Meng sighed a breath of relief and started cutting the horns of the bull off. With the horns cut off, the bull’s corpse fell from the tree and hit the ground with an earth shaking rumble. Ye Meng ran to the Wang Clan after he cut off the important parts of the bull and put them in his pouch.
Eventually, a month had passed since Ye Meng had left Blue Wind City and he reached the Wang Clan’s city.
The city that the Wang Clan resided in was called Soaring Dragon City. It’s power balance was similar to the Blue Wind City but there was an another major power in the city known as the Mu Clan. The Wang Clan’s Patriarch was the city lord of Soaring Dragon City and was a peak Marrow Cleansing expert but the Mu Clan’s Patriarch was a mid Marrow Cleansing expert. The Wang Clan further solidified their position by being a city under the Jade Mountain Sect.
Even one small stage was a huge divider in cultivation. The Mu Clan’s Patriarch could probably hold off the Wang Clan’s Patriarch for several moves but after that he would be heavily injured. Ye Meng obtained all that information from some traveling cultivators. With the help of Ye Qing, he disguised his appearance to a young man in his twenties and this time he didn’t forget to wash up before entering the city. He wanted to ask Ye Qing how he made Ye Meng transform but Ye Qing didn’t respond. He entered the city and went to a relatively cheap inn. He spent a couple dozen silver liangs to stay in the inn for two months.
He concocted pills in his room until it became relatively dark. He walked out of the inn and headed to a nearby tavern for information. The tavern was fairly shabby and looked rather low class. He greeted the bartender and ordered some cheap wine. He drank by himself and he wasn’t worried about getting drunk as The Sovereign’s Body naturally made his body immune to a certain extent of poisons so naturally he would be immune to something weak like alcohol even if he was meant for cultivators. He acted drunk because the amount of alcohol he drank was several cups. A normal peak Spirit Forming cultivator would naturally get drunk from this much.
While he was drinking, he was secretly eavesdropping with his superhuman hearing. He listened to the conversations about cultivation, woman, and many more interesing conversations. Eventually, he found out what he was looking for, “Did ya hear? The Wang Clan’s young miss, Wang Biyu and the Mu Clan’s Patriarch’s son, Mu Donghai are getting married! In two months the wedding is supposed to take place!”
“Perfect… Much better than I expected…” muttered Ye Meng as he heard the two old men talking about the Wang Clan and the Mu Clan. Sadly, he didn’t get any more info on the subject. He thought back of the simple strategy, killing with a borrowed knife and found it absolutely fitting for the occasion. But before that, he’ll have to strengthen the knife so it can properly kill.
He walked out of the bar looking drunk and when he was on the street, he spouted out about random things. People looked at him with disdain but he paid no mind to them because this was a perfect way to disguise himself ever further. He walked back to the inn while he was acting drunk and then he went to his room. He looked at his interspatial pouch and sighed, “I barely have enough materials to execute the plan. I guess I’ll need to get more.”
He checked how many pills he had left and sighed. He didn’t gain any pills when he was concocting in the Magical Beast Range. He had a lot of magical cores but concocting pills needs more than just magical cores. He put on a cloak and asked Ye Qing, “Can you hide my aura to make me look like a mysterious expert?”
Ye Qing did the mystical thing without saying anything and suddenly his aura was completely hidden. Ye Meng found that process to be extremely mysterious and very interesting. He opened the window of the room and stealthily jumped out. He headed towards the Alchemist’s Association branch in the city. Generally, Alchemist’s Association branches are only located in cities where the strongest expert is at least a Dan Forming cultivator. Those branches are maintained by an alchemist whose tier is one lower than the strongest cultivator’s stage. That means that a city with a Divine Sea stage cultivator has a Tier 4 alchemist while a city with a Dan Forming stage cultivator has a Tier 2 alchemist.
He entered the building and he didn’t show his Alchemist’s Association membership card because he wanted to hide his identity. He waited for an attendant to show up and soon enough an old man walked up to him. “How may I help you?”
Ye Meng didn’t say anything but he turned over his hand and upon them there were plenty of pills with a fragrance like fresh morning dew. The old man carefully looked at the pills and suddenly his eyes bulged with shock, “T-t-t-tier 4 PILL!”
The sudden commotion drew a whole bunch of other alchemists and they thought, “No way, a Tier 4 alchemist is the branch leader even in those stronger cities, why would he come here?”
They still went to go inspect it because if it really was a Tier 4 pill then they wouldn’t wanna miss it. Different Tier pills could be identified by seeing the color of the aura it gives off. Tier 1 pills give off a black aura, Tier 2 pills give off a grey aura, Tier 3 pills give off a brown aura, Tier 4 pills give off a purple aura, Tier 5 pills give off a blue aura, Tier 6 pills give off a red aura, Tier 7 pills give off an orange aura, Tier 8 pills give off a yellow aura and the legendary Tier 9 pills give off no aura at all.
When the alchemists saw the thin purple layer of Qi surrounding the pill, they became incredibly excited and their eyes turned red. These alchemists are just Tier 2 or Tier 1 alchemist's who’ve never even seen Tier 4 pills so it’s no wonder that they’ve become crazy.
The Dao of Alchemy is a long one and even seeing a pill made from someone else whose accomplishments in the Dao are a lot better than yours can result in a breakthrough. Suddenly, a peak Dan Forming aura emerged and swept away everyone else from Ye Meng. A refined young man appeared from the branch leader’s office. The alchemists all piped down and were like obedient dogs.
Ye Meng guessed that he was the branch leader and he coldly said, “Are you the branch leader?”
The young man nodded and he said, “Yes, my name is Luo Xiuxi may I be so rude to ask why such an alchemist at your level stopped at this lowly city?”
Ye Meng kept up his farce and he arrogantly said, “Hmph! I ran out of materials to make pills. Why else would I, a Tier 5 alchemist, stop at this backwater city. I need materials as soon as possible so I might give you a Tier 5 Sea Condensing pill if you give me sufficient resources.”
As soon as they heard the words Tier 5 alchemist, the alchemists started giving Ye Meng gazes of reverence. Luo Xiuxi looked completely surprised as his jaw was literally hanging out. He started panting and ordered an arrogant young man at his side “Quickly! Wang Di, Go our best materials to trade for his pills!”
“Ah, a member of the Wang Clan, I see… You should savor the last few months of your pathetic life.” Ye Meng thought. The arrogant young man called Wang Di rebutted, “But master, those are very expensive treasures that you said I could use if I become a Tier 5 alchemist!”
The branch leader yelled, “Do you know how much a Sea Condensing pill costs?! It's worth more than half your Wang Clan’s total assets!”
Wang Di immediately shut up and didn't say a word after that. Luo Xiuxi started rambling on about alchemy and how honored he was to meet Ye Meng but he wasn't paying attention at all. They walked towards the treasury and entered. As soon as Ye Meng saw what was inside he gasped on the inside. Ye Qian exclaimed, “How can that thing possibly be here?!”
They both were shocked because the medicinal plant they saw was called the Divine Steel Plant and it was extremely rare, even in the Immortal Realm. It would be a shock if it was only one stalk, but there were 5 stalks of it! The plant was used to make extremely potent power used to increase the speed in cultivating body refining techniques. But, if you don’t use the proper recipe and follow all of the directions carefully, you’ll end up with a poison that makes you more useless than an eunuch in bed.
Ye Meng suppressed his excitement and he said arrogantly while pointing to the Divine Steel Plant, “Hmm. That plant looks rather interesting, give me all of the stalks you have.”
Luo Xiuxi nodded and carefully plucked out the stalks and gave them to Ye Meng. He didn’t question him because many experts in various fields are very eccentric. It wouldn’t be good for him to secretly pry into personal matters as he risks offending them..Ye Meng picked out a whole bunch of materials for his plans and he gave Luo Xiuxi a Sea Condensing pill along with some Tier 4 pills.
After that, Ye Meng left the building and found out he had pursuers. “Hah, only peak Foundation Building cultivators want to tail me?” he sneered with disdain. Ye Meng used his full speed and disappeared into an alley. He went back to his drunk persona and headed back to his room. He began his preparations for his big plan of destroying the Wang Clan.
Unbeknownst to him, he wasn’t the only one with a big plan. In the Wang Clan, an old man with a fluctuating aura sometimes his cultivation was at the Dan Forming stage, but other times it was at the mid Divine Sea stage! That person was the Wang Clan’s Patriarch, Wang Yan who was currently cultivating using unknown methods. Suddenly, the aura stabilized at mid Divine Sea stage and Wang Yan opened his bloodshot eyes. He sighed and he muttered, “Only 2 more months before I can make my breakthrough! Finding this stone was truly good fortune. After that, I’ll avenge you my darling Xiu’er!”
Sadly, both of them didn’t know that a third power was coming. In a extravagant city, 10 middle aged men in black clothes were whispering to each other. The most shocking thing about them was that all of them had auras far surpassing Wang Yan! As they were chatting to each other, an old man appeared and the whispering immediately stopped. “The Divine Elemental Stone was found in a backwater city with the strongest expert being a Marrow Cleansing cultivator.”
The listeners all gasped and they all felt greed from the bottom of their hearts but, they knew who this old man was, an existence that should not be provoked! “Get ready, we should get there in around 9 weeks.” The men all exited the city at a speed multiple times faster than Ye Meng but the most surprising thing was that the old man had an aura that far surpassed the middle aged men. A fitting coincidence was that they were all powerful figures in a certain clan...