Inside the Immortal Realm
Shen released a huge amount of air from his lungs. The benefits he received from Absolute Duo Manual became limited. If the girls' power didn't receive any drastic changes, he would hardly receive any benefit. More like, now that Shen broke through the Martial King realm, the girls felt drastic changes in their power, of course after their steamy night with Shen.
After last night, Mingyue Gelou from the peak of 1st grade Xiantian jumped to the peak of the 2nd grade of the Xiantian realm. She was already on the verge of breaking through to the 3rd grade Xiantian realm. Shen discovered another effect of Absolute Duo Manual during the shower, the body of Mingyue Gelou released a light amount of impurity. Though he leaned toward it being one of the effects of his Absolute Physique.
Still, he managed to reach the peak of 2nd Layer of the Martial King realm. The 24 strands of Chaos Qi on his muscle that surrounded his bone frame, increasingly released absolute qi on his blood and helped in forming Absolute Bloodline. Every day he was going closer to forming his very first drop of Absolute Bloodline!
After executing a series of sword technique with the Big Dipper Sword, Shen decided to practice Alchemy. Lately, whenever Shen thought of Alchemy, he can't help but frown.
Taking the Heavenly Genesis Cauldron, Shen sat in a comfortable position as he added many common grade herbs inside the cauldron. But any of them were at least above three hundred years old! The Pill he was cultivating was Spirit Concentration Pill!
Spirit Concentrating Pill: Allows the practitioner to improve their cultivation speed for 24 hours. The effect depends on the purity and grades of the herbs used!
The ingredients Shen used to concoct this pill: Five hundred-year Fleeceflower Root, two-hundred-year Tigerbone Powder, three-hundred-year Bear Gall, three-hundred-year Turtle's Blood, Four-Edged Lotus Leaf, Purple Leaf Flower, five-hundred-year Fu Ling!
The main reason he decided on this pill was that it helps him in cultivation, not to mention there was no negative effect from this pill. Especially the herbs required for the pill was all from common grade.
While alchemy may seem to be very simple, it required one to be fully focused, both physically and mentally, sensing each step when the medicinal herbs sublimate, and combine, and sublimate...
Once there exists the tiniest of errors, the alchemy attempt would fail. The higher the quality of the medicinal pill, the more it needed to sublimate and combine, and the success rate would be very low. The lowest pill would only need one time to combine or sublimate, therefore the success rate would be very high.
Shen controlled the Primordial Genesis Flame, focusing his Spiritual Sense fully to sense the changes to the medicinal herbs within the Heavenly Genesis Cauldron, sensing each step of the sublimation, combination, sublimation...
The process of burning the impurities with heat was one of the fun processes he had encountered so far. He was proud of the fact that he could remove 81% impurity after the long practice of the last month. As he went through the success of the combination and sublimation each time, Shen did not dare to let down his guard.
It was to the extent that a dense layer of sweat droplets had appeared on Shen's forehead. Shen was not perspiring from the heat, but rather, from feeling anxious because it was at the final stage!
Pa!
The cauldron violently shook!
"Sigh, I feel tired to even count..."
Shen exasperatedly thought. From the last month, he had yet to success a single time. He tried different pill formula but the results were the same. He even thought there was some problem with the prescription or the herbs had a different name or medicinal effects, else he didn't know why would he fail so many times, especially at the pill forming stage.
Shen sat in silence, pondering over the reason for his failure. The cauldron was always enveloped with his Spiritual Sense and he could feel every change happening with it. When he compresses the medicinal properties and tries to form the pill, for some reason it causes a small explosion, causing the pill form to fail.
Suddenly, he felt that every time when he starts forming the pill, he unconsciously increases the temperature. Not only that, many medicinal properties are wasted inside the cauldron and end up having insufficient amount to form the pills.
He felt an inspiration this time, why bother with his spiritual sense only? He had Absolute Vision, this technique not only used Absolute Qi but also his spirit power. He could see any form of energies with it, in another way, it was by no mean inferior to his spiritual sense.
While he knew he will success sooner or later, he felt more confident about succeeding now! He had the confidence that he would be able to succeed at the next attempt, and so long as he could succeed, Shen would be able to success again.
After cultivating another round of Absolute Strengthening Technique, executing the sword movements, Shen again attempted to concoct Spirit Concentrating Pill.
He already had high familiarity with all the process other than pill forming, and this time, he astonishingly removed 87% of the impurities! As the process of pill forming neared, he instantly turned serious.
Using his Spirit Power, he controlled everything in the cauldron and proceeded on pill forming. He made sure to keep attention on the temperature. The Primordial Genesis Fire was especially potent, just a little increase changes the temperature by a huge margin.
Ting!
Success!
It was his first success concocting a pill! The sound given by the cauldron sounded so melodious to his ears that he could feel himself melting. Just how many times did he suffer failure? If it was someone else, they might've considered quitting pill concocting. Especially considering how much herbs went to waste, they might even cry a sea of tears!
The medicinal pill had a green translucent color, its size was also that of a grape. The pill was not completely translucent, and slightly cloudy. Indicating their purity, but if someone from any alchemy family got this pill on their hand, they would die to get their hands on the technique. After all, it was common knowledge, anything even with 80% purity was a rarity among rare pills. And this pill's purity reached an astonishing 87%! It even exuded a slight soothing fragrance. He quickly bottled them into the small porcelain bottles prepared beforehand. These porcelain bottles were custom-made to retain medicinal effects of the pills.
Shen was surprised when he found 20 pills inside the cauldron! After so many failures he almost forgot about the effects from the Heavenly Genesis Cauldron. The cauldron had +30% chance of producing a double amount of pills, with the Primordial Genesis Flame, the chance was doubled!
After taking a short break, Shen once again attempted to concoct the Spirit Concentrating Pill!
Success!
Success!
...
Shen smiled. After his first time succeeding, he felt he can complete the process even in his sleep. But too bad, this pill was not much of use to him. He only used common grade herbs in this pill and the effects it brings is also minuscule. The only reason he concocted this pill was training purpose only.
Out of the total of three rounds, the double effect only chanced on first round causing him to have a total of 40 lower Spirit Concentrating Pills.
"Hmm, let's try the effects. I will gather some thousand-year-old herbs to concoct better pills!"
Shen took out a light green Spirit Concentrating Pill and swallowed it. Immediately a cool feeling rose from his Dantian, gushing all the way up to his brain, making him feel refreshed throughout his body. His Spiritual Sense and ability to sense things was even strengthened by almost one fold.
This was something Shen didn't consider! Just by creating a pill from common grade herbs, he was able to concoct Spirit Gathering Pill that increases one's spiritual sense by almost onefold!
He took a pill and inspected.
[Lower Spirit Concentrating Pill; Purity-Medium
Increases concentration and sharpens spiritual sense for 24 hours by 1.74x]
"..."
Shen was left speechless. 87% purity and his Absolute Upgrade only indicated it as "Medium". Just what needed for it to show "High"? Maybe 98% or possibly it won't show without complete 100% purity!
But he was satisfied seeing that it increased his cultivation speed by 1.74x. Even though it was not completely onefold. He deduced it was due to the lower quality herbs. Shen didn't know if it was not for the high purity and the additional effect from the cauldron, even 1.5x would have been impossible with the same ingredients.
At this moment, Shen had a brilliant idea in his head. Something he didn't consider before, that was to upgrade the pills!
Taking the same pill, he tried to upgrade.
Success! He felt now he could upgrade all the way to +10!
Upgrade! Upgrade! Upgrade!...
Crack!
In a frenzy, Shen upgraded the pill all the way to +10. Unfortunately, the pill cracked and burst into hundreds of tiny parts on the tenth upgrade. But it caused Shen to think seriously, he was able to upgrade the pill all the way to +9 without destroying it. Even though it was a fragile pill...
Suddenly his eyes brightened! He took out another pill and started upgrading it. If what he thought was correct then he will have another path to take for his Absolute Upgrade.
What was different between the weapons and the pills other than the materials that Shen upgraded? It was not about the items, but Shen himself!
Shen concocted the pill. He knew everything, from start to finish how the pill forms. It was his insight. He had more insight about the pill than the weapons created. Not only he didn't know their materials. He personally didn't have any knowledge of weaponsmithing.
But the pill was different. He knew everything about the pill and its properties. He again upgraded another pill to its +10, causing it to shatter in pieces again. Again he took another pill, but stopped at +9 and checked its effects.
[Lower Spirit Concentrating Pill +9; Purity-Medium
Increases concentration and sharpens spiritual sense for 24 hours by 2.51x]
The increase was not that great, but consider the pill was only created from common grade herbs. The effects of his cultivation speed increased by more than onefold was terrific to Shen.
After all one day was equal more than 40 days for him! And his cultivation speed doubling means he can cultivate 80 days worth of cultivation in a single day! If it was not for his mighty cultivation being slow, he would have increased in strength by leaps and bounds!
Shen calmed down, as he went through everything about the Absolute Upgrade so far, and noted down a few important things.
Absolute Upgrade can upgrade anything or every non-living to +10;
Requirements:
The inherent property of the item must be good enough to hold the power of the upgrade.
If the item is not inherently strong, the user must have enough insight about the item.
These are the only thing Shen could think of so far. The mystery of Absolute Upgrade was yet to surface, but now he had a clear direction as to how he can exploit the Upgrade completely!
Shen stored the upgraded pill in another porcelain bottle and started cultivating the Absolute Strengthening Technique. He noticed how he can absorb spirit energy from the realm much faster than before. It was the main effect of the Spirit Concentrating Pill, increasing the speed of cultivation.
...
The next morning, Shen and Mingyue Gelou sat before Yan QingQing, both of them looked at the girl as if checking on a specimen. QingQing felt uncomfortable and pressured under their questioning gaze.
"I..." Yan QingQing paused, her words stuck to her throat.
For Shen and the girls, it was a simple answer, yes or no. But for Yan QingQing it was more than that, last night she went through many conflicts insider her. What she wanted, what was the most appropriate choice. Surely her mother was searching for a way to take her back, but how much would she have to suffer to do that? Was there not something that could lessen her suffering? But she couldn't bring herself to accept such an offer.
She remembered the eyes of the young man, even though he wanted to help her. His eyes seemed to contain some ambiguous meaning, it was not something malevolent but rather something similar to curiosity and interest. It seemed he was curious. Curious as to what her decision would be, which path would she choose. Even though he wanted to help her, his eyes genuinely expected something from her. Then to answer those expectations and her own self, her answer could only be...
"I want to return to my mother and brother with my own strength, please help me!" QingQing stood up and bowed deeply.
Mingyue Gelou had an incredulous expression while Shen clapped his hands, "Good, your request has been accepted. But don't expect it to be for free, from now on you'll be under my wing!"
I noticed a while ago, this novel finally reached 100K words. Took such a long time, geez.
So slow~
Mingyue Gelou stared at Shen in disbelief. He seemed to be already expecting it from Yan QingQing or else why would he readily accept her request? Won't taking her to the Hundred Miles City would be the best solution? Qing Yi would get back her long lost daughter, and Qing Shui will get back his sister.
"Shen, is this really okay?" Gelou asked in bewilderment.
"It's fine, it's fine," Shen said casually.
Mingyue Gelou looked around the inn while having breakfast. It was unusually quiet for the most popular Inn of the Yan City. The atmosphere looked rather gloomy too. There were hardly any customers in the other tables, "Is this Inn this desolate in the morning? Or there's some problem?"
It's the morning of just another day but the atmosphere of the Yan Jiang City was grim. Obviously, for a bustling city, this was out of the norm. Normally at this time, the city would look lively and merchants would go in and out of the city.
The reason for this atmosphere was not a trivial matter either. Last night someone injured Young Master Xiao severely. He was not harmed externally but his inner organs were severely injured! Whoever used this method was ruthless to the core, even the alchemists of the city were having trouble stabilizing his condition.
"It's alright, we should be having company soon," said Shen. He seemed to have some hidden meaning in his words but Mingyue Gelou didn't understand. Yan QingQing seemed to thought of something instantly and shock was written on her visibly.
Mingyue Gelou noticed the shock on QingQing's face and couldn't help but ask "QingQing, did you thought of something?"
QingQing remembered about the event last night, how Young Master Xiao suddenly fell down was still a mystery to her but thinking again, it wasn't as simple as she made it out to be. The young man in front of her was no normal person after all. Although she didn't doubt, she didn't think he could pressure a Xiantian that much. If what she thought was right then the Xiao Clan shouldn't take a long time to find them, "I think it's the Xiao Clan"—
Before she could finish her words, she was interrupted by a loud voice. "Who the hell dared to harm my niece, come out in front of me at once!!!"
Soon a group of old and middle-aged man entered the vision of Mingyue Gelou and Yan QingQing. All of them were exceptional, even the youngest one among the group was Grade 1 Xiantian and their highest cultivation reached Grade 5 of the Martial King Realm!
Shen sighed softly, although he expected the company, they couldn't just arrive a few minutes later. He was about to finish his breakfast. The dishes in the inn could be considered great and he wanted to savor them slowly.
"As you should already know, it is indeed me, your lord father, Young Master Shen." casually replied Shen, seemingly deep in thought, which was indeed correct.
Since he promised QingQing that she will be under his wing, he was thinking about a suitable place to train her. While Yan City might be a good choice, it was not favorable to him.
"You piece of vegetable, how dare you insult our elder!" a man in his early twenties and also the youngest of the group said out loud. He just reached the Xiantian realm and was very arrogant. When he saw the person talking was a "vegetable" without any cultivation, he couldn't help but curse out.
"FOoOshhh!~"
A loud sound as if something being punctured sounded inside the whole Inn. Everyone, including Mingyue Gelou and Yan QingQing, looked for the source of the sound as well. When they found the source, most of the Xiao Clan group looked horrified because they couldn't even see how it happened. As for the rest who saw the black shadow coming couldn't react in time to block it.
As for the arrogant man who spoke fell on his knees and his face went deathly pale. "...This, what just"— he violently coughed out a mouthful of blood, he looked at his blood filled hand and shouted hysterically —"SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??!!!"
The arrogant man still couldn't find out what just happened. He suddenly felt a hole in his dantian and just after that, all the cultivation he worked hard for more than twenty years of his life left his body.
"Geez, it's still early in the morning, can you quiet down a little?" Another flash of black light passed but the oldest man from the Xiao Clan blocked it. Just when he thought he blocked the black needle, another black light passed by him and embedded itself exactly three inches below the man's throat.
The man opened his mouth and moved his lips but no sound came out. Not even some incoherent mumbling or noises. Every one of the group now looked horrified and amazed at the same time. Such ability and precision didn't look like some cheap trick or fluke. "Just what kind of background did this young man possess," this was everyone's current thought.
Shen was currently in a foul mood. The main reason he annoyed the Xiao Clan was to create a foothold on Yan City and let QingQing stay there with Mingyue Gelou, but even Mingyue Gelou had to return with him. And taking QingQing to Hundred Miles City would completely destroy the reason for her to get strong. At the same time, it would be breaking the request she made just a few minutes ago. He thought about keeping her inside the Absolute Jade Mortal Realm and while it might work in the short term, in the long run, her growth would be limited under such condition. It was the same for him.
"I'm busy, just get the hell out of here," Shen said, the whole time they only saw his back. Rather than seeing some old men, Shen rather searched for any change of expression on QingQing's face.
She knew exactly how strong the Xiao Clan was, yet there was not even a hint of fear or panic on her face. He felt a little excited and at the same time, a little different feeling. He wanted to see how great of a woman she will grow up to be. Such a fine girl being a flower vase would be a great waste.
While Shen was checking QingQing, she was doing the same. He never left his seat, nor did he even turn around but the whole time everything inside this Inn was under his control. As if she was inside his zone, and he is the king here. This confirmed her earlier assumptions that this young man was not all talk but rather had enough capabilities to back them up. Even when so many experts were here for his life, he was calm and his actions were smooth. While she couldn't see anything that happened, she understood that he did something to make the Xiao Clan suffer, and twice at that. Which just shows, if he wanted to get something from her, he could take it... without any retaliation at that. With this, she could trust him and promised inwardly that she will return this favor one day.
While the front oldest man was calm, the same couldn't be said for the others. They wanted to rush ahead and show him how this world "truly" worked.
"Shen, what's happening?" At this time, both Su Rou and Wenren Wushuang came and noticed the tense atmosphere. They were still unsure of the situation that's why didn't try to act rush.
"Nothing, just a small dispute. Come, have a seat."
The duo sat beside Yan QingQing while exchanging pleasantries. Right after sitting down both of them felt uncomfortable. When the men from Xiao Clan saw Su Rou and Wenren Wushuang, they all had an excited look. They couldn't wait to push down even any of them. When they noticed Yan QingQing they completely ignored her. While she was "fresh" and unforgettable beauty, their young miss, the Mistress Xiao, forbid them from touching her, but their gazes once again lit up seeing Mingyue Gelou.
The girls frowned as their nasty gaze made them want to vomit with disgust. Shen understood what was happening by the girls' obvious disgust on their face and was displeased as well. Even some bunch of old and middle-aged man didn't have that much self-control.
"Heh. Hahaha," the old man laughed out loudly, "I don't know what kind of formidable background you have but a local snake is more powerful than a neighboring dragon. Leave everything you have, including your alchemy technique and I, the third elder of the Xiao family promises to let you go freely."
"Oh, that's a generous offer, old man. Of course, my companion goes with you, right?" Shen said, sarcasm apparent on his voice.
"Haha, you are indeed intelligent, young man. If you want we can even give them back after a month—" said a middle-aged man with eager eyes. He looked as if he couldn't wait for his turn but before he could finish his words, Shen already rushed at him before burying his head to the floor with a single punch.
"Say, which one of you want my girls." a deep voice left Shen's throat. He didn't get this angry even by Zhu Lin's action. The Absolute Existence which Shen didn't use for a long time circulated itself as a strong ferocious aura occupied the whole inn. Even cultivators from outside shivered when they felt this strange aura. It was as if a primordial beast awakened and everything in its path will be devastated.
"You—" everyone inside the inn shook in fear. While the girls didn't feel the pressure from the aura, they could feel the tyrannical might from it. Only the old man whose cultivation was Peak of Grade 5 Martial King remained composed even in this pressure.
"I thought you are just a vegetable but it seems you have secrets. Take them all out!" The old man roared loudly as he threw a fierce punch at the face of Shen.
Shen didn't try to block or evade the attack as he countered with another punch on his gut. Both of their punch connected at the same time! Shen didn't budge from his spot, but the old man backed away ten steps.
Shen immediately rushed and kicked on the head of the old man. The old man side-stepped and almost avoided the kick but Shen's kick grazed his left ear, causing it to be detached from the body.
The intense pain caused the old man to be distracted for a moment but that moment of distraction turned fatal. Shen's second kick directly connected to the head of the old man and his brain sprayed in different places.
Mingyue Gelou, Su Rou and Wenren Wushuang had hardly any change in the expression but the face of Yan QingQing turned ghastly pale. She watched many cultivators fighting in the arena, but this was her first time seeing a bloody battle, and the brain matters churned her stomach from inside. She forcefully held in the flood that was threatening to break out at any time.
After that Shen started his slaughter. The bodies that went through Shen's anger lacked either complete limbs or they didn't have eyes on their sockets.
"Shen, stop!" Mingyue Gelou tugged Shen from behind. Of the 14 people from the Xiao Clan, only 4 remained now. One of them soiled his pant, while the rest three wetted the ground.
Shen stopped on his track as he looked back. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. When he noticed the people's lustful gazes scanning on Wenren Wushuang, he involuntarily remembered about how Wenren Wugou got raped in the novel. As a result, he couldn't contain his anger and lashed out at once.
"Go and tell the Mistress Xiao that, Yan QingQing will come back in two years to avenge all the suffering they made her and her mother go through. Now, Scram!"
The four survivors felt relieved when they learned that their lives would be spared, they frantically bowed and ran off without minding their image.
Shen apologized to Mingyue Gelou and noticed that QingQing had a pale white face. He thought this look didn't suit her. This is something she must get used to if she wants to survive.
"Alright, let's go. We still have to reach Greencloud City."
Glossary is being updated in an auxiliary chappy!
I think I will make different chappies for character and items, and others.
More will be available soon. If there's anything I missed and you want me to add them on the glossary let me know in the comment.
Info about Absolute Realm will be added in the chappy soon~
Not the Author,
Bored~
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT