novelraw Chapter 143 - 142 - Grade 4
Chapter 143 - 142 - Grade 4
Lind was practically staring at the view as the grade 4 pill making began. There were some attempts in elixirs but he did not want to color his view by watching them. Elixir making was much more personal to the master.
Pills, on the other hand, despite his inability to make them, could be inspirations.
Lind also found that despite reaching tier 9 of the Soul Realm, there was no progress in pushing his elixirs forward. It was clear the World Realm was becoming his sole focus if he wanted to progress.
Even so, he saw the grade 4 cauldrons light up and his dark green eyes sparkled as memories of his mother's work flashed through his mind. Grade 1 thru 3 essentially followed similar paths. Gather the right quality of ingredients and then purify to reach the peak of each tier.
Gold Tier was past a tribulation, thus low grade 4 to mid grade 4 covered most of that tier yet peak grade 4 was easily consumable by both Gold and Diamond Tiers. To make pills or any item at grade 4 was to push the quality of the Qi used as well as the ingredients themselves.
It was no longer as simple as 3 red fern added to stone root or something along those lines. Complicated arrays were on the cauldrons as well as around each alchemist. If they were successful, the pills would face tribulations to be completed.
It was not the Heavens that would bring the lightning, but the alchemists themselves. If they had fire and light, they would learn techniques to do so, but it was not required. There were expensive artifacts that could be used as a substitute in the process.
Lind was fascinated by the methods and formations used. While all the Gold Tier alchemists were moving quickly, the formations in the VIP booths allowed them to alter the speeds yet Lind noticed at times the hands remained blurry.
"The techniques are protected. Interesting." Lind smiled but he focused on what he could grasp. It was only the beginning as pushing the ingredients to the threshold took a lot longer than even the most complicated grade 3 pill.
"That is not the Radiance Pill." Cora spoke and made Lind nearly jump. He was not as versed on pill recipes for obvious reasons but their names were known to him. Lind looked at what she was observing and found both were looking at Magda.
She was at the peak of the Gold Tier and most speculated she would make the Radiance Pill to break through once again.
Lind's Eyes could not perceive any Gold Tier's dantian but the Qi around them was telling. He dove back into his memory and frowned. Magda had 4 elements, fire, light, water, and earth. It was one of the best combinations that an alchemist could ask for, but the balance was difficult to maintain.
With that in mind, he looked at the herbs she selected and thought over the names of some pills before the likely one came to mind.
"I believe she is making the Refraction Pill." Cora glanced at him but as she looked at the setup she could only nod. Lydia looked confused and Lind elaborated. "I think her light font has not caught up to the other 3 she has. The Refraction Pill will allow her the best conditions to balance the light font with the others and prepare to break through."
Both now stared at him. They knew he had Sky Eyes but all information agreed that even a Soul Realm that had pushed the talent so far could not comprehend enough to see a major realm above them.
"I can see the quality of Qi around a cultivator fairly easily. It still allows for me to be misled, but overall I can tell if the balance is good around someone." Lydia immediately took note of what he said and he wondered if there were many Maidens with Soul Eyes that were about to get a lot of training in.
"Can you also manipulate to that extent with your Sky Touch?" Lind frowned at Lydia's question. It was not the same. Seeing was easy as everyone could sense Qi once in the Soul Realm so interpreting sight was not too difficult with patience and practice.
Touch, on the other hand, had always been a dance to Lind.
"I cannot manipulate World Realm Qi very easily and it drains me very quickly but I can affect it. If it is under the control of a World Realm, it depends on their proficiency. Someone easily caught off guard can be defeated with Touch but someone well practiced would only maybe suffer a deviation of any conjured effect." They both nodded and Cora took notes this time.
Lind wondered why they took notes separately but maybe they simply broke up their roles for the contest and would compare notes later.
Lind turned back to watch as preparation continued on the stage.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Annabelle was massaging her head to relieve her headache. She had been training hard while Lind had been studying under Delenn. After she became an outer disciple, she had much more access to lessons and techniques.
She was born for formations.
As soon as Elder Yi heard the results, Annabelle had been carted off for testing. Her illusion ability was beyond powerful but she also quickly picked up formations. The Heavenly Maiden Sect encouraged all professions, but formations were their strength.
A talented disciple was well received and always nurtured. Annabelle was already going to be nurtured for her illusion ability alone, but now even more resources were flowing her way. Her cultivation had practically raced forward but now she had hit a bottleneck.
She has smoothly made grade 1 and 2 formations. Like pills, it was possible to at least make low grade 3 formations while still in the Soul Realm. It was more about setting up arrays to receive Qi than using Qi itself, but she had hit a wall.
The problem was Lind's teachings. He had a depth of understanding at the Soul Realm that Annabelle could adapt the grade 1 and 2 formations to work for her quite well, but grade 3 was much more difficult.
The effects are not just more pronounced, but also have to account for a cultivator that could manipulate the Qi around them as well as conjure their own. The relationship between a cultivator and the world was not something she had grasped yet.
She had reached tier 8 of the Soul Realm but had to slow down as her tempering was barely keeping up. It had been so fast once Lind taught her about the relationships between the elements.
She loved learning from him but formations were not possible from him.
She wanted to be useful. She wanted to stop just clinging to him as she felt so helpless when she saw his limp body after being brought out of the street. She had felt the world shift when the emerald light shot up and knew Lind was in danger.
Qing was a skilled healer of the soul and the body; Shoti was a mighty warrior and frightening ability to see through the heart of a matter; and finally there was the demon princess, Cyntilla. She seemed very much like Lind. She valued her family and would stand against the world for them.
Annabelle had only been found but him but she did nothing for him! He had said she had but she did not feel like it. Now that she found a way to be helpful, the bottleneck hurt.
"You seem troubled." Annabelle nearly jumped but was surprised to see Sasha, the light and dark aether child from before. She smiled sweetly at Annabelle as she waved off the acolyte. The Outer Sect was still taken care of by acolytes and Annabelle had said the party of Sage could come see her before they left.
"You are about to leave?" Sasha nodded but her light and dark eyes were nervous. Her skill was not offensive, it was more like Annabelle's illusion in that Sasha could distort the senses of her target.
It was very close to time manipulation but was more a shift of light and shadows to shift perspectives so a cultivator no longer was sure of distances or their placement in the world. It seemed like nothing but Lind had educated them all on how frightening such a shift could be.
A cultivator only had so much Qi in a given moment to use techniques or artifacts and if their senses were off by practical things like light and shadow, it was worse than illusions. Illusions could be shattered or overcome, but if the real world was misinterpreted a person would never hit their target.
A person also oriented themselves by where they felt safe and often darkness would subtly make someone move without realizing it would easily lead them into a trap.
"We were so wrong about him. I heard about what he did for our people and how far he went for us. Kelvin says it is all a trick but he has too many scars." Annabelle nodded. Kelvin had been near ranting that she had to follow them to the Aether Sect but the Heavenly Maiden Sect was respected by them. His arguments were shallow.
"He has to heal or he will never move forward." Sasha nodded at her words but Annabelle was wondering why she was here. If it was just goodbye, it would be over already.
"I heard you are good at formations. My senior at the sect is also. I know you are stuck right now but if you break through it will become easier. He was super frustrated until he got to the World Realm." Annabelle appreciated the words and it did help, but she was still confused as to why Sasha was here.
"What do you want from me?" Sasha winced at Annabelle's words but it seemed to motivate her to speed things up. She now looked into Annabelle's eyes firmly. Her warm smile was nice and there was no deceit felt there.
"I want it clear I am not saying to leave the sect, but to break through to the World Realm and improve your formations, it might be good to meet my senior." Sasha held up her hand before Annabelle could object. "I love the Maidens. If they would take me I would join them right now but humans have limits in how much they understand us."
Annabelle tilted her head as she had not had any issues.
"Lind Frey is how you have come so far so quickly, right?" Annabelle slowly nodded as she suddenly understood. Her cultivation had been guided by Lind. Only her recent techniques and understanding her specialty was helped by her sisters in the sect. "He is a good man but he is stuck in the Soul Realm. He can come with you but at least come to us when you want to break through. It will go better and you can come back with a new lease on your path."
Annabelle did not answer right away. Sasha was not blinking nor hiding anything but Annabelle felt she had to ask.
"Will Lind be welcome, truly?" The few days waiting for Lind to recover had been spent studying about the Aether Sect and they had issues. There was a near radical side that wanted to punish the humans and demons while the other half was closer to a true sect. It wanted to accept disciples and offer a place aether children could truly grow.
Sasha smiled wide now.
"If there is any human that would be welcomed, it would be him. I promise!" Sasha giggled as Annabelle smiled and slowly nodded.
"I will talk with Lind about it but I will wait till he is ready to leave. He may be able to help me even without breaking through." Sasha did not deny the words but smiled as she pulled out a dark jade slip. It glowed with light Qi and now seemed very warm.
"We are far to the east in the Silver Peaks. That will let you find us when you are ready." Annabelle put her imprint on the slip and put it safely in the bracelet Lind had helped make for her. He could not make storage treasures but he did design it for her.
"Travel safe and the spirits be with you." Sasha smiled at Annabelle's words as they hugged and she moved back into the path to leave. Annabelle watched her go and wondered if they would ever meet again.
The slip in her pale blue bracelet seemed like an oath but she was curious. She wanted to see the Aether Sect and meet more of her people. Lind would not resist that at all, she was sure. She would have to apply for a mission to the Silver Peaks but there were many as ores were heavily mined in that direction.
She went back to studying grade 3 formations and wondered if Lind would be back today or not from the contest. She recalled the grade 4 experts started today and would go through the end of the month. She smiled to see his face focused on learning as she had seen it so many times before. Her heart raced just imagining his face and she wished to be there but focused on her task.
There would be time enough when she was traveling with him once more. Wherever he went, she would follow.