When Zou Yi and Zou Liqin saw He Shan head for the wooden tub, they all stopped their training and went over to observe if the herbal solution he had brewed, the Azure grace elixir was functional.
While on the surface, it looked okay as per the description of the booklet, they couldn't be sure until someone soaked in it and felt its effects. The two siblings gulped in nervousness as they watched He Shan open the wooden lid and then set up a covering wooden compartment for privacy since he couldn't very well get in with his beast hide robe.
ƥandasnovel·ƈom "How is it?" Zou Yi nervously asked, which only increased when He Shan didn't answer back until a few minutes had passed.
"It's working," answered He Shan with a tone that had a mix of excitement and pain.
Zou Yi and Zou Liqin lit up when they heard He Shan's reply. With the solution having effects, it was only a matter of time until they reached the silver body. After being stuck in the bronze stage for five years due to their circumstances, a chance to grow their strength past the bronze stage was something they had been looking forward to greatly.
Zou Liqin couldn't help but tear up.
He Shan, on the other hand, had massive twitches on his face. The herbal solution didn't offer any grace at all but torment mixed with relief.
The moment he submerged his whole body into the Azure grace solution, he felt he had been thrown into a frozen tundra which then changed into molten magma that then transformed into bullet ants gnawing at every fiber of his muscle, then it transformed to this heavenly solution, that gave him relief and comfort that he couldn't help but groan before it turned into a frozen tundra again.
Despite its contrasting effects, he could feel the solution strengthen his body with every minute. Each stage, whether it was the iron, bronze, silver, or gold stage, involved the collective and complete transformation of the body from its muscles, marrows, bones, and internal organs, which in turn qualitatively influences the senses, functions, and vitality of the cultivator.
He Shan could feel his blood get more vibrant, his muscles get strengthened, his bones felt denser, and his body overall felt lighter and lighter, and his senses a bit sharper despite the worn-out state he had been in.
His body was greedily absorbing the solution through his pores. After the thirty-minute mark, the efficacy of the solution reduced, and the turquoise color from the start had turned grey with black murkiness floating within it.
"He Shan is that you?!!! Have you died in there?!!!!" Zou Yi said as he pinched his nose to avoid the stench that was wafting his way. Zou Liqin did the same, with an almost hurling expression.
"I wonder if the other recipes will have better effects?" wondered He Shan as he rinsed the black impurities from his body and put on his beast hide robe.
He had chosen the Azure grace solution since it seemed like the easiest to concoct. There were a few other recipes whose ingredients were all there. However, they had an increased degree of difficulty in comparison to the Azure grace solution.
After feeling the effects of the Azure grace, he was tempted to try the other solutions, especially if their efficacy was much more than the Azure grace.
Once out, he shared his findings with Zou Yi and Zou Liqin and then got to work to brewing some more for himself and Zou Yi and Zou Liqin. With the experience from the first try, the second, third, and fourth solutions were much easier to brew for him, and it took the shortest amount of time possible, and the efficacy had also increased.
Through those brewing sessions, Zou Yi and Zou Liqin came to realize just how skilled He Shan was when it came to alchemy and how assiduous he was, and it wasn't only in relation to alchemy. The animal corpses they had dragged along turns out He Shan didn't only bring them as a source of food but for study.
He dissected them and mixed each organ with various solutions and ores he had on hand to figure out their attributes which he noted in a book. He even listed where they were found, what triggered their attack, and if there were any plants they seemed to guard at the time, among other factors that Zou Yi and Zou Liqin had paid zero attention to.
His study then moved to the herbs that were provided to them for free. He made drawings in an old leather book he had on him as he noted down their names as provided by the recipe and the properties he discovered from them when he was brewing the solutions.
The greatest shock to Zou Yi was how great He Shan was at drawing, and his handwriting was spectacular. He couldn't believe that scar-ridden He Shan, rough-looking He Shan, would have such soft handwriting and great drawing skills, which, as per Zou Yi's judgment, overshadowed his great skills in herbology, alchemy, and spirit beast zoology.
...
Over the next three days, He Shan alternated between training, brewing the solutions, and studying the different herbs provided, while Zou Yi and Zou Liqin trained and handled cooking since their demand for food grew with how exerting the exercise was and their growing strength. Zou Yi even helped He Shan craft some more arrows.
While he was not as good as his sister in formations, he had some skills in talisman refinement, which he learned from his bear-tempered mother, who was a perfectionist. The torturous training his mother gave him left him with deft hands, which came in handy in intricate work such as making arrows and inscriptions.
Yu Mei, on the other hand, would wake up every twelve hours to eat before she went back to meditation. In those three days, even though the trio couldn't tell why, they felt Yu Mei had grown stronger on some level even though she still had no cultivation base.
The team had all agreed to stay for seven days before they had to leave the special zone. They didn't know if reaching the top had a deadline since they couldn't remember Yang Qing mentioning it, but they decided it was safer to arrive earlier rather than spend more time than needed in the special zone.
Also, with a working deadline, they could push themselves more. The next few days, He Shan experimented with other herbal solutions, in which he succeeded with three out of the seven he tried. Their effects were multiple levels higher than the Azure grace, and just like that, four days quickly passed by with the quartet pushing themselves to the limit to grow their strength and also increase their familiarity with the 108 steps of the autumn leaves cultivation art.
....
"He Shan, why are you trembling? Are you nervous? Did those experiments of yours leave damage on you?..just so you know, I won't stop to carry you. I'm heading straight to the top.." Zou Yi smugly said as battle intent flashed in his eyes.
Even though he was nine years old, his body looked like that of a 15-year-old, and his hair seemed longer and much more lustrous than before. He wasn't the only one. He Shan and Zou Liqin had just as much a transformation, but the largest was on Yu Mei, who had transformed from a 13-year-old who looked like a six-year-old to a young lady with a calm, pure serenity to her.
"Sister Yu Mei, we will be in your care from now on as the only person in the group at the qi refinement realm," said Zou Liqin with a cheeky smile on her face.
"Surely you jest, Sister Liqin. Even with my cultivation base, I doubt I could defeat any of you in a fight.." said Yu Mei with a gentle smile
"but at least I could run faster than you all now.." she added, with the rest laughing after.
"I hope when we stop, it will be all of us at the peak.." Zou Yi said as he looked at his teammates. The seven days and the ordeal they had been in before had made them closer, unlike when they first formed the team. Even He Shan didn't reach for his bow like he did before.
The group nodded to each other and charged into the trees ahead of them with skillful speed, with one goal in mind, that is, to reach the peak of the mountain and maybe even win the merit points promised for those who would be the first three to reach the finish line.
After a few minutes of running, they had barely reached five hundred meters when they heard an announcement from Yang Qing that made them stop dead in their tracks with widened eyes.
"To all participants. I'd like to announce the first, second, and third place have just arrived at the peak. In addition to them, three more people have just completed the test making a total of six people.
The first fifteen people will get a direct entry and will be immediately enrolled at the institute, while those who reach the peak after the fifteen people will have to wait for one more month before they are enrolled. In that month, they'll receive brutal training from the instructors. I would not recommend it because you may very well die. Please do your best, and for those not too sure that they will make it to the top fifteen, you have a chance to forfeit, otherwise it will be too late if you land in the instructors' hands.
I will now announce the first three people and their awarded merit points.... "
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