A large group of alchemists arrived on green leaf-shaped boats and quickly separated into their assigned teams.

The four who joined us introduced themselves as Fairy Elegant Sky Tamer, Alchemist Burning Hands, Fairy Softly Floating Grass, and Alchemist Incapacitating Wind.

I held back a snicker at that last one. I’d probably regret it since she was likely a master at trick pills — the best attacking method alchemists had. She was also one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators I'd be relying on.

They were twenty to forty years old, not nearly as young as the sword cultivators. Their realms ranged between the peak of Qi Condensation and Mid Foundation Establishment equivalents.

They still looked youthful, though. I was sure a dose of their own beauty pill helped them with that.

A Nascent Soul cultivator suddenly appeared above us, dressed in forest green robes partially armored with sky rank spiritual tools. I recognized her as an alchemist elder who knew how to take a hit. The corner of her lips turned up as she watched us bow in greeting to her.

“For those who don’t know, I’m Peak Elder Grass Sprout from Alchemy Peak. While I won’t be going with you on this mission, I will be in contact with each of the team leaders.” She held up a mirror. Salamander and I held up ours in response.

She then tossed out several gleaming rings that flew directly to the alchemists possessing mirrors. I grabbed mine and sent a strand of divine sense into it. The herbs I’d requested were inside in a quantity that made me grin.

Ah, I loved it when I got to work with competent sect members.

“These spiritual plants might be necessary to cure the plague, so keep them safe and wait for verification of the prescription. Don’t you dare waste these materials by attempting to figure out unknown recipes all by yourself. You will have to pay for them yourself if you unnecessarily waste materials.”

A few of the cultivators in the crowd shuffled uncomfortably. I guessed ‌that they wanted to guess the formula using these ingredients before I patented it.

“In the meantime, do your best to study the plague without becoming infected yourself.”

Just then Clear Eyes Mad Tongue called out, “Peak Elder Grass Sprout! I’m going to let you continue but—“

Salamander wrapped his arm around the teen’s head and covered his mouth. “Please continue Peak Elder!”

Mad Tongue jerked his shoulder, attempting to get out of Salamander’s grasp. His face turned red with the effort. Apparently, my mentor knew this kid well.

Seeing that it wasn’t working, the Foundation Establishment cultivator tried a few more tricks. He stomped on Salamander’s foot and sent a hand poking toward his eyes. That obviously failed. Eventually, he turned limp and glared at the smiling Sword Master.

Elder Grass Sprout cleared her throat. “As I was saying — help the cities with their Anti-Plague measures.” She paused and then said very seriously, “If you see them doing something stupid, stop them. And if you wonder if something is stupid and don’t know, contact me and I’ll tell you!”

“Yes, Peak Elder!”

“The Indomitable Will Sect doesn't do charity. However, during times like these, it’s better to stop the plague in its infancy than to let it run rampant across the whole continent and beyond. You’re our first chance to stop it! So don’t fail!”

“Yes, Peak Elder!”

“Now, I’m going to activate the teleportation platform. Stay close to your team and get ready.”

Little Spring nervously grabbed my sleeve and held on for dear life.

Oh right. This was the little main character’s first time using one of these long-range ones.

I was about to say some words of comfort when my feet felt like they’d been kicked out from under me.

***

We all reappeared right in the middle of a teleportation receiving platform. My insides felt like they were upside down. A terrible side effect that would go away once I reached Foundation Establishment. Unfortunately, a few of the younger cultivators couldn’t take it and collapsed onto the stone ground.

The kid touched his head and his eyes lost focus, dizzy. I grabbed his shoulders on reflex.

“Thank you, Sister Lin.”

“It’s better when you get used to it. Long-distance teleportation like this puts a strain on the body that short-distance teleportation doesn’t.”

“You mean, like the ones from the sect trial?”

I nodded. “But as long as lower realmed cultivators used them sparingly, they don’t cause any lasting damage.”

Senior Salamander raised a hand and quickly gathered us together.

“From here, we travel to Verdant Hidden Cavern City!” he said to our small team while pulling out a leaf-shaped spiritual treasure. With a flick of his fingers, it expanded to the size of a boat. “Everyone get on!”

Little Spring and I jumped onto the tool with the other alchemists and sword cultivators.

As Salamander drove the ship high into the air, he said, “By the way, the training starts now!”

Immediately, I pulled my sword out, enlarged it, and blocked the small piece of harmless sword Qi that attacked the back of my head.

“Ow!” several voices called out simultaneously.

“Senior Salamander! Why?” Drunken Edge said.

Beside me, Little Spring hissed as the bit of sword Qi touched his wrist. From experience, I knew ‌it would feel like someone flicked it and would be more shocking than harmful.

“That’s one contribution point from everyone participating, except Senior Lin.”

“I call bullshit!” Mad Tongue put his foot on the side of the boat as if he was trying to look cool.

I sent him a warning glare. If he attempted to throw me under, even though I’d blocked the attack, I’d teach him a goddamn lesson he’d never forget.

He must have felt my gaze because he glanced my way, then cleared his throat. “What I mean is that you can’t start immediately after saying you’re going to start. That’s stupid and not fair to the rest of us. So, I think you should let us have this round as a test before you start taking away our points.”

The teen grinned widely.

Sword Master Salamander put his hands together in front of his face and looked at Daoist Clear Eye Mad Tongue in concern. “Are you trying to tell me that you’re running low on contribution points?”

“Of course not! I’m just thinking of my poor juniors.”

He was totally running low on contribution points.

After another blade of sword Qi flicked him, Mad Tongue yelped and grabbed his ass.

“Sword Master!” A look of betrayal crossed his face.

“And that’s your second point.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to say this. Attacking me while we’re having a conversation is — ow!” He slapped his shoulder and bit his lip.

I blocked another blade aimed at my hip. A few others yelped again.

“Sword Master! Senior Clear Eyes Mad Tongue has a point,” The brave little Daoist, Drunken Edge, spoke up. “We weren’t ready! Please don’t take away our contribution points.”

Salamander sent a glare at Mad Tongue and then said, “Quiet all of you, and consider this — if we had been attacked just now by a sufficiently skilled enemy, you would all be injured or dead.”

That sobered up the lot of them.

“Next time you go out on a mission, spread out your awareness and never believe yourself to be completely safe. Even if I’m here protecting you all, you’ll still have to protect yourself first.”

Incapacitating Wind spoke up, “I’d like to take part in this training, Sword Master!”

After she requested it, a few more alchemists followed her lead.

Salamander grinned widely at the amount of suckers — er, students — he’d conned into this game.

The newcomers and Little Spring all hissed in surprise.

“And that’s another contribution point!”

The alchemists took it in stride. A few of them even laughed as they gladly paid. It probably helped that their job made earning points fairly easy.

I grinned at Little Spring, who was rubbing his wrist. “You regret it now?”

His eyes glittered. “How did Sword Master Salamander attack us from all these different directions?”

This looked like a good teaching moment. “There is a reason ‌he’s called a Sword Master. At a certain level of comprehension, the ‘Any Blade is My Sword’ mindset turns into ‘Any Object is My Sword.’ Since this entire ship is being flown using his energy, it has become his weapon.”

I let that sink in, and he asked, “But that’s not all, right?”

“He’s also using the Sword Qi Controlling Technique. This allows a sword cultivator to bend the direction of a slash or more of Sword Qi however they will it. Combine that with the Any Object is My Sword mindset and accomplishing this is very easy.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Why haven’t I seen you do something like this?”

With a glare, I flicked his glabella.

He rubbed it as I explained. “How old do you think I am, and what level do you think my cultivation is at?”

“Peak of Qi Condensation, and I don’t know exactly how old you are.”

I glared and sent him a telepathic message, ::My body is ten while my soul that holds my memories of my past life is over a thousand. Now, how old am I?::

::A thousand and ten years old?::

Was this kid trying to get kicked? ::Ten. When someone asks how old I am, you say ten.::

::Yes, Sister Lin! But that doesn’t answer my question.::

I sighed. “Regardless of whether or not I can comprehend it, something like this takes dense energy to pull off. At peak of Qi Condensation, our Qi is just starting to accumulate significantly and is still in its basic form.”

“For all the different ‌cultivation types, Foundation Establishment is marked by a significant increase in the overall quality and a slight narrowing of the direction of your spiritual energy. Also, if a cultivator hasn’t developed their Divine sense earlier, they’ll finally develop it directly after their tribulation.

“There is a reason it’s a separate realm, one that only the most talented cultivator can punch up to. For the average cultivator, a mere disciple in Qi Condensation can’t touch a single hair on someone in Foundation Establishment. So, to answer your question, there is no way I could do what he’s doing at my current cultivation level.”

Several of the other lower realmed kids focused their eyes my way.

Little Spring nodded with his eyes sparkling. “If Foundation Establishment is so much better than Qi Condensation, then what makes Golden Core even stronger?”

Now the Foundation Establishment disciples were listening in, and I had a feeling Salamander was too, even as he turned the boat and increased our speed.

“The mark of a Golden Core — for all the different cultivation styles — is not only a significant change in the quality of energy, but it’s also when a cultivator begins to unconsciously touch on the truths of reality. It’s why a Golden Core Cultivator can use their divine sense beyond merely perceiving things and create stepping platforms in mid-air.”

As someone who’d once been in the Immortal Ascension stage, I once used my divine sense to subtly influence the minds of my body’s mortal parents. Of course, I wouldn’t have been able to do even that if it put a lot of strain on my body.

Frankly, if I used my divine sense to create platforms like a Golden Core, I might go back to my unstable state.

Seniors tended to keep information about higher realms a secret from the younger generations.

As far as I could tell, it was like this in most Xianxia. How else to explain why the authors never thoroughly showed us their exciting new abilities until the protagonist was just about to become one?

Okay, that might just be part of good writing. Whatever.

Well, I bet most of these kids already knew what I spoke about.

But Little Spring didn’t.

He’d only been cultivating for a just over a year now and talking about the next realms hadn’t exactly been a high priority for me. The fact that this freakish kid had made it to the peak of Qi Condensation within a year of cultivating didn’t help. Frankly, his speed was ridiculous, even considering my kick-ass cultivation method.

Of course, it helped that I threw spirit stones at problems when I could.

Need a specific ingredient? Lacking natural spiritual energy in your environment? Just use money. It’s super effective.

I sent a smile towards my old mentor “Actually, Our Sword Master here likely has so much control over his divine sense that he can use it to climb far into the air to attack massive spiritual beasts or tricky opponents who use the terrain to hide. He’s impressive even for a Golden Core!”

The tips of his ears turned red.

As I laughed, I moved my sword to the side to block another random attack from Salamander. A few of the other kids yelped and glared at the Senior.

He cleared his throat. “While learning and training are useful. Remember that we’re on a mission here. And always be aware of your surroundings.”

“Yes, Sword Master!”