Once the last noble had been murdered behind closed doors Nolan scanned the city with his spiritual sense and located Benn’s life signal. He and Ian found the man aiding others with carrying the wounded to places where they would see proper medical attention, which struck a chord of respect within Nolan as he was well aware that the man was most likely mentally destroyed over the fact that his beloved wife and daughter were nowhere to be found. Rather than tell him of the bad news while he was in the midst of helping others to distract his pain, Nolan and Ian returned to Talen Village to find Sean and Esteban wild with worry. They fought off relieved hugs as they had their reunion, at which point they related what had taken place in the time since their group had split in two.

Once he and Ian had recovered in full, he left a note at Benn’s house saying that they would be taking some time to cultivate while the rest of the valley’s residents sorted out the aftermath of the conflict. He didn’t feel like participating in any social event in response to the results of the day, and he doubted that Ian and the others did either.

They spent over a week in a verdant corner of the valley that had yet to see settlement, the lush fields of grass untouched by recent conflicts. They ignored exploring the contents of the countless spatial bags that they had obtained during the long day of battle, many of which had belonged to powerful cultivators at in the early levels of the Integration stage. Even though the conflict had come to an end, they were still on the clock. With so many kilometres between them and Frostport, it was necessary that the overall strength of the group increased by several degrees.

Nolan dedicated the first two days to concocting exactly a dozen dragonshade pellets, dragonshade coincidently being the name of the long and spindly herbs that Benn had given him. Three leaves had been enough to create fifteen or so of the tiny pellets, but his first three attempts had failed as a result of botched instances of compounding the ground-up herbs with the other necessary ingredients that he had looted from a vacant alchemy shop in Scane during all of the tumult. Despite his early difficulties he remained consistent after his first successful creation, the quality of the end product increasing with every concoction until he had successfully produced four of medium grade as well as eight of low grade.

He and Ian split the medium-grade pellets, each taking a low-grade one as well. The rest went to Sean and Esteban, so that each of them had three to enjoy in the coming days. Each low-grade pellet maintained its effects for around forty hours, during which time their inner essence channels would open up significantly. The pellets would stimulate their dantians to speed up the refinement and conversion of Origin Energy drawn into their bodies through cultivation.

“Just how amazing are these?” asked Sean as he pinched one of the teal pellets between his thumb and forefinger. “For that old ghost to say that me and the kid can reach the Profound Entry stage with one of these is kind of a stretch, don't you think?”

Nolan and Ian wore fresh sect uniforms, each of them slightly superior to the ones that they’d worn before. He’d made them as soon as they had settled into their current campsite, their former sets too shredded for continued use. Nolan had successfully concocted several hundred medicinal pellets during his last stay within the glade and since had also become more adept at working with spiritual energy. Even Uncle Grey admitted that he was quite gifted at designing arrayment diagrams and then creating them, a rare compliment from the goofy old ghost.

“There was a lot of naturally accumulated energy in those herbs. Uncle Grey said they must have sprouted in an area with a ton of Origin Energy in the environment and that they’d probably been there for a long time, so they’ll fill your dantians pretty quick. As far as anything else goes, I can’t say since he’s been quiet since I finished creating these things.”

“Is it going to hurt?” asked Esteban. “Your other pellets kind of made my chest itchy sometimes.”

“They also made you stronger,” Ian said. “If these pellets are as good as Mr. Grey has claimed then they will probably cause quite a bit of pain. That’s just how most cultivation resources work.”

“Guys, just shut up and eat them.” Nolan tossed his only low-grade dragonshade pellet into his mouth and swallowed it down with impatience. The others hesitantly followed suit and then quickly found their own areas to cultivate in, each with a barrel of Divine Spirit Fountain Water to drink intermittently throughout the coming days.

Nolan felt a tinge of jealousy as he watched Ian climb into the barrel and begin to cultivate within the miraculous water, though this petty rush of emotion was stifled the moment that he activated the Ancestral Body Technique and began to run through the sacred sequence of stances. He stopped a few minutes into his exertions as the effects of the pellet began to take hold, his entire body heated as if hot hair was flowing through each of his veins.

“I don’t like this…”

“Deal with it!” he called over his shoulder the moment that he heard Esteban’s hushed complaint.

Chastise the kid though he might he had to admit that the heated sensation that dominated his system was difficult to ignore. That being the case, even if the discomfort were ten times worse he still wouldn’t have much to complain about in the way of the peculiar medicine’s potency. The moment his entire body entered into the heated state his dantian suddenly swelled like a small flame touched by a breath of oxygen. A similar situation took place within his inner essence channels, the intangible vein-like system that ran throughout his body.

The amount of Origin Energy that he was able to pull in multiplied by many times over, his dantian more receptive than ever before as it easily absorbed all of the Origin Energy that he poured into it with an almost-instant filtration. It was during moments such as this that he saw the true potential of alchemy and the importance of spiritual arrayments in regards to this process. Depending on how much time he was able to squeeze out of the pellet, the one that he had just taken might have a great enough effect to enable him to reach the next level in cultivation.

He wasn’t sure about Ian, but if was the others then most of the energy that they managed to draw in would seep back out into their surroundings. Although it could be considered quite a waste, he saw it as a necessary sacrifice. The people, wild animals and demonic beasts that they encountered within the Dragon’s Tail had only become more dangerous as their journey progressed. If they were to continue onward then it was imperative that everyone in the group be capable of contending against the Integration-staged threats that no doubt awaited them further into their travels.

These days the Ancestral Body Technique’s initial hundred stances far surpassed the speed at which a quality core cultivation method might allow one to achieve during training, and the efficiency rose with each consecutive sequence of movement. Every time that he employed the one hundred and ninety-eighth stance he was able to absorb about as much energy as he’d be able to pull in after a week of relying on the first to the fiftieth, and he was able to do this countless dozens of times per day. If his cultivation base wasn’t so exaggerated then breakthroughs would be a monthly thing.

He didn’t end up reaching the fifth level of Profound Entry until about an hour after he swallowed one of his medium-grade pellets, which boasted several times the potency as the previous pellet that he’d taken. He didn’t stop to stabilize his cultivation but continued on with attracting large amounts of Origin Energy from the surroundings like a magnet in a mist of shredded foil. He would give order to the energies within him once the effects of this second pellet wore off.

While the first pellet remained active for just over a day and a half, the second persisted for about four days, at which point Nolan had no choice but to pause with his cultivation so as to tend to the internal mass of frenzied energy that filled his dantian and every corner of his inner essence channels. Blood had begun to seep out of his pores in such quantity that his entire body had taken on a pink sheen, though this mess was quickly washed away as he climbed into his barrel of Divine Spirit Fountain water.

He had to rest within the barrel for eight hours before he finally calmed the raging energies that had been tearing apart his blood vessels and skin tissue, for he had achieved rapid progress in a ridiculously short period of time and his body could not handle it. If he were any other cultivator at his level then the excess of energies within him would have already caused his body to explode a hundred times over.

Night had rolled around by the time that Nolan finally clambered out of the barrel, both moons lighting up the clear sky alongside the sea of vibrant stars and distant aurora-like strips of shimmering luminescence. A cool breeze spilled over him as he inspected his companions with satisfaction, all of them still hard at work as they made sure to make full use of the gifts that he had given them.

Both Sean and Esteban had reached the Profound Entry stage without any problems, the pair sharing the same absentminded smile as they continued to run through the stances of the Ancestral Body Technique that he had taught them. Now they wouldn’t be so useless when situations went to hell. In theory, with how amazing their core cultivation technique was they would have no trouble dealing with anyone below the eighth level of Profound Entry, and could most likely defend themselves against someone at the ninth level. Ian had broken through to the fifth level of Integration and would soon break through to the sixth, which raised the overall strength of their party by a considerable amount.

It’s crazy, isn’t it old man? Other people break their balls for years to make a breakthrough and here we all are. When no answer came, he persisted. You okay, Uncle Grey? You’re usually talking my ear off at least a few times a day.

Nolan. You need…you need to take care in your travels from here on out.

Are you okay?

Be wary as you head north. The master that those kids referred to—while he might be an insect to me, right now he is somebody that you absolutely cannot afford to get involved with again. With how I am now, even with my help it would be difficult to escape his grasp.

The sickly tinge to the old ghost’s tone didn’t go unnoticed. What’s wrong with you?

At the time when you saved yourself with that defensive martial skill I had thought I’d recovered enough strength to occupy your body for about a quarter of a minute, but the attempt backfired and I suffered quite the backlash. It will be a long while before I can do so again…

A rock of remorse settled deep within Nolan’s gut. I’m sorry that you’re always having to help me out like that. I know it takes a toll on you. I might bitch and say a lot of obnoxious stuff, but you know I appreciate it, right?

It’s a master’s duty to protect his disciple, even if he’s an unfilial one.

Nothing to do with you dying along with me, eh? A self-conscious chuckle of admission put a smile on his face.