Note: Some people have worried that the story plot will stagnate because the MC is plainly too "OP" currently. So I'll drop a vague hint: “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” Or would "don't take outer appearances for granted" be a better one? Lol

Anyways, I encourage the readers to read on, as the plot is naturally broken into several chapters. Therefore, this story may be somewhat of a slow start...Please at least bear with it for 20+ chapters before you review/rate it; as not many pieces have assembled yet hur hur hur.

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Chapter 8: Qiao Sui

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“Alright, I understand now. Just leave this matter to me. At the end of day, they’re merely elders of a big sect. Without the two old fogies interfering, those people are basically worthless.” Huang Xue said in a calm voice.

“Thank you, honored master!” Yue Jing smiled and bowed in respect. Happiness was dancing wildly in her heart.

“Mmn. In the meantime, I’ll have you dispatch people to look for these two lists of ingredients.” Huang Xue said as he passed Yue Jing the two scrolls.

Receiving the scrolls, Yue Jing opened them and read through the contents. “Master, these are…?”

“Ingredients for two special things that would help with my cultivation. After reaching the Immortal Sovereign realm, I’ve been met with a bottleneck, so I am attempting to create two items that could allow me to break through.” Huang Xue explained. With half being lies and the other half being truths, Huang Xue did not want to reveal his entire agenda --he had to take his current host’s situation into perspective.

Even if he wanted to run amok and do things as he wished, Huang Xue had to taken his body and its surrounding current situations into consideration as to avoid racking up negative Karmas.

“I understand now, master. For the first list, while the thirty ingredients master listed are rare, they are not impossible for our Hall to procure. I can immediately arrange some trusted people to get them within two days.” Yue Jing said as she turned to read the second list, a frown slowly surfacing on her face.

“As for master’s other request, the twelve ingredients you listed are exceedingly priceless...especially the mythical ‘Immortal Phoenix Feather’, For these materials, it may very well take up to several hundreds or even thousands of years, depending on their availability and our luck…”

Huang Xue smiled and said: “That is fine. I do not expect that ingredients such as the Heavenly Blood Lotus flower or the Drunken Dragon Heart, that I wrote on the second scroll would be that easily obtained. I have several thousand years of lifespan left, so a little wait is not an issue. I will also be in search of those ingredients as well. It is the first list of materials that I deem most important right now.”

Yue Jing bowed and said: “I will definitely strive to fulfill master’s wish!”

Huang Xue stroked his long beard as he walked over to an open window. “I will await for your good news then...after I return from a small ‘trip’.”

With a flicker of his body, Huang Xue’s body instantly transformed into a streak of golden light and shot off into the distant dying, orange sky.

After a while, Yue Jing slowly straighten her body as she looked lovingly at the outside sky. Thinking back, Yue Jing felt that there was a strange feeling of familiarity, yet unfamiliarity, when she met her master. The same face, aura, and even actions; however there was slight deviation in personality…

She was sure that her master was not the type to show his excited emotions frequently, as it was rare for Yue Jing to see her master being serious or even angry at anything. Song Huang Xue was always gentle and seemingly uncaring of the world. That the type of man her master was, but Yue Jing felt like this was not the case anymore.

“Did something happen to master while he was training that could have changed his worldly perspective and even his personality?” Yue Jing thought to herself as she prepared to leave.

However, she was not that against this new aspect to her master’s personality --she liked this determined and ‘lively’ master, if Yue Jing were to have described Huang Xue now.

A violet light flashed for a brief moment, before the room once again descended into complete silence, void of life and presence…

***

Seven days after Huang Xue left the Head Martial Tower, in a distant neighboring country west of the Jin Han Empire, a small province laid peacefully among its seventeen counterparts.

This province was called the ‘Cao Province’, being apart of the large Yuan Empire, a country that was only slightly smaller than the Jin Han Empire. The Yuan Empire was also home to one of the Three Absolute Grand Sects, the Eternal Sword Spirit Palace.

The Cao Province was littered with many small cities. At this moment, in one of such cities named ‘Small Leaf City’, at a particularly large backyard of a house situated in the upper parts of Cao Province, a group of ten youths had their bodies bent low in a horse stance.

(Author: Horse stance = https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/a4/ee/8c/a4ee8c12749f7d8d09bdf639fb4aabf3.jpg )

There were six boys and four girls, each looking to be fourteen or fifteen years old. The perfect age to be considered an adult in this world, where fourteen years olds were already being married off in rural villages across the continent. In front of the youths, a middle-aged man with graying hair wearing a silk cyan robe was patiently instructing them. The man looked ordinary, with no unique points to his appearance of beady eyes and wrinkled face. He watched over the youths’ training with his hands behind his back.

On the chest of his clothes, there was a crest showing three golden swords side-by-side pointing downward. The middle sword was the longest, and behind all three sword symbols, a wing was spread wide open; this gave the crest a majestic feeling to those who saw the crest.

Each youth who was training, lashed out a fist in a monotonous rhythm, left fist, right fist, left fist, then right fist again. Over and over, they continued this exercise until sweats were pouring from their pores, while the sun beamed down hotly upon them.

Soon, one by one the youths began to drop out as they either fell on the ground or stood up in resignation. This continued until only a single girl was left.

The long black-haired young girl had a shapely porcelain face, and wore a light pink dress. Her budding body was slim, toned and refined after years of training and healthy nourishment. It could easily be said that this girl, if given enough time to fully grow, would blossom into a mesmerizing flower that could topple great cities.

Beads of sweat rolled down the side of her head, as she tried to maintain her posture. In the end, giving in to the strains of her knees, the girl fell backward on her bottom. Seeing that all the students had finished, the middle-aged man smiled and walked over to the pink dressed girl, who had stood up and was patting the dust off her back.

Reaching out with his wrinkled hands, the middle-aged man stroked the young girl’s hair back as he said in a gentle voice: “Qiao’er, are you alright? You have done an excellent job hanging on so long.”

The girl named ‘Qiao’er’, whose full name was Qiao Sui, smiled like a blooming flower at the elder’s gesture and replied: “Thank you for worrying about me, Elder Gan! I am fine, just a little sore now.”

The middle-aged man called ‘Elder Gan’ nodded his head as he said: “Mmn, But remember not to overwork yourself continuously. Otherwise, you may do more harm to your body than not.”

When the elder said this, Qiao Sui did not notice Elder Gan looking over her body, as if he was appraising her like an item. When she looked up to acknowledge the latter’s guidance, the elder was already looking back at her with gentle eyes like river.

The elder turned to face the other youths lying around before he said in a sudden stern voice:

“Alright, everyone quickly get up and gather in front of me. Today, I will be teaching you all about how to breakthrough to the next stage of your cultivation!”

Hearing this, the youths hurriedly gathered themselves as they went to sit down in front of Elder Gan. Excitement was plastered on their face as they looked at the elder in anticipation. Qiao Sui also promptly sat down, though with less enthusiasm as the other youths.

A faint smirk surfaced on Elder Gan’s face for a brief second before disappearing. In a gruff voice, he observed the youths around and began:

“All of you must strive to be like Qiao Sui. Even though ten years old is the best age to start training, take a look at Qiao Sui, after only four years of training, she is already now in the 6th stage of the Temporal Di realm while you all are still giving off the aura of merely that of the 4th stage! The first realm is the easiest to overcome, as it only requires one to train one’s body to surpass its limit. You are simply tempering the body itself!”

Some of the students lowered their head in shame while others looked over at Qiao Sui in envy. On the martial arts road, the Temporal Di realm is truly nothing. Everyone was considered to beat this level, even most commoners, as this could be said to the be realm of the "slightly better" ordinary people. And as long as there was not a huge gap in cultivation, one would be able to sense other's cultivation level through the aura they emanate.

To become acknowledged as cultivator, they had to first reach the Jie Hai realm, where their body would have become strong enough to start learning martial arts techniques and Qi condensation!