Author's Note: For those interested, there are now five advanced chapters (we're on chapter 43) and a poll about drawing that we will be requesting in the future for this story on my on P-atreon, which you can read and vote for just $5.
I also finished the first volume of my other story, "Welcome to the Alternate Multiverse Chat Group."
So if you can, please go to my profile and check it out.
Remove the spaces and dash: p-atreon/ Krakenian01
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Third Person P.O.V
Lanruo and Leek were walking through the streets of Glory City, their stay at the City Lord's mansion had extended longer than either of them had expected, going from an hour at most to almost four hours.
So after they were finally able to leave, Huyan Xiong decided to separate, give them some space, so the two had found a place to eat and were now taking a short walk.
"Ummm!!" Leek stretched a little and rolled his shoulders with a slightly uncomfortable expression.
"Does it still bother you?" Lanruo instantly noticed the Saiyan's expression, so she wanted to make sure it was what she expected.
"Yes, my whole body is still numb, it's like a cold that hasn't healed properly." Leek complained.
The truth was that his energy was still a little raw from the relentless use he'd given it while trying to hold together the storage ring Lanruo had given him.
That, coupled with the fact that today he'd had to carefully use his energy not only to carry out the absorption process with Lanruo, but also to be extra careful with the city lord's daughter, had caused his condition, which had improved after a night's rest, to worsen a little again.
Although not all had been lost, thanks to being able to compare Ye Ziyun's progress with Ning'er's, he was able to almost completely confirm his theory that, depending on the spiritualist's rank, the absorption of his ki and the improvement of their internal energy would be faster or slower.
Summarizing the entire absorption process of the city lord's daughter, the result was similar to what Ning'er had experienced that night in the clearing.
After understanding the process, Ye Ziyun tried it herself, and after just over an hour and a half, the girl broke through, reaching the first Bronze Star and a Soul Power of 163.
This was within Leek's expectations, considering she had 93 points before starting, which was a jump of 70 points, which was impressive.
However, it was still behind Ning'er's, who had gone from 75 to 173, but the Saiyan attributed this to the fact that Ning'er's Soul Realm had just been cleansed by him, leaving part of his own energy to fill the empty spaces left behind.
The subsequent advances were a little more discreet, but of course, the more transfers they made, the more Ning'er's own ki strengthened, and as a result, she was able to integrate more and more ki, reaching the point of almost fully awakening her own.
And when that happened, she wouldn't need any more ki transfers; her own flame would burn on its own, and then she could strengthen it on its own without depending on him.
So, taking all that into account, he could say that his theory was confirmed. Both Ning'er and Ye Ziyun, being of a lower rank than Lanruo, had accumulated fewer impurities than the pink-haired girl, making it easier for them to absorb his ki.
Therefore, as long as Leek continued with his plan, the difficulty would increase with each new spiritualist he conducted this test with, and the city lord, Ye Zong, being the second strongest spiritualist in the city, would probably be the one who would have the most difficulty when his turn came.
But even though Leek insisted on emphasizing this before leaving, Ye Zong seemed equally pleased with the progress his daughter had made, and just as Leek had imagined, the city lord had designated her as one of the four people he would teach about ki after seeing the extent of his daughter's recent growth.
Leek had no real problem with this, but the truth was that, considering the state of his body and ki, he decided to tell a lie, nothing too harmful, just a little white lie to ensure he would be better off the next time he had to come.
In his own words, Ye Ziyun would have to "rest" for at least a couple of days before attempting to absorb more ki, not only to ensure there were no adverse effects, but also to give her body and soul realm time to properly assimilate the ki she now had.
All of this sounded logical, but the truth was, at least in Leek's opinion, they were lies, lies meant to buy him some time to fully recover and get rid of the nagging feeling throughout his body.
And it had worked, because although Ye Zong normally wore a serious and intimidating expression and was obviously excited about making his daughter stronger, he seemed far more willing to ensure her safety, so Leek would have two days off before having to return for another ki transfer.
"Oh, I know where we can go!" Lanruo, who understood Leek's predicament well, decided to make a suggestion.
"It's not another couple's hotel like the one yesterday, is it?" The young man replied half-jokingly and half-seriously, because he really wasn't in the mood for romantic comedy-type developments; what he wanted most right now was to rest his body to get rid of the annoying numbness.
"No!" Lanruo puffed out her cheeks slightly, consciously acting like a spoiled girl before speaking. "I remember my family has a recipe for a medicine that helps relax the body and soothe muscle aches, my father used it a few times when he was younger, and according to him, it's quite effective for treating bruises and fatigue"
"Really? But don't you think asking for it might be a little suspicious?"
"We don't need to ask; the recipe is in the family library." The girl paused when she remembered something. "Ah, but, although I don't know all the ingredients in the recipe, there's one I'm sure we don't have at home"
"Really?"
"Yes, I remember because the name of that flower is in the recipe, it's called Crimson Flaming Lotus Oil"
And when Leek heard the name, she couldn't help but roll her eyes for a moment. "All of you in Glory City have a tendency toward grandiose names, don't you? It seems as if everything you have, from cultivation techniques to demonic beasts, to your elixirs and barriers, must all be divine, ancestral, ascendant, sacred, or something similar"
Lanruo crossed her arms and turned her head, looking a little offended. "I'm not going to justify ourselves, but those tendencies are part of our culture, so we should respect it"
The Saiyan raised his arms in surrender. "Okay, okay, I apologize. I suppose we Saiyans also had strange customs, some even truly questionable"
"Huh? Really? Like what?" Now the girl seemed a little curious.
"I'll tell you about it after you tell me about that oil"
"Oh, that's right, the problem is that the Crimson Flame Lotus is hard to come by. It's mostly only available through custom orders, and even then, it takes one to two weeks to obtain"
"If that's the case, then it won't work; by then, I'll be perfectly fine using my own means." Leek replied, shaking his head.
"That's where my idea comes in, you've already met two of the three main families. Are you ready to meet the last one?" Lanruo said enthusiastically.
"The last main family?" Leek raised an eyebrow, now a little interested.
Of the great families of Glory City, the Snow Wind Family could be considered his ally and sponsor, while the Sacred Family was possibly one he wouldn't get along with.
And if Ning'er and Lanruo's warnings were completely true, then that family might even be considered completely antagonistic to him.
With this in mind, the Saiyan wondered what his future relationship with the third, and so far unknown, family would be like.
"Yes, let's visit the Divine Family." Lanruo said with a smile.
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Third Person P.O.V
Ning'er took a deep breath after completing her daily cultivation and the recently added ki manipulation training.
Thanks to all the information Leek had given her before leaving Glory City, she had begun to be able to interact directly with her own ki.
The problem she now had was that she still couldn't manifest or externalize it at will, as Leek himself did.
So far, she hadn't been able to replicate what she had done that night in the clearing when she launched a ki sphere, nor had she been able to cover her entire body with the semitransparent energy layer.
According to her own and Leek's speculations, this could be due to two reasons. The first was that the ki she had gathered through the ki transfers she performed with Leek was still insufficient to fully awaken her own energy.
While the second theory was that her control over her own ki still needed to improve.
Both proposals had pros and cons, such as the fact that both she and Lanruo had discovered how to use their body reinforcements using their energy, increasing their physical capabilities beyond their normal range, something they'd never heard of and probably no one else in Glory City could do.
And more impressive than that, they'd both managed to fly!
Of course, they weren't as fast as Leek had been before leaving Glory City, and even if they were to compare speeds, running while using the reinforcement would probably be faster than flying, but the fact that they could do it was a great achievement in itself.
So, taking this into account, if their ki was too low, then they probably wouldn't even be able to float, and if their control was too weak, then they probably still wouldn't be able to strengthen their bodies.
But even if they didn't have a clear idea of the problem, both she and Lanruo, as well as Leek himself, decided to move forward, they trained to refine their control while the Saiyan wasn't in the city, and he promised to continue the transfers until they had enough to be self-sufficient.
Deep down, Ning'er felt as if she was on the verge of finding the solution, as if the full awakening of her ki was about to happen, but in the end, the answer slipped through her fingers.
It was frustrating, but she was determined not to give up, even more so now that Leek had let her know of his plan through a letter Lanruo had sent her.
She missed Leek, and it was annoying not being able to go see him knowing that he had just returned from his expedition, even more so knowing the state in which he returned, but she understood why they could not meet, the gaze of the lord of the city was more than ever on him, not out of distrust, but because today Leek would demonstrate the advances of his method to strengthen the spiritualists.
Until now, the Saiyan had already had a violent run-in with the Sacred Family through Shen Fei, but thanks to Lanruo's intervention and the support of the Huyan family, no one from Ning'er's own family directly linked the Saiyan to her, and judging by the lack of reaction from the Sacred Family, it seemed they didn't make any connection either.
But if a member of the Sacred Family or her own family saw them together more than once? Then questions might start to arise in people's minds, which would cause problems not only for her, but also for Leek himself, and because of this, she harbored a bit of jealousy toward Lanruo.
From what she had told her, although most people in her family didn't know Leek's identity, they at least knew that he and Lanruo were incredibly close.
Even more so, seeing as even the patriarch of his family openly got along with him, no one considered the idea of interfering in the relationship the two young people seemed to have.
Once again, Ning'er came to the same conclusion she had long before: she needed to become stronger, strong enough to completely break the chain the Sacred Family wanted to impose on her, strong enough to be able to live her life as she wished, strong enough to achieve complete freedom.
She wasn't as naive as before. At first, when her father told her that all the family elders would support her in ending her engagement, she thought things had been resolved.
She would continue training, meet and surpass the standard they had set for her, the engagement would be canceled, and that would be the end of the story.
But after discussing it with Lanruo in more depth, they came to the conclusion that things wouldn't be that simple.
The mere fact that all the Winged Dragon family elders would actually unite behind her decision was doubtful, even if she displayed the strength of a 3-star Bronze Spiritualist in the upcoming trial.
Every family had branches, some more dominant than others, and some opposing others, and the fact that she was the daughter of the patriarch didn't exempt her from this.
In fact, Ning'er could say that being the patriarch's only daughter perhaps made her a slightly more attractive target than the others.
After all, talent alone wasn't enough to oppose one of the three most powerful families in Glory City. She might have the talent, but with her family's current position, if they were to be further pressured by the Sacred Family due to their refusal to hand her over, then the resources to further her cultivation might be incredibly scarce or even nonexistent.
Of course, this didn't worry her at all, but that was because even without resources, she just needed to keep training with Leek, and she would continue to improve, just as she had been doing up until now.
But her family didn't know that, so the prospect of running out of resources, and even declining in status, becoming an aristocratic family, all for a "genius" they couldn't even properly cultivate, was a very real concern from their perspective.
And even if that didn't actually happen, and for some reason her entire family united to support the annulment of her engagement to Shen Fei, things might not end well.
The Sacred Family, and more precisely, Shen Fei himself, would be reluctant to leave her alone just like that, not because he sincerely loved her and wanted to marry her.
To think that was the reason would be naive at best and downright stupid at most; no, they wouldn't leave her alone simply because the egos of the entire family and Shen Fei couldn't accept that a "lower-ranking family, or a member of said family" would deny them something.
That's why she'd put all her effort into her training during Leek's absence from Glory City.
Ning'er wanted, as much as possible, to resolve this issue with the Sacred Family on her own; in the next test, she would show the results of all her efforts, that way, not only would she gain the full protection of the Holy Orchid Institute, which would protect her from the dirty tricks of the Sacred Family.
But even if Shen Fei himself decided to come to her because he couldn't use more indirect methods, then she would take action herself, and just as Leek had once suggested, she would send him flying back home with a kick in the butt.
"Leek and big sister Lanruo should have finished their meeting with the City Lord a while ago." After checking the time, Ning'er cleaned up and left her family's residence.
The letter Lanruo had sent her asked her to purchase several Demon Spirits, though she was told to only buy the cheapest ones she could find, and now that she had finished her training, it was time to go out and do it.
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At the same time, at the entrance of the Alchemy Association
Third Person P.O.V
"Hey, Nie Li, how did it go?" Lu Piao waved along with the rest of the group as they watched the test takers exit through the enormous gate of the Alchemist Association.
Nie Li smiled confidently before waving his hand and answering. "Something at this level was even easier than I initially thought." The young man said, earning envious glances from the adults who had failed the exam after several attempts.
'Easy? We really took the same exam? Do you have any idea how many months we've studied day and night only to fail again?' The men grumbled in their hearts as they walked away, their shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Then let's celebrate, I found a really good steakhouse. I heard that very few people reach the rank of master alchemist. For you to achieve this at such a young age is incredible." Du Ze said in a happy but calm tone.
The truth was, it didn't surprise him much. After everything Nie Li had demonstrated, the thought was imprinted in his mind: 'If Nie Li says he'll do something, then he'll definitely do it'
So, although this was an incredible feat, it wasn't something he believed was impossible, at least not for Nie Li.
"Sure, besides that, have you checked to see if the price of the Purple Haze Grass has changed since morning?" He replied as everyone walked toward the restaurant.
"Yes! The price is now double what it was first thing this morning! It's unbelievable!" Lu Piao could barely contain his excitement; he almost seemed ready to jump up and down.
"Um." Nie Li, on the other hand, seemed completely calm, as if this outcome was completely obvious.
Due to all the unforeseen factors so far, he had found it necessary to speed up the execution of his plans a bit. He needed more power and influence, and to do so, the sponsorship of the Alchemist Association was indispensable.
Therefore, after the incident with the Nightmare Demon Pot, he had sent a second letter introducing himself as an expert from outside Gloria City, showing the results of one of the recipes he had sent earlier and declaring his desire to cooperate with the Association, stating that he would send his "disciple" to take the test and act as an intermediary between the two parties.
All of this had resulted in him meeting with some of the Association's bigwigs after passing the Master Alchemist Exam with plenty of time to spare, confirming his identity as "the disciple" of the unknown expert who had come not only to verify whether cooperation was possible, but also to demonstrate that even as an intermediary, he had more than enough knowledge to be respected and taken into account.
So, with things decided, the deal sealed, and his new title of Master Alchemist, he promised to request more recipes from his "master" so they could be mass-produced as soon as possible.
"Well, let's wait a few more days. If things go as they should, then the price will rise even more, and when that happens, we can get a lot of money and elixirs." Said the time traveler, earning raised fists and expectant cheers from his friends.
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I have two things to ask you.
The first is about Leek's family name. Do you have any suggestions?
And the second is, do you have any specific artists you'd recommend for commissioning?
I'll be listening to your recommendations.