During the rest of the ride back to the sect, Kang Yelang mostly stays quiet, thinking to himself. On occasion, he brings up a few other minor perks that many of the higher-ranked disciples partake in.
The most interesting one is a private lesson with him to learn more about contracts and practices necessary to strengthen a bond with a spirit beast, and how to move through the stages of the Beast Mastery Physique. The peak has open records for the initial stage and mid stage that can be purchased through the quest hall, but the late and perfected stage must be directly taught.
He offers to connect me with the other named disciples to teach me more complex farming and beast taming methods too.
One of the requirements for starting the beast mastery physique is to fracture and dissolve any current acquired physiques to start with a clean slate.
I show some interest to keep up the conversation, but decline in the end.
Lan Xin is dropped off at her private peak first, it is much closer to the vice peak master's mountain.
I witness her thousands of acres of farmland and bison grazing, being taken care of by hundreds of servants, stewards, and even elderly outer disciples under her command.
The Vice Peak Master promises a replacement flying vessel will be delivered to her in a few days.
When we return to my peak, a similar drop-off above the small abode and mid-grade vein takes place.
"Once the requests you've asked for of your plot are processed, I will send updated duty requirements to your stewards directly, as you wish for them to take care of the property."
I nod. "Indeed. The quota due this week is in my steward's possession. It would be ideal to get him used to the process of delivering it himself so future drop-offs are smoother."
In the 122 acres on my plot, everything looks vibrant and lively, growing rice as usual.
The 30 acres of burned land has already been rejuvenated, and planted again in the three weeks since the ambush. It looks almost the same as the rest of the standard plot.
My spirit crane senses our arrival, and slowly drifts down from the sky to land a respectful distance away.
Kang Yelang eyes it up and down. "Your crane looks well taken care of. No wonder the fields recovered so quickly."
I give a courteous smile, and the vice sect master steps back onto his ship.
"Your flying vessel, and a temporary authority token will be delivered in a few days as well. You may leave the sect as you wish, but I do recommend staying within the Beast Mastery Peak Domain until we can figure out who is after you… You will be much safer here, rather than risking another attack outside our official Azure Cloud Sect borders."
He powers on the control disk of his flying vessel, and it starts to rise, but he still looks deep in thought.
His eyes lighten up as the vessel turns, like he's just remembered something important.
However, there is no stir in his soul to match it. He's feigning this surprise.
"Now that I think of it, I do know an opportunity for you to publicly earn a spot as a named disciple. It would give you more protection outside the sect…"
I raise my head to meet his gaze in the sky, "What is it?"
"The outer sect's combat peak tournament is taking place in around two and a half months. If I recall from the war, your file states you're quite the talented archer, aren't you?"
"I am."
Kang Yelang smiles and turns his vessel to leave.
"There will be an announcement in the Quest Hall once the date comes closer, I'll make sure to remind you personally as well."
–
The man and wolf leave the sky without saying another word.
I let out a sigh of relief, and release the strict control of my Illusory Demon's Concealment Art, as there is no reason to constrict and disguise my qi so heavily anymore.
Kang Yelang seems to have good intentions, but he's relentless at nudging for benefits. He has a century of life experience, and has most likely managed this entire Beast Mastery Domain for decades to practice, he is certainly fit for the position.
I'm exhausted.
I pull a high-grade water stone from my storage, and toss it across the flat clearing separating me from my crane.
It happily flaps its wings and catches the blue rock, bowing its head over and over until I turn away.
"Good work on restoring the fields. That is your reward," I call while walking back into my small sect abode.
When I step inside, a wave of fatigue washes through me.
Weeks of training out on my lake property, cycling perfect-grade enchanted honey through my flesh, spirit roots, and meridians has kept me in a constant state of stress even while asleep.
My spirit roots are sore, even though I've healed them countless times with heavenly-grade elixirs.
I managed to hit level 6, but I haven't had a proper break to let everything truly settle.
On top of this, my adrenaline is still pumping through my body after being attacked by three foundational illusory demons.
Being in the presence of the vice peak master for almost four hours did a toll on my mental state too.
Even though he is an ally, and appears to be currying favor with me, keeping up the facade that I am not bothered by his presence at all is tiring.
Even though his aura, and his spirit beast's aura are mostly contained, the pressure of being nearby a foundation establishment cultivator as a qi refiner is still not pleasant.
I take another healing elixir, soak in my hot pool, and fall asleep in comfort.
—
Almost a week goes by.
I do a little bit of work on upgrading enchanted talismans, and sifting through my storage to organize it, but I mostly hoard six new upgrade cards a day, get long nights of sleep, and relax.
The emerald swallow leaves my peak a few times, as I get updates on Wei Ping and Chen Yilin's progress.
The young boy in the steward camps is still in the process of secretly hatching the 6th-grade egg I gifted him. He reports it has been moving about recently, and he feels the soul contract he made with it ripple often.
Wei Ping has also read over the initial section of the Heavy Mountain Acquired Physique booklet a few times, and has begun practicing the movements with the low-grade earth element stones it recommends.
Chen Yilin sends me back samples of his results.
A single enlightenment talisman has allowed him to consistently produce mid-grade qi gathering pills, and every few batches, he manages to focus and create a single high-grade pill.
The middle-aged man's messages are full of vitality; he is still in utter awe of what that small piece of white and gold jade managed to do.
He promises me he will use this new advantage to gain a better reputation moving forward in the alchemy peak.
I myself only step outside my simple abode twice, the first time to watch the handoff of the 122 thousand kilograms of spirit rice to a representative from the quest hall that comes by.
A new quota listing is granted for Shen Dehai to take the lead on. It states that any spirit rice farmed can be handed into the quest hall as often as once a month.
There are no minimums and no maximums. Inferior-grade rice is expected, but if there is anything of higher grade, it can be handed in for far more contribution points. Some of the jumps in grade are worth as much as ten times as many points.
All points are credited to my account, and I must give rewards to my stewards as I see fit.
When the representative leaves, I pay my stewards in mid-grade armored lizard meat and mid-grade qi gathering pills.
All of them are capable of making spirit stone income on their own, using the armored lizards I gave them. They can always sell the pills for spirit stones if they really need it.
I do not have my recording crystals reinstalled; the threat I was expecting has passed and been dealt with.
The second time I step outside is to accept my flying vessel and a new identity token.
It is a dark black token with my name on one side with the character for authority, and the Vice Peak Master's name beside the peak emblem on the other. It is swapped with my old outer sect disciple token, and I imprint it with my qi. My robes do not change, as this is not an official position.
The Flying Vessel is almost identical to the one I've traveled on a few times with Lan Xin.
Most of the physical makeup is constructed of high-grade tier 1 materials, but the inner workings and technical mechanisms use dense qi and compact spiritual copper arrays that can be considered inferior-grade tier 2.
When I imprint the large nearly four-meter-long sleek ship, a few options pop up in my mind.
There is a manual setting, to steer it myself using the control disk.
Then, there are autopilot locations I can choose like the Red Pine Market, Lingshi City, or even the many major peaks in this portion of the outer sect.
The last option is to fill it up with spiritual stones. It appears to have a capacity of 5,000, completely full right now, but I'm uncertain how far this will take me.
I've never seen Lan Xin fill hers up mid-flight from here to Lingshi City, so its range must be at least a few thousand kilometers on one charge.
With a smile, I pull the large vessel into my system storage.
I drop a low-grade tier 2 ring filled with a single perfect-grade firestone beneath some plants at my doorstep, and send a communication talisman to Lan Xin.
"I'll be in closed-door cultivation for a while. Your payment for the week is outside my front door. Just swap it with a full ring of the collected spirit stones if I'm not around."
I slip away into my hidden realm right after sending the message.
My body and mind are completely rested.
My 6th level of qi refining cultivation has completely settled, and I feel ready to train again. The cooldown for the enlightenment talismans has run out today too.
When I appear in the center of my 5-element cultivation array, the first thing I do is pull out one of the small red milk fruits from my storage.
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Author's Note:
One chapter of Five Element Overlord will be posted every weekday: M,T,W,TH,F.
If you'd like to support me, and read 40+ chapters ahead of the public release schedule, my patreon is linked in my bio:)
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