Page 64: In two months time

"Halt! Show me your identity tag before entering. Please bear with us for a moment. The City council has just announced that we need to keep track of the people who enters and leaves so our contact tracing would be more efficient. There's a certain threat that has been identified lately and its related to people travelling. May we ask you to answer some few questions for us? It won't take long."

Long Bai was stopped at the city entrance just before he could enter. Being clueless of the situation, he tried to get some information from them.

"Mister guard, may I know what's all of this? I have been out of the city for a few weeks so I still haven't caught up with the latest news. Would you mind to inform me about it?"

"I don't mind. Lately, a sickness has spread out in the population. The ones afflicted fell ill from having difficulty in breathing and it was later known that it is caused by a foreign substance carried by travellers. You don't need to worry since our alchemists were already able to make an antidote pill for the case. Right now, we are only checking the ones coming in and out so that we will be able to trace its origin."

"I see. I just need to answer these questions from this parchment isn't it? Here I'm done. I don't really feel any of those stated illnesses."

"Hm. Alright. But still, I suggest that you go and buy this pill from any trusted outlets so you can assure your safety. You may proceed now. Take care."

Long Bai's entry of the city was unusual from the previous ones but things got normal inside the city. It was as if the problem was non-existing. Long Bai went straight to his residence. Now that he is back, he walked leisurely towards his place.

Back at his residence, alchemist Mo was still laying down trying to recover from physical exhaustion. Add the heat of the afternoon, it even made him lazier to move. If this was back on earth, this is the best time for a nap and if its not, you would be drinking or eating something cold and sweet. It could have been a treat bit in this world, there is no such small things since a cultivator can use their inner essence to encourage their body's thermoregulator to work fast. In alchemist Mo's case, he was just to lazy to circulate his essence that time. Just when he was about to close his eyes to return back in sleep, he heard the front door open and a very familiar voice calling him. To him, that voice became the sound of heaven, calling unto him to present himself. His tired self squeezed all the remaining energy and ran towards the source of the sound like crazy.

"Young master!!! You're baaaaack!!!!"

Running crazy like an abandoned grown up old puppy* who have just realized that his master came back. At first, Long Bai was a bit taken aback with alchemist Mo's behavior but upon checking hos stats, there was the "state: exhausted" written. Long Bai understood he must have works tirelessly for the previous days and just hit his limit. Being moved by alchemist Mo's action, Long Bai took out his personally made supplement pill, the "multivitamin pill" together with an essence replenishing pill and shove it in alchemist Mo's mouth. After swallowing, Long Bai used his essence to stimulate the pills to take effect immediately. While doing so, he saw the relieved expression on the old man.

Long Bai, during his last week of stay at elder Jun's place, tried to experiment alchemy by extracting the essence of ordinary plants he found around. At his first try, he was able to create small pellets that tasted just like the usual multivitamins he took back on earth.

[System notice: You were able to extract the essential juices of the plants. How would you like to name the created pill? "_#@__$_&__"?]

Upon closeup inspection, he was really sure the pill he created was a supplemental pellet. It's effects might not be too great for a cultivator but it would greatly benefit ordinary people. Aside from that, if a cultivator has no energy to use his essence, taking the pill will help his or her body to maintain a healthy state.

[System notice: You have created a new pill recipe. The grade 1 "multivitamin" pill recipe is successfully added to your library.]

When Long Bai was assured that alchemist Mo has recovered, he stood up and asked him to report the important events that took place in the city. The two took some tea time that lasted for more than three hours. The stories he told ranged from the sales in alchemy tower to the events that relates to his friends and acquaintances. He even specifically told the events that happened related to a young lady that came to the place just to see him. The rest of the day sailed languidly until Long Bai demanded alchemist Mo to add the multivitamin pill he just newly made into the market. It may not attract a lot of attention but it would help regular people to stay strong and healthy. Remembering the state of living in the slums, families that can't afford multiple meals a day suffer from malnutrition even if they eat a lot of meat. At least this way, they would be able to live longer and enjoy the perks of living.

That night, Long Bai gave some pointers on how alchemist Mo can improve his skills in creating grade 3 pills. Alchemist Mo has pointed out that he would go and challenge the grade 3 alchemist test by the morrow so to increase his success, Long Bai assisted him in making the life- extending pill since it is the pill that he thinks alchemist Mo would become proficient with. Every alchemist are perfectionist in the pill they are very proficient with. When an alchemist rises in ranks, they would garner a title which is related to the best pill they can make or on how they create them. For alchemist Mo, he plans to establish his name with the life- extending pill since its demand in the market is always high and will never drop as long as there are cultivators. Of course, this is just his context in terms of creating his own legend in the merchant city. He wouldn't dare to compare himself to alchemists in the mainland. Alchemist Mo's lessons were ended at midnight and the rest of the time were for them to rest.

Early morning has come and the light was still faint to fully illuminate the entire city. In one residence, a young man has already woken up, exercised and prepared his things to start the day. Before everyone from his residence would wake up, he already left and headed towards the warm market. There, he enjoyed various food selections that satisfied his morning cravings. On earth, he was used in eating a light meal for the morning with a hot coffee. Here, he tried to look for things that would at least resemble the food he likes from the stalls. At least, there were meat buns and some meat wraps. It was almost similar, so it the start was not that bad.

After satisfying his palate and filling his stomach, he then head straight to Ling Tian and Ah Mu's place. Walking for about 17 mins, Long Bai reached the residence if the elder who took the two as their disciples. The gate was three feet tall and on both sides were family guards who are responsible for opening and closing of the door aside from stopping anyone suspicious from entering.

"Halt! Who are you and state your purpose." A guard stopped Long Bai. Without a hesitation, Long Bai showed his grade 2 alchemist amulet to the guard. In this city, alchemists are revered much that is why upon seeing the 2 stars on the amulet, the guards changed their attitudes.

"Ah, we apologize for the inconvenience, young alchemist. How may we help you?"

"Can you tell to the two young masters here that a friend has come to visit them? I appreciate the help."

Upon hearing the request, the 1st guard on the left spurted towards the doors of the house and made the announcement. A few minutes later, Ah Mu came out of the house strutting with more firm steps compared before. His body became more built with muscles instead of adipose tissues. When he saw Long Bai's figure from a distance, he slowly ran towards him. Just when there was only two meters distance, he immediately rushed towards him like a bulldozer.

"Brother Bai!!! You're here!!!"

Before he could be successful in giving a hug, Long Bai leaned sidewards to dodge the incoming big young man. Long Bai was able to read Ah Mu's plan which caused him to dodge.

Crash!!!

Ah Mu lost his balance and rolled on the ground. After getting back on his feet, he made another attempt but all were for naught.

"Brother Bai, you got even faster. I thought I would be able to catch you now that I became stronger. How can this be?"

Long Bai laughed at his brother's words. Just as he saw it, Ah Mu was really planning something.

"Brother Ah Mu, if you want me to tell you my secret, you should invite me immediately to your place. I have some gifts for the two of you."

Ah Mu did not waste time any further and pulled Long Bai inside their residence. Inside, Ling Tian reacted differently and instead asked Long Bai for a duel but just like what happened to Ah Mu, Ling Tian was not able to land any of his strikes.

"Brother Ling Tian, Ah Mu, I have some movement skills here to teach you. I did not teach you the previous skill since it wasn't mine but now that I have my own, I can teach it with anyone I want."

Long Bai took out two copies of the <thunder steps> manual. Ah Mu and Ling Tian did not hesitate to take it but when they read the information on the first page, the two became motionless due to shock.

"Bro..ther.. Bai... Heaven...rank?"

Ah Mu's knees were shaking. His eyes were stuck on the words written on the page of the manual. What does this mean? For Ah Mu, a heaven rank skill is like a thing in the legends. Even their master can't even tell much about it. On the other hand Ling Tian was speechless with Long Bai's surprise. With such skill, they can become the strongest in the city of its mastered to its highest.

"Ah, since you are at 9th level of flesh tempering, you should use this two months to at least reach the initial success of the skill. This can become your advantage during the fight this coming qualifiers. Dear brothers, take these two essence gathering pill. Use this to breakthrough to the bone tempering in three days. After that, you may already start practicing the skill. I will visit you once in a while to see your progress. This coming competition, let us all pass it and move to new heights. The world is vast and full of mystery. If in the future, you are interested to see what's beyond, you need to get stronger."

Long Bai's smile was contagious. After hearing their younger brother's words, the two started to have bigger dreams. Since they are not hungry anymore, they began to have other desires on their own. As a cultivator, they started to think about their direction and goal.

"Ahh! Brother Bai, have you visited sister Yue?" Ling Tian's face beamed a playful smile at Long Bai after asking the question.

"You should go now. We can handle this thing. Go and see our sister Yue."

"I want to go too!" Ah Mu said but before anyone can speak, Ling Tian gave him a smack in the head.

Whack!

"Eiysh. Stupid Ah Mu."