Chapter 8- forest exploration

Long into the day the sun raising above their heads two maidens arrive at the entrance of a lush vibrant forest, these two maidens polar opposites that seemed to pair well and create a barrier none could approach. The first of the pair was a tall slim youth, her skin fair and and softly glowing, hair a vibrant red burning as though it was living magma, much like her personality a short bridge till an explosion however, despite her anger her knowledge in the field of arrays was profound unlike her age. The second of the pair was a short youth with an indifferent look with similarly fair skin that was white as jade, her hair was as white as snow flowing to the centre of her back, the knowledge this youth excelled at is the field of inscriptions and application to arrays. This is what made them a duo that was uncontested, the reason these two were at this forest is because of there brothers sudden change which caused a stir in the family recently. The pair soso and popo were out to search for relevant herbs and materials that are needed for pills and Alaec had given the girls a list of the herbs that he could use as of now, what surprised the girls more was that the herbs written down had been of common and useless rarity basically meaning he wasn't planning to make an orthodox pill type. Even still these sisters decided it wasn't worth asking their brothers reasoning and decided to just trust him and let him go on with his plans whatever they may be. The two sisters worked their way around the perimeter of the forest collecting the most common herbs before they went into the the midsection of the woodlands, the trees bled an aura of uncertainty and dread. This forest during the night became lonesome and dim but what seemed to glow was the creatures of the night that glow with a fluorescent lustre, such as the insects and low born animals that have stepped into the world of cultivation. The time of spiritual regeneration brought great changes to animals, bloodlines once thin and useless have now become vibrant and important, so much so that high order beast's blood had become a commodity that raises the dormant strength and potential of all cultivators. As the two sisters tread through the grounds of the perimeter the sisters found the last of the herbs needed for alaec, as they started leaving the forest a tremble started akin to the old earthquake born of nature. following the sound of the tremble the trees started moving and the sound grew louder and louder, the two started backing up aware of the dangers. As the trembling grew to its peak a second order beast appeared seeming in a frenzy and littered with wounds, the girls started running as they hadn't prepared for a second order to be in the outer ring of the forest which typically only has either initial first order or normal animals. As the second order beast seemingly a hound type beast rampaged an arrow was slung towards the eye of the beast blinding it on one side, the girls looked to the direction where the arrow was shot from, there stood three people, one who evidently shot the arrow was holding a short hunting bow. The other two, one with a short sword and talismans in his hands was guarding the rear and the second was Infront of them with an axe that was as long as her body, before the beast could direct its attention to the bow user a large impact landing on its head brought it crashing down to the floor instantly finishing it off. The man who landed this blow held a Warhammer that could block out the sun when put towards a persons face, "i hope you two are okay, this beast ran from us when we were about to finish up and began thrashing all over the place" this burly man roughly spoke through rushed heaps of breath. "we're fine thanks to you and your team", the two sisters bowed in appreciation and saluted them with cusped hands. "we can apologise for the lack of etiquette of our leader fellow sisters." this time the axe wielding woman spoke with cusped hands and a polite and sincere smile. Soso and Lolo gave a respectful look and bid this team farewell and returned to the family compound, undenounced to them this team of cultivators had also been returning to the compound. once they arrived the sister duo went to alaec's courtyard to give him the herbs he asked for. Aleac at this time was practicing his mind cultivation techniques as they were important starting after the golden core realm, getting a head start although right now may not produce noticeable results but in the future would show its real value far surpassing others of his generation, unfortunately in the past he didn't know of this and less combat power than others of his level. "Sisters welcome back i assume you've succeeded, I thank you for that" Alaec was happy he could acquire the needed herbs for the pills that, "of course brother you asked us after all." the sisters said with a confident smile, Alaec took the ingredients into his abode and began circulating his qi to prepare for concocting the pills, once Alaec was in peak condition his began to urge the movement of his qi releasing it with enough power to ignite the air flow causing flames to appear, Alaec placed this new qi fire into the pill furnace he had prepared for this occasion. once the furnace has heated to an acceptable degree he started to throw the herbs into the flames, starting from the poisons herbs down to the naturally growing grass like herbs. normally these herbs wouldn't be used as they have no preface value to the world of cultivators, however, in the hands of someone with centuries of future knowledge theses seemingly obsolete herbs become streamline qi enhancers. But of course the poison left in the herbs would stay with the final pill, this was within Alaec's expectations as he would be using a method to increase its potency and split the energies to concoct the final pill. As Alaec continued supplying his qi the worldly energy began to whirl and flush into the furnace burning the original static herbs into a liquid like putty, alaec began forming the pill using the world as the grasp and brought the flames to a new hight finishing the process. The now formed pill glistened and shone with two distinct colours one black with a purple gleam, the other a pearl milky white this was a recipe known only 80 years from the current moon calendar date. this was the yin-yan polarity pill, this pill strengthened the qi in the body supplementing the life qi and burning the original poisons into the body increasing the bones and muscle rigidness. however the process of consuming the pill would include a skin searing pain, for alaec on the other hand would be a smooth numbing due to the mental fluidity he has and pain resistance endured when practicing. upon finishing the refinement alaec didn't swallow the pill straight away, after all he expended a lot more qi than he needed due to his low realm. after returning to his optimal condition alaec readied himself for the pill and downed it, the pill instantly evaporated in his mouth before he could swallow it , the two energies intertwined and spread throughout alaec's body recharging and hammering the steeled body with resounding impacts, as the poison and qi rampaged around his body alaec could feel the ceiling of his realm cracking and loosen, alaec held his ground directing the pearl energy towards his meridians thrashing through the boundary, the pain slowly edging in and cursing the soul. through this process the poisoned energy seeped into his marrow and purged the weak cells with the newly formed robust cells, alaec roared in silent anguish finally breaking into qi establishment 8th step while hardening the juvenile bones. alaec now had to consolidate his realm for some tome, thus started the following days of seclusion and repeating of spear techniques.