Xiao Cultivates

"An arm of a crystal starfish, a bundle of lion's mane mushrooms, three cloves of asparagus, and lastly, a single drop of a huli jing's blood."

With all of the ingredients now in the cauldron, Xiao closed the lid and prepared to channel her qi on its furnace. With deep focus, she maintained the temperature to about 200 degrees, exactly as indicated in the recipe her teacher had given her.

<<Remember to maintain the temperature or else you might end up with an unusable pill.>>

Xiao creased her forehead, she has nothing but gratitude for her teacher, but she doesn't need to be reminded of the obvious.

"I know, I've read the recipe."

<<I am only making sure. Now, stop talking to me and focus on your flames.>>

In her irritation she accidentally increased the heat of the flames, immediately lowering it once she had kept her emotions in check. Instead of mouthing at her teacher, she chose absolute silence.

Fifteen minutes have passed, nothing but the smoldering flames could be heard in the alchemy room. Boiling the pill is an arduous one hour process, her little mishap from earlier might have already affected its quality, but as long as she maintains the heat from now on, her pill would still churn out as a middle grade.

<<I am bored. Talk to me, you should be able manage as much.>>

For the first time since they've been master and student, Xiao felt the urge to choke her master's non-existent neck.

After the gruesome forty five minutes of her master babbling, she examined the reddish pill between her fingers. It seems that the huli jing's influence is quite strong. Honestly, she was quite proud that she was able to make a middle grade pill after her master's diatribe.

<<Why do you look so pleased? I expected a high-grade pill from you.>>

"I might have if you didn't distract me. Not everyone is a master at it like you. Next time, please don't expect me to concoct such a stressful pill and force a conversation."

<<Bah, you and your reasons. Go and ingest the pill so you can turn those limbs of yours permanent.>>

As soon as she popped the pill into her mouth, a strange sensation overtook her body, as if the transmorphed limbs made from qi had been finally anchored and solidified. With her missing dantians fixed, she can finally start to cultivate.

+++

The kind old couple that adopted Xiao weren't very well off, but they still did their best to raise her until she was old enough to be admitted to a sect. Although she did own a mansion back at the Tranquil waterfall sect, most of her spirit stone allowance would be used to fuel her high cultivation base. She was rich in terms of housing alone, that is why it was easy to hold no attachment to it. But now....

Xiao laid on top of the massive pile of spirit stones, her skewed image of the filthy rich young masters, like Lin or Liu, was them bathing in spirit stones. Enacting her ridiculous stereotype was something she wanted to try at least once.

<<What the hell are you doing?>>

"Bathing in spirit stones, isn't this what you rich people do while being poured wine in your expensive cups by a jade beauty servant?"

<<Who does that? Also, do not get too attached to those spirit stones, you are going to burn most of them up as you cultivate. Speaking of, you should begin cultivating now so we could start your training soon.>>

"Do I REALLY have to use most of these spirit stones?"

<<Do you want to have your revenge on that demonic cultivator or not?>>

Xiao was sitting on top of at least three thousand. Although hesitant to part with it, it is the price she had to pay for amassing more power. Her need for vengeance trimmed her budding greed.

"Alright then, let's start cultivating."

Assuming the lotus position, Xiao closed her eyes as she retreated into her own inner realm. Her mind's eye open, she could make out her vague surroundings, she was in a frozen tundra. It was extremely cold, yet instead of biting, it invigorates her.

Above her were two stars made from ice, the next seven were seemingly empty, while the sixteen ones were dark, waiting to be unlocked. The seven are the result of her near death experience battling the demonic cultivator. A normal fight to the death would unlock about a star or two, but her opponent was two realms above her, giving her massive boost with her unlockable stars.

With star slots fully visualized, she began absorbing the qi inside the spirit stones. An ephemeral blue qi vortexed into Xiao, as bit by bit, the blue spirit stones she sat upon were slowly turning into gray.

Back inside her inner realm, she could see the empty stars slowly getting filled. One, two, three! And then suddenly, it stopped rising.

[Yao Xiao : Divine Champion Realm, 5 stars.]

It should be nine stars! Could it be?

Xiao opened her eyes to find the spirit stones to be nothing but gray husks.

Although her cultivation was cut short, she still couldn't help but grin and admire the increase in her power.

Cultivating was like climbing a mountain, the joy you reach as you vault towards a height higher than your last was both refreshing and intoxicating. Each summit holds a promise of power to those strong enough to brave such endless height.

"Teacher, I'm going to withdraw more spirit stones! I need to reach nine stars, NOW!"

<<Calm yourself! There is no need to rush. That cultivation level is satisfactory, for now, read this.>>

A scroll was ejected from the mask that Xiao wore. Her cultivating high was replaced by a different one as she opened and read its contents.

It was a heavenly grade scroll, specifically tailored for those with ice qi on how to mold weapons like jian swords, guandao and kwandao spears, all while hardening them enough to rival metal forged weapons.

Was her teacher expecting her to engage in a war? She was basically training her to become a living armory at this point.