Chapter 34. Cultivation and a Heart-to-Heart Conversation.

After returning home, Rand began to ponder his next steps:

"First of all, I need to make a development plan for the near future. Other considerations can wait. Over the next few months, I need to reach the fifth level of Qi Condensation, but it's also important that the power of my techniques keeps pace with my cultivation.

Ideally, I should start by focusing on the Bronze Body technique, as it forms the basis for reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. Moreover, at the fourth level, it significantly speeds up blood circulation, giving me significant advantages in both cultivation and recovery speed. However, practicing this technique, especially at the later levels involving contact with fire, which places destructive strain on the body, requiring impressive regeneration to handle it. If natural regeneration isn't enough, I'll need a huge number of healing pills. Unfortunately, purchasing the necessary quantity of pills would be too expensive, even for me.

Therefore, it would be preferable to reach at least the third level of Qi Condensation stage with the Mythic Blood cultivation method, which will greatly increase my body's recovery speed. After that, I can proceed with renewed strength to practice the Bronze Body technique.

Having thought through his next steps and created a schematic plan for his future development, Rand decided to start executing it immediately, beginning his cultivation without delay, despite it already being night.

First, Rand took off his armor with some difficulty, spending about ten minutes on it. He then arranged a circle using several dozen spirit stones to increase the concentration of Qi in the air and sat in a lotus position within this circle. After these preparations, Rand took a deep breath and cleared his mind of any distracting thoughts, like tomorrow's conversation with Eyron, as they could interfere with or slow down his cultivation. Having done all this, he took out his new artifact knife. During today's conversation with Byron, the elder discovered that his disciple didn't have a knife capable of even scratching him, which caused Rand some difficulties with effectively practicing the Mythic Blood cultivation method. Hearing about this problem, Byron immediately took a low-quality magic artifact knife from his supplies and gave it to Rand, not forgetting to scold him for not mentioning it earlier. Such a gift was insignificant enough for the elder to give without violating the sect's restrictions.

The knife was quite simple, about ten centimeters long, with a single weak embedded technique called Sharp Blade. This technique allowed the blade to extend up to a meter, while at the same time significantly sharpening it.

Rand was amused that the knife was made of black bronze alloy, making it a fitting complement to his body-strengthening technique.

With his new knife, Rand managed to inflict a few necessary shallow cuts on himself for effective practice, allowing his blood to "breathe." He didn't have to use the knife's embedded technique.

After making these preparations, Rand began meditating. As soon as Qi from the surrounding space started entering his body, his blood began to boil as if it had a life of its own. Qi around Rand formed small, barely noticeable swirling currents aiming to enter his body. Initially, the Qi flows passed through Rand's cuts, intensifying the pain as they moved through them. Then, the Qi was absorbed by his "boiling" blood, which carried the energy into his spiritual channels, often called meridians, directing it into his gradually expanding dantian, the center of Rand's power.

However, even this powerful flow of Qi created by dozens of spirit stones around him was insufficient for Rand, as his dantian and Pure Lotus Body could absorb much more Qi at once. Unfortunately, adding more spirit stones would be pointless because Rand couldn't absorb any more Qi from the surrounding space due to the limitation on the amount of Qi that could pass through his "wounds" at one time. Increasing the number or size of the wounds wouldn't help, as this limitation was an integral part of the first level of the Mythic Blood cultivation method, it was probably created so that young novices would not explode from absorbing too much Qi. Rand, however, had a Pure Lotus Body, which far surpassed the bodies of ordinary novices, so this limitation was a hindrance to him. But bypassing it was beyond Rand's ability, as it required a perfect understanding of the entire Mythic Blood method, which he didn't have. Moreover, there was no great need, since, as far as he understood, the limitation applied only to the first level. But Rand had a way to bypass this limitation and start absorbing more Qi, and he decided to use it immediately. Rand momentarily distracted himself from meditation and took out one of the Qi Accumulation Pills he received as a reward for winning the competition. Holding it in his hand, Rand wasted no time and put it into his mouth, then swallowed it. As soon as the pill touched his tongue, it started emitting waves of Qi, and once it entered his body, the amount of Qi it emitted increased significantly.

Comparing the True Blood Pill, which Byron had given him about ten days ago, and the Qi Accumulation Pill provided by the sect, the effect of the latter was significantly weaker, as it contained far less Qi.

But this weaker pill had its advantages. For instance, it didn't require killing anyone, only a few types of herbs of a certain age and a moderately skilled alchemist. Therefore, this pill was much cheaper, costing only between thirty and a hundred spirit stones, depending on its quality. Another important advantage was that the energy from the Qi Accumulation Pill was much calmer and more controllable, with the Qi flowing out gradually rather than all at once, making it easy to absorb.

Thanks to his Pure Lotus Body, which removed harmful impurities that hindered the body's absorption of energy and expanded the spiritual channels that carried the Qi, Rand's body absorbed the pill's energy at a speed unattainable for ordinary cultivators. While others would need several days to absorb all the pill's energy, Rand required only a few hours.

After about half an hour of such practice, Rand felt that his body could take in even more, so he did something that would make most novices and disciples feel sick just watching. He took out a second pill and put it into his mouth immediately, while the first one was still emitting waves of energy inside him. Only then did Rand feel that his body was absorbing Qi at an acceptable rate.

After taking the second pill, Rand's dantian, resembling a tiny lake of Qi, began to expand at a speed almost any cultivator could only dream of. Every second, three streams of energy flowed into his center of power: two larger ones from the dissolving pills and a third from the Qi energy of the surrounding spirit stones absorbed through his wounds.

After six hours of continuous cultivation, Rand was very close to reaching the second level of Qi Condensation, but unfortunately, first one and then the other pill completely dissolved, and the Qi streams emanating from them immediately dried up.

Rand would have gladly used several more pills, as his Pure Lotus Body allowed him to do so. However, with not much time left before the lesson, he decided to postpone taking new pills. If he took them now and then interrupted his cultivation, some of the pills' energy would dissipate. Rand didn't want to waste resources meaninglessly, especially since he didn't have many to spare. Therefore, for the remaining hour before the lesson, Rand cultivated using only the energy from the surrounding spirit stones.

When the sun rose, Rand paused his cultivation, washed off the blood from his nearly healed cuts, and began preparing to go to the lesson. Unexpectedly, instead of hearing the bell summoning them to the lesson, he heard deacon Gerhard's voice, which, thanks to the power of his spiritual sense, overcame both the distance and the walls of the house.

"Today's lesson is canceled. For the next two weeks, you are also free from them, as I will be away from the sect during this time. I hope that upon my return, I will see that you have not been lazy and that your cultivation has progressed. Regarding the techniques you received yesterday, if you are unsure of your abilities, you may refrain from practicing them until I return and focus on your regular cultivation instead.

Additionally, I must tell you, although I doubt it matters to you right now, that you are forbidden to attempt reaching the sixth level of Qi Condensation without elder Edard's permission in the coming months. The punishment for violating this rule will be extremely severe. That's all. Good cultivation, novices."

After this message, Gerhard's voice disappeared from Rand's mind.

"Hm, for some reason, he decided to cancel a lesson, which is his direct responsibility and is paid for by the sect. Elder Edard's permission must have been involved… Though the reason doesn't matter much to me, so there's no point in dwelling on it. Besides, this situation will only help my plans, as I won't have to waste time listening to his useless lectures.

What will Eyron do now? I don't think this class cancellation will affect his desire to talk to me about Weed. He'll probably wait for me near the bell tower where Gerhard usually gathers us, hoping I'll show up. If I don't, he'll likely come straight here, to my house. So, there's no point in going anywhere; it's easier to stay put and wait for him."

And soon, Rand's prediction came true. After just twelve minutes of waiting, a large figure approached Rand's house and knocked on the door.

Rand slowly stood up and opened the door, finding Eyron as expected, the giant was smiling broadly. Another day of rest had clearly benefited his severe wounds. The monstrous burns he had suffered during the competition had faded to barely noticeable marks. By the next day, even those would likely be gone.

Rand let him inside, and Eyron immediately began speaking:

"Greetings, senior Oberin. I'm glad to see you. I heard that you managed to stir up the senior novices in the Outer Sect Repository yesterday; they're even a bit afraid of you now. I'm very impressed. Could you teach me…"

Rand didn't let him finish, interrupting with his own words:

"Junior Eyron, enough with this act. You can use your fake friendly tone with someone else, but not with me. I can see that you have no desire to talk to me about such trivial matters. So let's not waste either of our time on this pointless chatter. Tell me right away why you're here. "

At Rand's words, the smile instantly vanished from Eyron's face, and he fell silent, his expression becoming serious. For a few moments, there was silence in the house, and Rand sensed that his words had surprised Eyron, causing him to ponder how to proceed.

"Ha, you've seen through me, Oberin, but that's actually good. It proves you're smart, and I didn't come to you in vain. Besides, I must admit, constantly wearing the mask of a friendly, well-read guy is useful but very tiring, so I'm glad to have the chance to drop it. Since you're asking, I won't beat around the bush and will get straight to the point about Weed. Let's do it this way: since I came to you, I'll start the story. I'll tell you my honest thoughts about this being, and then you can agree with me or refute my words. Deal?"

"Those terms… are acceptable," Rand replied after a brief pause.

"Excellent. I'll start from a bit further back. I've always been taught to evaluate people upon meeting them by their abilities, talent, and intelligence. And I've always followed this teaching. For example, from the very beginning, I assessed you, Oberin, as a dangerous future rival. From our first conversation, you struck me as intelligent, and your talent for cultivation is quite remarkable. I evaluated everyone in our group in a similar way, but I made a grave mistake in assessing one person. I see you've guessed who that was. Yes, it was the boy named Weed. Or rather, I was wrong about someone who skillfully pretends to be a boy. My first impression of him was that he was just useless trash with no future. But everything changed when Weed first spoke to me and offered his friendship… I immediately felt a strong desire to become his loyal companion… And only after he walked away did I manage to analyze my speech and behavior and realize that he had somehow influenced me. The fact that I didn't feel it immediately, I'll be honest, scared me.

The next day, I was able to overcome my fear and decided to try to find out more about Weed and his ability. Being on guard, I deliberately stayed close to him to understand what he was and assess the degree of his danger. I realized that with knowledge of his ability, it's possible to resist it. By the way, this was the same day we went to the dining hall with you and the others, where I noticed your unusual attitude towards Weed. It was hard to notice; your speech and expressions didn't betray you, but the way you looked at him was different from how you looked at the others. Especially after he asked about your real name."

At this point in the story, Rand raised his gaze to the giant and stared directly into his eyes, as if contemplating whether to kill Eyron right here and now. Under the weight of that gaze, Eyron involuntarily took a step back, then said in a conciliatory tone:

"Don't worry, Oberin, your secrets don't interest me at all. Only that you noticed Weed's oddities, just like I did.

Observing his speech and behavior further, I began to think about who he might be. My first guess was that Weed was a demon, but I quickly dismissed that. While his persuasion ability is similar to that of demons, it's different. Demonic persuasion is fairly easy to notice from the outside. The eyes of those the demon speaks to become glazed, and those affected by it can't interact with others properly while in that trance. And those who spoke with Weed showed no such signs. Besides, demon blood would undoubtedly have been detected at the obelisk; it's extremely hard to conceal. And if it were some powerful demon capable of such things and pretending to be human for some reason, he wouldn't use his ability on others at all, or his influence wouldn't be limited to such a small scale."

"My second guess was that Weed possessed some unknown gift, giving him the power of persuasion. Although this is rare, it still happens, and new gifts are discovered in the world. Alternatively, he might have found a unique technique somewhere. This was my primary theory until the third day after our meeting in the dining hall, when I left the sect to meet my family and happened to see Weed fighting in an alley I was passing by. He wasn't in his usual sect robe but in some rags. What he did shocked me. Weed was beating up a dozen people, some of whom were at the first or second levels of Qi Condensation. These were members of a significant gang in the city, and they could do nothing against a boy who didn't seem to have a drop of Qi. This wasn't a fight; it was a slaughter. Weed toyed with the bandits as if they were children. In the end, he mercilessly killed them all, saying a strange, incomprehensible phrase: 'weak mobs.' Do you happen to know what 'mob' means? No? Too bad, then I'll continue. Some of the bandits begged him for mercy, but he paid no heed. Afterward, Weed stored their bodies in some spatial artifact, though I couldn't identify which one, definitely not a standard sect pouch.

All this behavior is typical of a ten-year-old boy, right? I was lucky he didn't notice me; otherwise, I'm sure he would have tried to kill me too.

After considering everything I saw, I concluded that Weed is most likely an ancient cultivator who has changed bodies and decided that in the sect, he could restore his strength faster. This theory explains everything: his power of persuasion, ruthlessness, incredible combat skills, and even his strength before reaching Qi Condensation can be explained by some secret technique.

Initially, I wanted to go to the deacon with this information, but I quickly realized that it would do me no good. Even if the deacon believed me and I could prove that Weed was a former powerful cultivator, it would only worsen my situation. There's a high chance that the sect wouldn't kill Weed after discovering his true nature but would instead make a contract with him and pour resources into him to help him recover faster.

In such a scenario, Weed would soon regain his strength and secure an honorable position within the sect. After that, it would be effortless for him to find out who exposed him. I think my fate would be grim after that.

I also considered leaving things as they are and trying to stay away from him… but I realized that doing so would mean keeping an unpredictable, wounded ancient snake close by, one that could bite me at any moment and was regaining its strength with every passing second. Such a plan of action would be too unpredictable and dangerous. So, there's only one solution left – to kill him while he's still weak."