When they left the Merchants Guild, the old man deactivated the illusion array on Liang’s ring to his relief. The way the merchant eyed him was terrifying and he was actually a cultivator that was stronger than Liang was. He knew he would have a hard time defending himself from an attack.
The old man told Liang to guess as to why men and women viewed him differently but eventually after repeated failures, he explained. “Charm arrays are illusions that bring out lust or desire. People will see their ideal choice of mate and it makes them easier to manipulate. I just didn’t think it would be so powerful.”
“It’s possible my talents have reached a new level. Even I had a difficult time seeing through it. The materials were passable but it shouldn’t have worked that well. To think after all this time the Great I is still able to advance.”
The old man continued telling Liang how lucky he was for having him as his master for so long he started blanking out. Finally, once he finished he told Liang, “Well for now you better be careful who you activate that around. Things could get interesting.” He began chuckling but Liang did not find it very funny.
As for the merchant, he would never see Liang in that form again, so he was not worried. The old man hid his appearance as well; it would not be easy to find them. They were even able to convince the merchant to pay half up front for the evening.
The sale of the beasts and cores went smoothly and the merchant happily overpaid as if he was trying to prove to Liang how wealthy he was. Over the course of the three-month hunt, the old man had Liang kill 148 savage beasts. It was a large pile of bodies but it did not appear to be an issue and Liang netted 1,432 medium grade spirit stones.
They walked to a large alchemy shop they passed on the way and entered with the old man cursing softly. He hated dealing with them and Liang did not understand why they were there, but the old man told him, “These bastards have some use when it comes to collecting things.”
The old man moved to the counter and told the clerk, “I need 12 catty of poison salt, 12 catty of acid salt, 8 catty of bile salt, 8 catty of red salt, and 10 Tael’s of silver quickly.” The clerk did not delay and returned with the items the old man asked for which totaled 33 medium grade spirit stones.
After exiting, the old man scuffed a pile of dirt back towards the door like a dog covering s*** and left. His hatred went beyond disliking them for wasting resources. Liang thought about praising the alchemist’s ability to gather goods to aggravate him, but decided for now to leave the touchy subject alone. Instead, he asked about the items they bought.
“Materials for your cores. I need poison salt, acid salt, and silver to make the array path solution. Can you believe those bastards use poison salt and acid salt on their herbs? They use poison salt to kill pests and acid salts to help the herbs grow.”
“Your body will need help removing the excess impurities at first after the fusion so you’ll need bile salts. You’ll also lose a lot of blood so we’ll need red salt and the remaining poison salt will help kill anything on the core that can make you sick. Alright boy I need to get back to the inn so I can work on these solutions and the cores.”
Once they were inside of their room, the old man removed a large wooden bowl and several clear jars from his ring. He mixed silver with acid salts and poison salts then channeled qi into the bowl causing the salts and silver to mix and become a silver fluid like the one he had seen before.
Doing this for the remaining salts the old man had silver, red, green, and purple liquids that he poured into separate jars. Just as he had done previously the old man carved extremely fine arrays on the cores using the thin knife.
Liang had a better understanding of the process than last time, but he did not want to bother the old man. The cores attached to his body in some way and he did not want to find out about the repercussions a mistake would bring.
Once again, the old man focused on carving the symbols for over three days, carefully dipping the cores in the liquids before finally taking a break. He left the inn telling Liang, “This old man needs to refresh himself boy, I’ll be gone until tomorrow now hand me 50 stones.”
The old man said he had money but he wanted to use Liang’s from now on. As he was walking out the door, he saw him rub the ring on his finger. Putting it together with the words that he wanted to refresh himself, Liang could only think of one place. The old man went to a brothel.
He did not understand how an old man could have such a high libido and why he would spend so much time at such unscrupulous places. However, there was one thing he realized. He was probably tricking women with his illusions; the old man was a villain.
Waiting on the old man made Liang feel like he was a housewife looking to catch her husband cheating. To clear his mind he focused on stretching and fixing weaknesses in his coordination throughout the night. Just as he told Liang, the old man entered the room with bright eyes and a wide smile across his face the next morning.
He was rubbing his back as though he strained it but turned to Liang saying, “Whew…, alright boy, It’s going to take me at least two days to fuse those cores to your arms. I’m just going to knock you out this time, don’t want you screaming and crying the same way you did last time.”
Liang tried to ignore the fact that the old man could have put him to sleep the last time and asked, “Master, how long will it take for my body to recover?” He was afraid of repeating the same scenario where he was unable to walk for a few days.
“Don’t worry about that. Six days at most you won’t be able to move your arms very much. The competition is in 10 days. Two days to operate, six days to heal, two days to practice and get used to your new cores. Plenty of time boy plenty of time.”
It was, as Liang feared. Once again, he would be unable to move his body properly and have to rely on the old man. This time however, it would be his arms that were immobile not his lower body; also, his recovery time would be almost double. The next 8 days he would be completely at the mercy of the old man.
Liang ate a small pellet and the old man tied him to the bed frame. The arrays he would be carving on his bones were intricate and he could not allow Liang to move too much. The last thought that ran through Liang’s mind was he hoped there would be no embarrassing moments like last time.
***
Fairy Xu was not a martial cultivator, however, she knew several movement techniques and had a large assortment of pills that helped mask her aura. Although there were formations and guards protecting the sect, the formations were designed to prevent unwanted entrants; they did not prevent someone from leaving, allowing her to escape the sect at night undetected.
In the morning, when the sect was unable to find her, they sent a group led by three elders to search. However, after she exited, she removed any items they may have used to track her. She took several pills to hide her cultivation and wore a black robe that contained simple concealment arrays.
When the search party reached the road, they split with two elders and the majority of disciples traveling towards Tian City and the rest heading north. Tian City was the closest settlement and they agreed she would most likely head there due to her familiarity with the area. However, they were unable to find any trace in either direction. To her, this was the power of alchemy and the arrogance of mediocre old men.
Unimpeded she would be able to travel to Xiamen City within 5 days, however, they would most likely setup checkpoints along the way. She estimated avoiding these checkpoints would slow her down by two days, and it would be difficult, however, without help this was the only way she could think of.
Once in Xiamen City it would be hard for them to find her and if needed, she would manipulate her way into a larger clan or sect for protection. Beauty came in handy for times like this. The heavens blessed her and she would take advantage of any blessings she was given.
