After the final Zilan helped Fujo back to the Purple Heart, Two Flames camp. From there, the two chatted for a while before separating. They were both tired and Fujo’s injuries weren’t something that would heal overnight thus breaking off to rest wasn’t really a choice.
Before he retired though, Zilan made sure to check in with Kifo. As expected he had yet to wake up however, after seeing his now completely black core Zilan was confident that it would only be a matter of time before his eyes opened.
‘Never expected that you would beat me to the soul-compression stage.’ He thought to himself.
Taking out the Black Core pill that the Fourth Elder had gifted him, a smile instantly bloomed on his face.
‘With this I should be able to break through much more smoothly.’
Of course, a few things needed taking care of first before he could attempt his breakthrough. For example addressing his students and giving them proper guidance and then after that he would need to dive deeper into meditation so that he could attain that feeling of being close to the Origin laws of water once again. Only when all of that was sorted out would he ingest the Black Core pill which would immediately help his energy change from its Tempering state to the soul-compression state. More pure, more powerful and easier to use.
Needless to say, the Black Core pill would affect Zilan in a much more different way compared to Beasts because when all was said and done, he was simply nothing like any other Beast or Half Breed. His constitution was different, his bloodline was different, his abilities and even his cultivation method were different.
What he required to help him in the break through wasn’t the Beast force contained in the Black Core pill. No, what Zilan truly desired from the pill was the Universe energy as well as the essence of the pill itself.
After all, the pill was refined with the purpose of helping Beasts transform their energy from one level to another therefore this was its essence. The reason for its creation and its main purpose was what was commonly referred to as the pill’s essence and this essence could only be infused within the pill if the Alchemist had personally experience or had extremely detailed knowledge of the task.
Zilan, for all his knowledge had never experienced what it was like to advance to the soul-compression stage, in fact it could be said that no one in history had ever advanced to the soul compression stage using the Path of Blood cultivation method. Thus although everything made sense in theory, it was still all experimental stuff, thus to avoid accidents he would rather use tried and true methods of Beasts rather than develop something completely new which had never been tested before in history. If problems did occur, he could then adjust accordingly.
This way of thinking for Zilan was the same with how he approached void and voidless sacks. Yes he understood them, their functions, composition, components etc however, if asked to make a better version, countless failures would follow simply because Zilan’s never possessed a void within his body thus to create something from scratch without a feel for it was very difficult.
‘Time to rest. My body needs time to heal.’
In a strange turn of events, Zilan did not go to his bedroom to rest. Instead he walked into the bath chamber, undressed and jumped into the gigantic pool of water before closing his eyes to sleep. If one were to look at him now, they’d notice the muscles around his body periodically twitch and tremble. Any damage that had previously been done was swiftly being repaired. And it also came as no surprise when blueish-emeraldish scales appeared all around his body. What was somewhat shocking to behold though was his two wings softly wrap themselves around him, it looked like they weren’t in the mood to cause trouble or maybe they could tell that their master needed to rest.
Just like that, the sun set and the moon rose up taking its place. It was only when the bright yellow sun started rising from the East that Zilan woke up, his injuries from yesterday nowhere to be seen.
……………………
After waking up, Zilan dried himself, dressed and went downstairs to have breakfast.
“Oh, you’re here?” smiled Fujo.
“This is where I live. I should be asking you that question.” Replied Zilan with a smile.
The two cracked a few jokes, and engaged in small talk before Fujo suddenly asked,
“How’s brother Kifo?”
Zilan hesitated for a moment but seeing how Fujo had yet to recover from his injuries but had still found time to come here, he decided to tell him.
“Go see for yourself. Just don’t touch or move him.”
Fujo coughed a few times before slapping Zilan on the back and happily heading upstairs.
Zilan shook his head, he had important things to do today thus he unfortunately could not stay to witness Fujo’s shocked expression.
Walking out of the house, he then travelled towards one of the more private establishments that he could access the Treasure Pavilion from. On the way there he was subjected to countless harsh and angry stares however, instead of being annoyed, Zilan was instead extremely happy.
‘This never happened before, the effects of the Rookie Ranking tournament are starting to show.’
Arriving at the private establishment, Zilan did not waste any time purchasing all the things that he needed to conduct today’s Alchemy lesson.
Finalising his purchase, he headed straight to his classroom.
“Teacher, you were amazing yesterday.” Said Misty, her long ears raised to the sky.
“Mm, it was a great performance.” Added Hendrek.
Lorn on the other hand did not say much, just smiling and nodding towards Zilan.
Unexpectedly though, the ones who were most impressed by his display in the tournament were not these three but rather the Harnah sisters. Their blood red almond shaped eyes staring at him in reverence.
The two after all, came from a family of Fire Guardians thus to them strength was paramount. The only reason they had come here to study Alchemy in the first place was because their father insisted. They didn’t have that much respect for the Half Breed teacher before however, with his actions yesterday, he had won them over.
Zilan bitterly smiled,
‘Outside, others are cursing me yet you seven are praising me?’
He felt touched but since he had something serious to discuss today, he just coughed to alleviate the carefree atmosphere in the classroom. He needed them to listen carefully to the things he was going to impart to them today.
The class immediately quieted down.
“Before I begin imparting to you the necessary things you’ll need to advance in Alchemy, I first have to distribute these items.”
From his voidless sack Zilan then took out seven brand new Alchemy cauldrons, a stack of essence herbs and a spotless jade table. He also removed a set of sharp midnight black needles and a set of sharp silver needles. At the same time seven sheets of dark red paper were also taken out by him.
“A cauldron for each of you. The Black and silver needles and the jade table for Grouch. As for these seven sheets of paper…..”
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