Making More Splashes

Xia Qingyue noticed something off about her husband-to-be. He is less rigid around her and is more affectionate. Something has happened to him. She didn't see him for several days.

Well, more like he didn't leave the Xiao Clan Grounds and didn't come to his mountain cave to cultivate.

A very bitter feeling started to rise as she realised that something is going on with him. It smells like a female to her.

A woman's intuition is a powerful tool, at least that's what the maids in her household say. If this is true then she is losing ground to some maid!

This is unacceptable! She could say something…

No, she could not… the beauty is in no position to complain…

Instead, she focused on her cultivation. Her time is coming soon. Only 5 weeks are left until their marriage. Once she is his proper wife, then she can take care of all his needs. The maid can be pushed to the background.

With that in mind, Xia Qingyue stopped thinking and instead focused on absorbing this abundance of Profound Energy.

She has no idea how he is doing this. But this is something she wants to experience more often!

…

…

…

Like always, all good things have to come to an end. Xiao Long finished his training and the amount of Profound Energy around dropped significantly. 

"My dear future wife, you sure are greedy. You took all that Profound energy I gathered around me." 

Hearing this, made the beauty start panicking! She thought he did this for her!

"...I-I…"

"How are you going to pay me back?" 

"...This…Qingyue is willing to do anything you think will be enough?" She said that without even considering what it would mean. She was that panicky about this!

"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Good. Then we should do some practice."

"?"

"Practise what?" She asked him curiously as she moved her head to the side.

At that moment he smirked at her and made her turn around and face him. 

Her eyes slightly widened at this action. He then removed her veil and looked at her face.

"We will be practising kissing for a bit~"

At that moment her heartbeat increased quite a bit. A small smile curled on her lips.

"...If this is what my future husband wants~"

Sure enough, quite a long kissing session followed after.

~~~~~~Later, the Same Day~~~~~~

*Ding*

{You have created [Fire Profound Energy] art!}

Flames roared to life as I tried to use a new method of fire creation.

Originally I would use my regular Profound Energy to transform it into flames. 

However, this time around I use my Profound Energy, which morphs into Fire Profound Energy which then morphs into alchemy flames or my orange flames.

One extra step, but it was quite a game-changer. As it was like switching from wet wood to extremely dry wood. It's no longer just flames but those are bonafide blazes. Like I am wielding a flamethrower instead of a lighter.

The issue with this is that I need to return to working on the basics.

The flames are too wild and dangerous.

Thankfully it's not a long-term issue or anything like that. It's more like getting used to it.

Sure enough by midday the next day I was back in making pills. 

After a few burns, I was able to recreate my sensitivity pill which looked smokey. It was emitting a thick medical grass-like smell.

It was a base one, not the upgraded pill. 

Once I saw that it works I went to the upgraded version, then I retried with the vitality root. All of them were slightly better. Or one could say of higher quality. 

Finally, it was time to try the desert flower. 

Unlike before I was able to melt it into liquid essence form but the issue was the bonding process.

I knew it….the absorption quality of the flower was a pain in the ass to deal with.

'No wonder this flower is this cheap even when it has abilities to absorb Profound energies.' I thought about this with a frown before returning to the 'drawing board'.

After thinking aimlessly for a while I decided to just practise my [Fire Profound Energy] art.

[Fire Profound Energy] (2/10) {5.72%}

[Energy Art]

[Fire Profound Energy is known for its ability to produce heat, while not pure Yang attribute it's still effective against Yin-based elements.]

'Nothing fancy as the Purifying Fire. Which didn't become stronger as it had a different power source. Though I should try combining them both…'

Thinking on this for more I started to call the flames, sending arcs of fire that picked up the materials needed for another try.

I swiftly melted all the raw ingredients and started to rotate them, then weave them with fire. 

For this, I focused to the max and tried to sense if there was any fusion.

Eventually…nothing happened.

The ingredients just burned up.

This pissed me off further but I didn't give up. Instead, I just proceeded to try different ways. 

Not bonding them at once but fusing flower essence first with the catalyst which boosts the absorption then proceeding to make the augmented essence absorb the root vitality. 

After the absorption happened nothing much has changed. So, I swiftly added some more vitality essence into the absorption essence. 

A few absorptions later the flower essence lost its aggressive qualities which finally allowed me to mould it into a pill. 

"..."

Eventually, a steamy dark orange pill landed in my hand. 

"... That's some vitality…"

I could feel the sheer vitality radiating from it. At that moment I ignited purifying fire which made the pill slowly get a lighter colour.

The radiation of vitality only increased when I was done.

Without much hassle, I tested out the pill.

The first thing I noticed was that the energy didn't enter my veins instead It started to bond with my body and blood. I could feel an increase in strength. Like my muscles got more tense and ready for action?

'Did I just find a way to improve my physique?'

It feels like my body has absorbed all that vitality permanently…

I waited for a bit and did a few exercises, I could feel the raw power coming from the muscles. To practise some more I went outside the Clan grounds and into the wilderness. 

To test this out I punched several trees. My hand would go through them like an extra sharp saw. There was no Profound Energy involved in this. Just pure body strength.

It was an impressive sight to behold.

After doing this simple test I returned to the clan and proceeded to make some more of these pills.

*Ding*

{[Focus] Art Mastered}

"...Nice, I didn't pay much attention to this." 

I said to myself, I even forgot that I was close to capping the art.

After dismissing the notification I went back to making the pills. 

While it took longer than usual, I was done with two more of these pills. 

I swallowed another one and felt an increase in physical strength. I am sure that not just my strength increased but my durability and life force in general.

However, the increase this time was significantly less. 

'I guess my body adjusts to the increase of vitality. Eventually, it should stop being useful at all.'

Thinking about this new pill, it should be even better than the original Vitality pill I made. In other words, all the Xiao Clan members will be much stronger and would pass through [Elementary Profound] even faster.

But, if I am right then the regular vitality pills will not work if they consume several of these upgraded ones. 

After waiting for a few minutes, I took another one of these pills.

Once again my vitality went up by some degree but it was negligible by this point.

'I guess three are enough.' 

Realising the limits I made 3 more pills and went back to my pavilion.

By that point, it was almost completely dark 

Regardless, the day was a complete success!

~~~~~~Xiao Lingxi~~~~~~ 

Her Young Master is constantly moving forward. While his Cultivation isn't increasing rapidly his pill creation does.

Just recently he upgraded his Profound Energy Sensitivity pill which made her cultivate even faster, then one evening he returned with an improved vitality pill. 

The pill was incredible, he handed over three of those to her. She could feel how her strength went up considerably without even increasing her cultivation. She knew that she was stronger but she didn't rush to face Xiao Yulong.

No, she will deal with him later…

This was because Xiao Lingxi is feeling that she doesn't quite care about the bastard that much anymore. Sure, she wants to deal with him, but there is no rush.

Instead, she wants to be with her Young Master as much as she can before he marries that woman.

Yes, The black-haired maid is getting attached to her Young Master, more and more each day. Maybe because he is so good in a multitude of senses. Especially the nighttime activities they are doing. 

She is enjoying every moment of it. So, she was quite baffled when she noticed that her cultivation reached [Second of Nascent Profound] and just a few days later when her cultivation settled down she was approaching [Third of Nascent Profound] already.

When her Young Master learned that she was close to her breakthrough he took her to the mountainside and bombarded her surroundings with a high concentration of Profound Energy. She has no idea how he did that. 

Regardless, after cultivating for three hours, she experienced a breakthrough to [Third of Nascent Profound].

"With your improved physique, you should be stronger Xiao Yulong by this point."

"...Didn't he reach [Third of Nascent Profound] recently?" 

Xiao Lingxi asked him as she was continuing to cultivate further as the situation was quite good, she doesn't know when he will stop giving her such a great amount of Profound Energy.

"He did, he was about to challenge me again. But I showed him that I was a single small realm higher than him."

The maid giggled when she heard that.

"He panicked didn't he?"

"Oh yes, by this point he is 21 but he is still quite weak. I have heard from Grandfather that some of the kids in [Elementary Profound] found ways to increase their cultivation faster than just aimlessly smacking air."

The girl snorted upon hearing that. Now that those idiotic elders are gone, other deacons who work hard take over the so-called favourites of previous elders.

The restructuring is happening and it's improving the clan's performance as a whole.

It won't take long for people to realise that Xiao Yulong is garbage talent-wise. Or more precisely wasted talent.

'I might not need to do anything, his life is getting ruined anyway.' The girl thought to herself as she understood the longer this is happening the worse it's going to be for Xiao Yulong.

"...Good to hear. What should we do now, Young Master?" Xiao Lingxi asked him with a curious look.

"I suppose we can finish this here and get back to the clan." 

She slowly nodded and stopped with her cultivation she can sense that the density of Profound Energy has dropped significantly.

After stopping with their cultivation the pair proceeded to return to the clan grounds. Everyone would look at Xiao Lingxi with jealousy. Especially the females. They all can sense her cultivation which increased once again.

The girl was not even sixteen but she was already [Third of Nascent Profound] such speed of her cultivation is absurd. Though they all say that this is because of the Young Master of the clan. The girl is lucky to be his maid, and they are right. Xiao Lingxi fully agrees with them.

Once she was back in her Young Master's pavilion she proceeded to start making food for him while Xiao Long went to do his thing. 

After a few hours later he returned and she sensed a powerful presence appear in their courtyard. 

When she went to check who it was it was another elder from Black Moon Guild who was picking up crates of some sort from her Master. 

'Is he selling more of those pills? I wonder what will be the reaction from those elders. Those pills are miracles.' 

And the girl was right!

~~~ 

The pills swiftly arrived at New Moon Guild where they were spread out through the whole Blue Wind Empire. 

Or should have been as the Alchemists of New Moon City Guild found out about the capacities of the pills.

Instead of just starting selling them the pills ended up being transported to the Imperial Capital where more experienced Alchemists inspected them.

With the knowledge of the general description of the pills from the boy alchemist and doing some tests of their own

They made contact with their HQ in the Divine Phoenix Empire. The pills eventually ended up in the HQ where the Black Moon Guild higher-ups inspected the pills.

"Already improved formula, so quick! The boy is truly astounding!" One of the elders said with awe as he just consumed one of the pills and tried to cultivate.

"Indeed. The previous one only lasted for a single minute at [Sovereign Profound] and five at [Tyrant Profound]. This one increased its duration up to ten times!" Another elder gushed silly with excitement. All of them are happy with the prospect of getting richer and more power as this will allow them to cultivate further.

Though the one who was quiet the whole time was Zi Ji, the head of the guild. The old man dressed in purple was stroking his beard and thinking about how to gain the most out of this batch his guild gained from the alchemist.

This time the bulk will go to the Supreme Ocean Palace, however, the rest they will need to sell as they need to pay to their provider.

Regardless, he is excited that the boy is progressing at neck-breaking speed. His other Vitality pill is incredible as well. It saves up to 8 to 10 months at the most important time in one's cultivation.

Zi Ji's initial idea is to sell these pills to the Divine Phoenix Empire. They will pay the most money and most likely they will get a loyal customer as the Divine Phoenix Empire is facing times of decline.

"First we need to discuss our provider. The boy is an even greater talent than I thought." 

"What is the suggestion?"

"I don't think an Overlord is enough as a bodyguard for the boy. One of the Monarchs will have to go. It is only a matter of time before the other three Sacred Grounds discover his existence. Especially once these pills appear on the market."

The elders sagely nodded. Though they all are excited with the prospect of guarding the boy!

"Second, it would be for the best if these pills were to be sold in the Divine Phoenix Empire. The markets here will pay more than in the Blue Wind Empire."

"...But… isn't the boy from the Blue Wind Empire?"

"Yes. We can earn the bulk of money if we make the pills auction only in the boy's empire."

Everyone nodded at that. This sounds like the best course for profits.

"Very well then it's decided?" 

No one disagreed with what Zi Ji proposed. They are more interested in who will be guarding him. A Monarch is after all a thousand-year-old cultivator; they have only several of those, and they are excited to meet the boy when the time is right.

~~~ 

Without even knowing, Xiao Long became one of the most known and mysterious individuals in the Profound Sky Continent.

His pills took the Divine Phoenix Empire by storm. The Imperial Family swiftly started to throw around their impressive wealth to buy the biggest amount they could.

They bought both sets of pills as the Vitality Pills are miracle pills for the young generation who are just starting to cultivate.

The issue with this was though that the number of pills there are in the market.

Population and cultivators are hungry for more. So spies, bribery, and other things are being used to find out who is the maker.

But, it was pointless as the seller in the end is Black Moon Guild and they are known to have the best information network.

The same was in the Blue Wind Empire. The news that the upgraded version of the sensitivity pill appeared in auction houses has spread out like wildfire. 

People were going crazy for the chance to cultivate faster. Even the exalted Frozen Cloud Fairies appeared in the Auction House. Something that never happened before.

The amount of money they were throwing around was absurd. But even so, the stock of pills disappeared extremely fast. 

People were extremely sad that they can't regularly buy these more impressive pills. Their need to find the alchemist increased significantly as well.

They want to know who this genius is who lives in their Empire.

However, none of them could demand to know as the pills came from Black Moon Guild.

In the end, none of the information was learned and everyone returned to their sects after spending millions.

~~~~~~Xiao Long~~~~~~

I looked at the old man dressed in black robes with sun markings on them. I could not say what his cultivation was but it was absurd.

He was more powerful than the last old man who delivered the ring.

"Young Man, I am the third elder of Black Moon Guild. Here is your money from the last batch you sold to us."

I took the purple card from him and checked out how much is stored inside.

When I sensed a nearly endless amount of coins… I nearly passed out.

How cheap is money in this place… The stuff I sold is just basic stuff!

"My thanks, third elder." 

"It's fine young man. I was sent to watch over you since the pills are attracting an immense amount of attention." After saying that he was gone, in the blink of an eye.

"...Fast…"