CH-27: Honeymoon Activity

"Huaam!"

"You sleepy?" 

"Yeah, a bit. Alchemy is boring."

I was walking with Iyana to the mission hall.

"You know you won't have missions that let you out, right?"

"Whatever…"

"Actually, I was thinking that maybe you could help in mine."

"You want me to mine?"

"Nah, you just gotta do some smacking. I got the mining part covered."

I did not have enough contribution points to fully cultivate since I had to cultivate both my body and qi, and having Iyana would speed things up. I thought if I should make the pill the Instructor left as homework, to get the pills he made, but I wasn't interested. I could totally do basic alchemy, but it would be harder for me since I wasn't a Qi Condensation Expert yet. Also from my understanding, we would have to get the materials ourselves, so it was another hurdle. I would rather buy them than waste time making them. 

"Sure, I can do that."

After taking the mission from the mission board, we headed for the Myriad Ores Cave. I high-fived the official there, and we went further than the spot I were last time. 

"Just to be sure, I just have to smack the walls, is that right?"

"Yep, you just have to smack them as hard as you can." I suddenly had a bad premonition. 

SMACK!

A sequence from an Archeologist's report that was studying the history of Myriad Ores Cave:

"I had always wondered what the Myriad Ores Cave had hidden for aeons. What was the reason behind it having so many different ores? I set out to research it with permission from the Dean and walked deeper into the cave. The walls showed the generations of mining that happened there, turning into a cave system on its own. It was hard to navigate, but I finally managed to get deeper. I collected old rocks, jades and crystals from the mine and analysed them, to find if they were somehow different, if yes, how. In the second month of my research there, I went even deeper, and what I found excited me extremely. It was a human-shaped fossil, probably ¾ of my height, perfectly preserved on the wall. Some uncultured students had mined right next to it, but thankfully the fossil was intact. I believe this fossil could enlighten us about how the Myriad Ores Cave came to be, and make another if need be."

"OW!"

She hit me so hard, that I stuck to the wall for a few seconds before falling off. It even left my shape behind. 

"So embarrassing. I thought those cartoon moments were just bogus."

"Cartoon what?"

"It's nothing. So, have you calmed down now, miss I'm so angry?"

"You deserved it."

"Oh come on. I just extorted you. It is nothing between engaged partners. What you are doing is domestic violence. I could sue you for this!"

She tilted her head as if to say 'Alright, go on.' but as a man with the courage of a lion and high EQ, I immediately stopped there. It was enough getting smacked once. 

"Ahem. So you just have to hit this spot, and I will use my Pseudo Divine Sense to sense the tremors and locate the ores."

"You cheat."

BOOM!

The cave trembled with her strike, and countless cracks formed on the surface of the stone wall. I sensed where the vibrations were less than they should be, and located the ores. Handing one of the pickaxes to Iyana, I started to dig. There was an ore three metres ahead, slightly tilted down. 

"Haap!" I brought down to pickaxe. This was going to take a while.

TINK!

The sound of metal hitting came from my side. I did not expect her to actually pick it up and help, but why was she so… Ferocious?

"Are you always this violent? Didn't you have any friends?"

"It's you who's bringing it out. I'm actually pretty calm and apathetic."

'She? Calm and apathetic? Wait, maybe it's true. I haven't seen her be violent to others, except me.'

"I get the 60% of contributions. Non-negotiable."

"You know I'm the one finding the ores, right?"

"I could do it better than you if I wanted, just saving you from the embarrassment."

"Guh!"

I shut my mouth for the remainder of the mining. She was the winner this time, but I will eventually get back to her. 

At the end of the day, we handed the ores we collected to the official, but I kept a few to myself for forging practice. It was easy to get materials here, I just had to mine them out.

We returned to our respective caves for the day, or at least should have. I looked around the exchange market for furniture for my cave. Fuck asceticism and frugality, I would go insane from sitting here all the time. 

From the exchange market, I got myself a soft bed, a pair of couches, carpets, a new table and chairs, dinnerware, and so on. It seemed that I was not the only one, as there were also others looking for similar wares. The wares themselves came from the city near the Institute, so they were all high quality. I put them in my storage ring and returned to my cave.

"That's better," I sighed in relief as I wouldn't go mad at least if I had stayed here for an extended amount of time. I used the 'Clean Spell', and cleaned the cave and my newly bought furniture with it. This spell had to be the best invention of cultivators, you could even use it with blood qi! I lay down for a good night's sleep, as tomorrow would be even more boring than today. It was time for the formation lessons.

[P.O.V. CHANGE]

"Master, what the hell are you teaching me, that even a Core Formation Rank 5 Alchemist don't know about? I don't want to blow up my cover."

"Hm, you could say I went a bit overboard with what I shared with you, but wasn't it you who used it in the end?"

"Well, it all turned out good, so no problems there."

Ye Tian was talking to a ghostly figure in his cave. The woman was wearing gallant robes, with fine patterns on them. Her hair wasn't tied but was let down, reaching to her waist. With her curvaceous figure and loose robes, she looked like a seductress instead of an alchemist. She was the master Ye Tian had received the inheritance of, and she had followed him to the Institute. Her name was Ren Meiyu, and she was a Saint. She had perished as a Divine Ascension Saint, but her primordial soul had found its way into the Lower Realm and left behind an inheritance. The inheritance included many resources and the cultivation technique she developed, with also her alchemy notes. The person who inherited her legacy would only have to build a body for her primordial soul to reside in, with a perfect match. 

Ye Tian had stumbled into this Inheritance Site one year ago, and with a stroke of luck, he had learned that he had matching Spiritual Roots with the Saint Ren Meiyu, the Quintuple Heavenly Spiritual Roots. For the past year, Ye Tian had learned alchemy from her and had built his body with the materials from her inheritance. She stopped him from cultivating further, as she heard the existence of an Insitute where only those who had not reached Qi Condensation could join from the memories of others who had challenged her inheritance before.

"I did not expect to find so many Crouching Tigers and Hiding Dragons in this lower Realm. Something is not right with the world."

She deduced the truths of the world (divined) and found the reason. The world was under a threat of alien invasion. Well, she didn't care, but if it proved to be an obstacle for her disciple, she would step forward.

"That girl, with the Mellifluous melody Physique and Heavenly Yin roots, is a talent that would be sought out even in the upper realm. Keep a good relationship with her."

"Yes, master."

"Also her fiance, the Lin clan spawn. He is doing something unusual, but you will be doing it too."

"Do you mean cultivating both the body and the qi? He won't have a way to advance forward from a certain real in here then."

The Inheritance Site, after Ye Tian had inherited the legacy, had turned into an Immortal Mansion and was residing in his soul as an artefact. The mansion had a room with intact laws resonating inside, that would allow him to overpass the limit of the Body Cultivators had in the lower realm. 

"Not necessarily. The blood of the Golden Striped White Anima Tiger is thick, and he has a potent soul. Maybe he could find a way to circumvent this later on. For now, you should keep a good relationship with those two, they may be helpful to you later on."