Chapter 18 – A Nostalgic Visit

The next day, when Feicui Long woke up in his new home, the land officer assigned to this area of the city arrived, just as the commander had said. He brought the deed, which stated a price of 25 silver coins. Feicui Long almost widened his eyes, he was practically being given such a large area for nothing. Without hesitation, Feicui Long handed over the money and filled out the deed. The officer smiled and nodded, thanking him for his work as an alchemist.

With this, he could build his house, but that would take time. He had promised to create Hilda's medicine and needed to prepare it today to help her with the poison. The medicine he had in mind, while it had the potential to cure her, was not an ordinary medicine, it needed to be controlled by the alchemist, unlike common medicine. This was the only recipe he knew that could help her, so his goal with this was only to eliminate her symptoms and keep Hilda's poison under control. That way, she could live a normal life until Feicui Long had enough power to completely eradicate the poison.

The process, as always, required ingredient preparation. This medicine was called Spiritual Frozen Tide. Originally, it was a third-grade Spiritual Palace-quality pill, but he was creating a lower version, something entirely possible if one knew the superior version. This modified recipe included three energy crystals of the ice element, one of the water element, a very rare fruit he had acquired at a very cheap price called the Millennial Snow Fruit, three ice flowers, a frozen heart from an ice elemental, and lemon grass, a very simple supporting herb that helps accentuate the medicine.

Feicui Long carefully carried out each step. Each ingredient had to be mixed to form a solution, and with each step, he had to take an energy recovery pill. When he finally reached the final step, he added the frozen heart and carefully poured water. Now, he only had to mix it for half an hour before beginning to inject the inscriptions.

...

Half an hour later, Feicui Long began casting all kinds of inscriptions with his hands. In this case, he mainly focused on seals, as he needed to keep the energy contained within the potion. Finally, the last one, a Frozen sigil, was the final addition. Feicui Long hurried and grabbed the Frozen Pearl Bottle. This small bottle had cost him 1 gold coin, but it was necessary to store the medicine without losing its effect or breaking the container.

With that, he carefully sealed it and informed the twins to accompany him. He planned to let them play with Olivia. Although the twins were, to say the least, quite curious, Melina and Callista were still children after all. He didn't think they would get along badly with Olivia.

So, he took the medicine and left with both girls for Hilda's Bar and Restaurant. It hadn't opened yet because they had already been informed that he would be coming today, so he had to knock on the door.

Knock Knock

Hurried footsteps were heard, and soon the door opened. It was Olivia, excited. When she looked behind Feicui Long and saw two girls, almost identical in every way, with pale white skin but different hair colors, she was surprised. One had entirely silver hair with some black strands, while the other had jet-black hair with silver streaks. Their eyes were also different, one had a silver right eye and an olive-green left eye, while the other had an olive-green right eye and a silver left eye. Both were very beautiful but were clearly malnourished, given their thin bodies. However, they were well-dressed, wearing new clothes.

Olivia, both confused and curious, wondered who they were, but that could wait. So, she said to Feicui Long, "You're here, Feicui Long, we were waiting for you. Mom is already prepared, so please come in."

Feicui Long looked at her, slightly amused. This girl had never spoken to him so formally, he had never even heard a "thank you" or "please" from her. But now that he was accompanied, she was acting more polite. Choosing to ignore it, he simply said, "Alright, Olivia, I'll go see your mother. Can you please entertain Melina and Callista in the meantime? They're new around here, so they're not very good at communicating or dealing with strangers, so be patient with them."

Olivia simply nodded and took them with her to the living room, while Feicui Long went deeper into the house until he reached Hilda's room. She was facing away, without any clothes. Although normally this might have awakened the desires of this life's self that were buried within, right now he couldn't feel anything as he needed to stay focused.

He carefully prepared everything and placed the tools he would need to one side. On the other side, he placed the potion and several, several recovery pills. This would take a few hours to complete. He sat cross-legged and took a brush, which he then dipped into a mixture of beast blood, medicinal plant extract, and energy stones, and began drawing a formation on Hilda's back.

When everything was finally done, he took a set of platinum gold needles, seven in total, and placed them at the edges of the formation, within the clear circles he had left for them. After that, he partially activated the formation, causing the needles to fall on their own. Feicui Long quickly opened the bottle and, using his psionic powers, guided the contents into the small openings. He carefully and slowly directed the liquid inside Hilda's body. Although it might seem simple, in reality Feicui Long's back and body were drenched in sweat. This was draining all of his mental energy and internal energy at an astonishing rate.

From the doorway, several eyes were fixed on them. Olivia, unable to bear not knowing what was happening to her mother, watched intently, as did her younger sisters. Meanwhile, Melisandre and Callista remained focused on reading a book Olivia had lent them.

Feicui Long hadn't noticed, as all his attention was on directing the potion to where it needed to go. When he finally located it, he could feel the burning poison scorching even psionic energy. Feicui Long snorted. He wasn't about to let a mere pseudo sentient fire, a remnant of a dead beast, defeat him. He then placed his hand at the center of the formation, which responded by rapidly absorbing the energy from the surroundings.

Feicui Long began to envelop the poison with the potion. The poison attempted to escape thanks to its nature close to spirituality, but it was too slow and the freezing energy accumulated from the Millennial Snow Fruit was far too tyrannical. It managed to suppress and enclose the poison. However, the poison, with its pseudo spiritual nature, wasn't going to surrender so easily. This was precisely why the formation was there.

Once he was certain it was completely sealed, he finally withdrew his hand. Then, forming a symbol with two fingers on both hands, one hand pointing upward and the two fingers of the other positioned vertically in front, he shouted, "Activate!"

Following a brilliant light from the formation, which seemed to be like chains, enveloped the potion, compressing it while it hardened with force and implanted the same inscriptions from the formation onto the newly formed hard surface. With this, the compression of the now hardened envelope accelerated rapidly, gradually reducing its size until it changed from the size of a fist to a small crystal pearl, which shone and disappeared from Hilda's physical body.

With this, Feicui Long wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to her, "Congratulations, Miss Hilda, with this, you will no longer be at risk of dying and your life will be extended. Additionally, all the other symptoms will no longer affect you, although it's possible that a little bit of painful sensation may remain due to the fire still fighting within your personal space."

Hilda, who had personally felt everything, nodded her head in a polite manner, but internally, she was very happy. Although she didn't understand why the sealed pearl had been sent from her body to her personal space, she was now truly happy to be able to see her daughters grow and no longer fear that the poison would consume her at any moment.

Hilda's twin daughters, who were around 7 years old at the time, ran out happily to hug their mother upon hearing Feicui Long's words. When they arrived, they jumped onto her, and Hilda, surprised, turned slightly, forgetting that she was naked from the waist up, accidentally showing her beautiful white breasts to Feicui Long.

Although he caught a glimpse of them, he turned around out of politeness to avoid looking, which made Hilda realize what had happened, and she quickly put on her bra and shirt.

Then Hilda looked at him and touched his back, and Feicui Long turned around only to receive a kiss on the cheek and see Hilda say to him, "Thank you very much, Feicui Long, I really appreciate it."

Feicui Long shook his head. "It's not necessary, I've already been paid. Besides, I haven't cured you, I've only sealed and suppressed the poison. Unfortunately, I also wasn't able to add an effect to restore the vitality and years of life lost to the medicine."

Hilda felt a little disappointed, but at least she was no longer in danger of further decline.

Feicui Long continued speaking and said, "However, the formation I imposed to seal the poison will slowly help restore it. But with my power and the materials I had, it will only be able to recover 75%. The formation essentially absorbs the strength that the poison took from you and part of the remaining power of the poison itself. So as an added benefit, you will also recover some of your cultivation, and your flame powers will increase."

Hilda went from feeling slightly disappointed to being impressed. Even if it had only been 25%, she would have been happy, let alone 75%. So she said once again, "Thank you very much again, Feicui Long. You don't have to be so modest. You've done too much for me with this. Besides, you used a great master formation, didn't you? I don't know much about inscriptions, but for it to have so many complex functions, perhaps only a master formation could achieve it."

Feicui Long only nodded in affirmation. He didn't want her to feel even more grateful, as in reality, it wasn't just one master formation but three. One was to suppress the poison and was the one that injected energy chains, another was a master formation that allowed another stored master formation to be imprinted, and the last one was for sealing and absorption.

Feicui Long simply added, "By the way, soon I will prepare some medicines to further help restore your vitality and make it easier for you to recover the portion of your cultivation that was lost. It will also help with the pain, since, having been sealed in your internal space, it may cause some minor discomfort."

Hilda said, "It's not necessary, you've already done too much. A little pain is nothing compared to what I've been feeling until now, although I'm curious why you decided to send it to the internal space."

Feicui Long replied, "Consider it payment for taking care of Melisandre and Callista, since I plan to leave them here while I go do something. As for your question, it's because this way, you won't feel the cold, nor will it cause you harm."

Feicui Long had already planned to seal it in the internal space. This space was a unique place that connected the four essential parts of a living or non-living being, the mental realm or mind, the spirit, the soul, and the body with cultivation and the three dantian. So it was truly a unique and safe place that wouldn't cause as much discomfort.

Hilda, who knew nothing about these girls, asked doubtfully, "Who are these girls you're talking about?"

Feicui Long said, "They are my nieces. I'm taking care of them because their father is no longer with us, and their mother is unknown. I brought them with me because I had nowhere to leave them."

Hilda then nodded. She was already taking care of two girls and a teenager, so taking care of two more wouldn't make a difference.

Meanwhile, Feicui Long felt relieved. He wouldn't have trouble leaving them once he had his own house and the formation was a bit stronger, but at this moment, he was worried about leaving two 12-year-old girls alone in a tent with a fragile formation.

…

Then, Feicui Long took a bath for the first time at Hilda's house. This time, the bath wasn't as elegant as Reiko's, but it was enough for its purpose. After bathing, he changed clothes and left to meet Reiko in the city center and go with her to the temple of the emerald dragon god of space and time.

When he arrived, Reiko was there, dressed in an elegant pink kimono with embroidered flowers of various colors. At her side was Amanitore, wearing elegant armor, very different from the one he had seen her in before.

Feicui Long then realized that maybe he should have dressed up more, but he never thought that going to his temple would require fancy attire or be an event that demanded elegance.

Reiko saw him and ran to hug him, creating a striking scene of a beautiful goblin woman embracing a handsome human man in the middle of the central plaza. She wanted to say something but remembered the large crowd around her and held back. Meanwhile, Amanitore simply nodded at him as a greeting.

Soon, the three of them headed toward the temple, walking through the intricate streets, making their way southwest. Curiously, the temple of the emerald dragon god of space and time in this city was located right next to the church of the Supreme Goddess of Life.

On the way, they saw several believers coming and going. Most of them belonged to the Supreme Goddess of Life, Feicui Long could tell because they wore her distinctive symbol: a crystalline heart made of an energetic crystal imbued with life energy, which was cut into extremely thin layers and mixed with glass, quartz, or other crystals to form a heart called the Heart of Life.

He had to admit that his sister had always been very cheesy about these things, but even so, he still didn't understand why his temple was right next to the church of his sister, Heidi Rosenberg. She was one of the four Supreme Gods closest to him, along with Yun Hua, Catherine and the god of beasts, Fernando Velázquez. But in the end, despite all that, Yun Hua, Catherine and Heidi betrayed all of Feicui Long's beliefs, breaking the balance of the universe and dragging it into war once again, forgetting all his teachings and the wishes of their master, and ultimately joining forces to kill their other siblings, including him.

That is to say, he died fighting against them. It made no sense for his temple to have been built next to one of his enemies, but that no longer mattered, at least not at this moment.

…

When they finally arrived, they realized that it stood on a small hill, with modestly carved marble stairs and little else. Unlike the church on the hill beside it, which had enormous stairways adorned with gold, energetic marble and grand inscriptions, these stairs were made purely of marble with simple yet meaningful carvings.

As they climbed, they clearly noticed that they were the only ones heading up to this temple, a scene that once again contrasted with the church next to it, which looked like a bustling commercial plaza with people coming and going. Reiko and Feicui Long walked together, holding hands at Reiko's request, until they finally reached the top of the stairs.

At last, they could clearly see the temple. It was a small, very modest temple, yet it exuded great elegance and an imposing presence, particularly due to the four statues, two beside the door and two at the temple's corners, as well as the door itself.

The statues depicted four dragons, two Western and two Eastern. They were clearly made of emerald-green marble, a rare and costly material. Even from the bottom of the stairs, the incredible level of detail was evident, even the scales were carved to perfection with an impeccable texture. Their four golden horns rose like peaks toward the sky, along with three gems on their foreheads, an amethyst on the right, a topaz on the left and an emerald in the center. Additionally, the lower scales were made of gold, while their claws and fangs displayed incredible craftsmanship.

This applied to both the Western and Eastern dragon statues. The main difference between them, aside from their forms, was that the ones guarding the entrance were the Western dragons, standing tall with their chests puffed out, looking ready for battle. Meanwhile, the Eastern dragons stood at the corners, appearing as though they were about to take flight, coiling like a powerful tornado. Another shared detail between both sets of statues was the inscriptions, there were numerous engravings that made them look even more lifelike.

But the most mysterious and mystical detail was those eyes. Each statue had a pair of eyes that were vertically divided, one half emerald-colored and the other amethyst-colored, with a black dragon's pupil acting as a rift separating the two halves. From the center of this pupil, golden clock hands extended, moving as one. Around the circular edges, several golden symbols could be seen, which could easily be deduced as numbers. Each statue had this same pair of eyes.

Feicui Long nodded internally, satisfied. They had respected his eyes. He had thought that perhaps his believers would forget the eyes of the emerald gold dragon of space and time.

Reiko was in awe of such beautiful artistry, yet still doubtful, she asked, "It's beautiful, magnificent and imposing, but wasn't he supposed to be an emerald dragon? Why do his lower scales have a golden color?"

Feicui Long replied, "That is because, although he is known as the emerald dragon god of space and time, in reality, his species is the emerald gold dragon of space and time. It is a subspecies of the emerald dragon of space and time."

Reiko then understood the appearance and said, "Well, let's go. What are we waiting for?"

As they approached the door, Reiko let out a small gasp of surprise upon seeing it. The door depicted two dragons, one Eastern and one Western, bearing the same details as the statues, but it contained countless inscriptions and was made of an extremely strong alloy of energetic metals, emanating a great amount of power. But what surprised her the most was what lay at the center, a pure crystal core of dragon energy. She couldn't identify its quality, which meant it was almost certainly at least at the spiritual palace level. At its very center, it contained a single rune, the same rune that Feicui Long had inscribed on the paper inside the bottle of green dragon blood he carried with him.

Feicui Long laughed internally at how innocent Reiko seemed. It was almost like watching a child see something exciting for the first time. Still, he liked that innocent and pure maidenly side of Reiko, but at the same time, he thought he should teach her more about the real world. He worried that something might happen to her because of this unchecked innocence.

Feicui Long then placed his hand to open the door, when suddenly, his mind was transported elsewhere. It was a vast hall with a great throne upon which sat a tall man, an incredibly handsome figure with imposing and bold features, a body that radiated power and emerald green hair. The figure had his eyes closed, resting his head on one hand. Before him stood a figure clad entirely in armor, from head to toe.

It was a fleeting moment, but the figure smiled slightly for an instant, just enough to reveal ivory white teeth, with an amused expression. Then, the figure opened his eyes, an incredible sight. When you looked into them, you felt as if you could see yourself, your future, your past, and your present. You could see any place or part of this universe, perceive the flow of power, the force that sustains everything, and its very nature. It was an overwhelmingly powerful gaze. The kneeling person seemed to understand this, yet still, they raised their head and looked directly at him. This made the figure on the throne smile fully in delight. Just as he was about to speak, Feicui Long suddenly felt slightly dizzy and snapped out of the trance.

Feicui Long smiled inwardly, this was his will. His will had regained its connection, and as for the other person, he knew everything the moment the lost connection was restored.

Suddenly, the firmly shut door opened completely, revealing a person. A person clad in armor. Inscribed with intricate carvings, the armor radiated authority. On their back, they carried a shield, and at their waist, a sword, both crafted from the remains of rebellious dragons, sinners. Even though the figure was not intentionally releasing their aura, the small amount that leaked out was overwhelmingly oppressive. Reiko's expression changed, and Amanitore began to sweat coldly, nearly drenched in sweat.

Only Feicui Long remained unaffected. But not only was he unaffected, he grew stronger instead. On the contrary, when the aura touched Feicui Long, it was the armored figure who felt a slight tremor, though they couldn't tell what had caused it.

But the figure did not care. They simply continued walking as if nothing had happened, vanishing down the same steps Feicui Long and Reiko had come from.