After sorting everything out around his house, Ye Ming ended up sitting under a tree and starting to practise the new arts he got from Elder Ding.
None of these techniques is impressive, dangerous, or even useful beyond their original designs.
But they do have one thing that the Alchemist found extremely interesting.
They open the door to understanding how to utilise Qi in specific ways and flows.
One of them is ’Water Compression Art’. This simple technique makes Qi flow through water and brings it together at a selected spot, which can be used to clean dirt or even create a ’jet stream’ of water.
In a way, if used properly, Ye Ming could make a Water laser... that can cut even metal.
And this is only one way to use it. Even though the original use is to manipulate blood in a cauldron, he could literally weaponise this.
The next art which he skimmed through and learned was similar to ’Water Compression Art’, but it was ’Sand Softening Art’.
Similar to the previous art, but it’s used to assist in metallurgy. From cleaning rusty metal, to removing impurities, to assisting in weapon and armour creation.
But what Ye Ming saw in this art is something else.
He placed his hand on the ground beside him and utilised the Qi circulation routine as mentioned in the manual.
This led to a pulse of Qi flowing downwards through the dirt... working like sonar.
’I can... sense things... but I do not distinguish what I sense. This will require some training.’
The Alchemist frowned as he realised that this won’t be as easy as he had thought, but then he recalled earlier sword practise with Liu Li.
Intent and meaning. Those things that could evolve this art beyond its original intention.
’I can test further uses later.’
With that in mind, he pulled out his third technique, which is called ’Sharpening and Cutting Art’—a simple technique for maintaining the edge and cutting the hide of powerful Beasts.
This is what he needed to deal with the Thunder Horn Beast’s hide.
To test this, he pulled out his training sword and sent Qi into it, following the manual.
The blade began to glow in soft white light. Now, all he needed was a stone or two to sharpen the edges.
’Hmm, or not...’
For a second, he imagined sharpening, something like black rock sliding through the edge, making it thinner. He did that a couple of times, until he added a second black rock on the other side of the blade.
Before long, a surge of Qi surrounded him, focusing on the blade; the Qi routine he used intensified.
"...Haah... it worked... interesting..."
Ye Ming commented as he looked at the milky-white training sword he held. He could tell... it was sharp.
If he could play with this more, he could develop into something more dangerous.
Eventually, Liu Li walked over and stood before him. She had a worried look on her face.
"Are these techniques even worth your time, Master Ming?" She asked with a concerned tone.
"They do what they are supposed to do and more." He smiled, finding her concerned gaze cute.
"I-I see... I am sorry... If I look noisy." She looked aside, embarrassed by her actions.
"Heh, it’s okay; it shows that you care, but do know that there is more to this than Alchemy-related..." He looked around for a bit...
His gaze went to a considerable-sized tree on a hill.
"For example, the Sand Softening Art allows me to scan the ground. If I develop it further, it could become an art that allows me to scan the ground. I could find resources, like ores or luxurious metals." He commented before standing up.
"How about this? I will play around with it, and you..." Ye Ming pulled out a pill and offered it to her.
"...This is..."
"The same pill I offered to Mengxue."
Her eyes widened as she looked at the pill.
"Go on. Take it; don’t forget to consume it close to the water stream." He explained to her. Liu Li gulped when she heard that. There was greed in her eyes.
"...Are you sure..."
"Don’t worry, it’s not a rare pill, and it doesn’t take long to make. Besides, I do enjoy taking care of my girls." He took a step closer and used his free hand to stroke her chin, making her blush from the unexpected and tender actions.
Ye Ming doesn’t mind showing his affection.
"Come here, my Liu Li~." He whispered to her as he pulled her closer and kissed her on the lips.
The girl’s blue eyes trembled as she accepted the kiss. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled herself closer.
"Mhhhnn~~"
The beautiful fallen Princess softly moaned into his mouth; she was using this kiss to channel her desire and show him how much she desperately wanted him.
The kiss escalated as Ye Ming’s tongue slipped inside her mouth, causing her blue eyes to turn glassy and full of desire.
The sloppy make-out session continued for a few minutes, but eventually they needed to end.
"Haaahh~~~" Liu Li moaned as she pulled back and looked at, desire for something more was evident in her eyes.
"W-Was it to your satisfaction, Master Ming?" She asked with a hopeful tone.
"It is~ now. Why don’t you fix your meridians and practise for a bit while I do my training." His free hand stroked her bum while he said that.
The girl slowly nodded; his actions hinted at what would happen to her later, which made her excited for what was to come.
"Yes~~~ I will be waiting." She replied hotly, not wanting to let him go.
But regardless, she had to obey and do what he requested.
So she took a step back, and Ye Ming handed her the pill. She looked at the Salad Green Pill with a white vortex in it.
"Then I will see you later, Master Ming." With that said, she disappeared to the exact same place where Jiang Mengxue used her pill.
It’s perfect for the bath afterwards, given how secluded it was.
With Liu Li gone, the Alchemist looked around. He wanted to see if his idea was good enough for Sonar to look for rare resources.
He was pretty certain something like this technique existed in major Sects around the Land. But hell, no one stopped before and didn’t try.
Not that he would be looking for a damn Gold vein or Spirit Ore vein. He wants to test it first to see if he can add meaning to it.
"Let’s see." He looked around one more time. "Nothing excessive, no need to spend a lot of time."
He ended up looking at the most notable landmark in the whole area. As he was at the edge of the Sect, there was a hill in the distance, at the outermost wall.
"To that hill with a tree and back, and then I can return to cultivation and my tests." Ye Ming whispered under his breath. He didn’t want to waste time if this didn’t work.
After walking for two or so minutes, the Alchemist crouched, placed his hand on the dirt, and tried the technique.
He imagined all sorts of metals, ores, or simply forms of Qi; he even unleashed his ’fantasy’ and imagined even stranger forms of metals.
’Is mythril or orichalcum a thing in this place?’
Regardless, he pulled back as he didn’t sense a thing and the same weird forms as before.
’Small stones?’
For a second, he pondered, but then stood up and continued forward.
After a couple more tries, he began adding a spin to his tests.
The Qi circulation is connected to intent. The initial purpose is a simple reaction to ground stone. But larger stones react as well.
’In other words, the pulse says it all.’
Ye Ming focused and sent a pulse; a small grin spread across his lips as he located every decently sized stone.
The next second, he sent more pulses.
’Oh... It even picked up small clumps of gold!’
If he can pick stones and even luxury metals, then anything else is on the table as well.
For the next couple of tries, he tried to pick anything made from Qi.
Eventually, he arrived at the hill with the tree and tried to scan it.
"Oh?"
~~~~~~Meanwhile, Back at the Inner Sect Grounds~~~~~~
Bai Lingxi was taking care of Jian Long. His face was disfigured, his nose broken, almost ground to nothing; there were massive bumps on his face and scars that formed from being smashed into sharp wooden corners.
Both rows of front teeth are gone, making him drool all the time.
"Lingxisss, I promisesss, I will get my revengessss, believe messs" Jian Long saw her eyes tremble, believing that his ’speech’ was affecting her. His breathing intensified as he was ready to build up motivation.
"Thosesss evil womensss, they will sufferrr!!!"
With that said, he moved, self-motivated; he got up and tried to straighten up, but his neck hurt a lot, and he ended up hunching his back.
"Awwwsss!!!"
"C-Careful!" Bai Lingxi moved, deep emotion radiating from her.
Jian Long was moved, believing she was so emotional because of his wounds.
And in a sense, he was right.
"Nosss, Xi’errr, I need to do somethingsss."
At that moment, he had a flashback from years ago, when his esteemed father died!
In an incredibly luxurious palace atop the mountain, an old man lay in bed, meeting his end; a man very similar to Jian Long tended to him.
A thin, almost skeletal hand touched Jian Long’s hand.
"Long’er... remember, the tree, the tree... You will find it there!" An old and very tired voice said tothe worried man, using his last breath to tell him to look for something.
After that, the old man closed his eyes and... died.
At that moment, Jian Long’s eyes widened, recalling this traumatic experience at such a critical time!
’That’s it!!! Heaven hasn’t abandoned me!’
"Thissss! I have to go!" With a burst of speed, Jian Long was gone.
After a couple of moments, Bai Lingxi began to laugh. Those slurred words and constant drool had made it hard for the girl to control herself.
"I-I shouldn’t, but when he is so serious and constantly slurring his words... oh heaven, hahahaha."
Jian Long’s sweetheart was both disgusted by what happened to him and, at the same time, realised how silly he is.
~~~
"Whoa..." Ye Ming looked at a storage ring with cloud patterns.
A quick scan, and he found a huge, massive mountain of Qi stones!
He was filthy rich now!
*Whistle*
"It appears I found someone’s money stash!" A small grin appeared on his face as he swiftly transferred the Thunder Horn Beast’s corpse into his storage ring with all of his items.
Just like that, he got himself a new massive storage ring.
"I should go ’magnet fishing’ more often." Ye Ming sagely nodded to himself. This is a perfect method to get more stuff.
Now that he had a budget, maybe he could go to the auction house and pick up some rarer herbs?
’That could be fun.’
With a hum, he began to walk home. He confirmed his method, found a stash of money, and got a new fancy storage ring. He should check if Liu Li has one.
A couple of minutes later, he was in his yard.
His gaze went to the sky, and he checked that the sun was still high above.
’I should cultivate. There is still a decent amount of daytime left, and higher cultivation will assist me in rendering that carcass.’
With that in mind, Ye Ming began to cultivate. He popped a Qi Gathering Pill into his mouth and began circulating his Qi.
His cultivation progressed quickly, and he was rushing through Stage Four toward Stage Five.
With one pill consumed, he pulled out his training sword and began to practise the Cloud Sword style.
He understood that, with meaning behind it, the technique becomes a proper Houtian Realm Technique, and such power puts enormous strain on his body.
That means that it’s perfect for cultivation.