After collecting the carcass, the group returned to the sect territory.
Their Cloud Sword Sect is situated in Cloud City, in honour of the ’Cloud Immortal’ who was Jian Xuan.
Cloud City was nothing more than a village when Jian Xuan first arrived here and found his sect on one of the mountains not far from the village.
Over the years, it grew, and thousands of years later, it became a sprawling city that goes far beyond the original mountain where the sect was formed.
In fact, Ye Ming calls this place a Metropolis, like those cities back on Earth where they fuse together because of their size.
This was not a different Cloud Village named after the ’Cloud Immortal’; it was nothing more than a means to defend themselves, as Jian Xuan didn’t really care about this village; in fact, he was making one himself, just below his mountain. This village eventually became the Inner Sect Grounds. It grew, and before long, the Outer Sect Grounds were becoming a city that sprawled around the mountain...
It kept growing, eventually becoming part of Cloud City as the village was now a megacity with a City Lord...
Now, normally, because of history, one would think that the Cloud Sword Sect wouldn’t care about Cloud City Authority, as they were named after them.
But one would be wrong, as the City Lord is appointed by the Empire of this whole province, the Mortal Empire that controls the whole province, and the other six provinces are called the Duan Dynasty.
The Duan family is a bit unique as they possess a bloodline power.
They cultivate faster and learn martial arts quicker, but most importantly, they possess talent towards runes, something like calligraphy?
’No... wait, those letters on the cauldron I have, I think Duan made them.’
Ye Ming realised that they were the only reason why the Alchemist Association hasn’t completely conquered the so-called Seven Provinces of Western Wastelands.
’If this is Wastelands, then I want to see what non-Wastelands look like.’ Ye Ming pondered as he stood alongside the group of girls who passed through the western Gate into the Sect territory.
The Cloud Sword Sect is situated on the northwestern side of the Cloud City.
To the Southwestern side, there is the Shi Clan, which has occupied a mountain of its own. To the South-Eastern side of the city is the Wei Clan, and to the North-Eastern side of the city is the Frozen Domain Sect.
The Alchemist Association is sandwiched between the Cloud Sword Sect and the Shi Clan.
It’s the newest power in the city that is barely a couple of hundred years old. They established themselves quickly and rose to power rapidly thanks to investments from outside the city by the Duan Region, the most prosperous region in the Seven Regions under Duan Dynasty Control.
In other words, this faction was close to Cloud Sword Sect, literal neighbours.
But at the moment, as Ye Ming recalled his visits to the city, he was a bit conflicted; he had seen girls from all three other factions.
’In fact...’
His eyes went to the well-developed beauty part of Jiang Mengxue’s group. She looked like she was from the Shi clan; those girls are well-developed, with great genes.
’Haah... how am I supposed to be a cultivator and kill people when the girls are so pretty?’
Ye Ming wasn’t some bloodthirsty guy; all he ever wanted to do was tinker away and enjoy the company of beautiful girls. Back in his previous life, he was an engineer and played a bit with software, but nothing like making weapons from the corpses of tank-sized beasts.
Though he does have a general idea of what he could do to make them, maybe even use the hide to make leather armour or something.
It’s not THAT complex; he does have a general idea of what to do. But having some knowledge of this world would remove any insecurities he might have about working with such products.
"This is where we go our separate ways. I still need to report to my Father, the Sect Master; we have things to discuss." Jiang Mengxue said with a bit of a disappointed look. The whole way back, she was walking extremely close to him, their shoulders practically rubbing.
"Hmm, I see..." He turned to the side and looked at her. The girl looked back at him; her black eyes were trying to ’imprint’ his face into her memory.
Seeing her like that made him a bit ’mischievous’.
"You do know... in situations like these—" Ye Ming leaned forward and whispered into her ear.
"...Just like in the mornings, one should kiss, right?" He said with a teasing tone.
Jiang Mengxue trembled not just because his voice was hot, but also because of what he said.
"...I-I see... I am a bit new to this..." She replied with a bit of a stutter as she immediately wrapped her hands around his neck. "...excuse...me..." The girl ’politely’ kissed him on the lips.
He wasn’t expecting her to be this direct. Instead, he thought she would be a bit hesitant, but in the end, she wanted this either way, so now she had an excuse to kiss him as many times as she wanted!
Ye Ming’s hands wrapped around her waist as he pulled her closer, and the kiss got a bit heated.
The girls looked jealous, and a couple of onlookers swiftly realised who these two were. It immediately made sense for the Sect Master’s daughter to pick the most worthy option. But the speed... it was impressive how quickly the Sect was reacting.
’As expected from the Jiang Family!’
After a sloppy kiss that lasted for several minutes, Ye Ming pulled away, but Jiang Mengxue didn’t want to. The Alchemist used this moment to tease her a bit more.
"You know... You can come with me~."
That offer was like a devil whispering to her!
"...N-No... maybe later... I-I-I have things to do..." The girl scrambled as she let him go and swiftly moved away.
"I-I will see you later, Master Ming!" The girl used her movement technique as soon as she was a couple of steps away; her girls followed after her, leaving only him and Liu Li, his ’helper’.
"...What should we do now, Master Ming?" The Fallen Princess asked him. With the Carcass in his Storage Ring, he had other things to do.
"Let’s go... There is a place that I want to check out." He said with a thoughtful look.
The girl nodded; she wanted to see what he would do next!
~~~
"This is..." Liu Li gawked at the gates before them. This was at the outskirts of Outer Sect territory! It was extremely remote!
"Why are we in General Hall? Isn’t this the junkyard of the Sect?" She asked him, grimacing at being in such an area!
"We are here because it’s a treasure trove; it’s where I found the cauldron and decided to become an alchemist." Ye Ming quite proudly declared that.
He walked forward, and Liu Li, behind him, moved far more slowly, watching where she put her feet.
The pair arrived at the entrance where Elder Ding was.
"Elder Ding."
"...Ye Ming. What are you doing here?" The elder replied as he opened one eye and looked at the Alchemist. He immediately noticed an Inner Sect Member behind him.
This was expected for the old man, as he had already heard that this boy was an Alchemist.
"...To check if you have anything from the alchemist set. I did find the cauldron here. I assume at some point there was an alchemist in the sect, and he had his tools."
"...Sharp as well. I can give everything I have for 50 stones, take it or leave it."
Ye Ming grinned as he realised that this old man had already prepared for him the moment Elder Ding learned that the Farmer Boy was no longer Farmer Boy.
Behind the Alchemist, the Fallen Princess looked pissed. She could tell that this old man was greedy; no wonder he was the Elder of this Hall!
So far away from everything, like he was discarded!
"Deal, here."
With a hand motion, the Alchemist placed fifty stones on the table.
The Elder hurriedly collected them before standing up and motioning for them to follow him.
"Follow me, Ye Ming."
The pair walked deeper, making Liu Li sigh as she slowly followed, watching her steps; who knew what could be in the ground. She was well aware of what a discarded talisman could do, or a broken Formation flag!
Explode in her face! And these two... lunatics... behaving like children in a sweet store!
Eventually, they arrived at the main building and got inside.
’Ugh... the smell too!’
Liu Li frowned as she needed to cover her nose.
Eventually, the old man opened the doors, and inside, Ye Ming saw some items that made him grin.
"I knew it. There was an entire set."
"Alchemists are a higher form of profession if you haven’t noticed yet. They are weaponsmiths, armourers, potioneers, formation masters, and much more.
The difference between regular practitioners and Alchemists lies in their greater spiritual perception. You already noticed that after you use your cauldron, yes?
That’s the key difference." He said with a knowing look.
"...And why would a regular weaponsmith not focus on weapons if he has spiritual perception?"
"...That’s because it’s an extremely rare gift. Why do you think the Imperial Duan family is our rulers, or the Alchemist Association is dominating these Wastelands?
If you have that gift, you work on everything, because it’s easy, isn’t it?"
The moment the elder mentioned that, Ye Ming recalled how effortlessly he could make those pills. Rank 1 almost instantaneous and Rank 2 pills... he could do after the second try.
"...That is true...so normal practitioners don’t have this perception?"
"They do, but like everything in life, there are Realms to this."
’I suppose this is where the merger of our souls comes into play.’
"He is right... even where I come from, Alchemists are very rare, and even then, there are realms to them. Some are good at pills or formations. It’s very rare to see someone who is good in all of the fields." Liu Li said while covering her nose.
Ye Ming slowly nodded, but then he rolled his eyes, seeing her covering herself like that as if mould smelled like dung.
"Indeed, take these, and I will give you whatever arts I have related to these. Don’t kill yourself, Ye Ming; the Cloud Sword Sect only had 5 alchemists in its 10 thousand years of History."
"...That’s not many..." Ye Ming commented before walking in and collecting what appeared to be an anvil, a table, a rack, and several tools.
Once he had collected everything, his new storage ring was practically crying from being full!
’Thankfully, I think, one of those tools looked like a knife. I can check it out later; maybe it’s for Beast rendering?’
After collecting items from the storage area, Elder Ding took them to a separate building, which was the Martial Arts vault, but the arts stored there were... ugh...
Regardless, Ye Ming liked this kind of stuff. It reminded him of his old life, where his uncle had a scrapyard...
"Take this..."
The old man threw a thin book over his shoulder at the Alchemist.
"...Water... compression... art? Is this for water spraying?" For a second, Ye Ming imagined a water gun.
"No, this will allow you to manipulate water in a cauldron. At some point, you will need to work with the blood of a beast, no?"
"...Oh..."
"Yes, now for the next one." Elder Ding got another book.
Once again, he threw a thin book over his shoulder at Ye Ming.
The Alchemist caught it and inspected the title and contents.
"...Sand...softening?"
"Indeed, you will need that for metalwork." Elder Ding nodded without looking at him as he looked at other books.
"Ah, yes, Assembly tools; it could be helpful. This is part of the runic art." Once more, a book flew Ye Ming’s way.
’Oh...this could be good.’ Ye Ming’s eyebrows perked up when he saw a book that was more of a guidebook on how to make tools.