"Maybe he's in his room," Logan Luo thought for a moment before answering.
Without another word, Evan Yang dashed straight toward Elder Lee's room, leaving Logan Luo behind to grumble, "You brat, how can you just ignore me like that?"
He happened to run into Chris Chu, the disciple who always followed Elder Lee. For two years, Evan had often seen him expressionless, but now Chris looked deeply troubled, a complete change. Seeing Chris like this, Evan knew something was wrong and hurriedly asked, "Brother Chu, how's Elder Lee?"
"He's inside. Go in," Chris Chu said sadly.
Following Chris's directions, Evan pushed open the door and saw Elder Lee lying in bed. When Elder Lee saw Evan, he struggled to sit up and smiled, "You're here."
"Elder Lee!" Evan rushed over to support him, afraid he might fall.
"It's fine, it's fine, I'm not dead yet," Elder Lee said with a gentle smile, signaling Evan not to worry so much.
"Elder Lee, how's your health?" Evan wasn't afraid of heavy injuries himself thanks to his Seed, but Elder Lee was clearly nothing like before, as if he'd suffered a serious wound.
"Sigh, I'm old. Can't take any more hardship," Elder Lee sighed.
"It's all my fault. If I hadn't barged in there, you wouldn't have been troubled." Suddenly overwhelmed by sadness, Evan's eyes filled with tears. At just thirteen, he'd seen so much of life's hardships, yet this man—unrelated to him—had done so much for him and his father. Thinking of this, a tear slipped down his cheek.
"Silly child, everyone gets old someday. I just used special methods to keep myself in this state—otherwise, I'd already be nothing but bones," Elder Lee comforted Evan after seeing him cry.
"Elder Lee, is there anything that can heal you? Like the pill you gave me that day?" Evan desperately wished the elder could keep living.
"You're young, but I'm already two hundred years old. If I can't break through this realm, all I can do is wait for death," Elder Lee spoke as if he'd long accepted life and death.
"Two hundred years old?" Evan, who never knew Elder Lee's age, was stunned.
"Do you want to hear a story?" Elder Lee, perhaps in a burst of 'returning light' or as if settling affairs, wanted to tell someone his tale.
"Mm." Evan was of course willing, especially since Elder Lee had always treated him kindly.
"Once, a child was taken in by a sect and made to tend medicinal herbs. Later, his master noticed him and promoted him to pill boy. Unexpectedly, the child had a talent for alchemy and soon refined many pills, becoming a famous pill prodigy in the sect. His master was happy, but his brilliance drew jealousy—especially from his senior brother, who crafted an Aging Pill, a pill that rapidly advances a person's age. The child was unaware, but one day his senior brother forced him to swallow it; he instantly became an old man." Elder Lee paused, gazing sadly out the door, lost in thought.
"Elder Lee, what happened next?" Evan suddenly felt sympathy for the child and wanted to know more.
"After the child became an old man, no one recognized him. His senior brother was also gifted in alchemy and easily fooled everyone, driving the child out. Turning from a child into an old man was already painful, but he didn't give up. Using his talent, he crafted a Youth Pill to restore himself to a middle-aged appearance, but the Aging Pill's formula—who knows who taught his senior brother—was so sinister that he could only ever recover to middle-aged. Forced to leave his sect, he joined another, where his pill-refining skills were valued and he became an elder," Elder Lee said, growing emotional and wanting to leave his bedside.
"That child was you?" Evan suddenly realized the possibility—becoming an elder of a sect, and Elder Lee's mastery of alchemy meant he must be that person.
"You're smart—yes, that's right. I've lived here for over ten years, growing herbs and refining pills for the Rising Sun Sect. But the poison of the Aging Pill has never left me. My true cultivation age is only in my twenties, but in reality, I'm already two hundred years old." As he said this, Elder Lee's bitterness was indescribable.
"That's horrible! Elder Lee, what sect was yours? Who was your senior brother?" Evan was furious—the senior brother was worse than a beast, persecuting even a child.
"Forget it, that's enough for today. I want to rest." Seeing Evan's expression, Elder Lee sighed helplessly, lay down and closed his eyes. Standing by, Evan could faintly see tears at the corners of his eyes.
Not wanting to disturb Elder Lee, Evan had no choice but to leave the room. He felt awful, useless, and ran straight to the cliff's edge, shouting, "Ah!"
Finally, he slumped down at the edge, looking up at the sky and shouting, "I have to get stronger—stronger!"
In the days that followed, Evan trained even harder than before. Besides helping Elder Lee plant herbs for Logan Luo, he poured his heart into cultivation, occasionally stopping by to chat with Elder Lee.
"Whew, I've reached the fourth layer of Qi-Refining, and luckily my blood is still contained by the Seed!" After a month, Evan finally reached the fourth layer. Strangely, ever since he swallowed the three pills from the mysterious woman, the Seed had evolved, letting him break through easily without his blood acting up.
Seeing the changes in his body, Evan felt deeply grateful to the mysterious woman. Without her pills, he might still be stuck at the third layer, not knowing how to find herbs for the Seed to absorb.
Thinking of this, Evan couldn't help but recall the flower mark on the woman's shoulder. She'd never told him her name, but he'd never forget her. If they ever met again, he would definitely thank her properly.
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"I've actually reached the fourth layer. Time to push forward and check out the fourth to eighth layers of the Shao Yang Scripture from Joel Qiao." Evan took out the eight wooden slips he'd gotten from Joel; five of them were ones he didn't have, just what he needed to climb step by step.
Looking at the five wooden slips in his hand, Evan was ready to train like mad. He needed strength, he needed power, and didn't want to delay any longer. So, in the days that followed, he focused entirely on cultivating the fourth to eighth layers of the Shao Yang Scripture.
Joel Qiao would never know that the Shao Yang Scripture he'd schemed so hard to get ended up perfecting the very person he wanted to kill. If he knew, he'd probably jump out of that monster's body in rage.
Snow was falling thickly, blanketing the mountains inside and out. But on a cliff near the Rising Sun Sect, a shirtless youth sat cross-legged in meditation. When snowflakes landed on him, they sizzled and turned to mist, drifting into the air.
"Whew, I've finally reached the ninth layer of Qi-Refining and the eighth realm of the Shao Yang Scripture." After a while, the youth opened his eyes. It was none other than Evan, who had grown into a tall, adult-sized teenager—now fifteen years old.
With a loud shout, Evan jumped up. As more snowflakes landed on him and melted, he laughed, "Two years—it's taken me two whole years to reach the eighth realm. That's way too long."
If anyone heard Evan's complaint here, they'd probably rush over to beat and curse him. Even geniuses take years to reach Foundation Establishment, but he had blasted through to the ninth layer of Qi-Refining in just two years, like a hot knife through butter.
Besides that, in these two years, Evan had mastered Sparkfire to an incredible level. If two years ago he was just a beginner, now he could wield Sparkfire however he wanted.
Walking through the snow, Evan thought about the changes over the past two years and sighed, "Time to find Elder Lee and talk to him about some things."
Elder Lee looked much older these past two years, now white-haired and frail, as if he could die at any moment. When he saw Evan, he smiled and said, "Come, have a cup of warm tea with me."
"Thank you." Evan sat down beside Elder Lee on a small wooden chair.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold on," Elder Lee shook his head helplessly. This was the trajectory of life—unless you cultivate to a higher realm to escape the years, all that's left is waiting for the end.
"Elder Lee." Holding the steaming cup of tea, Evan felt a strong sadness but didn't know how to speak.
"Silly child, everyone dies eventually. It's just that I'll probably never return to my sect to present my master a cup of hot tea." Elder Lee sighed, as if reminiscing about the past.
"Elder Lee, why don't we go to your sect now?" Evan put down his tea and suggested.
"It's useless. My senior brother is so narrow-minded, if he knew it was me, he'd cripple me before I even got through the gate," Elder Lee shook his head.
"If only I had enough strength!" Evan clenched his fists angrily.
"Huh?" At the moment Evan got angry, Elder Lee sensed a surge of qi and looked at him in surprise.
"What's wrong, Elder Lee?" Evan asked, curious about Elder Lee's reaction.
"You, you—get angry again," Elder Lee said excitedly.
Though he didn't know why, Evan did as Elder Lee asked and got angry again, thinking about what had just happened.
To Elder Lee's surprise and delight, he exclaimed, "You rascal, you've actually reached the ninth layer of Qi-Refining!"
"?" Hearing Elder Lee reveal his cultivation, Evan was shocked, his face full of disbelief.
"You really kept it from me! Quick, tell me how you cultivated!" Elder Lee grabbed Evan's hand excitedly, eager for an explanation.
Still curious, Evan saw Elder Lee's excitement and recounted how he'd cultivated, though he changed some details—like the Seed in his body. He merely said that one day he suddenly learned to cultivate, reached the fourth layer with Sun Hu's Shao Yang Scripture, then found Joel Qiao's follow-up techniques in the space, which let him reach the ninth layer.
After hearing Evan's story, Elder Lee exclaimed happily, "Good, good, you're truly a genius!"
"Genius?" Evan had no idea how others cultivated, nor why Elder Lee called him a genius.
"To reach the ninth layer of Qi-Refining in just two years—of course you're a genius. Out in the world, many sects would fight to take you as a disciple. But here..." Thinking of his own imminent death and Evan's likely future hardships, Elder Lee's tone grew sad.