Baiyun sat in silence as the elder bandaged his leg. He let his eyes water slightly, but he did not cry. Even if he ying the role of a strong-willed child, being pletely unfazed by such a huge wound might seem odd.

  Medial substances from the bandages bound tightly to his leg seeped in. It stung, but his wounds stopped bleeding and began to heal.

  A slight distance away, the little wolf whimpered as one of the rge wolves levitated a bottle in the air, feeding it a red elixir of sorts.

  Baiyun looked at Guan Qiang's slightly frowning face. He could not tell what the man was thinking, but he tried his best to guess.

  Was the elder disappointed? He had not won through strength nor bat talent, but a lucky sneak attack at the st sed. What he showed was far from enough to defeat the spider. Wild beasts weren't suicidal; if they grew ihey would flee like the serpent did.

  If the elder thought he killed that spider alohis meagre level of strength must have been disappointing.

  Guan Qiang ed the st of the bandages around Baiyun's leg. His expression suddenly turned into a smile.

  "Good work. It seems Earthy took i in you food reason, huh?" he said.

  Baiyun was baffled but he nodded. Was that just a front?

  Guan Qiang walked off after those words.

  "Mohei, you are up !"

  "Y-yes!" Mohei shouted.

  He no longer seemed as fident, hesitating slightly. Mohei g Baiyun as if he wao say something but stopped himself. He grabbed a spear just as tall as he was from the on rack, then marched onto the square and faced another wolf.

  "I'm ready!" he shouted.

  Guan Qiang nodded, ting down from five quickly.

  "Fight!"

  Mohei brandished the spear and poi towards the wolf. But it was not as eager as the previous, cirg the boy cautiously instead of poung. Perhaps it feared suffering the same fate as its sibling.

  "Hmph. Coward!" Mohei harrumphed as he swung his spear in an arc.

  He rushed forward and thrust his spear! But the wolf was just as quick as the previous; it tilted its head and dodged easily. At that moment, Mohei's eyes grew focused.

  He took a quick step forward and winded his arm, pung the wolf to the side of its head. A huge burst of fmes erupted from his hand with a loud bang, bsting the wolf away from the sheer force! The winds roared as smoke and dust swirled around the arena.

  The wolf was sent flying and smmed into the ground with a tumble, boung several times if it were a stone being skipped. A few of its fellow wolves stepped to the side to dodge its disgraceful tumble.

  "Whoaaaaa!" the children cheered.

  Baiyun wasn't surprised by their reaohei's attack ectacle to behold in parison to his dull moves.

  Mohei finally rexed, turning to smile at his fellow disciples.

  "Hehe! These wolves are no mate!" he said happily, swinging his spear in the air.

  But the silhouette of the wolf stood back up amidst the dust. Fshes of light shohrough the cloud, the sound of crag lightning eg as it approached. Two white eyes of qi materialised on its eyeless helmet, shining through the smoke.

  "Awoooooooo!" the wolf howled indignantly.

  "What?" Mohei took a step ba dismay.

  Baiyun wondered if he fot Guan Qiang's words; the armour of the wolves could guard against even Foundational attacks.

  The wolf emerged from the cloud with arcs of lightning rushing through its armour. Every step it took charred the ground slightly, burnt bck pawprints dotting the path it walked.

  Guan Qiang ughed.

  "I'm here to teach martial arts. But if you choose to use magic, my wolves are happy to indulge you!"

  "That's not fair!" Mohei cried. "You didn't warn me!"

  The wolf did not give him time to breathe, lunging at him while he was distracted talking to the elder. Baiyun watched in silence as the two fought and shook his head.

  Mohei was beginning to toss out spell after spell and hardly relying on martial arts now. There was nothing to glean from his amateurish magic. Baiyun wasn't a dedicated spellcaster, but Alchemy was a field that required a det mastery of spells and qi trol.

  He turned away and teo his leg instead, no longer ied in the prolonged fight. His hands carefully massaged his leg to get more of the medial paste to soak in. At the same time, he trolled his qi and circuted it from his dantian through his blood vessels. His leg no longer hurt. It seemed a numbing herb art of the bandage's ingredients.

  Fire and lightning fshed in the background, nothing but annoying distras.

  Baiyun reached strands of soulseo the bandages and examihe position of the bandages slowly. The ingredients of the medial paste were all herbs of this world, unfamiliar to him.

  But he could reise the essences within. Essences were part of the universe's building blocks. From the most mundane mud to the grarees, every material had essen them. Even if the herbs were alien to him, essences would never lie.

  Numbing wood, Mending Wood, Earthsoul essence. Within this bandage were quite a few iing essences, perfect for certain pills...

  Baiyun quickly shook off that thought. To even pte using bloodstained bandages as a pill ingredient; where did his pride as an alchemist go? He sighed.

  He heard a thud as Guan Qiang suddenly sat o him, stirring up the dust slightly.

  "What's wrong? Feeliivated?"

  The Martial Elder's massive hand suddenly patted Baiyun on the back.

  "Do not avert your eyes. Grit your teeth and show your spirit!" Guan Qiang said. "He is your petitor, so watch closely as he fights."

  Baiyun nodded speechlessly. It seemed the elder had mistaken his sigh for something else.

  With the elder beside him, he looked up once more and saw Mohei fag the wolf. He was covered in scratches and breathing heavily, battered down by the fight.

  The wolf was uninjured due to its armour, tinuing to rush at Mohei and swiping its lightning-imbued cws. Perhaps fearing what happeo the previous pup, it did not open its mouth even once.

  "Fire explosion!" Mohei roared.

  His eyes began to glht red and his pupils vanished. Mohei tossed his spear ahead and raised his arms into the air, summoning a massive ball of fmes as tall as he was! But the wolf merely stood there haughtily.

  "Hah!"

  Mohei shouted as he tossed the huge fireball onto the wolf. The spell exploded with a loud boom, dist the air aing the earth, sending smoke and red embers in every dire. A few of the spectating disciples yelled and ducked, but a faint barrier materialised around the batants, keeping the spectators safe.

  Guan Qiang chuckled.

  "A spectacle, isn't it? Do you envy his ability to use magic?"

  Baiyun was slightly miffed, but after a moment of thinking, he decided to nod.

  The elder snapped his finger and dispelled the barrier as the st of the embers died down. With a wave of his hands, the smoke and debris were blown away instantly, revealing the two fighters.

  Mohei heaved, his footsteps unsteady. His robes were soaked with sweat, sparks of lightning lingering and arg around his skin. Finally, he toppled backwards onto the ground with his eyes rolled into whites. The boy was unscious.

  The wolf turned around and ran back to the big wolves. It looked up at them proudly and wagged its tail.

  "Look at his unsightly state. Magic might be powerful, but there are limits to it. What will you do once your qi is exhausted?" the elder said. "The beauty of magic sways many, but only your body will be ever reliable!"

  Ridiculous! Baiyun nodded, but held back a frown.

  He had no pns to bee purely a body cultivator. Even if he didn't have meridians, he was certain there were still ways to use spells somehow. It made no seo abandon one of his past life's expertises.

  This fight was unfair to begin with, since all attacks from the disciples would be shrugged off by the armour. Mohei throwing his stro spells was useless, since he was ultimately still just a Qi Gathering cultivator.

  If Mohei was smarter, he would fend off the wolves attack with physical strength until it exhausted itself. Sihe wolf wasn't willing to reveal its ot by opening its mouth, all he achieved was exhausting himself by using fshy attacks that did no damage.

  Wait. Baiyun had a realisation. Was that the iional way to win this trial, the armour there solely to disce the disciples from using magic? He turo look at the elder.

  "Work hard and show them even a servant without magi succeed. Those kids could use a little humbling." Guan Qiang said. "Even if you 't cultivate qi, the path of Body Cultivation is still open to you."

  He took out another vial of body strengthening elixir and passed it to Baiyun.

  "Thank you, elder!"

  Baiyun put on a smile and accepted the elixir with a grateful nod. Even if it was a misuanding, he was still going to shamelessly take it.

  Meanwhile, a few disciples ughed as they grabbed Mohei's unscious body by the feet, dragging him away.

  "Ah." Guan Qiang suddenly realised he had been distracted. "The wolf wins!"

  Baiyun shook his head as he watched the elder chase off the mischievous disciples, tending to Mohei's injuries.

  Soon, the rest of the fights began. Most of the disciples had little skill with martial arts and some still insisted on using magic, so there was little to learn from them. But Baiyun watched anyway, not wanting aalk from the elder.

  But he was suddenly caught off guard by one of the matches.

  A muscur young boy with walked up onto the field. His hair was ly shaven, only a siep away from being bald. If not for his height, his face would make him mistakable frown man.

  He grabbed a random sword and used metal qi to mould it into a ball, then tossed it aside. The wolf noermission to use its lightning. But the boy rushed towards the wolf, pung and kig at the wolf relentlessly!

  The wolf howled and tried to fight back, but the boy did not give up despite the lightning burns and bruises c him. For the few mihe disciples watched in horror as he pummelled the wolf endlessly, until the wolf was knocked unscious by the repeated impacts shaking the armour.

  "Ying Shi wins!" Guan Qiang announced.

  Baiyun's eyes twitched. The disciples here had only enrolled for a month, but this kid had definitely been training long before then! Mohei likely had prior training as well, but it was not that exaggerated.

  A few uing fights passed. Tearful disciples began to litter the training grounds, covered in bandages like Baiyun. Some id on the ground listlessly.

  The young girl from before, who pihey hadn't been training enough, walked up with a grin. In her hands she held an absurdly loeor hammer, two mace heads tied together with a 3-metre loal rope.

  "I'm Fei An! I'll show you all how it's done!"

  She rushed towards her wolf with a maniacal grin, shrouded by a cloud of wind. The wolf howled and imbued its body with lightning, but she was too fast for the wolf to cw or bite, dodging its every attack. She was the first disciple actually faster than the wolves!

  Fei An grinned as she tossed the meteor heads into the air and tugged oal rope. They spun through the air violently, turning into a silver blur that stirred up the very wind! The disciples backed away, frightened by the sheer momentum of her on.

  The wolf growled cautiously, but it was caught off by a strike to its underside that sent it flying into the air. Fei An struck the wolf repeatedly with precise hits, not letting it even touch the ground. It was as if she was juggling a toy! The wolf could only howl pitifully and whine as it tumbled in the air helplessly.

  "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" she ughed.

  Finally, it let out a strange high pitched howl. One of the giant wolves leapt into the air and snatched the little wolf away. It had surrendered!

  "The wns. Fei An wins!"

  Baiyun nodded. It seemed there were a few incredibly talented disciples in this group! For children in qi gathering, those two were quite the talents. It made him almost ied in seeing more fights.

  Unfortunately, there were no other skilled disciples. But there was one more amusing fight.

  A kid imbued his body with lightning, then rushed over to the wolf and grabbed it by the head! The wolf activated its lightning as well, but her of them hurt each other with their lightning.

  "Hnnnn!"

  The kid grabbed the wolf by the mouth of its helmet, pulling with all his might until his face turned red. The wolf let out muffled grunts of anger, not wanting to let the kid open its mouth either. It tried to cw at him, but its legs were far too stubby. It tried to distaself, but the kid was grabbing its face too firmly!

  For nearly 10 mihey remained locked in a stalemate, both grunting iion until Sanguang finally mao pry its mouth open, shoving a shield into its mouth! He was muerciful with his choice of on than Baiyun.

  "Awoooo!"

  Guan Qiang watched speechlessly.

  "The wns... Sanguang wins!"

  ...

  The rest of the fights ended ufully.

  Guan Qiang gathered Baiyun, Fei An and Ying Shi in front of the other disciples.

  "Well doo the top 3! The rest of you, train harder and try agaiime!" he shouted.

  Sanguang grumbled to the side, gring at Baiyufully.

  "Fei An, 1st pce! Your reward is a Wind-Striped Pear."

  "Yay!"

  She snatched it from his hand and scarfed it down immediately, like a starving wild animal. Guan Qiang didn't even have time to annouhe winner.

  "Ying Shi, 2nd pce! Your reward is a Purpleheart Ore."

  "Many thanks, elder." Ying Shi bowed as he received the ore.

  "And stly, Baiyun! Your reward is a Rock Ginseng Pill."

  "Thank you, elder!"

  Baiyun nodded as he received the pill. His diviouch sed it, and he was delighted. This was actually quite useful! He noted he was the only one who received a plete product, rather than a rare ingredient.

  Perhaps it was because the other two were disciples of prestigious families, who could refihe ingredients into better things... at least if Fei An didn't immediately devour the "treat". Eating such a precious ingredient without processing it into a pill or elixir was such a waste. Baiyun's heart ached slightly.

  "bat practice is over! Return tur training, we will have a spar with the wolves agai week."

  The disciples let out dismayed groans.

  "But teacher, we are all injured..."

  "I want to go home!" another kid cried.

  But Guan Qiang's stern eyes immediately shut them up, and the disciples relutly resumed training. Baiyun looked at his wounded leg and realised it had mostly healed by now. So he stood and trained with the disciples as well.

  Regur training was not as exg as the spar against the wolves. The disciples merely performed various routines from the book, pung and kig the air endlessly. Baiyun wondered if training would be more effective with a straw dummy as an actual target.

  Guan Qiang would corree of the inaccurate movements from a few disciples occasionally, but for the most part, he sat on the dingy wooden chair and read a manual silently. It seemed the elder really used that chair... Baiyun eechless, not uanding why the elder didn't buy a better one.

  Hours passed as the disciples trained gruellingly and the sun soo.

  "Disciples, you are dismissed!" Guan Qiang said.

  He returo the temple immediately after, leaving only his chair behind.

  But Baiyun was not doraini. With the heightened senses of his soul, he could sehe state of his body to its most miail. Physical training was to let muscles wear and tear, then rebuilding themselves to be strohan before. His arms and legs were numb, but he could tell some of his other muscles had yet to be pushed to their limit.

  Some of the disciples stayed, watg what Baiyun to, but most left. But none of them talked to him. He supposed the children saw him as strange. Even Mohei remained silent, though he did approach with a flicted expression, before running off.

  Soon, he was the only one remaining.

  It was night by the time he stopped, the skies above now pitch bck. Baiyun panted and wiped off his sweat. At this point, all that kept his arms moving was the qi c within his blood vessels. It was as if he was a limp body, puppeted around by strings of qi from within.

  Baiyun reached into his bag and pulled out the Rock Ginseng Pill, popping it into his mouth. Uhe body elixirs, he didn't feel the o save it for the future. He chewed the pill into a paste, before pulling out a water gourd and spitting the destroyed pill into it.

  It was undignified and unsanitary, but it was o extract the full potential of the pill. Uhe body of a cultivator, his mortal body would struggle to absorb the pill directly. Baiyun gave the gourd a good shake a it to sit for 30 minutes, before drinking several mouthfuls.

  He sat down and crossed his legs into the lotus position, closing his eyes and fog.

  The WanLing servants had earth stitutions, not unidst the servants of most sects. Earth bodies were physically strong aant to impurities, ideal for servants.

  Baiyun slowly refihe pill water within his stomach, pushing the impurities further down his digestive system to be passed out ter. It would be better if he spat out the impurities, but he didn't want to risk it uhe watchful eyes of the sect's spirits. He carefully aligned and smoothed his muscle fibres with his soul, elling the essence of the pill into them.

  As the st of the pill essen his stomach was absorbed, Baiyued the process and drank more mouthfuls from his "makeshift elixir".

  Finally, an hour ter, the gourd bottomed out. Baiyun poured a little water from a different gourd in and gave it a quick shake to ri, before drinking it. The pill was now fully ed.

  It was te at night and he was still far from home.

  Baiyun looked at the ground, then at Guan Qiang's creaky chair wordlessly. After pting for a minute, he decided it was still better to sleep on the chair than the dirty ground. He relutly sat on it and leaned his head back.

  "Ah! Baiyun! Don't sleep yet!" the light spirit's voice called out.

  Baiyun opened his eyes and turned over in surprise.

  "I was looking for you all night!" the spirit cried. "But I saw you were taking an elixir, so I waited for a moment."

  "Ah."

  Hopefully him ing the pill in su optimal way was not suspicious. Baiyun suddenly remembered something and reached into his bag, pulling out the two body elixirs and handing them to the spirit.

  " you help me hold onto these? I think I want to train more before I drink them." he said.

  "Eh?"

  The light spirit took them, but she was fused for a moment.

  "We haven't met in a day, and you immediately tell me to hold onto something for you?" she said in disbelief.

  "Hehe." Baiyun smiled ily.

  "Fine, I'll safeguard them for you." she said. "Now, let's go home! Don't just sleep on a chair here! Have you eveeoday?"

  As the spirit lectured him for the few minutes, Baiyun nodded helplessly. He really had fotten to eat anything today! A mortal's body truly was troublesome.

  She picked him up and flew to the teen, ushering him in. After a quick meal there and a few grain balls as a snack, he was sent home.

  He removed the bandages around his leg and stashed them into his bag, before lying on bed aing his body sleep. It was quite fortable after a day of hard work.