Dual Cultivation

Inside a room filled with high-standing Sect Elders with profound Cultivation bases at the Four Seasons Academy, Su Yang stood before the Matriarch with a calm expression, feeling no pressure at all despite being surrounded by so many powerful individuals.

"He is the one who gave Elder Deng the recipe for the Soul Divination Pill? He’s so young..."

The Matriarch looked at Su Yang with an odd gaze. Although she’d already heard of him beforehand from Elder Deng, it was still a bit surprising to see him in person.

To be this calm and composed when he’s in the presence of this many experts and even the Matriarch of the Four Seasons Academy, he must be really confident that nothing bad could happen to him even in such a situation.

"I will get straight to the point." The Matriarch retrieved the Soul Divination Pill recipe and said, "Who are you and what do you want to achieve by giving us this paper?"

"The Soul Divination Pill was a gift from Immortal Han Xin, who was a close friend of the Sect’s founder, shortly after the Four Seasons Academy was created. Additionally, as far as we know, only one of this pill exists in this world. In other words, it’s a one-of-a-kind priceless treasure."

"We have been trying to recreate this pill ever since we received it, but alas, we are not even close to our goal after so many hundreds of years."

"Yet, out of nowhere, a young man, whom nobody recognizes, appears with the recipe for the Soul Divination Pill..."

"What do you want from us?"

The entire room went silent after the Matriarch finished her words. Everybody in the room had their eyes on Su Yang and Qiuyue.

Although it did not show on their faces, they were all anxiously waiting for Su Yang to speak — the Matriarch included.

After a moment of silence, Su Yang smiled and spoke, "What I want is really simple — your Soul Divination Pill."

Hearing his words, other than a slight sigh, the Matriarch did not show many reactions.

"So you were expecting it, huh."

The Matriarch nodded, and said, "Indeed, but unfortunately, I will not be able to respond to your request."

"There are two one reason why you’d need the Soul Divination Pill despite having the recipe to make it. One, you do not have the capability to make it yourself, and two, the recipe is not real."

At this point, the Matriarch narrowed her gaze on Su Yang with a serious expression.

"If it’s the latter reason, no matter what background you have behind you, I will surely have you pay for this stunt!"

"..."

The room returned to being silent, but the atmosphere had changed entirely.

Su Yang could feel an invisible pressure bear down on him. If the next few words that come out of his mouth is not what they wish to hear, there’s no doubt that they will attack him there and then.

However, in response, Su Yang actually began laughing out loud, far from the expectations of everyone there.

"And unfortunately for you, both of your reasons are wrong," he said with a grin.

"What did you say?" The Matriarch and everybody in the room frowned at his words. If he had the capability to make the pill and had the recipe, then what is he doing here, asking them for the Soul Divination Pill?

"The only reason I am here is simply because it takes too much time to collect all of the ingredients and making it myself! It’s a hassle!" He said in a clear voice, dumbfounding everyone there.

"What?!"

The people there almost couldn’t believe their ears. He’s willing to give away such a precious recipe just because it’s a hassle to make it himself? Unbelievable! It would be one thing if he owned the recipe, but the people there were almost certain that it belonged to his family! Talk about being a black sheep for the family!

After a moment of silence from being speechless, the Matriarch said, "E-Even if you say that, I’m afraid that I will not be able to give you the Soul Divination Pill, as it was given our Ancestor by the exalted Immortal Han Xin. To give away his gift is akin to discarding his goodwill and slapping his face."

"Haaa... so it has come to this... How unfortunate." Su Yang sighed, giving the people there a bad feeling in their guts.

"W-What are you going to do?" The Matriarch asked in an anxious tone.

"Instead of the Soul Divination Pill, I want all the ingredients on that list I gave you — I will be making it myself. That you should be able to fulfill, right?"

"So that’s what he meant!" The Matriarch exclaimed inwardly.

She then looked at the paper for a few seconds.

"Very well," she finally said, "But it will take a few days of time to prepare for a few of the ingredients, as some of them are quite rare even for a Sect as big as us."

Su Yang quickly nodded. He could use these few days to Cultivate the massive amount of Yin Qi he’d absorbed from Wu Jinjing and breakthrough to the Earth Spirit Realm. If he allows this much Yin Qi to stay inside his Dantian for too long it could easily damage his entire Cultivation base, so it would be wiser to convert the Yin Qi to Profound Qi while he has the time.

"If you want, we can also prepare a room for you for the time being," she added.

"I would appreciate that," Su Yang had no reason to refuse such an offer.

"Good, then I shall start the preparations. Until then, you may take a look around our Four Seasons Academy with one of our Elders to pass time."

"A Sect that specializes in Alchemy, huh..."

Although Su Yang does not care about Alchemy as much as the sword, it holds a special place in his heart, as it reminds him of one of his best friends in the Four Divine Heavens.

"I shall also accept that offer," he said with a smile on his face.

"Un."

The Matriarch then looked at Elder Deng and said, "Go ahead and give our little friend here a tour around our home and make sure nobody causes trouble for him. This is a direct order. Anyone who disobeys will be hearing from me directly, you hear?"

She spoke in a way that made it seem as though there would certainly be someone who would cause trouble for Su Yang. Or perhaps she was worried that Su Yang might cause trouble and wanted Elder Deng to keep an eye on him just in case he doesn’t do anything suspicious.

"Yes, Matriarch!"

Elder Deng, despite feeling reluctant to stay around Su Yang any longer, swiftly accepted his mission.

After exchanging a few more sentences about the preparations, Elder Deng led Su Yang and Qiuyue out of the room and began showing them around the Four Seasons Academy.

Once they were gone, the room that had been silent the entire time suddenly turned lively.

"Matriarch, are you sure that we can trust someone like him? What if he has ulterior motives?"

"Supreme Elder is right, Matriarch. We still have no clue where he came from, much less his identity. What if he wishes to harm our Sect?"

Complaints and logical worries were brought up the instant Su Yang left the room.

"We should pressure him into giving us more information before we give him so many precious resources. He may have looked compose just now, but if we—"

"Enough!" The Matriarch raised her hands, and she continued once the room returned to being peaceful.

"You guys have been focusing on that young man too much... It’s not him I’m worried about but the young lady that was behind him like some kind of bodyguard."

"What? That young lady? What of her?"

The people there were puzzled. None of them had been paying attention to Qiuyue because of Su Yang’s vast presence in the room. Hell, most of them thought she was only his servant.

"That young man’s Cultivation base was at the early True Spirit Realm, and I can tell that it’s his real Cultivation. As for that young lady behind him... I couldn’t even sense her presence despite her standing right before my very eyes, almost like I was looking at a ghost!"

"And the way she stared at me... it was as if she was warning me to not make rash decisions."

"Now that you mention it! I also couldn’t see her Cultivation base!"

The Sect Elders expressed shock once they realized it, too. Because Qiuyue looked so plain to them that they casually neglected her existence, solely focusing on Su Yang, who seemed to be the one in charge.

The Matriarch sighed and continued, "Haaaa... either her ability to disguise herself is truly that heaven-defying, or she’s... at a level where even I, a peak Sovereign Spirit Realm expert, cannot see even a little bit of her Cultivation base."

"That’s impossible! The Matriarch is one of the only three Sovereign Spirit Realm in this entire continent, someone at the apex of Cultivation! How could some random be—"

"Apex of Cultivation?" The Matriarch suddenly laughed out loud, dumbfounding the Sect Elders.

"Forget about me, even that old man at the Holy Sword Sect would not dare to say that he’s at the apex of Cultivation! Not when ’she’ is here!"

When she mentioned the Patriarch of the Holy Sword Sect, she did not say it because of his status but because of his Cultivation base that was at the 1st level of the Divine Spirit Realm, who is also considered to be at the limit of the Mortal Realm.

"She... you mean..."

The Sect Elders immediately recognized who the Matriarch was talking about despite the impossibly vague description.

"That’s right! Immortal Fairy Su Yue, who has long surpassed the limits of a mortal, surpassing even Immortal Han Xin in terms of Cultivation! She is the only other individual in this world that has a Cultivation base which I cannot see at all!"

"Then are you saying that... the young lady has a Cultivation base similar to Immortal Su Yue?"

The Sect Elders began sweating once they thought of such a possibility.

Just the existence of Immortal Su Yue is already enough to turn this entire world’s power balance upside down; they cannot imagine having another with similar strength.

The Matriarch shook her head and said, "I would not go that far, but I will also not deny that such a possibility could be possible."

"In the end, it’s for the best that we don’t offend them. Even if there is only a slight possibility that they are a group with such devastating prowess, we cannot afford to make this gamble, or else our thousand years foundation may crumble overnight!"

"!!!"

The Sect Elders there nodded viciously. None of them were stupid enough to make a gamble like this.

"For now, we should focus on preparing the ingredients on this list so that he could leave as soon as possible."

The Sect Elders all nodded in agreement.

-

-

-

"This is the Lecture Hall. Sect Elders would appear here once a week to give lectures to the disciples so they can gain enlightenment."

Elder Deng pointed to the large open area ahead of them. Currently, the Lecture Hall is crowded with disciples that numbered in the hundreds with a single Sect Elder in the front while sitting before a large cauldron, seemingly in the process of concocting a pill.

Compared to the Profound Blossom Sect’s Lecture Hall that is always empty with barely any Sect Elders giving lectures, the atmosphere in this place is completely different.

Su Yang stopped walking to look at the Lecture Hall in the distance — the cauldron to be precise.

"Are you interested in the pill he’s concocting?" Elder Deng asked him after seeing him stare at the Lecture Hall.

"Advanced Spirit Refreshment Pill," Su Yang suddenly said.

"Excuse me?" Elder Deng looked at him with questioning eyes.

But Su Yang ignored him and continued, "Judging by the smell, it should come out with around 80% purity, so a medium quality pill at best."

"..."

By this point, Elder Deng could only stand there with a stupefied expression.

"E-Excuse me... I will be right back."

After saying that he ran towards the Lecture Hall, leaving Su Yang standing there in the distance.