I said."That is true. Yet not necessarily. You don't have to grow to learnAlchemy. The knowledge is there to be gained. Yet, it is also true that theonly way to grow as an alchemist is to grow your cultivation. Manyalchemists choose to rely on pills to push past their limits or gain wealth andmake potent elixirs that could increase their strength to an extent. There aremany ways to go about things," the old man said."But the Path remains the same," I returned, which gave the old manpause. "I wish to follow a different Path, master. And, I wanted to ask foryour help. I don't have enough knowledge to know where I've gone wrong.Neither do I know where to look. Nowhere near enough books or texts to tryand find similarities."The old man gently patted my shoulder. "I'd made a mistake, thinkingyou were running away after your defeat, Lu Jie. Your ambitions are muchbeyond this old man. What is it that you need help with?"I explained the spirit herb garden, alongside the change in my Qi."Hmm, I've heard of spirits of the forest. In a land far to the west, outsidethe empire itself. The spirits are known to nurture groves and thickets filledwith potent spirit herbs. But I'm afraid this old man doesn't know much morethan that. Perhaps you should try and look through the library?"Unbelievable... The old man just casually dropped a massive bomb onme."There's a library!"

CHAPTERTWENTYݍTHREE

"YSECT LIBRARYou didn't know about the library, Lu Jie?" the old man asked and Ifound myself stuttering.Rapidly going through Lu Jie's memories, I tried to find anymention of the library. As it turned out, Lu Jie had heard of the library whenhe'd first joined the sect and had made the extremely smart decision ofcompletely ignoring it as it wouldn't help him at all to grow his cultivation.I wanted to facepalm so badly."No, master," I finally replied. "I'd forgotten about the library."The old man hummed, looking at me with a strange expression. Iprobably looked like an idiot right now. I certainly felt like one."Well, I suggest you have a look there. The sect library in the outer sect isopen for all to visit. Though there are certain sections you can only accessonce you have collected enough tokens from the sect," the old man said.Right, the tokens were another thing I'd completely overlooked."Whatever the result may be, this old man wishes you well on your Path,Lu Jie. Establishing a spirit herb garden and linking it with your cultivation isan idea this old man hadn't thought of in his wildest dreams. Yet here youare, my apprentice, already taking steps toward surpassing me," the old manreplied with a chuckle.I felt both grateful, yet slightly apologetic, for the old man.He'd never had the leisure to chase such wild dreams in his life, and hereI was, aiming to demystify all of cultivation itself."Oh, no need for that gaze, Lu Jie. This old man is content with his placein the sect. Being a humble alchemist, with a sharp and hard-workingapprentice, is all I'd ever wished for. The further you go Lu Jie, the prouder I

will be."I bowed. I could tell he'd left one thing out of his desires. His grandson."I'm grateful to have you as my master," I replied, and the old mannodded contently."Now, go on and have a look at what insight you've gained. They oftenreveal the secrets of the heavens upon introspection," the old man said, and Idipped my head as I headed out.Time to visit the library.The sect library was near the top of the outer sect peak, alongside all the otherbuildings of importance. Being a part of the outer sect halls for all newdisciples that joined, the library was conveniently near where all the craftersand scholars tended to be.Which was another thing Lu Jie never held an interest in. That the sectdidn't just harbour cultivators on the martial Path, but also those of the finearts. Which was mostly poetry and other kinds of writing, but Alchemy andcultivation formations were also a part of it. The latter was something I heldquite an interest in.Formations were something I'd been taking a glance at when trying tostudy about cauldrons. The carvings on the cauldrons were often a part of aformation and typically formed by characters arranged in an amulet with theQi set arranged in specific patterns to cause certain effects. The merchantselling his ward had been one such example. And I suspected there wereprobably formations that'd allow me to create an electrically charged area forLabby to more efficiently cultivate her lightning arts in.I walked through the entrance of the upper areas of the sect. The innerareas contained a central path that extended down the hill, all the way to theend of the sect boundary, outside which were the open plains and forestswhere the spirits roamed freely.The sight up here was quite similar to the city if I were to ignore thatevery passing person was a cultivator in a realm close to mine, if not higher.This explained why Lu Jie had such a low view of his own cultivation.I glanced at a couple of cultivators in the fourth realm and above, lightlydipping my head as I passed them. I sensed the gaze of one of their spirits

lingering on me before it lost interest.From the looks of it, none of them had been disciples. Fourth realmdisciples were talented enough to be in the inner sect grounds, or they hadjoined the sect as cultivators, finally getting a wage from the sect, alongsidewhat I assumed were other benefits.I continued on my path, my hand instinctively reaching to my pocket forLabby. I'd let her stay in my room where she would undoubtedly chewthrough quite a few of the herbs. How often Labby had stayed by me mademe feel melancholic about being away from her. But some distance wasalways good between people, spirit or not. Especially when one of them wasa child. I'd hate it if my parents were around all the time.Eventually, I found my way to the library. The building itself was built ina very traditional style, with little embellishments to be found. I observed thearea for a bit before heading inside.I let my senses expand, seeing if there were any other cultivators present.Nothing besides a couple of disciples. Just then, a massive presence startedlooking at me. I bowed respectfully to whichever elder I'd caught the gaze of.Holding my breath, I waited until the presence receded. One could nevercatch a moment of relief in this place. Not with this many powerfulcultivators around.I headed farther into the library, trying not to gawk. I didn't begrudge LuJie over many of his choices. His defeat, arrogance, and every choice that ledto his unfortunate death were pitiable. Yet this one choice I begrudged him abit. It'd have saved me hours of work had I known about this library.Perhaps I was shoving my lack of thought on the matter upon Lu Jie. Itdidn't matter in the end. What was done was done. And it led me throughsome very interesting ideas and theories as well. Trade-offs, in the end.It was a fascinating sight. Scrolls and thick texts were lined all across thelibrary. Large characters denoting various sections of books and jade slips Icould tell contained many simple arts., My gaze fell on one of the counters set near the entrance."The rat boy, Lu Jie, is it?" an elder said without looking up from a scrollof parchment he was writing on at his desk. I recognised the figure as theelder who'd granted me the art to bind Labby, and I bowed in greeting."What is it that you're looking for today, disciple? I hope you haven't lostyour spirit already. Though from the looks of your binding art, it seemsyou're doing well for yourself," the elder said, his hands smoothly switching

out the parchment for a different one, not disturbing the stroke of the brush inthe slightest with the movement."I still have my spirit, honourable elder. I was fortunate enough to getsome help with the binding as well," I said. "I'm looking for some books onspirit herbs and cultivation. Possibly something that could aid in the growthof spirit herbs." If someone was going to be helping me out, then I wouldn'tsay no."Spirit herbs and cultivation you say," the elder spoke, and a chime-likevoice rang from behind them. "Xin Yue will guide you toward the section."A misty figure manifested. She stood behind the elder, her face coveredby a pure white cloth, and her body draped in flowing robes that let only theslightest of snow-white, almost translucent skin, peek through."Many thanks for your guidance, elder. May I ask for your name?" Iasked, wondering how the same person was working in two different sectionsof the sect."You may refer to me as Tian Feng," the elder said, and I bowed oncemore."Follow along, disciple,"the spirit added in a melodious whisper, and Ionce more felt like I was stranded inside a lonely forest with the moonshining down upon me.I walked behind the spirit floating like a ghastly figure, and I noticed thather feet still touched the ground, albeit barely. I stared at the spirit in front ofme, a living bundle of endless questions and wonder to be explored. Ifshooting lightning from your fingers was quasi bullshit magic, then this was afull-on dive to the deep end.A giggle rang, like the sound of a bell on a gentle breeze. "I can senseyour curiosity, disciple. Perhaps it'd do well to learn to temper youremotions?"the spirit said with a slight laugh.I blushed. Embarrassed at being teased like a child, but I didn't let thethought linger as the spirit stopped."This should be your destination,"she whispered, and I nodded.I went to the shelf, looking through the books alongside the many scrolls,picking them out one at a time. Carrying around a dozen, I stopped my bookhorde, deciding to find a place to read them.I turned around to find the spirit still floating behind me. "The child hasaccepted my gift, disciple. It'd do you well to look after her as she grows.Her's is a new Path, different from her kind. I suppose such is the case with

you as well,"the spirit whispered. An icy chill brushed past me and a shudderwent down my spine, an unseen gaze looking at me from every directionbefore the spirit vanished.I stared blankly at where the spirit had stood, thinking over her wordsbefore I shook my head. Labby would grow just fine, and I already knew tobe there for her.I found a suitable place to place my pile of books and scrolls, a grincovering my face. Excitement filled me at being surrounded by a veritablemass of knowledge. Curiosity about just how much more might be availableto the inner sect disciples sprang up. I tried to put a lid on my bursting desiresas I opened the first of the books.It was time for some good ole magic research