In the world of essence users, talent was one of the most important factors in one cultivation.
An A-rank aptitude could bypass the first essence level through a period of one month. In contrast, a B-rank aptitude needed twice the time at a period of two months. The list goes on as the rank decreases.
Since Liu Yun's talent was D-rank, the time and effort required for him to reach the level of a rank one essence user would be a relentless six months. This was six times harder than a regular A-grade talent!
"I need to resolve my aptitude issue as soon as possible, because the further I advance in my cultivation, the harder it will be for me to advance compared to the past levels." Some people may even get stuck at a certain cultivation level due to the resources needed for their progress.
Furthermore the resources needed to cultivate a lower-ranked essence user would also be increased by margins according to the person's talent; which was the reason why most sects didn't bother with getting every single mortal who had the possibility to become an essence user. The cost was simply too high and the time needed to nurture them is even more so!
"The only fortune that I found out in Luo Yun's life was that his parents were dead already and they left an inheritance of 200 spirit crystals for both him and Luo Chi."
But Luo Yun couldn't simply take all of the inheritance spirit crystals from the Luo family's household as it was under Wang Xi's watch and management most of the time.
Resources were currently Crius's biggest problem!
Crius raised his gaze as he looked at the village and the bright sun rising above the sky, as light gleamed through his dark eyes. A faint smile lightly crept up his face as he came up with a plan in his head that might just resolve his spirit stones issue.
After the sun rose completely, Crius brushed away his blanket and used a water basin that he filled up outside to bathe in it before dressing up and taking his pouch which had four spirit crystals and then left the house.
His first destination was to find a herbal shop.
….
On his way to find a herb shop, Crius bumped into many youths heading toward the same destination whom Crius guessed were heading to the talent evaluation. Some snickered when they saw him, some chose to ignore him while some started gossiping about him. It wasn't unusual to find people who had bad talent in the clan, it was the fact that Luo Yun's parents were quite famous before their passing. After all, Luo Feng was a rank three initial stage essence-user and was one of the people closest to becoming an elder of the Fang clan.
"Isn't that the useless son of Luo Feng?" some youth asked while walking away with the others to the talent evaluation pavilion.
"Let's hurry to the talent evaluation ceremony, he's probably gonna get drunk faced tonight like he always does!" some youth snickered.
"What a shame that a rank three essence user who would fall with honor during a battle would have such an unfortunate son"
"Don't forget, there's also his brother, unlike him his brother had inherited his father's talent with the sword and I heard from my uncle that he's expected to at least gain a B-ranked aptitude!" This youth was named Zhihao who was a nephew of one of the elders of the fang clan!
The laughs and light whispers didn't bother Crius as continued walking, having lived for more than 400 years, why would the insults of youths who haven't lived a quarter of his age affect him. If it was him during his youth, he would've probably done something naive and foolish but the current Crius had no time for such meaningless matters.
As he continued walking around the village, he was looking for a herbal shop while at the same time memorizing the village's path and creating a visual map in his mind.
After walking for nearly half an hour Crius finally stumbled upon a two-storied bamboo house that radiated different aromas which Crius had no mistake in was the smell of herbs and roots which he recognized some of them.
The door to the herb shop was opened lightly as Crius's gaze fell upon the interior of the wooden bamboo shop, the shop was permeated with the smell of different medicines and herbs. On the wooden shelves were various bottles of pills, herbs and flowers.
While a green-robed old man sat behind the wooden counter, he had glasses and a long beard as he was busy organizing the leaves into a small bag before putting it beside one of the pills lying on the shelf.
The old man noticed Crius when he entered and finally looked at him as he spoke while cleaning the herbs remains on the table.
"What is it that you want, sir?"
"Any herbs or pills that have the effect of soothing the body and making one enter a long slumber."
"Sleep, you say? I have two pills that meet your requirement, one is the silver lotus pill which eases the mind and brings gentle rest and the other is the crimson pellet pill which has a stronger effect which can cause deep slumber to ease the mind and body.
Crius scanned the two pill jars and looked again at the old man, the old man having understood the young man's gaze continued speaking.
"The silver lotus costs two spirit crystals while the crimson pellet costs three spirit crystals."
"I'll take the crimson pellet." Crius immediately replied as he handed his three spirit crystals to the old man.
The old man nodded, carefully selecting a small box and placing it on the counter.
"Use it sparingly; the effect of the pill is strong. The body and the spirit can only accept so much at once."
Crius nodded, taking the box with him and left the shop.
With this, the first step of his plan was done.
As Crius walked around the village and observed more paths and shops, time passed and the sunlight got dim before Luo Yun finally reached his second destination.
If people saw Luo Yun standing at this place, they wouldn't be surprised because the original Luo Yun visited this place frequently.
That's right, It was a bar!
As Crius entered the bar, what met his gaze was a dimly lit bar, with a couple of tables and wooden beams. The place was filled with low chatter and the smell of ale and incense, and a bar counter with a bartender standing behind, wiping the counter clean.
Crius quickly found a seat at the counter and before he sat the bartender asked as if it was a normal routine thing.
"The usual?"
"Yes"
"One spirit crystal."
Crius handed the spirit crystal as the bartender poured him a cup of wine.
The second step in his plan was to get drunk!
As Crius started to drink his wine, a couple of men wearing white robes were sitting a distance from him as they were chattering excitedly about something.
"Did you hear about that kid, the one who passed the evaluation with A-rank!"
"Yes." the other replied with excitement and a hint of envy, "I heard his name was Luo Chi and he was rumored to be a genius with the sword since he was young!"
"Finally our fang clan is going to rise against the Xun and Ni clan."
Crius's gaze flickered toward them casually, before sipping his wine with a light and amused smile.
"Luo Chi, A-rank huh…"
The path to the future will be interesting.
....
The sound of paper rustling could be heard in the servant's quarters as Wang Xi was busy going through the accounts and fees for the household, since the passing of the old master, he had taken responsibility over his two descendants ever since they were young.
The death of the old master was too sudden for Wang Xi, but he would never forget the kindness his master had shown him ever since he was a youth, giving him a home, compassion and even nurturing him into becoming a servant for the Luo family!
For that reason Wang Xi decided to shoulder the responsibility of his old master's two children.
Right as Wang Xi was about to finish the last paper, he heard a sudden banging sound coming from the servant quarter's door.
His eyes narrowed slightly, nobody should've been at home at this moment, his daughter was out buying groceries with Madam Bo accompanying her. Luo Chi was still at the talent evaluation. Leaving only Luo Yun, who Wang Xi knew always drowned himself in alcohol and came late at night.
He opened the door slightly and what met his eyes was his Young Master had returned earlier than expected.
Wang Xi frowned even more as he observed the dishevelled drunken state of his young master.
"Luo Yun Young master, this is the servant's quar-"
Right as he was about to confront his drunken master, Luo Yun let out a harsh retch, staggering forward letting it all out on Wang Xi. Forcing the servant to recoil immediately in disgust.
"Damn drunkard!"
Wang Xi wanted to scold Luo Yun immediately, but upon seeing him breathing raggedly he clicked his tongue, half-dragged the drunken Luo Yun with him to his room before resting him on the bed.
"Useless thing…can't even drink without disgracing the household."
"Stay there"
Wang Xi scowled as he saw the filth on his robe before turning away with a dark expression, suppressing his irritation as he stepped out of the room.
On his way to the bathroom he grabbed a wooden cup from the side table and walked to the washroom, muttering under his breath. The vomit stench still clung to his robe making his mood worsen by the second.
As he scooped water from the water basin, he tugged his sleeve in annoyance.
"Stritch"
A sudden sharp sting went to his wrist making Wang Xi's eyes twitch and frown, he raised his hand to inspect it. A thin light scratch had surfaced on his wrist as a light drip of blood was starting to gather on it.
"Tch…troublesome, as if this day can't get any worse."
He flicked the small shard away immediately and washed his wrist off with water before filling up a cup with fresh water and going back to his room.
…..
After the unfortunate incident, Luo Yun eventually went back to his room. He sat on his bed cross-legged and began meditating. As he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, a scene appeared before him.
A small white-gray world that had only a lake in the middle, which was a normal blue color with a hint of dark specks, the specks were floating in the lake at a slow rate.
The small lake in front of Luo Yun was his life force or essence, while the dark specks were the alcohol contamination effect causing him to feel sluggish and tired.
Luo Yun slowly raised his hand and began to control the lake's essence to extract the contamination from it.
A mortal could only control the essence residing in his body, whereas a first-level essence user could manage to bring out this essence in the real world and manifest it in the form of techniques.
Techniques were created after one reached enlightenment and understanding toward the laws of the world.
Throughout the world of essence users, some users trained in the fire path techniques which belonged to the law of fire, while some were of the water path which belonged to the law of water, the possibilities were endless as long as one chose a path to follow.
Stronger techniques meant deeper understanding of the law that one pursues.
Luo Yun looked at the contamination and gathered the essence around the dark blob with experience.
"Extracting it in a separate area would only hinder its effect and not remove it completely, only when I reach the first level would I be able to free extract it out of the body. While at the second level stuff like wine and normal drugs would not affect me at all due to the changes that will happen to the body."
Time passed as Luo Yun continued extracting the dark contamination inside a small sphere of essence which was acting as a temporary dome.
"The essence barrier shouldn't be able to hold for that much, if I estimate the time between when Wang Xin will wake up and realize that the whole inheritance is gone, it should be 10 hours at best."
"It will only be able to hide the contamination for 3 hours…only 3 hours and I should collect, hide, and come back without anyone realizing."
Luo Yun raised his head and as his dark eyes opened, radiating deep clarity and calmness.
…
After cleaning the floor, Wang Xi straightened his back and exhaled slowly. The room was finally in order again.
He later picked up the stack of documents that were on his office table. As he walked to the cabinet he stopped.
"...hm?"
"He stood for a moment, his brows knitting together before shaking his head lightly and sliding the papers in the cabinet.
"Was his old age catching up to him…?"
He moved on to his next task and started gathering the dirty robes and laying them in the basket to carry to the washroom, but while walking his head grew heavy and he let out a deep yawn suddenly before glancing at his hands that were carrying the basket.
"What was he supposed to do again…?"
The thought slipped away as quickly as it came over him, annoyed by all that already happened Wang Xi continued walking, finishing the chore and rinsing the clothes clean.
By the time he returned, his mind was filled with a heavy dull feeling as he rubbed his eyes. Feeling his body growing too sluggish to even extinguish the office lamp.
"I'm probably just tired from working late…"
He said as he quickly extinguished the light from the lamp, but it tilted…?
It was too late realize that the thing that was tilting wasn't actually the lamp...but in fact him, his vision blurred as his strength slowly let go before falling on the ground with a loud thud!
At this moment, a shadowy figure slipped through the door and walked before the collapsed man, his eyes radiating a calm gaze before he approached the old man, dragged him, and threw him on the bed, making the scene seem as if he just went to sleep earlier than expected.
Luo Yun's lips curled up lightly as he muttered.
"Now then…Time to claim my reward."