In the vast expanse of space, a shadowed silhouette floated in the void. Its size was so large that it seemed like another planet floating in the void. Lightning continuously danced over its massive body, like a perpetual storm.
Suddenly, the eyes of the massive creature opened, and it peered deep into the vast expanse of space. Its vision eventually locked onto a planet floating on near the edge of the universe, and its gaze lingered there for a moment, observing something on the planet.
A small flicker of light appeared in the creature's eyes, before they slowly closed once more, returning to its endless slumber.
…
Back in the Heavenly Lightning Sect, John was still cultivating in his cultivation chamber, trying to break through to the late Qi Condensation realm for his body cultivation. He had been in the cultivation chamber for nearly a day.
John's eyes slowly opened as he inspected the progress of his body. He could feel that his body cultivation had grown even stronger than it was just a day before. However, a frown lingered on his face.
"Damn, I was just a tiny bit of blood essence short of breaking through to the late Qi Condensation realm."
Despite having the corpses of several late Qi Condensation cultivators, it was still just shy of what he needed to advance. However, his strength had still risen considerably when compared to just a few days ago, and so John was not all that upset.
His eyes trailed downwards, and he spotted Kirii sleeping peacefully on the floor just a few feet away from him. A small smile broke out on his face as he looked at Kirii. Not wanting to disturb Kirii, John wrapped Kirii up in his divine sense and drew him into his soul space.
Because they had formed a soulbond companion pact, Kirii was able to live inside John's soul space without any problems. He inspected Kirii inside his soul space, and confirmed he was still sleeping before getting up.
"What should I do today. Classes don't start up again for a few days, so I have free time for now."
The first year class schedule had the disciples attending classes for several days in a row, before giving them several days off as well. John's mind went over the list of things he could potentially do, when he suddenly remembered a particular item.
"The Undying Vitality Fruit! I still have one left from the time in the pocket realm."
Him and Miko had obtained two Undying Vitality Fruits each in the pocket realm. They had eaten one directly, and were saving the other one to make into pills. Due to the nature of the fruit, directly eating more than one had no benefits, and so the second fruit had to be refined into a pill to make it useful.
John walked out of the basement and searched around his house for a bit before running into Francel.
"Greetings, what can I do for you today," Francel greeted.
"Hey there. I have some medicinal ingredients I would like to turn into some pills. Do you know of a place in the sect that I can visit to have this done?" John asked.
Since Francel had grown up in the sect, John assumed that he would be a great starting point to identify such a place.
"I do know of such a place. While the Sects Pill Hall provides pre-prepared pills for the disciples, they also take special requests. However, alchemists are quite stuck up, and most will only take special requests if the ingredient is rare enough. They don't take special requests for run of the mill ingredients," Francel replied.
He explained where the Pill Hall was located.
"Thanks," John thanked Francel and turned to leave his house.
'The Undying Vitality Fruit is a rare ingredient. I'm sure they will take my request.'
John began to descend the mountain and walk towards the Pill Hall which was located quite some distance from his abode. The Heavenly Lightning Sect was a massive sect, and sprawled dozens and dozens of miles over hundreds of mountains.
"If I can get the Undying Vitality Fruit condensed into a pill, I might be able to break through to the late Qi Condensation realm for essence cultivation."
Although John's essence cultivation had just recently broken through to the mid Qi Condensation realm, the Undying Vitality Fruit was an amazing fruit for aiding cultivation in the Mist Creation and Qi Condensation realm.
John spent the next hour quickly traversing through the sect on foot, following the roads described by Francel. The streets bustled with activity as John passed by thousands of grand buildings on his way to the Pill Hall.
Several gazes glanced at John curiously as he walked by, at which point their curious gazes would turn quite interesting. He was wearing the robes of the War Hall, signifying he was a member of it, but his age was clearly that of a first year. After some careful thought, most quickly identified him as the one who had attacked the Vice Sect Leader.
They stared at him with even more curiosity, wondering just what kind of madman would do such a thing. John noticed the inquisitive gazes, but paid them no attention as he walked briskly towards the Pill Hall.
"I really need to advance to the Core Formation Realm. Walking takes too long over these types of distances," John grumbled as he finally arrived at the Pill Hall over an hour later.
The Pill Hall was one of the most important Halls in the entire Sect. The entire Pill Hall was located in one building, which was the second largest building after the main Heavenly Lightning Sect Palace. It was a massive building that looked extremely wide pagoda, and dwarfed all the other buildings nearby. It had pure white walls, with light blue colored eaves.
Its walls stretched over a mile wide in each direction, and several thousands yards tall. It had grand spires, intricate carvings, and majestic statues located all throughout the outside, from the base of the building to the top of the roof. John stared in awe at the building for some time before he decided to enter.
An incredibly busy steam of cultivators flowed in and out of the building every second. It was the most foot traffic John had seen at any of the buildings in the sect, which showed how important the Pill Hall was.
John walked towards the main entrance of the building, which was over one hundred yards wide and tall, allowing for the large amount of cultivators to enter and exit unimpeded.. Two grand statues, of one of man and one of a woman, lined each side of the doorway. Both were over fifty yards tall. They wore luxurious robes, and both exuded a lofty air.
John stared at the statues for a moment before he entered the Hall. A massive atrium greeted him as he entered, and thousands upon thousands of cultivators could be seen within. There were dozens of tables in the center of the main lobby, acting as information booths for cultivators looking for various things within the Hall.
John got in one of the lines, and after a short wait, arrived in front of the desk.
"How may I help you?" the person at the desk asked John.
"I have a fruit I would like to be turned into a pill. How do I go about doing that?" John asked respectfully.
"Qi Condensation special requests are located on the second floor, room 212. The stairs are located at the back of the atrium."
John thanked the woman and walked towards the stairs. He arrived on the second floor, looking both ways in awe. The hallways, which were a hundred yards tall and wide, stretched for over a mile in each direction. He followed the signs to the room the woman identified, and quickly entered.
Just like the first floor, there were several tables, each containing an Elder or a disciple sitting behind them. John got into one of the lines again, and eventually got to the table.
"What is your request," the Elder in charge asked in a somewhat dismissive tone.
He was used to disciples wasting his time with requests that were not worthwhile, and had become quite indifferent to this whole process.
"I have an Undying Vitality Fruit that I would like to have turned into a pill," John replied, getting straight to the point.
The man's eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed back down.
"Are you joking with me? If you're going to play jokes, move along and don't waste my time."
John frowned at the man's response.
"What? No, I'm not joking. I truly have an Undying Vitality Fruit. See!"
The fruit suddenly appeared in John's hands. It emanated an aura of vibrancy and life, filling the room with a refreshing feeling. The eyes of all those in the room immediately turned to look at the fruit in stunned silence.
The Elder at the desk looked at the fruit in a stunned fashion as well.
"It..it truly is the Undying Vitality Fruit. How..how did you obtain this?" The man asked in an excited tone.
"Does it matter? I just want it turned into a pill," John replied bluntly.
"No, I suppose it does not. Follow me," the Elder Replied. He closed his table, and instructed John to follow him out of the room and up higher into the pagoda.
"Why are we heading this way? Aren't there alchemists on the second floor for Qi Condensation grade pills?" John asked in a confused manner.
Alchemists had a different ranking system from normal cultivators, and it was predicated on what grade pill they could create. John knew of the starting levels of alchemy grades, which were Pill Pupils, which could create Mist Creation grade pills. Pill Adepts, who could create Qi Condensation Pills, then Pill Barons, and finally Pill Kings, which could create Meridian Forging grade pills.
His knowledge was limited to that level regarding alchemy ranks, but from what he knew of the Pill Hall, each floor represented an alchemy grade. The second floor would contain Pill Adepts, who would make the Qi Condensation pills for the sect. As such, he had expected someone on that floor to make the pills for him.
"One of our Pill Emperors has been looking for the Undying Vitality Fruit as a complementary ingredient for something he's wanted to create for quite some time now, but no one on the continent has been able to find any in the past few years," The Elder explained briefly.
John was surprised to hear such a thing, but nodded his head in understanding.
'If it's this important, maybe I can get even more out of this fruit than I had originally intended. And a Pill Emperor? I suppose that's a grade above a Pill King. Amazing!'
The two of them ascended the stairway for some time, and eventually arrived on the fifth floor, which was much more grand and luxurious than the second floor.. The amount of cultivators on the fifth floor was much less than the floors below, and only a few cultivators could be seen walking about here and there. They all exuded tremendously powerful aura's, slightly stunning John.
"This is the room. Follow me, and be respectful," the Elder instructed. John nodded his head and followed closely behind. As soon as they entered the room, an incredibly powerful divine sense washed over John, nearly forcing him and the other Elder to their knees.
"You dare interrupt my alchemy session?"
