In between the cultivation sessions, Alex had come across a problem that scared him. And the problem was that the Yin bead hadn't truly gone dormant.
He wasn't sure what exactly happened, but the Yin bead would pull Qi from his Golden Core, pulling it into itself to generate more Yin Qi.
So, when he took a break from absorbing Yang Qi, the bead would make more Yin Qi when he wasn't fighting it.
Thankfully, the rate at which it happened was so low that it wouldn't even go through 10% of his total Qi capacity in an entire day if he left it as is. When it did go through the 10% of Qi, the amount it would produce would be just 1% in return, but the Yin that did come out would be a grade above normal.
1% or 2% wouldn't do much for Alex, but if he was to go on a few days without cultivating, then the Yin Qi would start causing trouble.
That was the part of the situation surrounding the Yin bead that frightened him. However, it wasn't all bad that came from this situation at all.
One of the minor benefits that he gained from this was that his Qi in his Golden Core was continuously pulled away from it, waiting to be replaced.
Since a Golden Core needed to be continuously washed away and refined with new Qi to improve it, to grow it, the created an opportunity for that to happen, even while Alex wasn't cultivating at all.
As long as he didn't let the Yin Qi build up a lot and took care of it, he could benefit from letting it steal away his Qi to turn to Yin Qi.
And that was only a minor benefit. The Major benefit was something else.
When Alex cultivated the new Yang technique, the Yang he collected would be at a grade not dissimilar to the Yin that the Yin bead would produce. So, when they interacted together, they created neutral Qi that had no other attributes.
However, this wasn't just any normal Qi at all. It was a neutral Qi that was far beyond any neutral Qi that he could collect on his own as it was the result of two very strong extremes of Qi.
And, when this neutral Qi formed in his dantian, unlike the Yang Qi, it knew exactly where to go.
It went to his Golden Core and started improving it, expanding it. The rate at which it refined the Golden core was nearly 20 times as fast as normal. Since the neutral Qi that formed was a mixture of both the strong Yang Qi and Yin Qi that were individually over 10 times stronger, the resulting Qi would be 10 times stronger as well, with the quantity being the combined quantity of both of the Qi.
With such a quality Qi, his Golden Core which was so close to crossing the threshold and becoming 80% as large as the dantian itself, grew insanely quickly.
It didn't look like he was going to reach the threshold right away, but it wouldn't take him more than a week to do so at this rate.
That was a concept more than terrifying to imagine for Alex as it hadn't even been close to a year since he had last broken through.
The veined pills had certainly helped speed up his cultivation in the last decade, which had helped him get so much stronger so quickly. He couldn't help but imagine what would happen if he used them with this new technique.
After thinking for a bit, Alex didn't consider it as good of an idea as he had initially thought. It was still going to be 10 times as helpful as the new Qi would be that much more helpful, but it wasn't going to be as helpful without the Yin Qi that took time to form.
He cultivated over the course of the night and finally managed to erase all the Yin Qi that the Yin bead had formed. It would continue to remain minimally active, and that was fine with Alex.
He could just cultivate when he had the time and wouldn't have to worry about it. He wondered if he could perhaps make pills to counter it, but finding ingredients with such strong energy would certainly be impossible.
By the time he had opened his eyes again, the sun had come back up. He had spent a day searching for the Nightsbane, and a day here. It would take the two girls he had come here with to reach the poison fields where he had promised them he would meet, so he wasn't worried right away.
He stood up from where he sat and looked down in surprise to see most of the grass around him had dried up completely. Had his Yang Qi been that strong?
With no more worry to deal with, he stood a step to go toward the room where the girl was. When he remembered the girl, the worry in his heart returned again.
He had momentarily forgotten about her as his own problem had taken precedence. He couldn't take another step as he feared what was in that other room.
Was that a young girl that he had never seen before? Or was that his master, reincarnated into another body once she died?
And was that truly the Moon Goddess or not? The connection made him feel that it was, but he couldn't tell. He had no idea what the Moon Goddess was supposed to be like.
However, given the connection that his body felt, he had no doubt that it was indeed her. So, was his master truly the previous incarnation of the Moon Goddess?
He didn't know how to feel about all of this. It was all too sudden and confusing and he hoped to just get away from it all. However, he couldn't even bring himself to leave.
What if that was his master? He couldn't just leave if he could meet her again.
Finding the courage in himself to meet his master, Alex moved again, going back to the room. He entered and found the father on a stool, sitting next to his daughter's bed. It didn't look like she was still awake.
"Where is the other guy?" Alex asked.
"I sent him to his room," the father said. "He doesn't need to remain here. I can look after my daughter while she rests."
"How is she doing," Alex asked.
"She's still in a coma, but the Yin problem has vanished completely," he said. He stood up and gave a deep bow. "Thank you for healing my daughter."
Alex smiled. "That's alright," he said. He remembered that it had taken his master quite a few days to come out of the coma as well.
"Stay with her for a while. She might remain in a coma for a few more days. We'll have to see if she needs a pill a few days later," he said.
"I see," the man said. "About the payment. How much do you—"
"SENIOR!" a voice from outside as the young alchemist came running in urgently.
"Why are you shouting?" the man asked angrily.
"She's here," the young man pointed outside. "Your wife. She's here."
