Chapter 16.1 – The Red-Tinted Rock

Sher meditated on the terrace in front of her home. With a flick of her wrist, a blood-red pill appeared in her hand, rich aroma and refined spiritual energy wafted from the pill. She popped it in her mouth, rolling it around with her tongue before carefully nibbling it with her teeth.

Neither examination with her eyes, nor nose, not even taste or feel, suggested there was anything wrong with it. She had also confirmed that with her Divine Sense, though she avoided any advanced applications. She swallowed.

The pill slid down her throat and settled in her stomach, where it started to unravel. Refined spiritual energy began spreading through her body, the White Tiger Blawan seized it and guided it, carefully distributing the nourishing, fortifying energy to all her organs. Her skin became even clearer, her sight sharper, and her lean muscles more efficient. Even her auburn hair gained a new luster, and her fingernails grew healthier and harder.

Yet, the pill continued to release its vital energy. Her cycling sped up, and the supply of energy met her demands. With every breath, a tiny amount escaped from her mouth. Sher slightly adjusted the breathing technique, her cycling shifted ever so slightly. And the cultivation continued, fully efficient and an order of magnitude more effective than any other session in this life.

In such manner, her cultivation continued day after day, her supply of pills dwindling. And each day, she reaped the benefits. Her Sea of Qi expanded, filling with spiritual energy; her body was perfected. The techniques and Arts in her arsenal improved by the very fact that the source powering and limiting them, strengthened and advanced.

At one point, the disciple named Shi Shi approached her home, flaring her cultivation base—now at peak Qi Condensation realm. Sher unleashed her own cultivation, revealing that her aura had surged from the mid-stage all the way to the late-stage, barely a half-step from the peak.

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Shi Shi coughed, her aura dying down, and she changed her route slightly, finally calling out a greeting to a surprised disciple nearby.

The sun reached its zenith and Sher stretched contentedly. In these twenty days, her cultivation progressed incredibly. It was time to check with Mortimael to see if the next batch was ready.

Leaving Divine Sense mark on her home out of habit, she flew to the hamlet. Or rather, to the Beast Peak beyond it, to indulge in a little tigerwatching to commemorate her progress.

The earlier encounter with Shi Shi shifted her thoughts to Lars. She could have asked Senior Sister Li what became of him after their arrival at the sect. Her thoughts ran from Lars to his origin, to his Master and finally to the dubious gift she had received.

Sher outstretched her hand and the red-tinted rock materialized in her grasp.

“What do you scheme, little stone?” she murmured, lightly tossing the stone and nimbly catching it back. Her eyes wandered to the mountainside, searching for some tigers.

Unfortunately, she found no reprieve.

She alighted on the ground at the base of the peak. Assuming meditative pose, she looked at the rock again. Scrutinizing every detail, inspecting every notch, the rock remained just that: a rock. She could find nothing unusual—no runes, no etchings, no inlaid metals or gems. The rock exuded no Qi. It did not move, it did not make a sound, it didn’t even roll on its own on her outstretched palm.

‘A mundane rock indeed…’ Sher mused, not amused. She hated it for this.

At last, she directed her Divine Sense at the rock. It wasn’t much of a mundane rock.

A voice began to speak in her head, gruff as rocks grinding against each other.

She didn’t listen, as the rock itself rose from her grasp, her cultivated strength nowhere near potent enough to hold it, to even slow it down. It neared her head, a will, a sense, an intent.

She redoubled her efforts, snatching it again, wrestling it, to no effect at all. The rock floated closer like a single-stone avalanche.

Her spiritual energy rose, flared, and focused, trying to take hold, to will it, to force it, to stop.

The Qi refined, doubling then tripling the space between the rock and her self. And the rock approached.

Her Divine Sense slashed, splitting and slitting the will vested in the rock. And the rock came, nearing her forehead, unbothered by her desperate fight.

The will behind the rock sought out the moment of her utmost weakness, as it reached into her very being.