Chapter 408: Halfway
Focusing on the circulation technique always sped up the passage of time, at least from the cultivator’s perspective.
Liam subconsciously kept track of the alternation between day and night, but didn’t really care. As long as nothing buzzed in his mind, he wouldn’t move, and that was exactly what happened until every trace of the slime or the dark-green fumes disappeared.
At that point, Liam stood up, stretching the stiffness out of his body, experiencing a sense of strength beyond his wildest imagination. Of course, he knew where it came from. He had kept track of it throughout his training.
Liam’s mind went to his reddish canvas, where he saw a vast array of thick, healthy roots that would put real trees to shame. His number of fully developed minor roots had risen to fifty-one, crossing his halfway mark in the rooting stage.
That wasn’t the end. A cultivation’s growth wasn’t homogeneous, so plenty of Liam’s forty-nine remaining protuberances had stretched significantly, joining the fully developed ones, and he felt them all.
Liam was drowning in power. His body felt impossibly strong and firm. Even his meridians’ capacity had expanded, which his high-grade circulation technique flooded with Qi, with no internal pressure whatsoever.
Liam couldn’t check how quickly his core produced Qi since everything was at full capacity, but his reserves felt immense, far more than double compared to when the isolated training started.
After all, the more a cultivation grew, the better nutrients it required, meaning that it stored more energy per minor root. It wasn’t anywhere near an exponential increase, but it remained a gradual trend that Liam couldn’t help but notice in his case due to how meaningfully he had improved.
Of course, hell was waiting for Liam. The kind of poisonous powder he would have to concoct to continue growing would be incredibly expensive, but such was his challenge.
If anything, for once, Liam didn’t mind his absurd requirements because they would translate into unparalleled strength, and he wanted that to bend the world to his needs.
Liam withdrew his attention from his cultivation since thinking about the world brought his gaze to the sky. It was morning, but clouds covered the sunlight. He smelled the rain that would come later that day, but his mind only had room for a threat.
’You should hope that you had nothing to do with my family,’ Liam warned the Heavens, scoffing internally as he lowered his gaze.
The swamp was no more, but its mark had remained. Dead, empty soil stretched in every direction, like a vast, permanent scar on the mountain slope.
The environment couldn’t claim Liam’s attention. The world had simply paid the price for his growth. He cleaned himself with a talisman and donned a pair of black trousers, the half of a black jade in his hand as he shot down the mountain.
The experience brought Liam up to speed with his significant improvements. He felt as if the ground under his feet would break if he weren’t careful. Distances that had begun to lose meaning saw their value shrink even further.
The world kept trying to apply its brittle suppression on Liam, but remained in one piece only because he decided so.
No answer came from the black jade, but Liam saw it once he reached the mountain’s base. There was a rectangular hole in the ground, which closed as soon as he jumped into it.
The underground hall was exactly as Liam had left it. There was just a new pile of spirit stones waiting for him.
As for Grace, she was on her feet on a mat, wearing a tight training robe, her hair tied in a bun, her eyes slightly wide. Going by her attire and the scent permeating the hall, she seemed to have stayed inside for a while.
"Was I out for long?" Liam asked. Without him making more alchemical products, Grace had nothing to sell, justifying such a long stay.
Grace didn’t immediately reply. She gulped, redness flushing her cheeks, overwhelmed by what she was seeing.
Liam knew about his change in mindset and power, but Grace was the first to experience its effect on people. She was also the closest to him, making the difference extremely noticeable.
Liam’s presence felt heavy, dense, and dangerous. He had always looked strong, but he was almost suffocating now, his gaze intense, pressing down on Grace.
Of course, what would terrify others had the opposite effect on Grace. She actually had to collect herself a bit before she could provide an answer.
"Three months," Grace eventually replied, performing an elegant curtsy. "Master, welcome back. Forgive me for my unbecoming appearance."
"You can’t look unbecoming even if you tried," Liam genuinely said, walking toward the pile of spirit stones.
There were around a hundred thousand spirit stones, which Liam casually stored while running a different math. Twenty-six minor roots in three months meant over one minor root per week, which was Liam’s greatest training speed to date.
’Even if I want to repeat it,’ Liam calculated, ’I’ve almost built total tolerance to the Master’s Pride. Unless I greatly improve the recipe, I can’t achieve the same training speed, and the requirements from this point onward might make that impossible in the first place.’
There was a limit to how many rank 2 ingredients Liam could add to a recipe. Even then, there was only the third rank beyond peak-rank 2 alchemical products.
Chances were Liam couldn’t achieve such significant growth in a single training session anymore, not in the rooting stage, at least. He had advanced too deeply into it, so his current requirements wouldn’t allow it.
"Master, I’ve finished unloading the inheritance’s surplus," Grace announced as she reached Liam’s side. "I’ve also delivered some products to our friends from the Heavenly Sword Cult."
Liam turned in time to catch Grace undoing her bun, and his hands just moved on their own.
Grace inhaled sharply when her feet left the floor. She found herself in Liam’s arms, with him princess-carrying her to her previous mat, sitting down before placing her between his legs.
Liam placed a hand on Grace’s waist and pulled her closer, summoning his comb next, starting a brushing session that hadn’t happened in over half a year.
Everything had happened too quickly for Grace to keep up, but her lips soon curved into a smile. She placed a hand over the one still on her waist, leaning deeper on Liam’s chest.
"Master Liam, I seem to understand that you missed me," Grace teased.
"I did," Liam calmly admitted. "I’m sorry for making you wait for so long."
"Your prized possession is more than willing to wait if money and spoiling await her," Grace chuckled, closing her eyes to immerse herself in the brushing. "And I had plenty to keep myself busy with."
"Mairis?" Liam wondered.
"The three families pestered me quite a bit," Grace confirmed. "They are starving for our next business proposal. If you need more ingredients, I’m confident I can get a significant discount."
Liam and Grace didn’t really need anything right now. What they had kept from the inheritance covered their needs and more. Unless they wanted to earn more from turning ingredients into products, they had no use for Mairis.
Hearing that, Liam mentally prepared himself to make his move. He had kept Grace waiting for over seven months, and there seemed to be nothing going on, but she said something that switched his gears.
"And our friends from the Heavenly Sword Cult sent news that rank 3 ingredients have appeared," Grace added. "They wondered if we were interested in teaming up to seize them."
Grace felt herself being pulled closer to Liam and the brushing stop. She looked up, finding black eyes staring back at her with an intensity that smelled a lot like money.
"Let’s take them," Liam declared.
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