Chapter 109: Life 62, Age 80, Martial Master 1
I worked with Prince CaoHan every day to try and increase his cultivation as swiftly and perfectly as possible, but some limits were hard to surpass.
While I stabilized his qi filter as he cultivated, alleviating him of that burden, the prince still found it difficult to draw in significant quantities of qi. This was due to lacking experience, lacking affinities, and the fact that he was trying to drag it through a perfect filter which required considerably more pressure.
His anger and frustration over his situation drove him to dedicate himself to harsh cultivation every day. Still, at the end of our first year together, he had only reached Martial Disciple 4. Since each stage became more difficult and took longer, there was a risk that he wouldn’t be able to reach Martial Master by 20 and qi stagnation would set in.
The prince’s solution to this problem was straightforward. He was allowed a stipend of Qi Gathering Pills from the palace, and he planned to use them to push his cultivation forward as fast as possible. This wasn't a terrible idea, but when I saw the pills he was given, I had to convince him to find a different path.
“My prince,” I said, pleading with him, “you were given Mid-Purity pills. If you use those, it will cause severe damage to your foundation. We can find a better way. Let’s at least go out and purchase High-Purity pills.”
He seethed at my entreaty. “Do you have any money for pills? What do they cost? A gold each? Do you have that much money? I have none!”
Why hadn’t the palace given him better pills? Even Perfect Rank 1 pills would have cost them practically nothing, but they had given the prince pills that would ruin his foundation and he had no choice but to take them.
I wanted to step forward and offer my services as an alchemist, but I couldn’t. I was already risking too much simply by training the prince as I had. Being a skilled teacher was one thing, being a trained alchemist would be entirely different. The palace would have to take notice at that point.
“Let’s continue,” he grunted, taking his place in the center of the main hall.