Chapter 58

Uncle Ail sighed. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to continue. Though he didn’t want to say too much, he at least wanted to leave some breadcrumbs for his little nephew. If one day he was old and strong enough to grasp a chance for himself, then he could.

“The meaning behind array alchemy is elusive, but from my studies, I’ve come to understand that understanding of life and plants, and the understanding of arrays and formations, are inextricably connected.

“How can one build a proper array without being in line with the environment around them? The goal of an array is to literally create a new law and order in a limited space. How could you do that without understanding the laws to begin with?

“And what about alchemy? Your goal is to create new life in the form of grafting plants or god-like pills, some of which even have souls of their own. How can you do that without understanding the way of manipulating the laws of the world?”

Eli had heard this speech a million times, but he was captivated by it just the same.

“And yet these so-called novel experts seem to think that separation is the way to go about it. In my opinion, even the rotting main array alchemy branch stands head and shoulders above any formation or alchemy branch.”

Eli smiled, “It’s a shame the clan didn’t agree with you Uncle. We’re stuck in the ways of alchemy, but it bottlenecks our future. Without understanding of arrays and the manipulation of laws, transcending to Grandmaster alchemy is impossible…

“It’s okay though Uncle. Before Dyon…,” Eli took a deep breath, “He left us something. He didn’t forget our little faction. With these array plates he left, we can not only try and comprehend the other half of array alchemy, we can sell them to fund awakening your Aurora to 20%! That way, you can truly become an array alchemist.”

“Don’t be silly little Eli, opening it to 10% will be enough for me. We’ll open yours up to 15%, your potential is much higher than mine is.”

Eli was about to protest when he saw the resoluteness in his Uncle’s eyes. He could only shake his head and smile bitterly.

“That aside Eli, you should also focus on your cultivation. The Elvin world opens tomorrow, and your sister should be here by then. Go in with her. For some reason, they’ve removed the usual quota system this year. It seems they want to find some items and want the most people looking.”

“Really?! I haven’t seen big sister in forever, I miss her. Okay! I’ll go.”

**

“Oliver! You weak fuck! Get out here!” The robust laughter of a fiery red head filled the center pillar roof.

Oliver sighed, “Junior Lehabim, it’s nice to see you.”

“Tsk tsk tsk, already 21 and still in the foundation stage. Isn’t it embarrassing to be of equal strength with your little sister? I would thank you for killing the guy she was in love with, but you’re letting her marry another loser?! I need an explanation! Why is my woman not marrying me!?”

Oliver’s expression darkened, but before he could respond, a deep and resounding voice interrupted him, “You have a lot of nerve Sparky, to claim my goddess as your woman.”

“You want to fight you bald fuck? This Oliver pussy wouldn’t even if I challenged him, but I’m sure you’ve at least opened 9 meridians, right? If not this wouldn’t be any fun,” Lehabim cracked his knuckles.

A vein began to pop on the dark-skinned teen’s shining head, “Say that one more time you half cocked fire imp!”

Lehabim’s Fiery red hair seemed to get brighter as he stormed up to Hashim. He had a smile that wasn’t a smile on his face.

“It seems that balding at such an early age made you senile. You think you can speak that way to just anyone?”

Oliver smiled bitterly, trying to intervene, “Guys, please. You’re valued guests of our Focus Academy, you can’t fight here.”

They both turned to Oliver, eyes burning with fury.

“Shut the hell up Oliver, the only reason I haven’t beaten you to a pulp is because of your sister. But, considering you killed that impotent fuck, I guess she might not protect you so fervently anymore right? Does that mean I can kick your ass without worrying about her hating me?!” Boomed Hashim.

Oliver’s fists clenched. His relationship with his little sister had been his sore spot for the last month. But, he was still a genius in his own right. So what if they’d already broken into the meridian formation stage? He was tempering his wills first to stabilize his foundation.

“We’ll see who tramples on who during the Big Sect tournament,” said Oliver through gritted teeth, “I’m not like you weak so-called geniuses, I want to temper my meridians with three wills, not just one or two. After I find a Wind Intent fruit in the Elvin world, I’ll properly step into the Meridian Formation stage.”

Lehabim and Hashim looked at Oliver with a slight surprise, ‘It seems he’s already understood 2 wills? And wants to understand a third?’

The truth was, the Meridian Formation stage was a Realm of opening 108 meridians. To do so, you had to temper the closed Meridians with your understanding of wills. This increased your affinity with your chosen wills and increased your chances of understanding their respective Intents later on in cultivation, not to mention making your meridians more durable for higher levels of cultivation.

Usually, regular cultivators only understand a single will before using it to temper their meridian openings. A genius would use two. It seemed like Oliver wanted to use three to do so, but his cultivation had slowed down because of it.

“With my current level of understanding of wills, don’t believe that I can’t slice you two in half where you stand,” Oliver’s eyes sharpened as swirls of sword qi flew around him.