"Little brother… that was too strong," Liu Xin said as he tried to stand still, his head still hurting a bit.
Alex looked at Liu Xin, feeling a little guilty. "I'm sorry, Senior Brother. I should have told you when I was going to attack," he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"It's okay. In fact, it's better this way since I get to see the actual effect of the attack. And I must say, it's stronger than I would've expected. However, are you sure you can win against the disciples in the higher realms?" he asked.
"Higher realms? Wouldn't this work well against anyone without spiritual sense?" he asked.
"I don't think so, Junior Brother. I think you are mistaking the spiritual sense for mental strength. One can have high mental strength without having a spiritual sense. I don't know if the other way around is possible or not, but anyone who is in the Mind Tempering realm should be able to get back up from your attack within 10 seconds. Unless you can somehow beat them to a victory in the 10 seconds, I don't think you will be fine while fighting against them," Liu Xin said.
Alex was left speechless for a few seconds. 'That's right. Mind Tempering does increase the mental strength of a cultivator, and Heaven's impact's description does say that the damage is the difference between our mental prowess. Although gaining spiritual sense might have increased my mental prowess quite a bit, that doesn't mean that other people won't have it as well,' he thought.
Seeing that he was silent for quite a while, Wen Cheng finally spoke. "Stop scaring little Yu. Don't worry, little Yu. There are only 7 disciples in the Mind Tempering realm and one of them is your senior sister. So effectively, you only have these 6 to worry about. And they won't be able to come after that easily without the entire sect learning about their masters trying to silence an inner sect disciple."
"Oh," Alex finally stopped thinking. He felt like a load had been taken off of his mind.
"However, we should still think of something." Wen Cheng started to think of ideas to keep the elders away from his disciple.
Just then, Alex spoke once more. "Umm… Master? I don't think we will have to do anything actually. At least, not for the next 2 weeks. Perhaps, even more, depending on the competition."
"What are you planning little brother?" Luo Mei inquired.
"Nothing really. I just thought I will go back to Hong Wu Sect tomorrow evening. After that, the Elders should be unable to do anything to me right? Also master said that the annual competition is coming up next, and I will have to prepare for that. I have ignored Alchemy for quite a while now. I might be getting rusty."
Wen Cheng thought for a while and said. "Hmm… Alright, that makes sense. Although there are still 2 more days, I don't think there is anything you can do by staying here. At least back in Hong Wu Sect, you could get a little better in alchemy."
The others in the room nodded as well.
"Oh, now that I think about it, I don't remember asking this, but how is your alchemy training. Have you made any progress? If not, you can leave the Hong Wu sect and come here. You have shown so much progress that you will definitely be somebody big in the future by staying here." He tried to steal Alex away from Hong Wu Sect.
Alex chuckled a little. "Don't worry master. I have made quite a bit of progress. Me studying is more than worth it," he said.
"Oh, you act like you've made quite a few earth-grade pills by now. How many have you made?" Wen Cheng asked.
Alex tried to remember, but it took him a lot of time to. "What's wrong?" Wen Cheng asked," are you not answering because you have not made any yet?"
"Oh, no master. It's just that I have made so many that it's hard to remember exactly how many. But it should be over 200 by now."
As if a noise-removing formation had just been employed in the room, everyone went silent. Only after a while did Luo Mei finally manage to speak. "Umm… Junior Brother, did you say you made 200 Earth grade pills?" she asked.
"Is that so surprising? I thought you guys knew I was talented. Didn't master tell you anything?" he asked as he turned towards Wen Cheng.
Wen Cheng's eyes were wide. He shook his head a little and said, "No. She only mentioned that you were talented. After seeing your speed in cultivation and learning new techniques, I thought I knew what she meant."
"Oh, ok well, that was what she meant then," he said. He didn't know what else to say.
"What is the highest harmony of the earth-grade pills you've made?" Luo Mei asked.
"Hmm…49," Alex said.
"""49??!""" All 3 of them shouted at once.
"You've made pills with 49% harmony?" Luo Mei shouted.
"How many of such pills have you made, little brother?" Liu Xin asked.
"When did you manage to make such a pill so fast?" Wen Cheng asked with his eyes wide.
"One at a time please," Alex said. "Yes, I've made a 49% harmony pill. I have only made one of such a pill, however, there are a few that came close to it among the different earth grade pills."
"Why are you guys so hung up on it though? It's not even my best pill." Alex had a smile on his face.
Suddenly a thought ran through the heads of all the three master disciples. Even Meng Yun in the back had her eyes nearly pop out when she heard this.
"Uhh… Little brother, you don't mean to say that… uh…" Liu Xin never finished the sentence.
"Yes. Just before I left the Hong Wu sect to come here. The last pill I made there was a Heaven grade pill with exactly 50% harmony."