"I didn't know there were other locations in the sect," Alex said.
"There are. However, they only get revealed to you once you have been promoted. You could've learned about the Pill Swines' location if you had read the new maps," Ma Rong said.
"New map?" he wondered for a second what she meant. "Oh, the new guidebook. I should look at it later. Anyway, Master. What is the second method?" he asked.
"The second method is a bit more controversial since it has to do with using the pills on yourself," Ma Rong said.
Alex was both surprised and shocked when he heard this. This wasn't what he had expected. "Experimenting on oneself? Isn't that extremely dangerous, master?" he asked.
"Yes, it is. But you only do that in the last case scenario where you don't have Pill Swines or have zero clues about what your pill does. You read all the pill recipes, right? Then you must know the recipe to the True Nullifying Pill," she said.
"True Nullifying Pill?" he looked into his memories and found a pill with the same name. However, he had never bothered learning or making it since it was a True pill, and all he could make were common rank pills.
"It's a True Rank pill, master. Is it even useful for me?" he asked.
Ma Rong snickered and asked, "What? You think you can make proper new pills before you reach True realm?" she asked. "Besides, you will just use the Pill Swines most of the time due to the limitations of the True Nullifying pill," she said.
Alex recalled the information about the pill.
True Nullifying Pills. Nullifies the effect of any recently taken pills. The pill must be less than 5 minutes old to use and the pill taken recently must also be less than 5 minutes old.
"What's up with the time limitations on both pills for True Nullifying pill to work, Master? He asked.
"Well, the first one is just an assumption. We just assume that a normal pill takes effect immediately and is fully integrated into your system within 5 minutes. It can be more or less depending on the pill."
"The True Nullifying pill, however, is an extremely volatile pill that interacts with the energy on the environment itself and counteracts the energy on the environment to nullify it. In about 10 minutes, it can fully release all of its energy to nullify its surrounding. So it is suggested that we use it within 5 minutes to get more than half of its effect."
"You don't have to worry about it for now. Since you will need True Qi to even approach making this pill. Just focus on practicing normally for now," Ma Rong said.
Alex nodded his head. "What about the exploding problem then master?" he asked.
"Just get some random low-level cauldrons from the sect market. Since you have full authority in the sect, the elders in the sect market will accept Spirit Stones too for those cauldrons," Ma Rong said.
"I see. Thank you, master. I will do that," He said. "However, I will have to lay it off until after the competition."
"Why?" Ma Rong was a little taken aback. "You still have some time unt— Oh, right. You still want to go there?" she asked.
"Yes, master. I really need those yellow jade rocks from the forbidden fields," Alex said.
Ma Rong sighed unable to deny it since she had already allowed him. "Alright. Go to the right alchemy garden tomorrow morning at 6, I will ask Lang Shun to take you to the fields."
"Thank you, Master," Alex said.
"Don't thank me. I'm sending you to your torture. There is nothing for me to be thanked for. Instead, take this time to prepare yourself. You might be fine the first day, but the following days will be the worst days of your life."
Alex got a little scared now. "I thought there was nothing in the forbidden fields. What you are saying is scaring me now, master," he said.
"You are correct. It is a really weird place. We didn't know what to do with it at first when we settled down here decades ago, so the sect leader at that time decided to make it a makeshift prison of sorts. "
"There is nothing in the forbidden fields. This is also why it is the worst. The torture for the first few days is Boredom. However, after a week or two, the reason for torture slowly changes from boredom to hunger. There is barely any food, It's all open so nothing to keep you safe from the elements. And probably the worst of all, there is no Qi."
"Not only is there no Qi, but you also lose all of yours the moment you reach the fields." Ma Rong said.
"Umm…Master. The other disciples were punished so they can't, however, can't I just take my own food and water there?" he asked.
"Yes, you can. However, you can't use a storage bag. It would have to be a mortal bag, and food that won't get bad very fast," Ma Rong said. "I will ask Lang Shun to prepare some for you. You go and prepare for tomorrow," Ma Rong sent him back.
Alex walked out of his master's house and thought about the forbidden fields for a few seconds. There was one problem that he just couldn't tell master because she couldn't understand or relate to it at all.
"God, what am I going to do about logging out? Do I really just leave my body out in the open. Hopefully, I will be perfectly fine since there aren't any animals out there. I should be mostly fine given my body cultivation. I doubt not having Qi will affect my cultivation at all," He thought and walked back to his home
Instead of staying back at his home to prepare for tomorrow, or going to the sect market to buy some low-grade cauldrons, he decided to change his robes and go check out what the core disciple's mountain really looked like.