"Oh right," Alex said as he took out 4 very yellow yang jades from his storage bag. "I managed to get 4. 1 was from a snake's stomach, the other 3 were in the desert. Song Zun had managed to make the disciples find all the other ones by himself," he said.
"I see, and they are full of yang energy too. So much that I kind of feel uncomfortable around it. Anyway, how do you use it again?" Ma Rong asked.
"Like this."
Alex took one of the yang jades and put it in his mouth. Ma Rong immediately started shouting with her eyes wide open, but it was already too late. He had swallowed it.
<You have ingested a 'Yang Jade'>
<Sun God's Divine Yang Body is turning the yang energy in the yang jade to Yang Qi>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 2%>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 3%>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 4%>
The already hot and vigorous Yang Qi in his body started to feel more hot and vigorous.
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 98%>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 99%>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 100%>
<Congratulation, the Yang Qi in your body has been purified and condensed>
<Yang purity at 30%>
The pain was nowhere as intense as he had remembered it. Maybe he was used to being in pain, or maybe his body was strong enough that this little pain was nothing for him.
Either way, he was now perfectly fine even while ingesting a yang jade that completely burned his insides.
"Are… are you okay?"Ma Rong asked with fear in her eyes.
"Of course, master. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," he said as he took another yang jade and devoured it.
<You have ingested a 'Yang Jade'>
<Sun God's Divine Yang Body is turning the yang energy in the yang jade to Yang Qi>
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 2%
.....
<Purifying the Yang Qi in your body… 100%>
<Congratulation, the Yang Qi in your body has been purified and condensed>
<Yang purity at 40%>
And again.
<You have ingested a Yang jade>
...….
<Yang purity at 50%>
And again.
<You have ingested a Yang jade>
...….
<Yang purity at 60%>
Finally, he was out of yang jades.
He looked up to see Ma Rong's shocked face looking at him like she had just seen a ghost.
"How did you eat that many stones and survive?" Ma Rong asked.
"I don't know master. I could always do this from the first day I joined the sect," Alex said.
"You… you— is anything different now then?" Ma Rong asked.
"Different huh?" he thought as he tried to feel his own Qi. It was beyond vigorous now and it felt really dense and viscous now. He Qi had condensed about 40% once more and could thus hold onto a lot more of Qi in general.
Their strength, however, didn't seem to increase all that much. Aside from the first yang jade he ingested, the following once had only benefited him in condensing the Qi, and not really in increasing damage of his skills, however.
'It didn't even go up a realm in strength from what I can feel it,' he thought.
"My Qi is a lot denser now, so I can probably fly much easier now and use Qi manipulation more effectively. Hmm… feels like the cultivation base is the best it can be at this level," he said and opened up the status page. Then, he hit [Breakthrough]
Immediately, he jumped from Organ Tempering 4th realm to Organ Tempering 5th realm. He had been in the realm for a while now, so he felt it was right to increase it now.
Ma Rong was surprised at the random breakthrough no matter how many times she saw it.
"At some point in the future, you are going to give me a heart attack, I swear," she said. "Alright, go and rest or maybe try to stabilize your cultivation base. After that, be ready to leave at 8. I will come to get you," Ma Rong said.
"Yes, master," he said and left her house.
His master was trying her hardest to not show it, but she really was worrying a lot today. Her precious disciple had to kill someone, Someone had infiltrated her sect for some reason, the forbidden fields were increasing in size.
Then there was the fact that she had to now take disciples to the annual sect competition and also make sure to get good points in the competitions to become a 1st-grade sect.
Alex didn't realize exactly what it must be like having so many burdens on oneself, but he promised himself to help her relieve a bit of it.
He couldn't stop the forbidden fields from increasing in size. He couldn't stop the person behind Song Zun from infiltrating. He couldn't stop her from worrying about the different disciples that would be at the capital city.
What he could do was show her that killing someone hadn't changed him for the worse but instead made him better, and he could help the sect win a lot of points at the competition.
Sun was up the horizon and Alex went inside his home. He realized that he was still in the tattered robes and full of sand everywhere. So he took off his clothes and jumped into the pond inside the courtyard.
"Ahh, this feels so good," he said. "Ah right, come out Pearl," he said as he called Pearl in a flash of white light. Pearl appeared for a moment before disappearing from view as he fell underwater.
Alex used Qi manipulation to carry him out and gave him a good bath too, despite his constant disapproval.
After taking a bath for what felt like forever, Alex got out and changed his clothes to the Core disciple's robe that he was given after becoming one.
Not sure when exactly they were to leave, Alex decided to log out and have some breakfast.