Chapter 20 - Nine Clouds Wang Lin was also very happy. Although he was kicked from the yard and many honorary disciples ridiculed him throughout the month, he had learned a lot about cultivation. He learned that there were 5 stages: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Forming. In the entire Heng Yue Sect, there were only two Core Formation stage experts. They both lived in the mountain peak, the place with the highest quantity of spiritual energy. They were always behind closed doors, training, and never bothering with the matters of the sect. There were only ten people in the sect who had reached the Foundation Establishment stage. They held the second highest positions and got to enjoy special privileges, such as using any magic treasure they wish. Aside from those people, everyone else was stuck at the Qi Condensation stage. Even Sun Dazhu was only in the 5th layer of Qi Condensation. Cultivation was not only very hard, but also consumed a lot of time. If one possessed inadequate talent, they wouldn’t have enough years in their lifetime to cultivate. Foundation Establishment was even harder than Qi Condensation, as one not only needed enough spiritual energy, but also luck and perception to succeed. Wang Lin knew the importance of spiritual energy. He wanted to quickly recover the stone bead. He may still not have had any spiritual energy in his body, but he believed that as long as he kept drinking the water enhanced by the bead, the process would speed up. The so called Qi Condensation was just collecting spiritual energy 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦 From Sun Dazhu’s reaction, the water the stone bead had been soaked in must contain a large amount of spiritual energy. Thinking about this, Wang Lin became very excited, and forgot about the spring water where he hid the stone bead. There were three gourds full of dew. Those must contain even more spiritual energy. If he drank them, it wouldn’t be worse than the whole month of medication he was taking, most likely even better. That was why he didn’t feel bad about being kicked out. In fact, he felt excitement. He was an inner disciple, so he didn’t have to live in the main courtyard. He could live in any of the five other court yards. He picked a remote house close to the east gate of the courtyard. Inner disciples got different treatment depending on the color of their clothes. He learned from Sun Dazhu in the past month that on the 10th of every month, every inner disciple could go and pick up a fragment of low-grade spirit stone and a Qi Gathering Pill. After saving up 10 spirit stone shards, one could go to any elder to exchange them for a whole low quality spirit stone After Wang Lin cleaned up his house, he didn’t immediately set out to find the stone bead. He was afraid that Sun Dazhu was still spying on him. He continued his normal routine of cultivating at the spring during the day, and continued to cultivate in his home at night. In fact, Sun Dazhu was unwilling to give up. He spied on him for 10 more days before he finally gave up. One month later, Wang Lin sneaked out in the middle of the night. After making many left and right turns in the mountain, he retrieved the stone bead and gourds without anyone noticing. After being careful for a few days, he noticed that there were no abnormalities, and was finally able to relax. He no longer went to the spring, but stayed home to study the stone bead all day. Wang Lin touched the bead and immediately noticed that the number of clouds had increased from seven to nine. It must have been because of the high humidity in the mountain, allowing the bead to absorb a lot of water. As for the three gourds, as Wang Lin opened them, he found that the dew inside them had become sticky, especially the one that contained the morning dew. It had almost become jelly-like. Wang Lin looked at the stone bead, then at the three gourds. He started to become excited. If the stone bead needed to absorb water, what if the water from the three gourds was used? Would it cause the 10th cloud to appear? His heart skipped a beat. The bead was already really small. Currently, the nine clouds covered almost the entire bead. There was only a fingernail sized space left on the bead. Wang Lin guessed that that’s where the 10th cloud will be. We pondered a little. In his heart, he really wanted to know what would happen once it had ten clouds. There was no more space for an 11th cloud, so the 10th must be the final one. But today was the day to pick up the spirit stone fragment. Wang Lin noticed it was getting dark outside. He stored the stone bead and gourds in his bag of holding before leaving the room. He now knew the sect very well. After a while, he arrived at the main courtyard. He quickly sprinted toward the pill house before it got dark. Before he got there, he heard a familiar voice from the distance. “Apprentice-sister Zhou, master allowed me to go into closed door training for three months to charge for the first layer of Qi Condensation, but I keep thinking of you. I wasn’t able to calm my heart the whole time! I wanted to quickly reach the first layer of Qi Condensation just so I could see you. Last night, I finally reached the first layer of Qi Condensation, so I rushed out to gather this flower for you in the mountains. Look at how pretty the flower is. There was a huge snake guarding the flower, so I spend a lot of effort to obtain it. Look, even my elbow was injured because of it.” Wang Lin frowned and stopped. He sneered in his heart and kept going. Then, came a crisp female voice. “Apprentice-brother Wang, my family is a family of doctors. This flower is clearly a very common flower called Asuka. I see many of them when I climb up the mountain. This is the first time I heard a snake would guard it. If it’s true, then our Heng Yue Sect would be filled with snakes. Apprentice-sister Zhou, don’t believe him.” At that moment, Wang Lin walked into the pill house’s courtyard. There were four others in there, two male and two female, all wearing red. One of the males looked very handsome and well groomed. He was very embarrassed and was about to retort, but then he noticed Wang Lin. Suddenly, he stared at the door with an expression of disbelief and said, “Wang Lin! You… Why are you here, you should be at home doing carpenter work with your father!” One of the girls on the side said, “Wang Lin? Ah, so you’re the one that became an honorary disciple by trying to commit suicide, then became an inner disciple by sucking up to Elder Sun!” Her shiny black hair was in a ponytail. She had thick eyebrows and big black eyes. She was very pretty. The other two’s faces were full of shock, stares locked onto Wang Lin. One of the girls had large, child-like eyes, decorated by beautiful eyelashes. Her eyes were like two crystal balls, and they showed a look of interest. Wang Lin’s face was deadpan as he scanned the people in front of him. The moment he heard the girl’s voice, he realized it was the girl who was ridiculing Wang Zhuo. But looking at her, she looked very familiar. Wang Lin thought carefully and remembered that she was the one that had been picked during the disciple selection a few months ago. After recognizing her, he deduced that the other one must’ve been Apprentice-sister Zhou, to whom Wang Zhuo was trying to give the flower.