200: Core Mountain

Core Mountain

1Alex gave the guidebook a general look-through. It didn't have anything that would pertain to him, other than the fact that he could be an elder if he ever made  50 pills over 35% in harmony or a Heaven-grade pill.

It also marked the location of the Pill Swines, but he already knew where it was now. 

The only new thing he really got to know was the general location of the forbidden fields. But the map was vague about it for some reason. It didn't mark any specific places. 

'Is that because it's big?' he wondered. 

He walked down to the base of the mountain and walked left to go to the core disciple's mountain.

Now that he was a core disciple, he felt like there were more eyes on him, looking at him with slight respect. Alex didn't let it get to his head, however, and walked directly to the core mountain. 

Looking at his robes, the elders that stood guard didn't block him at all. Alex remembered the way to his house and walked along the pathway, keeping all locations in mind. 

He looked at the houses along the way, however, none of it were inhabited. 

"Hmm… is that what brother Kong told me? Everyone gets put into the houses in order of their entry to the core mountain. So right now, I must have the final inhabited house." 

He walked along the way and finally reached his house. From the outside, it didn't look like anything fancy at all. It looked just like the hundreds of other homes lined by its side. 

However, he wanted to check how it was on the inside. The door had a similar system to the one in the Alchemy hall, wherein he could place his nameplate on the door frame and it would open up.

He walked inside to check the interior, but it was hardly worth talking about compared to his home in the sect leader's mountain. 

"At least it has an alchemy room too," he thought. He walked to the back of the house and saw that it also had a courtyard with a pool in it. Although both were much smaller when compared to his other house, they weren't that bad. 

After checking it all, he decided that he liked his other home better and prepared to leave. 

He took the nameplate out of the outside and walked out. 

"You should be fine staying here now that all the furniture and stuff has been transported. Do you want me to wait here with you for your sister to come back?" a voice came from a house over.

"Yes, I will be fine. Although, I won't mind if you wait with me," A girl's voice came. 

Alex didn't even have to look to see who it was. 

"Brother Kong, it's good to see you again," he said as he walked out of the house. He then turned to Zhou Mi and said, "It's good to see you've settled in already Sister Zhou Mi."

"Ah, Brother Yu," they both shouted when they saw him. 

"You are here finally. I was waiting for you. Congratulations on becoming a Core disciple, Brother Yu," Kong Yuhan said. 

"I was quite surprised to see you become a core disciple too, Brother Yu. Congratulations," Zhou Mi said. 

"Thank you," he simply said.

"How did you get so good at alchemy? Were you hiding your abilities when you met me?" Kong Yuhan asked. 

"Uhh… I don't think it will be appropriate of me to reply that with anything. Sorry brother Kong," Alex said. He didn't want to lie and say that he was good from the very start, or tell the truth and reveal his talents here. 

Kong found it a little weird that he wouldn't answer a simple question, but decided to think nothing about it. 

"By the way, did you go back to take your stuff too?" Zhou Mi asked, trying to change the topic at hand.

"Uhh… no. I won't be staying here, I got a different place," Alex said. 

"Where are you going, Brother Yu? It can't be that you are going to go back to the outer sect, right? Are you leaving the sect for another few weeks?" Kong asked. 

"I… " before Alex could even answer anything, a voice came from behind him. 

"He is going back to the Sect Leader's mountain. He has a place there after all."

Alex sighed. He had sensed her coming, but he didn't expect her to reveal such information. 

"Isn't that correct? Sect leader's disciple?" Zhou Mei asked. 

"Sect leader's… disciple?" Kong Yuhan was shocked. Zhou Mi gasped as well. 

"Yes. He is the sect leader's first and only disciple. I had my suspicions after seeing his techniques today, so I went to my masters to ask them, but it seemed that they were already in the know. "

"In fact, most of the elders in the sect are in the know that he is the sect leader's disciple by now," Zhou Mei said. 

Alex heard a bit of hatred and jealousy in her voice and was confused for a second if he had ever offended her to get such a response. 

"Yes, that is me," Alex said. "Can I do something to help you?" 

"Yes, in fact, you can. Stop using the fact that you are a sect leader's disciple as a reason for getting all the different techniques to learn. Some of us here had to struggle for years and still haven't been able to gather enough contribution points for the Flickering Shadows technique, and you've already learned it."

"You must've gotten it months ago and hid your identity from the public, didn't you? Why did you become a core disciple now? Was it to take part in the competition?"

"If so, you better forget about it. Disciples are chosen based on their Alchemy ability. A new core disciple like you can't match up to anyone."

Zhou Mei grabbed her sister and went inside her sister's house, leaving Alex and Kong speechless outside. 

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