The Urban Dao Child

Yang Dao rushed to the kitchen, asked the service disciple there to make him something to eat. Alisha was a golden core practitioner and she was meditating at this hour. Although she was his aide, she was allowed free time for herself.

The boy ate his fill as he sat inside the kitchen only. While watching the aunt cook food, he realized something. As he ate his brain was flooded with thoughts. He thought, 'If I depend on others too much, it will definitely cost me gravely at some point in time. Grandpa and Sect Master are still individuals, hmmm, should get a force of my own. But how?'

He ate food with such thoughts rolling inside his mind. He thanked the Aunty and left the kitchen with his hands tied behind his back. Unknowingly, he came outside the cloud palace and slowly strolled on the pathway. The boy did not pay attention to his surroundings since he was lost in thoughts.

A lot of people spotted him walking around lost in a daze, but they did not say anything. Suddenly, Yang Dao heard a calm voice from the side, "Brother Yang, are you lost?"

Yang Dao snapped out of his daze and turned his consciousness towards the source of the noise and found Athena Olympus standing next to him. She had a faint smile on her face, looking at him with her twinkling eyes. The boy fell into a momentary daze before he regained his composure. He shook his head and said, "Ummm, I did not notice when I walked this far. Can you tell me where this place is? Sister Athena?"

They were disciples who joined the sect together so they did not call each other junior or senior. Athena heard his words and the intensity of her smile increased by two folds, she said, "This is the alchemy peak. Would you like to take a tour?"

Yang Dao thought about it and said, "Since I have walked so far, why not? I will pay respects to Elder Jing as well."

Athena nodded and said, "Come, I will take you around."

She then turned around wearing her brown and green-streaked hanfu. This was her uniform as the prime disciple of the alchemy sect. The robe seemed to have become more elegant after she wore it. Yang Dao followed her as the two chattered about trivia. The girl told him a lot of things about alchemy, such as the knowledge regarding herb recognition and what was needed in order to become an alchemist.

Yang Dao listened to it all carefully and nodded from time to time. He said, "So, in a nutshell, you need to have a fire spirit root to control the fire and then a high degree of control over spirit energy manipulation. Otherwise, you cannot be an alchemist."

Athena nodded and said, "Correct. Alchemist, Refiners, and other additional streams are respected by the people. In someplace, being an alchemist is more prestigious than to be a cultivator."

Yang Dao nodded to her explanations and came to understand that the additional professions were very vast and only some people can be successful in them. As the two people were chatting, Yang Dao developed realized another thing to form his own force, quality over quantity. He kept on chatting with Athena and did not really pay mind to anything around him.

The passing disciples all saw them talking and moving around the alchemy peak with sweet smiles on their faces. Athena was amiable towards everyone, but she did not accommodate or show such warmth to anyone. This gave the male students an envious feeling towards Yang Dao. The two did not know that a lot of people had tagged them as a couple.

...

After a tour around the peak, Athena brought Yang Dao inside a building that had a plaque writing Alchemy Guild. The aura radiated from the plaque looked gentle and the boy was examining it with great curiosity. Athena said, "This was written by the ancestor of the sect, try not to radiate any ill intent or the aura will strike the consciousness."

Yang Dao nodded, and Athena led him inside the building. A lot of disciples were present inside the building. Athena explained to Yang Dao that some were here to buy spirit pills while some were here to accept the tasks of the alchemy hall to help them procure the materials in exchange for sect points.

She bought him to the upper floors of the building to have him meet Elder Jing Shui. They came to a wooden door and Athena knocked on it gently. A calm voice sounded from behind the door, "Come in."

Athena pushed open the door and went inside, after a few seconds she opened the door and called Yang Dao inside as well. The boy walked inside and spotted Elder Jing Shui, wearing a smoky white robe, looking at him with a faint smile. Yang Dao bowed to her and said, "I have seen Edler Jing."

Elder Jing replied, "Welcome to the alchemy pavilion, Disciple Yang."

Yang Dao said, "Elder, you can call me Dao."

Elder Jing nodded and asked, "So, did you come here to seduce my little disciple?"

Athena was surprised and said, "Master..." her face was flushed with a slight tint of crimson.

Yang Dao tilted his head and said, "I was thinking about recruiting her in my team for the future, but what does seduce mean?" he asked very innocently.

He was a child and had been watched over by his elders. So, he was an innocent soul in true means. The elder was surprised and only now did she realize that this boy was a child. She smiled and shook her head as she said, "Nothing. So, you want to invite my disciple to your team? But what will your team do?"

Yang Dao said, "We will help each other in advance on the path of cultivation. Moving forward alone is boring. Also, I believe that quality is better than quantity."

Elder Jing nodded and said, "I will leave the matter of you youngsters to be dealt by you but do not harm her. Or..." her soft and warm aura became cold and sharp all of a sudden, but before it reached Yang Dao the aura vanished.

The boy was not affected but he could still see that if he was targetted by this aura it will kill him easily. He nodded to the elder and asked, "Elder, can I take the test to see if I can be an alchemist?"

This sentence surprised the two females inside the room. They did not expect him to say such a thing. However, Jing found it amusing and nodded. She said, "Come, I will personally watch over your test."

Yang Dao had decided that while he developed his forces, he must develop himself as well.