Aimless Ascension

"Are you able to understand how to use Auoana's Scarf?"

"I haven't tried it yet," Wang Li answered, "but I think I can do something with it."

"Why don't we try it now?" As Gale finished, a bun dropped on his hand out of nowhere. "Here, enhance this."

Wang Li narrowed her eyes, peering at the bun. It appeared excellently baked, probably something cooked up by the master practitioner. Even without having a fate lock like her, a master practitioner could do a thing or two to raise the flavour using their Qi. Which made it difficult for her to do anything surprising.

Still, she tried. Wang Li closed her eyes and focused on the mark on the centre of her chest. Shortly, golden mist materialised out of her hand as it circled around the bun in her palm. The mist twisted together to form a thin scarf, enveloping the bun.

Wang Li opened her eyes and transferred her newly accumulated Life and Plant Qi into the bun. The process was slow and deliberate. She had to be absolutely focused on this transfer to not ruin the bun.

For around two minutes, Wang Li continued pouring in Qi as sweat dripped from her forehead. Her face got red and she finally withdrew the scarf.

Auoana's Scarf turned into golden mist and vanished back into her body. Unwittingly, Wang Li touched the centre of her chest.

"This is as far as I can do currently," Wang Li said, wiping her forehead. "I barely accumulated enough Plant and Life Qi to do this."

Gale could see her mind calculating how much she would need to start brewing wine and repay her grandma back.

"Let me taste the bread," Gale said, and took the bun from her palm. "Let's see what you have improved in it."

Gale tore a piece of it and put it into his mouth. He chewed with a contemplative expression.

"This is clumsy work," he said, earning a groan from Wang Li. "Obviously, you haven't managed to intricate the Qi to the bun, nor have you managed to improve the flavour--"

Wang Li slapped him on the shoulder as Gale protested in the pretence of being hurt.

"Are you always this demanding?" Wang Li barked at him. "And I'm not even your disciple."

"Let me finish, will you," Gale said and took another bite of the bun. "If you want empty words of encouragement find someone else, but if you really want to improve then hear me out."

"It's barely my first try," Wang Li sulked.

"Well, it's passable for the first try," Gale said. "Obviously you have no experience in it and enhancing something already cooked is outside of your league. Should I give you my personal cookbook, you can learn a thing or two from that and improve faster?"

Wang Li raised an eyebrow. "Your cookbook?"

"Yup," Gale said. "I wrote about all my experiences in all things related to cooking. There are a bunch of original recipes, but mostly how to intricate Qi on different types of ingredients and raise their flavour. I tried wine brewing too, but that hadn't achieved anything yet."

"When do you find to learn all these things?" Wang Li couldn't help but ask. "Didn't learning all those scripts take a lot of time? And you're already a master at it? Oh, don't tell me you're one of those hundred years old and managed to keep your youth through ranking up."

"Honesty, I do feel like an Oldman on some mornings, but in truth, I'm not that much older than you," Gale said and turned to Xiaolin.

"How much is not much?" Wang Li wasn't convinced.

Gale didn't answer her, but addressed his disciple. "Linlin, you're done for now. Come taste what your elder sister modified."

"Master, I can go on a bit longer."

"Of course, you can, but you won't. Now come back and rest."

Xiaolin abided, albeit a little reluctantly. Gale handed her the bun to taste as she sat down on the porch alongside them.

Xiaolin frowned as she sniffed the bun. "It has your smell in it, elder sister," she said.

"Don't say weird stuff, Linlin."

"But it's the truth." Xiaolin ate a small piece of it as her face changed colour. "This is recovering my stamina quicker."

"Really?" Wang Li was startled as she turned to Gale.

"Well, it's full of Life Qi, and with Xiaolin's constitution, of course, she would get something more than any normal folk," Gale explained. "It's almost like a low-level recovery potion to her."

"This is really great, elder sister," Xiaolin said.

"Great? Your master didn't seem to think so." Wang Li was obviously delighted as she let her tongue out at Gale.

"My standard is a bit higher," Gale chuckled. "The moment you're able to safely treat mortal men's ailments with just a bun, then you'll know you have achieved something with your fate-lock and in my eyes. Anything else is too easy."

Wang Li frowned at his comment and nodded with a sigh.

"What else can you do, elder sister?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Wang Li said. "I could feel the trees in the surrounding area when I was cycling. I think I'll do better in an open environment instead of a cultivation chamber."

Naturally, that's the way to cultivate Plant and Life Qi. The same was true with Earth Qi.

"That is going to be a problem. Your cycling here can damage the garden in the long run," Gale added contemptuously.

"Why so, Master?"

"Basically, what Madam Wang was doing was absorbing the natural Life and Plant attributed energy and making them her own. That presents a lack of natural life energy in the surrounding area, if that accumulates, plants wouldn't get their much-needed energy and eventually withered. Without a proper formation array in place, this garden will wither within a month."

Wang Li's expression grew anxious as she heard him. "Formation array?" She asked. "You can make those right? How much will it cost?"

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