Hissing Woods
Hours Later...
Inside the Hissing Woods, it's clear that humans stay out. Luckily, Aurora has lived plenty of years and survived in the wilderness a long amount of that time, she knew how to tread carefully.
Each step was silent, and her head was kept on a swivel.
"Ugh... I miss spiritual sense" Aurora complained to no one in particular.
Spiritual sense is an ability that Spirit Refinement Realm cultivators unlock that allows them to 'see' things around them, and the stronger the cultivators spirit is, the wider the range of sense is.
Finding nothing of particular interest, Aurora decides to head in the direction of the capital while remaining inside the forest, so just in the small chance that people are still looking to kill her or her family she will not be noticed by them.
-----
After walking through the forest for the entire day, only taking breaks for eating, it was finally becoming nighttime.
Normally, Aurora would find a safe place to fall asleep, but as she needed the Nire Moonflower, she had to stay up and search for it.
The Nire Moonflower is a medicinal ingredient that is specifically used for helping damaged meridians. The effects of the Moonflower when used in a pill helps the Qi inside the pill move through the meridians of the person who ingested it, facilitating the healing process and restoring the meridians.
The reason that Aurora suspects that alchemists have not found the usage for the Moonflower is because when it's used in a pill for cultivators, it's pointless, because cultivators already circulate the pills energy through their meridians.
For mortals though, this is the only way to heal damaged meridians, as they cannot circulate the energy from the pill on their own.
Moonflowers specifically grow well in a place with lots of direct moonlight, while staying hidden from direct sunlight, so the Hissing Forest is a great place for them to grow, as the trees block out lots of excess sunlight, and the moonlight can still pierce through the heavy foliage at nighttime.
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Walking around the dark forest under the cover of night, Aurora was in search of the final ingredient.
After search for hours, she finally came across a patch of land that was the perfect spot to grow the Moonflowers. It was a small gap in the trees, and moonlight was constantly flowing down through the dense foliage illuminating the ground.
Right in the middle of all the moonlight was a small flower around the size of a fist. It was silver and looked shiny from all the moonlight landing on it.
Almost ready to cheer, Aurora was planning on picking the flower and leaving to a safer place in the forest, but just as she was about to move out from behind a nearby bush, she noticed something above the flower on one of the branches on a tree.
In the tree was a long, nearly 15 foot snake that blending in with the bark of the tree. If Aurora hadn't done one last check before leaving the bush, she would have surely been killed by this beast.
Almost as if on cue, the snake snapped its eyes open and started flicking its tongue as if it sense her presence. Aurora quickly crouched down farther and halted her breathing. A cold sweat formed on her back, as she knew that if the snake beast found her, she would have no chance at making it out alive.
It slowly slid down the tree to the ground. It began looking for the prey that it sensed earlier, but to no avail, it was unable to find the food.
After what seemed like an eternity, the snake finally got bored of its position, and slid away, moving farther and farther from where Aurora was located.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she couldn't help but want to curse her existence for being a mortal. She hasn't been this weak for tens of thousands of years, what humiliation! If cultivators that she knew from the past found her like this, she would be laughing stock for hundreds of years.
Slowly creeping towards the Moonflower, as soon as she reached it, she dug it up with the roots intact, immediately stored it in one of her rings, and dashed away from the area in search of a place to create the pill.
After moving through the forest for almost 2 hours, Aurora finally found a good spot. It was a large clearing near the face of a cliff. With the cliff to her back, she was safe from an ambush, as well as being able to see if anything came towards her from the front.
Collecting firewood, she set up a small fire. Taking out her mother's cauldron, she sighed,
"The pill's quality is going to be terrible without alchemy flames, but I can at least make due with a normal fire for now..."
Also removing a mortar and pestle from the storage ring, she began grinding up the herbs. Stripping the roots from the Nire Moonflower, and then removing the petals and grinding them down into dust.
Putting the cauldron over the flames of the campfire, her moves looked extremely practiced. Most would have thought she was a master alchemist if not for the fact that she was using a campfire to heat the cauldron.
Once the cauldron got hot, she delicately placed the Moonflower roots inside, along with some of the previously ground herbs. Watching the plants inside the cauldron begin to wither, she used the back end of a spear to mix the essence inside the cauldron.
Normally, an alchemist would use his or her Qi to stir the ingredients inside the cauldron, but the fact that Aurora was a mortal made it impossible for her, so as a replacement, she used the spear to stir.
Watching the roots of the Moonflower wither and dissolve in the cauldron along with the other herbs, she watched as they turned into a greenish-silver medicinal essence. Letting it simmer inside the cauldron, she waiting until she heard bubbling noises. In a hurry, she grabbed the ground moonflower petals and tossed them inside the cauldron, immediately closing the lid to the cauldron after.
Sizzling noises were present inside the cauldron, and to make up for not being able to stir, she gently rotated the cauldron in a way to make the ingredients mix. Aurora knew that high temperature was important at the end of the pill's creation, she she quickly took out a piece of mens clothing from her storage ring, and fanned the flames, making them larger and more volatile than before.
After an incense stick of time, the cauldron exploded with grey smoke coming out of the top, as medicinal fragrances spread throughout the area.
Aurora cheered in her heart, even without alchemy flames she succeeded on her first try! All that time studying alchemy in her past life was worth it!
Immediately lifting the lid off the top of the cauldron, she saw a singular pill sitting in the cauldron. It was a greenish-silver, however it was filled with black specs, signifying that it had many impurities.
"I suppose I will have to make a cleansing pill when I get into a city..."
Grabbing the pill, Aurora quickly popped it into her mouth and swallowed.
Feeling the energy run rampant through her body, all she could do was let the pill do it's job.
Sitting in lotus position with her eyes closed, she concentrated on feeling the energy moving throughout her body, making sure the process went smoothly, even though she couldn't do anything if something went wrong.
-----
After around an hour, Aurora heard a popping noise come from her body, and newfound energy burst forth.
She couldn't help but smile widely, this is what she was waiting for! She's a cultivator now!
Feeling the strength in her body, she immediately knew she was in Rank 1 Qi Birth stage, the starting point for all cultivators!
In the cultivation world, there were stages to strength, and each stage would have a huge power gap in between it.
The stages go Qi Birth, Essence Creation, Core Shaping, Spirit Refinement, Nascent Soul, Dao Sovereign, and Monarch. After Monarch Realm, you would enter the heavenly realm and become an 'immortal cultivator'.
Each realm had nine stages called ranks, so Aurora was at the first rank of Qi Birth, meaning she just became a cultivator.
If you were to compare power between a Rank 1 Qi Birth realm cultivator, and a mortal, the cultivator would have to be completely useless in a fight to even have a chance at losing. It was almost the difference between heaven and earth. The same goes between realms, as an Essence Creation expert would be able to easily dispose of a Qi Birth expert in almost no time.
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Taking the time to search through her memories of cultivation techniques that she could train in her new body, she finally set her sights on one of them. There was no other choice for her, it had to be that one.
The one she chose is called 'Shadow Empress Art'. It was a cultivation technique specifically created by Leon for a female. It was a replica of his own 'Shadow Lord Technique', which specializes in the usage of shadows for the main forms of fighting.
While Leon was one of the best cultivators in the heavenly realm, he did not get that far by fighting every battle head on, as his technique specialized in sneak attacks, quick strikes, and escaping.
Luckily, for some reason Aurora's body was perfectly suited for the 'Shadow Empress Art', as her affinity with shadow was almost unparalleled.
One has to know that the cultivation technique that one practices lays out the foundation for later on when they are trying to comprehend their dao.
A dao is specific to a person, and you can only ever have one, so making sure that you have an affinity with your cultivation technique beforehand is important, because if you practice a technique that doesn't suit your dao it will do you less good later on.
After choosing the technique, Aurora immediately began circulating the 'Shadow Empress Art', and the area around her darkened ever so slightly. As her breathing became calm, her meridians started absorbing the qi that came in contact with her body.
It was almost as if the technique was specifically made for Aurora, as he cultivation was rising faster than a rocket. In the time of a couple of hours, she had already made it to Rank 2 of the Qi Birth realm, a feat that was practically impossible, as most people took weeks to get used to their techniques and the feeling of absorbing qi.
The reason for Aurora's prowess is the fact that she was an immortal before, so she was already acquainted with cultivation, and the technique was specifically made by her, so she knew exactly how to use the technique to perfection.
6 hours after reaching Rank 2 Qi Birth realm, Aurora once again heard a popping noise come from her body, signifying another increase in her cultivation, with her reaching Rank 3 Qi Birth realm.
Feeling the newfound power coursing through her body, Aurora smiled as it was one of the best feelings in the world.
Seeing as it was late at night, she found a safe spot to sleep and laid down before quickly succumbing to the calm of world of dreams.