After acquiring the (flawed) spiritual body, Xiaomeng's life settled into a daily grind of cultivating and learning about alchemy from Senior Sister Lan. There were a few hiccups here and there, but everything else was as smooth sailing as a boat in sunny weather.

  Alas, this could not be said for everyone else. Especially so for Zhao Feng, whom everyone else had forgotten by this point. His life in the sect had been one struggle after another, but he was still holding on.

  After the selection of the inner disciples by the Elders, only he was left behind. This was not intentional but due to his constitution, which made everyone else forget about him. Even his birth parents had completely forgotten about him one day. And sadly, if the Elders didn't focus, it even affected them. So, he was left with no peak to join and had to return to his dwelling of the previous night, which was situated in the guest quarters.

  Waking up early the next morning, he spent nearly half an incense stick of time just to motivate himself to continue doing his best. Giving your all and people not appreciating or noticing it was one of the worst feelings someone can experience. But for Zhao Feng, it was his daily companion. The constant ache in his heart and the desire to achieve something unprecedented had become a part of him.

  After freshening up, he went to the guest dining hall. Breakfast was the usual spirit rice served with some stir-fried vegetables and a slice of spirit meat. After eating his fill, Zhao Feng still wanted to eat some more meat and went to get some. The Qi Refinement cultivators who were serving ignored him like always, and he ate two more slices of meat.

  Then, feeling satisfied, he went to the Contribution Hall. From what he had heard from the seniors for the past few days, that was the place he could use his contribution points to get resources. Still, there also he faced many problems, as the receptionist was not able to properly recognize him.

  Just when he had given up hope, he saw Xiaomeng coming down from the upper floor with other members of her peak. He quickly rushed up and found the counter. However, instead of speaking, he just observed the female clerk behind the counter. After some time, the clerk had decided she had had enough and snapped, "Tell me what you want or get out!"

  Zhao Feng suddenly jumped back in fright. "You… You are a Core Formation cultivator," he stammered.

  "So, what if I am?" the female cultivator asked in a displeased tone. "We can't have some weaklings guarding the things up here."

  "Well," Zhao Feng paused for a bit before continuing, "I don't know what I need to buy."

  "What?" Now it was the time for the clerk to be confused. "Since you are up here, you must be a new inner disciple. Didn't the seniors from your peak tell you anything?"

  Zhao Feng was at a loss for words. First of all, how did being up here equate to being an inner disciple? He clearly didn't know. And second, he didn't know how to explain his circumstances. Would the woman not think him as being crazy if he said something like "Everyone below Core Formation forgets me, and those above will also do the same if they did not focus properly"?

  Not getting an answer for some time, the clerk decided to just take matters into her own hands. "Tell me your spiritual root."

  "What?" Zhao Feng asked, confused.

  "Tell me your spiritual root," the clerk said in a louder voice. "I will help you select the right materials."

  "Ah," Zhao Feng quickly replied, "A variant shadow element spirit root."

  The receptionist paused for a moment after hearing this. She had encountered very few variant spiritual roots, and a shadow element was a first. But since the process of entering the Qi Refinement was the same for almost everyone, she recalled the shadow-related materials she thought would fit the boy the best and brought them out.

  "Spirit stones or contribution points?" she asked, but looking at Zhao Feng's dejected look, she continued, "For you, a special discount for today and just ninety contribution points. Now you have a total of one hundred and ten remaining."

  "Are you sure?" Zhao Feng asked in a worried voice. The receptionist replied, "It's totally fine. The Contribution Hall is not as rigid as you are told." Packing everything in a mass-produced leather bag, she handed it to the boy.

  Taking his stuff, Zhao Feng was heading out when he heard a voice from behind, "Tonight, the Elders will give lectures to outer disciples for Qi Refinement. You should go and listen to them if you have time."

  Zhao Feng bowed to the receptionist, thanking her for giving him such kind advice, and went back to the guest house.

  After some time had passed, the same receptionist was taking inventory of the things. She discovered some things missing and quickly checked the purchase log, where an inner disciple had bought those things. "Weird," she lightly muttered. "I must be getting tired. Forgetting something like that." Then she glanced at the name of the disciple: Zhao Feng.

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  It was already evening, and with little time to spare, Zhao Feng quickly made his way to the Alchemy Peak. From his little knowledge, he knew that they brewed the concoction required for Qi Refinement in exchange for contribution points.

  There was already a small line formed at the base of the small mountain, made up of disciples of other peaks. The guards standing guard over the entrance to the Alchemy Peak were both Foundation Establishment realm cultivators, who easily ignored Zhao Feng coming from ahead, essentially giving him a free pass.

  Going inside, Zhao Feng followed behind the crowd. In just a short walk, he found himself in a large courtyard where the disciples of Alchemy Hall were concocting the brews for other disciples. He also noticed a few familiar figures from the test, such as Tieshan, Rong Ning, Gu Da, and Li Mingjian. He went ahead to say hello to them.

  "You are?" Gu Da asked while giving him a puzzled look. "Sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone else. Please carry on with what you were doing," Zhao Feng quickly resolved the situation he had created and went his way. He had thought that at least these people would remember him, but it seemed he had been too optimistic.

  Rong Ning looked at the back of the boy who was walking away and felt a familiarity, but she could not put her finger on where she had seen him.

  Leaving the group behind, Zhao Feng continued to search for someone to make his alchemical brew. But sadly, his only options were the few Golden Core Alchemists who charged ten contribution points for it. But having no choice, he got his brew made from one of them and made his way to the place where the Elders were going to give the lecture.

  Then he proceeded to the Outer Disciple Court of the Alchemy Peak. There were already several outer disciples seated there in front of a raised platform. He found his place among them and continued waiting. Roughly around two incense sticks of time later, an elegant man wearing green robes representing the position of an Elder descended from the air.

  Landing on the platform, he informed everyone, his voice carried far due to Qi infusion, "New disciples, listen carefully to my words from now on. The process of entering Qi Refinement is easy as well as hard. It is easy if your heart is steady and confident. But it is hard if your thoughts wander at a critical time, which may lead to serious repercussions. But fear not, for I am here. Just follow my instructions clearly, and I will ensure your safety during this time."

  The spiritual sense of the Nascent Soul cultivator spread through the whole courtyard. It tightly encompassed everyone under its range and properly monitored their condition. Nodding his head, the Elder started to narrate about the nine acupoints and their locations, their properties, and the precautions to take when breaking through them. Zhao Feng listened attentively and recorded everything in his memory.

  After the explanation, everyone drank their brew, and a small external Qi entered their body, guiding them. Unfortunately for Zhao Feng, he didn't get such treatment and had to do everything alone. But due to his inherently immense cultivation talent, he was able to easily control the excess Qi generated by the brew and circulated it in the same path he had just heard. After a certain amount of Qi had accumulated, he impacted the first acupoint and easily broke it, entering the First Layer of Qi Refinement.

  The next moment Zhao Feng opened his eyes; he found himself standing in a long corridor. There were walls on both sides, with the only empty space being the narrow road in the middle he was standing on. Touching the walls, they had a rough texture, not something he was familiar with.

  Looking around one end led to a dark door, and the other end was a bright white door. In such a condition, he at least had the ability to recognize that the white one must most probably be a safer option.

  He slowly started to walk towards the white door, one step at a time. The more he walked, the more a ringing sound around his ears intensified. And after half the distance was covered, the voices became clearer, and he was able to properly hear them.

  'Give up.'

  'What is the use of doing anything when everyone is going to forget you?'

  'Stay here with us. We will forever be together.'

  At first, Zhao Feng tried to ignore them, but they grew louder and louder and started to slowly resonate with the thoughts he always kept hidden in a corner of his heart. "Shut up!" he shouted at the voices, but their relentless pursuit didn't stop.

  When he was a quarter of the distance away from the white door, his pace started to slow down. Memories and feelings which he had tried to forget came erupting back at him, nearly knocking the air out of his lungs and leaving him reeling. The heartbreaking moment when his mother gave him a confused look and asked, "Who are you, child?" The moment when the caravan he was travelling in was massacred by bandits, and he actually felt lucky for having this ability. Many more such incidents from his short life were filling his mind at the same time. And just when he was a few steps away from the white door, he finally stopped.

  "Yes, what is the use of doing something if everyone will just forget it?" Zhao Feng muttered. His eyes had already gone blank, and his head was tilted down. A dark shadow was slithering across the dark passage and approaching him.

  Right when it seemed he would be devoured by the shadow, a mature voice of a woman clearly made its way through all the noise and fell on his ears. "Come back, my child. This world still needs you. For all your unwarranted suffering, millions will live, so you must come back. Even if it just means suffering from more pain."

  The words Zhao Feng had wanted to hear for the most of his life were called out. The light slowly returned to his dead eyes, and in a brief moment, he had taken the last few steps. Clutching the handle of the white door, he looked back. All the voices in his head had stopped, and the corridor was completely empty. Just the dark door stared back ominously at him from the other side. Slowly turning the knob, he opened the door and went inside.

  The next moment, his eyes flew open. He was still sitting in the courtyard. Most of the disciples had gone back; only a few remained. Slowly getting up, he looked around and observed everyone. Still, he didn't find someone who could be called the owner of the voice. Looking at the questioning gaze of the Nascent Soul Elder, he bowed and made his way back to his guest quarters. The whole way, he was wondering about the voice. Was it even real or a figment of his imagination? If it was real then who was it?

  Elsewhere, at that time on the Sword Peak, Lu Wancheng had just dealt with the sword acting up inside Li Mingjian's body. "Where to next?" he called out to the world's voice.

  "Now only the First Peak remains," the world's will answered with its mature female voice.

  "But wasn't there one more?" Lu Wancheng questioned.

  "You don't need to worry about him," the world's will said with confidence.

  Lu Wancheng just had a dubious expression, "If you say so." Then he made his way to the First Peak.