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Stella could hear her own blood rushing through her ears. Her heart raced, and her hands felt clammy. What did this man want to talk about? Why was he so interested if someone was a spatial Qi cultivator?

Stella felt a shiver run down her spine as Senior Lee casually sat on the bench, looking at her with an amused smile. She straightened herself and used her spatial Qi to bring the teacup up from the floor and into her hand.

The strong lemon scent wafting from the tea tickled her nose and smelled delicious. But she resisted taking a sip and asked, "What does Senior Lee wish to speak about?"

Her Soul Core hummed, and her finger itched, ready to summon a sword from her spatial ring at a moment\'s notice. Her mind raced with battle plans.

The most important for her was to draw the man away from Ash, and she trusted in her mobility to run away due to her lightning Dao greatly empowering her speed. For her, lightning meant violent speed, whereas, to others, it may be a form of overwhelming power.

"Why the serious face?" Senior Lee said warmly, "Do you think I came here to rob you? Cultivators are all so suspicious these days!"

Senior Lee shook his head with mock sadness, "It brings a tear to my eye, I tell you! Although I will be the first to admit, hand on my heart, I did some dishonorable things in my time. But! My ex-wife was an absolute backstabbing bitch and deserved everything that happened to her—"

"Ahem." Senior Lee coughed awkwardly, "Got a little off topic there, sorry about that. Anyway, how\'s the tea?"

Stella was perplexed. She looked down at the tea that was still warm in her hand and debated if she should drink it or not. Then, deciding not to offend the odd man any further, she took a sip, and her eyes went wide.

It was delicious, and the warm liquid was filled with Qi. Stella couldn\'t believe it. Had precious Qi-filled lemons been used to make this?

"Good, right? A close friend of mine from the Celestial Empire has lemon trees on his estate. Whenever I visit, he is always excited to give me his newest batch of Qi-soaked tea leaves." Senior Lee chuckled and looked past Stella, "Young Lady, would you also like some tea?"

"No, Senior! I am quite alright..." Diana\'s voice came from behind Stella. It was a good move. If the tea was poisoned and they both drank it, then they would both be compromised.

Senior Lee seemed nice enough, but so were most cultivators until they stabbed you through the heart with a rusted blade and stole everything you possessed. Also, the off-handed mention of the Celestial Empire threw Stella off. Only merchants were known to travel the wilderness between the Empire and the demonic sects.

"Is Senior Lee a merchant from the Celestial Empire?" Stella studied Senior Lee\'s reaction, but he just shrugged.

"Merchant would be the wrong term, as I have no interest in buying or selling anything. But I often travel searching for something interesting during my free time."

Senior Lee chuckled heartedly, "When you have lived far too long, life becomes dreadfully dull. The same mundane routine over and over and over again. It\'s why, much to my family\'s annoyance, I randomly disappear and go on adventures searching for things to stimulate my mind."

Stella took another sip of tea and thought over Senior Lee\'s words. In summary, he was old, traveled the wilderness for fun, and knew a friend in the Celestial Empire. However, he also seemed to have a relatively carefree attitude.

"What is the Celestial Empire like?" Diana walked on over and stood beside Stella. "I heard some rumors but have never gone there myself."

Senior Lee\'s mood immediately soured. "Far too much politics and backstabbing." He sighed and leaned back on the bench, enjoying the clear blue sky. "I prefer it out here in the demonic sects. At least you know the blade is coming."

His light smile returned as he lightly shook his head, "Enough about that annoying place and my blabbering. What Qi do you practice, young lady?"

"Me?" Diana pointed to herself, "My cultivation path lies with water."

She summoned a swirling ball of dark blue flames, "Although I have inferior spirit roots."

Senior Lee nodded sagely, "Mhm, I see. Your control and cultivation stage are still impressive for your age. I always find demonic cultivators\' growth interesting in that regard. Compared to celestial cultivators that have far less explosive growth."

He then turned to look at Stella, "You also seem to have inferior roots, but was that always the case?"

Stella blinked. The question completely caught her off guard. "What do you mean, senior?"

Senior Lee kept one hand on his walking stick and held out his other hand as if waiting for hers. "I can check for you, but I believe you used to have normal or maybe even superior spirit roots."

Stella felt apprehensive about giving her hand to the old man, but it felt awkward making him hold his arm out, so she obliged. To her surprise, Senior Lee didn\'t reach for her hand. Instead, he gripped her wrist with two fingers and a thumb and closed his eyes.

She felt nothing, and a second later, Senior Lee opened his eyes and removed his hand. "Not a hint of tainted Qi and your growth—" His eyes flickered to Diana, "—is even higher than a demonic cultivator a few years your senior."

Before Stella could enjoy the compliments, Senior Lee shook his head, "What a silly girl. Why did you force your cultivation so quickly without establishing a strong foundation?"

"I..." Stella couldn\'t believe it. She didn\'t even know her spiritual roots had degraded so far. However, she did remember that cultivation had been far easier in the past and that her bottlenecks were getting harder to overcome.

But with nobody guiding her and no cultivation techniques other than the one taught by her father when she was so young, she found the only way to progress was to just push her body harder to get stronger.

"I had no choice." Stella\'s eyes drifted to the floor as shame plagued her mind. "I had to get strong as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, my environment here was less than ideal."

Senior Lee looked around the wrecked courtyard and seemed to come to a conclusion. "Are you a social outcast?" His eyes softened a little, "Don\'t worry. As wrathful as the heavens are to the wicked, it smiles kindly upon the faithful. Your tribulation will be a breeze, but your future potential will be forever stunted as you are now."

Stella\'s eyes widened, and a feeling of undescribable doom overcame her. Being told your cultivation was stunted was like being sentenced to death. In a world where near immortality for those in the Nascent Soul realm and above was possible, knowing you could never reach that level and would die of old age in just a few hundred years was devastating.

Senior Lee\'s silver ring flashed, and a bottle of pills appeared. "These are

golden stream pills. Quite rare, especially out here."

The pill bottle floated up, likely from telekinesis, and dropped into Stella\'s awaiting hand. "You can take them. I have no need for such things."

Stella felt the smooth porcelain pill bottle in her hand. It was cold to the touch, and she could feel the weight of some pills inside. They shifted around as she rotated the pill bottle to take off the cork stopper—there was an audible pop and a wave of cool air that smelled of damp grass.

Her nose twitched involuntarily, and Senior Lee seemed to find her reaction amusing.

"Pretty nasty stuff that tastes almost as bad as it smells." Senior Lee said, "Although their effects are worth it. I can\'t guarantee they will fix you, considering the extensiveness of the damage, but they should help slow the degradation at least."

Stella\'s ring flashed, and the pill bottle disappeared inside. "I am deeply grateful to Senior Lee for his infinite kindness," she expressed as she bowed deeply, her gaze fixed on the ground before her.

"Blah." Senior Lee waved her off, "I hate all this formality crap. To me, those pills are worthless."

"But Senior... It still feels wrong to accept such a gift."

"Then give me something in return. That way, it\'s a trade rather than a gift."

Stella wondered if she had anything of value to give. From the top of her head, she owned a pair of black wooden daggers, red maple leaf earrings, her artifact clothes, and that portal technique scroll.

When she thought about it like this, she didn\'t own much. Even the Red Vine peak could be taken away at any moment from her by a stronger cultivator. It was only due to the patriarch\'s twistedkindness that she hadn\'t been kicked out by another family.

"Senior." Stella bowed again, "I am of few worldly possessions and have nothing to offer—ow."

***

Ashlock dropped a large fruit on Stella\'s head.

It was one of his nonpoisonous ones and was a beautiful red color, like a warm sunset. He had poured a lot of Qi into it, and it was only due to its size and a hard outer casing that no bird came to take it yet. Also, flaring his Qi to keep them off had helped.

Ashlock found it hard to believe, but Senior Lee might be one of the first generous people he had met in this world, and just for that refreshing perspective, he was happy to give up a fruit.

At first, he had been suspicious, and even now, he still harbored on the edge of caution. But Lee had demonstrated compassion and generosity. Two emotions he had rarely seen from cultivators other than Stella and maybe Diana.

Stella rubbed her head and then noticed the fallen fruit. "O-oh! it must have been ripe already." Stella then used telekinesis, the most basic spatial cultivation spells, and passed it to Senior Lee\'s hand.

Ashlock appreciated her attempts at covering up his stunt. Although he wished to award a fruit, he still wanted to keep his identity hidden away from Senior Lee if possible.

"Oh. What a magnificent fruit!" Senior Lee seemed genuinely happy with his gift. "I\'m sure my friend will be able to make some fantastic fruit tea with this when I return home. I\'ll come by again and let you taste it."

The fruit, larger than Senior Lee\'s torso, vanished in a flash of silver. He then leaned against Ashlock\'s trunk and closed his eyes for a second.

A floating ethereal whisp appeared in Ashlock\'s mind, "Thank you, spirit tree, for the gift. I will make sure to use it well."

His voice sounded weird. Everyone else\'s voice was distant, as if they were talking through a wall. So why could Ashlock hear Senior Lee\'s voice inside his mind? Was this telepathy? Or was that whisp thing speaking?

"You\'re welcome?" Ashlock replied. He didn\'t know what else to say or if Senior Lee could even hear him.

Senior Lee\'s jolly laughter echoed throughout his mind.

"Now, this is interesting! I have never encountered a talking tree before!"