He returned to the villa quietly, his presence unseen, but as the door opened, his three wives were already waiting for him. The three sat around the tea table, and actually seemed happily talking.

“Welcome back, husband.” Elly wasn’t in her nightgown. None of them were. They must’ve been up for some time. 

Tundra smiled. “Well, were you waiting for me?”

Elly looked at the other two. “Yes. We were.” 

“I see.” Tundra was still in the snugly fit attire meant for mobility and movement, and began to change. The hunt was supposed to officially start in three days, but now that Tundra knew what he knew, they’d have to make some changes to the plan. The wildcard was the male Mudstone Gorilla, the alpha of the Spirit Gorilla family. They should only engage the Mudstone Gorillas after Tundra found and defeated the Mudstone Alpha. 

His wives took his robe and accessories, then Elly stepped close, and began to unbuckle his belt. It was a little awkward that three beautiful women helped him with his clothes. Most times he did so himself, but since Elly offered, he wasn’t going to refuse. Tundra looked at Marin, and noticed she smiled at him. He smiled back, and wondered what happened between the ladies last night. 

“What’s the plan today, Marin?” 

“My father will organize a luncheon for the trip, more drinks, more talks.” Marin said while she helped Tundra with the belt across his back. 

Tundra sat down at the tea table, once done. “I see. The matter is a little more serious than your father let on.”

Marin’s scowl was immediate. She quickly adjusted it again, and nodded. “Father tends to do that. How bad is it?”

“There’s two fifth realm nests.”

“Fifth realm nests.” Elly squirmed. 

“My first goal will be to locate the alpha Mudstone Gorilla. Once I locate and defeat that spirit beasts, the rest of us can mount an actual attack on the Mudstone Gorilla nest.”

The gorillas, by their nature, are far more mobile, and the lesser Mudstone Gorillas should be the ones causing trouble to the miners of the Eastheart family. 

The Queen Scorchedstone Earthworms are significantly more territorial, and the Queen itself probably never leaves the nest, even as it grows in strength. He’d even heard of 7th realm Scorchedstone Earthworms, but Queens at the seventh realm usually dug nests very deep into the ground and rarely bothered anyone. 

It’s their lesser female Scorchedstone Earthworms, seeking out new places to infest and set up their own nests, that caused problems. 

Out in the wider world, it’s fairly common for cultivators to defeat non-intelligent Spirit beasts one or two realms above them, especially if they were properly equipped with the counterweapons. This is because spirit beasts have familiar habits and routines that could be exploited, known weaknesses, and the variety of their abilities was quite small. 

Intelligent spirit beasts were much harder to defeat across realms, since their own attack patterns varied, and often escaped if threatened. 

Tundra wasn’t too worried about the Scorchedstone Earthworms. With the right elemental protection pills, and the right weaponry, the Earthworms should be a tough but doable target for his core disciples and wives. 

The Mudstone Gorillas were a slightly tougher opponent. Mudstone Gorillas were also known to use tools, and Alphas were known to be fairly crafty. Once they found the alpha, he should be able to eliminate it single-handedly. 

But he’ll need a bait, and so he looked at the strongest of his wives.

Celestia was in the peak of the 4th realm. Strong enough to cause the Alpha to act, and weak enough that the Alpha wouldn’t avoid her, but instead try to remove her from growing into a threat. Celestia and another of the Core Disciples should be sufficient bait. Perhaps Yavin Redaxe, since he was also fairly close to the peak of the 4th realm. 

Once the 5th realm spirit beasts are removed, only then they will start the actual hunt for the rest of his entourage. 

***

Core Disciple Yavin Redaxe was once again selected to join the hunting trip, and he paused when the Sect Master loomed before him. Though there are only two realms of difference between the two, here, in the room with three other core disciples, the Sect Master’s presence overwhelmed them all. He was always ‘more’. 

Two cultivators of the same realm and same minor stage could feel wildly different, because of differences in the mastery of their cultivation methods. This, as the Sect Master elaborated, was due to the structure of the Spiritual Realm.

A cultivator forms canals, channels that connect their soul to the other world. This same path, also nourished ‘structures’, and these structures created effects commonly associated with the various abilities of different cultivation methods. How well that structure is constructed, defines the strength of that ability. 

Yavin looked around, and noticed his peers listening intently. Tundra Fox was an attentive teacher, he lectured to the core disciples frequently, though lately, he began to spend a bit more time with his own children.

The core disciples didn’t fault that, of course. In the first place, it was quite strange for a sect master to spend so much time with the disciples and none at all with their children, so, this change in the Sect Master was somewhat a relief. Their Sect Master was similar to other Sect masters, after all.

Still, Yavin did notice the change in the depth and quality of their Sect Master’s lectures. What was once fairly insightful, now seemed to contain experience that he wasn’t quite sure how to explain.

“Our targets are spirit beasts in the fifth realm, and you will be bait, Disciple Yavin.” Tundra said with such authority that it was as good as law. The other three core disciples looked at Yavin with sympathy. Yavin nodded. 

“As you command, Sect Master. I will do what must be done.”

“Both you and Celestia will be bait. Two of you in the peak of the 4th realm will be a sufficient threat that they cannot ignore you. I will be nearby to cover your presence. You will also be given some special pills to improve your earth and fire elemental resistances.” 

What else to do but to agree? Yavin nodded.

“Meet me later this evening, after dinner, at the Guesthouse’s Courtyard. We will set off and start the hunt. The rest of you will come with me to support the attack and deal with the lesser beasts, if any.” 

All the fourth realm cultivators would be required for this part of the attack.

“As you command.” They all answered. 

Sect Master left the room, and the four core disciples look at each other. One of Yavin’s peers, Julia Silverpearl, sighed. “You’ve gotten the short end of the stick once more, senior brother.”

Yavin shrugged. It was fine, as long as the rewards matched the risks. “The sect master wouldn’t risk us unnecessarily. We should go and prepare.”

***

Tundra walked alone to a workshop prepared by the Eastheart family. He was a famed pillmaker, and so everywhere he visited, his hosts often prepared an alchemy workshop for him. In return, he’d often present a gift, usually a pill or two to his hosts. 

Earth-element. His findings largely matched his earlier research, and so he withdrew some of his earlier materials. 

He would need to brew some earth-suppressing pills, and to suppress earth, one often used a combination of wood element, with some aspects of Water. Wood controlled Earth. Earth controlled Water, Water controlled Fire, Fire controlled Metal, and Metal controlled Wood. 

The art of brewing suppression pills required the extraction of the ‘controlling’ aspects of a particular element, from the raw materials. Some raw materials contained more of this ‘controlling’ aspect, and a master pillmaker must be sensitive to the presence of these aspects in his materials.

To control earth, the common knowledge is to use the Yang aspect of the Wood Element. Yang Wood, representing vibrant, strong wood, extracted Earth energies, thus, granted the user resistance to the effects of Earth. 

An alternative was to use the Yin aspect of Water. The Yin Water represented stagnant water, and that softened Earth energies. A good pill, made from both elements, should provide a twice-fold reduction effect against Earth.

Back in Lakeshore, the Blood Blade Sect used a Lightning-element formation. Lightning, is a secondary derivative, from Water and Fire, and to create a counter, requires a higher tier of understanding of the effects of the elements. Secondary Elements are naturally popular among cultivators, simply due to its difficulty to counter. 

Tundra himself in his later life, mastered metal-derivative sub-elements such as Gold, a higher tier of Metal, Rust and Liquid Steel, both Water-Metal in different combinations with different yang-and-yin aspects.

“I should try other sub-elements instead.” Tundra said to himself as he stood in front of the cauldron. There was a heating formation, an energy formation, and a small storage formation. An alchemy workshop can be complicated, if an alchemist wants it to be. Energy formations, heating formations, locking/securing formations. Things that made life easier, more convenient for the alchemist at work. 

But not truly necessary.  

Tundra recalled why he chose Gold, Liquid Steel and Rust. These subtypes were well developed in the wider world. The Goldhorn Temple was a huge proponent of Gold-element defensive techniques, and claimed to be undefeated under heaven. It wasn’t true, of course. He beat them handily, as did many other geniuses. 

Liquid Steel and Rust were popular because of the Great Rusthall Academy, that focused on the development of Water-Metal techniques. It did help that their old ancestor had dual Water-Metal Spirit Roots, and the heavens gifted their old ancestor a kind of genius few could dare claim to match. All Tundra did was to walk the path the old genius set out for those who dared follow in his footsteps.

But this life, he thought he’d try less explored sub-elements. He could try Living Steel, the combination of Wood-Metal, or Diamond, which was a rare, mostly unexplored derivative of Earth with some aspects of Metal. 

Tundra’s thoughts strayed for minutes. He pondered the options, before the door gently opened. 

“Husband?” Celestia came alone. 

Tundra turned. “Yes?”

“Lunch with Marin’s father will be in two hours, at the main dining hall.”

“Ah. Okay.” Tundra nodded. Marin probably needed to help her mother with hosting. If there are feasts, it is a common thing for daughters to be expected to assist in the event, either to greet guests and so on. It seemed that today’s lunch would have guests from the many smaller towns across the Dragon’s Earthspine mountain.

In short, politics. The patriarch wanted to show that the Eastheart family has good relations with the Verdant Snow Sect, and this would impress the smaller families in the region to pay respects to the big boss. 

Celestia nodded, but before she could leave, Tundra called her. “Stay. You have nothing else on your plans, right?”

His wife touched her hair briefly, and looked around for a place to sit. There were some chairs in the room, and she quickly sat on them. “Are you making something?”

“The pills that we’ll need for tonight’s hunt. We’ll need to lure the alpha out, but first we need to keep everyone safe.” By his estimates, in terms of power, an ordinary 4th realm couldn’t take more than three moves from a 5th realm. The pill should quadruple that to about twelve to thirteen moves, and allow him to intervene if they were in trouble. 

“The [Earth Nullification Pill]?”

Tundra shook his head. “That’s a 6th tier pill, the materials we have here won’t be enough for that. This is just the [Earth Reduction Pill]. From three [Cliffside Greyflower Roots], and three [Stale Lake Lotus], we will make fifteen [Earth Reduction Pills].” 

“Fifteen?” Celestia paused.

“Yes. Most alchemists should be able to produce 10 to 12, at an average quality.”

With a far better cauldron the number could be higher. Some of the ‘essence’ and ‘elemental energies’ of the material escaped through the cauldron's body. Alchemists often searched for stronger, better cauldrons, because it had a really high impact on their pill yields, and thus, their profits. 

Making resistance pills, healing pills, strength pills are a major source of income for Tundra and alchemists everywhere. Many cultivators purchase them, in order to defeat spirit beasts, in order to get that extra edge at a competition, or to just survive an ordeal. 

But with what he had here, fifteen should be a realistic, achievable amount. He got to work. Pills, as weird as it sounded, expired over time. This is because a pill’s effects escaped and leaked out, so, a pill was naturally strongest in the first few days it was made. 

Pill boxes, made by master crafters, help reduce and preserve the pill’s decay, but higher quality pill boxes are just as expensive as the pills themselves. At higher realms, high tier pill boxes are gifts in their own right. Many masters keep pill boxes to store the highest quality restoration pills they could find, as a form of insurance. 

Tundra started to work. The first step of making a pill was to trigger the material to release its stored energy or its desired effects. There are many ways an alchemist accomplished this, though the most common is through direct extraction.

An alchemist would use his energies, inserted through the cauldron, and pull whatever desired energies out of the materials. 

Most alchemy cauldrons allow energy to flow one way. It allows the alchemist’s energy to enter the cauldron and do whatever is needed to the inserted materials, but the cauldron itself holds the energy and doesn’t let it leave. Stronger, more powerful materials, are more likely to pierce through the cauldron’s energy retaining effects, and escape.

After extraction, there’s usually a processing stage, where the alchemist attempts to transform the materials and energies released into the desired form and effect. 

Then, there is the sealing stage, where the completed form and effect is sealed into a pill. 

In all the stages, there are alchemists who rely on supplementary formations and tools to enhance its effects. In the higher realms, some materials are so naturally powerful that they have no choice but to prepare multiple formations to suppress and contain the energies. 

When Tundra finished, Celestia looked fairly bored. He chuckled. “You seem bored.”

“A little. I couldn’t see what you were doing.” Celestia blushed. 

Tundra smiled, he didn’t find fault in it. Alchemy wasn’t a spectator sport. “That’s normal for alchemy. It’s certainly not as impressive as formations or crafting.”

“I guess.” 

Tundra took out a large box meant to store multiple such pills, and quickly packed the fifteen pills into the box.  

“Well, let’s go for lunch.” Tundra offered to hold Celestia’s arm, but she refused.

“It’s inappropriate, since Marin is the main host.” Celestia answered.

It was obvious once pointed out, so Tundra nodded. “Fair point. Let’s go.”