"Bleghh..." Sierra vomited out everything she ate, while Xuan decided to eat even more. Had he known all this free food was poisoned, he would’ve started eating much sooner.

Sierra, on the other hand, was too excited and fatigued from all her reading to actually notice the food was poisoned.

Thankfully, it didn’t take that long to finish the detox. Xuan walked to the side, and when he turned into the alley, Yuan popped up out of nowhere, burping loudly.

"Your pills weren’t that shabby. Though, what did that mystery pill contain, exactly? It tasted very strange."

Xuan thought about it for a moment, then smirked. "Cow testicles, chicken testicles, sheep testicles... Oh, and how can I forget? A baguette."

"..."

Yuan stared at him in disappointment. "I had heard tales of how masters and disciples get along, almost like they were father and son, or brothers and sisters... But you’re like some kind of spawn of evil. Why would you feed your master testicles?"

Xuan shrugged. "It increased your cultivation speed, so you can’t blame me. Anyways, do you mind sitting out for a bit while we participate in this tournament?"

He thought that might be the end of it, and yet...

"Of course not. I’ve roughly seen what you’re capable of just from your Qi alone. I also know you have access to Poison Qi, so I want you to learn one more thing that I’m pretty sure will help you attain the Alchemy skill," Yuan said, narrowing his eyes.

"Use Elemental Qi, and then only use Poison Qi."

Essentially, Yuan wanted him to enhance himself with Poison Qi. But how could he do only Poison Qi? He thought that Elemental Qi just increased the power of everything at once.

Seeing his confused expression, Yuan rubbed his chin and added:

"If you have multiple Qi Types, then all you really need to do is imagine them being locked away. Qi manipulation is all in the imagination. Try it."

Xuan heard it loud and clear, and so he decided to try it out. He activated Elemental Qi, and in the next instant, he was enveloped in a multi-colored layer of Qi.

Except when he just focused his thoughts in the right direction, the colors began to fade, until finally, there was only a dark purple color left, signifying poison. Not to mention, he felt a very tight connection to Poison Qi itself.

"Hmm... You did it. You have a lot of Qi Types. Also, I get the feeling you don’t exactly understand what Elemental Qi is...? Have you only been using your raw Spiritual Qi this whole time?"

Void Qi, but pretty much... Though it sounds like there’s more to it.

"Mind giving me a few pointers, boss?"

"Pfft. No. I’ll tell you after the tournament. I don’t want you accidentally blowing your head off," Yuan said with a chuckle. "Still, use only your Poison Qi, since I also want to teach you how to make very powerful Poison Pills. I need your Qi Type to be at least Advanced rank. Now good luck, Xuan. See you after you’re done."

With that, Yuan vanished into thin air. It was a bit strange how he could just come and go like that, but then again, Xuan could feel the disturbance in space, so he knew this guy had some form of short-range teleportation to seem a bit cooler.

His words also hung in Xuan’s head. What did he mean by ’you’re using Elemental Qi wrong?’ That was what he insinuated, so maybe... Maybe Yuelan would know? She’s the smart one here, and someone who played a bunch of games.

Yeah.

Xuan decided to go ahead and ask her. Pulling her aside while Hanbi was still helping Sierra, Xuan gave her a quick rundown of the situation, and when he was done, she just stared at him with a contemplative look.

"If I had to guess, he might be insinuating that the core idea behind Elemental Qi that we have is wrong. What if it’s not just enhancement... Let me see."

Yuelan closed her eyes and began to focus. Miniature lights appeared all around her, and before long, a blue crown appeared above her head, giving her a maiden-like appearance that shocked even Xuan.

And when she reopened her eyes, she seemed like an entirely different person.

"Mmm... I think I understand now. Elemental Qi, and Qi Types in general, attune you to that certain element, and it all depends on your mastery. The closer you are to that element, and the clearer your vision is, the better you can understand it," Yuelan said.

Xuan nodded. "Now drop the old sage act and explain it to me like I’m a toddler."

Yuelan rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. "Basically, you become that type of Qi itself. I got a crown because of Water Qi. With this crown, I can block any projectile automatically, and since I can choose to have Elemental Qi on at all times, it’s basically like a permanent passive buff that only gets stronger the more I use it."

Oooh.

That sounded neat. Almost too neat. Was it too good to be true? No way...

Xuan already knew just how limitless cultivation was, so for something like this to be comprehensible so early on was a miracle in and of itself.

"What’s the limit on what you can block?" Xuan asked.

Yuelan thought it over for a moment before replying:

"Probably Spirit Grandmaster at most. My Water Qi has very low mastery. You should give it a try as well, by the way."

But almost like timing wasn’t exactly on their side, Sierra finally stood up and dusted herself off. After cleaning the remainder of the vomit off her lips, she gave Hanbi a thumbs up, who then went on to glance over at Xuan and Yuelan as though she was their nanny.

"That’s enough fooling around now. We might be late, so let’s head there right away, shall we?"