Chapter 174 - More Shocks

Ma Rong's eyes were wide open as the shock came on coming one after another. Her disciple was just a fountain of surprises and shocks that never dried up. She looked down at the cat and took notice of its small size.

"It really is a different monster. I've never seen anything like this," she said.

"Elder Xian of Tiger sect said the same thing as well," Alex replied.

"Elder Xian? Ah, the previous head of Cloud Valley. If he said so, then it must really not be from the Crimson Empire. Maybe it too came from past the southern forest," Ma Rong said.

"Since your beast is still so small, I assume it doesn't have very high cultivation. You should slowly build up its cultivation while constantly training it. Although, beasts usually have Inherent memory, getting their body used to fighting is always a good idea."

Alex nodded and said, "I thought so as well, master. So, I've been training him for the last week and having him constantly cultivate to increase his cultivation. He's already reached Bone Tempering 7th realm by now."

Ma Rong was about to affirm when she realized what she had just heard. "Did you say this child is already at Bone Tempering 7th Realm?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, Master. Although Pearl has a child's body, his cultivation has been really fast. I am actually afraid if his foundations would be shaky, but He's also been training quite a bit, so maybe not," Alex said.

Ma Rong breathed in and out slowly to bring herself back from the state of shock. "You are giving me quite a lot of shock today. If there is anything else that can shock me, lay it out right now," She said.

"Anything that might shock you? Let's see… umm… oh yeah. Master, have you heard of Mortal Cleansing?"

"Of course. Anyone worth their money in Crimson Empire has heard of it. Although, I'm surprised you know the word as well. Did Wen Cheng teach you ab—" she suddenly stopped as a thought came across her mind.

"Actually Master, I went through Mortal Cleansing," Alex dropped the bomb.

Ma Rong's eyes went wide once more. " Wait wait wait… Mortal Cleansing? YOU went through Mortal Cleansing. Where did you even find the Divine Devil's fruit?" she asked.

"The Divine Devil's Fruit? Is that what is needed ?" He asked. He had never before heard of such fruit, but Wen Cheng had indeed mentioned some fruit being required for the Mortal Cleansing.

Ma Rong's eyes squinted as she got a questioning look. "Didn't you say you went through Mortal Cleansing? You must've eaten some fruit, right?" she asked.

"Oh no, master. My mortal Cleansing was different from others. Or at least that's what the master had said at the time. He said that normally one would have to eat fruit to go through Mortal Cleansing. He must've been talking about this Divine Devil's fruit. However, the way I went through mortal cleansing is by having Pearl Cultivate."

"Every time he cultivates, I somehow get put under a body tempering state and have to suffer through it. The first time it happened, I also went through Mortal Cleansing," He explained.

"Wait, so you didn't eat any fruit and went through Mortal Cleansing just like that?" she asked.

"Yes, Master. It happened while I wasn't conscious due to my body tempering being very painful, so in the end, I only found out after master told me what had happened," he said.

Ma Rong's eyes once again squinted as she asked, "You keep saying you went through body tempering, don't you mean just normal cultivation?"

"No Master, I went through actual body tempering. I'm now a Body Cultivator as well," Alex said.

Another Shock. This was the Fifth shock of the day she had received, and it hadn't even been 5 minutes since her disciple had returned.

The first shock was the new pill her disciple took out. The second shock was the rest of the pill recipes and formation blueprints her disciple had brought back. The third shock was the Saint realm monster's child, the little Cat that her disciple had bonded to. The fourth shock was the fact that her disciple had gone through mortal cleansing.

And now, learning that her disciple was a body cultivator, she was shocked once more. "You really are a Body cultivator? How exactly?" she asked.

Alex went on to explain every single thing that had happened with him and Pearl cultivating. When she heard that he had to suffer through so much pain every single day, she winced a little.

Finally, after hearing everything, she said," So, how strong are you right now?"

"My body is about the same strength as a Body Tempering 3rd realm cultivator," he said.

Ma Rong nodded and sighed, "That is quite strong. I didn't expect you to leave to Tiger Sect for 2 weeks and come back so strong."

"Speaking of which, what is your cultivation base? I can't see it right now," she asked.

"Oh, let me remove the concealment for a moment," Alex said and showed off his cultivation aura once more. A cultivation base of Organ Tempering 4th realm slowly spread out its aura and Ma Rong felt it.

"You've truly become quite strong," she said with a sigh. She had expected him to get stronger, but not by this much.

'Am I stifling this child's potential as a cultivator by not letting him cultivate and only having him make pills?' she started to wonder. While he was good at making pills, in her eyes, he was better at cultivating.

She started to have second thoughts about making him fully focused on Alchemy.

"Master?" Alex asked seeing her lost in her thought.

Ma Rong shook her head, ignoring the thoughts for now. "You've done well. You've increased your cultivation by quite a substantial amount. Although you stopped practicing Alchemy for a while, it isn't as bad since you can continue it now. Alright, If you have nothing else to tell me, go register this pill and prepare for the upcoming core disciple test," she said.

"Wait Master, I still have a few things more to tell you."