Sect Leader's Rise to the top!

Kai walked home with a smile on his face. The first thing he did when he arrived at his building was to order a small mountain of alchemy ingredients. Despite him having made a lot of gold coins, Kai knew how fleeting money was, so he was determined to get a steady source of income that he had full control of.

Alchemy had the potential of being an extremely lucrative source of income since pills and medicines were always in demand.

Kai's ingredients arrived later that day and he completely dedicated himself to crafting the [Beginner Healing Pills]. Kai easily burned through 10 gold worth of ingredients but was finally able to bump his success rate to over 23%. The reason for the large jump was that Kai had started to experiment with using Qi in his alchemy. This yielded results that were a lot better than Kai had expected.

The new process was fairly simple. Kai would insert a minuscule amount of Qi into the concoction to try and balance it out during the balancing step. This step was the hardest one to get right, however, with the help of Qi, Kai was able to force the concoction into an artificial balance. T

his alone helped Kai greatly and increased his success rate by over 12%.

Kai continued to experiment with using Qi in his alchemy and night quickly fell. His disciples came home, so Kai decided to take a break. Kai went up to the first floor gave them each a glance.

They now looked battle-hardened, despite it only having been a few days. Kai didn't know if it was the result of them improving bodies or the Qi that was now building up within their bodies, but either way, the change was good. They no longer looked like a group of misfits, but now resembled a proper fighting force.

Mina especially seemed to be in peak form. She had grown slightly taller, likely due to her Physique absorbing large amounts of Qi. Her hair had grown even longer than before, now reaching below her waist.

"It seems you're all coming into your own. Rest well tonight. I want to take you all to a new hunting ground in the morning". Kai said as he headed to the kitchen to get himself a drink.

Mina, Ryu, and Old Lao were confused but still acknowledged Kai in unison. After this, the group enjoyed some small talk as they told Kai of their recent exploits. They had encountered a few dangerous situations, but Qiulong's presence was enough to get them out of it.

Compared to most beasts, Qiulong was quite intelligent and was able to make sound decisions within battle even without instructions. Kai had a feeling that this was due to the influence of the Sub-Core inside of her.

When his disciples went back to their rooms to rest, Kai went back down to his basement room to continue his pill alchemy. He had been making good progress and was now addicted to self-improvement.

The next day, Kai presented his disciples with their new 'uniforms'. These new outfits were similar to the one Kai had worn to the auction, however, theirs were black with fewer gold accents. The clothed had protective armor on their chests, arms, and legs made from a mix of mostly [Grade-1] materials with some [Grade-2]. Lastly, they each wore matching masks which would help to hide their identities whenever needed.

The main attraction of their armor was the image of a golden dragon curled up as if sleeping. The image gave their armors a unique and imposing aura.

The only thing that made them look unique was their different types of weapons. Old Lao was still holding his long spear, wrapped in a fine cloth. He was no longer hunched over like when Kai had first met him. Now, his back was as straight as an arrow which showed off his relatively tall figure of over six feet.

Ryu had a chain weapon wrapped around his right arm with the claw part hidden inside of his sleeve. To the untrained eye, it would look like a simple chain-like accessory.

Lastly, Mina had her trusty twin hammers hooked to a belt by her hips. In this position, she would be able to quickly wield them in each hand without wasting any time.

"Good, these uniforms were completely worth the money. However, the quality is still bad. Now that we have some money, let's commission these again using higher quality materials this time. I'll leave this task up to you Old Lao", Kai said as he gave old Lao 10,000 gold coins.

"...U...understood Master!", Old Lao was surprised to receive such a massive sum of money. When Kai had asked him to commission the outfits initially, he had only provided 1 gold and a bunch of material. He didn't know where his master had gotten such an insane amount of gold, but he felt it would rude to ask. Kai was always full of mystery and surprises after all.

Kai on the other hand was more interested in keeping his disciples safe than the amount of money. Higher quality items would help keep them alive which was worth the money in his opinion. They had already spent a lot of time together and Kai was growing closer to each of them every day.

"With this much, we will be able to commission some high-quality [Grade-3] gear for all of us!" Old Lao said in a happy tone.

Kai hadn't told them how much he had made from the auction and decided to keep it that way for now. He had other plans for the remaining funds.

"Good. Today, we'll be securing a new hunting ground. Follow my instructions carefully and don't engage unless I give the word, understood?"

"Yes Master!", his disciples replied in unison.

Kai smiled then wore his mask as he lead the three out of the building. They took Qiulong and headed off to a carriage store first. Now that Kai had money, he didn't want to ride the uncomfortable old wagon anymore. He had been on the Lee family and Pill Association's carriages these last few days which made him want the same level of comfort. Kai decided to invest some money in a comfortable carriage for his disciples and himself.

They entered the carriage store and Kai discovered that they only worked on commissioned orders. Kai spent another 1000 gold to commission a top-of-the-range carriage with all the amenities. This would take a few weeks to create so in the meantime, they would be loaned the store's best carriage to use. Kai gladly accepted it and switched Qiulong's harness over to it.

This new carriage was not as fancy as the Lee family's, but it was still world's better than the dusty old wagon they had been using. This new one had comfortable seats and was covered in talismans to reinforce the structure making, it a lot more comfortable and also durable. This would allow them to travel over all types of terrain with minimal discomfort, making long journeys bearable. It also had weight-reducing talismans incorporated into it. This made it a lot easier for Qiulong to pull, increasing their travel speed significantly.

The group rode the new carriage to a new area located in the North-East of Huang City. Unlike the Eastern Swamps. The place was mountainous with very little vegetation, making it inhospitable to most forms of life. However, this area had a lot more Hunter activity due to the high-value prey within the area.

When Kai and his disciples arrived, he was surprised to see the number of Hunter's present. Most of them seemed to only be on the outskirts of the large canyon, either setting up their camps or getting ready to head into the canyon proper.

When Kai's group arrived, the surrounding Hunters all looked on curiously. It was rare for anyone to bring such an expensive-looking carriage all the way out here since the Twin-Lions sect's protection did not extend this far out.

"Is some rich noble brat trying to play hunter? haha"

"No emblems on the carriage, they must be here in secret for some unknown reason. Best to stay away from them I reckon..."

Most Hunter's simply distanced themselves from the carriage, unwilling to invite any trouble their way.

Kai didn't mind the stares and ordered the carriage to head into the canyon proper.. He had already done a fair bit of research and knew that the beasts were deep in the heart of the canyon.