Cultivating Chai

Daoist Jian’s Pill Furnace Shop left an impression on Xiao Feng from the moment he stepped onto its hardwood floor.

A potbellied man sat cross legged on a wide diwan, two large cushions supporting his wide back against the wall. Arrayed before him were two story wooden shelves that supported the weight of over two dozen cast-metal pill furnaces, but that wasn’t all. As Xiao Feng allowed his gaze to sweep across the rectangular room, he noticed the numerous wooden storage shelves with glass displays lining the wall.

Contained within were a plethora of goods that ranged from sealed glass bottles that contained pills to robes, armor and even ceremonial clothing.

Lianhua continued walking towards the potbellied man, coming to a stop before the U-shaped arrangement of wooden shelves containing the pill furnaces that boxed him in.

Xiao Feng came to a stop at her side.

“Old man jian,” Lianhua acknowledged.

“Little brat,” Cultivator Jian replied, his tone carrying an air of casual disregard for the Senior Alchemist.

A disregard that prompted Xiao Feng to study the potbellied man more closely. His robes were plain white, his appearance that of a middle-aged man with a salt and pepper beard and brown eyes that seemed to conceal a silent wisdom.

What status did this alchemist have?

Xiao Feng could not tell.

“I have come here because one of my students wishes to purchase a pill furnace,” Lianhua explained, not bothered by the man’s brazenness.

“This kid?” Cultivator Jian all but exclaimed out loud, his expression scandalized. “Since when did the stone-faced princess of our Alchemy Division take students?”

Lianhua’s brows visibly twitched in annoyance, before she retorted, “I am not a stone-faced princess, cultivator Jian.”

Cultivator Jian seemed equally annoyed by Lianhua’s response, “How many times do I have to tell you, princess. You may address me as Daoist Jian, Grandmaster Jian, Greatest Blacksmith Under the Heavens Jian or—”

“Blacksmith?” Xiao Feng sputtered out, the confusion in his tone audible.

“I see that both of you lack manners. Well, they do say that the master and disciple should be like minded,” Cultivator Jian jabbed at both of them. “Yes, I am a blacksmith, kid. Who else do you think is capable of making all of this?” He asked, gesturing at the dozens of pill furnaces arrayed before him.

Lianhua’s annoyance had clearly increased at the collective insult, though Xiao Feng could tell that it was just an exchange of friendly jibes.

Before Lianhua could speak, Xiao Feng took the initiative, “That’s pretty amazing.”

Lianhua froze.

Cultivator Jian studied him, with surprise reflected in his gaze. Then he replied, “Well, I guess I have to eat my words now. You’re pretty alright, kid. But can you even afford my wares?”

“Depends,” Xiao Feng replied, determining that it was time to buy some respect or ‘face’ back for his mentor. “How much does your most expensive pill furnace go for?”

The smile left Cultivator Jian’s visage as his gaze locked onto his own.

“Joking around amongst friends is fine, kid. But Daoist Jian does not mix humor and business,” He warned.

If I take my time to research every pill furnace until I can zero in on the one most suited to my needs, I’ll probably save some money. But that’s not something Xiao Feng, cultivator of the Martial Division would do. This world respects boldness and looks down upon indecisiveness. More than that though, I’m kinda just tired of being broke all the time.

Instead of replying with words, Xiao Feng pulled out a small spatial pouch from his robe pocket, opened it’s mouth by tugging at the clasp and then turned it towards the wooden shelves’ surface.

The sound of coins clinking against a wooden surface echoed out as both Lianhua and Cultivator Jian watched in complete astonishment at the scene unfolding before them. Xiao Feng stopped only after there were three dozen glimmering gold taels resting unguarded on Cultivator Jian’s shelf.

Without speaking a word, he retracted the pouch, sealed it’s clasp and placed it within the safety of the robe pocket again.

The silence that Xiao Feng had deliberately caused stretched on for a few moments, before Cultivator Jian broke into a bout of belly laughter.

“Fellow Daoist, forgive me, forgive me. It seems that this old cultivator’s eyes have gotten hazy with age, to witness a dragon amongst men and yet not recognize thy grandeur. Let me fetch you the most potent amongst all my pill furnaces suited for your level!” Cultivator Jian declared in a cheerful, upbeat voice, his boastful, imposing personality doing a complete about-turn in a matter of seconds.

Xiao Feng raised an eyebrow at the shameless behavior.

He caught Lianhua staring at him, her gaze seeming concerned.

Is she worried that I’m overextending my finances because I’m tired of being underestimated by all these people? Well, that is kinda true, but I’ve got enough money to burn, Xiao Feng thought, meeting her gaze and then nodding reassuringly.

Accepting the reassurance, Lianhua turned her gaze to Old Man Jian and said, “Don’t try to pull a fast one on my student while I’m around, you hear.”

“Fast one? Hmph,” Cultivator Jian snorted as he flipped through a small, leather-bound diary. “I would not dare do anything that risks turning away such a windfall. Now, sir, what is your name?”

“Xiao Feng,” He replied.

“Hm, haven’t heard that one before. Very well then, Xiao Feng, what method do you follow?” Cultivator Jian asked.

“Wind Alchemy.”

“I see. Makes sense, with the stone-faced princess as your master. Now, since you are a foundation establishment cultivator, that rules out the Moonstone furnaces. Your Qi will have too difficult of a time trying to overcome it’s natural resistance. That makes it ideal for refining pills that require high temperatures or excessive wind refinement, but without Core Formation level Qi reserves, it will just be a waste of your money.”

“How much is one Moonstone Furnace worth?” Xiao Feng asked, unable to hold back his curiosity.

“Around forty gold taels. Though I won’t sell you one, even if you do have the reserves to buy it.”

“I see,” Xiao Feng replied, already having caught onto the fact that Cultivator Jian was a prideful man.

“That leaves Golden Sunstone furnaces and Spiritual Silver ones. Normally, I would recommend a Golden Sunstone furnace to you, given that you seem like you’re just starting out. Spiritual Silver is way more conductive than the alternative, but a problem for new recruits can be that it is a bit too conductive— if you’re not paying attention, you won’t just burn your pill, you’ll also singe off your fingerprints.”

“But you’re not,” Xiao Feng pointed out. “Why?”

Cultivator Jian’s lips curled upwards into a sly smile.

“Do you really think that I wouldn’t notice that the artifact you carry on you is made out of Spiritual Silver?”

It is? Oh… Shit. I really need to read up on this stuff, Xiao Feng thought, his expression stoic as he considered the rhetorical question.

“Astute,” Xiao Feng replied with an approving nod, as if he was the grandmaster blacksmith amongst the two of them.

“May I see it?” Cultivator Jian inquired, his eyes gleaming with enthusiasm. Gone was the shopkeeper who had stumbled upon a golden goose and wanted to make a sale, in favor of a blacksmith who sought the pinnacle of his craft.

“Sure,” Xiao Feng replied, taking a step back to create distance before unsheathing his sword in the way his memories told him to.

Holding the sword in cupped palms, he offered it to Elder Jian.

He accepted it gingerly, grabbing a hold of the hilt first and then running his free hand along the length of the blade.

His expression turned solemn.

“This quality of spiritual silver— wrong,, the techniques employed in forging this blade… they eclipse my own. This is not a weapon made in our current era. It has to be three, maybe four hundred years old and yet, it is in perfect condition. For the foundation establishment stage, it might as well be called the perfect weapon.”

“It was given to me by the sect,” Xiao Feng replied, as he accepted his blade and returned it to its sheathe.

“By the sect….,” Cultivator Jian trailed off, before his eyes flashed with realization. “You’re not an alchemist, are you?” He asked.

“I am one now,” Xiao Feng replied with a smile.

“Well,” Cultivator Jian shrugged. “None of my business, really. No, my business is to sell you a pill furnace. I can’t offer you something of that quality, but unlike Martial Cultivation, where the sharpness of your blade might very well decide whether you live or die, in the Dao of Alchemy your skill eclipses all other parameters— you can have the best spiritual silver furnace I have, if you want.”

“How much will that cost?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone calm even as he found himself incredibly grateful for the knowledge that had been offered to him for free.

“Thirty four gold taels,” Cultivator Jian stated.

“That’s way too much, Old Man!” Lianhua protested, startling Xiao Feng.

“Bah thirty three gold taels and sixty silver taels, just because he’s your disciple,” Cultivator Jian relented, but only by a bit.

“Thirty two gold taels, or we leave,” Lianhua counter-offered, her tone carrying a hint of finality.

“Leave and where, little girl. Where else will you find a blacksmith who specializes in forging pill furnaces? Across the border?” Cultivator Jian playfully mocked.

“Wait till I tell my father, who happens to be one of two Grand Alchemists in the entire Alchemy Division, about your brazen words,” Lianhua fired back, her cheeks colored red from the exertion.

She’s enjoying this, Xiao Feng thought, a bit flummoxed by the back and forth.

“Fine, fine,” Cultivator Jian threw his arms up in surrender. “Thirty two gold taels and fifty silver. That’s the lowest I can do. Any less and you might as well use that sword, cut me down and take it.”

Before Lianhua could beat down Cultivator Jian any further, Xiao Feng spoke, “That’s fine by me.”

The words that were on the verge of spilling out of Lianhua’s mouth froze, before she flashed Xiao Feng a scandalized look.

“Deal,” Cultivator Jian hurriedly accepted, letting Xiao Feng know that he had just gotten scammed.

That was fine.

Leaving a positive impression on Cultivator Jian would be good for him in the long-term. For all his eccentricities, the man seemed to be the real deal when it came to blacksmithing.

And Xiao Feng could use a man like that.

Grunting from the exertion, Cultivator Jian hoisted the undoubtedly heavy pill furnace on top of the wooden shelf.

Xiao Feng took in the construct of luminescent silver. He studied the structure, a spiritual cauldron balanced by three, stubby legs that curled upwards and capped off by a sturdy lid. He found himself awed by the craftsmanship that went in shaping the cauldron’s handles like outstretched wings, undoubtedly symbolizing the mythical skywing. The skywing’s physical body was engraved near the center of the cauldron, with a part of it’s wings depicted to expand outwards and join the handle.

He reached for it, hoisting it with ease and placing it next to him on the wooden floor.

Hopefully, that wasn’t disrespectful, He thought, realizing that he had no idea what the protocol was for dealing with pill furnaces.

“You’re pretty strong,” Cultivator Jian acknowledged, his tone sounding impressed but not surprised. “Well, here’s your change,” He said, pushing forward the balance of gold taels that included the extra amount he had dramatically poured onto the table, along with fifty silver taels that were stacked in rows of ten.

Xiao Feng pocketed the gold taels, before turning his attention to the wares that were lined along the shop’s walls.

His lips slowly curled up as he found something that would do for his purpose.

Xiao Feng pushed the silver taels back towards the shopkeeper before he pointed towards a slender, particularly eye-catching item.

Initially, confusion clouded Cultivator Jian’s visage. Then, realization struck and he offered Xiao Feng an understanding nod.

“Pleasure doing business,” He said. “You can take the hairpin.”

“Thank you,” Xiao Feng replied, before walking over towards the storage shelf, slid the glass panel inwards and retrieved a delicate, blue jade hairpin that had an amethyst colored crystal inlaid on one end.

Underneath the blue jade hairpin, a paper price tag was stuck to the stand it had been kept on.

‘50 silver taels.’

“That’s a pretty hairpin. For a friend back in the Martial Division?” Lianhua asked him, her expression betraying her inquisitiveness.

“No,” Xiao Feng replied. “For you,” He said and gingerly offered it to her. This time, Xiao Feng had scoured his memories and confirmed that hairpins were a perfectly innocuous gift, given to friends, family or a significant other. Naturally, his predecessor had offered no such precious gifts and Xiao Feng couldn’t really blame him— fifty silver taels was what Xiao Feng used to make in three months, after all.

Despite what the original Xiao Feng thought about the Frontier Sect, they were pretty generous once you shed blood for them.

“I…,” Lianhua trailed off, her expression blank as Xiao Feng caught her completely off guard. “I can’t accept this. It’s too precious,” She said, even as a fire blazed across her cheeks.

“Please,” Xiao Feng replied. “You have already done too much for me. I would feel terribly guilty if I could not show at least a token of appreciation,” He pleaded his cause, his tone soothingly earnest.

“Fine,” Lianhua hurriedly replied. “Fine, I’ll accept it. Er, so I have to assist my father with his administrative duties now so,” She paused, reaching into her robe pocket and pulling out a key that was tethered to a tag with a small metal ringlet, “Here’s the key to your room. Now you get yourself settled and I’ll check in on you tomorrow. Oh, ask uh, the old man if you need directions.”

Xiao Feng watched Lianhua walk off rather hurriedly, her right hand clutching onto the hairpin he had given her.

Did I just make a mistake, Xiao Feng wondered.

After she had left the shop, Cultivator Jian addressed him, “You are a member of the Martial Division, aren’t you?” He asked.

“Why?” Xiao Feng questioned, not following.

Cultivator Jian broke out into a boisterous laughter, requiring the greater part of a minute to finally answer him, “You Martial Division folks really have a penchant for making enemies.”

I wonder what he meant by that, Xiao Feng thought as he stepped outside the Treasury sector of the Alchemy Division.

Lianhua was blushing, sure. But that was probably because she wasn’t used to getting gifts from her students. Cultivator Jian had implied as much himself.

She didn’t take on a different meaning to the gift, right? No, no, I’m being preposterous. She’s a forty year old woman. Maybe older. I’m a twenty year old college student— no way she doesn’t see right through me.

Wait, she isn’t married, is she? Are those the enemies he was talking about?

Xiao Feng shrugged and then kept moving forward. One step at a time. If an angry husband shows up, I’ll deal with it then. For now, I want to get my hands on some herbs.

Standing nearby to the Verdant Harmony Tree, Xiao Feng allowed himself to stand still and take in the soothing, gentle Qi ensconcing him from all directions. It was all so peaceful, so serene, that he didn’t feel like moving.

Unfortunately, cultivating under the Verdant Harmony Tree was not allowed. The Qi it was condensing would not be able to sustain more than a few foundation establishment cultivators drawing in Qi at the same time and Xiao Feng could not even begin to imagine the complexity in designing a functional ecosystem for spritual plants underground. Come to think of it, Grand Alchemist Xin Wu had been quite defensive when it came to the Verdant Harmony Tree- was he perhaps the architect behind the arrangement?

Putting the consideration out of his mind for now, Xiao Feng’s gaze swept across the eight pathways, noting that he had already gone down four of them. Namely, the entrance to the sect, the treasury, the junior division and finally, the residences.

He had gotten his fair share of stupefied looks from alchemist designates as he stepped out of the treasury with a pill furnace that was more expensive than their entire class’ furnaces combined. The rumors would spread, naturally. However, Xiao Feng was of the hope that the maturer alchemist designates would prefer to do the talking behind their back.

Thankfully, the recruits were still preoccupied by their classes in the Junior Division, which made his way through the residential area rather peaceful. Xiao Feng was still in the process of wrapping his head around the manner in which the various alchemist designations worked, but his conversation with Cultivator Jian had given him quite enough knowledge to work with.

Recruits, who were the lowest rung of social strata within the alchemy division and Alchemist Designates, that is, recruits who passed the test and were officially certified so by the Azure Lotus sect’s standards, lived in different areas down the passageway labeled ‘Residences’.

Senior Alchemists and the two Grand Alchemists lived in the Administrative Sector, where their offices also were. That made sense to Xiao Feng, because there was definitely knowledge they were privy to and could not share with the lower ranked alchemists. Having their residences side by side would only offer temptation.

Thus, Lianhua could not get him a residence with the other Senior Alchemists even if she wanted to.

Xiao Feng had been granted a room with the other recruits, because it was the only arrangement that could be made in short notice. Or atleast, that was what the warden of the recruit’s living quarters, an alchemist designate, had told him.

The ninth layer Qi Gathering stage cultivator could not stop gazing at him intently, even though he had been informed that Xiao Feng would be moving in today.

Lianhua had pulled strings for him even here though, for whilst all the other recruits had to share a room with two others, Xiao Feng got an entire room for himself.

Following the directions the warden had given him, Xiao Feng opened his dorm room equivalent, finding a single occupancy bed, one wardrobe, an attached washing area, a side-table and enough crystal lighting that he could turn on and off at a tap of his finger.

He dumped the heavy cauldron on the floor, locked the door behind him and now, found his gaze fixated on the pathway that led to the botanical storage.

Finally, Xiao Feng thought, as he felt the build-up of anticipation in his gut. It’s unlikely that I’ll find anything too miraculous, but scanning dozens upon dozens of herbs with my Essence Cultivation Art will be good practice. The seedbeds aren’t great because I can’t approach them without attracting suspicion and while I’d love to examine the Verdant Harmony tree in greater detail, the Essence Cultivation Art isn’t invincible.

Even Xiao Feng never dared to use it on any of the Nascent Soul Elders, the monsters they were. He feared that they would detect his intrusion. The Divine Sense of a Nascent Soul is a terrifying ability. Projecting their soul outwards into strands they can use to sense enemies and allies alike across a sizable area means that there’s no hiding secrets from them.

I’m really glad I got out of the Martial Division. Sorry Elder Haoyun, but I really like my privacy when I’m taking a bath.