Cultivating Chai

Xiao Feng felt a burst of nervousness build up in his gut as the warden finally came across the egg. He had considered hiding it, but he wouldn’t be particularly surprised if the warden had a way to sniff any smuggled contraband out— it was the alchemist designate’s job, after all.

Xiao Feng’s expression froze when the warden took in the egg’s surface with a curious expression, running his right hand across its surface to study the whorls running across its surface. He was lingering onto the egg far longer than he had done with the other spiritual herbs so far.

“Recruit Xiao Feng,” The warden finally addressed him, his tone neutral. “Who sold this to you?”

Okay, He thought. This is bad. Really bad.

“The Alchemist’s Haven, sir,” Xiao Feng promptly answered.

“I see,” He replied. “I believe you may have been sold a rotten spiritual fruit. In fact, most, if not all the spiritual fruits and herbs in that basket are rotten,” He explained, pointing at the basket that carried the produce Xiao Feng had bought from the trash pile.

“Oh,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone sounding a bit lost. “Oh, yes. I bought those because the Alchemist’s Haven was selling it for a fifth of the usual price, sir.”

The warden raised an eyebrow at his words.

“Do you really need a discount?” He asked, sounding a bit flabbergasted by Xiao Feng’s statement as he gently placed the egg in a basket, the contents of which he had already gone through.

Xiao Feng sheepishly tousled the back of his head before replying, “Well sir, I do expect to fail a lot, given that this is my first experience with refining pills. I thought it would be better to use cheaper materials until I get a handle over the process before I fully commit to it.”

“I see,” The warden replied. “Well, we should be almost done here,” He said, glancing over to the small pile of rotten spiritual fruits and herbs that remained.

“Sir, would you perhaps know where I can find a source of fire? Xiao Feng decided to ask, not having gotten to that question with Lianhua before her abrupt departure.

“A source of fire?” The warden asked, as he gave Xiao Feng an odd look.

“Yes sir. As a practitioner of Wind Alchemy, I still need to rely on Fire Qi to refine a pill. Or at least, that is what I was led to believe,” Xiao Feng clarified, wondering if he had misunderstood Lianhua’s words.

“Recruit Xiao Feng, were you planning on refining pills in your room?” The warden asked, his tone incredulous.

“Uh… yes sir?” He replied with an uncertain look on his face.

“Did you not see the passageway labeled Cultivation Halls in the central foyer?” He asked.

“I did, sir. Uh, but, I thought Cultivation Halls meant that it would contain cultivation chambers and training rooms,” He replied, his judgment made from his predecessor’s memories. A cultivation chamber was a small, sealed room where in good quality spiritual stones were placed on a bed of heated bronze coal. The reaction between the two would lead to the spiritual stones melting, releasing the trapped Qi within and causing the Qi density within that small area to skyrocket.

Those small rooms might have been the place where his predecessor spent most of his life in, often cultivating for hours at end, sometimes, even days.

It was an addictive feeling, he knew. The work Xiao Feng put in was rewarded with strength, in a way that was not possible on earth. Each time he cycled the spiritual Qi through his dantian and across his meridians, effect amplified by the acupuncture points, he grew a little stronger, his qi reserves a little grander and his body, slightly more resilient.

“Recruit Xiao Feng, is pursuing the Dao of Alchemy not cultivation for us?” The warden asked him, his tone revealing a strong sense of underlying pride.

If I give the wrong answer here, I might actually piss him off. That is less than ideal, He thought. Well, I never liked people to sucked up to professors back home, but I guess you gotta do what you gotta do to survive.

“Yes, sir. Thank you for your guidance,” Xiao Feng enthusiastically replied, deploying his secret weapon a moment later as he bowed to the warden.

Bows carried significant importance in a society that was governed by either strength or the import of one’s status. A cultivator would not easily bow to another, unless they acknowledged him.

“Rise, rise, Xiao Feng,” The warden hurriedly asked him to stand back straight, clearly aware of his identity due to Lianhua.

However, Xiao Feng noticed that he dropped the formal title from his address, referring to him directly by his given name.

Gotcha, He thought, before doing as directed.

“There are not only cultivation chambers and training rooms within the Cultivation Hall, you can also reserve Alchemy Vaults that offer specialized flame burners for those that do not possess an alchemist’s flame and when you have doubts, or wish to undertake research of your own, there is the Grand Library, which contains a collection of over five thousand tomes, scrolls and written records, both ancient and present,” The warden revealed to him, springing a pleasant surprise on Xiao Feng.

Xiao Feng enthusiastically nodded at the warden’s explanation.

“That was the last of it,” The warden said, as he placed the last rotten fruit back in the basket. “You are free to return to your quarters.”

Finally, Xiao Feng thought.

Only after he was behind the shut and locked door to his quarters, did Xiao Feng reach for the egg, holding it in his hands as he collapsed onto his bed.

He studied the egg carefully as he held it aloft before him, while lying down on the bed with his back against its soft mattress.

“You’re dying, aren’t you?” Xiao Feng asked, noticing that the pulsing and dimming cycle had gotten even quicker since he had originally taken notice of the egg. “The warden can’t tell what you are. Neither can the alchemists who tossed you into the pile. That must mean that you are either damaged, or maybe, the species that laid this egg has a very small chance of giving birth successfully. Now, that leaves me with two options,” He muttered.

“I can either wait to do anything until I research the library and find out exactly what you are. I don’t expect it to be easy if multiple alchemists failed and the time it would take to do all that might exceed what little you have. Or…,” Xiao Feng trailed off, his expression looking uncertain.

There was no telling what kind or nature of spiritual beast might hatch from this egg. As far as he was aware, every spiritual beast, no matter which species it came from, started at the equivalent of the Qi Gathering stage. However, its heritage decided how fast and how strong it could grow up to be.

The spiritual beast in the egg could turn out to be a highly poisonous one. It may not be able to overpower him from birth, but many things had the potential to go wrong.

“Or,” He repeated. “I could help you now,” He said, knowing that he had already decided on an answer.