Cultivating Chai

30:

“This is a Moonlit Dew plant,” Lianhua said, as her index finger traced its illustrated stem. Well, perhaps illustrated was not an appropriate way to describe it, as it seemed like the original Moonlit Dew plant had been dipped in verdant ink before being pressed against the tome’s page.

The structure of the plant itself was rather ordinary, with a single stem standing upright like the trunk of a tall tree. Instead of branches, there were leaves alternating in equidistant intervals on the stem’s either sides from top to bottom, their shape a delicate, cupped one.

“Its taste has been described as minty, the effect on the body rejuvenating if consumed directly. Do you know why the leaves are shaped like that?” Lianhua asked, completely absorbed in the role of an instructor. She was good at it too, both patient and kind, making Xiao Feng wonder why she did not take in disciples. He supposed that the rumor-mongers were not all that hateful for having made him aware of that tidbit.

“Uh…. no,” Xiao Feng replied, ruffling his hair as he tried to reach for knowledge he did not possess.

“Try and guess,” Lianhua encouraged him. “Don’t worry, I don’t bite,” She reassured him with a little more zeal than was perhaps required for a foundation establishment stage war hero.

“Erm so, the leaves are cupped right?” Xiao Feng mused out loud. “The spiritual plant is called Moonlit Dew plan, so I’m guessing that the shape of the leaves is conducive to gathering Water Qi during the night?”

“Close!” Lianhua chirped up in happiness, only to suffer from a burn in her cheeks a few moments later as she realized that she was being too loud for the Grand Library. “Sorry,” She whispered under her breath, before refocusing her attention on Xiao Feng.

“The Moonlit Dew plant is very commonly found, even in the rocky patches of the Frontier. It gathers Water Qi through its roots during the day and instead of stockpiling it for itself, it only circulates the bare minimum it requires to live before discharging the excess Water Qi into its cupped leaves,” Lianhua explained, her tone soft and gentle.

“Why?” Xiao Feng quizzed, a bit baffled by the phenomenon.

“The Moonlit Dew plant does not wish to be a target for herbivore beasts and it also wishes to propagate rapidly. Small, sticky seeds are concealed at the bottom of the pools of Water Qi that are held in its cupped leaves. The Jade-Plumed Swallow is a weak Qi Gathering realm beast, but few predators can ambush it due to its diminutive size and quick reflexes. It is also numerous in population,” Lianhua explained.

“The Jade-Plumed Swallows,” Xiao Feng muttered in realization. “They spread Moonlit Dew’s seed across Sephari and in return, they are offered Water Qi as bait. A symbiotic relationship.”

A tender, nurturing smile graced her features as Lianhua looked at Xiao Feng with a hint of pride in her gaze, “That is correct. What do you think the advantages of such a spiritual plant are?”

“They should be easily found…,” Xiao Feng guessed. “And they should be cheap,” He said.

“Precisely,” Lianhua replied. “There’s enough stockpiled in the junior division to facilitate hundreds of refinement attempts. You missed out on one thing, though. The Moonlit Dew plant is an excellent base ingredient for a lot of Qi Gathering realm pills. It possesses large reserves of Water Qi if harvested before nightfall, which is a fairly neutral element that does not react adversely with others like fire, earth or wind,” Lianhua explained.

“Like the Pureflow Gel?” Xiao Feng asked, referring to the gelatinous substance he liked to think of as water jam.

“Precisely,” Lianhua replied. “If you were to refine a full humus root with a vial full of firedust into a pill, it would cause an explosion. However, refining pureflow gel and a full humus root together would not cause such an adverse effect. It would slightly dull the effect of the earth attunement and not be particularly useful to water element cultivators either, but by adjusting the pill formula, such weaknesses can be made up for”.

“Huh,” Xiao Feng hummed in thought, his gaze sparkling with interest as he took in the illustration with great interest. “Where can I buy some of this to eat?” He asked.

A laugh that was just barely masked into a hacking cough echoed from his right, as an alchemist designate tried not to attract the fury of Senior Alchemist Lianhua. Xiao Feng wasn’t sure about the tradeoff in such a decision, after peeking a glance at the brazen alchemist designate only to find that his cheeks had gone red— it seemed to him like the man would cough himself to death first.

“The Junior Division, ask Alchemist Jia-Rui,” Lianhua replied in a smooth tone, not dignifying the alchemist designate’s laughter with a change in inflection.

“Thank you kindly.”

“Well Xiao Feng, that should conclude our lesson for today. I’ve talked to our librarian, Alchemist Fei. You are authorized to borrow up to ten books from the Grand Library. For your first one, you are to take this tome with you and memorize details of the spiritual plants and herbs I have covered today. Is that understood?” She asked, a little sternness leaking into her tone.

“Yes, ma’am,” Xiao Feng replied with the utmost seriousness. He had not forgotten the weight of what he was being offered. The direct guidance of a Senior Alchemist, especially one as talented as Lianhua, was not something his vast material resources could buy.

Lianhua left not long after while Xiao Feng still had to ask Alchemist Fei to make a record of the tome he was borrowing. That made sense to Xiao Feng, considering that the tome he held contained the ink-print illustrations of a hundred spiritual plants that came in all shapes and sizes.

He would sooner drink coffee than let anything happen to the tome.

Well, Xiao Feng thought, as he stepped outside the Grand Library. As fun as learning about alchemy and brewing chai has been, now that I am in the Cultivation Halls, it would be a waste not to test out the training rooms. I can’t let my muscle memory go rusty, after all.