Cultivating Chai

44:

Xiao Feng decided to follow Lianhua inside, not seeing a pressing need to return for his Pill Furnace if he wasn’t going to be doing any pill refining today.

He did his best to not stare this time around, but found that resolution failing as he noticed a weapons rack placed next to the equipment rack, which he hadn’t been able to discern from his earlier viewing angle.

“Didn’t know that you trained in the martial way as well,” Xiao Feng remarked as he stepped into the room through and through, before Lianhua gently pressed the door backwards and it shut with a subtle click.

“I may not be of much help in a demon incursion,” Lianhua replied modestly. “But I do believe that it is important to know to defend oneself,” She explained.

“Certainly is,” Xiao Feng replied from experience, or well, inherited experience. His gaze shifted to the two doors situated on the wall opposite the one that housed the large painting.

One door was almost identical in size to the one found in his own room, most likely leading to the washing area. The other one, on the opposite end of the wall, was a wider, thicker door, both fashioned out of the same, eye-catching pink ivory wood.

“Well, maybe I can repay this debt by teaching you some martial techniques one of these days,” Xiao Feng good-naturedly offered.

A quick yet soft kick landed on his right shin, the move catching his senses off-guard because he detected no threat.

“Hey, what was that for?” Xiao Feng protested, not having expected such a reaction at all.

“Do not call a master-disciple relationship a debt,” Lianhua chastised, before turning her gaze away from him within an angry huff.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t mean it like that. Erm, sorry,” He offered as embarrassment colored his cheeks.

Way to go, prick, Xiao Feng thought to himself. She’s already told you how important taking on a disciple is to her and you go and say that.

“It is… alright,” Lianhua conceded, recognizing the genuine mistake for what it was. “Make sure not to repeat it,” She advised, before she began walking over to the equipment rack.

Xiao Feng gingerly followed, feeling a lot more conscious about his own actions.

She came to a halt before the equipment rack, before reaching for the bottom-most drawer that was also the largest.

Tugging it open, she revealed a Spiritual Silver pill furnace that was a more compact, sleeker version of his own, mirroring the same skywing-themed design.

She held it by the handles, before coming to a stop before the wider door.

“I would be interested,” She began, her tone sounding a bit hesitant. “If you’re willing to teach me martial techniques, I mean,” Lianhua hurriedly added.

“Of course,” Xiao Feng beamed at her, as he stood at her right. “If any of your fellow alchemists want to learn, I’d be happy to teach them what I can as well,” He offered, making absolutely sure that he wasn’t framing his offer as a transactional one.

“Thank you,” Lianhua replied, her smile genuine as she pushed open the door to the Alchemy Vault.

Almost immediately, Xiao Feng noticed that Lianhua’s vault was easily three times the size of the public access one he had paid two bronze taels to rent for an hour.

I’m pretty sure that Lianhua’s pill furnace is custom made too, likely taking her physique into account. And this alchemy vault? These senior alchemists sure get some neat benefits, Xiao Feng thought, totally not jealous when he thought of how convenient it would be to make masala chai in the comfort of his room instead of getting in line and renting a vault each time he got the craving for it.

Lianhua addressed him only after they had seated themselves cross-legged on the obsidian-tiled floor. Her pill furnace was placed on a burner that looked identical to the one that Xiao Feng had used in the alchemy vault, except the crystal powering it was a much larger, dark amethyst instead of red.

“So,” She began. “You seem to really enjoy using a pill furnace the wrong way. Do you have any idea how it is actually used?” Lianhua pointedly asked, her expression looking rather amused.

“Um…,” Xiao Feng tried to buy some time as he considered the answer. “Good question?”

Lianhua giggled.

Before Xiao Feng could muster up another response, Lianhua reached for the right handle of the pill furnace and to his surprise, twisted it ninety degrees clockwise.

A click sounded out and a lid that Xiao Feng didn’t even know existed slid open, revealing a metal plate that completely covered any part of the pill furnace’s interior that normally would’ve been exposed.

“Huh,” Xiao Feng muttered, clearly not having expected the pill furnace to have that feature. “What is the metal plate for?” He asked.

“That’s what you get, for using your pill furnace as if it were cooking equipment,” Lianhua chided, though she was definitely enjoying messing with him a little.

“Hey, I wasn’t cooking, I was making Chai. I’ll have you know, that is a far nobler purpose,” Xiao Feng replied pointedly, striking back the best he could.

“Fine, fine, I’ll let it slide. Now, how do you think we add ingredients in the midst of refinement?” Lianhua asked.

Xiao Feng’s eyes widened in realization, before he said, “Oh. Right. You don’t just throw all the ingredients in at once, you need to do it sequentially. You taught me that, with the beast-bonding pill’s formula. And you can’t exactly lift the pill furnace’s heavy top, that would just expose you to the volatile mixture.”

“Indeed,” Lianhua replied.

“How did I not see it earlier,” He muttered, more to himself than to Lianhua.

“Do not blame yourself,” Lianhua replied. “There are certain pill formulas where you add in all the materials at once, though they are much harder to refine successfully instead of being easier.”

“Why?” He asked.

“The volatility factor of refining that many ingredients at once is certainly a major factor. But the more important one is the inference that the pill formula itself is not very developed if such a brute force method is the only option we have at hand. There is more than likely a more efficient and easier way out there, we just haven’t found it yet,” Lianhua explained.

“I see,” He muttered in understanding, nodding his head. “So, I’m guessing that the metal plate is to place the ingredient you want added?” He asked.

She nodded before explaining, “It is also made out of spiritual silver and if you would peer in closer,” She said and Xiao Feng craned his neck to get a better view. “You would see that it leaves no open spaces along its circumference. No space for the refining material to splash out and hurt you.”

“Simple and efficient,” He commented.

“Indeed. And finally,” Lianhua reached for the right handle again, twisting it back counter-clockwise by the same ninety degrees. “The lid snaps back shut and the metal plate is released, held by a thin metal joint that keeps it tethered to the side of the pill furnace but causes whatever it was holding to fall into the refining ingredients below.”

Of course, Xiao Feng couldn’t see any of that happen, but it was an ordinary enough mechanism to understand.

“I get it.”

“So, why did you have the alchemists deposit all these precious ingredients in my room?” Lianhua finally asked a question Xiao Feng had expected much sooner.

“They are worth thirty eight gold taels,” He replied with a shrug.

Lianhua had an estimate in mind, of course she did, but that didn’t prevent her from gasping in shock when the number was spoken aloud.

“So I figured, if Alchemist Zhi is petty enough to go that far to frame me, he might have tricks up his sleeve to steal my ingredients as well. Tsk, I’m sure he’ll do something even after I generously left him a single set of ingredients behind,” Xiao Feng explained.

“You can be quite vengeful,” Lianhua remarked, albeit without any judgment in her tone.

“Hey, he started it,” He replied with a shrug. “Either way, I doubt even he would be crazy enough to steal from your room. If those guards would even let him in”.

“They won’t,” Lianhua replied. “Now, let’s put those ingredients to good use. Bring me a set,” Lianhua directed.

“Do I get to refine a pill?” Xiao Feng asked, with excitement bubbling in his tone.

“No,” Lianhua replied, cutting him down mercilessly. “I will refine it and you shall observe. Remember that it would be nothing short of a miracle if you managed to refine a single beast-bonding pill across all those sets. Do not be in a hurry.”

“Yes ma’am,” Xiao Feng replied, the eagerness in his tone only slightly diminished.

A Senior Alchemist giving him live instruction by refining a pill in front of him?

It was a gift he would be foolish to refuse.