Cultivating Chai

48:

Xiao Feng’s gaze was fixated on the pill furnace before him, his expression one of total concentration as he watched the Pearl Orchid bulb fall towards the melange of bone marrow and blood essence.

He tried to make his expression more nonchalant as he used his essence cultivation art to peer into the pill furnace, but Xiao Feng wasn’t worried about Lianhua finding his actions suspicious.

For her eyes were snapped shut as she directed her Wind Qi to the pill furnace, catching it before it could interact with the Qi-dense mixture.

Xiao Feng watched closely as Lianhua’s Wind Qi nestled around the bud, slowly letting it come into contact with the heated mixture. It began to bubble as the properties of the Qi-Dense mixture interacted with the nutrient rich Pearl Orchid bulb, the latter not melting easily due to the cooling provided by the shield of Wind Qi swirling around it.

“It will take you some practice, but it is quite important to learn how to shield ingredients without destroying them,” Lianhua explained. “You cannot let powerful ingredients fall directly into the already boiling mixture, such hastiness can easily lead to a surge that will ruin the refinement. Flame alchemists accomplish the same effect by modulating the heat with exacting precision, while we Wind Alchemists do so by protecting the very ingredients from a sudden flux.”

“Isn’t that..,” Xiao Feng trailed off as he watched Lianhua defend the Pearl Orchid bulb with ease, letting it slowly melt away into the Qi-dense mixture instead of being consumed instantly. “... quite difficult?” He asked.

“It would be a trifling task for Nascent Soul cultivators,” Lianhua replied, her eyes still closed as she focused on the refinement. “However, for the rest of us, it is indeed quite challenging. Defeating Alchemist Zhi in a mere four months will not be easy.”

“While I did get to know about the beast-bonding pill after I agreed to fight him, it does work out quite neatly. If I want to keep the egg, I need to refine this pill much faster than that. And hey, it’s not like Alchemist Zhi is going to get a lot of practice in,”

A chuckle escaped Lianhua, but she immediately tamped down on her amusement as the Pearl Orchid bulb fully dissolved.

Xiao Feng got to know why a few moments later, as two spirals of Wind Qi rose to the roof of the pill furnace, intersecting equidistantly before diffusing into a gentle umbrella of wind. He only understood the purpose of the odd technique as the Qi Dense mixture flowed upwards along the spirals, intersecting four times before it was diffused along the periphery of the pill furnace, returning to the pooled mixture near the bottom of the cauldron.

I guess this is a new way of kneading the mixture, Xiao Feng thought, keenly observing the process. It’s much more complex but it also seems to be more thorough.

“This part of the process is a bit more complicated to explain. It would be best if I showed you later, but essentially, kneading the mixture alone no longer suffices after the complexity has increased to this degree,” Lianhua explained and Xiao Feng could see exactly what she was talking about, both literally and figuratively.

The cloud moss dissolved much faster despite Lianhua’s attempts to resist the encroachment of the heated mixture. A pungent, sickly sweet scent filled the air, no doubt a result of the cloud moss’ properties.

I hope that makes it attractive for the beast egg, Xiao Feng thought as Lianhua reached for the next ingredient.

Star Anemone took the longest to dissolve and Xiao Feng wondered if it was the Water Qi within the flower that made it resistant to both heat and change.

It was half way through it’s refinement that he noticed something strange. The Qi-Dense mixture was already quite bright in intensity, but it was growing brighter at a pace that exceeded the rate that it was previously exhibiting by manifold times.

Lianhua seemed to realize the anomaly as well, as tore away her hand from the amethyst dragonstone burner before wrapping both around the pill furnace.

Xiao Feng watched as two patterns of Qi that could only be Alchemist’s flames washed over the refining mixture from opposite directions.

Instead of further agitating the Qi-Dense Mixture, Xiao Feng watched as the Alchemist’s Flames burned away large concentrations of Qi effortlessly while accomplishing what Lianhua had been trying to do with the wind braiding.

The end result was a far lighter, almost completely uniform solution of Qi, making it hard for Xiao Feng to believe that five different ingredients had gone into the mix.

“What did you just do?” Xiao Feng blurted out the question before he could think twice about it.

Lianhua blinked and then turned to face him even as she resumed supplying heat to the burner, albeit at a much lower intensity.

“You could sense that?” She asked, her gaze reflecting a surprise that did not seem unpleasant.

“Well, kind of,” He sheepishly admitted.

“I guess I cheated a little,” Lianhua admitted, though her tone was proud. “I used my father’s alchemist flame,” She explained.

“Good fortune is merely a part of your ability, I would not call it cheating,” Xiao Feng replied, as he drafted a reply from his predecessor’s memories.

“Is that what they teach you?” She asked, before adding, “In your martial division.”

Xiao Feng shrugged before replying, “The heavens do not make all men equal. As martial cultivators, we cannot shy away from this one truth. If my enemy on the battlefield possesses an artifact that a cultivator of his station is not expected to have, will he have mercy on me? No, that is why I will find a way to overcome him myself,” He explained the mindset of a martial cultivator, his predecessor’s philosophies, even though parts of them still seemed alien to Xiao Feng himself.

“That,” Lianhua began. “Is quite the fascinating perspective. If only you knew how many covetous gazes this alchemist’s flame attracted,” She replied, before softly sighing.

“Envy only opens doors to defeat. Whatever Alchemist Zhi is after, I will make sure to teach him that lesson,” Xiao Feng boldly declared.

Lianhua’s cheeks flushed a little as she turned away from Xiao Feng, before reaching for the Sylvan Heartroot.

“If your senses are so keen, watch this part carefully,” Lianhua directed him, as she slotted the Sylvan Heartroot on the metal plate. With a twist of the pill furnace’s handle, the spiritual plant spilled into the refined mixture, only to be caught by her Wind Qi.

The Sylvan Heartroot turned out to be the most resistant to change, as it began to seek out the refined mixture that was simmering at low heat. Lianhua’s wind Qi further helped keep temperatures down and in merely a minute’s time, the refined mixture was wrapped around the dimensions of the Sylvan Heartroot.

Another few minutes passed by as the Sylvan Heartroot was heated, to weaken it’s bonds.

Lianhua added the Frost Lily not long after and Xiao Feng watched as the amethyst dragonstone burner’s heat failed to affect it’s structure.

“This is it,” Lianhua said. “The final stretch.”