Cultivating Chai

58:

“Are you absolutely sure you want to rush into refining pills?” Lianhua asked him for the second time, a note of disapproval audible in her tone.

“Yes,” Xiao Feng replied.

Lianhua sighed. “Even if I wanted to reprimand you, I can’t. You remind me too much of myself,” She reluctantly admitted.

Xiao Feng blinked, not having expected that particular admission.

“Did you rush into alchemy too?” He asked, his tone uncertain. It didn’t make sense for Lianhua to be in a hurry to master the discipline her father held command over and it made even less sense for Grand Alchemist Xin Wu to allow such a thing.

“Obviously not,” Lianhua replied, her tone sounding affronted. “I mean that I happen to be about as stubborn as you, once I’ve decided on a course of action.”

Realization spread across Xiao Feng’s features before he voiced the conclusion he’d come to, “You’re talking about your decision to learn martial cultivation on your own.”

Lianhua nodded.

“Why?” Xiao Feng asked, as he failed to keep his curiosity in check.

“I am an alchemist,” Lianhua replied, her tone distant. “Back then, there were too many responsibilities tugging my father in different directions. He could not have afforded any more distractions and I knew that if I expressed a desire to train in the martial way, he would not only find me a suitable instructor but also take personal interest in my growth,” She explained, not a hint of regret to be found in her features.

“So you just, uh, decided to figure it out yourself?” Xiao Feng asked in a bemused tone.

“Yes,” Lianhua replied with a shrug. “My objective was to learn how to defend myself, not fight on the frontlines. I have no such delusions of grandeur and I am content as an alchemist. Though I must admit, my curiosity stemmed from a much more selfish reason.”

“Oh?”

“I wanted to see if there were any aspects of martial cultivation that I could apply to alchemy,” Lianhua admitted.

“Did you find any?” Xiao Feng asked.

“I guess we will find out,” Lianhua replied, offering him a sly smile.

Xiao Feng had to fight to keep a blush from coloring his cheeks.

I guess this means that the sparring sessions will continue, He thought, as an odd happiness suffused his chest, a warmth that was tinged with nervousness.

“I guess we will,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone eager. He had barely scratched the surface when it came to understanding his Dao and sparring was the only path he knew to it.

“You know,” Lianhua began. “I was not asking you to reconsider your decision because it would waste resources. Wealth does not seem to be a problem for you and even if it was, once you became a full-fledged alchemist, the Azure Lotus Sect itself would become invested in your growth,” She revealed.

“No?” Xiao Feng repeated, his tone sounding puzzled. “Then why?”

“Alchemy only gets more difficult with every succeeding designation. The pill formulae evolve in complexity and the ingredients become increasingly resistant to alteration. It is better to learn the proper way once instead of spending years later on, unlearning inefficiencies in your technique.”

“That’s similar to martial cultivation,” Xiao Feng admitted. “Though, even if it wasn’t for Alchemist Zhi forcing my hand, I would still have asked you for this. I want to try and save the egg on my own,” Xiao Feng declared, his eyes meeting Lianhua’s.

Lianhua was the first to break eye-contact, a soft sigh escaping her lips before she replied, “Very well. I shall guide you the best I can. Do not be frustrated by failure, because you will fail. Again and again until you either grasp the essence of the required technique or you run out of ingredients.”

“I won’t,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone carrying a steely determination.

“Let us begin, then.”

Xiao Feng sized up his own pill furnace as if it were a great foe, his expression one of sharp focus as he turned one of its handles, causing its lid to slide open and reveal a metal plate.

“Remember, you are not to go beyond the first step today,” Lianhua reminded.

Xiao Feng nodded as he shifted into position. His right hand wrapped around the amethyst dragonstone burner’s knob, while his left reached for the one of two open glass vials that were slotted into a wooden stand.

First, he poured the bone marrow of a stoneback ursine on the metal plate, watching the thick, silver liquid spread across its surface. Then, Xiao Feng slotted the now empty glass vial back into its stand, before reaching for a vial full of pinkish-red liquid. The blood extract of a lesser shadow wyrm spilled onto the metal plate before he put away another empty glass vial.

The end result of the two ingredients colliding was a light orange paste.

“This mixture is lighter in hue compared to when you were refining the beast-bonding pill,” Xiao Feng observed. “Does this imply that these two ingredients are of poorer quality?” He asked.

“Astute observation,” Lianhua praised. “You’re correct, but that is a good thing. The lower Qi density in the ingredients will make it easier for you to refine them.”

“Got it,” Xiao Feng nodded at her, before turning his attention back to his pill furnace.

Hesitating no longer, he turned the pill furnace’s handle back into place and watched as the lid slid back into place, sealing its contents within.

He waited a minute, using his essence cultivation art to watch the last of the mixture leave the metal plate and join the pool that had formed at the base of the cauldron.

Then, Xiao Feng twisted the knob clockwise by half a rotation, causing a small hole to open up on its exterior. He let his Qi flow into it and observed as it flowed down a metal pipe that led straight to the heart of the amethyst dragonstone ore.

Deep-Violet flames crackled to life and Xiao Feng winced, the heat from up close far surpassing his expectations.

His essence cultivation art revealed all to him and he watched as the heat from the amethyst dragonstone’s flames began to weaken the border between two liquids of different qi density.

His expression firmed as he channeled his Wind Qi, letting it flow through meridians and crossing acupuncture points in his chest and left arm before manifesting outside his body, cloaking his left hand in a cushion of flowing wind.

Xiao Feng kept his eyes open as he pressed his left hand against the pill furnace’s red-hot surface.

The boiling pain he had braced himself for never came. As hot as the metal was, Xiao Feng was a wind qi cultivator and his qi reserves far outpaced a regular alchemist.

The unattuned Qi that he was giving an escape through his left arm, akin to an inexperienced cultivator who had yet to learn how to efficiently channel his wind qi, diffused outwards. Some of it was lost to the atmosphere, but the rest was directed into the pill furnace, either absorbed by the heated materials or the hot air that was trapped within it.

He continued letting the unattuned Qi escape through his left hand, while he waited for the right moment.

The abutting border between the two liquids began to blur as the rising heat unified them, causing lumps to form in the mixture.

Xiao Feng readied the flowing WInd Qi that was cushioning his hand, before his gaze flickered towards Lianhua.

The Senior Alchemist was ready to intervene, as her alchemist’s flame danced in the palm of her hand. The moment he lost control, she would step in.

If Xiao Feng’s wind qi bit too deeply into the mixture, it would destabilize and result in a small explosion. If his wind qi’s touch was too light, then the lumps would remain and it would cripple his chances of successfully refining the beast-bonding pill.

Thankfully for him, he could see exactly what he needed to do.

While Lianhua had blanketed the mixture with a whirlwind of Wind Qi that continuously shrunk in diameter to smoothen out the entire liquid and unify it as one, Xiao Feng only needed a small whirlwind of Qi that danced from one lump to the next with what should’ve been impossible adroitness.

Minutes ticked by and it was not Xiao Feng’s Qi reserves that were drained, but his mental ones instead as he maintained his focus over the small whirlwind of Qi, quickly dealing with with the lumps that arose from the mixture until suddenly, none remained.

“I’m done,” Xiao Feng declared.

Lianhua blinked. “So soon?” She asked, her tone not at all sounding convinced.

“Yeah,” He replied.

“Well then, cut off the Qi supply to the dragonstone burner,” Lianhua directed, though she hadn’t let go of the alchemist’s flame that was dancing in her right palm.

“Won’t that ruin the process?” Xiao Feng asked.

Lianhua shook her head before replying, “I have ways to preserve it,” She said, pointing to a small glass jar that was placed to her side, full of powder blue pills.

Xiao Feng nodded and did as he was asked.

The amethyst dragonstone flame sputtered out and the pill furnace fell silent.

Xiao Feng stepped aside as Lianhua seated herself where he had been. Twisting the handle to reveal the metal plate, she plucked one powder blue pill and slid it onto the plate before twisting it back.

A sizzle sounded out from inside the pill furnace’s interior.

“A frost heart pill,” Lianhua began. “It reacts to heat that has passed the boiling point and is an excellent way to both stop volatile ingredients from reacting and preserving semi-refined mixtures.”

Xiao Feng nodded in appreciation, not having known such a useful pill existed.

After a minute had passed, Lianhua wrapped both her hands around the pill furnace’s handle and lifted it’s entire top before she put it to the side.

All that remained was the cauldron and the mixture he had refined.

“Now, let us see how’ve perfo—,” Lianhua’s words were cut off as she gazed at an inverted dome that was fully encased in a layer of frost.

Her jaw quite literally dropped open as she noticed it’s perfectly smooth surface, not even a hint of a lump to be found.