by Tao Wong
As he walked around the cauldron, he listed the flaws he saw to Liu Tsong, who stood by the side while offering helpful pointers as necessary. When Wu Ying finally came to a stop, Liu Tsong pointed out a few more flaws he had missed before highlighting the issues Wu Ying truly needed to be concerned about.
“And lastly, the thinner material in the north of the cauldron will see a difference in heat. When stirring and mixing, it is best to do it quicker there. I would estimate it is hotter by about twenty percent, so you will need to adjust your mixing speed by that level,” Liu Tsong said, finishing up her listing of the flaws. “Are the ingredients ready?”
In answer Wu Ying rolled forward the table that held his ingredients. There were five equally divided portions on the table, the various herbs, flower petals, and roots weighed and apportioned evenly.
Liu Tsong looked over the work before sighing and pointing at two bowls. “This is done wrong.”
“But I weighed everything!” Wu Ying protested.
“Refining is not solely about weighing and dividing the portions,” Liu Tsong rebuked Wu Ying. “Look at what you did. See what is wrong with them.”
Wu Ying frowned, eyeing the sets of material before he dared venture a guess. “The second portion has more top root material than the other. In fact, it’s mostly made up of it.”
“Exactly. The amount of fire chi from the three-eyed root is concentrated mostly in the top of the root. By dividing the portions unequally, you have ensured that both of those pill sets would fail,” Liu Tsong said.
“My apologies, Senior.” Well, it had not been in any of the books he had read.
“That is fine. Now, go over the ingredients again.”
A short while later, Liu Tsong was reviewing the proportions once more before she sighed. “Decently done. Except the northern ash tree shavings are of extremely poor quality. They are not sufficient to produce five sets. Distribute the last set among the others.”
“I can return the ingredients…”
“One payment, one set of merchandise[48]. You paid for the ingredients and accepted them already. There are no returns,” Liu Tsong said. “This is why transactions take so long among the experienced pill refiners. We have to check everything the apothecary’s guild trades to us.”
Wu Ying nodded as passing conversations and trades conducted in Elder Li’s residence made more sense. For common material which the sect had a lot of, trading for the right material was simple enough. But when the sect had two or three portions, it was better to get it from the source. Never mind the difference in quality.
“Now, let us begin,” Liu Tsong said. “You have read over the formula?”
“Yes, Senior.”
“Then watch carefully. I will try to dictate all the steps I take, but much will be up to you to grasp,” Liu Tsong said.
Immediately after Wu Ying acknowledged her words, the pill refiner began. Liu Tsong brought the slow-burning wood to a higher temperature. As she worked, Liu Tsong spoke about the heat, the right temperature, and the different ways to vary and adjust the temperature in the cauldron. In one hand, she held a small fan, useful for bringing up the flames and temperature when necessary. In the other, she held a simple ladle, ready for her to scoop up and drop the ingredients for the pill formula when needed.
“To test the temperature, you should use water. The time required to boil off will inform you of the temperature within.” Liu Tsong followed her words with actions. “The pill formula used here follows the basic, most common formula—that of inserting those items with the most restrictive chi first. In order, it is metal, earth, wood, water, and fire chi.” As Liu Tsong spoke, she scooped up the glistening purple ivy leaves and dropped them in the cauldron. Immediately, the leaves crisped and emitted a slight fragrance. At the same time, Liu Tsong used her left hand to dump a ladle of water into the cauldron, watching the leaves boil. After replacing the ladle, Liu Tsong returned to fanning the flames, increasing the temperature of the cauldron. “Next, we wait for eleven breaths…”
Wu Ying made note of her comments. Curious she said eleven instead of the twelve in the formula, but he had no time to ask as Liu Tsong continued to speak. Even so, Wu Ying kept track of the breaths as best as he could. It would take many hours of practice before he would achieve the regulation breath the apothecaries used. That the regulation breath[49] was a fixed amount of time had been a revelation to Wu Ying, almost as great as when he realized pill refiners needed to relearn this breath each time they progressed their cultivation. After all, as chi increased and the body perfected itself, the need for oxygen changed—and so, the way the body reacted altered.
Herb after herb, root after leaf went into the cauldron, punctuated by Liu Tsong’s commentary. Wu Ying watched, fascinated until the end, when Liu Tsong tapped the side of the cauldron and five pills flew out, landing in the waiting bowl with a flourish.
“Don’t do that. You scoop them out,” Liu Tsong said, eyeing the pills she’d created. “Huh. Upper mortal tier. Not bad for the ingredient level.”
“You can tell the tiers?” Wu Ying said, walking forward to stare at the pills.
“You will too. Now, it’s your turn.”
“Maybe I should watch again…”
“You won’t learn until you try. Now, begin.”
“Yes, Senior.”
Wu Ying stepped forward and checked the heat of the cauldron, splashing a few drops into the cauldron with his hand and watching the droplets sizzle. When Wu Ying looked at Liu Tsong, she half smiled at him.
“For your first run, I will not comment or correct.”
Wu Ying gulped, realizing he was walking along the cliff’s edge of failure. Yet, perhaps the knowledge he was likely going to fail freed him. Knowing he would fail meant he had nothing to lose, and the fear of failure disappeared. There was no fear in certainty—just freedom. As if a door had opened in his mind, Wu Ying straightened up and fanned the flames harder. Another, more confident, toss of water in and he began.
When the process finished an hour later, Wu Ying frowned at the brown sludge, rather than perfectly rounded pills, that came out of the cauldron. He pushed at the sludge, trying to scoop it up from the cauldron before Liu Tsong interrupted him with a hand on his elbow.
“Behind you is a container for you to toss the remnants away. Then bank the fire. You’ll need to scoop up what you can then wash out the remainder with water and repeat the exercise till the majority is gone. Then the brush beside you to finish the initial cleaning. After which, we’ll need the herb bundle. Soak the bundle in the pot beside you. Not that one. The other one. You’ll want to use the distilled water for initial and final cleaning,” Liu Tsong said. “And while you work, I’ll discuss what you did wrong. And right.”
Wu Ying’s nose twitched as the bitter smell of the burnt pill formula hit his nose, and he began the process of cleaning the cauldron. Still, at least Liu Tsong was willing to talk to him while he finished the cleaning. Afterward, Wu Ying knew he had two more chances before this day’s attempts were done.
***
Later that evening, Wu Ying stared at three sets of pills. After his first unsuccessful attempt, he had managed to create two sets of pills from the remaining ingredient portions. Of course, the results were mostly due to the aid Liu Tsong provided. Her quick corrections of his mistakes allowed him to undertake corrective action while improving the scope of his knowledge and technique. Liu Tsong had even mimed the motions he needed to take on occasion, something which made Wu Ying smile in recollection.
Now, with three sets of pills laid out before them, Wu Ying was receiving his last piece of education for the day. A much closer review of the tiers of pills.
“See how my pills have a glossy sheen all over them? It is from the earth slug extract we added at the end. Properly coated, it seals in the chi and medicinal properties of the pills. On the other hand, these pills, your low-tier pills, have none of that sheen. They were all burnt off due to your ineffic
ient control of the heat,” Liu Tsong pointed out. “These pills are not storable at all. I recommend eating them in the next two days.”
Wu Ying dipped his head.
“Next, look for consistency in sizes. Again, we have the consistent sizes of my pills, while yours…”
Wu Ying winced. Inconsistent was being kind.
Liu Tsong ignored his facial expressions as she continued speaking. Over the next fifteen minutes, Liu Tsong listed all the differences, beginning Wu Ying’s education on how to tell the difference between pill grades, before she deposited the pills in three different bottles and marked their tied-on labels with a brush.
“And that is it. We’ve run over the allotted time by four hours, so I expect you’ll visit the hall to inform them, yes?” Liu Tsong said, hands on her hips.
Wu Ying immediately agreed.
“Good. You did well for your first real lesson,” Liu Tsong said, smiling.
He flushed—at the praise or the sudden reminder that Liu Tsong was quite pretty, he could not say. Having spent the last few hours learning from her, he had forgotten the fact entirely. But her sudden smile and the way she twitched her head, sending her hair cascading around her, was a powerful reminder. “I did?”
“Yes. You are no genius, but you’re certainly not hopeless. It’s hard to say where you’ll end up without more practice, but I would definitely recommend you continue.”
“Thank you, Senior,” Wu Ying said, bowing low.
Liu Tsong waved goodbye, reminding the cultivator to clean up properly.
Left alone with a dirty cauldron and three pill bottles, Wu Ying sighed. More practice was a nice thought, but the ingredients for the pill formula had cost a hundred eighty contribution points. Liu Tsong’s fees and the rental cost of the public cauldron had set him back another three hundred odd points. And that was before he paid for the overage charges. If not for his little jaunt out with Tou He and the slow but continual points he earned from Elder Li, he would be broke.
As it was, he was not far from that. Finding a way to earn contribution points would be a major issue. Just as he had been warned.
Chapter 13
The end of the staff came spinning, nearly taking Wu Ying in the head. He ducked, but that just set him up for the sweep with the other end. One leg scooped up, balance off-center, Wu Ying fell with a crash as his breath was knocked out of him. Before he could recover, the end of the staff flew forward, stopping right in front of Wu Ying’s face, signalling the end of the match and his loss.
“Stop thinking about unrelated things and focus on me,” Li Yao said grumpily as she retracted her staff.
As Wu Ying stared at the young lady glaring at him, he could not help but smile and roll to his feet. “Good one.”
“No, it wasn’t. You weren’t paying attention,” Li Yao said, pouting. “What is with you today?”
“Sorry,” Wu Ying said, gesturing for them to exit the stage. The pair jumped off the fighting stage and walked over to the water station. “I’ve been thinking about, well, contribution points.”
“Spending or earning?”
“Earning,” Wu Ying admitted. “I spent most of mine on a pill refining lesson. And now I’m back to earning a few points every day.”
“What is the problem?” Li Yao said, brows furrowing across unmarked skin. Over the course of the winter, Li Yao had shed some of the baby fat around her face while adding another half inch in height. The fit cultivator drew the eye of more than one interested party, though she continued to be oblivious to the attention given to her. “There are so many missions right now. The end of the winter is the best time for hunting demon and spirit beasts. Even the monk is out earning his keep.”
“Ex-monk.”
Li Yao waved away Wu Ying’s correction. “If you’re looking for a group, you can speak with Elder Ge. He’ll be happy to set you up.”
“I’m not a martial specialist,” Wu Ying said.
“As if officially joining matters.” Li Yao sniffed. “You train with us, you work to improve your combat abilities, you’re one of us. The rest is just bureaucracy and no one has time for that.”
“That’s not what others say,” Wu Ying said, recalling his earliest interactions with the sect bureaucracy.
“Not my concern.” Li Yao pounded her chest firmly. “We’re too busy for such things.” Then, dropping her voice, she added, “Also, there’s always more work than we can do. The more missions we complete as ‘martial specialists,’ the more the sect values us and the better support we receive. So you’ll be helping us by joining our teams.”
Wu Ying scratched his head. “But I don’t really want to fight…”
Li Yao raised an eyebrow, glancing at the jian Wu Ying had sheathed at his waist then around the arena.
“That’s different,” Wu Ying protested.
“How?”
“I’m training for when I might have to fight. But going out, hunting…” Wu Ying shook his head. “It’s not the same.”
“But you had no problem with the ghosts,” Li Yao said.
“Vampires. And that was Tou He.” Wu Ying shrugged. “I’m not opposed to fighting. But I don’t want it to be my, my…”
“Your dao?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think it’s ours? Mine?” Li Yao said, her eyes narrowing. Wu Ying had to stop himself from backing up as she pointed at him. “Do you think I’m a combat maniac or something?”
“Uhhh…”
“Ooooh, you!” Li Yao stamped her foot on the ground, then not finding it sufficiently satisfying, she stamped down on Wu Ying’s foot.
He could dodge, but seeing the dangerous light in her eyes, he chose to take the blow rather than anger her further. As Wu Ying hopped around on his bruised toes, Li Yao stalked away, growling wordless imprecations under her breath.
“What did you do?” Chao Kun said as he walked up to Wu Ying nursing his foot.
“Nothing! I just, well, I might have said something wrong.”
“Obviously.”
“I, well, all I said was I didn’t want this to become my dao.”
“The fighting?”
“Yes.”
“Ah…” Chao Kun nodded sagely. “Not wise to say that to Li Yao.”
Wu Ying frowned. “Why?”
“Her family circumstances.” When Wu Ying continued to look puzzled, Chao Kun said, “Like many of us, she is from a noble family. Hers is particularly old-fashioned and does not feel it is suitable for a woman to be a martial specialist.”
Wu Ying frowned. Holding such views made little sense. At the Energy Storage stage, the physical differences between sexes became much less of a concern compared to the amount and density of chi in one’s dantian and meridians. At Core formation, the physical aspects could be considered almost negligible among the majority of cultivators, unless one was a physical practitioner like Elder Hsu.
“I know. As I said, traditional. Her family is unhappy she wants to train to defend herself, and even more so when she told them last year she would not marry any man who could not at least defeat her.” The older cultivator’s lips twitched before he leaned forward. “Though, I think, it’s our fault. Li Yao was being pestered so much to date, she made the challenge to us to defeat her before she would date anyone. And then a month later, her family must have heard of it and sent her younger brother over to make demands. And you know Li Yao. Rather than back down or explain, she doubled down.”
Wu Ying winced. “Did no one beat her?”
“Eh, a few. Then she dragged them out on quests through the dirt. Not very romantic.” Chao Kun’s lips twitched. “After that, we started heading off the newcomers. It doesn’t help with her family aspirations though…”
Wu Ying nodded. Even if it did not seem it sometimes, the members who joined the Sect were all the elite. No untalented noble who could not enter the Sect had a chance of beating Li Yao.
“And so, she’s a bit sensitive about this being her dao
. Even if she doesn’t really know which way she’s going, she isn’t going to admit it to you. Or me,” Chao Kun said. “The rest of us are more accepting. Some of us might even pursue a variation.”
“Variation?”
“Guardians. Soldiers. Judges,” Chao Kun said, placing a hand on his chest. “Combat is part of such professions, and there is nothing wrong with a dao that encompasses such beliefs.”
“I never…”
“I know.”
Wu Ying smiled in relief, and taking up Li Yao’s suggestion, he hesitantly asked, “Li Yao mentioned there might be missions available?”
“Missions?” Chao Kun brightened. “I was wondering if you had been scared away.”
“Not at all,” Wu Ying said. “But I’m not exactly enthusiastic about fighting.”
“Yes. It isn’t your dao. But eating is not most of our daos and we still all do it,” Chao Kun said. “Come see me this evening. I’ll find something for you.”
Wu Ying brightened up at the easy help, even if he was not entirely happy about the idea of becoming a fighter. But since he had few ideas of what else to do to increase his take of contribution points, this would do. Looking into the sky, Wu Ying noted how the morning was fast fading. After making sure he had Chao Kun’s residence location, Wu Ying took off to wash up. He still had to make it to Elder Li’s gardens.
***
“Senior Goh,” Wu Ying said as he found Ru Ping in the orchards, hands on his hips and stretching out his back. Or staring at the fruit of the tree above him. Wu Ying’s steps stuttered when he spotted the six glowing pears in the branches of the tree. As he neared and the dense spiritual energy around the tree penetrated his aura, Wu Ying shivered. Quickly enough, Wu Ying spotted the formation flags that boosted the spiritual energy for this section of the orchard. “How…?”
