by Gore, A. P.
This was her chance. She had to make it work, and she was ready to sacrifice for it.
Chapter 33
Simulation
The fuzzy white environment cleared up with a thought, and Li Wei appeared in a courtyard paved with stone. Leafless trees lined up around the courtyard like an array diagram. Fierce wind blew through the trees, howling across the courtyard. The trees had no leaves, were only wood skeletons. Those were Wind Demon Trees, capable of destroying a courtyard in seconds.
Wind Demon Trees possessed immense wind attributed essence energy, and one could only find them on the highest peak of the Martial Realm. No one dared go there, but Wei had accidentally ventured near one and almost died in his previous life. So, he knew how dangerous these trees were.
Thank heavens this was a dream space and everything was under his control.
Wei sat cross-legged in the middle of the paved ground, feeling the strong surface below his butt. A familiar feeling rushed to his mind; the feeling of his old courtyard built on the cliff where he’d lived in the Firmament Sect. It had same vibe, a stone-paved courtyard with howling winds that emerged out of the valley next to the courtyard. If he could get a cup of nice tea and a chair to enjoy the music of the howling wind, that would be awesome.
Well, this feeling was dear to his heart. After all, it had been his home for so many years, so he loved it. If he had the chance, he would visit his courtyard in the future.
Sighing, he pushed his reminiscing thoughts away and changed the courtyard grounds into a patch of grass that resembled the trial chamber. After the atmosphere satisfied his intent, he conjured a brush and a bottle of beast ink. In the dream space he was God, and he could conjure anything except the final pill. That, he had to take care by himself. The trial didn’t care how many herbs he conjured or how many cauldrons he exploded. It said only to concoct the pill in eight days. At first, he had thought of giving up, but then he gave up the idea of giving up. Worse case, he would practice basic alchemy technique from the Basic Compendium of Herbs and Alchemy and ponder a few high-grade arrays he hadn’t been able to grasp in his previous life.
After reaching the first Wind Demon Tree, he started carving an intricate pattern on the tree trunk that spread out from a single point. It was a Wind Sealing Array that required wind attributed source material. A Wind Demon Tree was the best source material for this array.
Then he carved a Wind Partitioning Array on the second tree and a Wind Stabilizing Array on the third. These all were Earth Grade arrays, and he couldn’t even dream about carving them in real life, but here they were as easy as punching air. These arrays belonged to a special category of arrays: Wind God Array Inheritance. It was discovered by his friend who’d practiced wind attributed cultivation art and only he could carve a few of them. Although Wei couldn’t practice them, he’d studied them for a long time, so he could use them here.
After carving the three arrays alternately on eighteen trees, he conjured a cauldron from the dream space and started carving a formation eye on the cauldron. It was another wind type array called a Wind Hall Formation Eye Array. Eighteen small arrays and a formation eye made up this Earth Grade array formation—Wind Manor Array Formation. As per records, it was used by big sects to construct complex mazes made of wind and used as a practice ground for wind attributed martial artists.
Wei had another purpose for laying this array formation. It created a number of air compartments based on the number of arrays used. As he had used eighteen Wind Demon Trees, the array formation formed eighteen compartments inside the cauldron.
This solved his issue of separating materials and processing them differently. This was the only way he could work with so many steps and materials.
And this was just the beginning. The actual refining hadn’t even started yet.
Sighing, he went back to the first step.
Boil Thirst-Quenching Grass in one hundred drops of Qi Water for one hour and extract the dregs when thirty drops of water have evaporated. Filter the remaining liquid and store it in a separate container.
Wei’s forehead broke out in hundreds of black lines. This step required one hour, and he couldn’t waste an hour. So, he conjured nine different sets of materials and started boiling them at the same time.
Suddenly he realized his mistake. He was too simpleminded when he thought about the process. Though he’d created eighteen different compartments, he had only one cauldron and was trying to boil nine different sets of materials. The fire didn’t flow that easily.
Could he use nine different cauldrons? But then he had wasted so much time carving the Wind Manor Array Formation.
Damn! He’d missed the whole picture before he started working. Alchemy was different than arrays. Array carving had a limited number of variables and only required few things to make it work: source material, the cultivator’s qi or beast ink, and the cultivator’s comprehension of arrays.
Alchemy was different. It had many steps and many ingredients, and every ingredient’s age, quality, and quantity mattered. The quality of the cauldron mattered too, and if everything was fine, then one needed a quality fire source and a perfect method to process the ingredients and condense the final pill.
He rubbed his chin. This task was going to test his limits. No, it was impossible in his current state.
“Calm down, Wei.” Taking a deep breath, he tried to calm himself, but when he looked at the eighteen Wind Demon Trees, he felt helpless.
This was all a mistake. How could he even think of concocting a Gold Grade pill without knowing the basics of alchemy? If someone had said he could carve a Gold Grade array without spending hundreds or thousands of hours practicing Bronze and Silver Grade arrays, Wei would have laughed.
Helplessness took over him, and his actions became sluggish. Just for the sake of it, he threw a bunch of Thirst-Quenching Grass in a wind compartment with boiling water.
System: Simulation mode activated. Processing boiling step. Input parameters, Qi Water temperature, herb quality, herb quantity.
A bunch of information flew in front of his mind’s eye, and he saw numbers running here and there for five odd minutes. It was so dazzling that he forgot to breathe, and only realized it when he ran out of air and choked.
System: Simulation finished. Based on the output required, there are multiple options that may lead to correct output.
Option 1: 50 degree Qi Water temperature. 10 ounces of 1-year-old Thirst-Quenching Grass.
Option 2: 64 degree Qi Water temperature. 15 ounces of 10-year-old Thirst-Quenching Grass.
Option 3: 88 degree Qi Water temperature. 20 ounces of 50-year-old Thirst-Quenching Grass.
What the fuck was going on?
Chapter 34
Prodigy?
The tool Spirit observed the blue-clothed young man creating a courtyard, trees, and paved ground, then change the ground into a patch of grass.
Was he trying to set up an immortal palace to cultivate?
But there was one thing about the young man the tool spirit found interesting: the young man knew about dream spaces. Any youngster living in the Mortal Realm would be clueless upon entering this space and might require hours to work out the rules. But this young man had walked in and conjured things like it was his backyard.
But why did he conjure a courtyard and trees? It was a waste of time.
Maybe he liked to work in this environment. Yes, this had to be the reason. Even the tool spirit’s master had set up a separate secret realm for alchemy practice. However, after setting up the environment, the young man had changed it again and started carving arrays on the Wind Demon Trees.
Had he, the young man, forgotten his goal? He seemed to like using the dream space to practice his arrays. What a waste.
Then the young man started boiling nine sets of ingredients for the first step using a single cauldron.
The tool spirit now thought something was wrong with the young man. He was doing things that would never come
to the tool spirit’s mind. This must be some special cultivation art, and that’s why he was doing it.
Or he was trying to fool the tool spirit. For a moment, the tool spirit doubted the young man’s knowledge of alchemy. Did he know how to process ingredients? For example, the first step could be done in half an hour if one boiled the Qi Water to 100 degrees and pre-processed the grass. Or one could use extra time and boil it at fifty percent to increase the potency of the end product.
Thirst-Quenching Grass was a very common ingredient, and most alchemists should know this quick and dirty way to process the ingredient.
But the young man was dropping herbs like he was tossing rice to birds.
Suddenly the young man stopped, and after a minute, he prepared three cauldrons and set them up with different types of fire. From his light screen, the tool spirit gawked at the fire the young man conjured. He even guessed the temperature. The three cauldrons were at three different temperatures. 50, 64, and 88 degrees. He poured a different quality of Quenching Thirst Grass into each.
What was he doing? Was he playing? Just randomly practicing and passing the time?
The cauldrons fired up, and the young man put a different amount of herbs in the cauldrons, and then he sat aside, observing whole process.
A low-level alchemist would need to touch the cauldron to monitor the temperature, but this young man had divine sense, so it must not be difficult to monitor it using his divine sense.
This boy was a prodigy. With his divine sense, fire control would become so simple for this young man. Where most people had to go through arduous training, this young man would have a much easier time.
The tool spirit sighed helplessly. He prayed this young man would pass this and the final level trial to become a disciple of his master. That would be the biggest tribute to the tool spirit’s master.
Fifteen minutes passed, and the young man looked into the third cauldron. The Qi Water inside had been reduced by thirty drops, but the Thirst-Quenching Grass residue looked like a necrotic tree. It had contaminated the Qi Water, turning it into a stinky black liquid. It had lost all its vitality, and that meant the cauldron was wasted.
The young man shook his head and sat aside, closing his eyes once again.
Ten more minutes passed, and the Qi Water in the second cauldron reduced to seventy drops. An intense fragrance of vitality rushed out of the cauldron and wrapped around the whole courtyard.
“This is much better than the quick method. In fact, this almost matches the long secret method of processing Thirst-Quenching Grass,” the tool spirit said to himself. “But how is that possible? Xue Qi, how is this possible?” An ethereal ball floated next to the tool spirit.
“Spirit Lord, this is baffling,” Xue Qi said. She was his master’s first disciple, but she’d died in a cauldron explosion. The master had saved a portion of her soul and stored it in a Spirit Holding Ball. The soul had all her memories, but it couldn’t cultivate. After the master left his artifact behind in the Mortal Realm, the tool spirit had only one companion, Xue Qi.
“This method is not written in the master’s inheritance. If the master didn’t know it, how could this kid know it?” The white ball shivered.
“Did you forget our master’s last words? This world is so big that even he hadn’t traveled to the end of it. Maybe this prodigy emerged from a corner which the master had never visited before.”
Meanwhile, the young man inspected his results. The end product had extracted 76% vitality from the Thirst-Quenching Grass, and it was nearly a top-class processing liquid.
“His method is better than the methods our master invented.” Xue Qi’s voice shook with emotion. For an alchemist like her, alchemy was everything.
Ten more minutes passed, and the first cauldron gave off a thundering sound before exploding. The young man shook his head and stored the successful material in a wind compartment created by his array formation.
“I’ve never seen a genius who is proficient in arrays and alchemy before,” the tool spirit said. “If the master was here, he would’ve liked to take him as an in-name disciple.”
“Lord, tool spirit, you’re looking down on the young man. He is not even eighteen years old, and he has already invented a new technique. I bet this young man qualifies to become at least a core disciple, if not a personal disciple.”
“A core disciple wouldn’t waste his time inventing new methods. He would barely qualify to become an external disciple.”
“Do you want to bet, lord tool spirit?”
“Bet what?”
“If the young man passes level five or not. If he passes, you have to offer him one of the special cauldrons, and if he loses, I’ll work on the second volume and translate it for the common people.”
The tool spirit’s eyes shone vigorously. He’d been trying to coax Xue Qi to translate the second volume from the ancient language into the common one, but she kept refusing. Now was his chance. The young man had no chance of winning this trial, so he was inclined to accept the bet.
“It’s a bet.”
“Let’s watch him for now.” Xue Qi’s white ball floated in front of the light screen without moving at all.
Then the young man proceeded with the second step. He conjured four beast cores of Silver Dragon Elephant and dropped seventy pieces of the first core in the Qi Water.
“What is he doing?” Xue Qi asked, her voice filled with doubt. “Why is he wasting ingredients? How can he achieve something in alchemy if he lives like this? Did no one tell him he has to warm the core to 20 degrees before chopping it? This is a basic thing.”
The tool spirit sighed. Although the recipe was a Gold Grade recipe, it was treated as a high-tier Silver Grade due to the simplicity of processing ingredients. All the ingredients used in the recipe had shortcuts established in thousands of years of alchemy practice. Any prodigy should know all these shortcuts, but this young man was doing something different.
“See, it turned poisonous. He is lacking basic knowledge,” Xue Qi said. As expected, the beast core pieces turned black, and it was a sign of poisoning. If these pieces were used, the whole pill would turn poisonous. The young man once again set up six cauldrons and prepared more Qi Water and Thirst-Quenching Grass dregs.
Why was he preparing five cauldrons?
After he processed the Qi Water, he conjured six more beast cores, chopped them in equal parts, and dropped them in the Qi Water. But this time he lit a small fire below one cauldron, maintaining a temperature of 20 degrees, and he set up a small Chill Accumulation Array around the second cauldron, maintaining a temperature of -20 degrees.
The young man repeated the same process for the remaining four cauldrons with varying negative and positive temperature using fire and arrays.
“What kind of alchemy is he practicing?” Xue Qi couldn’t hide the disdain in her voice. “Lord, tool spirit. I’m going back. This lowlife isn’t worth my attention. The last method was a fluke. You should disqualify him.”
“Little girl, wait. That young man has formed a divine sense. Do you still think he is a lowlife?”
“Divine sense? How is that possible? Isn’t he only at layer eight of the qi Refinement Realm?”
The tool spirit chose not to answer and just watched the young man’s process.
After ten more minutes, the young man succeeded in refining two cauldrons. The cauldron that was heated to 30 degrees provided a passable result, and the one that was heated with -20 degrees using a Chill Accumulating Array provided outstanding purple liquid. The other three failed.
The tool spirit quivered. This method was unheard of. Every alchemist pre-heated the beast core. This was common practice, but by using a Chilling Accumulation Array, the young man had reversed the process step and succeeded.
“How is this possible? This is impossible. Unless he is a reincarnation of an Alchemy God.” Xue Qi’s white globe shook violently.
Chapter 35
Sixth level - fierce fight
ing breaks up
Sun Nuan sat on a large stone next to her sister Sun Hua, cultivating slowly. In three more days, the final treasures would appear. Before that, she wanted to break through to layer five of the Foundation Realm so she might gather a couple of treasures for her family.
But her mind was in disarray. The more she compared Wei Lin with that kid from her childhood, the clearer her memory became.
A qualm broke through the trial participants, and she opened her eyes to find everyone looking at the light balls hanging above the door to the first level.
The sixth light ball was lit, and that meant young master Wei had passed the fifth level.
Her back quickly grew drenched in sweat.
“Whoever fights me to recruit this man will be an enemy of the Thousand Ice Palace,” Ding Su Shouted and stabbed his sword in the ground, sending out a chill in a hundred-foot radius around the sword. Darkness lurked in his eyes, and he was ready to take lives.
“Ding Su. This person is mine. I don’t care if I have to wage war against the Thousand Ice Palace, but the Destiny Mirror Sect is going to recruit this person, no matter what. And if we can’t recruit him, I’ll make sure he dies in this tower,” Tiang Chi said coldly. His voice was full of threat, and Sun Nuan knew this madman would do what he said.
Wei Lin had brought calamity upon himself, and there was no escaping it. If he was the same kid from her childhood, then she hated to see him die like this.
Only one thing could save him. There was a mention of it in a royal palace history book. If one could pass all six levels of the Alchemy Comprehension Tower, that person would be sent to a different plane.
But that was just a rumor. No one had ever passed the sixth level to check the validity of the record.
