Violet Heart

by Patrick Laplante

  “What did it take to achieve this relationship?” Ling Dong asked.

  “A great deal of coaxing, bribing, and familiarization,” Lan Yin said. “That, and a bit of brute force.”

  Ling Dong raised his eyebrow.

  “It’s just the way demons are,” she said. “Demons are very hierarchical creatures that respect strength and bloodline. Mutual benefits only go so far—to gain their respect, a healthy dose of fear is required. That’s why you need to tend to them when they’re young.

  “According to Huoying, your Demon-Subduing Eyes simulate something akin to bloodline pressure, but much stronger. Therefore, while he doesn’t like you, he respects you and fears you. Not many beasts below core formation would dare to tangle with you, and that’s all due to this pressure. That same fear and respect can be used to subdue demon beasts. This bloodline pressure will inherently place you at a high level in their hierarchy. If you play your cards right, it wouldn’t be difficult to obtain their loyalty.”

  “I think I’m beginning to see why you asked me to stay for tea,” Ling Dong said. “It seems your retirement is, in fact, negotiable.”

  “For you it is,” Lan Yin said, grinning. “If you can gift me the Demon-Subduing Eyes, I’ll take you there right now.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible,” Ling Dong said, shaking his head regretfully. “The technique was gifted with strict conditions. No matter what my realm, no matter what my cultivation, I will forever be unable to share it.”

  “A pity,” Lan Yin said. “Then I have an alternative proposal.” She motioned to the black egg. “I can induce the drake to hatch earlier. If you’re willing, I want you to help me tame it. The day we finish taming it is the day I take you to Blacksteel City.”

  “I thought you said that will take a decade?” Ling Dong asked.

  “I could tame it in a decade, but the result would be uncertain,” Lan Yin said. “With your help, I can’t see the process taking more than a couple of months. If everything goes well, it could take as little as a few weeks. If the process takes more than three months, I’ll call in some favors and get you that flight. You’ll get there in the same amount of time as you could have by land.”

  “I’m tempted,” Ling Dong said. “How certain are you about this method?”

  “I’m not very familiar with these eyes of yours,” Lan Yin admitted. “The process could be the same but accelerated. Or it could be radically different.”

  Ling Dong massaged his brow. “That seems like an awful lot of trouble for a one-way ride to Blacksteel City.”

  “What if it’s a return flight?” Lan Yin asked.

  “I’m sure there are many beast tamers available for hire in Blacksteel,” Ling Dong retorted.

  “Then state your conditions,” Lan Yin said.

  “I’d like ten flights,” Ling Dong said. “Priority ones. If I call, we fly.”

  “Even priority flights can be delayed in certain situations,” Lan Yin said. “I can offer you the same terms as our VIP clients, but I can’t do any better than that. Also, ten flights are too many. The best I can do is three flights, but no travel through the Southern Alliance territories, and half the continent’s distance at most.”

  “How about seven flights, but a full continent’s distance if I want?” Ling Dong said. “I’m all right with the restriction on the Southern Alliance.”

  Lan Yin stared at him long and hard. “Five,” she said, extending her hand.

  “I also want access to the oasis,” Ling Dong said.

  “Five flights, no more, no less,” Lan Yin said, holding out her hand.

  Ling Dong grasped it. Everything was negotiable in the long run.

  * * *

  1 One jin = 0.5 kg.

  Chapter 2

  “Watch where you’re going,” a man said coldly, startling Jin Huang as he made his way through the crowded streets.

  “So sorry,” he said, apologizing as he pushed ahead, disappeared into the throng of mortals and cultivators.

  Close one, he thought. He was nervous, and for good reason. Due to its proximity to the Evergreen Battlefield, Evergreen City was filled with crouching tigers and hidden dragons. With his pathetic level of strength, he didn’t dare upset anyone.

  “Lesser vitality potions, lesser vitality potions!” a merchant hawked. The man repeated the call ten times in the time it took Jin Huang to walk a city block. Cultivators crushed through the crowded streets as they searched for the best place to spend their hard-earned spirit stones.

  I made the right decision, Jin Huang thought confidently, eyeing several bottles of pills at a nearby stall. He could tell at a glance that the medicinal purity in each pill was much higher than in Quicksilver City. Surviving here wasn’t going to be easy, but that was why he’d come in the first place. Without pressure, it would be impossible for him to catch up to his brothers and sisters.

  “Excuse me, sir,” Jin Huang said to a large man who was rummaging through a rack of potions. The man ignored him until he found what he was looking for—a red vial emanating a silver glow.

  “What do you want?” the man asked as he handed the vial to a waiting customer. His gaze, though irritated, bore no malice. That was good enough for him.

  “Would you mind giving me directions to the Alchemists Association?” Jin Huang asked.

  The man shot him an annoyed look. Then, seeing the nineteen-year-old man before him, his gaze softened. He pointed his meaty finger north. “Just follow Main Street until you reach Central Square. It’s an ostentatious building that screams alchemist. You can’t miss it.”

  “Many thanks, sir,” Jin Huang said, bowing politely. He continued pushing north, and as he did, he kept his incandescent force on careful lookout. Though it was odd to be blessed with an incandescent soul as a qi-condensation cultivator, its usefulness was unmatched. With it, he carefully waded through the bustling crowd and avoided some prickly individuals.

  As he neared Central Square, he encountered several pickpockets. Most of them were either abandoned youngsters or cultivators who’d chosen to pursue a dishonorable path. As annoyed as he was by their presence, however, he let them off with a slight warning. His brother had once told him that lowly street urchins likely reported to more-powerful backers. He wasn’t willing to test his luck in this foreign city.

  Central Square opened up before him, and as the man had predicted, he immediately recognized it. An odd-shaped building pierced the skies just a hundred feet away from the center of the city. Instead of the usual enchanted wood construction of the many nearby buildings, its walls were round and convex. It looked like a bulb and was made of the purest green crystal. Its bottom was large and bulky while a single cylindrical tower protruded from what was otherwise a perfect hemisphere.

  To his surprise, the tower was open-ended. It was only after looking it over one more time that he realized the building was shaped like a large flask. The smoking tower that ran through the middle was a cleverly disguised smokestack that doubled up as a decoration.

  “It really does scream alchemist,” Jing Huang thought out loud before moving toward the building. Unlike what he’d originally expected, there was only a short lineup at the entrance. He flashed a bronze alchemist medallion to the guards, who immediately allowed him inside.

  “Can I help you?” a cheerful woman said as he approached a desk in the main lobby. She wore green robes, and her long black hair was tied to the side with a mauve pin.

  “Could I please have the mission list for ninth-grade potions?” Jin Huang asked.

  “Of course,” the woman said sweetly. She took a thin jade slip out from beneath her desk and lightly tapped a large tablet. It flashed as its contents were copied from the tablet to the slip. “Just return the slip before you leave.”

  “Thank you kindly,” Jin Huang replied. He looked through the list using his incandescent force to sift through its vast information. Instant healing medicines, instant qi-recovery pills, and qi-stabilizing po
tions offered the best margins for contract alchemists in this city. Not only were the rewards high, but a bonus was offered for medicinal quality, which he excelled at.

  Jin Huang rifled through his bag of holding, which only contained twelve high-grade spirit stones. While spirit stones could be used to cultivate, they functioned best as currency. He only owned a single alchemical cauldron, which had seen better days, and some miscellaneous ingredients that wouldn’t likely be of any use in crafting these pills.

  “Excuse me, could I please know the price for the azure qi-stabilization potion recipe?” Jin Huang asked the receptionist.

  “One moment,” she said. She touched her finger on the jade tablet once again. “The formula is ten high-grade spirit stones, while a portion of ingredients is 350 mid-grade spirit stones. Would you also be interested in renting a workshop?”

  “How much is a bronze-grade room?” Jin Huang asked. He cursed the Alchemists Association inwardly. Both the ingredients and the pill recipe were much more expensive than in Quicksilver. Had he known, he would have taken out a loan and purchased ingredients before coming.

  “One thousand mid-grade spirit stones a day, or five thousand a week,” she answered.

  Jin Huang ran some quick numbers in his mind. Given that the reward for the azure qi-stabilization potion was 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones, he would need to succeed in one of three batches to make a profit. Although this pushed the limits of what an alchemist of his grade was usually capable of, he wasn’t just any alchemist. He was a genius, and a top-tier one at that.

  “I’ll take the recipe, a room for a week and thirty portions of ingredients,” he said after finishing his calculations. He’d need to spend ten high-grade spirit stones and split one for 4,500 mid-grade spirit stones in change.

  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to purchase more?” the attendant asked. She clearly understood that renting the room wasn’t worth it for such a small volume of ingredients.

  “I’m not, but I have little choice in the matter,” Jin Huang said cheerfully. “I’ll come back later after I finish a few batches.” He exuded confidence and vitality, a common trait in younger cultivators.

  The attendant chuckled softly. “I’ll be awaiting your good news,” she said. She walked to the back and returned moments later with a bag of holding, a green scroll, and a bronze pass. “The scroll is single use, so study it carefully,” she warned.

  Jin Huang retrieved the contents of the bag and the two other items before proceeding to a spiral staircase that led to the second level. Like the walls outside, the steps were also made of green crystal. Each step echoed throughout the building as he ascended the staircase and walked to the outer ring where the workshops were located.

  Before proceeding to his room, he took in the marvelous view of the city. Its enchanted wooden buildings were tall and ornate. Trees had also been coaxed to grow to similar heights, and wherever he looked, he saw greenery. The name Evergreen was an apt one indeed.

  Jin Huang entered his workshop. It was filled with a variety of alchemical items including furnaces, a flame focus, and a ventilation shaft. Lightly used but well maintained. A small meditation mat lay in a corner of the room.

  “Now let’s see what this azure qi-stabilization potion is all about,” he muttered, unwinding the scroll. His eyes scanned the medicinal formula one line at a time with uncharacteristic haste for a man of his cultivation level. It was extremely taxing on one’s soul to learn a medicinal formula, but for Jin Huang, that wasn’t a problem. His soul was an entire realm higher than others at his cultivation level.

  The memorized formula appeared in his photographic memory after a single pass. Afterward, he focused on the alchemical process in his mind. Three hours flew by without him even touching a single ingredient. He ran through thousands of complex calculations and simulations before a strange glint appeared in his half-closed eyes. He stretched before approaching the lab bench and summoned a batch of ingredients. He separated the dozen items into three batches for the different stages of the crafting process.

  The first stage, forming the sacrificial base, Jin Huang thought. He injected his flame qi and incandescent force into the flame focus, creating a dark-red flame within the alchemical cauldron on the bench. As it heated, he cut three fine blue branches with a soul-alloy knife. The coarse outer bark was removed from its light-blue flesh. He cut the flesh into several pieces and threw them into the furnace, and the blue chunks melted from the growing heat.

  While they melted, Jin Huang opened a vial of aquamarine peppercorns. He threw these directly into the red flame as the blue branches melted, causing them to pop and crackle as they released thin black clouds of impurities. As one component melted and another roasted, he tossed a white powder into the furnace. It sizzled as it mixed in with the pool of blue liquid that was accumulating inside.

  After a few moments, the blue branch finished melting. He mixed it with the remaining white powder and tossed the dregs into an incinerator. Then he added the remaining peppercorn dust into the mixture, causing it to turn navy blue. He let it boil for some time, increasing the flame’s temperature little by little. The mixture thickened, until finally, its consistency became like that of runny molasses. At this point, he abruptly replaced the red flame with yet another standard alchemical flame—the growth flame.

  The cauldron was suddenly filled with vitality as the wood-based flame appeared. This green flame was the reason why alchemists were required to dual cultivate wood and fire. It was also vital for the second alchemical step in the recipe: catalysis. He tossed a green seed into the cauldron, which quickly germinated under the growth flame’s direction. Its roots dipped into the pool of navy-blue fluid. As the seed grew into a bush-like plant, much of the liquid’s blue hue seeped into it. The resulting plant obtained a distinct azure coloring.

  Seeing that the azure rosebush was progressing nicely, Jin Huang threw three other seeds into the cauldron. They germinated rapidly, but before they could soak up the blue fluid, Jin Huang slashed off the main branch from each sprout. He grafted them onto the azure rosebush, then coaxed the bush and its grafts to grow until the blue solution completely disappeared.

  Now for the difficult part, he thought. Jin Huang retracted the green flame and inserted a third flame—a golden flame. What he’d done until now was standard procedure, but this golden flame was something else entirely. Unlike most alchemists, he didn’t only cultivate two elements; he cultivated five.

  The golden flame gently heated the plant and caused it to wither. Meanwhile, tongues of golden flame licked the bush, and each lick of its flame caused the plant’s tissue to rupture as though it had been cut by thousands of tiny razor blades. While many alchemists would have trouble extracting all the active ingredients, this was no problem for Jin Huang. He completed the step with twice the result for half the effort. He was rewarded with a potent azure liquid brimming with stabilizing energy.

  Following this optional step, Jin Huang proceeded to the next. He summoned a brown flame, another unorthodox flame. Instead of heating the material directly, it created a gravity field within the azure fluid. Little by little, invisible particles that remained after being minced by the golden flame settled to the bottom, where the flame burned hottest. These dregs were rapidly pulled from the fluid and incinerated. The resulting fluid was much purer than most other alchemists were capable of extracting.

  Jin Huang nodded in satisfaction. He proceeded to the third alchemical step—reaction. He summoned five blobs of liquid and had them enter the cauldron. Both his red flame and a new blue flame appeared and regulated the temperature of each blob. The blue flame centered itself around the main blob of azure liquid, and as it heated it, an intense amount of turbulence was generated within the pocket of fluid. He added one drop of each liquid at a time; they were instantly dispersed by the blue flame, leading to a homogenous reaction and minimizing unwanted side reactions. He continued this process until the other five blobs were complete
ly consumed.

  The moment the reaction ended, the cauldron pulsed, and a massive amount of heaven and earth energy rushed into it. The solution shrank in volume, and as it did, it gained a light white glow. Then it shrank a little further down until it acquired a bronze glow. The shrinking continued, and soon the potion was surrounded by a silver glow. The heaven and earth energy dissipated soon after the silver glow appeared. Jin Huang sighed and directed the potion into a small vial, which he promptly labeled and stored.

  The purity should have reached around eighty-five percent, he thought. It’s not bad for a first try, but not great either. Teacher Mo would be appalled if he knew I hadn’t summoned a golden alchemical glow.

  Then, recalling the contents of the jade slip he’d seen earlier, he broke into a smile. The threshold for extra rewards was seventy-five percent, so this potion qualified. He pondered drinking it for a moment before ultimately discarding the notion. His master had warned him about pill toxins and their side effects, and he wasn’t about to hamper his advancement for the sake of quick gains.

  After savoring his first success and pinpointing critical errors, Jin Huang began the process anew. Alchemy was an art for perfectionists, and with every potion he brewed, his understanding grew. It would only be a matter of time before he was swimming in spirit stones once more.

  Chapter 3

  A mercenary moaned lightly as Yue Bing placed two fingers on his leg. They glowed with a soft green light that seeped into his veins, constricting them to stop the massive loss of blood from his femoral artery. As the bleeding slowed, the patient sighed in relief. So, too, did his companion, who’d accompanied him to the infirmary.

  Thirty percent of the qi pathways in his leg are damaged, Yue Bing thought. But only five percent is irreversible. He’ll be able to walk again after treatment, though his cultivation will be slightly impaired. She sighed. Not a bad outcome for someone who’d almost died.