It had been a day and a half since Tahir was attacked in the market, but he was feeling better than ever. He'd learned a cultivation technique, condensed a spiritual flame, learned some medical basics, and learned about runes and herbs. It was time to return to the compound. He made sure that Gin and Rin were in their room. He then checked on Adria to find her resting as well.
As instructed by Kali the last time he was at the compound, Tahir fed some of his energy into the ring and was enveloped by a bright light before appearing on the central teleportation platform. He was greeted by Kali who had a transport system vehicle waiting outside the platform area. He greeted Tahir and had him quickly board the vehicle. He immediately began to question Tahir about his progress. "So how was your first day of practice?"
Tahir shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it was alright. I was able to finish studying all the jades. However, I didn't have a chance to practice any of the medical skills, but I did condense a flame." Tahir made a flame appear on his hand and adjusted the temperature of the flame a few times to show Kali his progress.
Kali couldn't have been more surprised. He expected the learning materials to last for at least 2 months, but more importantly, he expected it would take somewhere between 2 weeks and a month to condense a spiritual flame after learning flame control. It would usually require someone to complete the third level of body refinement to condense a flame, but he gave the flame control techniques to see if he could condense it since he had more than three times the energy he normally should for his level.
More importantly, he could understand why Tahir's flame was gray. Spiritual flames were typically a shade of red, becoming more powerful the deeper the shade of red. He'd seen spiritual flames so strong they were almost black, but he's never seen a gray flame before. Kali tapped his chin while observing the flame. "To be honest, I��ve never seen a gray flame before. We need to test this to determine how this will affect your alchemy. I'll send a message to your mother to let her know you'll be here during the day tomorrow."
They arrived at the hot spring in the manor. Kali pushed Tahir towards the tub as they stepped off the vehicle. "Let's hurry and get started. Did you bring the medicine for the bath?" Tahir pulled out the jade bottle with the solution for the bath and the bottle of qi boosting pills.
Kali nodded his head. "Wonderful now we'll start you in the bath. Once I know you're settled, I'll go and pull the jades with the next set of runes and herbs for you to learn. Although you won't be able to use them now, it's never too early to memorize new information regarding runes and herbs. I'll also pull the first 3 recipes you should focus on practicing. Since you have a flame condensed, we should test that as well."
Tahir asked, "Do you have a set of needles I can use for medical practice? I don't know when I'll get a chance to practice it, but I would like the option."
Kali replied. "Hmmm. Usually, you would use the medical knowledge to help you with pill creation, but I don't see the harm in having options. There should be a set of needles around here somewhere, I'll look for them. Now hurry into the tub and start cultivating."
Tahir entered the scalding hot water once more. He thought he would feel more comfortable since he entered the first level of cultivation, but nevertheless, the water seemed hotter than it was the first time he entered. He stopped himself from screaming and quickly poured half a bottle of the liquid medicine in the water and placed a qi boosting pill in his mouth. He entered into the ethereal state of cultivation again."
Kali mumbled to himself. "How strange. Just a few drops of the liquid should suffice, but he's using half a bottle and is able to endure." Kali could notice the look of intense pain on Tahir's face. He could imagine it should be quite excruciating. However, since it seemed like Tahir could handle it, he went on his way to gather the materials he'd discussed.
Tahir continued to cultivate for the next few hours. Just like last night, a massive surge in suction was triggered, and he began to break through to the 2nd level of body refinement. Kali hurried back to the manor to monitor Tahir during his breakthrough. He'd never seen someone breakthrough the first 2 levels of body refinement so quickly, especially given the energy requirements for the technique to advance. However, when he arrived, he was, once again, shocked. He saw he gay spiritual flame that Tahir showed him earlier surrounding him. Luckily it wasn't burning through everything in his surroundings. He probed Tahir's body with his mental energy, and he could see the gray wisps of energy becoming more solid. It wasn't much of a difference, but it was noticeable. He also noticed that Tahir was already on his 3rd refinement. He couldn't understand why Tahir would go through 2 levels so quickly. He decided to examine Tahir to make sure he wasn't building an unstable foundation by advancing so quickly.
Once Tahir was done drawing in the massive amount of energy in his surroundings, he slowly opened his eyes and blew out some turbid air. Kali immediately rushed up to him and grabbed his wrist to check on Tahir while asking questions. "Are you well? Do you know what just happened? How do you feel? Were you aware you broke through 2 levels?"
Tahir held up his hand. "Hold on. What are you saying? I broke through 2 levels? I'm on the 3rd level of body refinement?"
Kali responded while continuing his examination, "That would be the result of breaking through 2 levels." As he responded Kali noticed that Tahir's body was still drawing in energy as though he was cultivating. It wasn't as fast as if he was in a meditative state, but his body was cultivating nonetheless. He decided not to mention anything at this time and continue to monitor the situation. He didn't want to cause any alarm, and quite frankly, he didn't know what to say even if he did mention it.
Tahir scoffed at Kali's flippant response. However, he was also concerned. He noticed the concerned expression in Kali's eye.
Kali finished examining Tahir and calmed down. While unusual, it wasn't a bad thing that Tahir's body cultivated on its own given the massive amount of energy needed for him to advance. However, given it's essentially constant cultivation of a Divine level technique, he needed to make sure to keep track of Tahir's progress in case a problem arose. He told Tahir, "Go ahead and get dressed We'll use the teleportation platform to head to the alchemy tower. I found the new reference materials you need along with a set of needles. In addition to the first three recipes, I've also included all the non-spiritual herbal medications that you would use for non-cultivators. Although they will have some effect on low level cultivators, they would be miraculous medicine for normal individuals. You don't need it for alchemy. However, it's a good reference to learn how different herbs interact with each other and the human body. Now hurry up and follow me to the practice area. There are beginner cauldrons there we can use."
Tahir followed behind Kali, and he listened as Kali guided him through using the cauldron and reading through the first 3 recipes. The recipes included notes on herb preparation, purification, and essence extraction for each pill. He noticed that although some of the ingredients were the same for each pill, the preparation might be different depending on the pill. He also noticed that different parts of the herb were used in different pills. Kali guided him on using his flame to purify and extract essence from the herbs. He then left Tahir to his own devices to learn the preparation steps. Although he could provide some guidance here as well, herb preparation was extremely boring to him, and he refused to stand there to watch Tahir "fiddle with the plants". He instructed Tahir to continue practicing herb preparation and to refine the herbs he prepared to get additional practice on purification and extraction.