While the cauldron heated, Aiden grasped the razor sharp knife and gingerly began chopping the Emberbreeze cloves and cubing the Spring Hare meat. The minced Emberbreeze went into the cauldron first, and Aiden immediately felt the fire and wind energy begin to battle in the bottom of the pot. He kept a close eye on it with his mental energy, making sure neither side gained any advantage over the other. The purpose of fire energy in this dish was to provide a catalytic energy to the wood element and help it flourish, much like the sun does. The wind energy was there to prevent the fire energy from overpowering the wood and consuming it.
Once the Emberbreeze cloves had gained a golden brown color and a tantalizing fragrance had begun to emit from the cauldron, Aiden tossed in the meat. He quickly used his mental power to separate the energies while searing the cubes of meat, it wasn't time to blend them yet. The smell was mouth watering, but Aiden forced himself to maintain focus, otherwise the dish would be scrapped if those energies escaped his control.
When the meat was suitably colored, he tossed in the Loftus root and Blue Spinach letting them cook down and release water. His mental energy was now split into four parts, keeping each ingredient separate.
When the loftus root and blue spinach were ready, Aiden grabbed a flask of Pure Water, water which was neutral elementally and a perfect reagent for alchemy as it wouldn't affect the process adversely. Then, he carefully guided the wood energy of the Spring Hare over to the earth element of the Loftus root, urging it to take root and blend with his mental power. The energy from the loftus root was extremely dense and it took a lot of time for the gentle wood energy to penetrate in. Sweat began to accumulate on Aiden's brow as time wore on, showing the immense strain on his mental power.
Once the wood energy had taken root throughout the earth energy, he guided the water energy from the blue spinach over. As soon as the blue watery aura made contact with the vibrant green energy, the green energy seemed to explode outwards engulfing the weak water energy.
Next was the most difficult part of the process, letting the fire and wood energy meet. It was a tense balance letting just enough fire energy interact with the rapidly growing wood energy, Aiden's face grew slightly pale from exhaustion as his mental strength constantly shift between using the wind energy to suppress the fire energy or when it was too weak, fuel it.
Once all the energies had melded Aiden began to rapidly form the symbols of the Rising Phoenix Palms to fuse the medicinal properties of the ingredients. The throbbing aura seemed to reach a crescendo as gusts of wind blew up from the roiling water, Aiden clenched his jaw hard, struggling to control the wild bursts of energy. All at once the troublemaking aura seemed to calm, stilling to the point where it seemed that everything before was just an illusion. Aiden continued to form the symbols and kept a tight rein on the tonic with his mental powers, not daring to lose vigilance. Sure enough, as if in a final dying struggle the energy tried to explode outward each element vying for supremacy.
But he was ready, with his mental power focused to the extreme and his fingers flowing through each symbol with speed, he forced the energy back down into the cauldron and completed the fusion.
When it was done, Aiden leaned against the nearby counter gasping for breath while he appraised the stew. A deep brown broth had formed with the occasional pop of color as a piece of blue spinach floated to the surface. His stomach growled, urging him to feed it. Unfortunately, as a healing elixir, this stew was unsuitable for him and so he had to cook something else to fill his crying belly.
Deciding not to attempt anything new while he was already tired, Aiden pulled out the ingredients for the Braised Snake Ribs. This time the process went even more fluidly, and his familiarity allowed him to finish much faster. Since both the stew and the ribs needed more time to simmer, Aiden found a place to sit and meditate.
He was shocked at the sheer density of elemental aura in the room. The big noble families sure are different, he sighed. Although it was the royal family that occupied the heart of the aura vein, the large families each had territory close to the purest part of the vein. The density of the aura here was many times that of the Moore family, it almost couldn't even be compared.
Aiden immediately locked onto several threads of fire aura and began using them to forge his tendons, striving to strengthen them as much as possible. A hot burning pain lanced up from each area he applied the energy.
It had almost become familiar now, this feeling. From his first foray into cultivation until now, he had felt as though he were a piece of unrefined ore and each tempering he was becoming more and more pure. There was a sense of anticipation that seemed to grow with each passing day. Almost like hiking up a mountain, he couldn't wait to see what was behind every bend and over every hill. It was joyous and exhilarating. Each and every day his growth was visible to the naked eye, the changes were gratifying and also a huge source of motivation.
As he withdrew from meditation, Aiden stretched before getting up, he was about midway through the third layer of body tempering with only a little bit more to reach the late stage. He had already decided to spend more time at this stage as he carefully refined his skin, muscles, and tendons, to the best possible state.
After confirming that the dishes were ready, Aiden served them to the small but elegant dining table that he and Marcus would share. As the silverware was placed beside the bowls, Aiden heard the slow but deliberate footfalls of Marcus from down the hall. The young white haired boy strode into the room with an elegant gait, cold green eyes surveying the table.
"I made Rejuvenating Stew for you, which is a gentle healing tonic." Aiden tried hard to keep his voice from trembling, even though he knew Marcus wouldn't hurt him he was still so nervous around him. Maybe it was those eyes, cold and indifferent like icy emeralds it seemed as though they could see through everything and yet nothing was reflected in them. They both sat down and began eating. Aiden kept a close eye on Marcus to make sure nothing happened while they ate.
After the first bite, Marcus paused, carefully feeling the effects of the tonic as the energy coursed through him. It was soft and gentle, soothing the torn and ragged tissue of his body. Like a gentle ray of sunlight it warmed up his perpetually cold body. He sighed in relaxation as his body took a measure of relief after a long period of pain. Marcus slowly finished the stew, savoring each bite and enjoying the soothing energy that flowed through his body.