As the sun rose in the morning, so did Cao Yun. Despite his troubled night, he had somewhat recovered mentally but his body was still aching all over because of the training and the bad sleep. Last night had reminded him of the danger hidden in his body. The Drop of Wrath had saved his life and its intent was a little bit useful. But controlling it was a real problem. Given that it was in his heart, he had no way to get it out so he had to find a way to at least suppress it.
Once again, the Frozen Heart Pill could be useful to boost his mind cultivation.
"Senior Chen, where do you want to go today? Back to the martial art pavilion?"
"No, it's been very beneficial, but I need to rest my body. I was thinking of going to the alchemy pavilion."
"Are you an alchemist?" Huang Cixi knew that he was not, but she still played her part.
"No, but I need to find someone to refine a certain pill for me. And I could still try to learn the basics, it could always prove useful."
-
They both went to the alchemy pavilion. The building was not as big as the martial art pavilion but it was way more impressive. Its architecture was very complex and detailed. Magical cauldrons were drawn as a symbol on the building's doors.
When he got in, Cao Yun saw several young men and women coming and going through different rooms. There were very few people in the sect right now as many things were happening at the same time. While the new first-years were slowly getting used to the sect's facilities, many things had to be prepared. There was a lot of paperwork to be done as the sect was still under the supervision of the Hongchen Kingdom and disciples were registering in or out of the sect and certain pavilions.
Going to the counter, Cao Yun was looking for someone to guide him. After waiting for a while, a young woman finally came.
"Excuse me, Junior Brother, we're really busy. What do you want?"
"Well, I'm a novice so I'd like to try and learn some alchemy."
A laugh erupted from behind him. An arrogant looking young man appeared, accompanied by eight beautiful women and two muscular men. The man was wearing the same emblem Cao Yun had seen many times, the red cliff with a two on it.
"A frog in a well, really! You're going to inconvenience Sister Zhong and you don't even know anything about alchemy?!" His laughter continued as the two men besides him started to look more and more confused.
"If you don't know anything, don't even try to come to this pavilion!"
"If you don't know, you can't learn? Then how do you learn, please enlighten me."
"You dare retort back?! Well, who asked you to be ignorant? If you don't know, it's your own fault." The two men finally whispered something to the young man's ear. "What?!"
He looked at the two guys and then back to Cao Yun. "Brother Chen?"
"Indeed, I'm Chen Guo. It is true that I am ignorant of alchemy, Brother. But I fail to see why me seeking to remedy this ignorance would be a problem. Please enlighten me."
"Brother Chen, I was just joking, really. It's admirable for you to seek the guidance of a true alchemist. Those who seek knowledge are always welcome here."
The receptionist was very surprised. This Xue Rui was constantly coming here to try and boast before her. Despite having eight concubines already, he was trying to seduce her. Most of the time, he did so by belittling others to seem brighter. This time he had hit an iron pot. The two muscular men were his bodyguards and unlike him, they had seen Cao Yun during the examination, so they quickly recognized him. Being a member of the Red Cliff Faction, Xue Rui had obviously heard the order of not starting trouble with Cao Yun, and yet the first thing he did this morning was precisely that.
A woman's voice came out from a door. "Indeed, Xue Rui, but those who want to play should go back."
He immediately bowed as he recognized the voice. Guest Elder Xiao Xuefeng appeared from behind a door.
Cao Yun bowed as well when he saw her, so did everyone else. "This junior presents his respect to the guest elder."
"Chen Guo, it's nice to see you here." She smiled toward Cao Yun and turned to Xue Rui. "Young boy, I hear that you inconvenience little Zhong almost everyday. You should learn some manners before coming here with your harem. No amount of talent in alchemy will teach you how to be respectful of others. Leave for today."
"This junior understands his mistake, Elder Xiao. I'll be more proper from now on." He turned toward Cao Yun. "I hope Brother Chen won't take this joke to heart." He quickly left the alchemy pavilion.
Chan Weifeng would have another headache in less than an hour when this matter would be reported to him.
"Little Chen, I was just about to give a lesson to a first-year when I sensed your presence, come and join us."
"Thank you, Elder Xiao. I hope you won't mind my inexperience. I have no knowledge of alchemy, but I'm very interested in learning."
"Good. As long as you're sincere, you can learn anything."
The receptionist Zhong was really surprised. Xiao Xuefeng had arrived a few months ago and she had never taught anyone in person. Yet today, she took two first-years with her in a small study.
-
When Cao Yun got in the study, he saw Mei Hua, who was third in the entrance examination's ranking. Both of them were surprised when they saw each other.
"Miss Mei, Chen Guo is a novice but he'll learn with us today."
"A novice?!" Mei Hua's attitude seemed strange today. During the examination, she had always appeared calm but when Cao Yun examined her, she seemed enraged. No matter how much she tried to conceal it, her face was full of anger.
"Chen Guo, be patient with Miss Mei today, a very bad news regarding her little sister came out yesterday. But first of all, what do you want to learn?"
"Elder Xiao, I'm in need of a Frozen Heart Pill, so I'd like to know more about it."
"The Frozen Heart Pill?!" Mei Hua got so surprised that she answered before Xiao Xuefeng. "It's one of the most difficult 5-star Earth rank pill to refine! Don't you think you're a little bold to want to start with this?!"
"I'm sorry Sister Mei, I'm really ignorant of the alchemy way. I do know that this pill is hard to forge, but I'd just like to learn a little bit of alchemy to help me."
"A little bit?! Don't you have some respect for our craft?! It's not something you can just learn 'a little bit' about! Either you're committed to it or you're not, in which case you should just hire a real alchemist instead of trying to play as one!"
"Miss Mei! Please!" Xiao Xuefeng stopped the little girl. "Chen Guo is sincere in his answer. You should know that many cultivators learn just a bit of alchemy merely to recognize the ingredients they meet in the wild. Or so that no dirty alchemist can scam them easily with low-level pills. I know today is difficult for you, but please, do not vent your anger on Chen Guo."
"Miss Mei, I'm sorry if I seemed to belittle your craft. I'm not. A dear friend of mine is an alchemist. I just wish to learn a little bit because I know that this craft is complex and I don't have enough time to focus on it. I swear that my intentions are sincere."
"Humph!" Cao Yun could sense that this hostility was not directed toward him so he didn't mind but it still felt awkward in the room.
Xiao Xuefeng also felt this awkwardness and decided to start the lesson.
"I'll teach you both using the Frozen Heart Pill as an example."
As she spoke, many tools appeared on the table in a small light coming from her spatial ring.
"Alchemy is the art of extracting medicinal properties from the natural world and mixing them together to create new properties. It is ruled by five big principles, the Five Golden Elixir Principles."
Xiao Xuefeng took a small cauldron from her spatial ring. There was nothing impressive about it and it almost looked like it could be used to cook beans.
"I'll use this training cauldron. It's not great but not bad either. Remember, a cauldron is just a means, not an end. If you're proficient enough, you should be able to refine any pill in any cauldron. As long as the cauldron can sustain the temperature and the pressure of course. Maintaining your cauldron is of utmost importance. If you fail to do so, your pill will be a failure before you even attempt anything."
"This is the first principle. Your cauldron can absorb the medicinal energies of the ingredients you put it. As such, it's essential to either clean it with care or feed it special ingredients to cook. According to the state of your cauldron, it can mess up the refining process. This training cauldron is absolutely neutral, so it can accommodate many kinds of pills. On the other hand, your flame can also alter your cauldron, sometimes it is even necessary to commission a blacksmith to fix it."
She then took out the ingredients for the Frozen Heart Pill. There was a Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf covered in Icey Horned Swamp Frog's blood, one of the leaves the demonic cultivators Cao Yun had killed were growing. There was also a lot of other ingredients, like a vial of yellow water, a root of some kind, a metallic powder and some moss.
Cao Yun recognized the ingredients that Feng Yingyue had used in front of Grand Master Hua Fenfei.
"The second principle is the preparation of the ingredients. This is also a crucial step. If you fail to prepare them the right way, your pill will be a failure before you even start the fire. You first need to understand the ingredient in order to extract as much medicinal essence as possible."
"Let's take this Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf for example. Everyone knows this is a Pure Yin ingredient. It's also related to water. As it's been stored in Icey Horned Swamp Frog's blood, we first need to carefully remove it. There are several ways but using a Yin water would probably be the best. As the blood is Yang in nature, even though it comes from a Pure Yin demonic beast, you need to be careful not to mix any blood with your preparation of the leaf."
Xiao Xuefeng took out a small bowl of water. As soon as it came out of her spatial ring, it emitted some vapor.
"Sleeping Crystalline Tears?!" Mei Hua was astounded.
"Is this rare?"
"Rare?!" She turned toward Cao Yun. But realizing she was missing the process, she kept her eyes on Xiao Xuefeng. "You really know nothing. This is a 3-star Human rank ingredient. Even I have never seen it before."
"Indeed, this is Sleeping Crystalline Tears. Your knowledge is very good, Mei Hua."
She tenderly put the leaf in the water as it was still slowly evaporating into the air.
"This water is very Yin but contains a tiny bit of Fire element in it, so it evaporates as soon as there is some light around it. This evaporation takes a bit of the Yang properties with it, so it's easier to clean the leaf."
When she was done, she took a small rolling pin. Putting the leaf on a sheet, she rolled the pin over it.
"You need to extract the medicinal essence from the leaf and you'll get a green powder."
She kept on preparing all the other ingredients by explaining her process step by step. Mei Hua and Cao Yun were focusing all their attention on her, to remember every small detail.
"The third principle is the control of the flame. When you become a Mortal Warrior, you'll be able to control it even better by infusing your Qi within. But a true alchemist should be able to manipulate their flame without Qi."
She started the fire under her cauldron, and set up small piles of powder and dirt around it.
"By using various kinds of powder, you can control the intensity of the flame. But that's not all. Each powder will also infuse some properties into a flame. In principle, a flame is Pure Yang, so it can easily clash with Yin ingredients or even burn up Yang ingredients as their Yang becomes too intense. By using your Qi, you can alter its properties and even mix several of them inside a single flame. Some experts can form a flame that burns at different temperatures in several places on the cauldron. But you can also use powders to control the properties of the flame."
She threw a bit of powder in the red flame and it became blue.
"For example, this Immovable Mercury powder has some Pure Yin properties while retaining a tiny bit a Yang. It keeps the flame very hot but gives it a more Yin nature to avoid any clash with the Embalming Lake Lotus Leaf. When forging a pill, it's not rare to have to use several powders to control your flame. You must remember that these powders interact with one another as well, so be careful. They can also infect your cauldron, hence why you must always maintain it properly."
As she started to put the ingredients in the cauldron, controlling the flame at the same time, Xiao Xuefeng continued her lesson.
"The last two principles are related to one another and focus mainly on the refining process in itself. The first one is Yin-Yang Balance. There are four kinds of Yin and Yang: Pure Yin, Small Yin, Small Yang and Pure Yang. Yin is passive and black, it's darkness and calmness. It pertains to anything that would cool your body and mind. It can be poisonous as it will reduce your bodily functions and the heat of your body. Of course, the Pure Yin is stronger in that aspect than the Small Yin."
"Then, the Yang is active and white, it's light and excitement. It pertains to anything that would heat up your body and mind. It can also be poisonous as it will burn up your body. Once again, the Pure Yang is stronger in that aspect than the Small Yang. But remember that everything is a mix of Yin and Yang. It can be very tiny, but even in the most Yang ingredient, there will be a wisp of Yin, otherwise the ingredient would be destroyed before it can ever come into being."
"Finally, the last principle is the Five Elements Wheel. It's the most complex principle to master. In addition to the Yin and Yang, ingredients also have elements: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water."
Cao Yun immediately recognized these elements as they were linked to the First Layer of 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks'. He could maybe advance faster if he got a better understanding of these elements.
"These elements are also in everything around us. A great alchemist will be able to align the elements within his forging process with those outside. Each element is linked to the other in various ways: they can generate, weaken, regulate, excite or counter each other."
"Discussing it in details here would be difficult, but let's take this pill for example. The Frozen Heart Pill is linked to Water of course as its goal is to regulate the fire of the heart. If you use too much Wood element, you will weaken the Water. If you use too much Earth element, you will obstruct the flow of the Water element. If you use too much Fire element, you will burn out the Water element. Finally, if you use too much Metal, you promote the Water element and flood the others."
"Each element can act on the others, and you must balance them out. It's especially important to know in what order you must put your ingredients in. By understanding the elements better, you'll also be able to control the timing and enhance the effects you want while diminishing the adverse ones."
As she spoke, Xiao Xuefeng had finished the refining process and a small pill leapt from the cauldron and into her palm.