Cao Yun finally arrived before the alchemy pavilion. It hadn't changed at all, the place was still deserted. It would probably become more lively later in the year. Currently, everybody was busy trying to recruit for their faction after all.
Cao Yun went to the reception desk. Behind the counter was a young woman different from last time.
"Excuse me, Senior?"
She raised her head and just looked at his emblem before lowering it again. Her tone suddenly changed.
"Sorry, I don't have much time."
Was it because he was a first-year or because he was unaffiliated with a faction? Cao Yun looked her over and saw that she was a second-year and a member of the Dragon's Fire Faction.
"I should have an instructor appointed to me. I'm..."
"Sorry, no instructor gets appointed for a first-year. Someone pulled your leg. Get going."
"Senior, please, I insist, my name is..."
"I told you already!" She got up a little pissed. "Get! Going!"
"Is this because I'm not in your faction?"
"You dare put my professionalism into question?!"
As she was getting worked up, Zhong Ling saw the scene from afar. As soon as she saw the boy's face, she rushed toward the counter. "Junior Sister! Stop!"
"Huh?!" The receptionist was stunned when she saw her senior running like crazy. Zhong Ling got near her and whispered in her ear.
"He is Chen Guo. Elder Xiao has personally appointed an instructor for him. I don't know what's going on, but please don't offend him."
As a matter of fact Cao Yun had a hearing good enough to understand almost every word. And even without that, the gloomy face of the woman was telling enough.
"Oh?! Brother Chen?! You should have told so from the beginning!"
Was she serious?!
"Elder Xiao has appointed Instructor Meng Jia to you. I'll go check but he's probably free by now." The woman would now always remember to check someone's name before being rude. If word reached Xiao Xuefeng, her job here was done for. This was an easy job to get a good amount of points, and she even got close to some alchemists. Being one herself, she could form good relationships with alchemists more talented or even instructors or elders.
The Dragon's Fire Faction was always arrogant when it came to alchemy, so when she saw a first-year who was in no faction, she assumed he was no one. She should immediately have thought of Cao Yun.
I'm an idiot! Damn it!
She had missed an occasion to befriend someone who was valued by the guest elder in charge of her pavilion.
As she kept beating herself up, she arrived before a door with the name 'Meng Jia' engraved on. On the door was a sign reading 'Working! Do not disturb!'. She knew enough about Instructor Meng Jia to immediately know it was a lie.
She opened the door to a dim-lit room with lowered curtains. The room was perfectly tidied up. In the bookcases, every book was perfectly aligned, as if no one had ever used them. In a corner of the room was a cauldron which appeared as if it was brand new and never used before.
The woman could not see anyone in this darkness. So the first thing she did was open the curtains. As she did, a moan of discomfort resounded. When she turned toward the noise, she saw an middle-aged man lying under the huge wooden desk.
"Instructor Meng, your student is here!" The woman was kind of venting her frustration by making sure that every curtain was open as fast as possible.
"What...?" The man was trying to cover his eyes and rolled further back under the desk.
As a 5th-grade Mortal, the woman easily lifted the desk to move it away.
The man was visibly in pain as he squinted his eyes. "I don't take students."
"Oh? Instructor Meng has already forgotten? Elder Xiao assigned you to a first-year."
As soon as she said 'Elder Xiao', the man stood up. "Yeah... that... He's here?"
"He's waiting at the reception. Should I show him in?"
"No, no, I'll take him to a training room. I figure that no one is using one right now." Almost every other word was punctuated by a deep yawn. When he walked out of the room, one of his eyes was still closed.
Cao Yun saw an unkempt middle-aged man with an eye closed who kept exposing all his teeth by yawning. His first thought was "Please, don't let him be Instructor Meng!"
Sadly, the man spoke to him and shattered his faint hope. "Kid, I'm Meng Jia. Xiao Xuefeng has assigned me to you. Follow me."
Cao Yun thought about leaving for an instant but he had nowhere else to go today and he trusted Xiao Xuefeng. She wouldn't have assigned an incompetent instructor after trying to convince him to practice alchemy. He would not judge him on his appearance.
"So, you're going or I'm going back to sleep?"
He wasn't even pretending to have been working anymore...
"I'm going, I'm going." Cao Yun exchanged a strange look with Zhong Ling and the other woman who came back. He then followed this weird instructor into a training room.
-
When entering the room, the first thing instructor Meng did was lower the curtains. Then, he sat in a chair, put his feet on the table and closed his eyes.
"Elder Xiao told me that you're a total novice but that your mind is impressive. So first, let me ask you. What alchemy book did you read?"
"Only 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic', Instructor."
"Oh, no need to call me instructor when we're alone." He started to yawn less and less but kept his eyes closed. "'Four Seasons Cycle Classic' is the very basics, but it's essential to go on. Did you memorize it entirely?"
"Yes, I could quote it without problem."
"Really? Tell me the fifty-seventh line of the hundred and sixteenth page."
To answer such a specific question, Cao Yun had to look in his memory and even circulated his Yi to be sure. "in the 'Bamboo and Spring Canon', it is said that Evergrowing Sinuous Algae are a mix of Pure Yin Water and Pure Yang Wood, but such a fact is contradictory to..."
"Fine. You do remember the book. Good. How many pills did you forge and what were the results?"
"Only one pill, the Frozen Heart Pill, and..."
"I know, it's the pill you forged with Elder Xiao. So no other pill at all?"
"None."
"Of course, you should remember the Five Golden Elixir Principles. What principle seems the most important to you right now as a novice?"
"I'm not too sure, but I would probably say Flame Control."
"Oh?! Why is that?"
"Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation at the beginner's level are just about following the rules without thinking. I'm not knowledgeable enough to prepare the ingredients any other way than the textbook way. And my pills won't cause too much trouble for my cauldron, if I even have a personal cauldron at this stage.
On the other hand Yin-Yang Balance and Five Elements Wheel are very complicated and I should just follow the recipe for now. Then there is only Flame Control. Even if I know what to do, if I can't control my flame to behave as it should, I won't achieve anything."
"Your analysis is almost perfect. Did you train your Flame Control yet?"
"No. I just know the basic techniques from the 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. But I did not have any time to try them as of now."
"Well, the best technique to really train someone is the 'Poison the Dragon to Nurture it' but you already need to have a small experience to use it. For now, I'll create a very basic flame and you'll alter it exactly as I say.
You'll find all the powders and tools you need in the cupboards, set it up."
After this discussion, Cao Yun was a bit more convinced by this eccentric instructor. He went through several cupboards to get every thing he would need, and set it up on the table where the instructor still let his feet rest.
"Good, but you won't need the Sweet Red Cypress Bark powder, put it back." Meng Jia still didn't open his eyes, he only used his nose to differentiate the ingredients.
In the center of the table Cao Yun had installed a furnace with no cauldron.
As soon as everything was ready, a small light left the fingers of Meng Jia and the fire started. It was a small red fire.
"I'll first give you instructions as to which powder to use and how to control the flame. Follow everything to the letter."
"Let's begin!"
"Two fen of Weeping Eucalyptus."
"Five fen of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp."
...
By circulating Yi and Zhi, Cao Yun had no problem whatsoever to follow every instruction to the letter.
"Very good. Now you'll tell me every step we took, what happened to the fire and even give an analysis as to why I asked you to do it, if you can.
Start by the very beginning."
This time, Cao Yun tried to remember precisely what had happened. Remembering the orders was not a problem, he could also remember what they were supposed to do according to 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. But to analyze what had happened he had to rely on the actual sensations of the flame.
"First, the Weeping Eucalyptus. It's a Pure Yin ingredient associated mainly with the Wood element. Wood feeds Fire where Pure Yin appeases it. When I put it in, the fire dimmed down a little before increasing by around 15%. The fire had gained a bit of Yin attribute but its temperature was higher. It could be used to melt a Yin ingredient without damaging the Yin too much.
Then, the Deep Sea Breathing Kelp is a Small Yin ingredient, mainly associated with Water and Earth, with Earth being dominant. When I put it in, the flame erupted a little and then almost died down. I imagine that when the Earth attribute that had already interacted with the Water was suddenly put in contact with the Wood attribute still remaining with the flame, they reacted. Wood can weaken Earth, this interaction allowed the fire to feed on Wood even more, but then the Water element came in as it was no longer contained by Earth and almost killed the flame. It could be used to finalize a melting with a huge flame for only an instant."
...
Cao Yun tried to be as precise as possible and gave his opinions without fearing to be wrong.
"Good. You're mostly right in your analysis. It's still pretty shallow, but very impressive for a beginner. Elder Xiao sure has the eye for talents."
"Let's do something different." He extinguished the flame and created another one. "I'll tell you what properties and temperature I want for the flame and you'll try to come up with the right move, then explain your thought process.
First, make the flame twice as big and as Yang as possible with Water attribute in it."
Cao Yun looked through all the powders on the table and tried to recall specific parts of the 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. After at least a minute, he took a yellow powder and sent it in the fire. All of a sudden, the flame erupted and became twice as big.
"I used seven fen of Drying Copper Mustard powder. As the name suggests it has a strong element of Metal, but also a bit of Water. It's also Pure Yang. Metal can promote Water. As soon as the powder gets into the flame, the fire melts the Metal element and then the balance between Metal and Water is broken and as it melts, it promotes Water within the flame. It even protects Water during the process."
"Perfect! Then, I want the flame to stay the same size but to become a bit Yin with as much Earth element as possible without losing the Water."
...
Some answers took him almost ten minutes, but Cao Yun was able to give satisfactory ones to every question.
"You don't seem tired at all, are you?"
"Only a little, nothing much." In reality, with Zhi his will was so energized that he almost felt no fatigue at all.
"Your mind is indeed impressive. It can take months for an alchemist to forge such a mind and also an understanding of the flame."
Meng Jia finally opened one of his eyes with a big yawn.
"We'll attack 'Poison the Dragon to Nurture it' immediately. I will perturb the flame again and again and your goal is to keep it as stable as possible. In a first try, it's okay if you change the attributes I put in, but try not to do so as much as you can. During a refinement you may lose control of your flame so you must bring it back under control but if you change the attributes you'll damage your ingredients and lower you final product.
During the process, if you realize an error you made, even later, say it. Speaking out loud instead of brooding it in your mind is beneficial. First of all, it takes it out of your mind so that you can focus better, and it trains you as you have to express your thoughts on the matter."
Meng Jia extinguished the flame and lit another one.
"Get ready, as soon as I alter the flame, you'll have to act very quick so as to not lose control."
By only moving one hand, he directed some powder into the flame. As an advanced Mortal Warrior, he could control his Qi outside of his body, so manipulating small objects was very easy for him. The moment the powder touched the fire, the flame turned blue-green and became long and thin, ready to dissipate at any time.
Cao Yun had to think as fast as he could and used Yi, Zhi and Shen. He took a brownish powder and threw a very small speck of it inside the flame. Gradually it became larger and its height decreased back to normal.
Before Cao Yun could enjoy his success, two different powders were thrown at the same time. The fire turned almost transparent and became so tiny one would think it was already dead.
...
It lasted for almost two hours. This training was extremely strenuous on the mind but Cao Yun had his cultivation to help him. What he gained was enormous. He had failed to keep the attributes of the flame or even the flame itself many times, but several minutes later he was able to give an explanation and even a potential solution.
Meng Jia extinguished the flame one last time. "I'd say you're very close to achieve Small Success in Flame Control. It's as high as it gets under Mortal Warrior. To go beyond Small Success, you need Qi manipulation."
"You can go find me whenever you want. I'm always sleep... working in my office. Next time, we'll talk about Ingredients Preservation, it's the second most important principle for a beginner. We could even try some pill refinement, why not?
Oh?! When you leave, don't make too much noise and try not to let anyone know we're done, I'll try to stay here to... to... to think of a schedule for your training. That's it!"
As soon as he walked through the door, Cao Yun heard snoring from behind him.
*1 fen = 373 mg