Wun Fan put the herbs away and lay on his bed. He closed his eyes and rested for a while. It had only been five days since the start of the new year, yet it felt like so many things had already happened. Even Wun Fan felt a little overwhelmed.
On the first day, he fought Wun Ping at the clan banquet, where Wun Ping disregarded the rules of their match. Then, the second elder ambushed the great elder in spite of Wun Ching Yeung conceding defeat and was quickly subdued by the great elder.
On the second day, he and Siu Lan went to the market, where they met the powerful Wa Leng Ji who ran a shop incognito. Wun Fan helped her move past the frustrations she faced over her unfulfilled love for another woman and in return, she gave him a pill. After consuming the pill, he restored Old Lei’s power and became the owner of the Imperial Zenith, the Spiritstartler Ring.
On the fourth day, he was challenged by Wun Ping once again at the sparring grounds. He fended off twelve Martial Disciples alone and suffered major injuries to his meridians. Wun Siu Lan went berserk and the mayor had to help subdue her.
On the fifth day, they went to the Hundred Treasures Hall, where he met the fifteenth lineage daughter of the Chan Clan, Chan Chi Yuet. Together, they negotiated the terms of their collaboration. Later, he witnessed a Wun Clan disciple awaken his martial soul.
Far more things had happened in the past few days than in the past year. For a moment, Wun Fan felt like a fish out of water. Just then, he felt his stomach rumbling and quickly went to the toilet to relieve himself.
As Wun Fan relieved himself, he reflected on all the things he had experienced in the past few days. He didn’t come to any conclusion, but he did understand now that it wasn’t easy to live in Heaven’s Martial World with dignity.
“Observe my breath,” Wun Fan expanded his chest as much as possible and enjoyed the feeling of air rushing deep into his lungs.
Plonk. As he listened to his poop drop into the bucket, Wun Fan felt all his frustrations rush out of his mind like a bursting dam.
It smelled really bad.323Please respect copyright.PENANAHCMBkQRDrY
Soon, it was eleven o’clock again. Old Lei used his powers and Wun Fan once again became a superhero. ‘Wun Fan’ stared at the wooden box and cloth bag holding all the herbs. He waved his hand and put everything away into the Spiritstartler Ring.
Wun Fan suddenly started shouting, “Didn’t you say I couldn’t use the Spiritstartler Ring because I don’t have soul energy yet?”
‘Wun Fan’ talked back to himself as if he had a split personality. He replied calmly, “I am the spirit of this ring. Don’t compare yourself to me!”
“Then can’t I just have you help me put things away in the ring usually?” Wun Fan had a spark of inspiration. Couldn’t he just make Old Lei do it?
“Using the ring requires expending soul energy, but I don’t like wasting my soul energy. As a spirit body, recovering soul energy takes a lot longer than usual.”
Tsk. Then why are you using it now? Can’t you just hold the herbs with your hands? Fine!
‘Wun Fan’ flitted across the forest under the cover of night and instantly appeared at the mountain in the back. Old Lei’s senses reached out to the surroundings the moment he landed. He scanned the surrounding area and finally relaxed when he confirmed no one was around. Wun Fan was still weak. He needed Old Lei’s mental energy to be able to scour his surroundings in this fashion.
Old Lei’s silhouette appeared once again. He hovered in the air as he picked up Wun Fan’s wooden box and opened it to examine the contents.
Old Lei’s spirit body had become more robust in the past two days. It didn’t look translucent like it did before. Simply put, Old Lei’s spirit body had become stronger. This probably had a lot to do with Wun Fan storing more aether in the Spiritstartler Ring.
Wun Fan couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, “Old Lei, are you planning to concoct the pills here?”
“Why else would I call you out here so late in the night? For a walk?” Old Lei didn’t even bother glancing at Wun Fan. He continued to examine the condition and quality of the herbs, leaving Wun Fan to stare in silence by his side. Wun Fan kept telling himself to calm down in his own mind.
However, Wun Fan saw two smaller wooden boxes inside the cloth bag. He remembered that those were the seeds for the half-century black angelica and the redpitch fruits. He couldn’t suppress his curiosity and asked, “Old Lei, what do you want the seeds for?”
He couldn’t be planning to plant them, then come back and harvest in a few months, could he?
Old Lei didn’t reply, but he seemed to know how curious Wun Fan was. Old Lei simply rolled his eyes at him, before closing his eyes to focus. Upon seeing this, Wun Fan shut up and stood idly by. He knew Old Lei’s personality by now, and there would be no point harping on the issue.
Old Lei opened his eyes suddenly and raised his hand. An invisible wave spread from his body, slowly forming a sphere that covered a large area wide enough for a dozen people to lie down. It seemed to be some sort of barrier.
“Watch, kid.”
Old Lei suddenly raised both hands and two green flames engulfed the wooden boxes containing the seeds of the half-century black angelica and the redpitch fruits. The wooden boxes crackled and turned to dust, but the seeds inside were unharmed. They were engulfed in the flames, completely untouched. Slowly, they drifted into Old Lei’s hands.
An immense life force suddenly erupted from the green flames, but the energy waves were kept contained by the barrier.
Old Lei spoke gently, “There is a fire named Hundred Blooming Grass, thousand herbs grow where its rain of fire comes to pass.”
Lethality: Emperor Shennong’s Flame.
The seeds of the redpitch fruits started to grow at a visible rate. The seeds sprouted, grew leaves, bloomed, and fruited. The snow-white seeds of the half-century black angelica sprouted, turned black, and started to grow on both ends until they formed the grown herbs. Wun Fan’s eyes were open as wide as dinner plates. He had a look of disbelief on his face from what he just saw.
This was growth.
However, Old Lei was still dissatisfied. He used more power and the fire burned even more furiously, causing the redpitch fruits and half-century black angelica to grow even larger. He finally stopped after the herbs could grow no longer. He examined the redpitch fruits and black angelica, but was not satisfied. He sighed, “It’s been too many years since I’ve done this. I’ve gotten rusty.”
“Ha?” Wun Fan was speechless to hear Old Lei’s dissatisfaction.
Old Lei tapped with his finger and the flames removed the redpitch fruits stem, while releasing the half-century black angelica. Two more flames appeared and shot towards his hands. They brought with them the ten-year-old treeheart and the thirty-year-old liquidambar sap. The aura of the dark green flames suddenly changed and heat pressed against Wun Fan’s face. The redpitch fruits, the treeheart, and the liquidambar sap melted into liquid, which swam about in the flame that Old Lei held in his hands.
This was concentration.
Was he concocting the pill? Confusion grew on Wun Fan’s face. Isn’t the most basic equipment for pill-making a cauldron? Wun Fan was amazed to see Old Lei concoct pills with just one hand. It was enjoyable just watching him work.
A pulling force came from Old Lei’s palm. He pulled the aconite root, the black angelica, and the undeath worm towards him. These were turned into medicinal liquid in less than five seconds by the heat of Emperor Shennong’s Flame. The six liquids were mixed together as one. There was an order to putting in the ingredients even when it came to cooking. This order was even more important to pill-making. Even the slightest mistake could yield a completely useless product.
Old Lei worked with ease. One herb after another was sucked into the flame and the ball of liquid grew larger and larger. Old Lei closed his eyes and focused. He was sensing the state of the liquid ball. He made a claw with his fingers and pulled backwards. Spots of black impurities separated from the liquid and flew out of the green flame, where they gather in Old Lei’s palm.
This was purification.
The green flame suddenly split into five different flames under Old Lei’s control, each containing a ball of liquid. Old Lei made a hand sign and stared at the five flames with all his focus. The balls of liquid started to shrink as it burned inside the fire. They turned from liquid to mush and finally, turned to slurry. Old Lei shouted and the flames suddenly shrank into tiny spheres, compressing the slurry into spheres as well.
This was shaping.
The strength of the flames suddenly increased. Vapor rose from the flames as the small medicinal balls that were the size of a whole finger were compressed into pills the size of a single digit.
This was compression.
Just as Wun Fan thought the process was finished, Old Lei suddenly flicked small sparks onto the pills. Aether from the air slowly suffused the pill through the small spark. The purpose of the spark was to filter impurities! Wun Fan could faintly sense the power of the pills grow as aether continued to fill their insides.
This was infusion.
Wun Fan was curious how a small pill could contain so much aether. Seeing as they were almost completed, Old Lei sent a few sparks onto the pills again. These sparks turned into thin membranes which completely coated the pills. Old Lei didn’t make any unnecessary movements. All he did was point at the five pills in the air several times and drew several runes in the air. The thin layer of green fire turned into markings on the pills, completely sealing their medicinal power within.
This was finishing.
Old Lei raised his palm and the green flames immediately returned to him, as if they had minds of their own. Old Lei grabbed the five pills as the flames returned. The whole process took less than twenty minutes and five Meridian Fortification Pills had been concocted.
Wun Fan didn’t know if this was fast or slow, all he knew was how practiced and natural Old Lei’s movements were. The flames moved as he commanded and the whole thing seemed like a miracle to him. Watching him concoct the pills was like an exquisite performance. Wun Fan could not look away.
Wun Fan had heard stories in his past life, about Taoist masters who could concoct pills that made them live longer, long enough to rival the skies, the sun, and the moon. He had always wished those stories were true. Now that he had seen Old Lei’s unbelievable technique, he became even more interested in the path of an alchemist. Chan Chi Yuet was practically begging him for six Grade Six pills and Old Lei had concocted them in less than twenty minutes.
Wun Fan fantasized about himself concocting pills as if conjuring them out of thin air, commanding power and respect from people all over the world. He would become immensely wealthy, tremendously influential, and astoundingly popular with women. All of them would be child’s play to him.
It didn’t even have to be all that extravagant. All he wanted was to be powerful and respected.
Wun Fan remembered that Old Lei had told him to watch him carefully when he concocted the pills. His eyes gleamed. He immediately looked at Old Lei and said respectfully, “Old Lei, I won’t bring shame to your alchemy techniques. I swear I will bring glory to you and to our alchemy techniques.”
“Hm?” Old Lei was a little confused, but he then looked at Wun Fan in disdain, “Idiot, you don’t even have the talent for alchemy. What would I teach you for?”
“Huh?”323Please respect copyright.PENANA102OtP46HQ