50:

Xiao Feng allowed his focus on the essence cultivation art to break away, as Lianhua gingerly lifted the pill furnace’s top.

A loud hiss sounded out as the steam trapped within the pill furnace escaped, clouding his line of sight for a moment.

It cleared to reveal a small pill that was nestled carefully in Lianhua’s palm. Its surface was a smatter of icy blue dotted with flecks of deep brown, making the roughly spherical pill a sight to behold.

“That light blue… is that frost Qi?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone thoughtful.

“Indeed,” Lianhua replied. “When the already heated Frost Lily was refined to its limits by my Wind Qi and the Alchemist’s flame, it burst. My winds made sure that instead of letting the Frost Qi contained within go to waste, it would hold the refined contents of the pill together instead.”

“I see. Did the refinement succeed?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone curious as he peered at the supposed beast-bonding pill. Even without the essence cultivation art, he could tell that it had quite the sizable amount of Qi contained within, but besides that, none of his senses were capable of assessing its potency.

“Mmm,” Lianhua hummed in thought. “The answer depends on your definition of success.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you familiar with the four grades of pills?” Lianhua asked a question in turn.

“Yes,” Xiao Feng replied. “Mortal, Essence, Profound and Heavenly are the four distinctions when it comes to assessing the quality of a pill. Though I’m not sure how to distinguish between those grades.”

Lianhua nodded, offering him a smile before she answered his unspoken query, “Heavenly grade pills are almost never refined in day-to-day alchemy. It requires the refinement to retain nine parts out of ten of the original Qi density within the refined materials.”

“What’s the criteria for Profound Grade?” Xiao Feng asked.

“Anything above five parts out of ten but below nine,” Lianhua replied. “A much more reasonable ask, yet even then…,” She trailed off, as her gaze shifted to the beast-bonding pill.

“It’s not profound grade,” Xiao Feng muttered, as his thoughts inadvertently spilled out into words. “Oh…er, sorry?” He hurriedly offered, after he realized that Lianhua was staring directly at him.

Clearly flustered, Xiao Feng felt his cheeks heating up.

Lianhua softly chuckled, clearly amused by his reaction, “There is no need to be so cautious around me. I do not take offense to the truth,” She replied. “You are correct, of course. It is not profound grade, it is merely an essence grade beast-bonding pill— above two parts out of ten, below five. Do you know why?”

He took a few moments to consider the question, before shaking his head.

“When do you think I was imbuing my own Qi into the refining ingredients?” Lianhua asked.

Xiao Feng’s eyes slightly widened in surprise, as he realized that he hadn’t taken note of the most important step. In the melange of ingredients, he had forgotten that unattuned Qi was the hardest to keep track of because it exhibited no special properties or behavior on its own.

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He found himself thinking back to the moment when he had noticed the anomaly in the Qi-Dense mixture, the rapid acceleration in brightness. Was that due to Lianhua imbuing her Qi and causing a backlash? Was that why she had been required to call upon her father’s alchemist’s flames?

“Was it the first time you called upon the alchemist’s flames?” Xiao Feng asked.

“That is an excellent answer. However, it is not the correct one,” Lianhua replied, her answer only seeking to further befuddle Xiao Feng. “I have been imbuing my unattuned Qi into the mixture from the moment the first two ingredients were heated. I am not surprised that your senses did not pick up on it, because while my Wind Qi and Alchemist’s Flames can be a threat under your battle-honed senses, unattuned Qi is harmless and will dissolve in the atmosphere if not given shape and form.”

“From the very beginning?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone betraying his surprise.

“Yes, albeit in small quantities. While the amethyst dragonstone flame heats the ingredients, my own unattuned Qi seeps into them. Or atleast, that was the intention,” Lianhua explained.

“What went wrong?” He asked.

“I underestimated the potency of the ingredients. Or I added just a touch too much unattuned Qi at the wrong moment. There could be a myriad of reasons, but that is not the important part. The mistake caused me to rely on my alchemist’s flames, thereby accelerating the process and not managing to imbue enough of my own Qi. For purposes you seek the beast-bonding pill, this grade will not suffice,” Lianhua admitted.

“I need to refine a profound grade beast-bonding pill then?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone solemn as he considered the difficulty involved in such a task.

Lianhua slowly nodded her head.

“Well, step by step,” Xiao Feng replied with a shrug. “Is our class for the day concluded?” He asked.

Lianhua nodded before offering the beast-bonding pill cupped in her right palm to him.

“What?” Xiao Feng asked.

“The ingredients were yours, so the pill belongs to you,” Lianhua matter-of-factly stated, her gaze earnest.

“Uh… No. There’s no way I’m refining that pill without your help and you did all the work. No, no– it belongs to you,” Xiao Feng hurriedly raised both his palms in the air, as if the beast-bonding pill was coated in a layer of poison.

“These were your ingredients and I am a senior alchemist. My position—,” Lianhua tried to explain, but Xiao Feng cut her off.

“Consider it a loan then. It’s yours until you find a beast egg of your own. You’ve already done so much for me and honestly, there’s already one more favor I’m planning to ask of you so… please don’t make me take the pill,” Xiao Feng pleaded, his tone sounding mortified.

Lianhua paused to consider his words and then blinked before asking, “What favor?”

“Um, so, how would you react if I told you that the chai I made for you the other day wasn’t actually chai,” Xiao Feng asked, his tone sounding a bit nervous.

“Well, it was a delicious waste of ingredients and that seems to be its purpose, so, not very I suppose? Though, do go on,” Lianhua encouraged.

“You see, real chai is made from leaves that are dried and crushed in a process that requires specialized tools that I don’t have. It’s done to lock the flavor in the leaves, you see, before being strained after. Like an alchemical concoction. So, I don’t have those tools on me right now but…,” Xiao Feng gazed at Lianhua with an expectant look.

She met his gaze, her expression thoughtful until all trace of composure vanished from it.

“You want me…,” She trailed off, before sizing Xiao Feng up from top to bottom as if she were looking at the member of an alien species. “... to use the single most valuable alchemist flame in our entire division on your…” She seemed to struggle to find the words as she gave him a disbelieving look.

“My leaves, yes. In my defense, I just need a thimbleful of flame,” He panickedly offered, leaving a tiny gap as he brought his index finger and thumb very close to each other to represent his ask.

Lianhua studied him for a few moments, leading to him getting increasingly uncomfortable.

Then she burst out into boisterous, unrestrained laughter.

She laughed and laughed until tears threatened to streak down her cheeks.

Then, as she was in the midst of trying to restrain her amusement, she replied,

“Sure.”