51:

Xiao Feng watched intently as Lianhua held a sheaf of ten mystic palms in her left hand, her expression one of amusement as she considered his request.

“Are you sure you want to commit to this? My father’s alchemist flame is quite adept at refining ingredients, but I have never accounted for taste as a factor in the equation,” Lianhua issued a final warning.

“Sacrifices made in the pursuit of knowledge are only noble,” Xiao Feng sagely replied, perhaps inflating the importance of his own cause by a few degrees.

A chuckle escaped Lianhua as she shook her head, before replying, “Well, I did warn you. If you wish to see your precious, or… well, at least pricey herbs charred, then I am happy to oblige. Who knows, it might end up being therapeutic.”

Xiao Feng nodded, as he activated his essence cultivation art.

It was hard to study the alchemist flame’s effect while it was subject to the interactions between an already complex melange of ingredients, that too, behind the pill furnace’s metal housing.

Up close though, Xiao Feng could see for himself the direct effect it would have on a fairly valuable set of spiritual plants.

He had only asked for a thimbleful of Lianhua’s alchemist flame, but she chose a much more direct approach.

It only allowed him a moment to study the flare of blue flames, as it engulfed the sheaf of Mystic Palms whole.

Compared to the deep, concentrated Qi originally contained within the Mystic Palms, Xiao Feng noticed the difference almost immediately. There was a lightness to the Qi that remained, even if the Mystic Palms themselves had greatly shriveled under the properties of the alchemist’s flames.

A minute ticked away in silence as Xiao Feng tried to discern any further change, any property besides the lightness that remained after the alchemist’s flames had cleansed the Mystic Palms of impurities.

He found none.

I guess, at the end of the day, the essence cultivation art’s immense value is limited to cultivators beneath the Nascent Soul stage. Their divine sense can see what I see, can sense the flow of Qi like I do, Xiao Feng thought. However, merely seeing Qi is not enough. If her alchemist’s flame imbues properties like toxin resistance or additional nutrients, I will not be able to discern it through my sight alone.

“Are you okay?” Lianhua asked, still gingerly cupping the shriveled leaves in her right palm.

“Oh… yeah. Yeah, sorry,” He apologized, before hurriedly deactivating his essence cultivation art.

It was only then that Xiao Feng noticed the actual state of the Mystic Palms.

The polished bronze of the Mystic Palms had faded in favor of a dull brown, its original sheen lost along with the moisture in its veins. All ten of the Mystic curved upwards, along with the flow of the flame— a fact that Xiao Feng noted with interest.

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A moment later, the powerful aroma hit him. The original Mystic Palm had been bitter, astringent and had a bit of a burn to it, but Lianhua’s Alchemist Flame had to have elevated it to an entirely new level, because his eyes began to water merely by being in it’s immediate proximity.

“Uh, is that even safe for consumption?” Xiao Feng asked as he blinked away the buildup of tears.

“As safe as it was originally,” Lianhua replied. “Though you might want to adjust your recipe. It’s not going to be harmful to your body, because it is still a Mystic Palm at the end of the day. That doesn’t mean that it can’t reduce you to tears.”

“Duly noted,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone laden with amusement. “Can I borrow a mortar and pestle? Oh and a glass vial,” He asked.

“You may,” Lianhua replied.

A few moments later, Xiao Feng had acquired what he needed from Lianhua’s personal collection.

She watched with piqued curiosity as Xiao Feng ground the already brittle Mystic Palms with ease, stopping only a little before the precious spiritual plants were ground entirely to dust.

The resultant flakes of Mystic Palms were carefully bottled up in a glass vial before Xiao Feng stopped it with gentle movements.

Too much had gone into this little vial for even the slightest amount of ingredient to be lost.

“What do you plan on doing now?” Lianhua asked, long having sealed and safely stored the beast-bonding pill she had refined.

“Well, unless you’re going to let me try refining a pill today…,” He trailed off, the question in his tone matched only by the want in it.

“No,” Lianhua curtly replied. “Rushing into this will do you no good. Tomorrow, you will recite to me the steps involved in refining the beast-bonding pill, as I have taught you. Then, I shall demonstrate the techniques I have used while keeping the pill furnace open, so you can see for yourself its intricacies. Only after, once you can reproduce that Qi control before me, will you get to waste ingredients on refinement,” Lianhua bluntly laid out the curriculum she had planned out for him.

“Hey, do you have to put it like that?” Xiao Feng protested. “Who knows, maybe I’ll get it right the first try.”

“If you managed that, do you know what that would make you?” Lianhua asked.

“Nope,” He replied.

“A senior alchemist,” Lianhua replied with an amused chuckle. “Even I required years before I tackled the beast-bonding pill. There is a method to it, a process that must be followed. In your case, we have no option to skip forward, but no matter how deeply you wish to win, I will not allow shortcuts. Winning will have no meaning if you destroy your own foundation in the process.”

“That is quite… thoughtful of you. Thank you, Lianhua,” Xiao Feng replied, his tone heartfelt.

Lianhua blinked.

“Is that all you have to say?” She asked.

“Er.. yeah?”

“I had expected you to push back more,” She explained, her cheeks flushing lightly with the concession.

“Why?” Xiao Feng asked, a bit perplexed.

“Is it not the martial way, to challenge the most daunting of odds yet come out victorious nonetheless? My father will never say it out loud, but he admires you, admires those like you. To brave heavenly tribulation without external assistance, without relying on powerful armor or valuable pills, is an act nigh unfathomable to me, to us.”

“Huh,” Xiao Feng muttered under his breath, for that was definitely not the impression Grand Alchemist Xin Wu had left upon him. “Well, I may be a martial cultivator, Lianhua. But I have also been on the battlefield and I know that bravado, false or true, makes me any more or less capable of dealing with an enemy’s attack. You called me your disciple, so I will trust the judgment of my master.”

Lianhua turned away from Xiao Feng, as a wildfire spread across her cheeks.

“Are you going to the alchemy vaults?” Lianhua asked, her voice small and her tone uncharacteristically weak.

“Should be. After I wash up,” Xiao Feng replied.

“Can I meet you there?” She asked. “It has been a while since I have spoken to Alchemist Jun.”

“Of course!” Xiao Feng replied, his tone chipper. “I can make the second iteration of my masala chai for both of you,” He added.

“That would be… nice.”