With a flourish, Xi Sanji tossed a final blade of Wind Pavilion Grass into the pill furnace. Hui watched as the grass wilted in the heat, smoothly processing into a drop of dark green liquid that quickly integrated with the flowing proto-elixir in the heart of the furnace. He applauded. “Elder Sister, how impressive! To think, you could follow such a complex recipe so perfectly!”
“Hmph. Complex? It’s only a handful of steps. So easy I could do it in my sleep,” Xi Sanji scoffed.
“Ah, of course. What is difficult to us mere mortals must be simple to a genius such as yourself!” Hui agreed, nodding.
“Is that what it is?” Xi Sanji asked, frowning.
“Of course, of course!” Hui insisted. I’d like to apologize to everyone for the monster I’m creating. Most of you don’t deserve what I’m inflicting upon you! Jizhi Zhimei, her assassins, and the other demonic tiers most definitely do, though. That terrifying demonic healing tier… ahhhh, it’s too bad that healing is one of the few fields I truly have karma with! How regretful! But there’s nothing I can do about it. I suppose I simply have to let my healing skills lapse for now.
Xi Sanji narrowed her eyes at Hui. “Perhaps you’re simply bad at pill cultivation.”
“Elder Sister is truly perceiptive!” Hui agreed. Ah… it seems Elder Sister does indeed have an upper limit of how much I’m able to butter her up without her growing skeptical. Should I praise her? It’s good to have a clear view of reality! But at the same time, it makes her much more difficult to work with. It would be easier if she got drunk on the sensation of praise and gave in to my wiles.
Every time I think I have Xi Sanji locked down, she surprises me. I shouldn’t let my guard down around her! She’s uniquely resistant to my mental demons attack… or could it be that I’m using the wrong tactic? I always struggled more with flattery… though that’s only natural. I have an entire lifetime of getting bullied and harassed to draw on when it comes to making mental demons, but I rarely got flattered, so naturally, I struggle to flatter others!
A weakness. An obvious weakness in my mental demon-inflicting attacks! Not only that, but when I think back, I’ve had this weakness all along. To think, I’ve had a weakness for so long, and only truly recognized it now! I need to be more self-aware, more self-aware! Before you inflict mental demons upon your enemy, you first must know yourself, after all!
Xi Sanji is a good target to work with, in that regard, since she’ll call me out but won’t outright reject me. Ah! Although the pill cultivation part of this is pearls before swine, I can at least use this time to strengthen my mental-demon-infliction repertoire. Excellent, excellent. Hui nodded to himself, smiling a little.
Xi Sanji pouted at the pill furnace. “It’s boring, though. The elixir has to stew for half an hour before it’s effective. Some elixirs require hours, days, even years! I want to create pills that don’t require time to refine. Pills that can be instantaneously finished and handed to the patient. It’s why I’m working so hard to create my own formulae, even though everyone says I’m no good at it.”
“Elder Sister has a noble goal indeed. I don’t think it’s a bad goal,” Hui agreed. “Er, but Elder Sister, could it be? Perhaps they think Elder Sister should learn the basics before moving on to advanced techniques.”
Xi Sanji threw up her hands. “Why bother? I don’t need the basics. I only want to learn the most effective pill-making technique. I’m wasting my time, when it could be spent creating new, better pill formulae!”
“Er, please excuse my rudeness, Elder Sister. Have you ever succeeded at cultivating a brand new pill formula?”
Xi Sanji pursed her lips. “I succeed all the time.”
Hui glanced at the cultivators lying on the floor beside them. Succeed at creating pills, perhaps, but that’s only half the battle. “Xi Sanji, have you ever successfully made something that you intended to make? Ah, I mean, set out from the start to create that pill, then successfully created it.”
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Xi Sanji crossed her arms. “Does it matter? Creation is creation, whether I intended it or not.”
So that’s a no, then. Haaa… as I thought, she has a bit of haughty young master in her.
Hmm… hung up on creating new pill formulae, haughty young master…
Hui cleared his throat. “Xi Sanji, your light, your aura of genius and incredible talent with pill cultivation… could it be that you’re descended from someone magnificent?”
She blinked at him. “You don’t know?”
“Ah, small cultivator is a hostage, taken in by Jizhi Zhimei,” Hui quickly explained.
“Oh, you’re Gui Hui?” She squinted at him. “I was expecting someone a little more… impressive.”
Hui bowed. “Small cultivator apologizes for disappointing Elder Sister.”
She waved her hand. “In any case, you are correct. I am the descendant of the first Tier Master of the pill cultivation tier, back before it was the pill cultivation tier, but instead the proud Green River Pill Sect. She was the founder of our sect, and a unique genius when it came to pill cultivation. Simply looking at ingredients, she could instinctively understand how to best combine them. Making new pill formulae came as easily as breathing to her.
“She strongly disagreed with Tseng Caihong’s idea of a single large consolidated sect in the Eastern Alliance… ah, back then they were merely the Eastern Wastes. She rallied her forces and battled Tseng Caihong, but the result was predetermined. Tseng Caihong’s cultivation far outpowered hers, and ultimately, she fell in battle.
“We’re fortunate that we housed a great many unique pill formulae due to our Sect Master’s genius, most of which existed only in the heads of our Elders at the time. Otherwise, Tseng Caihong likely would have razed our entire sect. Instead, because of the unique pill formulae, she was forced to negotiate with our Elders when they sued for peace, and thus, we became the foundation of the pill division of the Eight Tiers Palace Sect… ahem, became the second tier.”
Xi Sanji scoffed. She scowled at the pill furnace and shook her head. “But I’m just a great-great-granddaughter with none of her talent. A blight on the bloodline. At least, that’s what everyone says. But they’re wrong. I’m going to prove them all wrong!” She clenched her fist, her eyes blazing.
Er, it’s good that Elder Sister is motivated, but… Hui cleared his throat. “Elder Sister, how do you think your ancestor came to be so powerful at pill cultivation that she could look at ingredients and understand their best usage?”
“She was born that way,” Xi Sanji said.
“Ah, no. I understand that she’s likely been mythologized, but think. Use your brain. Elder Sister, no one is born and instantly understands pill ingredients,” Hui argued. Especially not me.
Xi Sanji squinted at him. “What are you implying?”
“Xi Sanji… your ancestor, rather than being born with impossible knowledge, isn’t it more likely that she studied the basics, in fact, the most basic of basics, and learned pill ingredients so thoroughly that her knowledge seemed instinctive? After all, anyone can look at a Red-Blue Leaf and guess that it’s a fire and ice elemental herb. However, I’m sure there’s a thousand caveats and specific usages and conditions where it has vastly different effects on a pill. Elder Sister, if not by drilling all the information she could find on pill ingredients into her mind, if not for focusing on the most basic of all basics to the point of ignoring all else, how could your ancestor combine ingredients to create novel pills?”
Xi Sanji opened her mouth, then closed it. She squinted, her brows furrowing. “Huh.”
“Elder Sister, it isn’t that you’ve gone astray or made a misstep. Focusing on the higher-level techniques is good, and it’s wonderful if what you want is to create a more perfect rendition of existing pills. However, if what you want is to create entirely new pills, then rather than ignoring the basics… what Elder Sister needs to do, is focus all your attention on those basics!” Hui finished, nodding.
Xi Sanji’s eyes shone with enlightenment. She nodded to Hui. “Yes! You’re right. How could I be so blind?” She turned and raced off, vanishing toward the center of the tier, and doubtlessly where the library awaited her.
Hui nodded to himself. Ah… I’ve done a good deed today.
Wait, hold on. Wasn’t I trying to inflict mental demons? How did I end up giving her enlightenment instead?
Putting a hand on his chin, he thought for a few moments, then shrugged. If I think about it, giving people mental demons, I tear them down and try to destroy their psyche. With Xi Sanji, I was attempting to give her a mental demon by building her up… but then, it’s only natural that she obtains enlightenment! After all, I’m doing the opposite of giving her a mental demon. The opposite of breaking someone’s mind is fixing it!
Hmm, interesting. Well, it’s useless as an attack, but I’m sure I’ll find a use for it somewhere. Perhaps if I pick up a new disciple.
In any case… Hui turned to the pill furnace, which continued to burn beside him, the pill tumbling happily within as it brewed. He licked his lips. Elder Sister, you ran off without thinking! I don’t know how to remove this pill! Elder Sister, come back!