Presorted information flowed into Mortal’s brain, all the extraneous bits removed, and only the essentials remaining. He focused on nothing but the information, blocking out all else. The other clones and his own thought clones accomplished all the menial tasks, while he alone drew all their information together, synthesizing it into something more. So many herbs… so many potential combinations. Ugh! It’s way too much! How do pill cultivators handle this?

… probably by following recipes. Just like what I made Xi Sanji do. And here I am, being a total hypocrite.

Eh, whatever. Unlike Xi Sanji, I’m not trying to actually accomplish anything in particular, nor have I put other people’s lives at risk. If I can figure out how to make a pill, I can consider myself enough of a pill cultivator to stick it to the rest of the clones. And that’s what really matters!

But… if I’m going to make a pill, I should actually accomplish something in particular. If I throw some herbs together randomly, it’ll probably have a random effect, but that isn’t meaningful. After all, if all I do is slightly enhance the hunger-negating properties of the Black-Bottomed White Berry, have I really made a pill? I mean, yes, by the definition, but that’s boring, and the other clones will tear me apart. I need to make something real. Something material and useful. Something that can improve our cultivation, somehow or another.

He continued to absorb the information. Most of it filtered into one category or another, had some relation with another herb, but a few bits stood out. Alone amidst the onrushing data, they were singleton points in the network, not connected to any other herbs. Mortal frowned, focusing in on the lone points. Even the herbs that have no affect on their own have some kind of effect in combination. After all… after all, this is a pill sect’s herb library! If the herbs truly have no use, why bother cataloging them? Surely there’s thousands of plants out there in this enormous world that have no use in pill cultivation. It isn’t as though we’re seeing entries on rice and beans. This isn’t meant to be an encyclopedic recording of all herbs in the world. It’s only herbs that are useful for pill cultivation.

So… why include those useless herbs?

Unless…

Putting a hand to his chin, Mortal waved his hand, calling all the singleton herbs to his side. As more information came in, some vanished as they gained connections into the network, while new ones appeared at the edges of the list as the thought clones continued to work to place herbs in their proper places.

Hmm. Let’s see.

Based on appearances, and the herbs I’ve seen so far, the black leaf with the ridged edges means that one has some kind of life-absorbing properties. And… He sent a bit of qi into the model, a perfect copy as sensed by the clone who’d read it in. Hmm, yes. There’s a tinge of life qi to it, more than one would expect from a single, long-dead leaf. This leaf absorbed a tiny amount of life qi before it was plucked, likely from the cultivator who plucked it.

He turned to the next item, a clump of miniscule white blossoms clustered tight atop a knob of green. Tilting his head, he examined it from all sides. A flower… it has a bit of the cold attribute to it, but not in the extreme sense. It’s no Yin Ice Flower but it’s certainly something in that family.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Waving his hand, he spun it around. His eyes widened. The bulb, on the other hand, this green knot from which the flowers spring… it’s intensely yang! Perhaps the flowers are ordinarily ice- or yin-elemental, but the bulb part is a mutated version of the herb that absorbed too much yang from the sun as it grew, and weakened the yin-element of the flowers. In which case, it isn’t the flowers that are valuable, but the green bulb beneath them!

Life qi, yang element… hmmm. Interesting. These two seem connected, since yang and life qi complement one another. Is it possible that all these disconnected herbs… perhaps, might be secretly connected?

As the clones worked hard, compiling the knowledge into Mortal’s network, Mortal slowly filtered out the lone herbs and set them hovering in front of him. The new ones went to the outside of his list, waiting for the clones to add enough new herbs for Mortal to truly consider them singletons. One or two of those on the singleton list vanished as Mortal worked slowly through them, as the clones found new connections.

Life qi. Yang. What else? Mortal waved his hand, calling the next herb into focus. A brilliant red-and-orange flower flickered like flames in his hand, warm to the touch. Heat. That fits in. Or maybe flame?

…if this turns out to be a phoenix-pill, I’m going to be so disappointed.

He set the brightly colored flower with the others and moved on to the next. A bud coiled tight, dried and brown with age. Let’s see… a strong death aura… but no, that’s right, there was a note along with it. If you treat it with qi like this, and make it bloom, then… Mortal spun his hand around, circulating his qi around the dried bud. As the qi swirled around the dusty bud, it bloomed, revealing soft, delicate petals from under the seemingly dead outer shell. A warm golden aura sparkled around the petals, brilliant and familiar.

Again, life. Life, yang, fire. Ugh. This is definitely a phoenix pill, right? Something to do with phoenixes.

Oh well. If the pill cultivators hid this recipe, they hid it for a reason. Maybe it’s a secret trial. Maybe it’s their hidden ultimate pill recipe, lost for centuries. Maybe it’s an encoded inheritance left behind by their ancestral Sect Leader who opposed Tseng Caihong, and hid his greatest secret in this pill herbs library in such a way that only a fellow pill cultivator, or a madman like myself who chooses to randomly devote hours to studying the library, could discover it.

Or maybe it’s nothing, and I’m insane.

…

Whatever. It passes the time, and it’s way more interesting than what the other clones are doing. I’m not a pill cultivator, so even if it’s a useless pill for me, or turns out to be nothing at all, it’s not a big deal. I’ll only have wasted a little time. Really, all I’m doing is making up for all the time I saved the rest of the clones by creating the thought clones, so I can’t be blamed. The other clones aren’t even fussing at me, so it can’t be too big of a deal.

Though, actually… Curious, he tuned into the other clones again for a moment.

Anyone, can you tell me what this character is? I don’t recognize it.

If you don’t recognize it, why would we?

…

Let’s just copy it into our memory for now. We can look it up later.

There was a momentary lull in the conversation as the other clones fell back into their efforts. Mortal went to ignore them again. As I thought, nothing importa—

Sect Leader, what’s Mortal doing?

Mortal paused, turning his focus back to the other clones.

Nothing, and thank everything. As long as he stays distracted, we can all cultivate in peace.

Is it fair to be so harsh to Mortal?

He’s the one who woke up and declared a revolution!

Ah, yes, true, true. Our own little life is the most important, after all. If slacking off keeps him from foolishly inciting internal conflict, then I support it!

Mortal rolled his eyes and tuned them out once more. Bunch of bitches. Ah, whatever. I can’t blame them. I’d probably feel the same if one of the others went … rogue. After all, I’m the only me who knows for sure that I was joking.

For now, let’s focus on figuring out this mystery pill. Show all the other mes that pill cultivation isn’t completely impossible for us!