Hui introduced the phoenix fire to his dantian and watched closely, ready to eject the herbs at the slightest sign of misbehavior.

Almost as soon as the heat touched the life-absorbing leaf, it burst into action again. Hui pulled the heat back, and the absorption lessened, buying himself a few seconds to take in the whole scene.

The white flower wilted, its warm golden qi streaming into the leaf. On the opposite side, the life half of the half-dead branch likewise fed life qi into the leaf. Hui narrowed his eyes. Am I mistaken? Do these herbs not go together? Or…

On the far side of the flower, the dead shell of the bud stood firm, unbothered by the life-absorbing leaf’s draw.

Hui’s eyes widened. He quickly looked to the half-alive branch.

Like the flower, the dead half of the branch stood steadily, unaffected by the leaf.

With a flick of his fingers, Hui sent the husk of the bud to encase the absorbing leaf. It swallowed it up on three sides, all but completely eclipsing it. He turned his hand, turning the dead half of the branch toward the leaf. Unable to absorb past the bud or the dead branch, the leaf’s absorption slowed, dying almost to nothing.

Hui breathed a sigh of relief. Phew. I should be safe now.

But, uh… how do I make this into a pill?

He regarded the encased core, his arms crossed, frowning slightly. I can’t exactly melt down the other two pills without risking my poor clone life. I can try mutating or altering the life-absorbing leaf, but with what? Just heat and brewing time… It’s already absorbed the life elements from the other two ingredients. Is that what it’s meant to do? Or am I trying to fix something that’s already past fixing?

Putting a hand on his chin, he thought for a moment, then shrugged. That’s what this whole situation is all about! This is all fake. Just thought-clones and thought copies. Now that I know how to handle the life-absorbing leaf, let’s try again, adding the life elements of the other two herbs in after I encase the leaf. If that’s a no-go, I can always recreate this later.

He waved his hand. The ingredients left his dantian and separated into their original forms once more. This time, he separated the life elements of the herbs out first, using the dead parts of them to surround the life-absorbing leaf before he sent it into his dantian.

Again, he applied heat. The leaf began searching for anything to absorb, but the two pieces of the other herbs enclosed it fully enough that it failed to harm Hui. He considered the life-absorbing leaf for a few moments, then glanced at the life parts of the other herbs. If I add them now, there won’t be much difference to adding them at the start and allowing the life-absorbing leaf to wildly absorb them. I think… I think the right move here is to wait. I’ll wait, and see if enough heat, pressure, and time can transform this life-absorbing leaf into something a little more useful for pill cultivation.

If not, then I’ll toss it away and try again. Still, I might as well give it a little time to see what happens, rather than rejecting it out of hand.

The life-absorbing pill absorbed as desperately as it could, but the tiny motes of life qi that got past its enclosure did little to sate its desires. The suction grew more and more intense. The bud crinkled, collapsing around it, and the stick snapped and flipped over, completely blocking its exit. A black-coated pill floated in Hui’s dantian, completely inert.

Hui put a hand on his chin. Hmm. Fundamentally, nothing has changed, except that the life-absorbing leaf is wrapped better now. If it was like a cup with a spoon on top before, where it can’t escape except in one direction, it’s now been cling-wrapped. He tilted his head, peering closer at it. In fact, if I look at those two sticks, it’s almost like a pair of doors. Maybe… it’s less cling-wrapped, and more ziplocked?

If those two sticks can open, am I meant to put the life-parts of the herbs inside? But what would that accomplish that hasn’t already been accomplished? Wouldn’t it be the same result as before? Hui squinted at the pill for a moment, then shrugged. Life is all about experiences, and I have infinite pill ingredients right now. Let’s find out!

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

He flicked his forefinger and thumb apart, and the two sticks slid aside, opening the bud’s wrapper. A brilliant white light burst out from inside, the life-absorbing leaf no longer black and dead, but as cold and bright as the moon. Hui blinked, startled.

Eh? Did it transform from being wrapped by the bud and stick completely? Well… wait, that actually makes sense. Before, it could always absorb a little. Once it had nothing left to absorb… did it give up absorbing, or did it absorb itself?

I’m going to go with the second! It absorbed itself, creating a harmonious cycle of life qi within the bud… or something. In any case, it looks like it’s safe to add the life-elemental pieces of the other herbs! Swishing his sleeve, Hui sent the white flower and the alive part of the branch into the bud-wrapped pill.

The second they entered, the dead part of the stick slammed shut again, closing them inside. Hui watched from the outside, maintaining a steady level of heat and pressure. Adding more life qi to a harmonious cycle… it’s possible it could upset the cycle, but it’s more likely to simply make it greater in magnitude. A more powerful cycle, creating more powerful life qi… this pill is almost certainly a healing pill, no? I can’t think of what else you would need strong life qi for. Ah, it’s true that you can attack with life qi, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone but myself do it. Life qi has such a virtuous foundation that no one would think to attack with it, unless they’re the filthy creation of the modern world, like myself. It’s like asking someone to take some bandages and use them. Unless they’re an assassin, used to strangling people, who would think to try to kill with the bandages?

The bud expanded, suddenly. From a tiny black pill about the size of his thumbnail, it expanded to the size of a baby’s fist. Hui jerked back, instinctively starting to flee. It’s about to explode!

Wait, no. I’m not sensing any strange qi fluctuations. This seems to be part of the process. Is some other transformation happening within the bud? Hui reached for his divine sense, then paused. No… I shouldn’t. The absorption powers of the life-absorbing leaf may still be active, for all I know. I don’t want the pill to absorb some of my divine sense now, at the eleventh hour, and mutate into something useless. I’ll—I’ll just wait! Be patient! I can do that. Yes, for sure!

As Hui watched, the large pill spun around, then slowly sunk to the bottom of his dantian. There, it began to grow cold, and emanations of death came from it. Startled, Hui made the phoenix fire stronger, but it did nothing to help the pill. It grew colder and colder, and the sensation of death grew stronger.

It’s failing? Why? What did I do wrong?

Oh! Maybe I’m supposed to burn it with the phoenix flames—

Wait, no, that makes no sense. Who would expect someone to bring a rare and high-realm fire to the pill’s inheritance puzzle in order to solve it? That’s a ridiculous requirement.

Cold, cold, the longer I sit here, the colder it gets! There has to be something. I got this far, I can’t fail now.

He cast around him. Floating in the air beside him, the previous data pill he’d created floated in the air, emanating a fierce yang heat.

Hui’s eyes widened. Obviously! With a gesture, he threw the yang pill into his dantian. The yang pill eagerly swam down to the cooling life pill. When it got close enough, the life pill opened up and swallowed it whole.

Hui nodded. That seems to have been the right thing to do. Good, good. I’m going to completely pretend I didn’t notice how strange that whole situation was. Yang getting swallowed by a lump of life to become something greater… aaaaanyways, yes, I’m ignoring that. Come on, pill! I did it. I solved the puzzle. So show me. What are your secrets?

As the two merged together, powerful fluctuations burst from his dantian. The fluctuations escaped the data realm and flew forth into the real world. Around Hui’s physical body, the cases holding the herbs trembled in time with the beat of the fluctuations. Hui looked around. What did you do, Mortal?

I—I solved the puzzle!

What puzzle?

What’s going on?

What did Mortal do now?

All around them, the windows and doors slammed shut, barring themselves with heavy metal bars. The entire tower of cases began shaking. One or two of the higher ones fell off its braces and tumbled down toward Hui and Xi Sanji. Startled, Xi Sanji turned to Hui. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know!” Hui replied honestly. He tried to suppress the fluctuations, but they couldn’t be suppressed. Mortal! This is the last time I let you out!

I’m sorry! I thought it might give us some treasure. How was I supposed to know it would do this?

The tower shook harder and harder. More cases tumbled down. If it had been a drizzle before, it was a downpour now. Cases shattered against the floor far below. Hui quickly threw up a barrier, and cases bounced off it left and right. The tower itself showed signs of disintegrating, the support pillars snapping and cracking, throwing off great splinters of wood as they twisted themselves apart.

Overhead, with a squealing creak, the roof began unfolding, opening up not to the dark roof of the Seven Tiers Palace, but to a brilliant blue sky. Hui gritted his teeth. Is it a reward or a trap? Reward or trap?

Ahead of him, Xi Sanji flew toward it. Hui followed at half a pace. When she passed through the sky without harm, he took a deep breath, looked back one last time, and followed her. Argh. I hope Mortal’s right. I hope there’s treasure!