105 — Drug Test

Smoke swirled around my hands, ebbing and cresting with the rhythm of my breath. I let Chi flow through my hands, out into the little burning cauldron in front of it, the energy gathering in a tight knot. Fire flickered below the cauldron in the chamber filled with herbs of all sorts and varieties. A large number of them from the herb gardens Granny Lang had helped form near the perimeter of the village, where my house was.

“Focus, you dimwit. The heat is dimming,” Granny Lang spat, rapping her smoking pipe on my head.

I put the image of the old and crooked woman having to stand on her tiptoes to do the action away from my mind.

It’d been three days since I’d arrived at Taizhou, and Granny Lang’s alchemy chamber was now my temporary work place until my own lab was completed when Granny Lang had called me to her chamber and showed me a book. A book from the medicinal and alchemical halls of the emperor, where she once used to work decades before. She’d managed to copy a lot of its contents over the years, and the collection of her efforts were now presented in my hands. It hadn’t taken me long before I began to tear through the book, one pill at a time.

The flame brightened below the cauldron, as I focused on the cauldron once more. The air hissed around me, mixed with the tang of rancid chemicals. The herbs sputtered and spat inside the cauldron, the essence inside of them being distilled into vapors that rose through the little holes cut into the cauldron, to allow the smoke to escape only when at the right pressure.

With a trailing whistle, the smoke rose, glistening in the light from the essence it contained. I guided the smoke, letting it flow into a swirling cloud as I directed it into a different porcelain bowl. Ice-herbs covered the bottom of this one, condensing the smoke into little droplets that merged with the powdered Qi crystals inside.

The smoke floated around the bowl as I put a lid on top, and waited. Sweat covered my face as the seconds ticked by, one by one. When I knew it had been three minutes, I lifted the lid, and stared at my creation.

Little glass like pearls sat in the bowl, shining like marbles. I turned to Granny Lang in excitement and saw the old woman’s eyes stuck on the beads.

Sensing my gaze, the old woman took her eyes off the pills, before a crooked smile covered her lips. “Well, it took you a while, but you did it my boy. You made some pearls of celestial-dew.”

I scoffed at the name. “It’s just some really pure Qi gathering pill.”

“So what you dimwit,” the old woman barked, hitting my elbow with her pipe. “You think anyone can make these? The recipe is guarded more heavily than your entire sect at the halls. It’s a pill taken by the emperor himself!”

I glanced down at the bowl of crystal glass beads, unable to imagine something so simple being so guarded.

“We just… sublimated the essence into smoke, and then recondensed it into crystals using Qi crystals as catalysts. If there was any alchemy chemistry around, I bet this would count as basic chemistry.”

“Bah, again with your big meaningless words,” the old woman spat, taking a long inhale from her pipe.

“Take these with the lord you’ve got, and see what reaction that gets you. If you can make more of these pearls then Silver Fang is gonna come and kiss your feet, begging you to take over his trade. Or send an assassin to slit your throat and steal the recipe. Probably the latter,” the old granny said with a shrug.

“Well, isn’t that reassuring,” I said, leaning over the counter as I picked one of the shining beady pearls up. Light curved around the little bead of almost entirely Qi. It felt like lifting a pocket of air bubbles, but it clearly had mass to it.

“Is there any way to check how pure this is?” I asked, eyeing Granny Lang as she picked at the beads, squinting.

“You can tell by how clear the pill is, boy. This one’s only got a light rim around the corners, about as pure as you will get it,” Granny Lang replied.

“But, is there no way to accurately determine its purity? Like, how much Qi is in there, and how much of it is, you know, other things.”

The granny frowned at my words, setting the pill down. “Well, if there is, I don’t know of it boy. Maybe you can figure it out.”

I sighed, though I knew I’d enjoy the discovery process. My gaze spread across the boiling cauldron and the scattering of herbs spread all around me, and I felt a soothing comfort wash over me. With the tournament and everything I’d forgotten the simple joy I used to get in theorizing about all of this.

I walked over to the old Granny’s notebook, set near the cauldron, as I read the description of the pill.

Celestial Dew : Tears of the heavens, these pearls are pure Qi and essence put in physical shape. The consumption of the celestial-dew provides a great increase in the Qi flowing through one’s pathways and increases their vitality and health.

If used on a mortal, it can push their dantians to the foundation realm, making them into a cultivator. Albeit a poor one.

My knuckles tightened, as I read through the last sentence. This was the lie that the halls tried to hide. The fact that you had to be born a cultivator. That the Heavens determined the paths you would take, and your destiny in life, when just a single pill like this could do the job.

I heard the old granny sigh. “There’s a reason for it, child. A mortal can become a cultivator, yes. But he or she will not go very far. A weak foundation that could not form of its own merit will never achieve what a born cultivator can. To spend so much on these people would mean to weaken the empire against the threat that lurks beneath the earth. We don’t have to love it, but it keeps our empire standing.”

I nodded, not agreeing with her, but not willing to argue over my points either. Closing the book, I carefully wrapped it up and set it back into the hidden chamber inside one of the granny’s cupboards.

Walking back to the celestial-dew pills, I picked up a handful and put them in a pouch, hanging it at my waist.

“Well, I’ve got two patients to cure,” I told the old granny, who nodded at me from her seat, waving me out.

Turning away, I walked out of the chamber, and began to make my way towards Labby and Zhang.

***

To my surprise, Labby was the first one I found. She was sleeping on the grass with a girl and a boy next to her. Liao Mei and Xu Chao. Both kids of the people I’d saved from the Qi vein.

I smiled watching Labby breathing easily as she slept, flowers and grass adorning her little head. There had been no one for her to play with besides me, Twilight and Sheldon in the sect, and seeing her playing with kids that were close to her age, at least in maturity, made me feel a strange warmth in my chest. As if at last, I was finally able to provide her what I should’ve been able to from the start.

“Labby,” I whispered, moving closer to the girl. “Hey, my little lightning girl. Get up.”

Labby stirred awake at my voice, opening her blurry eyes to look at me. “Master,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes as she got up.

“Yup. We need to get you fixed up, come on,” I said, patting Labby on her head. I could already sense her dantian’s crack starting to mend. I’d had Granny Lang check her after we’d arrived, and she’d given an all clear, with full recovery taking just a week or two.

Labby slowly pulled up from the grass, sleep still lingering in her eyes. The two children next to her also rustled awake from their slumber, rising. The boy’s woke up first, his eyes widening when he saw my face.

I flashed a smile at the boy, waving at him.

“I need to go with Master,” Labby told the boy, grabbing onto my sleeve.

“Oh, okay… see you La Bi!” The boy shouted, waving cheerfully. Labby waved back happily, before walking up to my side.

“Friends?” I asked, looking at the girl from the corner of my eye.

“Mhm,” Labby replied, yawning. I pet her little head, plucking stands of grass off of it. “It is a wonder how you can simply take the form of your desire in this world,” I said, taking Labby’s hand.

“Mhm,” Labby said once more. The girl turned to look up at me, and smiled at me with a bright smile that made my heart warm.

Never again. I’ll never let her get hurt again.

I walked around with Labby in tow for a few minutes, before I heard loud shouts and striking noises coming from nearby. Letting my eyes sweep in the general, I saw Zhang with a long wooden stick, as he swung it on a dummy target wrapped around a tree.

“Hah! Hah! Haah!”

“Hey!” I called out, waving my hand. “It’s time.”

The boy nodded at me, wiping the sweat dripping down his forehead. I gave Zhang a moment, as he changed out of his clothes, sorting his gear, before he followed me out into the clearing.

“Training your swordsmanship huh?” I asked.

“Yes. Can’t let myself get rusty. Even if I’m not physically what I used to be, I still want to keep my skills sharp,” Zhang replied.

“I can understand that,” I said, glancing at Zhang. I was tempted to tell him that, perhaps he would fix his core today, after I was done. Perhaps this would be the time. But I didn’t have the heart to do so, not when I was unsure myself.

Walking together, I reached my home, where Sheldon, Twilight, Silverlight and Nyan were all playing. Little streams of water carried Sheldon as he zipped around, being chased and pawed playfully at Nyan.

Two little flower buds sat on him, chittering and chiming happily, as grass threaded through the floor mats and formed a carpet on the ground.

I stepped through, feeling the little flows of Qi from the spirit herbs growing inside, a smile on my face.

“Settle down guys!” I shouted to my spirits, and the one cat. The little buggers stopped in their tracks, before rushing towards me with a jumble of chirps, and chimes.

“I’ve got work to do,” I said, pointing towards Labby and Zhang. The spirits all settled down at my words, and I took the opportunity to grab Sheldon.

“I need you bud,” I said, as I guided Labby and Zhang further inside. Twilight and Silverlight followed me atop Nyan’s back.

Two little seats were put inside the chamber I took Labby and Zhang to, with a little spirit herb planted at the centre. I beckong the two to sit forward, before I took a seat opposite of them.

Extending my hands, I waited for the two of them to place theirs in mine.

“I’ll begin with Labby,” I said, receiving a nod from the two of them.

Carefully taking out the celestial-dew, I put it in Labby’s mouth. Reaching in my soul, I reached out for the tree growing inside, and let it’s roots spread.

Sheldon chirped, his voice somewhere far in the distance, as my spirit began to drift, flowing into Labby’s.

The world around me lost sensation, as I entered Labby’s broken dantian.