Chapter 380 – Life 104, Age 17, Martial Master 3

After reviewing the list of what I knew and what I still needed to learn, Chan arranged for me to stay in one of the Palace’s workshop suite

After reviewing the list of what I knew and what I still needed to learn, Chan arranged for me to stay in one of the Palace’s workshop suites that was a third of the way up the mountain.

This suite had a small cultivation chamber and bedroom, but most of its space was taken up by a combined alchemy workshop and sitting room. Overall, this place was similar to the workshop that I had used back in Golden Eagle City, with the primary difference being its decor.

The walls of each room were covered in layers of plants—from flowers to vines to mosses–making the room feel like it was a hidden sanctuary deep within a rainforest. As these plants pulled all the energy and nutrients they needed directly from the mountain, they didn’t require any maintenance, but such a distracting environment was still less than ideal for entering the deep state of concentration needed in both alchemy and cultivation.

Seeing my concern, Chan explained. “This is the best workshop I could arrange for you. You have shown the ability to concoct Rank 4 pills, which should entitle you to a Lord-level workshop, but since you are new to the Palace and are only a Martial Master, the quartermaster determined that a Grandmaster-level workshop was sufficient. The environment here is only capable of helping one raise their wood affinity to low seven-star, but once you have made sufficient contributions, you will be able to purchase time in a more suitable environment.”

Nodding, I decided to offer up some information, both to Emperor Chan and to whoever else might be listening in. “I currently have a high three-star wood affinity. What will I need to do to earn time in a place capable of improving it?”

“That… If you wish to spend time in the two-star chamber, then you will need the permission of Sovereign Enkhtuya herself. Since nearly everyone in the mountain, including the elders, wants to spend time there, earning her permission won’t be easy. Still, if you show enough promise, it might be possible.”

“And how am I to display such ‘promise’?”

“Pills.” Chan placed two storage bags onto the room’s small table. “As you know, the most basic alchemical pill is the Rank 1 Qi Gathering Pill. It isn’t used much in the Heroes’ Domain, since Attunement Pills are more effective for weapon cultivators, but there are still those who need it, especially within the Palace. Since concocting such pills with weapon qi will cause the herbs’ medicinal energy to become tainted, most of us are forced to rely on our furnaces’ formations to concoct these pills. With your pill qi, however, this won’t be an issue.”

I nodded in acknowledgement.

“According to the scroll you gave me, you can currently concoct Perfect Three-Pattern Qi Gathering Pills. So, your first goal will be to master Perfect Nine-Pattern pills.” Chan turned extremely serious. “This may not be possible. For me, concocting even a High-Quality Five-Pattern pill is difficult, but this is not something that my higher cultivation base can help with. All that matters is one’s knowledge, experience, and affinities.”

Chan reached into one of the bags that he had placed on the table and withdrew two herbs. “The basic Qi Gathering Pill has three ingredients: blue peony, astragalus root, and schisandra berries. To concoct a four- to six-patterned pill, two additional herbs are needed: codonopsis root and clematis blossoms. These herbs are expensive, and they will not increase a pill’s efficacy, so they are usually ignored. Their only purpose is to provide the additional structure that the medicinal energy needs to survive the transition to a four-patterned pill.”

Chan reached into the other bag and withdrew four additional herbs. “Concocting a seven- to nine-patterned pill requires even more structure, but the general idea is what you’re already used to. First, combine the herbs. Then, reshape the medicinal energy twice and transform it to create a three-patterned pill. Repeat once, and you will have a six-patterned pill. Repeat twice, and you will have a nine-patterned pill.

“Of course, while this may sound simple, with each pattern, you will face increased resistance, and progressing to the next stage will only become harder. Also, even if you can concoct a three-patterned pill with the three basic herbs, you might struggle to concoct even a one-patterned pill when using all nine.”

I looked at the six herbs in Chan’s hands. I was familiar with all of them from other recipes, but I had never even considered adding them to a Qi Gathering Pill. This made me think that I had missed something obvious, but even now, even knowing their purpose, I still didn’t see how these herbs could be useful. “Those herbs don’t… fit. Trying to shove them into a Qi Gathering Pill will only create problems.”

Chan nodded. Then, pulling the basic three ingredients out of yet another storage bag, he walked over to the room’s pill furnace and tossed them in, alongside a codonopsis root and clematis blossom.

As he worked, he explained. “The additional ingredients are only there to provide key structures that the base ingredients lack.”

Chan used the furnace’s formations to pull in fire and burn away over 80% of the two new herbs. Then, he melded what remained to opposite ends of the structure formed by the original herbs. “As you said, the majority of these herbs don’t fit. This is excess that needs to be discarded.”

Once the five herbs were in place, Chan reshaped the energy twice, transformed it once, and then reshaped it one final time, forming a four-patterned pill. After this, he condensed the energy into a pill and placed the pill into a jade bottle.

“To create pills with more patterns, you need to know what structures the medicinal energy lacks and what herbs you can use to replace them. Qi Gathering Pills are common enough that the recipe for the nine-patterned pill is widely known, and with the number of experiments that have been done, this recipe is likely the best combination possible.

“With rarer and more powerful pills, however, recipes are a closely guarded secret. After all, while two alchemists might be able to concoct a High-Quality Four-Pattern Rank 4 Flowing Thoughts Pill, both their success rates and the cost of their ingredients could vary wildly based on their recipes.”

Thinking through Chan’s demonstration, I couldn’t help but voice a thought. “The Rank 1 Qi Gathering Pill is relatively simple. It only requires wood-based herbs, so affinities won’t be too much of a problem. Rank 3 Moon Spade Attunement Pills, however, use moon spade-, wood-, and metal-based herbs. From what I saw, I’m guessing that one would need at least a four-star affinity with each of these elements to make a nine-patterned pill. How many alchemists would be capable of such a feat?”

Chan nodded. “Four-star at a minimum. Making something like that usually requires several alchemists working in concert. You would likely need a different alchemist for each element, each with a three-star affinity. This would be incredibly difficult to pull off, but it would allow you to create a pill suitable for a Peak Sovereign, using nothing but cheap Rank 3 herbs.”

Silently, I bobbed my head as I considered the implications.

“Anyway,” said Chan, breaking me from my thoughts. “Even if you are not successful, studying how to concoct nine-patterned Rank 1 pills will lay a foundation that you can build upon at higher levels. So, until you reach Peak Master, this is likely the best use of your time.”

After a moment of hesitation, Chan reached into his storage bag and withdrew a tattered book. “This contains all the recipes I know for high-patterned pills. Most are secrets of my clan, so please, be careful with them.”

Accepting this book, I studied its cover carefully, then placed it into my storage bag. “Thank you.”

I considered handing it right back to the man, but if someone were spying on us, I didn’t want to give them any more information about my abilities than necessary.

---------------------------------------------------

After Chan left, I settled in for a long stint of experimentation.

What I had seen when Chan had concocted that four-patterned pill was interesting. Even after he had burned away all the ‘excess,’ the medicinal energy of the two new herbs was still wrong. Their structures had superficial similarities to a Qi Gathering Pill, but there were subtle differences that would cause serious flaws in the final product.

However, as Chan had reshaped and transformed this energy, he was able to remove these flaws—mostly, at least.

This showed me the challenge I was facing. To concoct a nine-patterned pill, I needed to figure out the proper shape for the medicinal energy, I needed herbs that could roughly fit this shape, and then, I needed to trim and reform these herbs to fit the pattern of a Qi Gathering Pill perfectly.

This would be challenging, but there was, potentially, another solution. I had been using a spirit fire to fill in gaps left behind by toxic energy. I might be able to use this same trick to form the necessary structures needed to concoct high-patterned pills.

I didn’t want anyone in the Palace to know about my fire seed, so this wasn’t a trick that I could use here, but it was an option worth pursuing in the future.

Of more immediate importance was the reverse of this idea. Instead of using spirit fires to replace additional herbs, I could use additional herbs to replace spirit fires. Instead of using a spirit fire to concoct Perfect pills, I could fill in the gaps left behind by the removal of toxins with energy from donor herbs. This would likely only work on high-patterned pills, but the idea should be viable.

Still, while concocting a Perfect Nine-Pattern Rank 1 Qi Gathering Pill without the use of a spirit fire was a solid long-term goal, I needed to start with something simpler. My first step would be a High-Purity Six-Pattern pill.

Imitating Chan’s example, I roughly cleansed a set of five herbs and melded them together like he had shown me. Then, I reshaped the energy to form the first pattern.

This was far rougher than usual, as I had to constantly use my wood affinity to massage the energies of the two new herbs to keep them from exploding. But, this skill wasn’t entirely new to me. It was almost exactly the same as when I had repaired low-quality herbs back on the Nine Rivers Continent. In fact, it was much easier than that. Here, all the energy was in place—I just needed to shift it around a bit.

After a release of energy signaled that the first pattern was complete, the two new herbs bucked wildly, wanting to explode. With my three-star affinity locking them in place, however, this was impossible.

When I transformed the structure of the medicinal energy to bring it up to a three-patterned pill, the two new herbs acted up once again. But after that, the energies of all five herbs were perfectly integrated into a united whole, and pulling it together to form a fourth pattern was a breeze.

When trying to create the fifth pattern, however, I stumbled. The built-up energy from the four existing patterns created a repulsive force that rejected any further attempts at improving the pill.

This made it clear why Chan had stopped at four patterns—he wasn’t confident in his ability to create the fifth.

While I could have tried to use my wood affinity to brute force the problem, this seemed like the wrong approach. So, I focused closely on the pill and studied it in energy vision.

With so much rampant energy fighting flying through the medicinal energy’s structure, I had a hard time seeing anything, so I allowed most of it to dissipate.

When I did, the underlying issue was immediately apparent: the medicinal energy’s ‘script’ was flawed. The pill’s structure was like a talisman that was covered in stray marks, interrupting the flow of energy.

These flaws might have been introduced when I had created the fourth pattern, but that didn’t feel right. Instead, I suspected that they had existed from the very beginning. They just hadn’t been noticeable.

After a couple of attempts at fixing this, I eventually had to admit that it was too late. The stray marks were already firmly embedded in the pill’s structure. So, since most of the pill’s energy had already dissipated, I vented the pill furnace and allowed the rest to do so as well. Then, I took out another set of ingredients and placed them into the furnace.

I had a lot of work ahead of me, and as Emperor Chan had said, concocting a Perfect Nine-Pattern Rank 1 Qi Gathering Pill was my first goal, not my last.