Chapter 368 – Life 93, Age 16, Martial Disciple 1

My first couple of weeks in the Hall of the Herb King were not too different from my early days in Golden Eagle City. I kept my head down and did dirty jobs such as cleaning out pill furnaces and disposing of alchemical dregs. This work wasn’t exactly satisfying, but since I could dispose of most things by just dumping them into the fires of my inner world, it was simple enough, and it gave me an easy way to get situated in my new environment.

Half a month into this routine, I was sent to my first lesson. Unlike in Golden Eagle, however, this one had nothing to do with alchemy.

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

The wide blade of a wooden shovel stabbed toward my skull, and I was barely able to step out of the way in time to avoid a nasty headache.

This missed strike left my attacker vulnerable, but caught on my back foot, I had no way of putting enough force into my crescent moon spade to take advantage of his opening. So, I shoved with the blunt, open crescent of my staff to force my opponent away, giving me the time I needed to retake the initiative.

My opponent was far faster than a normal person, and I had yet to regrow much muscle since my return to the start of the loop, so I was at a severe disadvantage. However, what I lacked in physical prowess I more than made up for in terms of sheer skill. I might have never focused too much on martial combat, but with hundreds of years of experience behind me, I was more than capable of taking down a teenager.

I charged forward, and my opponent thrust forward with the spade end of his staff, using the full strength and speed of his cultivation base.

This blow could have been deadly, but my opponent didn’t yet have control over his strength, so his attack veered off to the side.

Taking advantage of this, I slammed the crescent of my staff into his right hand, causing him to lose his grip on his weapon. Then, I whipped my staff around and slammed the flat of its shovel into the side of his head. 

This… didn’t do as much as I might have hoped.

My opponent simply tanked the blow, grabbed my staff with his left hand, and wrenched it away from me. Then, with his face covered in a mask of rage, he swung it around to end my life.

“HALT!”

When my opponent didn’t immediately stop, our instructor sent out a burst of qi, freezing him in place.

“Disciple GwaaiNau, you lost. If Disciple Fang had been holding a real weapon instead of a wooden one, and if he had used the edge of the blade instead of its side, then you would be dead. Do not dishonor yourself by striking a blow after the match has already ended.”

GwaaiNau gave me a ferocious scowl but dropped his head in contrition. “Yes, Teacher.” He turned to face me. “I apologize for my behavior.”

I nodded in acceptance but didn’t say anything.

GwaaiNau looked like he wanted to challenge me to a rematch, but our teacher pulled me away before he could. “Disciple Fang, let us speak in private.”

While my classmates continued their practice in the expansive courtyard, I followed our teacher into a small, spartan sitting room.

When we were alone, she didn’t immediately say anything. She spent several long minutes carefully studying me in qi vision. Then, she let out a sad, weary sigh. “Su Fang, you have yet to start cultivating, but you were still able to defeat a Peak Disciple who has been studying in my dojo for over three years. How much time have you spent practicing with the crescent moon spade?”

“I’m… not exactly sure anymore.”

My teacher shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, if you had any talent for the moon spade, then this practice should have already granted you the proper affinity. While you have to wait until you awaken to test your affinities, they begin developing while you are still a child. The fact that one hasn’t yet manifested means that you are not suited for this weapon. You should consider changing your focus.”

I dipped my head and cupped my fist to her. “Thank you for your concern, teacher, but I do not believe this will be an issue. I believe my blessing has boosted my talent to an appropriate level. As long as I am in an environment where I can convert this talent into an affinity, I should be fine.”

She studied me carefully before nodding. “Alright, then spend time each day practicing the drills I taught you. If you can earn an affinity by this time next month, then I’ll allow you to remain in my class. If you don’t, then I must ask you to choose a different specialization.”

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

After the martial arts lesson ended, I returned to my routine of cleaning out pill furnaces, but following my teacher’s instructions, I sprinkled in at least two hours of practice with my spade each day.

Raising my alchemy affinity had been as easy as breathing. By concocting pills that were far more powerful than they had any right to be, I was able to tear through an entire star in only a couple of days. 

Raising my crescent moon spade affinity was different. I couldn’t be sure how I was supposed to raise this affinity in an efficient manner. Maybe I needed to defeat strong opponents. Maybe I needed to demonstrate preternatural skill with my weapon. Whatever it was, training alone on the roof of my apartment building wasn’t it.

Still, this was what I had been told to do, so, at least for this life, this was what I would do.

Aside from cleaning and weapons practice, my days were rather boring. I wanted to cultivate so that I could learn more about pill fire qi, but I couldn’t. If I cultivated the Writ of Pill Fire, it would lock my body into only being able to cultivate pill fire qi for the rest of my life, and that would block me from accessing the weapon qi that this Hall prized beyond all else. While I might eventually decide to do this anyway, I wanted to give myself a chance to see what this place had to offer first.

So, I practiced with my spade, and, eventually, the end of the month arrived. It was time for my second lesson, but this one wasn’t about martial arts.

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

Our instructor held up three herbs that I had never seen before in any of my lives.

“White-striped licorice root, needle-leafed lily, and yellow-veined monkshood. These three herbs form the most important and valuable pill for any saber cultivator: the Saber Attunement Pill. As I am sure most of you have figured out, cultivating without the proper Attunement Pill is nearly impossible.”

After heating the furnace on his workbench, the instructor placed all three herbs inside it at once. Then, he tapped one of the formations on the side of the furnace.

Suddenly, a two-meter-tall illusion appeared at the front of the classroom, showing us a 3-dimensional view of everything that was happening inside the furnace.

“Concocting a basic Rank 1 attunement pill is rather straightforward. First…” 

As I watched, the instructor gave us a straightforward explanation for how to concoct an ordinary pill. While the herbs he used contained some type of rare saber-based medicinal energy, making this pill didn’t require any new or special processes. At least, that’s what I thought while watching him. The instructor’s final warning, however, disabused me of this notion.

“When concocting a Saber Attunement Pill, you must only use saber qi. Touching the herbs with any other form of qi will disrupt the structure of the medicinal energy. In the best case, this will result in a worthless pill. In the worst case, it will create a poison that turns a person’s saber energy against them.”

After condensing the energy into a pill, our instructor took it out and raised it high enough for everyone to see. “This is your goal: a High-Purity Rank 1 Attunement Pill. On your workbenches, you will find the appropriate herbs for your specific weapon type. Follow my instructions and concoct the best pill that you are capable of concocting. If you have not yet started cultivating, or if you do not yet have the confidence to attempt concocting a pill, then save these herbs for later and spend this time observing your classmates.” 

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

After the lesson was over, I returned to my apartment and sat down for a long think. There was a lot I needed to consider, and I needed to make some decisions.

If this Hall—this entire domain—was as focused on weapon affinities as it appeared, and if using any type of qi other than the appropriate weapon qi would ruin a pill, then cultivating pill fire qi was out of the question. Doing so would permanently block me from being able to concoct the pill that cultivators in this domain valued most.

That said, while I did place a certain level of trust in the Hall’s instructors, history had already shown me that believing everything they said would be a mistake. I didn’t think they were lying to me. I just didn’t think they knew as much as they thought they did.

Before making any decisions, I needed more information. 

The instructor had been kind enough to provide me with a set of the three herbs used to concoct a Moon Spade Attunement Pill. So, knowing the herbs I needed, I ran outside, found a small-time merchant that had a number of subpar herbs for sale, and bought several additional sets. Then, I returned to my apartment to perform a few experiments.

First, I cultivated a Peak-Yellow fire technique and quickly broke through to Martial Disciple 2. Then, using my newly purchased herbs, I concocted my first weapon-based pill using fire qi.

Mid-Purity Rank 1 Moon Spade Attunement Pill (Tainted), 52% Medicinal Efficacy. Value: 89 silver.

‘Tainted.’ Likely, this was what the instructor had been warning about.

Undeterred, I extracted a strand of a Yellow-Rank fire-based spirit fire and infused it into my body. Then, touching the herbs’ medicinal energy with nothing but this spirit fire, I concocted a second pill.

Mid-Purity Rank 1 Moon Spade Attunement Pill (Tainted)

Again, ‘Tainted.’ I tried with a lightning-based spirit fire.

Moon Spade Attunement Pill (Tainted)

Then, with a Profound-Rank earth-based spirit fire. Then, with the spirit fire from the Earth-Rank Eternal Grove Fire.

Attunement Pill (Tainted)

Finally, I made a pill with the space-based Expanding Realms Fire.

Mid-Purity Rank 1 Moon Spade Attunement Pill (Corrupted)

‘Corrupted.’ It was different, but it wasn’t necessarily any better.

Several more tests were enough to convince me that our instructor was most likely correct. Using any type of energy—whether qi or spirit fire—that wasn’t of the proper weapon type would taint the final pill. However, while I had tried every element available to me, there was one type of qi that I still needed to test.

After abolishing my cultivation base, I took out a basic Peak-Yellow cultivation technique and replaced its fire qi filters with the pill qi filters from the Writ of Pill Fire. Because the writ’s filters were exceedingly complex, and since I was being a bit slapdash by this point, I only managed to create a High-Yellow technique, but that was good enough to do what I needed to do.

Pill qi was exceedingly scarce in the local environment, but with the help of a formation, I was able to break through to Martial Disciple 2 in no time at all. Once this was done, I focused on my furnace and created yet another pill. This time, using nothing but pill qi.

Mid-Purity Rank 1 Moon Spade Attunement Pill, 64% Medicinal Efficacy. Value: 1 gold 40 silver.

A grin spread across my face.

Pill qi was the energy of alchemy. Even though weapon qi was temperamental, how could a pill concocted with nothing but pill qi be considered tainted? This wouldn’t just allow me to concoct Moon Spade pills. With pill qi, I should be able to concoct pills for every type of weapon.

However… would pill fire qi work the same way? Would blending fire qi into my pill qi cause it to lose this special property? I couldn’t be sure, but it seemed likely. Worse, I couldn’t test this since attempting to cultivate pill fire qi would prevent me from cultivating anything else.

I had to believe that the Writ of Pill Fire was special, and I suspected that it had played a major role in my being able to concoct that pill during that end-of-year competition. But while I needed to spend more time experimenting with pill fire qi, there was no need to rush. Spending some time playing around with basic pill qi first would better prepare me for working with its derivative forms.

This felt like the right direction to take this life, but cultivating pure pill qi wouldn’t solve all my issues. I doubted that this Hall would accept a pure pill qi cultivator. So, before committing to anything, I first needed to learn more about cultivating weapon qi.