Cao Yun finally arrived before the alchemy pavilion. It hadn't changed at all, the place was still deserted. It would probably beco more lively later in the year. Currently, everybody was busy trying to recruit for their faction after all.
Cao Yun went to the reception desk. Behind the counter was a young woman different from last ti.
"Excuse , Senior?"
She raised her head and just looked at his emblem before lowering it again. Her tone suddenly changed.
"Sorry, I don't have much ti."
Was it because he was a first-year or because he was unaffiliated with a faction? Cao Yun looked her over and saw that she was a second-year and a mber of the Dragon's Fire Faction.
"I should have an instructor appointed to . I'm..."
"Sorry, no instructor gets appointed for a first-year. Soone pulled your leg. Get going."
"Senior, please, I insist, my na is..."
"I told you already!" She got up a little pissed. "Get! Going!"
"Is this because I'm not in your faction?"
"You dare put my professionalism into question?!"
As she was getting worked up, Zhong Ling saw the scene from afar. As soon as she saw the boy's face, she rushed toward the counter. "Junior Sister! Stop!"
"Huh?!" The receptionist was stunned when she saw her senior running like crazy. Zhong Ling got near her and whispered in her ear.
"He is Chen Guo. Elder Xiao has personally appointed an instructor for him. I don't know what's going on, but please don't offend him."
As a matter of fact Cao Yun had a hearing good enough to understand almost every word. And even without that, the gloomy face of the woman was telling enough.
"Oh?! Brother Chen?! You should have told so from the beginning!"
Was she serious?!
"Elder Xiao has appointed Instructor ng Jia to you. I'll go check but he's probably free by now." The woman would now always rember to check soone's na before being rude. If word reached Xiao Xuefeng, her job here was done for. This was an easy job to get a good amount of points, and she even got close to so alchemists. Being one herself, she could form good relationships with alchemists more talented or even instructors or elders.
The Dragon's Fire Faction was always arrogant when it ca to alchemy, so when she saw a first-year who was in no faction, she assud he was no one. She should imdiately have thought of Cao Yun.
I'm an idiot! Damn it!
She had missed an occasion to befriend soone who was valued by the guest elder in charge of her pavilion.
As she kept beating herself up, she arrived before a door with the na 'ng Jia' engraved on. On the door was a sign reading 'Working! Do not disturb!'. She knew enough about Instructor ng Jia to imdiately know it was a lie.
She opened the door to a dim-lit room with lowered curtains. The room was perfectly tidied up. In the bookcases, every book was perfectly aligned, as if no one had ever used them. In a corner of the room was a cauldron which appeared as if it was brand new and never used before.
The woman could not see anyone in this darkness. So the first thing she did was open the curtains. As she did, a moan of discomfort resounded. When she turned toward the noise, she saw an middle-aged man lying under the huge wooden desk.
"Instructor ng, your student is here!" The woman was kind of venting her frustration by making sure that every curtain was open as fast as possible.
"What...?" The man was trying to cover his eyes and rolled further back under the desk.
As a 5th-grade Mortal, the woman easily lifted the desk to move it away.
The man was visibly in pain as he squinted his eyes. "I don't take students."
"Oh? Instructor ng has already forgotten? Elder Xiao assigned you to a first-year."
As soon as she said 'Elder Xiao', the man stood up. "Yeah... that... He's here?"
"He's waiting at the reception. Should I show him in?"
"No, no, I'll take him to a training room. I figure that no one is using one right now." Almost every other word was punctuated by a deep yawn. When he walked out of the room, one of his eyes was still closed.
Cao Yun saw an unkempt middle-aged man with an eye closed who kept exposing all his teeth by yawning. His first thought was "Please, don't let him be Instructor ng!"
Sadly, the man spoke to him and shattered his faint hope. "Kid, I'm ng Jia. Xiao Xuefeng has assigned to you. Follow ."
Cao Yun thought about leaving for an instant but he had nowhere else to go today and he trusted Xiao Xuefeng. She wouldn't have assigned an incompetent instructor after trying to convince him to practice alchemy. He would not judge him on his appearance.
"So, you're going or I'm going back to sleep?"
He wasn't even pretending to have been working anymore...
"I'm going, I'm going." Cao Yun exchanged a strange look with Zhong Ling and the other woman who ca back. He then followed this weird instructor into a training room.
-
When entering the room, the first thing instructor ng did was lower the curtains. Then, he sat in a chair, put his feet on the table and closed his eyes.
"Elder Xiao told that you're a total novice but that your mind is impressive. So first, let ask you. What alchemy book did you read?"
"Only 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic', Instructor."
Stolen novel; please report.
"Oh, no need to call instructor when we're alone." He started to yawn less and less but kept his eyes closed. "'Four Seasons Cycle Classic' is the very basics, but it's essential to go on. Did you morize it entirely?"
"Yes, I could quote it without problem."
"Really? Tell the fifty-seventh line of the hundred and sixteenth page."
To answer such a specific question, Cao Yun had to look in his mory and even circulated his Yi to be sure. "in the 'Bamboo and Spring Canon', it is said that Evergrowing Sinuous Algae are a mix of Pure Yin Water and Pure Yang Wood, but such a fact is contradictory to..."
"Fine. You do rember the book. Good. How many pills did you forge and what were the results?"
"Only one pill, the Frozen Heart Pill, and..."
"I know, it's the pill you forged with Elder Xiao. So no other pill at all?"
"None."
"Of course, you should rember the Five Golden Elixir Principles. What principle seems the most important to you right now as a novice?"
"I'm not too sure, but I would probably say Fla Control."
"Oh?! Why is that?"
"Cauldron Maintenance and Ingredients Preservation at the beginner's level are just about following the rules without thinking. I'm not knowledgeable enough to prepare the ingredients any other way than the textbook way. And my pills won't cause too much trouble for my cauldron, if I even have a personal cauldron at this stage.
On the other hand Yin-Yang Balance and Five Elents Wheel are very complicated and I should just follow the recipe for now. Then there is only Fla Control. Even if I know what to do, if I can't control my fla to behave as it should, I won't achieve anything."
"Your analysis is almost perfect. Did you train your Fla Control yet?"
"No. I just know the basic techniques from the 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. But I did not have any ti to try them as of now."
"Well, the best technique to really train soone is the 'Poison the Dragon to Nurture it' but you already need to have a small experience to use it. For now, I'll create a very basic fla and you'll alter it exactly as I say.
You'll find all the powders and tools you need in the cupboards, set it up."
After this discussion, Cao Yun was a bit more convinced by this eccentric instructor. He went through several cupboards to get every thing he would need, and set it up on the table where the instructor still let his feet rest.
"Good, but you won't need the Sweet Red Cypress Bark powder, put it back." ng Jia still didn't open his eyes, he only used his nose to differentiate the ingredients.
In the center of the table Cao Yun had installed a furnace with no cauldron.
As soon as everything was ready, a small light left the fingers of ng Jia and the fire started. It was a small red fire.
"I'll first give you instructions as to which powder to use and how to control the fla. Follow everything to the letter."
"Let's begin!"
"Two fen of Weeping Eucalyptus."
"Five fen of Deep Sea Breathing Kelp."
...
By circulating Yi and Zhi, Cao Yun had no problem whatsoever to follow every instruction to the letter.
"Very good. Now you'll tell every step we took, what happened to the fire and even give an analysis as to why I asked you to do it, if you can.
Start by the very beginning."
This ti, Cao Yun tried to rember precisely what had happened. Rembering the orders was not a problem, he could also rember what they were supposed to do according to 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. But to analyze what had happened he had to rely on the actual sensations of the fla.
"First, the Weeping Eucalyptus. It's a Pure Yin ingredient associated mainly with the Wood elent. Wood feeds Fire where Pure Yin appeases it. When I put it in, the fire dimd down a little before increasing by around 15%. The fire had gained a bit of Yin attribute but its temperature was higher. It could be used to lt a Yin ingredient without damaging the Yin too much.
Then, the Deep Sea Breathing Kelp is a Small Yin ingredient, mainly associated with Water and Earth, with Earth being dominant. When I put it in, the fla erupted a little and then almost died down. I imagine that when the Earth attribute that had already interacted with the Water was suddenly put in contact with the Wood attribute still remaining with the fla, they reacted. Wood can weaken Earth, this interaction allowed the fire to feed on Wood even more, but then the Water elent ca in as it was no longer contained by Earth and almost killed the fla. It could be used to finalize a lting with a huge fla for only an instant."
...
Cao Yun tried to be as precise as possible and gave his opinions without fearing to be wrong.
"Good. You're mostly right in your analysis. It's still pretty shallow, but very impressive for a beginner. Elder Xiao sure has the eye for talents."
"Let's do sothing different." He extinguished the fla and created another one. "I'll tell you what properties and temperature I want for the fla and you'll try to co up with the right move, then explain your thought process.
First, make the fla twice as big and as Yang as possible with Water attribute in it."
Cao Yun looked through all the powders on the table and tried to recall specific parts of the 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'. After at least a minute, he took a yellow powder and sent it in the fire. All of a sudden, the fla erupted and beca twice as big.
"I used seven fen of Drying Copper Mustard powder. As the na suggests it has a strong elent of tal, but also a bit of Water. It's also Pure Yang. tal can promote Water. As soon as the powder gets into the fla, the fire lts the tal elent and then the balance between tal and Water is broken and as it lts, it promotes Water within the fla. It even protects Water during the process."
"Perfect! Then, I want the fla to stay the sa size but to beco a bit Yin with as much Earth elent as possible without losing the Water."
...
So answers took him almost ten minutes, but Cao Yun was able to give satisfactory ones to every question.
"You don't seem tired at all, are you?"
"Only a little, nothing much." In reality, with Zhi his will was so energized that he almost felt no fatigue at all.
"Your mind is indeed impressive. It can take months for an alchemist to forge such a mind and also an understanding of the fla."
ng Jia finally opened one of his eyes with a big yawn.
"We'll attack 'Poison the Dragon to Nurture it' imdiately. I will perturb the fla again and again and your goal is to keep it as stable as possible. In a first try, it's okay if you change the attributes I put in, but try not to do so as much as you can. During a refinent you may lose control of your fla so you must bring it back under control but if you change the attributes you'll damage your ingredients and lower you final product.
During the process, if you realize an error you made, even later, say it. Speaking out loud instead of brooding it in your mind is beneficial. First of all, it takes it out of your mind so that you can focus better, and it trains you as you have to express your thoughts on the matter."
ng Jia extinguished the fla and lit another one.
"Get ready, as soon as I alter the fla, you'll have to act very quick so as to not lose control."
By only moving one hand, he directed so powder into the fla. As an advanced Mortal Warrior, he could control his Qi outside of his body, so manipulating small objects was very easy for him. The mont the powder touched the fire, the fla turned blue-green and beca long and thin, ready to dissipate at any ti.
Cao Yun had to think as fast as he could and used Yi, Zhi and Shen. He took a brownish powder and threw a very small speck of it inside the fla. Gradually it beca larger and its height decreased back to normal.
Before Cao Yun could enjoy his success, two different powders were thrown at the sa ti. The fire turned almost transparent and beca so tiny one would think it was already dead.
...
It lasted for almost two hours. This training was extrely strenuous on the mind but Cao Yun had his cultivation to help him. What he gained was enormous. He had failed to keep the attributes of the fla or even the fla itself many tis, but several minutes later he was able to give an explanation and even a potential solution.
ng Jia extinguished the fla one last ti. "I'd say you're very close to achieve Small Success in Fla Control. It's as high as it gets under Mortal Warrior. To go beyond Small Success, you need Qi manipulation."
"You can go find whenever you want. I'm always sleep... working in my office. Next ti, we'll talk about Ingredients Preservation, it's the second most important principle for a beginner. We could even try so pill refinent, why not?
Oh?! When you leave, don't make too much noise and try not to let anyone know we're done, I'll try to stay here to... to... to think of a schedule for your training. That's it!"
As soon as he walked through the door, Cao Yun heard snoring from behind him.
*1 fen = 373 mg
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