Story 9 - Nothing Bad Ever Happens at the Alchemy Convention (8)
I narrowed my eyes at the silly nerds. “The topic you all chose was — how to overco a bottleneck in your alchemy...”
While a significant number were Foundation Establishnt cultivators, most of them were at Golden Core. Several who had gathered to listen to Pill Otaku and White Lily discuss their current troubles were even at Nascent Soul... and they wanted us — practitioners weaker or equal to them — to talk about how to achieve breakthroughs.
Were these guys fucking joking?
Obviously, I could do it, but if I was a normal Foundation Establishnt brat, I’d be fucked.
Well, more than likely, the cultivators at my current realm had bottlenecks and those experts stronger than them had disciples they wanted to instruct. Part of what a good lecturer needed to do was take in who their audience was and cater the lecture to them. With such a mix of strengths, the content had to be useful for all realms and skill levels.
The subject was, thankfully, broad enough that I wouldn’t have to dumb things down for the lower realms or add higher-level concepts to keep the Nascent Soul experts occupied.
Violet grinned sadistically at . She would assu that, with her advanced age, she’d have the upper hand. It didn’t help that her realm was higher than mine. Cultivators respected power, after all.
But there was more to power than personal strength. If there wasn’t, then all those young masters that showed up in every Xianxia, wouldn’t be able to walk sideways and get away with it.
“You both agreed to an incense stick’s worth of ti,” Lina said.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to lecture on sothing that might show that I was a ti traveler.
I began by using secret sound transmission to speak to the left ear of every cultivator in the crowd and Violet Pill Fairy. This ca out to around a hundred people. But I did one more thing — I brought out my earthen fla pillar from the space and placed my cauldron on top. Next, I set up a prep table with the already arranged plants I’d prepared to teach Little Spring the other day.
This was because I believed an alchemy lecture should always incorporate practical alchemy, even when it was on sothing as obscure as bottleneck breakthroughs.
Watching thousands of videos online in my past-past life helped co up with my lecture process. For instance, when discussing strange topics, I would add visuals, even if they were unrelated.. like a video about relationship nightmares that was basically an AI voice talking over soone playing Minecraft.
For this lecture, I decided to show my skill level by concocting the hardest pill an alchemist at Foundation Establishnt could create within the ti limit — the Presence Scattering Obfuscation Dan. This was a life-saving pill that, when crushed and scattered over a person, could, for two minutes, temporarily hide their presence from soone in the Nascent Soul realm or below.
Of course, after use, it wouldn’t work on the sa cultivator for a full day, so it was best to only use it in an ergency... It also didn’t work against beasts. That required a different pill.
I used the split mind technique. Part of my mind listened to Violet’s lecture, two more focused on concocting the batch of pills, and my final available part recalled a brief lecture I’d given. Once I gathered my thoughts, I threw the first plant inside and began my speech.
“Breaking through a bottleneck sounds so easy, doesn’t it? But it never is. Who here hasn’t struggled with so pill recipe that just wouldn’t work? Perhaps it was sothing you needed to reach the next small realm along your Dao? Or maybe your teacher showed you a technique that looked so easy, but when you tried, you found it impossible?” I threw in a Spiked Red Ginseng. “I know tricks and tips that will make things easier on yourself. And if you don’t believe , consider who my master is.”
Violet hid her mouth behind a fan and secretly sent a sneer before she began her own teachings. “Bottlenecks are sothing I have experienced far more by this point in my cultivation than every person in this audience, especially my opponent. She might be an Immortal’s disciple, but how long could she have learned from him? Three years? Four, maybe? What matters the most here is experience, and I have that!”
Bitch. She threw shade at first rather than start her lecture. And she used sothing currently beyond my control, my body’s age. The stupidest part was that it worked! Most of the audience slightly tilted their heads or looked to the right to better listen to her.
Hell, even most of the Nascent Soul cultivators who had just listened to give advice to Pill Otaku glanced in Violet’s direction.
If my body had been an adult’s instead of a tall twelve-year-old girl’s, I knew these nerds wouldn’t pay her any mind! At this rate, they would never believe I was more capable than them, since cultivators in the mortal realm still aged. This ant that it was nearly impossible to see a powerful master appear as young as !
Frankly, I should have seen this coming, but it had been less than a handful of years to my perspective since I'd been treated like the ancestor I was. Then I was inside the sect for a whole year where I was given the respect I deserved. All this and my irritation with Violet had led to not take into consideration how people outside would treat soone so young, especially when I was so obviously brilliant.
Well, fuck it. It wasn't like this was the end. I just had to get more visual to bring attention back over to . Fortunately, my recipe was at a point where I could do that without harming the quality of the pill.
I used the old hand seals to raise the flas and tossed in several more ingredients, nearly simultaneously. My cauldron rumbled and stead as if it would explode any minute.
A few worried glances turned toward . About twenty alchemists looked like they wanted to co over here and take my cauldron away, so I would stop fucking up. Muahahaha!
Just wait! I would turn this train-wreck-looking concoction into a beautiful pill.
While I had their attention, I quickly started the main point of my lecture. “I practice my master’s alchemy, which ans I use logic, sothing shockingly rare, to discover the issues behind a problem. My opponent may say that I don’t have enough practical knowledge to discuss a topic like this, but would soone without experience know that every bottleneck’s beginning is different?”
I lowered the temperature and added one more ingredient, suddenly causing the cauldron to calm and proving that I had been in control the whole ti. “The first step to finding a solution is to look at yourself. Just because soone else can create that pill in a specific way doesn’t an that you’ll be able to. Your body is different. Your cultivation also affects you differently than your peers. It may be that you have a hidden special constitution. Or possibly your instructor does...”
Violet smirked at the audience. Then she put her fan away and took out a highly valuable defensive spiritual tool that resembled a jade cauldron pendant.
So mbers of the crowd turned towards it. They watched as she casually attached it to her belt, which also brought attention to her other extravagant protective tools. “You all know I don’t need the spirit stones for lecturing and only want what’s best for the alchemists here. I have already accumulated a lot of spirit stones. I’m very good at increasing my wealth. And sothing else I’m good at is overcoming bottlenecks. If you desire to be rich and respected like , the first thing you should understand is that nothing beats practice. Overwhelm your problem by concocting the pill you struggle with. Every day, every hour, over and over. If you’re not practicing a pill that helps you improve, then choose a different one that will. Create pill after pill until your hands bleed.” She held her fingers like claws, as if they were covered in sticky blood and she didn’t want to squish it together.
She confidently threw her hair over her shoulder. “That was how I helped solve the Five Leaves Break down and beca this strong... But there is a trick to doing it right. That is, to find the right pills to practice for the right small realm. Unlike my opponent, I know which ones those are. As long as you listen to , I’ll tell you.”
Did this bitch just resort to the equivalent of a, ‘Use this one weird trick to solve any bottleneck!’ article?
A few in the crowd switched to listening to both of our lectures at the sa ti. I thought I could convince a majority of people to listen to by using logic and my master’s na, but because of her clickbait-style lecture, only a few switched over.
It was ti to fight back!
“You may ask why I told you to first identify the underlying cause. It is ti-consuming when you could just make more pills. Isn’t practice enough to overco any hurdle? It’s true that so alchemists can do that, but it’s very inefficient. Brute forcing your way through a solution, like my opponent recomnds, may work, but is it really the best for an alchemist’s foundation?” I paused and threw in another plant. “Imagine, if you would that you have a disciple. Now and then, they face a difficult recipe that they just can’t get right, one that has ingredients suspiciously similar to the last problem.”
I tossed in a Three Tears Rainbow Root, causing a colorful cloud to puff out of the cauldron. “Curious, isn’t it? Until you realize that the original bottleneck was because they used the incorrect temperature, or their extre yang body diminished the yin herbs’ effectiveness, or so other thing that followed them into the next small realm. If you had found the reason behind the initial issue and solved it, you would have prevented the others. Right?”
Violet sent a glare because more listeners paid attention to . These little alchemy geniuses couldn’t resist trying to figure out what recipe I was using. Just as I predicted! Muahahaha!
anwhile, she spent another few minutes mostly spouting nonsense to increase her face, like those bad weight loss advertisents that wasted an hour while never getting to the point. Then they would try to sell the confused viewer sothing in the end. After all, those videos weren’t free to make.
Eventually, she finished by telling everyone which pills they should practice during what small realm to improve. But she didn’t say why practicing those elixirs worked and just assud that her audience would understand. I could tell by the glazed look in the eyes of those still listening to her that they could not.
Actually, her style of lecture wasn’t similar to a shady weight-loss ad, it was closer to the much-d-about-and-lanted cooking blog. Nonsense up front, actual content in the back.
While she was doing that, I explained various ways to troubleshoot a blockage. Everything I said was clear, concise, and easy to understand. Beautifully logical.
And when I neared the end of my lecture, I threw the last plant into the cauldron. The perfect-quality scent escaped, causing everyone to relax and turn to , even if they’d been listening to Violet before. I made the hand seal to create the pill shapes. Usually, in this era, alchemists would slap the side of the pot to force the pills out, but I used an advanced hand seal to call the pills to . The batch of green pills flew toward and I captured them in a jade bottle. Everyone’s eyes grew wide. I grinned at the crowd.
While I was always amazing, giving lectures was sothing I kicked ass at.
“The last advice I’ll give you all on overcoming bottlenecks is to never stop learning and experinting. If you can learn a new technique and it won’t hurt your Dao, then do it. Because sotis, what you need for a breakthrough is a tool. Don’t be too full of yourself. Use what you can to get ahead.”
***
The Con assistants swiftly traveled through the crowd briefly speaking with each person who had been there from the beginning. Once they finished Lina walked toward the two of us. “There were 103 people listening from the beginning. Nine refused to say or admitted to paying attention to both lectures evenly, leaving 94. Of that number...” Lina paused. Her trademark smile grew even more professional, which I didn’t think was possible. “Well, this is interesting.”
Co on Lina, there was no need to stall. By the end, everyone listened to my lecture. A few people even looked like they’d stab soone near their eye to know what kind of hand seal I used to remove the pills from the cauldron.
Violet crossed her arms and smirked as if she knew she’d won. Ha!
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