Elemental Flame

Chún meandered through the forest around the Heaven and Earth Vine clearing, occasionally pulsing Essence into various herbs and plants on the verge of advancement and gathering the overgrowth that resulted. It had been too long since he had just taken a relaxing walk without an overriding goal, able to enjoy the gentle breeze perfumed with the scent of fruits, herbs, flowers and other fragrant things that all exuded pleasant scents through clean, crisp air. The sounds of birds singing, the burble of water…

~ChonK~

His eyebrow twitched, but he pointedly ignored the sound as he bent down and looked at a small berry bush with Essence fairly glowing from its fruit.

Touching half the berries, he caught them in his hand and dropped them into his Cloak, then pulsed a charge of Essence into the bush in return, smiling as the leaves on the bush rustled and shifted as the bush grew slightly emitting a sweet smell…

~CHonK~

His pupils shrank in annoyance at the repeated, louder impact behind him. With a deliberate movement he shifted into a movement from the Snake Dao. His form momentarily flickered and appeared a li away from his previous location, then resumed walking unhurriedly.

Here inside the Mountain Planet, it felt like a cool mid morning, even though it had been an early afternoon when he had finished the small shrine on Golden Crow Planet. He was fairly certain that was just another aspect of Tai becoming his own separate, miniature universe, dimension or whatever you felt like calling it.

Spotting another ignition point with his Essence Sense, something that he had gotten so used to having activated - he never really noticed anymore - it just felt like part of his normal vision to him now, he pushed another balanced pulse of Essence through his foot into the ignition point.

He smiled as the now familiar bell of the ignition burst into a wave of Essence that cascaded outward, causing multiple, additional, sympathetic Essence ignitions from another three or four plants and small Essence Beasts that the wave washed over. They absorbed the extra generated Essence, then advanced themselves, sending out waves of excess Essence of their own and adding to a swelling musical accompaniment…

~CHONK~

He whirled around and glared at the 'Legendary' Cauldron Artefact that somehow managed to float smugly behind him.

"Stop it," Chún ordered tersely through gritted teeth, "acting like a spoilt silkpants and irritating me will not make me gather Alchemy ingredients faster."

The Cauldron spun slowly in mid air, the creatures that seemed to shift and twist just below the ceramic surface of the sides of the artefact appeared to glare at him dismissively.

"It says the herbs you are gathering are too low grade to allow for advancement," relayed Tai with amusement resonating down the link between them.

"I only know one formula," Chún stated the obvious to the Cauldron, "You are going to have to wait until I learn more, before it is even worth for me to collect higher ranked ingredients."

The Cauldron spun in the air, slammed itself into the ground with a sullen ~chonk~ then floated resentfully back into the air.

"Speaking of, Tai, when will you teach me some real pill recipes," questioned Chún, "I don't know anything besides the healing jelly."

"I am a mountain, not an Alchemist," pointed out his locus. "I know the properties of the plants I grow and the effects they create when combined, but I do not know how to teach Alchemy techniques. I can show you the memory of the land of Alchemists learning, but you will have to practice, experiment and learn the long way. Just like any other Alchemist." His friend paused and then said, "You should focus on creating Essence flames of the various Elements, focusing and controlling them through the inlets of the Cauldron before you worry about learning recipes."

The Cauldron zoomed out in front of him, spinning and flirting the outlets at its base upward as it swayed in the air. Chún noticed the outlets had formed into moulded snarling heads of the same five Legendary Essence Beasts that adorned the rest of the Cauldron.

"Each Beast favours a particular type of Essence," noted his locus didactically, "Tiger, Metal; Phoenix, Fire; Tortoise, Water; Dragon, Wood; Qilin, Earth."

"I thought Dragon was Air? And Tiger was Lightning… and I thought the Qilin was like - a combination?" asked Chún in confusion.

"It is a great deal more complex than that," answered the Mountain, the mental voice rumbling and echoing through the like with a very ancient feel, "Air moves through wood as the wind through trees; lightning moves through the air as it is attracted to metal; water falls on all and flows through all except metal - though in time metal will give way; fire burns wood, consumes air and is overcome by water - and all of them depend on Earth, are part of Earth, are born from Earth." The weight of the Mountain's focus receded from the link and there was a pause.

Eventually Tai continued in a musing tone, "Even that is an over simplified explanation - but in the end the Earth represents the fundamental - the Dao - that all things spring from - so the Qilin is a combination of all the others - and also represents rule. Sometimes it is called the Yellow Dragon - and Yellow..."

"...is the Emperor's colour," finished Chún in understanding.

"You do not really understand it - but for our purposes it is sufficient for now," responded his locus.

"You could try explaining it?" offered Chún, his eyes alight with interest. Sometimes like now, he was awed at the vast amount of knowledge his partner had, for all that the Mountain said it was not a teacher, "although this does not really fit with what we discussed last time… well it does, but…"

"Humans are incapable of understanding the reality - even Cultivators only see deeper, not to the truth," answered Tai seriously, "Even I do not understand it fully, I merely am aware of it as you are aware of breathing - only when you consider it or when it is taken away."

"So you are saying the Legendary Heavenly Beasts, the Dao and everything are just ways of explaining what I am perceiving?" offered Chún slowly.

"That is a good approximation - and yet at the same time not at all," replied the Mountain, "just by having this discussion, we have very slightly changed the way things work - in such a small fashion you would never notice it in uncountable billions of millennia - and yet, it is so. The Land remembers that before the humans came, things were much simpler. And it also remembers that to the very first travellers, the Legendary Beasts, the Elements - even Cultivation and the Dao were little more than concepts."

Chún laughed, "That is a good one. If that were the way things work, then every time someone had an idea and talked about it to other people… or believed it for a long time… and added… more…" he trailed off as his brain caught up with what he was saying.

"Or if they were very, very, powerful," agreed his locus, "that is why there are so many aspects to the Heavenly Beasts, Elements or the Dao - people kept adding to them, or realising there was another aspect to an Element - or adding another legend… or disagreeing completely and having a completely different explanation - over time that accumulates a lot of power, especially when you are focusing on the concepts of Dao, Essence and Elements which are types of power themselves. And as you see with myself, once something gathers enough power, it awakens and becomes its own being. Anyway, like I told you - it is complex."

"Too hard," declared Chún, putting on a dull, vacant-eyed expression, like any number of peasants he had seen, "This lowly one will go look for pretty plants now."

Tai chuckled through the link, "I did warn you. But you should practice creating the five types of Essence flames - only the best of flame control is sufficient for real alchemy."

"How do I create Essence flames?" asked the teenager, "I mean, fire is obvious - it is flame already, but - a water flame? A metal flame?"

"A high enough concentration of any Element will cause a phenomenon similar to a type of combustion or consuming - Alchemists refer to this as 'fire', although this is more of a visual description - that much Essence energy of any Element condensed in a small area often resembles flames," explained Tai, "the most stable way to learn is to practice gathering a particular type of Essence where you need it - a lot of Alchemists focus on their hands, which can be dangerous - and condensing it until it ignites into a 'flame'."

Chún wrinkled his forehead in thought, "That actually sounds like a real Cultivation exercise - like the StoryTeller talks about."

"It is - although most Consumers rely on an external flame - usually from the core of a beast or harvested from Ancient locations within a Planet - perhaps the heart of a volcano, or a deep sea trench - anywhere Essence of a particular type has been gathering and condensing for millions upon millions of years," his locus replied in the link as Chún started walking, plucking and infusing Essence again, the Cauldron bobbing along behind him like some sort of demented kite.

"I am guessing I will not be doing that," answered the teen with some resignation.

"No, as a True Cultivator your body generates Essence, so there is no need to look for a resource to act as your 'seed'. Additionally, using a Seed to act as the core of your Essence Fire would lock you into using that type of fire exclusively - unless you were fortunate to find multiple equal seeds of different Element types and feed them all in balance," pointed out Tai.

"Because the strongest or oldest flame would overpower the others?" questioned Chún.

"Correct. Consumers often have that problem - along with needing to find more Essence resources to feed to the flame they are nurturing - most Consumers cannot gather enough Essence of specific element types through their 'cultivation methods' alone to allow an alchemical flame to advance," the mountain hummed a little through the link, "instead what you will need to do is start collecting and compressing Elemental Essence of each type that you generate until it forms a seed naturally within you."

"That sounds…" the teen stopped walking and thought about it, "really dangerous. Are you just describing what happens naturally over time with nature to create natural Essence fires?"

"Yes," replied Tai, "but since you are creating the Essence, you can speed up the process. However, you must be very careful that each layer of condensing of Essence that you wrap around your seed is perfect. Any imbalance or imperfections will cause all the compressed Essence to explode - and depending on how much Essence you have condensed in the seed you will be heavily damaged - or could perhaps die."

"Are there any benefits to… condensing, my own Elemental flames?" asked Chún, "Even with the whole being locked into one Element idea, advancing a natural flame seems safer."

"It is your Essence, so you would not need to subdue or tame it," listed out Tai, "as Consumers do when creating a flame; you can start all your seeds simultaneously so that they are always in balance, they will never need external resources beyond your naturally generated Essence, creating Essence flame seeds will raise your fine control and manipulation of Essence considerably and once the seeds ignite to become flames they are in themselves a source of that type of Essence, which is why Consumers prize them so highly - so you will have additional sources of Essence beyond your own. This will help you avoid over drafting your body in the future, as you have in the past when you tried to channel more Essence than you can handle."

"Oh." Chún looked around, noting he had emerged out of the forest to a small clearing next to a slow flowing river.

"This is something that will take years," warned his locus, "for now you should only practice sending a steady stream of Essence into the cauldron of a specific type, and work on increasing its concentration as you do so. The cauldron can use concentrated Elemental Essence to sustain a low level Elemental flame inside it to refine lower level medicines and pills. This will allow you to gain practice in concentrating and compressing Elemental Essence."

The Cauldron floated around in front of Chún and bobbed up and down, then solidly planted itself in the grass at the centre of the clearing.

"What do I do?" asked Chún as he walked over and sat cross-legged next to the Cauldron.

"Focus on separating one Elemental Essence out from the Essence flowing through you," instructed the Mountain, "I suggest you start with Celestial - it has natural properties of creation and balance, which means it will heal you when you make an error. Also," Tai's 'voice' in their link became somewhat resigned, "the Cauldron needs Celestial Essence the most at the moment."

"Push the Celestial Essence out through my hand into… the Qilin inlet, correct?" asked the teen, double checking he understood.

"Yes, that is right," agreed Tai, "for now just focus on separating out the Element and feeding the Cauldron, do not focus too much on what you are doing, the Element or the Essence - do not bother trying to concentrate the Essence at the moment."

A watchful silence settled through the link as Chún began focusing the Celestial Essence out from the mix that swirled through his body, focusing on the chimes and bells that reminded him of the sound the links of the broken heavenly chain had made as they brushed up against each other while swaying in the wind. The waterfall of bells poured down his right arm and out of his palm where a stream of pearl light swirled upward into the snarling qilin inlet of the Cauldron.

"Do not focus on the Elemental Essence, or separating it from the rest," Tai instructed once Chún had a steady stream of Essence pouring into the Cauldron, "a good Alchemist, must be capable of doing many things simultaneously and aware of everything that is occurring - the temperature of the flame, the mixing and forming of ingredients, the reactions and counter reactions - for now, pay attention to the sounds, sensation and smells around you, without stopping the flow of Celestial Essence."

Chún blinked and the stream of Essence dimmed and frayed. His eyes widened and he focused for a moment, restoring the steady flow. After watching the flow of Essence for a few moments he very slowly made a point of lifting his eyes upward and looking around.

Again, the Essence Flow hitched, swirls and eddies causing the Cauldron to rattle. A moment later the artefact gave off a flatulent sound and a thick cloud of pearly white smoke drifted upward.

Chún choked and lost control as he doubled over in laughter, the Essence flow cutting off. Catching the embarrassed expressions that now seemed to be transfixed on the 'carvings' that adorned the Cauldron, his attempt to catch his breath was thwarted as he rolled about, clutching his sides.

"Apparently, you mixed in too much air in with that uneven flow," Tai's confusion was evident in his tone in the link, "which caused the involuntary expulsion - although I am not sure why that amuses you, or embarrasses the Cauldron."

"...too much air," gasped Chún.

"Yes," responded Tai slowly, still sounding confused, "the whole point of this exercise is that you are not distracted by external stimuli."

Chún stopped laughing and sucked in air, wiping his eyes, "Of course, teacher." He sat down in front of the Cauldron again and after a few moments the stream of Celestial Essence began flowing back into the Cauldron.

After several fēn, Chún began carefully looking around. Several times the stream started to fluctuate and he would cut the flow of Essence off, take deep breaths, pause a moment and start again.

"You can only do this for a half-shi per session at this stage," warned his friend, "you can over stress your body separating out the types of Elemental Essence, or get lost in focusing too deeply on the Essence you are channelling. You will have to slowly build up your capacity. The Cauldron is making it easier, by giving you an outlet to release the Essence safely, but you still need to watch the amount of Essence you have been channelling."

"After this I will instruct you how to draw pure metal Essences to the surface from below the earth. It is a different sort of Essence practice that will help you with power and endurance, without requiring a constant Essence flow. It is important for developing Essence forging," warned Tai, "so try to conserve your energy."

"I understand," responded Chún, "I will not overdo it."