Ch 11 - Elder Qin

In a small wooden grove, hidden behind the thick outgrowth of the dense jungle.

A small brick pavillon stood along the forest, overgrown by it. The pavillon extended across a few buildings, and stopped at a small pond, where an elderly man was leisurely sipping on his tea while holding out a fishing pole, trying to catch some fish.

A strange plant-like creature crawled all the way to the foot of the elder and signalled with its tendrils towards a young boy standing at the head of the pavillon bridge.

"What's the matter, Siwi?", the old man gently consoled it before turning his head at the young boy and asked, "Hello? May I help you?"

Xu Ming looked at this leisurely old man who had long grey hair and a small beard, and a distinct scar running from his eye to the edge of his lips. Not only that, but he also had various burn marks across his whole body, and scars as well. Although, this did not make him look hideous at all, and instead made him more handsome to look at.

Xu Ming bowed slightly and cupped his fists at the elder, saying, "Greetings, Elder Qin. I'm here for the post of the alchemy assistant."

Elder Qin silently looked at Xu Ming and said, "So it seems. You look a bit too young to be doing this though. Have you understood all the conditions to be working with me?"

Xu Ming nodded and said, "Yes, Elder Qin. I'm willing to work two hours a day for 5 years, and I can assure you I don't have any alchemy experience."

Elder Qin looked at Xu Ming with a strange gaze and said, "Well, no doubt about that. I can see you barely have any cultivation experience either."

The plant organism let out a strange cackling noise at Elder Qin's quip and raised its tendrils at Xu Ming, who sneered at it and scared it, prompting it to hide behind Elder Qin.

"Alright, Siwi. Don't be so playful. Go and feed the little princess."

The plant called Siwi sulked for a bit before crawling away, giving Xu Ming the side eye.

Elder Qin set his fishing rod aside and got up slowly, yawning to himself.

"Well, boy, what's your name? I'll give you a fair trial, and if you pass, I'll let you have a crack at the job."

Xu Ming replied, "My name is Xu Ming, Elder Qin."

"Well, I'll just call you Little Xu, if that's alright with you. Come, follow me to the lab."

Xu Ming trailed behind the elder who took Xu Ming to one of the buildings that was spherical in shape, and was taken aback by the sheer size of everything.

The whole alchemy lab was at least 20 metres wide, and 10 metres tall. From ceiling to ground, there were enormous shelves, and lots of cabinets, all neatly labelled. In between, there were no shortages of laboratory and alchemy equipment, but the most significant part was at the centre.

A giant alchemy cauldron made of brass and embellished with fancy patterns stood at the centre, with 4 smaller cauldrons surrounding it. Two arms sticked out of the ceiling, suspended in mid air.

"Well, it's a lot to take in, isn't it? You'll be responsible for maintaining all this equipment, and managing inventory, so pay attention.", Elder Qin spoke as he walked towards the cauldron.

"This cauldron is the Nine Li Cauldron. An absolute treasure. You won't find a better cauldron than this in the entire sect.", Elder Qin spoke with a bit of pride on his face.

Elder Qin gave a brief introduction of the cauldron, and then asked, "Right, let me test you first. I'll be making a tier 2 pill, the spirit condensing pill. Hand me the ingredients and perform all the tasks I ask you to do as well as possible. Do you think you're up for the challenge?"

Xu Ming took in a deep breath before nodding and saying, "I'm ready, Elder Qin."

Elder Qin whistled and said, "Pill 210. One set, counter 0."

The two long arms mechanically came to life, and started moving, creating a creaky noise as it took out ingredients from the cabinets and placed it on the counter named "Counter 0" right in front of Xu Ming.

"These are alchemical arms. My ancestor was actually one of the first pioneers of alchemical aids in the field of alchemy, and these arms have been passed down for generations, but they're getting more common in the world for other applications as well. You'll learn more on how they work if you pass the test.", Elder Qin spoke.

The arms took two minutes to arrange all the materials and instruments in front of Xu Ming, and then went back to their original position.

"Ready?", Elder Qin asked.

Xu Ming nodded.

Elder Qin turned on the spirit flames with a start and poured in a green liquid, saying, "This is base foundation liquid. Most pills start with this liquid. Hand me the first herb now."

Xu Ming took the first herb on the table and swiftly handed it to Elder Qin.

Elder Qin handed a metal throng to Xu Ming and said, "Keep stirring at the same time. We must let the materials keep stirring."

Elder Qin took a small brain out of a jar and squished it before putting it in the cauldron.

"Little Xu! Decrease the heat quick!", Elder Qin.

Xu Ming didn't waste time before turning down a knob on the base of the cauldron low.

Elder Qin at this point crushed a half of a spirit stone and mixed it in the concoction.

"Hand me the second herb, quick. And keep stirring.", Elder Qin said as he was doing this.

Xu Ming cooperated with Elder Qin with a smooth fluidity and was swift in complying with his instructions.

After about 10 minutes of putting in ingredients, Elder Qin put in a small reagent in the concoction and saw a tiny bit of purple gas coming out of the cauldron.

"That's enough. Step back, little Xu."

Xu Ming stepped back immediately and took the opportunity to wipe off his sweat. It wasn't easy working in such proximity to such powerful flames for so long.

Elder Qin said, "Now it's time to solidify and condense the mixture into the form of a pill."

Elder Qin put in his Qi around the patterns around the cauldron while reciting, "21 Forms of Alchemy - Condense!"

The patterns slowly glowed with a blue glow as lots of smoke escaped from the cauldron and rapidly decreased in volume until there were only about 7-8 circular pill like substances left in the cauldron. The pills floated up by themselves until it landed in the hands of Elder Qin.

"Look, there are 2 horizontal pill marks on the pill. That means the pills are of excellent quality.", Elder Qin said.

Xu Ming looked and nodded.

Elder Qin said, "You performed quite well, I must admit. Even with other candidates, I only managed to get a good quality pill. You're officially my assistant."

Xu Ming looked relieved and bowed as he spoke, "Thank you, Elder Qin."

Putting his hand on Xu Ming's head, Elder Qin smiled and said, "You deserve it, you performed well. Go and pick up the three essentials of alchemy book from the sect library, and say Elder Qin asked to borrow those books. Make sure you study well."

Elder Qin then put the pills in Xu Ming's hands and said, "Take these. They're not useful to me and I was just clearing out old stock. Oh yeah, make sure you make it here tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning sharp. That'll be all for today."

Xu Ming didn't try to refuse and thanked the Elder before going off towards the sect library.

Elder Qin looked at Xu Ming leaving and smiled before going back to his old fishing spot and picked up his fishing rod, casting a line again.

---

Xu Ming sat down near a fire outside his cave abode, exuberant with energy still.

Today's work seemed to have left a positive impact on Elder Qin, who appeared to be a kind and good elder, and the work wasn't that hard either. On his left, on a small wooden table, was a stack of books borrowed under Elder Qin's name.

Xu Ming took a couple hours in cultivating with the Qi Convergence Pills, bringing his total up to 15 strands of Qi. Xu Ming had already gotten used to the feeling of cultivation and using the strands of Qi to manipulate things around him. At one point, he was even able to materialise it enough to form a thin blade that could cut through a small leaf.

Xu Ming took the boiling hot water from a boiling pot in the fire and poured it on a wooden tub right besides the fire.

Xu Ming manipulated his space ring and took out a strange ginger looking herb and crushed it with a rock, before putting it in the wooden tub.

Following the recipe, Xu Ming added all sorts of strange stuff which included the strange coloured blood of a host of strange beasts and coagulated beads and herbs, one after the other, turning the water into a strange mirror like substance.

Xu Ming didn't dare to waste time and got into the hot water, almost squealing as he got in.

"Patience, take it easy, Xu Ming."

Xu Ming tried his best not to be distracted by the pain, huffing as he muttered a strange mantra, following the manual, until he slowly ignored the pain and got lost in the process of muttering the mantra.

"....and the seven lordly titans, the behemoth, the earthly king severed the limbs of the mountain, the vajra enraged, rage propelled motive, leading to haste.....", Xu Ming muttered in a language incomprehensible to anyone around.

A strange force circulated around Xu Ming's flesh, incorporating the medicinal properties and seeping deep into the bones, marrows and every part of Xu Ming's body. The water slowly turned black as impurities oozed out one after another out of Xu Ming's body, and his body turned lighter and stronger.

After half an hour, Xu Ming was finally finished, and got out of the tub, feeling like a new person entirely.

"According to the manual, this is the genesis state of Body Cultivation, and from here, it's flesh tempering that comes next."

Xu Ming never felt better at any moment in his life and the previous than he did at this moment. He truly felt like he could lift a 200 kilo boulder over his head, and he felt light enough to outrun a cheetah. Taking advantage of his new strength, Xu Ming picked the tub up with ease, pouring away its contents in the jungle.

Warming himself up, Xu Ming went back to his cave abode and read the alchemy manuals for two hours before dedicating the rest of his time to cultivation.