Elder Harmony

Shuren arrived at the Alchemical Archives, dragging a bag in hand filled with ingredients he had recently bought from the nearby store. It was finally time to improve his vocation, and soon enough he could get his fix of concentrated tea again. The Archives were far more crowded than usual, though everyone seemed to be discussing about the current incident near Elden Crownhall. Finally, it was time he'd get some information about what happened.

Unfortunately, all he heard were hearsay theories. Shuren went upstairs to experiment, when he found someone familiar.

"You're already here, Zhou Yan?" Shuren questioned. They had planned to meet at evening, but Shuren had arrived early to get some practical experience on his own.

"Well, all the classes have been cancelled for today. They're all in a meeting." Zhou Yan replied without facing him, having already been using the distillery armaments to work on spiritual tea. Once something new had gotten her attention, she'd be very obsessive over it for a while.

She momentarily glanced at the ingredients in Shuren's bag before beckoning over at him. "Good job, you got what I asked for. Come here, let me show you how crazy this is." She had already brewed a small cup of tea, but Shuren could see the traces of Qi resting throughout it. Like small grains dancing around the ocean, it swirled, infusing the rest of the tea with different properties, almost like a used pill.

Zhou Yan began to give Shuren the run down. "Once, cultivators would simply ingest a pill and spread it throughout their body to gain its effects. But the expansion of spiritual alchemy alongside the changes in cultivation realms in the New Era advanced their concept. Rather than simply allowing the pill to rest in your body and dissolve, spreading its effects inefficiently, they devised pills to rather course through your Spiritual Meridians. Through this, your Qi would gain the 'aspect' of the pill. So for a healing pill, your Qi would gain the property of healing, giving you far more control in healing yourself while being far more efficient. Looks like these cultivators began to experiment with the same idea in tea." She managed to say all that in one breath with relative ease, with no sign of stopping. Shuren absorbed all the information he could.

Well, he tried to.

"Now not only do you gain the meagre benefits of drinking expensive tea with Qi-infused ingredients, but also benefit from the boosting effect. Spreading finely ground ingredients throughout the tea will let the heat induce Qi cycling naturally. The tea keeps well too, because of the low melting point. Obviously none of this works if someone were to drink it cold, but that's practically demonic cultivation. Well, that's what my dad says." She poured a cup and handed it to Shuren. "Enough talking, have a taste. Cycle your Qi and tell me everything, like, everything you feel."

Shuren went over to grab a comfortable cushioned chair from the side, near the bookshelves. He came over and sat down, taking a deep breath and relaxing his posture.

"What are you doing? Will you hurry up and drink this?" Yan Zhou almost yelled out, some of the nearby disciples looking over before ignoring it, discussing their theories about what had happened to the sect. Red coloured her ears as she felt like she wanted to crawl in some hole.

"Easy there. There is an art to tea drinking. Rest your mind and soul, bare open your spirit. Sever worldly affairs and drink. Don't rush me and sit tight. I will give you the full details soon." Shuren brought out the scriptures of Dan Zi, reading it. His eyebrows relaxed and his shoulders eased. The entire aura around him had completely shifted from the stoic, prideful young master to an atmosphere of halcyon bygone days, a face painted with the lost wonder of childhood.

His lips wetted with the soft floral tea. It must have been the tea her father likes, and it exuded the aromatic and refreshing fragrance of earthly flowers.

Zhou Yan's eyebrows raised up, having a double take. She did not expect him to have that sort of expression, ever. She thought back to her embarrassing blunder, insulting Shuren out of nowhere. I suppose everyone has their own private side.

Acting with the façade of etiquette for almost all her life, it got tiring.

She decided to emulate him, sitting down on a chair and studying the contents of the book Shuren lent her.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, the clink of a teacup rattled unto the table. "The effects are quite miniscule, but it certainly has room for development."

It almost felt like his entire body had tasted the tea while cycling his Qi. The sensory effects of calming one's mind were far stronger than they had ever been with any other sort of tea. Even for that benefit alone, learning how to make spiritual tea was worth it. Shuren explained these very sensations to Zhou Yan.

She flipped through the pages, corroborating Shuren's words with the contents. "What they achieved here is still a work in progress. At most, it's as you said, a miniscule boost that could be achieved. It's like crafting a pill but only receiving a tenth of the effects. They drone on more about the sensations of peace, the relaxation and clearance of mind. The secret of emotional mastery in the long term that improves your mental insight and anxiety."

She closed the book and collected Shuren's bag of materials. "The main point is the action of drinking. By fusing the biological functions with the heavenly Qi, it's as if your mind and entire body experiences the tea itself. There are still unexplored combinations to work with. It's too concepty."

Shuren still lay slouched in his chair with eyes closed, submerged in the blissful peace and tranquillity that came with his pastime. Running out of patience, Zhou Yan grabbed his collar to rise him out of the chair. She almost let go when he suddenly glared at her, but he closed his eyes and sighed, getting back to work.

"Let's experiment."

 ***

Shuren lay in bed, sloped and still wearing his dirty clothes. The soft and fluffiness of a cultivator's personal bed was as luxurious as his own personal bed from back home. Compared to being packed within the public dorms, it was far more freeing having his own privacy. All of his personal belongings lay scattered across the room, since he brought a few more things from back home

His fingers shivered in pain as the tips were seared in red. A result of spending continuous hours constantly learning the craft of spiritual alchemy, and brewing tea over and over.

"Argh, I was supposed to head over to the Sensority Mountain. Tomorrow…I should…" His eyes drew heavy as boulders, closing. Finally, dealing with the withdrawal of tea, with no headache or the dull pain from his once injured arm, he fell asleep.

Get up.

A searing sharp convulsion violated his head as Shuren jolted awake in fear. Sweat covered the entirety of his back, his dirty day old clothes drenched in it.

A woman with braided brown hair stood in front of him. Her silent blue eyes pierced him with aloofness and arrogance. It was the domineering aura of an Elder. That of Elder Harmony.

"Cycle your Qi now." She lifted a palm and drew a formation in the air, shooting it right into Shuren's lower stomach. Within a single breath of cycling, the pain from the effects of an Elder's direct Qi sense subsided. "Why didn't you head straight to Sensority Mountain? You dare make an Elder wait for you."

Shuren's face scrunched in agony as he forcefully regained his composure. "F-forgive me, Honoured Elder, I-" The world flipped upside down as he flew outside the cave, the immense sense of vertigo causing bile to reach his throat. The scruff of his neck tightened as he was grabbed like a cat. There was only one other person who would dare treat him like this.

Shuren gathered his senses and was sitting on the hard, cold floor of a building. The young elder stood in front of him, demanding an answer for his tardiness. He noticed the windows out of the building showed the clouds high in the sky. So this is the revered flying battle ship that held the same defence as a Core Gensis.

"So, why did you reject it?" The brown-haired elder inquired.

"Forgive me Elder, I do not understand." Shuren grabbed his knee as he began to stand.

"Sit. Keep cycling your Qi." She commanded, staring daggers at Shuren.

Shuren bowed his head down, his silence as an answer. "You-" She cut herself off, bringing a hand up to clear up her throat. "I am Elder Harmony, established in the Sixth Mountain. I didn't bring it up earlier since you were in such a miserable state."

She crossed her arms, tapping her foot. "Your mother is… A good friend of mine. I owe her some favours, and she spent great effort convincing me to teach you. You're no Path Foundation, but I can still give you some guidance."

The tapping of her foot hastened. "Then I was told later that a little Rank 1 like you rejected my help. You dare look down on the path of healers? Is violence and bloodshed all you deem as a worthy path to tread?" The nails on her fingers dug further into her arm, creasing her robe. Clearly this topic was a delicate matter to her.

A sweat formed on Shuren's forehead, trickling down.

Did I seriously anger an elder just because I rejected my mother's help?