Chapter 13

After flying for a few scant minutes, the elder released the nauseated Li Jie who gratefully fell to the ground.

“Get up boy. You’ll have to get used to flying, after all someone like you will be doing it in no time.”

Li Jie took a few deep breaths and regained some color in his complexion. He stood up and asked the elder, “Elder, may I ask why you carried me to the library?”

“Weren’t you on the way to the library?” He asked as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Li Jie was stunned. Sure he was on the way to the library, but this old man had basically abducted him and took him on a wild ride. He wasn’t sure how the elder even knew that he was going to the library in the first place.

“Li Jie thanks elder,” giving a cultivator’s bow, “then I shall be on my way...”

“Not so fast kid, you want to learn alchemy don’t you?”

Hearing this, Li Jie’s attention focused back onto the elder. That’s when he noticed that they weren’t at the library, but rather standing in front of the entrance to a decently sized cave. Li Jie had been so disoriented from flying that he didn’t even realize it until now.

The elder saw Li Jie’s look of confusion and explained, “This is a cave specially designed for use by alchemists. The surroundings are protected by a strong illusion formation that even Refining Realm cultivators would have a difficult time breaking. Numerous medicinal plants can be found growing within the cave. Of course, the cave itself is special, a large natural vein of world qi runs through it, nourishing the plants and making them grow faster. This is truly a heavenly treasure!”

His eyes turned slightly gentle as he fondly gazed at the cave, “I spent quite the number of years here trying to perfect my skills.”

“Elder is an alchemist?!” Li Jie asked in surprise. From his preliminary research, he had discovered that no more than 100 alchemists lived within the Immortal Tiger Empire. Thus meeting one was both rare and a great honor.

“It was just a hobby,” he said, trying to brush it off, “Anyway, stop it with the ‘elder’. You can just call me... hmm... how about grandpa?”

Li Jie had hesitation written all over his face, but this elder clearly would not accept “no” as an answer. In any case, this grandpa of his was actually one of the legendary alchemists. He could wish for no greater assistance in finding a cure for his mother.

“Okay... grandpa...”

Grandpa let out a rare chuckle, “Haha, good! Well then, I’m sure you’ve already figured it out but I brought you to this location to teach you alchemy!”

He waved his hand and a bronze cauldron engraved in intricate golden runes appeared. He briskly strode into the cave while carrying the cauldron with Li Jie following behind. The elder began explaining the basics of alchemy while they walked.

“Alchemy is just as sophisticated as the world of cultivation. For the most part, there are only three requirements: strong control over qi, an attribute of qi that is suitable for refining, and a high enough cultivation level depending on what you are trying to create.”

He stopped a few hundred meters away from the cave entrance and placed the cauldron on the floor.

“This is a pill furnace. You must channel your qi through it and refine the ingredients placed inside. Then you must synthesize the refined ingredients into some form, normally a pill.”

He motioned for Li Jie to step closer.

“Okay place your hands on the furnace. There’s no substitute for hands on experience so let’s try crafting a low level pill. Let’s see... how about an Ascending Dragon Pill?”

“Wow that sounds awesome. Will I actually be able to craft that pill? What does it do?”

“I’ve watched you for a while now boy, you’ve definitely got the qi attribute and cultivation level for this task. I’m quite sure you have the control as well. As for what the pill does... well let’s just say it's for men who can’t please their lady friends and old decrepit men like me, heh...”

Li Jie had wasn’t quite sure as to what he meant but put it aside for now.

“What do I do now grandpa?”

“First let’s test your control over qi. Place your hands on the furnace and imagine creating a fire within. Try manipulating the fire in various ways: make it bigger, make it smaller, rapidly change the heat, slowly change the heat, and so on.”

Li Jie followed the grandpa’s instructions, placing his hands on the cauldron. As soon as he imagined creating a fire inside the cauldron, a crimson red flame appeared in the pill furnace. He did exactly as the grandpa said, manipulating the fire in all sorts of ways, letting it mesmerizingly dance across the cauldron.

The elder opened his eyes wide in amazement.

‘My god, I’ve never seen talent in qi manipulation like this! It already far surpasses my level. This level of alchemy could change our entire country’s fortunes. Perhaps with his help we’ll be able to create dozens of Immortal Realm cultivators through cultivation pills! Furthermore, what’s with that flame color? I’ve never seen it before.’

His breath grew more and more ragged thinking about the divine treasure sitting right in front of him. He shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and continue with the actual alchemy practice. His face returned to normal.

“How did I do grandpa?”

“Hmm? Well, I guess you could say not bad... Anyway, let’s move onto the actual creation of pills. There are millions of plants out there that can be combined in an infinite number of ways. However, the vast majority of those will result in nothing but waste. Alchemists, of course, know the common formulas for many pills. In this case, I shall provide the plants, but you must remember them in the future!”

From his spatial ring, he pulled out some Brown-spotted Lotus petals, decade-old Mugwort, and the core of a Nascent Realm earth-type magic beast. All of them were placed into the pill furnace.

“Figuring out the right temperature and intensity to use in order to refine these ingredients takes practice and skill. I’ve prepared many sets of ingredients for you to use. Also as an extra challenge, I want you to try refining all three at the same time. It’ll require an exponentially larger amount of focus and control from you.”

Li Jie gladly accepted the challenge, excited to begin a new stage of his life as an alchemist. The elder also eagerly awaited Li Jie’s attempt at crafting a pill. He wished to see what incredible talent this youngster possessed.

Mentally preparing himself, Li Jie channeled his qi into the pill furnace. This was the beginning of it all. Centuries later, alchemists would talk about Li Jie’s unbelievable achievements in advancing the world of alchemy. He would shake the world with his alchemical prowess. Here’s where the story all began... or so the elder thought.

As soon as Li Jie’s flames touched the ingredients, he suddenly felt another entity take over his own flames. They went berserk, burning all the ingredients into nothingness in the blink of an eye, before abruptly returning back to normal.

A mixture of feelings bubbled up in the elder’s heart, but shock was the main one.

‘His flame just incinerated a monster core into nothing! There’s no way that’s even possible, no alchemist can produce flames profound enough to even scratch the core. All we can do is refine its essence...’

Li Jie only felt disappointment in himself, not understanding what he had just done. He looked at grandpa, expecting another set of ingredients to appear. But in return, all he received was horrible news.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Boy, give up alchemy. Your flame is completely incompatible with the way of alchemy.”

“Grandpa, please let me try again!” Li Jie pleaded desperately, “I just didn’t control the temperature right!”

“No, you don’t understand. It’s not a matter of heat or intensity. Your flames operate on a wholly different level! It didn’t look like they affected physical objects, but rather, your fires incinerated the existence of the objects themselves!”

Li Jie sat down, completely shocked and angry at himself. He had pinned so much of his hopes on becoming an alchemist and now he was being told that his innate flames were utterly incompatible with alchemy.

“Don’t be so down boy,” the elder said while stroking his beard, “You may not be able to do alchemy, but I have a feeling this flame can be put to even better use.”

“What do you mean, grandpa?”

“Who knows? That’s something you’ll have to find out yourself. But you are truly one interesting kid...”

His voice trailed off as he suddenly remembered something important.

“That’s right! I’ve got something for you, I guess you could call it a present. Think of it as my gift to you for becoming my disciple.”

Although Li Jie was interested in the present and becoming his disciple, he had to decline since he already had a master.

“My apologies grandpa, but I already have a master...”

“Bah! It’s probably some third-rate cultivator who thinks he’s so strong. I’d wager my right arm that I can beat him with my pinky finger!”

Li Jie awkwardly remained silent, unsure of what to say.

“Whatever, in any case, I will still bring the gift to you. We can settle this silly issue of masters later on!”

With that, he waved his arm, once again wrapping Li Jie in his aura. He took off at high speed back towards the main sect grounds. In a few minutes, they reached the area where Li Jie had originally been abducted. The elder dropped him off and told him one last thing, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened today. I’ll be coming by in the next few days. Farewell my disciple!”

Li Jie just sighed as he watched the beam of light fly away from him. He wasn’t sure how to tell his real master what just happened.

Thinking about today’s events, he wondered about the elder’s true identity. It should be known that outer court elders are not held in high esteem within the sect. Nearly all of them were older cultivators who lacked talent, most of them stuck in the Flowering Realm for their entire lives. One could even say their standing was below that of inner court disciples.

Yet this outer court elder clearly displayed a power of at least the Forging Realm, and considering his flying speed, likely even higher. In addition, he is an alchemist and possessed tremendous knowledge. Why was such a strong cultivator hanging out in the outer court?

Lacking the information necessary to answer his questions, Li Jie set them aside and began walking to a cultivator tower. Despite all the events that had happened today, there was still quite a bit of time left before nightfall came. The main reason he wanted to cultivate was because the quick alchemy lesson had taught him something, and he wished to test out a theory involving the red qi pearl. He also simply wished to meditate to purge the frustration threatening to take over his mind.

-----

Inside a private room on one of the many floors of the tower, Li Jie sat in meditation. His spiritual sense had already locked onto the pearl made up of ultra dense qi. Li Jie had utilized the dense qi to enhance his cultivation at a rapid pace, but instinctively he understood the pearl’s true use was something entirely different.

From the alchemy practice, he realized that his flame and the pearl had a similar nature to them, as if they came from the same source. Pursuing this connection, Li Jie wanted to try creating a refining flame within his dantian and using it on the pearl.

He successfully managed to replicate the flame in his dantian following the same idea behind alchemy. Slowly manipulating the flame, he brought it closer to the pearl. The wisps of the crimson flames danced around the pearl. Suddenly, they surged toward the pearl, engulfing it in a storm of fire.

In a short few seconds, the entire pearl had been consumed by the flames. Normally Li Jie would have panicked from losing the pearl at this point, however, a change was occurring within him. If was as if he had been blind his whole life, and all of a sudden he had gained the gift of vision. To those who have not experienced what Li Jie was experiencing now, it could only be described as an absolutely transcendental feeling. Li jie felt like he had a sixth sense that now could detect the natural laws of the world and how they affected reality. Of course, his untrained mind could not comprehend the data he obtained from his new sense, but he could still watch the laws at work.

Unbeknownst to Li Jie, however, as soon as his dantian flames began consuming the pearl, a profound wave of energy propagated throughout the entire continent, originating from Li Jie himself. The enigmatic energy could not be detected by anyone, even those in the Immortal Realm.

-----

Far away, a single man sat meditating atop a small hill, wild forests creating a lush green expanse that stretched endlessly below him. There was a small clearing near the hill that looked like any other normal forest clearing. But he knew a village of cultivators had hid themselves behind a magical formation in the clearing. This man was the chieftain of the hidden village.

Suddenly, he felt a unique wave of energy coming from the north. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up straight as he recalled the last time felt this sensation.

“It’s been nearly over 20,000 years since the last Dao Awakening,” he said, looking at the sky with a profound gaze, “And he can’t be over 20 years of age, what incredible talent.”

He stood up, lightly brushing off his white robes. Emblazoned across his robe was a familiar flame dragon.

“We’ve been waiting for so long yet we have received no word from the Patriarch's descendent... perhaps it is time to lift the seal on the sect... This Awakening could be a sign of some sorts...”

He began to stroll down the hill, returning to the hidden village. In the Celestial Jade Continent, a mighty sleeping dragon was about to wake from its slumber and thrust the world into conflict once again.