“So… these are the pills you say?” Granny Lang said, picking up one of the Qi crystals as she inspected it. “Sure, doesn’t look it to me. Though its definitely got Qi in it.”
“Yup, that’s the Qi crystal. I’d expected it to be like ice, but it’s more like rock candy, except not sweet. I made a batch with some sugar too, which seems to crystalise the liquid Qi faster, but also drops the purity a good bit,” I said, popping one of the Qi crystals on my mouth. The crystal fizzled, melting as it fizzed into nearly pure Qi that rushed through my body all at once, giving me a brief Qi high.
“Almost too much like a drug now,” I murmured, as Granny stood around, still holding the Qi crystal as she shone it against the sunlight coming in through the window. Yin stood behind Granny, and I handed her one of the sugar Qi crystals as well. I almost felt like a grandma handing out candy. I’d have to keep this entire batch hidden from all my spirit, or they may very well become true addicts.
“C-can I eat this?” she asked, looking down at the Qi crystal in her hand.
“Yup, it’s sweet, and not really harmful in anyway. Should be like a fizzy sweet if anything,” I said.
Yin nodded, before slowly putting the Qi crystal on her tongue. A moment later he eyes widened and I smiled. “S-sweet! Too sweet,” she said, as the Qi crystal melted in her mouth.
“This boy uses sugar like its sand. First that cake thing for Zhang, and now this. You’ve got a problem, boy,” the granny said with a snort.
I ignored her comments on my totally non-existent sugar addiction, looking at her. “So, what do you say?”
“It’s got promise, I’ll admit,” the granny said, popping the crystal into her mouth. “Better than any Qi gathering pill I’ve ever seen, that’s for sure.”
A grin spread on my face at the granny’s words.
“But. There seems to be frost Qi mixed in with this. Will be annoying to clear for anyone who doesn’t use a rare Qi like that,” she added.
I nodded. “It’s the first batch, I hardly expected it to be perfect. I’ll be trying to find alternate cooling methods and refining my current one. But even so, it works! I’d been worried because the logic was very simple. Qi can inhabit, solids, and liquids. So surely, it could be evaporated and then condensed? So I thought of using that to just take out as much pure Qi as I could, and it worked!” I exclaimed, feeling my excitement giving my shivers. I felt like I could run a marathon right now.
“Calm down boy. There’s no saying a mortal can even make it. Sure, in theory, but theory isn’t reality,” the Granny said.
I nodded. “I’m aware. I’ll work on refining the process, but this precisely why I asked for your help,” I said, setting the tray full of Qi crystals down, before I picked up the scroll I’d created for the granny, and presented it to the old woman.
“This has the creation procedures, the logic on how it works, and what methods I used for my process. I’ve got a slightly adjusted version for mortals too.”
Granny took the scroll, unfurling it, as she began to go through the process. I watched her read in silence, waiting for her to respond.
I tapped my foot, feeling jittery as the granny read through, redoing certain sections as I studied her expression carefully.
“Hmm. This is pretty… strange. But I think I understand how you’re working this. Have you tried mixing the water you get into a new batch of spirit herbs and crushing them with that. Then you’ve got a new paste and can redo the cooling once again. Repeat that couple of times, till you know at which point you can’t do it anymore, and then freeze?” the granny said.
I grabbed the scroll, reading through my notes, as I tried to picture the changes. “That’s… brilliant. I should be able to shoot up the purity to 80-90% at a minimal increase in processing time. Let’s say if I do it in three iterations. Instead of new herbs, if I get a press, I can probably even take the first and second batch, press tell till all liquid has been drained and then reuse the same herbs too,” I said, going over the design and mechanics in my head.
“Grind the herbs, get water. Squeeze, boil again, and then you have pure Qi crystals,” the granny said, looking at me.
I nodded. “If I get multiple villagers, this could be an assembly line. Get herbs, grind them in fixed batch sized based on the capacity of the boiler. Run the iteration. White that’s happening, grind the next batch. The herbs come out, get squeezed, and put in again, before being sent to the cooling area. By then, more herbs have been crushed and are ready for processing,” I said, imagining an almost factory like setting. If I had modern industries present here, the process could likely be automated completely, creating Qi crystals en masse.
Quickly, I began to gather my thoughts. “Alright, we need to get more frost lilies, create a cooling chamber, better tools for the distillation chamber, an entirely new boiler instead of a cauldron, all of which will need to have tests run for it. Which will need people, and engineers. The current version is far too inefficient compared to what it could be,” I said, frowning.
“But it’s good enough for the lord, no?” The Granny said.
“It should be,” I replied. “But I need someone who isn’t a cultivator to make this for it to really be viable.”
“Guess that’s what she’s here for, eh?” Granny Lang said, glancing at Yin.
The girl straightened her posture upon being mentioned. “I-I’ll do my best,” Yin replied, glancing nervously around.
“Relax, it’s going to be alright. No explosions this time either, and I’ll be here to guide you,” I said to Yin, before I folded the scroll in my hand, and gave it to Granny.
“I’ll be relying on you to create a written version of this that I can present to the Lord,” I told Granny Lang.
“Tch, you sure love to make this old woman work, don’t you? That old bastard sure dumped a lazy apprentice on me,” the granny grumbled.
“It’s because you’re just that amazing,” I said with a laugh.
“Enough flattery. I’ll do it. But understand that something like this will not go unnoticed in the empire for long child. You’re starting something big here. Now that this exists in the world, just the idea that mortals can do Alchemy? It’s… not going to be taken kindly by the halls.”
“I always knew there would be resistance granny. But that only means that the cause is worth fighting for. This is knowledge with the power to the change the world. I’m not going to sit on it, because I was too afraid. But I also won’t just jump into the fire. It’s why I’m handing this over to the Lord. And in return, I obtain his power and protection. This is far from the end of everything that I want to do,” I said.
The granny looked into my eyes, holding her gaze for a moment. Slowly, she closed her eyes, the wrinkles on her face turning deeper, as she sighed. “Always remember, it’s not just your life you’re responsible for.”
I nodded at the old granny’s words, as she walked out of the chamber.
I understood her warning. I’d thought over it a thousand times by now. Change, something on the scale I wanted to bring? It caused revolutions. And revolutions were bloody things, even more so in a world where people could punch through mountains.
Taking a deep breath, I set the thought aside. What will happen, will happen. I do not intend to stop walking my path, even if the end goal meant conflict. All I could do was obtain power and ensure my loved ones did not come to harm, as I did.
I felt something in my chest, like a wall breaking. Briefly, I remembered the words from the Lord’s son about integrating my two different paths, but I didn’t linger on the moment.
“Alright, Yin, let’s get you started on some basics,” I said, turning towards the girl.
“Y-yes!” she exclaimed, standing stiffly, and I smiled.
“I’m not going to drill you, it’s okay to relax a bit,” I said, before thinking for a moment before I switched to English.
“What do you know about Distillation?”
“Uhm.. I… remember my grandfather talking about it. Among the many other things. But... I don’t really remember,” Yin replied, her English a lot slower and carefully spoken compared to me.
“That’s fine. In simple terms, it’s a method to separate substances. In our case, we want the Qi present in the spirit herbs, without the roots, leaves, and everything else present in the herbs. So we use water to dissolve the Qi, and extract it in a purer form, by boiling the spirit herbs mixed into water, and then cooling the Qi vapour carried by the steam in a different chamber. With me so far?”
“I-I think so,” Yin replied.
“Good. It’s a simple process. The most important thing you need to watch for is the fire. Flames are the first, and foremost important part of alchemy. It’s the fire that gives energy and breaks down the herbs. Since you are not a cultivator, you won’t be able to control flames with your Qi like I can. Which will make this process a lot harder for you than it was for me. But you’ve got spirit stones, which can still allow you to control the intensity by placing in different amount of Qi crystals.”
“G-got it,” Yin replied, back to the Azure-Jade script, and I smiled, switching back as well.
“Alright, I’m here for any questions, but I think the best method to learn is by practice. You ready?”
“I…” Yin trailed off, her eyes darting around. She let out an ‘eep’ before taking a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“Good, then the cauldron is all yours,” I said, stepping back.
Slowly, hesitantly, Yin walked up the cauldron, standing around for a moment. Seconds passed in silence, and I raised my eyebrow.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Yin turned around, an embarrassed blush on her cheeks. “How… do I light the fire?”
Memories of me asking nearly identical words to the Old Man when I’d started returned to me, making me laugh.
That seemed to embarrass Yin further as her blush deepened. I wanted to clarify, but her expression only made my laughter worse.
Reigning my amusement, in I replied. “Just put a spirit crystal in and it’ll work.”
Yin nodded through her blush, adding the spirit crystal as the flames erupted underneath the cauldron.
I watched Yin work, feeling a strange sensation. The Path of selling drugs was still a long one, yet I felt satisfied at the progress I’d made as I walked on it.