1 All children dream of their future
In Li Changs life there was a memory of a beautiful spring evening in the capital more than 20 years ago. The weather was pleasant, neither too hot nor too cold, and the sun was just beginning to set, casting the whole capital in a beautiful fiery golden glow. His life was a great deal better then, so full of hope and joy, much better than his current miserable regret filled existence. He could still remember people walking on the streets at this time, moving from shop to shop or on their way to one of the many beautiful restaurants the capital was known for. There were also plenty of other people with no agenda, just walking along the streets taking in the beautiful atmosphere of the capital. It was a picture perfect evening and it seemed no one wanted to do anything to disrupt the tranquility of this scene. If there was a small exception to this peaceful evening it would be the light shout from a servant who was trying to catch up to his young master.
"Young master! Young master please slow down!" shouted the old servant who was trying to catch up to a child who was moving farther and farther away from him.
This child was 7 year old Li Chang; and he wasn't trying to get away or make things difficult for this servant. He was just focused on his own excited thoughts and he hadn't even noticed that he was increasing the gap between himself and the old servant. On this evening Li Chang remembered holding his head up a little higher than usual with an obvious sparkle in his eye and light purposeful haste filled steps. He was also completely lost in his own thoughts. This situation is not unusual for a child of almost 8 like himself. However the reason for the look on his face and bounce in his step was actually very important. Li Chang had finally made a decision on his future life path. He had just witnessed an alchemist preforming a pill concocting exhibition and he now knew that he wanted to be an alchemist. In fact, he knew he was going to be the greatest alchemist of all time. At least those were the thoughts in his 7 year old mind.
There was actually, a reason for his confident belief in this seemingly impossible dream, and that was because he had his own unique talent. A talent he had accidently discovered for himself 2 years earlier and had since kept as a secret known only to himself. That seemingly insignificant talent was, that he could sense the true nature of things and could instantly tell how they functioned. It was a peculiar talent that he had originally thought would be almost useless. He now realized that it was the most perfect talent for an alchemist to have. It didnt matter what it was, a plant, rock, metal, animal, and It didnt matter if it was the whole thing or even if it was only a part. He just seemed to have a feeling about whatever it was. He somehow naturally understood how they each functioned, in themselves, in their environment and even together. He didn't know how he knew. Was it the smell? The look? The energy he perceived from things? Merely a guess? or was it all of them together? it didn't matter he could just tell.
It was back in the countryside at his familys old residance before his father got promoted and they moved to the capital. Li Chang was outside playing and lost track of time. He also lost the mountain path he had been playing near. He was lost and the night was closing quickly in around him. He was tired, completely exhausted and was starting to get cold but the worst thing was the fear he was begining to feel. It was only after he found shelter in a hollow tree trunk and prepared himself mentally for spending the night out in the wild that he realized just how hungry he was.
"Great im going to starve AND freeze to death. Yup, that's right I'm probably going to die here" he remembered thinking to himself.
He wasn't actually that weak and spoiled but due to him feeling sorry for himself he was getting a little meladramatic. As he hunkered down in the tree he noticed a vine and some moss attached to the base of the trunk. He also noticed a specific grass growing by the river near by. He had a realization and a crazy idea. He thought if he combined those items with the blue winter lotus and weird root he found at the top of the mountain and added a little water from the river it might help his situation. He was somehow sure that it would sate his hunger, revitalize a little bit of his energy and even warm him up. He didnt know how he could tell this or even if it would really work. But he was looking for anything to grasp onto in this situation any hope to get him through the night. Li Chang was really regretting sneaking out today and in throws of his desperation he decided to just try it. Maybe it will be his salvation and maybe not but he wanted to do something. Anything was better than sitting there hungry and frozen in the stupid log in the stupid mountains.
After making his decision and gathering the ingredients, he didnt know what else to do and so he directly ate them. He knew if his theroy was right that even if there were better ways to prepare it and better ways to take it, that just eating it would still work somewhat. It tasted terrible and while he was originally disappointed in the taste and the thought that he had been wrong, he actually realized that he was right. It was working and he was incredibly excited. He now thought that he was not going to die out here. Probably.
He didn't die and this was how he accidently discovered his talent. It was that simple.
His family didnt have a lot of access to pills and potions. Even what they did have would not go to him because he was too young to use them at the time. And with no real access to any alchemists where he lived, he never knew if there was any application for his gift. So he decided to just keep it to himself. However, with his curiosity, even while he kept it a secret he expereminted with his ideas many times over the next year with great results. That was of course until his father got promoted and they moved to the capital.
It wasnt that he lost the desire to experiment; His family became more obsesed with their status as a minor officials family and as the only son, Li Chang needed to begin preparing to apply for entry into one of the capital's 3 great schools. Which he could only do when he turned 8. Even now at 7 years old, he needed to make the right kinds of friends and connections for his future. This particular afternoon however, had changed his life. While he was on his way back from his friends house he saw that pill exhibition and finally knew his purpose. He needed to get home and tell his parents that he had decided to go to the capitals School of Alchemy.
When he got home he hurridly told his mother of his decision before she could even scold him for running away from their old servant. Naturally once she heard the news she had been waiting for(that her son had finally picked a school) she no longer even had the desire to scold. Instead she joyfully began to arrange for a tutor to come and begin teaching her "good son".
He remembered that his mother was actually pregnant at this time. His family had 3 children at the moment, himself his older sister and his younger sister. As the only son (so far) it was the hope of his family that he would do well in school so he could eventually get a good position and secure his family in the capital. That meant, the matter of a tutor needed to be done as soon as possible.
It was still a few months until he turned 8 and could try to apply for entry into the School of Alchemy. He was spending every day diligently studying with his tutor. Naturally he didnt tell his tutor about his special gift. The reason was that he wanted to surprise his parents when he became the greatest alchemist ever so of course he needed to keep it secret. Doing so would make the surprise even more of a surprise.
When his 8th birthday was only a few weeks away, he was sitting in his work room one night after his tutor had already gone to bed and began concocting a pill. This was actually not too unusual. Kids began cultivating [beginner cultivation techniques] at around 5 years old. Since he was almost 8 he had a pretty good grasp on his cultivation. Li Chang wasn't what one would consider a genius, but his cultivation was quick and solid none the less. It was more than sufficient to attempt to concoct this kind of no-rank pill. In fact he had been making these pills out of normal ingredients for a while now.
This was a new recipe he had never tried before. According to his calculations this pill would completely solidify his current peak 6th tier qi gathering cultivation realm. The realm which he had just achieved. In this world every child was born with their bodies completely refined so the qi gathering realm was the first realm and kids could cultivate it. Li Chang had done this sort of thing several times already so he was confident that even with a new recipe he could control the process and it would be fine. His cultivation would go up and once again surprise his family and his tutor. So with great excitement he began concocting.
