White Swordsman 9

Qi Yuan prepared the basic potion making necessities like a small black old cauldron with clear stains and decay inside it, showing its been used many times. He placed the cauldron near the wooden table.

Next, Qi Yuan filled the cauldron with water and ignited a fire underneath it.

"We need to boil the water first and then we can do the fun stuff," Qi Yuan explained as he set up glass tubes and ingredients across the wooden table.

"Sadly, we don't have the luxury to create magic runes and symbols across the cauldron, which would make this whole potion a lot easier. Why couldn't you be a mage huh?" Qi Yuan commented while Li watched the water slowly begin to boil.

Hearing his sly comment, Li interjected " Didn't you JUST give me a whole lecture about how mages and cultivators can do both sides of alchemy??"

"Yea? Doesn't mean I would object to making this process easier, you know?"

Li just stared at Qi Yuan, completely shocked by this "teachers" behaviour. 'Who is this dude? Is he actually a teacher? Are there more like him!?'

"Okay! Finished setting up everything we need to create a healing potion!" Qi Yuan said, joining Li on watching the water boil.

…

…

…

Yep, just two guys standing around watching water boil...in complete silence.

Qi Yuan didn't care, being patient was a key fundamental of a cultivator, he sat in a meditative position for months without moving an inch. For him, standing water boil was easy and more enjoyable than the grueling and tedious process of cultivation.

However, the same can't be said for Xuan Li, who has never meditated for even a minute. He found watching water boil with Qi Yuan in complete silence awkward!

"Um...so what do you teach in the Academy?" Trying to make some small talk, Li asked Qi Yuan questions to get to know him better.

Glancing at li for a moment "Hm? Right now? Nothing."

Li looked confused and tried to dig deeper "What? I thought you were a teacher?"

"I am a teacher."

"...Then why aren't you teaching anything???"

Qi Yuan crossed his arms while staring deeply at the water. "I used to teach a class called 'Resonate with the sword' but I stopped."

"What was that class about? Why did you stop?" Li continued to bombard Qi Yuan with questions.

"The class was for swordsmen and I basically just taught them stuff about sword techniques and intent. I also provided pointers for individual students with their problems regarding their own sword techniques and the like. Reason I stopped? Because I needed a vacation!"

?????

"What? A vacation?" Li asked in puzzlement.

With his usual bright and mischievous smile "Yep! I worked my butt off for this academy, so I decided to take a vacation. My own cultivation was going stale and I wanted to do other things hehe."

Li decided to stop trying to understand the mindset of this 'teacher' in front of him and went back to watching the water boil.

After a few more minutes of silence, Qi Yuan started to say "So kid, where did you live?"

Since entering Li's dream, Qi Yuan was curious about those weird tall buildings and roads. He didn't recognise anything from Li's dream except maybe a gate but it was way too different from their own gates. It made him curious about Li's origins.

Of course Xuan Li wasn't going to tell him that he came from another world with technology, instead he said "You know, somewhere far away, quite a rural place. You wouldn't know it."

"Uh huh…" Qi Yuan didn't buy Li's words but he could tell there was no point in trying to get information out of him.

*bubble*

The water was finally filled with bubbles and smoke, indicating it was hot.

"Alright. Li give me that flower over there." Qi Yuan said.

Li went over and picked up a pink and purple pattern flower, assuming it was what he wanted and handed it over.

Qi Yuan plucked the petals of the flower, and the petals went around the flower in a pink and purple pattern. He dropped each petal inside the boiling water.

"Okay, now hand me that tube containing that sparkly pink powder."

Li did as he was told and handed the item over.

Qi Yuan sprinkled it all over the cauldron.

Qi Yuan kept asking Li for different things across the table, ranging from different flowers, soils, juices and other weird items that Li had no clue off.

The more Qi Yuan put inside the cauldron, a reaction ensued. The cauldron would puff out big clouds of smoke of a variety of colours, ranging from pink, purple, orange to red.

The longer this potion making was, the more worried Li became. He swore he heard a mini explosion from that cauldron.

Now if it did explode it was whatever because he knew he would be fine. But, he did not want to experience the pain of dealing with an explosion.

Sadly, he was stuck on giving Qi Yuan all the ingredients he needed.

After a while of constant ingredient pouring and sprinkling and a small lightshow from the cauldron, Qi Yuan stopped asking for ingredients and proceeded to stir all the contents in the cauldron with a big stick.

"Phew, this potion is nearly done."

"So, are we good? Have we passed the dangerous part of potion making?"

Qi Yuan began to stir faster, while his other hand produced more fire underneath the cauldron "Nope, I have to now make sure the ingredients blend together safely."

This process took about twenty minutes but unlike creating a pill, it was much less dramatic after adding all the required ingredients. All Qi Yuan did was stir the ingredients while raising the fire or lowering it. At this point, a cultivator would probably be sweating from making a pill of similar properties to a healing potion.

"Mages really do have it quite easy huh? They have magic for convenient use and their alchemy is much easier to get into for making low tier potions. I wonder if they have an automated alchemy system made with their magic." Qi Yuan commented as he stirred.

Li was thinking that Qi Yuan's control and knowledge of what's needed suggests that he must have studied the mage's alchemy. 'Is this the other thing he wanted to do that he spoke off? Why, though?' He pondered to himself.

"It's done! The healing potion is a success!"