Alchemy Aptitude

The sedan chair gently swayed from left to right as they traveled through the forest.

Lei Mingxing and Chang Liuyun's expressions darkened with every meter they left behind them, but Suan Bian didn't seem to notice. He just fawned over Lei Mingxing as boldly as ever, flaunting his wealth and strength as Lei Mingxing feined a smile and nodded along awkwardly.

"How come you aren't saying anything? I would love to hear your beautiful voice again."

Suan Bian playfully winked at Lei Mingxing and she felt like slapping him in the face right then and there.

Chang Liuyun hurried to defuse the situation as he was definitely the better actor of the two.

"Ah, you have to excuse my sister, Young Master. She is just really shy, haha...," he laughed dumbly, but there was not a hint of a smile in his bright blue eyes.

Suan Bian nodded in understanding, flashing Lei Mingxing an, in his eyes, even more dashing smile.

This girl really knew how to rouse his interest! Such a tempting appearance and voice but she was shy? What an intriguing combination!

A chill ran down Lei Mingxing's spine the moment his 'secret' lascivious gaze fell on her.

"Are you cold?"

Lei Mingxing's shudder didn't go unnoticed and Suan Bian quickly took the opportunity to curry favor. With a snap of his fingers, a small flame with a soft green hue jumped up, floating in the sedan chair and slightly increasing the temperature.

Suan Bian expectantly looked at Lei Mingxing, having granted her 'desire'.

"... thank you," Lei Mingxing whispered, trying her best to keep up the shy appearance Chang Liuyun had talked about, even though she felt the whole situation to be utterly hateful.

In spite of Lei Mingxing's real feelings, Suan Bian was happy to show her his charming side, wholly satisfied as he leaned back on the sedan chair's wall.

"You are both cultivators, right?"

Suan Bian asked with a relaxed expression, hoping to continue the conversation. The two people opposite him only nodded briefly.

"So, what's your element? As you just saw, my element is fire. If you told me yours, maybe I could arrange something..."

Lei Mingxing and Chang Liuyun froze. They looked at Suan Bian for a moment, debating whether to tell the truth or not. But after considering what they knew about Suan Bian, both realized that it would be better to be honest than try to change the subject or divert his attention when he had already asked them so directly.

So, even though he was unwilling, Chang Liuyun opened his mouth to answer.

"We are both fire cultivators."

Suan Bian's eyes brightened at his words.

"Really?", he exclaimed, "What a surprise! That means we're all cultivators of the same element..., maybe it's fate?"

He playfully winked at Lei Mingxing once again.

"Speaking of which, as fire cultivators, have you tried your hand at alchemy yet?"

Chang Liuyun and Lei Mingxing both shook their heads, but Suan Bian wasn't even looking at them. He just touched the silver bracelet that was wrapped around his wrist and almost instantly a relatively small cauldron appeared out of seemingly thin air.

"Here, this is a travel cauldron, it's not as good as the stationary ones, but it's enough to test your aptitude."

Along with the cauldron a few small bundles of herbs appeared.

"How about you try it first?"

Suan Bian addressed Lei Mingxing while freeing the seat next to him, motioning her to sit there.

Lei Mingxing almost couldn't restrain her disgust but still changed seats, now uncomfortably close to Suan Bian.

Satisfied that his ploy had worked, Suan Bian began to give Lei Mingxing the necessary instructions.

With more physical contact than needed, of course, sticking to her side and brushing her ample chest 'accidentally' while demonstrating.

By now, Lei Mingxing felt thoroughly disgusted and couldn't wait for the moment she would be able to return to her original spot.

So, following Suan Bian's instructions, Lei Mingxing stretched out her arm, hovered her hand right above the cauldron's opening, and sprinkled in the herbs she should refine.

Along with the herbs, Lei Mingxing also passed a small flame inside.

The next step was to burn away everything except the herbs' innate Qi and medicinal properties, after that you should use what's left and condense it into a pill or at least liquid.

Lei Mingxing carefully controlled her fire to make contact with the herbs.

She didn't think that this whole refining process would be too different from when she refined metals, so she didn't think too much about it. Simply waiting for a row of familiar spots to appear before her inner eye.

But the moment the fire made contact with the herbs, the only thing that remained of them was ash.

There had been no chance for Lei Mingxing to stop the process or intervene in any way, it was much too quick for her catch. From one moment to the next there was nothing left of the herbs.

Stunned, Lei Mingxing withdrew her Qi.

"Did you fail?", Suan Bian asked in surprise, he hadn't expected her to finish this fast, "Do you want to try again?"

Lei Mingxing nodded briskly and Suan Bian handed her another bundle of herbs.

She tried again, dropping the herbs into the cauldron, conjuring an even smaller flame, and restraining the fire as much as she could.

Foosh!

The herbs disintegrated from one second to the next and despite Lei Mingxing's best efforts, she couldn't do anything to stop it.

A bit depressed, Lei Mingxing withdrew her hand from the cauldron.

"Did you fail again?"

Lei Mingxing nodded at Suan Bian's question but didn't leave him any chance to 'comfort' her, quickly returning to her original seat as Chang Liuyun looked at her slightly puzzled.

"That's too bad," Suan Bian sighed, with real regret in his voice as he watched Lei Mingxing slip away.

He was just about to remove the cauldron with a wave of his hand, but Lei Mingxing noticed his actions and quickly stopped him.

"Now it's my... brother's turn, isn't it?"

She didn't succeed in refining the herbs but there was no telling if Chang Liuyun would be the same.

Also, everything that could annoy Suan Bian without creating any real animosity between them was a win in her book.

Suan Bian halted, for the first time a bit of impatience appeared on the proud young master's face, but he quickly hid it.

"Sure... Here, you just have to do the same thing as your sister."

Suan Bian didn't bother explaining the whole process again just for Chang Liuyun, simply passing him the cauldron and herbs.

Chang Liuyun looked at the herbs and the cauldron in his hands a bit doubtfully. Actually, he hadn't really expected to get a turn. It was clear as day that his whole 'aptitude test' was just a ruse for Suan Bian to get closer to Lei Mingxing, her 'brother' probably wasn't part of that plan.

But, now that it had come to it, there was no way Chang Liuyun would refuse this chance. Although he didn't think that anything would come from it, his fire Qi wasn't that impressive compared to Lei Mingxing's or even Jing Jiang's.

What puzzled him, however, was the fact that Lei Mingxing hadn't been able to refine the herbs, even though she did something similar every day in the forge with Jing Jiang from what he had heard.

This diminished his hope even further as he didn't think he stood any chance if even Lei Mingxing couldn't do it.

Anyway, there was nothing for him to lose by trying.

With that thought, the slightly disheartened Chang Liuyun dropped the herbs inside the cauldron, along with some of his Qi.

He casually opened his spiritual sense and looked inside the cauldron.

Immediately, it felt like a force was sucking him in, not leaving him any room for struggle as it drowned him in different impressions and sensations like a tidal wave during a storm.

It was simply overwhelming.

Chang Liuyun wasn't able to manipulate his Qi to refine the herbs no matter how hard he tried.

He couldn't, it was already hard enough to stay focused so he would be able to withdraw his senses from the cauldron again.

But he didn't really need to control his inner Qi.

Almost automatically it began to burn away the waste on the herbs, only leaving their innate Qi and medicinal properties.

Soon, the latter parts started revolving around each other, mixing together into a soft paste before condensing into four small pills.

With four short 'plop!' sounds, the pills flew out of the cauldron and landed directly in Chang Liuyun's palm.

""...""

Stunned silence.

Nobody said anything, too shocked to move their agape mouths.

Especially Suan Bian who had an extremely silly expression on his face, Lei Mingxing noted in satisfaction.

She was the first to break through the shock and turned to look at Chang Liuyun with a wide smile on her face.

The latter was also in a daze, looking at the small pills resting in his hand.

It was at the moment all of the pills exited the cauldron that Chang Liuyun was able to break free. But unbeknownst to him, the next surprise was already waiting for him.

He stared at the pale green pills in his hand.

His mouth was dry as he swallowed.

He, he did it?

And it hadn't been difficult in the slightest..., no, rather, he would describe it as almost...

Refreshing?

It was strange, after separating his senses from the cauldron, nothing of the initial confusion was left, instead, he felt so focused and clear-headed like never before in his life.