Helping and Refusal 

Morning soon came, and Amir left the village of spikes on horseback and went straight for the fire-bird base.

...…..

Meanwhile, Frank was cooped up in the library reading and learning about herbs. It had been three days and there had been no news from the old man. Frank had asked the maid and she said it was impossible to see the old man without a whole lot of luck or else he summons you

Frank did nothing but read and train his body after what happened and the conditioning from cadet knuckles. Frank started training his body every day and would also practice the fire-bird dance.

This morning, Frank had just finished his morning workout when the old man appeared in front of him.

"Young man, you are quite determined. I can hear your training noises from inside my chambers," said the old man.

"Do you have any idea what you sound like?" Added the old man

Frank bowed his head in shame. He was making a lot of noise.

"Come, come with me I want to concoct another batch of pills. Here is a list of herbs. Go to the maid her name is may and ask her to bring you to the ordinary garden and meet me in the alchemy room," said the old man.

The old man then disappeared.

Frank looked stunned. He had wanted to ask the old man about the situation of his parents and Wang Ben, but the old man just disappeared like that. He was surely dodging

But Frank had no choice but to stand up and go find the maid. He was excited to use his new knowledge, so he ran towards the underground garden.

The underground garden and the ordinary garden are two different places.

When he walked in, he immediately noticed the maid; they had talked a little over the last few days, so they were familiar with each other.

"Senior may, the old man..." Frank was about to tell her when she cut him off

"I know what he said. He has this habit of telling everyone when he wants to concoct pills," she said.

"The common garden right?" said may

Her name was may

Quite a large number of people in the southern part of northern wei had such names

they were commoner names his name was also that of a commoner

the igneous people of southern wei would usually bear names like Wang, Yun, Lin feng.

They were nobility in the southern part of northern wei

"Okay, come with me," she added.

She got up and we left the underground garden and walked for a good 5 minutes. Soon we saw rays of sunlight; it was the tunnel to the outside world.

Frank felt the intense warmth of the sun on his skin. He quickly laid down flat on the dirty ground and rolled around.

The maid was also engrossed in the sight of the sun.

"Are you done? Where is the list he gave to you? " She asked.

"It's over here," said Frank. He then reached into his pocket and brought out the paper and handed it over to May.

"Oh, okay, this should be simple then," said May

"With all the reading you've been doing for the past few days, I believe you must know how to tell them apart, young master," said May.

"Senior, please stop calling me young master; I am only a candidate," Frank said.

"But I do believe I can identify these herbs easily."

"The purple nut tree moss"

"green waterlily"

"red spicy monkey fruit."

...

"I think that we got them all," said Frank.

"Let me see," said May.

Frank asked, "Say, do you know what pill he wants to concoct?"

"Looking at the ingredients, he probably wouldn't be the one concocting them because they are too ordinary," said May.

"What do I hope he isn't expecting me to concoct anything?" asked Frank in a panic.

"Probably not. I don't think he has taught you anything about pills, has he?" asked may

"Well not really, but you never know with that crazy old man," said Frank. Frank was now having cold feet. It was one thing to stand there and toss rocks into a fire. It was a completely different thing to actually concoct pills.

They both walked back into the cave opening while chatting.

"Hey kid, you've got a lot of guts. You kept this old man waiting for so long," said the old man.

"Oh, don't tell me you have a little something for little May over here," added the old man.

May looked unmoved; she was already used to the old man's sharp remarks.

"Kid, let me tell you, May is very single. I can give her to you if you like," said the old man.

"This time, she couldn't help but fume was was much older than frank. Even though she looked young The old man had no morals at all." May thought as she sneered at him

"That's enough, old man, you promised to look into my parents' problem," Frank hurriedly said.

"You are always in such a rush. Come sit next to this old man. Let me introduce you to someone," said the old man.

"This is sparrow. He is my discipline. Today he will be making some pills. The heart cleansing pill is an elementary pill, but it will be hard for him, so help him out with some coal," said the old man.

Frank turned around and saw Sparrow standing in a corner of the alchemy room. He had a nervous look in his eyes but a smile on his face, but that smile couldn't fool Frank.

"Come, sparrow, take a seat."

"Frank the coal, use the ordinary ones this time; the others are quite expensive," said the old man.

Frank walked over and sat down next to the old man, and Sparrow walked over and sat down next to him.

"Begin," said the old man.

Sparrow then started using hand gestures.

Suddenly, a fire sparked and the cauldron was lit.

"Good control," the old man said.

Sparrow then started muttering some words while in a praying posture.

The old man could only look on with a smile.

Frank continued putting coal into the fire and Sparrow continued concocting the pill.

The flame went up and down; sometimes it would be chaotic, sometimes it would be calm. Although he made a few mistakes, he would rectify them immediately.

Frank only watched with patience.

The old man suddenly frowned and Frank noticed, it seemed like sparrow had made a fatal mistake and the refinement was about to fail.

I began to step back slowly.

Sparrow narrowed his eyes. He had noticed Frank's actions; he could only sigh. He had made a mistake and he knew it too.

"Move," the old man said.

Sparrow had failed. The pills were useless now.

Sparrow looked down.

"Don't be sad, you will have other chances."

Frank come, said the old man, "tell me, do you know what pill concocting is?"

"No, I don't think so," said Frank.

"Pill refinement is basically using herbs and fire to create magical pills to strengthen one's self and become strong," said sparrow.

Frank looked at him and frowned. He didn't know how to refine pills, but even he knew that it was definitely more complex than that.

The old man sighed. He looked disappointed. The boy was really lacking and his worldview was limited.

"The act of alchemy is an art, one that requires a being to change the 10 thousand things of creation to change their composition, pill refinement is a branch of alchemy, but pill refinement has to do with plant life. Some really strong pill refiners can also refine other strange things.

To refine, one must use the purest form of energy and matter, "FIRE."

They are also different types of fire, but that is a little too advanced for you.

And fire must be channeled using something, and that is where coal comes in.

The different types of coal we have here are

"black coal"

"pitch black coal"

"red coal"

All these types of coal were formed naturally in nature. "

...….

That's it for today." the old man said

"Wait elder, can you lecture about cultivation?" Frank suddenly asked.

"What do you need to learn that for?" asked the old man.

"To become one of the strong," said Frank righteously.

"Is that why you think people cultivate?" asked the old man.

"Of course," said Frank.

"You're wrong," said the old man.

"How?" asked Frank.

"You'll have to figure that out yourself," said the old man.

"But...." Before Frank could finish, the old man had disappeared.

"If you listen to everything that old man said, you won't get anything done. He is strong, that is the reason he says it is not important," said sparrow.

"It's like asking a rich man if money is important. He'll naturally say something cheesy like love is what matters the most," sparrow said.

"You have to find your own reason for cultivation; if not, you will never become a cultivator."

Frank looked up in thought Although they had different views, they both essentially said the same thing: I would need to look into myself for the reason I want to cultivate, and only then would my state of mind allow me to cultivate optimally.

Frank sighed and left the room. When he stepped out, he suddenly realized that the old man had run away again. He then screamed, "Sly old man!"

<quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>

<quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>