Chapter 143 - The Path to Pills

The inside of Alchemist Ma Xiaohua's shop was much more conventional in design than the exterior of the building. Several rows of shelves holding innumerable drawers filled much of the available space. Neatly labeled remedies for everything from the common cold to eye drops that enhanced a person's vision on the dark were ready made and felt fresh enough to Ao Wen's trained senses to imply that Alchemist Ma did brisk business for common items. Behind the counter, even more shelves and drawers held a collection of rare components that could be used to concoct a wide variety of elixirs and pills on demand. Clearly, the Alchemy Consortium placed greater importance on Lantern City than they did on Turning Leaf, just from a brief glance at the inventory Ao Wen could see that the wealth invested in keeping it supplied was an order of magnitude greater than what she'd seen at home. Either that or Alchemist Wai Dan and his apprentices had mismanaged things in Turning Leaf very badly to have such a meager supply of components for concoction. 

"Have a seat," Alchemist Ma said, gesturing at a small table next to a window overlooking the garden. True to his duties as an Initiate, Hu Fan had set out not only a tea set in fine jade but a number of small cakes topped with sugary nuts and crisp pickled radish cut into thin strips for snacking while the two alchemists spoke. "I hope you'll pardon the rather ordinary tea, I never developed a taste for more refined tea and I entertain seldom enough that it's never felt worth the effort to maintain a collection of things that cater to more refined palettes." 

"Believe it or not, I come from fairly humble origins," Ao Wen said. "Sometimes, simple things are the best." 

"I'm glad. Now, tell me what brings you to my humble door," Ma Xiaohua asked, leveling an appraising one eyed gaze at Ao Wen. "Simple business or something more?" 

"A little bit of everything," Ao Wen said honestly. "First, I wanted to see if the Alchemy Consortium would have any issue with me providing my services in concoction and healing on a private basis. I have no intentions of setting up shop in Lantern City," she explained quickly before the other woman could object. "I just don't want to move about with my hands tied by Consortium rules."

"What services are you intending to provide," Alchemist Ma asked. "And to whom? Depending on your answer, there may be room for exceptions to be made."

"I'm skilled in Manipulation, Acupuncture and Custom Concoction of Elixirs," Ao Wen explained honestly, having learned from Wai Dan's apprentice Wu Lin that these were services usually only available from senior Independent Alchemists and Alchemy Masters, she felt that there would be opportunities in Lantern City that wouldn't encroach on My Xiaohua's business. "I'm sure that Alchemist Ma knows how quickly conducting research and practice for an exam can burn a hole in a person's funds. I'm not looking to disrupt anything but I've set a goal of taking the Independent Alchemist exam by next winter."

"Setting aside the matter of the services you're offering," the older Alchemist said, sincerely doubting that the young man before her could do what he claimed. "For an early-stage Novice to claim that they'll take the Independent Alchemist exam within a year, don't you think you're overestimating your capabilities a bit?"

"Honestly, I don't think it will be long before I recover back to being a middle-stage novice," Ao Wen said, sipping her tea and allowing the misunderstanding about her gender to go unchallenged. It was better for both her and Feng Xi if people assumed that she was a delicate young man rather than another woman who would be an easy target for unscrupulous men. "I've been studying for the Independent Alchemist exam for some time already and the flame control technique I've been practicing since I was an Initiate is a Master grade technique. What I need isn't a path forward but the resources to practice."

"I see," Alchemist Ma said, sipping her tea and nibbling on a bit of radish to give herself time to think. If the young man in front of her had suffered a cultivation regression then he was correct that recovering his cultivation would be faster than breaking through for the first time. She'd originally taken him for a youth not more than sixteen or seventeen years old but if he was actually in his early twenties and had awakened at thirteen, it wasn't impossible to have come close to becoming a late-stage Scholar before suffering whatever injury had regressed his cultivation. "So, have you come to me to purchase Pill Seeds? You're not my apprentice for me to spend so many hours on partial refinements for someone else without charging a hefty price," she said, her remaining eye narrowing sharply. 

"I don't need Pill Seeds," Ao Wen said with a shake of her head. A Pill Seed formed the core of any pill an alchemist wished to concoct and each one took a tremendous amount of energy to form. Low quality pill seeds could be made in batches and used for common pill recipes which were frequently the ones that appeared on an Independent Alchemist's exam. It wasn't until much later that pill recipes demanded unique and specific ingredients and processes for the refinement of the pill seed and for now, that kind of concocting was well beyond Ao Wen's reach. "I have my own recipes for pill seeds, but I'll need supplies in bulk for the number of refinements I'll be undertaking."

"You think that you can refine a pill seed without first breaking through to become an Independent Scholar?" Alchemist Ma said in disbelief. "Pills aren't as easy to concoct as Elixirs. You have to master energy compression, timed and layered release of energies, meridian cleansing and ingredient purification to a level unlike anything you've done for a simple elixir. Most people don't take the Independent Alchemist exam for at least two years after breaking through to the third-stage but you think that you'll be able to make pills immediately after breaking through? What gives you that confidence?"

"This," Ao Wen said with a hint of a dark smile forming at the corner of her lips as she passed over a small jade vial. "The contents are volatile but safe to consume."

Ma Xiaohua took the bottle from Ao Wen's hand delicately, removing the stopper and peering into the contents with all of her senses. Instantly, the raging aura of flame and destruction assaulted her senses but the more she peered into the delicate balance of elements, each reinforcing and restraining the other, the more impressed she grew with the concoction. "You made this? Where did you find the recipe for it?" Alchemist Ma couldn't help but ask. 

"Not only did I concoct that, it's my own original recipe, though I acknowledge that I had considerable help from both my Senior Sister and my Master," she said with a mix of pride and humility. "My cultivation might be lacking to form full pills," she continued, "but I've made pill seeds for my seniors in the past."

"I see," Ma Xiaohua said thoughtfully, placing the stopper back on the bottle and passing it back to Ao Wen. If this young man was already so capable, perhaps he truly could succeed where she had failed. If that was true then the man who took half the sight of the world away from her might just be grateful enough to give back what he had taken! "I think," she finally said, firmly reigning in her eagerness, "that you and I might just be able to come to an arrangement," she said with a smile.