Anything but a Cultivator

The next day dawned clear and bright. Going about his normal daily routine, Chún slowly realised that many of his routine chores had suddenly become unnecessary. When he went to add Essence and water to his vegetables and Essence herb growing plot, for example, he realised that the new Manifestation was already supplying a very high amount of Essence to the garden plot.

As for water, not only was the concentration of Water Essence high enough - along with all the other types - to produce bright blue Water Element motes, he spotted the tiny flying additions to the clearing hauling tiny containers of water from the stream that ran through the clearing back to the vegetable and herbs plot.

He did not need to hunt or look for new herbs to sell ether. That left collecting the overnight deposits from the 'saltpan' and refiling it from the spring and preparing more clay for additional pottery. He needed some medium sized regular pots as the smaller bowls he had been storing salt and other minerals were almost full - and he wanted to make ones with lids this time, to help prevent loss and damage from wind and dampness.

After dealing with the 'saltpan', he headed leisurely for the creek.

"I am going to get clay, my friend," he told the mountain. "I need to make some basic pots with lids, maybe a few more food bowls - do you have any requests?"

"I would like us to make that cauldron we have been discussing," remarked his locus, "the sooner we have that, the more time we have for you to learn to make basic medicine."

"If I make a cauldron today, it will not be ready until tomorrow. That is seven days to learn to make medicines - is it possible?" asked Chún.

"Some simple ones. I should have shown you how to make a basic decocting pot before this," replied the Mountain with regret colouring the link.

"Well, we can do both today. Maybe it would be easier to start working with a decocting pot first anyway," reassured the young teen. "Does the clay for the cauldron and the decocting pot need to be gathered using Essence, like the clay for Dao pots?"

The Mountain let out an interested hum. "Why do you ask?"

"Hmm, it seems to me that a proper decocting pot or cauldron would be Dao Treasures… so they need to be able to support Dao patterns - and that works best when I use Essence to gather and craft them?" the young teen reasoned out.

"You are correct. I will show you how to shape the decoction pot and the cauldron with Essence illusions. Just follow the guiding lines," instructed his locus.

"Will I need to shape complex sculptures into the cauldron?" Chún asked with some concern as he walked across the creek to the clay with the heaviest Essence content.

The Mountain laughed. "No. Real cauldron, the ones that are prized by alchemists and are true Dao Treasures always start out as completely plain cauldrons - except for the special openings that allow Essence to be injected into the cauldron."

The silvered haired teen stopped as he gathered up one smooth clay ball. "Really? In the stories real Treasure Cauldrons always had elaborate appearances."

"Yes, that is correct. But only fake cauldrons start that way, with an artisan deliberately making their pot look special. A real Treasure Cauldron will develop an elaborate form naturally over time as it is used to successfully concoct items. You can think of it as part of its Cultivation," explained the Mountain.

Chún pulled out a second head sized ball. "That… makes sense," admitted the teen, as he thought. "The best Cauldron in the stories always had their own spirits - oh… are they like you?"

"Yes," admitted the Mountain. "If created and used properly, a Dao Treasure will develop Dao patterns of increasing complexity until it gains the ability to reason and Cultivate deliberately - the very old ones will even develop their own planes or worlds eventually, as I have."

"What about a decoction pot? Would the same thing happen with it?" asked Chún.

"It is not impossible," admitted the Mountain, "But as it is smaller and would be exposed to less powerful ingredients and flame, it is less likely. Unless they are made of, or exposed to exceptionally powerful materials, smaller items do not often gain spirits."

Pulling out another ball of clay, the young True Cultivator nodded. "So what do I need to do?"

---

"Blood mint, water, five-color honey and blood ginseng," recited Chún as he trotted through the forest that he knew like the back of his own hand now. "Are you sure this prescription does not need the decoction pot or cauldron?"

"No, just to be mixed together and left to simmer on a warm fire," responded the mountain, "and you may as well do something productive while the clay stiffens."

"I remember you were talking about learning Creation of inheritances and resources…?" the teenager said nervously as he approached the Essence touched bee-hive he had discovered on his very first day after waking up on the Mountain after the link between himself and his locus was established.

"Relax, with your Cloak the bees will not be able to sting you," soothed the mountain, "as for Creating or Changing the world, everything you have been learning to this point has been leading towards that - you have learnt how to increase Essence in a local area, you have learnt how to manipulate and shape Elements with Essence like Water, Earth, Fire…"

"When did I learn Element shaping?" interrupted Chún as he slowly approached the hive, his Cloak emitting heavy clouds of Essence mist.

"You manipulate the clay, fire and water with your Essence all the time," pointed out the mountain, "You have also learnt how to add different properties to existing things - ice-crack grass, the concealment manifestations. You have learnt how to advance ordinary plants and items into Treasures or Essence plants and herbs. You can even create minor Dao treasures. Put all that together, you can easily create a 'fortunate encounter' - the meditation cave of a dead Cultivator, a thousand year grass, minor dao treasures..."

"I see. I do not know enough to create 'ancient weapons, or mysterious inheritances or secret lands' yet but you mean creating minor lower level 'lucky chances' or just creating and replenishing basic resources," the silver haired Cultivator said with understanding, before focusing his attention on the hive "OK, so how do I gather this honey?"

---

Chún returned to the clearing with two pots full of ingredients. The whole process was very easy, including returning to the Blood mint patch he already knew about and picking up a conveniently growing blood ginseng on his way back - the recent running battle in the forest had left a lot of Essence plants of different types soaking up the Essence-rich blood that had been spilled from Essence Beasts and advancing into 'blood' variants.

The Essence Mist from his Cloak kept the bees from becoming agitated even as it siphoned away a small amount of five-color honey in the hive. As the hive was very large, this translated into a large quantity of the normally very rare and powerful Essence imbued honey. He filled a small pot with almost a sheng of honey by itself and carried the other ingredients in the other pot.

"I will make some fu pots," decided Chún, "and divide some of the honey to sell along with the salt and other minerals. I will add some excess from my vegetable plot too, just to make it less obvious I have so many Essence herbs."

"You realise, if you can sell all these things you have collected, you will be reasonably wealthy?" questioned the Mountain.

"I will probably buy any low level weapons I can find at the market - any low level martial arts and formations. Any plants or spices I cannot find up here - maybe even some sheep or goats for wool and milk? Chickens for eggs… would the Heaven and Earth Vine mind if they stay in the clearing and eat the grass?" mused the teen.

"Any ordinary animals you bring up here will not stay ordinary if they survive," warned his locus, "but yes, I will ask her. Why would you want Consumer martial arts…? If you can find any down there - which I doubt very much..."

"I was thinking about what you said about creating 'Inheritances'. It seems I am not so good at creating things I know nothing about, but not bad at making improvements to existing things," the teen explained his thought process, "if I can get some examples of even basic weapons, tools, or martial arts manuals, could we not work on them, build on them and improve them enough they could be used as 'ancient weapons' or 'mysterious martial arts'? If we get enough practice we could even make one from scratch."

"You could already," his friend pointed out, "You have learnt Monkey Movement - if you recorded the Movement Dao, it would count as a powerful martial art."

"I do not know how to read and write - orphan, remember? I was never permitted into the village temple with the village children."

The Mountain was silent a moment. "While that was unfortunate, I was not referring to writing it down. I was referring to imbuing a jade with the very Essence of the Movement Dao. I would teach you how, of course."

"Something for another time, perhaps. For now, show me how to make this medicine for internal injuries."

---

Almost a half shi later the mix of ingredients was slowly simmering over the coals in the fire pit in one of the smaller pots. According to the Mountain it had to simmer for at least a shi, so he went back to the stiffened clay and using his Essence manipulation techniques he made a bunch of tiny fu pots for selling honey, salt and other minerals. They all had tiny lids that he hoped would be able to be opened after being fired.

Then he made some more ordinary bowls and plates - although with the amount of Essence involved at this point - they would probably turn out to be unbreakable through normal means even if the Mountain did not do anything special to them during the firing.

Finally, he asked the Mountain, "Show me how to make the Decocting pot, please?"

There was a quiet hum of interest through the link. "The decocting pot is just an ordinary pot with a lid and a very even distribution of clay throughout, not too thick; with a spout for dispensing from the bottom, similar to a teapot.

In our case we want an equal distribution of Essence through the clay - try to push all five types of Essence through when you are forming the pot and I will form the Dao patterns of each element inside the ceramic; I will also balance Yin and Yang in the Dao Patterns of the Element Cycle."

Chún raised an eyebrow. "I will make several decocting pots then. The balance required sounds difficult to perfectly achieve, so I doubt we will manage it the first time. Why is the balance of all elements, Ying and Yang required? Also, will the Dao patterns draw Essence in from the environment, like the plant pots?" The teen started manipulating a ball of clay with Essence, taking care to have a different Essence element of the five coming from each of his fingers.

"In the case of the decocting pots, yes, that is true." agreed the Mountain. "Cauldrons on the other hand isolate, refine and concentrate the ingredients from external Essence and Elements - the only Essence input comes from the alchemist controlling the Essence fires, the ingredients - and the Cauldron itself."

There was a pause before the Mountain continued, "Both a decocting pot and Cauldron must be first created as balanced as possible - for a decocting pot it is so it can draw in whatever Element is needed to assist with the decocting. For a Cauldron, it is so it can sustain the refining and combining of powerful ingredients which can cause very powerful Essence effects."

"But what about pill tribulations," protested the teen as he split the large clay into five equal portions with the five streams of Essence, "in the stories… the Cauldrons always draw in a lot of Essence from the external environment in big tornados of Essence."

"That is for very high level pill formulation. A basic Cauldron, which all true Cauldrons begin as, would be destroyed by such a pill refinement," answered the Mountain, "ideally, a Cauldron should advance with the Alchemist. As the Alchemist attempts more and more complex recipes then the Cauldron becomes a partner add its own abilities to the process and advancing with each success or failure.

The mountain gave a feeling of confusion. "Very old treasure Cauldrons have Advanced to a point where they appear very elaborate as an outward manifestation of the higher level Dao Patterns and Manifestations they have incorporated into themselves and can, do and in some cases must - siphon additional Essence from the environment to complete a formulation."

Chún frowned, sweating. This manipulation was difficult as he had to form the shape and separate the types of Essence out through each finger and thumb. Also, "You felt confused there. Is there a problem?"

There was a pause and then the Mountain sighed. "I have been looking through the memories of the Land. Apparently, some Consumers somewhere worked out how to make artificial 'Cauldrons'. They forge or build the cauldron in such a way that it can handle Pill formulations up to a certain level; then it breaks if a Pill formulation exceeds the Cauldron's limits. The Cauldron does not have any living Manifestations in it - the Dao patterns are created by the forger or artisan when it is first created. Those would be the Cauldrons you are thinking of..."

Chún laughed as the first complete Decoction pot was completed. "Let me guess. The sorts of pots and Cauldrons you are talking about are rare, Legendary even. Regular Cauldrons do not change, except to maybe add some elements of previous pill making to a formulation."

There was a frustrated sigh. "Yes. Those pots would be fine until an Alchemist exceeded its level. That means even high level Artificial Cauldrons are rare though, because it requires a very high level artisan to create a high level Cauldron."

"So no one would be interested in our Cauldron. They would think it was trash." The teen laughed. "That is amusing. What do you think of this decocting pot?" he asked, holding up the finished product.

"It has a good balance of Essence. Slightly too much Earth and Water, I think," analysed his friend.

"Probably because those things are already present in clay. I will decrease the level of those Elements I push into the clay then," decided Chún.

As he started a new decocting pot, he asked, "Tell me about how we need to make the Cauldron. We have two clay balls left - will we need both?"

"Yes," replied the Mountain. "It should have three legs to hold it up and five flame vents in the base - one for each type of Element flame."

"An Element Flame? I am guessing you mean all the Elements have flames alchemists can use, not just the Fire Element," theorised the young True cultivator as he spun out the new pot from the smaller clay piece, that floated in the streams of Essence flowing between his two hands.

"Yes. When making a pill, it is the flames of Essence that adds to and refines the ingredients - Water flame purifies, Earth flame combines, Wood flame strengthens, Metal flame concentrates, Fire burns," explained the Mountain, "the rest of the cauldron has to be a large pot like area; and a lid with nine vents to let out impurities and waste products. If the Cauldron advances far enough then it can also draw in Essence from the Nine Heavens through the vents."

"I thought there were ninety nine heavens…" stated Chún uncertainly, shivering slightly at the thought he might be talking about things forbidden. A cold breeze blew through the workshop clearing at his thought, rustling the trees.

"Nine Major Heavens, each with ten minor subordinate Heavens," replied the Mountain.

"There is always someplace bigger than where you are," sighed the teen, as he finished the pot between his hands. "Better?" He looked up at the pot as he held it up against the sunlight to examine it for imperfections.

"Yes, that is perfect. Finish the others as practice for the Cauldron and we will tackle that next," his locus directed.

Chún thought quietly for a moment after placing the new decocting pot on a shelf in the drying pit, brushing off dead leaves from his legs. "I think it would be better to make two smaller cauldrons from the two clay balls instead of attempting a single large one. If one fails, there is a chance of success with the other."

"Not a bad idea," agreed the mountain. "OK, we will do that."

"I am starting to feel like an artisan, merchant, a hunter or a farmer instead of a Cultivator," grumbled the teen good-naturedly as he sat back down on the forest floor and focused on making pottery.