by Tao Wong
“At the farthest end from me, we have a mortal-tier pill cauldron. For many of you, this is what you will work with for the majority of your first few years.” Liu Tsong tapped the cauldron. “Listen.” Again, she tapped the cauldron with her metal-tipped finger. She moved around the cauldron, tapping it at different locations, the noise changing subtly as she hit different areas. “This is how you tell the quality and the weaknesses of your cauldron. For masters, this will be all they need to do, for they can hear the subtleties and differences in a cauldron.
“You are not masters.”
Liu Tsong glared at the students, many shifting uncomfortably under her gaze.
Having forcefully headed off future foolishness, Liu Tsong continued. “This cauldron, and four others of similar quality, are available for rental from the apothecary guild. Each rental is available for a maximum of one week. It is recommended many of you begin renting and attempting the most basic of pill recipes we have passed to you with each of the five cauldrons. Inspecting and working with different cauldrons will gift you the experience you need to begin understanding their differences.
“As a mortal-tier pill recipe, the Twilight Ashen Blood pill can be created with minimal instruction and training. For those of you who do not have any experience with pill refining, for your first couple of attempts, we recommend you request an instructor from the apothecary hall. This will ensure you learn the basics of refining and waste the minimum number of resources.”
When Liu Tsong saw there were no questions, she walked around the cauldron once more, tapping on it for everyone to hear.
When she had done this circuit three times, she said, “Keeping in mind what you have heard, here are the flaws and how to spot them.”
Liu Tsong shifted her position to point at a small discoloration on the outside of the pot. She raised her voice as she traced the extent of the discoloration, explaining details of the cauldron’s flaw as well as its specific characteristics.
Hours later, Wu Ying sighed at the pile of notes he had scribbled during the lesson. Even having received Liu Tsong’s advice to purchase and read a manual on pill cauldrons beforehand, he’d still found himself making copious notes. Maybe half of those notes were on things that were covered in the manual which Wu Ying had forgotten. The other half were things not mentioned or mentioned in passing but not clearly explained.
This time around, Wu Ying had seen a large number of students desperately scribbling notes. Those other students had been caught out by the sudden shift in topics and were desperately attempting to catch up. It was no surprise, as the class had spent the last few months going over herbs in exhaustive detail. Wu Ying almost regretted that they were no longer discussing plants, since his newfound employment with Elder Li benefitted him greatly. The information Liu Tsong provided reinforced the information Wu Ying was learning while working the garden, and vice versa.
But Wu Ying had to admit he was somewhat excited to get his hands on a pill cauldron and begin refining. As Elder Li had pointed out, he had yet to even try his hand at the actual work of a pill refiner. It was about time for him to start, if for no other reason than to ensure that he was not a complete failure.
When Wu Ying finally returned to his house after class, he was not surprised to find Liu Tsong waiting for him, enjoying a cup of tea and some almond cookies in his reception room. While Liu Tsong’s post-lecture visits had decreased after the first few weeks, each time she introduced a new topic, the cultivator had sought out Wu Ying. In some ways, Wu Ying deeply admired Liu Tsong’s dedication to being a good teacher. Having experienced a number of other random seminars through the months, Wu Ying could confidently say it was a rare attribute. In a few cases, Wu Ying had walked out of the inner sect seminars more confused than he had been before he entered. Some Elders or their disciples were just not suited to teaching.
“How did I do?” Liu Tsong asked, looking at the vast array of notes in Wu Ying’s hands. Her lips pursed for a second, but Wu Ying found it impossible to read her visage. Was she happy or upset he took a lot of notes?
“Good. I understood most of what you spoke of. But it’d help if we had a chance to view the cauldrons up close,” Wu Ying said.
“Har! And let you all lay your grubby hands on my Master’s cauldron?” Liu Tsong said. “Not a chance. I had to beg her for a week before she’d let me showcase her cauldron. And that was her sixth-best one too!”
“Sixth?” Wu Ying said, remembering the gleaming golden cauldron at the end. It had been so large it was possible to get a full dozen pills from it, according to Liu Tsong. Of course, the reason why it was so large was due to the need to burn down, concentrate, and form the pills from a myriad number of herbs. At the level Liu Tsong’s Master worked, the ingredients lists were as long as Wu Ying’s arm.
“Yes, sixth. If I do well, she’s promised to let me use her fifth-best cauldron,” Liu Tsong said, her sudden smile nearly splitting her face.
“I did want to ask about the multiple cauldrons. You mentioned in passing how, sometimes, you would not want to use the best-grade cauldron possible?” Wu Ying said.
“Well, there’re a few reasons. Most dramatically, cauldron destruction,” Liu Tsong said. “If you’re working on a new pill formula, bad interactions between the yin, yang, and elemental energies of various herbs can result in the cauldron breaking.”
“Oh, that’d be expensive.”
“Dangerous too,” Liu Tsong added. “But that’s the most dramatic reason. More often, it’s because of less explosive elemental interactions. Think of each cauldron as having been seasoned by previous concoctions. While we do our best to clean the cauldron, there are always traces. You want those traces. An unseasoned cauldron is a pitiful object with no spiritual residue behind it. But the residue can also affect the final outcome of certain formulae.”
Wu Ying nodded and quickly jotted down her words. It made sense to him, the same way his mother had complained when her decades-old wok had cracked one evening. She had been forced to replace it with a new wok, and for the next six months, meals hadn’t tasted right. It was after the wok had been properly seasoned that food tasted better again. Since pill refining was an exacting process, it made even further sense how the previous formulations in a cauldron could affect the final outcome of the pills.
“Thank you,” Wu Ying said. “I have a few other questions…”
“Of course you do,” Liu Tsong said with a glint in her eyes. “As do I. But no questions till we get more almond cookies!”
Wu Ying coughed but signaled Ah Yee. Once the cookies had been deposited, he turned to Liu Tsong, only to be interrupted.
“I saw a lot of you frowning when I was explaining the difference between the second and eighth type of vents. Why was that?”
An hour and a half later, the pair finally concluded their discussion about Liu Tsong’s lecture. At that point, Wu Ying had a chance to ask his final question. “Will you be my teacher?”
“For your initial pill refining?” Liu Tsong watched as Wu Ying bobbed his head. She paused, obviously deeply considering her answer. “We can try.”
“Try?”
“Not all teachers and students are compatible. While you are a decent academic student, the practice of pill refinement is exacting,” Liu Tsong said. “I have some experience teaching others, but… well. I might not be the teacher for you.”
Wu Ying smiled at her answer. “I’d still be honored, Senior Li.”
“Sweet-talker.”
Wu Ying walked around the pill cauldron, inspecting the chest-high metal vessel with his fingers, listening and touching. Due to his delay, all five rental cauldrons had been taken out, leaving Wu Ying to rent one of the many public use cauldrons for his lesson with Liu Tsong. It meant the cauldron was much larger than what he required, but at this point, he had little choice. At least the mortal-tier pill formula he was using would be scarcely affected by the other pills concocted in this cauldron. The pill formula was so l
ow-tier, minor changes in the elemental energies would make little difference. It was when one went to produce higher-tier pills than such care was required.
As he walked around the cauldron, he listed the flaws he saw to Liu Tsong, who stood by the side while offering helpful pointers as necessary. When Wu Ying finally came to a stop, Liu Tsong pointed out a few more flaws he had missed before highlighting the issues Wu Ying truly needed to be concerned about.
“And lastly, the thinner material in the north of the cauldron will see a difference in heat. When stirring and mixing, it is best to do it quicker there. I would estimate it is hotter by about twenty percent, so you will need to adjust your mixing speed by that level,” Liu Tsong said, finishing up her listing of the flaws. “Are the ingredients ready?”
In answer Wu Ying rolled forward the table that held his ingredients. There were five equally divided portions on the table, the various herbs, flower petals, and roots weighed and apportioned evenly.
Liu Tsong looked over the work before sighing and pointing at two bowls. “This is done wrong.”
“But I weighed everything!” Wu Ying protested.
“Refining is not solely about weighing and dividing the portions,” Liu Tsong rebuked Wu Ying. “Look at what you did. See what is wrong with them.”
Wu Ying frowned, eyeing the sets of material before he dared venture a guess. “The second portion has more top root material than the other. In fact, it’s mostly made up of it.”
“Exactly. The amount of fire chi from the three-eyed root is concentrated mostly in the top of the root. By dividing the portions unequally, you have ensured that both of those pill sets would fail,” Liu Tsong said.
“My apologies, Senior.” Well, it had not been in any of the books he had read.
“That is fine. Now, go over the ingredients again.”
A short while later, Liu Tsong was reviewing the proportions once more before she sighed. “Decently done. Except the northern ash tree shavings are of extremely poor quality. They are not sufficient to produce five sets. Distribute the last set among the others.”
“I can return the ingredients…”
“One payment, one set of merchandise[19]. You paid for the ingredients and accepted them already. There are no returns,” Liu Tsong said. “This is why transactions take so long among the experienced pill refiners. We have to check everything the apothecary’s guild trades to us.”
Wu Ying nodded as passing conversations and trades conducted in Elder Li’s residence made more sense. For common material which the sect had a lot of, trading for the right material was simple enough. But when the sect had two or three portions, it was better to get it from the source. Nevermind the difference in quality.
“Now, let us begin,” Liu Tsong said. “You have read over the formula?”
“Yes, Senior.”
“Then watch carefully. I will try to dictate all the steps I take, but much will be up to you to grasp,” Liu Tsong said.
Immediately after Wu Ying acknowledged her words, the pill refiner began. Liu Tsong brought the slow-burning wood to a higher temperature. As she worked, Liu Tsong spoke about the heat, the right temperature, and the different ways to vary and adjust the temperature in the cauldron. In one hand, she held a small fan, useful for bringing up the flames and temperature when necessary. In the other, she held a simple ladle, ready for her to scoop up and drop the ingredients for the pill formula when needed.
“To test the temperature, you should use water. The time required to boil off will inform you of the temperature within.” Liu Tsong followed her words with actions. “The pill formula used here follows the basic, most common formula—that of inserting those items with the most restrictive chi first. In order, it is metal, earth, wood, water, and fire chi.” As Liu Tsong spoke, she scooped up the glistening purple ivy leaves and dropped them in the cauldron. Immediately, the leaves crisped and emitted a slight fragrance. At the same time, Liu Tsong used her left hand to dump a ladle of water into the cauldron, watching the leaves boil. After replacing the ladle, Liu Tsong returned to fanning the flames, increasing the temperature of the cauldron. “Next, we wait for eleven breaths…”
Wu Ying made note of her comments. Curious she said eleven instead of the twelve in the formula, but he had no time to ask as Liu Tsong continued to speak. Even so, Wu Ying kept track of the breaths as best as he could. It would take many hours of practice before he would achieve the regulation breath the apothecarys used. That the regulation breath[20] was a fixed amount of time had been a revelation to Wu Ying, almost as great as when he realized pill refiners needed to relearn this breath each time they progressed their cultivation. After all, as chi increased and the body perfected itself, the need for oxygen changed—and so, the way the body reacted altered.
Herb after herb, root after leaf went into the cauldron, punctuated by Liu Tsong’s commentary. Wu Ying watched, fascinated until the end, when Liu Tsong tapped the side of the cauldron and five pills flew out, landing in the waiting bowl with a flourish.
“Don’t do that. You scoop them out,” Liu Tsong said, eyeing the pills she’d created. “Huh. Upper mortal tier. Not bad for the ingredient level.”
“You can tell the tiers?” Wu Ying said, walking forward to stare at the pills.
“You will too. Now, it’s your turn.”
“Maybe I should watch again…”
“You won’t learn until you try. Now, begin.”
“Yes, Senior.”
Wu Ying stepped forward and checked the heat of the cauldron, splashing a few drops into the cauldron with his hand and watching the droplets sizzle. When Wu Ying looked at Liu Tsong, she half smiled at him.
“For your first run, I will not comment or correct.”
Wu Ying gulped, realizing he was walking along the cliff’s edge of failure. Yet, perhaps the knowledge he was likely going to fail freed him. Knowing he would fail meant he had nothing to lose, and the fear of failure disappeared. There was no fear in certainty—just freedom. As if a door had opened in his mind, Wu Ying straightened up and fanned the flames harder. Another, more confident, toss of water in and he began.
When the process finished an hour later, Wu Ying frowned at the brown sludge, rather than perfectly rounded pills, that came out of the cauldron. He pushed at the sludge, trying to scoop it up from the cauldron before Liu Tsong interrupted him with a hand on his elbow.
“Behind you is a container for you to toss the remnants away. Then bank the fire. You’ll need to scoop up what you can then wash out the remainder with water and repeat the exercise till the majority is gone. Then the brush beside you to finish the initial cleaning. After which, we’ll need the herb bundle. Soak the bundle in the pot beside you. Not that one. The other one. You’ll want to use the distilled water for initial and final cleaning,” Liu Tsong said. “And while you work, I’ll discuss what you did wrong. And right.”
Wu Ying’s nose twitched as the bitter smell of the burnt pill formula hit his nose, and he began the process of cleaning the cauldron. Still, at least Liu Tsong was willing to talk to him while he finished the cleaning. Afterward, Wu Ying knew he had two more chances before this day’s attempts were done.
Later that evening, Wu Ying stared at three sets of pills. After his first unsuccessful attempt, he had managed to create two sets of pills from the remaining ingredient portions. Of course, the results were mostly due to the aid Liu Tsong provided. Her quick corrections of his mistakes allowed him to undertake corrective action while improving the scope of his knowledge and technique. Liu Tsong had even mimed the motions he needed to take on occasion, something which made Wu Ying smile in recollection.
Now, with three sets of pills laid out before them, Wu Ying was receiving his last piece of education for the day. A much closer review of the tiers of pills.
“See how my pills have a glossy sheen all over them? It is from the earth slug extract we added at the end. Properly coated, it seals in the chi and medicinal properties of
the pills. On the other hand, these pills, your low-tier pills, have none of that sheen. They were all burnt off due to your inefficient control of the heat,” Liu Tsong pointed out. “These pills are not storable at all. I recommend eating them in the next two days.”
Wu Ying dipped his head.
“Next, look for consistency in sizes. Again, we have the consistent sizes of my pills, while yours…”
Wu Ying winced. Inconsistent was being kind.
Liu Tsong ignored his facial expressions as she continued speaking. Over the next fifteen minutes, Liu Tsong listed all the differences, beginning Wu Ying’s education on how to tell the difference between pill grades, before she deposited the pills in three different bottles and marked their tied-on labels with a brush.
“And that is it. We’ve run over the allotted time by four hours, so I expect you’ll visit the hall to inform them, yes?” Liu Tsong said, hands on her hips.
Wu Ying immediately agreed.
“Good. You did well for your first real lesson,” Liu Tsong said, smiling.
He flushed—at the praise or the sudden reminder that Liu Tsong was quite pretty, he could not say. Having spent the last few hours learning from her, he had forgotten the fact entirely. But her sudden smile and the way she twitched her head, sending her hair cascading around her, was a powerful reminder. “I did?”