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  On his second attempt, Xiao Feng opted for a slightly different tactic. In his soul space, besides the modest area that belonged to his predecessor, he was the sovereign. As such, he could choose what portion of his sight was overlaid onto his college campus’ grassy lawn. Lianhua’s scrutiny as a Senior Alchemist would be welcome under most circumstances, but for now, she was proving to be distracting in more ways than one.

  The padded walls of the alchemy vault that served as the background to his pill furnace was the first to go. An active thought was all it took for it to blink out of existence. Xiao Feng now had a clear view of his college campus in the distance, with manicured lawns dotted with flowerbeds creating a perfectly idyllic backdrop for refining pills in.

  Much better than that stuffy room, anyway, Xiao Feng thought, glad to be breathing fresh air again. Transitioning the scene in his soul space to a different one wasn’t something Xiao Feng could do yet and perhaps he would never be able to, so he was glad for the comfortable location that had been recreated from his memories for him.

  Xiao Feng’s gaze flickered to Lianhua’s visage, noting that her focus was on the pill furnace, an anticipation to her features that she couldn’t quite keep out.

  You know what, she can stay, Xiao Feng decided as he refocused on the pill furnace, hoping that the burn in his cheeks didn’t spill over to his physical body.

  Disciplining his mind from drifting any further away, Xiao Feng ignited the amethyst dragonstone burner, putting the new set of pre-mixed ingredients to a simmer. The heat would soon turn that into a boil, but this time Xiao Feng would be ready.

  Moving four fingers in an undulating, wave-like motion like before, Xiao Feng used the movement as a reference point to build up the two spirals of wind that carried the heated mixture upwards, intersecting four times as it did before under his command.

  This time, Xiao Feng didn’t slap his palm against the pill furnace’s side, a gesture that he now recognized as erroneous. Instead, he began to move his thumb in a circular pattern across the surface of the knob that allowed him to funnel Qi into the amethyst dragonstone, thereby igniting it.

  He continued both motions, with the undulating, wave-like motions with one hand to represent the rising, intersecting spirals while the circular motions of the thumb heralded the bloom of the umbrella of wind that bloomed outwards before the mixture could collide with the roof of the pill furnace, returning the purer melange back to the bottom of the base so the process could continue.

  The second method of kneading the mixture was a constant cycle, so it was only natural that any motion to aid in its visualization would need to be continuous as well. It seemed obvious to him in hindsight that slapping his palm against the pill furnace would cause that focus to waver, but it was one of those things that you had to experience to realize.

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  The weave held for the first cycle and a flutter of excitement rippled across Xiao Feng’s mind, but his focus remained reserved for the pill furnace. With his Essence Cultivation Art, Soul Space and a Senior Alchemist as a teacher, he reminded himself that success wasn’t a possibility to chase, rather a milestone that was demanded of him by his future true bond.

  Two cycles.

  Three cycles.

  Four cycles.

  By the fifth cycle, Xiao Feng could see a very noticeable difference in the impurities dotting the mixture. It was one thing to know that the kneading method was more efficient at eroding smaller impurities than the first and another to see it working while the Wind Qi was under his command.

  His efforts were bringing him results and that was exciting.

  It had to be the twenty-fifth or perhaps the twenty-sixth cycle— Xiao Feng had lost track— before he stopped seeing even the slightest hint of impurities for him to weed out. As far as he could tell, he’d done it.

  As he was leaving his Soul Space, Xiao Feng wondered why his predecessor hadn’t shown himself the entire time he was in there. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t seen his predecessor since the Umbral Fang, Liulian had entered his soul, or at least intersected it.

  Xiao Feng had been sure that he had found a good spot to hide from the Umbral Fang’s detection, given that Liulian had certainly been wise enough to report the presence of a second soul in his soul space if she detected it and the consequences of such a discovery would have been catastrophic for the both of them.

  Still, he should have revealed himself by now.

  If an attack from a Nascent Soul, which seems to be the earth equivalent of an anti-aircraft missile, didn’t take him out then he’s probably fine, Xiao Feng thought, though a part of him couldn’t help but be concerned anyway. If he doesn’t knock on my door in a day, I guess I’ll go looking.

  Concealing his concern for now, Xiao Feng stepped out of his soul space and returned to the real world.

  He returned to Lianhua openly staring at him, her gaze studying him with no lack of curiosity, “Well?”

  “You can inspect the results, Senior Alchemist Lianhua,” Xiao Feng decided to go with a stiffly formal approach this time around, though a note of amusement still escaped into his tone.

  “Is that so, Recruit Xiao Feng?” She asked, giving him a teasing look. “Should I prepare myself for another one of your successes?”

  There wasn’t a hint of meanness to Lianhua’s question, only mirth, so Xiao Feng reacted appropriately by clutching his heart and slumping his neck closer to his chest dramatically, “You wound me, Senior Sister Lianhua. But do not worry, as my honour is tied to your own, I will never make the same mistake twice.”

  Instead of receiving a quip back, an awkward silence seemed to fall over the pair. Xiao Feng straightened his back, his gaze peeking at Lianhua’s visage, only to find that her cheeks had gone a light pink.

  Oh, Xiao Feng thought, realizing that he had been a bit too ambiguous in tying his honour to Lianhua’s, having forgotten to mention the Master-Disciple relationship.

  “W-Well then, let me see for myself,” Lianhua seemed to stumble over her words in a rare lapse in composure as she reached for the pill furnace’s lid.

  Xiao Feng’s face went as hot as the hot steam escaping the freshly refined mixture.

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