84:

  Xiao Feng bit back the urge to whistle as he walked back to his room, just about managing to bite back the grin that threatened to stretch across his visage. It wouldn’t do if an alchemist designate saw him grinning ear-to-ear as he returned from the administrative sector; there were enough rumours floating around about him already.

  Even though his concentration was spent for the day, Xiao Feng had walked away having learned the weaving technique with enough clarity that he was confident in repeating it as many times as he needed to, albeit with assistance from his soul space.

  Only one major lesson remained before Xiao Feng could practice refining the Beast Bonding Pill with its pricey ingredients instead of cheap substitutes and he couldn’t help but wonder how difficult the last step would be. Compressing the amalgamation of refining ingredients that were stabilized by the addition of the Sylvan Heartroot and cooled down by the Frost Lily into a pill required him to exert a dangerous amount of pressure with his Wind Qi while maintaining fine control and unlike Lianhua, Xiao Feng did not possess an alchemist’s flame, let alone one bestowed by a Grand Alchemist.

  If the refining mixture destabilized in the midst of Xiao Feng trapping it in the centre of a vortex formed entirely out of his Wind Qi, not to mention one that continuously narrowed as it spiralled inwards, thereby progressively increasing the pressure on the volatile mixture, well, he didn’t need to be officially recognized as an Alchemist Designate to see how disastrous the results would be.

  A failure at the earlier steps might have its backlash contained within the pill furnace, but Xiao Feng couldn’t say the same for a failure at the final step. No, the cascading failure of three powerful sources of Qi, namely his Wind Qi that was being used with an intensity that was not seen previously in the refining process, the volatile Qi of eight different ingredients in the process of being refined into one and the Fire Qi from the amethyst dragonstone burner pushed to maximum intensity.

  Unlike Lianhua, Xiao Feng did not have an alchemist’s flame that would concentrate the properties of the ingredients down to a smaller surface area, making the now excess melt away under the pressure of Wind Qi and the heat of the amethyst dragonstone burner’s Fire Qi far quicker than usual. Of course, these were just the properties of a regular alchemist’s flame. Lianhua’s alchemist flame was naturally on another level, as it burned the decay out of the ingredients and thereby increased their medicinal potency.

  Actually, now that I think about it, Lianhua’s flame was given to her by her father, Xiao Feng realized. The cultivator who wishes to bond with the beast egg must imbue their Qi into the mixture if the hatched beast is to recognize it. She knows this, yet she used her father’s alchemist flame. If it doesn’t interfere, then she should be able to aid me with the process, at least in practice.

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  Xiao Feng could no longer hold back a smile as he realized that his disadvantage wasn’t as large as he’d thought. Sure, defeating Alchemist Zhi in their duel would be a bit more difficult than expected but Xiao Feng’s duty to his future bond, vyn velour se tyn velour, took priority over the political machinations of a disgruntled alchemist.

  I’m close, Xiao Feng thought. A few more days of practice was all he’d allow himself, before committing to refining the Beast Bonding Pill, even if it meant burning all but one set of ingredients to ash. He had been keeping a close track of the pulsing and dimming cycles and if Xiao Feng wasn’t mistaken, the intervals were getting incrementally quicker, albeit by small accelerations in tempo. The beast egg was having to work harder to keep itself alive, but Xiao Feng hadn’t gotten any closer to healing it.

  In the coming few days, that would change.

  Xiao Feng heard the approaching footsteps before he rounded the corner, so he made sure to straighten out his back and walk at a calm, dignified pace. Anyone entering the administrative division had to be a Senior Alchemist at the bare minimum, or someone carrying out business for one, so it was definitely best to avoid irking them.

  Azure hair peppered with streaks of jade green that was tied into a short ponytail. High cheekbones and an aquiline nose down which two gray orbs stared him down.

  Of course, Xiao Feng had to have run into the one alchemist designate that had a vendetta cut out for him.

  Well, there goes diplomacy, Xiao Feng thought as he met Alchemist Zhi-Rui’s cold gaze with a surprised one, the corners of his mouth twitching once as he did so.

  “Recruit Xiao Feng,” Alchemist Zhi noted in a deliberately clipped tone, though he kept his voice low. “What business does one of your stature have in these halls? Surely, a war hero such as yourself would not try and sneak into a restricted passageway?” He asked, with a tone that was cold as his expression.

  Right, there’s no way this is a coincidence, Xiao Feng thought. I bet he has three friends hiding to the sides of the passageway’s entrance, waiting for me to get angry so they can “witness” another one of my “infractions". Though… damn. I might temporarily be Lianhua’s disciple, but declaring that I am freely coming and going from her quarters is going to be trouble…

  “You need not worry about my business, Alchemist Zhi,” Xiao Feng replied in a carefree tone that was followed by a nonchalant shrug. “Though, perhaps what you are doing here is Grand Alchemist Xin Wu’s concern.”

  “Do not invoke the Grand Alchemist’s name frivolously, Recruit. Remember that I outrank you as you give me a suitable answer,” Alchemist Zhi demanded, his tone carrying feigned anger even as he kept his voice low.

  “Is that so, Alchemist Zhi?” Xiao Feng dramatically raised an eyebrow at him. “Well then, I was trying to find Grand Alchemist Xin Wu. You see, I heard that an Alchemist Designate by the name of Zhi-Rui was coveting his alchemist’s flame enough to plot against his precious daughter.”

  Xiao Feng watched as the disdain that seemed to be carved onto Alchemist Zhi’s feature cracked apart with the grace of brittle pottery meeting hard ground, his expression going a little pale as he blinked thrice in rapid progression, as if blinking enough times would wake him up from a dream.

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