The Art of Alchemy

Li Huowang watched the small elixir furnace before him, his eyes cautious and precise. Beside it stood three incense sticks, serving as a makeshift timer.

In this environment without an alarm clock, Li Huowang had to rely on such crude methods to track the time.

When the last stick of incense burned completely to ash, he immediately extinguished the furnace fire and opened the door. A strange smell, mingled with herbal medicine, drifted out.

Li Huowang’s heart leapt with joy. It was done. The finished medicinal paste was shifted inside a sieve, rattling back and forth. When all the useless ash had been sifted away, what remained in the tray were some black elixir pills of various sizes.

These pills were what Danyangzi called Moistening Blood Pills — a very simple formula, used to stop bleeding.

You couldn’t take more than a tael at once, or your entire bloodstream might congeal solid.

It sounded almost useless. Better for harming someone than healing them, maybe.

But because it was the simplest pill, Danyangzi had given it to Li Huowang to practice on.

He counted carefully. In the end, Li Huowang produced thirteen large Moistening Blood Pills and twenty-six small ones.

Yet his harvest wasn’t just the pills themselves. Through the process of refining them, he had also learned some basic principles of alchemy.

Alchemy was far harder than he had imagined. Apart from the timing, even the direction a medicinal herb had grown in had to be distinguished with care.

One wrong step, and the potency and success rate of the elixir would be worlds apart. The pile of charred waste beside the furnace was proof enough.

Li Huowang took out a small bamboo tube and packed the pills inside. Then he took a deep breath, pulled on his Daoist robe, and walked toward the door. “Almost time. Zi hour is coming.”

The moment he pushed open the door of the material shed, every person laboring inside shot upright, staring at him in terror.

In their eyes, right now, he was the King of Hell incarnate.

Li Huowang’s expression was complicated. Under the gaze of all of them, he walked past, and finally stopped in front of Bai Lingmiao.

The girl’s white hair trembled along with her body. She tried to hold back her tears, but in the end, she couldn’t. Tears slid down her cheeks, past her pale pink pupils — a mark of her albinism.

His face grim, Li Huowang reached out, took her hand, and led her out of the shed toward the alchemy chamber.

In the damp, dripping cave tunnel, Bai Lingmiao choked out her last words to Li Huowang.

Li Huowang listened in silence. He said nothing. When he reached the door of his own quarters, he turned, pulling her inside. “Take off your pants.”

Bai Lingmiao’s eyes flew wide. She stood frozen, as if stunned by his actions.

Three quarters before Zi hour, Li Huowang led Bai Lingmiao into the alchemy chamber. Danyangzi had only just arrived.

When he saw that Li Huowang had brought the human ingredient ahead of schedule, without needing to be told, a flicker of satisfaction crossed Danyangzi’s face. This youngest disciple of his was starting to look a little more acceptable.

“Heh heh. Good disciple. Come here.” With a casual wave of Danyangzi’s hand, Bai Lingmiao flew toward him. He seized her by the throat and tossed her into the stone mortar.

At the sight, Li Huowang’s heart hammered in his chest. His hands clenched into fists.

Just as the huge stone pestle — hundreds of jin heavy — was about to come crashing down, Danyangzi suddenly stopped.

“Ah. Why does it have to be now, of all times, that she Falls Red? The properties will all change now.” Danyangzi frowned, looking at the blood seeping through Bai Lingmiao’s pants.

Seeing this, Li Huowang finally let out a quiet breath. His plan had worked.

Ever since he had understood what alchemy really meant in this world, Li Huowang had been looking for a way out.

If the properties of metal, stone, and herbs could shift so easily, then a human ingredient would be no different.

And as far as he remembered, in Daoist tradition, a woman’s Falling Red was considered something ritually impure. Making Bai Lingmiao pretend she had started her period had been his countermeasure.

And to avoid arousing suspicion, it couldn’t be said out loud. Danyangzi had to discover it himself.

Now it seemed his goal had been achieved. Bai Lingmiao’s life was spared.

With a sweep of his wide Daoist sleeve, Danyangzi sent Bai Lingmiao flying out of the stone mortar. She hit the ground hard.

It was a heavy fall. Bai Lingmiao spent a long time getting up, clutching her knee. But Li Huowang couldn’t help. He could only watch coldly from the side.

“Xuan Yang, take this ingredient back.” When Danyangzi said that, Li Huowang finally relaxed completely. He bowed respectfully. “As you command, Master.”

As Bai Lingmiao walked past him, Li Huowang noticed that her head seemed to have been cut open. Fresh red blood trickled down her cheek.

Even so, Bai Lingmiao still looked at him with gratitude in her eyes. Compared to death, a small suffering like this was nothing.

“No matter what, I’ve got us past this hurdle for now. It’ll probably be a long time before Bai Lingmiao is picked again.” Li Huowang led her toward the door.

But just as they were about to step out of the shadow cast by the massive furnace, Danyangzi’s light, airy voice drifted after them from behind.

“Xuan Yang. Since this ingredient is no good, go get another one. I recall there’s another one of these white ingredients. Go quickly, don’t miss the hour.”

Those words made Li Huowang’s body twitch slightly. Then he turned and bowed respectfully to Danyangzi once more. “Yes, Master.”

Li Huowang didn’t know how he made it back to the material shed. He could only walk numbly to the other albino man, reach out, and pull him along.

The other man wailed in despair, dropping to his knees, kowtowing over and over, begging for mercy. But Li Huowang could do nothing. He could only deliver this man to the alchemy chamber with his own hands.

Trembling, Li Huowang turned to leave, but Danyangzi called him back. “Aren’t you interested in the path of alchemy? Come closer. Watch carefully. You won’t see such complex, rare pill refining anywhere else.”

Li Huowang walked over. He watched closely, carefully, listening as Danyangzi explained when to add what ingredient, when to raise the flame, like an eager student observing the entire process.

When the fire under the furnace died, and the furnace door opened, seven already-formed black pills lined up and presented themselves before Danyangzi.

“Not bad, not bad. You have talent. The other disciples aren’t nearly as eager to learn as you. Come, Master rewards you.” Danyangzi took one pill from his palm.

“Thank you, Master, for bestowing the medicine!” Li Huowang performed a deep, solemn bow, his hands trembling as he received the pill.