The Undying Immortal System

After reaching Martial Disciple 4, I exited seclusion and walked into the building's main hall. A small pill furnace sat on a stone plinth in the middle of the room. Along both the left and right walls were boxes and cupboards where a variety of different medicinal ingredients were stored. The back wall had stairs leading up to the second floor.

The Master Alchemist was not in the room at the moment, so I moved to the side of the door and knelt to await his arrival. I was unsure about the etiquette of cultivating here, but the Master had shown interest in my improvement, so I decided to cycle my qi as I waited.

The wait was not long. The Master arrived downstairs only two days after my vigil began. When I noticed his presence, I immediately stopped cultivating, but I did not move. He spent a good deal of time checking the various herbs in the room, only turning his focus to me when he was assured that everything was in its proper place.

"Good, maybe you can be taught."

Inwardly I brimmed with excitement.

"Before we begin, it would be best for you to understand a few things. I am not the most skilled alchemist in this clan. No, I am, technically, only a Disciple Alchemist. I have yet to properly advance to Master Alchemist. Do you know why that servant who brought you here was so polite and always referred to me as Master Alchemist?"

Was I supposed to speak? His look seemed to give me permission. Still, I didn't know the answer to his question.

"Because all alchemists are respected?"

He scowled. "If you do not know, say you do not know. Do not make guesses."

I nodded.

"He was so respectful because of my potential. I am the only alchemist with a high eight-star fire affinity in this entire clan. Having a high earth or metal affinity may be common, but fire is the rarest of all the elements, and few can boast of such a high affinity with it. The elders are terrified I will leave this backwater. There are many powers outside the Wastes that would happily welcome a powerful alchemist such as myself. My destiny is not tied to this tiny clan. I hope you understand."

He gave me a significant look.

I gave a deliberate nod. Where should my allegiances lie? With a clan that had done nothing but murder me time and time again? No, I must be truly loyal to the promising young master who I could follow to greatness.

"I believe we understand one another. Now, let me be clear. Your affinity is trash. When you compare yourself to commoners, you might think yourself amazing, but a nine-star affinity of any level is worthless. You will never be able to reach even my current level of alchemy for the rest of your life. Still, that doesn't mean I have no use for you. Perform well, and when I eat meat, you will get to drink the soup."

I grinned widely and gave a deep bow.

"Here is your first task. There are one hundred and fifty-seven herbs in this hall. They are all common herbs used for either Rank 1 or Rank 2 pills." He handed me a worn brown leather book. "This contains all of the information about which herbs are which and how to maintain them for ideal medicinal potency. You will study this book and diligently maintain these herbs."

He turned around and began walking away.

"This is a task I have been doing myself. Common servants are not to be trusted here. After you have memorized everything, return. After I test you, you can take over these duties. Also, remember to be diligent in your cultivation."

He waved me away with the flick of a hand.

I gave a deep bow and returned to my room.

Memorizing over a hundred herbs and how to maintain them was a challenge. Spending so many credits on boosting my affinity had been a mistake. It had cost so much, and I was still trash. It would have been better to spend those points on improving my memory so that I could be of more help to the Master.

Maybe I could purchase this knowledge directly? Then, I would have a perfect grasp of how to maintain the herbs for the Master. That might mean not being able to spend them on other things the Master might require in the future. For the moment, it was better to study diligently.

Shortly after the end of the first month, I hit Martial Disciple 5. This was a bit later than I had managed in the past. While my higher affinity made cultivating faster, I was spending most of my time studying, so I had much less time to dedicate to cultivation. The Master cared about my advancement though, and he wanted me to rise quickly, so I needed to put in more effort.

At the seven-week mark, I reached Martial Disciple 6 for the first time. The acupoints in my chest, both upper arms, and both upper legs had been opened. All that was left were my lower arms and lower legs.

This was when I hit my first major bottleneck cultivation.

The remaining limbs could be opened in any order, so I chose to focus on my right forearm first. The combined repulsive effect of all of the qi in my body seemed to have been amplified several times over. Drawing in even meager amounts of qi was exhausting.

Advancing to Disciple 7 would be far more difficult than I had imagined. Still, I would persevere. Not for myself, but for the Master.

At the end of two months, I had the herb manual memorized, so I returned to the main hall to await the Master.

After only a few hours, he appeared.

"What are you doing here?"

I held the book up to him. "Master, I have completed memorizing the information as instructed."

He waved his hand at me dismissively. "Do not call me master. You are not my disciple. Call me Teacher. If others are present, you will call me Teacher RuDi. If someone from outside the clan is present, you will call me Teacher Su."

He turned around and walked toward the cabinets on the left side of the room. Returning, he placed five different herbs on the table.

He held up what looked to be long chips of wood. "What is this?"

"Astragalus root."

"What is the correct procedure to preserve it?"

"The root should be properly dried after harvesting. Then, it should be placed in a dry, cool place with moderate airflow. For maximum potency, it should be used within two years."

He picked up a red fruit that was slightly larger than a cherry. "What is this?"

"Hawthorn berry."

"What is the correct procedure to preserve it?"

"The berries should be dried and stored in a bed of hawthorn leaves. They should be kept in a dark, dry environment. The temperature should be cool, but not cold."

Teacher continued asking about the other three herbs he had selected. After each answer, he spoke not a word of praise or rebuke.

"You will take care of the herbs in this hall. Do not enter if I or others are inside. If anyone enters the hall while you are tending the herbs, you will return to your room. Dismissed."

I bowed proudly to Teacher.

Another month passed quickly. I began making progress toward Martial Disciple 7, but it was still a fair distance away. Teacher wanted me to progress quickly, and I was failing him in that. Fortunately, he never spoke a word of condemnation for my failure.

My work tending his herbs was far more successful. To my admittedly amateurish eye, the herbs remained in pristine condition. Teacher had never praised my work, but I knew I was making him proud.

One day, while I was taking care of my tasks, Teacher came down the stairs. I began to take my leave as normal, but he stopped me.

"Stay."

He walked over to the largest chest in the room which held hundreds of bright blue flowers.

"What is this?"

"Blue peony, Teacher."

"What is it used for?"

"I do not know, Teacher."

"Good, you should not know the uses of any herbs yet." He gave a slight nod, showing how much my dedication had truly impressed him. "Go and choose a blue peony."

I walked over and looked into the chest. I did not see anything to suggest picking one over any other, so I just picked up one at random.

Teacher placed a thick paper ledger in front of me.

"When you take a peony from that chest, you will mark it down on this ledger. Each flower costs five silver. They are expensive medicinal ingredients. You will pay back every silver you owe."

I nodded and made a mark on the ledger.

"Follow me."

He took me into a side room that I had yet to enter. It was bare except for a small table upon which sat a battered old pill furnace the size of a basketball. He placed his peony into the furnace and started the fire.

"You must get the furnace extremely hot. This will quickly burn away the impurities in the flower. Use your affinity to control the fire in the furnace as you would qi and prevent it from directly touching the flower."

As I watched, black smoke began to rise from the peony. Shortly after, the entire flower collapsed into a bright blue dust.

"This is Qi Gathering Powder. It is useful for low-level warriors. When you have time, come here and practice. It will take you many attempts to do this correctly. Mark each flower you take. Training an alchemist is expensive, but you will pay back everything you owe in the future. There are ten small cloth bags on the table. When you are successful, store your powder in one of them. After you have completed all ten portions, return to the main hall and wait for me."

I bowed as Teacher walked away.

With Teacher's abilities, creating Qi Gathering Powder was effortless. For me, it was anything but.

The first several times I tried, the flower caught on fire nearly instantly. I was at a complete loss for how to keep that from happening. After half a dozen attempts, I decided to stop. Charging ahead recklessly was simply a waste of valuable resources.

How could I stop them from catching fire? Teacher said to control the fire in the pill furnace and not let it touch the flower directly, but everything happened too quickly. What should I do?

I needed practice controlling a natural fire. I had only ever tried to control the qi in my body before, so trying to control an external flame was far beyond my capabilities. Learning to control fire was the true test Teacher had set before me.

I lit the furnace, but I did not put a flower inside. Right now, concocting the powder was beyond me. I watched the flames as they heated the furnace. I needed to control the fire through affinity. My affinity was only a trashy high nine-star, but I could do this.

It took me weeks, but in the end, I was successful. I could, to at least a minimal degree, control the fire within the pill furnace. After another week and a dozen failed attempts, I was finally able to stop the peony from catching on fire.

Only one week later, I discovered the correct temperature to release the black smoke from the flower without it burning. All told, I had wasted 28 precious flowers before successfully concocting a single dose of Qi Gathering Powder.

After using a total of 47 peonies, I completed my task.

The next day, I presented the powders to Teacher.

He checked them carefully before nodding in praise.

"Follow."

He led me to a room on the other side of the building that contained several boxes. More significantly, it also had a small door leading outside.

"This box contains cloth bags. This one has jade bottles. Any powders or pills you create will go in this box." He pointed in several different directions. "When you make a deposit, mark it on this ledger. The value of your product will be deducted from your debt. While you are here, you must work hard to repay your debts."

I nodded, happy that I could finally start repaying Teacher.

He picked up a bag of Qi Gathering Powder and began explaining more about alchemy to me.

"The Qi Gathering Powder is useful only to the weakest, poorest cultivator. Because of how it is created, it has the beneficial property of containing no pill toxin since all of the toxins in the peony are completely burned away. Unfortunately, in doing so, you will also burn away the majority of the flower's medicinal power, making the end result nearly useless."

He carelessly tossed the bag of powder I had worked hard to create to the side.

"As I said before, blue peonies are worth 5 silver. A portion of Qi Gathering Powder is worth 10 copper. You concocted 10 portions, which is 100 copper, or 1 silver. You consumed 47 blue peonies. At 5 silver a piece, you currently owe 2 gold, 34 silver."

I was stunned. I wasted so many precious resources, and even when I succeeded, I was still wasting money. What was the point? Would I be forever burning away all of Teacher's money? I couldn't do that to him.

"Good, you understand. Qi Gathering Powder is a failed product. Come."

He took several peonies and brought me back into my workshop. He put one of them into the pill furnace and began working.

"Use a less intense flame. With a weaker flame, the medicinal power of the flower will not be burned away, and the flower will not turn into powder. Wrap the fire qi around the flower like a ball. Equal heat should be applied from all directions."

As I watched, the entire flower melted and turned into a silvery-blue liquid.

"After it becomes liquid, increase the temperature. Burn away the impurities. But keep it cool enough not to harm the medicinal power."

Black smoke began to rise from the liquid.

"Finally, use your qi to apply even pressure from all directions."

The liquid solidified into a small pellet.

Teacher took the pellet and put it to the side. Then, he began concocting again. This time, significantly more black smoke was released. After forming the pellet, he took it and set it aside. The third time, almost no smoke was released from the liquid.

He held up the first pellet he had made.

"This is a Rank 1 Basic Qi Gathering Pill. Rank 1 pills are suitable for Martial Disciples, and the Basic Qi Gathering Pill is best used by Martial Disciples 1 to 3. Better pills are beyond you, do not worry about them for now."

He carefully placed it into a jade bottle and set it down before me.

"The medicinal power of a pill must be at least 80%, or it is considered a worthless pill and must be discarded. I estimate this pill retains about 87% of its medicinal power. Grandmaster Alchemists can make pills with 100% power, but it doesn't matter as it will have little effect on the pill's price. A difference of 87% and 100% is not enough for people to pay a meaningful premium. However, you should always strive for the highest medicinal power possible."

He picked up the third pill he made.

"What pills are truly graded on is purity. This is a Low-Purity Qi Gathering Pill and contains a significant amount of pill toxins. It will only sell for 1 silver. A Mid-Purity one, where most of the toxins have been removed, is worth 5 silver. A High-Purity one, where nearly all have been removed, is worth 10 silver."

He picked up the third one he had made.

"When making this pill, the temperature was too high, and the medicinal power was significantly depleted. On the third pill, the temperature was too low, so nearly all of the toxins are still there. Both are completely worthless."

He crushed the two pills into powder and scattered the dust onto the floor.

"Those two pills were useless trash. Never create something like that. Instead, when you make such a mistake, quickly increase the temperature in the pill furnace and turn its contents into Qi Gathering Powder. The powder is a failed product, but it is useful and can be sold to recoup a small portion of your losses."

Teacher picked up the bottle containing the first pill he had made.

"This is a High-Purity Rank 1 Basic Qi Gathering Pill. It is worth 10 silver, double the value of its ingredients. Once you can make these, you will be able to begin paying off your debt. Until then, you must work hard and learn well. If you successfully concoct a pill, place it into a jade bottle, deposit the bottle in the storage room, and mark the ledger. Someone from the clan will grade its purity to ensure it is assessed fairly."

I gave a deep bow, deeply grateful for everything Teacher had given me. I was proud that he was willing to invest so much in my education.

"I will be traveling in the near future, so I will not be around much. Do not concern yourself with this. Cultivate, tend the herbs, and practice alchemy diligently."

Saying this, he walked away.