Chapter 329 Chapter 329 – Nascent Soul Restoration Pill
Ken and his parents left the living room in favor of Mei's training room. It was the room where she trained and practiced her alchemy, while Haoran had his own training room on the other side of the inscribed wall.
"Dad, Mom, stand over there and don't interrupt me. I need my whole focus to concoct a seventh-rank pill."
Ken pointed at a corner and the two stood there. Haoran did not know much about Alchemy, but he was curious to see a seventh-rank pill being made, especially by the hands of his own son. Even if he couldn't learn much from the experience, it'd at least broaden his horizons.
Ken took a deep breath and exhaled it out before sitting in the center of the room. Items floated outside his ring and arranged themselves on the floor, creating formations to aid with the process to come.
The runes glowed on the ground, sucking the Qi out of the many high Qi stones Ken used to keep them running.
They came in many shapes – first was the most basic formation used almost under every circumstance, the Qi Gathering Formation, which worked to pull more Qi into the room. Since it was a training room, it was already inscribed, but Ken still had to take its triangle into consideration while drawing the next ones.
Next was a formation in the form of a pentagon. The stones and flower powder made it seem glistening in red hues. It was the Noise Cancelation Formation, and its role was to prevent the noise of the bustling city from entering the training room, another formation that already existed.
The third formation, however, he had to draw himself. Four rhombuses were inscribed in his four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. He himself stood inside a circle along with his eighth-grade Golden Sun Cauldron which he won in the Library of Eternal Wisdom in the secret realm many years ago.
In each rhombus surrounding Ken was a seventh-grade cauldron, waiting silently to be used. Before starting his concoction, he took out a Qi Absorption Pill and a Mind Sharpening Pill. The former was meant to increase his Qi reserves while the latter's job was to enhance his mind activity, giving him an easier time managing so many details.
"What kind of formation is that?" Haoran asked his wife, expecting her to know enough about Alchemy.
"I have no idea, I have never seen someone use five cauldrons simultaneously before," she whispered back.
It was only natural they could not recognize the mysterious technique. It was none other than the Automatic Manufacturing technique taught by Galen, the elder of the Bloodthirst Sect. However, Ken made a few tweaks, changing it to help him in a different way than its original purpose.
Now, fully prepared, Ken placed all the ingredients he would need on the floor in front of him, organizing them in portions by the order they would go in the cauldrons.
"Now, watch the miracle," Ken announced.
Ken's gaze swept over the array of ingredients meticulously arranged before him. Each component was crucial for the Nascent Soul Restoration Pill, a concoction of immense complexity and power. The main ingredients were laid out in a precise order, ready to be transformed into a life-altering elixir.
His intent filled the small room entirely, and the ingredients he needed to cook first levitated in the air and started processing themselves. The stones were crushed into dust or melted, the flowers were ground, and the animal parts were cleaned.
He only had to do it to the ingredients in the main formation and the same happened to those at the support ones as long as they were the same ingredients.
Among the main ingredients, the seventh-grade ones, Ken picked up the Azure Dragon's Root first, its faint glow a testament to its potent Qi-harnessing abilities. 'This is the foundation,' he thought, feeling the root's pulsating energy. 'Stable and strong, just like how the nascent soul of a cultivator should be.'
When he finished processing the ingredients required for the first part of the concoction, he led them into the cauldrons with his hands and closed the doors behind them. With the help of the fire, he started extracting the essence of the materials carefully, letting nothing go to waste.
In the following step, the different essences began to merge into one another, turning into one big mass. The golden Qi produced by his nascent soul flowed from his hands toward the main cauldron and spread by the formations to the others as well.
His golden Qi was parted in half – while they both were distinctively gold, half of it had red hues in it while the other half was stained with white. Through the years, Ken learned he should use the reddish Qi for fighting and the whitish Qi for creation.
The Qi was expended quickly, but everything moved stably. Once he finished combining the essences into a single one he started working on the next batch of materials, repeating the same process.
Next, he turned to the Phoenix Feather, its fiery colors captivating his eyes. 'Regeneration, rebirth... essential for a shattered nascent soul,' Ken mused. He respected the feather's power, knowing it was the key to knitting back the delicate threads of a soul. After all, they weren't making a new soul but restoring the old one.
Mei and Haoran could only stand in the corner, struggling to breathe under the stifling intent clogging the room. Ken's Alchemy intent was extremely potent, and with the lack of supervision, it could burn or damage random objects in his proximity.
The young alchemist then carefully uncorked the vial of Lunar Dewdrops. The soft, glowing liquid inside was as tranquil as a moonlit night. 'Balance in all things,' Ken reminded himself. 'The potency of the Azure Root and Phoenix Feather needs the calm of these dewdrops.'
He appreciated how these delicate droplets could harmonize the more vigorous energies of the other ingredients.
Finally, his fingers brushed against the Spirit Binding Crystal. Its cool, smooth surface resonated with a deep spiritual energy.
'The binder, the unifier,' he thought. 'Without this, the pill's essence would be as fleeting as a passing breeze, quickly dissipating before completing its job.' Ken understood that this crystal was not just an ingredient; it was the anchor that would hold the restored nascent soul in place.
The two parents watched in awe at Ken as he completed preparing all the ingredients, extracting the essence of each one of them, and combining those essences together. Now, he remained with five large masses of essences in five different cauldrons. Each mass had the seventh-grade materials in the center with dozens of supporting substances of lower grades.
"Huh…" he let the air out of his lungs as he readied himself for the next step. Using five cauldrons for the components of the same pill had many demerits, and the main one was the need to combine them at the end.
However, processing the seventh-grade materials was too demanding, and he had to do it in the absence of a domain, lest his intent would waver before the completion of the procedure.
"Sorry, room," he mumbled to himself.
The next instant, the four supporting cauldrons rose in the air and started floating toward him along the lines of the formations. He led them carefully, not letting them deviate from the lines even by a millimeter.
*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*
Explosions followed the cauldrons as the formations crumbled, but Ken remained focused, guiding the cauldrons just fast enough to outrun the explosions but not too fast which might cause other trouble.
When the cauldrons finally reached the central circle, they all rested on its border, leaving behind a scorched room on the verge of collapse.
Now, the Golden Sun Cauldron was in the center of the circle surrounded by the other four. It opened in four directions, revealing the sight of a burning fire with a mass of essences that radiated different lights as it rotated above.
The other cauldrons were opened too, in the direction of the Golden Sun Cauldron. As soon as the essences were ejected, Ken's intent and Qi enveloped them in a protective manner until they reached the main cauldron safely.
'Great, the hardest part is behind me,' Ken thought as he ignored the droplet of sweat dripping from his forehead. His hands were slightly shaking from the exertion, and his robes were soaked in sweat.
The red eyes squinted in concentration as the five masses combined into one and a pill slowly took shape under the effect of the fire and Ken's Qi.
"Here it is," Ken wiped off his face with a handkerchief and took the translucent pill in his hand, coating himself with Qi beforehand to ensure the pill wouldn't crumble. "Take it, Mom," Ken handed it over.
Mei took it before looking hesitantly at the ruined room, unsure whether she should train there.
"You can use my training room," Haoran suggested, and his wife nodded in agreement. The three exited the room and moved to the other, letting the woman take the center.
Mei swallowed the pill without any qualms, believing in her son's capabilities. Even if concocting seventh-grade pills in the sixth stage was unheard of, she still believed Ken was an exception to this rule.
"It's working, it's working!" she cried out in astonishment, letting the pill take effect and heal her old injuries. The Phoenix Feather kick-started the restoration effect, and the rest did their own magic.
She hurriedly sat down in lotus pose and cultivated, guiding the energy in her body to create the best nascent soul she could manifest. Finally, twenty years after being crippled, Mei Jinn was cured.
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