Chapter 16 - Who's The Teacher Here?

Aster Wen met up with Leon Fei before they headed out on the road. Without meeting trouble on the way to the Defying Dragons Sect, they would arrive in five days. This would leave Leon Fei with three more seconds of immobility before he would break through to the Foundation Body second stage. Aster Wen discussed picking up any alchemical ingredients they could find on the way to the sect, and Leon Fei agreed to help him with the task.

Setting out with the rest of the first year disciples, the elders led them away from the mountain. It could be a month before they return, and Aster Wen hoped to reach the Foundation Body third stage during his time away. He would also help Leon Fei restore himself when he reached Foundation Body second stage.

The elders led through the field of Yang Fire Bulls and scared them off. This allowed Aster Wen and Leon Fei to gather more Yang Fire Grass, to the raised eyebrows of the other disciples. As they were heading through the field, they could only pick up one hundred more stalks of the Yang Fire Grass, but this was already enough to please Aster Wen. With enough Yang Fire Grass for forty attempts, he had confidence in making at least another fifteen Revitalizing Pills, which would bring him up to twenty-one. If he didn't have to use them on his opponents, then that would be the best outcome, allowing him to save them for his and Leon Fei's cultivation.

Aster Wen and Leon Fei carried all of their resources in two knapsacks that they took to the sect with them. Though, Leon Fei had a much better quality than Aster Wen had brought. Though Leon Fei glanced at his knapsack when he first saw and raised his eyebrows a bit, he didn't say anything about it.

In their first day of travel, they only found one other alchemy ingredient, the Star-Dew Weed. The weed could be used to increase the potency, but not necessarily the grade, of any pill. Most didn't know where the weed originated from, and some even thought it even came from another realm, but since no one knew if other realms existed, it could only be speculated upon. Aster Wen didn't know about this ingredient, and was only informed by Leon Fei, further cementing in his mind that it was a good decision to teach him. It also made him wonder what kind of background Leon Fei had for him to know so much.

They both collected a jar of the Star-Dew Weed, but were then sent away by the elders as they collected the rest in the area. He was glad they at least gave the courtesy to allow them to collect some. If even the elders wanted to collect some, it was clear the value of it. He imagined if it was another disciple, they might not allow it. But as he was the star disciple of the first years, they allowed him to. They also seemed to nod at both of them, as if in approval of them working together. Aster Wen found this odd, given the sect's propensity for being loners. Then again, they were also known for their loyalty and when one person rises, they all do.

Settling down for the night, Aster Wen took out his alchemy furnace and asked Leon Fei to practice the first movement and then to observe him performing alchemy. There were some others who came over to observe as well, and Aster Wen didn't shove them away. One of the elders also came to spectate, most likely to see the progress of his alchemy.

Going to work, over the next five hours he refined five of the Revitalizing Pills and succeeded three times. He was happy with this outcome, as it was his best success rate to date. If he kept this rate up, he would refine fifteen pills successfully, which was what he estimated he could do. It was a few hours into the night when he finished refining the pills. The elder who was spectating nodded and seemed satisfied with his progress, and the disciples who were observing sighed about not having bought an alchemy furnace yet. Two of the observers also seemed surprised at his rate of success, knowing that out of five attempts, it was more likely to succeed just once or not at all. To be able to refine three out of five pills, Aster Wen's future in alchemy seemed bright.

Waking up on the second day of the journey, Aster Wen talked to Leon Fei about the alchemy he performed last night.

"Do you think you'd be able to get the same success rate when you start practicing alchemy?" Aster Wen asked.

Leon Fei shook his head. "I doubt it. I don't know if you're aware, but your success rate is way above average. With you as my teacher, I might be better than others, but a three out of five success rate? No way."

"What's the average success rate?" he asked.

"Out of five pills, one or less," Leon Fei said.

"What? So little?" Aster Wen scrunched his brow.

Leon Fei smiled. "I feel like I'm the teacher here, when you're supposed to be."

Aster Wen abashedly rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry. I didn't really grow up with access to much information."

"It's alright. I'm quite the opposite. I grew up with access to more information than I should probably know," Leon Fei said.

Aster Wen looked sideways towards Leon Fei. This confirmed his suspicions that Leon Fei had some kind of important background, he just didn't know what it was. He hoped that becoming friends with him wouldn't cause Leon Fei any problems in the future.

At noon, the group stopped to eat, and Aster Wen and Leon Fei found two alchemical ingredients near the area. There was a small bush that grew Spirit-Dew Leaves, which had similar uses to the Spirit-Dripping Flower and the petals of it. Leon Fei explained that it was more or less a weaker version of the Spirit-Dripping Flower, but it could also be used in more recipes than the flower. Aster Wen thought about his idea of making a body tempering pill and thought if this would help in its creation. From the pills he had made so far, they all needed some form of an ingredient with the word spirit in its name. Though it was currently just his speculation as he hadn't had access to the book of theory on alchemy yet, he thought that the Spirit-Dripping Flower would be too powerful for the body tempering pill. But with this, he wouldn't have to worry about that any longer. The other ingredient was the Wood-Gold Seed. It could grow and the products of it could be used in both alchemy and artifact refining.

Thinking about it, he decided to tell Leon Fei about his idea for a body tempering pill, and he seemed quite surprised about what he was told.

"For someone who just started in alchemy and knows nothing about its theory or ingredients, you sure seem to have a good grasp on it," Leon Fei said.

"But I don't even know if my thinking is along the right lines. From what I heard from my brother, body tempering isn't typically done through pills. Well, I shouldn't say typically, I should just say isn't done through pills. Can it even work?" Aster Wen asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I once overheard my dad talking to an alchemist about body tempering, and they said that, in theory, it was possible to create a body tempering pill, but no one had done it to date. It would also only be useful if they started from the very beginning at the Foundation Body realm. So, I'd say you have the best shot at making one, especially with your success rate," Leon Fei said.

"Did you ever observe that alchemist making pills?" he asked.

Leon Fei shook his head. "I was never allowed to interact with the people my dad met with. You're the first person I've ever watched perform alchemy. I only know so much about the ingredients, as my dad had a few books on them. There were even some that don't seem to exist anymore, at least, in this realm. But like I said when explaining the Star-Dew Weed, other realms are only speculation currently. No one knows if they exist or not. Maybe you can find a way to them?"

Aster Wen raised his eyebrows at that, as Leon Fei smiled and laughed at him.

"Hey, you never know. You're cultivating a unique martial technique, that seems to also be a cultivation technique in and of itself. You have a way above average success rate of refining pills. Who knows what you could do in the future? I, for one, look forward to it." Leon Fei said, staring up at the sky.

"Other realms, huh?" Aster Wen looked up as well. "If they exist, do you think they would be like here?"

"I don't know. But if they exist, I hope they go on forever, into infinity. I've always felt that everything here was so small. I don't know why." Leon Fei said.