Chapter 17 - Change of Mind

After everyone had eaten, they set out again. There were no more alchemical ingredients on the way before it became night again. Leon Fei practiced the first movement, before sitting down to observe Aster Wen refine pills.

The same group who had observed him the previous night had come back to observe him again. The elder who observed had brought over all the elders to watch him this time, making it set in what Leon Fei told him about his success rate. He was also glad that he was in the Lone Phoenix Sect and not another one, or else he thought he'd have a lot of trouble because of his success rate.

He once more refined five pills over five hours, with three succeeding. The elders whispered to each other, and Aster Wen thought he caught one of them say, "was he sent from the heavens?" and heard a snippet that was "natural qi around him". He didn't know what they were talking about, and he couldn't explain his success rate either. He didn't know if there was an explanation.

With his current success rate, he would have twenty-one Revitalizing Pills when he arrived at the sect, so he decided to practice the second movement tonight and use one of the Revitalizing Pills to heal himself.

Getting into position, he performed the second movement, the bone in his arm cracking as he finished his fourth attempt. The immobility was down to twelve seconds. Swallowing the Revitalizing Pill, without the assistance of a Foundation Forming Pill, it took him an hour to heal. He would refine a Foundation Forming Pill tomorrow night to restore his natural qi.

Leon Fei woke him up to get ready to get going. Gathering his things, he noticed one of the elders looking at him weird.

"Disciple Aster Wen greets Elder. Is there something wrong?" he asked.

The elder hesitated for a moment. "Why don't you have any natural qi in your body? Where'd it go?"

"Oh, the Looming Blossom Martial Technique absorbs it into... something. I can restore it with a Foundation Forming Pill, so you don't have to worry."

"Isn't Disciple Leon Fei also practicing that technique? Why isn't his natural qi depleted?" the elder asked.

"It only starts happening during the second movement when you advance to the Foundation Body second stage," Aster Wen said.

"Wait, you're at the Foundation Body second stage?"

"Yes. I thought you all knew that," he said.

"We were under the impression you were still at the Foundation Body first stage. How'd you break through so fast?" the elder asked.

"The Looming Blossom Martial Technique is also a cultivation technique," he said.

The elder blinked at Aster Wen a few times before walking away.

Leon Fei walked over to Aster Wen after the elder left. "Aside from the people in the Lone Phoenix Sect, you should keep the fact the Looming Blossom Martial Technique is also a cultivation technique to yourself. Many people would kill to obtain a technique like this. I mean kill quite literally as well."

"Is something like the Looming Blossom Martial Technique rare?" Aster Wen asked.

"Very. There's also something different about it as well. This is the only technique I've heard of which absorbs natural qi. We don't know what it's doing it for, either. Though the drawbacks are the most severe I've seen in a technique, as well, the power of it makes up for it. At our level, we can take out a Foundation Body sixth stage monster beast in one move. Foundation Body sixth stage beasts are in between the stage of not much power difference and an actual power difference. This makes them the first real threat to those under the Foundation Body sixth stage. But we aren't anywhere close to that but can take them down with ease. Of course, the amount of time we can perform an attack is limited, but we're still better off than most. We're going to make a big storm in the competition coming up. You should be prepared for some to target us after the competition is over," Leon Fei explained.

"They'd really do that?" Aster Wen asked.

"Absolutely. Sweeping through the competition, along with our designation as Lone Phoenix Sect disciples, we can be sure we'll have many enemies," Leon Fei said.

Traveling again, he thought about what Leon Fei had said. He hoped he wouldn't make bad blood between him and his opponents, but it seemed as though it was inevitable. He shouldn't feel bad for them if they are injured or killed. The pills he refined are his own, made for him and Leon Fei. Pity for the people he was going to fight seemed stupid when he thought about what Leon Fei said. The sects held the competition early in the year to prevent accidents, but that didn't mean they didn't happen. If he gave the pills to the competition, he might not be able to accomplish his goal of breaking through to the Foundation Body third stage.

"Brother Leon Fei," he called.

"Yeah?" Leon Fei said.

"I've thought about what you said and decided not to give any of the pills I refined to the people I'll be fighting against. These are our resources, and should be used for our cultivation. If they already view us as the enemy, I have no reason to help them," Aster Wen said.

Leon Fei smiled. "Good. I'd hoped to get you to not give the pills away. I didn't expect for the conversation we just had to make you change your mind, though, I was just talking about the dangers of exposing the Looming Blossom Martial Technique to others."

Aster Wen nodded. "This lifts a lot of pressure off my shoulders. With more resources for us, we should be able to cultivate smoothly. Though, I'm a little scared how the third movement is going to affect my body. If even just the second movement breaks the bone in my arm, I can't imagine how bad the third movement will be."

"Yeah, that might be a problem, but as long as the injury is localized in your arm you should be able to use a pill to heal. Would the fourth movement be even worse?" Leon Fei asked.

"I peaked at the fourth movement before, and it's different from the first three movements. I'm not sure what it'll do," he said.

Making small talk as they traveled for the day, the group didn't stop to eat at noon to get further ahead. They hadn't found any alchemical ingredients on the way today, and soon set up camp for the night.

Setting out his alchemy furnace, the usual group gathered around to observe. He took out the materials to refine Foundation Forming Pills, causing the crowd to become confused.

"Aren't those the material for Foundation Forming Pills?"

"Why are you making Foundation Forming Pills?"

"I have my reasons to. Besides, are you going to comprehend much from watching me refine just one type of pill over and over again?" Aster Wen said.

They didn't have any words for that, and quieted down as he got to work. Aster Wen refined five of the Foundation Forming Pills and each one turned out successful. Even Leon Fei seemed surprised at all the attempts being successful, but then rationalized it in his mind as Aster Wen making a difficult and then going back to an easy one with much more comprehension of the alchemical way. In this way, it made sense to Leon Fei that Aster Wen had succeeded in all the attempts of making the Foundation Forming Pills.

Leon Fei realized he had forgotten to practice the Looming Blossom Martial Technique before Aster Wen had performed his alchemy. Joining Aster Wen, they practiced the technique together, both of them becoming exhausted after the fourth move. Aster Wen's immobility now down to eleven seconds. Swallowing both the Revitalizing Pill and Foundation Forming Pill, Aster Wen sat down to refine it. It took two minutes for his natural qi to reach its peak, and thirty minutes for him to heal.

Going to sleep, Aster Wen wondered if changing his mind about giving away his pills was the right decision. But he decided to trust Leon Fei, as he wanted to convince him to not, but didn't even get the chance to before he changed his mind himself.

Whatever the case, it was clear that Leon Fei had his best intentions in mind, and has given him information about things when he asks. It was a mutually beneficial relationship between them, with helping with cultivation and exchanging information. Lone Phoenix Sect disciples were known for their loyalty to each other, and so far, he had experienced good things from everyone, including the elders of the sect. The only thing he was worried about was how long that loyalty would last once he left after his fourth year. But that was in a long time, and he had to focus on the present, cultivating to break through to the Foundation Body third stage and beyond. He fell asleep with a steady mind.