Chapter 41 — Spiritual Sense

Pfft!

The scorched smell rising from the pill furnace once again filled the whole room.

Zuo Yan gasped for breath, sweat winding down his cheeks like a stream. The second attempt had failed as well! This time he had held out for a full three double-hours, yet still it came to nothing. Opening the furnace and looking at the blackened dregs inside, Zuo Yan was in a foul mood. But he was now as limp as a dead dog and could only glare helplessly.

He had always assumed that alchemy was a matter of technique; he had never imagined it was a matter of brute strength. If even a mere Fasting Pill was this difficult, then what would become of him when it came to the high-grade spirit pills of the future? Would he not exhaust himself to death, spirit and all?

The second attempt had taught him a more direct and profound lesson than the first. His earlier deduction had been correct: he was still too unfamiliar with alchemy, and in the course of channeling spiritual power he had wasted far too much of it for no purpose. Had his cultivation reached the Foundation Establishment stage, this Fasting Pill would naturally have been no trouble at all; even with some waste, he would have had power to spare. But at the ninth level of Qi Refining, a single slip and the spiritual power would run short.

According to the jade slip, the entire refining process required five double-hours.

In other words, he needed to hold out for at least five double-hours, and he was still three short of that—a considerable gap. Though the stone chamber had its spirit vein, the growth of spiritual power was a slow process; it seemed he could only focus on controlling his spiritual power.

After a while, Zuo Yan's breathing gradually steadied, and his mind cleared.

Thinking it over carefully, he was in fact not weak at all when it came to controlling spiritual power; the Lesser Cloud and Rain Art demanded a fairly strong command of it. Though his breakthrough to the fourth layer had been somewhat inexplicable, when it came to control of spiritual power, by rights there should be no great problem.

On reflection, Zuo Yan felt that he was still simply too unfamiliar with alchemy. But if he truly had to practice over and over to gain that familiarity, how much raw material would it take? Whether the ten sets of ingredients before him would last until he was familiar enough, he could not say; but the month-end quota of five Fasting Pills would in all likelihood not be met.

It was said that when a boss took on a new underling, he usually gave him a show of authority the first time. Hmm—could this be his cold-faced master's show of authority?

He mused on this rather nonsensically.

Back at the West Wind Courtyard, he had not even the heart to eat dinner. After meditating to restore his spiritual power, he climbed up onto the roof of his own accord and went on pondering the ins and outs of alchemy.

Moonlight spilled down like water, and the valley was faintly lit. Beside Zuo Yan, the grey-beaked goose stood quietly on a crossbar of the roof. At Zuo Yan's feet the black-gold insect crawled to and fro; having reached the fourth grade, its intelligence had greatly increased, and it followed Zuo Yan about at all times.

Suddenly Zuo Yan sensed something flying near, and he could not help raising his head to look toward the valley mouth.

A little pink paper crane came drifting through the night, graceful and unhurried.

Zuo Yan, frozen on the roof, suddenly came to his senses, and his scalp prickled. Alchemy and everything else were flung clean out of his mind; there was only one thought in his head—damn it, why has this cursed woman come?

As ever, the pink paper crane unfolded gracefully before Zuo Yan.

"Master, have you missed me? Hee hee, I've missed you ever so much."

Looking at the pink note floating before his face, Zuo Yan felt a powerful urge to kick it straight out of Wukong Mountain!

Steady, stay steady!

Forcing down that devilish impulse, the unwilling Zuo Yan spat out a string of exceedingly vicious curses: "Cursed woman! May you die a horrible death! You've got nothing better to do! You're insane..."

He cursed for the time it takes a stick of incense to burn, until his throat was dry, and only then did some of the bile in his heart subside. Seeing the pink note still floating motionless before him, Zuo Yan, who a moment ago had been so righteous in his wrath, immediately wilted. Helplessly he snatched up the pink note, jumped down from the roof, went inside, and fetched a weasel-hair brush, which he dipped in cinnabar.

"What do you want?"

Tossing the brush aside, he crumpled the note into a paper crane and threw it out the window. Even after the crane vanished at the horizon, the gloom in Zuo Yan's heart was not dispelled in the slightest.

He was truly helpless against the owner of this paper crane. He had never imagined a person could be bored to such a degree. And this bored, mad woman happened to be far stronger than he was; the moment she was displeased, she simply crushed him by force.

Just wait till I'm strong—then we'll see how I deal with you! Zuo Yan ground his teeth.

Soon another pink paper crane came fluttering over.

"Don't treat me like that! I'm very hurt. Master, what have you been busy with lately?"

Pointless drivel, Zuo Yan judged flatly—yet he still helplessly picked up his brush.

"Alchemy."

At West Wind Valley, the paper cranes flew in and out.

"Ooh, alchemy! That sounds fun! I've never tried it. I only know how to fold paper cranes!"

You only know how to fold paper cranes? Zuo Yan's face darkened at once, and he wrote back: "Wrong. You also know how to draw Blazing Talismans."

"Hee hee, I'm not really that good at Blazing Talismans. What I'm good at is the Thirty-Six Linked Blazing Talisman Barrage."

A threat! An outright threat and intimidation!

Zuo Yan clenched his fist until it creaked, and squeezed out between his teeth: "I'll endure it!"

Reality was truly cruel. Under the menace of her Thirty-Six Linked Blazing Talisman Barrage, Zuo Yan could only swallow his anger and wield his brush.

"Be a lady. A girl shouldn't go around fighting and killing."

"But I am very ladylike! Hee hee, I just love fireworks. My goal is one hundred and eight linked!"

Fireworks...

A black line appeared on Zuo Yan's forehead as his fragile soul was once again brutally trampled.

All night long Zuo Yan had no time at all to ponder alchemy; the pink paper cranes clung to him like a nightmare, keeping him running ragged.

Only at dawn was he finally released by her words, "I'm going to sleep now." But by then Zuo Yan had been half tortured to death; he felt that answering letters all night was far more exhausting than refining pills all night.

He scooped up a handful of cold water and washed his face, then went to the spirit field. Unlike the other arts, the rain-casting had to be performed almost every day. Still half dazed, he formed the seals of the Lesser Cloud and Rain Art. The patter of rain sounded at his ear, and his mind drifted in a haze; the Lesser Cloud and Rain Art was the art he knew best—he could perform it with his eyes closed.

Spiritual power surged toward his hands; between the cloud mass and his hands there was a wondrous connection.

The sound of the rain was even and unbroken. Instinctively he adjusted his spiritual power; he was too familiar with this art—not every place needed spiritual power channeled into it.

Wait!

The dazed, drifting Zuo Yan suddenly gave a start. He realized he had made a very important discovery.

Not every place needs spiritual power channeled into it!