Chapter 8: Retreat
The person who yelled those words was Yao Yun whose complexion seemed icy cold as his eyes stared arrows at Yao Chen.
To publicly question the clan elders could be considered to be extremely disrespectful, but he was currently ninth place, an extremely painful situation that was just one name away from obtaining qualifications for the Medicine Competition. If anyone else was in such a situation they would also find it very difficult to keep their calm, let alone Yao Yun who had never been a magnanimous person. Currently he regarded Yao Chen as his mortal enemy.
Although it was disrespectful, the clan elders' expression didn't have any change, only indifferently saying, "This time's Great Competition rankings were completed by elder Yao Wanhuo. If anyone doesn't accept the rankings they can go refute it with elder Yao Wanhuo."
Elder Yao Wanhuo. Immediately everyone became subdued.
Yao Wanhuo was the First Elder within the Yao clan and he was known as being extremely strict and impartial. If the rankings were set by elder Yao Wanhuo then there would be no one else who would dare to challenge it.
Yao Yun evidently was still not satisfied, but he also didn't dare to challenge the elders. If he couldn't control himself and disrespected elder Yao Wanhuo then he would be severely punished.
The crowd gradually scattered. Yao Chen respectfully turned down any invitations. Right now there was nothing more important to him than returning home.
On the road no words were spoken. The normally chatty Luo Shu was seldom as completely silent as he was now. Yao Chen's heart was surging, as the closer he got the faster he went.
Under the trees of the alleyway's entrance, a beautiful figure, simple and elegent, was currently turning her head as she looked all around.
"Mom."
Yao Chen's eyes lit up. Not knowing why, his nose started to trickle and his eyes felt wet. Before obtaining first place at the Great Competition Yao Chen had felt that any rank was fine as long as he could get the qualifications for the Medicine Competition. However, now looking at his mother's hopeful expression he felt that there were many words that he wanted to say to her.
Yao Chen rushed over to his mom, opening his mouth and wanting to say something, but suddenly the many words he wanted to say disappeared, and he only said, "I'm back."
"Let's go home."
Yao Qing smiled, her eyes seemed to contain such tenderness that they could forgive all living things.
"Aunt Qing, brother Chen got first place, aunt Qing, you didn't see, the peoples' faces at the time, haha, two words: wonderfully marvelous. Aunt Qing… what are we eating tonight?" Finally Luo Shu erupted with words.
"What, brother Chen, it was first place, ah, how can you be so calm? At least let's have an extra snack, right."
Passing through the familiar lane, they arrived at the front of their home, which currently had many decorations on it. Luo Shu's father and older brother were busy adding to it when they saw them arrive. Stopping their work, they walked over.
"Yao Chen, not bad, obtaining first place in the clan school's Great Competition just like during those days… haha, in any case, you haven't lowered your father's reputation."
Luo Bing earnestly patted Yao Chen's shoulder a couple times; his eyes seemed to flicker, which should be due to recalling memories of Yao Chen's father's past. However, his eyes shift slightly, landing on the fat Luo Shu, causing Luo Bing's faint smile to turn into a bitter laugh. Thinking back to the past where he and Yao Huo were a well regarded pair in the clan school, and then seeing Luo Shu, ah… Luo Shu, can't he work a bit harder?
Luo Shu withdrew his neck, as he seemed to understand his father's expression. Nobody understands one's son better than his father, and in the same way no one understands one's father better than his son. If he still didn't change the subject at this time then he would be asking for a scolding. Promptly calling out, "Aunt Qing, isn't it true that it would only be appropriate to have a banquet today to properly celebrate brother Chen's first place?"
Luo Bing shook his head. This son simply couldn't be saved, fortunately there was still the older Luo Shan who had some good potential. "Stop it, using these little tricks is fine, if only you could use a bit of these smarts on training…."
Although they said it was to celebrate, in reality it was a just a simple family dinner, except there were a couple more dishes and wine. The two families sat at the table, laughing and talking, all encouraging Yao Chen.
These words were mostly trivial repetitions, but Yao Chen didn't find them irritating; each one was remembered in his heart. Of course no matter how many words they spoke, there was no way they would bring up the events from two years ago.
Although they lifted the alcohol restriction, but in reality Yao Chen only drank 3 cups before he distanced himself from the wine.
There was still one month left before the Medicine Competition. If you wanted to you could say it was a long time, but at the same time you could say it was a short time, as the available time was running out. If he wanted to show off at the Medicine Competition, then Yao Chen couldn't waste any time on things not involving training.
After drinking and eating to their hearts' content, Luo Bing brought his two sons to say goodbye and leave. Yao Qing quickly cleaned up the table. Turning her head to look at Yao Chen, she slightly gently said, "Chen-er, although first place is good, but… your father's lesson, if an arrow is shot it must stand out, you mustn't become complacent."
"Chen-er understands. Mother, I'm going to go train right now."
"Ok, wait a minute." Yao Qing nodded her head, holding back Yao Chen who was about to go to the training room. Muttering to herself, she said, "One month's time, if using the regular amount of medicine, might not be enough to let you advance to Dou Shi. If you don't become a Dou Shi, no matter how great of an alchemist you are, it would be difficult for you to stand out in the Medicine Competition."
"Mother?"
Yao Chen narrowed his eyes. Time was tight, but if he was extremely ruthless to himself then there was still a chance for him to promote from Dou Zhe to Dou Shi in this one month's time.
"From today onwards, increase the amount of medicine in the bath by 10%. Yao Qing bit her lip as she heartlessly spoke.
If he increased the amount of medicine by 10%, then the pain during the bath would increase by 100%.
Yao Chen laughed, energetically nodding his head. Actually, he didn't need his mother's suggestion; he had already been planning on increasing the amount of medicine.
Turning on the mechanism, he arrived at the training room. The bath basin was already boiling from the geothermal energy. The water this time wasn't Xian Dew, instead it was some other kind of medicinal water. Yao Chen picked up the medicinal ingredients from the side and carefully measuring out the amount, he threw them into the water. The water immediately started to ripple and boil, as threads of purple smoke started to rise. It gave off a pungent smell as it rapidly filled the entire room.
All Yao Chen had to do was take a smell of the medicine's odor in order for his body to unconsciously tremble, which was a kind of instinctual response.
This kind of medicinal water was different from the marrow cleansing bone carving soup, as the marrow cleansing bone carving mixture would only make you feel itchy in your mind. But the current kind of medicinal water would actually cause pain. Even if someone habitually bathed in the water and was psychologically accustomed to it, but the body's instinct would still have an extremely large resistance.
Yao Chen took a deep breath; taking off his clothes, he took out a light green medicinal pill and put it in his mouth. It momentarily tasted bitter before the taste spread through his whole body, a bitterness that could cause a dead person to come back to life. But Yao Chen was already used to it as he bit down on the pill and continued chewing. Although the pill could be taken with just a swallow, but this kind of pill required you to bite it open and chew it into pieces in order to fully maximize the pill's efficiency.
To refine this kind of medicine required extremely expensive medicinal ingredients. To Yao Chen's family, it was an extremely large cost, so instead most of these medicinal ingredients were all picked by his mother. Even if it was so bitter as to cause death, Yao Chen would still consider it to taste sweet.
Half a quarter hour later, the medicinal pill had completely dissolved in his mouth, and only then did Yao Chen jump into the medicinal bath.
Hualala, boom…
His ears heard a kind of blank booming noise, and the medicinal bath seemed to come alive. The lazy waves seemed to be like tics as they rushed towards Yao Chen and dug into his body. Yao Chen had only just swallowed the medicine before it turned into medicinal strength rushing into his body, and it seemed to act as a magnet as it pulled the medicinal bath's medicinal energy in.
"Waaa ahhh aaahhhhh…."
This kind of experience from the medicinal bath was something that couldn't be endured many times, and even if Yao Chen might have been able to endure it before, compared to previous times he had even added in 10% more medicinal ingredients, in addition to the different bath water. This time Yao Chen could no longer endure it and let out a miserable scream.
Pain, this was a pain that couldn't even be compared to being stabbed through the heart by ten thousand arrows.
The worst part about the situation wasn't that the pain was hard to endure, but more that even with all the pain, Yao Chen still had to remain cool and calm-minded. The piercing pain entered his body as medicinal energy started to unravel and pierce through his Dou Qi, traveling throughout his whole body, the five major organs, the four limbs, the brain, the Dantian… even now it still wasn't considered over, he still had to rotate his Dou Qi in order to match it with the medicinal strength in order to strengthen his body.
An unknown amount of time passed by, when suddenly a booming noise rang out. In front of Yao Chen's body, a spiritual flame arose. Yao Chen had already grown accustomed to the pain, and was no longer screaming. At the moment his Dou Qi was revolving, pouring into the spiritual flame. Within the flame's blazes, threads of medicinal energy were undergoing the spiritual flame's catalysis and being refined into something similar to Dou Qi, yet it was a different kind of bizarre energy. Channelling into Yao Chen's body, it didn't enter his Dantian, but instead penetrated deeply throughout his muscles and bones, and afterwards it descended into a hibernation-like silence.
At this time, Yao Chen was trying to control the huge energy that had entered into his muscles and bones, however all his urging seemed to be like rock thrown into the ocean, with no visible effect. Contrary to what one might expect, the energy ended up causing Yao Chen even more pain. His eyesight started to turn black as he his consciousness started to dim under the pain. Yao Chen promptly gave up on trying to control the energy, collecting himself and guarding himself from losing consciousness, he continued to absorb the medicinal energy. If he were to actually lose consciousness, then this time's medicinal bath would basically be wasted. With his family's current situation, it was not forgivable to have any kind of waste.
The medicinal bath's deep color gradually started to lighten until it eventually became the same color as clear water. Yao Chen stretched and took a couple deep breaths. The previous pain seemed to fade away like the tide. A huge amount of oily sweat finally started to seep out of his pores, making Yao Chen start to feel extremely thirsty.
To the side were five huge jugs of water. Yao Chen took one and started to gulp it down, and in just one chug he ended up drinking the whole thing to the last drop. When the water entered his body, it actually caused even more sweat to come out, and he grabbed another jug and drank off of it in one chug as well. However after this one, even more sweat came out again, so he grabbed the third, the fourth, and only after the fifth one did the sweat stop. However sweating this much also was extremely tiring for the body, and a completely exhausted feeling started to surge out of his body. Yao Chen's vision was turning black, and he quickly got out of the basin, putting on his clothes and laying down on the training room's stone bed. After doing three revolutions with his Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame Technique, his Dou Qi quietly entered every part of his meridians, faintly feeling the border between nine star Dou Zhe and Dou Shi.
Advancing to Dou Shi, although there was only a hair breadth's difference, it was precisely this small line that was extremely hard to push past. Not only was the original boundary there, but two years ago his mother had put a seal on his strength which was also difficult to break through. At this time, Yao Chen's Dou Qi was revolving throughout his body. It formed the shape of a cyclone, but this cyclone seemed extremely unstable, as it intermittently appeared and dissipated, as if it was illusionary, its shape could not be maintained.
An unknown amount of time passed, and Yao Chen could no longer continue to support himself, finally feeling his head had become extremely sluggish and he completely lost consciousness. Although he was unconscious, Yao Chen's body instinctually continued to revolve his Dou Qi using the Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame Technique, passing through his body bit by bit. And during this event, the Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame Technique seemed to undergo some small changes. Although it didn't seem to increase his strength, but when it come to delicately controlling strength, the Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame's fire type Dou Qi ended up pairing with his Spiritual Perception, increasing his control of them, like an arm controls a finger.
The night quietly passed.
Early morning, the fresh new air entered the stone training rooming from air vents, bringing a faint dew flavor. Yao Chen's eyes fluttered, as he started to awake. Opening his eyes, his only sensation was of hunger similar to a beast, and from his stomach come a loud growling noise. Although his body felt weak due to hunger, his mind felt completely full.
Yao Chen got out bed, taking a bucket of spring water he took a quick shower, changed his clothes, and walked out of the training room.
Arriving at the courtyard, his mother had already come out earlier and the table was prepared with rich foods.
Yao Chen rushed to the table, and like a wolf he ravenously devoured the food till the table was completely empty. Only then did he realize there was a note on the table.
Without even reading it, Yao Chen knew that his mother had gone to the mountains behind the clan to pick medicinal herbs. The many requirements that Yao Chen needed for training would only barely be met with the clan's distributed rations. It was obviously far from enough, and over these two years they had decreased the amount of medicinal ingredients given to Yao Chen by over half. Most of the medicinal ingredients were all handpicked by his mother, and it was because of this that no matter how painful the medicinal bath was, Yao Chen continued to endure it.
Every time his mother would go pick herbs, it would take many days before she returned. Yao Chen started to feel a bit worried, but very quickly he put that aside. A male couldn't be indecisive; he was already aware of how much his mother had bitterly worked, only by training as if his life depended on it could he repay even the smallest bit of it.
Just as Yao Chen was thinking about his training for the next couple days, the fatty yelled from outside. "Brother Chen, aunt Qing, I'm here."
Luo Shu's face turned green upon seeing the current situation which did not look good. Puckering his lips, he said, "Brother… brother Chen, did aunt Qing go out?"
Yao Chen laughingly nodded, saying, "During this period of time, I'm afraid you'll have seal yourself off."
Luo Shu entire face turned from green to an ashen color as he blankly nodded his head.
"I got it… I guess I'll go home and eat mantou?"
"Haha, this is the dried meat my mother left for you, as long as you aren't greedy it should be enough for you to eat." (Dried meat as in meat that will not go bad very fast)
"It still is aunt Qing who treats me best, hehe, brother Chen you can go seal yourself off, I'm going home." Luo Shu grabbed the jar of dried meat, and extremely happily rushed back home. If he was late even a bit then he might not even have mantou to eat.
Yao Chen shook his head, putting his heart back in order he closed the door before preparing to once again return to the training room. Currently, not even the slightest amount of time could be wasted. Not only did he have to advance to Dou Shi within this month, he also had to stabilize himself at that level. Towards alchemy, when refining pills there couldn't be slightest error, and other than the Spiritual Perception, being able to maintain a steady level of Dou Qi was a must for refining pills.
Although the medicinal bath could be considered a shortcut, but at the same time it was a double-edged sword. If he currently didn't have the medicinal bath's medicinal energy to help him, then the Triple Flower Agglomerating Flame's training would be infuriatingly slow. Circling the Dou Qi would only be used to strengthen the foundation, and not the slightest amount of it would be used on attacking the next level.
Ten cycles later, Yao Chen took a deep breath, with a somewhat bitter laugh. Although having a stable foundation was a good thing, but at the same time it increased the pressure and difficulty of breaking through to the next level. Actually, advancing levels was "a first breakthrough and then later stabilise" kind of situation, in which the old Dou Qi was broken down and molded to make new Dou Qi. If your foundation was extremely sturdy, that to break down the old would need a much larger amount of energy and strength. Naturally the benefits of having a good foundation before the breakthrough were also extremely good. It was a kind of equal exchange. If you wanted to obtain more strength, then you had to put in twice the amount of effort.
This kind of hardship was long ago expected by Yao Chen, who was not worried. These two years of using the medicinal bath had caused his body to store a frightening amount of energy. And in reality, not even Yao Chen was aware of just how strong that energy was; he only had a vague perception. In order to break through the barrier to Dou Shi, all he needed was to guide just a bit of the energy inside him, which would allow him to break down his Dantian's current Dou Qi along with the seal that his mother left from two years, and remold it into the Dou Shi's cyclone.[i]
This kind attempt had already been done by him many times, and not once had he succeeded. However this time, he absolutely had to succeed within this month.
If he was hungry he would eat a Soldier Grain Pill, if he was thirsty he would drink spring water. Anything else that his body required, such as expelling waste, were all resolved with the Clearing Miasma Pill. For an entire half a month, Yao Chen continued to stay within the medicinal bath, without the slightest feeling of being unable to endure. An alchemist's most important trait was actually not the Spiritual Perception, but actually having the patience to endure. If you couldn't endure loneliness and dullness, then as an alchemist, no matter how talented you were, then even till the end your accomplishments would be extremely limited.
During this half a month, his mother had returned once only to make more of the medicinal bath's powder, and she left without even saying one word to Yao Chen who was currently undergoing secluded training.
[i] In BTTH, a Qi vortex is formed as a Dou Zhe. As a Dou Shi, the Dou Qi turns from gaseous (Dou Zhe) to liquid (Dou Shi). This cyclone referred to in this text is either an error or refers to when a Dou Zhe promotes to Dou Shi a large amount of natural energy will create a cyclone as it enters the body/Dantian.