Making A Quilted Comforter

We made a hot pot with the Man-Piercing Bird meat and ate it. It was so delicious that I understood why Yingjie had wanted meat in exchange for handling the processing.

The finished down comforter—or rather, feather comforter—was satisfying. It was light, yet incredibly warm. By the way, whether it was called a down comforter or a feather comforter depended on the ratio of down taken from the Man-Piercing Bird’s chest and the small feathers taken from its belly.

This time, more than half of the filling was made up of small feathers, so it was classified as a feather comforter. Even so, the down and small feathers taken from a yōma bird seemed to have excellent heat retention.

We kept quiet about the feather comforters. However, the senior female disciples Ashin had grown close to—her senior sisters, in other words—noticed that there was an unusual comforter in her room, and apparently got the story out of her.

Ashin also did not tell them how we had defeated the Man-Piercing Birds, but she did tell them that it was a comforter made from Man-Piercing Bird feathers, so the feather comforter had become hugely popular among the female disciples.

A few days later, Yingjie visited my room with a senior disciple whose face I recognized but whose name I did not know.

“Kou, there’s someone I’d like to introduce to you.”

I turned my eyes to the person standing beside Yingjie. He was a large man about one hundred eighty centimeters tall, grinning as he looked down at me.

“This is Yao Kengun, one of my cohort. He says he has something to discuss with you.”

“What is it?”

“I heard it from Hyouka, who’s in my cohort, but it seems you made a comforter with Man-Piercing Bird feathers together with Ashin and Zengu.”

It seemed the information that had leaked from Ashin had reached Kengun and the others as well. I had expected that from the beginning, so it was within my expectations. Still, I had not thought a man like Kengun would take an interest in it.

“Yes, we did make one. So what about it?”

Kengun leaned forward.

“How did you bring down the Man-Piercing Birds? Tell me.”

When he heard that, Yingjie frowned. He had probably felt that Kengun’s attitude was not something to be praised.

“Senior brother, I’m sorry, but that is something we are keeping secret, so I can’t tell you.”

“What did you say…? A senior is asking you.”

It did not look like he was asking, but apparently that was his version of asking.

“Cut it out. He said it’s a secret.”

Yingjie stepped in to stop him. But Kengun kept glaring at me without looking away. I wondered how skilled this senior really was. I probed the qi coming off Kengun’s body.

Then I realized that his qi level was about the same as mine. If he was at the Fifth Tier of the Qi Refining Stage, he could probably strengthen his muscle power by about three times. Since his original strength was different from mine to begin with, that gap was considerable. I could not beat him in a contest of raw power.

That said, I also knew I was not skilled enough to challenge him in martial technique. Meisen Swordsmanship was quite a good sword art, but it was not so overwhelmingly superior compared with other martial arts. At this point, it would be better to avoid a fight.

“Why do you want a Man-Piercing Bird comforter?”

When he heard that, Yingjie shot me an exasperated look.

“You really don’t know? In town, it’s become the talk that a Taoist practitioner from Gyorei Cave had a comforter made that even the king would envy.”

Come to think of it, I had not expected it to become famous, so I had not sworn the craftsman to secrecy. Since down comforters and feather comforters were not made in this country, that was apparently why it had become a sensation.

“If you’re senior disciples, shouldn’t hunting Man-Piercing Birds be easy?”

Kengun made a bitter face.

“One at a time isn’t a problem, but when there are over a dozen, even inner disciples have a hard time. So when I heard you lot had obtained a large amount of feathers, I realized you had some kind of method.”

“In other words, doesn’t that mean the method we came up with is valuable? And you’re asking me to tell you for free?”

Interested in what Kengun would say, I waited for his answer. But Kengun simply left without saying anything, his face still dark with displeasure.

Left behind, Yingjie gave a wry smile.

“Sorry about that. He asked me to introduce him, so I brought him along, but I had no idea that was what he wanted. Still, you really say things bluntly even to a senior. Kengun’s the type to hold grudges, so you’d better be careful.”

“I understand.”

Man-Piercing Bird hunting could probably only be done one more time. The snowy season was approaching, but more than that, a senior like him might try to tail us and uncover how we hunted them. Zengu, Ashin, and I discussed it, and decided to go Man-Piercing Bird hunting just one more time.

Then, two days later, we went hunting and collected feathers from around twenty Man-Piercing Birds. We brought back a little of the meat too, but most of it was eaten by some mysterious carnivorous animal.

With the feathers we collected, we had a down jacket made. However, since there were no zippers, it was a padded jacket in the shape of a samue, a traditional work garment. We did have pockets added that we could put our hands into.

This down jacket became even more popular than the comforters among the outer disciples. It looked warm at a glance. In reality, it was incredibly warm, and I felt that the Man-Piercing Bird feathers were something special.

Around the time the down jacket was finished, snow began to fall. Once that happened, going to the demon realm became difficult, and we focused on training we could do inside the Wallside Hall.

However, since training to raise our qi level required Qi Prosperity Pills, we mainly practiced martial arts and studied in the library. As for what we studied, it mostly centered on acquiring the knowledge that formed the foundation of the immortal path.

That said, our morning chores such as hauling water and cleaning still continued. Once we had acquired the basic knowledge of the immortal path, we began studying something new.

It was alchemy.

Alchemy was the art of creating various spiritual medicines and immortal elixirs, and the Qi Prosperity Pill needed to raise one’s qi level was also made through this art.

However, the books on alchemy in the library were only basic ones, and there were no advanced books on alchemy there.

“Are there no more advanced books on alchemy?”

I asked Xiaotan, the librarian of the library. Xiaotan shook his head.

“The advanced ones are only in the library of the Main Hall.”

That was unfortunate, but it seemed advanced alchemy could only be learned after becoming an inner disciple. Still, the method for making Qi Prosperity Pills had been written in the captain of the guard’s secret manual, so it looked like I could make them if I learned the basics of alchemy. However, I would need specialized tools.

Now that I had learned the knowledge needed to make Qi Prosperity Pills, I decided to go into town for the first time in a while to buy the necessary tools. When I put on the down jacket and stepped outside, Ashin came out as well.

“Kou, where are you going?”

“I’m going into town to do some shopping.”

“Then I’m coming with you. There’s something I want to buy too.”

It seemed Ashin was going to buy spring clothes.

We headed toward town along the road where snow still remained. When we arrived in town, the residents all took notice of the down jacket. The puffy shape must have seemed unusual to them.