Qi Prosperity Pill

I cut off the Twin-Spear Deer’s antlers and put them into my backpack. After that, I hesitated over what to do with the rest. The hide seemed valuable. But what about the meat?

“First, I’ll skin it. As for the meat… they do say venison is delicious.”

I skinned it and collected the thigh meat. Any more would make it too heavy, so I would not be able to carry it back. Regrettably, it seemed I had no choice but to leave the rest there and return to Gyorei Cave.

On the way, I encountered a Piercing Wolf and finished it with a single blow from the White Wolf Warhammer. When I returned to the Wallside Hall, I hung the thigh meat from the shed ceiling to age it. After that, I planned to turn it into jerky.

The next day, when I went into town, I asked a craftsman to tan the hide. Then I returned to the Wallside Hall and began preparing the alchemy technique for the Qi Prosperity Pill. To make immortal medicine, an alchemy furnace was necessary, and I had already learned how to use it while working with Gōrō thread.

I put Celtan Grass, Borbeek Grass, and powdered Twin-Spear Deer antlers, which were the ingredients for the Qi Prosperity Pill, into the alchemy furnace, closed the lid, and poured a large amount of qi into it.

Inside the alchemy furnace, the power of qi made the three medicinal ingredients swirl together and begin to change. Only the components of the Qi Prosperity Pill separated out, while the dregs remained at the bottom of the furnace. Then the separated components began to fuse together.

But then the flow of qi became disturbed. The cause was a voice from outside. A flame sprang up inside the alchemy furnace, and the components were burned.

“Haaah, it failed.”

Because my qi had been disturbed, what had been about to fuse together flared up and burned. After throwing away the charred scraps and other waste left inside the alchemy furnace, I put the three medicinal ingredients in once more and began the refinement again.

Inside the alchemy furnace, the components began to fuse together, and then took the form of a pill.

“Did it succeed?”

The Qi Prosperity Pill was a yellow pill. It was exactly as described in Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission. I would not know whether it truly had the proper effect until I actually used it, but it would probably be fine. Though really, I only thought so because of how it had felt during the refinement.

According to Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission, three Qi Prosperity Pills were needed to reach the Eighth Tier, and two each were needed to reach the Ninth Tier and the Tenth Tier. A total of seven Qi Prosperity Pills were needed to go from the Fifth Tier to the Tenth Tier.

In the exam to become an inner disciple, reaching the Eighth Tier was enough to pass, but I would be uneasy if I only barely made it, so I aimed for the Tenth Tier. I refined the seven Qi Prosperity Pills needed for that.

Starting the next day, I began training to raise my qi level. First, I swallowed one Qi Prosperity Pill. In that instant, I felt qi strongly. That must have meant it had some kind of effect. After that, I moved my body in accordance with the moving art method written in Meimei Gong, Middle Transmission.

Since it would have no effect unless the breathing method and bodily movements were in harmony, I performed the moving art with care. I moved slowly, almost as if dancing in time with my breathing, and breathed while feeling the qi moving inside my body.

I continued that for about a month, and around the end of spring, my qi level rose. At that moment, my awareness expanded, and I became able to sense the presences around me.

This was called the Lone Awakening Eye. Until now, I had only been able to sense qi inside my body and nearby, but after the Lone Awakening Eye awakened, I became able to sense qi as far as about twenty meters away. Even after my qi level reached the Sixth Tier, I continued my qi training. Still, it looked as though it would take time to reach the Tenth Tier.

After finishing the qi training that had become my daily routine, I went to the smithy and checked with the master to see what had become of the weapons.

“They’re finished. Here they are.”

Master Zaoshi brought a sword and a broadsword from the back and handed them to me. The sword was a one-handed sword, with a thick and heavy blade about fifty centimeters long. The broadsword, meanwhile, was made by combining a shaft about one hundred fifty centimeters long with a sword leg, and he said it possessed tremendous sharpness.

I named the sword the Demon Spider Sword, and the broadsword the Demon Spider Greatsword. I felt that using the heavier-than-normal Demon Spider Sword and Demon Spider Greatsword would require technique. The Demon Spider Sword seemed manageable if I mastered the Heavy Resonance Sword, but the Demon Spider Greatsword did not seem like something I could master with either the Heavy Resonance Sword or the Plum Blossom Spear Art.

I probably needed a sword art meant for handling broadswords. But there was no martial arts manual of that sort in the Wallside Hall library. So I headed to the library, thinking I should ask Xiaotan, the librarian, who seemed like he might know.

As usual, Xiaotan was quietly reading a book in the library.

“A martial art for handling a broadsword? Let’s see, I’ve heard that there is a manual called Phoenix Will Broadsword Art in the Main Hall library.”

“Where do you get information like that from?”

“Every year, I negotiate to have new books added to the Wallside Hall library, and during that process, Phoenix Will Broadsword Art once came up as a candidate.”

“Heeh, so you even do negotiations like that. Could it be that you’ve been inside the Main Hall library?”

“That negotiation takes place in the Main Hall library. But let me say this first: only librarians are allowed to participate in that negotiation.”

I could not help making a dissatisfied face.

“Do you want to see Phoenix Will Broadsword Art that badly?”

“Yes. I got a weapon similar to a broadsword, so I want to master a martial art that uses it.”

“I see. That is unfortunate, but the rule is that there can only be one librarian, so you cannot enter, Kou.”

“What about this year’s negotiation?”

“It has already ended. …Ah, that’s right. There is just one method.”

“Really? Please tell me.”

“At Gyorei Cave, a Competition Festival is held once a year. If you win it, you can learn one technique suited to your training level.”

“What is the Competition Festival?”

“There are two competitions held at the Competition Festival. One is the Martial Competition Festival, which contests yōma hunting in the demon realm. In that one, the person who defeats the strongest yōma wins. The other is the Elixir Competition Festival, which contests alchemy skill. In that one, the person who makes the immortal elixir assigned by the elder the fastest wins.”

It seemed that both inner and outer disciples in the Qi Refining Stage could participate in that Competition Festival.

“So something like that existed?”

“You have not even been an outer disciple for a full year yet, Kou. It cannot be helped if you did not know. Are you going to participate in the Martial Competition Festival?”

“No way. Inner disciples participate too, right? I’ll enter the Elixir Competition Festival.”

Xiaotan tilted his head.

“I know you are studying alchemy too, but I heard that you only started that recently.”

I gave a wry smile. I had continued with alchemy even after making the Qi Prosperity Pill. Since then, I had learned how to make Nourishing Life Pills that improved one’s condition, Healing Pills that mended injuries, and several others as well, so I had thought that, in terms of alchemical knowledge, I was not inferior even to the inner disciples, but was that not the case?

“What kinds of immortal elixirs can the inner disciples who study alchemy make?”

“I think they can make Nourishing Life Pills and Healing Pills.”

If that was all, then I could make them. But those two were the most basic of basics, so they would probably not be assigned as the Competition Festival task.

“I think you’d still have a better chance with yōma hunting.”

“But I heard that the top inner disciples are strong enough to hunt Thunder Bears.”

Hearing that, Xiaotan tilted his head.