Techniques and Dao

Chapter 54 Fiery Elixir
Excuse me! Please wait a moment!

Less than two minutes after they stepped out of the store, the mother and son were stopped by a voice chasing after them.

The mother turned around and saw a young male barista wearing a brown apron behind her.

"Excuse me, gentlemen, the cups you just bought had a slight defect. I'll replace them with new ones for you." The barista was holding up a similar thermos cup.

Hua Shengyi felt a huge weight lifted from her heart when she saw the barista. The barista was wearing a silver sword-shaped earring in his left ear.

"But I checked it very carefully just now!" The boy said, clutching his coffee cup with a reluctant expression.

The young barista knelt down, took the coffee cup from the boy's hand, turned it around, and pointed to a spot, saying gently, "Look, this is a sample. It's been handled by many people and even dropped accidentally. See, there's a dent here."

The boy looked and sure enough, there was a small dent on the edge of the cup.

The young barista smiled and handed the boy a brand new coffee cup, patted him on the head, and said, "This is brand new. Remember to check carefully when you buy things next time!"

The boy nodded and said, "Thank you, brother!"

The mother and son gradually walked away, and the conversation between the boy and his mother could be heard.

"The coffee thermos seems lighter now?" the boy asked.

The mother replied, "Didn't the little boy tell you that the previous thermos was a sample? He probably treated it like a jar and stuffed it full of price tags."

The young barista, holding the thermos he had exchanged, walked into a quiet, deserted alleyway, placed the cup on the ground, and said, "Change it back quickly!"

A wisp of smoke rose from the thermos, and a flower bloomed within it. He frantically rubbed his buttocks with one hand, saying, "Your lie even hurts! You said it was a dent, but you pinched my butt! Now I can't even sit up, I can only sleep on my stomach."

"Have you learned your lesson?" Tai Shang Xiao Jun said. "Wouldn't it be better to become a coffee bean? Becoming a coffee cup is not low-key at all, especially as a limited edition."

When I returned to Starbucks, the lights were off and it was pitch black. The staff had already closed the doors and windows and left through the back door.

Hua Sheng placed his hands on the glass to avoid the glare from the streetlights, and peered inside through the glass for a while: "Everyone's off work, there's no one inside."

Tai Shang Xiao Jun cracked his knuckles and snapped his fingers.

"Let's get started!"

As he spoke, he walked through the glass, with Hanamori following closely behind. As they passed through the glass, they transformed back into the Taoist robes of the Judo Academy.

Wearing this Taoist robe, hand-sewn by the Nine Heavens Mystic Maiden, can enhance one's magical powers and greatly increase the success rate of alchemy.

Hanamori circled the coffee shop once, making sure no one was around, then waved his hand, casting a spell of illusionary power. All the glass in the coffee shop, including the glass on all the security cameras, turned an almost opaque, deep black. Then, with a series of clicks, all the locks on the doors locked from the inside out.

As a large pile of coffee beans spilled onto the floor, the two emptied the enormous coffee roasting barrel that spanned two floors in the shop. Then, through a pipe, Hua Sheng poured all the alchemical herbs from his satchel into a large copper pot. Tai Shang Xiao Jun took out the Heavenly Palace Exquisite Jade from it, looked at it one last time with reluctance, and then gently squeezed it in his fist.

A pale green light flashed through his fingers, and the jade turned into fine powder, which slowly flowed into the large bronze jar like fine sand.

Looking at the powder, Taishang Xiaojun murmured to himself, "A single cauldron can hold dragons and tigers; only then can one know that the universe resides within it."

Then, he turned to Hua Sheng and asked, "Are you able to use fire control techniques freely now?"

Judging from his tone, Taishang Xiaojun still had doubts about Huasheng's control over the immortal arts.

"Master Yu Ran once gave me special instruction on how to use fire control techniques, and Wei Yu is also an expert in this field. Both of them have tutored me. There shouldn't be any major problems."

"Alchemy is no small matter. Are you sure you don't want to blow this building to the sky?"

"That's unlikely..."

That's how people are; after being repeatedly confirmed by others, even things they were once certain about become less and less certain.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun pulled out a feather fan from behind his back: "Here's what we'll do. You fan the flames, and I'll light the fire. You assist me, and I'll control the heat."

Hua Sheng nodded.

The two then separated slightly and sat cross-legged on the ground. The Supreme Lord chanted incantations, simultaneously raising his right index and middle fingers to draw a talisman in the air above, before pointing it at the large bronze pot:
"Hurry, hurry, as the law commands! Six Ding Divine Fire, rise!" As soon as the words were spoken, the Supreme Lord ascended into the air, seated cross-legged. The large bronze jar in the center of the shop immediately emitted a golden light, the characters on its surface reflecting on the wall like patterns on a lantern, instantly illuminating the shop with spiritual light. Then, the characters engraved on the jar began to move externally, slowly rotating. At the same time, the sounds of flames burning and medicinal herbs crackling under high temperature emanated from inside the jar. Then, a surge of heat emanated from the jar, turning the entire body a dark red color due to the extreme heat.

The Supreme Lord pointed at the bronze pot with his right hand without moving, while his left hand took out several talismans from his robes. The talismans then flew out and circled around the pot. The characters on the talismans turned bright red, merging with the light yellow talismans to form two beams of red and yellow light that clung tightly to the bronze pot, spinning and dancing.

"Guardian Child! Quickly fan him!" Taishang Xiaojun reminded Huasheng.

"The Dharma Protector is here!" Hua Sheng immediately raised his fan and fanned Tai Shang Xiao Jun at a high frequency.

"Don't fan me, fan the alchemy furnace!" The Supreme Lord was both amused and annoyed.

"Oh! I saw you were sweating profusely while performing the ritual, so I thought you wanted to cool off."

"You are a protector, so you should ensure that the flames in the alchemy furnace are even. You're not going to be used as an electric fan."

Hua Sheng immediately sat down on the ground and flew into the air, fanning the red-hot alchemy furnace rapidly.

Taishang Xiaojun said, "Don't fan it too fast, keep it at a constant speed. Only by distributing the fire of the Six Ding Divine Fire in the furnace to every corner can we prevent the medicinal materials from being burned. If the airflow is unstable and the fire rises and falls, it will easily turn into a pile of charcoal. We have limited materials, so we must succeed on the first try."

"I understand. Is that okay? How long do I need to hold this position?"

"Soon. About three or four hours."

"Three or four hours? That means it will take six to eight hours? My god. This alchemy process is going to be a non-stop chore!" Hua Sheng knew better than to go to the toilet first before coming back.

"Nonsense! Incompetent protector!" Tai Shang Xiao Jun glared at him. "Don't ruin my alchemy formation with your foul words. Alchemy requires gathering energy and concentrating the mind. If the alchemist goes in and out of the formation like shopping, the immortal energy within the formation will be scattered, and the alchemy will be ruined!"

Hua Sheng had no choice but to shut up, calm herself down, and slowly shake the Bagua feather fan in her hand up and down.

Time was ticking away. Although the coffee shop had two floors that connected the two levels, and could accommodate several hundred people at most, the temperature inside was rising rapidly due to the excessive heat of the copper pots and the tightly closed doors and windows. Soon, the air became unbearably hot and stuffy.

After an unknown amount of time, despite wearing a lightweight and highly breathable Taoist uniform, Hua Sheng was still drenched in sweat. He turned to look at Tai Shang Xiao Jun, whose face was covered in beads of sweat the size of soybeans, with sweat constantly sliding down his forehead and dripping onto the floor. The once dry floor was now soaked.

Tai Shang Xiao Jun seemed unmoved, her eyes still closed, her brows furrowed, her hands constantly shifting between hand seals, and the incantation uttered from her lips appearing and disappearing. Sometimes Hua Sheng could hear it clearly, and sometimes only Tai Shang Xiao Jun herself could hear it. Hua Sheng understood that this was the technique of using three incantations simultaneously, mentioned in the previous lesson.

The so-called "three incantations in parallel" refers to the simultaneous application of three major categories of Taoist incantations: the heart incantation, the subtle incantation, and the secret incantation.

A mantra is a spell recited with focused intention, without uttering any sound. At most, one can complete the casting of a magical spell by simply uttering phrases like "Hurry, hurry, as the law commands."

A soft incantation refers to a mantra that is recited in a low voice, so that only the person reciting it can hear it.

Mantras are spoken words that can be heard by those around them, hence they are also called vocal mantras.

Typically, only one of the three incantations can be cast at a time. Especially for novice disciples like Hua Sheng, most of the time they still need to recite the incantation aloud to ensure the accurate execution of the magic. However, casting three incantations simultaneously means that the caster can cast three different incantations at the same time, which implies multitasking. Naturally, only highly accomplished immortals can master this.

Although Hua Sheng didn't know how the Nine-Turn Rejuvenating Pill was refined in Shengping Ning, as a prescription medicine used in a vast fairyland, it certainly couldn't have been refined by just one or two immortals. Perhaps there were also large magical artifacts used as protectors to aid in the alchemy process.

At this moment, it would be asking too much of the two of them to concoct elixirs in a coffee shop with makeshift equipment, or rather, it would be asking the "immortals" to do something so difficult.

May the Heavenly Venerable grant me boundless blessings! I hope my efforts won't be in vain. Hua Sheng thought to herself.

He glanced at the shop's clock; it was already three in the morning. Alchemy required a significant expenditure of true energy. If Hua Sheng, an amateur, were to disturb the Supreme Lord at this moment, it might hinder such an important matter as alchemy. He absolutely could not act rashly.

I'm sitting here fanning myself, but it doesn't seem like I'm doing much of a favor.

Should we go over and wipe his sweat?
Thinking of this, Hua Sheng felt he had a good idea. He lightly leaped from mid-air and landed, then went to the condiment station and pulled out a stack of tissues. He tiptoed to the side of the sweating Tai Shang Xiao Jun, picked up a tissue to wipe his sweat, and suddenly thought, "Wouldn't it be a bit too 'bromance' for a grown man like me to wipe his sweat?"

It would be bad to cause unnecessary misunderstandings.

But seeing Tai Shang Xiao Jun's focused expression, his hands forming hand seals, completely absorbed and giving it his all, it was like watching helplessly from the sidelines. It was like during surgery, when the surgeon was busy operating, and the other doctors were wiping his sweat – perfectly normal and considerate. As long as they wiped it a little harder, there wouldn't be any misunderstanding.

Thinking of this, Hua Sheng felt much more at ease. He picked up a tissue and wiped Tai Shang Xiao Jun's forehead, and sure enough, the tissue was instantly soaked with sweat. Hua Sheng's hand trembled slightly, and one of the tissues stuck to Tai Shang Xiao Jun's face.

(End of this chapter)