Chương 10: Elemental Transformation and Visualization

More than four hours had passed.

"I still can't figure out why I'm not falling asleep." An closed his eyes, deciding to look within himself to find the reason. Digging through the energy flows, he finally found the answer.' It's because of my incredibly high vitality. My body physically doesn't require deep rest yet. My muscles can tire, but not to the point where sleep becomes a necessity. Even if I stop eating the Kavana fruits, my body will recover on its own in a very short time.'

By now, An had almost fully recovered from the effects of his brew. During his rest, he had managed to read ' What Grows Beneath Our Feet' and ' Know Whose Tracks These Are' several times each. He discovered that the tree growing by the Outer Hall was called the Kavana Tree. It turned out the reason no one else was collecting the fruits was due to the tree's unique defense mechanism: illusion. The fruits became invisible the moment they emerged from the flowers to protect their seeds.

The illusion only vanished once a fruit was plucked. The only reason An could see them so easily was his element. Only cultivators with a dominant Wood element could see through the trick, not because of some special sight, but because the Kavana Tree used only Wood Qi to create the veil. Cultivators with a strong Wood element simply overpowered the illusion without even noticing it. An turned his head to look at the still-sleeping bird and sighed.

"Eh... I thought you might be a phoenix or a dragon descendant, but you're just a common yard chicken." He learned that any animal could become a spiritual beast, they didn't need spiritual roots. All they needed was to consume something rich in Qi.

"Ugh! Finally, I can feel my legs again." Sitting up, An decided to continue his alchemy studies. The next section in the book covered the ' Regulation' technique, which was essential for maintaining the fire and monitoring the temperature inside a cauldron. After studying the notes, An began training his Qi, visualizing various scenarios and attempting to manipulate multiple energy flows simultaneously. He was delighted to find that it came to him quite naturally.

Finally, the last of the grogginess wore off, and he stood up. Deciding it was time for actual practice, An swayed slightly as he walked to the shore to pick the same two plants and gather some firewood. Returning to his spot, he glanced at the rooster, which was now awake enough to move its head and watch An's every move intently.

"Maybe I should cook you instead?" An joked, sitting down.

"BAAWK! Ugah~" The rooster let out a terrified shriek and immediately began to choke on its own saliva. An snorted and focused on his work. After fifteen minutes of ' Mixing', he prepared to move on to ' Regulation'. He placed his bowl on a makeshift stove of river stones and stacked the wood, then suddenly froze.

"Wait... where am I going to get fire?" Remembering the words of the author, Di Jou, he flipped to the final pages and found the ' Element Control' technique.' I must take my Qi and visualize fire. Using my imagination, I will eventually be able to subconsciously restructure my Qi particles into the Fire element. The only catch is that it won't be a true Fire element, but a manifestation created from original Qi...'

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"Is this really supposed to be hard for ten-year-olds?" An wondered. At first, it sounded complicated, but in practice, it felt almost too easy. Qi was the basis of everything. When he expelled Wood-saturated Qi, which was originally borrowed from primordial Qi, he was simply reverting its structure. All elements could be activated the moment his Qi left his body.

He realized that if a cultivator lacked a specific element, their transformed particles would be weaker than those of someone who possessed that element naturally. A Fire-element cultivator's 'Burning Orb' would always be superior to a Wood-element cultivator's version. Closing his eyes, An raised his hand and opened his palm. Releasing Qi, he visualized a flickering flame. A moment later, he heard the crackle of sparks. Opening his eyes, he saw tiny sparks dancing on his palm, growing into small tongues of flame.

He released more Qi to gather them into a single, steady fire." Whoosh!" The flame unified. He couldn't take his eyes off it, noticing a rich green tint at the base of the fire. Holding the flame in one hand, he hesitated before sticking his other hand directly into it. Surprisingly, he felt only a gentle warmth. Frowning, he wondered if something was wrong with the flame itself. He took a twig from his woodpile and held it over the fire. In an instant, the twig turned to ash.

It didn't even have time to catch fire, it simply blackened and disintegrated.

"The book says to be careful because you can burn yourself with your own fire... so why is it harmless to me?" An tilted his head, perplexed.

"Is this due to the single element again? Pure Qi with non-conflicting elements at the output." He drew in the emanating Qi flows from the flame and read the information they carried.

"When transforming, only a small part of the Qi's structure changes, so I only feel a gentle warmth." Visualizing a cooler flame, he lowered the temperature and lit the sticks stacked in his makeshift stove. Once the kindling caught, he added larger logs and waited for them to burn evenly, using his control over Qi particles to distribute the heat. When he felt the timing was right, he placed the bowl on the stove.

For a full hour, An struggled to maintain the temperature, fighting to keep the potion from exceeding ninety-nine degrees Celsius while simultaneously stirring the liquid with his Qi. During the first twenty minutes, he barely managed to keep control, and by the half-hour mark, over forty percent of the liquid had boiled away. The second half of the experiment went much more smoothly, with only an additional fifteen percent loss.

However, by the end of the hour, a severe headache began to throb behind his eyes, his Qi expenditure was far outstripping his body's natural recovery rate. Clutching his aching head with one hand, An used large leaves to protect his fingers as he moved the hot bowl from the stove. He brought it to his nose and took a cautious sniff. To his surprise, even the aroma now carried a potent calming effect. He checked the Qi flows emanating from the brew and confirmed everything was stable.

"Should I try it myself? I really don't want to lie here paralyzed for another few hours..." He looked thoughtfully at the dark liquid.

"Bok~""Hmm?" He glanced at the bird. The rooster was watching him with one eye while the other remained fixed on the bowl. Seeing the creature's strange, cross-eyed stare made An feel a bit uneasy.

"You want some?" He placed the bowl next to the rooster's head, since the bird still couldn't move its legs. The moment the bird smelled the concentrated aroma, it plunged its entire head into the potion and began to drink greedily. After only a few seconds, the rooster jerked its head back.

"BAWK!" it shrieked, then immediately passed out. It collapsed into the dirt and began to snore softly.

"Passed out that fast?" An leaned closer to ensure the bird was still breathing "I turned a simple sedative into a powerful sleeping potion. I think I'll pass on testing this myself... A few sips were enough to drop a spirit beast." He set the bowl aside, but after a moment's thought, he decided to pour the liquid out. These were just experiments, after all, and he didn't need a bowl of mystery knock-out juice lying around.

"I'm hungry..." he sighed, glancing briefly at the sleeping rooster. He considered it for a long time before shaking his head. He pulled a few Kavana fruits from his pouch and ate until he was full. Not forgetting the fruit he had promised the bird, he placed it next to the snoring rooster. With a tired but satisfied sigh, An picked up the alchemy book once more.