Phoenix's Requiem

Yun Ruoyan was naturally unaware of Madam An and her three sisters’ ploy. All her attention was focused on her own cultivation. After paying her respects to the Yun matriarch early in the morning, Yun Ruoyan headed for the Lin family. Lin Zainan, Lin Qingchen, and Lin Qingxue had finished their preparations and were only waiting for Yun Ruoyan to show up.

As soon as Yun Ruoyan entered, they had an official ceremony to induct her as Lin Zainan’s disciple. They were all gathered in the Lin family’s pillmaking chambers, with Lin Zainan taking the seat of honor. Lin Qingxue and Lin Qingchen stood on either side of him, and Yun Ruoyan knelt on the floor. 

“Disciple Ruoyan greets Master Lin!” she called out, before kowtowing three times.

Lin Zainan beamed as he bade her rise, fully satisfied with his new disciple.

Yun Ruoyan took a flask of wine from Lin Qingchen, poured a cup out, and served it respectfully to Lin Zainan, who drained it in one go. 

Hence concluded the ceremony.

“Ruoyan, from now on, not only are you my granddaughter, but you’ll also be the first external disciple of the Lin family in over a hundred years, as well as my last disciple.” Lin Zainan stroked his beard, pride staining his words. After all, Yun Ruoyan’s talent and temperament was beyond compare.

“Sister Ruoyan—oh, no, I mean…” Lin Qingxue mischievously clasped her hands behind her back and put on an act. “Junior Apprentice Ruoyan, quickly greet your senior sister!”

Yun Ruoyan smiled, took two steps forward, and began to knead at her cheeks. 

“Ahh! Sister Ruyoan, be more gentle!” Lin Qingxue yelped.

The silent and desolate chambers were infused once more with joy and conviviality.

As Lin Zainan sent the Lin sisters to their rooms with more homework, Yun Ruoyan prepared to have her first lesson as a pillmaster. Lin Zainan moved several medicinal herbs and grasses that he’d prepared to a countertop. He pointed at one of them and asked, “What sort of herb is this?”

Yesterday, Lin Zainan had passed Yun Ruoyan a compendium for basic low-grade pills and tasked her with memorizing its contents. The first lesson today was meant to test how well she had done so.

“This is heaven’s sedge, used to treat internal injuries,” Yun Ruoyan responded.

Lin Zainan nodded with satisfaction before pointing to a few more herbs, whose functions Yun Ruoyan was clearly familiar with.

“Very good. In that case, let’s start refining pills immediately. Let me demonstrate.” Lin Zainan led Yun Ruoyan to the furnace positioned in the center of the pillmaking chambers, about half an adult’s height. It was made of old copper, kept in such pristine condition that she could see her reflection on its surface. On its four legs were carved four qilin, about to take to the skies.

Because of how frequently it had been used for pill refining, a medicinal scent permeated the furnace. She could smell the heady scent from quite a distance away.

“This pill furnace has already been with us Lins for three generations. Although there are better furnaces out there, long-term usage has infused it with spirituality. In this sense, pills from this furnace won’t be worse than those from a high-grade furnace,” Lin Zainan introduced.

Yun Ruoyan reached out and touched the furnace, feeling the warmth that emanated from it.

Ever since she was little, she had seen her grandfather sitting in front of this furnace and refining pills. She’d never expected that she, too, would have the chance to do so one day.

When Lin Zainan sat in front of the furnace, Yun Ruoyan could keenly feel the aura of a master. He spread his arms wide, forming a crescent, and red spiritual mist seeped out of his palms. Although his cultivation had gone down, decades of experience had tempered his movement and actions, making them appear graceful and elegant to her eyes. 

When the spiritual mist had formed a vortex in front of him, he pushed his palms forward and sent the vortex into the interior of the furnace. With a sudden flash, orange flames filled the furnace. Amidst the firelight, the four qilin seemed to come to life, staring at the flames and baring their teeth, as if wanting to devour it whole.

The orange light, reflected on Lin Zainan’s snowy hair, beard, and brows, made him look like an immortal who had descended from the heavens.

“Ruoyan, come over here.” Lin Zainan motioned to Yun Ruoyan, who was standing in a daze to the side. “Furnaces are endowed with their own spirituality, and our spiritual flames have their own unique signature. Before using a furnace for the first time, you need to make sure that it’s familiar with your signature.”

Under Lin Zainan’s supervision, Yun Ruoyan dripped one drop of blood into the furnace, and the orang flames within seemed to rise up to catch it.

“Alright, that’s enough! Now, watch carefully. I’m going to be refining a low-grade spiritual pill, the darkened heavens pill, based on the ingredients from earlier.”

Yun Ruoyan stepped back and watched as Lin Zainan extended a hand toward the counter. The heaven’s sedge flew into his palm, and with a push, it floated above the furnace. Through the opening at the top of the furnace, the flames began to bake the spiritual herb. Lin Zainan then threw in three different herbs in differing quantities. Then, he stepped back and sat cross-legged in front of the furnace, his hands continuing to infuse fire-attuned spiritual energy into the furnace.

“By controlling the rate at which you’re releasing your spiritual energy, you can control the size and heat of the resulting flames. You’ll do this until the ingredients fuse with each other and the pill is complete.” Lin Zainan’s eyes were firmly fixed on the flames within the furnace and the spiritual herbs floating on top of it. “Pillmaking requires both talent and diligence: I might be able to teach you the basics, but everyone’s attunement is different. To improve, you’ll have to work diligently on your own and figure out what works well for you.”

Yun Ruoyan looked at the four spiritual herbs beginning to change color and shape under the intense heat. Along with the changes in the herbs, the flames in the furnace also began to change in size, fluctuating between large and small, between red and orange. 

Perhaps fifteen minutes later, the herbs had slowly transformed into viscous, gum-like substances which mixed with each other in a spherical blob. As it revolved on top of the furnace, it eventually became a mud-yellow pill, about the size of a marble. A strong, concentrated medicinal aroma was released with the finished pill.

Lin Zainan cupped his palms, and that pill floated down the furnace and into his hands. Without any further input of spiritual energy, the spiritual flame in the furnace was slowly extinguished, and the pillmaking chambers went dark once more.

“The darkened heavens pill is finished.” Lin Zainan smiled as he looked toward Yun Ruoyan.

Only then did she realize that his original ruddy complexion had become a little pale, and although he was smiling, it couldn’t hide the fact that he looked somewhat tired.

“Grandfather!” Yun Ruoyan’s heart twinged as she immediately stepped forward to help support him.

“I’m getting old, nothing more.” Lin Zainan smiled. “And to think that I once stayed awake for three days, eating and drinking nothing, producing thirty-two low-grade pills and four mid-grade pills in succession!”

Whenever she was reminded that Lin Zainan had gone from a fifth-rank to third-rank pillmaster solely to help her, Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but turn miserable.

How hard had her grandfather worked for those two ranks of cultivation? They were half his life’s efforts, but he was willing to give them up just for her. This sort of affection felt like something Yun Ruoyan couldn’t pay back, no matter what she did.

“Grandfather, you’ll never get old in my heart. You’ll always be the best pillmaster I know,” Yun Ruoyan murmured as she supported him.

Lin Zainan smiled once again. His viewpoint was quite different from Yun Ruoyan’s: in his eyes, having an even more talented successor who could advance the legacy of the Lins was far more important than two paltry ranks.

And this successor was even his very own granddaughter. How could he be upset by this trade?

Yun Ruoyan helped bring Lin Zainan outside and poured him a cup of tea. Her grandfather hurriedly took a sip before revealing the mud-yellow pill to Yun Ruoyan.

Yun Ruoyan knew about the effect of this pill: during the early stages of cultivation, it could help cultivators condense spiritual energy and quickly reach the level of a third-rank blademaster, a support-type pill. 

But those cultivators who used such a pill would often find it difficult to progress past fifth rank, so only troops and guards would commonly employ them. Despite these drawbacks, however, such pills were still in high demand and difficult to find on the Chenyuan continent.

Spiritual pills were divided into three grades based on the ingredients, the spiritual energy they contained, and their efficacy: low-, mid-, and high-grade. Within each grade, there were more subtle gradations: inferior, middling, and superior. 

“Look at this darkened heavens pill! It’s shiny and lustrous, and almost a perfect sphere. You can smell its concentrated aroma even from afar, so this is a superior low-grade pill.” Lin Zainan held the pill in front of Yun Ruoyan’s eyes and instructed her in how to discern the quality of the pill.

“You’ll be able to discern pillmasters’ cultivation based on their pills. If pillmasters try to forcefully refine a higher-grade pill than they’re capable of, in most circumstances, they would simply fail. Even if they were to succeed, the resulting pill would be inferior at best.”

Yun Ruoyan took Lin Zainan’s pill and placed it into a special pill case. If such pills were exposed to the air for long periods of time, their spiritual energy would easily dissipate.

“Was the reason that Wang Meng wanted to buy your pills to check your cultivation?” Yun Ruoyan asked.

Lin Zainan frowned as he stroked his beard.

“That lad from the Wang family is certainly a rare genius. I’ve heard that, ever since he was small, he’s been able to detect and analyze the process of making a pill just from looking, smelling, and touching the final product.”

Yun Ruoyan couldn’t help but be shocked. Wouldn’t someone who possessed such a talent be a living vault of pill-refining knowledge?

“Supposedly, he’s almost manic about pill refining.” Lin Zainan’s tone couldn’t help turning severe. “Ruoyan, you’re certainly talented, but trying to beat him won’t be easy. You’ll need to put in multiple times his effort over the next two years in order to do so.”

Yun Ruoyan looked back at her grandfather and responded solemnly, “Grandfather, I won’t let you down.”