Chapter 2624 — You're an Alchemist Too?

Just then, Wei Zhao finished reworking the last dish—the pork belly with preserved mustard greens—and came back out. Hearing the White Leader's question, he smiled and explained, "Ah, that. Well, the truth of it is this..."

With that, Wei Zhao recounted to the White Leader and his wife the story of his earlier visit to Guan Xuewen's house. Told in Wei Zhao's words, the tale naturally carried more than a little humor, and the White Leader and his wife were promptly amused; in the end, they let the matter of Guan Xin drop without further reproach.

"Haha, so that's how it was! Well then, perfect timing—let's see what Wei Zhao's cooking can do!" The White Leader picked up another slice of the pork belly with preserved mustard greens and carefully placed it in his mouth. This time, though, his confidence was badly shaken; he dared not swallow it whole as he had before, and instead savored it slowly. The result was that the moment it touched his tongue, the rich fragrance sent him hurrying to swallow the rest of the slice along with it, and he proclaimed, "Delicious! Better than Xinxin's cooking, even?"

The White Leader's wife tasted a mouthful of the sweet-and-sour mustard fish, served cold, and nodded to herself in quiet approval. Fixing a dish was harder than cooking one from scratch, after all—Guan Xin had already made the food nearly inedible, yet after Wei Zhao put it back through the pan, he had somehow turned it into a fine dish once more. What a level of culinary skill that must take!

This was not something any ordinary good cook could manage!

Guan Xin was now gazing at Wei Zhao with plain admiration. Last time, Wei Zhao had not lifted a finger, so she had had no idea he possessed such ability. Now, seeing him for herself, she felt her heart flutter all the more! No wonder her grandfather and her master both spoke of him so highly!

So when the White Leader declared that Wei Zhao outdid her in the kitchen, she was not the least bit offended—instead she felt rather proud. "Mm, Wei Zhao really is very capable..."

"Heh heh, I was worried that Xinxin might be unhappy if I made Wei Zhao the senior fellow disciple. Now it seems she won't be, eh?" the White Leader asked with a smile.

"Mm, of course not." Guan Xin nodded as though it were the most natural thing in the world, though her curiosity was roused. "Wei Zhao, you know alchemy too?"

"No." Wei Zhao shook his head outright. "My constitution is a peculiar thing. I can ignite and condense dan fire, but I cannot control its intensity or its temperature."

"Is it because your body lacks the wood attribute?" Guan Xin asked, slightly taken aback.

"No, not that. Probably I have too many attributes, so they end up in confusion," Wei Zhao said.

"Yes—Wei Zhao's body most likely holds too many attributes, and they do not blend well together, checking and constraining one another, and that is what produces this condition. These past days I have been poring over old texts left by my sect, hoping to find a reliable way to resolve it." The White Leader nodded. "So far I have found no clear lead, though I have noticed a few hints. What Wei Zhao's case lacks is a catalyst—if the several mutually opposing attributes within his body could be made to fuse and form a small circulation, the problem would untangle itself!"

"A small circulation?" Wei Zhao had not expected the White Leader to have found a means of resolution, and was rather surprised. "So that means it is still possible for me to practice alchemy—is that right?"

"Indeed!" The White Leader nodded. "You truly can practice alchemy, and my sect has seen similar cases in generations past. It is only that when I left back then, I carried away too few records—what I took was mostly material related to alchemy itself, not the accounts of strange and curious matters. Now, going back to ask would be impossible."

Wei Zhao nodded, not especially disappointed. After all, what the White Leader had just described already counted as an unexpected delight for him. Previously, Wei Zhao had assumed that alchemy was utterly beyond him; now it appeared that he could practice it—it was only that the attributes in his body had not fused to form a small circulation, and so they checked one another.

"It's fine. So long as there is hope, that is enough!" Wei Zhao said. "The specifics can be studied and explored slowly."

"Mm. Come by my study after the meal, and I will show you that book," the White Leader said.

"Gladly!" Wei Zhao nodded without hesitation.

Guan Xin listened in a fog. This talk of attributes checking one another and small circulations—she had never encountered any of it, and only half understood. But one thing she had grasped clearly: Wei Zhao could not practice alchemy, yet there was hope that he might!

"Senior Fellow Disciple Wei Zhao, you had better work hard, then! Xinxin is already a first-rank alchemist, and is striving for second rank!" Guan Xin said with a touch of pride. At last she had something in which she surpassed Wei Zhao; at last she could be his capable assistant. Today Guan Xin was happy!

To begin with, she had taken no interest in learning alchemy—she had wanted only to study pharmacology and go back to help Wei Zhao's company. It was the White Leader's earnest hope that had obliged her to learn alchemy, and now it seemed Wei Zhao too had set foot in the craft. So Guan Xin felt that her study of alchemy had been most wise; at last there was a field in which she surpassed Wei Zhao.

"Heh heh, good!" Wei Zhao said with a smile. "By the way, Xinxin, you are already striving for second-rank alchemist? Have you run into any difficulties?"

"Difficulties... none for now. This sort of thing just comes with practice..." Guan Xin shook her head. "I have not yet refined a single properly formed second-rank pill!"

"That is not quite it, either." The White Leader spoke up suddenly. "The reason Xinxin's success rate at refining second-rank pills is so low is that the second-rank cauldron I have here is rather too worn—there is a crack in it, and during refinement it leaks dan qi, so naturally the success rate is far lower than usual. Given such conditions, it is only reasonable that Xinxin's rate is low."

"A crack?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. "Teacher Bai, why not use a cauldron that has no crack?"

"This cauldron is the one I used when I first learned alchemy. I kept it by me all these years merely as a memento. I cannot practice alchemy myself any longer—what use would a fine cauldron be to me?" The White Leader smiled bitterly. "Who could have guessed that decades later I would take on a disciple and teach her alchemy!"

The White Leader's purpose in teaching out here in the world was, on one hand, to distance himself from the strife of that place, and on the other, to seek, in accordance with his ancestral teachings, an heir of the wood lineage—a girl born with an exceedingly keen instinct for herbs. Yet when the White Leader saw Guan Xin, he discovered that she not only had the makings of an heir but also the makings of an alchemist, and so he had taught her alchemy along the way!

As for that matter, there was really no way the White Leader could ask Xuan Chen for a second-rank cauldron. Xuan Chen, after all, was inclined only toward the White Leader finding a simple heir—not toward raising up an alchemist!