The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

I walked into the old man’s tent, noticing the already set up cauldron and herbs, ready to be used. A smile came on my face at his enthusiasm, but I hid it, simply following behind the old man as he walked inside, before turning to face me with his stern teaching expression.

“So far, you have gained sufficient mastery of the flames. You’ve also observed me refining earth and know the technique now. Now, you must learn how to create spirit water, and afterwards, you must infuse it with the refined earth you have created,” the old man said. I gave him a nod.

“First, I will show you how it is done,” the old man said, turning to his cauldron. I noticed that there was just water inside it this time, and the old man stood over the water, a gentle flame burning within the cauldron, heating it up.

“The process to create spirit water is not difficult. I have seen your technique for the Qi crystals you create, and it is not dissimilar to this in some ways. The end goal is to simply bring out the essence and mix it into the water, till no more can be mixed in. And then, to purify and remove any impurities that may be present within the water,” the old man says, before taking out some spirit grass. Though these were different, with elongated stems and thin leaves.

“This is water spirit grass. They grow underwater where pure Qi is found. We will be using these to create the spirit water,” the old man said, before putting some inside the cauldron. Rather quickly, the grass began to move around the cauldron, as the water inside began to heat up.

“Now, you must use your Qi to bring the essence out from this herb. Do this, untill no trace of the grass remains, and you will have succeeded,” the old man said.

Qi swirled from his hands, as the water in the cauldron began to swirl like a whirlpool. I watched the grass slowly start to lose cohesion, letting out a barely visible green hue, as the plant began to break down. After a few minutes of control and moving the grass around, the old man added some more, repeating the process. I watched the old man do this seven more times, before the last batch of water grass no longer dissolved in the water.

“When the grass stops dissolving, you have completed this step,” the old man told me, and I nodded. I’d done something similar way back when I’d first started experimenting, and had figured out that water and Qi could dissolve into each other and had a saturation limit. But this was more refined, and more controlled. “After this, you must let the flames rise, and close the lid upon the cauldron,” the old man said, putting a lid on top as the fire began to rise around the cauldron. “This is where the experience of an alchemist shows. You need to be able to sense when the flames are high enough, and when the water has boiled to steam and is ready to be let out,” the old man said.

I sat there, watching him work. With that heat and the lid closed the pressure would rise. I knew the principles of how that would work, it was simple thermodynamics, but I didn’t quite understand how it would help us create spirit water. I didn’t know, but I would soon enough, and so I continued to watch.

The flames continued to burn, and soon enough I could see the lid starting to tremble from the steam inside pushing against the walls. If left on its own, the steam would get hot enough to lift the lid and release the pressure on its own.

“Now is the critical moment, Lu Jie. You must control the wind and create emptiness above the cauldron,” the old man said, as a gust of wind began to swirl all around. I felt the air moving and trying to enter back to fill the negative pressure the old man had created, but failed to do so, as he kept pushing the air away. “Keep the wind at bay and keep moving it away as you lift the lid.”

A burst of steam erupted from the cauldron as the old man removed the lid. My eyes widened in surprise, as I saw a ton of steam erupt from inside and wondered if something had gone wrong. I watched the steam swirl around, covering the area and hiding the old man, but just moments later, the steam began to collect, moving inwards and bundling together, and within moments, I saw the steam gather above the old man’s palm, cooling rapidly and turning back to crystal clear water that shone like a liquid gemstone.

“When the steam arises, it will try and fill the emptiness above it you have just created, use that moment to capture it and collect it, till it has calmed and cooled down, and you will have pure spirit water,” the old man said, as he put the water into a container nearby, safely storing it next to the bowl with the refined clay. After that, he turned to look at me. “Do you understand?”

I nodded my head. It was somewhat fascinating to see the old man using principles of physics within alchemy, but it also made sense. Those rules did apply to this world, or else it would not exist in the way it currently does. And even if people did not have a rigorous understanding of the how and why, many things had been figured out based on observation alone.

Walking ahead, I stood in front of the cauldron. Using my Chi, I gathered the impurities from before, removing them and collecting them into a pill, as I cleaned the cauldron. Grabbing some more water I added that into the cauldron to begin the process. Looking inside, I see my own face reflected back, and I take a deep breath before I begin. First, I take some water spirit grass, adding it inside the cauldron. As I do, I flick my hand, letting the flames rise underneath as the herbs begin to seep their essence out.

“Good, let your Qi mingle into the herbs and coax them into releasing their essence,” the old man said.

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I nodded, letting Qi form in my core which I mixed with the herbs, as they began to dissolve in water. I let my Qi swirl the water within the cauldron, fine tuning my control to dissolve the herbs better and faster. After a few minutes, the spirit grass could no longer be seen, only leaving a faint green tinge behind in the water.

I repeated the process. Adding more and more water spirit grass I continued to melt it all until the water now looked a pale sea green color and no more grass would dissolve. Wiping the sweat off my brow, I let out a breath, feeling the control of both the fire, the water and the herbs starting to drain me mentally. The old man had made it look easy somehow.

“Now, you must extract the water from the impurities present within it,” the old man said.

I focused my attention. This was basically rapid distillation, I needed to boil the water and turn it into steam before collecting all the steam and quickly cooling it to obtain the clear water mixed with Qi. It was very similar to what I did with the Qi crystals, except, this was faster, more efficient, and I had to be the one manually doing the work. Feeling a little nervous, I reassured myself and tried to feel more confident, as I closed the lid on the cauldron and began to raise the flames.

A part of me wanted a thermometer, to be able to know exactly how much heat I needed, and how hot the fire was, but I knew that was wishful thinking at the moment. I had to do this by feel for now. I closed my eyes, letting the world around me fade, as I simply focused my attention on the fire, and the water boiling inside the cauldron. I could feel the heat rising and falling and I could hear the water bubbling as it turned to steam, mixing around the cauldron, looking for an escape. I continued to raise the heat, letting the process intensify whenever it started to slow down. More and more steam began to rise and I could feel the palpable pressure within the cauldron. If I continued too far it would cause a steam explosion, so I needed to be precise.

After raising the flames one final time, I heard a little thud as the lid of the cauldron shifted. Immediately, I opened my eyes and began to move the air around me. Air Stepping had given me a much greater ability to control air around me, and I used that control to create a vacuum, picturing an emptiness. The image of the aftermath of the void bomb came to my mind, and I let the image manifest, as the air rapidly flew past me in powerful gusts, and I held it back, creating not a complete vacuum, but enough to get the job done.

Keeping my mind focused, to control the fire, air, and water all at once, I felt my focus straining to handle all three tasks, but I was no longer a child, and my powers had increased rapidly as well. Slowly, I grabbed the lid, before pulling back. Steam erupted all around me, covering me in fog and I let my Qi expand all around me into the world, before I began to pull.

As the steam rushed to fill the vacuum I had created I let go of the control over my air, the cold air rushing back inwards helping me in my task as it brought the steam I wanted with it. Quickly, I began to gather the steam, as it coalesced above my hand, it was hot and I could feel the heat in it as it didn’t want to be collected and bundled together.

“Control it, and cool it down Lu Jie. It is water, it merely needs to remember,” the old man said.

I laughed internally at the old man’s wording of it, as if the water knew somehow what it was, but he wasn’t wrong. And so I continued, letting my Qi seep into the steam and drain its heat as it began to gather.

The change happened instantly. One moment a cloud of steam was around me, the next, it was being sucked into a small ball which quickly condensed with the help of the cold air rushing in and formed a small amount of crystal clear water that floated above my hand. I smiled brightly, looking towards the old man who nodded his head.

Trying to not spill the water by losing control, I walked up to the container, before pouring the water in. Internally, I let out a cheer, but I knew my task wasn’t done yet.

“Now, the earth,” the Old Man said.

I picked up the impure bundle of earth set on a counter nearby, taking a handful before I put it inside the cauldron. This time the process went faster, my confidence in my own abilities rising. I took in a breath and then controlled the earth, as I raised the flames. The clay began to grow lighter, the water inside it evaporating. Once enough had evaporated, I quickly grabbed my container of spirit water and slowly added it inside as it began to mix with the clay.

Gently, letting the clay dissolve and while keeping the heat steady, I allowed it to simmer, cooking what looked like a lumpy brown sludge. It definitely wasn’t pretty. Keeping a vigilant eye, I watched as slowly the impurities began to rise outwards due to the heat, darkening the clay. Looking to the old man for direction I waited till he gave me a nod, before I quickly began to let my Qi seep in. Drawing the impurities outwards I began to pull it out. Letting my Qi tug, I swirled the impurities now mixed with the water, which I drew out of the clay, leaving behind a light colored clean lump of mud.

Gathering the impurities together, I condensed it into a black pill, smoke coming out of my fist as I evaporated the water. Putting the impure pill aside, I focused on the clay. Letting my Qi seep in, I began to shape it, channeling my Qi into it till it was a circular and uniform sphere looking beautiful and shimmering with both water and earth Qi. Carefully, I picked it up, before placing it into a container with the clay the old man had refined.

I let out a sigh, wiping sweat off my brow. “Alright, that’s done now. What next?” I asked, looking at the old man with a smile, eager to learn more.

The old man looked at me, and then back at the cauldron. “Now, you must repeat that at least twenty more times,” he said.

I looked at him in surprise, and then I looked back at the cauldron. An evil smile covered the old man’s face.

I grimaced, as I began the process once more.

***

My spirit felt drained, as I finished the last batch of refined clay. The sun rose above the horizon in the distance, and people had woken up and started making preparations to begin our journey anew.

The old man looked at my work and finally let out a satisfied nod. “Good. Now, you must slowly thread pieces of your spirit into the clay as you shape it into a vessel in your own image,” the old man said.

I looked at him, failing to find any energy in me, exhausted from my long night of work. The old man, taking pity, added. “But perhaps we can do that after you’ve had some rest.”

With my rising sun above me, I made my escape from the old man’s tent. Before I knew it, I was seated in my carriage, but even with the bumps and restlessness of travel, I managed to get some sleep after a long, long time.