Aoyang: The Reborn Alchemist Seeks Knowledge [Xianxia]

The old man paused for a moment before turning over, his eyes lighting up at the sight of Qinghe.

"Qinghe! You've returned!"

He beckoned for the two of them to approach, though he gave Baiyun a puzzled look.

"Who is this servant boy?" he asked.

"Baiyun, this is my grandfather, Qian Laohe, master of the Myriad Herbs Clan." Qinghe said. "Clan Master, this is Baiyun. I'm here to recommend him as an apprentice."

So this really was the Myriad Herbs Clan that irresponsibly turned over the forest to capture moles... But despite his thought, he bowed respectfully.

"Hah... cold as usual. I suppose this is as close as I'll get to you calling me grandpa." Laohe sighed. "Still, this kid as an apprentice?"

He frowned slightly at the sight of Baiyun and stroked his beard.

Alchemy was the profession with one of the strictest demands for qi control; to recommend a crippled servant seemed almost like a bad joke.

But Laohe didn't see his granddaughter as the type to joke around, so he displayed no contempt, his frown merely at the absurdity of the situation.

Qinghe didn't reply, merely taking out several sheets of paper and passing them to him. Baiyun had a feeling those were the recipes he wrote and felt slightly uneasy.

Laohe stared at her doubtfully but held up them up to read anyway.

His eyes darted all over the sheet as he read, his face remaining stoic for a moment. But his eyes grew wider the more he read. By the time he reached the bottom, his eyebrows were furrowed deeply, a faint anger creeping into his face.

"Qinghe..." his voice trembled. "What in- what exactly is this?"

But she only laughed.

"It really is ridiculous, isn't it?"

She pulled out a small vial from her bag and showed it to him. The pure black liquid within was dark as void and filled with mesmerising specks that shone like stars in a night sky.

Baiyun let her keep a portion of the elixir for this very moment.

"Black Earth Body Forging Elixir?" Laohe raised his voice.

He took the elixir from her and frowned as he scanned its contents with qi sense, holding it up to the light in various angles. He suddenly seemed to realise something weird about the elixir and his hands trembled.

"High Grade... Qinghe, you don't mean to tell me..."

Baiyun could not help but feel slightly smug, even as he tried his best to hold back the undignified feeling.

"Yes. I followed the recipe he wrote and successfully refined it." she said.

Laohe was so alarmed, he accidentally crushed the elixir in his hand. But he quickly snapped his finger and gathered the elixir into his hand, reforming the glass around it.

He marched over to Baiyun and immediately used qi sense on him.

Baiyun was startled but didn't resist. This was what the soul disguise he maintained was for.

"This kid has quite the strange constitution... I've never seen anything like it," Laohe mused. "He seems to have consumed quite a lot of Black Earth elixir, much more than the portion you showed me."

"Huh?" Qinghe raised her voice.

She marched over to Baiyun and shook him.

"BAIYUN? You... you drank all the elixir?!" she shouted.

Baiyun could only nod sheepishly.

"I told you to be careful! You were supposed to only dilute a single droplet into a bowl of water and drink that once a day!" Qinghe shouted before going into a daze. "I don't even know how you're still alive..."

Meanwhile, Laohe reread the recipe in a frenzy. Every now and then, he'd force more qi sense into the elixir, his eyes alternating between paper and glass as he cross analysed them. The wrinkles on his face creased as his frown deepened, until he looked like he had aged 10 years.

While alchemists couldn't usually reverse engineer a recipe solely from the finished product, he had the recipe in hand. As the elixir still held traces of the refinement process, he could confirm the recipe truly was used for it!

"...Give me a moment to compose myself," Laohe said as he read the last of the recipe, taking deep breaths.

He walked off to the corner of the room and closed his eyes in an attempt to meditate.

While Qinghe was shocked by Baiyun previously, it was only to a small extent due to her inexperience. Meanwhile, Laohe was seeing theories that conflicted with centuries of his experience, challenging his very view of alchemy!

Baiyun couldn't help but empathise with Laohe. A clash between 2 worlds of alchemy... a shock far greater that when he himself first saw a World Cauldron. But that feeling morphed into worry, as he wondered if he had shown too many of his cards.

Qinghe glanced at her grandfather in the corner of the room and suddenly smiled deviously. She snatched the mole out of the cloth bag around Baiyun's neck and marched over mercilessly.

"And this Gardener Mole here? It was stuck at the height of Qi Gathering, but I concocted an Earth Foundational Pill with Baiyun's help!"

The was no mention of how she had passed out halfway.

"Yes, yes... I saw its recipe as well. Give grandpa a moment to breathe..." the old man said, clutching his chest with a hand.

Baiyun could not help but feel dismayed at the scene of Qinghe smugly bullying her grandpa. First Mohei "extorting" freebies from lonely old people, and now her? Why were youths so disrespectful to the elderly?

All he could do was to let out a saddened sigh helplessly.

Laohe walked around awkwardly as if fleeing from Qinghe as she brandished the not-so-threatening mole and chased him.

Finally, he exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, turning to Baiyun with a forced smile.

"I apologise for showing my undignified side. Those ideas of yours... they are quite something."

"The clan master lost composure over a mere servant's scribblings." Qinghe said with a hint of a grin.

Laohe and Baiyun's eyes twitched in unison.

"Ahem. Qinghe, you said he wanted to be my disciple, didn't you?" Laohe coughed.

"That wasn't what I said, but it's close enough."

"Mn." Laohe nodded. "Baiyun, I hereby accept you as my direct disciple!"

Baiyun was stunned. That quick and easy?

"Thank you, clan master!" he shouted.

He felt rather pleased, thinking to himself that Laohe had quite the good eye. But at the same time he began to worry as he did in the past. Things seemed to be going a little too smoothly, a hint that trouble likely soon arrive...

Laohe let out a hearty laugh and extended a hand to Baiyun.

"Rise." he said as he helped Baiyun up. "There is no need for such formalities. Qinghe, I'd like to hear more about your experience working with him."

"Fine..." Qinghe grumbled.

At the behest of her grandfather, she spent the next hour recounting what she knew of Baiyun's little alchemy misadventures.

It didn't take long before she mentioned how much Baiyun coveted even the most basic alchemy textbooks, seemingly able to accomplish all this without formal alchemy knowledge. Laohe's clutched his hands into fists until they began to tremble when he heard that detail.

Baiyun's eyes twitched again. She was exaggerating a little too much!

"Incredible..." Laohe finally said. "I can't truly be certain, but he must have the Unparalleled Insight constitution, or at least something similar! Tsk... What a shame for him to be born as a servant."

Baiyun wasn't very surprised by Laohe's assessment, as it had been somewhat planned. This was another reason why he reshaped his body after consuming the Black Earth elixir; to pretend he had a unique constitution apart.

Aside from increasing his physical strength, it was another explanation for the things he had accomplished.

"Being a servant is already constraining enough, but to think he'd still be crippled to this extent! How vexing..." Laohe sighed as he patted Baiyun's shoulder. "Kid, you truly are unfortunate."

Then his eyes grew firm as he reached for a notebook on his desk.

"We need to restore his eyes and arms immediately!" Laohe said.

Restore his eyes and arm? Baiyun was taken aback by how Laohe was. Such a major roadblock was going to be swept away just like that? That couldn't be right!

Laohe mused to himself as he wrote.

"My clan's Dragon Blood Revival elixir can restore major wounds for most constitutions, but its too destructive for mortal usage. Alternative methods are necessary. For his eyes, let's see... I can request a favour from Elder Yan. We can carve glass eyeballs from Prismatic Glass Crystal and replace his eyes with them. There might be problems with nerve connections and rejection, but Thousand-Life Flower extract with cell cultures should be able to resolve them. For his missing arm, that will be be simpler..."

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Laohe frowned as he pulled out a jade communication token, activating it with a faint glow before yelling into it.

"Kid! Do we still have Bone Steel seeds and Synchronisation Orbs in stock? There should still be leftovers from our previous experiments!"

"We do..." the tired voice of a young man came from the jade token.

"Good, good!" Laohe laughed heartily.

He slapped Baiyun on his shoulder twice.

"I have wonderful news. We should be able to fully restore your eyes and arm!" he smiled. "Maybe you aren't that unfortunate, huh? Few can brag about surviving an encounter with a Nascent Soul beast, and you'll even get away scot-free with my help!"

Laohe was in a very good mood, but Baiyun was extremely alarmed.

Dig out his eyes and replace them with glass ones? That was absolutely unacceptable! If he went through with it, he would truly lose his eye-art that let him accelerate thoughts!=.

"Clan Master... can you tell me more about the arm replacement procedure as well?" he asked with a slightly strained voice.

"Haha, I see you're the inquisitive type! Very good, this is the type of attitude we need in our alchemists!" Laohe nodded with approval. "I'll start by telling a little story. About 25 years ago, Qinghe's older brother Shanhe had a terrible accident."

Baiyun was baffled. Why was the old man suddenly telling a story? To the side, Qinghe looked slightly exasperated.

"He researched the Faux Phoenix Core pill for a decade, hellbent on refining it himself. But he lacked the skill for such a feat, so can you guess what he did?"

Laohe didn't give them any time to make guesses and immediately continued.

"That idiot decided to refine a volcano into his cauldron, etching formations across its entirety and using Golden Composite Steel to refine its mouth into a vessel!"

Baiyun was caught off guard. Other than forging World Cauldron, the people of this world also had the skill to turn natural phenomena into cauldrons? To think that was just the tip of the iceberg...

"After refining a few mediocre high-grade pills, he declared it a success and went about the sect bragging about it! Merely a few-"

"Clan Master, those were Nascent Soul tier pills easily worth a million tokens each." Qinghe said.

"Bah, I could refine those in my sleep!" Laohe scoffed. "Anyway, his reckless refining stirred up too much fire qi and awakened the dormant volcano. That idiot went flying so high, he claimed he saw the edge of space as he screamed! When we found his body in a crater later, he was charred completely black and missing an arm and leg. If it wasn't for his Golden Forge Body art, he would definitely have died!"

Baiyun's eyes twitched. A volcano blasting with enough impact to nearly send someone into space? With that absurd amount of pressure, it was impossible not to notice the volcano was about to blow despite its mouth refined shut, so Shanhe must have known the volcano was about to violently erupt. Yet he still continued to refine without hesitation, in pursuit of the perfect pill!

Perhaps Laohe intended to denounce his madman of a grandson as a cautionary tale, but Baiyun only felt admiration for this supposed idiot.

"He was missing all his skin, but it was easy to restore that with elixirs. The difficult part was recovering his arm and leg, since his Body Path was incompatible with Dragon Blood Revival. So I spent 3 years researching suitable prosthetics for him."

Laohe suddenly clenched his fists.

"But can you believe it? The moment I helped him get back to his feet, he went around the clan bragging again! He even claimed the reason the volcano exploded was because he refined a Pinnacle-Grade Phoenix pill and agitated the very laws of nature. That idiotic braggart... who would believe anyone can refine a perfect pill on their first try?"

Baiyun's eyes shook. No... if it was a pinnacle pill, then it made perfect sense how the volcano erupted with such power! It was completely absurd to make a pinnacle pill on the first attempt, but there were a few documented cases in his past world. And with how Shanhe researched the pill for 10 years before attempting to refine it, it was well within the realm of possibility.

Shanhe was likely a true alchemy genius!

"Ahem, I might have gotten a little off track." Laohe coughed. "The process of making the prosthetic is straightforward. First, we lattice spirit steel with elemental elixirs to match your constitution and form a special Bone Steel! Then we graft it to the bone stump of your missing arm."

"Won't it be a problem if I outgrow my prosthetic?" Baiyun asked. "I'm still young after all..."

"Haha! You are very insightful to think of that immediately. Don't worry, I've already accounted for that! Bone Steel is an exceptional invention of mine that integrates itself into living bone as if it were alive, and even fills up with marrow like regular bone. Basically, it grows with you as you age!"

"I see..." Baiyun said.

He held back a subtle frown from showing on his face. If Bone Steel directly fused itself into his bones, he wouldn't be able to merely lop off the prosthetic if he wanted to remove it!

"Now, for the flesh. If we were to get a prosthetic, it has to be something that goes beyond. What good is a hunk of senseless steel for an arm? If I grafted such a thing to my stupid grandson, his career as an alchemist might end right there!"

Laohe clenched a fist passionately and waved his sleeves as he made dramatic gestures.

"So I experimented with many nerve replacements. It's really quite the troubling detail... it alone took a whole year of research as I experimented with all sorts of mediums. Eventually, I got an insane idea, so I contacted the Corpse Clan from Huiyao island!"

Huiyao island? Baiyun frowned at the oddly familiar name. Did he hear that from somewhere?

Laohe continued his passionate speech.

"As I suspected, the answer laid in the domain of Corpse Puppet arts!" he shouted. "Red Threadworms! They are parasites thinner than hair that integrate into the nerves of their victims, dulling pain and hiding their existence."

"Using qi sense to locate every severed nerve, these parasites can be painstakingly attached to each and every one of them! Once integration is complete, we refine them into corpse puppets alive."

Qinghe looked at him with disgust.

"Shanhe never told me his arm had worms in it." she scoffed.

Laohe laughed.

"There's no reason to worry, they all die during the puppet refinement process. Qinghe, you've seen that idiot use his arm without issues your whole life."

Qinghe didn't seem very impressed.

"Baiyun, this doesn't faze you, does it? You even used a dead slug while pill refining with Qinghe, so this should be nothing to you."

What was he on about? Using a slug in a recipe and directly attaching actual parasites to nerves were both on entirely different levels...

That said, Baiyun wasn't exactly a squeamish person and he would merely shrug and accept it if it were truly beneficial. But the problem was that both of the surgeries were extremely problematic for him!

"With bones and nerves both covered, the next aspect is the meat of the arm itself! But since I had such a good time working with the corpse master of Huiyao, we continued working on the rest of the project together." Laohe continued. "Eventually, we invented a new form of Necrotic Ooze!"

"With this, we can go beyond the function of regular flesh, allowing the user's new arm to shapeshift at will! Is that not delightful? And for the final touch, White Salamander skin will wrap the necrotic ooze. It's almost identical to human skin in appearance and has incredible regenerative abilities."

"Wonderful, is it not?" Laohe said proudly.

He completed his huge yet condensed rant about the prosthetic he and someone else invented, and held his head high. He waited expectantly for the reaction of his new disciple.

"This..."

Baiyun hesitated and was unsure of what to say. How would he convincingly find a reason to reject Laohe's treatment? He could tell refusing the treatment was not an option, because Laohe believed he would be useless as a disciple if he was blind and crippled.

Laohe's generosity was also beyond anything he could have expected, especially from someone related to Qinghe. Even if he was unfamiliar with those processes mentioned, anyone could tell it would cost an astronomic sum for such treatment!

He was also shocked by the wide breadth of knowledge that Laohe held, like an old lake with countless rivers flowing into it. Beyond Alchemy, Formations and Artificing the old man still pursued yet more fields, a true scholar!

At the same time, few things clicked at the back of his mind and he finally figured out where he heard the name Huiyao.

It was from the Veiled Garden alchemy workshop where he was imprisoned because of an upstart young alchemist! More specifically, on an information plate.

"Unidentified Seed weighing 2100.03 kg. 70,000,000 tokens."
"Obtained from an odd meteor that fell on the 8705th year, on the island of Huiyao. Functionally indestructible, unharmed by heaven-grade weapons and techniques. Emits a toxic substance dangerous to even Nascent Soul cultivators."

The world truly was a small place... It was the island the Cosmic World Tree seed had been found, a seed that could blow up the entire planet if detonated.

With all those chaotic thoughts running through Baiyun's mind all at once and without his eyes to accelerate thought, he sat there looking utterly baffled in silence for a good minute.

Laohe didn't mind and merely laughed.

"It's a lot of information to digest, isn't it? Don't worry, take your time!" he smiled. "Well, I suppose I can help with a little demonstration."

Baiyun nearly jumped as the old man suddenly grasped his forehead, sending a surge of soulsense into his mind. He immediately recognised the sensation, it was nearly identical to Yue's sight sharing.

The clan master was capable of using spirit arts too?! Exactly how many fields did he master?

Baiyun suddenly saw himself from Laohe's perspective, an extremely odd and somewhat nauseating feeling. He wasn't sure how to feel about seeing a hand "slapped" over his face as his first sight of the day. At the side, he saw Qinghe's unimpressed look, as well as the clutter of the room.

Ironically, he was still unable to see Laohe's face despite temporarily regaining sight again.

"Oh, I suppose you can't see my face like this." Laohe said, coinciding with his thoughts. "Qinghe, can you lend me a mirror?"

"I don't have one." she said.

"What? Tsk..." he grumbled. "Well, I suppose it doesn't matter right now. Here's what I actually wanted to show you!"

Laohe grinned as he extended a finger from his other hand towards Baiyun.

"Go on. Touch it."

Huh?! What was this old man saying?

Baiyun hesitated for a moment before touching the slightly wrinkled hand disgruntledly. It was an exceeding normal hand with little to note.

Then suddenly, Laohe's pinky trembled and began to contort. Bone pierced straight though the skin without a speck of blood, morphing into a razor sharp scalpel that glinted dangerously!

It's skin and flesh morphed again and crept up the bone blade, before shifting its shape into that of a miniature hand. The tiny fingers then elongated again, morphing into another 5 blades.

Laohe laughed heartily at Baiyun's slight shock.

"Wonderful, is it not? It's almost identical to human flesh when inert, and can be morphed into any tool at your disposal." he grinned. "With such a flexible tool for a hand, you might even be glad you lost your shoddy old arm to begin with, haha!"

Laohe had the prosthetic as well?!

Only on closer inspection with borrowed eyes did Baiyun notice the finger was slightly less wrinkled than the rest of the hand, a detail that was nearly unnoticeable.

"Clan master, you lost your finger?" Baiyun asked warily.

"Oh, I'm not that careless." Laohe laughed. "I merely lopped my pinky off to test my prototype, haha! It's quite handy for precise work."

Qinghe frowned at her grandfather's words but didn't say anything.

This old man... Baiyun took a deep breath, unsure if he should think of the clan master as a maniac or respect his dedication.

Losing a pinky might seem trivial, but it had huge consequences. Spell circuits formed in one's hands were tailored to the person's unique anatomy; after centuries of experience, masters of spellcasting would have habits tied to every finger and aspect that pushed their abilities to the limit. Even a single finger lost could result in someone losing their ability to use their best techniques.

Well... not that he was one to speak with how he lost half an arm.

"So what do you think?" Laohe finally asked. "I should be able to schedule the operation within a week."

"This..." Baiyun hesitated. "I-"

As the old man stared at him expectantly, he began to feel extremely nervous. How in the world was he supposed to turn the operation down?

He even began to wonder if the temporary benefits would make it worth it despite the extreme detriments in the long run.

No, that was not acceptable. The moment he accepted such an expensive procedure, his life was as good as sold to the clan! Between the heavy weight of such a favour as well as it damaging his future prospects, there was no way he could accept this!

A faint bead of sweat trickled down the back of his neck as time almost seemed to slow again, though merely an mental illusion. His mouth opened slowly-

"Clan Master." Qinghe suddenly said. "Baiyun is still injured and had a fairly rough time on his way here. Give him some more time to recover first."

"Eh?" Laohe seemed stunned.

He stared at Baiyun, who did appear quite tired, though it was not actual fatigue and mostly a reaction to stress. Then he stared at the slight disapproval from his beloved granddaughter.

"Well..." he coughed. "I suppose Qinghe is right. Then let's head to the lounge and have a quick tea break, while I get the butlers to find a guest room for you. I'll even invite that idiot Shanhe as well, so you can get to know him a little!"

Taking a tired guest to meet someone? Baiyun could only return a forced smile to the old man with little understanding of etiquette.

Laohe took his hand away, returning Baiyun's sight to murky darkness once more.

Qinghe grabbed Baiyun by the shoulder and turned him around, slowly guiding him out of the room. She held the sleeping mole in her arms, the poor creature unaware of its proximity to its nemesis.

"Sorry about that, my grandfather is quite the piece of work." she said, once they were out of earshot.

Baiyun was about to nod gratefully, thinking she was still a good youngling despite her problems with tidiness and attitude at times; but his face stiffened as he heard the second part of her sentence. This kid...

Unsure of how to respond, there was a moment of awkwardness where they only walked in silence.