Chapter 834 — Eight Clouds

CHAPTER 834

Eight Clouds

Bong!

The bronze gong rang once at noon, and eight disciples of the Azure Sun stepped forward together and knelt around the furnace.

The pavilion’s main hall had been cleared to the walls. The furnace stood in the centre on a raised stone stand, a great vermilion cauldron on three legs, taller than a man, with eight bronze mouths set round its belly. Each kneeling disciple laid both palms against one mouth.

The gallery above was full. Long Caili sat at its front, veiled, with Shen Yaoqing beside her. Behind them sat guests from half the great houses of the capital, and behind the guests, at the very back by a pillar, sat Shi Feng and Ji Yuanhe.

“Good seats,” Ji Yuanhe muttered. “We can see the backs of everybody’s heads.”

“We can see the furnace,” Shi Feng said. “That’s the only head I came for.”

Qu Hanshan walked out to the stand in his red robe. He didn’t look at the gallery. A disciple behind him read the ingredients aloud from a scroll, one by one, in a clear voice, so that every guest would know what had been spent.

“Nine-year Void Moss. Starfall Root. A Rift-Silver Lily, whole. Three drops of Mountain-Heart Dew…”

The list went on for a long time. Around the gallery, guests who knew prices began to murmur.

“That’s four million at least.”

“The Azure Sun is paying all of it? For a betrothal?”

“For the Serene Jade chief disciple, it’s cheap. One smile from her is worth a thousand gold.”

Shen Yaoqing didn’t turn her head. She sat with her hands folded in her white sleeves and watched the furnace as if nobody had spoken.

Qu Hanshan raised one hand.

The eight disciples pushed their qi into the bronze mouths at the same moment, and eight streams of Azure Sun flame poured into the cauldron’s belly. The furnace glowed red, then gold. Qu Hanshan began to feed the herbs in with his own hands, one at a time, without looking at them.

Shi Feng watched his hands and not the fire.

It was good work. Better than good. The old man didn’t waste one movement, and every herb went in at exactly the right heat. The eight flames were one flame under his control, and he turned them like reins. A half-step 6 Mark, registered at eight clouds. Shi Feng had heard the title many times in the capital. Now he saw that it was earned.

Ji Yuanhe had stopped fanning himself. He watched the old man’s hands and forgot his own grudge.

“He’s very good,” Shi Feng said quietly.

Ji Yuanhe looked at him in surprise. “You’re praising him?”

“The work is good,” Shi Feng said. “That’s all I said.”

An hour passed. The hall grew so hot that the guests in the gallery fanned themselves with their sleeves. Then Qu Hanshan closed both hands, and the eight flames folded down into the furnace.

The first cloud rose from the cauldron’s mouth. It was white and small, and it climbed to the roof beams and stayed there.

“One!”

A second followed it. A third. The gallery began to count aloud with them.

“Four!”

“Five! Minor Success!”

“Six! Seven!”

The seventh cloud was thick and pearl-grey, and the eighth came up slowly after it, heavier than all the rest. It hung under the beams like a sleeping beast.

“Eight! Eight clouds!”

“Perfect! That’s a Perfect pill at the 5 Mark!”

“The Grandmaster has hit his registered limit, in front of everyone!”

The applause filled the hall. On the stand, Qu Hanshan opened the lid with a long iron hook, lifted out one round pill the colour of dark jade, and laid it in a jade box. His face was calm. Behind him, at the edge of the stand, Qu Ming looked straight up at the back of the gallery and smiled.

Shi Feng didn’t clap.

“Perfect,” Shi Feng said under his breath, so that only Ji Yuanhe could hear. “And it still won’t hold.”

Ji Yuanhe went still. “What?”

“Her wound isn’t in her flesh,” Shi Feng said. “It’s a hole in space. It leaks. Anything you put into it falls through, unless something holds it there.” He nodded at the jade box. “To hold, the pill would have to be folded into place. Nothing on that stand is folded. Not the furnace, not the fire, not the pill.”

Ji Yuanhe stared at the stand. Then he stared at Shi Feng.

“How do you know that from up here?” Ji Yuanhe asked.

“I asked the princess what’s in it, back before the contest final,” Shi Feng said. “I’ve been thinking about it since.”

“Then tell them!” Ji Yuanhe said, leaning forward.

“Tell a half-step 6 Mark, in front of half the capital, that his Perfect pill is useless?” Shi Feng shook his head. “If I’m wrong, I’ve insulted him for nothing, and the princess pays for it. If I’m right, everyone will know in an hour, and nothing I say now will help her master.”

“And Chief Disciple Shen?” Ji Yuanhe asked, quieter.

Shi Feng looked at the front of the gallery. Shen Yaoqing hadn’t clapped either. She was looking at the jade box, and her hands were folded so tightly in her sleeves that the cloth had pulled smooth.

“She’ll hope for an hour,” Shi Feng said. “Let her have it. Hoping costs nothing. It’s the only thing in this hall that doesn’t.”

Ji Yuanhe said nothing more. He looked at his own hands for a long while.

On the stand, Qu Hanshan closed the jade box and gave it to his eldest disciple. Then he turned and looked up at the gallery for the first time all day. His eyes passed over the guests, over Long Caili, and stopped on Shen Yaoqing.

“Chief Disciple Shen,” Qu Hanshan said. “Shall we go and see your master?”

Shen Yaoqing stood up.

“Yes,” Shen Yaoqing said.

She walked down the gallery stairs without looking at anybody. Long Caili rose after her. The Azure Sun disciples fell in behind the jade box, and the whole procession went out through the side door toward the east wing, with Qu Ming at its tail, still smiling.

Shi Feng stood up and brushed off his sleeves.

“Where are you going?” Ji Yuanhe asked.

“To the east wing,” Shi Feng said. “I’m the princess’s alchemist. If it fails, someone should be there who knows why.”