Chapter 89 — Strength Wasn’t Enough

CHAPTER 89

Strength Wasn’t Enough

“Another crack,” Shi Feng said.

He lifted the lid and watched the half-formed pill crumble. A bitter smell filled the rented furnace room. This was his own practice batch, bought with his own spirit stones, and nobody stood outside waiting for an explanation.

That didn't make the result less irritating. The ingredients for today's practice cost eight spirit stones. He used the last of his previously booked furnace hours. He could afford them now without touching a customer's advance, which was why he dared make the attempt.

The preparation was meant for cultivators approaching Foundation Establishment. Mo Tianheng's memories held the entire process. Shi Feng knew the temperature, the order of extraction, and the exact point when the final herbs should bind.

His qi couldn't hold them together.

He pressed two fingers against the furnace rim, checking the heat before withdrawing his hand. The furnace wasn't the main problem. Neither were the herbs. At the final stage, his Bone Refinement qi couldn't keep the medicinal forces separated and then join them cleanly.

His reserves were enormous. Their quality still belonged to his current realm.

Shi Feng thought, I can kill someone stronger. That doesn't mean my qi becomes theirs.

He could force a heavier stone off the ground. He couldn't force an unstable medicinal mixture to become a sound pill just by being stronger than it!

The second attempt confirmed the same limit. This time he slowed the binding and used more qi. The liquid stayed steady longer, then separated into dark grains before it could take shape.

Shi Feng stopped there. Repeating the same failure ten more times would only make the furnace richer.

He scraped out the cooled residue and swallowed it, letting the unrefined herb qi sink into his golden bones. When he opened his eyes, he was still annoyed.

Benefiting from a mistake didn't make it less of a mistake.

Gao Yuan found him wiping down the tray, still hidden beneath his hood and face cloth. Smoke from the shared flue had begun entering the doorway. The landlord pressed a wet rag over the crack and succeeded only in moving the leak upward.

“You said it was repaired,” Shi Feng said.

“It was sound yesterday,” Gao Yuan said.

Shi Feng moved his ingredients away from the smoke. Gao Yuan hurried to open the room at the back. Inside stood an ordinary copper furnace, with a dry flue and a lid that didn't sit properly.

“This is the wrong lid,” Shi Feng said.

Gao Yuan brought another from storage. It settled evenly into place. Shi Feng checked the seams and booked a short run of sessions. The copper would hold heat more steadily, but it couldn't improve Bone Refinement qi.

Before leaving the doorway, Gao Yuan lowered his voice. “Two clerks from the Crown Prince's household came down the lane an hour ago asking who refines for the hunting companies. I told them my rooms only rent by the hour and nobody signs a real name, so they went to watch the front herb shops instead.” Shi Feng nodded once and noted the side alley exit.

The furnace owner finally went away. Shi Feng returned to the common recovery formula and made a small comparison batch. The result wasn't spectacular, but the herbs joined correctly. His qi could sustain every stage without being dragged beyond its limit.

That was the difference. He didn't lack expertise. He lacked a body at the realm needed to use all of it.

Foundation Establishment would open the next step. Before that, the First Extreme had to be finished. He wouldn't abandon his chosen path just because a pill refused to cooperate.

Five common pills lay on the tray. He compared one with the sample saved yesterday, checking its middle rather than judging the round shell. The new batch was evenly bound. His earlier practice was working.

He didn't need to keep proving that an advanced formula could defeat him. First he'd improve the medicine he could actually sell. Then he'd use its profits to reach the realm that stopped him today.

He sealed the sound pills and wrote one short note beside the failed formula: wait until the next realm.

At home, Ling Qingzhu intercepted him beside the kitchen door.

“Don't come closer,” Ling Qingzhu said.

Shi Feng stopped. “What's wrong?” Shi Feng asked.

“Your sleeve,” Ling Qingzhu replied.

A black streak ran from his wrist toward his elbow. He rubbed it once and discovered he'd only spread the soot.

“It's from work,” Shi Feng said.

“I didn't think you fought the stove for amusement,” Ling Qingzhu replied.

She brought a basin and set it on the courtyard table. When he reached for the cloth, she slapped his fingers aside and pointed at the water instead.

“Wash your hands first,” Ling Qingzhu said. “You'll make it worse.”

“Yes, Lady Ling,” Shi Feng replied.

“Don't call me that,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“Madam Shi?” Shi Feng asked.

Ling Qingzhu pressed the wet cloth onto his sleeve much harder than necessary.

Shi Feng laughed. She was embarrassed, and that pleased him far more than teasing a furnace owner. He held still while she scrubbed the worst patch, then took the cloth before the cold water soaked through his whole robe.

“Did you sell anything?” Ling Qingzhu asked.

“Not today,” Shi Feng replied.

“Then why were you burning things?” Ling Qingzhu asked.

“Practice,” Shi Feng said.

She looked at him with mild surprise. His medicine business still seemed odd to her. She could understand simple ointments, but his determination to meddle with pills looked like another stubborn effort to fix ruined meridians.

“You shouldn't believe everything an alchemist tells you,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“I rarely do,” Shi Feng replied.

“Especially if he takes your spirit stones first,” Ling Qingzhu added.

“That part I noticed,” Shi Feng said.

She nodded, satisfied with her warning. Shi Feng didn't tell her whose memories were inside his head. He wrung out the cloth and hung his robe near the kitchen wall.

Ling Qingzhu glanced at his bare forearm before looking away. The skin showed no trace of the injuries she'd bandaged after his dangerous absence. He recovered well, at least. That pleased her, although she didn't say it.

“There's rice left,” Ling Qingzhu said. “I didn't eat it all.”

“You boiled rice?” Shi Feng asked.

“I said there's rice left,” Ling Qingzhu replied. “Don't invent things.”

It was yesterday's rice, covered carefully with a plate. She'd moved it away from the window so the afternoon sun wouldn't spoil it.

Shi Feng felt unexpectedly happy. It was a small thing, but she didn't need to do it. He took the bowl inside and began chopping vegetables.

Behind him, she continued rinsing the soot from the cloth instead of going back to her bed.

That night, Shi Feng lay on his floor bedding until Ling Qingzhu's breathing grew even. Then he slipped into the kitchen and shut the door.

He swallowed two retained recovery pills. Their medicinal force passed through him and entered the golden traces within his bones. His body accepted both as cleanly as the first pill he'd ever taken. There was no growing resistance to reduce the benefit.

He also used a small portion of the Golden Vein Root left from Zhu Shan's earlier payment. The simple preparation suited his present qi. Its warmth joined the pills and slowly strengthened another stretch of golden bone.

Shi Feng watched the change inwardly. He wasn't at the end yet, but he could reach it. Paid commissions would give him enough medicine if he kept producing and improving.

From the room came a sleepy voice.

“Shi Feng, are you cooking?” Ling Qingzhu called.

“Preparing medicine,” Shi Feng replied through the door.

“It smells better than supper,” Ling Qingzhu said.

“Then I'll feed you roots tomorrow,” Shi Feng replied.

“Don't you dare!” Ling Qingzhu snapped.

Shi Feng smiled and covered the remaining root. Sima Yu's clerks were already sniffing around the furnace lanes, and Bone Refinement wouldn't keep them outside the door much longer.