Blueprint for Immortality: a Crafting Xianxia

He was a silver-haired man with only gentle lines on his face, wearing night-black robes with a single golden moon inscribed on the chest. He walked with a limp, and his daughter had to help him to sit down.

“I am Yi Yuxuan. As for the Mantis…” The old man took a draw from a bone-handled pipe and puffed out a ring of smoke. “Ah that’s a complicated question. The simple version is… A little more than three hundred years ago, the Mantis Sect was nothing but the family that kept an inn along the road. They happened to shelter an immortal who was badly wounded. In return, they were promised that in the next one-thousand years, no enemy would be able to persecute them. Within any walls they built, they would be the law and the justice, and an enemy that threatened those walls would be destroyed utterly if they merely broke the command talisman they were given to summon the immortal back.”

“So… It was license to build a city?” Booker paused. This whole city… began with a single immortal’s promise...

“Indeed, as the protections would grow with the walls they built, they were encouraged to build as much as they could. Even the neighboring powers, the Hutan Empire and the Iron Wall Bandits, could not risk the immortal’s wrath.” Yi Yuxuan continued. “At the time, the Hutan Empire had just driven out the Lao-Hain tribespeople. It was a good time to sow a seed, and so, Mantis City was born.”

“I see. Thank you for enlightening me.” He bowed his head.

“So polite…” Yi Yuxuan chuckled. “It’s funny. Your mask indicates that you don’t wish to be bound by social conventions. The whole point of a mask is to escape your role in society. But still, you’re polite. Why is that?”

Booker actually snorted with laughter. “I suppose I hadn’t considered the contradiction. Eh, let’s say the mask makes things uncomplicated, and were everything simple, I’d be polite all the time.”

“If everything were simple…” The man nodded. “I understand the sentiment. Now, we have a small task for you. A simple test of identification skill.”

The daughter brought out four small plants growing in miniature pots, setting them out on the table between them.

“These are four plants of varying difficulty to identify. We require you to identify at least three.” She explained.

Booker picked the first one up. It was a tiny wooden sprig like the core of a briar bush, thorny and green, with a mixture of bright firework red flowers and small dark red berries that glistened like drops of jelly.

Common Painberry Wortgrass spliced w/ Lullaby Poppy

Intact (Splice) / Dull Quality

A pair of common plants spliced together, with minimal alchemical properties. Most notable for its resemblance to Red Honeyberry.

Antiseptic 5% (+)

Somnolent 5% (+)

Toxicity 10% (-)

Qi Recovery 1% (+)

He blinked at the word spliced, something that had never appeared before, and leaned closer to inspect the plant. There were tiny grooves where the wooden stalk had been surgically conjoined to the flowers, tiny differences in the shade of green. So… This is the trap they set for the overconfident. A plant that’s obviously one thing, but secretly worthless.

And the message is…

“I see. It’s not just unidentified goods you want me to deal with, but intentional fraud.” He said, setting the potted plant down. “This is poppy and wortgrass.”

Yi Yuxuan was definitely paying attention now. “Sharp eyes. Yes, you’ll have to be on guard against frauds as well. Of course, if someone shows up with a spliced plant of that quality…”

“It would be better to offer them a job than to throw them out.” Booker said. He couldn’t imagine anyone spotting this unless they approached the task with a paranoid level of care.

Which is exactly what they’re looking for. I should count myself lucky I have the book.

He picked up the next plant. It was a furry, cone-shaped growth of densely clustered branches, half of them tipped by tiny purple blossoms, so that it had the appearance of a tiny tree covered by ornaments.

Purifying Aloes Cone

Intact // Earth Quality

Known for extruding a fragrant sap when squeezed even lightly, fragrant aloes cone is valued for alchemy and perfume. This particular species has a strong poison purging effect but is found only in deep deserts.

Poison Purging 10% (-)

Qi Recovery 5% (+)

Alluring Fragrance 5% (-)

Hallucinogenic Poison 5% (R2)

Booker was surprised. Bringing out an Earth-quality plant for a test was no joke. It even had one of the rarer property tags, a Reagent Number. Properties with a Reagent number would only activate if every Reagent Number beneath them was also activated, down to 1, which would always be activate.

Worse, Reagent Number qualities were mostly negative up until you clustered three or four of them, at which point they got better with each step you took. An Reagent-6 pill was wildly stronger than other pills of its type, if also riddled with side effects.

“Purifying Aloes Cone.” He noted. “It’s quite clever to keep a desert specimen like this alive here.”

“The splice and the cone plant are both my work, actually.” The daughter interjected. She was smiling quite broadly, and nudging her father, as if Booker had accidentally weighed in on some argument between them. “Have you ever visited the Hutan Festival of Green Branches?”

“I can’t say I have. What is it?” Booker asked.

“A spirit gardening festival. Ones who contribute energy to the Hutan Spirit Tree are given saplings to grow, which will extend their lifespan up to one-hundred years.” She explained.

“Apologies, sir.” Yi Yuxuan sighed. “She’s become convinced she’s ready to leave for this festival. If you can say anything at all on the matter, please say that the roads are dangerous and travel is for fools.”

“I should avoid weighing in at all.” Booker demurred.

”Absolutely, absolutely. Very sorry that this foolishness came up at all.” The old man said, harrumphing in agreement with himself.

She sighed and left, pausing to glare over her shoulder at Booker.

“The gardening is well done.” He said apologetically.

“Again, apologies for the disturbance.”

“It’s really nothing.” Booker assured him. If anything, he was mildly suspicious it was an act. Very easy to take people off-guard when you project an image of familial duty and patience.

“Now, the remaining two plants should prove no issue.”

Waterveil Lotus

Intact // Dull Quality

Lotus flowers that grow underneath waterfalls are known to be pure and holy symbols. Once in a hundred years, one might bloom directly on the face of the waterfall, and that lotus will be a Waterveil Lotus, purest white.

Toxicity and Potency 20% (-)

Cultivation Boost 20% (Water)

Cultivation Boost 5% (+)

Qi Recovery 20% (-)

Additional Effect: Balance: Add 20% Potency. (If you have at least one complete elemental wheel for each ingredient with the Balance tag, you gain the Balance effect.)

Balance was another condition that was common at higher levels of alchemy, but rare to see at this low tier. Basically, if you assembled a set of all five elements, one balance tag would activate. If you assembled another five, a second could. Since they all multiplied each other, a balance pill was extremely powerful.

Solar Pinwheel Flower

Intact // Dull Quality

Known to rotate without any wind, so long as the sun is shining on its petals. In the autumn months the heads break off and spin away, scattering seeds below.

Body Cultivation 5% (Day)

Cultivation Boost 5% (+)

Beast Taming 5% (+)

Toxicity and Potency 20% (Day)

Every Day property had to be balanced by a Night Property, and vise versa, to function. If they weren’t cleanly able to break into pairs, none of them would activate. Because a Solar Pinwheel had two Day tags, it was very hard to use in anything.

“Waterveil Lotus and Solar Pinwheel.” He concluded.

“Magnificent. You’ve identified all four, including our trap, which means you have the right temperament and skills to work here.” Yi Yuxuan grinned. “I can start you right away, with the medicine lot for the monthly auction.”

“The one thing to discuss is payment.” Booker added.

“You’ll receive 100 liang per identification up front, and a thirty percent commission on the sales of objects you identify.” Yi Yuxuan’s gaze was steady. Booker realized that if he didn’t argue, this man would never respect him.

“No percent is necessary. Instead, I want to keep a third of the plants I identify. Since I’m more than doubling their value, that should be a profit for you still..”

“Hmm… A third…” The old man sounded unconvinced, and even if Booker knew it was a game, it was a game he intended to play.

“Consider that the information I give you will be useful for more than one auction. You only pay me once, but you can reap the rewards of knowledge multiple times. To make it even better, I'll bring the herbs back as medicines and sell them at this auction. That way, you'll get auction fees on the deal as well.”

Yi Yuxuan rolled it around for a few seconds, and then said, “Tell you what, it’s a deal.”

He clapped his hands and his daughter stepped back in, helping him to his feet. “Yi Daiyu will show you to the pieces that need inspection.”

She nodded her head, gesturing for him to follow. People were pouring out of the auction house now, out into the various amusements and entertainments. Booker was led past all of them, down a narrow flight of stairs, and into a wooden undercroft that was behind and beneath the stage.

And there, secured by four sentinel golems, was all the wealth of the upcoming monthly auction.

A curved saber sat on metal posts. It was made out of heavy jade, inscribed with ancient characters and scowling demonic faces. At the edge, the jade turned thunderbolt white.

Next to that was a collection of bone pins set on a velvet backdrop, the ornaments at the top resembling herons and snakes.

Beside that was a single large seedpod, yellow-green and ridged so that it looked like an oblong star. Strangely, his book of alchemy identified it as…

Golemseed

A seed that contains the potential to become a golem. Unsuitable for alchemy.

“What does the golemseed grow?” Booker asked. “What kind of golem?”

“A fortress.” She said, turning. “An entire fortress. This is really one of the top-tier offerings, even if it’s for warfare instead of the small-scale battles we see here in the Mantis Sect.”

“Incredible.” Why waste such a treasure on a place like the Mantis Sect, where warfare is almost unheard of? Unless it’s not even worth considering a treasure when you get to the Hutan capital.

Next were the unsorted medicines. Anything that they could identify as valuable, but not give a more nuanced appraisal, ended up here.

“How do you determine when something is valuable enough to join the monthly auction?” Booker asked, eyes sweeping over the collection. At a glance he could identify everything, and while they claimed not to be able to identify the contents, they hadn’t let anything especially worthless fall into the collection.

“We have an amulet, the Golden Moon Amulet of Beauty, which can determine roughly how valuable something is. It’s not foolproof, but it always points us in the right direction.”

“Ah.”

The herbal medicines had been collected in small cedarwood caskets to preserve the herbs for longer. A small portion of each plant had been cut away to add to the main display, framing all the plants together.

I better keep the fact I can identify them all under wraps. That being said…

“I can identify six of the seven.”

Tapping the glass, he said. “This is Strangling Willow Noose. It’s a kind of predatory moss that grows on willow trees if too many bodies gather under the roots. It’s good for body cultivation, very good… The next is Para-Flame Tulip, a rare breed though, broken with three different colors. That means its three times as effective for cultivation boosting pills…”

As he explained, she took out a small journal and began jotting down the information.

He named the remaining three, then walked further, down the line of treasures readied for auction. When he saw the amulet sitting among them, a shapeless knot of jade on a thin chain, he immediately thought it looked out of place among the gleaming relics they’d collected…

But rather than even let his eyes linger on it, he kept moving. If I indicate it’s more valuable than they know, they’ll definitely make me pay a high cost to get it back. That’s just business…

Eventually he came to a brass bracelet that seemed equally out of step with its surroundings. “This bracelet, how much is it?” He asked.

“It will start at one thousand. It may not look like much, but that’s an Ancestral Witchsong Bracelet. It contains three powerful songs that can mesmerize foes into an illusionary world.”

One thousand… In some ways its an insane price to pay for a lump of jade. On the other hand, I know it’s somehow connected to the books, and contains a fraction of one. With that in mind…

One thousand is a ridiculous steal.

— — —

Booker left the auction house significantly richer than before. Identifying ten herbs had made him…

One thousand liang. Nearly enough for a starting bid. And when the pills he made with the herbs sold, he could expect to make another thousand.

The auction house was a good idea.

He made his way back to where the Sect was rolling out its early morning laundry brigade, pausing in a dirty alley to change out of his mask and cloak, switching to a novice’s Sect robes. The morning was viciously cold against his skin and felt like being splashed with ice water, waking him up out of the haze he’d been in.

Did I really do all that?

Sometimes I look back at everything I’ve lied my way through and wonder where does this come from.

He made his way down to Chen Jie, finding the old cripple…

Curiously positioned, his feet rooted in the shallow mud of the river, his hands by his sides, standing stock upright like his back was against a board.

“Chen Jie?” Booker asked. The old cripple didn’t respond.

He reached forward and grasped Chen Jie’s shoulder. When that elicited no response, he shook Chen Jie lightly, like the old man might be asleep.

All at once Chen Jie let out a startled gasp, and clawed at Booker’s hand with his own. Booker wrenched his arm back, stepping away, but Chen Jie had already recovered.

“Junior brother–” He paused, and collected himself enough to lower his voice to a whisper. “Junior brother Rain! Are you alright?”

Booker held out his hand, displaying the bloody fingernail marks Chen Jie had left in his skin. For the old man to have done that much damage, he must have used all the strength in his body, like a demon drunkard or a man in a battle rage.

“Oh dear. You went and– you must have woken me suddenly.” He shook his head. “I am sorry, brother Rain. I suppose nobody told you but… Cripples are known to sleepwalk, and its said in their dreams, they have the strength they lack while waking. It’s an old folktale but the truism is this – don’t wake a sleepwalking cripple.”

“How real is this folktale?” Booker asked, curious.

“In my experience?” Chen Jie shook his head. “I’ve never seen one hurt a cultivator, but I’ve seen a man kill when they were woken up suddenly. I don’t believe they ever would have done that – it was old Tang Min and poor Brother Dogface– but I don’t believe Tang Min would ever have done that in their right mind…”

“I’ll remember this.” Booker promised. “I came here because I need you to sneak me in again.”

“Again!?” Chen Jie exclaimed.

“I can pay obviously. I won’t ask you to stick your neck out for nothing.”

“Boy!” He scoffed in disapproval. “It’s not a matter of a money, it’s about you taking your own safety in hand two days running. What if I wasn’t here today – do you know which cripples are safe to talk to, and which are snitches?”

“You’re right, of course. Which days are you here?” Booker was, as always, running a step ahead of himself. What if Chen Jie wasn’t here? He’d be totally guessing who to trust, with no guarantee he wouldn’t get delivered to the guard in a laundry basket.

No matter how lightly the Sect had bothered to enforce the ruling against him, they’d definitely punish him if he was caught breaking it. It was embarrassing them that he’d pay for in that case.

“I’m here for the rest of the week, then off a week, then on.” Chen Jie sighed. “There’s really no teaching you not to outrun yourself, is there?”

“I think in the whole scheme of reincarnation, I might have learned once or twice.”

“I only help you because you make us cripples look good. Like telling the cultivators, look, we have our own maniacs! This one, this one’s got your kind of special stupid!!”

Booker snorted. “I really do. I apologize for any trouble I’m putting you through, I just… I have a chance to do things right, and I know exactly what kind of effort it will take from me, and I have to try and meet that future. So I can’t slow down.”

I have a chance to not just be a cultivator, but a great cultivator. The more I learn the more powerful I realize the book is.

“I know, I know. Everyone knows you plan to be a cultivator by now.” Chen Jie could only sigh again. “It’s incredible. Deep down, every cripple wants to be the exception, the one who leaps the dragon gate. And everyone can see that you’re running at that goal like the gate will open. I’m not going to ask that you stop running– I just hate to see you find out the gate is solid.”

“...” Booker didn’t know what to say.

“There we go, some wisdom’s finally sunken in. Now keep quiet and get in the basket.”

— — —

Booker went to his room and deposited the medicines he’d won at the auction house underneath the floorboards. There were real prizes there – things that would slingshot him well ahead of the curve once more.

But what Chen Jie had said stuck with him. He had in his mind now the image of a gate. A great gate, made not of carved stone but weathercast granite, rocks shaped by wind and wave over generations to resemble two enormous dragonheads at either side of a great empty cliff face, an impossible climb.

And to cultivate wasn’t just to go over–

But through.

It wasn’t just him either. The Book had great expectations as well. Already, it wanted him to split a practice stone – a feat that was on par with a cultivator of the second tier!

There were three known tiers to cultivation…

Refined Muscle, Fat, and Skin.

Refined Tendon, Organ, and Nerve.

Refined Bone, Marrow, and Blood.

And anyone who stepped beyond the third realm would live 300 years as an Enlightened Soul cultivator!

With every quest, the book’s demands had gotten harsher, to the point it was now expecting him to be able to throw a punch on par with a Refined Tendon stage cultivator. A punch that would snap him like a twig, no doubt.

Already, a new quest had replaced the quest to create a high quality medicinal pill.

Quest: Rendering the Fat

Goal: Extract valuable materials from 5 (0/5) beasts or monsters.

Reward: Karmic Pill.

It’s only going to keep pushing me further. I think I should be able to cultivate pretty naturally once the roadblock of my corrupt meridians is removed. I already have the meditation state, which seems to be the natural point where you begin cultivating. With pills helping me, I should be able to reach Refined Muscle quickly after that.

Quickly bathing and getting shaved, Booker changed into fresh robes and made his way out into the hallways. He skipped the breakfast queue, mindful of the final day of his fast, but instead went to Greenmoon’s quarters directly and knocked on the door.

Wei Qi opened it, looking sleepy. “Oh. One second, and then we’ll get the furnaces ready.” He tried to straighten up and dust himself off, but Booker could tell he hadn’t slept well. “I just–

“Take a few more minutes.” Booker said, pushing the door open and stepping past him. “Master Greenmoon?”

The Instructor was sitting sipping at a cup of tea. He lifted an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“We’ll need a few hours to get ready. Sorry, it was troublesome collecting all the ingredients, and we haven’t had time to prepare them. It takes several hours of cooking in a kiln or a furnace to get things ready.” He said, almost truthfully.

“Oh, I see. Yes yes, I’ll teach the normal lessons and then meet with you. If you still haven’t gotten things done by that time, you can at least explain the process to me…” Greenmoon said, making it sound like agreement.

Translation: be the fastest way to get what I want, or I’ll take over.

“Of course. We’ll work all night if need be.” Booker promised.

“Of course.” Wei Qi echoed.

“Well, be off.” Greenmoon dismissed them, and Booker quickly pulled Wei Qi out with him. The younger apprentice sighed and shook his head.

“Is there any way to rush things?” Wei Qi asked.

“None.” Booker confirmed. “But run and get the furnace going, full heat. The first step is to pack the salt into the bamboo tubes and roast the salt inside. We’ll need to leave time for a second burn after that.”

Wei Qi rushed off and Booker sighed. Greenmoon wasn’t going to tolerate any slacking or delaying on his end – Wei Qi had probably had to report that Booker was found sleeping, and now Greenmoon was giving his leash a sharp tug.

We’ll need to give him results by the end of the week. Sooner if my master returns – it’s one thing if he denies giving me this technique once it’s proven to work, it’s another if he does it before, and I look like a fraud who’s spinning wild tales to elevate himself.

If I look like…

Funny.

That’s exactly who I am, but I can’t afford to look like it.

He made his way back to the laboratory the slow way, watching the Sect wake up. Although he still had to bow his head to the proper disciples, he was noting a different way they treated him now. There was a sense that he might strike back if kicked. Still a dog… but a dog with some bite.

Looks like word’s gotten out.

He found the courtyard before the gate, where there was a tall wooden pillar tacked with request talismans that rattled in the wind. Waving to the granny behind the rewards counter, he slid into line to speak with her, puffing hot breath onto his cold hands and waiting as disciples collected in the snowy yard and plucked request talismans off the pillar.

“Elder sister, please lend me your advice on something.” He said as he reached the front of the line, hopping from foot to foot for warmth.

“You want my advice? Buy some winter robes. You’ll die of cold otherwise, it’s only going to get worse.” She scowled at him.

“I was wondering if you knew anyone who might be fighting monsters, but doesn’t have an alchemist or a butcher to get any value out of the carcasses?” Booker persevered.

“Oh, trying to make money on skins and organs, are you?” She clucked. “Not a bad idea, since you can’t do your own requests. But monsters have to be skinned fast, before their toxins eat them from the inside – and you can’t go afield. The enforcers clipped your wings, last I heard.”

“Mm, I didn’t know monster corpses would dissolve that fast…” What people called ‘monsters’ were plants and animals that had absorbed too much toxicity from the earth, and become monstrous versions of themselves. And when a powerful enough monster was born, it could begin a Frenzy….

A Frenzy like the one that had driven Rain’s family from their home, and killed his father and grandfather.

Digesting that memory made him feel queasy. He felt a strange sense of loss, for something he logically knew he’d never had. Someone else’s loss and nostalgia.

“There are the river lobster trappers, I suppose. Strictly speaking they’re not exterminating monsters, but they encounter plenty and I know they’re off hunting on the side.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “They go out at night, so nobody will notice you gone.”

“Thank you granny. You are wise as always.” Booker grinned.

As he walked away, however, he caught sight of a familiar face in the crowd. Fen waved to him to with a paper fan, ambling forward with his ever-present shadow, Zu, hovering in the background. “So, mister Iron Cripple. How’s remaining lowkey and hidden feel?”

“Ah I took the method to heart but missed the lesson, on that one.” Booker could only laugh and rub the back of his head. He’d definitely learned to lower his martial intent but only raised his profile.

“You look like you’ve been running yourself ragged.” He said with a note of criticism. “You used to be so relaxed.”

I used to be drunk all the time, with nothing better to do than be a crony.

“I have to be. I have to come back from this.” Booker gestured to his face, to the brand that had settled on his skin.

But that doesn’t mean we weren’t friends. And I want Fen to believe in the me that’s living his friend’s best life.

“I understand. You maybe feel like you wasted time before, no? But there’s no need to neglect friendship to chase a goal: we’re all going the same way, after all.” Fen offered.

“Ah, I worry about keeping up, to be honest. I have to do things a very specific way…” Booker tried to explain. He was clever enough, he felt, to be an asset at most any task; but he had to be entirely more cautious and restrained about using his strengths, in case he drew too much attention. Cultivators were normal and could simply let loose.

“I understand, I understand.” Fen tapped his chin with the fan. “Tell you what: I have a specific problem, that requires a very delicate way of doing things. If you handle it with me, I’ll help you with your own issue.”

“Meaning?”

“Your crippling, of course. You’ve probably already learned of the medicines that can potentially clean your meridians – well, I know where one can be found.”