Before long, half a month had passed. Bai Xiaochun’s cultivation progress had once again slowed down. However, after some discreet inquiries, he learned that silver designs never appeared on spirit rice when it was cooked.
His curiosity had definitely been piqued. The more he learned about it, the more it seemed that there was something special about this particular grain of rice, not to mention his wok, which seemed even stranger. A few days later, Third Fatty Hei left the Ovens to go purchase supplies, giving Bai Xiaochun the perfect opportunity to sneak into the Four Seas Room, a place where servants could get general information about cultivation.
On his way back to his hut, he did his best to conceal the excitement which filled his heart. After closing the door behind him, he immediately took out the grain of spirit rice and studied the silver design. Gradually, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
“When Immortals practice cultivation, there are three skills they can’t do without. The first is synthesizing medicines, the second is equipment forging, and the third is spirit enhancement!” Bai Xiaochun thought back to the images he had dug up when searching through the ancient records in the Four Seas Room. One of them had closely resembled the silver design that was now visible on the grain of rice.
“Spirit enhancement!” After a moment, he took a long, deep breath.
Spirit enhancement was a special technique in which the energy of Heaven and Earth was forced into physical objects. It was a type of magic that essentially replaced the natural functions of Heaven and Earth, a technique which could be used on medicinal pills, incense, or magical items. Unfortunately, it was forbidden by Heaven and Earth, ensuring that the rate of success was limited. A success would lead to the item being vastly more powerful. A failure would result in the energy of Heaven and Earth rendering the item completely useless.
The most shocking thing about spirit enhancement was that it could be performed over and over again. Every success increased the effects of the spirit enhancement by tenfold, leading to Heaven-shaking, Earth-toppling transformations.
Of course, the more precious the item was to begin with, the more terrifying the results of success would be.
Unsurprisingly, the chances of success decreased with each enhancement. In fact, after a certain point, even some spirit enhancement Grandmasters wouldn’t dare to go any further. After all, the ramifications of a failure in that case would be difficult to accept.
“The ancient records said that the Spirit Stream Sect’s guardian treasure is an item that was somehow enhanced ten times by spirit enhancement. The Heavenhorn Sword!” Bai Xiaochun’s throat felt dry. Eyes shining with disbelief and confusion, he swallowed and looked over at the turtle-shaped wok. There were ten faint decorative lines on the back of it, and when he looked at them, his heart began to beat so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
As of this moment, he was sure that the design which had appeared on the spirit rice was a mark of spirit enhancement. Furthermore, the source of that design was none other than his wok!
After a moment of hesitation, he gritted his teeth. If he didn’t get to the bottom of this mystery, he wouldn’t be able to sleep. He knew for a fact that this wok was something extraordinary, and therefore, he couldn’t let anyone in on his secret.
He waited until it was late in the night, then very quietly tip-toed over to the wok. After taking a deep breath and trying not to think about what would happen if he failed, he pulled out his wooden sword and threw it inside, the same way he had thrown the grain of rice in.
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Chapter
5: What If I Lose My Poor Little Life?
After waiting for what seemed like forever, nothing unusual happened. Bai Xiaochun looked thoughtfully at the patterns on the turtle-wok, and then looked down into the stove itself. Nothing remained of the wood but ash so he left, to return a few minutes later with some more firewood.
Firewood for personal use wasn’t very common in the Ovens, so he’d been forced to go find Big Fatty Zhang to make a special request for some more.
After kindling the fire, Bai Xiaochun once again focused on the first design on the turtle-wok. As the wood burned, the design lit up. Bai Xiaochun’s heart began to thump with excitement, and then suddenly, the wooden sword began to shine with blinding silver light.
He backed up a few paces, after which the light slowly faded away, and a piercing sensation began to emanate out from inside the wok.
He took a deep breath and carefully sidled up to the wok. The wooden sword, just like the grain of spirit rice, now had a bright silver design on it, which gradually faded to a deep silver color!
The sword appeared different than before. Although it was still made of wood, it now seemed more like it was made from metal. Bai Xiaochun’s eyes lit up as he carefully took the sword out of the wok. It felt heavier, and also emanated a certain coldness.
“It worked! My first spirit enhancement on the wooden sword worked!” Bai Xiaochun fondled the sword ecstatically, then glanced over at the wok and tried to decide what to do with it. In the end, he decided to just leave it where it was. The more he treated it like an ordinary item, the less likely it was that anyone would pay attention to it.
As for the spirit rice, he decided to eat it bit by bit over time. He would also be careful to not let anyone see the wooden sword. As an added measure, he came up with the idea of somehow painting over the glowing design.
Finally, he tidied his room, then walked out nonchalantly, as if nothing unusual had occurred. Over the next few days, he collected some various liquid materials from the Ovens which he used to paint the sword, making it bright and colorful, albeit somewhat unsightly. The most important thing was that the spirit design was covered up well enough that it wasn’t obvious. In the end, Bai Xiaochun nodded his head in satisfaction.
As the days passed, Bai Xiaochun became as comfortable with life in the Ovens as a fish in water. He quickly fit in with the other Elder Brothers, and also became familiar with the work that went on there. He soon found that different types of fire were necessary for cooking different spirit foods. In fact, the different types of fire were described in terms of color; there were one-colored flames, two-colored flames, and so on. The wood he had used earlier to heat the turtle-wok had been one-colored firewood.
Big Fatty Zhang began to grow especially fond of Bai Xiaochun, and took special care of him. Furthermore, just as he’d said, after a few months passed, Bai Xiaochun was starting to gain weight.
He was no longer the scrawny kid he had been when he had first joined the sect. He was fatter, but at the same time, his skin was also fairer and clearer than before. He also looked more harmless than ever, and was clearly reaching the point of being deserving of the title Ninth Fatty Bai.
He also experienced the special snack-time arrangement on more than one occasion. However, what Bai Xiaochun found especially frustrating was that, despite gaining weight, his cultivation seemed to progress as slowly as ever. Eventually, he stopped worrying about that and spent most of his time eating and drinking with his Elder Brothers. Life was good. As the months passed, he heard bits of gossip about recent events in the Spirit Stream Sect.