"Sui Xing, guide me, please. I've only used the Earth Refining Cauldron on raw materials and Heaven-ranked treasures before. So, anything above that is a first. I don't really want to mess up the pill I've got after half a year of effort."
With her words, Sui Xing created a projection, and he appeared in front of Yasenia. His tall body, handsome features, and masculine allure were those of a former God who reached impressive heights. Yasenia didn't even flinch, though. She felt only appreciation, as if looking at a beautiful piece of art.
"Let's see. Transmutation is a profession that gains importance as the rank of the treasures increases. After all, to enhance a material of the same realm, you need many more than those you would need to create it from scratch."
Sui Xing's calm words made the dragoness blink in thought. "So, I will need to invest some powerful herbs to enhance the pill slightly, right?"
"Yes." Sui Xing approached the [Earth Refining Cauldron] and pointed at it. "While this cauldron looks exactly the same as an Alchemy Cauldron, its inner workings are utterly different. An Alchemy Cauldron's inside is perfectly insulative, accepting only energy and keeping everything else out of it. Moreover, their effects are always related to flame resistance, heat control, and residue control."
As he sat cross-legged by Yasenia's side, he continued the explanation. "On the other hand, a Transmutation Cauldron has properties to manipulate the matter inside of it. So, when you work with it, you will be trying to understand and rearrange the inner composition of the items through the materials you used for the transmutation."
"Oh…" Yasenia muttered, her arms crossing below her weighty soft bundles. "Previously, I went a bit on pure instinct. Mirrory and Valeria were also somewhat unsure about how to use it because their previous masters never really dabbled with it. So, their guidance was more like pointing in a general direction and hoping that my steps were steady as I walked."
Sui Xing laughed, his large hand patting Yasenia's head. "Well, Transmutation is one of, if not the rarest profession anyone can choose. After all, you can't create through Transmutation, only change existing items. The cost-effectiveness is also atrocious. So, you won't get as rich as Alchemists, Blacksmiths, Talisman Masters, and all those general professions."
"No wonder there are almost no people who practice it… I am impressed that it didn't go extinct in the first place."
Yasenia's words made Sui Xing's lips arch. "If it weren't because a few families kept it as a tradition, it would've gone extinct. I guess that Body Cultivation disappeared in the lower heavens because of that exact reason. Practicing it is slow and painful, and the advantages are not as palpable as with the alternatives, Soul and Spiritual Cultivation."
The dragoness agreed. By itself, a body cultivator was really strong. However, they lacked the practicality that Soul and Spiritual cultivators had. For a body cultivator, their only choice is to charge forward and land a hit. Of course, if they landed it, the other side would suffer tremendously.
Sui Xing smiled faintly. "Now that you have basic knowledge of the background and uses of the craft, let's go into practice. Place that pill aside for now and take out other Transcendence Realm pills in your ring."
Yasenia nodded. First, she stored the wooden box with the [Star Mind Pill], and then she took out a mid-ranked Transcendence-ranked healing pill.
When Sui Xing saw it, his eyes flashed with appreciation. "I have yet to see this fox girl of yours, but if this pill was crafted by her, your praise might not be exaggerated at all."
Yasenia's chest puffed with pride. "Of course! My Honey is a super genius of the alchemy and parasite paths!"
"...Parasites." Sui Xing smiled awkwardly. "Try not to let others learn about this. Even Demonic Cultivators hate parasite cultivators." Changing subjects, he spoke. "Either way, take out a new pill."
"Eh?" Yaenia blinked, confused.
Sui Xing gently tapped Yasenia's forehead, his tone amused. "Aren't we here trying to learn how to purify pills? Why did you take out one with 100% purity and nine tribulation rings?"
"Oh. Right. I wanted to boast about Kali's skills so much that I ended up taking a perfectly concocted pill."
With that in mind, Yasenia retrieved another healing pill. This one was far from being as pure, with around 72% purity and five tribulation rings.
"Great. Is this hers as well? It feels different."
"No. This one is a pill I concocted with Kali's help. That's why it is so good and pretty!"
Even though it was she who made it, Yasenia made sure to highlight her dear's contributions!
Seeing Yasenia's proudly wagging tail, Sui Xing laughed lightly. "Alright, throw it into the cauldron."
"Huh?" The dragoness tilted her head. "Throw it in as is? I don't need to first purify the herbs?"
"No. That's only done by those who don't have talent or skill."
"..." Yasenia spoke carefully. "Sui Xing… I don't have either of those."
"Who says that?" Sui Xing raised his sword-like eyebrow. "Just follow my words. If you are good at Spiritual Cooking, your talent for Transmutation won't be bad."
While Yasenia wanted to ask what those two had in common, she chose to first focus and receive Sui Xing's guidance.
"Great. Your energy must envelop the cauldron like a flame. Don't summon alchemy flames, though. The process is done entirely with spiritual manipulation."
"Well done. Now that you've enveloped and sunk your energy into the cauldron, hold the pill tightly with the formations inside of it. Imagine that you want to tie up the pill, making it unable to budge or use a single trace of energy."
Yasenia's spiritual energy surged, her mind quickly manipulating the formations of the cauldron and tying up the pill right in the center with invisible chains that went through it. 'This scene… Isn't it similar to what Mirrory and Saint Fu Jing Jing did during Angel's inheritance ritual?'
At that time, Angel was pierced with chains as well, tied down so that Mirrory could be transferred into her. But now that she saw this, perhaps Mirrory and Fu Jing Jing were trying to use the principles of transmutation to mix the powerful Ancient Mirror's essence into the body of a weak mortal cultivator.
After chaining the pill, Yasenia used her spiritual sense like a flame to heat up and charge the cauldron, illuminating the drawings of mighty mountain chains and dirt until they felt alive.
"Perfect. With that, you should now be able to control and manipulate the internal structure of the Alchemy Pill. Don't do it yet, though. Otherwise, you might destroy the internal balance of the treasure and make it go to waste. For now, use a week to slowly sweep the pill's structure with your spiritual sense and memorize it down to the last detail."
Yasenia focused, and for a week straight, she focused on looking at the pill's internal structure. With the Earth Refining Cauldron's formations, her gaze could deeply sink into the treasure, her mind swimming through it as she took in what this pill represented.
As she focused, Sui Xing's voice reached her once again. "Now… Make sure to pour out the supplements you've prepared slowly. Once they enter the cauldron, you will have to use your energy to squeeze out the essence from them that you'll need to substitute the impure parts."
Yasenia did so, her powerful mind and soul working together in a dance of delicate balance and intense focus. As her energy swept the spiritual herbs, she could see the essence coming from them that would fit where the impurities remained.
'Ah… So this is the reason why Sui Xing said that cooking has something to do with this.'
When Yasenia created Transcendence-ranked dishes, she didn't just combine the ingredients. She needed to slowly extract the flavor from them and infuse it into the main plate. There were dishes with tens or even hundreds of ingredients that slowly mixed to create a singular fragrant meal. These hundreds of ingredients didn't contribute different flavors but the same flavors from various sources, giving it richness and an incredibly profound taste.
With that in mind, the previously complicated process eased. Applying the principles of Spiritual Cooking, Yasenia quite literally cooked out the impurities and substituted them with new properties from the other "ingredients."
Sui Xing didn't speak, focusing on Yasenia's movements inside the cauldron. At first, he thought that he would need to at least guide her so that she didn't mess up. But it seemed that his worries were superfluous.
'As expected, she has a talent for it. Not as talented as her combat one, but high enough to call her a genius among geniuses on the Transmutation Path. I should tell her to focus on it a bit more in the future. If she managed to raise her proficiency with her cultivation, she would be able to gain several advantages in the future.'
Soluna, hearing Sui Xing's thoughts, asked back. "Wouldn't it be better for Yasenia to practice cultivation during the time she would learn Transmutation?"
"I believe that the time she will use won't shorten her cultivation time enough to be a problem. Perhaps not during Transcendence, but during her Demigoddess realm and beyond, its worth will shine intensely.
Soluna was doubtful, but she didn't want to doubt him too much. After all, cooking has become an integral part of Yasenia's cultivation. Her current dishes could do much more than satiate a person. With proper materials, creating a dish that hastened cultivation speed, one that permanently increased strength in a small amount, or even a dish that purified energy, was not out of reach.
"Done." Yasenia's soft voice interrupted their conversation, and then, they saw her gently tap the cauldron with her tail.
Gong~.
A lingering metallic gong echoed, and the pill shot up with the lid. From high above the clouds, two lightning bolts struck the pill before it fell down into Yasenia's box.
Sui Xing and Soluna looked at the pill curiously, and both of them were surprised. "Wow! Great job, Yasenia. It is now a pill with 77% purity and seven tribulation rings instead of five!"
Sui Xing smiled. "It is indeed a successful Transmutation. Congratulations, Yasenia."
Yasenia frowned lightly at this discovery. "Five percent purity and two rings? I used enough materials to create this pill twice over for this small advancement."
Soluna was speechless, while Sui Xing didn't find it out of place at all. "You must understand the value of pills also goes up exponentially the closer they are to 100% purity. In this particular one, you've probably lost money, as long as those two sets of pills would've been successful pills of the same quality."
Yasenia nodded, her brows still furrowed. Sui Xing added, smiling. "However, can you guarantee it?"
Yasenia's face froze for a second, lightning coursing through her gaze. "Oh… Oh!"
How could she not understand after those words? Transmutation had value because it enabled individuals to surpass their usual limits. Moreover, once perfected, it could even change a 99% purity pill to a 100% purity pill. The jump between those two was not a meager two times the price. People would pay a minimum of 10 times more for a perfect purity pill than a quasi-perfect one!
"Moreover," Sui Xing added. "Transmutation doesn't need knowledge of the other paths to transmute their specialty treasures. What you learn during Transmutation is a treasure's internal structure. You are learning their inner workings, perfecting them without fully understanding their general function by eliminating mistakes. In short, you don't add functions; you perfect those existing ones."
Yasenia nodded twice, finally seeing the value of this profession. She looked at Sui Xing with a smile. "Even if you say that, knowing about the professions is an advantage."
"Naturally." Sui Xing chuckled. "Looking around blindly is much more tedious and difficult than knowing where to look for the mistake."
Feeling motivated, the dragoness began practicing and used Transmutation for the next two months. Some of the pills she transmuted became duds, completely losing their effects. However, she learned a lot from those failures.
After those failures, she finally decided to tackle the [Star Mind Pill].