The next morning, they arrived at the laboratory door at the first hint of dawn. Strange gurgling sounds, occasional pops, and a sound like a cat being strangled emanated from within. The door creaked open, and Elder Bao beckoned them in, his eyes gleaming with that familiar, manic fire.
The lab was an alchemist's vision of hell. Racks of bubbling beakers lined the walls, emitting clouds of colorful, acrid smoke. Strange, preserved specimens floated in jars suspended from the ceiling. The floor was a minefield of shattered glass and mysterious stains. The air itself was a thick, chemical soup that burned the back of the throat.
"We begin!" Bao announced, clapping his hands and sending a puff of yellow dust into the air. He gestured to a heavy, iron-bound chest on a central table. "Forget what you know of cultivation. The Qi path is for poets and emperors. They nurture the spirit. I," he slammed a fist on his chest, "forge the body! My alchemy is for those like you, whose bodies reject the gentle path. It is a crucible of pain that burns away weakness and leaves only iron!"
He threw open the chest. Inside, nestled on velvet, were not herbs or spirit stones, but rows of bizarrely colored pills and vials.
"These are not your common Qi-gathering pills!" he declared. "Each is a trial. Each is a torment. And each will make you a little less human, and a little more of a weapon."
He introduced them one by one:
The Crimson Agony Pill: "The Muscle-Ripper. It will feel as if a thousand needles are tearing and re-knitting your muscle fibers. The pain is… substantial. But in three days, your strength will double." Its side effects included tremors and a voracious, all-consuming hunger. The Azure Weight Draught: "The Bone-Nail. It infuses your very marrow, making your bones as dense as iron. You will feel heavy, chained to the earth. But no ordinary blade will ever break you." The Golden Storm Elixir: "The Reflex-Storm. It rewrites your neural pathways, shortening your reaction time to a fraction of a human's. The world will seem to slow down around you." Side effects: tingling in the extremities and severe dizziness.
The team looked at the alchemical concoctions with trepidation. Bao, seeing their hesitation, simply grinned, popped a Crimson Agony Pill into his own mouth, and chewed. His face went pale, a muscle in his eye began to twitch violently, but he just gave them a thumbs-up. "Delicious agony!"
One by one, they took their first "lesson." When Bu He swallowed the red pill, a wave of fire, sharp and jagged, tore through his body. His muscles screamed. Ci Ying drank the blue draught and immediately stumbled, as if her own bones were trying to pull her through the floor. Lian Hua took the yellow elixir and gasped, the world blurring and then sharpening into an unnervingly slow-motion crawl.
"Excellent!" Bao noted in his journal. "Now for your first field test." He pointed towards a dark, overgrown section of the tower's grounds. "The Forbidden Garden. Your task is to retrieve a cutting from the Iron-Bodied Vine. It will test the limits of your new bodies. Go!"
The garden was a tangle of menacing flora. As they entered, the effects of the alchemy were undeniable. Bu He's every muscle fiber burned, yet he felt a raw, explosive power simmering beneath the pain. Ci Ying's steps were heavy, but each one felt as solid as a mountain. Lian Hua could perceive the flutter of a dragonfly's wings from fifty paces.
They found the Iron-Bodied Vine wrapped around a petrified tree, its own vines like metallic whips, its bark the color of rust. As they prepared to extract it, another team appeared—Xue Feng and his Golden Veins.
"Well, well," Xue Feng sneered, his own body glowing with a faint Qi aura. "Look at the alchemist's puppets, strengthening their shells with potions because their spirits are hollow."
As Bu He gripped the vine, one of Xue Feng's lackeys discreetly flicked a small, greasy pellet towards his hands. It struck the vine with a faint splat. When Bu He pulled, his hands slipped on the slick, oily surface. He almost lost his balance.
It was a deliberate act of sabotage.
A surge of rage, amplified by the Crimson Agony Pill, tore through Bu He. "Is this what my pain is for?!" he roared. He ignored the slippery vine, digging his fingers directly into the iron-like bark. He bent his knees, his newly forged muscles screaming, and pulled with all his might.
CRACK!
The ground shuddered. With a sound like tearing metal, Bu He ripped the entire Iron-Bodied Vine, roots and all, from the earth. A thick, sizzling sap, hot as lava, dripped from the broken stem onto his arm. It burned, but instead of injuring him, his skin seemed to absorb it, turning as hard and dark as forged steel.
Xue Feng and his team stared in stunned silence.
From a distance, Elder Bao's triumphant laughter echoed. "YES! The sap of the vine completes the tempering! Now you are a true disciple of alchemy, Bu He!"
As the rival team retreated with dark looks, Bu He and his friends carried their prize back to the lab. His muscles still burned, his bones felt like lead, and his nerves were frayed. But as he looked at his teammates, sharing in this bizarre torment, he knew one thing for sure. They were no longer just mismatched. They were being reforged. And the crucible was only getting hotter.