The First Attempt

The next morning, the desert wind was gentler than usual. Tieu Lan left the temporary settlement early, carrying her notebook and a small bag of tools, while Hao Nhien followed behind her at an unhurried pace.

The Fire Sand Grass planted the previous day still stood in the small test bed. One leaf had curled slightly along the edge, but its color had not changed noticeably. Tieu Lan crouched beside it and lightly touched the soil around the roots, allowing a very thin layer of Wood spiritual power to spread beneath the surface. She did not force the plant to absorb any spiritual power, only quietly sensed its vitality. She remained like that for quite some time before withdrawing her hand.

“The roots are still alive, but the soil is losing moisture faster than I expected.”

The man responsible for the water-gathering area stood nearby and asked,

“Should we give it more water?”

Tieu Lan shook her head.

“Not too much at once. First cover the soil with a layer of dry grass to reduce moisture loss, then add a little water this afternoon. The roots have only just been moved into new soil and are still weak. Watering heavily the moment the ground looks dry may not help.”

The man nodded and called for someone to bring dry grass.

Hao Nhien studied the plant for a moment before asking,

“Do you think it can survive?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Tieu Lan answered naturally.

“We need to observe it for at least three more days. If the leaves stop curling, the roots maintain their vitality, and we can keep the soil moisture under control, then we can say it has begun to adapt.”

Hao Nhien smiled.

That was still the way Tieu Lan approached everything.

If she was not certain, she would never pretend to be.

After checking the medicine garden, the two returned to the stone shelter being used as a temporary medicine room. Since the previous evening, the place had been almost completely arranged. Sand had been swept from the cracks in the floor, the two ventilation openings could be opened or sealed as needed, and the wooden shelves had been divided into separate levels. Dried medicinal materials were kept high above the ground and covered with thick cloth, while anything whose properties had not yet been verified was stored separately in one corner beneath a small wooden sign marked:

Unverified.

In the empty section farther inside, the alchemy cauldron stood exactly where Tieu Lan had chosen the day before.

Hao Nhien found himself staring at it again.

The question that had entered his mind the previous night had not disappeared.

Could they try?

Tieu Lan seemed to know exactly what he was thinking. Instead of mentioning alchemy, she walked over to inspect the cauldron and frowned slightly.

“Before we try anything, we need to clean it again.”

Hao Nhien asked,

“With fire?”

“No.”

Tieu Lan answered immediately.

“First wash away the old medicinal residue with spirit-spring water. After that, we can dry it with a very small flame.”

They began with the simplest step.

Tieu Lan washed the cauldron three times with spirit-spring water, checking every narrow groove and removing the traces of old medicinal residue still clinging to the bottom. Only then did Hao Nhien mobilize his Fire spiritual power, forming a thin layer of flame around the lower part of the cauldron, just enough to dry the remaining water without heating the body of the cauldron too quickly.

Luu Thanh happened to arrive to report on several matters in the settlement. He stood outside the doorway watching for a while before finally asking,

“Clan Head, are you really going to try alchemy?”

Tieu Lan turned around.

“We cannot call it alchemy yet. We are only testing how well we can control medicinal force.”

Luu Thanh looked at the cauldron.

“I heard these things explode very easily.”

Hao Nhien glanced at him.

“Then stand a little farther away.”

Luu Thanh immediately took two steps back.

“I’m only worried you might need someone to put out the fire.”

The corner of Tieu Lan’s lips curved slightly, but she quickly returned her attention to the task.

Controlling Fire spiritual power was not unfamiliar to Hao Nhien. After his Fire affinity awakened and he received the Fire Qilin inheritance, adjusting the intensity of his flames had become part of how he used spiritual power.

Alchemy, however, was clearly different from battle.

In combat, fire only needed to be fast enough, strong enough, and responsive to his will. Here, it had to change according to the medicinal material, and every material reacted differently to heat.

That was what he lacked.

Once the cauldron was completely dry, Tieu Lan took out one of Phong Van Tu’s old notes.

“For the first attempt, we should follow the simulated formula exactly.”

Hao Nhien looked over it.

“Fire Sand Grass, Clearheart Flower, and Spirit Cloud Leaf?”

“Yes.”

Tieu Lan replied.

“Nothing else. First we need to understand how the original formula reacts in our hands.”

She divided the three medicinal ingredients into small portions and checked them once more.

“We don’t need to form a pill. We only need to see whether we can refine the ingredients and keep the medicinal force from dispersing immediately.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“Let’s begin.”

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Tieu Lan opened her notebook and placed it within reach.

“Warm the cauldron first.”

Hao Nhien mobilized his Fire spiritual power, forming a thin ring of flame around the base. Tieu Lan watched the color of the cauldron and told him to raise the heat slightly. Only after the temperature stabilized did she add the Fire Sand Grass.

The moment the herb touched the bottom of the cauldron, a sharp, heated fragrance spread through the room.

Under Hao Nhien’s Divine Sense, faint red strands of medicinal force began separating from the Fire Sand Grass. Tieu Lan watched the thin vapor rising near the lid and said,

“A little too fast. Lower it.”

Hao Nhien immediately reduced the flame.

The medicinal force became more stable.

Next came the Spirit Cloud Leaf. The green leaves curled under the heat, releasing a thin layer of green mist. Tieu Lan waited until the right moment before adding the Clearheart Flower.

A cool, clean fragrance quickly spread through the cauldron and mingled with the sharper scent of the Fire Sand Grass.

The three medicinal forces began to make contact.

Hao Nhien immediately sensed the rejection between them.

The Fire-aligned medicinal force wanted to rise, while the medicinal force of the Spirit Cloud Leaf pulled downward. The Clearheart Flower remained between them, but it was not yet stable enough to bind the two sides together.

Hao Nhien focused his Divine Sense on the center of the cauldron.

The medicinal forces were separating.

His combat instincts reacted almost immediately. He increased the Fire spiritual power slightly, intending to force the medicinal mass back together.

Before Tieu Lan could say anything, a dull sound came from inside the cauldron and the medicinal fragrance instantly turned bitter and burnt.

“Lower the fire.”

Hao Nhien withdrew the flame at once, but it was already too late.

A thin trail of black smoke escaped through the gap beneath the lid. When they opened the cauldron, only a dark layer of scorched medicinal material remained, stuck in patches along the bottom.

The two of them looked down at it.

Tieu Lan did not lament the wasted ingredients. She immediately lowered her head and began writing.

“First attempt failed.”

After adding several more lines, she looked up.

“Young Master increased the fire at exactly the moment when the Clearheart Flower was at its weakest.”

Hao Nhien coughed lightly.

“I saw the medicinal forces separating.”

“So you tried to force them back together.”

“Mm.”

Tieu Lan looked at him for a moment.

“Young Master looked like you were trying to cut down the medicinal ingredients.”

Hao Nhien answered seriously,

“I was trying not to cut them.”

“But you still forced them.”

Luu Thanh coughed from outside the doorway.

Hao Nhien turned toward him.

“Why are you still here?”

“I’m keeping watch for fires.”

“There’s no need.”

Luu Thanh remained silent.

He also remained exactly where he was.

Tieu Lan could not hold back a smile, and the atmosphere in the room lightened slightly.

She did not prepare the next batch immediately. Instead, she used a small knife to separate the scorched remains, checking their color and the scent that still lingered.

After a while, she said,

“The Clearheart Flower lost its medicinal properties faster than I expected. The Fire Sand Grass also dried too quickly, so by the time the essence began to separate, there was not enough of the balancing medicinal force left to hold everything together.”

Hao Nhien asked,

“Was it because of my fire?”

“Partly, but not entirely.”

Tieu Lan opened another notebook, turned through several pages, then stopped at the section on Sand Spirit Root.

“I used this in medicinal liquids before. Its medicinal effect is not particularly strong, but it retains moisture well. If we use a very small amount, it may slow the loss of moisture enough to give the other ingredients more time to fuse.”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

“You want to alter the formula?”

“Only slightly.”

Tieu Lan replied.

“Not to change the main effect, only to extend the fusion time.”

She immediately began recalculating the proportions on paper, this time using the result of the failed attempt together with her previous experience preparing medicinal liquids.

Hao Nhien did not rush her or interfere.

After a while, Tieu Lan finally looked up.

“Reduce the Fire Sand Grass slightly, increase the Clearheart Flower a little, cut the Spirit Cloud Leaf smaller so its medicinal force is released more evenly, and use only a very small amount of Sand Spirit Root.”

“Are you sure?”

Tieu Lan shook her head.

“No. But at least this time, we know exactly what we are changing.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“Then let’s try.”

They cleaned the cauldron again and began the second attempt.

This time, everything proceeded much more slowly.

Hao Nhien no longer reacted the moment he sensed a change in the medicinal force. He waited for Tieu Lan to observe the color of the vapor and the scent before adjusting the flame.

The Fire Sand Grass was refined first, followed by the Spirit Cloud Leaf. This time, the Clearheart Flower had been soaked briefly in spirit-spring water before being added, while the Sand Spirit Root was introduced last in a very small amount.

When the Fire-aligned medicinal force began trying to separate as it had during the first attempt, Tieu Lan immediately told him to lower the heat.

Hao Nhien obeyed.

The fluctuations inside the cauldron slowed. The Clearheart Flower spread more evenly, while the Spirit Cloud Leaf kept the extracted essence from dispersing too quickly.

There was no burnt smell.

But the medicinal forces still failed to fully fuse.

Hao Nhien could clearly sense the boundaries between the different parts. If he forced them together again, the result might be no different from the first attempt.

He kept the flame steady.

“Tieu Lan.”

“I know.”

She watched the medicinal vapor carefully.

“Don’t force it anymore. Keep it like this.”

The two continued waiting.

The medicinal force contracted very slowly. Only after the temperature began to fall did Tieu Lan say,

“Try forming it.”

Hao Nhien gradually withdrew the external flame, using only a thin layer of Fire spiritual power around the remaining medicinal force to keep it from dispersing too quickly.

The medicinal mass inside began to contract.

Its shape, however, was extremely unstable.

Part of it stuck to the wall of the cauldron, while the rest gathered into two small, malformed masses. One had a crack running across it. The other held its shape slightly better, but powder already began flaking from the surface the moment Tieu Lan lifted it out with jade tongs.

Luu Thanh watched from outside for quite some time before asking,

“Does this count as success?”

Tieu Lan shook her head.

“No. We can only say that the medicinal force has begun to take shape.”

She placed both masses on a stone tray, scraped a small amount of powder from the more stable one, dissolved it in spirit-spring water, and examined it with Wood spiritual power.

Only after a long while did she say,

“There is no obvious toxicity, but the medicinal force has separated into layers. The Fire-aligned portion is still stronger than expected, the Clearheart Flower is distributed unevenly, and the structure is too loose.”

She wrote in her notebook.

Do not use.

Hao Nhien looked at the words.

“Keep them for observation?”

“Yes. We need to see how they change over the next few hours.”

Tieu Lan took out two small boxes and placed one medicinal mass in each, carefully recording the time, proportions, and external condition.

Before long, another crack appeared across the already damaged mass.

She immediately added another note.

“The stability is still insufficient for storage.”

Hao Nhien nodded slightly.

He was not disappointed.

On the contrary, the second attempt gave him a much clearer understanding of the distance between controlling fire and truly understanding alchemy.

An obedient flame was not enough.

A ready-made formula was not enough either.

Medicinal ingredients were not enemies he could force into submission. Every transformation had to be understood before he could decide how to interfere.

Tieu Lan closed the two boxes and placed them in the separate section beneath another small wooden sign.

Do Not Use.

Luu Thanh looked at the boxes.

“At least nothing burned this time.”

Tieu Lan nodded lightly.

“That is already progress.”

Hao Nhien looked at her.

“What do we change next time?”

Tieu Lan did not answer immediately.

She studied the notes for a long time before shaking her head.

“I don’t know yet. We need to see how these two masses change over the next few hours, which part loses medicinal force first and which part dries out first. If we do not know the cause, changing things again would just be guessing.”

Hao Nhien nodded immediately.

“Then we stop for today.”

Luu Thanh looked surprised.

“No third attempt?”

“No.”

Hao Nhien replied.

“Trying again when we do not even know what we are changing would only waste medicinal ingredients.”

Tieu Lan looked at him, the corner of her lips curving slightly.

“Young Master learns quickly.”

Hao Nhien answered with complete seriousness,

“I just paid the tuition with an entire batch of burnt medicine.”

Luu Thanh laughed, and Tieu Lan could not help laughing as well.

Afterward, she turned to a fresh page in her notebook.

Instead of writing Third Attempt, she wrote only one line at the top:

Observe post-condensation changes.

Hao Nhien looked at the blank space beneath those words, then at the cauldron that still held a trace of warmth.

Two attempts had not produced even a single medicinal pellet stable enough for storage, much less anything that could truly be called alchemy.

But they had already shown him that what they lacked was not merely an alchemy cauldron, several medicinal ingredients, or the ability to control fire.

They lacked the experience to understand the smallest changes occurring between medicinal properties and flame.

Tieu Lan closed the cauldron and began putting away the tools.

Hao Nhien did not urge her to continue.

Outside the stone shelter, the desert wind swept across land that still had no city walls.

The first Fire Sand Grass stood in its tiny test bed, dry grass newly spread around its roots trembling gently in the breeze.

On one side, a medicinal plant was learning how to survive in unfamiliar soil.

On the other, two people were taking their first steps toward understanding what happened when medicine met flame.