Oh. My. Fate?! (Bl, Volume 10, Part 1)

165 Starting the Refinement Process

Jinde felt a little reluctant when thinking of the study he had had back when he had still been sitting on the throne of the dragon realm. Now, while he had all the ingredients and utensils necessary to start the refinement process, there still wasn't a good place to do so. Well, it couldn't be helped.

He dragged his husband and Xin Lan to prepare the room, getting the furnishings out of the way until he felt that he had enough space to make sure that he wouldn't be disturbed. Then, he and Zheng Yin arranged everything in the way they needed to be able to work best.

Looking at the result, Jinde nodded. "Not bad. I guess this will do." In any case, this kind of process might also be easily noticed so it was better to do it in their own room. Especially so since the person living next door now was Qiu Ling. Who would dare to bother them when they were basically living with the current dragon king?

He took a seat in front of the furnace, grabbing the first of the ingredients that he had prepared while giving Zheng Yin a look. "You wouldn't happen to have a fire spiritual vein, would you?" This was the one thing that he was a bit jealous of when looking at the other races. Having a spiritual fire vein was very convenient for refinement.

Zheng Yin shook his head though. "I'm afraid not."

Jinde sighed and already wanted to reach into his spatial ring to grab a flint when his husband crouched down next to him.

"I have a full set of spirit veins, remember?"

Jinde looked at him and then couldn't help but touched his forehead, unable to believe himself that he had just done this. "Right. You're human now, I sometimes forget. Alright, make a fire for me then."

Leng Jin Yu ignited the fire and then immediately stepped to the side. He made sure to stay around in case Jinde needed his help again though.

Xin Lan and Zheng Yin also stood to the side, not wanting to bother him.

While Zheng Yin might be able to help, there was a time and place for that. Right now, what they were doing was to first create a pill that would aid in the process of connecting the old and the new part of the bones before Jinde would make the material to actually form that new part.

In fact, there were even pills that could make the bones regrow by themselves, but usually, that process was quite ugly. Zheng Yin didn't doubt that Xin Lan would be able to take it but Jinde probably didn't feel that it was the right way to go.

Actually, he admired his confidence in himself. Making that kind of pill was difficult but actually shaping the bone himself and then connecting it to the old one was even more so. Not everybody would be able to do it. And to have so much confidence in your abilities that you would go for it without a second thought was admirable.

Jinde didn't bother about what others might think. He focused completely on what he was doing. In fact, had missed refining. At the time when his soul had been injured, what he had missed most was his dragon form but refinement came pretty soon after that. This was something he had learned when he had still been young and he had managed to master it to a high degree.

He had never thought that there would be a day when he wouldn't be able to do this anymore. When the time came, it devastated him. With everything else going on, with all the freedom he had already lost by getting into the state he had been in, this was just one more thing on top that he couldn't take.

Now, he was healed. He had his dragon form back, his freedom, his strength. And now, the thing that he had taken so much pride in was also in his grasp once more. Yes, the ability to create something incredible from the forces of nature and his own knowledge was right at the tip of his fingers.

There was a faint curve to his lips while he added one ingredient after the other, using his wind magic to fan the flames or curb them according to what was necessary. He stirred the liquid that formed, slowly but surely condensing it into a pill. His spiritual energy seeped into it, making the otherwise unassuming pill glow with a layer that looked to be made out of crystals.

With a wave of his hand, the flames beneath the furnace were extinguished and the winds carried the pill up from the bottom and into Jinde's hands.

He narrowed his eyes and observed it, making sure that there weren't any impurities in there. After a while, he finally gave a hum and nodded. "Not bad. I guess it could have been a little better but this should suffice."

Xin Lan nodded, not worried. "If it's you who made it, then I'm not worried. Let's just go for it." Anyway, he had often seen Jinde refine pills and potions and say they were 'alright but could be better' while other refinement masters stared at the result and felt like kneeling down. Jinde's standards were just too high.

Jinde chuckled, not afraid to accept his praise but he didn't hand the pill over to him. "Don't be this fast. The effect will be the best if you only take it a couple of minutes before we start the procedure. So you better not take it yet. We still need to prepare the rest."

Xin Lan gave a hum and stood back while Jinde handed the pill to Zheng Yin instead, and exchanged the furnace for a cauldron. "Well, I really hope this works." He hadn't explained in detail before so now, he couldn't help but turn to Xin Lan. "I guess I don't need to tell you but this is for shaping the missing pieces of your bones. The higher the quality, the better. The pill will help them integrate with what is currently left of your bone structure but the better this material is, the easier it will be."

Xin Lan gave another hum, not looking too worried. "You know, even if you don't explain to me, I trust you. Also, you know that I can take pain. So even if it's not perfect and means some suffering, it will be alright."

Jinde gave him an indulgent look, but still couldn't help but chastise him at the same time. "You're saying that now. But tomorrow, all of us will need our full strength. That goes for you the same way it does for me and Zheng Yin. So don't try to play tough with me today. The better this goes, the better for you, and the better for us tomorrow. But now, hush. I really need to focus for this."