Chapter 28 – Need to buy a Potion?
Nearly an hour has passed since Kyouichi left Kazemura and just as the bartender said, he got out of the forest and saw vast grasslands with hills and valleys, almost like the landscape around Human Village. The only difference was the mountain range forming the horizon. Kyouichi wondered how far he could be from the northern edge of the Great Hakurei Border. He figured that Kazemura wasn't that close to the boundary as he originally thought, but it was a really long way from the human village. He looked to his left and saw the peculiar mountain with two peaks at approximately the same height. It could be still over ten kilometers away from his current location. He strayed from the road and headed in the direction of that unusually shaped mountain. He saw several small hills in front of him, so he wasn't sure which one of them was Xeng's hideout, but after a dozen minutes of walking, he saw a small pond. It could have something over 30 meters in diameter and looked pretty shallow, but due to the rain, the water became murky, and so it was hard to guess how deep it was exactly. Kyouichi wasn't even curious about the pond as he was curious about the nearest hill. It was overgrown with pines and it looked pretty ordinary. The outsider didn't hear any strange sounds except for the rain drumming on his raincoat. As he walked around the hill, though, he noticed a slope camouflaged by bushes leading to something that looked like a cave entrance with a built-in wooden door.
"This must be the place." he said to himself as he tore through the dense bushes.
He looked at his magic detector to see a large shining spot of magical energy directly ahead of him. Swallowing his fear, he took another step towards the door and knocked on it loudly. For ten seconds there was no response, but then the door opened and a tall, slim man dressed in a dark-green cape stepped outside and gave Kyouichi an intense glance. The outsider inadvertently took one step back out of caution. The man had bright yellow eyes contrasted by the dark dots of his pupils. His hair was black and semi-long and he had a thin moustache and long sideburns. His cape was trimmed by a leather sash with numerous leather bags with unknown content.
"Uh… hello…" greeted the mysterious man. "Human or youkai?" he asked right afterwards.
"Pardon?"
"Are you a human or a youkai?" he repeated more loudly and clearly.
"A human." replied Kyouichi timidly. "…from the outside world."
The man kept glaring at him for a few more seconds and then he stuck out his tongue, which was to Kyouichi's surprise forked like that of a snake, and flickered it rapidly as if he was detecting something.
"Hsss~. A human? How nice to have a visitor after a long while." he smiled. "Pleassse, come in. Don't be afraid…"
Kyouichi obliged and followed the man into his underground dwelling. At first glance it looked like an ordinary cave with torch stands fixed to its walls, but as they walked a little further, Kyouichi found himself in a cavern which could be around 15 meters wide and its ceiling could be approximately 5 meters above the floor. It looked like a natural cave with stalactites and stalagmites jutting from the floor and the ceiling. However, the cavern was neatly furnished with numerous tables, chairs wardrobes and bookshelves, just like a normal household. A little bit above the standard even. All the lighting was provided by torches and candles. There was also a big black cauldron placed over a fireside and its mysterious content was bubbling inside. Kyouichi had no idea what it was, but it most likely wasn't food. One of the tables was filled with laboratory apparatus such as vials, flasks, burners, distillation units, cooling pipes and Petri dishes. Another one had sacks and jars of numerous ingredients, most of which were completely unfamiliar to the outsider. The bookshelves were also filled with all sorts of intriguing items besides books. One of particular notice was a human skull used as a candle stand.
"Welcome to my little laboratory." said the man as he turned to Kyouichi. "I'm Xeng-Yao and I'm a very skilled alchemissst if I do have to say so myself… So nice to have ssomeone to talk to again…"
"Uhh…yes, I'm Kyouichi Ishimaru. Pleased to meet you, Xeng-san."
The alchemist hissed again as he flickered his forked tongue. "I can sssmell that you're afraid, human Kyouichi… Back in the day, I wouldn't blame you since I wasss a feared human-eating youkai, but those days are long since gone."
Kyouichi's heart skipped a beat as he heard those words. "D-Did you say "was"?"
"Yessss~." Xeng confirmed with a nonchalant tone. "I was feared jussst as much as… vampires or the oni… I ate many humansss in the passst. I'm not very proud of it…" he frowned.
"So now you're on a diet?"
"No, Kyouichi-sssan. I changed. I'm a whole new person now."
"What made you change your tastes?" wondered Kyouichi, who looked calm on the outside, but still trembled on the inside.
"It's a long ssstory, but if you'd like, I could tell you a ssshorter version." said Xeng and offered Kyouichi to sit on one of the chairs.
"Please, go ahead…" nodded the curious outsider as he sat down.
The youkai alchemist cleared his throat. "I was born in China over two thousand years ago. We were a nassty race of half-beassts who feasted on human flesh more than on anything elsssse. Well, mossst of my kind are probably ssstill like that even now… As I grew old and felt that my final days are drawing near, I decided to do a little traveling and jussst over a sea I found a land thriving with youkai as well as humansss. I sssettled here and more than hunting for humans, I began ssstudying how to cook, brew and distill all kinds of thingsss. I was over 900 yearss old by that time and over a century I spent living in the Foressst of Magic where I got mossst of my ingredientsss. It wasss convenient since the Human Village wasn't too far away. Occasionally, I'd catch me some losst human who happened to be passsing by. Then, after over a hundred yearss it all changed."
"What happened?"
"I wasss visited by the eldesst youkai sage of Gensokyo. She was recruiting ssstrong and dangerousss youkai for an army to conquer the lunar capital."
"Yukari?"
"Yesss. She promissed wealth, glory and even immortality if we joined her army of youkai. I was too old to fight, but inside, I craved to be a part of an event that would surely enter the history. Yukari-sama told us about the Lunarians' superior technology and magic and told us how stuck-up and arrogant their entire race is… It didn't take much of her persuasion for me to agree and join her army as a field medic and alchemissst. Then, on a night of a full moon, the invasion started. Yukari-sama opened a large gap on the sssurface of Misssty Lake and the army of over 5 thousand youkai poured in. I was among the lassst ones to enter. In the next moment, I wasss on the Moon, marching with the resst of the army to the very heart of their capital. There was already a full-blown combat underway in the streetsss. We've had the element of surprise and at first, it looked like the whole invasion would be a piece of cake. But then the lunar army retaliated at full force and began pushing us back from the city center. After a day, I was retasssked from tending the wounded to an infiltration misssion, hssss~. While the Lunariansss were busy dealing with the other invading youkai, I managed to ssslip in unnoticed into one of their top sssecret research centers…" Xeng explained and grinned mischievously while rubbing his hands. "…and you wouldn't believe what I found and learned there. Hs-s-s-s-sss~." he hissed abruptly, which was probably the way he was snickering.
"What did you find, Xeng-san?" wondered Kyouichi.
"For instance, I found out how to make ten times more effective magic potions then the ones I used to make, or how to make healing gel that could heal wounds almost instantly. But the mossst interesssting find was the formula for their legendary Hourai Elixir which grantsss immortality. I even found all the necessary ingredientsss there and stole as much as I could carry."
"Whoa! Really? You can make an elixir of immortality?" exclaimed the young outsider in amazement.
"Yessss~." smirked the alchemist. "Not only that, but after over a thoussand yearsss of experimenting with more than ample amount of ingredients, I managed to improve the formula and tested it on myself! And it WORKSSSS!"
"So, you're immortal now?"
"Precissssely."
"But what did you improve about the formula? Does it make you even more immortal now?" asked Kyouichi jestingly.
"No, Kyouichi-san… You see, normally the Hourai Elixir has but two benefitsss. It grants eternal life and prevents the user from contracting any form of illness. However, the recipient can still sssuffer pain from any injury and ssstill feel hunger and thirst or the lack of oxygen if they're underwater for too long. However, they cannot die no matter what. The effect of the elixir is irreversible and so far, there is no such thing as an antidote for it."
"Hmm… an eternity in a world full of pain and suffering…" muttered Kyouichi thoughtfully. "I'm not sure if I'd like such a life…"
"However…" Xeng-Yao continued, "My improved Hourai Elixir can even neutralize any painful sensation of the body. Plusss, its regenerating effects are considerably fassster. Watch…" he suddenly grabbed a sharp knife from the table and plunged it right into his palm, managing to stab a hole through not just his hand, but also the table. He didn't even blink. Kyouichi was in a loss for words and he only stared at him with his mouth wide open.
"Hehehe~! Still not convincing enough for you?" he asked and pulled out the knife from his palm and put it to his neck.
"Uh… please, Xeng-san, don't do anything stupid!" Kyouichi shouted at him, but the youkai didn't listen.
He grabbed the hair on his head in one hand and started cutting through his neck using the knife in the other hand. It was a gruesome sight as blood began pouring out of his neck, staining his clothes and floor. Any living being would be dead by now with such a deep wound, but the half-snake alchemist's hand kept moving back and forth even faster and with greater force as he was cutting through his spine and finally severing his head completely.
Kyouichi trembled in shock and he felt like he'd throw up any second now, but he managed to hold it in somehow. Xeng's headless body then stood up from the chair and started tossing around his head from one hand to another like a ball. It was utterly disgusting.
"Oh-my-God! Okay, I believe you, you're immortal, just cut it out already!" he begged him as he covered his eyes.
"Okay, okay…" muttered the alchemist's head. Then the body threw it in the fire.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Relax, Kyouichi-san." said the head with completely calm voice even as the fire was burning it to ash. "A new body part will grow if one is destroyed completely."
And just as he said that, the blood from the body's neck stopped flowing and flesh began rapidly growing and shaping into a new head. In less than a minute, Xeng was as good as new. Except for his cape, which was now more red than green.
"Ooooh. Look at all the mess I made… But at least you see that the elixir worksss."
"Is that how you managed to survive the First Lunar War?"
"Oh, no, no." said the youkai and shook his head. "I had no time to prepare the elixir in the field. I just copied its formula and stole the ingredients. However, right after that, the Lunarian soldiers found me and I thought I was a goner for sure. They shot me on sight and I fell down – blacked out. I thought I was dead, but then I woke up back on Earth. Yukari-sama was there too along with the entirety of our army. All of them were wounded, but none of them dead. The funny thing wass that I still had all the copied recipesss on me. Yukari-sama then came to me and apologized. She said the invasion was a faliure. I think I even saw a tear in her eye… But then I understood it all… Well, not immediatelly, but after a few years in retrossspect. She lossst the war on purpossse."
"So I guess you probably hate her, right?"
"Never!" shouted the snake youkai resolutely. "She opened my eyes. She helped me become a new and much better perssson. Mossst of the youkai who fought in the war ssstill believe that they could have won and blame Yukari-sama for treachery even to this day. And perhapsss they're right that we could have won. But I know why she did it. She did it all for us youkai, so that we'd be less aggressive towards the humansss of Earth. And I took it to heart… From that day onward, I never harmed a sssingle human and I intend to keep it that way. The secret of immortality too… I owe it all to Yukari-sssama."
"So uhh, you can make as much of your improved Hourai Elixir as you want?" inquired the outsider.
"I've got the know-how, yesss." hissed the alchemist while nodding. "But it's not easy. You alssso need to ussse a ssspecial binding ssspell and a time altering spell at the same time. However…" he smiled again with his mischievous grin and opened one of the wardrobes behind him to reveal hundreds of paper scrolls with blue and read seals on them. "I ssstole more than enough of the spell scrollsss to make hundredsss of dosesss of the immortality elixir. The problem is the ingredientsss themselvesss. With the lasssst experiment, which resssuletd in the improvement of the old formula, I ran out of ingredientsss. And mossst of them can be found only on Moon, so I sssadly cannot make any more… What a pity. I could have made a fortune with it…"
Kyouichi chuckled amusedly. "But… Did the youkai in Yukari's invading army even know that the Lunarians are immortal?"
"Nay, because they're not." Xeng corrected him. "They know how to make the elixir, but they are forbidden to use it for their own benefit."
"What? That doesn't make any sense! Why do they produce it in the first place?" Kyouichi couldn't understand the logic behind Xeng's claims.
"To use it as a sssort of bargaining chip and a meansss to manipulate others – usually humans to do anything to acquire it… So far there are only four more known recipientssss besides me, who drank of the elixir. Three of them live in Gensokyo. Two are Lunarians and one's a human. The last one is the legendary Chang'e. The Lunariansss are very, very long lived, though. I've heard once that the only known person who knows the recipe is Eirin Yagokoro and even she can only make it with the assistance of her mistresss. Who knows? It's been over a thousand years since I've been on the Moon or heard any newsss from there. Not that I care, though. Perhaps they no longer make the elixir and perhapsss they've found some way to make it even without Yagokoro…"
"Eirin Yagokoro, huh?" Kyouichi repeated the familiar sounding name. "I've seen quite a few books written by her…"
"Yessss~. She's an exile from the Moon along with her princesss… They live in Eientei in the Bamboo Foressst of the Lossst. Ha! Yagokoro thinksss she's a geniusss, as do all Lunariansss, but I've invented hundress of potionsss they'd be jealousss of…"
"Sounds like you don't have much respect fot them…" remarked the outsider.
"Ha! I've scraped thingsss off my boots that I ressspect more than Lunarians." hissed the youkai alchemist disdainfully. "But I guesss not all of them are ssso bad… If they had any idea of the fact that I ssstole much of their sssecret knowledge and made it even better, I'm sssure they'd sssend an army to kill me. Hahaha! But they wouldn't be able to…"
"Is that why you live in hiding?"
"Yesss. And apart from that, I have peace and quiet for my experimentsss. I've learned to like humansss as well as youkai and to whomever comesss to see me, I offer my wide ssselection of potionsss and sssimple recipesss."
"Actually, I wanted to ask you about your recent experiments."
"My recent experiment?" repeated Xeng. "You mean my ssspecial homemade moonshine? I call it: Vengeance of the Forest. It's really… potent. H-s-s-sss-s. Want a sssample?"
"A moonshine? No, I was just wondering if you don't know anything about the fairy attacks on Kazemura and other nearby locations."
"Fairy attacksss? Don't know anything about that. Honessst." replied Xeng while shrugging.
"You're not using any as test subjects for your potions, are you?" asked the outsider, while raising his eyebrow.
"What do you think I am? A sadissst? I never harmed a fairy. Not even when I used some fairy hair strandsss in the new Hourai Elixir formula. I tessst all my potionsss on myself, since they can't kill me even if the experiment goes wrong…"
"But if you can't feel any pain or anything, how do you know that your potions aren't harmful to anyone else?"
"The ssensation is different, when the potion isss poisonousss. I have developed my senssses well over the yearsss. I don't feel pain, but I feel other sensationsss jussst fine."
"So… you really don't know anything about the crazed fairies that began acting up in the recent days?" asked Kyouichi once more to make sure.
"I haven't been out much lately, so I don't really know…"
Kyouichi sighed heavily and scratched his chin. "What could be the cause then?"
"If you told me something more about it, maybe I'd be able to tell you more." suggested the alchemist and so, Kyouichi told him what little facts he knew about the fairy attacks.
"So you're saying that their attacks come from this area?" asked Xeng, who was now also curious about the cause of the attacks. "And those newly found ruinsss in Kazemura that you mentioned… It's just really odd… Maybe there's some sort of connection between them and the fairy attacksss."
"I have a special item here…" said Kyouichi and showed him the magic detector. "It can read any form of magical energy, or so I was told… But when I looked at those ruins it didn't show anything…"
The half-snake youkai looked absentmindedly at the ceiling of the cavern and shook his head after a longer while of thinking. "Maybe it was some youkai that can mind control other creatures or cause temporary madness… But I'm jusssst guessing."
"Oh, and I should also mention that Yukari is missing… Nobody knows where she is, but most of the people I asked haven't seen her for over half a year."
"So? I haven't seen her for a few centuriesss… But a few yearsss ago I heard sssome news about her making a sssecond lunar invasssion…"
"Don't you think there's a chance that she could be the one causing it?"
"Hmph… I don't know… I can just tell you that I haven't done anything to make the fairies act the way you just described."
Kyouichi nodded. "Well, that's good… Thanks for the information."
"Huh? Leaving already? I haven't even shown you the potionsss you can buy…"
"Well, I suppose I could at least take a look since I'm already here." shrugged the outsider and looked up at Xeng, who made a gesture towards one of the shelves with a line of flasks filled with liquids of all sorts of colors.
"Thisss here, for instance…" he pointed at a flask full of dark-blue liquid, "…is a potion that ressstores magical energy and adds a boossst to the spellsss."
"I'm an outsider, so I've no use for it."
"Oh, right, I forgot… Well, then… how about this one?" he took a vial of golden colored potion in his hand. "
"What is it?"
"It's the so called Lightning Potion. If you drink it, you'll be able to run five timesss as fassst and you won't feel any fatigue for the whole duration of its effect. However, it only lasssts about five minutesss. It costsss 1500 yen per vial if you're interesssted."
"Hmm… I don't know…" muttered Kyouichi as he glared suspiciously at the potion. "Do you have anything else?"
"But of courssse." hissed the alchemist and put took another bottle filled with a colorless liquid, which Kyouichi suspected to be normal water. "What human wouldn't want to try to become invisssible for an hour?" smiled Xeng mischievously. "Just imagine all the girlsss you could ssstalk with this. Hehehehe~. Only 2500 yen per bottle."
Kyouichi made a half-amused, half-shocked face at Xeng's last remark. "Uhh… I'm sure it's useful, but…" his sentence died halfway as the youkai raised a warning finger.
"Oh, yeah and it will only make your BODY invisible, so if you want to avoid being seen, you'd have to get naked. Including your glassessss… Not very ussseful if you'd want to use it outside on a cold winter day."
"Running around naked with my impaired eyesight? Why, no, thank you…" rejected the outsider while shaking his palm.
"Hmm. A discriminating cusssstomer, eh?" said the alchemist, still not giving up on his attempt to try and sell something to Kyouichi. "
"What else you might be intresssted in? Perhapsss a ssstandard healing potion for 500 yen? Or a ssstrong healing potion for a thousand?"
This time, Xeng finally managed to get Kyouichi's interest, since the outsider figured it might be a good idea to have some sort of injury treatment material for the planned journey out of Gensokyo.
"Okay, I'll take some." He said and prepared his money. "I'll take five standard ones and three strong ones."
The half-snake rubbed his hands excitedly. "Excellent~! You're not going to regret it, outsssider. I jussst hope you won't have to ussse them too soon."
Kyouichi paid for the potions, and his pockets became 5500 yen lighter. He packed the corked glass bottles carefully inside his backpack and slowly put it back on his shoulders.
"It'sss been nice to meet you, Kyouichi-san." bowed the alchemist, still wearing his blood-soaked cape. "I hope we'll ssssee each other again sometimes. I might even give you a dissscount."
"Yeah, maybe I'll come again." shrugged Kyouichi and proceeded to the cavern's exit. "Have a nice… eh… eternal life, Xeng-san."
"Yesss. I'll be right here if you'll need more potionsss. You could alssso spread the word to bring in more customersss. I'd be grateful."
"Okay, I'll advertise your business a bit." smiled Kyouichi as he opened the door. "Would you look at that… It stopped raining."
"Jussst don't tell the Lunariansss that I can make a better Hourai Elixir than them…" said Xeng as he was seeing his guest off. "Or you know what? Go ahead and tell them everything! Let them know that they are not superior to everyone from Earth. Let them be jealousss! I'm not afraid of any of them. And there's no way they could get the recipes from me. They're all safely in my head. Even if they tortured me, I'd just laugh right into their facessss!"
Kyouichi was a little startled when Xeng started to ramble like a madman, but the youkai calmed down almost immediately. "Try not to break the potion bottlesss, human. See you next time…" he said with a calm voice and then as the outsider turned his back to him, he closed the door of his cavern laboratory.
Kyouichi had to shield his eyes after he got out of the dark cave into a much brighter environment. The fact that the clouds were gradually dissipating and letting the warm summer sun shine upon Gensokyo only enhanced the contrast between Xeng's cavern and the outside.
Getting back was a little trickier then getting to the immortal youkai's hidden dwelling. While he could use the twin-peaked mountain as a landmark on his way there, Kyouichi had no such landmarks when he was trying to return to Kazemura and he had to rely more on his instinct and memory to follow the same path that he used to get here.
