Chapter 236 True Man Zhengyang
At the end of noon, in the Fire Chamber of the Crimson Flame Peak Cave.
Ji An placed the jade slip on his forehead, pondering the refining process of the Yellow Sprout Pill.
This elixir requires five ingredients: yellow sprout rice, safflower, black ginseng, ice spirit flower, and poria cocos.
The main ingredient is still yellow sprout rice, but the degree of refinement required for the yellow sprout rice is a level higher than that for refining Bigu pills.
The spiritual rice used to refine Bigu Pills only needs to be refined once, while the Yellow Sprout Pills need to be refined three times.
Setting down the jade slip, Ji An lit the Qingling bamboo charcoal and skillfully performed the warming finger technique of the Three Yang Elixir Fire Technique.
The pale blue flame remained stable, gently nurturing the Azure Lotus Fiery Cloud Furnace.
Flames drifted across the surface of the alchemy furnace, and blue lotuses swayed; the furnace was now warm.
Ji An used his object manipulation technique to open the lid of the alchemy furnace and poured in the yellow sprout rice, filling one-third of the furnace's space.
His hands moved nimbly, changing hand seals, while the flames beneath the alchemy furnace remained a pale blue.
His finger technique changed from warming the fire to nurturing it, and the flames spread evenly across the lower half of the alchemy furnace.
The temperature inside the alchemy furnace rose higher and higher, and Ji An's finger technique changed again to fire manipulation, causing the flames to surge.
He easily refined the spirit rice twice, but during the third refinement, a "poof" sound suddenly came from the furnace.
The sound was faint, but to Ji An it sounded like thunder.
Wisps of smoke rose from the alchemy furnace, and he discovered that the essence of the yellow sprout rice had turned into a dark, murky mass, and the room was filled with a burnt smell.
Ji An grinned, realizing his mission had gone awry.
He activated the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique to cleanse the alchemy furnace, pondering why something had gone wrong.
After a moment, I roughly understood what was going on. The temperature inside the alchemy furnace continued to rise, exceeding the maximum temperature that the yellow sprout rice essence could withstand, so I needed to use the Three Yang Alchemy Fire Technique to weaken the flames.
When refining the Bigu Pill, since only one tempering of the medicinal materials was required, this issue was not noticed at all.
Master is right, refining this kind of pill is starting to test our refining experience.
After figuring out the whole story, Ji An began the second round of refining the yellow sprout rice.
While performing the hand seals, he kept a close eye on the temperature inside the alchemy furnace, and soon successfully refined the spirit rice essence a sufficient number of times.
Ji An continued to refine the essence of the medicinal herbs. Crimson Flower, Black Jade Ginseng, Ice Spirit Flower, and Poria cocos all needed to be refined a second time.
I failed once each when refining the Mysterious Jade Ginseng and the Ice Spirit Flower, but everything else went smoothly.
Half an hour later, Ji An finally refined all five medicinal herbs.
"I need to take on an alchemy apprentice in the future, who will be responsible for tasks such as extracting essences every day, to reduce my workload."
He muttered something to himself, cleaned the alchemy furnace again, and then continued refining.
Alchemy emphasizes the roles of principal, assistant, and adjuvant herbs. In Huangya Dan (Yellow Sprout Pill), yellow sprout rice is the principal herb, the source of most of the elixir's spiritual energy.
Red safflower and black ginseng are assistant herbs, enhancing the efficacy of the medicine; ice spirit flower is adjuvant, strengthening the effects of the principal and assistant herbs; and poria cocos is the guiding herb, harmonizing the properties of various medicinal materials.
As the temperature in the alchemy furnace gradually rose, Ji An put the essence of yellow sprout rice into it and waited for it to melt into a liquid.
Then, pale red crimson flower crystals and pale white ginseng crystals were added. The two crystals gradually dissolved, and the spiritual liquid clearly showed two distinct colors.
Immediately afterwards, Ji An threw the pale blue, almost transparent Ice Spirit Flower crystals into the alchemy furnace.
"Bang!"
A sudden explosion erupted inside the alchemy furnace, slamming open the lid and spilling the medicinal liquid all over the floor.
"Holy crap, there's been an accident!"
Ji An smiled wryly. Ice Spirit Flower is cold in nature. When adding the essence of this spiritual herb, the temperature inside the alchemy furnace should be lowered first, and then the essence should be added.
After the essence of the Ice Spirit Flower is fully integrated into the medicinal liquid, the essence of Poria cocos is added to harmonize the medicinal properties, and finally the liquid is condensed and separated into pills.
Ji An cleaned the alchemy furnace and continued refining.
This minor setback had no psychological impact on him at all; on the contrary, he felt it was a good thing.
It's best to learn from all the pitfalls. The current low value of elixirs makes them the perfect time to accumulate experience.
The most dangerous thing is if a problem remains unexposed.
If the hidden problems that were present during the refining of high-level pills were to surface, the losses would be difficult to bear.
After refining the medicinal herbs, Ji An began the actual refining process.
Because I knew exactly where I went wrong, the second refining was much easier.
Half an hour later, Ji An used the pill-dividing technique to condense four pills. The other pills were all of inferior quality, and one of them was even a waste pill with extremely high toxicity.
He crushed the waste pills and inferior pills directly, and then put the Huangya pills into a medicine bottle.
Ji An closed his eyes, carefully recalling the rhythm of the alchemy process, pondering what aspects could be improved and how.
After reviewing the process for a moment, he opened his eyes and began the third round of refining.
This time it was also successful, producing four pills.
Although the number of pills produced did not increase, the refining efficiency was noticeably faster.
With such a success rate, the costs can be recovered.
After completing the three batches of pills today, Ji An opened the earth fire seal, took out several fist-sized pieces of meteorite iron ore, and then performed the pill fire incantation.
This technique can be used not only for alchemy, but also for refining ores.
The ground fire surged forth like a fire dragon, and Ji An used his fire-manipulating finger techniques to subdue the flames and envelop the ore under his control.
The earth fire of Crimson Flame Peak contains a trace of metal element spiritual energy. When smelting ores, there is no need to be distracted by removing it; instead, this spiritual energy can nurture metal element spiritual objects.
The temperature of the ore rose rapidly and began to melt slowly, with the residue and meteorite iron liquid gradually separating.
After refining several pieces of ore, a two-inch-long, little-finger-thick metal bar was obtained.
The meteorite iron was heated to a bright red, and as the temperature gradually decreased, it became silvery and shiny, exuding a slight chill.
This coldness is not in terms of temperature, but rather a sensation felt by the divine sense.
According to the description of the materials used in weapon crafting, meteorite iron is extremely sharp and is often used to forge the blanks of flying swords or as a material for refining flying swords.
Ji An placed the meteorite iron into a jade box, and lined the box with a layer of dark yellow soil.
He put the jade box into his storage bag, took out a few more pieces of ore, and began refining them by performing a magic incantation.
Chaoyang Peak, Wuji Hall.
More than twenty cultivators sat in the main hall. Apart from those who were stationed at Mingfeng Mountain, all the cultivators of the Chaoyuan stage from the Jinling Sect had gathered here.
The leader was a thin-faced old man, who was the sect's Golden Core Ancestor, with the Daoist name "Zhengyang". The other ancestor had the Daoist name "Yuxiao" and was currently stationed at Mingfeng Mountain.
The True Man of Zhengyang lived for eight hundred years and was a cultivator at the fifth level of the Golden Core stage. The True Man of Yuxiao lived for five hundred years and was a cultivator at the third level of the Golden Core stage.
"After investigation, it was found that there are nearly a million demonic beasts gathered around Moyun Valley, including eight Golden Core stage demon kings, and more demonic beasts are still joining."
According to the records preserved in Fallen Maple Valley, the scale of the demonic beasts gathered at this time has reached the size of the last demonic calamity.
Master Zhengyang paused, looked around at everyone, and then said:
"The situation is not optimistic. A demonic disaster is bound to break out within one or two years."
At that time, there is a high probability that a Nascent Soul stage demon beast will appear.
We don't have much time left to prepare. We need to gradually tighten our reserves of various array plates, array flags, pills, spirit stones, and other resources. The weapon refining hall needs to stockpile more magical artifacts and spiritual weapons.
After the demonic calamity broke out, all human cultivators along the Mingfeng Mountain line were to remain in their positions and defend their positions, and were strictly forbidden from venturing out to hunt demons.
During the last demonic calamity, a Nascent Soul stage demonic beast, the Devouring Sky Toad, appeared among the demons. It was only thanks to the Nascent Soul stage cultivators of the Central Continent that the Western Continent was not overrun.
"Ancestor, when will the cultivators from Central Continent who are coming to provide support arrive?"
Lin Jiuxiao asked, "Even without the participation of Nascent Soul demon beasts, although the demon beast forces are much larger, the strength of the Western Continent cultivators might still be enough to protect the human race's territory."
If Nascent Soul level power joins the battle, the Western Continent will inevitably need external assistance, otherwise it will surely collapse.
Without the protection of a mountain-protecting array of the third-tier superior level or above, it would certainly be unable to withstand the attack of the Nascent Soul stage power.
Master Zhengyang pursed his lips and said in a cold voice:
"We received a reply from Central Continent a few months ago that the support will not arrive for another two years."
The Golden Core cultivators of the Western Continent were very dissatisfied with this reply, but they had no choice but to swallow their anger and smiles, as they still needed to rely on the cultivators of the Central Continent to defend against the possible Nascent Soul stage demonic beasts.
“The cultivators of Central Continent are treating us as a buffer zone against the demonic beasts. Aren’t they worried that if the situation in Western Continent deteriorates rapidly, Central Continent will also suffer from the demonic calamity?”
"Unless the cultivators of the Western Continent are squeezed dry to the last drop of blood, the demonic beasts will not go to the trouble of crossing the Lianyun Mountains to attack the Central Continent."
We have no choice but to fight to defend our homeland, and the cultivators of Middle-earth are emboldened.
The cultivators began to discuss the matter, expressing considerable dissatisfaction with the actions of the Central Continent.
Master Zhengyang waved his hand to interrupt the crowd and said in a deep voice:
"Circumstances are beyond our control; there's no point in saying these things."
We proceeded according to the original plan, doing our best to protect the Mingfeng Mountain area, even at the cost of sacrificing the ley lines of Mingfeng Mountain.
After the outbreak of war, more forces were organized to rush to the front lines.
The longer Mingfeng Mountain holds out, the less impact it will have on the sect.
Of the three sects, Jinling Sect and Yuanhe Mountain are located further west, closer to the heart of the Ten Thousand Mountains, and have a strategic depth of over a thousand miles less than Luofeng Valley.
If the monsters breach Mingfeng Mountain, the other smaller strongholds will soon fall.
Lin Qiubai frowned slightly and said:
"The timing of the demonic calamity is somewhat delicate. The Azure Mist Secret Realm will open in two years. If the demonic calamity breaks out, how many disciples should we send to compete for resources?"
The secret realm is rich in resources for refining Qi-Nourishing Pills, so it certainly cannot be abandoned.
"Just keep it at the same scale as before; the resources in the secret realm are a great help to us."
At that time, the demonic calamity had just broken out, and losing a hundred Foundation Establishment stage disciples wouldn't have had a significant impact.
Master Zhengyang stood up and solemnly said:
"From now on, stockpile as many strategic resources as possible, but do not affect prices outside the sect."
The longer the independent cultivators find out, the more thorough our preparations will be, and the more resources we can use to motivate them to risk their lives.
He waved his hand and continued:
"Go and prepare."
One month later.
Ji An piloted the flying shuttle to the top of Ningcui Cliff. He had received an invitation from his master yesterday to attend a small gathering today.
He stepped into the cave and found only his master and Ge Luoying inside.
Ji An hurried forward a few steps and cupped his hands in greeting:
"Greetings, Master and Senior Sister."
Ge Ying smiled and nodded, saying:
"Luo Ying, this is my disciple Ji An. You've met before."
Gloin nodded politely and said calmly:
"Junior brother."
Ge Yingwei shook her head almost imperceptibly and continued:
"Ji An is one of my most outstanding disciples. He recently broke through to the late stage of Foundation Establishment."
"Luo Ying, aren't you looking for meteorite iron? Ji An happens to have some; we can trade with him."
She transmitted her voice to the other party:
"Ji An received 240 Xuanmu Gathering Spirit Pills from me. These pills can be exchanged for a large amount of meteorite iron, which is enough for you to refine your flying sword."
He was only fifty-six years old when he broke through to the next level, and he enjoyed the treatment of a first-class disciple.
Your cultivation levels are similar; you should visit each other more often in the future.
Upon hearing her elders' words, Ge Luoying's eyes flashed with surprise and scrutiny.
A 56-year-old late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator can be considered an elite of the sect. The other party was younger when he broke through to the late-stage Foundation Establishment than she was.
Ji An ignored Ge Luoying's attitude, took out several jade boxes, and said:
"Senior sister, this is my refined meteorite iron. See how much you need and take it."
If the quantity is insufficient, I will collect some more when I return and bring them to you.
If the Mysterious Wood Gathering Spirit Pill were sold in spirit stones, it would cost approximately 150 spirit stones per pill, but it would be priceless and unavailable.
He needs to pay 36,000 spirit stones for his master's 240 pills.
If meteorite iron were sold as spirit stones, it would cost about 400 spirit stones per ounce, but it would still be in high demand and short supply. It could be exchanged for nine pounds of meteorite iron.
Gloying picked up the jade box, opened it, and took out more than a dozen pieces of meteorite iron. She weighed them, adding and subtracting as she went, saying:
"Two pounds of meteorite iron is enough. Thank you for your help, junior brother."
Meteorite iron is relatively rare; it is formed when meteorites fall from the sky into volcanoes.
Now that she has enough materials, her next step is to use a unique secret technique of sword cultivators to replace a certain material in her magic sword with meteorite iron.
Once all the materials have been replaced, the magic sword will naturally become a spiritual weapon.
Ji An put away the jade box and said:
"Senior sister, since you want to refine your flying sword, do you need to use the golden leaves of the Mysterious Leaf Sword Bamboo? I have some second-tier golden leaves."
Metal elemental elixir, refined from bamboo leaves, is an excellent material for nurturing flying swords. With this elixir, there's no need to use metal elemental essence.
Gloria's eyes curved like crescent moons, her gaze sparkling:
"Junior brother has quite a few good things. Of course I want the gold leaf. Five catties will be enough for me."
She was overjoyed, not expecting so many unexpected gains today.
Ji An took out the gold leaf from his storage bag, weighed it, and handed it to the other party:
"Senior sister, I have cultivated more than thirty second-tier sword bamboos in Crimson Flame Peak."
If you need gold leaf, just let me know in advance.
Ge Luoying's eyes brightened a bit more. She didn't need the five catties of gold leaves for now, but she would still need them in large quantities in the future.
"Junior brother, thank you."
We'll exchange magical imprints. I'll let you know in advance if needed.
The spiritual liquid refined from golden leaves is most suitable for nurturing metal-elemental spiritual weapons, and no sword cultivator would ever complain about having too many golden leaves.
When Ge Luoying offered to exchange magical imprints, Ge Ying's lips curled up slightly; this was exactly what she had hoped for.
Only by constantly establishing contact can a friendship be gradually built.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com