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墨書 Inktalez
"How did you get in?" Yun Jiuzi asked curiously.
Li Hong chuckled, "I was surprised too. I was injured at the time, and my blood splattered on the door of the small room. It actually opened by itself, and I still find it puzzling."
"It was because of your blood!" Yun Jiuzi suddenly stood up and began pacing quickly in the hall, deep in thought. He abruptly turned around, grabbed Li Hong's hand, and swiftly drew his nails across Li Hong's fingers, causing a few drops of blood to fall.
Li Hong didn't care much and laughed, "We could do some research on this."
Yun Jiuzi caught the blood in his palm and leaned in seriously to examine it, even bringing it to his fingertips to smell. Suddenly, he laughed aloud, "I understand now! So that's how it is!"
With a flick of his hand, flames erupted from his palm, and Li Hong's blood instantly transformed into curling blue smoke and vanished. Yun Jiuzi sat back down and said earnestly, "I remember Yue Changzi mentioned that your constitution is devoid of the five elements. Now I understand. It turns out that those who practice the Six Spirit Salty Ritual must have a constitution that is devoid of the five elements. Those Ancient Divine Beings were probably all without the five elements as well, so this was clearly a backdoor left for their descendants. Only those with a similar constitution who cultivate their techniques can enter through that door. And that Azure Jade Plate was a special treasure they left there for their descendants. I suspect," he paused dramatically before exclaiming a shocking revelation, "that Azure Jade Plate is the true Ancient Marvelous Skills! It was specifically placed there for their own descendants!"
Li Hong was dumbfounded as he considered a huge possibility, his voice trembling slightly, "So does that mean the enormous Celestial Mansion Map without a door can also be accessed this way? Good heavens! I returned from Treasure Mountain empty-handed!" He jumped up suddenly, feeling immense regret.
Yun Jiuzi chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Don't worry! It's just a possibility; next time I'll accompany you personally!" He straightened his back, and at that moment, the aura of a master at the Heavenly Fusion Stage radiated from him as he declared loudly, "Heavenly Grain is a mere clown this time for colluding with the Demon Sect Monster. Once we eliminate the Demon Sect, we will definitely seek justice!"
"Right! We must also explore the Celestial Mansion Map again!" Li Hong clapped his hands enthusiastically.
A surge of boldness filled their hearts as they exchanged hearty laughter.
"However, there are important matters to attend to," Yun Jiuzi said as he looked at the massive figure leaping towards them outside the door, stroking his grizzled beard with a smile. "We need to ensure your second brother and Chu Xi are no longer a threat!"
The Cosmic Vitality Pill. Li Hong's eyes lit up.
********
To refine pills, one must first secure a pill furnace.
Li Hong and Yun Jiuzi flew directly to the Artifact Hall. As soon as Yue Changzi saw him, he laughed heartily and waved his hand without hesitation, saying, "You're just in time; I have something good to give you."
He hurried to the back of the hall and soon returned, holding a crystal-clear Jade Box.
Li Hong's heart stirred. "What is this?"
"This is the precious artifact I promised to create for you! It took me a great deal of effort, and it took almost a whole year to make. I spent a long time crafting that Forehead Band for you; you must have been anxious waiting for it," Yue Changzi said, proudly showing off to Li Hong, "It's a Superior Spirit Artifact, perfectly balanced in the five elements, and it's truly five pieces combined into one. I got the inspiration from that set of Celestial Artifacts from Emei. Hehe, how are you going to thank your master?"
Yun Jiuzi beside them flashed his eyes and whispered, "You shouldn't mention Chu Hong's unique constitution to others."
This was clearly a reminder. Yue Changzi was taken aback and immediately bowed deeply, saying, "Thank you for the reminder, Great-Granduncle."
Li Hong had already been mesmerized by the small Jade Box. Inside was a shuttle-shaped Flying Sword, only two inches long, resting on a golden satin base, looking extraordinarily beautiful. Unlike ordinary Flying Swords that have one pointed end, this one had sharp points on both ends. Its body shimmered with five colors that changed constantly, appearing dazzling and clearly a fine item.
A whole year! Yue Changzi had spent an entire year just crafting it. It must be an extraordinary treasure.
"Input your special spiritual energy to start cultivating it right away. Hehe, you'll find it quite different," Yue Changzi said proudly.
Li Hong immediately followed his advice and began to cultivate. He dripped three drops of blood onto the sword's body, which seeped in with a sizzling sound. An Iridescence flashed from head to tail. He gently picked up the small sword and infused it with Awareness; indeed, there was no rejection. The structure of the small sword immediately appeared before him.
It seemed to be five Flying Swords combined into one, but all the talisman arrays were clearly intertwined together; within each array was another array, linked end to end. With a thought, the small sword flew into the air, and an Iridescence flashed by as it suddenly split into five identical swords—white, green, blue, red, and yellow—corresponding to metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, slowly rotating in a circle in mid-air. With another thought, the five swords merged back into one dazzling small sword.
Li Hong laughed heartily; this small sword was truly ingeniously crafted! How did Yue Changzi come up with such an idea? He formed a sword gesture with his hands and saw the Iridescence swiftly dive into his forehead.
In the Upper Dantian Purple Palace space, a sharp shuttle-shaped small sword appeared on the rotating Fake Dan. A faint golden Awareness began to rise from the outer edge of the Fake Dan and entwined with the small sword, starting to nourish it.
Yue Que felt a warmth; she knew she had gained another companion.
Now Li Hong had three excellent artifacts for his cultivation in his Upper Dantian: first was Yue Que, second was Lingyi, and now this one—Li Hong pondered for a moment and named it "Five Elements Shuttle."
Although Yue Que ranked first, unfortunately her cultivation level was insufficient; using it was quite taxing for her. Each time she used it drained most of her Awareness. It seemed that she would need time to shine brightly. However, with Lingyi and the Five Elements Shuttle, things would be different; he could wield his sword while battling enemies without the hassle of constantly switching between them.
Li Hong chuckled with delight, and both Yue Changzi and Yun Jiuzi exchanged amused glances.
Yun Jiuzi took a sip of the tea brought in by his disciple and got straight to the point: "Yue Changzi, I came to ask you to forge a good Dan Furnace for refining Earth-Level pills. How confident are you?"
Yue Changzi was taken aback by the daunting task Yun Jiuzi had just assigned him. He hesitated and replied, "Well... our sect is not skilled in alchemy, and I have never even heard of what an Earth-Level pill is. This kind of Dan Furnace... I'm afraid it won't be easy to create."
"That's alright," Li Hong said, his eyes gleaming as he pulled out an item from his pocket and grinned, "I have a blueprint here, though it's just a basic Dan Furnace design. This is one of my gains from my trip to Heavenly Grain. In my opinion, this thing is also a type of treasure, and crafting treasures should be no challenge for you, Master!"
Yue Changzi felt a bit intimidated by Yun Jiuzi but had always liked Li Hong. He glared at Li Hong and said sternly, "Alright! You'll be punished to study with me! Now that you're back, you must put in some effort to learn artifact forging. Do you think you can get treasures so easily? Hmph, no way!"
Li Hong was taken aback, his expression turning strange. He already had so much homework...
Yun Jiuzi and Yue Changzi exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
A beam of yellow light shot up, and Yun Jiuzi's voice echoed in the air: "I've left him to you! You two work hard together; I'll come back in a few days to collect the results!"
He laughed heartily as he left.
********
For the next month, Li Hong and Yue Changzi worked together on figuring out how to forge the Dan Furnace using the blueprint they obtained from Heavenly Grain. Although Li Hong couldn't steal a sample, he spent some time secretly sketching out the design. The rune formations inside were somewhat different from those commonly used by the Nine Li Sect but were similar enough; they just needed careful study in the details.
As a month passed, in the Fire Cave's Fire Jade Cave, master and disciple stared at each other.
The surroundings glowed red with intense heat, and before them stood a long line of failed Dan Furnaces against the shimmering walls of fire jade.
The largest one was their first trial piece, towering two meters high and taking up a significant space in the Fire Jade Cave. The subsequent Dan Furnaces they created kept getting smaller, starting from two meters down to one meter or less. The one they had just forged now stood only about three feet tall. The two examined this Dan Furnace closely and tried it again before letting out another dejected sigh.
"Still useless! What on earth is going on!" Li Hong felt discouraged, exhaling a puff of stale air, and without caring about the heat, he plopped down on the ground. His Fire Rat Robe was already filthy, with numerous small holes revealing an even more tattered garment underneath. A thick bushy beard covered his chin—he hadn't left the Fire Cave for a whole half month.
Yue Changzi's face was dark and slick with oil and sweat. He wasn't even wearing his Fire Rat Robe, just a pair of loose shorts, lacking any semblance of a grand master of artifact refining, resembling more a village blacksmith.
He looked puzzled, explaining to Li Hong as if trying to clarify it for himself: "It should be correct. Look, the entire surface of the Dan Furnace is covered with Spirit Gathering Arrays that collect spiritual energy and channel it into the main Spirit Gathering Array at the bottom of the Dan Furnace. The spiritual energy is converted into heat through the Minor Fire Array, which then transmits it to the Dispensing Room above. Once the herbs are evenly melted into liquid, they are automatically sent to the Wendan Chamber on the left. Here, they are nurtured to a certain degree before being sent again to the Stir-Frying Chamber on the right to be refined into pills, finally entering the Output Room where the Elixir is completed. We understand this principle; we haven't made any mistakes. This is still the simplest and most basic Dan Furnace—why isn't it working?"
Li Hong lay back on the ground lazily and said, "Why not just try using some herbs? It might work."
"No way! Those are precious herbs; it would be a shame to ruin them." Yue Changzi leaned closer to the furnace lid, peering inside intently while pressing his hands against the surface of the Dan Furnace, continuously channeling spiritual energy. But the Dan Furnace refused to activate; there was no sound of humming that indicated it was starting up.
"Could it be that your Spirit Gathering Array is drawn incorrectly?" Li Hong's eyes lit up as he thought of the Scattering Spirit Array he had obtained from Heavenly Grain Restrictions' herb garden. Could he try drawing that array in the Dan Furnace? But since that was a Scattering Spirit Array, would it even work...
"Impossible! We at Nine Li Sect may not understand other formations well, but there's absolutely no way our Spirit Gathering Array could be wrong; it's a fundamental formation! Hmph! If it were wrong, how could I have refined so many magical treasures?" Yue Changzi huffed as he tugged at his beard.
"That's true. But this kind of Dan Furnace only has a Spirit Gathering Array and the most basic Perception Array. If it's not an error in the Spirit Gathering Array, how could it possibly not start?" Li Hong began mimicking Yue Changzi's action of tugging at his own beard but inadvertently pulled too hard, causing him to yelp in pain and jump up high enough to hit his head against the ceiling of Fire Jade Cave, letting out another yelp.
Now his head was harder than fire jade; although he was in pain, Fire Jade Cave shook slightly with several fragments falling down. Li Hong instinctively reached out to catch them and stared at these crystalline shards. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly slapped his forehead: "I understand now!"
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