Chapter 68: Dan Fire Tempering the Mortal Body
The qingmu spirit pearl hung above the alchemy cauldron, and Lu Qingyang's sleeves were scorched by the Earth Vein True Fire.
He spat out the blood foam from the corner of his mouth, his fingertips twirling three copper coins to calculate the heat, but the divination showed a great ominous omen.
Inside the cauldron, dragon blood grass and profound yin flower intertwined into a crimson-black mist, vaguely forming the face of Ye Wuchen, the Enforcement Elder of Taiyi Pavilion.
"Daoist Lu, you're wasting a thousand-year Spirit Medicine like this, even more extravagant than a Demonic Cultivator." Su Li leaned against the Immortal Cave stone door, wiping her sword's edge, the newly branded Soul-Chasing Mark on her collarbone glowing purple.
The Incomplete Manual of the Nine Revolutions Alchemy Art she had brought the day before lay open on the stone table, a note on one page, "Only Nascent Soul Cultivators can refine this," had been violently crossed out by Lu Qingyang and replaced with, "Seven-tenths heat, add half a coin of lightning-struck wood ash."
The alchemy cauldron suddenly vibrated like thunder, and Lu Qingyang slapped his Storage Pouch at his waist.
Thirty-two Low-Grade Spirit Stones exploded in response, their Spiritual Qi forming a cage to lock the cauldron lid.
He kicked over the Treasure Seeking Rat, who was watching the fun, and the Pang Daoshi-like spirit pet rolled to Su Li's feet with a yelp: "Master, you're making human pills!"
"Noisy." Lu Qingyang flung out the immortal binding rope, hanging the spirit pet upside down from the beam, then turned to form a hand seal, activating the Earth Vein True Fire.
The Spirit Sealing Array patterns on the cauldron's surface shattered inch by inch, and a strange sound like a baby crying came from inside the cauldron.
Su Li's sword trembled slightly, and the stalactites hanging from the Immortal Cave's dome suddenly seeped frost—this was a sign that Taiyi Pavilion's pursuers were approaching.
The cauldron lid exploded, and a crimson glow, carrying a sweet, slightly bloody medicinal aroma, shot into the sky.
Seven lightning-avoiding talismans flew out of Lu Qingyang's sleeve, but they spontaneously ignited the moment they touched the pill Qi.
He painfully pulled out his prized Profound Tortoise Shell, cursing under his breath: "If it doesn't form a virtual pill, I'll sell this broken furnace to the black market..."
Before he finished speaking, the pill Qi had condensed into a three-inch small sword, stabbing directly at his glabella.
Lu Qingyang tilted his head to dodge, the sword's edge grazing his earlobe, drawing a bead of blood, and the stone wall behind him was actually cracked in a spiderweb pattern by the aftermath.
Su Li's Ice Soul Sword timely blocked the second wave of pill Qi, its frosty patterns colliding with the crimson glow, erupting in a sky full of sparks.
"Retreat three at the Kan position, step seven at the Zhen palace!" The Pang Daoshi suddenly shouted with a serious expression, the immortal binding rope somehow already gnawed through by him.
Lu Qingyang scoffed at his words: "Do you think this young master is a novice who just entered the Dao of alchemy?"
Before his voice faded, he had already spun and stepped onto the Xun position of the incomplete array, and the pill Qi small sword immediately seemed to sink into a quagmire.
A strange look flashed in Su Li's eyes.
This seemingly chaotic footwork actually secretly conformed to the "Seven Stars Spirit Locking Array," a lost technique of Medicine King Valley from ten years ago.
Her peripheral vision swept towards the bronze mortar in the corner of the Immortal Cave, finding that its placement was perfectly aligned with the Big Dipper—it turned out Lu Qingyang had already laid out his contingency plan before starting the furnace.
As the pill Qi gradually weakened, a sudden change occurred!
Three black shadows pierced through the Immortal Cave's Restriction, and Taiyi Pavilion's chasing soul banner stirred up a fishy wind.
Nine ominous nails flew out of the leading Cultivator's sleeve, and the soul-detaining bells attached to their tails jingled wildly.
Lu Qingyang's neck hair stood on end; this was clearly the pressure only a Golden Core Cultivator possessed.
"Hand over the qingmu spirit pearl, and I'll leave you a complete corpse!" A muffled sound came from beneath the pursuer leader's bronze mask, and the mourning stick in his hand pointed at the alchemy cauldron.
The unformed virtual pill inside the cauldron suddenly went berserk, actually swallowing the Evil Qi of the chasing soul banner.
Lu Qingyang seized the opportunity to bite his tongue, his essence blood mixed with incantations spraying onto the surface of the spirit pearl.
The qingmu spirit pearl burst forth with dazzling light, and the spiritual mist from the medicinal field within the pearl flowed out in reverse.
The pursuer leader was alarmed to find his spiritual power sluggish, and the mourning stick, halfway through its swing, had become as heavy as a thousand jun.
Su Li's Ice Soul Sword took the opportunity to stab three inches into his ribs, but it made the sound of metal clashing—this fellow had actually refined his Lifebound Treasure into his Physical Body!
"What a tortoise shell!" Lu Qingyang spat out bloody phlegm, and the rotten bone flower powder shaken from his sleeve drifted with the wind.
The pursuer leader was about to sneer when he suddenly found his protective spiritual light dissolving.
He retreated in horror, crashing into half the stone wall before realizing: this was no mere poison powder, but dragon blood grass ash mixed with spirit-eroding sand!
The alchemy cauldron at this moment emitted a clear Phoenix cry, and the virtual pill was finally formed.
Lu Qingyang, however, showed a pained expression—the surface of the pill, which should have been crystal clear, was covered with blood patterns, a sign of an unstable Foundation.
He gritted his teeth and swallowed the virtual pill, and his Dantian immediately felt like a blazing furnace.
Su Li saw him bleeding from all seven orifices yet still forcing himself to form hand seals, and finally sighed, throwing out her treasured Ice Marrow Jade.
"Consider it that you owe me three thousand-year snow lotus flowers." She used her sword art to activate the cold Qi of the jade marrow, and the Immortal Cave instantly froze.
In the brief moment the three pursuers' movements were delayed, the Pang Daoshi suddenly revealed his true form as a Treasure Seeking Rat, its sharp claws tearing open the bronze mask—it was none other than the younger brother of Black Heart Tiger, whom Lu Qingyang had tricked and killed ten years ago!
"No wonder he was willing to bribe the Law Enforcement Hall of Taiyi Pavilion." Lu Qingyang sneered, crushing the last Spirit Stone, and the Earth Vein True Fire transformed into a crimson Dragon, coiling around his enemy.
He forcibly raised his Realm with the power of the virtual pill, and his temples turned frosty white at a visible speed.
Su Li tried to stop him, but it was too late; she only saw the crimson Dragon explode into a sky full of fiery rain, and the pursuers turned to charcoal amidst their wails.
When the smoke and dust cleared, Lu Qingyang was crouching beside the corpse, searching for treasures.
His index finger was charred black, yet he refused to let go, stubbornly prying out half of an Incomplete Manual from the ashes.
The words "Burial Immortal Valley" on the map were stained with blood, and it happened to fit perfectly with the tortoise shell map left by the Old Drunkard.
"Your Lifespan..." Su Li hesitated to speak.
The ice mirror reflected fine lines at the corners of the young man's eyes; in just half an incense stick's time, he had lost twenty years of his Lifespan.
Lu Qingyang, however, stuffed the Incomplete Manual into his pants, pulled out his wine gourd, and took a swig of pungent, inferior wine: "Better than being refined into a corpse puppet."
Outside the Immortal Cave, the clear sound of a jade chime suddenly echoed, and three cloud boats hovered in mid-air.
Taiyi Pavilion's seven-petaled lotus banner flapped in the strong wind, and Ye Wuchen's voice transmission resounded through the valley: "Junior Brother Lu, if you are willing to return my sect's supreme treasure, I can guarantee your entry into the inner sect for cultivation."
Lu Qingyang kicked awake the Treasure Seeking Rat, who was feigning death, and stuffed an Exploding Flame Bead into its paw: "Go tell Senior Brother Ye that his belt is still under my bed."
The spirit pet squealed and rushed towards the cloud boat, and he seized the opportunity to pull Su Li, leaping into the dark river.
A deafening roar came from behind them, and fragments of a profound Daoist robe fluttered like butterflies.
Where the undercurrent was swift, Su Li suddenly grabbed his pulse: "You knew Ye Wuchen would come early?"
The young man grinned, revealing his blood-stained canines: "That guy's Soul-Chasing Mark was well-hidden, but unfortunately, the wine aroma was mixed with Hehuan Sect's aphrodisiac."
Half a stick of pink incense ash slipped from his sleeve, scraped from the hem of Su Li's skirt that she had changed out of yesterday.
