Cultivating Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi

"Little blacksmith?"

Inside the Void Heaven Mirror.

A little figure was hammering away on an anvil.

After hammering for a while, it tossed the forged iron chunk into the furnace and added other ores.

It repeated this over and over.

Sometimes, a look of delight appeared on its face.

Other times, it tossed away the iron chunk in its hand with a look of disgust.

Song Chengan found it quite interesting.

It was that copy of Introduction to Artifact Refining for Beginner Disciples of the Fire Refining Sect.

Hong Ying had thrown it to him.

He flipped through it. Its explanations of the basics of artifact refining were very detailed.

Unlike the miscellany from Changfu's household, which only mentioned a few things here and there.

Of course, the Void Heaven Mirror was even more monstrous.

Because even with those scattered bits of artifact-refining experience, Song Chengan had become an entry-level artifact refiner.

But unfortunately.

There were no formations in it.

So Song Chengan could only be considered a blacksmith.

But this Fire Refining Sect introduction to artifact refining was different.

It also mentioned a few basic introductory formations.

Then Song Chengan had a sudden idea and gave the little blacksmith an order.

He had it purify the iron chunk in its hands.

Then the little blacksmith got to work.

Over the next few days.

Song Chengan was called to Skyfire Plaza every day to help Hong Ying carry iron ore.

Moving artifact-refining materials and managing the furnaces.

That was the duty of the Furnace Management Department.

Logically speaking, Song Chengan was supposed to wait until he had an Identity Token before doing such work.

But Hong Ying had given the order, and no one objected.

After all, it was only moving some ore.

Hong Ying was also part of the Furnace Management Department.

But she was different from Song Chengan and Yuan Fusheng.

She was the Furnace Management Elder's disciple.

Song Chengan and Yuan Fusheng, meanwhile, were Menial Disciples.

"Does doing hard labor make you age faster?"

Song Chengan looked at the little blacksmith inside the Void Heaven Mirror.

In only three days, the little blacksmith had already become white-haired and aged.

Yet there was a smile on his face, and he held a lump of iron in his hands.

"But you died of exhaustion. I'll count that as a merit!"

As Song Chengan's words fell, the little blacksmith turned into a ball of light and was absorbed by him.

"Mysterious Sand can extract some of the impurities from Blood Jade Stone, thereby improving the quality of the resulting iron billet."

"A substitution?"

"That seemed rather interesting."

"This meant that even low-level artifact refiners had a chance to forge higher-grade magical artifacts."

"Rather than having to cultivate a certain Fire Attribute True Qi to its utmost limit."

"Uncle Qiaoan!"

"Thanks for your hard work again today!"

Yuan Fusheng lay in bed and spoke weakly.

As a disciple assigned to the furnace rooms, he had to inspect the furnaces of Skyfire Plaza every night.

To make sure they were sealed.

That was the Fire Refining Sect's rule.

The elders were always worried that allowing the furnaces to burn continuously would cause the fire beneath Mount Luofeng to go out ahead of time.

But Song Chengan felt that this might be meaningless.

After all, even after the furnaces were sealed, they kept burning.

"Don't worry. Leave it all to me."

Song Chengan said.

Three days earlier.

For some reason, Yuan Fusheng had fallen ill.

His illness had only worsened, until he could not even get out of bed.

With him sick, someone still had to inspect the furnaces. So after reporting the matter to Hong Ying, the task was handed over to Song Chengan.

Song Chengan arrived at Skyfire Plaza.

Many disciples had already gone back.

But several disciples were still hammering iron chunks.

The Fire Refining Sect generally called people like that diligent young geniuses.

But Song Chengan was used to calling them Brother Juan.

Song Chengan waited until midnight.

Only then did the last disciple leave.

Then it was time for furnace-inspecting Menial Disciples like Song Chengan to take the stage.

Song Chengan quickly finished inspecting the area assigned to him.

Then he waited quietly.

"Qiao An, we'll leave this place to you."

"We're heading back first."

"Alright!"

"Steward Jin, you should head back first."

The speaker was a steward in his thirties.

"Hong Ying's furnace is still burning?"

Song Chengan smiled and nodded. "She asked me to keep watch over it. She'll need the materials in the furnace tomorrow."

"Alright!"

Steward Jin did not suspect anything, because Song Chengan seemed far too ordinary.

A relative of Elder Hong, who had been close to Hong Ying these past few days... and a down-and-out scholar who had only come to the Fire Refining Sect after being abandoned by his wife, bullied by others, and driven into a corner.

Most importantly, Song Chengan was merely an ordinary mortal with no threat whatsoever, a Menial Disciple. Besides, the Heart-Questioning Trial was the day after tomorrow. Who would be bored enough to suspect him?

Steward Jin left with the disciples.

He even reminded Song Chengan to rest well at night and not keep watch the whole time.

As long as the furnace did not explode, nothing would happen.

Even if it did explode, that would be the elders' problem.

Song Chengan sat down cross-legged.

Then a wisp of flame containing Earth Vein Spiritual Energy flew out from the furnace before him.

Song Chengan began circulating the Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi.

It was almost as natural as water flowing into a channel.

A wisp of bright, pale-red True Qi slowly traveled through his meridians.

It had worked!

How could it not work!

He had made his Phantom Body practice it tens of millions of times inside the Void Heaven Mirror!

That was equivalent to him practicing tens of millions of times!

How could it not work!

"So this is Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi!"

Inside Song Chengan's dantian.

A strand of bright, pale-red True Qi peacefully coexisted with the red-violet Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi.

"Just as First Boss Bai said, they aren't mutually incompatible."

True Qi had attributes.

If one rashly cultivated True Qi with opposing attributes, the consequences would be extremely severe.

Mutually repelling True Qi would turn one's body into a battlefield and wage a bloody battle.

At best, one's meridians would all shatter; at worst, one would explode and die.

"Looks like I can only give up the Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi in the future."

Song Chengan thought.

The Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi was powerful.

But the Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi was stronger.

It could refine pills and refine qi!

It also had the effect of restraining demons and evil beings!

Song Chengan planned to cultivate only Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi from then on.

"But?"

A bold thought suddenly arose in Song Chengan's heart.

Since he could create a little blacksmith to comprehend methods of purifying iron ore.

Could he also make two Phantom Bodies try to fuse the Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi and Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi?

That was right.

Why did he have to choose only one?

Couldn't he have them both?

Once the thought arose in Song Chengan's heart, he could no longer suppress it.

He acted as soon as he thought of it.

Two little figures appeared inside the Void Heaven Mirror.

Red-violet Heavenly Radiance Dao Qi flowed through the meridians of one!

Bright, pale-red Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi flowed through the meridians of the other!

"I want you two to try fusing the two kinds of True Qi!"

Song Chengan silently issued the command.

Then... Song Chengan's mouth fell open.

"Isn't this a little too suggestive?"

The two little figures sat cross-legged face-to-face, their palms pressed together!

Then the two streams of True Qi flowed back and forth through each other's bodies.

Song Chengan felt a little embarrassed. "I was being too filthy. I thought you two were going to dual cultivate."

Pfft!

The sound of blood being vomited rang out.

The two little figures instantly spat blood and died.

"Is fusion that difficult?"

Song Chengan said.

But it seemed to truly be possible.

Because the two little figures immediately came back to life and continued sitting cross-legged, their palms pressed together.

"If this works too..."

"Isn't this Void Heaven Mirror too monstrous? It can comprehend any spell or divine ability, and can even directly comprehend the Dao, so long as I can think of it."

"When that Daoist gave me this mirror back then, did he intentionally gift it to me because he was an expert, or was it simply coincidence? Perhaps even that Daoist did not know this mirror was a priceless treasure?"

"I wonder whether I can still return home."

"Perhaps I can, once I reach the end of cultivation?"

Song Chengan shook his head and threw those thoughts out of his mind.

The origins of this Void Heaven Mirror must be astonishing. I need to hide it well.

Song Chengan opened his eyes.

He had already finished cultivating Southern Bright Illusory Fire True Qi.

It was time to leave.

"But I wonder whether Mysterious Sand can truly extract the impurities from Blood Jade Stone?"

Song Chengan looked curiously at the ore being calcined in the iron furnace before him.