Pill Chamber

Spring Return Valley's southern peak rose more than five hundred zhang high, its entire body formed from blocks of lustrous green jade. Dwarf pines and strange cypresses grew between the jade stones, dotted here and there with several patches of cloud mushrooms and a few stalks of ginseng flowers. Bell-shaped orchids clung parasitically to vast swathes of vines; when the orchids bloomed, their rich fragrance could drift thousands of zhang away. Countless fist-thick holes crisscrossed the mountain's interior, and wisps of purple qi, like mist and smoke, slowly rose from tens of thousands of openings all over the mountain, shrouding the entire peak within them.

Led by a Daoist in an apricot-yellow Daoist robe, Lin Xiao and Yao'er arrived before the mountain. Lin Xiao felt streams of cool air actively burrowing into his body, leaving him completely refreshed. The Spiritual Energy contained in the earth veins beneath this peak was astonishing beyond measure. Great Luo Pill Dao's pill chambers lay beneath this wondrous peak. Threads of purple mist continuously fell from the sky, splashing into clusters of purple vapor upon the roofs of the successive pill chambers before slowly surging with the wind.

The Daoist leading them was named Qing Wu, an elder who had cultivated at Great Luo Pill Dao for nearly a century. A few days ago, Qing Wu had only just formed his Golden Core with the aid of pills. His appearance was at the turning point between aged and middle-aged: his hair had already regained its glossy black sheen, and the upper half of his face had become firm and smooth, yet the lower half remained densely covered in wrinkles and age spots. It looked as strange as could be.

Having only just achieved a Golden Core, Qing Wu was in an excellent mood. As they walked, he pointed out the arrangements of the various pill chambers to Lin Xiao and introduced the functions of each one in detail.

Great Luo Pill Dao had eight courtyards of pill chambers. From inner to outer, their pill furnaces were ranked Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow, Cosmos, Universe, Flood, and Wilderness. Among them, there was only one Heaven Grade Pill Furnace, three Earth Grade Pill Furnaces, seven Mysterious Grade Pill Furnaces, and thirteen Yellow Grade Pill Furnaces. The Cosmos, Universe, Flood, and Wilderness Grade Pill Furnaces ranged in number from several dozen to nearly a thousand, each differing in quantity. Every rank of pill furnace corresponded to a grade of spirit pill. The Heaven Grade Pill Furnace was even said to be capable of refining incomparably miraculous Immortal Pills.

Of course, no one had been able to use the Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow Grade Pill Furnaces for nearly two thousand years.

The world's Spiritual Energy was vanishing at a jaw-dropping rate. Two thousand years ago, cultivators whose cultivation neared that of immortals could still be found to activate the Heaven Grade Pill Furnace. But now, among the elders of Great Luo Pill Dao's "Dan" generation, only Daoist Danling could activate a Cosmos Grade Pill Furnace. The other elders could at most activate Universe Grade Pill Furnaces.

Countless miraculous spirit pills recorded in Great Luo Pill Dao's scriptures had consequently been lost, more than half of them disappearing from the world. The pill formulas were all recorded in the texts, and the pill-refining arts had been preserved quite completely. Yet cultivators throughout the cultivation world were now generally weak in cultivation. This was due to insufficient strength and had nothing whatsoever to do with those pill chambers or arts.

Daoist Qing Wu sighed sentimentally to Lin Xiao. "That is precisely why Great Luo Pill Dao's position in the cultivation world has become ever more important. With Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy so scarce, if later generations of disciples wish to form a Golden Core or Nascent Soul before their lifespan runs out, they can only purchase vast quantities of pills from Great Luo Pill Dao."

Yao'er suddenly grabbed Lin Xiao by the ear and tugged his face toward her. Pointing proudly at her own nose, she laughed. "Junior Brother, Origin Sect ordered lots and lots and lots of pills this time, and Senior Sister refined lots and lots and lots of them too. Be good and learn pill refining from Senior Sister. Mm, mm, Senior Sister will properly teach you all sorts of methods."

Qing Wu's face twitched, and he cocked his head to give Yao'er a sidelong glance.

That was right. Over the past five years, Yao'er had indeed contributed greatly to refining pills for Origin Sect. But in those five years, she had cracked seven pill furnaces. The various materials exchanged for the pills she had refined were only barely enough to repair those seven furnaces. And that was not even counting the pill furnace she had blown up half a year ago~~~ Which steward disciple in the pill chambers did not get a headache whenever they saw her now?

Before Qing Wu could continue his explanation, Yao'er had already seized Lin Xiao with one hand and dragged him into the pill chambers at flying speed. Familiar with the place, she darted around inside before finally arriving at a vast room nearly a thousand zhang long and close to a hundred zhang wide, where one hundred pill furnaces, each roughly three zhang tall, stood in a single row. Blue smoke curled and scarlet fire roiled within every furnace. The heat wave rushing at him instantly covered Lin Xiao in sweat, then, as the fire energy was drawn into his body, his face suddenly flushed red. He felt boundless vigor fill his entire body, as though every muscle had been filled with strength.

"Hah!" Lin Xiao abruptly exhaled. Leaving Fire True Qi surged through his body, and as his breath collided with the oncoming heat wave, several sparks actually flashed forth.

"Wow! Junior Brother, can you breathe fire for fun?" Yao'er stared at Lin Xiao in great surprise, then shook her head, as though breathing fire was not particularly rare to her. Pulling Lin Xiao by the hand, she led him around the massive pill chamber once and said with a smile, "Master's wife said this is the largest pill chamber among the Wilderness Grade Pill Chambers. Normally, more than a hundred Fire Worker Daoists have to take turns tending the furnace fires here all year round. But since you're here now~ mm, this pill chamber will be handed over to you alone."

Vigorously patting Lin Xiao on the shoulder, Yao'er imitated Danxia's tone and gently reassured him, "Work hard. The furnace fires here will be greatly beneficial to your cultivation. Once your True Fire Art reaches the fifth level, you can leave the Wilderness Grade Pill Chambers and go to the Flood Grade Pill Chambers. By then, even if you release three or five Palm Lightnings in one breath, you won't faint." Yao'er was still somewhat hung up over Lin Xiao collapsing after casting a single Palm Lightning, and even now she did not forget to comfort him by saying he could cast several in one breath.

After quietly gazing at the hundred enormous pill furnaces before him for a while, Lin Xiao calmly asked, "Senior Sister Yao'er, about how long will it take me to cultivate the True Fire Art to the fifth level?"

Yao'er blinked rapidly, tilted her head, and pondered. "Um, the fastest person in the valley's records took less than a year. As for the slowest~~~ Senior Brother Qing Wu, how many years did the slowest fellow disciple take to cultivate the True Fire Art to the fifth level?"

Qing Wu, who had hurried after them, saw that Yao'er was obediently standing with Lin Xiao seven or eight zhang away from the pill furnaces and had not randomly thrown any strange herbs into them. Only then did he let out a fierce sigh of relief. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he chuckled. "Oh, the slowest? That was a Junior Brother in the Flood Grade Pill Chambers. His affinities were sixty percent fire and forty percent earth. Cultivating the True Fire Art, he spent a full seventy-nine years before breaking through to the fifth level. Mm, he was only promoted to the Flood Grade Pill Chambers last year."

"Seventy-nine years?" Lin Xiao's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Yao'er hurriedly patted Lin Xiao's face, soothing him in a soft voice as though comforting a child. "Don't worry, Junior Brother. You're much smarter than that stupid Senior Brother. Maybe you can't reach the fifth level in less than a year, but surely you won't need seventy-nine years, right?" Tilting her head to think for a moment, Yao'er nodded with great certainty. "Mm, maybe you'll only need thirty, fifty years or so to reach the fifth level."

Hearing Yao'er's words, Lin Xiao felt stifled inside. He had the urge to draw a blade across his own throat. Cultivate in this pill chamber for thirty or fifty years without doing anything else? Lin Xiao, too, felt that the road ahead stretched endlessly, without even a glimmer of light in sight. He seemed to see himself, already advanced in years and white-haired, still guarding this pill chamber, day after day, year after year, tending fires, tending fires, tending fires!

It can't be like this. Lin Xiao pressed his lips together hard. The curve of his lips formed a beautiful little scimitar, and for a moment he looked spirited and heroic, carrying something of a grown man's air. Lin Xiao thought of Jimo Sect, of Commander Wutian, and of countless other things. It can't be like this. I must increase my strength as quickly as possible!

Yao'er tilted her head and watched Lin Xiao. The expression he wore as he pressed his lips together gave her great—confusion. Why was it that whenever Lin Xiao pressed his lips together, she felt that he looked so good?

"Good-looking, mm, he is good-looking!" Yao'er smiled foolishly. She felt that Lin Xiao looked far better than the little rabbits she raised.

Seeing Yao'er's foolish expression, Qing Wu could not help shaking his head gently. He turned and entered a small door in the corner of the pill chamber. After a while, Qing Wu emerged carrying a stack of books more than two chi high and heavily set them on the floor. Pointing at the yellowed books, Qing Wu smiled. "Junior Brother Lin Xiao, these contain the pill formulas for every pill that can be refined in the Wilderness Grade Pill Chambers, along with records of the required heat control. Mm, the Wilderness Grade Pill Chambers can currently refine three hundred and seventeen of the most common pills. From now on, you alone will control the fires of these furnaces, so you must memorize these records as soon as possible."

After pausing for breath, Qing Wu continued, "Junior Sister Yao'er, the pill furnace assigned to you is also in this pill chamber. You must also take responsibility for teaching Junior Brother Lin Xiao the basic knowledge. As for those obscure and profound matters, Martial Uncle Dan Fusheng will explain them to Junior Brother Lin Xiao."

"This pill chamber will not begin refining pills for the next half month, so Junior Brother Lin will have ample time to memorize these pill chambers, hand seals, and heat controls." Qing Wu smiled. "When Junior Brother Lin is bored, he may also try refining basic pills such as Grain Abstinence Pills to get some practice. The medicine storehouse beside us has ample reserves of the required basic herbs. He may use those basic herbs freely; there is no harm in that." Having explained everything, Qing Wu secretly gave Lin Xiao a few more instructions, telling him to be sure to keep a certain distance from Yao'er. Only then did he leave the pill chamber, somewhat worried.

The moment Qing Wu left, Yao'er crept over to the pill furnaces like a mouse stealing rice.

Just as she was about to circulate her power and lift the lid of a pill furnace, Yao'er suddenly sensed Lin Xiao staring at her. Turning back somewhat irritably, she frowned. "What are you looking at me for? Hurry and study. Memorizing this stuff gives people a headache. Back then, I spent three months and still hadn't memorized it all. Mm, I got hold of a fun pill formula last time. It's perfect for getting some practice!"

Putting on the airs of a Senior Sister, Yao'er ordered Lin Xiao to study while she took several portions of medicinal ingredients from her sleeve and excitedly began refining pills according to the pill formula she had no idea where she had acquired.

Lin Xiao had been chewing through a book for about the time it took to eat a meal when he suddenly recalled Qing Wu's instructions before leaving and felt that something was seriously wrong.

He looked up at Yao'er, who was refining pills, and was so frightened that his soul nearly flew from his body!

Who knew what mischief Yao'er had concocted? Purple smoke and scarlet fire shot more than ten zhang high from the pill furnace before her, and the entire furnace had been burned red! Yao'er was frantically using spirit arts to suppress the flames, but how could she possibly contain them?

Panting heavily, Yao'er finally screamed in despair, "It's over~~~ It's going to blow up again~~~"

With practiced ease, Yao'er slapped her hand against her belt. A spirit talisman on it flashed with a snap, releasing a brilliant green radiance that firmly protected her within it.

The pill furnace shook violently, on the verge of exploding.

At that very moment, Lin Xiao suddenly sprang up and hurled himself toward the pill furnace.

Yao'er screamed in terror, "Junior Brother! Are you crazy?"

She frantically tried to grab Lin Xiao, but how could she make it in time? Lin Xiao's small body plunged straight into the roaring furnace flames.