The Pill Room

The South Peak of Spring Return Valley stands over five hundred zhang tall, its entire body constructed from smooth, lustrous green jade. Between the jade stones grow dwarf pines and peculiar cypresses, further adorned with a few scattered cloud ganoderma and a couple of ginseng flowers. On large trellises, orchid flowers resembling bells hang, their blooming fragrance capable of drifting for thousands of zhang. Within the mountain are countless interconnected holes, about the thickness of a fist. Wisps of purple mist, like fog and smoke, slowly rise from tens of thousands of these holes around the mountain body, enveloping it entirely.

Lin Xiao and Yao'er, led by a Daoist wearing an apricot-yellow robe, arrived before the mountain. Lin Xiao felt wisps of cool air actively entering his body, bringing him a sense of comfort. The spiritual energy contained within the earth veins beneath this towering peak was astonishingly potent. The Pill Rooms of the Great Luo Pill Dao were located beneath this wondrous peak. Strands of purple mist continuously descended from the sky, splashing against the roofs of the pill rooms, forming clusters of purple mist that slowly billowed with the wind.

The Daoist who guided them was named Qing Wu, an elder who had cultivated in the Great Luo Pill Dao for nearly a hundred years. Not long ago, Qing Wu had successfully formed a Golden Core with the aid of elixirs. His appearance was in the process of transitioning from old age to middle youth. His hair had regained its jet-black luster, and the upper half of his face had become smooth and refined with dense skin. However, the lower half of his face remained deeply wrinkled and dotted with age spots, making him appear incredibly peculiar.

Because he had just achieved Golden Core completion, Qing Wu was in an exceptionally good mood. He pointed out the arrangements of various pill rooms to Lin Xiao along the way, detailing the function of each one.

The Great Luo Pill Dao had eight pill rooms in succession, arranged from innermost to outermost according to the eight grades of furnaces: 'Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, Yellow, Universe, Cosmos, Flood, and Desolation.' 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 Universe, Cosmos, Flood, and Desolation Grade Pill Furnaces ranged from several dozen to nearly a thousand, with varying quantities for each grade. Each grade of pill furnace corresponded to a grade of spirit elixir. Among them, the Heaven Grade Pill Furnace was rumored to be capable of refining incredibly miraculous Immortal Pills.

Of course, the furnaces of the Heaven, Earth, Mysterious, and Yellow grades had not been used by anyone for nearly two thousand years.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth in this world was dissipating at a staggering rate. Two thousand years ago, cultivators nearing immortality could still be found who could activate the Heaven Grade Pill Furnaces. But now, among the elders of the 'Dan' generation in the Great Luo Pill Dao, only Daoist Danling could activate the Universe Grade Pill Furnaces. The other elders could, at most, activate the Cosmos Grade Pill Furnaces.

A large portion of the countless spirit elixirs and miraculous medicines recorded in the Great Luo Pill Dao's ancient texts had also been lost due to this situation. While the pill formulas and refining techniques were preserved perfectly, the current low cultivation levels in the cultivation world were due to a lack of strength, and had nothing to do with the pill rooms or the techniques themselves.

Daoist Qing Wu sighed to Lin Xiao with great emotion, "Precisely because of this, the status of our Great Luo Pill Dao in the cultivation world has become increasingly important. With the scarcity of heaven and earth spiritual energy, if we want our junior disciples to form Golden Cores or Nascent Souls before their lifespans expire, they can only procure various elixirs from us, the Great Luo Pill Dao, in large quantities."

Yao'er suddenly grabbed Lin Xiao's ear, pulling his face towards her. She pointed to her nose with great pride and laughed, "Junior Brother, the Origin Sect has ordered a vast number of elixirs, and I've refined a lot of them too. Be good and learn alchemy from me, hmm, hmm, I'll teach you all the methods properly."

Qing Wu's face twitched, and he glanced askance at Yao'er.

Indeed, over the past five years, Yao'er had contributed significantly to refining elixirs for the Origin Sect. However, in those five years, she had caused seven pill furnaces to crack. The materials she had obtained in exchange for the elixirs she refined were barely enough to repair those seven furnaces. Add to that the furnace she had blown up half a year ago… Which disciple managing the pill rooms didn't get a headache just seeing her now?

Without waiting for Qing Wu to continue his guidance, Yao'er had already grabbed Lin Xiao's hand and dragged him away, running into the pill room like lightning. She navigated the pill room with familiarity, finally arriving at a large room nearly a thousand zhang long and nearly a hundred zhang wide, lined with one hundred pill furnaces, each about three zhang tall. Each of the hundred pill furnaces was currently emitting swirling smoke and roaring red flames. The heat wave that washed over them caused Lin Xiao's entire body to break out in a sweat. Then, as the heat was absorbed into his body, Lin Xiao's face suddenly flushed, and he felt an inexhaustible surge of energy, as if every muscle in his body was filled with power.

"Hoo!" Lin Xiao exhaled sharply. The Leaving Fire True Qi surged within him. His exhaled breath clashed with the incoming heat wave, actually flashing out a few sparks.

"Wow! Junior Brother, you can spit fire for fun?" Yao'er looked at Lin Xiao with great surprise, then shook her head, as if spitting fire wasn't something too rare for her. She held Lin Xiao's hand and walked around the large pill room, laughing, "My Shiniang said this is the largest of the Desolation Grade Pill Rooms. Normally, over a hundred fire-tending Daoists are on duty here year-round to tend the furnace fires, but since you're here… hmm, this pill room is yours alone now."

Patting Lin Xiao's shoulder forcefully, Yao'er, imitating Danxia's tone, gently comforted Lin Xiao, "Work hard, the furnace fires here will be very helpful for your cultivation. Once you cultivate your True Fire Art to the fifth level, you can leave the Desolation Grade Pill Room and go to the Flood Grade Pill Room. By then, you'll be able to unleash three to five Palm Lightnings in one go without getting dizzy." Yao'er still felt a bit bothered by Lin Xiao fainting after unleashing a single Palm Lightning, and at this moment, she didn't forget to comfort Lin Xiao by mentioning unleashing multiple Palm Lightnings in one breath.

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

Yao'er blinked rapidly, tilted her head, and pondered, "Hmm, the fastest in the valley legend took less than a year, the slowest… Senior Brother Qing Wu, how many years did the slowest fellow disciple take to cultivate to the fifth level of the True Fire Art?"

Qing Wu, who had hurried over, saw Yao'er holding Lin Xiao's hand and standing obediently about seven or eight zhang away from the pill furnaces, not carelessly throwing any strange herbs into them, and breathed a sigh of relief. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and chuckled, "Oh, the slowest? He was a junior brother in the Flood Grade Pill Room. He had sixty percent fire affinity and forty percent earth affinity. He cultivated the True Fire Art and it took him a full seventy-nine years to break through to the fifth level. Hmm, he was only promoted to the Flood Grade Pill Room last year."

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

Yao'er quickly patted Lin Xiao's face, coaxing him like a child in a gentle voice, "Don't rush, Junior Brother. You're much smarter than that foolish senior brother. You might not be able to cultivate to the fifth level in less than a year, but I imagine it won't take seventy-nine years, right?" She tilted her head in thought and nodded confidently, "Hmm, maybe it'll only take you thirty to fifty years to reach the fifth level."

Hearing Yao'er's words, Lin Xiao felt a wave of frustration wash over him, giving him the urge to slit his own throat. To cultivate in this pill room for thirty to fifty years, doing nothing? Lin Xiao also felt that his path ahead was long and arduous, with no glimmer of light. He seemed to see himself, old and gray-haired, still guarding this pill room, day after day, year after year, tending fires, tending fires, tending fires!

"This won't do," Lin Xiao pursed his lips tightly. The line of his lips curved into a beautiful, small crescent, giving him a spirited and heroic air, making him look a bit like an adult man. Lin Xiao remembered the Jimo Sect, remembered the Wutian Commander, and remembered many, many things. "This won't do. I must strengthen my power as quickly as possible!"

Yao'er tilted her head and looked at Lin Xiao. Lin Xiao's pursed lips gave her a great deal of… confusion. Why did she find Lin Xiao so handsome when he pursed his lips?

"Handsome, hmm, handsome!" Yao'er grinned foolishly. She felt that Lin Xiao was much more handsome than the little rabbits she raised.

Seeing Yao'er's dazed expression, Qing Wu couldn't help but shake his head slightly. He turned and walked into a small door in the corner of the pill room. After a while, Qing Wu came out carrying a stack of books nearly two feet high and placed them heavily on the ground. Qing Wu pointed to the yellowed books and said with a smile, "Junior Brother Lin Xiao, here are the formulas for all the elixirs that can be refined in the Desolation Grade Pill Room, along with records of the required fire control. Hmm, the Desolation Grade Pill Room can currently refine three hundred and seventeen of the most common elixirs. From now on, the furnace fires of these pill furnaces will be under your sole control, and you must memorize these records as quickly as possible."

After taking a breath, Qing Wu continued to instruct, "Junior Sister Yao'er, the pill furnaces assigned to you are within this pill room. You must also take responsibility for teaching Junior Brother Lin Xiao the basic knowledge. As for the profound and difficult parts, Uncle-Master Dan Fusheng will also clarify them for Junior Brother Lin Xiao."

"This pill room will not be used for refining elixirs for the next half month, so Junior Brother Lin can have ample time to memorize these pill room records, hand seals, and fire control techniques," Qing Wu said with a smile. "When Junior Brother Lin is bored, he can also try refining basic elixirs like the Grain Abstinence Pill to get some practice. The necessary basic medicinal ingredients are sufficiently stocked in the adjacent medicine storage, and basic medicinal ingredients can be used freely without issue." After clarifying everything, Qing Wu also secretly gave Lin Xiao a few more instructions, telling him to be sure to maintain a certain distance from Yao'er, and then left the pill room with some concern.

As soon as Qing Wu left, Yao'er, like a mouse stealing rice, stealthily approached the pill furnaces.

Just as she was about to circulate her energy to open the lid of the pill furnace, Yao'er suddenly sensed Lin Xiao staring at her. A little annoyed, she turned her head back, frowning, "What are you looking at me for? Go memorize those books quickly. These things are so mind-numbing to remember, it took me three months to memorize them back then. Hmm, I got a fun pill formula last time, perfect for 'getting some practice'!"

Exerting her authority as a senior sister, Yao'er forced Lin Xiao to memorize the books, while she herself took out some medicinal ingredients and, with great interest, began to refine elixirs according to a pill formula she had found from who knows where.

Lin Xiao had been poring over a book for about the time it takes to eat a meal when he suddenly remembered Qing Wu's instructions before he left, and felt that something was very wrong.

Looking up, Lin Xiao glanced at Yao'er, who was refining elixirs, and was instantly terrified out of his wits!

No one knew what trickery Yao'er had employed, but the purple smoke and red flames erupting from the pill furnace in front of her rose a good ten zhang high, and the entire furnace was glowing red! Yao'er was frantically using spiritual techniques to suppress the fire, but how could she possibly suppress it?

Panting, Yao'er finally let out a desperate scream: "It's over! It's going to explode again!"

With practiced ease, she slapped her hand onto her belt, and a spiritual talisman on her belt flashed with a strong blue light, firmly protecting her within it.

The pill furnace began to shake violently, and it looked like it was about to explode.

At this moment, Lin Xiao suddenly lunged forward, rushing towards the pill furnace.

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

She fumbled to grab Lin Xiao, but there was no time. Watching Lin Xiao's small body, he plunged directly into the roaring furnace flames. (To be continued)