Pill Furnace

The towering flames atop Skyfire Peak burned for a full one hundred and eight days.

Lin Xiao floated above that sea of fire, nourished by the pure and dense fire-aspected Spiritual Energy for one hundred and eight days. His hair and eyebrows had turned completely crimson. As the heavenly wind swept past, his long hair streamed behind him, the strands rubbing against one another and occasionally flashing with tiny sparks. The Daoist Robe on his body had already turned to green smoke and scattered away. A faint layer of red light drifted over his slightly lean body, like an iron ingot freshly removed from a furnace. Lightning flickered faintly in his pupils, while an extremely thin thread of purple flame darted swiftly through his eyes.

True Essence surged within his body like a great river rushing onward, and the golden core in his dantian had recovered to the size of a chicken egg. With the Black Tortoise Ring's savage devouring power aiding his one hundred and eight days of cultivation, Lin Xiao had not only recovered to his former peak, but advanced greatly beyond it. The density and purity of his True Essence could no longer be mentioned in the same breath as before.

Moreover, the Black Tortoise Ring had been unusually cooperative this time. It had not plundered Lin Xiao's newly recovered True Essence. Instead, it had released a thread of incomparably pure Essence of Kui Water and carefully washed and tempered his golden core. Using the supremely yin and frigid Essence of Kui Water to refine a purely fire-aspected golden core was something that could easily result in one's cultivation scattering and death. Yet who knew what origin the Black Tortoise Ring possessed? Its wonders were astonishing. In any case, it had smoothly completed the tempering of Lin Xiao's golden core, making its quality no weaker than that of a late Golden Core cultivator's, despite Lin Xiao possessing only early Golden Core cultivation.

Purple Skyfire True Essence surged through his dantian as the golden core continuously inhaled, exhaled, and rolled amid the churning True Essence. Its radiance grew ever more dazzling, and a hazy layer of purple fire qi coiled around it, making it appear particularly lively and lustrous.

"Ah~~~" Lin Xiao threw back his head and let out a long roar. It was like a long dragon chanting through the night, shaking the sea of fire below until it trembled. He brought his hands together and slowly formed seals to conclude his cultivation. His crimson hair and eyebrows gradually returned to their original dark black, while his reddened body gradually recovered its usual fair, delicate complexion. Lowering his head to glance at his naked body, Lin Xiao took out a spare Daoist Robe from his bracelet and quickly put it on. Ever since his clothes had been burned away during his first cultivation session, he had kept dozens of identical Daoist Robes in his bracelet.

Turning back to glance at Yi Xing and the others standing upon a white cloud in the distance, Lin Xiao slowly rode the Crimson Dragon Sword over and gave Daoist Yi Xing a long bow. "This junior has been discourteous."

Daoist Yi Xing smiled lightly and shook his head. "No matter, no matter. These days, little friend Lin Xiao seems to have entered a state of enlightenment. Your cultivation must have improved greatly. That is a good thing."

Lin Xiao nodded and rode his sword-light to Daoist Yi Xing's side. With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked toward Skyfire Peak without speaking again.

Before long, Yi Xin rode a patch of white cloud up with Qingchu. There was a faint sheen of oil on Qingchu's lips, so she had clearly just gone to eat something. From far away, Qingchu caught sight of Lin Xiao at once and cried out joyfully, "Big Brother Lin!" As she called out, the cloud beneath Yi Xin's feet suddenly accelerated, swiftly reaching Lin Xiao's side.

Qingchu excitedly leaped from the white cloud and landed upon the sword-light beneath Lin Xiao's feet. Lin Xiao hurriedly drew up a breath of True Essence and strengthened the Crimson Dragon Sword's sword-light severalfold, steadily catching Qingchu. He nodded at her and merely said, "Mm." Yet that simple reply made Qingchu beam from ear to ear. She hurriedly pressed herself to Lin Xiao's side, her two little hands tightly clutching his sleeve. Yi Xin swiftly glanced at Lin Xiao and Qingchu, then slowly turned her forlorn gaze toward Yi Xing.

With a face as still as water, Yi Xing stood with his hands behind his back and quietly watched Skyfire Peak. He said calmly, "This pill furnace is enormous and requires a great deal of material. However, with Yi Zhen and the other junior brothers joining forces, one hundred and eight days should be enough to complete it. I truly wish to see what wonders this pill furnace possesses." Without turning around, he asked with a faint smile, "Little friend Lin Xiao, is it true that this pill furnace can produce one hundred thousand pills in a single batch?" There was not much doubt in his tone, only some astonished disbelief.

"It is true. The formations arranged within the Pill Frying Furnace are exquisitely marvelous. This furnace differs from ordinary pill furnaces. Steps such as arranging ingredients, condensing pills, refining pills, nurturing pills, and releasing pills can all proceed simultaneously. Producing one hundred thousand pills in a single batch is merely a conservative estimate, because this junior fears his strength may fall short." Lin Xiao said evenly, "If one's cultivation is sufficient, this furnace can continuously arrange ingredients and release pills without end. So long as there are enough raw materials, producing a million spiritual pills a day would be as easy as turning one's hand over."

A delighted smile appeared on Yi Xing's face. He turned around, nodded at Lin Xiao, and said with a light laugh, "Then we are greatly looking forward to little friend's divine abilities in the Pill Dao."

The face of Daoist Yi Yi, Origin Sect's chief steward of internal affairs, revealed an uncontrollable smile of wild joy. He chuckled quietly. "Sect Master, if so, the pills in our Origin Sect marketplace can resume supply. Over these one hundred and eight days, those basic spiritual pills in the marketplace have already gone out of stock. Fellow Daoists from the other stars have all voiced their complaints and grown deeply dissatisfied."

Lin Xiao nodded toward Yi Yi but said nothing more. His hands clenched tightly into fists, veins slowly bulging on the backs of his hands like earthworms writhing beneath his skin. Through those pale blue vessels, one could see that the blood in Lin Xiao's body burned fiercely like fire. Its rich red radiance even shone through his skin. Origin Sect lacks pills? This is wonderful!

Lin Xiao gradually recalled the bits of wisdom about dealing with people that he had heard the patients at Spring Return Hall discuss in his earlier years. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. Only by doing his utmost to raise his position and status within Origin Sect could he ultimately—have enough strength to rebuild the Great Luo Pill Dao, enough strength to bring those sect members scattered through reincarnation back to his side! Especially Yao'er!

That muddled face swayed before Lin Xiao's eyes again. His heart suddenly ached, his True Essence fell into disorder, and a mouthful of blood surged to his throat before he forcibly swallowed it back down.

That blood raining down from the sky, mixed with the spiritual light of the Five Elements! Lin Xiao felt his body grow scorching hot, as though blood were continuously spraying over him, burning him until his body trembled faintly.

A palm pressed against the center of Lin Xiao's back. A stream of gentle, faintly cool True Essence slowly seeped into his body. It did not clash with the disordered fire-aspected True Essence within Lin Xiao. Instead, like spring wind and rain, it gradually smoothed out his chaotic True Essence. Lin Xiao turned his head and found that Yi Xin had noticed something wrong with him and stepped in to help regulate his True Essence. He gave Yi Xin a faint, grateful smile, but inwardly thought, Senior Yi Xin's True Essence is so gentle. The Dao arts she cultivates likely lack offensive power.

Yi Xin smiled calmly. Only after helping Lin Xiao completely bring the True Essence within his body under control did she slowly withdraw her palm, which shimmered with faint white light.

Daoist Yi Xing suddenly shouted in a deep voice, "Careful, it's coming out!"

A tremendous boom resounded between heaven and earth. A streak of red light shot into the sky from Skyfire Peak, and the blazing flames covering the mountain rolled toward the heavens with a roaring crash, as though the earth's core had split open and exploded into a vast ocean of molten lava. Amid that red light, an enormous pill furnace blazing with crimson radiance slowly rose into the air, spewing purple smoke and fierce flames. Dozens of soot-covered, grimy Daoists rode red clouds around it, slowly rising along with it.

At the sight of that gigantic pill furnace, everyone cried out at once!

Heavens, was something this huge really a pill furnace?

Ah oh~~~ The next chapter is rather long, so this chapter is comparatively short. Mm, mm! To be continued.