Meeting and Extending an Invitation

"Sect Leader Li."

Huo Junrui stepped forward to greet him.

Li Yunjing nodded in return.

Then Huo Junrui spotted the bandit cultivators Li Yunjing had tied up.

"These must be the bandit cultivators you mentioned, Sect Leader Li?" Huo Junrui asked with a smile.

Li Yunjing nodded. "That's right. They claim to be from Purple Bamboo Pool."

Hearing this, Huo Junrui's eyes widened slightly.

Clearly, he too was surprised that there were bandit cultivators at Purple Bamboo Pool.

By rights, there shouldn't have been any.

"I meant to interrogate them, but I couldn't get anything out of them. I'll leave them to you," Li Yunjing said.

Huo Junrui smiled confidently.

"Rest assured, Sect Leader Li. I guarantee I'll make these fellows open their mouths."

Over on the other side, the bandit cultivators all wore expressions of despair.

Who didn't know that bandit cultivators were a prime target of the Immortal Alliance's crackdowns?

Falling into the Immortal Alliance's hands was worse than killing themselves outright.

"Sect Leader Li, I'll report this matter truthfully. You'll be credited for your contribution."

Huo Junrui directed the Immortal Alliance disciples who had come with him to escort the bandit cultivators onto the flying ship as he spoke to Li Yunjing.

Li Yunjing nodded gently. "These Departing Maple Sect disciples also acted bravely."

Li Yunjing pointed at Xu Taihong and the other Departing Maple Sect disciples.

Huo Junrui looked over.

Some of the Departing Maple Sect disciples were injured, while others were maimed.

Though none had died, they were still in a miserable state.

"How righteous of you, Sect Leader Li. I'll report it truthfully," Huo Junrui said with a smile.

Huo Junrui then boarded the ship with the Departing Maple Sect disciples.

The flying ship set off and returned to Xunxian Town.

Only after watching the flying ship disappear did Li Yunjing continue on his way.

The little incident along the way had no effect on Li Yunjing.

Before long, Li Yunjing arrived before a strangely shaped mountain.

The mountain before him was round, with high ridges around its perimeter and a depression in the middle that formed a valley.

It was like a basin.

More remarkably, atop the eastern and western ridges,

there were two protrusions.

As a whole, the mountain looked like a pill furnace without legs.

Thus, it had been named Pill Furnace Mountain.

Many alchemists superstitiously believed the place was helpful for alchemy.

They had therefore carved out cave abodes and settled here.

Ding Qifeng was no exception.

There was only one passage into the interior of Pill Furnace Mountain.

Li Yunjing walked along this path,

where most of the people coming and going were cultivators entering Pill Furnace Mountain to seek medicine.

A few were alchemists' attendants, who ran errands for them.

Inside Pill Furnace Mountain, roads crisscrossed in every direction.

Following his memory, Li Yunjing headed for Ding Qifeng's place.

Before long, Li Yunjing arrived at a small courtyard.

Two young men stood guard in front of it, chatting idly.

When they saw Li Yunjing approaching, they immediately straightened up.

"Please stop, Senior. This is Alchemist Ding's residence. No one may enter without permission."

One of them held out a hand to signal Li Yunjing to stop, his manner very respectful.

Li Yunjing halted, then took out his identity token.

"Please announce me. Tell Alchemist Ding that the disciple of an old friend has come to visit."

The man respectfully accepted the identity token, then entered the courtyard.

After a while, he came back out.

He returned the identity token to Li Yunjing and said:

"This way, Senior. Alchemist Ding will see you."

Li Yunjing entered the courtyard.

At a glance, he saw that one corner of it was filled with spirit medicines.

Li Yunjing couldn't help thinking of his own cave abode.

His cave abode also had two medicine fields.

But for now, aside from planting a seed of an unknown tree,

Li Yunjing had planted only five kinds of spirit medicine.

All of them were used to refine Yellow Sprout Pills.

There were quite a few kinds of spirit medicine in the field before him.

Li Yunjing recognized ten kinds at a glance.

A creak brought Li Yunjing back to his senses.

A bearded middle-aged man in a loose-fitting Dharma robe stepped out of a room to one side.

"Yunjing, it's been a long time. Come, sit."

Li Yunjing walked over and bowed to him.

"Greetings, Alchemist Ding."

"Ah, don't be so formal. Your master and I were close friends. Why stand on ceremony? Just call me Uncle Ding."

Once Li Yunjing sat down, Ding Qifeng brewed him a cup of spirit tea.

"Try it. This is second-grade spirit-calming tea. It can focus the mind and nourish Qi. Ordinary people never get to drink it."

Li Yunjing thanked him and took a small sip.

It was refreshing to the heart and lungs.

"Did you come to see me because you've run into some difficulty?"

Ding Qifeng asked as he poured himself some tea.

Li Yunjing said, "No. I came to invite you, Uncle Ding, to the Luozhen Sect's Foundation Establishment banquet."

Hearing this, Ding Qifeng put down the teapot in surprise.

Ding Qifeng examined Li Yunjing closely and only then noticed that his cultivation had already reached the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

"Well, I didn't notice just now.

"Judging by your condition, it's been some time since you broke through to Foundation Establishment, hasn't it?" Ding Qifeng said.

Li Yunjing nodded gently. "I successfully reached Foundation Establishment three months ago."

"What grade?" Ding Qifeng asked.

"Heaven Grade," Li Yunjing replied.

"Hiss!"

At the words "Heaven Grade," Ding Qifeng was so startled that his hand trembled, sloshing some tea out of his cup.

"Blue comes from indigo, yet surpasses it. You're stronger than your master," Ding Qifeng said with a sigh.

"I wouldn't dare compare myself to Master," Li Yunjing said.

Ding Qifeng glanced at Li Yunjing. "Don't be so modest. Speaking of which, where are your junior brother and junior sister? Why haven't I seen them?"

"I was just about to tell you, Uncle Ding. Junior Brother Mo and Junior Sister Shui also successfully reached Foundation Establishment today.

"The three of us plan to hold our Foundation Establishment banquets together. They'll be the day after tomorrow, on the ninth of the twelfth month."

Ding Qifeng was shocked once again, his eyes widening.

"You little rascals, the three of you disciples of Chengyu have really brought him honor."

Li Yunjing merely smiled without saying anything.

Li Yunjing knew that Ding Qifeng had also taken in a disciple a long time ago.

Ding Qifeng had originally intended to pass his mantle on to that person.

But after learning only a little alchemy,

the disciple had been promised great rewards and betrayed his master.

He now worked as the in-house alchemist at a pill pavilion in Xunxian Town and was living quite well.

The matter had depressed Ding Qifeng for a long time.

He had never stopped brooding over it.

As for Li Yunjing and the other two disciples Nangong Chengyu had taken in,

their fine performance made Ding Qifeng even more depressed.

Especially since Nangong Chengyu had teased Ding Qifeng about it from time to time.

"I understand. I'll go to the Luozhen Sect for the banquet the day after tomorrow," Ding Qifeng said.

Li Yunjing nodded gently. "Your presence will bring radiance to the Luozhen Sect, Uncle Ding."

"Uncle Ding, I've recently run into some problems with alchemy. Might you be able to clear them up for me?"

At this, Ding Qifeng immediately became interested.

He knew that Li Yunjing had studied alchemy under Nangong Chengyu.

And had learned it well.

Unfortunately, Nangong Chengyu's death

had left Li Yunjing without guidance.

"Go ahead," Ding Qifeng said.

Li Yunjing took the opportunity to bring up some of the alchemy problems he had encountered.

For example, how to cast Method Formulas more quickly during alchemy, the consumption of Divine Sense, and so on.

Ding Qifeng was a second-grade alchemist

and had studied such matters in great depth.

When Li Yunjing asked these questions,

Ding Qifeng needed only a little thought before resolving them for him one by one.

With Ding Qifeng's guidance, the problems Li Yunjing usually encountered were readily solved.

Now, Li Yunjing felt that his alchemy skills could reach a new level.

Perhaps after returning to the Luozhen Sect, Li Yunjing could try refining higher-tier first-grade spirit pills.

"Thank you for clearing that up, Uncle Ding. I've benefited immensely," Li Yunjing said sincerely.

Ding Qifeng waved a hand casually. "It's nothing, just a small matter."

Li Yunjing sat back down, and after weighing his words, he spoke. "Uncle Ding, do you have any plans for the near future? The Luozhen Sect has only just gotten started and lacks an alchemist. I'd like to invite you to join the Luozhen Sect as its chief alchemist."