Lu Shuichan

Zu Gong did not take Hu Mang to visit Li Flame Mountain. According to him, he went back to instruct his "fa charioteers" first. He told Hu Mang to wander around the Fireheart Alchemy Chamber as he pleased, and to take a look at whichever door was open. Basically, no one would chase him away.

Then the ancestral palace continued to escape and left.

"This senior brother has the air of a mountain; he must have mastered the 'Mysterious Peak True Body' by now," Hu Mang secretly speculated in his heart.

When they met on the steps before, he felt a calm and profound aura emanating from the Zu Gong. That aura had a high degree of harmony with the earth and mountains, as if this senior brother himself was a walking mountain.

"Mysterious Peak True Body" is a signature supernatural Divine Ability of the Mysterious Peak Sect. It is said that after mastering it, one can draw upon the power of the earth's veins to empower oneself, making every punch and kick possess the might of a mountain. It is a top-tier body-refining supernatural Divine Ability that integrates offense and defense.

However, this Divine Ability is extremely difficult to cultivate, requiring very high aptitude and perseverance. There are not many disciples in the Mysterious Peak Sect who can master it.

Hu Mang glanced one last time at the Li Flame Palace atop the mountain before heading straight for the Fireheart Alchemy Chamber.

The so-called Fireheart Alchemy Chamber is an alchemy chamber developed inside a volcano.

According to the other party, Li Flame Mountain is located on four poisonous fire veins, two of which have been purified of their toxicity by generations of Li Flame Mountain disciples.

Of the two purified veins, one fire vein was used to create a training room for practicing fire techniques.

The other path was developed into an alchemy room.

According to the patriarch, it's still early days. In another hundred years, the fire pills of Li Flame Mountain will surely be as famous as the water pills of Pure Water Cliff.

After descending the passage and walking down the stone steps for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the view suddenly opened up before me.

We've arrived at the Fireheart Alchemy Chamber.

This is a huge underground space that has been carved out by man. It is hemispherical, about a hundred feet in diameter and twenty or thirty feet in height. Dozens of fist-sized fire stones are embedded in the dome, emitting a warm and bright red light, illuminating the entire space as if it were daytime.

In the center of the space was a huge lava pool, about ten zhang in diameter. The magma in the pool was slowly churning, with bubbles occasionally rising to the surface. When the bubbles burst, they would send up a few sparks and emit scorching heat waves.

A bookshelf was built around the edge of the space. The wood surface was smooth as a mirror and had a faint metallic sheen, clearly indicating that it was a specially treated fire-resistant material.

Hu Mang glanced at the bookshelf: "The Medicine Refining Instruction," "Hundred Formulas for Mortal Pills," "Rudiments of Furnace Fire," "Notes on Spiritual Herb Processing," "Azure Flame Pill Method," "Hundred Refinements of the Spiritual Cauldron," "Notes on the True Yang Furnace"...

Hu Mang flipped through the list and found that the quality of the Pill Formula formulas was uneven. At most, they could only be used to refine pills of the first three grades, and there were no Pill Formula for the fourth grade.

However, since these Pill Formulas are all publicly available, that's another matter entirely.

Moreover, Hu Mang discovered that the Pill Formula of the Azure Mysterious Realm were all about quantity and quantity; even the medicinal properties of a single ordinary pill were equivalent to a hundred True Qi- enhancing needles injected into the Heavenly Gate.

This is probably also related to the abundance of heavenly materials and earthly treasures in this area.

Hu Mang then went to the central magma pool to check the Spiritual Qi energy concentration, and it was indeed 85 points. Moreover, he could sense a rich Innate Qi within it.

"Fire veins should only exist innately; acquired ones are like volcanic eruptions."

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

He would surely make rapid progress in practicing fire magic here, but unfortunately, with his dual earth and wood Spirit Root, he could easily set himself on fire if he's not careful while practicing fire magic.

On the walls of this underground space are man-made tunnels, small enough for only one person to pass through, but densely packed together like a beehive.

Some of the passages were shimmering with spiritual light, clearly indicating that they were protected by open barriers.

Some passages, though filled with human voices, were unrestricted; these were clearly the passages the patriarch had mentioned, the ones where one could observe alchemy techniques.

The Hu Mang found a passage and crawled inside, quickly arriving at an alchemy room. Below, there was a raging fire and heat, and above, a nine-palace Pill Furnace was suspended in the air. Two outer disciples were whispering to each other.

The two were taken aback when they saw Hu Mang approaching.

"Greetings, Senior Brother."

"Senior brother."

Outer disciples address inner disciple as "senior brother".

"Hello, you can continue, I'll just take a look."

The two exchanged a glance, then got back to work.

"You should open the Xun Palace first, then the Li Palace. How can you refine pills without wind?"

Should we open the Zhen Palace?

"You ask me? Who should I ask? Senior brother, you know alchemy—"

One of the outer disciples looked up and found that Hu Mang had already left.

After visiting several more open Alchemy Chamber, Hu Mang realized he had overestimated the Fire Pill inheritance of Li Flame Mountain.

Of course, he believed that a big shot would always be a big shot, but before a big shot takes on apprentices, the apprentices are definitely all noobs.

"Our senior brother said that the inheritance of this Fire Pill Technique is only a matter of a few years. The big shots guide the geniuses, the geniuses go into seclusion to refine pills, and the other disciples and grand-disciples try to produce fake papers. It's pretty much the same as the Heavenly Gate."

Hu Mang muttered to himself, still holding a copy of "Basic Pill Instruction" in his hand.

According to the description above, the alchemy method in the Azure Mysterious Realm is divided into five steps: refining essence, combining medicine, condensing the pill, nourishing the pill, and producing the pill.

Among them, condensing the elixir and producing the elixir are the most difficult, followed by refining essence and combining medicine, and the simplest is nurturing the elixir.

Because cultivating elixir mainly tests the control of heat, and the operation that tests your control of heat is already completed in the two steps of refining essence and combining medicine.

"I have this Golden Core, and I am the great medicine myself," Hu Mang muttered to himself.

So if he were to cultivate the elixir, wouldn't the first few troublesome steps already be completed?

An unbelievable idea popped into Hu Mang's mind.

"Junior Sister Xu, and Junior Sister Sui, this is the Alchemy Chamber of Li Flame Mountain. The flames used in this Alchemy Chamber are all True Fire Vein Flames. Originally, they were poisonous flames from the earth's core, but after the generations of True Person of Li Flame Mountain removed all the fire poison, they became True Fire Vein Flames."

At that moment, a short man swaggered in, followed by two familiar faces: Xu Nuoning, the ginseng girl, and the peasant Sui Gu.

At that moment, the peasant woman was holding the baby girl like a chick, and the two of them were looking around, glancing left and right.

He kept muttering to himself as he walked.

"Senior sister, is this the place where alchemy is performed?" Xu Nuoning asked in a childish voice.

"Yes, don't wander off unnecessarily, or you'll be doomed if you run into bad guys and they take you to make pills," the peasant woman warned.

"Junior Sister Sui, our Mysterious Peak Sect is a great sect of the Innate Realm, not a member of the Demonic Path. How could we use living people to refine pills?"

A short guy is making sarcastic remarks.

"Are there no bad people in the major sects of the Primordial Chaos?"

The little dwarf was speechless for a moment, then sighed and said:

"The True Person Jingyang of the Li Flame Lineage has obtained the 'Fire Division Pill Scripture,' which is the alchemy technique of the immortals of the upper realm using fire. Putting aside everything else, the fire power is so strong that anyone whose physical body is placed in the furnace can not survive. They would melt instantly, and even their essence, energy, and spirit could not be extracted."

"You speak so fluently, have you ever done this kind of thing before?" The peasant woman became even more wary.

"..."

The dwarf could no longer contain himself and angrily retorted, "I am one of the Five Dwarfs of Mystic Peak, and I have a small reputation in both the righteous and demonic paths. Would I do such a heinous thing?"

The dwarf's eyes darted around, finally settling on a lively Alchemy Chamber without any restrictions.

"Alright, alright, I'll show you how Li Flame Mountain actually refines pills, so you won't keep having all this nonsense. Master is really something, shouldn't she be the one taking on the responsibility of training disciples? Why is everyone shirking their duties, the older ones bullying the younger ones, and it's fallen on me? Otherwise, the Five Dwarfs of Mystic Peak would have already gone to the Thirty-Three Heavens to have some fun."

The little dwarf grumbled as he turned around and led the way.

"See? This is just normal pill refining; there's no question of refining living people."

He didn't notice that Xu Nuoning and Hui Gu's eyes slowly widened, and then the two of them simultaneously let out a hysterical scream.

"What's your name?!" The short man turned his head, his pupils widening instantly.

"Holy crap, that's a real human torture!"

Inside the Pill Furnace, a young man, his body completely red, was being thrown into the Pill Furnace, with real fire raging below—a living person being refined into elixirs!

The short man looked at the two girls, whose eyes were wide with terror and who were trembling all over. Oh no!

This is inexplicable!

What are you doing?

Hu Mang looked at the three people in front of him with a puzzled expression.

He was refining his pills perfectly in the Pill Furnace, using the pill-nourishing method to cultivate the Golden Core. The effect was exceptionally good, with the conversion speed of innate and acquired qi being ten times faster. However, a short fellow interrupted the process and forcibly pulled him out.

"Junior brother, what's gotten into you that you had to jump in? Did someone bully you at Li Flame Mountain, or did some elder in your sect pressure you and force you to do this?" Lu Shuichan asked cautiously.

Normally, he would probably kick you first, then slap you three times, saying, "You're asking for it! You're asking for it! You're asking for it!"

But this time, he felt that if this matter was not handled properly, the reputation of the Mysterious Peak Sect might be ruined in his hands.

Hu Mang looked down at the other person, who, like his senior brother, was also a short man.

However, despite being short, this short guy seemed much more arrogant compared to his senior brother.

The other person had a muscular build, slightly raised shoulders and back, and despite not being very tall, refused to lower his head. Standing there, he exuded an imposing aura of looking down on others.

Especially considering the other party's unfathomable cultivation level, it seemed to be about the same as his own senior brother's.

If someone were to look down at him like that normally, Lu Shuichan would probably slap them three times, but this time he held back.

After all, this is a contestant who has just entered the Pill Furnace; an ordinary slap probably wouldn't be effective.

Hu Mang's heart skipped a beat. "Could you be Lu Shuichan, the senior brother who is as famous as my senior brother Chunwuzi Wuzi, one of the renowned Five Dwarfs of Mystic Peak?"

Lu Shuichan was taken aback.

"Are you Chunwuzi's junior brother?"

You, Chunwuzi, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, seem so calm and collected, full of human warmth. I never expected you to be a bully in the sect!

You actually forced an inner disciple of Spring Thunder Ridge to run Li Flame Mountain and jump into the Pill Furnace!

You're really good at running, kid!