Baishi Diocese.
Xuyi Jing.
The residence of Master Lingxu.
Qin Sang left the Northern Pole Exorcism Court and flew straight here. The moment he saw Master Lingxu, he heard good news.
“A few short years apart, and I never expected my friend to have joined our ranks. Congratulations, congratulations!”
Master Lingxu looked Qin Sang over, clicking his tongue in admiration.
“Many thanks to Master Lingxu for aiding me that year and persuading Real Person Xingqiong to leave his mountain retreat. Only thus could this poor Daoist reach this day.”
That was the plain truth. Had Beigong Nandou not laid up refined talismans to aid his astral essence body infusion, Qin Sang did not know how much effort it would have cost him to break through, and his tribulation crossing would not have gone so smoothly either.
“This was merely this old Daoist's duty. Why stand on ceremony, young brother?”
Master Lingxu drew Qin Sang down to a seat, his manner warm, and said impatiently, “After you left last time, this old Daoist shamelessly wrote to several old fellows asking for Hundred-Node Earth Bamboo, and sure enough, word came back.”
“Oh? Which fellow Daoist holds the Hundred-Node Earth Bamboo now?”
The Heavenly Eye Butterfly had broken through on its own and had no need of the Qingshuang Pill. Qin Sang had been gathering for so long, and his pill formula lacked only one spirit herb. Naturally he did not want to give up halfway; once the Qingshuang Pill was refined, it could be saved for the Fire Jade Centipede.
“That old fellow's Daoist name is Guzhen. He came out of the Celestial Medicine Office of the Celestial Pivot Court, and his attainments in the way of pill refinement far surpass mine. But he very rarely opens his furnace outside the Dao Court, so his fame is slight. You may not have heard of him.”
Master Lingxu briefly introduced the man.
“Someone from the Dao Court?”
Qin Sang's expression turned slightly grave.
In this world the Daoist order flourished and the Dao Court stood supreme. Whether in strength or in all manner of outside arts, the Dao Court surely lacked no masters. Were he to visit such people, presumably every one of Qin Sang's problems could be solved at a stroke.
Yet Qin Sang deliberately avoided the Dao Court. Master Lingxu and Master Gu both came from the temple-and-monastery lineage. Though temples and the Dao Court were of one breath and one branch, after long contact one could still sense the difference. The Dao Court's tight structure and enormous power brought great pressure, and Qin Sang always avoided it when he could.
“Would Master Guzhen be willing to part with it?” Qin Sang asked with a frown.
Master Lingxu nodded. “The Hundred-Node Earth Bamboo's virtue lies in its rarity. In the Dao Court's stores there are countless spirit herbs more precious than it. Old Daoist Guzhen has seen much and knows much—even if we brought out better treasures, it would be hard to move him. However, old Guzhen has some interest in the Qingshuang Pill's formula. Without your approval, this old Daoist dared not decide on his own.”
He and Qin Sang had agreed that the formula must not be passed to outsiders.
So that was it.
Qin Sang thought to himself: was this not selling one formula many times over—one pill formula in exchange for a measure of Hundred-Node Earth Bamboo and Master Lingxu's firing of his furnace? Whether it was worth it depended entirely on oneself. So long as the Panhu True Scripture was not leaked, selling a few pill formulas should not trouble the Ghost Mother.
Qin Sang thought a moment, then said, “Master, do not reveal my background. Say only that you came upon the formula by chance.”
Master Lingxu was briefly taken aback, seeing that Qin Sang was wary of the Dao Court. That was only natural; anyone facing a colossus like the Dao Court must tread carefully, all the more so Qin Sang, who came from Jushan Diocese.
“Good!”
Master Lingxu nodded, then suddenly looked at him full of expectation. “In these years of searching for formulas of like kind, have you made any new gains, young brother?”
The old Daoist before him now wore the expression of a child hoping for a new toy, and Qin Sang could not help but marvel at the pull pill formulas had on pill refiners.
“After returning, this poor Daoist searched carefully and managed to put together one formula, though I do not know whether it can be refined,” Qin Sang said, taking out a jade slip he had prepared long before.
The jade slip recorded a pill called the Yinghua Pill.
The Yinghua Pill was one of the pills recorded in the Panhu True Scripture. Its effects were somewhat weak, but it was the easiest to refine. Taken by a spirit insect at the fifth transformation, it could raise its cultivation somewhat.
That effect, however, was secondary. The pill's greatest use was that, as a spirit insect took it continually, it could imperceptibly wear away the barriers between minor realms, laying a solid foundation for later breakthroughs. Only in concert with the Panhu True Scripture could the pill show its greatest efficacy; otherwise its effects were much reduced.
Previously, with the aid of his incarnation, Qin Sang had dabbled in the way of pills and gained some attainment. Had he the heart to keep studying it, one day he too could refine the Yinghua Pill. Weighing the matter, however, his grounding in pill refinement was far shallower than in artifact refinement, so Qin Sang decided to set aside the way of pills for the time being. His incarnation still existed and might attend to both, but he himself truly could not divide his attention. To refine the incarnation anew and bring it to Deity Transformation cultivation would take an unknown length of time, and without sufficient cultivation there could be no accomplishment.
To find the path of ascension, he must raise his strength quickly. Comprehending the way of pills, gathering spirit herbs, and firing furnaces to refine would all consume vast time and energy; better to leave it to other hands.
Master Lingxu was overjoyed. He took the formula and at once began studying it.
“All spirit flowers. This one should be Ninefold Snake Stamen. Hmm, the spirit flowers this formula needs are more precious, but fortunately not too rare...”
Master Lingxu sank into it, muttering to himself, as if he had forgotten Qin Sang sitting before him.
When he came back to himself, he found a jade box had appeared on the table before him. He opened it and saw a demon core.
“This is...”
Master Lingxu showed alarm.
The core's aura showed that in life it had been a great demon of the mid Dongxuan stage, and moreover there was no trace of the savage ferocity peculiar to feral beasts lingering in the core. Precisely because of that ferocity, so hard to erase, the demon cores of feral beasts were worth less than those of normal demons.
The owner of this core had been, in life, a demon marquis!
Master Lingxu's gaze at Qin Sang was full of shock. “Young brother, you killed a mid Dongxuan demon marquis?”
It was none other than Li Hou's demon core.
“It was pure luck; I came upon a badly wounded demon marquis,” Qin Sang said calmly. “How many of the formula's spirit herbs will this core buy?”
“That...”
For a moment Master Lingxu could not answer.
Qin Sang said decisively, “May I ask the Master to help exchange it for spirit herbs, all to be used in refining Yinghua Pills—as many as can be had! If this core is not enough, this poor Daoist will go hunt feral beasts in the Sin Plains again.”
In cultivating the Panhu True Scripture, as his own cultivation rose he could help his life-bound spirit insect grow swiftly, but the bottlenecks between realms remained, and the master could only help the insect so much. With an ample supply of Yinghua Pills to assist it, he would not need to worry over the Heavenly Eye Butterfly before the sixth transformation.
Qin Sang's tone carried great confidence, as though feral beast cores could be had for the picking.
Master Lingxu was bewildered. Had he really only just entered Dongxuan?
Sizing Qin Sang up, Master Lingxu thought he must come to know this young brother anew. He had intended to refine this pill himself anyway, so of course he had no reason to refuse.
Qin Sang had meant to discuss payment for the refining with Master Lingxu—after all, it would not be a single firing, and in future he might need to ask Master Lingxu to act again and again. By custom, when one engaged a pill master to refine, the formula was understood to be given over as well. Unexpectedly, Master Lingxu flatly refused.
The two settled matters, and Master Lingxu decided to visit Master Guzhen within a few days to exchange for the Hundred-Node Earth Bamboo and fire his furnace to refine the Qingshuang Pills.
Qin Sang would set out only after the pills were done, so he borrowed a fire chamber from Master Lingxu, who agreed readily.
……
Inside the fire chamber.
Qin Sang sat in stillness for a long while.
Master Lingxu was no longer in his residence. A novice Daoist boy kept watch outside the door, and no one disturbed Qin Sang.
Several things were laid out before him.
The Huifeng Armor.
The wood jiao's scales.
Li Hou's bone awl, made from the transverse bone in its mouth, and a pair of claw sheaths.
Beyond these were some spirit materials and feral beast remains that Li Hou had found in its storage artifact.
He considered how to refine these for his own use.
The claw sheaths and the bone awl had been tempered by Li Hou for many years, and the two treasures' auras were similar; by the arts of artifact refinement there was a chance of fusing them together. The bone awl alone was comparable in might to a pseudo-spirit treasure.
Qin Sang had the Grey Oriole Sword and the Fourfold Tengshe Seal, and the Wandering Sword would soon reach great completion. He decided to refine a pair of gauntlets driven by blood and qi—he could not fight his battles with a pair of bare fists forever.
He had already consulted Master Gu about this and had a general plan. Refining the gauntlets with his own hands, consulting Master Gu, and later repairing the broken drum himself—all were meant to raise his attainments in artifact refinement. The final aims were, first, to bring the Wandering Sword to great completion as soon as possible, and second, to repair the Taiyi Astral Carriage at an early date. In seeking the path of ascension and the Gate of the Dao Marker, he might yet have to rely on that treasure.
His face grew thoughtful. He sketched the gauntlets' shape in his mind, let his gaze pass over the treasures before him, and finally put the Huifeng Armor away.
He had originally meant to fuse the wood jiao's scales into the Huifeng Armor; after thinking it over, Qin Sang decided to use them all for the gauntlets.
The first step was shaping.
Qin Sang roused the spiritual fire in the chamber and first refined all the spirit materials to remove impurities. When he met something hard to temper, he brought out the Nine Nether Demonic Fire. Gradually, spheres of varying size floated through the chamber, some of liquid, some pure round beads.
Only the wood jiao's scales, the bone awl, and the claw sheaths remained.
One by one the azure scales flew into Qin Sang's palm and, tempered in the spiritual fire, slowly shrank, their luster growing brighter instead. Then came the bone awl and the claw sheaths.
These three were melted down and together formed the gauntlets' structure, and at last a roughly formed pair of gauntlets floated before Qin Sang.
The gauntlets were only the size of a fist, green light flowing over their surfaces, where pretty fish-scale patterns emerged as though built up scale upon scale. At the striking edge of each gauntlet three spikes protruded, slightly curved, glinting with cold light, extraordinarily sharp—they could easily break an enemy's defenses. They were weapons in the truest sense.
Looking over his work, Qin Sang made some adjustments, nodded in satisfaction, then drew those spheres into the gauntlets to strengthen their structure and enrich the detail.
With shaping done, next came the inscribing of restrictions and runes—a step of the utmost importance, for it determined the gauntlets' might. This step was like opening meridians for the gauntlets; the restriction runes were the veins, which artifact refiners called threading through the qi channels. Which restriction runes to choose, how to combine them, whether they suited the user—all needed careful consideration and the greatest caution.
Since Qin Sang was refining them for himself, it was comparatively simple, yet progress was extremely slow. Several months passed and he had only an artifact blank. In the course of refining, Qin Sang gained many insights and had much to think through; knowing it could not be done in one push, he broke off the work.
Master Lingxu had returned at some unknown time. Seeing Qin Sang come out of seclusion, he at once drew him into the hall, set out a jade bottle, and stroked his beard with a smile. “I did not fail the commission!”
The jade bottle held three pills.
The blue-green pills bore a fine layer of white frost on their surfaces, like pale clouds drifting in a clear sky.
Three Qingshuang Pills!
Beyond his delight, Qin Sang was filled with admiration for Master Lingxu. According to the formula, one furnace of Qingshuang Pills, if every spirit herb's potency was of the highest grade and all other conditions near perfect, could yield four. Qin Sang knew the spirit herbs he had gathered were of uneven quality; that Master Lingxu produced three pills showed plainly the mastery of his craft.
“Many thanks, Master!”
Qin Sang gave his thanks, thinking to himself that if the Fire Jade Centipede could not break through after taking three Qingshuang Pills, then he could only let nature take its course.
Gathering all the spirit herbs the Yinghua Pill required would take time, so Qin Sang did not linger, and took his leave of Master Lingxu.
……
Northern Zhongmao Diocese.
Zhengxing Jing, Miaotong Altar.
Leaving Master Lingxu's residence, Qin Sang came to this diocesan altar. The power he meant to visit was one called Dianjin Mountain.
Dianjin Mountain was well known in the Daoist order, expert in artifact refinement, and the Dianjin Pavilions it owned as a sect enterprise were established at many jing altars. Its mountain gate, however, was not at a jing altar but under a rather remote diocesan altar.
After making inquiries, Qin Sang settled on Dianjin Mountain.
He had altered his appearance. Flying in from the jing altar, he landed at the diocesan altar's city gate, entered the immortal city, and found the Dianjin Pavilion.
Stepping into the pavilion, Qin Sang said only that he wished to have a magic treasure appraised. A maidservant led him to the rear hall, where he met one of Dianjin Mountain's artifact refiners.
One glance was enough to see through the other's cultivation.
Qin Sang sat down without ceremony. “I hear the master of Dianjin Mountain is a grandmaster of artifact refinement. This poor Daoist has come drawn by his fame, having a treasure I would like your master to look over—but how might one obtain a meeting?”
The other's expression did not change. “So long as your treasure is rare enough, fellow Daoist, our master will surely receive you in person.”
Qin Sang took out a wooden box and set it on the table. “If you wish to look, fellow Daoist, take it.”
The refiner took it in hand, and soon his brow was sweating: he could not even break the restriction on the wooden box, and he understood at once.
He cast Qin Sang an awed look, rose hurriedly, and said respectfully, “Pray wait a moment, Real Person; this poor Daoist will go at once to ask our master to come out!”
A maidservant brought fragrant tea.
Qin Sang waited in the quiet room for the time it took an incense stick to burn. Then the door was knocked, and a Daoist with a broad, square face came in.
The Daoist was unsmiling, of a solemn air, and bowed with hands clasped as he entered. “My subordinates were remiss and slighted the Real Person.”
Qin Sang rose and returned the courtesy with a smile. “The fault is mine for calling without notice.”
The Daoist was indeed the master of Dianjin Mountain. He sat down opposite Qin Sang, asked neither his identity nor the treasure's origin, and, with permission, opened the wooden box.
The box seemed to hold nothing; one could see straight through to the wood grain of its bottom.
Dianjin Mountain's master's gaze sharpened slightly. He carefully extended both hands and lifted out the Chengying Sword.
In his hands the Chengying Sword's transparent blade could not be seen; it left only a faint shadow on the tabletop.
“Obtain a few more artifact-refining texts from Dianjin Mountain to check what I have already gained, and the gauntlets should be made without fail...”
Qin Sang sipped the spirit tea and thought privately.
He saw golden light well up from Dianjin Mountain's palm, his hands as though cast of gold and iron. The golden light spread over the Chengying Sword's blade, revealing it in brilliant gold—plainly a secret art of his own for probing. Afterward he switched to several other secret arts in succession.
A doubtful gleam flashed in the master's eyes. He said hesitantly, “This may not be a sword.”
“Not a sword?” Qin Sang was surprised, not quite understanding.
The master nodded. “At least it belongs to no kind of sword implement I have seen—perhaps my experience is narrow. But I suspect it is not a magic treasure or spirit treasure at all, nor like the true treasures of legend, but a special sort of treasure. Perhaps... finding a sword cultivator versed in the sword way might reveal a thing or two.”
Chapter 1801