Through the eyes of the Wei clan's hundred ghosts, Qian Chen watched the scene unfolding aboard the Stone Boat. He even caught sight of Cui Dan and his servant whispering to each other, overhearing much of their chatter. A nostalgic smile crossed Qian Chen's lips—that familiar foolish air reminded him vividly of the brainless netizens from his past life.
When Daoist Zhen opened the furnace and began pre-extracting the medicinal properties of the spirit herbs, Qian Chen could hardly bear to watch.
"If he keeps squandering them like that, there won't be enough good spirit medicine left for me to stir up trouble!"
With a flick and a pull of his peach-wood sword, Qian Chen linked his qi with the furnace. Under that resonance, the bizarre energies hidden within the spirit herbs began to corrode and hollow them out from the inside, transforming within the cauldron into an assortment of creeping vermin...
"When I refine pills... ghosts of the netherworld steal and offer up medicine; the essences of flora are bored out by insects."
Sitting before the alchemy furnace, Daoist Zhen suddenly noticed the flames steadying at remarkable speed. The original verdant hue took on a pale cast, tinting slightly blue. The medicinal fragrance drifting from the cauldron turned remarkably pure, as though the spirit herbs within had preserved most of their essence under this sudden, steady heat.
Yet hidden inside the furnace where he could not see, the herbs were being stripped of their essence by the lurking uncanny energies. They turned into insects that crawled from the raw herbs, squirming within the cauldron.
Borrowing the harsh, punitive qi of the hundred ghosts, Qian Chen converted the gloomy obscurity in heaven and earth's primordial qi into a ghostly state. He then used this murky aspect of primordial qi to pilfer the essence of the medicine. It was like ghosts invading the herbs, extracting their properties, and manifesting as medicinal ghosts.
Although Qian Chen was controlling the process from afar, his alchemical methods were more than a hundred times superior to Daoist Zhen's. Effortlessly stealing ninety percent of the herbs' refined essence, he used the remaining impurities and residual medicinal properties to temper primordial qi suitable for nurturing medicinal ghosts, refining the herbs within the furnace into countless medicinal ghost corpse insects...
The hundred ghosts within the cauldron even went so far as to stabilize the fire, directing the flames spat by the fire crows that had been altered by the flame-kindling powder.
Tainting the yang flames with a thread of yin qi was what imparted that icy blue hue.
Daoist Zhen felt his refinement growing smoother and easier by the moment. It was as if each spirit herb he tossed in effortlessly transformed into pristine medicinal essence inside the furnace, safely nestled within the inner chamber. He could not help but rejoice inwardly, *Could it be that after over fifty years of arduous practice in alchemy, my breakthrough has finally arrived today? Buddhists speak of sudden enlightenment—with everything proceeding so smoothly and every hurdle clearing as if guided by divine hands... could this be my own sudden awakening?*
With things proceeding so effortlessly, Daoist Zhen took only half the expected time to refine the auxiliary ingredients.
Only then did Cui Dan register surprise. "This Wei clan alchemist really has some skill. His speed in refining the auxiliary herbs is considerably faster than I imagined... Even in my Cui clan, he would qualify as an enshrined master alchemist. Who would have thought such talent existed in an out-of-the-way place like Jiuzhen..."
Meanwhile, the Wei clan's actual resident alchemist paled in shock.
"How are this man's alchemical skills?" Wei Lecheng asked in a low voice, having paced slowly up behind the clan alchemist while gazing up at the elevated platform on the Stone Boat.
"Utterly miraculous!" the Wei clan's alchemist admitted, full of admiration. "Just his speed in refining the spirit herbs is nearly five times faster than mine. Moreover, if I were up there refining this furnace of pills, not one part in ten of the medicinal properties would remain. How could I ever preserve seventy or eighty percent like this? Aside from burning off a little medicinal essence at the very beginning because he had not adapted to the furnace's heat—which gave the scent a slightly scorched note—everything he did after far surpasses me. At the risk of incurring the Patriarch's blame, my eyes can only see this far. The true depth of his technique beyond this is something I probably cannot even fathom!"
Watching Daoist Zhen on the high platform become ever more adept, his movements flowing like water, Wei Lecheng asked again, "Earlier, people sent by the City God reported that the Daoist dissolved a pill into water, revived a tree, and caused it to bear plums with extraordinary medicinal properties exceeding many spirit medicines. That Daoist was once an honored guest of our Wei clan and presented us with spirit pills to evaluate. What do you make of that?"
The old alchemist hesitated before replying, "Patriarch, I never saw that pill with my own eyes... But casting a pill to sprout a tree that bears fruit capable of regrowing flesh on bare bone... that is truly far-fetched. Could it have been an illusion, smearing pill water onto plums and relying on an existing plum tree to pull off such a spectacle?"
Wei Lecheng nodded slightly and questioned him no further. Hands clasped behind his back, he quietly awaited the conclusion of the pill assembly.
Once the auxiliary herbs were fully refined, Daoist Zhen began his ritual to consecrate the furnace. He produced a coin sword woven from thousands of psychic coins bound by red thread, waved his hand to ignite prepared spirit talismans, and dropped the ashes into spiritual spring water to make talisman water. Daoist Zhen took a mouthful of the talisman water and spat it onto the coin sword; the vermilion talismanic vapor sharpened the sword's aura, making it all the more piercing.
Treading the Pace of Yu, he circled the alchemy furnace while chanting under his breath.
Dipping the tip of the coin sword in cinnabar, he traced a talisman at each of the eight trigram positions on the cauldron. The incantations tumbling from his mouth were muttered and indistinct, sounding like the titles and names of various deities.
Through the eyes of the hundred ghosts, Qian Chen watched the spectacle with keen interest.
*His talismans aren't drawn wrong... The Li trigram gets the Star Sovereign of Fire Virtue, but why did he use the divine talisman of the Azure Emperor for the Zhen trigram? Does a minor heterodox cultivator performing a ritual actually expect the Azure Emperor to grace him with favor? The Kan trigram has the Star Sovereign of Water Virtue, but why are the Qian and Kun trigrams assigned to the Six Ding and Six Jia guardian spirits?*
*Is it because their duty is protection, and they answer every call?*
"Dingchou, lengthen my life; Dinghai, tether my soul. Dingyou, master my vigor; Dingwei, avert my disaster. Dingsi, deliver me from danger; Dingmao, deliver me from plight. Jiazi, protect my body; Jiaxu, preserve my form. Jiashen, solidify my life..." Daoist Zhen chanted with increasing urgency.
"Mark the earth's compass, exit the Heavenly Gate, enter the Earthly Hatch, bar the Golden Gate, mount the jade shafts. Azure Dragon and White Tiger, Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise, Hook and Flying Serpent. Let the divine generals of the Six Ding and Six Jia bear me along. Today I tread the Pace of Yu, answering the Heavenly Dipper above and warding off ill omens below. All demons subdued, all paths clear of harm. May all offerings reach their mark, all strikes shatter their target, all requests be granted, all wishes fulfilled. This disciple's wish: may the furnace fire return, may the spirit pills receive divine grace... Swiftly, in accordance with the statutes and ordinances of the Taishang Dao Ancestor!"
Daoist Zhen ran through his hodgepodge of divine magic, and by pure chance he actually managed to elicit responses from several deities, granting wondrous efficacy to a few of the talismans drawn on the furnace.
Divine magic differed from ordinary Daoist methods; it was the invocation of deities to cast spells, not entirely reliant on one's own magical power.
Consequently, it often yielded wonders far beyond one's personal capability. Once the furnace was consecrated, a spiritual radiance carrying divine majesty enveloped the cauldron. Foul auras and baleful ghost energies found it difficult to invade, producing a truly remarkable defense.
However, this divine majesty hailed from the Six Ding and Six Jia guardian spirits. These deities were all Daoist Primal Spirit masters who, upon facing tribulation, chose not to reincarnate and cultivate anew, instead entering the Divine Dao.
They were the purest, most direct lineage of the Daoist orthodoxy in the Heavenly Court, which was why they held guardian offices. Put plainly, they were senior Daoist forebears granting convenience to their juniors. Whenever someone in the Daoist orthodoxy cast spells—whether exorcising demons, subduing monsters, refining pills, or selecting a dwelling—reciting a few sacred mantras would prompt them to bestow divine power and answer the talismans.
Over time, as long as a practitioner was not a demonic cultivator on the Daoist blacklist, any worldly cultivator who spoke a few pleasant words and recited their mantras would be granted a bit of face by these guardian spirits.
They were the easiest deities to summon.
Daoist Zhen knew this secret well, which was why he had cobbled together this makeshift consecration ritual.
Invoking such divine reinforcement did not necessarily improve the success rate of pill refinement, but it was exceptionally effective at barring foul energies from contaminating the cauldron. Qian Chen raised his peach-wood sword lightly and barked, "Swiftly, in accordance with the statutes and ordinances of the Taishang Dao Ancestor!"
"When I refine pills—the Six Ding sweep and cleanse, the Six Jia fan the wind; the Five Poisons act as gods, presiding atop the furnace. The Five Immortals load the charcoal, the Taishang gazes from above. May the celestial essence descend..."
After a boastful proclamation, backed by a secret talisman of Louguan Dao written by his own hand, Qian Chen sent a strand of magical power outward, and the Six Ding and Six Jia spirits immediately accommodated him. The divine power guarding the furnace turned a completely blind eye as Qian Chen sent his mind into the Five Poisons Incarnation, transforming them into furnace gods to suppress the cauldron's interior.
A divine barrier meant to ward off evil and subdue foulness treated Qian Chen's blatant tampering as if nothing were happening at all.
One by one, Daoist Zhen added the primary ingredients—nine kinds of spirit insect exuviae:
Ice cicada flower—a spirit fungus sprouted from the molt of a spirit cicada.
Jade rhinoceros horn—a poison-warding horn, the cast skin of an ancient serpent.
Blood toad slough—refined from the molt of a venomous blood toad.
Nine-transformation spirit silkworm cocoon—a spirit medicine left behind when a spirit silkworm spins its cocoon...
As the herbs entered the cauldron, the furnace gods formed by the Five Poisons completely sealed every trace of the cauldron's aura. The Five Poison furnace gods subtly channeled five malignant energies of heaven and earth—malevolence, miasma, murky yin, baleful wickedness, and pestilence—to nourish this batch of pills...
No, this was no pill refinement at all. This was gu refinement—a brutal bloodbath where hundreds of insects and swarms of ghosts, born from the herbs within the furnace, slaughtered and devoured one another!
Chapter 63