Broad Cold Ice Soul, Dan Formed and Dragon Felled

Inside the quiet room, Qian Chen sat cross-legged on a meditation mat, his expression placid. Yet in the empty air three feet before his nose, an orb of radiance swirled in a mingling of black and white. Extreme Yin Sha was an essence sha born of the Lunar Star drawing upon earth qi and sensing the Lunar primordial qi, while Ice Soul Cold Light Gangqi was an exotic primordial qi of utter cold. Extreme Yin and frigid chill were inherently complementary in nature. The primordial dan formed by combining the two through coagulating sha and refining gang had a name: the Broad Cold Ice Soul Dan. This dan could condense an extremely frigid divine light with the power to freeze heaven and earth to the core. Wherever the unleashed divine light touched, all would disintegrate into icy powder and dust. Its might was tremendous. When cast by a Core Formation cultivator, it was known as the Ice Soul Divine Light Thread, one of the nine most vicious divine lights in the universe. Once one attained the Primal Spirit realm, one could use this as a foundation to refine it into the Extreme Yin Extinction Divine Light, an even more terrifying power. Such a primordial dan was far superior to Qian Chen's original minimum expectation—the Mysterious Yin Cold Frost Dan, fused with Mysterious Yin Frost Sha. Only by condensing a divine ability like the Ice Soul Divine Light would he truly possess the capital to compete with Miaokong. Behind Qian Chen, the emerald-green dan qi condensed into a giant hand, gripping the orb of light that was on the verge of bursting. Only then did he manage to suppress the violently swelling brilliance and stabilize it. Wiping away the nonexistent sweat on his brow, Qian Chen said with lingering fear, "Fortunately, I refined that seventh-grade external qi primordial dan first, or else this would have blown up... This Mysterious Gate aperture was originally a cauldron meant for gathering qi. Using it to refine dan was already pushing it. Only because the aperture was tempered sturdier after the last refinement was it able to withstand the combination of gang and sha this time. "If I had fused the Ice Soul Cold Light Gang and Extreme Yin True Sha on my first try, I'm afraid my Mysterious Gate aperture would have exploded long ago! "If I get the chance in the future, I must obtain a better alchemy furnace. "I was still too shy and out of practice when breaking into the Jinchuan Sect this time. I only took Sect Master Pei's personal magic treasures and was too embarrassed to hit the sect's secret vault. Even if I didn't ransack the vault, I should have helped myself to an alchemy furnace on the way out!" Qian Chen felt a twinge of regret for leaving so briskly. After all, he had always been a law-abiding man and was not yet accustomed to openly robbing a sect in broad daylight. If it was to settle a dispute of reason by storming their gates, that was merely showing a bit of domineering strength. As for taking their heirloom magical implements, that was just done in passing... But if he killed the resisters of the Jinchuan Sect just to snatch their furnaces and magical implements, he would be no different from a bandit. Qian Chen truly couldn't bring himself to stoop to that... After all, seizing treasures after killing someone was called "picking them up on the way," but killing someone in order to seize treasures was "robbery"! Qian Chen shaped the emerald dan qi into the form of a cauldron to reinforce the outside of the Mysterious Gate aperture. He also had Cui Dan borrow a fire crow alchemy furnace from a local prominent family. With the triple protection of the aperture cauldron, the qi cauldron, and the vessel cauldron, he could finally breathe a little easier. Inside the quiet room, over a dozen fire crows perched quietly off to the side, two of which breathed flames at the furnace, heating the red bronze cauldron until it glowed searing red. The two boy sprites, Gold and Silver, puffed out their bellies. The yellow-clad boy sprite held up the red gourd as he sat atop a fire crow's head, staring intently at the furnace with a grave, tense expression on his little face. Meanwhile, the white-clad Silver Boy gripped another fire crow's crest to oversee its fire-breathing, holding a miniature plantain fan in hand... Ever since guarding the ritual altar for Qian Chen, these two little sprites had clung tightly to this wealthy benefactor, so Qian Chen took them in to serve as stoking laborers. He entrusted the red gourd—which held medicinal pills, food, and water—along with the spiritual plantain leaves gathered in the great marsh to their safekeeping, serving as status symbols for the medicine-holding boy and the fire-stoking boy. Meanwhile, that Ear Canal Deity did nothing but shamelessly beg for spirit pills and jade crumbs, barely bothering to scout for intelligence anymore, wishing only to lodge in Qian Chen's ear canal... Qian Chen had no intention of pampering a little sprite that was useless at everything except eating. Now it had to go out every day to gather information, only receiving dan crumbs upon its return. This time, aside from refining the primordial dan, Qian Chen did not spend time drawing in primordial qi for nourishment... Last time, because the quality of the gang-sha qi was insufficient, Qian Chen had to draw qi to nourish it, incidentally absorbing other types of primordial qi to refine qi dan from the primordial dan's impurities. But this time, both the Ice Soul Cold Light Gang and the Extreme Yin True Sha were abundant, even leaving some surplus; only because they were not pure enough was it difficult to achieve first grade. Thus, drawing qi for nourishment was unnecessary. Without this step, the previous forty-nine-day process was shortened significantly. By Qian Chen's calculation, it would take merely three sevens—twenty-one days—for the dan to emerge from the furnace. Yet because the gang-sha qi lacked purity and more impure qi needed to be refined away, and Qian Chen did not want to waste his cultivation efforts on gathering qi, he made use of what he had scavenged in the great marsh, as well as the generous spirit medicines the Wei clan had presented as an apology following the incident with Daoist Zhen. Qian Chen placed spirit medicines into the external vessel cauldron, channeled the purest medicinal properties into the dan qi cauldron, and finally combined the discarded impure qi from refining the primordial dan with the spirit medicines... In this manner, one dan across three cauldrons underwent triple refining: the Mysterious Gate aperture cauldron formed the primordial dan, the qi cauldron formed the qi dan, and the vessel cauldron formed herbal spirit dan. It truly possessed the wondrous resonance of the Taishang Dao Ancestor refining Nine-Revolution Golden Dan in a single furnace to produce nine grades of elixir. ……………… Cui Dan had aides and advisors to handle the complicated daily affairs, so governing a county magistracy did not prevent him from spending most of his days wandering the mountains and waters, indulging in leisurely pastimes, or even maintaining his daily cultivation. After Qian Chen entered seclusion to refine dan, Cui Dan often came to check on him outside the small pavilion... "Last time Senior refined dan, he brought forth Three Corpse Divine Fiends and killed an alchemist! Even the City God manifested to deliver a warning..." "The time before that when Senior refined dan, there were also external tribulations causing disturbances. He slew an evil cultivator from Mount Mei, and various sprites threw themselves into the dan to become spirit fungus, transforming the sha qi of the land into auspicious harmony..." "I wonder what tribulation will arise from his refining this time?" An expectant look surfaced on Cui Dan's face. The old servant Uncle Wu wore a strange expression as he said, "Young Master, the tribulations Senior has wrought just to refine this furnace of dan are already plenty. That karma was settled even before the refining began... Before even starting the furnace, he nearly wiped out an immortal sect with thousands of years of heritage. If there's yet another tribulation, just how many more people must die? "With such a disaster, do you still care about your official evaluation, Young Master?" "Today should be the twenty-first day of Senior's seclusion! The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching; I wonder if Senior will make it in time for this Dragon Boat gathering?" As Cui Dan spoke, he suddenly felt a subtle, stifling heaviness in the air. Looking up at the sky, it appeared rain was coming. Clouds were beginning to gather on the horizon, but Cui Dan thought nothing of it. Rain was frequent by the great marsh, and with the Beginning of Summer already past, a sudden downpour was hardly unusual. "In Daoist alchemy, the cycles generally follow sevens and nines—either the count of three sevens, seven sevens, seven nines, or nine nines. Seeing how fierce the tribulations were before the dan was even formed, the pill being refined must be far more critical than last time. It ought to take longer than seven sevens, or perhaps the full eighty-one days before it emerges. By then, the Dragon Boat Festival will have long passed, and it'll probably be the Autumn Equinox!" Uncle Wu advised, "That expert came to the Jiuzhen Great Marsh solely in search of sha qi. Now that he has achieved his wish, he probably won't stay much longer!" "Alas! I wish I could abandon my post and follow at his side as an attendant!" Cui Dan sighed. Uncle Wu merely laughed. "Young Master, cultivation for such an expert is grueling and the mountains are cold and desolate. There are no beauties, fine clothes, or delicacies there..." "Never mind, then! The thought alone is enough!" Changing the subject, Cui Dan said, "Uncle Wu, don't you think these clouds are gathering a bit too fast?" Uncle Wu looked up. On the horizon, where only a few wisps of thin clouds had lingered a moment ago, thick dark clouds were piling up, pressing down like a massive, brooding fortress. Over the Jiuzhen Great Marsh, rumbling thunder rolled across in an instant, and silver arcs danced through the sky in a terrifying display! "How could rain come so fast? It's not like a dragon is passing over—" Uncle Wu grumbled offhandedly, then froze. "Young Master... when the expert refined dan back then, he drew a crowd of little sprites. But that was in the civilized lands of Wuling Commandery, whereas Jiaobu Town borders the great marsh, where dragons and serpents are most numerous. If the pills are leaving the furnace..." At that moment, Cui Dan blinked. The little figure in his eyes, the Dengtuzi sprite, had already hopped out impatiently and scurried toward the small pavilion. Gale-force winds swept across the lake in an instant. The air, which had been so stifling that not a single leaf stirred moments earlier, gave way in an eyeblink to driving wind and torrential rain. Thunder roared and lightning flashed as Jiuzhen Lake churned up massive waves. Willow branches on the shore tore loose and flew through the air, while the small bamboo retreat stood firm amid the storm, the world enveloped in a vast expanse of blinding white... Cui Dan and his old servant took shelter in the courtyard adjacent to the bamboo retreat. Looking up into the rain, they caught sight of a dark silhouette dragging a long tail through the clouds. Amidst the torrential downpour, a flood dragon's tail hung down from the sky, vanishing in a flash. "It's a flood dragon!" Cui Dan was about to draw his sword, while Uncle Wu had already raised his longbow. At that moment, the flood dragon swooped down from the clouds, its massive claw—as large as a millstone—ripping toward the bamboo retreat... A streak of azure sword light flew out from the bamboo retreat, plunging into the clouds like an autumn goose, vanishing instantly without a trace... A short while later, the dark clouds dispersed and the howling wind died down... Only then did a flood dragon, stretching nearly a li from head to tail, plummet from the sky and crash onto the lakeside, its tail collapsing a row of buildings. The blood flowing from the flood dragon's head stained the nearby waters of the lake red. Cui Dan stepped cautiously out of the courtyard, only to see that the flood dragon was already drawing its last breaths. A sword wound pierced through its lower jaw, boring into its body at the "seven inches" below its head and bursting out through its back...