Chapter Twenty-Five: The Root of Earthly Fire

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  Thus, Ling Xiao began to go to Fuling's cave every three, six and nine days to listen to her personally teach the various knowledge of alchemy.

  Alchemical refinement is indeed a vast and profound subject, involving too many complicated things. Apart from the methods, materials, flames, furnaces... and firing times, there are various techniques such as warming the furnace, purifying, forming the elixir, and taking the elixir... The various transformations of true energy, the countless techniques of spiritual consciousness...

  Ling Xiao, although diligent in his studies, was only moderately skilled; Fu Ling, on the other hand, was extremely knowledgeable and articulate. However, when it came to alchemy, Ling Xiao's understanding was limited to a mere glimpse of its basics.

  Two months have passed in the blink of an eye.

  Ling Xiao had lost both parents at a young age and after arriving at the Qi Yun Sect, he was just an ordinary outer sect disciple who had never received such meticulous guidance and care. As a result, Ling Xiao's understanding of alchemy gradually deepened, and at the same time, his gratitude towards Fu Ling grew stronger.

  But as for that strange flame in his body, he didn't dare mention it at all.

  In the past two months, Ling Xiao's elixir refinement skills have indeed made great progress. During this period, several times he refined elixirs that were either high-grade or mid-grade Pei Yuan Dan, and only occasionally would he obtain one or two low-grade ones.

  There was even one time when 17 materials were used and 8 high-quality grains, 9 medium-quality grains were refined, without a single low-quality grain.

  Ling Xiao had no choice but to hand over 5 middle-grade Pei Yuan Dan pills.

  This "proud" achievement, suddenly made people look sideways. Fuling learned about it and was also very pleased, thinking that his supervision had a great effect, saving a Dan Tian genius... Naturally, he paid more attention to Ling Xiao, and his teaching became more careful.

  As for cultivation, Ling Xiao naturally wouldn't relax either.

  In order to break through to the third layer of Qi training as soon as possible, Ling Xiao has been storing the elixirs he refined over the past two months and hasn't sold a single one, keeping them all for himself. He takes one pill every three days, either medium or high grade.

  Enough elixir, plus his diligent cultivation, he often goes to the cold cave of Spider Ridge, which is a great way to improve his spiritual power.

  As for his cultivation, he has already surpassed Fengyi by a hair's breadth, but as for breaking through, it still lacks a bit of heat. This can only be slowly accumulated, waiting for the opportunity to arise.

  On this day, which was again a sixth day, Ling Xiao hurried to the east peak of Qi Yun Peak early in the morning and went to Fuling's cave mansion.

  The main peak of Mount Qiyun, Qiyun Peak, is divided into two peaks, east and west.

  Disciples like Ling Xiao and Feng Yi, who were outer door disciples, lived on the West Peak; while inner door disciples and elder members of the sect resided on the East Peak, where the environment was better and spiritual energy more abundant.

  Dongfeng is much larger than Xifeng, but there are many fewer people living here.

  All the way around, Ling Xiao only saw the secluded birds singing in the forest, the bamboo leaves swaying gently, and the scenery of the fairy house everywhere, which was quite different from the Western Peak. Moreover, the air was clear and refreshing, and when he heard it, his spirit was refreshed without realizing it. His heart also involuntarily produced a few points of envy, thinking that cultivating here would be much faster than on the Western Peak, only slightly inferior to being in the Cold Cave.

  This is the difference between the treatment of insiders and outsiders.

  It wasn't until they had almost reached the summit that they arrived at the entrance of Fuling's cave. After reporting their arrival, they waited for a moment before being summoned inside.

  After entering, I saw that the old man Fuling was still wearing a white robe and sitting cross-legged; his hair was combed up, revealing his fair and slender neck, and his demeanor was impressive.

  Ling Xiao didn't dare look at him again and hastily bowed his head in greeting.

  Fu Ling nodded slightly and gestured for him to sit down, then asked: "The main medicine and auxiliary medicine of the Tianmo Dan, do you still remember?"

  In these two months, Fu Ling taught him all sorts of techniques for refining elixirs and never relaxed her guard on the basics. She had always thought that Ling Xiao was lacking in foundation. Therefore, now Ling Xiao knew a thing or two about the properties of many low-grade elixir ingredients, if not as familiar as the back of his hand.

  Tianmo Dan is also a type of auxiliary elixir for cultivation; it is used by practitioners in the later stages of Qi refinement and the early stages of foundation building. It has a rich, ink-like color that seems to be on the verge of dripping, slightly smaller than Pei Yuan Dan. Its medicinal properties are much more robust than those of Pei Yuan Dan.

  "The main medicine is Ghost Dragon Flower and Ink Jade Grass; the auxiliary medicines are 13 in total, including Black Lotus Seed, Sun Water Grass, Cold Bamboo Root..."

  Feng Ling asked again: "What is the nature of Yue Han Guo? What kind of elixir can be refined with it?"

  "Moon cold fruit, cool in nature, has the effect of calming the mind and benefiting Qi, with a slightly sour and sweet taste. Even if taken alone, it can supplement the original Qi. It is the main medicine for refining the second-order elixir, Xiao Huandan; moreover, adding a small amount to Yiqi Dan can also slightly improve its quality."

  Feng Ling nodded slightly and continued to ask: "To refine the elixir of longevity, what kind of flame is most suitable?"

  ……

  The art of alchemy has been passed down to the present day, and has developed into a vast system. There are at least tens of thousands of mature types of elixirs, and among them, the number of spiritual medicines is several times more than that.

  This is nothing more than that the spiritual energy in Dan medicine is very dense, so when refining Dan, even the choice of flame cannot be careless.

  For example, the earth fire is fierce and biased towards yang, while the ghost fire is yin and soft, belonging to yin. Therefore, using these two different flames to refine elixirs will also result in differences in their quality. Elixirs like Pei Yuan Dan, Jiu Zhi Dan, and Xiao Huan Dan are relatively easy to refine, but for more specialized and difficult-to-refine third-tier elixirs like Chang Shou Dan, the choice of flame is even more crucial. It's best to choose wood fire from deep within forests where the energy of living things is dense to aid in refinement.

  Fuling's questioning speed became faster and more eccentric.

  However, Ling Xiao was originally cautious and meticulous. In recent days, in order to hide the strange flame in his body, he had been even more diligent than usual. Therefore, when Fu Ling asked him these questions, he responded fluently.

  After asking for a whole hour, Fuling finally stopped and nodded his head: "Not bad, it seems that you have a much more solid grasp of these basics than before."

  "Thanks entirely to Master Shu's guidance."

  Fu Ling spoke directly, and calmly said: "You've basically memorized these foundational knowledge. Next, I'll take you to the depths of the Earth Fire, let you get more familiar with it, and practice controlling the flames."

  Ling Xiao was shocked and went to the depths of the earth fire?

  But before he could even ask, Fú Líng had already swept him up with a long sleeve and escaped from the cave. Although Fú Líng was protecting him, Líng Xiāo still felt the mountain wind blowing fiercely against his face, making it hard for him to open his eyes. Fú Líng had quickly fled towards a valley deep in the eastern peak, leaving behind a trail of crimson light in the empty air.

  In the blink of an eye, it had escaped from the summit to the valley.

  This was still Ling Xiao's first experience of breaking through the air, but with Fuling holding him, he didn't feel afraid at all, and instead felt a hint of excitement.

  Deep down, he had always been envious of this. He had long heard that after reaching the foundation period, one could break through the air and fly freely, covering a distance of thousands of miles in just one day. Calculating it out, at least a thousand miles could be covered in an hour; in the blink of an eye, he could fly to over a hundred meters away! Such speed was even far superior to his own speed when using his talismans.

  It can also be seen that there is a world of difference between the foundation-building stage cultivators and these energy-gathering stage cultivators.

  Ling Xiao was just thinking about it when he saw Fu Ling already leading him to a grove at the bottom of the valley. Just as Ling Xiao was wondering, Fu Ling cast a spell and the trees in front of them suddenly parted like a curtain, revealing a dark and mysterious cave.

  There is actually an illusion array here.

  Ling Xiao had been in the Qi Yun Sect for more than four years, but this was still his first time coming here.

  Then, a thin old man emerged from the cave, with his hands tucked in his sleeves, and his body so frail that it made one wonder if a gust of wind could blow him down.

  His gaze hazily stopped on Ling Xiao for a moment before turning to Fu Ling, slowly saying: "Elder Fu, are you taking him to the Root of Earth Fire?"

  Ling Xiao recognized that the emaciated old man in front of him, who looked like he was about to die, was actually Qi Yun Sect's third elder, Ji Wu Xin. His cultivation base was at the fifth layer of foundation building, slightly stronger than Fu Ling's. Ling Xiao had also heard his two lectures on alchemy before.

  Feng Ling bowed slightly and replied softly, "Yes."

  Ling Xiao followed suit and bowed slightly. Fuling had this tone with everyone, but the fact that she was bowing showed her respect for Seasoned Elder.

  "Come on in."

  Ji Lao also did not block, but opened the cave entrance, his eyes lingering on Ling Xiao's body for a moment, seemingly quite interested.

  Fu Ling carried Ling Xiao and rushed straight into the cave mansion.

  Contrary to Ling Xiao's expectations, the cave was winding downwards, and Fu Ling took him all the way down.

  Feng Ling's speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye, he had already brought Lin Xiang to a place over a hundred meters away. Lin Xiang only felt that the scenery in front of him was rapidly flashing by without stopping. The air around them grew hotter and hotter, as if they were being roasted on a flame, and beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but were quickly evaporated by the scorching heat.

  Ling Xiao couldn't help but recall Fuling and Seasoned Elder's words, deep within the earth fire, the root of the earth fire...

  My heart skipped a beat, could it be that I'm really going to the place where the Qi Yun Sect draws out the earth fire? My heartbeat accelerated involuntarily. It's said that the earth fire of the Qi Yun Sect is drawn from ten thousand feet underground; and its temperature is so high that even at a distance of ten thousand feet, people can still feel like they're being roasted alive. Now I'm actually going to the source of the earth fire?

  His mind had just turned to this, and he already felt the temperature around him getting higher and higher. Every breath he took was like a flame rolling down his throat, burning him so much that he almost couldn't breathe.

  Fortunately, Fowling timely sacrificed the top-grade artifact Huǒ Rì Líng from his waist, and saw a red ribbon swirling around his body, isolating most of the heat.

  Ling Xiao still felt hot all over her body, but she was much better.

  "Your cultivation is still a bit too weak!" Fuling's voice was heard in his ear, "Even if you have a good talent for alchemy, you can't slack off in your practice! Otherwise, your cultivation will be insufficient, and you won't be able to control the flames precisely, let alone refine high-quality elixirs."

  Ling Xiao was about to speak, but as soon as he opened his mouth, a wave of hot air rushed in, scorching his throat and causing him to cough loudly.

  Feng Ling continued to retreat hastily while changing the subject, explaining calmly to Ling Xiao, "I think you should have guessed it too. This is the source of the earth fire, and the earth fire used for alchemy every day is drawn from here. The temperature in between is so high that even I dare not be careless at all. Here is called the root of the earth fire by the sect, which is one of the two great secret places of the Qi Yun Sect; the foundation of the sect's establishment a thousand years ago lies in these two secret places. Another place can only be entered by inner disciples and elders of the Qi Yun Sect, even I cannot take you there."

  As they spoke, Fuling had already brought him to the source of the earth fire.