Chapter Thirty-Three: The Mysterious Yin Pellet

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  *

  The next morning, Ling Xiao went to the Dan Medicine Pavilion of the Zongmen and purchased some materials for refining Xuan Yin Dan.

  Yesterday at the Wondrous Pavilion, he spent all the elixirs in his hand to buy materials for refining the puppet core. Fortunately, he still had some contribution points left from his sect, otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to gather enough materials to refine the elixir.

  He is now at the third layer of Qi Refining, and with the reputation of Fowling protecting him, buying materials for second-grade elixirs like Xuan Yin Dan naturally wouldn't attract attention from others.

  The main medicine of Xuan Yin Dan is Xuan Yin San, but one share requires 20 contribution points; the auxiliary medicines include Shui Chen Mu, Yin Shi, Han Xin Hua and so on, a total of eight kinds, which together require 10 contribution points for one share.

  Ling Xiao didn't have many sect contribution points left on him, and it was his first time refining the Xuan Yin Dan, so he naturally hadn't planned to prepare more. He only used 90 contribution points and exchanged them for three sets of Xuan Yin Dan materials. With that strange flame on him, which could repeatedly burn and refine, three sets of materials were enough.

  The success rate of second-order Dan medicine refining is much lower than that of first-order Dan medicine, which can also be seen from the price of these materials.

  The materials for a Xuan Yin Dan are worth 30 contribution points in total; but refining them into one low-grade Xuan Yin Dan is worth 100 contribution points, and refining them into one mid-grade is worth 200 contribution points. High-grade ones are worth between 500 to 600 contribution points.

  In other words, refining Xuan Yin Dan, four portions of materials can refine one low-grade Xuan Yin Dan, and it's already a stable profit.

  As for the earth fire, it's no longer necessary to borrow from the sect.

  Every three, six and nine days, Ling Xiao would go to listen to Fu Ling's lectures on alchemy, and was naturally allowed to use the earth fire there. Moreover, the earth fire formation there was more delicate and stable than the one in the Purple Cloud Hall, so he chose to refine the Xuan Yin Dan there.

  ……

  Ling Xiao returned to his house to meditate and cultivate, waiting for tomorrow when he would go to Fuling. No need to elaborate.

  On the third day, Ling Xiao rushed to Fuling's cave early. He had originally thought that after listening to Fuling's lecture, he would apply to borrow her earth fire room here.

  Unexpectedly, as soon as they met, Fu Ling directly opened his mouth and said: "You have already broken through to the third layer of Qi refining, and you can barely refine second-grade elixirs. From now on, there is no need to continue refining first-grade elixirs. Starting today, I will teach you how to refine second-grade elixirs."

  Ling Xiao was overjoyed and respectfully thanked Fuling.

  Feng Ling continued, "The types of second-grade elixirs are several times more than the first-grade ones! In our Qi Yun Sect's collection, there are over a hundred kinds of elixir recipes. Among them, the most common ones like Jiuzhi Dan and Xiaohuan Dan, one is used to assist in cultivation, and the other is used to recover true energy. As for the relatively rare Tianmo Dan and Yugu Dan, they also have their own unique uses, suitable for different situations."

  "Refining the Xiao Huan Dan, your power is still insufficient; as for the refining method of the Jiu Zhi Dan, you should have had some understanding before, it's just that your cultivation was not enough and you couldn't refine it. Today, I'll teach you how to refine the Tian Mo Dan first."

  If it were in the past, Ling Xiao would always listen to what Fowling taught and never raised any objections.

  However, this time he had other plans and carefully said: "Master Fu, I don't know if the refining of Xuan Yin Dan is easy? I'm quite interested in refining Xuan Yin Dan."

  "Mysterious Yin Pellet?"

  Feng Ling furrowed his brow, "Tianmo Dan is indeed used in small quantities, but it's also a type of auxiliary elixir for cultivation. Its medicinal properties are even more potent than Jiu Zhi Dan, only slightly inferior to third-grade elixirs. The reason it's not used much is because the materials are rare and expensive, but that doesn't mean it has no use. As for Xuan Yin Dan, it's a type of elixir that only cultivators who practice yin-cold true energy would use. What's the point of you learning to refine this elixir?"

  Ling Xiao hesitated, helping others to refine the elixir was nothing; it's just that if he spoke frankly, he would inevitably have to mention his past experience of selling elixirs at Wanyue Pavilion, which would add more trouble.

  He simply said: "The disciple is just interested in Xuan Yin Dan, and I would like to ask Master Shu for guidance."

  Fu Ling was somewhat perplexed, but he didn't probe further. Seeing his determination, he said: "Alright, different elixir formulas can also learn from and reference each other. In the future, if you have spare time, it wouldn't hurt to briefly study various elixir formulas, which would be greatly beneficial for improving your alchemy skills."

  "Yes." Ling Xiao replied respectfully.

  His heart was also moved, and Fowling treated him so leniently because of his "alchemical talent", without any selfishness. It made him feel grateful and secretly ashamed at the same time.

  Feng Ling paused for a moment before beginning to explain the various refining techniques of the Xuan Yin Dan. Ling Xiao also quickly composed himself, focusing his mind to listen carefully.

  Learning to refine a Dan medicine, the Dan formula is naturally crucial.

  The alchemical formula involves the main medicine and auxiliary medicine of Dan medicine, the applicable flame and temperature, the method of purifying Ling medicine, the method of condensing Dan, and various precautions.

  But Dan Fang is dead after all, and the environment it faces is ever-changing. The methods of alchemy are different, the temperature of the flame is different, the quality of the furnace, the law array, even the elixir is different; not to mention the various complex situations encountered during the alchemy process... These things, Dan Fang naturally cannot have them.

  To learn how to prepare a Dan medicine, on the one hand, you should refer to the Dan formula, and on the other hand, you should also carefully ponder and explore according to your actual situation.

  At this time, if someone can teach with an open mind and explain the details of what needs to be paid attention to, then it will be much easier to learn how to refine a Dan medicine.

  Feng Ling spoke for half a day, then had Ling Xiao try to refine it again, guiding him from the side. When she saw that Ling Xiao was almost familiar with the refining method of Xuan Yin Dan, she left him in the earth fire room to practice on his own.

  Then Fowling left the earth fire house.

  At Ling Xiao's current level of cultivation, completing the refining of a Xuan Yin Dan, including warming the furnace, purifying, condensing and taking the dan, would take at least half a time unit to one time unit, which is twice as long as refining a Pei Yuan Dan. If it's done more slowly and carefully, using up two time units wouldn't be unusual...

  When first learning to refine a Dan medicine, even with Master Fuling's explanations, one still needs to use their own heart and mind to ponder and repeatedly refine it several times.

  According to An Fu Ling's estimation, it would take Lin Xiao a day of hard work to successfully refine one pellet, which was already an astonishing talent. Even she planned to let Lin Xiao practice on her own in the next few lectures.

  So she didn't need to keep staring at Ling Xiao in the fire room all the time.

  ……

  The earth fire blazed up, divided into several strands, and wound its way around the bottom of the furnace.

  Ling Xiao sat in front of the furnace, carefully pinching his hand seals, changing his finger movements, and striking out a series of印诀 (mudras), which appeared in mid-air as a crimson-colored long river. Suddenly, it flew out and rolled into the furnace, delicately controlling the flames to warm up the furnace.

  He has made significant progress in his alchemy skills since he started paying for them himself, and with Fuling's guidance, he is still very confident that he can successfully refine the Xuan Yin Dan.

  But just refining is far from enough.

  Luò Qín girl wants is more than 80% of the medicinal power of Xuān Yīn Dan, Líng Xiāo isn't so confident.

  Take a deep breath, first discard all distractions, concentrate your energy, and take out the main medicine of Xuan Yin Dan, Xuan Yin San, and the auxiliary medicines Shui Chen Mu, Yin Shi, Han Xin Hua... one by one, and place them in front of you.

  The materials used in Xuan Yin Dan are fewer than those in Pei Yuan Dan, but it does not mean that the preparation is easier than Pei Yuan Dan.

  Although there is only one main medicine, Xuan Yin San, the purification of Xuan Yin San is extremely difficult. The nature of Xuan Yin San is quite lively, and when stored, it must be placed in a jade bottle, absolutely no water can be allowed to come into contact with it, otherwise the medicinal properties will be destroyed; even staying in the air for too long is not possible.

  When refining, the flame temperature must also be controlled very finely. If the fire is slightly strong, it will destroy the Xuan Yin San; but if the fire is insufficient, it will not be able to refine the Xuan Yin San.

  This is the first difficulty.

  Of course, since Ling Xiao's body has that strange flame, perhaps this would not be a problem after all.

  However, the second difficulty is that there is no shortcut. When condensing Dan, it is necessary to finely control the earth fire and control the order of condensation of different materials. The main medicine Xuan Yin San must be fully mixed with each auxiliary medicine in a certain proportion, then condensed one by one, and finally all the materials are condensed together to form Dan.

  In the crucible, under the raging flames, while controlling the temperature, one must also complete such delicate operations... If you are slightly careless, you will destroy all the materials.

  Of course, other places are not easy either, and we must also concentrate all our energy.

  After the warm furnace was completed, Ling Xiao carefully added the materials of Xuan Yin Dan to the cauldron one by one. Then, he secretly sent the strange flame in his body into the cauldron and carefully refined all the materials first.

  He originally relied on the strange flame in his body and didn't take it too seriously. But unexpectedly, after burning the Xuan Yin powder into fine powder, his spirit was suddenly overcome with an irresistible fatigue, causing the subsequent spell to fail to connect in time, and a leak occurred in the purification step.

  It turns out that the consumption of spiritual thoughts by the burning of Xuan Yin is so great.

  Better take a short rest and start again from scratch.

  Furnace, refining... Ling Xiao pinched the fire cloud key, also known as Yunzhua, and with a single stroke of the law key, he finely controlled the flames and materials.

  He now has a deeper understanding of the alchemy formula and is more skilled in its use. However, when refining the Xuan Yin Dan, he still frequently fails. Fortunately, there is that strange flame inside his body, which quietly sends it into the furnace every time he fails, transforming it into a small bird with green flames, flying out and carrying the failed materials in its beak, slowly burning them in its abdomen.

  Then re-pinch the law key, activate the law array, and continue to refine the elixir.

  Refining the elixir... failed... burned... continue refining the elixir... another dull and tasteless process of refining the Xuan Yin Dan, the number of times I've failed to refine it is far more than when I was refining the Pei Yuan Dan.

  Of course, this time the consumption of spiritual energy is much greater, so Ling Xiao can't help but rest for a while after each material is scrapped and re-burned into powder before continuing. However, this also gave him time to recover his true energy. Therefore, the time it takes him to complete one alchemy is only slightly longer.

  Time is passing bit by bit...

  Ling Xiao was in the Dan room, and he didn't feel the passage of time at all. He continued the dull and tedious process of alchemy, neglecting sleep and food. He knew he wasn't a genius, so he had to work ten or even a hundred times harder than others to catch up. Hmm, and also, to maintain his reputation as an alchemy prodigy...

  Buzzing——

  Finally, after who knows how many repetitions of refining the elixir, Ling Xiao finally heard the long-awaited humming sound once again!