Chapter 571: Samadhi True Fire

According to the records within the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace, Samadhi True Fire was a true flame jointly nurtured from the Fire within Wood, the Fire within Stone, and the Fire within the Void. It was precisely the flame required for refining high-grade medicinal pills.

Moreover, this Samadhi True Fire was a flame used exclusively by Immortal Dao Qi Refiners. Unlike the flames of the mortal world, ordinary water could not extinguish it. It was more than a hundred times more powerful than the tiny flame Zhang Xiaohua could currently produce.

Looking at that wisp of pale-red flame within the pill furnace, Zhang Xiaohua did not seem to feel any heat from it. Thus, he took out a piece of jade from his robes, shaved off a fragment with his small sword, and tossed it into the flame. Only a “chi” sound was heard, and the thumb-sized piece of jade immediately turned into a wisp of green smoke.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohua secretly nodded. He shaved off another piece, and after casting a hand seal into the flame, he tossed the jade piece in again. This time, the jade did not instantly turn into smoke. Instead, under the tempering of the flame, it gradually shrank, finally being refined into a bead of jade liquid the size of a soybean. Zhang Xiaohua beckoned with his hand, and the jade liquid flew out of the furnace, stopping before his eyes. He looked at the emerald-green liquid with his eyes and then swept it with his Divine Sense. To his surprise, faint fluctuations of Yuan Qi were actually emanating from it.

“Samadhi True Fire is indeed wondrous!” Zhang Xiaohua sighed inwardly. “However, this fire is meant for refining high-grade medicinal pills. Using it to refine low-grade pills on ordinary days would be like slaughtering an ox with a butchering knife meant for a chicken. It simply isn’t worth it.”

After extinguishing the Samadhi True Fire, Zhang Xiaohua carefully examined all eight sides of the furnace. Each side had a furnace opening, and every opening bore a name: Qian, Kun, Xun, Dui, Gen, Zhen, Li, and Kan. Within these eight furnace openings were corresponding formations. When refining pills, if different medicinal herbs were placed into different openings according to their attributes for tempering, the medicinal properties could be enhanced by thirty percent, while the success rate of pill formation could be increased by twenty percent.

Thinking of this, Zhang Xiaohua frowned slightly. He already had some understanding of the attributes of medicinal herbs and believed they should be divided according to the Five Elements of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. So why had the attributes of the Eight Trigrams appeared here instead? There were even eight formations set up according to these eight attributes. Furthermore, the term “pill formation rate” had appeared. Could it be that refining high-grade medicinal pills was truly that difficult?

However, the current Zhang Xiaohua could only refine low-grade medicinal pills. He had not even come into contact with refining mid-grade pills, so how could he know the hardships involved in refining high-grade ones? Fortunately, since this Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace was capable of refining high-grade medicinal pills, even without using Samadhi True Fire, it was still no different from the pill furnaces of Spring Rebirth Valley, and refining the Meridian Nourishing Pill would be more than easy enough.

The flames on the platform beneath the pill furnace were also miraculous. They were completely different from the Earth Fire found in Spring Rebirth Valley and in the pill rooms of the Pill Division on the western side of Tianmu Peak. These flames burned directly above the platform out of thin air. After Zhang Xiaohua finished examining the Samadhi True Fire and extinguished the flames on the platform as well, he naturally swept the platform with his Divine Sense. There, he found intricate symbols carved into its surface, seemingly a type of formation. Presumably, Earth Fire could be drawn up from beneath the platform, while this formation served to restrain and control it.

“The pill rooms on the western side of Tianmu Peak were probably originally equipped with platforms just like the one in this pill room. It’s just that later, no one could activate them with hand seals anymore, or perhaps no one knew how to draw forth the fire. Left with no alternative, they dismantled the platform and installed mechanisms to control the Earth Fire instead. Spring Rebirth Valley was probably the same ten thousand years ago.” Zhang Xiaohua thought to himself.

After marveling at the wonders of Immortal Dao methods, Zhang Xiaohua followed the instructions recorded on the furnace and cast several more hand seals. The Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace unexpectedly shrank with a rumble, just like his small pill furnace. Zhang Xiaohua took out his money pouch, removed the pile of blue-jade coffin lids, and tried storing the furnace inside as well.

Afterward, Zhang Xiaohua took both pill furnaces back out and piled the less important items from the money pouch onto the ground, clearing out all the available space within it. There were still large quantities of medicinal herbs stacked on the mountainside of Tianmu Peak. All of them were materials needed for pill refining. Although they were considered worthless in the eyes of the disciples of Tuodan Hall, it was still best to collect them as soon as possible.

However, gathering them all would indeed be troublesome. If he simply stored all those jade boxes in the money pouch and carried them back to the pill room, it would certainly attract the attention of the other disciples. At the very least, it would make Chen Fengxiao suspicious as to how he had managed to do it, or where all those jade boxes had gone.

After some thought, Zhang Xiaohua turned his gaze toward the pile of blue jade coffin lids. The only solution was to refine them into jade boxes first and use them to store the medicinal herbs, allowing him to transport the herbs away inside the jade boxes.

Since he had decided on it, he immediately got to work. In any case, there was Earth Fire available in this pill room, so he might as well treat it as practice for artifact refinement.

Thus, Zhang Xiaohua once again ignited the Earth Fire, broke apart the blue jade, and began refining a batch of jade boxes of various sizes.

The jade boxes used for storing medicinal herbs appeared unremarkable, but they were actually rather troublesome to make. If they were merely long rectangular boxes like those used by the disciples of Tuodan Hall, they would have been easy to produce. However, Zhang Xiaohua’s jade boxes needed restrictions inscribed into them. After making only a few, he felt his True Qi running low and had no choice but to stop and replenish it.

Thus, he worked for a while, stopped to recover, then continued again. By the time evening arrived, he had only managed to make a little over ten jade boxes.

Feeling that it was getting late, Zhang Xiaohua extinguished the Earth Fire. Without even tidying up his things, he directly used Earth Escape and left.

On Tianmu Peak, the setting sun had long since sunk below the western horizon. Only a faint glow still lingered in the west, while the east had already disappeared into darkness. As soon as Zhang Xiaohua emerged from the cave, he sensed someone’s gaze upon him. Sweeping out with his Divine Sense, he found that it was none other than Bai Huan, crouching behind a large tree.

Zhang Xiaohua pretended not to notice and slowly walked to the edge of the medicinal field, lowering his head to inspect it carefully. Then he heard Bai Huan step out from behind the tree and call loudly, “Junior Brother Ren, it’s already dark. Why are you still wandering around these medicinal fields?”

Zhang Xiaohua raised his head and smiled. “So it’s Senior Brother Bai. Sigh, I’ve been cooped up inside that cave all day and was feeling rather stifled, so I came out for a walk. Oh, these medicinal fields still haven’t sprouted, have they? I wonder what the reason is. If we could discover the cause, wouldn’t the brothers of our Herb Division finally be able to hold their heads high?”

“Forget it.” Bai Huan said disdainfully. “What used to be planted on the summit of Tianmu Peak was Starwood Fruit, one of the main ingredients used by the Inner Sect disciples for pill refining. It grew extremely well, too, with a medicinal age of more than twenty years. But four or five years ago, I think, our Hall Master suddenly brought a group of Inner Sect disciples here. They searched all over the mountain for suitable locations and finally chose these few medicinal fields. They harvested all the original Starwood Fruit plants and transplanted them elsewhere, then planted some unknown seeds here instead. Well, from that day onward, not a single one of them has ever sprouted. Those Inner Sect disciples still come every year to inspect the place. Don’t think they haven’t dug up the seeds to check on them, and every so often, they even replace the seeds. If even the Inner Sect disciples can’t figure it out, how could we? Dreaming is more realistic!”

“Four or five years ago?” Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes narrowed slightly as he thought to himself, “Wasn’t that exactly when the Piaomiao Sect was exterminated? It was also when the Incense-Spreading Sect attacked Piaomiao Manor. Could it be that the disciples of the Incense-Spreading Sect saw seeds sprouting at Piaomiao Manor and decided to plant them themselves? It’s just that I don’t know what medicinal herb was being grown at Piaomiao Manor, nor what medicinal herb the Incense-Spreading Sect is trying to grow here.”

“However, if even the germination of the seeds requires such an extremely dense concentration of the Yuan Qi of Heaven and Earth, then this medicinal herb must be exceptionally rare, or perhaps something that has long since gone extinct! But if it truly is an extinct medicinal herb, where did they obtain the seeds? Hmm, the Yuan Qi of Heaven and Earth within the Incense-Spreading Sect is denser than outside, so perhaps they can preserve the seeds. Ah, right, what about Huanxi Villa? They shouldn’t be able to preserve them. Sigh, forget it, there’s no point thinking about it. If I get the chance in the future, I’ll just ask Sister Ou Yan.”

Having finished his thoughts, Zhang Xiaohua raised his head and said: “That may not necessarily be true. The Inner Sect disciples are merely stronger than us in martial arts. But when it comes to cultivating medicinal herbs, doesn’t the entire Incense-Spreading Sect still depend on the brothers of the Herb Division in Tuodan Hall?”

Bai Huan immediately beamed with delight. “Junior Brother Ren is absolutely right. The medicinal herbs used throughout the Incense-Spreading Sect really are the result of the hard work of us brothers in the Herb Division.” Then his tone changed. “But the herbs we grow are all ordinary medicinal herbs. Something like these seeds that refuse to sprout must certainly be a rare medicinal plant. That’s not the specialty of our Herb Division.”

“Heh, so you also know they’re rare medicinal herbs?” Zhang Xiaohua thought to himself. Just as he was about to speak, Bai Huan cut in first.

“Anyway, I have no interest in this sort of thing. As long as I water the fields, remove the weeds, and do my job properly, then wait for the Inner Sect disciples to come inspect them, that’s enough. Oh, if Junior Brother Ren is interested, you might as well pay more attention to it. If you really manage to discover a way to make them sprout, then you’ll truly strike it rich. Gaining the favor of the Inner Sect disciples and becoming an Outer Sect disciple, or even going to the Inner Sect to learn pill refining, would be effortless.”

Zhang Xiaohua’s heart stirred, and he asked, “The Inner Sect disciples refine pills as well?”

Bai Huan shook his head. “The Inner Sect disciples themselves do not refine pills. There are dedicated alchemists who refine pills for them. Every one of those alchemists is more formidable than the old Consecrated Elders of our Pill Division. It’s said that pills such as the Jade Restoration Pill can only be refined by those Inner Sect alchemists. The treatment they receive is beyond anything you could ever imagine.”

“Oh? Just what sort of treatment is beyond my imagination? Right, how do those Inner Sect alchemists refine pills?”

“This…” Bai Huan hesitated somewhat. “To be honest, I’ve only ever seen disciples of the Pill Division refining pills. Even when those old Consecrated Elders refine pills, we’re not allowed near them. How could I possibly know how the Inner Sect does it? As for the benefits and privileges they enjoy, I’ve only heard about them through rumors. How could disciples like us ever enter Yixiang Peak?”

“We’re not allowed to enter Yixiang Peak?” Zhang Xiaohua asked curiously.

“That’s right. Yixiang Peak is only open to Inner Sect disciples, people related to the Inner Sect, and individuals such as Hall Masters and Deputy Hall Masters from the various halls. No one else is allowed to enter.”

“What about Outer Sect disciples?”

“Outer Sect disciples are merely disciples of Wuming Hall, so of course, they aren’t allowed in. However, if an Outer Sect disciple is exceptionally outstanding and gains the favor of an Inner Sect Consecrated Elder or teacher, being accepted as a disciple, then they can enter. Oh, right, if an Outer Sect disciple passes the Inner Sect examination, they can enter as well. Unfortunately, as far as I know, it has already been a hundred years since anyone qualified to take the Inner Sect examination, aside from a genius who appeared three hundred years ago.”

“The Inner Sect examination?” Zhang Xiaohua was once again startled. This was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

“Yes. Outer Sect disciples have an examination. If they pass it, they obtain the qualification to roam the jianghu. The results of this examination are divided into upper, middle, and lower grades. Only those who achieve an upper-grade result are qualified to take the Inner Sect examination. It has already been several hundred years since anyone obtained an upper-grade result in the Outer Sect examination.”