Borrowed Sword

Chapter 95: The Defiant Medicinal Cauldron

After returning to the bamboo house, Han Shuangjiang only felt that she had been overthinking.

Clearly, the two of them often went out together. So why, when he said it was just “going for a walk,” did it suddenly feel different in nature?

In the early years, when she was still in Red Sleeves Beckon, her outings had been restricted.

Every year during the Lantern Festival, she would watch the bustling streets from inside the building.

Men and women went out in pairs, guessing riddles, admiring the moon.

They might even walk by the river and then set afloat a river lantern.

At the age when love first stirred, even if one’s heart had not yet settled on someone, it was hard not to be drawn to matters of affection.

“By the willow tops hangs the moon, after dusk two meet.”

The moon she had seen since childhood—what beauty did it truly hold?

In the end, it was about the person who accompanied you to admire the moon.

Han Shuangjiang sat down on the meditation cushion inside the house, her pair of slender jade legs crossed.

Her knees pressed against her trousers, pulling the fabric tight at her thighs and buttocks, stretching it taut.

It outlined the plump, faintly fleshy base of her thighs, as well as the rounded, full-moon-like curves of her plump buttocks.

She looked out the window, wishing she truly bore the great fortune Chu Huaixu had spoken of.

Compared to entering a secret realm, strolling beneath the moonlight might make her even more uneasy and nervous.

“But, the scenery of the Dao Gate is indeed beautiful.” The young girl suddenly thought so.

She drew in a deep breath, pulling back her gaze from the window.

Closing her eyes, she began cultivating the 《Six Sovereigns Canon》.

With her Body of Profound Yin, her cultivation speed was indeed defiant of the heavens. She had already begun charging at the Third Heaven of the First Realm, soon about to catch up with Chu Huaixu’s progress.

On the other side, that dead fox had not taken his own words to heart at all.

Because he had faith in Han Shuangjiang. As long as they wandered around enough, they were a hundred percent guaranteed to enter the secret realm!

Walking? What walking—it was clearly just like queuing for a dungeon run.

At this moment, he had spent more than three thousand Experience Points to initiate into the 《Profound Fire Burning Heaven Art》.

The reason this very basic pill-refining art suited him so well was simply because it consumed a great deal of spiritual energy.

And Chu Huaixu’s spiritual energy had no particular characteristics, no special attributes—his advantage lay in sheer abundance!

He placed the medicinal ingredients for the Qi-Gathering Pill by his side. With a thought, they entered the mysterious space within the Black Bead, and were placed into the medicinal cauldron.

Forming seals with both hands, he began performing the pill-refining art.

As soon as his spiritual energy entered the Black Bead, this greedy and hungry medicinal cauldron wanted to suck it all away.

Chu Huaixu hurriedly converted it into alchemic fire, burning fiercely outside the cauldron.

Still trying to absorb? Burn, then!

Thus began his first attempt at pill refinement.

“Feels like I don’t even need to control the fire’s intensity?” Chu Huaixu was a little surprised.

In alchemy, control over fire was crucial.

Thus, throughout the process, an alchemist had to watch carefully and adjust by casting techniques.

But with 【Dao Birth One】, it seemed unnecessary.

More precisely, the artifact spirit controlled it on its own.

Compared to Chu Huaixu, this novice at pill refinement, the artifact spirit appeared far more skilled and experienced.

As always, it kept sending its master a single message—hungry!

Yet, while crying out in hunger, it simultaneously refined pills with great proficiency.

To Chu Huaixu, it felt like: “When I perform the 《Profound Fire Burning Heaven Art》, it’s as if I’m plugging in the cauldron and flipping the switch.”

“After that, it just goes into automatic mode?”

He had never intended to level up this low-tier pill-refining art to its maximum, feeling it unnecessary.

“Leveling up is for increasing success rate.”

“But doesn’t this cauldron inherently guarantee one hundred percent success?”

That, too, was the defiant aspect of 【Dao Birth One】.

Refining a Qi-Gathering Pill required nearly two hours.

At first, Chu Huaixu had watched closely from the side, but later realized it wasn’t necessary at all.

“Isn’t this basically like raising an alchemist inside the Black Bead?”

“Every time I cast the 《Profound Fire Burning Heaven Art》, it’s like giving him a smack on the back of the head, barking an order—Refine for me!”

“Then he refines, while I don’t have to do a thing. After two hours, I just come back to collect the pills.”

“Hiss—!” Chu Huaixu sucked in a cold breath.

Once again, he realized just how terrifying this medicinal cauldron—suspected to be the Dao Ancestor’s life-bound artifact—truly was!

For now, it was merely producing batches of first-grade Spiritual Pills. That wasn’t much.

But in the future, as his cultivation realm rose, as his mastery over the cauldron deepened, the possibilities would be unimaginable!

More importantly, this saved Chu Huaixu’s time. He didn’t need to spend it refining pills himself.

There was another key point.

A person’s strength always had its limits!

Whether refining pills or forging artifacts, both required utmost focus and drained the spirit immensely.

Take Qi-Gathering Pills as an example—though one batch took only two hours, a low-level alchemist could only manage about three batches per day at most.

Six hours—that was twelve full hours!

It was already treating oneself like a beast of burden.

Moreover, once one’s spiritual energy was exhausted, one had to meditate to replenish it, which cost more time.

Adding it all up, it meant spending nearly every waking moment on alchemy, apart from eating and sleeping.

And if a batch ever failed, the frustration could be crushing…

But the medicinal cauldron was different.

Chu Huaixu, like a black-hearted capitalist, could never treat it as human.

“You’re a cauldron!”

In the blazing summer heat, with the air conditioner running day and night, would you ever think, “The air conditioner must be tired too”?

Most people wouldn’t pity the air conditioner—at most, they pitied the electricity bill.

But regardless, the medicinal cauldron was now Chu Huaixu’s life-bound spiritual artifact.

So, he still fed it a few wisps of spiritual energy—regarding it as paying wages.

The artifact spirit, after absorbing the energy, still cried out in hunger.

Which always left Chu Huaixu feeling a little inadequate.

Completely unable to feed it full.

Fortunately, while complaining about never having enough, it continued refining pills without pause.

Two hours passed in a flash.

Sure enough, just as the system had described, the Qi-Gathering Pills had been refined successfully.

One batch produced ten Spiritual Pills.

Chu Huaixu held the ten pills in both hands, examining them carefully.

“Perfect quality!”

“Even if the Pill King climbed out of his grave to refine them, this would probably be the limit.” he thought.

A test scored only a hundred points because the paper’s maximum score was one hundred.

“With this, I can sell at any high price. Even the Treasure Pavilion would have no grounds to haggle when buying them back!” Chu Huaixu’s heart was full of delight.

In his joy, he fed the cauldron a few more wisps of spiritual energy.

Then, Chu Huaixu fetched a wooden bucket, cleaning out the leftover dregs inside the cauldron.

These dregs had some use as well.

They could serve as fertilizer for spirit herbs, feed for spirit beasts, or be given to impoverished body-training cultivators for medicinal baths.

Chu Huaixu was not stingy. With ten perfect-quality Qi-Gathering Pills in hand, how could he treat his junior brother Xu Ziqing poorly?

“Xiao Xu!” he called.

“Yes, Senior Brother!” Xu Ziqing responded instantly, thinking his senior had instructions.

“There’s a wooden bucket by my door. Take it, pour it out, and use it for a medicinal bath—it should be of some help.” he said.

“Alright, thank you, Senior Brother!”

“When you bring it back, remember to wash the bucket clean and leave it by the door.” Chu Huaixu instructed.

“Okay.”

The Qi-Gathering Pills would definitely not be given to him right now—Chu Huaixu himself couldn’t bear to eat them.

For now, he had to let the profits roll over, to earn more Sect Contribution Points.

He was still in debt—he hadn’t yet repaid Big Ice Block’s 300 points.

“It’s definitely not the time for high spending yet.”

When he had more to spare, then the three of them could take the pills together.

“For Xiao Xu, this Innate Drug-taking Holy Body, to have met me, truly is his blessing.” Chu Huaixu thought.

Otherwise, during the Qi-Opening Stage, he would have been stuck for a long time.

Eastern Continent, Mirror Country, Imperial Capital.

Inside Red Sleeves Beckon, the storyteller finished his day’s work. Bowing slightly to the audience, he smiled and stepped down.

Veiled dancing girls took the stage, presenting song and dance.

As one of the capital’s high-class pleasure venues, even after the Joyous Sect’s destruction and a change in ownership, the quality of women here had not declined.

In the outer hall, men watched the dancers gracefully moving on stage, feeling fondness for each and every one.

Only the storyteller held up a mirror, admiring himself without end, indulging in his imagined beauty.

That Dao Gate Second Elder, who looked like some rustic farmer, once again began his habitual, bored nail-biting.

He had long grown weary of this place, yet Little Martial Uncle seemed never to tire of telling stories.

The burly man knew very well that Little Martial Uncle loved this feeling of being the focus of all eyes upon the stage.

“Little Martial Uncle, are we really not going back yet? It’s been quite a few days already.” he asked.

How dull! Even slaying demons would be better than staring at these powdered skeletons.

As a Pill Refining Grandmaster, his mind was on his precious spirit herbs. He didn’t know if his disciples had tended them properly.

“Not going back.” The storyteller frowned, his tone displeased.

He continued, “By the reckoning of days, that child Shuangjiang should have reached the First Realm already. If my guess is correct, she must have already ascended Hidden Spirit Mountain.”

“But that mountain holds many variables and tests one’s mind.”

“Zhegutian is her best choice. I wonder if she has taken it.” Little Martial Uncle said.

He put down his mirror, looked toward the Dao Gate Second Elder, and said, “As for Xu Ziqing, that boy…”

“Even by next month, he still won’t reach the First Realm!”

“In the message I sent to Li Chunsong, I instructed that once they were brought up the mountain, they should be treated as ordinary disciples at first.”

“Especially that Xu Ziqing, who perfectly matches everything in the Dao Ancestor’s prophecy. If it is truly as you say, giving him the Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill—should anything unexpected occur, will you take responsibility?” He glared at the burly man.

Hearing this, the big man shrank his head.

This concerned the Great Calamity of Heaven and Earth and related to the Origin Spirit Realm. He dared not take such a burden.

The storyteller gave him a sharp glance and said, “I know you’re a Pill Refining Grandmaster, and you have many Spiritual Pills. Once he reaches the First Realm and ascends Hidden Spirit Mountain, it won’t be too late to gift him a Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill.”

The Dao Gate Second Elder had no choice but to nod.

Though he didn’t look very bright, his eagerness to return to the Dao Gate drove him to think up excuses. Soon enough, he actually came up with one.

Suddenly, the burly man cried out, “Oh no!”

“What are you fussing about now?” The storyteller was thoroughly displeased.

“Little Martial Uncle, I suddenly realized a great variable!”

“Oh? What variable?”

“Little Junior Sister!” The big man’s face was full of anxiety.

“How so?” The storyteller merely smiled faintly, keeping his composed disposition.

The Dao Gate Second Elder quickly explained, “Little Martial Uncle, you and I both know Little Junior Sister’s reckless nature. She already has a Xuantian Embryo Breathing Pill!”

“How do you know she has one?”

“Well, I gave it to her last year.” The Pill Refining Grandmaster admitted.

The storyteller raised his mirror again, speaking indifferently, “Such a small matter, and you get all flustered? I made it clear in my message—this has been classified as top secret. Those below the Seventh Level must not know.”

He looked smug, as though everything had long been accounted for.

This was the attitude of one who left no gaps in his calculations.

“Little Martial Uncle, brilliant!” The big man, now disheartened, could only praise him so.

The storyteller tidied the strands of dragon whiskers before his forehead, then said, “I know you’re anxious. Very well, in another month, we will set out to return to the Dao Gate.”

“Xu Ziqing’s cultivation aptitude is too poor. Without external assistance, he cannot meet the conditions for earning the Ascension Token.”

“At that time, the Sect Master will have to specially grant him a Pass Token.” Little Martial Uncle said.

The Dao Gate Second Elder nodded. “A Sect Master’s special approval—the Charred-black Wooden Token can only be issued once every three years. In these past years, there’s been no disciple worthy of it. Keeping it till now and giving it to Xu Ziqing won’t be considered breaking the rules.”

“Little Martial Uncle, brilliant! Truly brilliant!” He began flattering again, resigning himself to endure another month at the foot of the mountain.

Hearing this, the storyteller smiled faintly. Having arranged everything with perfect clarity, he naturally felt a touch of pride.