Chapter 317: Refining Medicine

Duan Rong and Pan Yong walked through the dense forest.

Duan Rong kept his peripheral vision on Pan Yong beside him; he always felt a dangerous aura about this man.

Pan Yong stopped in front of a stone wall covered in vines; he suddenly reached out and lifted a section where the vines were dense, revealing a pitch-black cave entrance.

Pan Yong slipped inside, and Duan Rong, his gaze shifting, followed him in.

By the time Duan Rong squeezed in, Pan Yong was already at the cave entrance; he blew his Fire Folder alight, glanced at Duan Rong, and said, "You should get a torch too. The path in this cave isn't easy to walk."

Pan Yong took a torch down from the stone wall and lit it with his Fire Folder.

Duan Rong also took a torch and lit it from Pan Yong's.

Pan Yong glanced at the pitch-black stone cave ahead and said, "Let's go. We're going to a cave at the very back."

Duan Rong did not speak, merely following behind Pan Yong.

Pan Yong was quite satisfied with Duan Rong's performance.

What he hated most were newcomers who knew nothing yet kept asking questions.

He would naturally tell them what they needed to know.

Back when he was leading Yin Cong, he had truly wanted to tear that fellow's mouth apart.

Duan Rong held a torch in one hand and gripped a Sack full of poisonous insects in the other, his eyes scanning the surrounding stone walls in astonishment.

The stone walls were covered in sharp, jagged rock, and even the path beneath their feet required them to find a clear spot to step every three or five paces.

As Duan Rong felt puzzled, Pan Yong suddenly said in a leisurely voice, "This was originally a dormant volcano. It hasn't erupted for decades. These winding stone caves are all channels where magma once flowed and surged..."

"A volcano?!" Duan Rong scanned his surroundings, his heart shaken.

This was his first time walking inside a volcano, even if it was a dormant one.

The two reached a corner of the cave, and Duan Rong reached out to touch the stone wall beside him; the wall was deathly cold.

Duan Rong suddenly noticed that inside this stone cave, there was not only a lack of moss and ferns, but not even any poisonous insects.

Pan Yong, walking in front, seemed to have guessed Duan Rong's thoughts; he turned his head to glance at Duan Rong, who was standing dazed before the stone wall, and said, "After the magma flowed through, a large amount of sulfur remained on these walls... poisonous insects and moss cannot survive..."

The two passed through a stone cave and entered a somewhat narrow, winding passage.

Pan Yong said, "This section is the hardest to walk; once we get through it, it'll be fine. If we don't go this way, we'd have to take a long detour."

Duan Rong squeezed through a narrow gap between two stone walls, a sharp rock tip even grazing his nose.

By the time Duan Rong passed through, Pan Yong was already waiting there holding his torch.

The two walked for another stretch before suddenly stopping in front of a cave entrance; this entrance was fitted with a pitch-black, heavy Iron Door, and the copper lock on it was the size of a fist.

Duan Rong's gaze flickered; in such a deep part of the volcano's belly, it was actually locked with a heavy Iron Door.

What exactly was inside?

With a low, rumbling sound, Pan Yong had already opened the copper lock with a key and pushed open the heavy Iron Door.

Pan Yong walked in first, and Duan Rong, holding his torch, was just about to enter when his figure paused slightly at the entrance.

As soon as he reached the entrance, Duan Rong felt a damp, fishy stench rush into his face.

Duan Rong's brows immediately knit together as he walked in slowly.

As soon as Duan Rong stepped into the cave, he looked around cautiously; the cave was surprisingly deep and spacious, and under the light of the fire, the arched ceiling could be seen covered in sharp stone spikes.

Pan Yong had already walked a short distance away with his torch, and Duan Rong followed slowly.

Although this cave was large and emitted a damp, rotting, bloody scent, it had been empty the whole way.

Pan Yong's figure suddenly stopped, and Duan Rong immediately stopped his own figure not far from Pan Yong.

Duan Rong's eyes jumped; he noticed that the rock under Pan Yong's feet had turned a damp, murky black, as if a layer of black moss had grown on it.

But Pan Yong had said that moss could not survive here.

Pan Yong said in a deep voice, "Duan Rong, remember! When you reach this place where the rock changes color, do not go any further. If you go any further, you will be attacked!"

"Attacked?" Duan Rong frowned, looking around vigilantly. "What kind of attack?"

He had not noticed anything unusual along the way.

"The attack of the Black Blood Vine."

"Black Blood Vine!?" Duan Rong walked slowly to Pan Yong's side, and under the light of the torches they held, he saw two trees in the depths of the cave not far away; they were not tall, but their trunks were twisted and covered in vines.

If those could still be called trees.

Centered on those two trees, within a radius of nearly a zhang, the rock on the ground was as thick and black as ink.

The two trees themselves were pitch black.

The two trees grew sparse leaves, very few of them, with only a dozen or so on each tree.

Each leaf was about the size of a human palm, but eerily, those leaves were as bright red as blood, thick and dripping with color.

Pitch-black trunks, twisted vines, bright red leaves.

The two trees before them were indescribably terrifying and eerie...

Duan Rong's gaze was astonished; he felt that such trees should grow in hell.

Or perhaps, at this moment, he was standing at the entrance to hell.

At the very top of the crowns of those two trees hung two cyan-colored fruits the size of fists, flashing with a faint, ghostly cyan light.

And what Duan Rong could not see was that on the ground beside those two trees, there was a fine hole like a spring, from which rich Heaven and Earth Qi gushed out, permeating the cave...

It was just that Pan Yong and Duan Rong were only Martial Artists who had just stepped into the True Qi Realm, and they had no perception of Heaven and Earth Qi.

Only Martial Artists who had stepped into the Qi Refining Realm would have a sense of the concentration of Heaven and Earth Qi in the air.

"This Black Blood Vine needs to be fed once every three days..."

Pan Yong was just saying this to Duan Rong when footsteps suddenly sounded behind them.

Duan Rong's heart jumped, but he saw Pan Yong merely glance lightly toward the way they had come.

Duan Rong knew there was nothing wrong, so he also focused his eyes and looked toward where the footsteps were coming from.

A figure could be seen, holding a torch and walking slowly closer.

As the figure approached, Duan Rong's gaze shifted.

"It's Chen Hu."

Chen Hu held a torch, and behind his back, he seemed to be carrying a dark shadow.

Chen Hu walked closer, bent slightly, and gave his shoulder a twist; then, with a thud, a massive yellow shadow was slammed onto the ground.

It was actually a large tiger that had been beaten to death; judging by its size, it must have weighed three hundred catties.

Chen Hu glanced at Duan Rong, his expression slightly surprised, then looked at Pan Yong and said, "He just arrived, and you're already bringing him to feed the Black Blood Vine?"

Pan Yong said, "Master Shang said that for tonight's medicine refining, he is to go as well."

"Is that so?" Chen Hu looked at Duan Rong with a profound gaze.

Pan Yong said, "Since he's going to the medicine refining, he can naturally feed the Black Blood Vine as well."

Pan Yong had already told Duan Rong about participating in the medicine refining yesterday evening, but when Pan Yong told him, there hadn't been a trace of anything unusual in his expression.

But now, Duan Rong could tell from Chen Hu's eyes that for him to participate in medicine refining just after arriving was clearly a very abnormal matter.

Where there is an anomaly, there must be a demon?

Why did Shang Xiangyu let him participate in medicine refining as soon as he arrived?

Could it be related to the notebook that Shen Ping left behind?

Or perhaps it was related to him recognizing the three poisonous herbs?

But Duan Rong felt that these alone were not enough to make Shang Xiangyu change his established practice!

Duan Rong suddenly recalled the scene before he lost consciousness.

He had spoken Shen Ping's name, and Shang Xiangyu had suddenly stood up in a loss of composure, knocking the lid off the large stone pot on the side table; only then was he overcome by the strange fragrance inside the large stone pot.

Because he had suddenly lost consciousness at that time, Duan Rong had not thought much about the previous scene.

But at this moment, as Duan Rong recalled Shang Xiangyu's reaction to hearing Shen Ping's name, he could conclude that Shang Xiangyu definitely knew Shen Ping.

It was because of Shen Ping that Shang Xiangyu had changed his established practice.

He let him participate in medicine refining as soon as he arrived.

Duan Rong was certain his deduction was correct.

Just then, Chen Hu flipped his hand and produced a dagger flashing with cold light from his sleeve; he actually gripped that dagger and began to skin the tiger on the ground.

Pan Yong glanced at Chen Hu, looked at Duan Rong, and said, "He feeds it blood-food! We feed it poison-food! Both are once every three days!"

As Pan Yong spoke, he gripped his sack, suddenly jumped up and gave it a toss, scattering the poisonous insects in the sack around one of the Black Blood Vines.

Pan Yong looked at Duan Rong and said, "Scatter your bag toward the other one."

To scatter a full sack of poisonous insects all around a Black Blood Vine in one go still required some technique.

Duan Rong's hidden weapon techniques not only integrated many schools but had long since been mastered to the realm of Great Perfection.

Duan Rong stood there; instead of jumping up like Pan Yong, he kept his feet still, spread the mouth of the sack open to reveal the poisonous insects inside, and then suddenly grabbed a corner of the bottom of the sack and gave it a sudden flick.

It looked like an ordinary posture for tossing a sack, but in that split second, Duan Rong used over twenty types of changing techniques.

The sack of poisonous insects could be seen raining down like flowers in the sky, pattering onto the area around the other Black Blood Vine.

The poisonous insects Duan Rong scattered were clearly more even and more accurate than Pan Yong's.

"Beautiful!" Chen Hu couldn't help but exclaim.

Pan Yong glanced at Chen Hu and smiled somewhat awkwardly. He knew that this fellow Chen Hu rarely praised anyone.

By this time, Chen Hu had already peeled the tiger's skin and chopped the bloody tiger carcass into two halves.

Chen Hu grabbed the bloody leg of the tiger and threw it; a bloody shadow flashed, and the two halves of the tiger's bloody corpse landed steadily beneath the two Black Blood Vines.

At this moment, the vines of the Black Blood Vine could be seen twisting and writhing like living things, winding toward the bloody corpses; some vines had already wrapped around the poisonous insects...

Soon, the bloody corpse wrapped by the vines began to ooze as if festering, a layer of yellow liquid rising to the surface, and immediately, waves of stench wafted over...

Pan Yong said, "Let's go. I can't stand this smell; if we stand here any longer, I'm afraid I'll vomit."

Duan Rong glanced at the base of the tree and saw a spider being coiled up by a vine; in no time at all, it vanished, seemingly turning into liquid and dripping onto that vine...

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, and Chen Hu walked out of the cave. At the cave entrance, Pan Yong locked the heavy Iron Door, then stuffed the key and that bottle of Poison Powder into Duan Rong's hand, saying, "Disciple Duan Rong, the job of feeding the Black Blood Vine poison-food from now on will be left to you. Once every three days."

Duan Rong tucked the key and Porcelain Bottle into his sleeve and said obediently, "Yes, Senior Brother!"

Pan Yong nodded, and the three of them held torches and walked back along the path they had come.

Walking to the stone wall wrapped in vines, Pan Yong looked at Duan Rong and said, "Disciple Duan Rong, there is nothing else to do today. At the Hour of the Dog tonight, the time for medicine refining, I will come to the stone cave to find you; just be there then."

Duan Rong said, "Thank you for your trouble, Senior Brother."

As Duan Rong spoke, his gaze shifted, and he said, "Then, two Senior Brothers, I will head back first."

"Mm, go ahead," Pan Yong said.

Duan Rong turned and walked into the dense forest; he prepared to take a bath and experience the pool water in the dense forest.

Pan Yong and Chen Hu stood before the stone wall, watching Duan Rong's figure appear and disappear between the trees of the dense forest.

Pan Yong said, "This kid's cultivation is not shallow!"

Chen Hu said, "If things go wrong, he might even have some background."

Pan Yong knew what Chen Hu was referring to. Being able to participate in medicine refining as soon as he arrived, Duan Rong was the first case.

"Get along well with him," Pan Yong suddenly said, then put his hands behind his back and walked toward a certain direction in the dense forest.

Chen Hu looked at Pan Yong's back, sneered, and muttered, "You have moments where you admit defeat too..."

As Chen Hu spoke, he walked toward another direction; it wasn't that he had anywhere to go, he just didn't want to take the same path as Pan Yong.

At this time, it was already the third quarter of the Hour of the Dog at night.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong, the four of them were in a deep, secluded cave in the belly of the volcano.

Four torches were inserted into the stone wall of the cave!

Four torches, burning fiercely, illuminated the interior of the cave brightly!

One could see that on the floor of the cave, there were actually several crisscrossing stone trenches, each about the width of the distance between two feet.

At the intersections of these stone trenches, there was a fairly deep stone pit.

Standing over each stone pit was a black cauldron.

There were four stone pits in total, and four black cauldrons.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong were currently placing the prepared medicinal materials beside the four black cauldrons.

As Yin Cong placed the various bottles and jars from his hands, he looked toward Duan Rong not far away with a strange expression.

Yin Cong suddenly clicked his tongue, looked at Chen Hu, and gestured toward Duan Rong with his chin.

But Chen Hu pretended not to see, merely slowly placing the bottles and jars he was carrying in his arms beside the black cauldron at his side.

Watching Chen Hu's behavior, Yin Cong cursed under his breath.

Just as the few of them had finished placing the medicinal materials, a figure walked slowly into the cave entrance; it was none other than Shang Xiangyu, wearing a wrinkled Daoist robe with his hair disheveled.

Shang Xiangyu's head of silver hair glowed with a snow-like fluorescence under the reflection of the firelight.

Shang Xiangyu walked into the cave, his gaze sweeping over the group, lingering briefly on Duan Rong's face before looking at Pan Yong and asking in a slow voice, "Is everything prepared?"

"Everything is prepared, Master Shang."

Shang Xiangyu nodded, walked to one of the black cauldrons, and squatted down.

With a solemn expression, he opened those bottles and jars one by one and sniffed them.

After sniffing them all, Shang Xiangyu's expression softened, and he swept his gaze over the bottles and jars on the ground beside the other three black cauldrons.

Shang Xiangyu stood up, took out a black pottery jar from his hand, opened it, and poured the viscous liquid inside into the black cauldron at his side.

After pouring it out, Shang Xiangyu casually threw away the pottery jar in his hand, then raised his eyes to look at Pan Yong.

Pan Yong understood, and immediately poured the same medicinal liquid into the other three black cauldrons.

At this moment, Shang Xiangyu had already walked to a corner of the cave, where on the floor of that corner lay a pitch-black, giant stone that looked like black jade.

That giant stone was as large as a stone bed, and its entire body was pitch black, making it difficult to discern what kind of material it was.

Looking at that giant stone, Shang Xiangyu suddenly took a deep breath, the Qi within his body surging instantly, and he gripped one side of the black giant stone with both hands, exerting force suddenly!

That huge black stone was actually slowly lifted by him and stood upright there!

Shang Xiangyu exhaled a breath of turbid air, and at this very moment, one could see magma, bubbling and dazzling like the scorching sun, gushing out from the place the black stone had originally been pressing down on.

It flowed along the stone trenches like water!

The magma flowed into the stone pits beneath the black cauldrons, overflowed, and continued along the stone trenches toward the next stone pit.

After the magma filled the four stone pits, it flowed from the other end into a deep, bottomless, pitch-black hole...

With the flowing of the magma, the temperature inside the cave climbed sharply!

After a few breaths, the four black cauldrons had already been burned bright red!

As the black cauldrons turned red, the medicinal liquid inside was instantly steamed out, and white mist permeated the rims of the cauldrons...

Duan Rong smelled a faint, fishy stench...

Just at this moment, Shang Xiangyu's figure suddenly moved; his silhouette was as fast as a ghost, flickering back and forth incessantly between the four black cauldrons...

Bottle after bottle of medicinal materials were poured into the black cauldrons in sequence by him.

After a few breaths, Shang Xiangyu's figure stopped abruptly.

At this time, what permeated the cave was no longer a fishy stench, but a rotten, strange odor of vegetation.

"The four of you, take the stone pestles and stir!"

Following Shang Xiangyu's gloomy tone, Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong all held a stone pestle nearly as tall as themselves and as thick as an arm, and began stirring inside the black cauldrons.

Shang Xiangyu walked past the group from time to time, observing the subtle changes in the medicine inside the black cauldrons.

Duan Rong stirred incessantly, taking care to keep his movements at the same frequency as Pan Yong and Chen Hu as much as possible.

After a while, Shang Xiangyu suddenly added all the remaining medicinal materials from the bottles and jars into the black cauldrons.

"Hold your breath!"

No sooner had Shang Xiangyu finished speaking than a faint purple mist rose from within the black cauldrons as the medicinal materials were added.

The purple mist dissipated, and the four of them, Duan Rong included, were still holding the stone pestles and stirring.

"Stop now."

After a while, following Shang Xiangyu's instruction, all four of them withdrew.

One could see Shang Xiangyu pacing back and forth between the four black cauldrons, his disheveled silver hair occasionally having a few tips singed off by the red-hot rims of the cauldrons.

But Shang Xiangyu's gaze was focused, and his figure was as fast as a ghost.

After a few breaths, Shang Xiangyu suddenly flickered, picked up the cauldron lids, and covered all four black cauldrons.

Afterward, Shang Xiangyu sat cross-legged in a corner of the cave, closing his eyes to rest his mind.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong had already put down the stone pestles and stood to one side.

At this time, the temperature inside the cave was already extremely high; their clothes were already soaked through, and their foreheads were dripping with heavy sweat.

It was fortunate that they were all Martial Artists; if they were ordinary people, they would have long since been unable to withstand the heatwave and would have fainted...

Not knowing how much time had passed, the four of them were coping with the rolling heatwaves, all feeling as if every minute was like a year, when Shang Xiangyu suddenly opened his eyes, his figure flashed, and he darted to one of the black cauldrons, lowering his head to sniff lightly beside the cauldron's mouth.

Afterward, he followed the same procedure and sniffed all three other cauldrons.

Shang Xiangyu's expression remained unchanged, but he suddenly flashed to the side of the giant standing black stone, pushed it with force, and then jumped away abruptly.

The large black stone slammed down with a 'clack', and instantly firelight splashed everywhere; like an explosion of the scorching sun, countless sparks scattered wildly like iron flowers and silver blossoms...

At this time, Shang Xiangyu had already walked over, looked at Pan Yong and said, "Pan Yong, the rest of the matters are left to you! After the magma cools, you may open the cauldrons to retrieve the medicine!"

Pan Yong cupped his hands and said, "Yes, Master Shang."

Shang Xiangyu flicked his sleeves lightly and walked out of the cave.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong waited to the side as the magma cooled down bit by bit.

The heat waves inside the cave also gradually softened a little.

And it was precisely during this process of the magma cooling that, from the gap between the rim of the cauldron and the lid, waves of rich medicinal fragrance had slowly begun to disperse, permeating the cave...

(End of this chapter)