Chapter 451: Creating the Technique

The heterodox paths of the Huashan Sect are mediocre in other regards, but they have a knack for artifact refining; after all, they possess such a fierce Fire Method.

However, alchemy is a struggle for them. Alchemy requires the coordination of sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy, an understanding of balancing yin and yang, a grasp of the Five Elements' generation and restriction, and even knowledge of the Book of Changes.

To say nothing of the rest, the introductory alchemy text of this world, the *Cantong Qi of the Zhouyi*, is not something an ordinary person can master.

If one can master orthodox Daoist alchemy, it is very difficult to fall into heterodox paths, and even if one does fall into heterodox paths, one will not remain obscure.

Xu Jia had no choice but to have Duan Ziyu and Huang Yi, the two descendants of orthodox Daoism, teach the basics, and he then carefully explained the essentials of alchemy. As for Shan Ren, who is of Buddhism, and Zuigai, who only understands Sword Formula, he did not pass it on to them, so as not to waste time.

It just so happened that the Dutian Liehuo Zushi had left behind an Alchemical Furnace of extraordinary quality. It connected to the Huashan earth fire, tempering pills for hundreds of years without damage. With its Eight Toads Fire-Spitting Furnace, it could regulate both civil and martial fire, possessing the embryonic form of an "Eight Trigrams Furnace."

Xu Jia also felt his hands itch; his skills were itching.

In that other world, Xu Jia's alchemy was basically equivalent to rolling starch balls. The medicinal herbs used were also folk-style, rather than immortal-xia.

Before refining, one needed to process the ingredients. After processing, one needed to boil honey, paste, and glue according to the recipe to achieve the right quality. For those that could be pounded into powder, one would do so, then add gold leaf and seal it with beeswax.

For those needing to be tempered, they had to be placed in sealed jars and kept in a cool, dark place for a year or a year and a half.

If one wanted to gather "Heaven and Earth Spirit Qi," it was not available, but one could borrow the "nature of all things." For example, the most classic case is the "Cold Fragrance Pill" from *Dream of the Red Chamber*, which requires water from the four seasons and the stamens of white flowers from the four seasons.

For instance, the "Five Elements Pill" that Xu Jia gave his disciples for Returning Essence to the Brain belongs to this category. It uses the nature of ordinary medicine to drive the internal nature of a person, achieving a harmonizing and correcting effect rather than a nourishing one.

Later, after obtaining the method of "constructing a Micro Spirit Vein," he harmonized the yin and yang Qi into "Spirit Qi," which is akin to "Small Medicine"; this is what truly provides nourishment.

But this is the Sword Hero World; alchemy here truly involves gathering spirit herbs, such as the spirit peaches of Kunlun Mountain or the likes of the Snow Lotus.

Only spirit herbs can refine spirit pills, and the style is different again. They can be placed directly into the Alchemical Furnace, much like burning gold and stone to make external pills, burning and refining the pills of grass and wood.

Xu Jia did not stop there. Every morning, he went specifically to the peak of Huashan to inhale and exhale purple Qi. The amount his own Yang Spirit inhaled and exhaled was naturally different from that of those Human Immortals.

He gathered the purple Qi into his left eye. The Taiyang Xingjun in his left eye had already refined the Ten Thousand Crows Pot, so he also stored the purple Qi within the pot.

After gathering for seven days, the purple Qi condensed into liquid, which was enough for alchemy.

He immediately took Duan Ziyu and Huang Yi to start refining this furnace of spirit pills.

"Ancestor, what kind of pill are we refining?" Huang Yi was inquisitive. His family had a deep heritage; his grandfather was Huang Shang, who compiled the Daoist Canon and created the *Nine Yin True Scripture*. However, this is the immortal-xia version; what he created was the *Chonghe True Scripture*. Nine is a yang number; nine yin means the mutual aid of yin and yang. The mutual aid of yin and yang is taken as "Chonghe" (Harmony). Of course, it also borrows from the names of the *Liezi* and the *Chongxu True Scripture*.

Huang Shang is also a big shot who has already ascended in this world, so it goes without saying, but he did not leave much for his descendants, presumably for fear they would not be able to protect it.

"Naturally, it is the Purple Cloud Pill," Xu Jia said. "I gathered seven days of purple clouds to serve as the sovereign medicine. You all practice the *Purple Cloud True Scripture*. This scripture was left by the Old Ancestor Chen Tuan. It gathers the purple Qi coming from the east, and there is only a quarter of an hour of practice time each day, which can only be cultivated when the sun is about to rise but has not yet emerged."

"For ordinary disciples, out of three hundred and sixty-five days a year, they may not all be able to see the sunrise. You understand that the sun is there whether it rises or not, but they do not understand. Thus, the time is halved; in a year, there are only one hundred and eighty days to practice. If one happens to get a wisp of purple Qi each day, Hundred Days Foundation Establishment—Hundred Days Foundation Establishment—one hundred days is foundation establishment, and nine hundred and ninety-nine days is also foundation establishment. I fear that just sensing the Qi for foundation establishment would take three or even five years."

Xu Jia shook his head and sighed: "Furthermore, how many can persist? I fear they would have changed to other methods long ago. Ziyu, your Purple Cloud True Qi was able to reach small success; I fear you must have borrowed some treasure or used some method."

Duan Ziyu chuckled and said: "The Ancestor truly has a discerning eye. My family took thirty retainers and taught them to gather Qi every day. Using a secret technique, we stored the purple Qi in a piece of purple crystal, which was handed to me to refine once a month. Coupled with my own diligent practice every day, it took me exactly three years and six months to transform the Postnatal True Qi into Innate Purple Cloud True Qi."

Xu Jia nodded and thought to himself: "So it was the human resources outsourcing method; it is indeed a shortcut."

"Duan Ziyu has good natural talent, yet he still needed thirty people and three years and six months to refine Innate Purple Cloud True Qi. Ordinary people would likely need a hundred years."

"Old Ancestor Chen Tuan must have left behind a large number of secret techniques for gathering purple Qi, capable of swallowing clouds to refine the method, but they have been lost."

"We can only refine pills like the Purple Cloud Pill. Now is an extraordinary time, and Huashan is being re-established, so I am gathering Qi and refining pills to distribute for free. Once things stabilize, we can give gathering tasks to disciples who do not practice Purple Cloud True Qi. Once you refine them into pills, we can let the disciples who practice Purple Cloud True Qi complete sect missions to obtain such rewards."

"Among our sect's techniques, apart from the simple Dutian Liehuo Zhenqi, the Five Dragons Hibernation Sleep Technique and the Purple Cloud True Scripture both contain the supreme principles of Daoism. The Five Dragons Hibernation Sleep Technique can be practiced while sleeping; it is simple to enter, good for health preservation, and can be passed on to those disciples who practice quiet meditation, chanting scriptures, and performing rituals."

"The Purple Cloud True Qi requires climbing to the mountaintop every day to observe the sunrise, going up and down the mountain, leaping and climbing. It is a dynamic exercise. Although it is also good for health preservation and longevity, it belongs to dynamic exercises and should be passed on to those disciples who are good at fighting and want to learn alchemy and artifact refining."

"But there will always be disciples who are not suited for these three techniques, so we need a technique that goes from the outside in, starting with martial arts training."

"Let's not talk about that for now; let's refine this pill first."

Duan Ziyu thought to himself: It seems this ancestor likes to be a teacher, which is rare. If there is something I don't understand, I can ask many questions. It is better than the elders at home, who always say "figure it out yourself" or "go find a book to read..."

Xu Jia poured the spirit peaches, lingzhi, and Snow Lotus into the Alchemical Furnace, then opened his mouth. Suddenly, his Body Gods flew out. They were the Six Dings, all in animal and female forms, casting spells, chanting scriptures, and controlling the fire toward the furnace.

Xu Jia snorted again, and a wisp of green Qi flew out, transforming into a Zhilong. The Zhilong circled for a while, disdainfully took a leak into the Alchemical Furnace to make the holy water for the Immortal Pill, and then obediently returned to Xu Jia's body.

Finally, he let the Taiyang Xingjun pour the purple Qi accumulated in the Ten Thousand Crows Pot into it.

One could see the Alchemical Furnace filled with purple light, and faintly, one could hear the sound of a dragon's roar.

Xu Jia said to Duan Ziyu and Huang Yi: "You two, follow the Six Dings to watch over the Alchemical Furnace, take charge of stoking the fire, and realize the heat. The heat is the key to alchemy and the key to cultivation; it cannot be said to be unimportant."

"Ancestor, how long will this pill take to refine?"

"This pill is only used for building the foundation; it counts as a Human Origin Great Pill. Originally, it only needed to be refined for forty-nine double-hours, but I figured since I'm refining it, I might as well refine more to keep in reserve. With such an Alchemical Furnace gathering the spirit and beauty of Huashan, it will take eighty-one double-hours."

Xu Jia could not stay here to refine it dry, so he told the two of them to guard it. Generally speaking, with the Six Dings there, it was impossible for it to be ruined.

"If you observe the heat for eighty-one double-hours and contemplate it with your heart, you will surely gain something." After saying this, Xu Jia left the alchemy room and summoned Huo Can'er: "Have you sent the messages to all the sects? When is the Huashan opening ceremony scheduled?"

"The messages have all been sent. Shushan has already spoken. Although True Person Xu Zhangshou will not come down the mountain, True Person Xu Zhangshou has a junior brother who is also a Yang Spirit and will come to Huashan to demand an explanation."

"What is this person's name?"

"It seems to be called Deng Yin," Huo Can'er said. "I have never heard of this person before."

He had not heard of him, but Xu Jia had—the Blood Demon Patriarch. So, presumably, Xu Zhangshou is "Ren Shou," the White Eyebrow Patriarch of Shushan.

Previously, the Long Life Sect Leader knew the "Blood God Great Method," which was likely the technique he obtained when his Primordial Spirit traveled through this world.

When Xu Jia heard this, he knew that this Deng Yin probably had not yet practiced the Blood God Great Method.

Then who did the Long Life Sect Leader learn the Blood God Great Method from? Xu Jia vaguely remembered that before the Long Life Sect Leader died, he had said one sentence: "I have nine hundred and ninety-nine Primordial Spirits..."

This is a classic line.

When did Deng Yin betray Shushan? Was it a real betrayal or a fake one?

Xu Jia felt it was more like Shushan forcibly creating a demon king themselves and then slaying this demon king to fulfill their own Merit so they could ascend! A demon king cultivated by themselves—they feel at ease with that?

However, after killing the Wanshou Emperor of the Long Life Sect, Xu Jia also obtained all the heterodox inheritances of the Long Life Sect, though there were not many he took a fancy to. This *Blood God Scripture* was among them.

Xu Jia thought slightly: "It feels like someone is fishing. Where did the Wanshou Emperor's *Blood God Scripture* come from?"

"Don't worry about him," Xu Jia said to Huo Can'er. "Just prepare for the opening ceremony and receive the disciples. Also, prepare some fruits and vegetables to entertain them."

"Yes, Ancestor."

Xu Jia added: "Have you collected the technique manuals of the many disciples of the Huashan Sect? We will definitely need them for the reconstruction of the Scripture Library later."

Huo Can'er nodded: "The disciples have all voluntarily offered them up, willing to switch to practicing the Purple Cloud True Qi or the Chen Tuan Sleeping Technique. Those who only practiced the Dutian Liehuo Zhenqi want to learn the complete version of the technique."

Xu Jia nodded, then in a flash of thought, he scanned the technique manuals stored in the boxes. They were all heterodox methods that had mixed in a few fragments of the original Huashan Sect techniques and then filled in the rest. There were also external martial arts for body refining and light-body techniques.

Based on these various factors, Xu Jia combined the "Guiding" and "Bigu" from the Earthly Fiend Seventy-Two Arts to improve a type of Huashan foundational internal technique. It does not have a very high threshold, and its threshold is much lower than the Chen Tuan Sleeping Technique or the Purple Cloud True Qi. He named it "Huashan Innate Technique," which can be used to cultivate directly from the Postnatal True Qi realm to the Innate Realm, or can be switched to after other techniques have been cultivated to the Innate Realm.

Combining "Divine Movement" and "Rock Leaping," plus the ape movement technique from the Kunlun white ape previously, he created a light-body technique and named it "Huashan White Ape Technique." Practicing this light-body technique allows one to cultivate Postnatal True Qi from the outside in, just like the Rippling Wave Micro-Steps, making it suitable for ordinary people who have never practiced martial arts before.

Climbing up and down the mountain every day is cultivation; in this way, the precipitous terrain of Huashan is not wasted, and it can better train the movement techniques of Huashan disciples.

With a universal technique that bridges the Purple Cloud True Qi and the Chen Tuan Sleeping Technique, and a foundational light-body technique that can be used throughout,

the Huashan Sect only lacked foundational sword formulas and advanced sword formulas.

Foundational sword formulas are sword techniques used by postnatal cultivators, that is, martial artists, which still require holding the sword with both hands.

Advanced sword formulas require refining flying swords and possess profound sword-controlling methods.

The orthodox Daoist sword-controlling technique of the Huashan Sect has already been lost; at least, the lineage of Ancestor Chen Tuan has lost it. What remains is the Dutian Fierce Fire Sword of the Dutian Liehuo Zushi.

Although the Dutian Fierce Fire Sword is not bad, and can be refined from a third-rate flying sword to a first-rate flying sword, and the Dutian Fierce Fire Sword Formula is also the signature sword formula passed down by Dutian Liehuo Zushi to his disciples, possessing extreme personal characteristics, the Huashan Sect is currently tracing back to "Orthodox Daoism" and undergoing "de-heterodoxization." These Dutian Fierce Fire Swords can continue to be passed down, but not to True Transmission Disciples.

The family-transmitted sword formula of Duan Ziyu, the "Six Meridian Divine Sword," is a sword formula that nurtures invisible sword Qi, but it is impossible for Xu Jia to use it directly. Moreover, the Duan family's Six Meridian Divine Sword can only be cultivated after reaching the Innate Realm, and the required Innate True Qi is massive. The second one is the "Wine Sword" that Xu Jia passed to Zuigai, and the Huashan Sect foundational sword formulas that the Shushan Sect collected and taught to him.

The Wine Sword requires drinking wine to comprehend; if the Huashan Sect were all drunks and alcoholics, that would not do. As for the Huashan foundational sword formulas, they were incomplete when the Huashan Sect collected them, and the later additions carried some Shushan Sect characteristics. Furthermore, since they are now enemies with Shushan, disciples cannot continue to practice this kind of sword formula that Shushan has spent who knows how many years studying, lest they have no power to fight when encountering the Shushan Sect.

The "Heavenly Escape Sword Technique" that Xu Jia learned from the white ape, or the "Water Fire Unfinished Sword Technique" and "Universe Tai Fou Sword Technique" he created himself, have too high a conceptual level.

Thus, Xu Jia thought of the sword formulas he had collected in Da Mo previously. After subduing the Sacred Fire Sect, and with Huogong Toutuo wiping out the forty-seven great bandits, he had also collected quite a few.

Thus, Xu Jia pondered deeply again, wanting to use this as a foundation to create a foundational sword formula that, like the light-body technique, could cultivate Postnatal True Qi through sword practice.

It is just that while Xu Jia can create Earth Immortal-level techniques with ease, this kind of sword formula is actually not his strong suit. Plus, he wanted the cultivation difficulty to be low, the cultivation effect to be good, for it to look good, and for it to be compatible with the light-body technique...

Waiting until Duan Ziyu told Xu Jia that the time of ninety-nine eighty-one hours was almost up, Xu Jia finally created two sword formulas.

They are the "Huashan Two Forms Sword."

When first practicing the Two Forms Sword, one can start by practicing the Yang Sword or the Yin Sword. The Yang Sword is grand and upright, belonging to a proper sword formula, while the Yin Sword is a fast-and-slow sword, which can be fast or slow.

Then, at the Innate Realm, by refining the two forms together, one can have an effect similar to the "Wudang Supreme Ultimate Sword," possessing many techniques. There is also a sword-refining method specifically for refining flying swords with Yin and Yang dual Qi. This was inspired by the construction of Micro Spirit Veins, which can increase the spirituality of the flying sword and also benefit the sword's owner, promoting "unity of person and sword." Whatever personality a person has, the sword will be like that, achieving a thousand swords for a thousand people; everyone's Two Forms Sword is different.

This is precisely: the Two Forms give birth to the Four Symbols, the Four Symbols give birth to the Eight Trigrams, the Eight Trigrams evolve into the Innate, the Innate transforms into the Postnatal...

Having created the sword formulas, Xu Jia also wanted to create a fist technique, a leg technique, a palm technique...

But the spirit pills were already about to come out of the furnace, so he extinguished the thought. After all, it is primarily an immortal cultivation sect, not some martial arts sect. The effects of using palm techniques, fist techniques, and leg techniques are limited; if future generations need them, they will create them themselves.

(End of this chapter)