Chapter 76

Inside the quiet chamber, Qian Chen sat cross-legged on a mat, his expression calm, yet before his nose, three feet in the air, a luminous mass of black and white interwove.

The Yin Yin Evil Qi is a refined evil energy formed by the Yin Star drawing upon earthly qi and attuning to the Yin primordial energy, while the Ice Core Cold Light Gang Qi is an extreme-cold variant primordial energy; the natures of Yin and extreme cold inherently harmonize.

The primordial elixir formed by combining these two to refine evil qi and cultivate Gang qi is known as the Guanghan Ice Core Elixir.

This elixir can condense an extreme-cold divine light, its power freezing heaven and earth; wherever the divine light strikes, it turns all into ice shards and powder, its might immense—when unleashed by a Core Formation cultivator, it is called the Ice Core Divine Light Line, one of the nine most vicious divine lights in the universe. After achieving the Primordial Spirit stage, one can use it as a foundation to refine it into the Yin Absolute Annihilation Divine Light, whose power becomes even more astonishing.

This primordial elixir surpasses even Qian Chen’s original lowest expectation—the Xuan Yin Frost Evil Elixir formed by combining Xuan Yin Frost Evil Qi—and only by refining such a divine light as the Ice Core Divine Light could he hope to rival Miao Kong.

Behind Qian Chen, his emerald elixir qi coalesced into a giant hand, gripping the luminous mass on the verge of bursting.

He barely managed to suppress the surging radiance and stabilized it.

Wiping away sweat that wasn’t there, Qian Chen breathed a sigh of relief: “Thank heavens I first cultivated the seventh-rank external qi primordial elixir; otherwise, I’d have exploded this time… This Xuan Guan orifice was meant to be a furnace for absorbing qi—I forced it into a dantian furnace, which was already strained. Only because I previously refined it and strengthened the Xuan Guan did it withstand this fusion of Gang and evil qi.”

“If I’d tried combining Ice Core Cold Light Gang and Yin True Evil Qi on my first attempt, my Xuan Guan would’ve blown apart long ago!”

“In the future, if I get the chance, I must acquire a better dantian furnace.”

“When I infiltrated Jinchuan Sect, I was still too shy, too inexperienced—I only took Master Pei’s personal magic treasure and didn’t dare touch the sect’s secret treasury. I should’ve at least stolen a dantian furnace along the way!” Qian Chen regretted his restraint; after all, he had always been a law-abiding man, unaccustomed to openly robbing an entire sect.

If one ascends a sect’s door to debate principle, that’s merely showing strength. Taking their inherited magic artifacts is merely incidental…

But if one kills those who resist merely to seize a dantian furnace or magic treasure, that’s outright banditry.

Qian Chen simply couldn’t bring himself to do such a thing…

After all, killing someone and then taking their treasure is called “acquiring”; killing someone to take their treasure is called “robbing”!

Qian Chen shaped his emerald elixir qi into the form of a furnace, reinforcing the exterior of his Xuan Guan orifice, then borrowed a local aristocratic family’s Fire Crow Dantian Furnace. With the triple protection of the orifice-furnace, qi-furnace, and dantian-furnace, he felt slightly reassured. Inside the chamber, over a dozen fire crows rested quietly nearby, two of them exhaling flames that turned the copper dantian furnace scorching red.

Two child spirits, one golden and one silver, puffed out their bellies; the yellow-clad boy held a red gourd atop the head of a fire crow, staring intently at the furnace, his face grim and tense, while the white-clad silver boy gripped the crow’s crest, supervising its flame, a small banana leaf fan in hand… Since guarding Qian Chen’s altar, these two little spirits had clung to this wealthy household, and Qian Chen had accepted them as fire-tending laborers.

He entrusted them with the red gourd filled with ammunition and water, and the slightly spiritual banana leaves gathered from the Great Marsh.

As symbols of their roles as elixir-attendant and fire-tending child spirits.

The Ear God, however, only licked his lips for divine elixir fragments, neglecting to gather news, merely wanting to live inside Qian Chen’s ear canal… Such a spirit who excels at nothing but eating, Qian Chen wouldn’t indulge. Now he must go out daily to gather news before receiving even a scrap of elixir.

This time, while refining the primordial elixir, Qian Chen did not spend time absorbing primordial energy to nurture it…

Last time, the Gang and evil qi were insufficient in essence, requiring Qian Chen to absorb qi and nurture it, while also gathering other types of primordial energy to refine impurities into qi elixirs. But now, the quantities of Ice Core Cold Light Gang and Yin True Evil Qi were ample—even surplus—only their lack of purity prevented them from achieving first-rank status.

Thus, there was no need to absorb qi and nurture; skipping this step reduced the previous seventy-seven-day process significantly. According to Qian Chen’s calculations, it would take only three sevens—twenty-one days—to complete.

But because the Gang and evil qi were impure and required more refinement, Qian Chen didn’t wish to waste cultivation effort gathering qi. He had already gathered much from the Great Marsh, and after the incident, the Wei family had offered many spirit herbs as compensation. Qian Chen thus placed spirit herbs into the external furnace; the purest medicinal properties entered the elixir-furnace; finally, he combined the discarded impurities from refining the primordial elixir with the spirit herbs… Thus, one elixir, three furnaces, three refinements: the Xuan Guan orifice-furnace produced the primordial elixir, the qi-furnace produced the qi elixir, and the dantian-furnace produced the herbal spirit elixir.

The Supreme Dao Ancestor’s Nine-Transformation Golden Elixir could refine nine tiers of elixirs with divine subtlety.

………………

Cui Dan’s daily duties were assisted by his staff, so while governing a county, he still spent most of his time wandering mountains and rivers, indulging in leisure, even finding time to cultivate daily. After Qian Chen entered seclusion to refine the elixir, Cui Dan often visited the small pavilion outside…

“Last time, the elder refined an elixir and summoned the Three Corpses Demons, killing the elixir master! The City God appeared to warn us…”

“The time before that, external calamities disturbed the refinement—killing a demon from Mount Mei, and various spirits threw themselves into the elixir, transforming into lingzhi mushrooms, turning a patch of evil qi into auspicious energy…”

“What calamity will this refinement bring?” Cui Dan’s face lit with anticipation.

The old servant Wu Bo frowned: “Master, the elder has already accumulated enough calamity just preparing this elixir. The karmic debt was settled before refinement even began—he nearly destroyed an immortal sect with a lineage of thousands. If more calamity strikes now, how many more must die?”

“With such a great disaster, Master, what about your evaluation?”

“Today is the twenty-first day of the elder’s seclusion, isn’t it? The Dragon Boat Festival is near—will the elder make it to the boat race?” As Cui Dan spoke, he suddenly felt a faint pressure in his qi gates, looked up at the sky—it looked like rain. Clouds gathered on the horizon, but Cui Dan paid no mind; rain was common by the Great Marsh, and with summer already here, a sudden downpour was nothing unusual.

“Daoist elixir refinement usually follows cycles of seven or nine—three sevens, seven sevens, seven nines, or nine nines. The calamity before this elixir’s completion was already fierce, proving this elixir is more critical than last time. If it takes longer than seven sevens—or eighty-one days—it’ll be past the Dragon Boat Festival, nearly the Autumn Equinox!”

Wu Bo advised: “That high cultivator came to the Nine True Marsh specifically to find evil qi. Now that he’s obtained it, he probably won’t stay long.”

“Sigh! I wish I’d quit my post and follow him!” Cui Dan sighed.

Wu Bo only chuckled: “Master, such high cultivators endure hardship in the mountains—cold, lonely, no beauties, fine robes, or delicacies…”

“Then forget it! The sentiment is enough!” Cui Dan shifted tone: “Wu Bo, don’t you think these clouds are gathering too fast?”

Wu Bo looked up—the sky, once dotted with thin clouds, now piled thick black clouds like a towering city. Thunder rolled across the sky above the Nine True Marsh in an instant, silver lightning flashing wildly, terrifying!

“Rain doesn’t come this fast—it’s not a dragon crossing!” Wu Bo muttered, then froze.

“Master, last time the elder refined an elixir, it summoned a host of minor spirits in Wuling Prefecture. But Jiaobu Town borders the Great Marsh, where dragons and snakes abound—if the elixir opens now…”

At that moment, Cui Dan blinked, and the lecherous little man in his eyes leapt out, sprinting toward the pavilion.

A gale instantly swept across the lake; the air, moments ago still stifling and motionless, now roared with violent wind and rain, thunder and lightning. The Nine True Lake surged into towering waves, willow branches flew sideways, the small bamboo pavilion stood firm amid the storm, the world white with rain.

Cui Dan and Wu Bo took shelter in the courtyard beside the bamboo pavilion, watching the rain, when they saw a dark shadow with a long tail slash across the clouds—then, in the torrential downpour, a dragon’s tail descended from the sky and vanished in a flash.

“It’s a dragon!” Cui Dan reached for his sword; Wu Bo gripped his longbow.

At that moment, the dragon dove from the clouds, its massive claw, as large as a millstone, tearing toward the bamboo pavilion…

A green sword-light shot from the pavilion, like an autumn goose vanishing into the clouds—gone instantly, leaving no trace. Soon after, the dark clouds dispersed, the gales stilled. Then, a dragon, nearly a li long from head to tail, plummeted from the sky, crashing onto the lakeshore, its tail smashing a row of houses.

Blood from the dragon’s head stained the nearby lake. Cui Dan cautiously stepped out of the courtyard and saw the dragon barely alive—a sword wound pierced its lower jaw, entering at the “seven inches” below its head and bursting out through its back.