Chapter 580: Refining the Bone-Consolidating Pill

Qu Zhigao was grateful to Zhang Xiaohua for taking the pill formulas he could not understand, and there were several formulas among them. However, the Bone-Consolidating Pill was recorded at the very front. As for the herbs used in these few formulas, if it had been in the past, even if Zhang Xiaohua had been in Spring Rebirth Valley, he might not have been able to gather them all. But now he was in the Incense-Spreading Sect, and moreover in Tuodan Hall, a great sect that had inherited the Immortal Dao and specialized in cultivating medicinal herbs. Other things, such as cultivation techniques, might have been lost, but the herbs used for pill refining had never been lacking.

Perhaps the medicinal uses of some herbs had already become unknown, and even the pill formulas might have been lost, but there was no denying that many ancient herbs had been collected by different disciples and kept in their possession, even though they might not know the names of those herbs. Perhaps only Zhang Xiaohua’s “foolish” behavior of exchanging pills for herbs could make them cover their mouths and laugh while tossing out those nameless and worthless herbs.

At the very least, Zhang Xiaohua found all the herbs needed to refine the Bone-Consolidating Pill simply by searching through those several thousand jade boxes. Ah, he had almost forgotten that the three main ingredients for pill refining—Iron Bone Grass, Fragrant Soul Wood, and Lingwood Fruit—were also present in other jade boxes; it was only that they were not as old as the three specimens Chen Fengxiao and Bai Huan had given him.

Glancing at the warm pill furnace, Zhang Xiaohua once again sent his Divine Sense into it.

On the inner wall of the furnace were methods for using and refining the pill furnace, as well as a simple explanation of pill refinement. This explanation was specifically for the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace. Normally, only one furnace opening was used for pill refinement, but this furnace actually had eight of them, so naturally it required a clear explanation.

After looking for a long while, Zhang Xiaohua gradually gained some understanding. The eight furnace openings of the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace were respectively called Kun, Zhen, Li, Dui, Qian, Xun, Gen, and Kan. Medicinal herbs were also classified into these eight attributes, which strangely had much in common with Zhang Xiaohua’s own classification according to the Five Elements. According to the furnace’s explanation of medicinal herbs, Zhang Xiaohua roughly understood that Qian and Dui should correspond to Metal; Zhen and Xun should correspond to Wood; Kun and Gen corresponded to Earth; Kan was Water; and Li was Fire.

“So the theory of the Five Elements in medicinal herbs wasn’t just my own whim. The ancients had already discovered and classified it long ago; it’s just that I never obtained that particular inheritance. This theory of the Eight Trigrams is probably one of its branches.” Zhang Xiaohua pondered secretly as he slowly entered his nightly routine of cultivation.

Thinking about it, this was only normal. In ancient times, the Immortal Dao flourished and influenced all things in the mortal world. Although Zhang Xiaohua had learned the theory of the Five Elements from medicine, medicine itself was originally a branch of pill refinement. If there had been no traces left behind by the ancients, that would have been the strange thing.

The next day, after finishing the work in the medicinal fields, Zhang Xiaohua came to a secluded spot in one of the fields. This was where he had secretly watered the plants with spring water containing Yuan Qi. Releasing his Divine Sense, he carefully observed the seeds underground. These seeds that Zhang Xiaohua had deliberately watered contained far more Yuan Qi than the others, but they still showed no signs of movement.

Just then, as he was observing, Zhang Xiaohua suddenly frowned and extended his Divine Sense behind him. More than ten zhang away, behind a large tree, Zou Shuming, who had disappeared for several days, had quietly appeared there again!

“Alas, just like a fly, always watching people and making them uncomfortable.” Zhang Xiaohua shook his head inwardly and immediately left the medicinal field. At that moment, another “fly” that was openly buzzing around also stuck out his head and shouted, “Morning, Junior Brother Ren!”

Zhang Xiaohua smiled and waved his hand. “Morning, Senior Brother Bai. You’re half a quarter-hour earlier than usual today.”

Bai Huan chuckled and said, “I was woken up because I had to pee. Once the sun comes out, I’ll need to catch a little more sleep.”

“Ugh~” Zhang Xiaohua nearly stumbled and quickly said, “Then Senior Brother Bai, please take care of your business. I’ll also go back and sleep a little longer.”

Returning to the cave, Zhang Xiaohua thought for a moment and did not dare to be careless. He set up a restriction at the cave entrance before escaping into the pill room. At this moment, the pill room was already hot and steamy. Although the pill furnace was not refining pills, well, precisely because it was being warmed, Zhang Xiaohua had not yet cast the incantation to restrict the energy of the earth fire, which made the room feel stifling.

On the white jade table lay more than a dozen jade boxes. These were the medicinal herbs Zhang Xiaohua had selected earlier for refining the Bone-Consolidating Pill. Looking at the now-warmed pill furnace, Zhang Xiaohua took out a meditation cushion and tossed it in front of the furnace, then sat down cross-legged and adjusted the True Qi throughout his body.

Like the Meridian Nourishing Pill, the Bone-Consolidating Pill was merely a low-grade medicinal pill, so Zhang Xiaohua was basically full of confidence. However, this was his first time using the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace, so he had no choice but to be somewhat cautious.

A short while later, Zhang Xiaohua let out a light breath and formed incantation gestures with both hands, continuously striking the earth fire and the pill furnace with them. With a soft sound, the furnace seemed to shrink slightly, and the burning earth fire also seemed to become even fiercer. Yet, because of the incantations, the temperature within the pill room gradually dropped.

After another half an hour, Zhang Xiaohua formed an incantation with his left hand and extended his index finger, pointing directly at the Qian furnace opening. The sealed furnace opening rotated and silently opened, revealing the formation inside. At this moment, there was no faint red Samadhi True Fire within the formation. After all, this was only a low-grade pill and did not require refinement with true fire.

As soon as the Qian furnace opened, Zhang Xiaohua did not hesitate. With a beckoning motion of his right hand, one of the jade boxes on the table flew into his hand, revealing the forty-year-old Iron Bone Grass within. Then, under Zhang Xiaohua’s control, the Iron Bone Grass flew into the Qian furnace. The moment it entered, a cloud of ash rose up, and it instantly transformed into a mass of boiling medicinal liquid.

Zhang Xiaohua carefully observed it with his Divine Sense. Seeing that there was nothing unusual, he finally relaxed and struck several more incantations into the furnace. Then, with another tap of his left index finger, the Qian furnace opening rotated shut. The Metal-attributed Iron Bone Grass then slowly began its refinement within the Qian furnace.

After that, with the experience of adding the first ingredient, Zhang Xiaohua proceeded unhurriedly, placing the Water-attributed Fragrant Soul Wood and the Wood-attributed Lingwood Fruit into the Kan furnace and the Zhen furnace respectively. He then placed the remaining dozen or so supplementary ingredients into different furnace openings according to his own understanding.

Of course, Zhang Xiaohua’s understanding of the Five Elements of medicinal herbs was still only in the exploratory stage. It was impossible for him to completely understand the attributes of these herbs, so he could only classify them roughly in this manner. Naturally, if they were classified correctly, it would be beneficial to the refinement of the herbs, but even if they were classified incorrectly, it would not cause any fatal problems. It was precisely because of this that Zhang Xiaohua dared to experiment so boldly.

This was the advantage of the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace. It could refine the essences of herbs with different attributes separately within different formations. If he had been using his previous pill furnace, he would have had to refine them separately. Obviously, this could save a tremendous amount of time. This advantage might not be apparent when refining low-grade or basic medicinal pills, but once he began refining high-grade pills in the future, where the refinement of medicinal herbs required a very long time, the benefits of the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace would become evident!

Once all the medicinal herbs had been placed into the furnace, Zhang Xiaohua clapped his hands and immersed his Divine Sense into the pill furnace. Using the control methods he had learned earlier, he carefully examined the medicinal liquids in each section. Only after confirming that everything was normal did he withdraw his Divine Sense. Although the Eight Trigrams Purple-Gold Furnace could refine high-grade medicinal pills, the time required to remove impurities could not be reduced in the slightest. Zhang Xiaohua could only proceed to the next steps of fusing the liquids and nurturing the pill on the following day.

Sitting cross-legged before the pill furnace, Zhang Xiaohua first closed his eyes and comprehended the Heavenly Dao for a while. Around noon, he finally put away the meditation cushion and began practicing the Wind-Riding Technique within the pill room.

Fortunately, the pill room was quite spacious. Although the enormous pill furnace occupied the center, the remaining space was still more than sufficient for Zhang Xiaohua to move about freely. After practicing for a long time, Zhang Xiaohua gradually gained some insights. The Wind-Riding Technique described in the jade slip was generally about how to use the True Qi within one’s body to communicate with the Yuan Qi of Heaven and Earth and then harness the wind. But the old problem remained: the Yuan Qi within the pill room was scarce. If he could not even use his True Qi to communicate with the Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth, then how could he possibly talk about controlling the wind?

Zhang Xiaohua stood there pondering for a long time. This problem existed in all of his spell cultivation, including the recently refined Dragon-Binding Ring. He possessed True Qi within his body, but that True Qi was not inexhaustible. Even though he cultivated diligently and gained a slight increase every day, compared to the amount of Yuan Qi required to use spells, it was merely a drop in the bucket and completely insufficient.

But what could Zhang Xiaohua do?

The only thing he could rely on was the Reclining Ox Stone in his money pouch. Only by drawing the Yuan Qi from Yuan Stones could he cast these Immortal Dao spells.

Floating Technique was the foundation of the Flight Technique, and the amount of Yuan Qi of Heaven and Earth it required was not very great. Even so, back then Zhang Xiaohua could only use the Floating Technique to rise a short distance off the ground. It was only after his Qi Refining cultivation had improved that he was barely able to use it properly. Of course, his Floating Technique mostly imitated the Qinggong of martial arts experts, using the techniques of the Piaomiao Step to reduce the consumption of the Yuan Qi of Heaven and Earth.

Having found the root of the problem, a self-mocking smile appeared on Zhang Xiaohua’s lips. “Immortal Dao practitioners all emphasize communicating with Heaven and Earth, but as for me, not only have I gained no benefits from Heaven and Earth, I can only rely on myself, expending my own True Qi to cast spells. It seems that in this age, only the Martial Dao is the true protagonist!”

Although he thought this in his heart, the absolute power of spells still tempted Zhang Xiaohua. How could he settle for second best? Fortunately, when he had previously cultivated the Floating Technique, he had already accumulated some shallow experience, which could now serve as a reference. Then, after an entire afternoon of practice, he finally managed to float into the air, gaining somewhat of the feeling of riding the wind. It was just that… as Zhang Xiaohua flailed his arms and legs, he still looked as though he were trying to step on something beneath his feet!

Alas, habits formed over several years could not be changed in an instant. Perhaps only after he truly developed the mindset of a Qi Refiner in the future would he possess the graceful bearing of flying upon the wind!

Just as Zhang Xiaohua was wobbling through the air, a thought suddenly stirred in his mind. Forming an incantation with his hand, he immediately escaped back into the cave. Then he heard someone outside shouting: “Junior Brother Ren, Junior Brother Ren…”