Longzang

Chapter 613 A Masterpiece Made in Heaven
The Heavenly Poetry Gathering truly took root in Wei Yuan's heart. Everyone's needs are different. These young masters and ladies from noble families were neither short of money nor martial arts techniques. What they longed for most was to gain the recognition of their families and the praise of those around them in their original social circles—in other words, to return home in glory and bring honor to their ancestors.

In addition, a good marriage is a strong guarantee for their future and can even pave a smoother path for their descendants' advancement.

Wei Yuan noted this down and, after arranging the necessary steps for the advance, sent someone to inform the Huangzu tribe. The troops then secretly set off. Xu Yi led five thousand light cavalry ahead, followed by a thousand supply troops and dozens of wagons.

The wagons were of the traditional merchant style, capable of traversing rugged terrain and crossing mountains. Since Qingming didn't have its own military wagons, it directly purchased them from merchant caravans.

However, Qingming's wagons differed from those of ordinary caravans. The wagons were covered with a thin layer of steel, which, while unable to withstand heavy arrows, provided some protection and could defend against light poison arrows. The windows of the wagon compartments were all open, revealing gun barrels protruding from them.

After the troops set off, Wei Yuan arrived in the Netherworld to continue studying the function of the fragment of the Ancestral Boundary Stone. At this time, in the Netherworld, Zhang Sheng and the others had just completed a round of cutting and were resting to recover their energy.

Upon seeing Wei Yuan arrive, Zhang Sheng produced another immortal sword, its blade a deep turquoise, also a low-grade immortal sword. This was already the seventh immortal sword she had acquired through advancement.

Wei Yuan said, "If all 512 immortal swords can be upgraded to the Earth Rank, your Dao Foundation will reach an incredible level!"

Zhang Sheng rolled his eyes at Wei Yuan and said, "I still have about ten more Yin-Cold Immortal Swords to hone. After that, where am I supposed to find a place like the Netherworld? Even if I do find one, it might not have an environment like the Dark Iron Mountain."

It would be ideal for all the immortal swords to advance to the Earth Rank, but everything in excess is harmful. I have already restarted my cultivation, wasting a lot of time on the Dao Foundation. Now is the time to strive for diligent progress. Even the most invincible Dao Foundation is still just a Dao Foundation.

Wei Yuan also felt that Zhang Sheng's words made sense; in fact, he thought everything Zhang Sheng said made sense.

Seeing the hesitation on Wei Yuan's face, Zhang Sheng asked, "Still can't make up your mind?"

Wei Yuan nodded: "We know almost nothing about the Netherworld, and I really can't weigh the pros and cons. I don't know whether we should use the fragment here."

Zhang Sheng said, "That's true. Such a treasure is too precious to make a decision lightly. I think we should wait until we dig it out. I feel that the vibrations transmitted during the excavation are already close to the mountain wall. Perhaps in a few more months we can dig through this mountain. At that time, there will probably be a great battle."

"If you can come, then the others should be able to come too. Should we call them over to come together?"

Zhang Sheng pondered for a moment and said, "This place is cold and damp, and it's a metal-based realm. It's too oppressive for Chu He. He'll probably be seriously injured as soon as he comes here. Xu Henshui is the most suitable. The immortal orchid he gave you is growing well here, and his natal Dharma form should be able to perform better here. Perhaps this is his ideal cultivation environment."

"What about the wind and rain?"

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly: "She... I don't know. Let's call her in and see what happens. I don't know what will happen either. But you have to keep an eye on her. Although the people of the Mingwang Palace are not easy to die, that's only if their primordial spirit doesn't dissipate. As long as their primordial spirit doesn't dissipate, even if they only have a toe left, they can regenerate. There are no physical bodies here, so this is when the disciples of the Mingwang Palace are at their weakest."

But now that you mention it, I think she should come in and get some training. Ever since she came to Qingming, that girl has become increasingly clueless.

After leaving the Netherworld, Wei Yuan heard that Xu Henshui had returned from his mountain, so he went to find him and asked him to go into the Netherworld to investigate. Xu Henshui readily agreed and, after falling asleep, followed Wei Yuan into the Netherworld.

Upon entering the Netherworld, a celestial orchid appeared above Xu Henshui's head. The orchid then bloomed, and the Fairy Linglan flew out from it. She danced back and forth, appearing extremely joyful.

Xu Henshui then said, "This place is indeed naturally suitable for my cultivation! If I can use this as a template to create a mental world, it will be even more effective than my family's [Nether Spring Flowing Wine] small world! Everything here is good, except it's a bit ugly..."

"Think carefully before you speak." Zhang Sheng's words startled Xu Henshui so much that he almost jumped up. He stammered, "You, what are you doing here?"

"If you can be here, why can't I?"

Xu Henshui composed himself, and seeing Zhang Sheng's immortal sword, said, "Oh, you're here to cultivate too. Wait, why does this place feel so familiar?"

He walked a few steps by instinct and saw two fairy orchids planted in the corner.

Xu Henshui was taken aback, then said, "Indeed, I've always been curious about the origin of this rare orchid species. It seems it must have come from this realm. However, they are still growing a bit slowly. I'll lend you a hand!"

Fairy Linglan flew to the two fairy orchids, waved her hand and sprinkled a mist of water, and the two fairy orchids became noticeably more vigorous, covering a larger area.

Wei Yuan then discovered that Xu Henshui's Dharma form resonated with the two Immortal Orchids, making the orchids' domain power stronger and their range larger. Xu Henshui, on the other hand, found himself somewhat immobile after entering the Netherworld, so he simply found a place to sit cross-legged and meditate, carefully studying this world with endless Nether Mountains above and Nether Earth and Nether Crystals below. However, before entering meditation, Xu Henshui remembered something and handed Wei Yuan a jade tablet with a pill formula, saying, "I originally came back intending to refine several batches of cultivation pills for those in the Foundation Establishment stage. Now I'm afraid I don't have time, so you can refine these three batches. The medicinal herbs are all prepared and placed in the Pill Pavilion's medicine storeroom. The palace's requirement is fifty pills per batch; any extras are yours."

Wei Yuan accepted the jade tablet and scanned it with his divine sense. He discovered it was another ancient prescription, filled with the insights and experiences of the past masters of the Creation Sect. In a small corner, there was a prescription for a pill that could increase cultivation in the Foundation Establishment stage: the Profound Breath Pill.

Wei Yuan found the concept of creation rather strange; such a small prescription had to be recorded as an ancient formula and the insights of a senior.

One Xuanxi Pill is equivalent to a month's arduous cultivation for a human-level cultivator, and it's priced at five hundred taels of silver. This is the last resort for disciples from middle-class families seeking a glimmer of hope for their future cultivation path, often requiring them to consume it until their families are bankrupt.

Cultivation pills like the Profound Breath Pill were naturally beyond Wei Yuan's reach after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. However, by consuming several Dragon Descendants, he essentially swallowed a Great Heaven-Mending Pill, making his progress at the Foundation Establishment stage virtually unmatched.

The refining of the Profound Breath Pill was very simple, two levels easier than the Great Sun Morning Glory Pill. Wei Yuan accepted the jade tablet, saying he needed to study it for a few days. Xu Henshui didn't suspect anything and gave the jade tablet to Wei Yuan.

With Xu Henshui around, Wei Yuan didn't need to worry about Han Li and Long Wushuang. So he left the Netherworld to complete the small task of obtaining the Profound Breath Pill.

The task of obtaining the Profound Breath Pill is the most common way for alchemists in the Primordial Palace to receive payment. They will be given more medicinal materials, and the extra pills they refine will be theirs. In this way, alchemists are motivated to improve their skills.

Furthermore, if a new elixir formula is developed, a portion of the profits generated by the new formula will belong to the alchemist for a period of time. Therefore, although the medicines sold at the Taichu Palace's Creation Temple are expensive, their effects are indeed excellent, and there are many kinds of elixirs that cannot be bought anywhere else.

Other immortal sects used to buy a large number of pills from Taichu Palace every year. This used to be Taichu Palace's biggest source of income, but in recent years it has been replaced by feng shui arrays that increase wealth, making it the second largest source of income.

Wei Yuan spent seven whole days studying the jade tablet of the Profound Breath Pill, mainly discussing with Renjian Yanhuo how to improve the pill-making process. The standard profit for one batch of Profound Breath Pills is 25,000, with the medicinal materials costing 5,000. This aligns with the standards of the Creation View; a five-fold profit is the standard, and accepting a task without achieving five times the profit is a loss.

Having studied medicinal formulas for several months, Wei Yuan had long since discovered that the processing methods for many medicinal materials were actually universal, and that the processing methods for some medicinal materials seemed to be able to be improved. Now, he had another long-term task in the world: to study the basic principles of refining and processing various medicinal materials.

For example, what exactly is being steamed and dried nine times? What is being steamed out, and what is being left behind? Is the drying for preservation, or to alter the properties of the substances? Many half-baked alchemists don't want to delve into these questions, nor can they understand them, so they simply say that these are ancestral recipes left by their ancestors—how could their ancestors be wrong? Little do they know that if their ancestors knew this in the afterlife, would they still recognize such unlearned and unworthy descendants?

This is an extremely large task. Just collecting the properties of various medicinal materials and perfectly replicating them in everyday life is a massive undertaking.

After entrusting the arduous task to Renjian Yanhuo, Wei Yuan carried the medicinal herbs into the alchemy room. His commotion was quite significant; all the alchemists knew Wei Yuan was about to refine pills again, so they all put down their work and gathered at the entrance of Wei Yuan's alchemy room, ready to witness a miracle. The Xuanxi Pill wouldn't take long; they would only have to wait about half a day.

At this moment, two elders from the Creation Temple rushed to the secluded retreat of True Lord Danming at the northern mountain gate, rang the bell, and woke him from his seclusion.

Danming Zhenjun said with a displeased expression, "I was just about to have some insights when you interrupted me. Unless it's something extremely serious, I'll definitely be punished..."

"Master, please take a look at this." An elder presented a piece of jade paper.

Danming Zhenjun took a look and saw the title: "Optimization of the Refining Process of the Great Sun Morning Glory Pill." Upon seeing the title, he snorted and said, "Show-off!"

There are at least eighty to a hundred articles like this every year, all aimed at improving alchemical formulas. Most of them are written by novice alchemists who, having achieved some success, feel they know everything and hastily write articles to offer their opinions. These articles generally cannot withstand scrutiny.

If the elixir formula were so easy to modify, given Danming Zhenjun's penchant for writing articles and collecting royalties, he would have done it centuries ago. Why would it have remained until now? In terms of the sheer volume of his articles and the high royalties he receives, Danming Zhenjun is second only to Tinghai Xianjun. Currently, the Palace Master still holds the record for the most cited articles and the highest royalties, even though he hasn't written anything in nearly a century; his achievements remain unmatched.

However, upon reading it, Danming Zhenjun's expression changed. The more he read, the more drastically his expression shifted, alternating between joy and worry. Finally, with a sudden boom, the pill energy erupted, and everything within a radius of several dozen feet was permeated by the pill energy, instantly transforming into pills of various colors and shapes.

An elder was unable to dodge in time, and half of his robe sleeve turned into a pill.

This robe was supposed to be able to withstand the Daoist arts of the Imperial Realm, yet it was directly refined into a pill by the Danming True Monarch's Dan Qi! Both elders were shocked, realizing that the Abbot's cultivation was becoming increasingly unfathomable.

At this moment, Danming Zhenjun's heart was also filled with turmoil. His eyes flashed with divine light, and he said, "Where is that old thief Xuanyue? Bring him to me at once!"

(End of this chapter)