Mortal's Purple Sky Cave Heaven

Chapter 442: Separation
Looking at the pill, Nie Zhaonan let out a long breath, feeling relieved and a satisfied look on his face.

"I've finally refined this 'Nine Tribulations Nirvana Pill.' Even with my current alchemy skills, I failed once, consuming a protective dragon scale. I only succeeded on the second try."

Recalling the process of refining the item and the various unexpected situations, Nie Zhaonan looked somewhat sullen.

For the past hundred years, he has been refining pills almost day and night, only stopping when he is completely exhausted to meditate and regulate his breathing to recover his energy.

But as soon as he restored his magical power and spirit to their peak, he immediately threw himself into refining pills.

Having spent a century refining pills, Nie Zhaonan has refined all the pills needed for the Void Refinement stage. In addition to pills that enhance magical power and break through bottlenecks, there are also some spiritual pills that can restore injuries and regenerate severed limbs.

Nie Zhaonan only stopped after he had used up all the low- and mid-grade spirit stones stored in the cave. One can imagine how many pills he had refined.

As a result, an additional hall was added to the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven, named the 'Pill Hall', which was specifically used to store elixirs.

Having devoted himself to alchemy for a century and practiced with countless spiritual herbs, Nie Zhaonan's alchemy skills have reached an unbelievable level.

There is no possibility of failure in refining pills for the Void Refining stage, and he is confident that he can succeed on the first try even with the more difficult-to-refine pills for the Body Integration stage.

Even so, with the assistance of the Immortal Firebird, and the harmonious balance of Yin and Yang, Nie Zhaonan was still terrified when refining the Nine Tribulations Nirvana Pill, and only managed to succeed by sheer luck.

"No wonder even Candlelight himself wasn't confident he could successfully refine this pill, and even made a thousand-year pact with me. Did he assume I would fail? But he wouldn't have imagined that, unlike other cultivators who lack spiritual herbs, I, Nie Zhaonan, have an inexhaustible supply of them to practice with. Quickly raising my pill-refining skills to a very high level is not difficult at all." Nie Zhaonan looked at the fist-sized pill with a satisfied expression. At least his efforts hadn't been wasted.

There is still one dragon scale left to protect the heart of the candle flame. According to the original agreement, he only needs to refine one Nine Tribulation Nirvana Pill to fulfill the agreement. As for the remaining one, it will naturally belong to him, Nie Zhaonan.

With a thought, Nie Zhaonan flipped his hand, and a ball of dark light immediately appeared in his palm.

In the dark light, three palm-sized scales were clearly visible.

These scales are entirely black, with dark red lines on the surface, resembling flames burning, and a constant, ever-changing spiritual light flows around them, making them seem almost alive.

Weighing the scales in his hand, Nie Zhaonan's face lit up with joy, and he murmured to himself:
"Elder Candlelight is only at the late stage of the Integration Realm at this time. His cultivation level dropped entirely because he removed the Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale. One can imagine how much spiritual essence this scale contains."

"The heart-protecting dragon scale of a true dragon at the peak of the Fusion Realm, and its owner is Elder Candlelight, who has an extremely high level of understanding of the laws and a very profound foundation."

"This protective dragon scale is absolutely an excellent material for alchemy and weapon forging!"

However, Nie Zhaonan couldn't figure out the specific use of the Heart-Protecting Dragon Scale for the time being. After examining it excitedly for a while, he put it away again to save for later use.

With this thought in mind, Nie Zhaonan raised his hand and made a move towards the pill in the air.

Instantly, the fist-sized Nine Tribulation Nirvana Pill flashed and shot out on its own, landing precisely in the jade box that had just appeared in Nie Zhaonan's palm. With a flip, it silently disappeared into his palm.

After putting away the pills, Nie Zhaonan closed his eyes and began to regulate his breathing, feeling somewhat tired.

After a full day and night, when he opened his eyes again, all his fatigue vanished, and he regained his energy.

Without hesitation, he got up from the futon, and the door to the alchemy room opened by itself. Nie Zhaonan then slowly walked out.

A short while later, a streak of light shot out from the cave, circled briefly, identified a direction, and then vanished in a flash.

Several days passed before Nie Zhaonan returned to his cave dwelling after a flash of light on the horizon.

Recalling the process of delivering the pill, Elder Zhu Huo found it somewhat amusing that he saw the incredulous expression on his face when he took out the Nine Tribulations Nirvana Pill.

Elder Candlelight never imagined that Nie Zhaonan would refine this pill in just four hundred years.

However, Elder Zhuhuo's expression softened somewhat after Nie Zhaonan revealed that refining this pill had taken him a hundred years of effort. Even so, he still couldn't hide his regret.

Nie Zhaonan certainly knew what he really wanted, but since he had already offered the Nine Tribulations Nirvana Pill, there was no reason for him to give away the Immortal Firebird.

After exchanging a few words with Elder Candlelight, Nie Zhaonan bid farewell and left without lingering.

After returning to his cave, Nie Zhaonan did not immediately retreat into his secluded cultivation chamber. The century of tedious alchemy had taken a toll on him, and he needed to thoroughly relax both his mind and body.

With a thought, Nie Zhaonan's figure vanished from his spot without warning and reappeared in the Purple Cloud Cave.

During the hundred years he was in seclusion refining pills, Ling Yuling and the other girls also broke through to the Nascent Soul realm as expected.

As is customary, Nie Zhaonan would accompany the women for a period of time to celebrate such a momentous event as becoming a Nascent Soul cultivator, and this time was no exception.

In the following years, Nie Zhaonan and his companions appeared in various places in Zixiao Cave Heaven, whether in their boudoirs, among forests of spiritual trees, or on the spiritual clouds in the sky.
His footprints were everywhere, accompanied by soft singing.

The joy within is indescribable to outsiders; it is a carefree and blissful existence, surpassing even that of an immortal.

For a moment, he really wanted to stay in this cave forever and never go out.

The Beauty Cave is the Tomb of Heroes!

At this moment, Nie Zhaonan felt that these words were indeed true.

Finally, urged on by a group of beautiful Daoist partners, Nie Zhaonan left Zixiao Cave Heaven with great willpower.

After returning to his alchemy room in the cave at Qiyun Mountain, Nie Zhaonan sat cross-legged in meditation for three days and three nights until his mind finally became as calm and undisturbed as an ancient well.

Then, with a flick of his hand, a jade slip of emerald green appeared in his hand. With a tap of his finger, countless emerald green runes flew out from it. After circling slightly, they arranged themselves and condensed into three pages of scripture, which floated quietly in the air without moving.

Upon closer inspection, Nie Zhaonan was slightly taken aback. The jade slip did indeed contain the recipe for the 'Ten Thousand Scales Pill,' but to his surprise, there were three different methods for refining it.

The first recipe requires ten thousand dragon scale fruits as the main ingredient, supplemented with numerous rare spiritual herbs, to refine into a pill that can assist in the first stage of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Technique cultivation.

The second batch increases the number of Dragon Scale Fruits tenfold, requiring 100,000 Dragon Scale Fruits and even more precious spiritual herbs. The 'Ten Thousand Scale Pill' refined from this formula can accelerate the cultivation of the second stage of the technique.

The last recipe is a pill formula that has miraculous effects on cultivating the third stage of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Technique. It uses a million dragon scale fruits as the main ingredient, along with some sacred medicines for body refining, to refine this pill. "The recipe for this 'Ten Thousand Scale Pill' is actually like this. I originally thought that this pill had limited effects, but I didn't expect it to be enough to advance the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Technique to the third level!"

Nie Zhaonan was overjoyed. He finally understood why his master had said that at least ten thousand Dragon Scale Fruits were needed to refine this pill.

After staring at him for a moment without blinking, Nie Zhaonan's expression became unusually solemn, and his gaze became as still as clear water.

He suddenly entered a state of perfect tranquility, focusing all his attention on comprehending the first elixir formula.

Throughout the process of comprehending the truth, Nie Zhaonan's expression remained unchanged, as if he had not encountered any difficulties.

That makes sense. The first pill formula was only for refining the first level of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Technique. Even if it was more difficult to refine than pills for the Nascent Soul stage, it couldn't possibly cause Nie Zhaonan any trouble at this moment.

This meditation lasted for most of the day. After Nie Zhaonan let out a slight breath, he put away the emerald jade slip without saying a word.

Not only the first pill formula, but also the method for refining the second pill formula was now completely clear to Nie Zhaonan, without the slightest doubt.

With a flick of his sleeve, a storage bracelet flew out. Guided by his divine sense, the dragon scale fruits and auxiliary materials he had already collected poured out in the rosy light. Ten thousand dragon scale fruits floated in the air, almost filling the sky above the alchemy room before stopping.

After putting away the storage bracelet, Nie Zhaonan took out an antique-looking blue cauldron and let it float gently in front of him.

Nie Zhaonan glanced at the alchemy materials with narrowed eyes and took a deep breath.

Although this was his first time refining the Myriad Scale Pill, with his master-level alchemy skills, which allowed him to refine even the Nine Tribulations Nirvana Pill, he was naturally confident.

Moreover, in order to accelerate the cultivation of the Nine Revolutions True Dragon Technique, Nie Zhaonan made exceptionally thorough preparations. Dragon Scale Fruit Trees were planted throughout the hundreds of miles of the cave, so even if he failed a few times, it wouldn't matter.

After calming himself down, Nie Zhaonan suddenly pointed at the small cauldron in front of him. The cauldron spun around and its size immediately increased dramatically, becoming a giant cauldron more than ten feet in size.

At the same time, the celestial firebird shot out and enveloped the cauldron with a 'whoosh' sound, causing it to burst into flames.

A moment later, the cyan cauldron shimmered in the silver flames, radiating a scorching heat.

The entire enclosed room began to swelter, and the temperature soared.

A cold glint flashed in Nie Zhaonan's eyes, and with a perfectly timed flick of his hand, he cast a spell on the giant cauldron.

With a muffled "poof" sound, a beam of green light shot up from the cauldron and into the sky.

The lid of the cauldron flew out on its own, circled once, and then hovered motionless above the giant cauldron.

Seeing this, Nie Zhaonan quickly pointed at the dragon scale fruits in the air, and thousands of dragon scale fruits fell down all at once, disappearing into the giant cauldron and being devoured by the silver flames.

Staring at the giant cauldron in the flames, Nie Zhaonan's eyes flashed with blue light, and his ten fingers flickered incessantly, continuously casting spells, each one striking the giant cauldron without missing a single one.

In his eyes, the surface of the dragon scale fruit melted rapidly, turning into pale golden liquid clumps in an instant.

This was not the end. Under Nie Zhaonan's meticulous control, the pale golden liquid clumps were slowly shrinking, and the color became increasingly deep and rich, eventually forming viscous droplets smaller than grains of rice.

Manipulating the immortal fire to envelop the viscous droplets one by one and set them aside, Nie Zhaonan pointed his finger into the air again, and the remaining dragon scale fruits also disappeared into the cauldron.

After carefully refining the spiritual fruit in the cauldron once more, Nie Zhaonan added the auxiliary materials and then gently tapped the cauldron lid, which remained suspended in the air.

The lid of the cauldron fell silently down, covering the small cauldron completely.

Before long, the sound of dragon roars began to emanate from the giant cauldron, and it seemed to grow louder and louder.

Upon seeing this, Nie Zhaonan raised his eyebrows and changed the speed of his hand seals, suddenly becoming sometimes slow and sometimes fast.

The dragon's roar from the cauldron also fluctuated, sometimes high and sometimes low, sounding extremely eerie.

At this moment, Nie Zhaonan's expression was solemn, but the blue light in his eyes flickered uncertainly, as if he could directly see through the wall of the cauldron and observe the condition of the pills inside.

Time passed by little by little.

While Nie Zhaonan was engrossed in refining his elixirs, Bingfeng and Jinling sat facing each other in the main hall of the cave, sipping spiritual tea.

"This spiritual tea tastes really good." Jin Ling finished the tea in one gulp, her round face full of smiles.

"Jin Ling, if you like, take some spiritual tea with you later." Bing Feng poured Jin Ling another cup.

"How can this be? Bingfeng, you sent me this message not just to invite me here for tea, right? Please tell me what's wrong, and I'll do my best to help if I can." Jinling said seriously, swirling the tea in her cup.

"You've guessed wrong this time. There's nothing I need to trouble you with. I'm just saying goodbye in advance, nothing more," Bingfeng said softly, her moist lips slightly pursed.

"Farewell? Where are you going?" Jin Ling's face was full of surprise, not knowing why this matter had been brought up, and she hurriedly asked:
"Is it because you're not staying with Miss properly, or did you have a falling out with Lord Nie? Miss doesn't want you to fool around with Lord Nie, but it's for his own good. You can't be blamed for this."

"Jin Ling, what are you thinking? Brother Nie and I are very close." Bing Feng said coquettishly, her jade cheeks slightly flushed.

Seeing the growing confusion on Jin Ling's face, she slowly spoke again, explaining:
“It’s not just me who’s leaving; Brother Nie is leaving with me too.”

"Where to? Isn't the True Dragon Realm good enough? Not only are there abundant resources here, but it's also very safe," Jin Ling asked.

Although Bingfeng agreed with Jinling's statement that the True Dragon Realm was an excellent place for cultivation, she still shook her head.

There are far too many powerful figures in the True Dragon Realm. The fact that the Purple Cloud Cave Heaven, such a treasure, can accelerate the growth of spiritual herbs is enough to cause a huge uproar if even the slightest rumor is leaked.

Even these True Dragon Clan members, who have lived for countless years and possess vast knowledge, might have guessed that Nie Zhaonan possesses a treasure capable of accelerating the ripening of spiritual herbs.

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(End of this chapter)