A thousand enlightenments in one night, starting from being a menial apprentice.

Chapter 316 Refining Medicine
Duan Rong and Pan Yong were walking in the dense forest.

Duan Rong kept an eye on Pan Yong beside him. He always felt that there was a dangerous aura about this man.

Pan Yong stopped in front of a stone wall covered with vines. He suddenly stretched out his hand and lifted a densely entangled area of vines, revealing a pitch-black hole.

Pan Yong slipped in, and Duan Rong followed suit.

When Duan Rong went in, Pan Yong was already at the cave entrance. He blew a fire stick and glanced at Duan Rong, saying, "You should also get a torch. The path in this cave is not easy to walk on."

Pan Yong took a torch from the stone wall and lit it with a fire starter.

Duan Rong also took a torch and lit it on Pan Yong's torch.

Pan Yong took a look at the dark cave ahead and said, "Let's go. Let's go to the innermost cave."

Duan Rong didn't say anything, but just followed Pan Yong.

Pan Yong was quite satisfied with Duan Rong's performance.

What he hates most are newcomers who know nothing but ask all kinds of questions.

He will naturally tell you what you need to know.

At the beginning, when he brought Yin Cong with him, he really wanted to tear that guy's mouth apart.

Duan Rong held a torch in one hand and a sack full of poisonous insects in the other. He looked at the stone walls around him in astonishment.

The stone wall was covered with sharp edges, and even the path under their feet required three or five steps before they could find a gap to step on.

Duan Rong was wondering when Pan Yong suddenly said in a leisurely voice, "This was originally a dormant volcano. It has not erupted for decades. These caves that are interconnected in all directions are the channels through which the magma originally flowed and erupted..."

"Volcano?!" Duan Rong looked around, his heart shaken.

This was his first time walking inside a volcano, albeit an extinct one.

The two men walked to the corner of the cave entrance. Duan Rong reached out and touched the stone wall beside him. The stone wall was dead cold and silent.

Duan Rong suddenly discovered that there were not only no mosses or ferns in the cave, but there were not even any poisonous insects.

Pan Yong, who was walking in front, seemed to have guessed Duan Rong's thoughts. He turned his head and glanced at Duan Rong, who was standing in front of the stone wall in a daze, and said, "After the lava flowed, a large amount of sulfur remained on this stone wall... poisonous insects and mosses can't survive..."

The two passed through a stone cave and walked into a narrow, winding passage.

Pan Yong said, "This section is the most difficult to walk through. Just go through it. If you don't go through here, you will have to go a long way."

Duan Rong passed through the narrow gap between two stone walls, and a sharp stone tip even brushed his nose.

When Duan Rong passed through, Pan Yong was already waiting there with a torch.

The two walked for a while and suddenly stopped in front of a cave entrance. There was a heavy black iron door at the entrance. The copper lock on the iron door was as big as a fist.

Duan Rong's eyes flickered. This deep place in the belly of the volcano was actually locked with a big iron door.

What is in this?
With a dull rumbling sound, Pan Yong had already opened the copper lock with the key and pushed open the heavy iron door.

Pan Yong walked in first. Duan Rong was holding a torch and was about to go in, but he paused slightly at the entrance of the cave.

As soon as he reached the entrance of the cave, Duan Rong felt a damp and smelly air blowing towards his face.

Duan Rong's eyebrows suddenly frowned and he walked in slowly.

As soon as Duan Rong stepped into the cave, he looked around carefully. The cave was surprisingly deep and spacious. Under the light of the fire, he could see that the top of the cave was arched and covered with sharp stone spikes.

Pan Yong had already walked to a nearby place with a torch in hand, and Duan Rong followed slowly.

Although this cave is very large and exudes a damp, rotten, and bloody smell, it is empty as we walk along.

Pan Yong suddenly stopped, and Duan Rong also stopped not far from Pan Yong.

Duan Rong's eyes jumped as he noticed that the rock under Pan Yong's feet had turned a damp black color, as if it had grown a layer of black moss.

But Pan Yong said that moss cannot survive here.

Pan Yong said in a deep voice: "Duan Rong, remember! When you reach the place where the rock changes color, don't go any further. If you go any further, you will be attacked!"

"Attack?" Duan Rong frowned and looked around vigilantly. "What attack?"

He didn't notice anything unusual along the way.

"The attack of the black blood vine."

"Black blood vine!?" Duan Rong walked slowly to Pan Yong's side. In the light of the torches held by the two men, he saw two trees deep in the cave not far away. They were not very tall, but had twisted trunks and were covered with vines.

If that can still be called a tree.

With the two trees as the center, the rocks on the ground within a radius of nearly ten feet were as black as ink.

The two trees were completely black.

There are sparse leaves on the two trees, very few leaves, only more than ten on each tree.

Each leaf is about the size of a human palm, but the strange thing is that the leaves are bright red like blood and so gorgeous that they are tempting to the touch.

Dark trunks, twisted vines, bright red leaves.

The two trees in front of me are so scary and weird...

Duan Rong looked shocked. He felt that two trees like these should be growing in hell.

Or perhaps, at this moment, he was standing at the entrance to hell.

At the top of the crowns of the two trees, there were two fist-sized green fruits hanging, shining with a faint green light.

What Duan Rong couldn't see was that there was a small hole like a spring on the ground next to the two trees. Rich heaven and earth energy gushed out from the small hole and filled the cave...

However, Pan Yong and Duan Rong were both warriors who had just entered the true Qi realm and had no sense of the vital energy of heaven and earth.

Only warriors who have entered the Yuan Qi realm can feel the concentration of the natural and heavenly Yuan Qi in the air.

"This black blood vine needs to be fed once every three days..."

Pan Yong was talking to Duan Rong when they suddenly heard footsteps behind them.

Duan Rong's heart skipped a beat, but he saw that Pan Yong was just looking back the way he came.

Duan Rong knew that nothing was wrong, and he also looked towards the direction where the footsteps came from.

I saw a figure holding a torch slowly approaching.

As the figure approached, Duan Rong's eyes moved.

"It's Chen Hu."

Chen Hu was holding a torch, and there seemed to be a dark shadow behind him.

Chen Hu walked closer, bent down slightly, twisted his shoulders, and then there was a bang, and a huge yellow shadow fell to the ground.

It turned out to be a huge tiger that was killed. Judging from its size, it must have weighed about three hundred kilograms.

Chen Hu glanced at Duan Rong with a slightly surprised look, then looked at Pan Yong and said, "You just got here and you brought him here to feed the black blood vine?"

Pan Yong said, "Master Shang said that he will also go to refine the medicine tonight."

"Really?" Chen Hu looked at Duan Rong deeply.

Pan Yong said: "I've gone to refine the medicine, so I can naturally feed the black blood vine as well."

Pan Yong had already told Duan Rong yesterday evening about his participation in medicine refining, but there was no sign of abnormality on Pan Yong's face when he told him.

But now Duan Rong could tell from Chen Hu's eyes that it was obviously very abnormal for him to participate in refining medicine as soon as he arrived.

When something is abnormal, there must be something wrong?
Why did Shang Xiangyu let him participate in refining medicine as soon as he arrived?
Could it be related to the notebook left by Shen Ping?

Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that he recognized three poisonous weeds?

But Duan Rong felt that these alone were not enough to make Shang Xiangyu change the norm!
Duan Rong suddenly remembered the scene before he fell into coma.

When he said Shen Ping's name, Shang Xiangyu suddenly stood up and knocked off the lid of the big stone pot on the table. He was then intoxicated by the strange fragrance in the big stone pot.

Duan Rong suddenly fell into coma at that time and did not think much about the previous scene.

But at this time, Duan Rong recalled Shang Xiangyu's reaction when he heard Shen Ping's name, and he could conclude that Shang Xiangyu must know Shen Ping.

Because of Shen Ping, Shang Xiangyu changed the usual practice.

Let him participate in refining medicine as soon as he arrives.

Duan Rong was sure that his inference was correct.

At this moment, Chen Hu flipped his hand and pulled out a dagger that was shining with cold light from his sleeve. He actually held the dagger and began to skin the tiger on the ground.

Pan Yong glanced at Chen Hu, then looked at Duan Rong and said, "He feeds blood food! We feed poison food! It's once every three days!"

As Pan Yong spoke, he pinched his sack, jumped up suddenly, and poured the poisonous insects in the sack around a black blood vine.

Pan Yong looked at Duan Rong and said, "Sprinkle your bag on the other tree."

It takes some skill to scatter a sack full of poisonous insects near a black blood vine.

Duan Rong's hidden weapon techniques not only integrated multiple techniques, but had also long been penetrated by the state of great perfection.

Duan Rong stood there and did not jump up like Pan Yong. Instead, he kept his feet still. He opened the mouth of the sack, revealing the poisonous insects inside. Then he suddenly grabbed a corner of the bottom of the sack and lifted it up suddenly.

It looked like an ordinary sack-lifting posture, but Duan Rong used more than twenty different techniques in that short period of time.

I saw the sack of poisonous insects, like a rain of flowers, hitting the area around another black blood vine with a crackling sound.

Duan Rong's poisonous insects were obviously more evenly and accurately sprayed than Pan Yong's. "Beautiful!" Chen Hu couldn't help but admire.

Pan Yong glanced at Chen Hu and smiled awkwardly. He knew that Chen Hu was a guy who rarely praised others.

At this time, Chen Hu had already skinned the tiger and cut the bloody tiger carcass into two pieces.

Chen Hu grabbed the tiger's bloody leg and threw it. With a flash of blood, the two halves of the tiger's bloody corpse fell steadily under two black blood vine trees.

At this time, the vines of the black blood vine twisted and squirmed like living things, wrapping around the blood corpse. Some vines first wrapped around the poisonous insects...

Soon, the bloody corpse entangled by the vines began to ooze pus, and a layer of yellow juice floated up, and immediately a foul smell came...

Pan Yong said, "Let's go. I can't stand this smell. If I stand any longer, I'm afraid I'll vomit."

Duan Rong glanced at the bottom of the tree and saw a spider being rolled up by a vine. It soon disappeared and seemed to have turned into juice, which was dripping onto the vine...

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, and Chen Hu walked out of the cave. At the entrance, Pan Yong locked the heavy iron door, then stuffed the key and the bottle of poison powder into Duan Rong's hand and said, "Junior Brother Duan Rong, from now on, the job of feeding the black blood vine with poison will be handed over to you. Once every three days."

Duan Rong put the key and the porcelain bottle into his sleeves and said obediently, "Yes, Senior Brother!"

Pan Yong nodded, and the three of them walked out along the way they came, holding torches.

When they reached the stone wall covered with vines, Pan Yong looked at Duan Rong and said, "Junior Brother Duan Rong, there is nothing to do today. I will go to the stone cave to find you at 10 p.m., the time for refining medicine. You can just be there then."

Duan Rong said, "Thank you, Senior Brother."

Duan Rong said, his eyes moved, and he said: "Then the two brothers, I will go back first."

"Well, go ahead." Pan Yong said.

Duan Rong turned around and walked into the dense forest. He was going to take a bath and feel the pool of water in the forest.

Pan Yong and Chen Hu stood in front of the stone wall, looking at Duan Rong's figure, which was looming between the trees in the dense forest.

Pan Yong said: "This boy is quite accomplished!"

Chen Hu said: "Maybe he has some background."

Pan Yong knew what Chen Hu was referring to. Duan Rong was the first person to be able to participate in medicine refining right after arriving.

"Let's get along well." Pan Yong suddenly said, then put his hands behind his back and walked towards a certain direction of the dense forest.

Chen Hu looked at Pan Yong's back, sneered, and murmured, "There are times when you give in..."

As Chen Hu said this, he walked in another direction. He didn't have anywhere to go, he just didn't want to go the same way as Pan Yong.

At this time, it was already three quarters past midnight.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong were in a deep cave in the belly of a volcano.

There are four torches stuck on the stone walls of the cave!

Four torches were burning brightly, illuminating the cave!

I saw that on the ground of the cave, there were several criss-crossing stone grooves, about as wide as the distance between two feet.

Where the stone ditches intersect, there is a deep stone pit.

There is a black tripod standing on each stone pit.

There are four stone pits and four black tripods in total.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu and Yin Cong were placing the prepared medicinal materials next to four black tripods.

While putting away the various bottles and jars in his hands, Yin Cong looked at Duan Rong not far away with a strange look.

Yin Cong suddenly clicked his lips, looked at Chen Hu, and tapped Duan Rong with his chin.

But Chen Hu pretended not to see it, and slowly placed the bottles and jars in his arms next to the black tripod beside him.

Yin Cong looked at Chen Hu and cursed inwardly.

Just as they put the herbs away, a figure slowly walked in from the entrance of the cave. It was Shang Xiangyu, who was wearing a wrinkled Taoist robe and had disheveled hair.

Shang Xiangyu's head was full of silver hair, which glowed like snow in the firelight.

Shang Xiangyu walked into the cave, glanced at the few people, paused for a moment at Duan Rong's face, looked at Pan Yong, and asked slowly, "Are you all ready?"

"Everything is ready, Shangshi."

Shang Xiangyu nodded, walked to a black tripod and squatted down.

With a serious look, he opened the bottles and jars one by one and sniffed them.

After smelling them all, Shang Xiangyu's expression relaxed and he glanced at the bottles and jars on the ground next to the other three black tripods.

Shang Xiangyu stood up and took out a black pottery jar in his hand. He opened the jar and poured the liquid inside into the black tripod beside him.

After Shang Xiangyu finished pouring the wine, he threw away the pottery jar in his hand and looked up at Pan Yong.

Pan Yong understood and immediately poured the same medicinal liquid into the other three black tripods.

At this time, Shang Xiangyu had already walked to a corner of the cave. On the ground in that corner, there was a huge black stone like black jade.

The boulder was as big as a stone bed, and it was completely black, making it difficult to tell what material it was made of.

Shang Xiangyu looked at the huge rock and suddenly took a deep breath. The vital energy in his body instantly evaporated. He grabbed one side of the black rock with both hands and suddenly exerted force!

He actually slowly lifted up the huge black stone and stood it there!

Shang Xiangyu exhaled a breath, and at that moment, he saw magma as dazzling as the scorching sun gushing out from the place where the black stone was originally pressed.

Flowing along the stone ditch like water!
The magma flowed into the stone pit under the black tripod, overflowed, and flowed along the stone ditch to the next stone pit.

After the magma filled up the four stone pits, it flowed from the other end into a dark, deep hole with no bottom...

As the magma flows, the temperature in the cave rises sharply!
After a few breaths, the four black tripods were already burning red!

As the black cauldron turned red, the liquid medicine inside instantly evaporated, and white mist filled the mouth of the cauldron...

Duan Rong smelled a faint fishy smell...

At this moment, Shang Xiangyu suddenly appeared. His figure was as fast as a ghost, and he kept flashing back and forth between the four black tripods...

Bottles of medicinal materials were poured into the black cauldron one by one in order.

After a few breaths, Shang Xiangyu suddenly stopped.

At this time, the smell that filled the cave was no longer fishy, but the peculiar smell of rotting grass and trees.

"You four, take the pestle and stir!"

Following Shang Xiangyu's gloomy tone, Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong all held a stone pestle that was almost as tall as themselves and as thick as their arms, and began stirring in the black cauldron.

Shang Xiangyu walked past several people from time to time, observing the subtle changes of the medicine in the black cauldron.

Duan Rong kept stirring it, paying attention and trying his best to make his movements in sync with Pan Yong and Chen Hu.

After a while, Shang Xiangyu suddenly added all the remaining medicinal materials in bottles and jars into the black cauldron.

"Hold your breath!"

As Shang Xiangyu finished speaking, a faint purple mist rose from the black cauldron as the medicinal herbs were added.

The purple mist dissipated, and Duan Rong and the other three were still stirring with the stone pestle.

"Everyone stop it."

After a while, following Shang Xiangyu's instructions, the four of them withdrew.

Shang Xiangyu was seen wandering back and forth between the four black tripods. His loose silver hair would occasionally be singed off by the red-hot edges of the tripods.

But Shang Xiangyu's eyes were focused and his body was as fast as a ghost.

After a few breaths, Shang Xiangyu suddenly flashed, picked up the cauldron lids, and covered all four black cauldrons.

Afterwards, Shang Xiangyu sat cross-legged in a corner of the cave, closing his eyes and resting.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, and Yin Cong had already put down their stone pestles and stood aside.

The temperature in the cave was already extremely high at this time. Their clothes were soaked and their foreheads were covered with sweat.

Fortunately, they are all warriors. If they were ordinary people, they would have been unable to bear the heat and fainted long ago...

No one knew how long it had been, the four of them were dealing with the rolling heat waves, and they all felt that the days were passing by like years. Suddenly, Shang Xiangyu opened his eyes, and with a flash of his body, he rushed to a black cauldron. He lowered his head to the mouth of the cauldron and took a gentle sniff.

Then he followed the same method and sniffed all three tripods.

Shang Xiangyu's expression remained unchanged, but he suddenly flashed to the side of the huge standing black stone, pushed it hard, and suddenly jumped away.

The big black stone slapped down with a loud bang, and flames immediately splashed everywhere, like a scorching sun exploding. Countless sparks, like iron trees and silver flowers, splashed everywhere...

At this time, Shang Xiangyu had already walked over, looked at Pan Yong and said, "Pan Yong, I'll leave the rest to you! After the magma cools down, you can open the cauldron and take the medicine!"

Pan Yong clasped his fists and said, "Yes, Shangshi."

Shang Xiangyu flicked his sleeves and walked out of the cave.

Duan Rong, Pan Yong, Chen Hu, Yin Cong and the other four were waiting nearby as the magma cooled down little by little.

The heat waves in the cave gradually subsided.

As the magma cooled, a strong medicinal aroma slowly emanated from the gap between the edge of the tripod and the lid, filling the cave...

(End of this chapter)