Sword Sect Outer Sect

Chapter 222 Shinomiya Goya
With everything prepared, a black horn flower was tossed into the stove.

The moment the petals came into contact with the sword energy, they were instantly shredded into dust, and the impurities were flung out of the field like black sand.

The other auxiliary drugs were also thrown into it one by one, the impurities were decomposed, and the remaining liquid was suspended in the furnace core.

Under the scorching heat of the blazing fire, it gradually shrank and turned into emerald green droplets.

Song Yan frowned slightly, sensing with his divine sense that the medicinal power was dissipating too quickly. He immediately adjusted the intensity of his sword energy, and a buzzing vibration immediately rang out inside the furnace.

He flicked his finger, and half of the lotus seed that held the moon was sent into the furnace.

Upon encountering the sword energy, the lotus seed trembled slightly as if it were alive, its outer lotus skin peeling away to fully reveal its moon-like core.

Song Yan's sword technique suddenly changed, and the sword energy in the furnace turned from hard to soft, slowly drawing out the essence of the lotus seeds like a spring breeze caressing the willows.

The lotus seeds fused with the medicinal liquid from the black horn flower, instantly bursting forth with silver light, and a hissing sound emanated from the sword energy field.

This is a sign of conflicting medicinal properties.

"We're doomed." Song Yan shouted in a low voice, his sword pointing swiftly.

The sword energy inside the furnace suddenly split, dividing the silver light into countless thin streams, just like a skilled butcher dissecting an ox.

At the same time, the toad's top trembled violently, spontaneously spitting out a cool sword aura, forcibly suppressing the chaotic and rampant medicinal power.

This is the effect of the sword furnace's regulation, and it is also what Song Yan considers to be the most ingenious aspect of Chen Yi's design.

This cauldron, specially designed for alchemy using sword techniques, can not only capture the surrounding dissipated sword energy and reduce the pressure on cultivators to inject their sword energy, but also store a portion of it to automatically suppress the dissipated medicinal power at critical moments.

This allows the monks ample time to react and make remedies or adjustments.

Once the medicinal liquid had stabilized, Song Yan seized the opportunity and instantly withdrew all his sword energy.

The temperature of the medicinal liquid suddenly dropped, and four pills gradually solidified.

Inside the sword-wielding alchemy furnace, wisps of gray mist could be faintly seen.

Amidst the pervasive smell of burning, four pills rolled to the ground. One of them was a low-grade completed pill, while the other three were unusable pills.

This is thanks to the effectiveness of the alchemy furnace; otherwise, it would have been another whole batch of wasted pills.

Although Song Yan's current spiritual sense has not yet reached the Foundation Establishment stage, it has already far surpassed the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Even someone like himself needed to expend so much effort, and he couldn't help but sigh once again at how difficult the path of alchemy was.

Song Yan first took out the completed pill, examined it carefully for a while, and then put it away for the time being.

Then his gaze fell on the three discarded pills, their surfaces covered with cracks, and in the blink of an eye, their spiritual energy had almost completely dissipated.

He picked it up and examined it closely: "The sword energy is too intense; the medicinal properties of the lotus seed have not been fully activated..."

The toad on the sword furnace made a "coo" sound and emitted a wisp of green smoke.

The scene felt somewhat mocking.

Song Yan pursed his lips.

For the next month, he continued his alternating life of cultivation and alchemy.

With the worry of searching for the Fallen Vine gone, Song Yan's mindset became much more open, and his success rate in alchemy increased rapidly.

There were four attempts in total. The first one went wrong and all attempts failed.

The second time, it only produced one pill, but the third and fourth times, it produced three pills each time.

A total of seven Wuxiang Pills were formed.

The success rate of this pill is already close to 50%.

There was only one lotus seed left in the Moon-Bearing Lotus Seed Refinement Pill. Song Yan planned to try twice more before actually starting to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill.

During this time, something else happened.

That means Xiao Ju has finally broken through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and officially become a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

While celebrating this achievement, Song Yan once again considered the matter of passing on the Zhongjian technique to Xiao Ju after he reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

"I always felt that Xiao Ju was smarter than me. Passing on this sword technique to her can be considered as finding a good disciple candidate for the Sword Sect."

In the past, when Song Yan identified himself as a disciple of the Sword Sect, he always felt very lonely.

It was as if he, an ordinary person, was the one to unravel the long road ahead and the countless causes and mysteries that belonged to the Sword Sect.

This feeling was especially strong after he had entered the Sword Sect ruins under the guidance of the old man in the straw raincoat.

"Now that the Sword Sect is in such decline, every additional sword enthusiast means more paths to take."

"The path of sword cultivators is one of sharp edges and brilliance, inevitably attracting jealousy and covetousness. If I die on my path to immortality, Xiao Ju will be able to pass on these things, so the lineage will not be cut off."

Song Yan thought to herself.

……

This day, at the entrance of Lanxi Cave.

Song Yan and Wang Ke were already waiting there, and Xiao Ju stood behind them, seemingly waiting for someone.

Seeing the people approaching from afar, he stepped forward and said softly, "Senior Song, Brother Liang and the others have arrived."

Liang Feng and Hu Qing walked slowly towards the bend in the mountain path not far away.

Liang Feng and his wife had made plans to watch the game well in advance, and Liang Feng pulled a lot of strings to get Hu Qing a seat.

Song Yan had also thought of this matter that day, and made a special mention to Liang Feng, arranging to go together.

"This must be Fellow Daoist Wang Ke?"

Seeing Wang Ke nod, Liang Feng said gently, "My wife is very fond of chess. I am truly impressed to hear that Fellow Daoist Wang has actually advanced to the finals of this tournament."

Hu Qing didn't say anything, but simply gave a gentle bow.

"Oh, it's just a hobby."

The group walked out of Lanxi Cave.

Liang Feng was naturally talkative, and Wang Ke was not an introverted person either; the two chatted idly along the way.

Hu Qing and Xiao Ju were chatting and laughing.

Ever since Xiao Ju learned some Go, she would ask Hu Qing to play Go whenever Song Yan was in seclusion cultivating or refining elixirs.

After a while, the two became quite familiar with each other.

In stark contrast to the relaxed atmosphere, Song Yan seemed slightly uneasy.

He rented a flying artifact.

This is the first time I've used it.

Only Xiao He knew about this, so she kept quiet.

In fact, after Song Yan left Yijiang, he had a considerable amount of spirit stones on him.

I originally kept it, hoping to try my luck in buying Rakuzentiri.

Now, he has enough financial resources to purchase a flying artifact without affecting the refining of the improved Foundation Establishment Pill.

But people's mentality is very strange.

Now, he has been blessed with good fortune and has obtained the spiritual object he has always dreamed of for no reason, but he is reluctant to spend the spirit stones to buy a flying magic weapon.

We've saved a lot of spirit stones, so let's save even more.

He wanted to use all these spirit stones for cultivation in order to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

The flying magical artifact he rented was called "Red Dust Battle," a flying chariot-shaped spirit boat painted in vermilion and gold.

Arriving at an open space, Song Yan coughed lightly and took out the control jade talisman of the Red Dust Battle.

As spiritual energy was injected, a flying vehicle several meters long appeared out of thin air.

A crimson gauze curtain hung from the roof of the carriage, with golden bells hanging from the four corners.

It's very impressive, but a little... gaudy.

However, there's no way around it; most of the flying magical artifacts rented here are quite luxurious in appearance.

This Red Dust Fighting Blade was the cheapest magical artifact he could afford. "It will take about three hours to get to Beiya Mountain."

Song Yan said, "Although the Red Dust Battle is not as fast as some flying spirit beasts, it has the advantage of being stable..."

He glanced over and saw Xiao He squatting beside the flying car, scratching the gold patterns on the car body with her little hands.

He went up and flicked him on the head.

After everyone boarded the carriage, Song Yan, following the shopkeeper's instructions, infused spiritual power into the jade talisman, then placed the spirit stones one by one, and finally threw three spirit stones into the slot in the middle of the platform.

The Red Dust Fighter slowly rose into the air.

"call--"

Song Yan breathed a sigh of relief; controlling this flying artifact wasn't as troublesome as he had imagined.

Xiao He leaned against the window.

As she watched Shouyang Mountain shrink, she suddenly turned and asked, "Yanyan, what if we run out of spirit stones while we're flying?"

The interior of the spirit boat fell silent instantly.

Song Yan silently stuffed another spirit stone into the drive array plate.

The speed of the Red Dust Fighter was indeed not fast, but it flew steadily with almost no shaking.

With nothing else to do, the group set up a chess game inside the car.

Hu Qing and Xiao Ju played a game of chess, while the other three watched from the sidelines.

Song Yan was still studying how to control the Red Dust Battle. After all, it was his first time using it, and he felt uneasy if he didn't keep an eye on it.

Fortunately, two hours passed without incident, and they finally reached the vicinity of Beiya Mountain City.

They did not encounter any ambushes or attacks on the way. It seems that those cultivators who had their eyes on Wang Ke gave up when they saw him banding together with others.

The Red Dust Battle slowly descended, and the group of people stepped out of the flying boat one after another.

This time, Song Yan wasn't very familiar with the area coming from the direction of Lanxi Cave. Fortunately, Liang Feng and Hu Qing were locals, so they could easily lead the way.

To avoid encountering the people of Linghua Valley and causing unnecessary trouble, the two disguised themselves carefully.

With the Chess Tournament approaching, many local cultivators are receiving visitors.

Two cultivators, a man and a woman, dressed in Taoist robes from Beiya Mountain City, walked towards us.

The man was in his early thirties, dressed in an indigo robe. The woman appeared to be in her early twenties, wearing a light gauze dress, her eyes smiling.

The male cultivator was the first to cup his hands in greeting, his voice deep: "Greetings, fellow Daoists. I am Zhou Ming, a steward of Beiya Mountain City, and this is my junior sister, Tian Mei."

"You're very polite."

At this moment, Xiao He was also in human form. Seeing everyone's actions, she also performed a proper bow.

"May I ask which fellow Daoists have come here for..."

Even without the Chess Tournament, there are still quite a few cultivators coming and going in Beiya Mountain.

As the man spoke, his gaze swept over the crowd, lingering for a moment longer on Wang Ke's coarse cloth clothes.

mortal?

Upon hearing this, Wang Ke straightened his clothes and took out a name card from his pocket: "I am Wang Ke, a native of Yunmeng Mountain. I am here to participate in the final of the Yi Dao Tournament."

When the invitation was unfolded, two phantom chess pieces, one black and one white, floated in the air; these were the specially made entry credentials for the tournament.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Wang!" Tian Mei's eyes lit up.

He took out a bamboo scroll from his Qiankun bag and unfolded it, and a lot of information immediately appeared on it.

Zhou Ming seemed to have heard of this name as well.

This person was no ordinary person. When compiling the list of participants, he had heard many people talk about this strong favorite to win the championship.

There are rumors that a disciple of a reclusive sect had his cultivation sealed by his elders.

There are rumors that he was injured by villains and lost all his cultivation.

No one knows.

Liang Feng stepped forward and took out two jade talismans: "I am Liang Feng from Lanxi Cave, and this is my wife, Hu Qing. We have been invited to watch the competition, and these are the viewing vouchers issued by the cave."

The spiritual patterns belonging to Lanxi Cave flowed on the jade talisman.

After Zhou Ming checked the credentials, his attitude became even more enthusiastic: "As one of the eight finalists, and as special guests, Mr. and Mrs. Liang are both entitled to stay at Shanyang Villa according to the rules."

Song Yan had heard about Shanyang Villa from Yan Xun before. It was a top-tier mansion under the Yan family's name, used to receive distinguished guests.

Previously, if the Dongyuan Sect group hadn't stayed at Linghua Valley, they would have gone to Shanyang Villa.

Tian Mei smiled sweetly: "The final will be held in Shinomiya five days from now. I wonder if you would like to go to the Godo venue first to familiarize yourselves with the environment, or go directly to the villa to rest?"

Wang Ke was somewhat impatient, but still turned around and glanced at Song Yan: "How about we go to the venue first?"

Song Yan, who was wandering at the back of the crowd, suddenly noticed that everyone's eyes were on him, which puzzled him.

He waved his hand: "Do as you please."

Who cares about the grand or small chess tournaments? Song Yan only wants to get his Fallen Vine.

Liang Feng exchanged a glance with his wife and said gently, "My wife and I have had a long journey and would like to settle in another courtyard first. If Fellow Daoist Song is interested, you may accompany Fellow Daoist Wang to the venue."

After a moment's thought, Song Yan nodded and said to Zhou Ming and the other man, "Thank you for leading the way."

Zhou Ming and Tian Mei are also very perceptive people.

Although the two could not discern the depth of Song Yan's cultivation, judging from his demeanor, there was no doubt that he was the leader among these people, so they naturally dared not be negligent.

Zhou Ming immediately made a hand seal and summoned a cloud chariot: "Please come with me, my junior sister will escort fellow Daoists Liang and Hu to the other courtyard."

The Four Palaces Chess Valley is not located within the city, but rather in a nearby sacred mountain.

The cloud chariot did not fly for long before landing on a mountain road.

Nestled among mountains, a secluded valley lies quietly.

At each of the four corners of the valley stands a stone chess pavilion, with the eaves of the pavilions carved with the four symbols of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, respectively, and chess sets are placed inside each pavilion.

In the center is a huge stone wall with nineteen lines crisscrossing it, gleaming with a faint spiritual light. Below it is a special white jade chessboard.

This is the special chessboard used in the decisive game. The game between the two players below will be displayed on a huge stone wall, and can be seen even from a distance.

"This is the Four Palaces Chess Valley." Zhou Ming said with pride, "Legend has it that this Chess Valley was built by the second city lord of Beiya Mountain City using the Four Symbols Formation."

"This jade chessboard in the center is quite interesting. The scene on the stone wall will change as the players place their pieces. When the decisive day comes, you will know it at a glance."

There were already twenty or thirty people in the valley at this moment.

Beside the chess pavilion on the east side, several stewards dressed in the attire of Beiya Mountain City were using their spiritual power to construct something.

Wang Ke wandered around for a while, and Song Yan followed him.

Xiao He and Xiao Ju were also quite intrigued, and paused for a moment at the foot of the huge stone wall beside the central jade chessboard.

Not far away, a cultivator in a green robe saw Zhou Ming and slowly walked over.

Song Yan glanced up casually, but was startled.

"Fellow Daoist Rong?"

The man turned his head at the sound and looked at Song Yan, his eyes revealing a look of surprise.

"Fellow Daoist Song!"

This person was none other than Wu Huaguo's Daoist partner, Rong Xiaofeng.

I haven't seen the couple since we parted ways at Lin Qinglong's grave several years ago.

Previously, the group from Beiya Mountain Flower Festival had originally intended to visit, but various matters delayed their visit.

I never imagined that we would meet again in this Chess Valley.

(End of this chapter)