The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

On the mountainside of Wujun Mountain, behind a platform several tens of feet wide, lies a huge cave dwelling completely concealed by an array – this is the Yuelu Palace.

Yang Qingyuan, riding the Azure Leaf magical artifact, descended from the sky and stopped in front of the azure light curtain at the entrance of the cave.

The moment he appeared, he sensed several divine thoughts sweeping over him.

Immediately afterwards, two Foundation Establishment cultivators dressed in yellow silk robes from the Yellow Maple Valley emerged from behind the light curtain.

"Huh? This junior brother looks unfamiliar. Could it be that he has just established his foundation?" One of the yellow-robed stewards looked Yang Qingyuan up and down and then asked.

Yang Qingyuan clasped his hands in greeting and replied, "I am Yang Qingyuan. I have indeed only been a Foundation Establishment cultivator for three or four months. I have come to Yuelu Palace today to rent a room in the Earth Fire House."

"What? You're Yang Qingyuan!"

The two guards exchanged bewildered glances, both asking in surprise, "You're the lightning-root cultivator who came out on top in the Crimson Forbidden Land?"

"I heard you're a top disciple of Master Lei?"

Yang Qingyuan was surprised that the other party had heard of him. He chuckled and said, "If there isn't another person named Yang Qingyuan in Huangfeng Valley."

That's me.

The two guards also gasped, saying repeatedly, "Junior Brother Yang's name is renowned far and wide."

"Please come in quickly!"

The two guards quickly stepped aside to let Yang Qingyuan in, and led him through a narrow passageway to a huge circular hall.

Around the hall were rows of white stone doors of the same size.

Behind the stone gate are the Earth Fire Houses, which number more than thirty.

"Junior Brother Yang, renting a Fire House here costs one low-grade spirit stone every three days," one of the Foundation Establishment deacons stepped forward, pushed open the white stone door, and introduced, "This Fire House number two is currently unoccupied."

However, this fire-filled room was not very large, only about three or four zhang in size.

In the center of the house was a stone pier about ten feet wide, and on each of the four walls hung a gourd the size of a fist.

There was also a bright green futon in the corner of the wall not far away.

The stone pier is only about half a foot high, and its outer side is inlaid with eight miniature, fiery red dragon heads.

The dragon's head is slightly raised, pointing towards the sky, as if it is about to spew air, which is very lifelike.

The guard pointed to the stone pillar and explained, "Junior Brother Yang, the earth fire needed for alchemy and weapon forging comes from these eight dragon heads."

"The method of controlling the dragon's head is engraved on the outer wall of the stone pier."

"And these four gourds on the wall are filled with sparks of fire, which can temporarily enhance the power of the earth fire."

"Also, please keep this jade tablet safe, junior brother. Once the door is closed, it can only be opened through this jade tablet."

Yang Qingyuan took the token from the guard, paid six low-grade spirit stones, and then strode into the Earth Fire House, closing the door behind him.

Immediately afterwards, he patted his storage bag, took out the large golden box, opened it, and poured out a pile of treasures.

Yang Qingyuan inventoried them one by one, first taking out those items that resembled identity tokens, such as tokens and communication talismans, as well as those items that seemed to retain divine imprints, and then taking them out separately.

He then followed the instructions written on the stone pier, opened the dragon's head, released the earth fire, and burned all the objects to ashes.

In the raging fire, more than a dozen objects were reduced to ashes.

Yang Qingyuan was relieved and began to count the remaining treasures.

First are the magical artifacts, totaling more than twenty pieces, including six top-grade artifacts.

A blue-red gourd, four flaming flying forks, a pair of fire wheels, a pair of magic weapons shaped like bone claws, a silver demon mask, and a black robe.

Yang Qingyuan also found records about these magical artifacts in the jade slips beside him.

This bluish-red gourd is called the "Fire Spirit Gourd," which can absorb and control various flames.

At this moment, a trace of Azure Sun Demonic Flame, also known as Azure Sun Sacred Flame in the Demon Flame Sect, still remains inside the Fire Spirit Gourd.

The fire was incredibly powerful, easily destroying Nie Ying's flying dagger talisman, leaving Yang Qingyuan still shaken.

The Fire Dragon Gourd can adjust the power of the Azure Sun Sacred Fire, allowing it to be used to refine elixirs and magical artifacts.

"In this way, we will have the flame for alchemy." Yang Qingyuan put the Fire Spirit Gourd into his storage bag.

As for the four flaming flying forks, they are also a set of exquisite magic weapons from the Demon Flame Sect, called the "Flame Chain Forks". In particular, the set of flying forks in front of them was made by Lian Feihua at the request of her own Nascent Soul Ancestor, and it was also mixed with precious materials such as iron essence.

These two flaming flying wheels are unique flying artifacts of the Demon Flame Sect, called "Crimson Fire Wheels." They are truly top-grade flying artifacts, far superior to any green leaf artifacts.

There was also the bone claw magic weapon found in Wang Ping's storage bag, which was a rare set of top-quality magic weapons.

What interested Yang Qingyuan the most was the silver demon mask and the black robe.

According to Wang Ping's jade slip, these two items are treasures that only core disciples of the Ghost Spirit Sect, that is, descendants or disciples of the Nascent Soul Ancestor, can possess.

This silver ghost mask can not only resist divine sense probing, but also transform into various human faces, making it equivalent to a high-grade human skin mask.

The black robe can conceal a cultivator's aura, making them appear and disappear unpredictably.

In addition, there were some special magical artifacts, such as a black bowl that was taken out of Wang Ping's storage bag.

This bowl is called the "Soul Refining Bowl," a unique magical artifact used by disciples of the Ghost Spirit Sect to extract souls and refine ghost pets.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Qingyuan found another talisman with a skull pattern.

This is the talisman that Wang Ping used earlier, and its power far exceeds that of ordinary talismans.

Yang Qingyuan's gilded blade talisman was easily crushed by the skull talisman.

In addition, there are some jade slips containing cultivation techniques from the Demon Flame Sect and the Ghost Spirit Sect, all of which are rare and top-tier techniques.

There were more than fifty mid-grade spirit stones, equivalent to five thousand low-grade spirit stones.

There were also many kinds of elixirs and talismans.

Yang Qingyuan categorized the numerous treasures one by one, and then opened the storage bag given to him by the Xu surname cultivator from the Wulong Sect.

The storage bag contained a gray jade slip, a large pile of seeds and seedlings of precious medicinal herbs, and more than a dozen medicinal herbs that were two hundred years old.

Yang Qingyuan picked up the gray jade slip and examined it carefully. He found that the gray jade slip contained more than ten kinds of pill formulas, mainly for the Qi Refining stage, with only three for the Foundation Establishment stage. There was also a duplicate Spirit Gathering Pill formula.

"True Essence Pill, strengthens the foundation and nourishes the essence, enhances cultivation, suitable for cultivators in the late Foundation Establishment stage." Yang Qingyuan found another pill formula to increase cultivation, and he was overjoyed.

After all, taking the same kind of pill too often will lead to drug resistance and eventually render it ineffective, so the more pill formulas you have, the better.

Moreover, the cultivator surnamed Xu gifted a wide variety of spiritual herbs, which were all the ingredients needed to refine the "Spirit Gathering Pill".

Yang Qingyuan only needed to plant the seedlings and accelerate their growth before he could begin refining the elixir.

He then continued to examine the jade slips and found the formulas for Foundation Building Pills, Youth Preservation Pills, and Lamp Pills. Finally, he selected a special spiritual medicine called "Beast Nurturing Pill".

This elixir is not for human consumption, but for feeding spirit pets. It has a miraculous effect of accelerating the advancement of spirit beasts' ranks and is suitable for demon beasts below the fifth rank. It is perfect for the Ink Dragon.

However, a few of the accompanying medicinal herbs are still missing.

After taking stock of the many treasures, Yang Qingyuan breathed a sigh of relief. Feeling exhausted, he simply went to sleep in the Earth Fire House.

Two days and two nights later, Yang Qingyuan woke up in high spirits. He left the Earth Fire House and sent a message to Nie Ying, asking her to help him find the spiritual medicines for Qi Harmony Pill, True Essence Pill, and Beast Nurturing Pill.

After receiving the letter, Nie Ying immediately contacted old acquaintances in the sect and inquired from various sources. Finally, she sent a message back to Yang Qingyuan, instructing him to go to the Hundred Herbs Garden and find a senior brother surnamed Ma.

Yang Qingyuan vaguely remembered that Han Li was working at the Hundred Herbs Garden, so he stepped onto the green leaf magic artifact and headed straight for the valley where the Hundred Herbs Garden was located...