Mortal: Refining Weapons for Immortality

Chapter 45 Spirit Gathering Pill

In the inner cave dwelling, Lin Changqing found a broker and rented a small building with a courtyard in the "Yanyu Pavilion" area. Although the price was high, it was comfortable and private, which was very satisfactory.

After dealing with matters concerning the cave dwelling, Lin Changqing brought Li Zhijing to Manxianglou in Leishifang Market for a hearty spiritual feast.

Lin Changqing had already established his foundation, so he naturally didn't have to suffer from hunger. However, Li Zhijing, who was only at the Qi Refining stage, was unable to abstain from grains and couldn't help but crave food.

However, Manxianglou is different from ordinary restaurants. Most of the ingredients here are full of spiritual energy and do not contain much turbid energy. On the contrary, they contain a little spiritual energy, which can slightly promote cultivation and the recovery of spiritual power. That is why so many cultivators are willing to come to Manxianglou.

"Zhijing, eat whatever you want, I'll pay!" Lin Changqing said in a calm tone.

In Lin Changqing's eyes, the price of the Spirit Feast was nothing more than a few spirit stones in his storage bag, not worth mentioning.

Knowing that Lin Changqing had plenty of spirit stones, Li Zhijing didn't stand on ceremony and said to the young waiter at the restaurant with a generous air, "Give me ten of these spirit herb buns first!!"

"Three more orders of crystal dumplings! Three servings of honey-glazed pork knuckle! One serving of steamed spirit carp! One serving of stir-fried spirit bamboo shoots with pork! Two jugs of Drunken Immortal Wine!"

After saying that, Li Zhijing looked up and asked Lin Changqing with a grin, "Brother Lin, do you eat spirit rice?"

"One portion of spirit rice!" Lin Changqing said casually.

Seeing that Lin Changqing needed a serving of spirit rice, Li Zhijing continued to say to the waiter, "Add another serving of spirit rice, and the spirit food can be served now."

After the two finished ordering the spiritual food, the waiter led them to their table and wiped the wooden table as he did so.

"Esteemed guests, the spiritual food will be here shortly!" After finishing all this, the waiter went to arrange the spiritual food.

However, just as the two were about to sit down, they noticed that an elderly man with gray hair, a dark face, and a strong but somewhat weak body had left his seat.

Before leaving, he took out a piece of spirit silk cloth from his worn-out storage bag and gently wiped the tables and chairs. His movements were serious and meticulous, without the slightest impatience.

Even the young waiter passing by couldn't help but greet him, jokingly saying, "Old Song's gone!"

The "Old Man Song" who was called by the waiter swayed slightly, his cloudy old eyes looked at the waiter, and a somewhat forced smile appeared on his wrinkled face.

"Yes, I'm leaving!" The tone was weary and indifferent, like a decaying, dilapidated well.

After a brief response, the elderly man surnamed Song nimbly turned and left the restaurant.

The waiter smiled helplessly at the direction the old man surnamed Song had left, shook his head, and walked towards the direction of Chef Ling.

Li Zhijing remained silent, focusing solely on perusing the information within the ancient jade slips.

As for Lin Changqing, he glanced sideways and watched for a long time. When he saw the old man surnamed Song's back bent down, it was so hunched that it looked like a mountain peak. However, what surprised him was that the old man's movements were still nimble and decisive, which was quite astonishing.

Lin Changqing stared at the old man's back for a while, then seemed to remember something. After a moment of silence, he stopped paying attention and began to eat the medicinal steamed buns that had been served.

......

Xiaochangqing Peak.

An ordinary young man arrived at the foot of Little Evergreen Peak, intending to climb it as usual, but was stopped by a young woman.

"Fellow Daoist, is your surname Han? Are you here to seek Senior Lin?" the woman asked in a clear voice.

Han Li was somewhat puzzled as to how the other party knew his name and purpose, but he still answered truthfully.

"My surname is indeed Han, and I have come to Xiaochangqing Peak to see Senior Lin." Han Li bowed and said softly.

Without saying much, the woman simply took out three high-level defensive talismans from her storage bag and handed them to Han Li.

"Senior Lin asked me to give this to you!"

"Senior Lin and my elder brother are out on business and are not on Little Evergreen Peak. If you are here to refine magical artifacts and pills, you may have to wait for Senior Lin and the others to return."

After handing over the defensive talisman and explaining the current state of Little Evergreen Peak, the woman stopped talking and left.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, Han Li felt a little lonely. He didn't know if he could return after entering the Crimson Forbidden Land, so he came to say goodbye to Lin Changqing so that he wouldn't never see him again.

To his surprise, Lin Changqing went out, which made his already unbearable mood sink even further.

However, looking at the high-level talisman in his hand, Han Li still put it into his storage bag, so the trip was not in vain.

Having failed to find the person, Han Li, looking somewhat desolate, walked alone towards the group heading to the Blood Forbidden Land from Yellow Maple Valley.

Having only been in the world of cultivation for a few years, he was unaware of the battles and encounters he would face in the future.

......

As dusk fell, a secluded courtyard in the Misty Rain Pavilion.

The rent for the courtyard is sixty spirit stones per year. Lin Changqing didn't know when there would be news about the great formation, so he rented it for a year. If it was not found within a year, he would renew the lease until it was found.

This courtyard is large enough for two people to live in, and it can even accommodate a few more people.

The courtyard was very clean, without any mess, and two small arrays were set up.

"This array's restrictions are mediocre. It would be better to add another array inside the cave to prevent people from spying on and disturbing us while we are cultivating."

Upon arriving at the cave dwelling, Lin Changqing took out a stack of array flags he had crafted himself. With a flick of his wrist, the flags scattered throughout the cave. Under his control, the array was activated, forming an invisible and intangible thick barrier that separated the inside and outside of the cave.

"With internal and external defenses in place, plus the good security here, there shouldn't be any problems!"

"Zhijing went out?" Lin Changqing had just entered the cave and set up the formation when he received a telepathic message from Li Zhijing, informing him that he had gone out alone to search for information.

Lin Changqing was slightly surprised. He left the cave and looked at the house next to Li Zhijing. He was surprised to find that the house was empty. The only protection inside and outside the cave was the small array set up in the courtyard.

To ordinary people, Li Zhijing's actions were nothing special. After all, Leishi Market was a legitimate market and was equipped with array formations, so there was no need to make any other arrangements.

However, in Lin Changqing's eyes, Li Zhijing's behavior was too lax and her approach was not safe or reliable enough.

However, everyone has their own ideas. Although Li Zhijing is his subordinate, he cannot completely control Li Zhijing and can only follow his wishes.

After all, Li Zhijing must have some tricks up her sleeve to have lived to this age.

......

Li Zhijing was unaware of Lin Changqing's plans for his cave dwelling. Even if he knew, he wouldn't care, as he always acted according to his own whims.

Because of his free spirit, he chose to enter Qingzhu Market when he was still a teenager and do what he liked. Also because of his free spirit, he went to the grand Huangfeng Valley Market with Lin Changqing and set up a stall.

The days he spent setting up a stall at the north end of Huangfeng Valley Market were the most comfortable days of his life.

There, he was free from the constraints of his family, the pressure of spirit stones, and the troubles of cultivation, and was able to study jade slips, bamboo slips, stone tablets, and books at the stall.

He could also converse with cultivators from all over the country, including those from Yue Kingdom, Dongyu Kingdom, Yuanwu Kingdom, Jiang Kingdom, and other places, something he never dared to imagine before.

In the past, when he was very young, he only wanted to stay in the Li family and dared not hope for anything else. When he was a teenager, because he had some ideas and because of his personality, he left the Li family and came to Qingzhufang City.

Ultimately, it was because of Lin Changqing that he was able to stay in the larger Huangfeng Valley market and become the manager of a spirit peak. These gradual changes were truly unexpected and something he had never imagined before.

He always thought that he only had the aptitude of a pseudo-spiritual root and could only stay in Qingzhufang City for the rest of his life because the outside world was too dangerous. Without someone to guide him, he might be killed or captured in some corner to be used for alchemy or mining spirit mines.

Therefore, he cared more about Lin Changqing's affairs than he did himself, and was even a little impatient to find the ancient cultivator's formation.

He was also confident that he would be able to pinpoint the exact location of the great formation. Once he filled in the details and performed a divination, he thought he would be close to getting it right.

Restaurants outside the market area.

At this moment, Li Zhijing was chatting happily with a group of people, including tall, thin men and strong, burly men, in a corner of the restaurant. They talked about everything under the sun, but rarely about their own affairs, which was something Li Zhijing was used to doing.

During the conversation, Li Zhijing quickly gained a general understanding of Leishifang Market and added some information. He began to verify his own thoughts, overturning countless possibilities in his mind and then constantly reappearing.

......

Inside the cave.

Lin Changqing was refining a batch of Spirit Gathering Pills. This pill formula was also sent by Chen Fu. It was a relatively common pill formula in the cultivation world, and it had a certain promoting effect on the cultivation of the Foundation Establishment stage.

The main ingredient of the Spirit Gathering Pill is relatively common, consisting of some aged Spirit Gathering Fruits.

The auxiliary materials are relatively complex, including rare herbs and liquids such as Qing Ning Lu, Zi Mei Ling Fen, Tong Mai Cao, and Jin Jing Shen.

Fortunately, Wanbaolou gathers resources from many places in Yue Kingdom, and all these cultivation materials can be found there, so there is no need to spend more time and energy on it.

This time at Wanbaolou, Lin Changqing bought a total of thirty portions of ingredients for the Gathering Spirit Pill, which should be enough for a long time.

Moreover, with Lin Changqing's current alchemy skills, although he cannot achieve the level of perfect refining of ten Gathering Spirit Pills, he can still produce six pills in one batch.

The number of pills that are successfully refined varies depending on the circumstances of each pill's perfect success. Common pills like the Spirit Gathering Pill have a relatively high success rate.

Around the alchemy furnace, Lin Changqing set up a small fire array to assist in daily alchemy and weapon crafting.

The inside of the alchemy furnace was glowing red-hot from Lin Changqing's Foundation Establishment True Fire, and the temperature was extremely high. When Lin Changqing put the Spirit Gathering Fruit into it, the fruit was quickly and slowly refined into a ball of azure liquid.

Once the liquid transformation was complete, Lin Changqing added the remaining auxiliary materials to the refining process, and then slowly condensed and combined them.

At the same time, the firework array was also activated, emitting a ball of orange-yellow flames that, together with the Foundation Establishment True Fire, burned the mixed liquid inside.

This process is very lengthy. Not only must the medicinal materials be continuously refined, but their medicinal properties must also be successfully integrated. If an error occurs during the integration process, it can easily affect the quantity and quality of the pills produced.

Refining a pill for Foundation Establishment stage cultivators is a lengthy process, but Lin Changqing, being in the process, felt that time flew by.

Three days later.

The Foundation Establishment True Fire in the alchemy furnace had dissipated, and only the magic array was still operating. However, it also dissipated in an instant, and a faint medicinal fragrance began to emanate from the alchemy furnace, with spiritual light flashing.

"open!"

Lin Changqing opened his eyes, made a hand seal, and used a technique to open the alchemy furnace and protect the medicinal properties of the pills inside.

hum!

The air was filled with the fragrance of elixir, and thick white vapor billowed out before quickly dissipating, revealing seven Spirit Gathering Pills inside.

"Seven pills formed! Not bad!!"

Lin Changqing was slightly excited. He made a hand seal, and seven pills appeared in his palm. He then placed them one by one into the prepared pill bottle.