Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

While taking on disciples, Zhang Yuanjing started refining the Crimson Cloud Pill. Without this pill, he couldn't refine the益神 (Yi Shen) Pill. Refining the Yi Shen Pill served two purposes: first, to fulfill his promise to the Ape Thirteen clan, which was also related to the subsequent arrangements for Zhang Xuan and his younger sister; and second, for his own cultivation, to see if he had a chance to break through.

Refining the Crimson Cloud Pill was indeed not difficult, but this was only in comparison to potent pills like the Bitter Origin Pill and the Tiger King Pill. Compared to Qi Gathering Powder, it was about the same. Fortunately, he had consumed more than ten thousand Crimson-Finned Fire纹 Fish, the main ingredient for refining this pill, over the years. He might not have known the medicinal properties of fish meat of various ages like the back of his hand, but he was pretty close. No matter the age of the fish meat, he only needed to chop off a small piece, swallow it, and examine it to know the exact medicinal power.

The other nine auxiliary herbs were all ordinary herbs, generally only about a hundred years old. Identifying their medicinal properties was not difficult. Therefore, the steps of identifying and matching the herbs were relatively simple when refining the Crimson Cloud Pill.

However, the pill refinement process itself had many more troubles. The Crimson-Finned Fire纹 Fish was a demon beast. He had no experience in how to fuse flesh and blood materials with herbs. Fortunately, the Crimson Cloud Palace had experimented for many years and figured out the key points of refining the Crimson Cloud Pill extremely clearly. Zhang Yuanjing only needed to follow the path.

The Crimson Cloud Palace's pill refining method was the alternating boiling and pounding method. First, the fish meat was boiled, then several herbs were added and crushed. After that, it was boiled again. When it reached a certain temperature, several more herbs were added and stirred. This was repeated. After five boils and five poundings, a suitable medicinal paste could be made. Then, a piece the size of a thumbnail was scooped out with a medicinal spoon, kneaded into a pill, and left for seven days. This method was not complicated, but if there was a mistake, it had to be started all over again.

Zhang Yuanjing first spent three months cultivating several plants of each auxiliary herb, making twenty-five portions of materials. The fish meat used was all from fish under two feet long. After wasting seventeen portions of materials, he finally refined a suitable medicinal paste. In this way, he finally obtained sixty-four original pills.

The step of burning the pills was difficult and easy.

The Crimson-Finned Fire纹 Fish had both water and fire attributes. After refining the medicine, the originally fused water and fire spiritual power changed. Various auxiliary medicines supplemented the spiritual power of the metal, wood, and earth attributes, which not only alleviated the conflicting power of water and fire but also increased more medicinal power.

Therefore, when opening the furnace to burn pills, as long as the heat was kept steady, neither too warm nor too strong, and lasted for seven days, the work could be completed. There were no changes in heat involved, so it could be said to be not difficult. However, it was not easy to maintain the heat unchanged for seven days.

The key here was to have a good pill furnace. Coincidentally, the pill furnace Zhang Yuanjing obtained from Qin Wutong was of high quality, and the Nine Yang Essence Flame was very stable, so this step was easily passed.

Afterward, Zhang Yuanjing spent more than a month opening the furnace six times and successfully refined forty-eight qualified pills. The pill formation rate was 75%, which was more than 10% higher than refining Hundred Spirit Pills. However, most of them were low-grade pills, and only nine were mid-grade pills. There were no high-grade pills at all, which was due to the low quality of the materials used.

The five Crimson Cloud Pills he obtained from Ling Yunzi were all mid-grade pills. Using mid-grade Crimson Cloud Pills to open the furnace and refine Yi Shen Pills, their medicinal effects could last for four furnaces. However, after all, his cultivation method was not suitable, and he could not allow the medicinal power of the Crimson Cloud Pills to spread, so he could only refine two furnaces in a row before meditating to refine the pills. If he used low-grade Crimson Cloud Pills, he could only refine one furnace with one pill.

After resting for a few days, he took out the imitation Yin-Yang Creation Furnace and began to refine the Yi Shen Pill. During this period, he also cultivated ten portions of Yi Shen Pill materials. As long as he obtained forty to fifty pills, it would be enough.

After more than a month of burning, his level of controlling the Yin and Yang flames improved again. In the end, he formed fifty-six pills, of which thirty-seven were low-grade, eighteen were mid-grade, and one was actually high-grade, which made him overjoyed. The medicinal properties of the high-grade pill reached more than 80%. At a critical moment, it might play a decisive role.

Zhang Yuanjing came out of the cave and stood by the Red Creek River. This time, he spent another half a year in seclusion refining pills. The time to open the Profound Yin Cave was already very short. According to Lao Deren, the Six Mountains Immortal City was about 2.8 million miles away from here. Even if he let Ape Thirteen fly with him, it would take three months. He had to set off within a year.

After thinking for a moment, he flew up on his sword and flew straight to Divine Sword Peak to find Ape Thirteen, who was bored.

"Brother Yuanjing, you're finally here. Are we going to take action? I'm almost suffocating here!" Ape Thirteen's resentment came quickly.

"Brother Ape, I have recently refined a batch of Yi Shen Pills. I'll give you twelve low-grade and five mid-grade pills. You can return to Misty Spirit Mountain and distribute the pills to your clan. You can keep the rest for yourself." Zhang Yuanjing knew its temperament, so he came to find it as soon as the pills were made.

"So many! I haven't made any contributions since I followed you, but I really need this pill, so I have to accept it with shame." Ape Thirteen scratched his head and said somewhat awkwardly.

Zhang Yuanjing smiled and said, "Why be so polite? You and I are combat partners, like brothers among the human race. Besides, you helped me a lot when you defeated that short cultivator last time. Wait, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Ape Thirteen grinned and said, "Brother Yuanjing, I'm waiting. But it must be someone who can be killed, otherwise, I'll be restrained and it won't be fun!"

"Hahaha, don't worry, there will be a time for you to show your skills in the future!" Zhang Yuanjing laughed. "You go back to Misty Spirit Mountain first. I'll go find you in a few months!"

Ape Thirteen happily flew away on his sword. Zhang Yuanjing looked at its departing back from the peak, and the doubts in his heart increased a bit.

Since using that Soul Ring, he felt that his connection with this giant ape was getting closer and closer, which was by no means as simple as Yin-Yang Creation Furnace said, which was to put a divine sense mark on it. However, he couldn't say what the harm was. All he could do was to improve its strength as much as possible, ensure its survival, and avoid being implicated.

Back in the cave, Zhang Yuanjing continued to retreat. First, he practiced for more than ten days with the meat of Crimson-Finned Fire纹 Fish over three feet long and the Purple纹 Spirit Grass cultivated from purple remnants, adjusting to the best state for cultivation.

At this time, the water and fire spiritual power generated by refining the Crimson-Finned Fire纹 Fish meat entered the golden liquid in the dantian, just like a light breeze blowing across a large lake, causing slight ripples, and then disappearing. This was a prominent feature of the Great Perfection realm, that is, mana could not be increased.

Then, he began to take mid-grade Yi Shen Pills. At this time, his Niwan Palace also expanded to the limit. However, the divine soul could always be strengthened. Therefore, taking Yi Shen Pills was always effective. At first, after the Yi Shen Pill was refined, it only stimulated a pure spiritual power, which窜 (cuan) into the Niwan Palace from the dantian, and then hid in the void, without any change.

By the fourth pill, it finally triggered a flash of light in the Niwan Palace void. An unknown thing seemed to appear but did not, and then returned to silence. The void space returned to its original state, as if nothing had happened.

Zhang Yuanjing jumped up excitedly. The sign of breaking through from the Foundation Establishment Great Perfection to the Pseudo-Core was the light born from nothing in the Niwan Palace. Every time the light flashed, it was possible to condense a bit of spiritual soul. Therefore, this light was also called the "Spiritual Soul Light", and this flashing light was called "Divine Fire Appears."

Some Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators might not even see a "Spiritual Soul Light" once their lifespan was exhausted. However, in general, most Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators can usually see it once or twice. According to the Xuan Tian Sect's records, Foundation Establishment Great Perfection cultivators experience an average of three to five "Divine Fire Appears" before they can successfully condense a spiritual soul. Of course, there are also those who succeed once, and those who fail ten times.

He calmed down, meditated again, and adjusted his state. Then, he continued to cultivate with Yi Shen Pills. However, seven Yi Shen Pills in a row did not trigger "Divine Fire Appears". It wasn't until the eighth pill that a faint light flashed for the second time in the Niwan Palace void. The unknown thing revealed a trace of aura, causing a burst of palpitation in his mind. In a panic, the thing disappeared.

"So that's it!" Zhang Yuanjing suddenly realized. This spiritual soul was a mysterious thing between the acquired and the innate. It was the beginning of a cultivator's divine soul moving from the acquired to the innate. Its appearance was a completely new thing for cultivators, and it was bound to trigger a great fear. If there was not enough preparation to transform this great fear into a great opportunity, it would inevitably be missed and unable to break through.

At the same time, he also understood that the mid-grade Yi Shen Pill might be difficult to trigger "Divine Fire Appears" again. Even if it could, it would require dozens of pills.

Zhang Yuanjing shook his head gently, throwing all distracting thoughts out of his mind. He meditated and adjusted his state again. Then, he took out the high-grade Yi Shen Pill, which was as round as jade and as deep black as ink, and stuffed it into his mouth. Immediately, it was like a clear spring, seeping into the dantian. Afterward, a golden light like a bird's feather flew out from the golden liquid in the dantian and went straight into the Niwan Palace void. In an instant, a bright light flashed, illuminating a large area of darkness. The unknown thing showed a faint outline from the void. Under his extremely nervous gaze, it lasted for a short breath, and then disappeared like smoke.

"Alas-" Zhang Yuanjing sighed, disappointment filled his face. He sat cross-legged on the futon, unwilling to get up for a long time.

So close, but this difference was a chasm. One side was life, and the other was death; one side was an immortal body, and the other was a dying body.

Three times of condensing the spiritual soul in the void, three failures. It was difficult to continue breaking through with Yi Shen Pills.

However, he also felt in the dark that he would definitely be able to successfully condense the spiritual soul if he had another chance. Because, by taking a large number of Yi Shen Pills, his divine soul had reached the limit of the Foundation Establishment realm, and the foundation had been laid extremely solid. Once the "Divine Fire" reappeared, the spiritual soul would definitely appear.

At the same time, repeatedly stimulating pure spiritual power from the dantian also made the golden liquid in his dantian very condensed. Between flows, it was like golden sand stirring, rubbing and making a sound, and its momentum was like a dragon. This state was quite similar to the scene of Pseudo-Core cultivators tempering and condensing the core. However, without the spiritual soul, this golden sand flowing was just a formality and did not have its essence.

After sitting blankly for several days, Zhang Yuanjing stood up, walked out of the cave, and silently looked at the quiet Zhang Family Village. After a long time, he took out the Profound Yin Token from the storage bag and weighed it in his hand. Three brushes with the spiritual soul made him deeply understand the preciousness of the Enlightenment Spirit Pill. How important and how difficult was that one to two percent chance!