PFC Chapter 431: 1 Road to Immortality 22
Chapter 431: 1 Road to Immortality 22
Level 2: Hundred Turns of Loyalty
Space distorted again.
This time, she found herself in the center of a huge natural lava cave, with a pool of hot magma under her feet. It was not an illusion, but the real power of earth fire churning.
The cave is dotted with holes of various sizes and shapes, and deep in the holes there seems to be some kind of primer needed for refining medicine.
The air was filled with rich and violent fire-attributed spiritual energy. What was even more frightening was that above the magma pool, there were countless extremely fine "star sands" shining with a metallic luster floating.
The main source is the violent underground fire here, supplemented by the essence of medicinal materials or special spiritual liquids of different properties randomly supplied in the holes (which the cultivator needs to explore and absorb with his spiritual sense).
Utilize the surrounding "Burning Sky Star Sand" (which can quickly devour uncontrolled spiritual power or flames) to stabilize the furnace temperature, and in the unstable force field formed by the star sand, refine a prototype of the "Pulse Protection Pill."
The difficulty of the test lies in the violent nature of the environment itself and the devouring nature of the star sand.
Controlling the earth fire is not easy. At the same time, one must absorb the essence of spiritual materials with different properties from afar, mix them precisely, and use spiritual power to build a barrier to prevent the elixir fire from being swallowed by the star sand or interfered with, causing the furnace to explode. This requires an abnormal level of mental separation and control precision.
Yun Chu took a deep breath and sat cross-legged.
Yun Chu tried to sense the holes around him, and sure enough, his spiritual sense extended out and quickly captured the faint but pure aura of spiritual materials of different attributes such as wood, water, earth, and gold coming from different directions.
Yun Chu's hands flew, forming complex hand seals. The pure wood and water dual-attribute spiritual power in his body (although he mainly focused on water and wood, he also had the basic control of spiritual power in the foundation-building period) turned into countless extremely thin and tough spiritual threads, like octopus tentacles, accurately and silently probing into the target holes.
At the same time, Yun Chu pressed her right hand towards the magma pool, palm downward, and a gentle but highly penetrating wood spiritual power (imitating the power of the fuse when she obtained the fire lotus fruit) carefully pierced into the raging sea of fire.
This wasn't a head-on resistance, but rather a clever "diversion," like carving a thin channel through a torrent, drawing in a relatively controllable stream of earth and fire essence. The spiritual essence drawn by his left hand had already gathered in front of him into a colorful cyclone.
"Concentrate!" Yun Chu shouted in a low voice.
Yun Chu carefully guided the relatively mild earth fire essence, which was wrapped and nourished by wood spiritual power, towards the cyclone of medicinal essence in the air.
The moment the flames touched, the air began to boil and the medicinal aroma surged, but it also immediately attracted the Burning Sky Star Sand floating around, which swarmed in like piranhas smelling blood!
Sweat oozed from Yun Chu's forehead, and countless shining stars were reflected in his pupils as they approached.
The spiritual threads of Yun Chu's consciousness not only maintained the delivery of the essence of the spiritual material, but also a part of them intertwined and changed in front of her, constructing an extremely microscopic, high-speed flowing spiritual power shield.
This shield does not block the star sand rigidly, but uses a force-releasing structure that imitates a spiral storm, causing the trajectory of the star sand it touches to slightly deflect and spiral, consuming some of its kinetic energy and then sliding elsewhere, minimizing direct impact.
On one side is the prototype of medicinal power refined by finely controlling flames, and on the other side is the star sand defense network that maintains changes and flows at a high frequency.
Yun Chu's consciousness was squeezed to the limit, and his face turned slightly pale.
But her eyes remained calm as water, and the spells in her hands changed. The medicinal liquid at the core of the shield gradually shrank in size under the repeated tempering of the flames, and the impurities were evaporated. In an extremely unstable environment that could collapse at any time, the core's medicinal essence stubbornly condensed into a pill the size of a longan, red in color, but with emerald green and light gold threads flowing inside!
Just as the initial shape was about to solidify, the cave scene, along with the surging star sand and underground fire, vanished without a trace. The second stone tablet rune lit up, and the entire cave seemed to have a new sense of spirituality.
Final Level: One Thought of the Alchemy Path
All the scenes faded away, and Yun Chu stood in front of the ancient stone tablet again.
At this moment, the entire cave was silent, with only the stone tablet emitting a soft light, stretching her figure very long.
The words on the stone tablet glowed and gradually gathered into an illusory human figure.
The figure's hair and beard were all white, his face blurred but revealing a profound sense of returning to nature. He wore a loose red robe, as if he had stepped out of the long river of time. He had no place for pupils, only two gentle points of starlight that seemed to penetrate the essence of all things.
The ancient and vicissitudes of life voice resounded directly in Yun Chu's sea of consciousness. There was no malice in it, only a calm question that had gone through ten thousand years:
"Young man, you've passed two levels in a row. Your foundation and control of the Dao of Alchemy are acceptable. However, what is the fundamental basis of the Dao of Alchemy? Where does it begin and where does it end?"
This is not a test of skills, but a question of understanding the essence of Dandao.
The answer is not limited to one thing, but it must come from the heart and get to the root of the problem.
Hypocrisy, shallowness and utilitarianism cannot obscure the insight of the powerful remnant soul.
Yun Chu looked solemn.
Facing this great alchemist who may have dominated the world tens of thousands of years ago, she restrained all her thoughts of taking shortcuts.
Yun Chu's gaze passed over the illusory figure, and he seemed to see the scenes of the growth and decline of plants, the birth and death of creatures, the intersection of yin and yang, and the circulation of the five elements.
In her previous life as a furnace worker, her thirst for elixirs stemmed from the ultimate need for survival; in this life, with the help of a system, she seizes elixirs more for the sake of power and a future.
However, no matter the struggles in her previous life or the efforts to become stronger in this life, what really ignited her yearning for the way of alchemy were those moments when she personally stimulated the mycelium life on the rock wall, stimulated the vitality of the fire lotus plants, and tempered the medicinal power in the violent environment - that was the resilience of living things, the harmony of yin and yang, and the miracle nurtured between heaven and earth.
Yun Chu closed his eyes, as if listening to the sounds of all things.
After a moment, she opened her eyes, her clear gaze facing the two starlights calmly. In a calm and firm voice, she uttered her answer:
"The path to alchemy begins with 'birth', drawing on the spirit of all things in heaven and earth and nurturing their essence; it excels in 'transformation', following the wonderful principles of yin and yang and the five elements, and reconciling their conflicts;"
Yun Chu paused slightly, and the scene of peeling the fire lotus fruit and forcibly stimulating the vitality of the fragile mycelium that day reappeared in his mind.
"...Finally 'alive'. This doesn't mean the elixir itself has life, but rather that it contains the power to transform decay into magic, to defy fate, to protect the flame of life, and to continue the opportunity of the Great Dao."
"This is the essence of loyalty—treating the natural resources and treasures of heaven and earth as the children of creation, not simply consumables. Only with awe and reverence can one harness the vitality of creation. No matter where one begins, the ultimate goal is to live."
silence.
It seemed as if even the air in the cave had frozen.
After a long time, the illusory old man nodded slightly, and a very faint smile of satisfaction seemed to appear on his blurry face.
“It begins with birth, moves on to change, and ends with life… Only by keeping creation in mind can one find vitality… Not bad, not bad.”
The old man's voice seemed to carry a hint of relief, and his figure began to slowly dissipate. Bits of starlight gathered together and turned into an object that looked like a jade slip but was actually neither gold nor jade. It was engraved with countless mysterious elixir patterns and floated above the stone tablet.
At the same time, a whisk that looked like a dead vine but actually had a restrained spiritual charm appeared next to the jade slip.
"I am 'Qianji Dao Ren'. This jade slip contains my lifelong experience in alchemy. This whisk, 'Hundred Herbs Wrapped', was my personal companion when I traveled through the heavens and earth. It can help you sense medicinal properties, repel poisons, and gather the spiritual energy of plants and trees. I hope you will uphold this Dao and not stumble on the path of alchemy."
With a flash of light, the jade slip turned into a stream of light and sank into Yun Chu's brow. A huge amount of information poured into her sea of consciousness like a gentle tide. Countless lost recipes, ancient alchemy methods, and pharmacological essences appeared one after another.
The "Hundred Grasses" whisk automatically flew into her hand. It felt warm to the touch, as if the whispers of countless plants and trees echoed in it.
The light from the stone tablet faded away, and the door to the cave slowly opened.
Outside the cave, Qin Yunmeng and the other two had not yet woken up.
Yun Chu looked down at the Baicao Chan in his hand, and felt the heavy inheritance in his sea of consciousness. He looked into the depths of the Liuyun Mountains, knowing that this system task had finally been successfully completed.
Yun Chu put away his whisk, and in a flash, he left the place of inheritance like a wisp of smoke, leaving behind only the ancient stone walls in the cave and the unconscious boys and girls outside the cave.