Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 133
All things were difficult at the start. But once you managed to get past the beginning, the rest would be comparatively easier.
Long Chen continued to absorb the Neidan’s energy. There was an incredible amount of energy within it, and Long Chen didn’t dare increase his absorption speed, and so it took a full six hours for him to completely absorb it.
By the time all that energy was absorbed, the original beast flame inside the Neidan had also disappeared.
All that energy that had been within the Neidan was now within Long Chen’s meridians. In reality, that energy was the Flame Salamander’s core flame.
The Flame Salamander was incredibly strong, most likely even beyond Long Chen’s imagination. If the Flame Salamander hadn’t been weakened by birth at that time, he really would have been screwed.
Now the Flame Salamander’s core flame was surging within Long Chen’s meridians. Long Chen’s Spiritual Strength slowly erased its berserk nature.
The Flame Salamander’s core flame didn’t actually have any consciousness. By using a gentle, stealthy method, he managed to easily erase that destructive will without worrying about a backlash.
Once the core flame’s will had been erased, Long Chen took a deep breath. Now was the real test.
“Condense!” Energy surged out of his FengFu Star, entering into the furthest reaches of his meridians and driving the beast flame to the center.
Having lost its will, the beast flame followed his energy surging towards his Dantian.
BOOM! All the scattered beast flame gathered back together.
Long Chen coughed up blood, his face completely pale.
“Damn, I failed. I just knew my luck was crap.”
Long Chen gasped for breath. That attempt just now had completely exhausted him. Unfortunately, he had failed to accomplish what he had wanted.
“Although I failed, I saw a flicker of the rune. That means there’s still a chance.”
Long Chen wanted to use a fierce collision of the beast flame to obtain the Flame Salamander’s own rune.
As a fire attribute Magical Beast whose beast flame was ranked ninety-seventh on the beast flame rankings, it possessed its own bloodline inheritance.
Such a Magical Beast’s Neidan contained its runic power. But that kind of rune was unusable by humans.
Long Chen was hoping to have the beast flame collide within his body. During that chaotic explosion, he would be able to grab onto the runic power.
That was only possible because the Neidan he had managed to obtain had barely lost any of its energy back then. As long as Long Chen caused its energy to erupt out, he was able to see that rune.
The Fire Gathering Pill he had consumed didn’t just have the purpose of protecting his meridians. Its main ability was to gather every single bit of flame energy together.
If others did this, their Dantian would explode. But Long Chen didn’t have to worry about that since his Dantian was empty.
“Again!”
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
…
He coughed up blood time after time. He felt that his body was about to collapse. But there was one thing that allowed him to continue.
That was because every time he collided against the beast flame, he saw the rune becoming clearer and clearer. However, that rune would only appear for the briefest instance. That moment wasn’t long enough for him to take control of it.
BOOM!
“Wait a sec… ugh, I failed again.”
With another explosion, the rune appeared again, this time extremely clearly. Long Chen attempted to use his Spiritual Strength to link up to that rune, but the flame energy scattered too quickly, causing the rune to also disappear.
“Ugh, I need a break.” Long Chen was absolutely exhausted. Coughing up mouthfuls of blood wasn’t something to worry about with his powerful physical body, but driving the flame into huge collisions greatly exhausted his Spiritual Strength.
That was especially true at the moment of collision. He would exhaust ten times the Spiritual Strength in an attempt to link up to that rune when it appeared.
He had already attempted this over ten times. Even though his body was able to continue, his soul was not. He had a splitting headache.
Quickly consuming a spirit stabilizing pill, he focused on recovering his spiritual energy. Two hours later, at least part of his Spiritual Strength had recovered.
“This time I’ll definitely succeed!”
Although he had failed each time, he had also accumulated more and more experience. He was much more sure of himself than at the beginning.
Once more driving the scattered beast flame in his meridians towards his Dantian, this time he used several times more intensity than before.
BOOOM!!!
When the beast flame collided inside his Dantian, terrifying energy exploded out. A rune immediately appeared within that fierce blaze.
“Quick… quick… get over here!”
Buzz.
Suddenly his mind shook. A strange fluctuation came from his spirit. An imprint appeared in the deepest part of his soul.
“I succeeded?” Long Chen opened his eyes. Extending his hand, a blue flame rose. Although it was only just a foot long, that terrifying heat caused all the surrounding grass three meters around him to dry up.
Long Chen slowly closed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, a fluctuation came from the depths of his spirit. He once more opened his eyes.
BOOM!
The flame in his hand pulsed and a clear rune appeared in the flame.
When that rune appeared, the surrounding grass immediately became ashes. Everything around him in an area of dozens of meters was now charred black.
“Haha, I succeeded, I…”
The world suddenly spun around him. Exhaustion battered him, and he immediately fainted.
When he woke up once more, he was lying in a bed.
“You’ve finally woken up! What the hell were you doing? You were covered in black ashes when I found you.” Tang Wan-er walked over with a wet towel.
“Hehe, I was doing a grand experiment.” Long Chen was extremely pleased.
“You almost burned yourself to death. Don’t tell me you were experimenting with barbecue?” laughed Tang Wan-er, moving to wipe his face.
Long Chen was given a fright and hastily took the towel. “I think I’ll do that myself. I really would be embarrassed to trouble the faction leader with such a thing.”
Tang Wan-er reddened slightly. She sniffed, “You also get embarrassed? When we carried you back, you were like a little beggar. If it weren’t for both me and sister Qing Yu, do you think you would be so clean?”
Long Chen was startled, realizing his clothes had been changed. He hastily checked his clothes, immediately feeling relief when he saw his original clothes were just underneath.
“Scoundrel, what’s with that expression?” Tang Wan-er gave his elbow a pinch. His expression really was annoying.
“Wan-er, you’re bullying Long Chen again.” At this time, Qing Yu walked over. She had just happened to see the scene of Long Chen grimacing in pain.
“Sister Qing Yu, why do you always take his side? He’s clearly the one bullying me!” Tang Wan-er felt somewhat wronged.
She also sighed inside. Why was this scoundrel’s luck always so good? Whenever she got the advantage, Qing Yu would always immediately appear.
Long Chen laughed mischievously, “Sister Qing Yu, you’ve misunderstood. I was just playing a joke with Wan-er.”
Tang Wan-er glanced at Long Chen with some relief. At least this brat knew how to talk.
“Right, what time is it?”
“It’s not what time, but what day. You were asleep for two days. It’s the afternoon of the third day,” answered Tang Wan-er.
“What, I slept for two days?!” Long Chen was shocked. He hastily leaped out of bed. “Wan-er and sister Qing Yu, close the door and activate the spirit stone formation to the max.�
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“What are you planning on doing?” Tang Wan-er said blankly.
“Don’t ask, just do it.” Long Chen walked into the lounge and arranged all the medicinal ingredients he had bought as well as his pill furnace.
Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu followed Long Chen’s instructions, closing the stone door and activating the spirit stone formation to the max.
Normally, the door was only kept open when not cultivating in order to prevent wastage. The spirit stone formation was also normally kept inactivated. That was to prolong the lifespan of the spirit stones.
If their room’s spirit stone formation was activated to the maximum level, the eight spirit stones would only have enough energy to last for six hours.
If they calculated it like that, Tang Wan-er only had enough spirit stones for half a month’s usage. And so they saved as much of it as possible.
When they activated the spirit stone formation, the enormous spiritual qi from the spirit stones began to be released quickly. The entire immortal cave was immediately filled with dense spiritual qi.
“Long Chen, are you planning on refining pills?” Qing Yu was a bit puzzled.
“Yup.” Long Chen nodded as he confirmed all the medicinal ingredients.
He ordered the medicinal ingredients into a set sequence. That way it would be more convenient while he refined and he wouldn’t have to worry about grabbing the wrong medicinal ingredient.
“Then should we leave?” asked Tang Wan-er probingly. Although she didn’t know alchemy, all the alchemists she knew never let anyone disturb them while refining.
“Nope. Actually, I’ll need your help in a bit,” laughed Long Chen.
After saying that, he extended his hand. A blue flame rose from his palm, lighting up the entire immortal cave. It was time to test his harvest. He hoped that it wouldn’t disappoint him.
Chapter 190 Refining Tendon Firming Pills
When the blue flame rose from Long Chen’s palm, the entire immortal cave was lit up gorgeously and warmly.
“What a beautiful flame!” Tang Wan-er was bewitched by the flame. This was the first time she had ever seen such a beautiful flame. It looked just like a ball of blazing water.
Long Chen smiled slightly. After he had gained control over the beast flame’s rune, his control over it had risen greatly. He could control it smoothly with just a thought and wouldn’t need to use too much Spiritual Strength.
That previous Flame Leopard beast flame he had, required him to use his Spiritual Strength to keep it suppressed. It was like a disobedient animal. If he didn’t keep it suppressed, it would attack him.
But now that he controlled his new beast flame’s rune, the beast flame had essentially accepted Long Chen as its master and wouldn’t resist him at all.
As for his control over the power and rhythm of the flame, naturally, it was now completely smooth and effortless.
Long Chen even praised himself a bit inside. This kind of crazy accomplishment was something only a genius could have thought of. But of course, only if that crazy idea paid off would that person be a genius. If they failed, then they would be called madmen.
So in this world, geniuses and madmen were all cut from the same cloth. They were only differentiated by their luck.
Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu were quietly watching. This was the first time they had ever seen someone refine pills.
That was because alchemists didn’t like to have others around them when refining. One reason was that they were afraid of being disturbed, but the other was that they were afraid of others secretly learning their techniques.
Long Chen, of course, didn’t care about that last one in the slightest. He was completely focused, slowly warming the furnace. That was an extremely fundamental step. If the furnace wasn’t gradually heated up, at the final moment, there was danger of a furnace explosion. Heating it up first would also extend the pill furnace’s lifespan.
Once the pill furnace’s temperature rose to the right level, Long Chen began to throw in the medicinal ingredients. Controlling the flame, he refined out their pure essence.
This part was very dependent on skill. The strength of the flame had to be just right, and the alchemist also had to be experienced and knowledgeable about the heat required by the medicinal ingredients.
If the flame was too weak, it would require a longer time to refine. But more importantly, part of the essence would be lost due to that extended time.
And of course, if the flame was too strong and surpassed the medicinal ingredient’s heat limit, it would immediately turn to ashes and your work would have been for nothing.
But all of that was nothing to Long Chen who possessed a Pill Sovereign’s memories. When it came to knowledge of the medicinal ingredients’ critical temperatures, there was no one in this world who surpassed him.
Now that he controlled the Flame Salamander’s beast flame’s rune, this blue flame was no different at all from his core flame. With his powerful Spiritual Strength, he could control it down to the finest detail.
His refining speed was extremely fast. After refining a couple of the medicinal ingredients into powder, he told Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu to take out a clean piece of glazed paper and placed the medicinal powders on top of it.
Once they cooled off, he gave both of them specific proportions to split them into and to wrap them up.
As they carefully followed his instructions, he refined the second set of medicinal ingredients.
They had only just accomplished his task when he finished refining the second set.
He had them keep this set of medicinal ingredients separate from the rest and to wrap them up as well. This repeated itself seven times before Long Chen finished refining all the medicinal ingredients. Long Chen was still completely fine, but it was actually Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu who were sweating.
That was because they were too nervous. After all, these were medicinal pills, and the slightest mistake would cause failure. And so they had to be extremely careful and meticulous.
“Ok, I’ve finished the refinement part. Now there are seven sets of medicinal powders. Pour each set into the pill furnace in accordance with the order they were refined. As for the timing, wait for my signal. I’m going to continue,” said Long Chen.
“Wait a moment, Long Chen!” exclaimed Tang Wan-er.
“What?”
“I’m too nervous,” Tang Wan-er said with some embarrassment. She was afraid to make a mistake.
Long Chen laughed, “What are you worried about? Even if it fails, it’ll be my responsibility. Just treat it as how you played house as a child.”
Hearing Long Chen laugh, Tang Wan-er relaxed quite a bit. Looking at the small ball of medicine in her hand, she saw it really was just like a small ball of sand which she used to play with.
A flame burst into existence in his hand. Terrifying heat soared out as he placed it into his pill furnace.
“I’m starting. Release the first bundle.”
Tang Wan-er nodded and carefully poured the medicinal powders into the pill furnace. As Long Chen’s flame energy circulated, those powders began to coalesce, becoming a whole, liquid entity. It was extremely mystical.
What she didn’t know was that those ‘powders’ weren’t really powders, but the essences of the medicinal ingredients.
Long Chen was entirely focused on the pill furnace. He was extremely solemn. This was the first time he was attempting to refine a third tier medicinal pill. Although he knew the pill formula, he had no experience in it. He couldn’t be the slightest bit careless.
Even stronger pill cultivators couldn’t keep a one hundred percent success rate, let alone Long Chen who was refining it for the first time.
Looking at the completely focused Long Chen, Tang Wan-er was a bit bewitched. This Long Chen was exceptionally attractive. He was much more reliable and steadier than he normally was when he was a mischievous rascal.
“Next.”
Long Chen’s light voice gave Tang
Wan-er a fright. Her mind had wandered away. Luckily, there was Qing Yu to the side who was prepared. She quickly released the second set of medicinal powders into the pill furnace.
Tang Wan-er blushed, looking at Qing Yu apologetically. But Qing Yu only winked at her without the slightest bit of rebuke.
Now her face turned even redder. Hastily dispelling her distracting thoughts, she focused completely on Long Chen’s pill furnace, not daring to even look at Long Chen’s face again.
The main reason why Long Chen had Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu remain behind was because he wanted to focus completely on controlling his flame and keeping track of the changes in the medicinal powders.
If he had to place the medicinal ingredients himself, that would split his attention. While concocting medicinal pills, the slightest mistake could result in failure.
This medicinal pill was something that concerned the fate of the entire faction. He definitely couldn’t make a mistake. He had used the faction’s points for his own use, which he was definitely apologetic for. He had to succeed in his refinement.
Time passed by unconsciously. Two hours later, all seven sets of medicinal powders had been thrown into the pill furnace. Long Chen had already sealed the furnace and began increasing the flame strength.
The blue flame twisted and danced. A faintly discernible rune appeared within it. The room’s temperature began to quickly rise.
Tang Wan-er and Qing Yu seemed to not feel that terrifying heat, looking at the blue flame seedling in Long Chen’s hands with shock.
“Rune?!”
Tang Wan-er was the most shocked. Previously, she had let Long Chen examine her own rune, and she had also seen him attempt to summon out his own rune. Unfortunately, he had failed.
At that time, she had thought Long Chen was just trying out a crazy idea. He really was a madman. Without a bloodline inheritance, how could he possibly condense a rune?
But now, the Pill Flame in his hand had changed color and a rune had appeared in it. Although that rune wasn’t very clear, she could clearly sense the runic power.