Chapter Thirty-Six: Concentrated Spirit Formation

  The fruit of the Ziyan Tengluo is as big as a longan, with a purple glow that is almost transparent. Inside the fruit, there is only one soft and small fruit core, about the size of a sesame seed. From this core, thin purple threads extend outwards, directly connecting to the tough fruit skin. The fruit of the Ziyan Tengluo can automatically absorb the free-roaming spiritual energy from the outside world. The absorbed spiritual energy passes through these fine purple threads and condenses into the fruit core. The fruit core is where all the essence of the fruit is stored. The outer flesh of the fruit is just exceptionally refreshing, while the fruit core can slightly increase one's True Yuan cultivation.

  In the past, when the spiritual energy was abundant in the cultivation world, the Ziyan Tengluo would ripen every three months. Each fruit was as big as a baby's fist, and inside each fruit, there was a pit the size of a thumb. One pit could increase a cultivator's true yuan cultivation by almost half a year. Nowadays, the Ziyan Tengluo takes three years to ripen, and the fruit has shrunk significantly. One pit can only increase a cultivator's true yuan cultivation by three to five days. However, even so, the current Ziyan Tengluo is still a rare spiritual fruit because the increased true yuan cultivation it provides has no side effects and will not cause any risk of exploding one's body.

  While Leng Gui wine is made from a true Taoist's collection of over 100-year-old Leng Xiang Gui flowers, combined with mountain fruit and brewed for over a decade underground where the fire energy is abundant. The liquid is thick like syrup, mixed with various spiritual fruit juices and spiritual spring water before drinking. The aroma of the wine is clear and elegant, entering the mouth like a stream of fire rushing straight to the abdomen, instantly turning into hot air flowing throughout the body, causing sweat to break out all over, and a cool breeze blowing from under the armpits, truly an indescribable pleasure.

  Lin Xiao sat on a stone bench, savoring the fragrance of Ziyan Teng Luo Ling fruit and tasting the wonderful flavor of Cold Osmanthus wine in small mouthfuls. From time to time, he handed a few fruits to Qing Gun, who stood behind him, watching as the old Daoist made the Dao people scurry about. The warehouse where Qidong stored various refining materials was also located deep within this underground cave. The doors of each warehouse were opened one by one, and mountains of colorful materials were carried out by the Daoists and piled up in an extremely large cavern.

  He slowly drank a cup of cold Osmanthus wine, Lin Xiao stared blankly at the piles of various precious materials in front of him, and couldn't help but nod his head slightly. "The Yuan family's foundation is indeed impressive, they were able to easily gather the materials for the 'Stir-Frying Dan Furnace', something that their ancestor who invented the 'Stir-Frying Dan Technique' spent hundreds of years trying to create but was unable to complete. Maybe, there's hope?"

  He gently picked up a purple-glowing fruit and slowly put it in his mouth, Lin Xiao lightly broke the skin, a sweet and refreshing honey-like liquid swirled in his mouth, the small fruit kernel, like sesame seeds, as soon as it touched his tongue, immediately turned into an extremely fine stream of heat that drilled into his body. Unbeknownst to him, he had eaten nearly a hundred purple smoke wisteria fruits, and his true yuan cultivation had increased by about a year.

  A strange noise came from behind. Lin Xiao turned his head to look, just in time to see Qing Chu carefully nibbling on a purple smoke wisteria spirit fruit. Qing Chu's face was filled with emotion, joy and reluctance, looking at the spirit fruit as if it were some kind of rare treasure. Seeing Lin Xiao looking at her, Qing Chu quickly put down her hands, carefully hid the half-eaten spirit fruit behind her back, and lowered her head with a slightly red face. Lin Xiao saw that her waist was bulging, apparently the few fruits he had given her were all carefully hidden on her body.

  "Hmm, why so?" Lin Xiao's meaning was to ask Qing Yun, but it was just eating a fruit, why be so cautious.

  "This, this is a rare spiritual fruit." Qingchu's head almost hung down to his chest, and he said in a low voice like a mosquito humming: "Qingchu ~ Qingchu hid a few, wanting to let Li Dage try some."

  "Oh!" Lin Xiao nodded and turned around to ask the little Taoist boy standing beside him: "This Taoist friend..."

  Xiao Dao Tong hastily bowed and said: "Lin Gong called me Qing Feng."

  Lin Xiao nodded and pointed to the half plate on the stone table beside him, which had about a hundred or so purple smoke wisteria spirit fruits, and asked: "Are there any more of these fruits?"

  Qingfeng Dao Tong nodded and smiled: "The ancestors liked the sweet fragrance of the purple smoke wisteria, so they planted a large piece on the underground spiritual vein. As for this fruit, there's still some left."

  "Good!" Lin Xiao swept his left hand over the jade plate, putting the fruit and the plate into his cuff. He glanced at Qing Feng Dao Tong, whose face was slightly stiff, then turned to Qing Chun and said calmly: "Eat more, there's a lot here." His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he continued: "There are many more here, Elder Yizhen."

  Qingfeng Dao Tong's heart skipped a beat, was this Lin Xian not taking himself as an outsider? If it was said that his temperament was just so frivolous, but looking at his icy face and sharp gaze like a knife edge, he didn't seem to be such a person either. Qingfeng Dao Tong was a bit stunned, what kind of temperament did this Lin Xian actually have?

  One True Daoist took off his Daoist robe and put on a cyan linen inner garment, standing at the entrance of the cave mansion and jumping around crazily. He waved his arms and shouted loudly: "Faster! Faster! There are still 30,000 catties of fire jade! Faster, faster! Hmm, hmm, why haven't you delivered the 500 catties of purple wind copper on the material list? You bunch of trash, what do you eat? The Condensed Yuan Crystal Liquid for drawing the spiritual array is also short of 300 jars!!! Damn it, when did the Condensed Yuan Crystal Liquid start being calculated in hundreds of jars?! What kind of monstrous dan furnace is this?!"

  This is the largest alchemy cave in Yuanzong, which is rarely opened even after hundreds of years. In the past, it was only used to refine the main hall and gate of some close sects' mountain gates, those were all huge and complex architectural magic tools. To open this cave for a single item is really unprecedented in Yuanzong's history! An ordinary alchemy furnace being three to five zhang high is already astonishing, but Lin Xiang proposed one that reaches a height of 100 zhang!

  A specially made pill furnace that can produce 100,000 pills at a time and is over 100 meters tall!

  As soon as he thought of the Dan furnace Lin Xiao had described, his whole body felt itchy and numb, no matter how deep his cultivation was or how stable his state of mind was, his heart almost jumped out of his mouth. His body was trembling all over, and the sweat on his body flowed down in streams, soaking through the blue cloth robe he wore, turning it black.

  Several streaks of spiritual light fell from the entrance of the cave, and a group of Daoist priests, including Yi Xing, Yi Xin, and Yi Yi, hastily descended and walked into the cave. Yi Xing pushed aside two disciples who were paying their respects to him and loudly asked: "Yi Zhen, what are you doing? The materials mentioned in the message you sent earlier, those ordinary five-metal essences can be refined with some effort every year, but the rare materials you used, several thousand or several hundred kilograms at a time, what do you want to refine?"

  One True Elder Dao was busy checking the materials handed over by Lin Xiao, when he heard a question from one of his juniors. He casually pointed at Lin Xiao and said loudly: "The main person is over there, go ask him! Hmm, we're still missing 49 pieces of Fire Dragon Dan that are over 5,000 years old to serve as the furnace's heart! Go get them quickly! Hmm, where can we find so many? Also, we need 108 pillars of Red Smoke Cloud Mother that are 10.8 meters long to stabilize the flames... Hmm, the furnace cover... must be made of Heavenly Golden Sand? Even if it is, do we really need 36 kilograms? Wouldn't 3.6 kilograms be enough? This, this, is just too much!"

  One line, one heart, one second heard the true Taoist whispering out these materials and the units of measurement that followed, Lin Xiao found it a bit strange. The three top masters of the Yuan period, One Line, One Heart, and One Second, seemed to be floating in their footsteps. He looked at the three people walking towards him in shock, thinking: "My great ancestor of the Dan Tao spent hundreds of years of hard work and couldn't gather these materials, so he couldn't refine the furnace. But the Yuan family is such a big deal, can they still be stingy with these materials?"

  At the entrance of the cave, a Taoist priest suddenly shouted in a shrill voice: "Heavens! The Sun Essence Crystal weighs thirty-six taels! Exactly our entire stock!"

  It was very strange, a cultivator of the Yuan Shen period had already made progress, and even showed signs of breaking through to the next realm. However, his legs suddenly went soft, and he almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, someone beside him was paying close attention to him, and as soon as they saw that something was wrong with his face, they immediately reached out and grabbed his arm, barely stabilizing his body. He looked at Lin Xiao, who was slowly getting up from the ground, with a somewhat embarrassed expression, and awkwardly pulled his arm back from the person's tight grasp, coughing loudly once.

  Yi Xin slowly withdrew his hands and lowered his head dejectedly. The elderly Daoist and the other two Yuan Zong elders, on the other hand, raised their heads high, as if they hadn't seen the small movement between Yi Hang and Yi Xin at all. Lin Xiao, however, calmly bowed and greeted Yi Hang with a simple "Junior Lin Xiao pays his respects to Master Yi Hang."

  A Taoist walked quickly to Lin Xiao's front, just about to say something, when a real old Taoist at the entrance of the cave suddenly shrieked again: "Ah~~~~ Save me! How did I not see this thing earlier? In order to communicate with the underground spiritual veins and provide enough spiritual energy for the Dan furnace to condense the furnace fire, we need to use red jade marrow that is over 10,000 years old to create a cylindrical conduit that is three inches thick and ten miles long to connect with the earth's pulse? Heaven!

  The old Daoist's face suddenly convulsed violently, and his benevolent face unexpectedly took on a sinister smile. He dryly said to Lin Xiao, "Lin Xiaoyou, Lin Gongpu, the prescription you wrote in the pharmacy was quite large, but my Yuan Zong can still bear it. However, the material list you wrote in the instrument hall is really a bit shocking and unconventional. I don't know what you mean by this?"

  Lin Xiao gazed at the row of old Daoists and said faintly, "The Dan furnace, also known as the Liu Dan furnace, or it can be called 'Dan Hai furnace', was created by our great Luo Dan Dao's 2700-year-old ancestor, Luo Yu."

  "Could it be that Ro Yu is the one who created the 'Fetal Pill' formula?"

  "Indeed!" Lin Xiao nodded lightly and said calmly: "Although Master Luo Yu's achievements in alchemy are already impressive, his true mastery lies in the subtleties of refining elixirs, improving techniques, and the art of arranging elixir furnaces. The 'Stove of Luo Yu' is a culmination of Master Luo Yu's lifelong accomplishments in alchemy, elixir formulas, and furnace arrays - it is a divine instrument that transcends the ordinary, not only a treasured tool for refining elixirs but also an all-purpose spiritual device."

  "Spiritual artifact!" Yi Hang, Yi Xin, and Yi Yi took a deep breath, and Yi Hang sighed: "Nowadays in the cultivation world, I'm afraid no one can refine spiritual artifacts anymore." Yi Hang's eyes stared at Lin Xiao, wanting him to provide a reasonable explanation. So many precious materials were wasted, not to mention refining spiritual artifacts, even refining immortal artifacts would be enough, but now there is no one in the cultivation world who has the ability to refine spiritual artifacts, isn't it a waste of so many materials? Rather than wasting these extremely precious materials on a single magical artifact, it's better to combine them with ordinary materials to create countless more practical flying swords and treasures.

  "This dan furnace can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, constantly evolving." Lin's icy gaze became incredibly deep, with a strange power that seemed to capture people's hearts. Although the cultivators knew that Lin's cultivation was extremely weak, they somehow had an illusion that they didn't want to make eye contact with him. Lin's eyes were filled with a depth that only a very experienced and weathered old man would have, his eyes had something called "沉淀的智慧" ( sedimentary wisdom), and this impression should not be on Lin's body.

  Lin Xiao, after all, was just an eighteen-year-old young cultivator, how could his gaze be so profound?

  A Daoist's heart has a certain feeling, but he overlooked the fact that Lin Xiang said that the Dan furnace can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to evolve on its own. He stared blankly at Lin Xiang for a long time before slowly asking: "You... have actually comprehended the Great Luo Dan Jing? But how is it possible for you to have such a destiny? The Great Luo Dan Jing, this is a treasure that only the core elders of the Great Luo Dan Dao have the qualifications to comprehend..."

  Yi Wudao was stunned, muttering to himself: "The Great Luo Dan Scripture? The only piece of condensed soul jade in the cultivation world was used by the Great Luo Dan Sect as a carrier for their scripture. Only the condensed soul jade can store the spiritual consciousness of tens of thousands of ancestors of the Great Luo Dan Sect, preserving their lifetime of enlightenment and experience. Only these alchemy-obsessed lunatics from the Great Luo Dan Sect would think of doing something like this!"

  The Da Luo Dan Dao, apart from 'Dan', has no other expertise. They spend their lives pursuing 'Dan'. Every member of the Da Luo Dan Dao has only one 'Dao', which is the 'Dan Dao'! Therefore, the predecessors of the Da Luo Dan Dao can use the Jing Yu to preserve the understanding and experience of tens of thousands of people, and then pour it all into the minds of their successors, letting them slowly absorb and digest. Other cultivation sects rarely do this, such as the Yuan Zong, which has dozens of cultivation methods and countless branches. If they did the same, it would only burst the brains of their juniors!

  Moreover, other sects don't have this piece of Cong Xing Jade either!

  Lin Xiao nodded slightly and pursed his lips, saying in a low voice: "The Great Luo Dan Jing, yes."

  Lin Xiao's words stunned the elders of the Yuan Sect. A Dàlóu Dān disciple with a brain full of Dàlóu Dān classics and one without were completely different in value. Lin Xiao, who didn't have any Dàlóu Dān classics, was only being supported by the Yuan Sect out of friendship with a nominal title, just to satisfy their own intentions. But Lin Xiao, who had Dàlóu Dān classics in his brain, fully qualified to become the highest-ranking Dàlóu Dān disciple!

  The Dahluo Danjing is one of the only strange objects in the cultivation world, enough to make Lin Xiao transform from an ordinary jade into a precious and invaluable treasure worth a city!

  The heart of a cultivator also violently throbbed, he just felt that Lin Xiao's gaze was a bit strange, his deep and profound gaze shouldn't appear on an eighteen-year-old youth, so he casually made a guess. Unexpectedly, his guess was true! Although he didn't understand how Lin Xiao obtained the Great Luo Golden Elixir, what did it matter? In short, Lin Xiao had obtained the inheritance of the Great Luo Golden Elixir, and had gained the entirety of the profound understanding and experience of the tens of thousands of senior cultivators on the path of alchemy. This was the most important thing!

  It's just a dan furnace! Even if it were ten or a hundred, Yuan Zong gritted his teeth and sold the pot to make iron, he had to forge this dan furnace!

  Especially... what did Lin Xiao just say?

  "What did you say? This thing called the Alchemical Furnace, the Flowing Alchemical Furnace, the Elixir Sea Furnace, it can automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to transform?"

  The entire cave suddenly fell silent, and even the True Daoist who was jumping at the entrance of the cave turned his body stiffly and looked over here.

  Absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to evolve on its own, this is a function that only those legendary ancient treasures possess! With the standard of a true Taoist refining equipment, he can now refine at most mid-grade treasure instruments. If mid-grade treasure instruments can automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and slowly evolve, then... ...if this function is amplified to the flying swords and magical instruments used by the Yu Zong disciples?

  Lin Xiao nodded slightly and pulled out a thick stack of paper from his wristband.

  "This is where Luo Yu's ancestor obtained the 'Concentrated Spirit Array' from a fragment of a ancient relic in a certain place of the 'Great Mysterious Star', and infused it into the core of the treasure. The treasure can then automatically absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, slowly increasing its quality." Lin Xiao placed the thick stack of paper gently into the trembling hands of the cultivator, saying in a low tone: "However, the Concentrated Spirit Array can only absorb and refine spiritual energy, but cannot change the material of the treasure itself. That's why I've listed the best materials for forging the cauldron."

  A Taoist priest instinctively stuffed the thick stack of paper into his sleeve, only to realize afterwards that his action was so unrefined, and he couldn't help but laugh awkwardly for a few moments.

  However, no one laughed inside the cave. Even Qing Xuan vaguely knew that if this Concentrated Spirit Formation was so wonderful, then the flying swords and treasures used by the Yuán Zōng disciples in the future would gradually upgrade with the passage of time. Don't upgrade too much, just those flying swords and treasures average upgrade a level, Yuán Zōng's strength will soar several times!

  But think about it, the flying sword treasures used by these elders of Yuan Zong are all refined with top-grade materials. If their flying swords and treasures can also be re-condensed into the Condensed Spirit Array, then what level can these flying swords and treasures be upgraded to? Top-grade spiritual artifacts? Or have they already become legendary in the cultivation world for thousands of years as immortal artifacts?

  "This array diagram is too precious." A Taoist priest took a deep breath, looked at Lin Xiao with a hint of embarrassment and smiled wryly: "I'm ashamed to accept it."

  Lin Xiao waved his hand lightly and said faintly, "Senior, there's no need to say more. This Concentration Array has been stored in the Great Luo Dan Jing for over 2,000 years. Due to its connection with array techniques, nobody has shown interest in it. I also recently encountered a great change, so I organized the Great Luo Dan Jing that I remembered and found this Concentration Array technique."

  A True Daoist who had run over with a bounce, his face twitched violently as he roared in indignation: "This is simply absurd! Such an incredible formation has been left unused for over two thousand years! That group of mad alchemists from the Great Luo Dan Dao are truly their grandmother's...!"

  One of the Daoist priests covered the face of a real Daoist priest with one hand, and together with two other elders, dragged the real Daoist priest backward.

  Lin Xiao smiled lightly and nodded, "The great Lu Dan Jing's techniques are not to be leaked out by me. However, some trivial things left behind by the ancestors that have nothing to do with Dan Dao, I will slowly sort them out and hand them over to Master Yihang."

  One of the Daoists hastily waved his hand and said, "This, this, absolutely cannot be!" Although he said so, the Daoist's heart began to beat violently again. Lin Xiang had only been at Yuán Zōng for a day, yet he had already offered up the Precious Mind Array, an extraordinary array of immeasurable value. Who knows what other good things he would come up with if he were given more time to tidy up? These were all excellent things that could greatly enhance Yuán Zōng's potential! As for the alchemy of the Great Luo Dan Dao, Yuán Zōng wasn't even interested in it! But these wonderful techniques were really...

  Lin Xiao suddenly knelt down in front of a row of Taoist priests and knocked his head heavily on the ground.

  He spoke in a low, hoarse voice: "As a junior, my cultivation is weak and I know I am powerless against those demonic disciples. For the sake of avenging our sect, I still have to trouble Master Yihang to take care of it. Moreover, I am alone and weak, and finding the reincarnated body of our fellow disciple also requires the help of all seniors!"

  Bang, bang, bang. Lin Xiao heavily knocked his head on the ground, and a bright red bloodstain appeared on the ground.

  Lin Xiao's body suddenly jumped, she hastily stuffed the half-eaten purple smoke wisteria spirit fruit into her mouth, and swallowed it down with a gulp, also kneeling on the ground, accompanying Lin Xiao to kowtow to the row of Taoist priests.

  A Taoist priest looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh, then with a wave of his large sleeve, he lifted Lin Xiao and Qingku from the ground and said in a deep voice: "Lin Xiao, don't worry about this matter. I, Yuanzong, will take full responsibility for it." His words were firm and decisive, without any hesitation, and as a Taoist priest, Lin Xiao's two requests would have to be fulfilled with all his might.

  Lin Xiao's conditions were not to be refused by Yuan Zong, and the friendship between Da Luo Dan Dao and Yuan Zong was also something that Yuan Zong couldn't say much about. The alchemy furnace, this one had the most massive and precious materials consumed in the history of the cultivation world, but the finished product might be the lowest-grade mysterious treasure. Under Yuan Zong's full effort, the forging began.

  The red light on the top of Tianhuo Peak converged, and all the heat emanating from the ground was concentrated by the formation in that huge forging cave. Led by Yizhen Daoist, 81 elders who had made breakthroughs in alchemy joined forces with 82 alchemy masters and nearly a thousand other senior and junior Daoists, fully devoting themselves to this unprecedented massive dan furnace refining project.

  The Heaven Fire Peak had truly become a peak of heaven fire. The massive amount of fiery spiritual energy surging out from the underground spiritual vein transformed into raging flames that poured into the cave being forged, and the purple flames shot up to the sky. The excess flames were absorbed by the formation, spewing out randomly from the mountain body. Heaven Fire Peak was set ablaze all over, a thick layer of purple flames wrapped around the mountain body, heat waves rolled out, and no ordinary birds or beasts dared to stay within a hundred miles.

  Lin Xiao stood on the Chi Long Sword, staring blankly at the Tian Huo Peak shrouded in fierce flames. His heart was neither sad nor joyful, and he suddenly fell into the "Wu Jing" state that a cultivator could enter only once every few years.

  The Tianhuo Peak in front of him was like a huge flame, with flames soaring into the sky and sparks flying everywhere. In the midst of the commotion, everything seemed to be demonstrating the essence of fire to him, describing the true face of the most scorching, passionate, and violent power between heaven and earth.

  Lin Xiao was so close to the Heavenly Fire Peak that the rising flames were about to lick his feet. The heat scorched his body, and a thread of spiritual energy transformed from lotus seeds was constantly churning out from within him, transforming through the fire and merging into his body. The golden elixir in his dantian greedily devoured the pure fire-type spiritual energy from the outside world, with purple light flashing on its surface as threads of thunderfire fiercely steamed up.

  The golden elixir tightly wrapped around the central Xuanwu ring also became excited, and a thumb-sized Xuanwu illusory shadow suddenly appeared on the Xuanwu ring. This northern spiritual beast circled the Xuanwu ring several times before suddenly opening its big mouth to fiercely suck in the outside world. Lin Xiao's dantian shrunk back, and a massive, invisible suction force rapidly surged out of his dantian.

  "Hū", on the summit of Tiān Huǒ Peak, a whirlwind suddenly rose up, enveloping Lín Xiāo's body, and swept in the flames that were dozens of feet away from him, pouring them into his body.

  "How wonderful! Lin Xiao, you are indeed a remarkable person." A line of smiling words came from a white cloud standing far away: "With such flames, if we didn't use the Avoid Fire Incantation to protect our bodies, we would have to stand here to tolerate that heat. He can actually meditate and cultivate under such fierce flames, truly a rare talent."

  Standing behind a row of people, shrinking in fear, staring at Lin Xiao who was surrounded by fierce flames, two small hands with ten fingers clenched into a ball.

  "Lin Ge, he won't be roasted, will he~~~~~" The thought of the terrifying scene made big, shiny tears roll out from under her eyelids.

  Standing behind a row, dazedly looking at a row of one heart slowly turning to look at Qing Huo with a glance, couldn't help but float to Qing Huo's side, stretching out his hand, using his sleeve to gently wipe away the tears on Qing Huo's face.

  "Don't worry, Lin Xiao You is a pure fire-type physique, and this fiery spiritual energy will not harm him. This is normal cultivation, no big deal." Gently stroking the small head of Qing Yun, Yi Xin sighed softly: "Pitiful children of the world... The word 'love' hurts people the most..."

  He stood with his hands behind him, gazing out at Lin Xiao, as if he hadn't heard anything.

  A gentle breeze blew in, lifting a few strands of green silk on her forehead.

  A grey crane slowly flew across the sky.

  A crystal drop of tears, slowly dripping down, but it's unclear whether it's from Qing's face or somewhere else.

  A pair of hands hidden in the large sleeves suddenly trembled slightly.