Chapter 21: Sheli Lingdan

  "Sister, your spirit is about to recover?"

  Jiang Nan was stunned for a moment, and suddenly a complex emotion arose in his heart. After a long silence, he spoke in a hoarse voice: "After your spirit is restored, will you stay here or not?"

  "It won't happen naturally."

  Jiang Xue turned around and looked into the distance, her back to him, and said quietly: "The Jianwu country is too small, a small pond can't raise a big dragon. I want to restore my former achievements and take back what belongs to me. How can I stay in this small place for long? Zicong, when I recovered my divine soul, it was the time when you and I parted ways..."

  Jiangnan fell silent again, with a pang of reluctance in his heart.

  Although he had only spent a short time with Jiang Xue, in his heart, he already considered her as his only kin. For this fox demon, his heart was filled with admiration for her, regarding her as his good teacher, close friend and confidant. Even in the young boy's budding heart, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.

  He cherished this moment and hoped time could pass a little slower, a bit more slowly.

  "Zihe River, for you, Buddha's Hand Citron is already a pretty good spiritual medicine, but taking it like this is still somewhat wasteful."

  Jiang Xue laughed and said, "Direct consumption can only bring out 20% of the medicinal properties of Fo Shou Jin Lian, but when combined with other herbs and refined into a Shelili Lingdan, it can fully bring out 100%!"

  Jiang Nan's eyes lit up, and with just one petal of the Buddha's Hand Golden Lotus, he almost transcended a realm. If the Buddha's Hand Golden Lotus were to be refined into a Sheli Lingdan, unleashing four or five times its medicinal power, wouldn't that mean he could easily become a top-notch God Wheel expert with this single flower?

  "Sister, do you know how to refine the Sheli Lingdan?"

  "I just have a general understanding, I wouldn't say I'm proficient."

  Jiang Xue's fingertips moved lightly, and a spiritual flame danced on her fingertips, like a fire spirit. She smiled and said: "However, I still understand this low-grade pill, Sheli Ling Dan. You have the Curata God Fire in your brow, and you already have the fire seed. Refining pills is not troublesome for you, now it's just lacking the pill formula, pill furnace, and other medicinal materials. The pill formula of Sheli Ling Dan I still remember, but the pill furnace and other medicinal materials can't be obtained."

  Jiang Nan thought for a moment, then said: "The dan furnace and medicinal materials can be exchanged for Yiqi Dan and Yangshen Dan in Yao Wang City. Anyway, I don't have any use for these things if I keep them."

  "Brother, there's one thing you need to remember: the Spirit Pill can indeed rapidly improve your cultivation, but that's still external power transformed into cultivation. If you rise too quickly, your realm will become unstable. Therefore, the Spirit Pill can only be used as a supplementary tool for cultivation; if you solely rely on it to improve your cultivation, you'll fall into a lower level of cultivation, which will greatly hinder your future progress."

  In Jiangnan's heart, there is a chill; Zheng focuses on his head.

  In the following days, he did not continue to go out hunting, but stayed at home to refine the remaining medicinal power in the Buddha's hand golden lotus flower petals. This one petal took him four days to barely refine.

  As for the bone membranes in his head, he now has enough strength to break through, but breaking through these few bone membranes is extremely dangerous and cannot be done in one go, it must be done slowly.

  "The methods of refining the spiritual elixir are numerous, but can be roughly divided into two types. One is the fire method of refining the elixir, which is the most common. Your seven-layered divine fire can use the first three layers to refine ordinary spiritual elixirs, which is sufficient. The other type is the water method of refining the elixir, which is relatively rare. It uses divine water to wash away impurities in the medicinal materials, allowing the medicinal properties to become pure and combined into one. To a certain extent, it even surpasses the fire method of refining the elixir."

  These past few days, Jiang Xue had been explaining the techniques and methods of refining dan to him. "If you possess Huangquan Sacred Water, combined with Tudigong Sacred Fire, the quality of the refined dan would be even better! Unfortunately, Huangquan Sacred Water is extremely rare, I'm afraid it's not that easy to find. Zicong, try now, can you bring out the first layer of Tudigong Sacred Fire from your body and make it appear in the palm of your hand, heating up..."

  She looked around and her eyes fell on the iron pot. She smiled and said, "You might as well try to heat up this iron pot."

  Jiang Nan tried to urge the Douluo Divine Fire at his brow with his true energy, and suddenly the first layer of divine fire burst into a raging flow, pouring down in all directions.

  "True Energy Controls Fire!"

  Jiang Nan hastily stirred up his true energy, controlling the flow of divine fire to move downwards from his brow, along the meridians, and converge on his right hand.

  Suddenly, his true energy slightly dissipated, and the divine fire collapsed. From the pores on his arm, a string of fine flames burst out, and in the blink of an eye, his sleeves were ignited!

  Jiang Nan hastily spat out a mouthful of true energy, extinguishing the spark.

  He tried several times and finally grasped the trick. With a whooshing sound, a divine flame appeared in his palm, burning quietly.

  Jiang Nan held the iron pot in his palm, still urging on the true energy, stimulating the Zhuan Rate divine fire at his brow, letting the flames flow continuously. The iron pot was filled with clear water, but in just a moment, the clear water had already boiled.

  "You also need to control firepower, and let the size of firepower be as you wish."

  "Whether or not the spiritual elixir can be refined depends entirely on the control of the alchemist. You must pay attention to the fire timing and temperature, otherwise even a slight mistake will result in failure and a furnace full of useless pills."

  Jiangnan was very careful and soon he could control the fire at will. He had the Douluo Sacred Fire, which made him much luckier than those alchemists who didn't have sacred fire. Other alchemists without sacred fire used charcoal to ignite the furnace fire, and they could only refine pills when the furnace fire was pure and green.

  A highly skilled alchemist uses true energy to create high temperatures for refining elixirs, but the consumption of a single furnace is extremely large. Moreover, it's very difficult to control the temperature of the furnace fire, and the success rate of elixir refinement is not high.

  Although the divine fire of Dourate is dangerous, as long as you grasp its knack, it's not difficult to control. If Jiangnan didn't have this divine fire, there would be no way to quickly master the technique of controlling fire at will!

  Jiang Xue said quietly, "Cultivation is like refining elixirs. True energy is the divine fire and water. The divine water tempers, the divine fire refines, tempering and refining one's body, flesh, skin, bones, muscles, essence, spirit, and energy, making oneself as pure as a spiritual elixir, crystal clear and transparent, without any impurities. Use battle as the divine fire and water to temper your conviction, willpower, ambition, courage, and aspirations!"

  In the heart of Jiangnan, there is a chill. These few words by Jiang Xue can indeed be said to have profound meaning in subtle language. Although the words are simple and plain, they contain great truths that allow people to gain more insights as they ponder them.

  She's using alchemy to guide Jiang Nan, allowing him to make progress in both his cultivation and martial arts at the same time!

  It can be said that her words brought Jiang Nan a harvest no less than teaching him the Demon Prison Mysterious Fetus Scripture!

  Before long, Jiang Nan mastered the technique of controlling fire, and the divine fire in his hand could be large or small, changing at will.

  "Each elixir has a specific formula, and the formula is not just a simple ratio of medicinal materials. It also includes the timing of each medicinal material, temperature control at every moment, hand seals to manipulate the flames, when to open the furnace, how to test the medicine, etc. The most crucial part is the printing method for refining the medicine!"

  Jiang Xue said softly, "The incantation for refining medicine is also called the spiritual formula. For example, when refining the Sheli Lingdan, there are eighteen spiritual formulas, which are extremely complex. The timing and sequence of each spiritual formula cannot be remembered incorrectly, otherwise it will waste a furnace of elixir."

  She stretched out her slender jade hands, and her ten fingers lightly danced in front of Jiang Nan, the tips of her fingers transformed into arc lines, beautiful and magnificent, showcasing eighteen extremely exquisite seal techniques, changing and unpredictable. Her true energy overflowed from her fingertips, transforming into lotus flowers that quietly bloomed one after another in front of her.

  But see a snow-white lotus wither, another white lotus sways and grows, really beautiful beyond description!

  The scenery of Jiangnan is so captivating that it unwittingly lifts one's spirits and lets the true energy flow freely, causing both hands to move involuntarily in sync with Jiang Xue's actions.

  Buzz!

  His fingertips had a burst of godly fire, flames and true energy intertwined, gradually transforming into a lotus flower.

  Unlike Jiang Xue, his true energy was compatible with the Douluo Sacred Fire, transforming into green lotus flowers that were eerie and ominous, having a very evil and sinister air of a demonic cultivator.

  Jiang Nan watched as the green lotus flowers bloomed and fell, silent for a long time. Although the Demon Prison Mysterious Fetus Scripture was a demonic cultivation method, it was not what caused this strange phenomenon, but rather the Douluo Sacred Fire.

  This divine flame has seven layers of flames, arranged in the order of green, yellow, red, white, cyan, purple and black. He uses his true energy to activate the first layer of divine flame, so the one that sprouts from his fingertips is the green lotus.

  "Zi Chuan, if you want to refine the elixir, you must proceed step by step. First, refine the Beneficial Qi Elixir and the Nourishing Body Elixir, familiarize yourself with various refining techniques, and only when you have a firm grasp can you then refine the Relic Spirit Elixir."

  Jiang Xue swept a glance at the green lotus, and couldn't help but smile: "Yi Qi Dan and Yang Shen Dan are too low-level, I don't have the recipe for this type of dan medicine. The nearby Medicine King City should have the recipe and the necessary medicinal materials."

  She hesitated for a moment, then apologetically said: "In the next few days, I also need to go out and travel around, collecting spiritual medicine from the mountains and rivers, refining a furnace of spiritual elixir. It will probably take more than a month. Therefore, I won't be able to accompany you in Medicine King City. Before I leave, I still need you to lend me two days' worth of yang energy..."

  Jiang Xue didn't say a word, and suddenly his soft lips lightly touched Jiang Nan's forehead. The young man was slightly stunned, feeling his whole body go weak and numb, as if he had been electrocuted, and a deep sense of powerlessness arose.

  Jiang Xue suddenly withdrew eight-tenths of his yang energy and then floated away.

  Jiangnan opened his mouth wide, like a fish leaving the water, panting heavily. He stood still for a moment, then suddenly let out a loud sneeze.

  "Zi Chuan, were you bewitched by a fairy or was it your wife who hasn't crossed the threshold yet?"

  In the courtyard, Tie Zhu looked at Jiang Nan's face and shook his head: "Your complexion is terrible, you must have been taken advantage of by someone to replenish your yang energy!"

  "Get out of here, you big-headed ghost!"

  Jiang Nan had no good airway, and immediately let out a sneeze. Jiang Xue took away eighty percent of his yang energy when she left, causing him to become extremely weak now, afraid of wind and cold, with a pale complexion, looking like he was severely drained by a demon.

  "Zhu zi, I'm going out for a few days and won't be back for a while. Today, I'll teach you the remaining moves of the Dragon-Tiger Elephant Fist." Jiang Nan thought for a moment before saying.

  Tie Zhu said in a low voice, "Zi Chuan, I'm afraid I won't be able to leave the house for the next few days. You don't know that the Wang Fu has been on high alert recently. First, the outer court's manager Wu Si Jiang was killed, and the inner court was furious, searching for the murderer, causing a huge commotion. Later, they searched and searched until they reached the outer court! Fortunately, just as they were about to search me a few days ago, the inner court's Qi Shan and manager Wu Jun Tong, along with many slaves, went missing together. The inner court was shocked and sent people to search the mountains, but they encountered a demonic ape, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Only then did the Grand Manager Qi Dang lead a team of experts to hunt down the demonic ape, which is why I wasn't investigated. Otherwise, I would have definitely been exposed!"