Chapter 37: The Art of Refining Dan

  Although the crowd was young, after reciting scriptures and practicing qigong, they were still steady in their actions. The reason for rushing out of the door excitedly was that Yu Linglong's implicit meaning was that the crowd had already been immune to all poisons after suffering from yesterday's hardships.

  Baili Kuangfeng was still limping as he walked, Ye Xiaoyao was bent over clutching his stomach, Mo Wen's face was pale, Liu Shaoqin's face was red and ears were burning, Liu Song's steps were unsteady, Yulinglong stood calmly at the east gate of the hall watching the crowd walk out of their rooms and line up in formation.

  "Ordinary medicinal soups have no more than a dozen or so ingredients, but the 49 herbs each have their own hidden and revealed five elements. No one can balance the medicinal properties to neutralize and eliminate them. The medicinal soup you took earlier was extremely complex, with many medicinal properties accumulating in your body that cannot be eliminated. If there is still medicinal properties of the five elements stored in your body, you can tolerate a hundred poisons without dying. In the future, if the previous symptoms appear again, it means that toxic substances are approaching, and you must be careful to deal with them." Yuling looked around at everyone.

  "Thank you for your kindness." The crowd heard the words and immediately bowed to thank him. Except for Ajiu and Qiansui, the other five people all had different symptoms of poisoning. If similar reactions appear again in the future, it will be someone who is plotting to poison them.

  "There are open-minded gentlemen in the world, but also evil spirits. If you can't defeat them, they will think of all kinds of sinister means to harm you. A hundred-foot tower can withstand wind and rain, but it can't withstand the erosion of insects and ants. You possess superior skills, but in the future, you will inevitably attract envy and jealousy. Without a body that can avoid poison, it's hard to walk in the world." Yuling smiled and said.

  Everyone thanked again, and Mo didn't ask about the shame in his heart. The smile on Yuling's face was still raised at the right corner of her mouth. The same smile seemed cold and poisonous yesterday, but it wasn't that Yuling was good at changing, rather it was because of the evil thoughts in one's own mind. It's hard to get rid of the suspicion of being a neighbor.

  "I humbly ask the true person, why can Tianxuanzi and Yaoguangzi neutralize the properties of many medicines?" Mo asked with his head bowed.

  "The universe is vast, yin and yang are not lacking. They are a special kind of human being, but all special kinds have the instinct to seek good fortune and avoid calamity. These two can distinguish many medicinal properties, using their heart to listen and learn is secondary, the main reason is still due to their instincts." Yuling replied with a smile.

  Mo Wen nodded again, what Yuling said was extremely true. In the wild, birds and beasts cannot seek medical treatment. If they are injured or ill, they can only rely on their instincts to find herbs to heal themselves. This instinct is mainly present in wild animals, and domesticated livestock will greatly reduce their instincts.

  "I humbly ask the immortal, if we were to mistakenly ingest poison in the future, what symptoms would appear? If it's like my current abdominal pain, wouldn't it be difficult to find a clean place during battle?" Ye Xiao Yao asked while clutching his stomach.

  As soon as this was said, everyone burst out laughing. Because each person's reaction to poisoning is different, Mo Xiangyu would feel a chill, Liu Shaoying would feel hot and dry, and the symptoms of the other three were not very good, especially Ye Xiaoxiao, who had run to the toilet at the time and was extremely embarrassed.

  "It's just a poison entering the body, the pain is only one or two tenths of what it was before, nothing to worry about." Yuling replied.

  Ye Xiangyao felt relieved upon hearing the words, and Baili Kuangfeng and Liu Shuang also let out a sigh of relief. After being poisoned, if one just shook their nose and spat out saliva, it wouldn't be too bad, but if they fell to the ground and convulsed, spitting out white foam would be disastrous.

  "Really, will we truly not fear poison in the future?" Liu Shaoying interrupted with a red face.

  "You may enter the temple and try taking a piece of cinnabar." Yuling said with a smile.

  Liu Shaoqing waved his hand repeatedly, and the arsenic was also known as arsenic frost, which is a highly toxic substance. If ingested, it would not only be fatal but also cause extreme discomfort throughout the body.

  "After you've practiced the spell and incantation, you should be able to walk among humans, drive away evil spirits, accumulate virtue and create good fortune for people. However, in these chaotic times, monsters and demons are rising up everywhere, many of them harboring poisonous intentions. If you can't resist their toxic auras, it will be difficult to take even a single step.

  Later on, you'll need to learn the art of alchemy, where the medicinal properties of the five elements' herbs are extracted through intense heat and steam, which also contain toxins. The elixir's dan sand is an extremely poisonous substance; if you don't possess the ability to withstand poison, you won't be able to refine the medicine."

  "May I ask, sir, is that cinnabar sand silver water?" Mo Wen frowned and asked.

  Yu Linglong nodded slightly upon hearing this.

  "Why must you use this highly toxic substance to condense the elixir?" Mo asked again, and Yinxia explained that silver water was a white substance resembling water in shape and color like silver, extremely poisonous. If ingested by mistake, it would have the same consequences as swallowing gold, causing severe abdominal pain and death.

  "The medicinal herbs and minerals will be reduced to nothing when burned by fire, only by absorbing the medicinal properties with this object can it become a pill. If the pill is white, then the toxicity has not been removed. Only if the pill presents a red-gold color can it be ingested."

  Mo Wen nodded slowly, and Xuan Yangzi's lecture on the Zhentongji also had a rough explanation of the alchemy technique. If the herbs are placed in the medicine cauldron and heated, they will wither and burn, but only by adding cinnabar can they absorb the medicinal properties of the herbs. Moreover, cinnabar can withstand high temperatures, and if it is shaken, it will automatically become round in shape, making it the first choice for alchemy. However, removing its own toxicity is extremely difficult. If the elixir produced is silver-white in color, it means that it contains toxins and cannot be swallowed.

  "I humbly ask, sir, what is the difference between the elixir pill and medicinal soup? Why must we abandon the easy for the difficult?" asked Ah Jiu.

  "There are three differences. Firstly, the medicinal power of Dan medicine is stronger than that of ordinary decoction medicine, and one pill can contain the medicinal power of hundreds of plants. Secondly, after withstanding high temperatures, the medicinal properties of Dan medicine become singular, removing impurities and taking only the essence. Thirdly, it is easy to carry around, and if needed, it can be taken at any time without having to spend time decocting." Yuling answered with her fingers bent.

  Everyone nodded when they heard this. At that time, it was a fashion for officials and aristocratic families to take elixirs, which became a luxury product for health preservation and longevity. The elixir was convenient to take and had stronger medicinal effects. Moreover, the refining process of the elixir was difficult, and not every cartload of herbs could produce three grains of elixir. The principle that rarity makes something valuable has remained unchanged throughout history.

  Yu Linglong saw that everyone had no problem, so she began to explain the art of alchemy in detail. The seven people each received a bronze cauldron, which were all different sizes, with both male and female shapes. The larger ones were as big as a washbasin, while the smaller ones were only about the size of a rice bowl. They were all ancient artifacts. Alchemists believed that everything had a spirit, so they thought that these cauldrons also had spirits. The older the artifact was, the greater the possibility of success in alchemy.

  In addition, there are many rules for alchemy, taking the copper tripod as an example of a dan furnace. The three-legged copper tripod is used for dry way alchemy, and the four-legged copper tripod is used for kun way alchemy. People are divided into male and female, and tripods are also divided into yin and yang. If they are mixed, it may not be possible to produce the elixir. Moreover, the larger the copper tripod, the less precious it is, and the smaller the copper tripod, the more difficult it is to obtain. The former is considered a vessel for adding large quantities of ordinary medicinal herbs, while the latter is seen as a divine instrument for extracting the essence of precious medicinal herbs.

  There are nearly seven hundred kinds of medicinal herbs and stones in the temple, and the transmission of skills is only about passing on techniques and methods. Therefore, the selection of medicinal herbs is not strict, and it's okay to randomly pick a few, add cinnabar, and ignite them below.

  As poisonous gas will appear during the refining process, no Dao children came to help today. Everyone can only do it themselves, adding firewood and fire, smelting and simmering.

  At the beginning of alchemy, it is necessary to observe the combination of medicinal herbs and cinnabar, as well as various reactions. Therefore, a lid is not added on top of the copper cauldron. After the big fire starts, thick smoke fills the air, and the toxic gas from the cinnabar overflows inside the cauldron. The entire eastern hall is filled with smoke and fog. At this time, the people who can still tolerate the toxicity are coughing continuously due to being choked. The crippled gatekeeper escaped not long after the fire was lit, while those who delivered food did not dare to get close, and even carried the porridge pot back when they reached the door.

  The time for refining the elixir is not fixed, it can be as short as one hour or as long as several days or even months. However, at present, everyone is just practicing, so they limit themselves to two hours. After two hours, nothing has fallen except for a pile of residue and ash in the cauldron, and everyone's faces are covered with dust.

  "You may be able to withstand the poisonous gas, but you can't practice continuously. Later this afternoon, memorize the properties of the medicine and start refining the elixir. After lunch, follow Sima Daozhang to practice martial arts." Yuling said to everyone.

  Everyone heard and nodded in agreement, Yuling raised her hand slightly and turned to leave.

  "It's finally time to practice martial arts, let's go, go take a bath." Baili Kuangfeng shouted and waved his hands at the crowd.

  "Don't ask, let's go." Ye Xiao Yao pulled Mo Wen who was still in a daze.

  "He likes to bathe with Ajiu, let's go." Baili Kuangfeng smiled and walked away.

  After the four people left, Qian Shuai also walked away slowly, and only Mo Wen and A Jiu were left in front of the East Hall.

  "What are you thinking about?" Ah Jiu saw Mo Wen lost in thought and realized he was pondering over something.

  "Li Zhenren and Xuan Yuan's thoughts are identical, neither of them wants us to feel grateful." Mo Wu shook his head and said. From start to finish, Yu Linglong did not tell everyone that they were able to endure the medicinal properties and avoid being poisoned by a hundred poisons because she had previously put some kind of magical medicine in the medicine pot.

  "We are the Upper Clear Sect's disciples, if we can gain recognition from our ancestors and get a higher ranking than them, it would be reasonable for them to avoid suspicion now, rather than having their positions reversed later on and finding it hard to meet each other." Ah Jiu thought for a moment before speaking up.

  "Li Zhenren had previously misunderstood you, you can distinguish the many medicinal properties not by instinct, but by being cleverer than others, and having a photographic memory." Mo Xiang turned around and took a step forward.

  "It's not entirely true, I'm much older than all of you, and having lived in the mountains for many years, I've seen most of these herbs before." Ajiu smiled with a hint of pride.

  "You have such a talent, you will definitely be a legendary master in the future. By the way, how many years have you lived?" Mo asked casually, until now he had not seen Ah Jiu's appearance, nor did he know her age.

  "Better not say it, lest you get frightened." Ah Jiu said with a light smile.

  Mo Wen didn't ask again and slowly returned to his room to wash up.

  In the late afternoon, Sima Daozhang arrived...