Chapter Fifty-Four: Gluttonous Tripod

  Listening to Wuyunzi's words, Gan Ping hurriedly calmed his mind, strongly enduring the intense heat of the flames, and took a step forward. At this time, Wuyunzi was standing beside the dan furnace, under the reflection of the fierce firelight, his hair and beard were all red, and his eyes were full of straight lines, just like a majestic fire god descending to the world. Gan Ping did not expect that his usually gentle and amiable master would have such an aspect, it seemed that Wuyunzi was indeed a dan-refining madman, infatuated with the way of dan, at this moment he was a god, a fairy, the master who controlled the dan furnace and one side of the world. Looking at Wuyunzi's crazy appearance, Gan Ping seemed to have gained some enlightenment in his heart, perhaps only by being infatuated with the art of dan-refining could one become a great master like his master.

  "Ping'er, look, the medicinal power inside the dan furnace has already dissipated." Gan Ping raised his eyes to take a look. Under the scorching heat of the raging flames, the several kinds of medicinal powers that were originally wrapped together in a ball inside the dan furnace had gradually dispersed and mixed with other vapors. This was when Wu Yunzi struck out with a spell seal, and the originally fierce flames once again surged upwards. The medicinal powers that had been mixed together inside the dan furnace suddenly gathered into a ball, and then the tongues of flame that had already licked the edges of the dan furnace once again subsided, transforming back into gentle flames. The entire dan chamber was suddenly plunged into darkness, and Gan Ping felt somewhat unaccustomed to this change in light, hastily closing his eyes before slowly opening them again after a while.

  "The medicinal properties have been dispersed and merged." As he opened his eyes, Wuyi's words echoed again, "But this is not enough. If you want the elixir to be of high quality, the medicinal properties must be evenly distributed. Ping'er, my disciple, watch closely, I will transform the literary and martial fires once more." The moment he finished speaking, the flames that had just subsided suddenly surged again. The medicinal vapor that had dispersed earlier due to the transformation into a gentle fire recondensed into a ball. After three cycles of transforming between literary and martial fires, Wuyi transformed the flames into a moderate fire, slowly simmering it. Only then did Gan Ping have the chance to rub his eyes, which had been sore from the glare of the flames for some time.

  "This alchemy is indeed wonderful, although it's only the first stage of Dan medicine, the conversion of Wenwu fire requires three times. If you want to refine high-grade or top-grade Dan medicine, how many times do you need to convert? Gan Ping really didn't dare to imagine the enormous law power needed to refine a furnace of top-grade spiritual Dan. Just thinking about this low-grade Qingming Dan, he estimated that his own law power could only drive the conversion of Wenwu fire twice at most, and it was difficult to reach the level of Wuyan's momentum. Thinking of this, he felt a little discouraged.

  Wuyan saw Gan Ping's loss and comforted him with a smile: "Gan Ping disciple doesn't have to worry, this law power must be slowly tempered, especially when you are laying the foundation, you can't rely on external forces. Although spiritual Dan is good, it's too easy to gain cultivation by taking it, so taking too much spiritual Dan to improve cultivation will cause the true yuan law power to become unstable. Come, come, continue to watch me refine Dan medicine."

  Saying that, Wu Yunzi pointed with his hand, and the lid of the dan furnace on the side suddenly flew up and covered the dan furnace. A blue light shot out from the mouth of the beast head cast on the lid and entered Wu Yunzi's palm. It was the Li Huo Tian Kan Li Bing flame. With a flip of his hand, the trembling blue flame disappeared in an instant, and a faint black smoke also spewed out from the lid of the dan furnace.

  "This black smoke is the impurities mixed in the medicinal properties," Wu Yunzi said. "The essence of those medicines has been transformed into medicinal residue and sunk to the bottom of the dan furnace, while these impurities are the useless parts of the medicinal properties that have been forced out. If they were left inside the furnace, they would definitely affect the quality of the dan medicine, so they must be expelled from the furnace."

  As soon as Wu Yunzi's words fell, the black smoke stopped spewing out, and the beast head on the lid closed its mouth with a "click".

  Gan Ping looked at the dan furnace with great curiosity, and Wu Yunzi knew what he was thinking. Smiling, he said: "At this point, it's just the stage of pregnancy, but this time will take a while. However, this is only a low-grade elixir, and it won't take too long. If it takes too long, the medicinal properties will be refined away. Let me take this opportunity to explain the dan furnace to you." Gan Ping heard this and couldn't help but look at Wu Yunzi with joy. This was the difference between having a master and not having one - as soon as he had a question, someone would come and explain it to him. No wonder everyone wanted to enter the inner sect - aside from the monthly spirit stones and elixirs, they also wanted to rely on the inner sect's elders to resolve their doubts about their cultivation.

  "This cauldron, strictly speaking, should also be considered a first-class treasure, but unfortunately, Master has been refining pills for many years and has never seen a second-grade cauldron or above. The cauldron that Master is using now is called the Gluttonous Cauldron, which is a fourth-grade treasure. It has some effect when facing enemies, but its main function is to refine pills." Gan Ping suddenly thought of something and asked Wu Yunzi: "Isn't the cauldron in the great hall a first-class treasure?" Wu Yunzi heard this and smiled wryly, shaking his head: "You must have heard those disciples talking nonsense. If it were really a first-class treasure, how could it be placed in that great hall? That cauldron was simply cast by Master Miao Cheng when he built the Earth Fire Hall, and it's only a fifth-grade treasure. However, because of its extremely heavy materials, it is placed in the great hall to suppress the foundation, which can also be said to be a mere decoration."

  Upon hearing this, Gan Ping was momentarily speechless. It turned out that the alchemical furnace that had been passed down through the generations of disciples with such reverence was merely a fifth-grade flower vase. No wonder that day when the Earth Fire Temple was open to outsiders, those external cultivators didn't pay much attention to the alchemical furnace. Perhaps only these low-ranking disciples who couldn't distinguish between magical artifacts would treat the alchemical furnace as a treasure.

  "This cauldron in front of you was forged using 1,300 kilograms of Golden Brocade Sand, 912 kilograms of Mysterious Mother Earth, and dozens of other rare materials. Finally, it was tempered with the blood of an eleven-stage Heavenly Devouring Beast, which possessed the Bloodline of the Heavenly Devourer. Only then was it successfully forged. The beast's soul was infused into the cauldron, becoming its artifact spirit. This is also the sorrow of alchemical furnaces - if such high-quality materials were used to forge a flying sword, it would be possible to raise its quality to second-grade, but this cauldron only reached fourth-grade. However, there is one advantage that alchemical furnaces have over other artifacts..."

  At this point, Wuji Zi paused for a moment.

  He listened and immediately looked at it with a urgent gaze, wanting to know what was different about this Dan furnace. Wu Yunzi paused for a moment before saying: "This Dan furnace is important in refining, every day it's heated by the fire, gradually removing the impurities from within the treasure, and adding the heavenly materials and earthly treasures, slowly being infused with spiritual energy. After long-term use, this Dan furnace will slowly increase its rank. This Ding was originally a low-ranking 4th-grade treasure, but after I used it to refine elixirs for over 300 years, it has now increased to an upper 4th-grade treasure. If it continues like this, it will definitely become a 3rd-grade treasure."

  Gan Ping couldn't help but feel a little tongue-tied when he heard this, and asked, "What if a dan furnace is used by several generations of people in a row? Wouldn't it be possible for it to become a xianqi?" Wu Yunzi chuckled at Gan Ping's naive words: "Foolish child, how could that be possible? The material of the dan furnace has already limited its growth potential. Even if I were to refine the dan furnace into a flying sword artifact, it would only reach the level of a second-rate artifact. It's only because of the special nature of refining it into a dan furnace that it fell to fourth-rate. Now, it's just a matter of further refinement, but it will become increasingly difficult. Unless you were to continuously refine several batches of top-grade xian dan, this dan furnace would have no chance of breaking through the second-rate barrier. Otherwise, even if I were to reach the middle rank of third-rate, I would already be very satisfied."

  After listening to Wu Yunzi's words, Gan Ping suddenly realized that the improvement of this quality was just a process of recovering the magic treasure. The original second-rate material was refined into a dan furnace and then fell two ranks, but the process of refining the dan medicine was also the process of tempering the dan furnace. This dan furnace magic treasure naturally recovered its original rank bit by bit. However, if one wanted to exceed the material's rank range, it would undoubtedly be a foolish dream. At this time, Wu Yunzi glanced at the situation of the gluttonous tripod on the side, with misty air swirling and flowing around it, obviously indicating that the dan had been successfully conceived.

  He hastily cast a spell to decide where the tripod should be placed and said, "The elixir has already taken shape, next is the step of stir-frying the elixir." As he spoke, he raised his hand and the lid of the tripod opened. Wuyunzi once again threw the Kangli Ice Flame into the furnace. Gan Ping looked on as the originally large mass of medicinal energy had condensed into a single pellet, resembling a flowing liquid that flowed within the furnace, its color was extremely resplendent. Wuyunzi cast spell after spell, stirring up the liquid elixir to rotate ceaselessly. He said, "The previous steps in refining the elixir were just tests of the refiner's control over fire and medicine, but this step of stir-frying is truly a test of skill and strength. Gan Ping, watch closely, this method of stir-frying is precisely the secret transmission of our Mingyun Peak sect, the Shanhe Broken Elixir Spell."

  As soon as Wuyan's voice fell, the medicinal liquid in the crucible suddenly boiled violently, like a small snake condensed from spiritual medicine, rotating restlessly inside the furnace. Gan Ping looked carefully and heard another voice by his ear, "This stir-frying and collecting dan are done simultaneously, which will not damage the medicinal power of the dan. Ping'er, you watch closely." Wuyan's hands waved rapidly, and the medicinal liquid in the crucible suddenly condensed into a ball before exploding again, splashing everywhere. This was because Gan Ping had already smelled the unique fragrance of Qingming Dan, knowing its quality from the scent, which could be determined to be exceptionally good.

  The liquid scattered in all directions due to the intense collision, falling into droplets of water, and quickly condensed into crystal clear dan beads. As Wuyan Zi's magic spell was cast, the dan beads flew neatly along a straight line into the jade bottle in his hand. Gan Ping counted them, and this batch of Qingming Dan had over 900 beads. Each 100g of dan medicine was packed into one bottle, and Wuyan Zi filled nine jade bottles before stopping. Only when the dan furnace stopped spitting out dan medicine did Wuyan Zi stop casting his spell, taking a deep breath and tossing a jade bottle into Gan Ping's arms: "Take a closer look at this dan medicine!"