Chapter 7: The Wronged Good Man (Part 1)

  Embroidered phoenix on golden brocade quilt, soft and fragrant. I lie on the magnificent ivory bed, floating as if sleeping in the clouds.

  As I was leaving, a maid secretly pinched my butt.

  There was only one bed in the room, originally Ouyang Yuan wanted to add another bed, but Ju Danmei said it wasn't necessary. Thinking of Ouyang Yuan's stupid expression, I couldn't help but want to laugh.

  One man and three women in bed together, I started having some improper thoughts. Hai Ji glared at me: "A few fox spirits have corrupted you, haven't they?"

  "Fox spirit?"

  "Hmph, you just can't see it, those maids are all fox spirits. No wonder, they're infatuated with a few low-level little demons and have lost their heads."

  "I shouted in discontent: 'What's wrong with the fox spirit? What's wrong with low-level little monsters? I just like them, and I look down on some high-and-mighty people! Besides, I'm also a low-level monster, Haiwu God, you walking with me is really humiliating for you.'"

  "Hai Ji hummed: 'I didn't say you're low-level.'"

  I turned my head and said, "You're lucky to have a good life, being a noble and the female warrior of the Temple of Sea Pulse. But if you were born as a low-level little demon, could you still be so arrogant?"

  Hai Ji was stunned, Gan Ning truly looked at me with a glance, and from the tip of her finger, a snow lotus bloomed, growing larger in an instant, floating gently in mid-air. Gan Ning leaped up lightly, lay down in the snow lotus flower, silent and wordless.

  Ji Danmei floated over, smiling coquettishly: "What's there to quarrel about? Hai Ji is just this kind of temperament, and it's not intentional targeting you. Besides, high and low, noble and humble, have always existed since ancient times, that's all fate. By the way, that copper box you eyed during the day must be somewhat unusual." She reached out a hand to probe, and pulled out the purple bronze octagonal box from my bosom.

  "I said with a smile: 'This copper box is unusual, can you help me see what kind of trick it has?'"

  Ji Dan Mei fiddled with it for half a day, shook her head: "There's nothing special about this thing, at most it's only worth a few silver coins."

  "Let me see." Gan Ning suddenly said, stretching out her hand to beckon, the copper box flew up and landed in her palm. She examined it carefully for a while, then suddenly closed her eyes. A transparent lotus flower bloomed from her forehead, its petals fluttering like blinking eyes.

  After a long time, the lotus flower slowly opened, dispersing into a wisp of water vapor. Gan Ning slowly opened her eyes and threw the copper box back to me, saying lightly: "There's a hidden compartment inside, containing a piece of silk paper."

  I stared at Gan Ningzhen in surprise, while Ju Danmei grabbed the copper box and ripped it open with a "zip" sound. A yellowed silk paper floated out, filled with red fly-head characters.

  "I've long heard that Gān Xiānzǐ's lotus-heart eyes can penetrate gold and stone, and indeed it's formidable." Jiǎo Dān Mèi smiled coyly, picked up a silk paper, and whispered: "Cloud Light Stone Flowing Dan - the ninth item of the secret recipe of the Dan Ding method. Hmm, I seem to have heard this name before."

  "Yun Guang Shi Liu Fei Dan, that is the introductory secret method of Dan Ding Liu from back in the day." Gan Ning Zhen said, pausing for a moment before continuing: "The secret methods of Dan Ding Liu mainly focus on refining dan medicine, divided into nine grades. After the mysterious extinction of Dan Ding Liu, this sect's secret methods were also lost. Lin Fei, you yourself are a furnace, Yun Guang Shi Liu Fei Dan might be somewhat useful to you." She turned her body away, no longer looking at me, seemingly falling asleep.

  How strange, this iceberg beauty is being unusually enthusiastic towards me tonight?

  Jiudan Mei handed the silk paper back to me and said lazily: "It was just a method for refining elixirs."

  I casually took over the handkerchief, ah? I can move! I jumped down from the bed at once, raised my hands and kicked my legs, flexible and free.

  I burst out laughing: "Ou Yang Yuan this swindler, said he would sleep for a night. I'll be back to normal in just a few hours."

  "Hai Ji hummed: 'He didn't deceive you, it's just that you're a natural Dingluo, so you can easily refine the Zhu Guo.'"

  Ji Dan Mei took advantage of the situation and lay on the bed, staring at me with her big eyes: "Little pervert, sleep with me?"

  I swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and at this moment, I inexplicably broke out in a cold sweat. My body felt hot and stuffy, and the blood in my veins was like a little mouse, scurrying around, very lively. The whole person felt refreshed and invigorated, and the deep night outside the window seemed as clear as daylight. I thought it was probably related to eating the jujube fruit.

  Jū Dān Mèi and Gān Níng Zhēn were both asleep, Hǎi Jī stood still at the door, I sat on the ground, carefully looking at the silk paper.

  Yun Guang Shi Liu Fei Dan, indeed is the Dan Ding Liu's alchemy method, but it's just the first level of the ninth grade. According to what was written on the silk paper, you need to gather all the herbs, put them in a copper furnace, add some sulfur, five metals, cloud mother and other things, then combine with the heart method to refine. Damn it! This heart method is useless! What I need now is something that can make me stronger immediately, not some dogshit alchemy pill.

  "Hey, hey." Haidi called me in a low voice.

  I grunted and ignored her.

  Hai Ji bit her lip: "Lin Fei."

  "I humbly said: 'Just call me a low-level little demon, no need to be so polite.'"

  Hai Ji glared at me fiercely: "You petty ghost, I'm not looking down on you, it's just that I dislike the way you're infatuated with those few foxy girls."

  The moonlight spilled on the window frame, like a thin layer of white frost. The sea girl bathed in the moonlight, gazing at me, her skin as fair as snow, her hair like golden silk, beautiful as a phantom. I suddenly felt a little self-conscious, and said in a low voice: "It's okay if you look down on me, anyway, I'm used to it."

  She glanced at Gan Ningzhen and Ji Danyi, and whispered: "Actually, arguing with you is quite interesting. In the north, most people are respectful to me, like a dull wooden board, which makes people suffocate. Only you don't put me in your eyes, I'm glad instead."

  I'm stunned, oh my god, beautiful girl you have a bit of masochistic tendencies.

  Hai Ji said again: "Today when you snatched the wine from Zhu Guo, Ouyang Yuan's face was really laughable. This guy, in the past, always pestered me and annoyed me to death."

  I suddenly said: "So he likes you, no wonder he would use such a precious cranberry juice to please you."

  "Hmph, he just wants to use me to get close to the Hai Jing Temple. Hehe, tomorrow, help me play a trick on him. Because he has a good relationship with the Hai Jing Temple, I don't want to give him a hard time."

  "I said with a sly smile: 'That depends on how much benefit you can give me.'"

  Haiji smiled brightly at me, radiant with beauty: "You're really shameless! Jiandan Mei calls you Little Playboy, I'll call you Little Rascal, okay?"

  Ji Danmei, who had been sitting on the couch with her eyes closed, suddenly let out a snort of laughter. Hai Ji's face turned red and she turned around, not saying another word.

  In a moment, she closed her eyes slightly, and golden light flowed all over her body, as if she had entered meditation.

  I lay on the ground for a while, but couldn't sleep. After eating the red fruit, I felt especially energetic. Since I had nothing better to do, I practiced the Cloud Light Stone Flowing Elixir according to the silk paper.

  Without an alchemical cauldron, I imagine my own body as a crucible. Without medicinal herbs, I take the ceaselessly flowing blood and energy within me as the herbs.

  "With stone as dike, cloud enters and strolls. Two things contain each other, changing forms with spirit. First liquid then solid, cloud and stone exchange shapes. Below is flowing light stone, cloud steams in a short while. Considering the two as true, cloud light stone flows and flies."

  I silently recite the silk text, start to cultivate, gradually, the blood and gas inside my body are controlled by me, divided into two parts, turbid gas like stone, sinking down, clear gas like cloud, rising up.

  My body was like it had been cut in two, my head floating up and my feet sinking down, haha, it's actually quite fun. Next is "Cloud Stone Mutual Transformation", where I have to reverse the turbid and clear airs from before, this is very difficult to practice, I've tried for a long time but still can't do it.

  Right in the midst of practicing, his forehead suddenly felt hot, and with a "boom" sound, the agate bead started rotating slowly. His entire chest cavity was scorching hot, just like a burning dan furnace.

  "Embracing the profound and holding onto the truth, I refine my body in the nine Tripod Cauldrons." In an instant, a phrase from the silk scripture flashed through my mind, fortune arrived at my heart, and I immediately focused my mind on my lungs, entering meditation. Dazed, a tripod furnace rose up from my lower abdomen, turbid and clear airs circulating within the furnace. The clear air seemed to transform into a stone, rapidly sinking down, while the turbid air transformed into clouds of smoke, wafting upwards.

  The tripod furnace expands and contracts, the stone emits a brilliant light, and the clouds and mist rise.

  After a long time, I let out a low shout: "Two as one, Cloud Light Stone Flowing Free."

  "Hum", my whole body shook violently, the tripod furnace sprayed out a strange object and slowly sank into the elixir field. The strange object rampaged inside me like an unbridled wild horse, galloping in circles for over ten rounds, suddenly exploding like millions of mercury threads bursting forth, flowing through the hundred meridians of my body.

  A refreshing air fills my body. I feel like I've been reborn, light and carefree, as if I'm about to soar on the wind. The fluid flowing through my body seems no longer to be blood, but rather a shimmering, ethereal glow.

  Gan Ningzhen was right, Yun Guangshi's Flying Dan of the Stone Flow is just a method for refining elixirs for others, but for me, a born cauldron, it's a tailor-made cultivation technique. Dan Dingliu probably never dreamed that years later, I would cultivate the Cloud Light Stone Flow Flying Dan into a new world.

  I stared at the silk text, thought for a moment, memorized it and then burned it. The Cloud Light Stone Refining Dan had reached this stage, and it was already small success. According to the silk text, only when the last solidification in the cauldron became Cloud Stone Essence could it be considered a great accomplishment. From now on, as long as I continued to cultivate diligently, with time, I would be able to reach this stage.

  Thinking of the other eight elixir tripod flow's alchemy method, I couldn't help but feel itchy in my heart. I don't know where they are scattered, if I can get them all and study them carefully, I'm sure I can escape the little disaster of ten years. Outside the window, the dawn light is white, unknowingly, I have been cultivating for a whole night.

  This life, I seem to have been busy all along, constantly busy for the sake of living.