Chapter 77: Dan Cheng

  Li Ruo took the medicine bag from behind him with a joyful smile, just about to open it, when he suddenly heard the urgent knocking on the door outside. Tu Shun's muffled voice came into the cave:

  "Ran Jian, are you here? Come out quickly, Fang Zi Yan Shixiong is calling your name..."

  Li Rendao was taken aback, quickly packed up all his things and stood up to push open the door and walk out. He saw Tu Shun waiting there with a look of anxiety on his face. Seeing Li Rendao come out, he hastily grabbed Li Rendao's sleeve and urged him: "Rendao, you're really here! I've been searching for you everywhere. Hurry up, Fang Shixiong has been waiting for a while."

  Li Ran was full of doubts.

  The strongest among the thirteen peaks below Dan Xian, the first disciple of Xiao Baiyi, Elder Fang Ziyuan, who is said to be only one step away from achieving the Golden Elixir and becoming a Great Dao, wants to find himself by name?

  Li Ruo asked urgently: "Shifu Shun, what does Fang Shifu want with me?"

  Tu Shun dragged Li Ran's knife out and quickly moved forward, shaking his head: "Who knows, Fang Shixiong only said he wanted to go to the ancestral cave to use the tripod furnace, and specifically asked you to take him there, but didn't say anything else."

  Li Ruo's knife became even more puzzled, and the two quickly walked out of the cave, passing through the long mountain path into the main cave, where they saw Ma Kong carefully accompanying him, chatting casually with Fang Ziyan without any signs.

  When Li Ruo's knife came out, Ma Kong secretly took a deep breath and quietly wiped away the sweat on his forehead. As a fellow Qingyi, the gap in strength between him and this Fang Shixiong was too great, and beside this Fang Shixiong, Ma Kong felt an enormous pressure.

  Fang Ziyen saw Li Rengdao coming over, smiled faintly, and raised his hand to Li Rengdao: "Rengdao Shidi, I want to go to the Child Cave to refine a Xuan stone. I just exchanged 100 points, do you have time? Accompany me there..."

  Tu Shun looked at Li Ran with a gaze full of admiration in his eyes.

  Li Ruo hastily made a bow: "Fang Shixiong, this way please."

  Fang Ziyuan was the first disciple of Xiao Baiyi, and in some ways, Fang Ziyuan also represented the attitude of that Dan Sheng Upper Immortal. Li Ruo's heart was also a little nervous, he chose a small cave to enter, walking on the steep stone steps all the way down, not knowing what to say, only hearing the faint sound of footsteps echoing in the mountain cave.

  "Behind him, Fang Ziyuan suddenly asked: 'Feng Knife Junior Brother, I observe that your cultivation talent is not among the best...'"

  Li Ran's footsteps suddenly stopped, and his heart felt a chill.

  Fang Ziyuan continued to ask, "But you can achieve such astonishing results one after another. My master and I have guessed that you must have had some kind of extraordinary encounter. Rengjian Shidi, I'm asking you, have you grasped the intent of the sword?"

  Li Ran's eyes widened in surprise again, and he stopped in his tracks, slowly turning around. After a moment of thought, he nodded slowly.

  Jian Yi might be able to deceive others, but he absolutely can't deceive this Fang Shixiong. Li Ran had thought of joining the Xiao Baiyi Sect and hadn't considered hiding it either.

  Li Ruo slowly said: "The sword intent that Li Ruo has grasped is extremely shallow, and he only vaguely understands some of it."

  Fang Ziyuan's eyes suddenly became crystal clear, and he burst out laughing: "Good, good, Burning Sword, you've actually entered the realm of sword intent at the level of refined yuan energy. Your development potential is truly astonishing! Even I only stepped into the path of intent after reaching the high stage of divine movement. Burning Sword, let's exchange moves when we have time later."

  Fang Ziyuan's voice was full of joy, and he squeezed past Li Ruo's side, leading the way down.

  Zi Dong has been here more times than Li Ran's knife is sharp, no need for this new disciple to lead the way.

  Li Ran followed behind, slightly furrowing his brow, a smile gradually emerging at the corner of his mouth.

  Fang Fangzi continued to move forward while looking back at Li Rengdao: "Rengdao, I heard you're from Wangheji."

  "Yes, senior brother."

  Fang Ziyuan smiled again: "Ran Jian, do you know where I am from?"

  Without waiting for Li Ran's answer, Fang Ziyi smiled and said: "I am a person from Lin Feng City, Wang He Village belongs to Lin Feng City, we are fellow villagers in the same mountain city. Alright, I've arrived at Ding Shi, no need to see me off, Ran Jian, let's have a good chat next time when we have time."

  Fang Ziyuan walked straight in through the stone gate alone, Li Ran stood on the stone steps, thinking about Fang Ziyuan's words just now, suddenly feeling a little excited, he guessed that it must be his own defeat of Ren Tu and breaking into the fourth layer of the Huanling Cave that caught the attention of Xiao Baiyi.

  "It seems that Elder Xiao has a good impression of me, otherwise Master Fang wouldn't be so proactive in approaching me."

  Thinking of this, Li Ran's heart was filled with joy and he clenched his fists tightly, knowing that his step-by-step plan had taken effect.

  "After I refine the Washing Marrow Dan, I will achieve even more astonishing accomplishments. Only when I have obtained enough attention from the Dan Xian to save my father can I open my mouth to ask for help."

  Li Ran drew his sword and turned around hastily, striding out to climb up this steep stone staircase, then entering another small cave, arriving at the cauldron room where he had just refined the heavy water.

  He quietly closed the stone gate, and Li Ran placed five stalks of bitter hemp grass, rhinoceros horn, main root of rattan black tree, as well as nine kinds of ordinary medicine in a neat row in front of him, and then took out the jade bottle filled with heavy water.

  Those who do not understand alchemy control the fire and let the elixir naturally ripen and condense into a pill in the crucible. If one is not careful, the pill will be ruined, and nine out of ten furnaces will be wasted. They emphasize the success rate of pill formation, which requires wasting large quantities of medicinal materials. As a result, there are many such alchemists in the world, so they have driven up the price of elixirs to an extremely high level.

  Those who truly understand Dan, the art of refining Dan emphasizes controlling medicine, which is a kind of extremely mysterious control technique, passed down through generations in a single line, and only a few people have mastered it.

  Bai Cao Dao Ren regards Li Rou as his own son and has passed on the art of controlling medicine to him.

  The principle of Kontan technique is: the spiritual medicine is refined by the Xuanhuo and transformed into medicinal energy, which is then woven and knotted using the Kontan technique to form a stable medicinal structure. After condensing into a dan, the quality of the spiritual dan is extremely good, and the success rate is even more astonishing than those who only know how to control fire.

  Li Ranno smiled, the Washing Marrow Pill in front of him wasn't even a first-grade Spirit Pill, it was only an initial stage pill. The medicinal properties were few in number and with Li Ranno's control over the pill, he could easily control them without any mishaps.

  Put all the materials into the cauldron, cover it with a lid. Li Ran's knife manipulated the essence of the spirit to activate the mysterious fire. The mysterious fire flowed freely and burned horizontally in the cauldron. The extreme flame energy adhered to the spiritual medicine, and amidst the hissing sound, the spiritual medicine was refined and purified, transforming into several simple medicinal energies. Li Ran's mind controlled the intertwining and knotting of these medicinal energies.

  All medicinal properties converge into one place, the more they converge, the more abundant they become. In the alchemical furnace, it is like a void, gradually condensing into five glittering "stars".

  "The stars" grew brighter and brighter, and suddenly a strong fragrance wafted through the air.

  Li Ran's knife slowly dispersed the Xuan fire, allowing the warm medicinal properties to condense slowly. Five milky white spirit pellets gradually took shape, emitting a refreshing fragrance.

  Li Ran's heart was filled with joy, and he let the Dan Ding cool for a moment before striking it gently with his palm. With a loud clang, the lid of the cauldron popped open, releasing a warm fragrance that instantly filled the air. Taking a deep breath, one felt invigorated and refreshed, with a sense of euphoria.

  The spiritual elixir contains much more energy than the medicinal broth.

  After rebirth, Li Fenger was overjoyed when he first smelled the familiar fragrance of Dan Xiang. He carefully placed five Dan pills into a jade bottle and cleaned up the tripod room. Then, he pushed open the stone gate and walked up the steep stone steps.

  The elixir has been refined, so the eightfold power of Jingyuan is still far away?

  Li Ruo Knife hastily returned to his stone chamber, preparing to close the door and practice meditation with the Ling Dan. At this time, a gray-robed disciple in the distance had sharp eyes and saw Li Ruo Knife's returning figure, beckoning him with a forceful wave of his hand:

  "Ran Jian Shi Di, someone is looking for you?"

  Upon hearing the call of the grey-robed figure, Tu Shun led Qin Fengchuan from another cave to hurry over here.

  "Brother Burning Knife, I now know why you chose the Mystic Fire Cave when joining the sect. Good heavens, I've looked for you twice in one day and both times you were in the Furnace Chamber of the subsidiary cave. How many points can you save by using the furnace?"

  Li Ran Dao smiled and turned his head to look at Qin Feng Chuan who was walking towards him with a proud expression, nodding: "Feng Chuan Shixiong, how did you come?"

  Li Ruo Dao invited Qin Feng Chuan to sit down in his stone room, and Qin Feng Chuan smiled: "There's something I want to come over and tell you. I heard that you were in the tripod room, so I didn't have someone find you. I've been waiting for you outside for a while now."

  Li Ruo sat opposite him: "Feng Chuan Shixiong, what's the matter with you looking for me?"

  Qin Feng nodded: "The Burning Blade, according to the rules, the Grand Masters have a month's time to stay in the mountains and enjoy the scenery, get familiar with the mountain's atmosphere. After a month, they must leave. And for us new disciples of the sect, the sect will also give us a home visit period after a month, allowing us to go back and settle everything at home before returning to the mountain to focus on our cultivation."

  "There are still 23 days left, Fu Jiao. Are you going back then? Wan Xuan said that she doesn't know when they will meet again and she can't bear to part with you, wanting to see you one more time."

  Li Ran thought of his younger brother and father outside for a moment, he had been grasping every opportunity to realize his plan these days, but suddenly touched something soft in his heart, and suddenly missed them terribly.

  Nodding vigorously: "Let's go back, I'll go with everyone."

  More than half a year had passed, and Li Ruo was about to return home to see if his younger brother was safe and sound. Then he would have to make another trip to Xuan Shi Valley to see how his father was doing now.

  These thoughts surged up in his mind, entwining and refusing to disperse, secretly aching with suppressed emotions.

  Qin Fengchuan smiled and nodded: "Alright, on that day I'll come find you, we'll travel together."

  Seeing off Qin Fengchuan, Li Ran took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the thoughts that were etched in his mind. He sat cross-legged on the stone bed, taking out a spiritual elixir and placing it in front of him.