by Dragon King
“1,000-year-old polygonum, Uncaria Gold Plant, South Sea Ginseng, Jade Bamboo, 10,000-year-old Sea Turtle Shells…” Zhen Congming placed the materials on the stone table one by one.
Usually one began the study of elixir making from creating level 1 and level 2 elixir pills. However, after witnessing Xie Yujia making Beauty Pills, level 3 elixir pills, Zhen Congming thought she could begin with level 4 elixir pills.
Before Qiu Niu set off, he had assigned a ‘homework’ to his disciple Zhen Congming, ordering him to make 100 level 9 golden pills. Seeing Xie Yujia’s talent in elixir making, Zhen Congming was exhilarated and decided to take her as his ‘disciple’ to help him make elixir pills.
“While you are busy with this, I’ll go and cultivate…” Seeing Zhen Congming and Xie Yujia preparing for elixir making, Hao Ren didn’t want to stay and watch them. He flew out to the open space in the valley.
Today, he wanted to try the lightning cultivation on Fifth Heaven. One of the unique features of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll was to create many sword energies and attack enemies; the other unique feature was to activate heaven lightning with the five elements.
After choosing a flat area in the valley, Hao Ren took his stance and inhaled deeply.
Swoosh! A dash of hundun sword energy shot up from his palm.
Hundun lightning broke all things into the five elements, and this sword energy instantly pierced a hole in the array formation surrounding the valley.
Attracted by the hundun lightning, the nature essence in Fifth Heaven surged toward it swiftly. Instantly, clouds tumbled.
The essence came over in a whirlpool, and the white clouds rushed from the nearby mountains toward the direction of the Ethereal Summit.
Boom!
From the depth of clouds, the first heavenly lightning was already crashing down!
Like a fierce heavenly dragon, the purple heavenly lightning was thicker than Hao Ren had expected. It was almost as powerful as the heavenly lightning in Zhao Kuo’s Heavenly Tribulation!
It was much thicker than those on First Heaven!
Bang! The Heavenly lightning was much more powerful than Hao Ren had expected. It was so thick that it couldn’t pass the hole in the array formation and crashed solidly on the array formation!
Dang… The entire valley shook.
Xie Yujia had been circulating the Life-Death Notes in the elixir making room. She stumbled when that lightning crushed down, and the herbs she had tossed into the furnace splattered out.
A dash of black light shot out of the elixir making room into Hao Ren’s cave abode.
“Big Dipper Constellation Array! Tianshu Star!” Zhen Congming quickly turned the compass.
The array formation that was engulfing the valley emitted pink light, and the metal components that constructed the array formation all made big banging sounds.
Meanwhile, the second heavenly lightning struck down toward the valley.
The array formation made crackling sounds, and countless debris rolled down from the mountains.
“Tianquan Star and Yuheng Star!” Zhen Congming turned the compass again.
The metal poles with array flags on them, which were buried around the valley, responded and emitted white light beams.
Then, another heavenly lightning crashed down!
Boom! This one was even more powerful.
The two elixir furnaces in Xie Yujia’s elixir making room collapsed, and the demon flames and spiritual herbs spilled out.
Immediately, Little White carried Xie Yujia and flew out of the cave abode.
Outside the valley, f;ames burned in everywhere. The scattered lighting had lit up the surrounding trees.
Without the stimulation of new chaotic lightning sword energies, the lightning clouds above the valley gradually scattered before turning into streaks of nature essence.
This sudden event even burned a few hairs off of Little White’s butt.
With a livid expression, Zhen Congming rushed out of Hao Ren’s cave abode into the center of the valley, bumping into Hao Ren and pushed him half a meter away.
“Are you crazy?! You activated heavenly lightning on Fifth Heaven!” he shouted.
If he didn’t control the array formation, the whole Ethereal Summit would have exploded due to the three dashes of heavenly lightning!
Although the array formation withstood the three strikes of heavenly lightning, it was severely damaged, and Zhen Congming would have to repair it.
In theory, this array formation could only withstand the attacks of Core Formation Realm cultivators. However, the three dashes of heavenly lightning had the power of Nascent Soul Realm cultivators.
Without the protection of the array formation, the spiritual herbs Zhen Congming had planted with great care would have been scorched!
At this thought, Zhen Congming was even more furious.
“Sh*t! Sh*t! Sh*t!’ Zhen Congming used the newly-learned word to express his fury.
“I can’t use lightning cultivation on the Fifth Heaven?” Hao Ren was baffled.
The upheaval was greater than he had expected. He had just released a tiny trace of hundun lightning sword energy, but the reaction he received was much more violent than he had ever imagined.
“Lightning cultivation! What you did was not lightning cultivation! Sh*t!” Zhen Congming pointed his finger at Hao Ren in a fury.
“I have been cultivating like this on First Heaven,” Hao Ren answered him.
“First Heaven! First Heaven!” Zhen Congming was almost choking with anger. “You were lucky that you were not struck dead by the lightning!”
He glared at Hao Ren and said, “Your cultivation method is wrong! It’s a miracle that you are still alive!”
On the one hand, he was furious that Hao Ren activated the heavenly lightning which almost destroyed his array formation. On the other hand, he was fearful that Hao Ren, his big brother, would be struck dead by heavenly lightning.
“What happened? Are you ok?” Riding on Little White, Xie Yujia came to Hao Ren’s side and asked anxiously.
Upon Xie Yujia’s arrival, Zhen Congming softened a bit. He rolled his eyes at Hao Ren and said, “I’ll show you what lightning cultivation is!”
From his sleeve, he took out a dharma treasure that looked like a chess board. He then grabbed some chess pieces from the board and tossed them onto the ground.
The white and black chess pieces collided with each other and released traces of electrical sparks. The surrounding mist floated to him and formed a mass of dense white clouds that was as big as a palm. Inside the cloud, faint lightning flashed.
“Do you see this? This is called Small Cloud Rain Array!” Zhen Congming gritted his teeth in exasperation. “Brother, no one would activate the lightning clouds in the sky to strike themselves repeatedly! If you fail once, all your cultivation strength would be destroyed!
Xie Yujia was amazed when she looked at the man-made clouds that were as big as a palm.
Zhen Congming blew at the cloud, and it floated to the nearest spirit herb releasing a drizzle.
Hao Ren was surprised that array formations could simulate artificial lightning. He was speechless in embarrassment when he thought about his wrong idea of using the heavenly lightning to temper himself; he legitimately thought that this was the unique cultivation method of the Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll.
As Zhen Congming had pointed out, the power of each heavenly lightning was so great that it could easily shatter his Zhen-level dragon core if he were not careful.
“Besides the Small Cloud Rain Array, there are Big Cloud Rain Array, Great Cloud Rain Array, and Super Cloud Rain Array… I can give you whatever lightning you want! Building an array formation is basically building a small environment. After all, nature itself is the biggest array formation!”
Hao Ren thought for a while and felt like Zhen Congming was right. After all, cultivation itself was stealing essence from nature. Of course, there were levels of thievi
ng skills.
Taking advantage of nature’s mechanism, the array formations could simulate all kinds of situations in nature. That was why they could create the mini version of heavenly lightning with a small amount of nature essence.
Hao Ren had a sudden understanding. Since he had chosen the unpopular Light Splitting Sword Shadow Scroll, he had to figure things out all by himself; he didn’t know that his idea about lightning cultivation was totally wrong!
“Man, I really admire your style!” Zhen Congming blurted out another phase he had picked up recently. Then, he put away the chess board and said, “I’ll build a Small Rain Cloud Array in your cave abode.”
The more powerful Hao Ren was, the safer Zhen Congming would be. That was why he tried his best to help Hao Ren improve his cultivation strength.
Shortly, flashes of lightning appeared in Hao Ren’s cave abode.
In the surrounding area about dozens of kilometers from the valley, the small sects also witnessed the weird shift in nature. The senior elders of the sects gave instructions to their disciples, “In the next months, don’t get close to that area! There is probably a Nascent Soul Realm master there. The earlier dashes of lightning showed that a master passed a Heavenly Tribulation!”
As to the three small sects around the Herb King Valley, they were both astonished and pleased.
“Obviously, a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator lives in there! Since this master didn’t kick us out and even offered to give us elixir pills, he gave us the permission to continue living here. In other words, as long as we obeyed his orders, no one would dare to mess with us!” the three sect masters thought to themselves, and they suddenly stood straighter!
347 Great Cultivator on Fifth Heaven
Light flashes filled Hao Ren’s cave abode.
Zhen Congming had placed the chess pieces into the stone walls of the cave abode, forming a small array formation in which the chess pieces interacted with each other.
Traces of lightning flew into Hao Ren’s acupoints like streams.
The entire cave abode was like a space in the clouds, and Hao Ren was immersed in the weak lightning.
The array formation pulled the surrounding nature essence and used it. Since the essence intensity in the valley was much greater than that on the land, Hao Ren’s cultivation progress was naturally much faster.
The chaotic lightning was made up of pure five-elemental essences, and the traces of lightning energy created by the array formation was easier for Hao Ren to absorb than the heavenly lightning which he had to withstand with his body before converting and absorbing.
However, there were very few array formation masters like Zhen Congming who knew about the secrets of the ancient lightning cultivation technique.
Probably only the disciple of Qiu Niu, an ancient heavenly dragon, knew about the lighting cultivation technique and the methods of practicing it.
“Herrr!
Hao Ren’s body shook, and the starry light disappeared from the cave. The hissing lightning rose slowly and formed a mass of white clouds, hovering in the air.
Thinking of his previous impatience and impulsiveness in activating the heavenly lightning while he knew nothing about the lightning cultivation technique, Hao Ren laughed as he felt like an idiot.
The starry light around him gradually disappeared.
Hao Ren checked his dragon core and found that he had unlocked another ten openings!
Eighty-five openings! He was only 35 openings away from Gen-level which needed him to unlock 120 openings.
If Zhen Congming didn’t warn him about the enormous harm the lightning energy had on cultivators when used continuously, Hao Ren would have spent days immersed in the Small Cloud Rain Array until he reached Gen-level then Dui-level!
All the blood in his body was surging. Due to the half-day stimulation of the lightning energy, he felt like his blood veins had swelled up slightly.
Hao Ren shot a sword energy out of the valley.
Swoosh! A wide sword energy that was 50 meters wide and 200 meters long appeared in the sky!
All the people in the Seven Star Sect, Qiong Hua Sect, and Qin Yin Sect were astonished!
They didn’t know that this sword energy was only a release of Hao Ren’s abundant essence from his body and thus didn’t have any power. However, the magnificent view together with the appearance of the dashes of heavenly lightning several hours ago made them think that a master of the Nascent Soul Realm who was hiding on Fifth Heaven was coming out of his or her seclusion cultivation.
Hao Ren’s casual act became a sign of his great power!
To the masters of the sects living in the nearby mountains, the magnificent sword energy was a warning: anyone trespassing his territory would be killed immediately!
The sect masters of the sects, no matter big or small, summoned elders and senior disciples and warned them never to get close to the area around the Herb King Valley where the Heavenly Tribulation had appeared a little while ago.
“Hu…” Hao Ren exhaled deeply, feeling refreshed all over. Then, he flew on the energy sword back to the valley to check up on Xie Yujia in her elixir making room.
Xie Yujia was standing before a black elixir furnace while two notes, one golden and the other silver, were spinning quickly in her palm.
Little White hissed out demon fires which entered the interior of the furnace through the eight holes in the body of the furnace, emitting hot air.
As the natal fire of the demon beasts, demon fire was closely related with the internal core of the demon beast. Through continually spitting and swallowing demon fires, demon beasts could improve their strengths. Their demon fires could make elixir pills and exercise their internal cores. The more proficient the demon beasts used their demon fires, the stronger their internal cores would be.
When Zhen Congming was taken in as a disciple by Qiu Niu, he was just a level 7 demon beast who had just activated its intelligence. After years of spitting fire to make elixirs, Qiu Niu made him into a level 10 demon beast before feeding it a Transformation Pill that Qiu Niu made himself, turning him into the human form.
The demon fire burned vigorously while the black elixir furnace’s surface turned red. If the herbs in the furnace were ordinary materials, the demon fire would have long melted them in the last four hours.
Xie Yujia, who was controlling the essence in the furnace with the Life-Death Notes, sweated, and the sweat appeared on her forehead. Before the sweat formed into drops, it was evaporated by the heat of the burning fire.
Elixir making was another form of cultivation. While Xie Yujia manipulated the essence in the furnace with the Life-Death Notes, the process didn’t consume much of the nature essence.
Instead, it could improve the circulation of nature essence in her body. In fact, she was indirectly using Little White’s demon fire to unblock meridian in her stone body type.
“Lift the pills!” Zhen Congming shouted.
Abruptly, Xie Yujia withdrew the silver note. The elixir furnace lid couldn’t hold the burning demon fire inside, and it flew up immediately. With her golden note, she grabbed more than ten pills that had flown out from the furnace.
The demon fire lingering on the elixir pills was all absorbed by her golden note.
Xie Yujia felt like her limbs become as soft as jelly when a warm sensation filled her body. It was the effect of Little White’s demon fire entering her body thread by thread.
Elixir making and body tempering were the same things in theory. In the same way that Hao Ren used the lightning formed of array formation to toughen his body, Xie Yujia could use the weakened demon fire to strengthen her body.
The Foundation Establishment Pills could solidify realms for cultivators. Its most common function was to help the Qi Refinement Realm cultivators break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. On Fifth Heaven where the low realm cultivators fought over level 3Foundation Establishment Pills, the level 4 Foundation Establishment Pills were precious objects.
“I’ll keep five pills. I’ll take one each day and try to reach level 10 of the Qi Refinement Realm. And this one is for Zi.” After placing five level 4 Foundation Establishment Pills into one bottle, she put one into Hao Ren’s hand.
Hao Ren was surprised that she would give one of the pills, she had made with great effort, to Zi. In fact, Zhao Yanzi had reached level 10 of the Qi Refinement Realm, and she would soon reach the Foundation Establishment Realm after cultivating more extensively.
She would quicken her process with the help of a Foundation Establishment Pill. Although the East Ocean Dragon Palace had Foundation Establishment Pills, the ones in their warehouse were common ones since none of the dragon cultivators were good at making elixir pills or making dharma treasures. The pills in the dragon palace were no match for the level 4 elixir pills made together by Little White’s demon fire and Xie Yujia’s notes.
“The remaining ten pills are for the nearby small sects,” Xie Yujia said as she put ten darker colored pills into ten small bags.
She had adopted Zhen Congming’s school of thought that level 3 elixir pills were garbage. She didn’t know that in ordinary sects, the cultivator who could make level 3 elixir pills would be elevated to the position of Elixir Elder!
“Well, ok!” Hao Ren had no objection. After all, Xie Yujia made all those elixir pills; she had the right to allocate them however she wanted.
Zhen Congming curled his lips, hurting inside for the materials Xie Yujia had wasted. However, at the thought that she would be able to make level 9 gold pills in the future, he felt better.
Swoosh… Little White created a five-colored light beam around the valley before shooting toward Fifth Heaven.
They returned to First Heaven, but the cultivators of the Qiong Hua Sect, Seven Star Sect, and Qin Yin Sect were ecstatic when they picked up the ten small bags containing Foundation Establishment Pills which had suddenly been dropped from the sky.
“Senior, thank you for giving us elixir pills!”
Looking at the snow lion that was dashing away, the three sect masters shivered with excitement and even had the urge to kneel and kowtow.