Chapter 139: Alchemy
Chapter 139: Alchemy (ask for monthly ticket at the beginning of the month)
Beginning of autumn.
A batch of herbs in front of Wuyou Cave have matured, the white film on the third sister's eyes is slowly dissipating, and Green Chi's throat is gradually getting better, and he can already make some simple syllables.
Unconsciously, Cheng Xinzhan had gained sufficient insights into the Qi Refining Realm, and now he was putting more energy into the study of the Zhoutian acupoints.
The second realm has two focuses: supernatural powers and evil spirits. Cheng Xinzhan plans to focus on supernatural powers first and then look for evil spirits.
Because his five organs and the Crimson Palace were fully developed, his life span was much longer than that of others. His heart, kidneys, liver, and spleen were fully developed, so he could live for thirty years, which was a full life span. For others, twenty years would be considered high, and sixty years after the Crimson Palace was developed, which was also a full life span. Generally speaking, forty or fifty years would be considered high.
So even if the true evil acupuncture point shortened his lifespan by thirty years, overall, he would still live longer than his peers.
Moreover, he broke through the realm quickly enough, and his own bones and lifespan were strong and sufficient, so he did not need to focus on either of the magical powers or the evil spirits, but could practice both successively.
After cultivating his body and mind for more than a year, he thought the time had come to practice the alchemy. Moreover, it was about to fall, and the color of autumn was gold, which was the color of killing and fighting. His appointment as the White Tiger Envoy should be coming soon.
It's time to get busy again.
----
Danxia Mountain.
Danxia Mountain is a volcano.
Of course there are no volcanoes on the land of Yuzhang.
This volcano was moved here by Ge Hong, a volcano from the southern wilderness, for the purpose of alchemy after he founded the Sanqing Mountain. He also dug deep underground to connect the roots of the mountain with the underground fire, thus creating an active volcano on the land of Yuzhang.
The underground fire of the alchemy cave in the Baihu Mountain Weapon Academy was also drawn from here.
The crater is in the shape of a well that leads all the way to the ground. This passage is called a fire well.
There are two circular wells outside the fire well. The inner one is called the smoke well and the outer one is called the dan well.
Many square holes were dug into the inner wall of the Danjing, each the size of a small house. Each hole had a hole above and below it. The lower hole was connected to the fire channel, and the other end led to the fire well. The upper hole was connected to the smoke channel, and the other end led to the smoke well.
Each of these caves is an alchemy room, where the disciples of Danxia Mountain make elixirs and practice.
The alchemists of Danxia Mountain go up and down through the Danjing, like ants and bees in the mountains.
The vigorous underground fire gushes out through the fire wells. The flames and the red smoke rising from the chimneys mix in the crater and turn into crimson clouds that linger over the mountaintop. This is the origin of the name Danxia Mountain.
The deeper you go into the well, the higher the temperature becomes, the more vigorous the underground fire becomes, and the higher the level of the alchemist refining the elixir inside becomes.
On weekdays, Director Shan Wushi would be refining pills and practicing down there. Today, because Cheng Xinzhan was coming over, he was waiting outside the mountain pass.
When Cheng Xinzhan arrived at Danxia Mountain, he saw the mountain master Ren waiting for him, so he stepped forward and saluted.
"Thank you for waiting for me, Mountain Master."
Master Ren smiled and shook his head, "Not long, not long."
Cheng Xinzhan bowed and did not get up, and said again,
"The mountain master is very busy, and he is willing to take time out to teach me the way of alchemy. I should have sincerely asked for your advice, but I have delayed it for a whole year. I have really neglected the mountain master's kindness. I sincerely ask for your forgiveness."
Cheng Xinzhan was sincere and he felt really ashamed.
I never thought that Ren Wushi would laugh out loud.
"Xinzhan, Xinzhan, are you delaying on purpose? I don't think so. What I see is that you have been cultivating your life and nature for a year, concentrating on accumulating experience for a year, familiarizing yourself with medicinal materials for a year, and understanding the properties of medicines for a year in order to practice alchemy. Aren't these all preparations for practicing alchemy? In addition, you have been practicing alchemy for a year in the Weapon Academy before, and you are familiar with the properties of gold and stone. Aren't these all for the purpose of refining the elixir? Hahahaha!"
Cheng Xinzhan was ashamed. Maybe this was the effect, but it was not his original intention.
"Xinzhan, I want to be your teacher and teach you the Dao of Alchemy. Are you willing?"
Ren Wushi looked at Cheng Xinzhan and said with a smile.
Cheng Xinzhan was naturally willing. The title of the Mountain Master of Danxia Mountain was enough to explain everything. Hearing his Taoist name, it was a sure thing! With such a person willing to be his teacher, what else could he be dissatisfied with?
"Disciple Xinzhan, I pay my respects to the Master!"
"Good good!"
Ren Wushi laughed and took Cheng Xinzhan down to the Danjing.
Heat waves were rising in the Dan Well, and the well walls were inlaid with fluorites of various colors, emitting a soft light.
As the two of them walked down, Ren Wushi asked Cheng Xinzhan along the way if he could bear it and told him not to force himself.
But in the end, Cheng Xinzhan's tolerance to the underground fire far exceeded Ren Wushi's expectations, and the two of them walked about two hundred feet down from the wellhead before they stopped.
This is almost the limit that can be achieved below the Jindan level.
This is mainly because Cheng Xinzhan opened his heart first after eating air, and has been practicing fire magic for a long time. In addition, when the true evil rushed into the acupoints, his whole body was washed by the purple fire rotten peach evil, so his tolerance to earth fire is naturally high.
Ren Wushi's eyes naturally showed more satisfaction with Cheng Xinzhan. He took him into a hole with an "Unoccupied" sign on it and turned the sign over.
There is a furnace in the alchemy room. This is the standard furnace of Danxia Mountain. If you have a better one, you can use your own.
There was a cushion placed next to the alchemy furnace, and the two of them sat on it.
"The external alchemy came first, and then the internal alchemy. So when we discuss the alchemy, we are referring to the external alchemy. When we talk about the internal alchemy, we must include the word internal. This is the status of the alchemy."
Ren Wushi said so.
“Dan and Yao are often referred to together, but Dan is Dan and Yao is Yao. Yaodao is also called Qihuang Method, which is related to Dandao, but they must not be confused.”
This was the second sentence Ren Wushi said.
"The so-called alchemy is just to refine gold and stone to achieve immortality, and the so-called medicine is just to boil herbs to cure diseases."
"The main materials of the alchemy path are gold and stone, and the goal is the immortality of gold, supplemented by herbs and woods for harmony. The main materials of the medicine path are herbs and woods, and the goal is the wood nature that can clear up obscurity and cure diseases, supplemented by gold and stone for harmony.
“So some people seem to be refining pills, and the pills they produce are round, but the main materials used are plants and trees, so in the end, they are refining medicine, not pills.”
Cheng Xinzhan suddenly remembered that when he first came out of the mountains, he had made elixirs for the neighbors in Xiangzhang Town. He bought the recipe for the elixir at a street stall in Dongtiandao. It turned out that he was cheated at that time. It was said to be a recipe for the elixir, but in fact it was just medicine, not elixir at all.
"The two have different purposes and emphases, but they also have something in common. They both use fire to extract the metal or wood nature, and they both pay attention to the temperature and the civil and military aspects. Metal, stone, and grass and wood also need to be matched with the main, secondary, and auxiliary. The timing of throwing into the furnace is also very important.
“So some pills can cure diseases, and some medicinal stones can also maintain health.”
"I'm telling you this because I want to tell you that the Dao of Medicine and the Dao of Alchemy you learned over the past year have something in common, but the metal element and the wood element are also very different. You need to remember this."
Ren Wushi explained it very clearly, Cheng Xinzhan took note and nodded in agreement.
"Alchemy emphasizes the nature of gold, and the essence lies in the coordination of yin and yang, which is related to the inner alchemy, and has the same purpose. It just so happens that you are in the second realm, and the next major thing is to make the golden elixir. When refining the elixir, you can consider it in combination with your own practice..."
On the first day of the meeting, Ren Wushi talked to Cheng Xinzhan for a long time, but he never opened the alchemy furnace or lit the fire. Instead, he gave many high-level explanations on the origin of external elixirs and their relationship with other Taoist techniques, which benefited Cheng Xinzhan a lot.
The next day, before dawn, Cheng Xinzhan came and went straight to the alchemy room where he had been yesterday to wait.
Not long after Cheng Xinzhan arrived, Ren Wushi came. When Ren Wushi saw that Xinzhan was already there, he nodded with satisfaction.
"We'll start a furnace today so you can practice."
Cheng Xinzhan said yes, feeling a little excited.
"You can use this furnace. You are just a beginner, so you don't need to choose a furnace for five years. There is a magic array in the fire channel under the furnace. If you stick your jade token on the groove, it will activate the magic array in the fire channel and draw the earth fire over.
"I will use the underground fire to deduct the points from your card according to the time. Do you have enough points?"
Ren Wushi pointed to a groove on the wall and said, "In the mountains, the sect's own resources are deducted through points, such as the earth fire of Danxia Mountain, the star dew of Yaoguang Mountain, the jade lotus of Baicao Mountain, and the clouds collected by the Yunban formation, etc.
If outsiders want to borrow or buy these things, they will have to spend a lot of gold and silver, which is considered a benefit given by the sect to the disciples.
The points in the jade token can be purchased with gold and silver. When receiving rewards for meritorious service or breakthrough, you can choose gold or silver, or points.
Cheng Xinzhan nodded when he heard this. He had made several contributions, so many that he didn't even count them all.
Especially when it comes to finding ginseng fruit cores for the sect, the price is hard to estimate. How much gold and silver can buy a ginseng fruit core? So in addition to asking the Weaponry Institute to refine five magic swords, Master Ji waved his hand and transferred a huge amount of points to Cheng Xinzhan's jade token.
He walked over and put his badge on it.
"call!"
A sound of whistling wind and surging fire was heard, and red fire suddenly ignited under the alchemy furnace.
The temperature in the entire alchemy room suddenly rose.
"Come, sit down."
The two of them sat down beside the alchemy furnace.
"Warm the stove first, keep the fire small and spread out."
Ren Wushi said as he looked at the overly young Taoist priest.
Cheng Xinzhan nodded, thinking that the master wanted to test his ability to control fire.
He made a hand gesture and magic power flowed through his fingertips onto the stove fire.
If you want to reduce the fire, add some water to your magic power. If you want to disperse the fire, just add some gust of wind.
As he pointed his finger, the red color of the flame faded a little, but the flame spread out like a lotus, wrapping the entire furnace. There were many ventilation holes on the copper furnace cover, which looked very much like lotus seeds, making the furnace look like a lotus pod at this moment, which was very beautiful.
Ren Wushi nodded. As expected, there is no false reputation.
He stretched out his hand and turned it over. A flame appeared in his palm. The flame changed from his heart to his heart. As he demonstrated, he said,
"While the furnace is warming up, let me tell you about the techniques. The alchemy fire techniques are divided into calcination, refining, roasting, melting, extraction, flying, and hiding. Rapid burning with strong fire is calcination, slow roasting with gentle fire is refining, burning with a little fire is roasting, melting with burning is melting, rapid fire to remove moisture is extraction, high fire to transform gas is flying, and modifying without melting is hiding. If these techniques are connected in sequence, they can produce infinite changes, but no matter how many changes there are, they remain based on the same principle. The techniques must match the nature of the gold invested in the metal and stone.
"In the Dao of Alchemy, fire is divided into Bing Ding, Tiandi, Wenwu, that is, Yin and Yang, clear and turbid, big and small. In addition, the temperature of the fire is also extremely important. Different metals and stones will melt or fly under different fire temperatures. A slight difference can lead to a huge mistake."
Cheng Xinzhan listened carefully and thought about it carefully. It seemed that the flame techniques and the rhythm of breathing were somewhat similar. They should be interchangeable. He would think about it carefully after returning.
"Let me tell you about the main materials commonly used in alchemy. Crimson, lead, mercury, gold, and silver are called the Five Lords of Alchemy. Crimson is cinnabar, which is yang and belongs to the fire element of the Five Elements; lead is yin and belongs to the earth element of the Five Elements; mercury is yang and belongs to the wood element of the Five Elements; gold is yang and belongs to the gold element of the Five Elements; and silver is yin and belongs to the water element of the Five Elements.
"In addition, the main auxiliary materials include sulfur, realgar, orpiment, saltpeter, alum, jade, quartz, gypsum, mica, blue salt, sodium sulfate, charcoal, grass ash, shell powder and other 72 kinds, known as the 72 famous ministers.
"Each of these five kings and seventy-two ministers has its own subdivisions. For example, the common green salt can be divided into Longnan salt, Shuxi salt, Jibei salt, and Ludong salt according to the region. It can also be divided into dry salt and water salt according to dryness and wetness. Water salt can be divided into river salt and sea salt. Each type of gold has different properties. If combined with different fire refining techniques, the gold properties of each type will change differently. If it is refined together with other gold materials, the gold properties will change again.
"Haha, apart from the five kings and seventy-two ministers, there is no telling how much more metal and stone materials there are. As for the other ingredients of plants, trees and liquids, there are countless of them. The king and his ministers can be said to have exhausted all the tricks to assist each other."
Even Cheng Xinzhan felt a little puzzled when listening to this. It was indeed the Dao of Alchemy, with so many changes, it was indeed much more complicated than the Dao of Refining.
Ren Wushi looked at Cheng Xinzhan's cautious and difficult look and couldn't help laughing in his heart. Geniuses are everywhere, but the art of alchemy is the touchstone of genius. Only those who are far ahead in the art of alchemy are true geniuses.
This kid is proficient in thunder, sword, talisman, spell and alchemy. He has mastered every skill he has learned. I am afraid he may become arrogant. The words just now can be regarded as a wake-up call for him, telling him not to look down on the art of alchemy.
However, Ren Wushi did not know that Cheng Xinzhan took "humility" as his motto and reminded himself at all times. He practiced the Dao of Alchemy with great caution and would never look down on others.
"Today I will introduce you to the basics and make a simple recipe, which is the 'Eight Treasures Skin Regenerating Pill'. Taking it can whiten your skin, cleanse your mouth and make your saliva fragrant."
As Ren Wushi spoke, he flicked his sleeves, and a bunch of bottles and jars floated out in front of Cheng Xinzhan, each with a label on it.
"During the time you are learning alchemy from me, you don't have to provide the gold materials. However, you will have to make the elixirs yourself in the end, so you should pay more attention to collecting the gold materials, various auxiliary materials, including containers that can preserve the medicinal properties."
Cheng Xinzhan agreed.
At this time, the purple alchemy furnace slowly began to glow and turn red.
"Okay, the stove is warmed up, so you do what I say next."
Cheng Xinzhan nodded, indicating that he was ready.
"One coin of cold mercury, start Ding fire, quickly and gently, to 400 times, then fly it."
Ren Wushi said.
Cheng Xinzhan pinched the magic formula and carefully took out a penny of blue mercury from the bottle with the "Erosion Stone Cold Mercury" and put it into the furnace. Then he immediately activated the Six Ding Divine Fire to merge into the Earth Fire and suppressed the stove fire, making the flames quick and small.
When the fire temperature in the furnace reached 400 degrees Celsius, the "Erosion Stone Cold Mercury" immediately melted into a wisp of black smoke.
"The fire temperature is too high. Four hundred and twenty times, the cold mercury has changed its nature to gold and has become burnt mercury. Let's start over."
Cheng Xinzhan said nothing, nodded, and took the mercury again.
"Too slow, the cold mercury will condense again and start over."
"Too slow, half flying and half frozen, wrong dosage, try again."
"..."
"Okay, that's it. Now take one ounce each of purple saltpeter and lake alum, still with Ding fire, turn the fire to Wu, and when it reaches six hundred degrees, melt them together.
"Wrong, the two have not yet completely melted, how can the fire be extinguished?"
"wrong……"
"Okay, take three grams of pumice, three grams of moonstone, and two grams of cinnabar...
"Two red-headed centipedes...
"50 cents of glutinous rice flour...
"Musk for one penny..."
Ren Wushi spoke rapidly, and Cheng Xinzhan's changing hand gestures left afterimages. The magic power in his body was frequently mobilized and changed, rushing through his meridians and being consumed rapidly. He felt that even when he was fighting with others and casting spells, it was not so strenuous.
Throughout the whole day, Cheng Xinzhan tried sixteen times and consumed a lot of materials. It was not until the sun went down that he finally produced a furnace of pills.
He felt a little exhausted, but still stood up and apologized to Ren Wushi repeatedly, promising again and again that he would be more focused tomorrow.
Ren Wushi smiled and patted Cheng Xinzhan's shoulder, telling him not to worry about it. If gold materials were not wasted and if he succeeded every time, then what was the point of calling it alchemy?
He watched Cheng Xinzhan open the furnace and take out five round white pills the size of soybeans. He looked at the color carefully and sniffed the fragrance of the pills. Then, he picked up a pill and swallowed it in Cheng Xinzhan's rather horrified eyes.
He closed his eyes and savored it. After a rest of ten minutes, he smiled and said to the anxious Cheng Xinzhan,
"Don't worry, it's a good pill."
Then, he took out another pill bottle, put away the remaining four pills, handed it to Cheng Xinzhan, and said,
"This is your first batch of good pills, keep it."
Cheng Xinzhan's surprise turned into joy. After putting away the pill bottle, he thanked his master profusely and said goodbye.
After Cheng Xinzhan left, Ren Wushi stood in the alchemy room for a long time without moving. After a while, he let out a long sigh and said softly,
"Learn the method in one day, and the elixir will become top-grade. Ha, is it possible that I can see the newly-made corpse-transmutation elixir in my lifetime?"
(End of this chapter)