6: Elixir, alchemy?

August, the eighteenth year of Yonghe.

After occupying two commanderies, the Yellow Heaven Cult suddenly fell silent, taking no further actions. No one knew what they were waiting for.

Yu Xuzi left Qichuan County and headed east.

He planned to go to Guishan Commandery to take a look.

The Yellow Heaven Cult had been rooted there for decades. If Yu Xuzi wanted to make the 'Historical Records of the Huang Tian Cult' more detailed, he naturally had to visit the Foundation of their rise.

August 15th, late at night.

The Black Ridge Mountains, located at the border of Nanlin Commandery and Guishan Commandery.

It spans over three hundred miles in all directions, with ancient forests and few human traces. Poisonous insects and wild beasts are everywhere, and colorful miasma and fog can be seen at every turn.

A certain valley in a state of total devastation.

"Crackle, pop~"

The pitch-black deep craters after the explosion, the ancient tree branches burning with flames, and the shattered earth and vegetation all spoke of the fierce battle that had just occurred here.

The corpse of a giant python, five zhang long, lay on the ground, its blood soaking the soil.

"A ginseng with such abundant Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence should barely count as a Rank One Spirit Medicine, right?"

Yu Xuzi held a ginseng with a white jade-like luster, a rare look of joy appearing on his face.

He had practiced in Yuxu Temple for several months and had found many ordinary medicinal materials tainted with thin spiritual essence in the surrounding forests, but he had never found a trace of any true Spirit Medicine.

So-called Spirit Medicines are medicinal materials that have reached a specific rank!

Even the lowest Rank One Low Grade is hard to find for a thousand miles in a Mortal realm where Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence is so thin.

Yu Xuzi had been down the mountain for nearly half a year, traveling from Nanlin Commandery to Guishan Commandery, before finally finding this one plant.

Carefully putting the ginseng into the bundle on his back, Yu Xuzi then turned his gaze to the giant python that had been dead for a long time on the ground.

"Thick-skinned and incredibly strong, but it didn't use any Spells. It seems it's not yet a Yao Beast."

"Perhaps it can only be considered a semi-Yao Beast whose Physical Body has been strengthened after being tainted by spiritual essence?"

Yu Xuzi speculated.

Although the Basic Qi Refining Art contained explanations of various basic aspects of cultivation, they were all too brief and mostly glossed over. This led to Yu Xuzi still knowing very little about the cultivation world.

Much basic information could only be guessed based on what he knew, and he didn't even know if he was right... "Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence is too scarce, making traces of Cultivators and Yao Beasts hard to find for a thousand miles. If I want to learn about the affairs of the cultivation world, I'm afraid I'll have to start with the Yellow Heaven Cult and the State Preceptors Mansion."

Coming back to his senses, Yu Xuzi pointed a finger, and a zhang-long giant blade of golden light slashed down from the sky.

"Swish!!"

Golden light flashed, its sharpness fully revealed.

A large chunk of snake meat fell from the middle of the snake's body, followed by a wash of icy water to drain the blood and clean it.

"Boom, boom~~"

In the next instant, raging flames ignited out of thin air, and the snake meat began to sizzle as it was roasted.

Before long, the aroma of roasted meat drifted out.

Taking a simple bite and carefully sensing the changes in the spiritual essence and Qi within his body, Yu Xuzi couldn't help but frown.

"Useless?"

He glanced at the roasted snake meat in his hand with disdain, threw it away without hesitation, and turned to leave.

He thought it was a beast tainted by Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence that might more or less promote his cultivation, but it turned out to be completely useless... Ten days later.

Guishan City, Guishan Commandery.

Yu Xuzi bought another small courtyard, intending to stay in this "capital" of the Yellow Heaven Cult for a while longer to properly refine his Historical Records of the Huang Tian Cult.

Night, inside the house.

A small, three-legged fine iron furnace only a foot high was burning with raging flames, and the table next to it was covered with medicinal materials.

The furnace was something Yu Xuzi had just bought with silver in Guishan City; it was an ordinary item with no supernatural properties.

As for those medicinal materials, they were naturally the rare items tainted with spiritual essence he had obtained over the past few months. The most precious among them was that white jade ginseng Spirit Medicine, overflowing with spiritual light.

That's right, he was preparing for Alchemy.

He naturally didn't have any Pill Formulas for practitioners.

However, Yuxu Temple was after all a temple with a long Legacy; it had only fallen into decline in the last century or two. Some ordinary herbal Pill Formulas used for treating illnesses and health maintenance of Mortals were still passed down.

Using medicinal materials tainted with spiritual essence to refine these Medicinal Pills—he didn't know if it would be useful.

"hundred herb pellet, to consolidate the Foundation and nurture the origin, and to strengthen the body!"

"You're the one!"

Yu Xuzi made up his mind and then placed the various medicinal materials into the furnace one by one.

"Boom~~~"

Relying on the Qi in his body and his powerful control as a Cultivator, the flames at the bottom of the furnace flickered in intensity, and the crystal-clear medicinal liquid essence was continuously refined out.

The only twenty-plus strands of Qi in his body were all mobilized, controlling the various medicinal liquids to continuously undergo Fusion and transformation.

Until half an hour later.

The flames at the bottom of the furnace gradually died out, and several green Medicinal Pills, only the size of a fingertip, appeared in Yu Xuzi's hand.

A faint herbal fragrance filled the air.

But that was all; there was no other strange phenomenon.

"It won't be useless again, will it?"

Yu Xuzi looked at the hundred herb pellet in his hand with hesitation.

What was the difference between this and the hundred herb pellets he refined with ordinary medicinal materials?

The color was a bit greener?

After observing for a few breaths, Yu Xuzi still picked out the one that looked the best and tossed it into his mouth.

"I'll know after trying it."

Immediately after, he sat in the five-points-to-heaven posture and began to meditate and practice.

The Basic Qi Refining Art began to slowly circulate, drawing in the extremely thin Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence from the air.

A moment later.

"Sigh~"

Yu Xuzi frowned and opened his eyes.

The effect of consolidating the Foundation and strengthening the body was there, but it was only a little bit better compared to ordinary hundred herb pellets; the difference wasn't obvious.

This bit of medicinal power was practically negligible for Yu Xuzi, who had already become a Cultivator.

Most importantly, it was of no use for his Qi Refining practice.

"These medicinal materials were wasted."

"It should be a problem with the Pill Formula, and perhaps also the refining technique. Did the already scarce spiritual essence in the medicinal materials vanish during the Alchemy process?"

Yu Xuzi summarized in his mind while putting away the remaining medicinal materials.

He planned to just eat that white jade ginseng; it would more or less increase some Qi.

He didn't have a storage Magical Artifact now, and carrying something overflowing with spiritual light on him was too conspicuous and unsafe.

Moreover, the Pill Formulas and Alchemy techniques used by Cultivators must be very different and have their own unique aspects.

Without obtaining the relevant Legacy, it was almost impossible for the current Yu Xuzi to refine a true Spirit Pill.

"Yellow Heaven Cult! State Preceptors Mansion!"

"You'd better start fighting soon, the fiercer the better!"

A moment later, his mood having calmed down, Yu Xuzi sat at the desk with a brand-new blank book spread out.

Grinding the ink and picking up the brush, he wrote several large characters on the front page.

'Historical Records of the Yu Kingdom'

The Yellow Heaven Cult was rebelling against the Yu Kingdom; how could he only record the Yellow Heaven Cult?

Anyway, he was currently exploring the operating mechanism of the bronze pavilion, so it wouldn't hurt to try.

If by any chance the Yellow Heaven Cult succeeded, he might even get something from the Yu Kingdom.

As for the State Preceptors Mansion, he really hadn't obtained much useful information, so even if he wanted to write, he couldn't.

Just after writing the title, Yu Xuzi suddenly remembered something.

"Right, I'm only thinking about recording. What if the Yellow Heaven Cult and the Yu Kingdom remain in a standoff and don't take action for a long time?"

"I wonder if I can intervene?"

Yu Xuzi lowered his head in thought.

If he secretly intervened to fan the flames and influence the course of events, he might be able to complete the records sooner without wasting time waiting around.

He just didn't know if the bronze pavilion would recognize it... "Regardless, if there's an opportunity in the future, I should try."

As for how many people would die because of his intervention, Yu Xuzi didn't care at all.

He was cold-natured by nature, and his Master was the only person he was close to.

Now that his Master was gone and he had come down the mountain alone, not maliciously doing things that harm nature and reason, and not killing innocents at will, was already his greatest kindness to this world.