227: Chapter 227 Alchemy

Eight hundred zhang underwater, inside the titanium-carbon alloy Immortal Cave.

Soft light from night pearls cast a cold glow. Gu Shen sat cross-legged before a bluestone desk, his Qi restrained within his body.

Before him, hundreds of porcelain and jade bottles were scattered on the floor. Multicolored Medicinal Pills were piled up like a small hill, emitting a rich yet chaotic medicinal fragrance. These were all personal pills looted from the more than sixty elite Disciples of the Beast Taming Sect.

Large Sects have deep Foundations, and both Outer Sect and Inner Sect Disciples have monthly quotas of Medicinal Pills. However, ordinary Alchemist are limited by terrestrial fire and pill-making techniques, so most of the Medicinal Pills they produce are accompanied by hard-to-eradicate pill toxins.

"Mortal flames, after all, cannot escape the Five Elements, and it is inevitable that Impurities will accumulate."

Gu Shen formed an ancient Dharma Seal with his palms at his chest.

The phantom of the giant bronze Great Furnace suspended in the middle of the Immortal Cave emitted a dull chime that shook the void. The lid opened, and the pale-white Rule Fire poured down like an inverted heavenly waterfall, sweeping the mountain of Medicinal Pills into the sea of fire inside the furnace.

The Crab at his collar extended its macro-sensing probe, and deep blue data streams flickered wildly at the tip of the probe.

"Master, material structure reorganization in progress. High-temperature carbonized waste residue and free-state heavy metal ions are being stripped away by high-dimensional energy. The neuro-alkaloids inside the Medicinal Pills have been completely destroyed." The Crab's electronic voice steadily reported the microscopic physical changes.

Gu Shen's expression was calm as his True Essence continued to flow.

Apart from the pill toxins that damaged the Foundation of the Physical Body, even more lethal were the Sect Karma auras hidden in the depths of the Medicinal Pills. To prevent the outflow of resources, large Sects often implanted a trace of their unique, imperceptible spiritual power imprint at the final moment of the pill-making technique.

The pale-white Rule Fire suddenly contracted and condensed.

"Sssss —"

A faint cracking sound came from deep within the sea of fire. Wisps of crimson and deep blue auras, invisible to the naked eye, were like snapped spider silk under the calcination of the power of rules, completely disintegrating into nothingness.

Impurities were removed, and Karma dissipated.

The originally voluminous mountain of Medicinal Pills shrank rapidly under the continuous refining of the void fire. Large masses of variegated spiritual liquid rolled and boiled at the bottom of the furnace, and after extreme compression and purification, they finally condensed into round beads that were crystal clear and emitted an alluring, refreshing fragrance.

The firelight slowly receded, and the phantom of the Great Furnace escaped back into the Sea of Consciousness.

Gu Shen reached out with his right hand, guiding them with True Essence.

Fifty Medicinal Pills, only the size of soybeans and entirely jade-white, hovered steadily above his palm. On the surface of these fifty Medicinal Pills, there were three extremely clear, naturally carved cyan cloud patterns. The pill bodies were crystal clear, flawless and immaculate inside, with not a trace of turbidity remaining.

"Twenty Flawless Cloud-Patterned Healing Pills, thirty Flawless Cloud-Patterned qi gathering pills."

Gu Shen packed this batch of miraculous creations into two high-grade spirit-sealing jade boxes.

This was the ultimate hard currency he could use to knock on the doors of the Wanxiang Merchant Alliance. In the Great Yu Cultivation World, those Cultivators suffering from hidden injuries would risk everything to obtain such flawless divine medicine that had no pill toxins and could be 100% absorbed.

After processing the Medicinal Pills, Gu Shen's gaze turned to the broken mountain-shaking bone zither on the side.

This zither was covered in cracks and could no longer be used as a complete Magical Artifact to fight enemies. What was even more troublesome was that this top-tier exotic treasure was personally refined and bestowed by a Core Formation Old Ancestor of the Beast Taming Sect, and its core must be sealed with a strand of the Old Ancestor's original Divine Soul. If he carried it with him, it would be no different from carrying a highly precise tracking beacon.

"Refine it again."

Gu Shen gave a cold shout in his heart.

The pale-white void fire surged again, tightly wrapping the broken bone zither.

When the Rule Fire invaded the core of the bone zither, an accident occurred.

An extremely fierce and vast Golden Core Stage Divine Soul pressure suddenly erupted from inside the zither. A phantom of an old man wearing star-patterned Daoist robes with a gloomy face rose from the bone zither. The phantom's eyes widened, staring fixedly at Gu Shen, and it let out an angry rebuke that shook the Divine Soul.

"How dare you, brat! If you touch this old man's treasure, I will definitely extract your soul and refine your spirit!"

Gu Shen sat on the meditation cushion, his face as calm as an ancient well.

"A mere strand of residual Divine Soul attached to a dead object dares to spout such nonsense."

He joined his right hand in a sword gesture, and the [Nirvana Star Core] in his Dantian operated crazily. Vast Extreme Dao True Essence poured into the Heaven and Earth Furnace like a bursting river.

The pale-white flame instantly soared to a height of one zhang. The power of rules turned into an invisible hand, tightly gripping the old man's phantom.

"Ah —!"

The Core Formation Old Ancestor's Divine Soul phantom let out a desperate wail. Under the calcination of the Rule Fire that specifically burned Karma, it lasted less than three breaths before shattering like a popped balloon, turning into dots of spiritual light and dissipating into nothingness.

The mountain-shaking bone zither, having lost its Divine Soul protection, could no longer resist the refining of the Great Furnace.

Half an incense stick of time later, the zither body turned into fly ash.

Only two things remained in mid-air. One was nine dark yellow zither strings emitting heavy earth vein fluctuations; the other was a piece of bone marrow crystal that was only the size of an infant's fist and was as transparent as jade.

"Nine Earth Vein Profound Tendon zither strings, and this core Tier 3 Demon King bone marrow crystal."

Gu Shen flicked his large sleeve, storing these two precious spiritual materials into his Storage Ring. This bone marrow crystal was an excellent auxiliary material for Artifact Refining. In the future, if he wanted to recast Magical Artifacts or strengthen the Demon Bone Iron Guard, it would definitely come in handy.

With this, all the spoils of war had been completely cleaned, turning into an absolutely safe and abundant Foundation.

Gu Shen stood up, his grey robe swaying slightly under the agitation of the spiritual power in the Immortal Cave.

"Everything is ready."

He calculated his next strategy in his heart.

If the Wasteland base's arsenal wanted to fully activate the mass production assembly line for Iron Guards, the existing Low Grade and Medium Grade Spirit Stones could still support the initial basic operations. However, if the mass-produced Iron Guards wanted to enter the Great Yu Cultivation World on a large scale to fight, they must have a sufficiently high-level Spiritual Qi source as a power core.

Only with the pure Origin Spiritual Qi like that of High-Grade Spirit Stones, combined with high-level concealment formation patterns, could a perfect internal circulation shield be constructed within the Iron Guards, thereby completely masking their otherworldly heavy industrial physical aura and deceiving the erasure thunder punishment of the Cultivation World's Heavenly Dao.

"Go to the Mirage Water Market."

Gu Shen's mind was made up. He raised his hand and lightly wiped his face.

The Thousand Faces in its activated state rippled with a water-like luster on the surface. Gu Shen's facial bones and muscles underwent subtle reorganization under the guidance of the Magical Artifact.

The original young face, covered by a bronze half-mask and looking cold and murderous, faded away. Replacing it was the appearance of a middle-aged Loose Cultivator with a slightly weathered face, a few fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and a scholarly air. The tyrannical and violent Extreme Dao True Essence around his body was also perfectly restrained by the Cold Jade Bone inside him, replaced by a stable, neutral Foundation Establishment Initial Stage wood-elemental Dharma power fluctuation.

Great hermits hide in the city.

Wealth should not be exposed, and one's true face must not be revealed. Entering the trading grounds of a top-tier Merchant Alliance with this brand-new persona would save much unnecessary trouble.

Gu Shen walked to the gate of the Immortal Cave.

Placing his palm against the rock wall, the hydraulic bearings emitted a dull roar, and the heavy titanium-carbon alloy door slowly slid open to both sides.

The ice-cold deep water instantly poured into the edge of the Immortal Cave.

Gu Shen supported a layer of protective spiritual light around his body to push away the water pressure. He stepped out of the Immortal Cave, his figure turning into a water-blue escape light, rapidly ascending towards the surface of the water area.