“Open...!” Grandpa Sheng yelled and summoned his Heavenly Cauldron. Suddenly, a huge cauldron stood in front of Li Qiye and the others.
This giant cauldron was definitely large. It was as tall as two people, and it was double the size of a large water container. This cauldron had the shape of an Auspicious Beast, and the mouth of the cauldron was like the wide sea, seemingly able to swallow the three rivers.
During its emergence, strands of medicinal fragrances exuded from the body like a lingering blue smoke. This fragrance, like musk and cassia, was enough to let people know that the medicinal treasure inside this cauldron was absolutely first class.
“You fed it Eight Jewel Grass, Six Daisies Leaf, Violet Coral Branch...” Li Qiye smelled the aroma. He listed the medicinal plants one by one then looked at Grandpa Sheng to say: “It seems like Grandpa Sheng is well versed in tempering ointments.”
There was an orthodox saying between Alchemy Masters: Boil Physique Paste, process Life Medicine, refine Fate Pill, and as for ointments, tempering was the main method. [1]
For Physique Pastes, the main method was boiling; Life Medicines used processing as the key; a Fate Pill’s creation was from refinement; ointments came from tempering!
There were established systems for the creation of the Physique Pastes, Life Medicines, and Fate Pills. Only ointments didn’t have a clear system for the Alchemy Masters.
Grandpa Sheng was surprised, and he stared at Li Qiye. Having only smelt the fragrances, yet he immediately knew the medicinal plants that were used to feed the Heavenly Cauldron and he also knew that he specialized in Golden Power medicines... This could be considered an Alchemy Ancestor with a perfect understanding of medicinal plants!
Grandpa Sheng astonishingly looked at Li Qiye, and he asked: “You cultivate the Dao of alchemy?”
Li Qiye shook his head. With a smile, he replied: “The Dao of alchemy, it is just a hobby of mine.”
Finished speaking, he looked towards the cauldron of Grandpa Sheng and said: “The Origin Flame has a Yin property, but inside the softness, there is also firmness. This cauldron of yours was a natural Origin Yin Flame type; however, you threw in Eight Jewel Grass that has firmness inside the softness. Coincidentally, this type of Origin Flame is the most suitable for boiling the beast marrow of a Hell Iron Bull.”
Here, he glanced at Li Shuangyan standing beside him.
Without a doubt, Li Shuangyan had reported his exact situation to the Nine Saint Demon Gate.
Li Qiye’s continuous words frightened Grandpa Sheng. Understanding the essence of medicine and discerning the Heavenly Cauldron like this, this would require hundreds or thousands of years to have some minor achievement. Even more than one thousand years of studying wouldn’t necessarily have such an achievement!
“You truly didn’t cultivate the Dao of alchemy?” Grandpa Sheng was in sudden amazement, and only Elder Sun and Li Shuangyan were calm. They were accustomed to Li Qiye’s unfathomable abilities.
Li Qiye nonchalantly answered: “It is only a minor hobby; I’ve read a few medicine scrolls.”
Grandpa Sheng became silent. Only reading a few medicine scrolls, to immediately master the essence of alchemy and Heavenly Cauldrons, other Alchemy Masters might as well hang themselves and commit suicide. This matter was essentially impossible; even a genius wouldn’t have the ability to read a few scrolls and understand everything. This required the accumulation of knowledge through time!
However, this boy in front of him was only fourteen years old; where would he find the time to accumulate all of the knowledge?
Grandpa Sheng naturally was unaware that the current system of alchemy originated from Li Qiye and the Alchemy God that year. If he didn’t understand the essence of alchemy, then who in this world would?
“Begin.”
Grandpa Sheng was confused in a daze while Li Qiye was calm in his thoughts. This matter, to him, was not enough to reach the apex.
Grandpa Sheng placed his palm on the Heavenly Cauldron, and nodded his head: “Beginning.”
His words had just come out when the bottom of the cauldron emitted waves and waves of flames. They were not overly powerful, but they were not faint either. These waves of flames interlaced with each other, becoming a furnace; it was as if it could refine all existences.
Grandpa Sheng gravely yelled: “The corpse of Nine Longevity Tortoise, the spine of Windling Serpent, the tail of Blood Tiger, the brain of Fire Scorpion, the eyes of Fat Ghost...”
Elder Sun willingly stood by the side as an assistant. Hearing the voice of Grandpa Sheng, he immediately opened the treasure chest, and he threw in the medicinal materials, in order, one by one, into the Heavenly Cauldron; he also yelled: “The corpse of Nine Longevity Tortoise, one hundred and twenty thousand years; the spine of Windling Serpent, one hundred and ten thousand years; the tail of Blood Tiger, one hundred and ten thousand years...”
Finally, all of the supporting medicine materials were put into the Origin Flame of the Heavenly Cauldron. At this moment, Grandpa Sheng activated the Origin Flame. The Origin Yin Flame, with firmness inside the softness, became increasingly stronger; all of the materials were melted into a medicinal liquid, and it began to boil!
At this moment, the fire furnace within the Heavenly Cauldron began to emit a special fragrance; a stench without the stench, a sweet smell without the sweetness. Neither smelly nor sweet, this aroma was very unique.
At this point, Grandpa Sheng loudly yelled: “Drop in the beast marrow!”
Hearing these words, Elder Sun cautiously took out a treasure box, and he opened it. Inside was an item three feet long like a bone; this was the primary medicinal bone marrow for the Physique Paste.
Elder Sun threw the beast marrow into the medicinal concoction. In the beginning, the beast marrow seemed very ordinary, but, once the outside shell of the bones was melted away, the essence of blood finally started flowing out.
“Mooo...” At this moment, the roar of a bull rang inside. An Iron Bull the size of a fist appeared, surrounded by a Yin aura that wouldn’t dissipate. It let out a long roar and started to crazily stampede, with its feet emitting continuous thunders; it was as if it wanted to shake the Heavenly Cauldron.
The beast marrow was the most important part of the spine from a Heavenly Beast. It contained all of the essences of the beast. Even when the beast died, all of its body essences remained in this marrow.
Even though the Hell Iron Bull was dead, the moment its essence came flowing out, others could still see the will of the Hell Iron Bull. No matter what type of beast marrow it was, they were not willing to be refined.
However, once it was inside the Heavenly Cauldron, even if it was not willing, it couldn’t escape the fate of refinement.
Even though the will of the Hell Iron Bull was rampaging with an unstoppable presence as if it wanted to trample over the Origin Flame; however, at this moment, the Auspicious Beast’s aura exploded. One could see the Auspicious Beast channeling the universal laws of the world; the entire Heavenly Cauldron became ferociously frightening, like a master waking up.
With the power of the Heavenly Cauldron exploding, it successfully suppressed the fast-moving Hell Iron Bull. In the end, the essence of the bull, along with the melted medicines, combined together.
A Heavenly Cauldron was not an item without life. One could say that it was created by the heaven and earth. Inside the cauldron, it was its own world, capable of suppressing all spirit medicines.
Of course, the Heavenly Cauldrons also had their own ranking. The power of the Alchemy Master was directly related to the Heavenly Cauldron – the stronger the Alchemy Master, the more powerful the cauldron would be.
The moment an Alchemy Master obtained a Heavenly Cauldron, it would be the time when it was at its weakest rank. Afterward, the Alchemy Master would continuously feed it flame sparks and medicinal plants, and they would also make Fate Pills and Physique Pastes nonstop, resulting in the Heavenly Cauldron becoming more powerful. This process was considered the fusion between the Heavenly Cauldron and the Alchemy Master.
Of course, there were some Alchemy Masters that inherited Heavenly Cauldrons from their predecessors. However, this inheriting process was very difficult. Especially when the rank of the Heavenly Cauldron was high, the integration process became nearly impossible for the Alchemy Master.
In the end, the medicinal pillar became a medicinal paste. This paste was thick and flaky. Inside the crimson red color was a hint of purple, emitting a special medicinal aroma. Observing this type of medicine paste was enough for others to like it.
However, the medicinal paste was not completed. At this moment, Grandpa Sheng changed his medicinal incantations, and he activated the Heavenly Cauldron. Inside the cauldron, a smell arose that was not of the medicinal paste, but from the cauldron’s medicinal treasure.
The medicinal treasure absorbed and released the essence of the paste, and it fused together with the Origin Flame. At this moment, the Origin Flame seemed to be alive as it licked the Physique Paste. The entire cauldron slowly rotated in a circle, causing the flame to grind the paste and making the thick paste become a lot smaller.
This was the effect of the Heavenly Cauldron’s medicinal treasure. Whether it was the boiling of a Physique Paste or the refining of a Fate Pill, only relying on the medicinal properties of the materials were not enough. Even the Origin Flame couldn’t fuse all of the different properties together in harmony. At this moment, the powerful medicinal properties of the medicinal treasure were necessary in order to balance the materials — in conjunction with the Origin Flame — to achieve the harmonization of the paste.
When it came to the Physique Paste, the higher the amount of refinement, the closer the fusion would be to perfection. This process, besides the power of the Alchemy Master, was also decided by the medicinal treasure of the Heavenly Cauldron.
This process was no longer possible after the fourth refinement. At this moment, the Physique Paste became meticulously soft and smooth, like dragon fat. Even someone who was not privy to the arts knew that this was the good stuff.
“Unfortunately, the years of the beast marrow were not enough, I could only refine it four and a half times.”
Grandpa Sheng, seeing this process, could only sigh and lament.
“Great, worthy of being an eight refinements grandmaster!” Seeing the Physique Paste inside the cauldron, Elder Sun couldn’t help but exclaim: “If it was me, and the years of the beast marrow were insufficient, then I’m afraid I wouldn’t even be able to sustain the fourth refinement; the medicinal effects would be reduced greatly!”
Elder Sun’s Physique Paste refinement ability was stable at five refinements while Grandpa Sheng was at eight refinements. In principle, using the ability of Grandpa Sheng, five refinements wouldn’t have been a problem. Unfortunately, the main driving material — the beast marrow, was not old enough, and he could only do four and a half refinements!
There were also ranks for Physique Pastes, from low to high: Houtian Physique Paste, Xiantian Physique Paste, King Physique Paste, Saint Physique Paste, and Immortal Physique Paste.
Not only were there ranks for these Physique pastes, but the number of refinements also affected their medicinal strength.
A Houtian Physique Paste only required one refinement. Even a novice Alchemy Master could refine this rank. Xiantian Physique Pastes required two to three refinements; King Physique Pastes required four refinements to six refinements. A Saint Physique Paste required seven to nine refinements, while an Immortal Physique Paste had to be made with nine refinements!
Currently, Li Qiye’s Physique Paste was of the King level. At the time when the sect was looking for an Alchemy Master for Li Qiye, only two options were available: Elder Sun and Cao Xiong. Cao Xiong’s ability was higher than Elder Sun by one step, and he was stable at six refinements. In theory, both of them had the qualification to refine a King Physique Paste.
However, in reality, the years of the Hell Iron Bull’s marrow were not enough to be the main driving material for this King Physique Paste. Both Cao Xiong and Elder Sun wouldn’t be able to refine it four times, and it would have a direct impact on the effect of the Physique Paste.
[1] This whole sentence is meant to be poetically sounding. Boil here means to slowly refine via fire. The word process and refine here were originally part of two words that should be together, meaning to extremely refine, but he split the words “extreme” and “refine” and left them in front of medicine and pill, which is a common Chinese literary technique. So in other words, refine could be a substitute in English for all of them.