The Earth Fire Room

Chapter 214: The Earth Fire Room

Han Li let out a soft sigh. It seemed he would have to burn the midnight oil again. He could only look up in silent resignation. Truly, he had no desire to become a night owl!

"Hehe! Excellent, excellent! I will arrange it for you right away, Junior Martial Brother!" The ugly man’s face blossomed with delight when he saw that Han Li had given him a mid-grade spirit stone.

It was common knowledge in the cultivation world that one hundred low-grade spirit stones could be exchanged for one mid-grade stone, but few were willing to make that trade in practice. Everyone knew that a mid-grade spirit stone allowed one to absorb spiritual energy far faster than a low-grade one. For this reason alone, cultivators preferred to hold onto their mid-grade stones and looked down on low-grade ones. The same principle applied to high-grade spirit stones.

After accepting the fire-attribute spirit stone with a grin, the ugly man became even more solicitous toward Han Li. He immediately led Han Li to the massive five-colored stone door. From his bosom, he retrieved a purple arrow-shaped token and waved it at the door.

A red light flickered on the purple token, and a beam of radiance shot forth, striking the door with precision. The five-colored flowing light began to spin rapidly. With a series of grinding groans, the heavy stone door slowly rose, revealing a dark passage behind it. The passage was about three meters high and square in shape.

"Junior Martial Brother, once we pass through this wu-shi passage, we’ll reach the room with Earth Fire. Let me lead the way!" The ugly man squeezed out a few more smiles, putting on a fawning demeanor.

"Alright." Han Li nodded noncommittally and strode into the passage first.

"Although wu-shi isn’t considered a rare material, it isn’t something commonly found in the mortal world either. To have gathered so much and used it to build this passage and these rooms—that was the work of several generations of our powerful founding ancestors, who exhausted their ingenuity to accomplish it. But thanks to wu-shi’s peculiar property of resisting high temperatures and withstanding Earth Fire’s smelting, this Earth Fire site has never had a major accident since it opened." The ugly man led the way, showing off his knowledge as he spoke.

Han Li found this interesting and couldn’t help but touch the dark stone wall. It was smooth and cool to the touch.

"This wu-shi—where is it produced? To be able to resist Earth Fire, which is even fiercer than true fire, is quite curious." Han Li rarely voiced his approval and asked a casual question.

"Well, I’ve heard it’s not too rare, but our Yue Kingdom doesn’t produce it at all. The founding ancestors had to acquire it from a far western country, which was quite troublesome," the ugly man explained.

Thus, following behind the ugly man, Han Li passed two more equally tall stone doors and finally exited the wu-shi passage, emerging into an enormous circular hall.

The hall was also built of wu-shi, but its sheer size was shocking—four to five hundred meters in diameter and over thirty meters high. Around the perimeter of the hall, identical white stone doors were evenly spaced, thirty of them in total.

The hall was empty, with only Han Li and the ugly man present.

After Han Li finished his curious survey, the ugly man spoke cheerfully:

"Below this hall is the most concentrated gathering of Earth Fire. That’s why the sect has opened thirty-six Earth Fire rooms here for artifact refining and alchemy. The best pill-refining rooms are Number 18 and Number 19.

Number 18 is already occupied by a Senior Uncle, so Junior Martial Brother should use Number 19. Although it’s slightly inferior to Number 18, its firepower and stability are still excellent." The ugly man walked over to a door painted with the golden characters "19" and bared his teeth in a grin.

Han Li said nothing, merely nodding in agreement.

Seeing this, the ugly man immediately took out a white jade token and pressed it against the door. The white stone door slid open automatically. The ugly man and Han Li then entered the room.

The room was a square structure of average size, about seven or eight meters across. In the center stood a round platform about three meters wide. Four gourd-shaped objects, each the size of a fist, hung from the walls. In a corner lay an emerald green cushion.

The round platform was also made of wu-shi, very flat and only about half a foot high. On the outer edge of the platform were embedded eight miniature, lifelike fire-red dragon heads. Their mouths were slightly raised, aimed at the empty space above the center of the platform, as if in the act of spitting fire. The detail was remarkably vivid.

After taking in the scene, Han Li felt a slight surprise, but before he could ask, the ugly man approached the platform and began to explain:

"Junior Martial Brother, this is the Earth Fire vent of this room. The Earth Fire needed for alchemy is sprayed from these eight dragon heads. You can adjust the size and height of the flames as needed. The specific method of control is carved on the outer wall of the stone platform."

He then pointed to the four gourds on the wall and continued:

"These gourds contain Mars Fire Sand. They can temporarily amplify the power of the Earth Fire. If Junior Martial Brother feels the Earth Fire’s temperature isn’t high enough, you can use them to increase its power, but the effect won’t last long. Also, keep this jade token safe. Once the door is sealed, all contact with the outside world is cut off. Unless several Core Formation cultivators combine their strength, no one can enter from outside. So feel free to proceed without worry—no one will disturb you!"

Hearing this, Han Li was secretly pleased. Such a completely sealed environment was exactly what he needed. A trace of delight appeared on his face.

Seeing that his explanation was complete, the ugly man tactfully took his leave.

Han Li watched him leave the room, then immediately activated the jade token to seal the stone door once more. He then strode excitedly to the round platform, circling it several times as he carefully examined the eight spitting dragon heads.

Over the past few years, Han Li had devoted a large amount of time to studying the art of alchemy, all in preparation for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill. He was no stranger to the principles of pill refinement. He knew that the success or failure of a pill depended mainly on two factors: controlling the heat during the refining process, and grasping the exact moment to open the furnace and retrieve the pill.

As for the composition and quantity of the ingredients, countless predecessors had already clarified these through endless practice, so there was no need to worry about that. Of course, it was possible to increase or decrease the number of pills produced in a single batch. As long as the proportions remained fixed, one could simply adjust the ingredient quantities accordingly.

But saying it was easy; doing it was a thousand times harder.

Accurately controlling the furnace temperature and mastering the opening time—these two challenges had stumped countless so-called alchemy masters.

Even the most renowned alchemy grandmasters of the age had to admit that even they could not guarantee success rates much above half, and that was for the pills they were most skilled at. For ordinary alchemists, the odds were even worse.

Thus, the success of pill refinement depended entirely on the alchemist’s experience. The more times a master had refined pills, the higher their success rate. This was why alchemists and talisman makers were two of the most money-burning professions in the cultivation world—and also two of the most sought-after.

Han Li had made careful inquiries about all of this. He knew that, as a complete novice, expecting to successfully refine a Foundation Establishment Pill on his first try was pure fantasy. So he had planned from the start to refine the pills one by one.

If he refined them one at a time, even if he failed many times at the beginning, he wouldn’t regret the loss too much. The ingredients he had prepared were enough for over a hundred attempts. With that many materials, he would have plenty of opportunities to accumulate experience.

Having decided on his strategy, Han Li memorized the control method for the dragon heads. Then, forming a hand seal, he shot eight beams of red light into the dragon heads. The dragon heads absorbed the red light, slightly opened their mouths, and sprayed out slender purple flames, each as thick as a chopstick. The air in the room immediately filled with intense heat, causing Han Li to feel a surge of surprise.

After that, Han Li practiced adjusting the thickness of the flames and varying the height of the jets from the dragon heads. Only after he could control them with ease did he extinguish the Earth Fire. He then walked over to the cushion, sat down cross-legged, and began to conserve his strength.

Han Li sat there for over half a day. Only when he felt his spirit and body were in optimal condition did he open his eyes and rise, ready to begin refining the pills. Fortunately, having reached the tenth layer of his technique, he could abstain from food, so there was no need to eat.

Now, Han Li took out the silver-threaded tripod he had purchased earlier from his storage pouch. He cast a floating spell on it, suspending it steadily above the round platform. This spell was one he had specially trained for this day, and it had taken him a considerable amount of time to master.

He once again shot red beams into the dragon heads, activating the purple Earth Fire.

Since there were no ingredients in the tripod yet, Han Li kept the flames very thin, as slender as a thread. Then, under the preheating of the eight lines of fire, the silver-threaded tripod began to slowly rotate in midair.

After about fifteen minutes, the silver-threaded tripod had become intensely hot, radiating a startling temperature.

Seeing this, Han Li pointed at the small tripod. Its lid immediately flew up, revealing the opening. With a flip of his right hand, a white jade bottle appeared in his palm, containing the precisely measured amount of medicinal powder.

Controlling the bottle carefully, Han Li poured the powder into the silver-threaded tripod. He immediately tossed the empty bottle aside, then retrieved another bottle from his storage pouch, repeating the same action.

And so, Han Li poured the dozens of herbs’ powdered ingredients into the tripod. Finally, he replaced the lid. The first step was complete. It seemed to have gone perfectly, without any mistakes.

(End of chapter)