Chronicles of the Green Vine: A Mortal’s Path to Immortality

Before long, Zhang Ling arrived at Crimson Flame Mountain, at a dark, black stone cave halfway up the mountainside. No disciples were guarding the entrance, which surprised him slightly, but he entered the stone cave without hesitation.

After walking for more than ten zhang, he came to a circular stone cave space. The surroundings were all black rocks. This was inside the mountain's belly, and there were several stone caves leading in different directions in front of him.

Looking left and right, he found a stone house on the left. The stone door was wide open, and he could see a middle-aged man in his forties sitting on a chair, dozing off.

Zhang Ling scanned the stone house with his divine sense. The space inside was not small. Besides the middle-aged man, there were no other cultivators. Behind this man, there were several stone platforms with some pill furnaces, porcelain bottles, and several half-person-high gourds on them.

Zhang Ling walked a few steps closer and stood in front of the stone house, calling out softly.

"Greetings, Senior Brother. I would like to rent a Ground Fire Room."

"Hmm?"

The middle-aged man's eyelids fluttered, and he shook his head, looking in his direction with a dull expression. He paused for a moment. "Rent a Ground Fire..."

The middle-aged man stretched lazily, without any regard for his image, straightened up a little, and said casually, "Do you have your sect identity token?"

Zhang Ling took out his silver identity token and handed it to the man. The middle-aged man took the token and glanced at it casually, then immediately stood up, a smile appearing on his face.

"Oh, so you are an Inner Sect Senior Brother. I wonder if Senior Brother is refining pills or refining weapons? I'll go arrange it right away."

Zhang Ling's originally expressionless face revealed a strange look. This man, like him, was at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, and was much older than him, yet he called him Senior Brother.

The change before and after receiving the identity token made him feel a little strange. But after a moment's thought, he understood.

This was the benefit brought by the status of an Inner Sect disciple.

"Oh? Is there a particular distinction?"

The middle-aged man looked down at the silver token, then looked at him again before saying.

"Ground Fire Rooms are built by drawing upon the Earth Core Fire from underground. The essence is no different, but the flames for refining pills are generally gentler, while the Ground Fire for refining weapons has extremely high temperatures because most weapon refining materials are hard. There is a slight difference."

"I see. I plan to refine some pills. I'll trouble you then." Zhang Ling's expression softened, and he nodded.

"Refining pills, huh? That's easy. There are currently vacant Ground Fire Rooms, but the fees..." The middle-aged man chuckled, revealing a knowing look.

"I will naturally pay the standard fee. How much is it?"

"One spiritual stone per day. Of course, you can also pay with sect contribution points."

With a wave of his hand, Zhang Ling took out sixty low-grade spiritual stones, which flew to the table next to the middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man glanced at the spiritual stones, then took out a black and red square jade token and cast a spell on it. After a few flashes of spiritual light, a streak of cyan light flashed and flew into Zhang Ling's silver token.

"Ground Fire Room Ding-13."

Then, the man returned the identity token to him. At the same time, he said, "Once a Ground Fire Stone Room is opened, it cannot be opened from the outside. It can only be opened from the inside. If you don't come out when the time is up, don't worry. Just pay the remaining spiritual stones when you come out."

"Thank you."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ling cupped his fist at the man and walked towards a nearby passage. A large character 'Ding' was engraved on this passage.

"Hmph, another pill refiner. And an Inner Sect disciple too. They really have too many spiritual stones to spend." After Zhang Ling left, the middle-aged man's expression became colder.

Within the sect, apart from the disciples of the Pill Refining and Weapon Refining Halls, ordinary cultivators rarely came here. Just now, this person didn't even understand the situation of the Ground Fire before wanting to refine pills. He had seen many such disciples, and most of them came out looking disheveled.

...

Zhang Ling quickly found Stone Room 13 and directly opened it with his identity token. The room was a circular space, with a general area, similar to the Ground Fire Room he rented in Falling Star City.

There was also a small array on the ground, surrounded by eight toad beast sculptures with wide-open mouths. On one side, there were also four or five red gourds and cyan jade bottles placed on a stone platform.

With a wave of his hand, Zhang Ling took out a yellow storage bag, and a half-person-high black gold pill furnace landed in the center of the stone cave.

Then, he channeled spiritual power into the ground, and the array on the ground lit up. Subsequently, the eight toad beast sculptures beside the array also lit up with fire, like fire toads. Arm-thick pillars of fire spurted out, instantly sending the pill furnace placed in the center flying.

The hand gestures changed a few times, and under Zhang Ling's deliberate control, the pillars of fire shrank a little. The black pill furnace also rotated regularly in the eight pillars of fire.

This was the first step in refining pills: warming the furnace.

Zhang Ling sat down on the ground and meditated. After half a day, his mind had been adjusted to the best state.

The pill furnace had also turned black and red at this time, with wisps of fire rising from it, emitting amazing high temperatures.

He patted his storage bag and took out seven or eight jade boxes, which contained various spiritual medicines and herbs, as well as a few bright red flowers and small seeds with glowing spots.

Zhang Ling took a few deep breaths, and then with a wave of his hand, the lid of the pill furnace floated up.

Then, he pointed at a green grass, and the spiritual grass, wrapped in his spiritual power and divine sense, was thrown into the pill furnace. Then, the lid closed.

He closed his eyes to sense the changes inside the pill furnace. The spiritual power covering the green grass was gradually weakened by him, followed by the high temperature of the ground fire.

Instantly, the green grass turned withered and yellow. He urged the spell and divine sense to continuously control the flame temperature.

Until the green spiritual grass adapted to the temperature inside the pill furnace, he released the spiritual power. The green grass shrank little by little, turning into a green liquid, constantly tumbling in the flames.

This continued for a while, and the green liquid separated out some black-gray substances. These black-gray substances instantly turned into nothingness in the flames.

After half an hour, the green liquid became transparent. Zhang Ling raised his hand, and the liquid flew out under a layer of spiritual power. He had already taken out a porcelain bottle, and the liquid flashed and was put into it.

Then, he picked up another purple spiritual grass, threw it into the pill furnace, and continued refining.

This was the second step in refining pills: purifying spiritual medicines and removing impurities.

In the following hours, Zhang Ling refined all the auxiliary spiritual medicines except for the two main medicines.

Then, he began to recover the consumed spiritual power and divine sense. Refining pills consumes a lot of spiritual power and divine sense, especially the consumption of divine sense.

In a flash, five or six days passed, and Zhang Ling was surrounded by more than a dozen large and small jade bottles.

Among them, the largest jade bottle contained red spiritual liquid, and another contained bluish-white spiritual liquid.

These were the spiritual liquids extracted from the Flame Yang Flower and the Heavenly Star Grass. There was also a black porcelain bottle next to it, which was not small, and the spiritual liquid inside was black and red.

These were all the waste liquids from the extraction, including the waste liquids from the two main medicines. During this period, he wasted 10-20% of the spiritual medicines. Their value was two to three thousand spiritual stones, which made Zhang Ling feel very distressed.

After all, refining pills is very expensive, and ordinary people cannot afford it. Even in a large sect like the Hao Yuan Sect, there are only two or three people who can be called pill refining masters.

Although he has some experience in refining pills, this is his first time refining Foundation Establishment Pills. Naturally, there are many omissions for unfamiliar spiritual medicines.

However, the next step is the most important step in refining pills: condensing the pill.