A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality

Chapter 156: Earth Lung Fire

After Han Li heard the old man’s reason, his face’s expression did not change, appearing neither accepting nor denying those words. He nodded his head and said nothing. He picked up the jade cylinder duplicates, and turned around, walking toward the passage.

“Since Young Friend wants to refine pills, would you like to come again and buy a few pill furnaces? I will sell them a bit cheaper.” The old man saw Han Li leaving and hastily offered to sell his own goods.

“I do not need them. For the time being, I cannot use them!” Han Li did not turn around and simply waved his hand goodbye.

“That is truly unfortunate. This pill furnace of mine can bear the high temperatures of earth fire!” Elder Xu regretfully said, having seen that his business was not successful.

“Earth fire?” Han Li stopped at the entrance of the passage.

“It is Earth Lung Fire, a bit more impressive than Innate True Fire.” The old man indifferently mentioned.

“Isn’t it said that pill refinery requires Innate True Fire? Can this Earth Fire replace it when refining pills?” Han Li tried his best to keep his voice calm. However, his heart was thumping greatly. He knew that he might’ve already found a solution out of his Foundation Establishment Pill refinery predicament.

“Hehe! It seems Young Friend is completely ignorant that Earth Fire has long replaced Innate True Fire in pill refinery! However, this is nothing serious. Basically, those who have learned a thing or two about pills should all know this. I will explain this to Young Friend free of charge!” The old man saw Han Li’s interest, causing his spirit to stir. He even deliberately added the words ‘free of charge’ as an especially heavy bait.

How could Han Li not hear the meaning in the other party’s words? He could not help but bitterly smile. The old man clearly implied that although he would tell him free of charge, he would only speak a sentence for free. To say seven or eight sentences free of charge, the difference was far too great.

However, this matter was of great importance, and Han Li would not be able to tangle with him once more.

As a result, he directly walked back and instantly agreed, “So long as Elder Xu’s words about Earth Fire are true, then I will select one of your pill furnaces!”

“Hehe! My pill furnaces are absolute top quality goods. They are certain to satisfy Young Friend!” Elder Xu saw that an agreement was smoothly met and could not help but smile with squinted eyes.

“At first, Innate True Fire was used to refine pills, but this was during an ancient time long ago! The current pill refinery of the cultivation world borrows the Earth Lung Fire from Profound Yang Earth to temper and refine medicine pills. Long ago, our ancestors already discovered that Earth Fire not only had purer essence and higher temperatures than True Fire, it was also longer lasting and more stable. Its success rate was usually much greater than when using True Fire to refine pills. Furthermore, it was also equivalently effective when used to refine tools. That is the reason why so long as cultivation sects and a few of the larger cultivation clans have the qualifications, they will all have their own Profound Yang Fire Earth to provide their younger generations with refined pills and refined tools. Only wild cultivators, those whose powers are truly alone and are unable to borrow Earth Fire, would use the more highly likely to fail True Fire method to refine pills.” The old man shook his head as he narrated a large speech that passed through his mind.

“Then this sect also has Earth Fire that can be borrowed for use? Elder Xu should definitely know where.” Han Li was elated, but he resisted the excitement in his mind and preserved his reason in order to ask about the crucial location.

“Hehe….”

When the old man heard Han Li’s question, he couldn’t help but laugh heartily. He smiled at Han Li and blinked his eyes, as if he were puzzled!

“When Young Friend had just entered Yue Lu Hall, didn’t he see a passageway without any signs? That passage leads to the Profound Yang Earth Fire. If you pay a few spirit stones, you will be able to borrow some Earth Fire for use!” After an easy smile, the old man eventually told Han Li the truth.

“Is this really true?” Han Li could not help but expose a happy expression, and the corner of his mouth slightly rose.

“This old man is already this old, how could he cheat a junior such as yourself?” Elder Xu replied, somewhat annoyed.

“It was this Junior’s slip of the mouth! Please forgive me, Elder Xu!” Although Han Li felt that the old man was greedy, he would not deceive a junior in this matter like that. He sincerely said this with a modest tone.

“Humph! Seeing that Young Friend’s age is so young, this old man will forgive you this once!” The old man’s expression eased. However, his face stiffened immediately after. “However, it would be favorable if you were to purchase a pill furnace. This old man might not offer them anymore.”

When Han Li heard this, Han Li could not help but bitterly smile. This Elder truly won’t neglect this advantageous moment of vulnerability!

“Are those the pill furnaces?” Han Li asked, pointing to the shelves behind the old man. They held cauldron furnaces of various sizes.

“Obviously not. Those are simply common trash. They are only capable refining some inferior medicine pills. How could they withstand the heat of Earth Fire? Genuine quality pill furnaces are all here!” The old man recovered the true qualities of an unscrupulous businessman and gleefully patted the unremarkable gray pouch at his waist.

The old man took off the gray pouch and lightly patted it as he looked to the ground beside him. Then an azure light swept out a row of interesting, antique-styled, unusual pill cauldrons on the floor.

“How about it? This is the old man’s collection of pill furnaces. Every single one is a work of quality, absolutely not some common trash!” The old man said somewhat complacently. He picked up the nearest cauldron furnace and lightly struck it.

“They are truly quite good!” Once the cauldron furnaces appeared, Han Li sensed that they emitted traces of Spiritual Qi. He couldn’t help but let out a soft “Yi”.

However, this actually made him more interested in the old man’s unremarkable pouch. This was absolutely a high-grade storage pouch that exceeded the capabilities of his own storage pouch. Otherwise, it would be impossible to hold such a great volume of goods.

“Hehe! This old man wasn’t boasting. Xu Mou is truly an expert at refining cauldron magic tools. Most of the sect’s low level disciple’s cauldron furnaces come from this old man’s hand. These few are the finest of the finest!” The old man saw Han Li become somewhat moved and was unable to contain his joy.

Han Li faintly smiled and did not speak any words of retort. He calmly walked next to the cauldron furnaces and looked down, beginning to choose.

“This is a Rahu Cauldron. It is capable of absorbing a flame’s high temperature, generally increasing the success rate of medicine pills… It can also….”

Every time Han Li picked up a cauldron furnace to examine it, Elder Xu would stand to the side and jabber incessantly praises, wishing he could talk about each one of these rare and incomparable treasures all day long. If Han Li didn’t immediately buy one, it would be as if he would be wronging the Heavens! Han Li could not help but bitterly smile.

“It’s this one!” Han Li took every cauldron furnace and examined them all once through. After he muttered to himself for a moment, he pointed to the smallest silvery cauldron furnace.

“Clicks tongue! Young Friend truly has a good eye. This silver threaded cauldron is the best among the pill cauldrons, a rarely produced magic tool. Among all of my pill cauldrons, this treasure is the best among them!” When Elder Xu saw Han Li raise the smallest cauldron, he was somewhat astonished. However, he immediately resumed his normal expression and rambled a mouthful of praises.

‘What does this have to do with a good eye? I have to think about the limited space in my storage pouch. It can only hold this cauldron!’ Han Li unhappily thought when he heard the old man’s noisy words.

Finally, after haggling over the price with the old man, Han Li settled on the price of thirty-two low-grade spirit stones and purchased the object. Then he departed without the slightest hesitation.

Although the time Han Li was in contact with Elder Xu was short, he had already spent over fifty spirit stones. Even though it could be said that he was considerably wealthy, it still greatly caused his heart to ache. As a result, he was truly unwilling to stay here any longer, even if the old man were to passionately urge him to stay.

After exiting Elder Xu’s room. Han Li returned to the hall with the transportation formation. However he didn’t immediately leave the palace hall, but after a moment of consideration, he instead walked through the passageway that wasn’t marked with a character.

At the end of the passageway appeared a huge stone door barring the way. A rainbow luster continuously circulated through the stone door. With just a look, one would know that it had an extremely impressive restrictive spell so that one wouldn’t dare to act without thinking.

To the side of the stone door, there was another small stone room. Within the room was an ugly man with lumps across his face. This ugly man was merely at the peak of Qi Condensation. However, he looked at Han Li with a proud and cold gaze, leaving Han Li in a bad mood!

But what kind of person was Han Li? Although there was hatred in his heart, his appearance was relaxed as he inquired three times, only to be met with an unwillingness to reply to any of his requests. However, this allowed Han Li to clearly understand the circumstances of this situation and what was going on!

Afterwards, Han Li didn’t pay attention to the other party’s rudeness. He courteously said goodbye and took his leave. But before he left the room, he heard the ugly man muttering.

“A destitute, low level wretch of a disciple also wishes to learn pill refining? Did you already refine your brains into mush? A guy with all talk and no action, vainly wasting so much of this uncle’s saliva!”

When Han Li heard the other party’s words, his figure didn’t change the slightest. However, he hid the coldness he felt toward the ugly man, a coldness capable of scraping frost. A flash of murderous desire flashed through his eyes.