Many thanks, Master!”
“Master’s second gift for you is a legacy technique of the East Pill Division. The name is Spirit Summoning Incantation. It can be used to refine a pill up to six times, although, with sufficient latent talent and Cultivation base, the limit of six can be broken! Again, this is a legacy technique of the East Pill Division. To date, I have only ever passed it on to two people. You, and your former Elder Brother Liu Rufeng.” With that, Pill Demon reached up and pushed down onto Meng Hao’s forehead.
Instantly, Meng Hao’s body trembled, and an icy coldness swept through him. A long passage of text appeared in his mind; it seemed abstruse and profound, but after scanning over it, Meng Hao seemed to have gained complete enlightenment.
“This is a legacy technique which may not be passed on to anyone other than a Legacy Apprentice. There is no complicated process to understand how to employ it; as long as you master the fundamentals, you can use it. Later, you must pass it on to another, and so it will go from generation to generation.” A profound look gleamed in Pill Demon’s eyes.
“The last of my three gifts is a precious treasured item of the East Pill Division. The East Pill Everburning Flame!” He flicked his right sleeve again, and the mountainside split open. A rumbling sound filled the air as a massive fissure appeared.
Within was a flight of steps that seemed to descend down into the depths of the earth. Pill Demon and Meng Hao, Master and apprentice, walked downward. They walked for a very, very long time.
Eventually, they were deep down in the earth beneath the Violet Fate Sect. Meng Hao’s mind trembled as he looked ahead. In front of him was an enormous limestone cavern.
Within the cavern were three enormous, half-burned black joss sticks. Strands of black smoke emanated up from them to swirl and float about. In addition to the smoke floating around the cavern, greenish flames also burned everywhere.
Above the three joss sticks floated a black pill furnace, approximately three meters tall. It seemed as if it were being supported by the smoke and fueled by the flames.
Pill Demon looked at the pill furnace, and his eyes shone as if he were recalling some memory. It was a complicated expression which lasted for only a moment before he sighed lightly.
“This incense is not of this world. The smoke never disperses and the incense never ceases burning; this is the East Pill Division’s Everburning Flame! It has been burning for more than twenty thousand years…. It is a legacy which cannot be extinguished. Instill it into your heart, and it can become an alchemic flame!
“After you reach Core Formation, fuse this flame into your Violet Core, and it will ignite. Thereafter, whenever you concoct medicinal pills, you will not need to use Earthly fire. This is your personal alchemic fire, with which you can refine all objects in Heaven and Earth. In the entire East Pill Division, only you and I are qualified to use this legacy fire.
“The Everburning flame is always here, as am I.” This last line was uttered by Pill Demon in a murmur, making it difficult for Meng Hao to hear clearly. As he spoke, Pill Demon was staring at the joss sticks, the smoke and the flame, and it seemed as if he wasn’t even speaking to Meng Hao.
After a moment, he looked toward Meng Hao. “You will stay here in secluded meditation. When you have assimilated the will of the fire into your heart, then you may emerge.” With that, he turned and slowly strode up the stairs, eventually disappearing.
Meng Hao thought about everything for a long time, then sat down cross-legged. He looked down at the pill bottle in his hand. Inside were the Outlander Pills Master had concocted for him. Meng Hao could hardly imagine how precious the pills were.
He put the pill bottle into his bag of holding, and then closed his eyes. Within his mind floated the Spirit Summoning Incantation. Within were techniques to refine a pill three, four even six times. By using this technique on an ordinary pill, it was possible to transform it into a consummate pill.
The power of such a technique caused Meng Hao’s mind to shake. This was a divine ability of the Dao of alchemy, congruous in cultivation terms to the Sublime Spirit Scripture!
You could say that with this pill concocting technique, Meng Hao truly was a sort of Grandmaster in the field of pill concoction. Skill in this technique was not something that anyone could cultivate. Starting with the fourth refinement, any flame other than the East Pill Division’s Everburning Flame would not be sufficient to employ the technique.
In the entire East Pill Division, only Pill Demon and Meng Hao could use the Everburning Flame and employ the fourth refinement. Only they were qualified.
Meng Hao took a deep breath as he opened his eyes. Now he understood why Master had instructed him to stay here and gather the East Pill Everburning Flame into the depths of his heart.
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