Chapter 20

Lu Dan, who had mysteriously entered the Yunjian Sect as a servant, did not disdain this role. Instead, he worked very hard, fearing that if he did not do well, he would be expelled.

Every day, before dawn, he would get up, clean the room his master left vacant, and sweep the small square where herbs were dried. Only after that would he go to cook breakfast. In the Wu Yao Hall, only he and Lu Yaohxiang ate, and usually, Lu Yaohxiang cooked for herself. Since he arrived, this task had been taken over by him.

After serving Lu Yaohxiang her breakfast and tidying up, he could then listen to the lessons and practice cultivation. Lu Dan had never cultivated before, and standing in the bookstore, he could only read snippets here and there, which made it impossible for him to practice.

Here, Lu Yaohxiang taught him the most basic cultivation techniques. Although their levels only differed by the initial stage of Qi Cultivation, it was enough for her to teach him.

Even with just this, Lu Dan was very content. He had food to eat, a place to stay, and two senior sisters who cared for him. Although the eldest senior sister was fierce and cold, she never hid any cultivation techniques and explained everything she knew. His living conditions were the same as theirs, with no deductions.

As for the younger senior sister, she was even better, always sneaking him pills and showing great concern for his well-being. To have such a life was truly a blessing.

Lu Xiaodeng refined a first-grade Taihe Pill every day, and her alchemy skills were becoming increasingly proficient. She no longer burned the herbs on the underground fire in the alchemy room but discovered a method more suitable for herself. When refining the Shengxian Pill, she had swallowed the spiritual herbs, using her body as a cauldron, and then entered the cauldron to refine the herbs on the underground fire, which took three days to complete.

Now, after swallowing the herbs, she left them to refine naturally in her stomach without using the underground fire. Originally, refining a batch of Taihe Pills took twelve hours, but with her method, it took two days.

However, the quality of the pills she refined was better than those refined with the underground fire, with no impurities. The efficacy was nearly one-third stronger than those refined in the Wu Yao Hall, leading her to decide to use this method for refining pills.

In her heart, what she wanted was not ordinary underground fire but the heavenly spiritual fire. After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, alchemists would cultivate a special technique to integrate a flame in their spirit, which they would use to refine pills by combining it with the underground fire. Weapon forgers also did this, as the underground fire alone could not meet the requirements for refining high-quality items.

Ordinary cultivators would not cultivate this technique, as it required a long time to nurture the flame with spiritual energy, and most of their daily cultivation energy would be used to nurture the spirit fire.

Moreover, not everyone who obtained the technique could cultivate it; it depended on the quality of their spiritual veins. The closer the thickness of the veins, the more likely they could cultivate a flame in their spirit. The best would be if all 108 veins were of the same thickness, but such people were extremely rare, which was why there were so few alchemists and weapon forgers.

Lu Xiaodeng did not know what was wrong with her body. She had a body but no spiritual veins, and her soul was incomplete, making it impossible for her to have a spirit. Cultivating a spirit fire was basically out of the question, but she could use external forces.

She remembered a person who did not have a spirit fire but possessed a heavenly spiritual fire. He had collected countless ghost fires in the White Bone Land and then killed many cultivators, using their resentment to form a gray ghost fire.

This fire was bone-chillingly cold, capable of burning both the soul and spirit, leaving the body intact. It was almost a shortcut for refining pills. Despite its malevolent nature, it allowed him to refine countless pills.

Lu Xiaodeng did not think she could obtain such a fire. She had only asked out of curiosity. Not only did she lack the technique to fuse the gray ghost fire, but she also could not kill people to gather resentment, as she was not strong enough.

The idea was good, though. If she could find a ready-made heavenly spiritual fire, it would be fine as long as it was usable, even if it was not of a high grade. For example, the spirit crystals of fire-breathing beasts could be used temporarily. Before the fire in the spirit crystal was exhausted, she could refine pills and then buy new spirit crystals.

Now, she did not need to burn herself on the underground fire, making the process of refining pills more convenient and less noticeable. Otherwise, that method would be too frightening. She could now easily refine pills of the second grade and below. Besides supplying Lu Yaohxiang and Lu Dan, she could also sell some to other disciples.

Having the identity of a Wu Yao Hall medicine child, Lu Yaohxiang could sell pills freely, and everyone assumed she was selling pills from the Wu Yao Hall. When Lu Mu came to investigate, he found that the number of pills had not decreased. Since they could not enter the pill storage, it was clear that they had refined the pills themselves. As long as they were not stealing from the sect, they were allowed to do as they pleased. Selling cheap Taihe Pills to the sect's disciples would also ease the pressure on the sect.

With the help of a large number of Taihe Pills, Lu Dan finally broke through two spiritual veins after three months. Coupled with his thick main spiritual vein, he finally entered the initial stage of Qi Cultivation, becoming a cultivator.

That day, he was extremely excited and went to the cliff alone, staying there all night. If it were not for the good news, Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Yaohxiang would have thought he was trying to commit suicide.

Time passed quickly, and Yu Daojun finally emerged from his seclusion after consolidating his cultivation. The entire Yunjian Sect welcomed him with joy.

After discussing with the various peak masters, the sect leader, Lian Jing, and the peak masters also sought Yu Xiudan's opinion, deciding to give him a separate peak to live on. Lu Mu was appointed as the hall master of the Wu Yao Hall, managing all affairs, while Yu Xiudan was promoted to elder of the Wu Yao Hall. Besides cultivating disciples with potential, he could focus on improving his alchemy skills.

The chosen peak was one of the most spiritually rich, covered with seeds of spiritual herbs, allowing them to grow freely. Disciples were not allowed to enter and pick the herbs, and now this peak was given to Yu Xiudan.

He could take on as many disciples as he wanted and hire a large number of medicine children. The herb garden needed to be set up quickly. This made him essentially a peak master, and the best part was that he did not have to deal with other trivial matters, only focusing on alchemy.

Lu Xiaodeng and the others, who were previously medicine children, naturally had to move. A few days earlier, they had gone to the Tian Dan Peak assigned to Yu Xiudan. Due to the tight schedule, there was no time to hire mortal craftsmen to build the buildings, and they were afraid that the wild-growing spiritual herbs on the mountain would be destroyed. The sect leader sent Foundation Establishment disciples to use their spiritual energy to cut and shape the rocks, building the Tian Dan Hall on the mountain's waist.

The entire Tian Dan Hall was made of huge stones, with no extra patterns or decorations, simple yet grand. Even if the Foundation Establishment disciples wanted to make it more beautiful, they lacked the skills, as not everyone could be a skilled craftsman.

Lu Mu led the newly recruited medicine children of the Wu Yao Hall, waiting outside the Tian Dan Hall for Elder Yu Xiudan. Now, he could only recruit medicine children, and to attract disciples for alchemy, he had to wait for Yu Xiudan to achieve some results and attract talented individuals in the next cultivation test.

Lu Xiaodeng and Lu Yaohxiang stood on the other side with Lu Dan. They were now part of the Tian Dan Hall and were distinguished from the Wu Yao Hall. The Tian Dan Hall had several buildings, and with the elder, there were only four people in total. They were considered important figures and could not be grouped with ordinary medicine children.

Soon, a large group of people flew in from the sky, including all the peak masters and cultivators of the Golden Core stage and above. Just for the opening of the Tian Dan Hall, such a grand ceremony was given to Yu Xiudan. If he could not improve the Yunjian Sect's alchemy skills, he would have a hard time explaining himself.

While enjoying this honor, Yu Xiudan also felt immense pressure. To improve alchemy skills, he needed not only cultivation and spiritual herbs but also valuable pill formulas, which made him feel a headache.

The Yunjian Sect's alchemy skills had always been embarrassing, and they had never managed to obtain good pill formulas. Of course, even if they had, no one could refine them, so no one paid much attention. Even if someone occasionally obtained a good formula, they would exchange it for treasures.

Now, all the pill formulas in the Wu Yao Hall were ordinary, and any bookstore could sell them. There were no special formulas.

Each alchemist kept their special formulas as if they were their own lives, unwilling to share them easily. The market was full of pills without formulas, and the few formulas that occasionally appeared were extremely expensive, sold out as soon as they appeared, leaving no chance for the poor sword cultivators.

However, looking at the spiritually rich Tian Dan Peak, Yu Xiudan's anxiety lessened. The matter of pill formulas could be dealt with later. For now, he needed to focus on the present, as the name of this peak was his choice. Although he was only an elder, he enjoyed the same benefits as the peak masters, and even better.

He had a good plan. In the future, he would take on more disciples, and the Tian Dan Peak could become a significant force in the sect, giving him a seat in the Guiyi Hall.

The group landed on the square in front of the hall. After everyone greeted the sect leader, he came out and gave a standard speech, hoping that the Tian Dan Peak would flourish and that Elder Yu would lead the Wu Yao Hall to produce more and better pills. He also mentioned that the Yunjian Sect would soon aim to become a top-tier sect, and the success of this goal would depend on the Tian Dan Peak and the Wu Yao Hall.

Yu Xiudan's heart, which had just relaxed, was suddenly lifted again. He inwardly groaned, realizing he needed to obtain some high-demand pill formulas that were not widely known. He smiled warmly but scanned the crowd with a heavy heart, his gaze suddenly landing on one person.

Lu Xiaodeng, the medicine child he had picked up who could not cultivate, had refined two fifth-grade Shengxian Pills. Thinking about it, her constant cauldron and missing soul were both very unusual. Perhaps she had other abilities that were deeply hidden, even from the sect leader, who was at the late-stage Soul Transformation stage.

At this moment, Yu Xiudan became more convinced that this was possible. He decided to call Lu Xiaodeng over after everyone left to ask her some questions. Last time, he was in a hurry to reach the Golden Core stage and then went into seclusion at the sect leader's request, leaving no time to deal with her.

Now that everything was settled, it was time to find out the truth.