"Hehe! Good, good! I'll arrange it for you right away!" The ugly man, seeing that Han Li had given him a mid-grade spirit stone, was overjoyed.
One should know that although the exchange rate of one hundred low-grade spirit stones for one mid-grade spirit stone is publicly recognized in the cultivation world, in reality, few were willing to exchange mid-grade spirit stones for low-grade ones.
Because everyone knew that under the same conditions, mid-grade spirit stones could absorb spiritual energy much faster than low-grade ones. For this reason alone, everyone wanted to keep mid-grade spirit stones and naturally looked down on low-grade ones.
Of course, the exchange situation for high-grade spirit stones to mid-grade spirit stones was the same.
After the ugly man received the fire-attribute spirit stone with a beaming smile, he became even more attentive to Han Li. He immediately led Han Li to the huge colorful stone gate and took out a purple arrow-shaped token from his chest, aiming it at the stone gate and waving it.
A flash of red light shot from the purple token, sending a beam of colorful light that struck the gate accurately, causing the colorful flowing lights to spin rapidly. After a few loud creaks, the stone gate slowly rose, revealing a black passage behind it. This passage was about one zhang high and square in shape.
"Junior Brother, once we pass through this Wu stone passage, we'll be at the room with earth fire. Let's go now!" The ugly man squeezed out a few smiles and said ingratiatingly to Han Li.
"Mm!" Han Li nodded noncommittally and walked into the passage first.
"This Wu stone, although not a rare material, is also not an ordinary worldly material. Finding so much of it and using it as bricks to build passages and houses was something that several great-ancestors with extraordinary abilities from previous generations worked painstakingly to achieve. However, it is precisely because of Wu stone's high-temperature resistance and its strange property of not being afraid of earth fire's refining that since this earth fire place was opened, there has never been any major accident!" The ugly man said with a hint of showing off while leading the way.
Han Li listened with great interest. He couldn't help but touch the black stone wall on one side, finding it smooth and cool!
"Where does this Wu stone come from? It can actually resist earth fire, which is even more formidable than true fire by three points. It's really extraordinary." Han Li rarely spoke in agreement and casually asked.
"Well? I heard that although it's not too rare, our Kingdom of Yue doesn't produce this thing. It's all brought here by our ancestors from other countries in the Extreme West, which is quite troublesome!" The ugly man explained.
Thus, Han Li followed behind the ugly man, passing two more equally tall stone gates in the blink of an eye. Finally, he walked out of the Wu stone passage and appeared in an extremely large circular hall.
This hall was also built from Wu stones. But with a diameter of forty to fifty zhang and a height of more than ten zhang, it was shockingly huge! Around the hall, white stone gates of uniform size were evenly distributed, totaling more than thirty.
At this moment, there was no one in the hall except the ugly man and Han Li who had just arrived.
After Han Li looked around with curiosity, he heard the ugly man say with a grin:
"Beneath this hall is the most vibrant gathering place of earth fire, so our sect has opened thirty-six earth fire rooms for weapon refining and pill refining here. And the best pill refining rooms are number eighteen and number nineteen.
However, number eighteen has already been occupied by a senior uncle, so Junior Brother should use room nineteen! Although it's slightly inferior to number eighteen, its fire power and stability are also excellent." The ugly man said while leading Han Li to a door painted with the golden characters "nineteen," and grinning.
Han Li listened without comment, nodding silently in agreement.
Seeing this, the ugly man immediately took out a white jade token and pressed it against the door. The white stone gate automatically opened. Then, the ugly man and Han Li entered the room.
This room was a square building. The area was average, only about seven or eight zhang, but in the center of the room was a round platform about one zhang wide, and on the four walls hung gourds the size of fists. Not far away in the corner was an emerald-green meditation cushion.
The round platform was also made of Wu stone, quite flat, only about half a chi high. However, on the outer side of the platform, eight miniature fire-red dragon heads were embedded, lifelike. The dragon heads' mouths were slightly raised, aiming directly at the center of the air above the platform in a spraying posture, very realistic.
After clearly seeing the situation inside the room, Han Li was slightly surprised, but before he could ask, the ugly man had already walked near the round platform and took the initiative to explain to Han Li.
"Junior Brother, this is the earth fire outlet of this room. The earth fire needed for pill refining is sprayed from these eight dragon heads. And according to needs, you can also adjust the size and height of the flame yourself. The specific method of control is carved on the outer wall of the stone platform." The ugly man pointed to the round platform and explained.
But then he pointed to the four gourds on the wall and said:
"These gourds contain Mars Sand, which can enhance the power of earth fire. If Junior Brother feels that the earth fire temperature is not enough, you can increase its power, but it won't last long. Also, keep this jade token yourself. Once the door is closed, all contact with the outside world is cut off. Unless several Foundation Establishment cultivators work together, no one can enter from the outside, so Junior Brother can rest assured that no one will disturb you!"
Hearing this, Han Li was secretly delighted. Such a completely enclosed environment was exactly what he needed, and a few hints of joy appeared on his face!
At this time, the ugly man, seeing that he had explained enough, politely took his leave.
Han Li watched the ugly man leave the room, then immediately activated the jade token to seal the stone gate again. Then he excitedly walked to the round platform, circled it several times, and carefully examined the eight dragon heads in their spraying posture.
In the past few years, Han Li had spent a great deal of time studying the art of pill refining specifically for this occasion to refine Foundation Establishment Pills. Therefore, he was not unfamiliar with the way of pill refining. He knew that the success of pills mainly depended on the control of fire during refining and the timing of opening the furnace to retrieve the pills.
As for the ingredients and quantities of the raw materials, after countless practices by predecessors, they had long been clearly stated in the formula, so there was no need to consider them. Of course, appropriately increasing or decreasing the number of pills made at once was possible. As long as the raw material quantities were increased or decreased proportionally.
However, it was easy to say but extremely difficult to do!
Accurately controlling the pill furnace's fire andgrasping the timing of opening the furnace—these two major problems had baffled countless so-called pill refining masters.
Even the most renowned pill masters of the present age had to admit that even if they personally acted, the probability of success would not be too high, about only half, and this was for the pills they were best at. Therefore, let alone other ordinary pill masters!
Therefore, whether pills could be successfully refined depended entirely on the pill master's experience. The more times a pill master refined pills, the higher the probability of success. Therefore, pill masters and talisman masters were the two most money-burning professions in the cultivation world, and of course also the two most popular professions.
Han Li had inquired about these matters clearly and knew that as a novice like himself, wanting to refine Foundation Establishment Pills in one go was pure fantasy. So he had planned from the beginning to refine the pills one by one!
This way, even if he failed many times in the beginning, he wouldn't be too distressed about the spiritual herbs. And the quantity of spiritual herbs he had prepared was enough for more than a hundred refinements. He believed that with so much raw material, it would be enough for him to accumulate experience in the beginning.
Having made up his mind, Han Li memorized the method of controlling the dragon heads. Then he formed hand seals and shot eight beams of red light onto the dragon heads. The dragon heads immediately absorbed the red light, then slightly opened their mouths, each spraying out a purple flame as thick as a chopstick. Instantly, the air in the room filled with scorching heat, which surprised Han Li.
Then, Han Li tried changing the thickness of the flames and the height of the dragon heads' spray, and other subtle operations, until he could control them freely before extinguishing the earth fire from the dragon heads. Then he walked to the meditation cushion, sat cross-legged, and rested to conserve his energy.
Han Li sat like this for more than half a day. Only after he felt that his spirit and body were in the best condition did he open his eyes and stand up, preparing to start pill refining. Fortunately, Han Li's cultivation technique had passed the tenth level, and he could already fast, so he didn't need to eat.
Now, Han Li took out the Silver Silk Cauldron he had bought earlier from his storage bag and cast a floating spell on it, making it hover directly above the round platform. This spell was also something Han Li had specially practiced for today's event, which had consumed quite a bit of time.
Han Li once again shot red light onto the dragon heads, activating the purple earth fire from within.
Since there were no raw materials in the cauldron yet, Han Li controlled the earth fire to be very thin, only as thick as a thread. Then he made the Silver Silk Cauldron slowly rotate in mid-air under the preheating of the eight fire threads.
After a quarter of an hour, the Silver Silk Cauldron had become hot, emitting astonishing high temperatures.
Seeing this, Han Li pointed at the small cauldron, and the lid of the Silver Silk Cauldron immediately flew up, revealing the cauldron opening. His right hand moved, and a white jade bottle appeared in his hand, containing the precisely measured spiritual herb powder.
Controlling the small bottle, Han Li poured all the medicinal powder into the Silver Silk Cauldron, then immediately threw the bottle away, took out another bottle from his storage bag, and continued repeating the same action.
In this way, Han Li poured all the dozens of required spiritual herb powders into the Silver Silk Cauldron, then put the lid back on. The first step was finally completed, seemingly perfect, without any mistakes.