“This humble one is truly suffering! Why am I always being chased and beaten?” the tiger wailed as it ran, leaping and bounding about in a lively manner.
It dropped to all fours, transforming into a ferocious tiger that sprinted with incredible speed. Even when surrounded by the fire spirits, it managed to break free in just a few breaths.
Its speed was truly astonishing, even surprising Jiang Wen, who was watching from the sidelines.
No wonder the ancients had a saying: 'Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the tiger.' The tiger's roar and the wind's sigh truly live up to their reputation.
The tiger leaped into the air and, in the blink of an eye, covered dozens of miles, heading towards the distant statue, infuriating the fire spirits, who howled in anger.
“Thief! Stop right there!”
“You dare to desecrate the Venerable One! You truly deserve to die!”
…
Hearing this, the tiger chuckled with delight. It turned to face the fire spirits, leaped onto the Celestial Venerable's knee, and taunted, “When your Tiger Grandpa was doing great things, you imps weren't even born yet! Now you dare to challenge your Tiger Grandpa? You're truly blind! If you dare, come here and fight your Tiger Grandpa! See if your Tiger Grandpa doesn't beat you into twisted dough!”
Such arrogant flames infuriated the fire spirits. They were, after all, spirits guarding the Celestial Fire Palace, nurtured by the pure Yang true fire within the palace for many years. Therefore, they held the pure Yang True Man's statue in the palace in utmost reverence. Who would have thought that two thieves would break in today and openly desecrate the Venerable One?
The fire spirits felt that they would fail the Venerable One's nurturing grace if they didn't turn these two into charcoal.
“Prepare to die!” the fire spirits roared in unison, as countless fire arrows came hurtling towards the tiger.
Naturally, the tiger was not afraid. It leaped and dodged the barrage of fire arrows, causing them to strike the statue, sending countless fragments of stone flying.
The fire spirits were heartbroken and hated the tiger even more. However, they were also afraid that the tiger would destroy the Venerable One's statue, so they cautiously used fire techniques to drive the tiger away.
The two sides were evenly matched, and for a time, neither could overcome the other.
Taking this opportunity, Jiang Wen activated the formation and flew towards a statue. He let the tiger and the fire spirits play around while he carefully observed the situation within the hall.
The Celestial Fire Palace was grand in scale, large enough to house a small city within it. In the center of the hall stood a hundred-foot-tall pill furnace. Its four legs rested on the ground like mountain peaks, and its cauldron was round like a measuring cup, with the constellations of the Zhou celestial sphere engraved upon it. Four fire dragons extended from the cauldron, all facing the three-tiered pagoda-like furnace lid at the top. The bronze color revealed a hint of antiquity, and the entire pill furnace resembled a mountaintop.
Below this pill furnace, there were eight pill furnaces on each of the four sides, arranged in a neat and uniform manner, protecting the massive pill furnace with some kind of profound formation.
Even from a distance, Jiang Wen could feel the raging flames burning within. The intense heat pulsed in waves, making one feel suffocated.
“What is this pill furnace used for?” Jiang Wen looked at the enormous pill furnace and found it hard to imagine what it was used to refine. If he didn't activate his Dharma Idol, he might be no different from dust if he fell into this pill furnace.
“Yin Yin thinks there are good things inside that big thing,” the ginseng spirit said again.
Hearing the ginseng spirit's words, Jiang Wen was immediately intrigued. He patted the ginseng spirit and flew towards the top of the pill furnace.
Although it was a thousand feet away, it was only a matter of breaths for Jiang Wen. His figure transformed into a streak of light and rapidly soared through the air, and the next moment, he was standing on top of the pill furnace.
A scorching heat washed over him, and Jiang Wen took out the fire pearl. He flattened it in his hand and used a hand seal to manipulate the fire pearl.
This fire pearl, like the true water pearl, was an unrefinable treasure. Jiang Wen had secretly tried several times, but all his attempts were in vain. Although he couldn't refine the treasures, these two pearls were simple to use. By using his divine sense and magic power to activate the pearls, he could achieve a hundred different effects.
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The ability to isolate flames was one of the basic uses of the fire pearl.
With the fire pearl in hand, the scorching heat on top of the pill furnace no longer existed. Jiang Wen deactivated the Four Symbols Formation and walked onto the pill furnace with the ginseng spirit.
At the top was a three-story pavilion. He used the copper ladder to climb up and arrived at a small attic.
Inside the attic were wooden tables, chairs, and bookshelves. The bookshelves were filled with books made of bamboo slips. In front of the window was a desk with various utensils on it.
There was also a small cauldron in the attic, identical to the pill furnace outside. Although he didn't know what the small cauldron was for, Jiang Wen still walked over and opened it to take a look.
When the small cauldron was opened, a wisp of light smoke transformed into flying dragons and fire phoenixes and dissipated. Looking inside the cauldron, there were three crystal-clear pills lying peacefully.
“What are these pills?” Jiang Wen curiously picked up one of the pills, seeing that it was as transparent as crystal. A hint of flame was faintly contained within it, burning brightly.
Searching his mind for knowledge about pills, Jiang Wen couldn't find a corresponding type. These pills were likely not ordinary pills, but rather secret pills passed down within the immortal sects.
Faintly feeling that these three pills were not simple, he took out a porcelain bottle and stored them away. Then he flipped through the bookshelves and found many useful things.
“Alchemic Manual?” Jiang Wen flipped through the books on the bookshelf and discovered that the books here were all about alchemy. They contained some strange and bizarre pill formulas. According to the author, these pill formulas were all discovered from the ruins of ancient immortal sects in the Sumeru Realm and were three extremely rare pill formulas.
The first was the True Fire Tempering Bone Pill. Those who consumed it could temper their bones and thus obtain spiritual roots.
The second was the Profound Water Life-Extending Pill, which could extend one's life. Even in the Sendai realm, this pill could still extend one's lifespan.
The third was the Grand Luo Golden Pill. This pill formula was incomplete and only a fragment remained. The author had tried to repair the pill formula but had repeatedly failed. He warned future generations in the book that although the Grand Luo Golden Pill was mysterious and miraculous, and could transform one's body and regenerate one's creation, making one unafraid of the great mist and not limited by the fire of life, it was a divine pill that seized the creation of heaven and earth. However, because the pill formula was incomplete and difficult to repair, recklessly eating this pill might lead to disaster.
After Jiang Wen finished reading the Alchemic Manual, he put away the pill formulas for the three pills. He remembered that the three pills he had just collected should be the True Fire Tempering Bone Pill. This pill seized the power of creation, and even ordinary mortals without spiritual roots could produce spiritual roots after consuming it.
Who was the one who refined the pills here? Could it be the Pure Yang True Man? Jiang Wen was puzzled and became even more curious about the Pure Yang True Man.
Jiang Wen couldn't understand and also sighed at the great gap between himself and the saint. He couldn't even refine artifacts, let alone pills. The only thing he was somewhat good at was cultivation, which was much deeper than that of other cultivators in the same realm.
“My path of cultivation is still long,” Jiang Wen sighed in his heart. After coming to this Sumeru Realm, he finally realized how vast the world was and how long the road was.
Just as he was thinking, he heard the tiger's wailing outside the attic.
“Brother Jiang! Come and save this humble one!”
