Chapter 174: Beauty Nourishing Pill
Xiao Chen followed the steps and slowly poured the medicinal liquid into the medicine cauldron. When all the medicinal liquid was poured in, a fragrant scent of herbs assaulted his nose, and spread throughout the room.
Xiao Chen controlled the Purple Thunder True Fire carefully as he slowly merged the medicinal liquids together. The unnecessary impurities slowly flowed out from the outlet of the Azure Dragon Medicine Cauldron.
Although the method of refining the Beauty Nourishing Pill was complicated, it was not too difficult to refine it. After all, it’s rank was not high. It just needed a longer time.
“Zi Zi!”
After burning for a long time, a pill embryo was finally formed. Xiao Chen started to lower the temperature of the flame and initiated the third step—using warm flames to slowly finalize the pill.
This forming of the pill shape was the most important step of the refining process in determining the quality of the pill, which would define the grade of the pill. Thus, Xiao Chen did not dare to be careless.
Under Xiao Chen’s manipulation of the purple flames, the lumpy pill embryo slowly became round and smooth. Finally, it turned into a brightly colored pill.
Xiao Chen revealed a satisfied smile. After this was the final nourishment of the pill. Brightly colored circles appeared on the Medicinal Pill.
Then, the refined pill plopped out of the outlet, landing in the porcelain bottle. Xiao Chen picked it up and smelled it. He felt some excitement in his heart, it was a success!
He succeeded the first time he refined it. This was a good sign. A sincere expression of joy appeared on Xiao Chen’s face.
There were four more sets of ingredients. He could not let those go to waste, so he continued to refine them. However, he was not as lucky as the first time. His success rate was about half. Out of the four tries, he failed twice. Even so, the success rate was not considered low. Xiao Chen put away the three Beauty Nourishing Pills properly and headed over to Liu Ruyue’s courtyard.
Soon, he arrived at the gates of Liu Ruyue’s courtyard. Just as he was about to knock, the gates opened, revealing Liu Ruyue’s somewhat stunned face.
The blood had already been completely washed off of her body. She was now dressed in the same way she normally did—in tight cultivator robes. Her complexion looked much better now.
However, there were some faint scars on her face that had not faded. To a girl, it was a devastating blow as it affected their beauty. However, it appeared that Liu Ruyue did not seem to mind.
“Why are you looking for me?” Liu Ruyue asked.
Xiao Chen recovered his wits and nodded. Then, he handed the Beauty Nourishing Pill to Liu Ruyue, “Elder Sister Ruyue, this is the Beauty Nourishing Pill that I refined. It can remove the scars on your body, as well as nourish your skin.”
When Liu Ruyue heard this, she smiled. She felt happy in her heart, every girl liked to be beautiful; naturally, Liu Ruyue was no exception. However, she did not have too high an expectation in this area.
“Are you trying to bribe your Master?” Liu Ruyue joked as she received the pill.
Xiao Chen smiled, “Elder Sister Ruyue, I will be preparing to go to the Hall of Contributions in a while. I might not return to Qingyun Peak for a month.”
“Hall of Contribution?” Liu Ruyue was deep in thought for a while. Then, she said, “That’s good. Many of the Martial Techniques at the top of Qingyun Peak require contribution points in order to obtain them
“Come with me. Your Basic Saber Technique is already practiced to the Small Perfection. Before you go, let me teach you a Secret Technique of Qingyun Peak.”
Xiao Chen’s expression changed slightly, “Elder Sister Ruyue, your injuries have not completely healed yet. You cannot circulate your Essence. Wait until I come back!”
Although Xiao Chen really wanted to learn the Secret Technique of Qingyun Peak, with Liu Ruyue’s current situation, it was not a good time for her to pass on the technique. If she circulated her Essence while recovering, it would severely damage her body.
Liu Ruyue smiled gently, “There is no problem. I know my body very well.”
Qingyun Peak, dueling grounds:
Liu Ruyue stood across from Xiao Chen and said, “The Seven Peaks of Heavenly Saber Pavilion each have an area they specialize in. The specialty of Qingyun Peak’s Saber Technique is speed—a saber that is faster than wind.
“Thus, all of Qingyun Peak’s Secret Techniques are related to speed. Qingyun Peak has a total of seven Secret Techniques. Given the style of the Lunar Shadow Saber, there is only one that is suitable for you—Clear Wind Chop!”
Clear Wind Chop? Xiao Chen remembered that he once obtained a Martial Technique manual for the Clear Wind Chop. He could not help but rummage through his Universe Ring to look for it. After a while, he took out a Martial Technique manual and handed it over to Liu Ruyue, “This is a Martial Technique manual I obtained in the past. Is this the one?”
Liu Ruyue felt it was strange. She took a look through it, then, under Xiao Chen’s astonished gaze, she threw it into the air, pulled out her saber, and created a series of lights in the air which tore apart the Clear Wind Chop Martial Technique manual.
“Shua! Shua!”
The sound of wind resounded. Even though Xiao Chen was across from it, he could feel the strong air flow. A breeze caused his clothes to flutter continuously.
The book trembled non-stop in the air. All of its pages fell out and scattered. Then, they floated down page by page. They all landed neatly, stacked one on top of the other.
When the small saber returned to the scabbard, all the pages were completely separated from one another. The surprising thing was that all the pages had landed in an orderly manner; the top page happened to be the cover of the manual.
If Xiao Chen had not seen it for himself, he would have thought the manual on the ground was a book in perfect condition; it was too tidy.
“This is an incomplete copy that was leaked; it is useless. What I just displayed was the Clear Wind Chop. Did you see it clearly?” Liu Ruyue explained to Xiao Chen.
Nonsense, only once? How could he have seen it clearly? Xiao Chen shook his head honestly.
When Liu Ruyue heard that, she said, “It doesn’t matter if you did not see it clearly. You just have to remember the key point of the Clear Wind Chop. Clear wind, cool breeze… you only see the cool breeze but not the saber.”
You only see the cool breeze but not the saber… Xiao Chen repeated this line in his heart a few times. Then, he suddenly gained enlightenment. When Liu Ruyue drew her saber earlier, the blade sliced through the air, causing a cool breeze.
It was clearly a cool breeze caused by the saber. However, according to his senses, he clearly felt the presence of the cool breeze, but he could not clearly sense the saber blade.
Seeing that Xiao Chen seemed to be enlightened, Liu Ruyue continued, “The meaning of this sentence is: to hide the killing intent amidst the cool wind, so that the opponent cannot feel the presence of the blade. Such that they are not able to judge where the blade is coming from.”
Right after Liu Ruyue spoke, she took a step forward and drew her saber again. An intense air current was generated, creating an unending cool breeze.
Xiao Chen was dazzled, he seemed to have seen the small saber in Liu Ruyue’s hand disappear into the air. Although he could not sense the killing intent, he felt a certain instinct stir within his body.
He quickly reacted and took two steps back. The moment his foot landed on the ground, the small saber appeared out of thin air, tearing through his shirt around his chest.
Liu Ruyue withdrew the saber and tossed a book to Xiao Chen, “This is a handwritten copy of the Clear Wind Chop. Although it is a handwritten copy, it is a complete copy. The copy you had was incomparable to this one. That’s all, you may go now.”
Xiao Chen took a quick look at the Secret Technique in his hands then put it away properly. He asked, “That’s it? I seem to have not learned anything.”
Liu Ruyue burst out in laughter. She used the saber scabbard in her hand to give Xiao Chen a smack, “What else do you want? This is the essence of what I have comprehended. It is already sufficient for you to avoid taking the wrong path. Just remember the sentence I told you. You only see the clear wind but not the saber.
“That’s right, do not take missions that are too dangerous. After you return, I will make some time to teach you Listening To the Sword and Communicating With It.”
Xiao Chen did not know how to answer. He felt that Liu Ruyue’s kindness was quite unacceptable; it was too much.
Liu Ruyue said, “You don’t have to think too much. Although I am not that much older than you, we are still master and disciple. Passing down martial skills to you is part of my duty. Furthermore, helping you is equivalent to helping me.”
Xiao Chen bowed sincerely to Liu Ruyue, then he turned around and left the dueling grounds. He went to make preparations to leave Qingyun Peak and head for the Heaven Viewing Platform. After Xiao Chen had long left, Liu Ruyue coughed a few times; she could no longer hold them in.
The Hall of Contributions, which issued the sect missions, sat on the bustling Heaven Viewing Platform. This was what Xiao Chen had heard from others along the way.
After Xiao Chen descended Qingyun Peak, he immediately and hastily made for Heaven Viewing Platform. Within Lingyun Mountain Range, Heaven Viewing Platform was extremely eye-catching; the huge platform could be seen from anywhere, no matter how far you were.
There was a saying: A mountain may appear near when one looks at it, but the walk to reach it is exhausting. Heaven Viewing Platform was easily seen from Qingyun Peak but it took Xiao Chen two hours to arrive at its foot despite running with all his might.
The last time he came to Heaven Viewing Platform, he rode on Ge Yunbin’s jade ship. It was extremely convenient, unlike the trouble he had to go through today. When he reached the foot of the mountain, he looked at the towering Heaven Viewing Platform. He could not help but feel a headache coming on when he remembered that he had to climb all the way to the top.
“This Junior Brother is going to Heaven Viewing Platform, right? How about you ride on my flying Spirit Beast? You just need two Inferior Grade Spirit Stones.”
“Little Junior Brother, ride on mine. I will only charge you one Inferior Grade Spirit Stone. Furthermore, my flying Spirit Beast is faster than his.”
Just as Xiao Chen was getting ready to go up, a group of people suddenly surrounded him. Behind each and every person of this group was a flying Spirit Beast; they seemed to be running a taxi business.
However, the price was shocking. Just a single trip would require an Inferior Grade Spirit Stone; it was much more expensive than riding an airplane.
In the end, Xiao Chen spent an Inferior Grade Spirit Stone and rented a flying Spirit Beast to go up the mountain. With his speed, he estimated that by the time he reached the Heaven Viewing Platform, it would already be night.
It was not worth the time. Furthermore, he was not short of Spirit Stones; he had just received a large sum of them earlier. There was a large amount of Spirit Stones in his Universe Ring, thus, he would not feel the pinch of using one.
The person accepted the Spirit Stone and immediately got Xiao Chen to get on his flying Spirit Beast. His Spirit Beast was quite special; it was a wind attributed bird.
It flapped its wings, kicked up a large cloud of dust, and soared into the sky. It headed toward the Heaven Viewing Platform at a very fast speed; as promised by that person.
Xiao Chen felt it was strange that so many people possessed flying Spirit Beasts. How did they obtain them? Of all the tamable Spirit Beasts, the value of flying Spirit Beasts was the highest. This was because they were the hardest to tame.
The Spirit Beast’s owner saw Xiao Chen’s confusion. He smiled and explained, “We get them in exchange for sect contribution points. They can be obtained in our sect’s Spirit Beast Hall. However, the rank of these Spirit Beasts are relatively low, and they are not very useful.”
Xiao Chen felt that it was strange, he asked, “What do you mean by that?”
The person explained, “There is no Spirit Blood Jade, and they were not raised from young. So, the Spirit Beasts that can be purchased would not exceed Rank 2.
“You can easily imagine the strength of a Rank 2 Spirit Beast. It would be impossible to utilize it in fights. It would already be a miracle if it did not hold you back. So it can only be used as a transportation tool.”