Secret Records of the Leader of the Beichen Sword Sect-Chapter 928 - 479: Cloudbeyond Alchemy Hall (2)
Tie Dan was speechless.
"What’s the big deal?"
Tang Tong looked worried.
"You don’t understand. In a woman’s circle, being collectively bullied and ostracized is probably worse than death itself..."
Tie Dan was indifferent.
"It doesn’t matter. If she is the Sect Leader’s true disciple, she must know where her Sect Leader is. Have your group of Daoist companions send a message, and ask her to come out and meet you." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
Tang Tong shook his head.
"They won’t even speak to her, so how could they possibly send a message to her?
But it doesn’t matter. Xing Yuanzhi is targeted by her peers, and sometimes her elixirs are poisoned, so she regularly goes out to buy cultivation materials.
We’ll just wait patiently for her to appear."
Tie Dan frowned.
"What? Poisoning? Out of jealousy? Isn’t that a bit too much?"
Tang Tong shook his head.
"This is nothing. I heard that she was attacked while in seclusion, had boiling oil poured on her, was disfigured, and nearly died.
However, misfortune sometimes turns out to be a blessing. The Sect Master saved her, and despite her peers’ scheming, she succeeded in Foundation Establishment and Core Formation, which garnered her some favorable attention, allowing her to enter the Inner Sect."
Tie Dan was momentarily silent.
Tang Tong knew that he was reminded of his own experience being targeted in the Inner Mountain, and sighed.
"The Mystic Sect is like this. There are only a few True Disciple positions, and resources are limited. The smarter the child, the earlier they understand this, and naturally, the more scheming they become. It becomes a fierce competition.
Moreover, in the Mystic Sect, there are very few Daoist inheritances specifically for women, and the Mountain Man tacitly sends talented but impoverished girls with no family background to the Qingtang Sect to be cared for.
With so many people fighting for just a few positions, mere cultivation isn’t enough. It’s all about plotting and taking actions first, the competition is fierce.
The pen pals I knew weren’t bad by nature, it’s just that years in this sect have twisted their personalities somewhat.
Those who are too kind by nature simply can’t survive, and those who schemed and competed with others since childhood naturally find it hard to trust others when they grow up.
Even a Daoist companion who once shared life and death, if they can no longer provide cultivation resources and lose their usefulness, will be kicked aside, their bond severed, and they will look elsewhere for love.
Because they believe no one is truly good to them, everyone is lying, everyone is using them, treating them as prostitutes or harlots.
Because they were taught this way from a young age. Since it’s like this, they feel that only selling themselves for a good price is worthwhile."
Tie Dan looked at Tang Tong’s concerned expression.
"I understand what you mean, but I’m not trying to overcome an emotional tribulation, I’m handling business."
Tang Tong nodded, said no more, and directly started writing with a brush and ink.
"There’s an alchemy hall in the city, run by people from elsewhere, but the boss behind it is an Alchemy Master, and is considered a Guest Elder invited from the mountains, and is said to have some ambiguous relationship with the Sect Master, so Xing Yuanzhi only goes there for medicine.
She is very cautious in her actions, to avoid being ambushed. Sometimes the hall helps purchase the ingredients, other times she prepares them herself. The time she collects the medicine, the types, and the dosage are always different.
However, I calculated that her prescription should be the Taiyin Moistening Vein Powder, with the monarch herb being three qian of Nine-leaf Vein Melt Grass, two minister herbs, two qian of Red Sunflower, and one qian and five fen of Snow Jade Marrow, three assistant herbs, two qian of Tongxuan Vine, three Fire Lotus Seeds, and one qian of Purple Ganoderma, with Hundred Herbs Frost as the guide herb, treating meridian damage and cold poison invasion.
I suspect she has hidden injuries in her meridians from magical battles or cracks in her Spirit Vein from failure to break through, or maybe she was practicing a Yin Technique and got plotted against, inflicted with cold poison, causing pain in the Dantian, cold limbs, and stagnant spiritual power flow.
Taiyin Moistening Vein Powder must be taken for a year, once a month to see results. She’s only been using it for three months, so she naturally can’t stop now. Moreover, Hundred Herbs Frost isn’t a regular herb, it’s the dew collected from a hundred spirit grasses at dawn, refined into frost crystals by Samadhi True Fire, used to harmonize other herbs, directing the Monarch, Minister, Assistant, and Guide herbs to perform their roles and achieve full efficacy.
Though Hundred Herbs Frost isn’t precious, it’s troublesome to prepare by oneself, and is usually prepared and refined by the hall’s specialists. It can’t be stored for long and is used quite frequently, needing to be brewed every seven days.
Therefore, as long as you see the hall going through great lengths to prepare and refine Hundred Herbs Frost, she’ll undoubtedly show up to fetch her medicine within three days, so we just need to wait in secret."
Tie Dan was astounded to hear this.
"Did you really calculate that? It’s not only reasonable but you could even predict the prescription? How can you be so precise? Is the Sword Sect’s arithmetic really that terrifying?"
Tang Tong wryly smiled.
"It’s not entirely my calculations. Actually, much of the information about Xing Yuanzhi was revealed to me by some pen pals, and together we figured it out.
I guess they were hinting for me to help them poison her or something. I didn’t agree, so we lost contact."
Tie Dan sighed upon hearing this.
"Ah, Mystic Sect..."
"Ah, Mystic Sect..."
Tang Tong also shook his head and handed over the prescription.
"It’s the Cloudbeyond Alchemy Hall in West City, and the owner is quite skilled, occasionally selling top-grade elixirs of seven or eight revolutions. You should check it out and do some reconnaissance."
"Alright, I’ll be back soon."
Tie Dan also saw the group peeking in from the courtyard, looking into the house but deterred by the Giant Watchtower’s killing intent. Knowing Tang Tong had his own matters to attend to, he left him a talisman for protection, retrieved Giant Watchtower, and slipped into the city to investigate the Cloudbeyond Pill Pavilion.
The place wasn’t hard to find, being in West Market, with a modest storefront. The black ebony plaque had the four indigo characters "Cloudbeyond Alchemy Hall," with an ebony couplet on either side of the door, inscribed with "Medicine sourced from beyond the clouds, fire forges worldly elixirs," the writing thin and elegant, seemingly shrouded in mist.
Inside, a fragrant aroma filled the air, with a spacious and bright hall. The east wall was covered with labeled drawers, polished copper rings gleaming, marked with common medicine names like poria and angelica. The highest row contained precious Spirit Plants like Vermillion Flame Grass and Ice Heart Orchid.
The west side housed a consultation hall, with a purple locust wood rectangular desk, a screen behind it. A Glazed Calming Lamp on the desk glowed with a soft light, with agarwood inside, calming the mind and soul, evidently a magic artifact for stabilizing the Primordial Spirit.
The floor was paved with clean, neat bluestone slabs, carved faintly with cloud and lotus patterns. Though decorative in appearance, it was actually the edge of a large Spirit Gathering Array, quietly channeling nature’s spiritual energy into the heart of the Pill Pavilion.
Seeing that the person wasn’t there yet, Tie Dan, hands behind his back and concealed, ventured boldly into the back hall for exploration.
Passing through a discreet moon gate beyond the front hall and evading a barrier restriction meant to deter loiterers, the view opened up to a delicate courtyard of the Four Waters Returning to the Hall style. The light shined softly through glazed tiles above, like a gentle dawn. In the courtyard’s center stood a non-metallic, non-jade black ancient tripod, warm without fire, exuding a gentle heat, serving as the core for harmonizing the Pill Pavilion’s Yin Yang Qi.
Tie Dan glanced around, feeling the temperature rise as he descended a spiral staircase along the inner side of the courtyard, following the allure of the opportunity, walking past walls where the green jade for Qi absorption gave way to heat-insulating Fire Pattern Rocks. At the passage’s end stood a heavy Mystic Iron Door, adorned with embossed Nine-Turned Entwined Lotus, with a dark red gemstone in the lotus heart, resembling a slumbering heart.
Tie Dan casually pushed, surprisingly finding the door open, with heat waves rushing in. Sure enough, he saw a Pill Furnace suspended within a complex circular Array.
The furnace wasn’t cast of mortal iron, its form resembling a nine-petal lotus about to bloom, carved entirely from Warm Jade. Golden red Earth Vein flames burned on its outer wall, casting shimmering light and shadows, dreamlike, illuminating the entire Alchemy Room gloriously. The room’s ceiling featured a Mana-formed starry sky, with stars moving according to an enigmatic trajectory, corresponding with the Star Map’s celestial phenomena, channeling Nine Heavens Pure Spirit Qi to balance the heat from the Earth Vein’s fire.
The entire Alchemy Room was simple yet ingeniously designed, truly the work of an Alchemy Master.
Tie Dan, bored, casually lifted the lid of the Pill Furnace for a look.
Hmm, empty, nothing there. After all, the owner wasn’t present, and the door wasn’t locked, so naturally no elixirs were being refined... Oh, there’s writing inside the furnace.
"Guest from Nine Heavens, refining the heart to forge the worldly dust... Hmm???"
