Chapter 189: A Thousand Pill Formulas
Song Yan tucked the specially crafted jade box containing the spirit fire into his Cosmos Bag.
Having exchanged for the treasure, he lingered no longer at Harmony Peak and departed at once.
He suppressed the urge to return immediately to his cave dwelling and refine the spirit fire on the spot, and instead made his way toward the Inner Sect Library.
This outing was meant to collect every last reward owed to him.
Among them was one prize of paramount importance—the right to select any single cultivation manual or technique from the Inner Sect Library.
What he primarily sought was a superior Qi Refining cultivation method.
The Inner Sect Library comprised five tiers in total. Ordinary Inner Sect disciples were permitted access to the first three.
Now, with his standing as a sword-testing champion of the second rank, Song Yan could ascend to the fourth tier and peruse the more advanced texts contained there.
As for the fifth tier, it served as the rest quarters of the library-guarding elder.
The high-level manuals and secret records housed there were far beyond the comprehension of a Qi Refining disciple such as himself.
Upon entering the library, he found quite a few cultivators milling about within.
Rounding a corridor, he nearly collided with a group of young disciples approaching from the opposite direction.
They studied him carefully for a moment, then stepped aside and bowed respectfully. “Senior Brother Song!”
Song Yan started briefly, then nodded in acknowledgment.
Since the Sword Testing Assembly, his reputation within the sect had grown considerably. Being recognized was only natural.
He proceeded straight upstairs.
The cultivation methods on the third tier and below—he would have plenty of time to browse those in the future. Today, he would go straight to the fourth floor and broaden his horizons.
The higher he climbed, the more disciples recognized him. Some watched from a distance, not daring to approach, while others mustered the courage to offer a greeting.
Song Yan acknowledged each with a brief nod.
Being surrounded and stared at by so many brought a private flicker of pleasure, yet also a measure of unease to one who had always preferred solitude.
After a moment’s reflection, he supposed this was simply the change that true strength brought.
At the entrance to the fourth tier, two attendant disciples stood guard. Upon seeing him approach, they cupped their fists at once. “Senior Brother Song.”
With their assistance, his disciple token was verified.
He ascended to the fourth floor. A faint aroma of ink and the scent of spirit wood greeted him at once.
The fourth tier was somewhat smaller in space than the three below it, yet every volume was carefully arranged upon specially crafted jade shelves, each radiating a soft spiritual glow.
One volume, one jade slip.
The volumes were for on-site reading; the jade slips served as the means of borrowing.
He picked up one of the texts first.
“Three Transformations of the Mysterious Flame True Method”—a fire-attribute cultivation technique that used flame as its foundation. Upon reaching a certain realm, the practitioner could condense and refine a personal spirit flame.
This technique appeared to be the first volume of a larger fire-attribute Dao scripture, cultivable all the way to the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. Should one break through to Core Formation, however, it could no longer continue to be practiced.
“Verdant Wood Longevity Art”—a wood-attribute technique. Its spiritual energy flowed endlessly, an unceasing cycle of life…
“Metal Qi Spirit Refinement Scripture…”
“Five Spirits Forging Origin Technique…”
He browsed through one method after another, some of which were truly exquisite.
Yet Song Yan furrowed his brow.
These techniques were indeed refined—far superior to the Qi Condensation Chapter he currently practiced, by an immeasurable degree.
But most were single-element in nature, and incompatible with the Sword Dao Seed within his body.
Sword intent and the Dao Heart were unaffected by the Five Phases of spiritual energy.
The Sword Dao Seed and sword qi, however, bore no small connection to it.
The Spirit Transformation Chapter stated that cultivating sword qi required embracing all elements. To practice a single phase of spiritual energy alone would only restrict one’s future potential.
Thus, for the sake of sword qi, the ideal cultivation method was one of primordial unity.
He casually flipped through the Five Spirits Forging Origin Technique, only to find that it too did not cultivate primordial spiritual energy, but rather cycled through different phases of energy at successive stages.
The Five Phases in rotation.
“It seems that for now, the Qi Condensation Chapter remains the most suitable.” Song Yan sighed softly and placed the volume back upon its shelf.
“Foundation Establishment, Foundation Establishment—I ought to lay a solid foundation before building high walls.”
The Qi Condensation Chapter, though a basic method, was balanced and harmonious. The primordial spiritual energy it produced was dense and refined, and its versatility far surpassed these Five Phases techniques.
The Qi Condensation Chapter originated from the Minor Mysterious Qi Scripture—not a particularly rare or precious technique—and could already be borrowed from the third tier of the Inner Sect Library.
It simply required sect contribution points.
Song Yan had amassed quite a few contribution points over the years. Spending a small portion on this was no cause for regret.
In fact, he did not even need to exchange for it before Foundation Establishment, for the Qi Condensation Chapter was sufficient to carry him to the tenth level of Qi Refining. After Foundation Establishment, he could exchange for it then.
But this opportunity to choose a technique—wasting it would be a true pity.
Song Yan’s gaze loosened from its focus on cultivation methods and secret arts, and swept across the entirety of the fourth tier.
Beyond cultivation texts, the library housed many other precious volumes.
Alchemy, formations, artifact refining, talisman crafting, history, and the ways of the world.
At last, his eyes settled upon a corner.
“Alchemy texts.”
Already in the midst of collecting alchemical writings, Song Yan walked over to the alchemy section and began to browse.
However, the texts here proved far too esoteric and abstruse for his level.
“New Compilation of Spirit Pill Secrets,” “On the Harmonization and Spiritual Transformation of Medicines,” and others of the sort…
They were clearly intended for alchemists of a far higher grade.
For a mere junior pill concocter who had only ever brewed Qi-Nourishing Pills, reading these was no different from deciphering celestial scripture.
“Never mind. I shall study them at length before making my decision.”
Just as he was about to set aside this precious opportunity for the time being, a volume on an upper shelf caught his eye.
“What is this…”
With careful hands, Song Yan lifted down the somewhat aged tome.
“A Thousand Pill Formulas.”
Curious, he opened to the first page.
The opening contained no technical alchemical content—only the author’s personal reflections and the reasons for compiling the work.
“The Dao of alchemy values adaptability above all.”
“The spiritual treasures of heaven and earth are endlessly varied. To rigidly follow precedent and proceed step by step by the book is, paradoxically, the lesser path.”
He read through the preview section carefully, and with each line, his surprise deepened.
The text recorded alchemical methods entirely divergent from mainstream pill-concocting arts.
Pills refined through lightning, through water, through a host of other peculiar methods…
The author described his understanding of the Dao of alchemy with great humility, professing that his knowledge did not amount to one ten-thousandth of an elder he had once served.
This “Thousand Pill Formulas” was in truth a compilation of notes gathered while attending that elder, recording his casual conversations with the grand masters and leading lights of the alchemical world.
Thus the majority of its contents dealt with strange and unusual methods of pill refinement.
“The essence of alchemy, at its root, lies in extracting the spiritual essence and vital essence of heaven and earth’s treasures, and refining them into a single pill.”
“How to extract these essences, how to purge the impurities and dross—there is no single correct method.”
“It is merely that proceeding step by step along the path blazed by one’s predecessors makes it less likely to lose one’s way.”
“Concocting pills by the methods predecessors tried, summarized, and passed down—this merely makes the furnace less likely to explode. Nothing more.”
“The simplest, most convenient, and most universally applicable method, with the highest success rate—such a technique will naturally see wide dissemination and endure through the ages.”
“But this does not mean that fire-refinement is the only way to concoct pills.”