Chapter 135: First Sword Immortal Since Ancient Times

　　“What is the Artifact Refining Technique?”

　　“Ye Ping, you have already mastered the art of alchemy without tools.”

　　“However, don’t you feel that it’s quite meaningless?”

　　Xu Luochen continued.

　　“Yes, Senior Brother Luochen.”

　　Ye Ping nodded. Although that would save a lot of time, it was meaningless because the spiritual energy that the pills consumed was too massive.

　　“That’s right. Ye Ping, now listen to me carefully.”

　　“As its name implies, the Artifact Refining Technique is using an artifact to refine pills using a simple method. But you have to remember that the so-called simplicity of the Great Dao means that the more simple it is, the more careful you have to be.”

　　“Only when you’re careful can you truly refine a perfect pill.”

　　“Ye Ping, I’ll demonstrate it once for you, watch carefully.”

　　At this point, Xu Luochen began. He carried a bucket of water over.

　　No matter what, medicinal herbs were necessary for pill refinement.

　　Xu Luochen could not afford medicinal herbs, so he thought about water.

　　However, it was not ordinary water but rootless water, which meant that it had fallen from the sky.

　　Using rainwater to refine pills was the best that Xu Luochen could think of.

　　Besides, Xu Luochen had already thought about it. Once Ye Ping could refine a pill, he would be considered to have set a precedent.

　　The first rainwater alchemist in the world of immortal cultivation.

　　‘Hah, what an impressive title.’

　　Of course, Xu Luochen wasn’t very concerned about whether he could refine it or not. If Ye Ping failed, he could only say that he had gone in the wrong direction and would just go back and think of other alchemy methods.

　　Anyway, it mainly depended on Ye Ping’s upper limit.

　　“Start the fire!”

　　“Boil the water!”

　　In the next moment, Xu Luochen poured several buckets of rainwater into the iron pot. He then cast a spell and wisps of flames appeared under the iron pot.

　　The flames burned and the rainwater began to boil in the pot.

　　Plop, plop, plop, plop…

　　“Ye Ping, this is roughly the Artifact Refining Technique. Infuse your spiritual energy and combine it with the technique of refinement without an artifact.”

　　When the water was almost boiling, Xu Luochen immediately retreated to the side to let Ye Ping take over.

　　If he continued to refine, the only result would be that the water would keep boiling.

　　However, the result might be different if he let Ye Ping take over.

　　“Excellent!”

　　Ye Ping nodded, then gathered a large amount of spiritual energy, and poured it into the rainwater.

　　Xu Luochen didn’t idle about either and was controlling the heat.

　　Just like that, white vapor floated up. The iron pot burned red, and the rainwater in the pot decreased in amount.

　　However, a shocking change appeared.

　　The water was initially colorless, but as it evaporated, the rainwater gradually turned turquoise.

　　An entire hour passed.

　　Only about a bowl’s amount of water was left in the pot and the rainwater actually turned into a green, viscous mucus-like substance that gave off an indescribable odor. It was neither pungent nor pleasant.

　　“Senior Brother Luochen, is this pill mash?”

　　Seeing this scene, Ye Ping couldn’t help but look at Xu Luochen and ask.

　　Xu Luochen was dumbfounded too.

　　‘You really managed to do it?’

　　‘My method actually worked?’

　　Xu Luochen was astonished but also full of joy.

　　He did not expect that his spontaneous and whimsical idea would work.

　　If this could really produce pills, he would really ascend.

　　‘Am I the first person to create rainwater alchemy in the world of immortal cultivation?’

　　“Ye Ping, don’t be too agitated, keep refining.”

　　After snapping back to his senses, Xu Luochen told Ye Ping not to get excited but continue refining.

　　It was because the thick green substance in the pot still had quite a lot of water.

　　Another hour passed.

　　Finally, there was no more white mist floating up and all the water had basically evaporated.

　　There was only some green paste left in the iron pot.

　　There wasn’t a lot of the green paste and it only covered the size of a palm. It was viscous and there wasn’t much of an odor.

　　The so-called pill paste was the substance formed after the medicinal herbs fused. It was just like mud with some moisture and the smarters cultivators would use their Dharmic Dao to roll them into pills while others would use some apparatus to condense them into pills.

　　Xu Luochen, on the other hand, would use both hands to roll it into pill paste.

　　“Senior Brother, has the pill been refined?”

　　Ye Ping asked, looking at Xu Luochen with some curiosity after Xu Luochen extinguished the flames.

　　“Should be the case.”

　　Xu Luochen didn’t know if it was refined. Normally, refining rainwater with heat would basically result in a warm mist, but producing this weird green pill paste should be considered a success.

　　Thinking of this, Xu Luochen could not help but interject, “Ye Ping, go to my room and take the pill bottle. This thing was refined from rainwater, so it can’t touch anything made of the Five Elements. I have a special jade bottle for pills, go and get it.”

　　Xu Luochen asked.

　　Although he did not know what the green viscous thing was, it looked extremely powerful and he decided to roll it into a pill first.

　　“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

　　Ye Ping walked away and headed towards Xu Luochen’s residence.

　　On the other hand, Xu Luochen kept his eyes fixed on the pill cauldron.

　　He then reached over in a bid to touch it but soon retracted his hand.

　　It was a little hot.

　　He had to wait for a while before he could touch it.

　　However, at this moment, a figure slowly appeared behind Xu Luochen.

　　“Luochen! What are you doing here?”

　　A voice sounded.

　　It was Daoist Tai Hua’s voice.

　　“Master, why are you here?”

　　Xu Luochen was a little surprised as he didn’t expect his master had actually come.

　　At the thought of this, he hurriedly stood up and looked at Daoist Tai Hua.

　　As Xu Luochen stood up, Daoist Tai Hua’s face instantly became extremely bizarre.

　　“Luochen, what’s this?”

　　Looking at the thick green substance in the iron pot, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but take a few steps back.

　　His expression changed greatly.

　　“Luochen, you’re crazy. Did you poop into the pot?”

　　“Also, what have you eaten recently? Why is it green?”

　　Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but take a few steps backwards, looking at Xu Luochen with a face full of disgust.

　　“No. Master, you misunderstood. I didn’t poop into it, I’m refining pills.”

　　Hearing Daoist Tai Hua’s words, Xu Luochen hurriedly reacted and immediately explained.

　　“What? You actually refined a pill with this filthy excrement? Ew! No wonder I smell a strange odor. Luochen, are you crazy!?!”

　　Daoist Tai Hua felt his stomach churning, and he was about to throw up what he ate more than ten years ago.

　　Coupled with the strange odor that permeated the air, it made Daoist Tai Hua want to retch.

　　“No, no. Master, you really misunderstood. I was using rootless water to refine pills.”

　　Xu Luochen explained in an extremely panicked manner.

　　“Rootless water? Luochen, you’re out of your mind. I was wondering why it was green. Ew! Stay far away from me.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua’s face became even more sullen.

　　He didn’t expect Xu Luochen to be bored to such an extent. Using that to refine pills was just outrageous to him.

　　“Master, Master, you misunderstood me, you really misunderstood me. You don’t believe me? Okay, I’ll eat it now to prove that it’s definitely not what you think.”

　　At this moment, Xu Luochen could barely explain himself.

　　In desperation, he directly grabbed a portion of the pill paste and ate it.

　　‘Hey!’

　　Although it smelled strange, it tasted alright.

　　“Master, look, I ate it all. It’s not what you think, and it’s quite tasty, do you want a bite?”

　　Xu Luochen asked.

　　“Ew!!!”

　　“Scram! Ge away from me, don’t touch me, ew!!!”

　　“Get lost, ew!!!”

　　Daoist Tai Hua turned around and fled.

　　Initially, he wanted to look for Ye Ping, but after hearing what Wang Zhuoyu said about Xu Luochen taking Ye Ping away, he decided to come here.

　　However, he didn’t expect his disciple to have gone berserk from refining pills. Not only did he refine pills using excrement, he even ate it.

　　Daoist Tai Hua fled.

　　While running, he barfed.

　　“Master, you have wronged me.”

　　Xu Luochen had already burst into tears. He did not expect such a misunderstanding to arise from refining a pill.

　　However, before he could rush over, rolling spiritual energy exploded in his stomach.

　　In an instant, two spirit veins were opened up.

　　Sss!

　　“I broke through the realm??”

　　In the next moment, Xu Luochen froze right on the spot.

　　He did not expect that he had actually broken through the realm.

　　All because he ate a mouthful of green pill paste.

　　‘It… is a little too exaggerated, isn’t it?’

　　Besides, it was a direct breakthrough from the third level of Qi Refinement realm to the fifth without any after-effects.

　　Among the elixirs, there was a kind of Qi-breaking pill that would allow cultivators to directly break through a level.

　　However, putting aside the exorbitant price, the side effects alone were terrifying.

　　The probability of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm would be reduced by half after taking one.

　　It would be reduced by half.

　　One might originally have a 70% probability of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm, but he decided to be greedy and swallow the Qi-breaking Pill, which would result in the probability falling to 30%.

　　Hence, swallowing a Qi-breaking Pill was akin to taking a gamble with one’s future.

　　However, the green paste allowed him to break through by two levels. In terms of side effects, there were none.

　　Xu Luochen could still detect it.

　　Thinking of this, he hurriedly looked at the iron pot before grabbing a small portion of green paste and finishing it carefully.

　　In less than 15 minutes, he broke through again.

　　He ascended from the sixth level of Qi Refinement realm to the seventh level of Qi Refinement realm.

　　Sss!

　　Xu Luochen began to doubt his life.

　　It took him nearly ten years to cultivate from the first level of Qi Refinement realm to the fourth. Now, he had advanced from the fourth to the seventh in less than two hours.

　　‘This is unbelievable.’

　　In the next moment, Xu Luochen also wanted to continue to eat some of the green paste, but he couldn’t bear with it anymore. He knew that good things had to be shared and it didn’t make sense for him to swallow it alone.

　　Thinking of this, Xu Luochen began to rub the pills.

　　However, what made him a little curious was why Ye Ping hadn’t returned yet despite having been gone for a long time.

　　At the same time, Ye Ping, who was rushing towards Xu Luochen, happened to meet Daoist Tai Hua, who was fleeing.

　　“Sect Leader, you…”

　　Holding a jade bottle in his hand, Ye Ping looked at Daoist Tai Hua with some surprise, wondering what had happened that caused Daoist Tai Hua to barf while walking, as if he had seen a ghost.

　　“Ye Ping!”

　　Daoist Tai Hua was a little surprised. He didn’t expect to run into Ye Ping right here.

　　“Sect Leader, you’re back!”

　　Ye Ping continued to ask. He felt that Daoist Tai Hua looked really strange.

　　“Nothing, I just encountered something that made me feel like throwing up. Ye Ping, you’re here. I have something to talk to you about.”

　　After seeing Ye Ping, Daoist Tai Hua stopped barfing as he indeed had something to discuss with Ye Ping.

　　“Okay, but Sect Leader, please wait a moment while I go and deliver the pill bottle to Senior Brother Luochen.”

　　Ye Ping nodded, but he had to deliver the pill bottle to Xu Luochen first.

　　“Don’t! Don’t mention him to me. Ye Ping, Luochen has gone mad. Don’t bother about him, come with me now. I need to talk to you about your conversion to an official disciple.”

　　At the mention of Xu Luochen, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but barf again and he hurriedly asked Ye Ping not to talk about it.

　　‘Become an official disciple?’

　　Ye Ping immediately perked up and forgot about Xu Luochen.

　　Soon, Ye Ping followed Daoist Tai Hua and left.

　　In a moment, they reached the main hall of the Qingyun Dao Sect.

　　Daoist Tai Hua brought Ye Ping in.

　　Upon entering the hall, Daoist Tai Hua looked somewhat mysterious and deliberately closed the door of the hall.

　　Ye Ping did not say anything and simply waited for Daoist Tai Hua to speak.

　　After the door was closed, Daoist Tai Hua walked towards Ye Ping.

　　“Sit.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua waved his hand and told Ye Ping to sit down and talk.

　　After Ye Ping sat down, Daoist Tai Hua didn’t hesitate and opened the door right away.

　　“Ye Ping, I promised you before that as long as you achieve a ranking in the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet, I will make you an official disciple.”

　　“This time, you have achieved great results at the Qingzhou Sword Dao Meet. Although there were some slip-ups in between, you didn’t embarrass the Qingyun Dao Sect no matter what. So, are you willing to become an official disciple?”

　　Daoist Tai Hua asked with a serious expression in the main hall.

　　“Of course I’m willing. Thank you for accepting me as your disciple, Sect Leader!”

　　Hearing these words, Ye Ping was so excited that he knelt down on the ground and saluted Daoist Tai Hua.

　　In Ye Ping’s heart, Daoist Tai Hua had shown him a lot of kindness even though he did not teach him anything. Hence, Ye Ping definitely wouldn’t forget it. If not for Daoist Tai Hua, he might still be struggling to seek immortality somewhere.

　　Now that Daoist Tai Hua was willing to formally accept him as a disciple, Ye Ping was naturally excited.

　　“You’re still calling me Sect Leader?”

　　Daoist Tai Hua wanted to stroke his beard, but he realized that he didn’t have any so he simply forgot about it.

　　“Thank you so much, Master!”

　　Ye Ping was overjoyed and directly addressed him as Master.

　　“Good, good, good.”

　　“Ye Ping, I didn’t prepare a gift for you today. Tell me what you want and I’ll see if I can give it to you.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua said.

　　Taking Ye Ping as his disciple was not the main point. He mainly wanted to discuss with Ye Ping about the matter of the Jin Nation Academy.

　　Hence, Daoist Tai Hua did not prepare much, but it didn’t matter since he could just say some nice things to make Ye Ping feel comfortable.

　　However, after that, Daoist Tai Hua continued.

　　“Of course, if you want any Dharma artifact, enchanted armaments, or Dharma treasures, you can save it. It’s not because I don’t have any, but because I think we cultivators shouldn’t rely on such things, do you understand?”

　　Daoist Tai Hua instructed.

　　He didn’t have any Dharma artifacts or Spirit Stones.

　　“Master, I don’t need any Dharma treasures or Dharma artifacts, but recently, I’ve been liking fist techniques. Can you give me a set of fist technique Mystical Abilities?”

　　Ye Ping didn’t care much about Dharma artifacts and agreed with Daoist Tai Hua too.

　　A truly powerful cultivator definitely does not rely on external objects, only himself.

　　Hence, Ye Ping made that request.

　　“Fist technique Mystical Abilities? Sure, I’ll prepare it for you in a few days.”

　　Hearing Ye Ping’s request, Daoist Tai Hua couldn’t help but sigh with relief as that was easy for him.

　　He could just go down the mountain to buy a few manuals. If one wasn’t enough, he would get a few more.

　　However, at this point, Daoist Tai Hua coughed and looked at Ye Ping.

　　“Ye Ping, there are two things that I have to talk to you about.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua said, looking a little unnatural.

　　“Please make yourself clear, Master.”

　　Standing in the main hall, Ye Ping made a Dao salute.

　　“Your eldest Senior Brother sent me a voice transmission to ask me to tell you these two things. Listen up.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua was really a little embarrassed to say that it was his own intention, so he simply shifted the blame to Su Changyu.

　　“Eldest Senior Brother!”

　　Ye Ping became even more curious as he wondered what Su Changyu had to instruct him.

　　“Yes, it’s your eldest Senior Brother.”

　　“Your eldest Senior Brother was traveling in the world and honing his Sword Dao. He can’t leave the sect for now, but he sent me a voice transmission to ask me to tell you to go to the Jin Nation Academy.”

　　Since he had put the blame on Su Changyu, Daoist Tai Hua could act naturally.

　　“The Jin Nation Academy?”

　　Hearing about the Jin Nation Academy, Ye Ping became even more curious.

　　It wasn’t that he had a bad impression of the Jin Nation Academy, but rather, he felt that he ought to stay in the sect and cultivate instead of going elsewhere.

　　“Yes, he wants you to go to the Jin Nation Academy.”

　　“However, Ye Ping, don’t be in a hurry. Let me explain it to you slowly.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua nodded and told Ye Ping not to be anxious.

　　“Please tell me more about it, Master.”

　　Ye Ping was not in a hurry, but his eyes were filled with curiosity.

　　“Ye Ping, don’t spread a word about this matter.”

　　“When your eldest Senior Brother was young, he also went to the Jin Nation Academy, but he did not go there to study. Instead, he ambushed there, do you know why?”

　　Daoist Tai Hua started babbling nonsense.

　　“Why?”

　　Ye Ping couldn’t think of a reason.

　　“It’s all because your eldest Senior Brother once detected a supreme sword intent in the Jin Nation Academy, and based on what your Eldest Senior Brother said, that sword intent can be called the world’s best sword intent.”

　　“However, I’m not very clear about what exactly it is, but Changyu thinks that whoever can comprehend that supreme sword intent will be able to prove the path of the Sword Dao and become the top Sword Immortal in history.”

　　Daoist Tai Hua looked extremely stern as he bluffed Ye Ping.

　　However, in Ye Ping’s eyes, Daoist Tai Hua’s words had caught his attention.

　　‘To prove the path of the supreme Sword Dao?’

　　‘The top Sword Immortal in history?’

　　‘That’s… a bit terrifying.’

　　“Has Eldest Senior Brother comprehended it?”

　　Ye Ping could not help but ask about it.

　　However, Daoist Tai Hua shook his head and said, “Changyu has been cultivating a supreme sword technique since he was a child, and although he has comprehended it, he could not obtain this sword technique nor sword intent.”

　　“So, this time, your eldest Senior Brother stated in his voice transmission that he hopes for you to go to the Jin Nation Academy and comprehend this supreme sword intent.”

　　At this point, Daoist Tai Hua’s tone became even more mysterious.

　　Ye Ping was now overwhelmed with endless astonishment.