Translator: Lordbluefire Editor: Lordbluefire
Fire, fire, fire…
This ancient voice seemed to be generated from the endless river of time, spanning through millions of years before reverberating in his ears.
Feng Lin saw an unbelievable scene. It was as though his body was brought into a sea of fire; flames blazed brilliantly all around him.
However, he didn’t sense the heat. Evidently, this was just an illusion.
Feng Lin’s perspective seemed to be in a fixed state that couldn’t be changed. However, the scenes before his eyes seemed to be like a 3D image, with the picture flowing accordingly to the shifting of his vision.
He was somehow inside the flame with iron walls around him. The entire space was in the shape of a sphere.
This appears to be…
A furnace?!
Feng Lin’s heart stirred. Is this the memories of the crystals?
It was strange that there were eight spherical holes all around the interior of this furnace. There were also palm-leaf fans sending gusts of violent winds into the furnace. It caused the wind energy to complement the fire energy, making it blaze even more intensely.
Feng Lin only felt his vision floating, like his body was rising and falling inside the furnace. However, this was just an illusion created by memories; it wasn’t real. He also couldn’t feel the temperature; hence, he was not uncomfortable at all.
“The heavens and earth as the furnace, the multitude of living things as the ingredients!”
A scholarly voice drifted in.
Feng Lin turned his gaze in the direction of the void. Through the eight holes where the wind flowed in, Feng Lin could see the scene outside.
Layers of white clouds blanketed his vision, with immortal mist and fog all around.
On a jade-white platform, an old man with flowing white beard was dressed in ancient chinese robes, sitting atop a purple-colored praying mat. He had a faint air of immortality around him, and he simply sat there, appearing near but in reality being very far away. In Feng Lin’s vision, things were clear, but they seemed to be obscured by something. It seemed as though no one could see this old man clearly. There was nothing to rely on, no way to search for him.
Many men in long robes and tied up bun-like hair sat below him. Their expressions were all solemn as they respectfully listened to the lecture.
“The multitude of living things enter my furnace. The medicine refinement technique is to refine the multitude of things in the world, transforming them into medicine. However, it cannot be considered a truly high-grade art. Above the medicine refinement technique, there’s the pill concoction technique or better known as alchemy. Alchemists can use pill concoction techniques to seize the destiny of the world, transforming something rotten into something wondrous…”
The voice of this immortal-like old man was loud and clear, filled with a refined tone. The gentle breeze of the mountain could be felt in the air as he spoke about the supreme and wondrous technique, a technique filled with dao intent.
Feng Lin’s expression grew solemn; he pricked his ears up and listened carefully.
“Medicine refinement technique is just a mortal art at most, and only the pill concoction technique is the true wondrous technique of fate. What is a pill? What is medicine? Pills are medicines that have a life in them; medicines are pills that have no life in them. Every single concocted pill is a brand new life with its own intelligence. Only when one consumes pills would they be able to regulate their own destiny, allowing their bodies to be compatible with the medicinal effects, not allowing the potency of the pill to strike against the limits of the body. Some magic pills are even able to allow someone to be reborn again stronger than ever…”
The old man slowly lectured on, imparting profound teachings as everyone listened attentively.
Feng Lin felt great waves of emotions in his heart. Alchemy!
He came from the 21st century, in an era before myths and legends disappeared from the world. He had naturally heard of pill concoction and alchemy before.
Although countless novelist had used their imaginations to conceive boundless fascinating stories, everyone knew that alchemy was merely something in the myths and legends. It didn’t really exist in the world.
Who would have thought that all of this was actually real?
He actually managed to see the secrets of alchemy through the memories of the crystal lifeforms.
The paste-like medicine basically wasn’t any ancient divine medicine; it was a magic pill! It was just that through the baptism of time, it had lost its original form and took on this current shape.
The medicinal potency of this paste was already weakened by more than half. But even so, it was enough to cause a human to be reborn, becoming an interstellar cultivator in a single step.
Feng Lin had no doubts about this point.
One must know that in the myths and legends of Ancient China, there were many stories about having an eternal life upon consuming some magic pills, allowing one to fly up to the skies.
Only alchemy in the legends would allow one to have this effect of transcending their mortality and be reborn stronger.
Feng Lin felt a rush of excitement. If he managed to learn alchemy and gain this mythological inheritance from this old man, he might be able to step on a path that was unprecedented if he combined alchemy with his knowledge of genetic potions. His potential would be unlimited, his future boundlessly bright.
He continued to look through the memories.
Just like what this old man had spoken, alchemy was a wondrous technique of fate. Every single magic pill concocted was a little lifeform.
And the first scene these little lives saw when they were born would naturally be etched deeply inside their memories.
The moment a magic pill was concocted, it would gain the characteristics of life and instinctively record the scenes before it as memories.
It was only because of this that Feng Lin managed to learn something of alchemy through a quirk of luck.
Feng Lin was incomparably serious as he listened to the lecture, even more serious than these disciples.
After all, these ancients would have plenty of opportunities to learn alchemy, but Feng Lin who was someone from the future, only had this single opportunity.
The mental gene gave a boost to his mental capabilities, granting him an extraordinary memory. He would be able to remember everything he had seen with just a single glance.
Feng Lin gradually grew clearer about the origins of alchemy.
So it turned out that in the Ancient Era, there were many schools of thought for alchemy. This group of people before his eyes were all from the same sect. It was called Furnace Immortal Sect and the key trick to their cultivation arts could be summarized into four phrases.
Heaven and Earth as the furnace, fate as the worker. Yin and Yang as the charcoal fire, the multitude of lives as the ingredients!
These four simple words shouldn’t be looked down upon! They contained a supreme profound truth within them, a heroic spirit that could envelop every living thing in the world.
Just from these words, he could tell how imposing the spirit of this sect was—majestic to the extreme!
And at that time, the Furnace Immortal Sect was also considered one of the most famous pill concoction immortal sects. Because it was stationed on Yinghuo Planet, its fame spread through the cultivation world.
Feng Lin’s heart thumped. Wasn’t Yinghuo Planet how Mars was referred to in the ancient myths and legends?
In the ancient starry skies, Mars was a brilliant red star that attracted the attention of everyone. Because of how bright it was in the night sky, gleamingly brilliant and also because of how its position was constantly changing which caused people to be confused, it was given the name of Yinghuo Planet.
In ancient chinese astrology, the moment the Yinghuo Planet appeared in the night sky, it was a symbol that great chaos would soon occur in the world. It was known as an ominous star.
Feng Lin didn’t expect that in the Ancient Era, there were actually sects stationed on Mars.
Doesn’t this mean that in the ancient cultivation world, humans were already able to break past the restriction of Earth and wander the galaxy?
Feng Lin felt that he was looking at an ancient truth, but this truth was still shrouded in fog. He wasn’t able to see clearly or speculate on anything.
There were myths and legends saying that in ancient times, humans were able to soar through the sky and fly to other worlds. Were the stories trying to say that humans could already wander through the universe then?
Did humanity have a different civilization in the past? One so brilliant and advanced that they could already leave the solar system?!
But why did it eventually decline?
…
Feng Lin’s imagination soared wildly. He was thinking that everything in the mysterious mythological era was beyond their current understanding. He felt that everything was possible.
But it was useless to overthink things now. He temporarily let go of his puzzlement and continued to pay attention to the lecture.
The old man continued to explain, “Our Furnace Immortal Sect has a total of 483 pill concoction methods. Out of them, 365 are low-graded techniques that correspond to 365 days in a year. There are also 72 mid-grade techniques that correspond to the 72 earthly fiends. The other 36 high-grade techniques correspond to the 36 heavenly dippers. Above high-grade techniques are the saint-grade ones. There are a total of 9 saint-grade techniques which correspond to the nine palaces. And above saint-grade pill concoction techniques is the immortal-grade. Our sect only has a single immortal-grade pill concoction technique and its name is…Furnace Alchemy Art! This technique enables the user to use heaven and earth as the furnace, capable of refining everything in the world to extract their essence. The master of this technique can refine an immortal pill that would allow one to become an immortal and soar through the skies!…”
The old man explained things very clearly, telling the origins of the Furnace Immortal Sect and the theory of the more basic pill concoction techniques while providing a detailed analysis of them. Feng Lin was completely enthralled.
However, those disciples seating below the old man had looks of puzzlement on their faces as they mumbled, talking to each other.
“How strange! Why would esteemed teacher explain the common knowledge of the sect so detailedly today? We all already knew about this before we enter the sect.”
“That’s right. Esteemed teacher’s cultivation allows him to even see through fate. It’s impossible for him to forget that we already know of this.”
“He shouldn’t be going through all of these again!”
…
Upon seeing that the old man continued in this vein for half a day, there was finally a student who couldn’t bear it any longer.
A handsome male student stood out. His face had a puzzled look on it as he respectfully asked, “Esteemed teacher, you have already told us the origins of our sect and explained these basic pill concoction techniques to us long ago. Why are you telling us all of this again today?”
The old man smiled a mysterious smile. “Today is different from the past. Today, the number of people attending the lecture is a total of eighty-one, a product of nine upon nine. Although all of you have heard this before, that ‘one’ person doesn’t know about it yet. This is why I’m speaking of this again today.”
As his words rang out, some of the disciples started to discuss with each other, glancing about left and right.
The puzzled look on the handsome male student’s face didn’t vanish, and his confusion increased instead. “Esteemed teacher, there are only eighty people here on the field. Where did the extra ‘one’ person come from?”
He emphasized the word ‘one’.
The old man with the air of immortality smiled as he folded incantations gestures as though he had already seen through everything. “That person is not among you. He is in an indescribable place. I don’t know his origins or how he would choose to walk his future path!”
The speculations of the disciples increased as they didn’t know what the old man meant by this.
Only the puzzled look on the handsome male face student had vanished as though he understood somewhat.
Thunderous explosions went off in Feng Lin’s mind as his thoughts became blank.
That old man merely smiled and didn’t say anything. His eyes seemed capable of seeing through the vast river of time, reaching through millions of years, slowly staring at Feng Lin.
