Chapter 33: Quintessential Purple Qi
Han Li set the jade boxes containing the different powders aside, then swept a hand through the air to release another incantation seal, activating the pill furnace array once again. After that, he pulled out another pill, and this one was a Sharp Watch Pill.
After a brief hesitation, he tossed the Sharp Watch Pill into the pill furnace and unleashed the Pill Refinement Art again.
Close to an hour later, the Sharp Watch Pill was also split up into around a dozen different types of ingredients that were stored into jade boxes.
He placed the ingredients of the two pills together before conducting a thorough examination.
A short while later, a faint smile appeared on his face.
Most of the ingredients used for these two pills were completely different, but there was a type of blue crystalline powder used in both pills that was identical in both color and form, so it was clear that it was the same type of ingredient.
However, the Sharp Watch Pill contained much more of this ingredient than the Dark Cloud Pill did.
Both types of pills had an effect on him, and while the blue powder wasn't necessarily confirmed to be the sole effective ingredient, it was definitely something worth exploring.
Han Li gently dipped the tip of his finger into the blue powder before taking a whiff, then placed it into his mouth for a taste, and his brows slowly furrowed slightly.
Ever since the beginning, his cultivation journey had been closely intertwined with the art of pill refinement. Regardless of whether it was in the Human Realm or the Spirit Realm, he was at least somewhat familiar with all of the pill refinement ingredients that the two realms had to offer, and he even had some knowledge of the pill refinement ingredients of other realms. However, he had no idea what this blue powder was.
Perhaps this is something unique to the Spirit Domain Realm?
After pondering the issue to himself for a while, Han Li suddenly rose to his feet before promptly departing from his cave abode.
At this point, it was already quite dark outside.
Azure light flashed from his body as he flew through the air, and moments later, he descended in front of a certain cave abode on Sunset Peak several dozen kilometers away.
The cave abode was situated in quite a secluded location with barely anyone around.
Han Li quickly inspected his surroundings, then made his way to the entrance of the cave abode before flipping a hand over to produce a voice transmission talisman, which he whispered a message into before sending it flying through the air.
The voice transmission talisman flew into the cave abode as a streak of white light, and moments later, the gates of the cave abode swung open amid a burst of rumbling.
"Please pardon my intrusion, Elder Gao," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Not at all! I didn't think we would meet again so soon, Fellow Daoist Han. Please come in." Gao Bulin emerged with a wide smile before inviting Han Li into the cave abode.
Gao Bulin's cave abode was clearly larger than Han Li's, but the furnishings were quite simple, and a strong medicinal aroma was wafting throughout the entire cave abode.
"I won't waste any more of your time than necessary, Elder Gao. I came here because I wanted to ask you something," Han Li said in a direct and straightforward manner after taking a seat.
Gao Bulin faltered slightly upon hearing this, then prompted, "Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Han."
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a jade box that contained the blue powder, then offered it to Gao Bulin. "Do you recognize this ingredient, Elder Gao?"
Gao Bulin accepted the jade box before taking a close look. He then dipped a fingertip into the powder before placing it onto his tongue, and he raised an eyebrow as he took a meaningful look at Han Li.
"Looks like I came to the right person," Han Li said with a smile.
"You did indeed make the right decision to come to me. However..." Gao Bulin's voice trailed off here as a suggestive smile appeared on his face.
Han Li immediately flipped a hand over to produce a high-grade spirit stone, which he tossed at Gao Bulin.
Gao Bulin gleefully accepted the spirit stone, and his smile grew even wider as he elaborated, "This is powderized Cloud Crane Herb. Upon reaching a certain age, the Cloud Crane Herb is used as one of the main ingredients for several types of high-grade pills produced in our sect, and it's an extremely rare ingredient.
“On top of that, this powder seems to have been processed through certain means, and I was only just barely able to identify it thanks to the familiarity with all types of ingredients that I've developed through years of pill refinement."
Han Li nodded in response, then asked, "I see... Would you be able to tell me about the medicinal properties of this Cloud Crane Herb?"
A suggestive grin reappeared on Gao Bulin's face, as he gave Han Li a sly look.
Han Li tossed another high-grade spirit stone at him.
Gao Bulin happily accepted the spirit stone, then said, "The Cloud Crane Herb is also known as the Chameleon Herb. The herb turns white at 100 years old, blue at 1,000 years old, red at 3,000 years old, dark red at 10,000 years old, and purplish-red at 30,000 years old or above.
“The most remarkable property of this herb is its ability to absorb the energy of the rising sun and produce a wisp of quintessential purple qi upon reaching 100 years old. Not only is quintessential purple qi something that's absolutely required for cultivating several types of incredibly powerful cultivation arts, it can also be directly converted into quintessential spiritual power, which can cleanse one's essence and enhance one's constitution.
“The older a Cloud Crane Herb is, the purer the quintessential purple qi it contains becomes, and effects of that quintessential purple qi naturally become more incredible as a result."
"Where can this Cloud Crane Herb be found?" Han Li asked.
"This herb can only grow in a set of very specific conditions, and as far as I'm aware, it can only be found in a few places, virtually all of which are under the control of the major sects in our realm. At the moment, almost all specimens over 1,000 years old are in the possession of the major sects, and they're almost impossible to find outside of that," Gao Bulin replied.
After hearing what Gao Bulin had to say, Han Li had already gotten the answers that he wanted. It was most likely the case that this quintessential purple qi was the key to his magic power recovery.
"Aside from the Sharp Watch Pill, what other pills are refined using the Cloud Crane Herb?" Han Li asked.
This time, Gao Bulin didn't ask for any further financial compensation as he replied, "Aside from the Sharp Watch Pill, small amounts of the herb are also used in the Dark Cloud Pill. In addition to that, the Spirit Nurturing Pill and the Void Origin Pill also contain small amounts of Cloud Crane Herb of a young age, but the quintessential purple qi that those pills contain is virtually negligible."
After parting ways with Gao Bulin, Han Li made another trip to the Trade Valley and spent a top-grade spirit stone to purchase a few of each of the pills that Gao Bulin mentioned. In addition to that, he also purchased several Cloud Crane Herbs in the hundreds of years old before returning to Cloudrise Peak.
Inside the secret chamber of his cave abode, Han Li was seated on a futon, and placed in front of him were the pills and the Cloud Crane Herbs that he had just purchased.
He opened a white porcelain vial before tipping out a Dark Cloud Pill that he promptly swallowed. A surge of warmth quickly rose up from his dantian as traces of spiritual power were released by the pill, gradually converting into magic power that was stored in his body.
This was naturally an encouraging development, and he picked up a Cloud Crane Herb before placing it into his mouth, then chewed a few times before also swallowing it.
Roughly 10 minutes later, his dantian began to warm up again, and wisps of magic power flowed into his dantian before being stored again.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he could finally confirm that this quintessential purple qi was indeed the key to his magic power recovery.
After a day and a night, he had devoured most of the pills and Cloud Crane Herbs that he had purchased, and as a result, his cultivation base had recovered to the late-Nascent Soul Stage.
He was ecstatic to see this, yet right as he was about to devour all of the remaining pills, his expression suddenly stiffened slightly.
The medicinal power in his body that was still yet to be converted was finally converted into magic power that converged toward his dantian, but his dantian was already like a filled tank of water, unable to hold any more magic power.
All he could do was watch as the superfluous magic power lingered momentarily in his dantian, then dissipated into nothingness.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh, and he knew that this most likely had something to do with the condition that his nascent soul was in. In his current state, any further consumption of pills was most likely only going to be a waste.
He would have to wait for his physical body and spiritual sense to recover further before he could investigate the cause behind the condition that his nascent soul was in.
At the moment, he was unable to increase his magic power through cultivation, and he could only recover to the late-Nascent Soul Stage through the use of pills, so his top priority now was to enhance the rate of recovery of his physical body and spiritual sense.
With that in mind, he was rather unsure of how to proceed, and his brows furrowed slightly as he fell into deep thought.
Moments later, a thought suddenly seemed to have occurred to him, and he flipped a hand over to produce the guest elder badge that he had received from Luo Jun.
He injected his spiritual sense into the badge, and a map of the Cold Flame Sect that was formed by golden lines of light appeared before his eyes.
His gaze roamed over the map for a moment before finally settling on a building on the Sage Gathering Peak, which was annotated with the words "Scripture Library" in small text.
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