Green Gourd Sword Immortal - Chapter 17: Secrets of Sword Cultivators
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
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Liang Yan followed Zhuo Bufan into the cave residence, passing through medicinal fields along the way, then through several stone chambers, in each of which servant maids were busy working.
In some of the stone chambers, many precious objects were displayed, glittering with pearl and treasure aura, clearly extraordinary at a glance.
Liang Yan thought to himself: 'The cave residence of an elite outer sect disciple is indeed astonishingly large. Senior Brother Zhuo looks refined and otherworldly, yet I didn’t expect him to be so fond of these treasures and famous implements.'
As he was thinking this, Zhuo Bufan had already led him to a tightly closed stone door. He took out the token at his waist and placed it into a groove on the stone wall beside the door. A moment later, a rumbling sound came, and the stone door slowly opened.
As soon as a crack opened, a rich aroma of medicinal ingredients wafted out. The mere scent was invigorating and lifted one's spirits. When the stone door was fully open, he saw a half-person-tall pill furnace placed at the center of the room. Although no pill fire had been lit, thin wisps of green smoke still rose from the top of the furnace. Around the room were many vermilion wooden shelves, on which many spirit materials and medicinal herbs were neatly arranged. Liang Yan could not name most of them, but the spiritual energy within them was abundant, and one could tell at a glance they were extraordinary.
Liang Yan thought to himself: 'I’ve heard that Qi Refining cultivators cannot refine pills with their own pill fire and need to use earth fire. Senior Brother Zhuo really has a lot of face—he actually got the sect to draw a vein of earth fire from the earth fire chamber to the pill refining room in his cave residence, specifically for his pill refining.'
While he was thinking this, Zhuo Bufan had already stepped into the pill refining room first, picking and choosing from the surrounding wooden shelves, selecting several spirit materials and medicinal herbs, and also taking out a few materials from his storage pouch.
After everything was prepared, Zhuo Bufan said to Liang Yan: “Junior Brother Liang, please set up the formation now. When I reach the critical stage of condensing qi and gathering it in the furnace, I will call out to remind you. At that time, I will have to trouble you to preside over the grand formation for me and guard the spiritual energy in the furnace.”
Liang Yan nodded, took out the formation plate and formation flags given to him by Senior Brother Zhuo, and began carving formation patterns on the ground and setting up the formation tools.
After nearly half a day, Liang Yan stood up wearily and said, “Senior Brother Zhuo, I’m ready. I can activate this Spirit-Gathering Formation at any time.”
“Good!” Zhuo Bufan did not delay. He threw the prepared materials into the pill furnace one by one according to their proportions, then raised his hand and cast a spell seal.
Immediately, a bright red flame rose from beneath the pill furnace, its heat and intensity constantly changing with the spell seal in his hand.
Liang Yan knew that pill refining required full concentration and was most averse to disturbance, so he casually found a spot on the ground, silently sat cross-legged, and began circulating his qi and practicing his cultivation.
Time passed minute by minute. Zhuo Bufan remained sitting upright, his hands never stopping their spell seals, meticulously operating the earth fire to heat the pill furnace. Sitting nearby, Liang Yan couldn’t help but secretly admire him, and thought to himself: 'This art of pill refining is truly not something ordinary people can learn.' His personality was restless; if he had to master the pill furnace's heat so delicately, probably nine out of ten furnaces would explode, and the remaining one might still be just residue.
After an unknown amount of time, just when Liang Yan was privately guessing that it must already be night outside, the spell seal in Zhuo Bufan’s hand suddenly changed, the fire in the furnace flared greatly, and he shouted: “Junior Brother Liang, now! Quickly activate the grand formation, help me guard the spiritual energy and stabilize the pills!”
Liang Yan was invigorated upon hearing this and immediately stood up to activate the grand formation. At the same time, a medicinal fragrance so thick it seemed unable to dissolve overflowed from the pill furnace and spread in all directions.
Because of Zhuo Bufan’s earlier explanation, Liang Yan knew this was a sign that the pills’ spiritual energy was leaking, so he summoned twelve parts of spirit and focused entirely on presiding over the grand formation.
The formation flags and formation plate within obeyed his commands, changing continuously. The scattered spiritual energy seemed to encounter an invisible barrier, then was guided by the formation, slowly moving in specific trajectories in the air, and finally returned to the pill furnace like a hundred rivers returning to the sea.
A trace of joy flashed in Zhuo Bufan’s eyes, but he did not relax at all; instead, he focused even more intently on controlling the fire to refine the pills.
After another unknown period, just as Liang Yan was exhausted in body and mind, Zhuo Bufan suddenly withdrew his spell seal, and the furnace fire instantly went out. He reached out and slapped the air.
With a bang, the pill furnace’s lid shot up into the air. A rich medicinal fragrance surged out first, then two yellow pills flew out spinning and finally landed in Zhuo Bufan’s hand.
Liang Yan immediately cupped his hands toward Zhuo Bufan with a smile and said, “Congratulations, Senior Brother Zhuo, on successfully refining this pill!”
“Haha! It’s done!” Zhuo Bufan also could not suppress his inner joy, his face full of smiles.
“In refining this pill, Junior Brother Liang’s contribution cannot be overlooked. This is the agreed reward—catch.” With a wave of his hand, three snow-white pills shot toward Liang Yan. Liang Yan reached out and caught them; they were indeed the three Spirit-Gathering Pills from before.
After putting them away with satisfaction, he turned his gaze to the two pills in Zhuo Bufan’s hand. Those two pills were extremely small, only about the size of a fingernail, yellow throughout. Unusually, they were trembling slightly in Zhuo Bufan’s hand, emitting a faint, barely perceptible sword hum!
Zhuo Bufan was in high spirits at the moment. Seeing Liang Yan’s gaze, he knew he was curious, so he said, “Does Junior Brother Liang know what kind of pill I refined in this furnace?”
“Haha, I know nothing about pill refinement. Please enlighten me, Senior Brother Zhuo!”
Zhuo Bufan nodded and said, “Actually, this is a Sword-Nurturing Pill!”
“Sword-Nurturing Pill?” Liang Yan’s heart shook; this was the first time he had heard of such a pill.
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard of it. After all, although many sects now stand and a hundred schools flourish, sword cultivators are indeed extremely rare. This Sword-Nurturing Pill is a pill specially prepared for sword cultivators.”
When he heard the name, Liang Yan already had a guess; now that it was confirmed, his interest was further aroused, and he couldn’t help asking, “What exactly are the effects of this Sword-Nurturing Pill?”
Zhuo Bufan smiled lightly. “Junior Brother Liang seems quite interested in the path of sword cultivators? Very well, I’ll tell you.” He paused, then continued, “Do you know that we sword cultivators at the Qi Refining stage are not actually true sword cultivators? At best, we are merely cultivators who wield swords.”
Liang Yan frowned upon hearing this and said in confusion, “I would like to hear the details.”
“A true sword cultivator refines a flying sword into a life-bound magic treasure. When facing enemies, wherever his will goes, he can harm enemies from a thousand li away. But we Qi Refining cultivators merely use spirit swords as spirit tools, plus learn some sword arts, and can injure enemies with the sword—that’s all.”
Liang Yan said in sudden realization, “So, to become a sword cultivator, one must refine one’s own life-bound flying sword?”
“Correct! But a life-bound flying sword is of the magic treasure class, and how difficult it is to refine. Moreover, to control a magic treasure, one must reach the Core Formation stage. Even Foundation Establishment cultivators can only activate top-grade spirit tools.”
Liang Yan was shocked and said, “Then isn’t it true that below Core Formation there are no sword cultivators?”
Zhuo Bufan glanced at him and smiled. “Not entirely. A life-bound flying sword is a rather special magic treasure that needs to be slowly nurtured by oneself. As long as our cultivation reaches Foundation Establishment, we can begin to take a flying sword we favor into our dantian within the body, continuously nourishing the flying sword with our own spiritual power, until we reach the first realm of sword cultivation: refining the flying sword into a sword embryo within the body!”
“And only then is the first realm reached…” Liang Yan murmured to himself, then asked, “What realms come after that?”
“Haha, sword cultivation is originally an extreme method passed down from ancient times. We haven’t even reached the first realm, so how could we know what comes after? Moreover, it is said that once the sword embryo is formed, until the next realm, it cannot be brought out to harm enemies again. One can only find another ordinary flying sword. One could say that once a sword cultivator reaches the sword embryo stage, his strength does not increase but rather decreases!”
“It seems the path of sword cultivation is truly harder than ascending to heaven,” Liang Yan said with a wry smile. “By the way, Senior Brother, what is the use of refining this Sword-Nurturing Pill?”
“That’s simple. Because we sword cultivators need to take a spirit sword into our bodies to nurture the sword embryo. But the dantian is a vital area of the body; the sword qi of the spirit sword is sharp and fierce. If one is slightly careless, there is the risk of piercing the dantian and crippling one’s cultivation completely. But this Sword-Nurturing Pill can foster a subtle connection between the owner and the flying sword, indirectly cultivate the flying sword’s spirituality, and ultimately achieve perfect fusion between oneself and the flying sword. When the flying sword enters the body, it can ensure complete safety.”
“So that’s how it is.” Liang Yan said in sudden enlightenment, “Thank you for your guidance, Senior Brother Zhuo.”
Zhuo Bufan waved his hand and smiled. “No need to thank me. There will be many days ahead when I must trouble Junior Brother Liang. From now on, I need to take this Sword-Nurturing Pill once a month without stopping, gradually strengthening my connection with the Dingguang Sword. From now on, every month when I refine pills, I will have to trouble Junior Brother Liang to set up the formation and protect the process. As for the reward, it will remain three Spirit-Gathering Pills. What do you think?”
“Haha, Senior Brother Zhuo is so generous; how could this junior brother refuse? In the future, when Senior Brother Zhuo refines pills, just call for me and I will certainly do my utmost to help!”
Liang Yan was secretly delighted. He knew that Miscellaneous Duties Disciples only received one Spirit-Gathering Pill every half year, but from now on he would receive three pills every month—treatment only outer sect disciples enjoyed. It seemed that Zhuo Bufan truly lived up to being a talented disciple of Pill Meridian, generous in his dealings.
“Good! Junior Brother Liang is indeed forthright!” Zhuo Bufan also looked extremely happy and took Liang Yan’s hand as they walked out of the pill refining room. He then instructed the servants to prepare a table of food and wine. That evening, he drank and chatted happily with Liang Yan. Liang Yan did not decline; the two toasted each other and exchanged cups, like old friends of many years.
By the time Liang Yan left Zhuo Bufan’s cave residence, it was already late at night. Although he was quite tipsy, as a cultivator he was not so easily drunk.
That night, he did not go to the Spirit Spring Mountain Cave to cultivate but went straight back to his own residence.
He directly refined one Spirit-Gathering Pill, feeling the pill enter his body and his compatibility with spiritual energy slightly increase. Liang Yan’s eyes were full of joy, but then he said self-deprecatingly, “It seems these Spirit-Gathering Pills really are suited to someone like me with insufficient aptitude.”
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-