Family Rise: Beginning with Grandfather.

Chapter 745 The Spirit-Guiding Seal

Soon, Yang Xiangheng brought the Wan family's martial arts manual to Yang Zhengshan with two other people.

Yang Zhengshan brought these techniques back to Lingquan Mountain.

"Homeowner!"

In the villa on the mountain slope, Qingxia was tidying up the study when she saw Yang Zhengshan appear and gave a slight curtsy.

"Ah."

Yang Zhengshan casually responded and sat down at the desk, taking out one martial arts manual after another to read.

At the same time, he casually asked, "How's your Qi-inducing technique coming along?"

"I just completed the Qi Induction yesterday!" Qingxia said in a light tone.

"Oh!" Yang Zhengshan looked up. "Then it seems it won't be long before I enter the Earthly Fiend stage!"

Inducing the entry of Qi into the body is only the first step in cultivating the Qi-inducing method. To truly enter the Earthly Fiend stage, one must convert all the true Qi into attribute true Qi.

Nowadays, many Earthly Fiend stage martial artists have emerged in the Spirit Source Land. The strongest ones are naturally the older generation of Innate martial artists such as Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, Liang Shengze, and Qu Changkong.

Next were Yang Mingcheng, Yang Minghao, Yang Mingwu, Ding Qiu, Song Dashan, and others. Their skills were much shallower, and their speed in converting true qi and condensing true essence was far slower than Zhou Tianci and others. However, in just over five years, they still managed to step into the threshold of the Earthly Fiend stage and condense true essence.

However, in terms of strength, apart from Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi, the strongest martial artist in the Spirit Origin Land is not Zhou Tianci and An Yuxing, but Ding Qiu.

Because Ding Qiu comprehended the essence of the sword.

Once Ding Qiu's knife was drawn, it exerted an invisible pressure, as if an invisible hand was tightly gripping one's throat, making it difficult to breathe. Instantly, fear gripped one's heart, and one's limbs went weak.

Let alone others, even Yang Zhengshan felt a chill run down his spine when facing Ding Qiu.

"Hehe, it's all thanks to Master's excellent teaching!" Qingxia laughed.

Previously, Qingxia and Hongyun served Yu Qingyi as maids, but after they both broke through to the Innate Realm, Yu Qingyi forced them to call her Master, thus establishing their master-disciple relationship.

"Yes, keep up the good work!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile, then began to peruse the cultivation manual in his hand.

The Wan family has a deeper foundation than the Yang family, with over a thousand different kinds of cultivation techniques. However, most of them are below the innate level, with only a hundred or so innate cultivation techniques.

Yang Zhengshan first flipped through those Qi-inducing methods, and after reading them one by one, he casually tossed them aside.

These Qi-inducing techniques are all ordinary items, and Yang Zhengshan had collected most of them before, with them stored in the Scripture Repository in the Spirit Source Land.

Even if there are some things that are not found in the Spirit Source Land, there is nothing special about them.

As for the other cultivation methods, they were all pretty much the same, just ordinary stuff, none of them worth studying in detail.

Until Yang Zhengshan saw a book called "The Method of Guiding Spirits".

"what is this?"

This is also a cultivation technique recorded on snow silkworm silk. On the surface, it is no different from the cultivation techniques bought from the Secret Techniques Pavilion of the Illusion Moon Sect and the Transmission Spirit Hall of the Sun Family.

However, this name does not seem to be an ordinary martial arts technique.

Yang Zhengshan opened the silk and began to look at it; the more he looked, the brighter his eyes became.

"So that's it!"

Yang Zhengshan was truly overjoyed and couldn't help but exclaim, "It's like finding a needle in a haystack, only to have it come to me effortlessly!"

This "Spirit Guiding Seal" is not a martial arts technique, but a secret manual of runes, and the most basic of all.

The content is about how to inscribe runes on pills and how to seal the runes on the pills.

"No wonder the alchemists here all use alchemy furnaces. It turns out that the alchemy furnace is also the key. It has a sealing array on it, which can seal the runes onto the pills!"

"No wonder I can't inscribe the runes on the objects. Runes must be drawn with pure spiritual energy; they can't be activated by drawing them with true energy!"

After reading through the "Guiding Spirit Seal", Yang Zhengshan suddenly had a series of realizations.

This book explains the basic application of rune techniques, with a focus on alchemy, but it also covers a lot of common knowledge about rune techniques.

Many things that Yang Zhengshan couldn't understand before, or that the Secret Method Pavilion couldn't figure out, he understood instantly after reading this book.

In fact, the threshold for getting past the Mystic Pavilion is not high; it's just some very simple common sense. But sometimes, these simple common sense facts are hard for people to overcome.

However, now that we have this book, "Spirit-Guiding Seal," the threshold that blocked the entrance to the Secret Arts Pavilion has been removed, and the Spirit Source Land will fully enter the gate of rune secret arts.

Perhaps for a long time to come, the level of runes in the Spirit Source Land will remain at a very low level, but once the door to rune secret techniques is opened, the Spirit Source Land will be able to apply rune secret techniques to all sorts of things.

Yang Zhengshan carefully read through the "Spirit Guiding Seal" and finally his gaze fell on the last page, where he saw three big characters written on it: Xuanqing Sect!

"So it originated from within the Xuanqing Sect. No wonder it's written in such detail!"

Ordinary independent alchemists probably couldn't compile such a detailed introductory guide; only the three major sects have the foundation and experience to do so.

This must have been written by an alchemy apprentice who had just started learning the secrets of rune techniques; otherwise, it wouldn't be written in such detail.

However, this is just right for everyone in the Mystic Pavilion.

Thinking of the Secret Arts Pavilion, Yang Zhengshan immediately took the "Spirit Guiding Seal" down the mountain to the clan hall.

Today, Yang Chengze, Liang Jinyan, Qu Shaogong, and Wang Mingzhe happened to be in the Secret Method Pavilion. When Yang Zhengshan took out the "Spirit Guiding Seal," the four of them took turns flipping through it, and a burst of joyful cheers immediately followed.

"Great! Now we finally know why we can't inscribe runes on objects!"

"So that's how it is! Oh dear, after trying so many times, I never thought of using the spiritual energy within the spirit stone to outline the runes!"

"If sealing the magic array is necessary for alchemy, then wouldn't it also be necessary for weapon crafting?"

"With this book, I can refine elixirs!"

Wang Mingzhe said with undisguised joy.

"Let's go, let's go refine pills!" Yang Zhengshan was also very happy and pulled Wang Mingzhe to go refine spirit pills.

“Master, we don’t have a pill furnace!” Wang Mingzhe said.

"Uh!"

Yang Zhengshan was so happy that he forgot all about this.

"Let's go forge a pill-making furnace first!"

"How is an alchemy furnace crafted?"

The master and apprentice stared at each other, completely bewildered.

Okay, that's one hurdle, but there's another one to overcome.

The "Spirit-Guiding Seal" only mentions that refining elixirs requires a sealing array on the furnace, but it does not explain how to build the furnace or how to inscribe the sealing array on it.

"I think we can buy a pill-making furnace!" Wang Mingzhe asked Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard. He had never actually seen anyone selling alchemy furnaces before. However, there were indeed rogue alchemists in the Spiritual Sea, and since they possessed alchemy furnaces, it meant that they could be bought. "I'll go ask!"

After saying that, Yang Zhengshan flashed away and left the Spirit Source Land, returning to Lingxi Mountain.

If you want to buy a pill furnace, you naturally need to find a weapon refiner. Yang Zhengshan only knows one weapon refiner, and that is Qiu Jin.

So Yang Zhengshan rushed to Lingyan Foundry.

"Brother Qiu, can you forge alchemy furnaces?" Yang Zhengshan asked as soon as he entered the room.

"A pill-making furnace!" Qiu Jin was taken aback, then shook his head. "I can't make one. If you want that, you have to buy it from the weapon-refining workshop in the county town."

"Is it difficult to forge a pill furnace?" Yang Zhengshan asked in surprise.

Qiu Jin nodded, "The alchemy furnace involves magic arrays, which is beyond the capabilities of a small weapon-refining shop like ours!"

Yang Zhengshan didn't waste any time and took Li Chang directly to Shanggu County City.

This weapon-refining workshop is a property of the Xuanqing Sect and is one of the top shops in the martial arts market of the county city. The process of buying the pill furnaces went smoothly, and Yang Zhengshan bought two pill furnaces at a price of five hundred spirit stones each.

The process went smoothly, but the price was a real pain for Yang Zhengshan.

Five hundred spirit stones!
A total of one thousand spirit stones. That's a thousand spirit stones, almost all the spirit stones Yang Zhengshan had accumulated over the past five years.

However, Yang Zhengshan was currently engrossed in refining elixirs and didn't have time to worry about the cost. He hurriedly returned to Lingxi Mountain and back to the land of spiritual energy.

The land of spiritual energy, the alchemy workshop.

In a simply decorated house, Yang Zhengshan and his apprentice Wang Mingzhe were studying a pill furnace.

This alchemy furnace is not large, barely reaching waist height. The body is made of rough bronze, with a dark color and no sense of luxury. The furnace wall is covered with densely packed runes, the lines of varying thickness, crooked and messy, as if they were carved in haste.

There was a small hole in the center of the furnace lid, and the surrounding runes were somewhat neat, but they could not hide the overall crudeness.

Although it was just an ordinary new furnace, these runes added a touch of mystery to it.

It's clear that this alchemy furnace isn't anything high-end, yet it's worth five hundred spirit stones. No wonder there are so few alchemists among the rogue cultivators.

For martial arts families, such a pill furnace could probably be a family heirloom.

"Master, shall we give it a try?" Wang Mingzhe asked, his eyes shining.

"No rush, let's study it carefully first!" Yang Zhengshan suppressed his urge to get started, took out a booklet, and began to study it carefully.

The alchemy workshop is quite user-friendly; they even include an instruction manual with the purchase of an alchemy furnace.

This alchemy furnace is divided into three parts. The first is the outer furnace, on which a true fire array is engraved to provide the alchemy furnace with the source of the pills. The operation of the true fire array requires the consumption of spirit stones.

The second part is the inner furnace, which is where pills are refined. It is engraved with rune amplification arrays. When alchemists refine pills, they do not need to directly imprint the runes on each pill. They only need to outline the runes and apply them to the inner furnace wall. The runes will then form inside the furnace and be imprinted on each pill.

The third part is the furnace lid, which has a sealing array. This array is used to add sealing runes to the elixir. Only with the added sealing runes will the runes on the elixir not dissipate.

After studying it carefully, Yang Zhengshan concluded that this thing was a giant beast that ate spirit stones.

The true fire array of the outer furnace requires spirit stones, as does the amplification array of the inner furnace, and the sealing array on the furnace lid also requires spirit stones.

To refine a batch of pills, you need at least five spirit stones.

Yang Zhengshan stroked his beard and thought for a moment. The lowest grade of spirit pills only cost two or three spirit stones. If the cost of the medicinal materials is deducted, then this batch of pills would need to produce at least twenty pills.

"Shall we give it a try?"

Yang Zhengshan looked at Wang Mingzhe, who nodded repeatedly, clearly eager to get started.

"Then go and prepare the ingredients for the Ice Attribute Spirit-Enhancing Pill!"

They didn't have the recipe for the elixir, but that didn't matter. He had been immersed in alchemy for decades and naturally understood the medicinal properties of various herbs and the key points of alchemy.

Although he had previously refined ordinary pills, not elixirs, the principle remains the same: whether elixirs are elixirs or ordinary pills, they must all follow the most basic pharmacological principles of pill formulas.

Ice-attribute spirit-enhancing pills were undoubtedly the pills Yang Zhengshan was most familiar with, so naturally he would start with these familiar pills for his first experiment.

Wang Mingzhe went to fetch the medicinal herbs, while Yang Zhengshan continued to study the alchemy furnace and talismans.

He first practiced using the magic array on the alchemy furnace. After mastering the use of the three magic arrays, he took out the general outline of runes compiled by the Secret Method Pavilion and found the runes related to elixirs, studying them one by one.

The so-called "General Outline of Runes" is a book compiled by the Mystic Arts Pavilion, which records the known runes and their uses and effects. Although most of it is their speculation and has not been verified, much of the content is still trustworthy because they have studied a large number of runes.

Wang Mingzhe quickly brought the medicinal herbs, and the master and apprentice then discussed together which spirit runes to use.

"Let's try one rune first, this one that enhances the medicinal properties."

"You take control of the True Fire Formation!"

Without further ado, the master and apprentice pondered for a while and then began refining the product.

Wang Mingzhe controlled the True Fire Formation, while Yang Zhengshan began adding medicinal herbs into the inner furnace based on his previous experience.

His previous experience was in making pills, but refining pills in a furnace is obviously different from making pills.

First experiment.

Before Yang Zhengshan could put all the medicinal herbs into the alchemy furnace, a plume of black smoke rose from it.

Watching the rising black smoke and smelling the burnt odor, Yang Zhengshan's lips twitched slightly.

"This fire seems a bit too strong; we might need to add more water!"

"Should we turn the heat down a bit?"

"Okay, let's try again!"

The second test.

This time there was no black smoke. Yang Zhengshan successfully threw all the medicinal herbs into the alchemy furnace. However, not long after Yang Zhengshan put the furnace lid on, he heard a bang. The furnace lid was blown off and taken out. Then, hot steam rose from the furnace.

Yang Zhengshan's face darkened. "Did you add too much water?"

Third time, fourth time...

A day passed quickly, and the master and apprentice finally figured out something.

Damn it, you can't add water to this thing.

No, to be precise, you can't add too much water.

The process of alchemy involves refining, not boiling.

Empiricism is deadly. In the past, the two of them would boil and then roll the pills to make elixirs. But elixirs made with an alchemy furnace do not need to be boiled; they use the fire refining method.

Also, the two of them used to use earthenware pots. Earthenware pots are so small, but alchemy furnaces are so big.

The added medicinal herbs were naturally added in the same amount as before.

(End of this chapter)