Mortal: Starting with the Falling Cloud Sect, I proved my Dao through gacha pulls.

【The Art of Boiling Stones (Metal)】

[Note: This technique originates from the world of "The Book of Wonders," and is one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends recorded in the "Book Without Words." It can transform stubborn rocks into spiritual materials, refine gold stones into elixirs, melt ores to temper weapons, extract gold essence and jade marrow, boil stones to make marrow, abstain from grains to satisfy hunger, and use true fire to forge stones into treasures, transforming ordinary stones into rare gems of the world.]

"It's actually the Stone-Boiling Technique from the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends? Judging from the description, it's closely related to alchemy and weapon crafting. I wonder what its mysteries are."

After Su Mu saw the information on the card, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes. After a moment's thought, he conjured the card directly.

The pale gold card spun in the air and instantly transformed into a dark blue-green rock carving about ten feet in size. The surface of the carving was smooth and lustrous, like glass, but it had no words on it and exuded an ancient and mysterious aura.

Upon seeing this, Su Mu was slightly surprised. Just as he was concentrating to investigate further, a raised seal character suddenly appeared in the upper left corner of the empty rock wall.

The moment the character appeared, a bright light shone forth, and dazzling rays of light shot straight into his eyes. Then, the seal script character peeled off the rock wall on its own, transforming into a stream of light that shot directly into Su Mu's sea of ​​consciousness. The next moment, the entire rock wall carving vanished without a trace, like smoke.

Su Mu felt his sea of ​​consciousness surge, and countless obscure and profound techniques and insights flooded in. They were so complex that he couldn't digest them all at once and could only barely grasp a few superficial aspects.

"I see..."

After a long while, Su Mu slowly opened his eyes, rubbed his throbbing temples, and finally managed to understand the general uses of this Earthly Fiend Technique.

This art of boiling stones is a highly orthodox auxiliary cultivation technique. Its core lies in refining all things, extracting the essence of everything in the world, and transforming it all into precious medicines to aid one's own cultivation.

In this realm, ordinary cultivators usually use herbs and spiritual medicines from different years to refine pills, adjusting their properties to create various pills with different effects.

Metal and stone materials are mostly used to refine magical artifacts and treasures for protection and to defeat enemies.

However, this stone-boiling technique is quite different. Not only can it help Su Mu refine and absorb herbal elixirs more efficiently, allowing the medicinal effects to be fully realized, it can also refine various mineral and spiritual materials into "golden pills" that are highly beneficial to cultivation.

Even ordinary soil and stones by the roadside can be refined into marrow to nourish oneself and aid in cultivation.

"As expected of an Earthly Fiend spell, it is indeed profound and extraordinary. Although this golden card is not of top grade, it will be of great help to my future cultivation."

Su Mu sighed softly, his face revealing undisguised joy.

The Golden Light that he had previously acquired had already been refined into his innate divine power, which he could unleash instantly with a mere thought, making it incredibly swift.

The art of boiling stones is complex and its methods are exquisite. It requires dedicated study in the future to unleash its full power, but fortunately, it is not too difficult to get started.

Su Mu stopped thinking about it, focused his mind, and slowly began to recite the incantation for the spell:

"The innate true fire is stored in the dantian, and the five metals and eight stones enter the cauldron."

Three turns of boiling stone turn it into jade liquid; nine refinements transform it into elixir, granting longevity as high as the heavens.

He entered the furnace unharmed, and the stone energy within him contained all the myriad laws.

......

After reciting the incantation, he raised his hand and took out a pill that would enhance his cultivation. He then exhaled a stream of pill fire and activated the auxiliary refining method within the Stone Boiling Technique.

The thumb-sized pill slowly melted in the pill fire, gradually turning into a crystal-clear liquid. As the liquid flowed, the originally scattered spiritual energy was completely condensed, and the spiritual charm was much richer than before.

Su Mu gently inhaled and swallowed all the liquid. After a moment of careful contemplation, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the efficacy of this pill had been enhanced by 10% compared to before.

Immediately afterwards, he took out several pieces of ore containing the five elements, changed his incantation again, and performed a refining technique.

Under the aura of spiritual light, the few pieces of ore rapidly melted and shrank, transforming in the blink of an eye into a few sesame seed-sized grains of five-element essence with flowing five colors.

Su Mu flicked his finger, taking the few grains of Five Elements essence into his palm, and slowly refined them into his body according to the records in the Earthly Fiend Technique.

As soon as it entered his body, Su Mu trembled violently. He felt the essence of the five elements instantly transform into a five-colored radiance, flowing along his meridians and slowly merging into his limbs, bones, and internal organs.

He focused his mind and looked inward, finding nothing unusual about his body, nor did he see any significant increase in his magical power.

Yet, deep down, he could sense that some hidden essence within him was being slowly replenished. However, the refined essence of the five elements was too scarce, and this feeling was fleeting and not very clear.

"Interesting. It has such a miraculous effect even with only a rudimentary application. This spell is worth studying in detail."

A glint flashed in Su Mu's eyes, and he focused all his attention on the Stone-Boiling Technique within his sea of ​​consciousness, beginning to diligently cultivate and carefully comprehend its profound mysteries.

Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Not far from the island where Yuan Yao hid in her cave, there was another unnamed island. The island was filled with a gloomy aura that never dissipated, exuding a deathly chill.

Don't miss out: Chapter 111, Earthly Fiend Spells, full version available here. Click to read.

Not far from the island where Yuan Yao hid in her cave, there was another unnamed island. The island was filled with a gloomy aura that never dissipated, exuding a deathly chill.

In ancient times, low-level demonic beasts whose lifespans were nearing their end would often come to this island to quietly await their demise, sensing their impending doom.

Over time, the island came to be known as the tomb of monsters, where the yin and death energy was far more concentrated than in ordinary sea areas.

At this moment, Su Mu was sitting cross-legged in a spacious valley in the center of the island. The surrounding rocks were jagged and the island was pitch black, exuding a faint chilling aura.

In the past six months, thanks to his skill in boiling stones, he has made rapid progress in alchemy and weapon crafting. Now, even without the help of his special fire, he can easily refine top-grade pills, far surpassing what he used to be.

He came to this deserted island specifically because he was drawn to its dense Yin energy, intending to use it as a trigger to unleash the most mysterious and unpredictable of the three great natural disasters of the Chaotic Star Sea: the Ghost Mist.

However, Su Mu already knew in his heart that this so-called ghostly mist was not a strange phenomenon of heaven and earth, but a disturbance caused by the true spirit Luo Hou. The legendary Yinming Land was actually inside the belly of this true spirit.

"This beast is most sensitive to yin energy and death energy, and this concentration should be enough to attract it to appear."

Su Mu thought to himself, raised his hand and cast several spells, setting up layers of concealment formations around the island to temporarily hide the aura within.

He then flipped his wrist, and ten white bone demon banners suddenly flew out, growing longer in the wind. As the banners fluttered, the white bone Yin Sha formation instantly took shape.

In an instant, countless malevolent spirits surged forth, transforming into a sea of ​​yin energy that completely enveloped the entire island. The extremely dense aura of deathly spirits soared into the sky, and even with the array blocking it, wisps of it still leaked out.

Su Mu casually picked a flat black stone, sat cross-legged, and then spread out his divine sense as a large net, covering the sea area around the island, carefully probing every abnormal movement, and waiting for the ghost mist to descend.

"Luo Hou, wake up, it's time to eat..."

He murmured to himself, his expression calm and composed, but a hint of expectation lurked deep in his eyes.

This wait lasted for seven days.

The Yin energy on the island had been continuously condensed and had become so dense that it had materialized. It hovered over the island and formed a dark, ominous cloud. Even though it was located in a remote sea area and was covered by an array, it was difficult to completely conceal the strange phenomenon, and its aura spread far and wide.

Before long, a small group of cultivators from outside the island came to watch the excitement. However, they were all Foundation Establishment cultivators from the nearby sea area, and there were no high-level cultivators at the Core Formation stage or above among them.

These people watched from afar as the Yin energy surged and the countless Yin spirits swarmed on the island. They were also blocked by the formation set up by Su Mu. Each of them showed a look of fear and dared not rush forward. They could only watch and discuss from a distance.

Su Mu swept his divine sense over them, paying no attention to these low-level cultivators, but his brows furrowed slightly, a hint of doubt in his heart.

"Could it be that the timing is wrong?"

He remembered that in the original story, Yuan Yao only used the Resurrection Technique for three days before attracting Luo Hou to descend. However, he had been activating Yin spirits and releasing dense death energy for seven days, but he still hadn't seen any trace of ghost mist. Could it be that Luo Hou was picky about Yin energy and death energy?

As Su Mu pondered whether to try a different approach or give up for the time being, his divine sense suddenly jolted.

He sensed that a large amount of dark fog suddenly and without warning surged up from the sea surface within a radius of several miles around the island.

The fog was as thick as ink, and as it churned and surged, faint, mournful howls of ghosts and wolves could be heard, extremely piercing. Strange black lightning bolts also flashed and leaped through the fog.

The black mist expanded at an astonishing speed, sweeping across the sea like a tidal wave. Wherever it passed, all the fish, shrimp, and sea creatures in the area were swallowed up and disappeared without a trace, without even making a sound.

"Oh no! It's ghostly mist! Run!"

The cultivators watching from afar were stunned at first, but when they saw the appearance of the black mist, their faces turned ashen, and they cried out in alarm, their faces filled with fear.

The cultivators on the outermost perimeter reacted the fastest, frantically pouring spiritual power into their flying magical artifacts, urging them to flee for their lives.

However, the black mist moved much faster than they had imagined. In the blink of an eye, it swept over everything, completely engulfing the nameless island and the surrounding sea. The Foundation Establishment cultivators didn't even have time to cry for help before they were swallowed up by the black mist and fell from the sky.

"Finally! This method really works!"

Su Mu looked at the dark ghostly mist rushing towards him, a hint of joy flashing in his eyes.

He dared not delay. Before the ghostly mist could get completely close, he raised his hand and put away all the surrounding formations and the ten white bone demon banners. Just in case, he also took out the Qiankun Disc and held it tightly in his palm.

The next moment, a strange power suddenly descended. Su Mu felt his spiritual energy instantly freeze, his magic power remained motionless, and even his divine sense was forcibly contained within his body, unable to extend outwards even slightly.

The author "Rainy Day Cooking Fish" recommends reading "A Mortal's Journey: Starting in the Fallen Cloud Sect, I Prove My Dao Through Card Drawing" using the "Renren Bookstore" APP. Download and install it.