Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

The cast iron at the bottom of the furnace was much thinner than it looked, and the carving knife easily chiseled out a small opening.

He put down the carving knife, pinched the cracked sheet metal with two fingers, and gently lifted it outwards.

pat.

A small piece of thin sheet metal fell off, revealing a hidden compartment the size of a fingernail.

In the hidden compartment, a jade slip as thin as a cicada's wing lay quietly.

The jade slip is pale yellow with some wear on the edges, indicating that it is quite old. It has no decorations and, without careful examination, would easily be mistaken for a piece of broken jade.

Xu Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he carefully took the jade slip out with two fingers.

It feels slightly cool to the touch and has a delicate texture. It is made of high-quality spirit jade. This jade slip alone is worth more than one spirit stone.

Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately placed the jade slip on his forehead and probed it with his divine sense.

A flood of textual information instantly entered his mind.

The True Explanation of Fire Control, incomplete.

The very first sentence struck at Xu Yuan's sore spot these past few days: "Fire is the way of alchemy. If one does not control fire properly, even if one obtains the formula for alchemy, it will ultimately be of inferior quality."

Xu Yuan held his breath and read on, word by word.

Although this fragment only contains the first half, its contents are terrifyingly detailed. It not only records a complete set of fire control techniques, from "Twelve Forms of Gentle Fire" to "Nine Revolutions of Martial Fire," but also marks the precise path of spiritual energy circulation for each form, clearly explaining when to withdraw and when to release it.

What's even more remarkable is that it explains in detail how to adjust the intensity of the fire according to the medicinal properties of the herbs, how to purify the medicinal liquid and blend the medicinal properties through changes in the fire during the alchemy process, and even the signs of an impending furnace explosion and the methods to remedy it are all clearly described.

What delighted Xu Yuan the most was the secret to "spiritual energy turning into silk".

The manual states that the highest level of fire control is to condense the released spiritual energy into invisible threads, using these threads to control the fire and refine elixirs. The finer the spiritual energy threads, the higher the precision of fire control, and the higher the success rate of elixirs, especially high-grade ones.

This was a godsend for Xu Yuan!

His previous alchemy attempts were like trying to crack a walnut with a sledgehammer—he could crack it open, but most of the kernel would be broken. This "True Explanation of Fire Control" taught him step-by-step how much force to use and from which angle to pry the walnut open completely, without even breaking the inner core.

It's not just about alchemy!

Xu Yuan became more and more excited as he looked at the book, his heart pounding.

This fire control technique is essentially the ultimate control over the outward projection of spiritual energy. And drawing talismans requires precisely this ability!

Dipping the talisman brush in cinnabar, spiritual energy flows along the brush shaft into the talisman paper. Each stroke of spiritual energy output must be precise to the millimeter. Too much, and the talisman paper will burst; too little, and the talisman's power will be greatly reduced.

He used to struggle to create high-quality talismans, only succeeding once in over ten attempts, because his control over spiritual energy was too rough. If he could apply the technique of "transforming spiritual energy into threads" to talisman drawing…

Xu Yuan took a deep breath, withdrew his divine sense from the jade slip, and removed the jade slip from his forehead.

His hands trembled slightly with excitement.

He exchanged a spirit stone for a fire control technique that could change his path to immortality.

This is a huge profit!

Just as he was about to put the jade slip away, his gaze inadvertently swept over the edge of it.

and many more.

Xu Yuan picked up the jade slip again, turned it over, and leaned close to the window to examine it carefully in the sunlight.

At the end of the jade slip, near the edge, there was a tiny mark, only the size of a grain of rice. It would have been impossible to notice unless the light shone on it.

Xu Yuan squinted, taking a few breaths to discern the time.

It was a cloud pattern mark, with three flowing clouds encircling each other, and a small sword engraved in the middle.

He was all too familiar with that mark.

The Zhao family crest.

On the lintel of every property owned by the Zhao family in Qingyafang, and at the end of every contract, this mark is engraved. He had lived in this market for ten years and could draw it with his eyes closed.

This half of the "True Explanation of Fire Control" actually belongs to the Zhao family?

Xu Yuan's gaze instantly darkened.

The jade slip was hidden in the broken alchemy furnace at the back door of Baodan Tower, which was originally owned by the Zhao family.

A broken alchemy furnace near one of the Zhao family's properties contains a fragment of a fire-controlling technique engraved with the Zhao family crest.

This is by no means a coincidence.

Xu Yuan clutched the jade slip tightly in his hand, the crimson intelligence flashing through his mind—[The Zhao family possesses an ancient magical treasure; their entire neighborhood will be massacred in six months!]

The Zhao family, ancient magical treasures, the Blood Fiend Sect, and this suddenly appearing Zhao family fire control technique...

These fragmented clues swirled in his mind, but for the time being, they couldn't be pieced together into a complete story.

But Xu Yuan remembered one thing.

Regardless of its connection to the Zhao family, this half of the magic manual is his now that it's in his hands.

As for the Zhao family's affairs, there's no rush.

He has six months left.

That's enough for him to do a lot of things.

Xu Yuan carefully placed the jade slip into the deepest part of the drawer and locked it.

The sky outside the window was gradually darkening.

Unbeknownst to him, at that moment, in a two-story building on the east side of the market, a gloomy-faced middle-aged cultivator put down his teacup and squinted his eyes toward his courtyard.

For the next three days, Xu Yuan remained completely secluded at home.

The restrictions on the courtyard gate were kept open all day. Apart from his daily breathing exercises, he devoted all his time to the half-volume "True Explanation of Fire Control".

The fragment was short, only a little over a thousand words, but every sentence was packed with valuable information. Xu Yuan read it over and over again, pondering each word and sentence. When he encountered something obscure, he would stop and analyze it repeatedly until he had completely grasped it before continuing.

He put in a lot of effort, especially into the part about "spiritual energy turning into silk".

According to the manual, the essence of fire control lies entirely in the word "precision." The more refined the spiritual energy, the more precise the fire control. Every day, Xu Yuan would get up before dawn, sit on his couch, and repeatedly try to stretch and thin the wisp of spiritual energy in his palm.

At first, the spiritual energy in his palm was like a lump of unruly mud that could not be stretched into threads and would fall apart with the slightest force.

He failed hundreds of times, and his fingertips became numb and white from exhaustion of spiritual energy, but he didn't stop.

We've endured ten years already, what's a little hardship compared to this?

By the third day, he was finally able to stretch the spiritual energy in his palm into a thin thread as thick as a hair. Although he could only maintain it for a short breath, he had already reached the threshold.

The success rate of pill formation also increased visibly.

Previously, if three out of ten batches of pills were successful, it would be considered lucky. Now, by following the method of "True Explanation of Fire Control," seven out of ten batches can be successful, and occasionally a few round and full high-grade Yuan Qi Powders can be refined.

This alone saved him a lot of spirit stones and materials.

Besides refining pills, he would spend two hours every day drawing talismans.

Applying the technique of transforming spiritual energy into threads to talisman drawing yields even more immediate results. Previously, it would take more than ten attempts to create a single high-quality talisman, but now the brushstrokes are much steady, and the spiritual energy flows precisely along the brush onto the talisman paper, with each stroke perfectly executed. Two out of five attempts can now produce a high-quality talisman, increasing the success rate several times over.