Chapter 211: House of Earth Fire

"Hehe! Good, good! I'll arrange it for junior brother right away!" The ugly man was overjoyed when he saw that Han Li had given him a mid-grade spirit stone.

It's important to know that while a hundred low-grade spirit stones for one mid-grade spirit stone is the recognized exchange rate in the cultivation world, very few cultivators are actually willing to trade mid-grade spirit stones for low-grade ones. This is because everyone knows that mid-grade spirit stones absorb spiritual energy much faster than low-grade ones under the same conditions. For this reason alone, cultivators prefer to keep mid-grade spirit stones and naturally don't think highly of low-grade ones. The same applies to the exchange of high-grade spirit stones for mid-grade ones.

The ugly man's face lit up as he took the fire-attribute spirit stone, and he became even more attentive to Han Li. He immediately led Han Li to the gigantic, multicolored stone gate, pulled a purple arrow-shaped object from his chest, and waved it at the gate. A red light flashed on the purple arrow-shaped object, and a streak of radiant light shot out, hitting the gate precisely. The multicolored streaks on the gate immediately began to spin rapidly. After several loud creaks and groans, the stone gate slowly rose, revealing a black, square-shaped passage about a zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) tall.

"Junior brother, past this Wushi path are the rooms with ground fire. Let's go now!" the ugly man said, forcing a smile and trying to please Han Li.

"Mm." Han Li nodded noncommittally and led the way into the passage.

"While this Wushi isn't particularly rare, it's not an ordinary material found in the mortal world either. To find so much of it and use it to construct these passages and rooms was a monumental task for several powerful grandmasters of previous generations. They expended great effort to accomplish this. However, it's precisely because of Wushi's high heat resistance and its peculiar property of not melting under ground fire that this ground fire area has never had any major accidents since it opened!" the ugly man explained, showing off a bit as he led the way.

Han Li listened with great interest. He couldn't help but run his hand along the black stone wall, finding it smooth and cool to the touch.

"Where does this Wushi come from? It's truly remarkable that it can withstand ground fire, which is even three-tenths more potent than true fire," Han Li said, a rare show of approval, and casually asked a question.

"About that? I hear it's not too rare, but our Yue Kingdom doesn't actually produce it. Our grandmasters had to bring it from other countries in the far west, which was quite troublesome!" the ugly man explained.

Following the ugly man, Han Li quickly passed through two more equally tall stone gates. Finally, they exited the Wushi passage and emerged into an extraordinarily large, circular hall. This hall, also built from Wushi, was astonishingly vast, with a diameter of forty to fifty zhang and a height of over ten zhang! Around the hall, more than thirty white stone doors of identical size were evenly distributed.

At that moment, the hall was empty except for the newly arrived ugly man and Han Li.

After curiously surveying the hall, Han Li heard the ugly man say with a grin:

"Beneath this main hall is where the ground fire is most concentrated. So, our sect has established thirty-six ground fire chambers here for refining artifacts and concocting pills. The best pill refining rooms are number eighteen and nineteen. However, room eighteen is already occupied by a senior martial uncle, so junior brother should use room nineteen! Although it's slightly less ideal than eighteen, its fire potency and stability are still excellent." The ugly man led Han Li to a door marked with the golden painted characters "Nineteen," and said with a wide grin.

Han Li listened without speaking, nodding silently to show his agreement.

Seeing this, the ugly man immediately pulled out a white jade token and pressed it against the door. The white stone door automatically opened. Then, both the ugly man and Han Li entered the room.

The room was a square structure of moderate size, about seven or eight zhang wide. In the center was a circular platform roughly a zhang wide. On each of the four walls hung a fist-sized gourd, and in a nearby corner sat a jade-green meditation mat. The circular platform was also made of Wushi and was quite flat, only about half a chi (approximately 16.5 cm) high. Embedded on its outer side were eight lifelike, miniature, fiery-red dragon heads. Their mouths were slightly raised, perfectly aimed at the space above the platform's center, appearing ready to spout flames—very realistic.

After clearly observing the room's layout, Han Li felt a slight surprise. But before he could ask anything, the ugly man had already approached the circular platform and began explaining it to Han Li.

"Junior brother, this is the ground fire vent of this room. The ground fire needed for pill concoction will spout from these eight dragon heads. You can also adjust the flame's size and height as needed. The specific method for controlling it is carved on the outer wall of the stone platform," the ugly man explained, pointing to the circular platform.

Then, he pointed to the four gourds on the wall and continued:

"Inside these gourds is Spark Sand. It can enhance the power of the ground fire. If junior brother finds the ground fire's temperature insufficient, using this will boost its power, though the effect won't last too long. Also, please keep this jade token safe. Once the room door is closed, all contact with the outside world is severed. Unless several Core Formation cultivators work together, no one can enter from outside. So, junior brother can rest assured; absolutely no one will disturb you!"

Han Li was secretly pleased by these words. Such a completely enclosed environment was exactly what he needed, and a hint of joy involuntarily appeared on his face.

At this point, seeing that he had explained everything, the ugly man discreetly took his leave.

Han Li watched the ugly man leave the room, then immediately activated the jade token to seal the stone door once more. He then eagerly walked over to the circular platform, circling it several times as he meticulously examined the eight spouting dragon heads.

Over the past few years, Han Li had dedicated a significant amount of time to studying alchemy specifically for this Foundation Establishment Pill concoction. Therefore, he was not unfamiliar with the art of alchemy. He knew that the success of a pill primarily depended on controlling the heat during concoction and accurately judging the timing for opening the cauldron and retrieving the pills. As for the ingredients and their quantities, countless trials by predecessors had already clearly defined them in the recipes, so there was no need to worry about that. Of course, it was permissible to appropriately increase or decrease the number of pills produced in one batch, provided that the raw materials were increased or decreased proportionally.

However, while it sounded simple, doing it was incredibly difficult! Accurately controlling the cauldron's heat and correctly judging the time to open it—these two major challenges had stumped countless so-called alchemy masters. Even the most renowned alchemy grandmasters of the current era had to admit that even they, personally undertaking the task, wouldn't have a very high success rate, perhaps only about fifty percent, and that was for the pills they were most skilled at concocting. This made it even harder for ordinary alchemists! Therefore, the success of pill concoction entirely depended on the alchemist's experience. The more experienced an alchemist was, the higher their chance of success. Consequently, alchemists, alongside talisman makers, were the two most expensive professions in the cultivation world, and naturally, also the most sought-after.

Han Li had inquired about these matters thoroughly and knew that for a novice like himself, concocting a Foundation Establishment Pill successfully on the first try was a pipe dream. Therefore, he had planned from the beginning to refine the Foundation Establishment Pills one by one. This way, even if he failed multiple times initially, he wouldn't feel too much regret over the spirit herbs. He had prepared enough spirit herbs for over a hundred attempts, believing that this abundance of raw materials would be sufficient for him to accumulate the necessary experience.

Having made up his mind, Han Li memorized the method for controlling the dragon heads. He then formed hand seals and consecutively sent eight streaks of red light onto the dragon heads. The dragon heads immediately absorbed the red light, then slightly opened their mouths, each spouting a purple flame the thickness of a chopstick. Instantly, the air in the room became filled with scorching heat, secretly astonishing Han Li.

Following this, Han Li experimented with subtle operations, such as changing the thickness of the flames and the height of the dragon heads' sprays. Only after gaining full control did he extinguish the ground fire from the dragon heads. Then, he walked to the meditation mat, sat down cross-legged, and began to recuperate and gather his energy.

Han Li meditated for most of the day. Only when he felt his spiritual and physical energy were at their peak did he open his eyes and stand up, ready to begin concocting pills. Fortunately, Han Li's cultivation technique had surpassed the tenth level, allowing him to enter a state of abstaining from food, so he didn't need to eat.

Now, Han Li retrieved the Silver Silk Cauldron he had purchased earlier from his storage pouch. He then cast a levitation spell on it, causing it to hover directly above the circular platform. This spell was something Han Li had specifically cultivated for this occasion, having spent a considerable amount of time on it. Han Li again sent streaks of red light onto the dragon heads, activating the purple ground fire within them.

Since no raw materials had yet been placed inside the cauldron, Han Li controlled the ground fire, making it very thin, only about the thickness of a thread. Then, he allowed the Silver Silk Cauldron to slowly rotate in mid-air, preheating under the eight thin streams of fire. After a quarter of an hour, the Silver Silk Cauldron became scorching hot, emitting astonishing high temperatures.

Seeing this, Han Li pointed at the small cauldron, and its lid immediately flew open, revealing the opening. With a flick of his right hand, a white jade bottle appeared, containing the precisely measured spirit herb powder he had prepared. Controlling the small bottle, Han Li poured all the powder into the Silver Silk Cauldron. He then immediately discarded that bottle, retrieved another from his storage pouch, and continued repeating the same action.

In this manner, Han Li poured all dozens of required spirit herb powders into the Silver Silk Cauldron, finally replacing the lid. The first step was now complete and seemed perfectly executed, without any mistakes.