Chapter 32: Chapter 32: The Marvelous Uses of Flint Fire and the Promise of Initiation
Underground.
Almost no guests have ever come in here.
Of course, Li Ye was here for the first time, and he curiously looked around.
He found that there were light sources similar to sunlight, and it was extremely spacious, as if walking on a sunny street.
Completely devoid of the gloom that an underground space should have.
"This is the Four Seasons Tower."
Su Ya walked in front and introduced, "All of our Four Seasons Sect’s formal marketplaces will have a Four Seasons Tower built in cooperation with the Mo Family.
Inside, Great Power Cultivators have inscribed array formations related to space.
The Four Seasons Tower is not only spacious inside but can also use arrays to exchange resources within the sect or with other marketplaces.
Otherwise, the journey is long, and those delicate Spirit Beasts and Spirit Plants might wilt and become lifeless on the way."
"I see." Li Ye was enlightened, "This really broadens my knowledge."
That’s more like it.
Previously, whenever he thought of those cultivators building some secret chambers and mechanisms underground, he always felt it was weird, a bit sneaky; this is the right way.
The terrain is wide, the sunshine is bright; with the cultivators’ extraordinary magic and divine techniques, it surely isn’t difficult to achieve.
"In the future, when you join the Four Seasons Sect, you’ll know these things too."
As he said this, they were already in front of a door engraved with "Su Ya," placing his palm on it and giving it a gentle push.
"Creak creak."
The door didn’t open but instead reshaped into blocks, accompanied by sounds of mechanism operation.
Moments later, the wall directly disappeared.
A room appeared inside, holding a gigantic pill furnace.
"Quick, come!"
Su Ya impatiently pulled Li Ye to the pill furnace, extending a finger to press on the trigram representing the Li Trigram on the furnace, causing the strange patterns on the furnace’s surface to start changing instantly.
The bronze-colored, ancient and grand pill furnace slowly became transparent, revealing the pile of white crystals inside clearly.
"..."
He suddenly felt something wasn’t quite right; why does the pill furnace have a see-through function? Isn’t alchemy supposed to use divine sense?
Seeing his curious expression, Su Ya explained:
"Your divine sense may not be strong enough to enter this pill furnace; we can only make it more transparent, and later you’ll inject Flint Fire here..."
Seeing Su Ya about to enter the alchemy state, Li Ye quickly said, "Taoist Friend Su, I have a fire seed box here, containing the Flint Fire seeds."
He took out the fire seed box from his storage pouch and handed it over.
"Ah." Su Ya was slightly taken aback, then took the fire seed box and gently pressed it; with a whoosh, a golden-red, extremely stable flame spurted out.
"Is this really Flint Fire seeds?"
Su Ya was speechless.
Although Flint Fire Crystal Insects have a certain probability of producing fire seeds, it’s extremely rare, yet Li Ye has five fire seeds; truly a miracle.
"Taoist Friend truly has great skills; let me test the power of this fire seed..."
He smiled and placed the fire seed box under the pill furnace, then operated a mechanism on the furnace.
"Creak~"
The fire seed box was immediately enveloped by the pill furnace, and with the supply of spiritual power, the five flames merged into a brilliant golden-red flame.
The flame was burning the pile of Spirit Crystals, theoretically, such a powerful flame should burn them quickly.
But in reality, even though the flames enveloped the Spirit Crystals, they melted extremely slowly.
During the melting, one could visually observe gray-black fog being scorched, transforming into drops of white liquid, slowly flowing down the furnace wall and finally entering a small cup beside it.
"Look."
Su Ya picked up the little cup containing white liquid and passed it to Li Ye: "This is the pure white marrow fluid obtained after refining the Snow Demon’s demonic qi and Spirit Crystals."
Inside the bronze cup was a blob of pure white liquid.
It emitted a peculiar aroma, extremely refreshing and awakening upon inhalation. Though its potency was quite strong, akin to having icy snow water sprinkled directly into the mind.
Li Ye suddenly shivered from the stimulation.
"Haha."
"This item is so interesting, it can be used to make pills that stimulate the divine sense. If trapped in some delusion or ghostly technique, taking a Snow Marrow Pill will surely bring a turnaround."
Su Ya finished speaking and paused: "The Flint Fire seeds are quite special.
Your fire seeds are first tier, not yet fed or nurtured; theoretically, the monthly rent should be just a hundred Spirit Stones..."
"Hey!" Li Ye waved his hand, "If Taoist Friend needs them, take them and use them.
Once you don’t need them, please help find someone to lease them; that would be much appreciated.
After all, I don’t know many people, and I need Taoist Friend’s guidance - consider it the fee for consulting you."
He spoke very directly, and his straightforwardness made Su Ya laugh aloud:
"Taoist Friend Li is indeed direct; this late spring cold is expected to last ten days, so I’ll need the Flint Fire seeds for about fifteen days.
After it’s over, I’ll help Taoist Friend find a few trustworthy ones who need them.
Moreover, Taoist Friend, do you know... Flint Fire not only has an excellent effect in dispelling vile demons, but it also has wonderful uses in cooking delicious dishes and producing Grain Avoidance Pills."
"Oh? Please enlighten me, Taoist Friend." Li Ye truly didn’t know, as the fire seed given by the Spiritual Mechanism Vine didn’t mention it.
Su Ya glanced at the pill furnace to ensure everything was fine, then slowly explained: "Flint Fire is a special fire seed that ancient great gods used to dispel beasts and prepare food.
Speaking broadly, Flint Fire ended the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood.
You know, this world has many delicious dishes cooked with fire. Compared to dispelling evil and driving away beasts, this is more important.
However, today’s Flint Fire seeds are rather irritable, far less stable than actual Flint Fire, and naturally cannot be used for cooking.
But I see Taoist Friend’s fire seeds are exceptionally stable, seemingly suitable for making delicious dishes.
When my matters here are done, I’ll invite a Taoist Friend over to have a look; if possible, I’ll ask her to lease them long-term.
Estimate each month would be three to five hundred Spirit Stones. Taoist Friend Li can buy some techniques for nurturing fire seeds, learn painstakingly, and continue cultivating them. This is an endless golden opportunity!"
Obviously, this Taoist Friend Su already treated him as a sect fellow disciple. Li Ye didn’t refuse upon hearing, offering a hand in salute: "Then I’ll bother Taoist Friend Su for that."
"No problem, no problem."
"Taoist Friend’s Flint Fire seeds saved me a lot of trouble."
He stretched and suddenly made a woeful expression:
"Alas, Taoist Friend seems quite talented in the field of Spirit Plants; hopefully, upon entering, don’t get caught up by senior and junior brothers and forget me!"
That remark along with Su Ya’s somewhat subtle expression left Li Ye speechless; he’s heard before that the relationship between Spirit Plant Masters and Alchemists within the Four Seasons Sect was delicate.
Unexpectedly, it was delicate enough to warrant a hint to him, who hasn’t even entered the sect yet.
In that case, he’s not someone ungrateful, especially since the other party treated him quite well; rather than future troubles, it’s better to finalize now.
He spoke directly: "Taoist Friend Su helped me a lot.
If fortunate to enter the sect, I’ll surely not forget you. By the way, I have some Spirit Plant and Spirit Beast harvests, see if Taoist Friend needs any..."
He laid out a heap of materials.
There were Spirit Water Phoenix-Eye Lotus gourds, lotus petals, seeds, rhizomes, and leaves, along with Golden Red Dragon Carp scales, scattering into a rather large pile.