Chapter 337: Giving the Fire Essence a Home |
At this moment, the peach tree had just taken on the thunderfire, but simply absorbing it like that wouldn’t do any good; it wouldn’t last. After a few days of burning, the spiritual essence inside would slowly dissipate. That’s why you absolutely needed the witchcraft of the Yao village to make it work. So Liu Xiaolou pulled out the thunder-struck peach wood he’d already carved with talismans and used it to draw the thunderfire over from the tree.
When the peach tree finally burned down completely and the flames died out, a mass of fire about the size of a fist had been transferred onto the lightning-struck peach wood. It flickered and danced with a lively spirit. This was the pure essence of the heavenly thunderfire.
At this point, Liu Xiaolou had obtained both the Night Peach Miasma and the Thunder Fire Essence. He now had everything needed to refine the spiritual leopard.
The storm that day was fierce, with heavy rain and nonstop thunder, so the thunderfire it produced was especially strong and violent. Even though it looked like nothing more than a fist sized flame, it was actually the refined core of the heavenly thunderfire. It burned atop the lightning struck peach wood, leaping and shifting, brimming with spiritual vitality.
Liu Xiaolou was pleased like never before.
A thunderstorm like this never lasted long. Before long, the rain stopped, the clouds broke apart, and daylight returned.
Big White kept pulling the cart harnessed to him, while Little Black strained to push from behind. There was no helping it. After the rain, the mountain road had turned into a muddy mess, and the cart was nearly impossible to move.
Liu Xiaolou leaned back against the side of the cart, eyes fixed on the thunder-fire torch he'd stuck in the ground nearby, mulling over the best way to refine and harness it.
Heading north from the Dehang Mountains for about two hundred li, you cross into southern Xian. From that point on, everything started feeling familiar again. Liu Xiaolou still kept a low profile on his way back, but he wasn’t going out of his way to hide anymore. He stuck to remote, deserted trails whenever he could, but he no longer traveled only at night and rested by day.
Liu Xiaolou did not disturb him. When he passed by Uncle Tian’s house, he simply went in and left behind a large silver ingot.
Over the years, thanks to Big White's hard work, the Sanxuan Sect wasn't exactly hurting for gold or silver anymore. So Liu Xiaolou could afford to be pretty generous. He tossed out ten taels of silver without so much as batting an eye. The big goose, on the other hand, got anxious and rushed forward, trying to snatch it back up. Liu Xiaolou grabbed the creature by the neck and dragged it out of the house. All the way up to Qianzhu Ridge, that stubborn creature stayed in a foul mood, wings drooping, looking utterly dejected as it flopped down under the stove.
But the disappointment did not last long. Big White suddenly caught a scent of something, its long neck snapping upright. Its webbed feet churned rapidly as it spread its wings and half ran, half flew straight up to the peak.
A fresh, cleansing current of spiritual energy drifted over the small summit. Little Black was already sprawled in a narrow crevice at the very top, lazily curled into a ball. Big White hurried over and forcibly squeezed half its body under Little Black’s belly. Then it folded its wings and lay down.
This is really comfortable.
“Honk.”
“Meow.”
After opening his spiritual eye and settling the two beasts at home, Liu Xiaolou went to find a place to set up the fire essence.
This fire essence wasn't the same as those natural vents you'd find at Mount Xingde or Jade Goose Peak. No, this was pure thunderfire essence straight from the heavens. It needed a proper spot where it could be gently nurtured and kept alive.
Shaman Xia’s thunderfire essence had been nurtured inside her wooden stilt house. She had built a simple looking fire pit, but in truth it was the result of extremely careful planning. Her thunderfire essence had been obtained 38 years earlier, back when the Yao village’s threshing ground was still an open space with no buildings. Her own wooden house stood at the eastern end of the village.
She had chosen the spot of the fire pit first before building the two-story wooden house around it. That was because heavenly fire has no natural anchor. And the best place to nurture it is suspended in midair.
With that in mind, Liu Xiaolou had already planned to build a bamboo house on Qianzhu Ridge.
After searching for quite some time, he discovered that the best place to nurture the Thunder Fire Essence was right here, in this narrow crack at the peak.
He dragged Big White away and kicked Little Black aside. There was no helping it. The two beasts refused to give up the spot, so Liu Xiaolou could hardly be blamed for using a bit of force. At last, he reclaimed the right to use the stone crevice.
The moment the lightning-struck peach wood, burning with the Thunder Fire Essence, was brought to the mouth of the crack, the flame suddenly surged upward by several inches and burrowed toward the crevice. It almost tore itself free from the peach wood. Of course, that was impossible, but it showed just how pleased the Thunder Fire Essence was with this spot, how desperately it wanted to squeeze inside and take root.
After trying several times in a row, he finally found the place where the Thunder Fire Essence was most at ease, about seven feet down from the surface of the stone peak.
Liu Xiaolou decided to settle the Thunder Fire Essence there, positioned slightly toward the north northeast side of the crack.
Once he'd locked in the perfect spot, Liu Xiaolou decided to build a small fire rack inside the rock crevice, suspended in empty space.
That made things a whole lot simpler. The crack was narrow, so there was no need to build any fancy structure. Just find solid notches on both walls and wedge the lightning-struck peach wood right in. To keep it from slipping and falling into the depths, he tied it securely with rope for extra suspension, which would also make it easy to retrieve later when he needed it.
The essence of thunderfire was no joke. Ordinary rope could not withstand that kind of heat, and even standard rope-type magical tools were useless. He had plenty of confiscated artifacts in his storage pouch, taken from the Maling and Qingyuan sects, including several ropes and whips. He took them out one by one and tested them, but as expected, none of them worked.
After trying everything he could think of, it turned out that the Mysterious True Cord he carried with him was the only thing that held up. It actually managed to endure the scorching power of the thunderfire essence. This rope was designed to seal meridians and was almost foolproof against Qi Refinement cultivators, but it was practically useless against Foundation Establishment cultivators. These days it had become something of a dead weight, so he might as well put it to use and dedicate it to suspending the thunderfire essence.
Of course, while the Mysterious True Cord could handle the thunderfire essence, the lightning-struck wood could not. It would eventually burn up and needed to be replaced about once a month. The supply he had brought back to the mountain would only last around half a year. From now on, Liu Xiaolou would need to remember to stockpile a lot more of it.
Fortunately, lightning-struck wood was not hard to come by. Any decent-sized market would have it for sale. One or two spirit stones could buy an arm-length piece, enough to last about half a month. Still, it was best to gather it himself. If he relied on buying it all the time, the cost would really add up over the course of a year.
Everything was set up in no time. The thunderfire essence settled into the rock crevice and seemed perfectly content there.
Liu Xiaolou thought it over and realized there was only one real problem. No one could lie in that crevice to cultivate anymore, especially Big White. Otherwise, that big goose would literally end up as roast goose.
No sooner had he thought it than it happened. Big White, clearly pissed off and refusing to accept defeat, waited for Liu Xiaolou to scoot back just half a body’s width before sneaking right into the gap. A moment later, a faint smell of singed feathers started drifting out.
Big White froze for a second, then let out a blood-curdling “GAAAH!” and started flapping like mad, rocketing straight upward. Six, seven zhang high in one go. First time the big goose had ever flown that far up. Then it banked off the peak and dove straight down, clearly aiming for the Wuchao River at the foot of the mountain. Feathers rained all over the summit, and in the chaos it smashed right through the little shelter Liu Xiaolou had just built, collapsing the whole thing into a heap.
Liu Xiaolou had planned to build something sturdier anyway, so he did not mind. He headed down from the peak and went into the bamboo grove to cut bamboo.
He had just cut two stalks when another miserable cat’s wail drifted down from the summit, long and mournful.
He'd barely finished hacking down two bamboo poles when another gut-wrenching cat yowl echoed from the summit.
Liu Xiaolou did not let it distract him. These were spiritual creatures, after all. A minor injury was not going to kill them. And they were capable of looking after themselves. So he kept cutting bamboo. By the time half a day had passed, he had built a solid, sturdy canopy for the thunderfire essence. Now there was no need to worry about wind or rain getting to it anymore.
In truth, the thunderfire essence was born in thunderstorms and was never afraid of wind or rain to begin with. What Liu Xiaolou did was really just for his own peace of mind. To him, the fire essence felt almost like a child, something that deserved to be carefully looked after.
Once everything was in order, he took out the gourd and lowered it into the crevice. It came to rest suspended exactly one foot above the flickering flame of the thunderfire essence. With a flick of his finger, he sent a stream of true qi into it.
The flame curled around the gourd, and the Night Peach Miasma inside was stirred by the heavenly thunderfire, beginning to churn.