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Chapter 1373: The Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture

"To possess a concealment technique rivaling that of the Fishing Pool... Sun Piao Miao's power and foundation might be even greater than I imagined."

As Li Fan mulled this over, the stone pill in his eyes underwent a sudden transformation.

Formations and alchemy, at their core, shared the same origin.

Li Fan's mastery of formations had already reached a pinnacle, even touching upon the realm of the 'Immortal'. By analogy, though he had never formally studied the art of pill refinement, he was far superior to most alchemists in the world.

Besides, medicine and alchemy were two sides of the same coin, and Li Fan was a true inheritor of the Heavenly Doctor's teachings...

Now, prompted by Ruan Tianxiao's words, Li Fan seemed to embody the spirit of an alchemist.

With heaven and earth as his cauldron, the round stone in his hand truly transformed into a crystalline, translucent medicinal pill!

In that instant, the once-faint medicinal fragrance intensified a millionfold.

Saliva involuntarily pooled in his mouth. Li Fan's throat bobbed as a powerful urge arose within him—the desire to swallow this pill whole.

The thought flashed through Li Fan's mind, but in the next moment, he tossed the pill in his hand to Ruan Tianxiao.

"Then you should be the one to test its efficacy!" he declared, his tone casual, as if he were entirely unaffected by the pill's allure.

Ruan Tianxiao's body trembled uncontrollably with excitement. Fearing Li Fan might change his mind, he swallowed the stone pill without a moment's hesitation.

The other members of the Medicine King Sect, who were gradually coming to their senses, showed expressions of deep and utter regret.

But the moment Ruan Tianxiao consumed the stone pill, his demeanor and aura changed in an instant. He was like a different person entirely.

He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze sweeping over the crowd with a faint, detached air. His face was filled with reminiscence and nostalgia.

Though he stood right before them, it was as if he existed in a different time and space—ethereal and otherworldly, like an immortal banished to the mortal realm.

Such a stark transformation did not go unnoticed by Li Fan and the others present.

However, the speculation that arose in their hearts was so outlandish that they suppressed it, not daring to speak it aloud.

"Sun. Piao. Miao." It was Li Fan who finally spoke, slowly enunciating each syllable.

At the same time, the phantom of the Wooden Sword had already been silently prepared, ready for a swift escape at a moment's notice.

Ruan Tianxiao, his very essence altered by the stone pill, now seemingly possessed by the spirit of the Medicine King Sect's ancestor, Sun Piao Miao, lingered in quiet reflection for a moment before levitating and seating himself cross-legged in the air.

He began to preach the Dao.

"Pills are the very transformation of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth; Medicine is the remedy for the ailments of all living things. The Great Dao is formless, standing alone and unchanging, cycling without end. It is unified through the pill and manifested through medicine. Heaven and Earth? They are but a single alchemical formula."

The very first sentence captivated everyone present.

Including Li Fan.

His vigilance did not waver. Li Fan frowned, committing every word Sun Piao Miao spoke to memory.

"The Dao knows birth, and the Dao knows death. As the Dao is born and dies, it appears and vanishes; just as a pill is born, just as a pill is formed."

"The moment a pill is formed, it appears alive yet is truly dead. It is the shadow of the Great Dao, the corpse of the Great Dao."

...

Ruan Tianxiao spoke at a slow, measured pace, and before him, the phantom of an alchemical cauldron materialized.

Within the cauldron, one could see the sun rise and the moon set, the star sea ebb and flow. There was the birth and death of all things, the creation and destruction of heaven and earth.

As the light within continuously dimmed and flared anew, the cycle of reincarnation it displayed accelerated dramatically.

Ultimately, it all converged into a single point.

It seemed to be a silent, pitch-black void, yet also incomparably brilliant and dazzling. Or perhaps it was both at once.

"Life and death are one, in harmony with the truth of the Dao."

"Transcendent of the material world, my pill is now complete."

As this final sentence was spoken, the phantom cauldron exploded, scattering into countless fragments.

A searing storm, feeling utterly real, swept through the area.

Though it was merely an illusion of light, the force of it sent Li Fan's hair and beard flying.

Everyone present witnessed within it the birth and death of the Star Sea and the Great Dao itself.

It was like a display of brilliant fireworks, vanishing in an instant.

The ethereal, otherworldly aura surrounding Ruan Tianxiao also faded away as the vision of light disappeared.

"Ugh..." Ruan Tianxiao awoke as if from a dream, letting out a pained groan.

He clutched his forehead, seemingly enduring immense agony. Blood gushed from all seven of his orifices.

Li Fan observed that Ruan Tianxiao's very soul looked as if it had been overstuffed and ravaged.

It was riddled with cracks.

However, a mysterious energy absorbed from the stone pill was nourishing and helping it to heal.

Otherwise, with a cultivation level of merely Dao Integration, Ruan Tianxiao's soul would have long since been annihilated.

Seeing his state, the members of the Medicine King Sect rushed forward to treat him.

Li Fan's mind, however, remained captivated by the profound scripture that Sun Piao Miao had just articulated through Ruan Tianxiao's body.

"Life and death are one, in harmony with the truth of the Dao. Transcendent of the material world, my pill is now complete." Li Fan repeated the final line over and over, a rare surge of excitement rising in his heart.

"Marvelous! Simply marvelous! This scripture of Sun Piao Miao's far surpasses even the discourses of the Heavenly Doctor."

"This text..."

Li Fan frowned. Just as he was about to give the text a name, a term naturally surfaced in his mind.

It was clearly the one and only choice that would occur to any being who heard these words.

"The Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture."

Li Fan's eyes narrowed slightly. As he savored these five words, his heart grew immensely heavy.

"This Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture is clearly Sun Piao Miao's fundamental legacy. Compared to it, that so-called World Saving Longevity Scripture is like a child's reader—crude and unsophisticated."

"This is no simple cultivation technique. It's a philosophical framework that points directly to the origin of the Great Dao. Like the Heaven Mending Record, it contains no specific methods of practice, yet anyone with even a modicum of comprehension can derive techniques and divine abilities perfectly suited to themselves."

Even with his current experience and accumulation of knowledge, Li Fan's mind still erupted with a continuous stream of inspiration and thought as he contemplated the Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture.

The profundity and sophistication of this method were plain to see.

It was as if a tempest of thought had been unleashed in his mind. The storm raged for three full days and nights before gradually subsiding.

And even then, residual sparks of inspiration continued to flash intermittently.

Li Fan recorded and saved every single idea that had emerged.

Only then did he have a moment to review everything that had just happened.

Inevitably, a host of doubts began to sprout in his mind.

"Is Sun Piao Miao still alive in this world?"

Ruan Tianxiao's possession had seemed to originate from the legacy Sun Piao Miao left in the stone pill eons ago. But for some reason, Li Fan couldn't shake the nagging feeling that in that single moment, Sun Piao Miao himself had truly descended, using Ruan Tianxiao's body as a vessel from some unknowable, distant place.

"This Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture makes no mention of ascension. Yet it still describes a level of power that transcends the mortal realm."

"I would rather believe this is a new, true scripture created by a Sun Piao Miao who has accumulated ten thousand years of wisdom, and not something he had already comprehended back then..."

While Li Fan was lost in thought, the members of the Medicine King Sect, who were helping Ruan Tianxiao recover, were also excitedly discussing the Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture amongst themselves.

"Refining the Dao, refining heaven and earth, is just like refining a pill. My previous understanding of the Dao of Alchemy was far too shallow!"

"To think that the true legacy of our Medicine King Sect is so magnificent. And we let it gather dust for ten thousand years... What a sin, a terrible sin."

...

Amidst the heated discussion, Liu Ruchen quietly approached Li Fan.

"Senior, I believe I now understand why there was a problem when we tried to unfold the Immortal Realm chess piece before."

"If we compare that process to alchemy, it was as if the alchemical fire was controlled too fiercely—too fast, too impetuous. It needs to be nurtured with a gentle flame, approached slowly and with patience," Liu Ruchen said with great confidence, enlightened by his new understanding.

Li Fan didn't burst his bubble, merely nodding slightly.

"There's no rush. The scripture left by Sun Piao Miao is vast and profound. Even I have benefited greatly. You should all take this opportunity to properly comprehend and digest it."

Liu Ruchen cupped his hands and was about to rejoin the other elders to discuss the scripture.

Before he left, however, he hesitated, then asked in a hushed voice, "Senior, Ancestor Piao Miao... is he still alive?"

It seemed Li Fan wasn't the only one who had felt that strange presence.

Li Fan didn't answer directly, only offering Liu Ruchen a meaningful smile.

Following this, the members of the Medicine King Sect, while exchanging their insights, proceeded to excavate the old sect site, leaving no stone unturned.

They were hoping to find other relics left by Sun Piao Miao.

Unfortunately, it seemed the stone pill was Sun Piao Miao's sole inheritance.

Having found nothing, Li Fan led the group of Dao Integration cultivators from the Medicine King Sect back to the small world of the Great Qi.

Some went into seclusion, while others began refining pills.

All were eager to transform their newfound enlightenment into tangible gains.

"Refining the Dao..."

If these Dao Integration elders could gain so much, it went without saying that Li Fan's harvest was even greater.

He gazed out at the Xuanhuang Realm, and the inspirations he had previously suppressed and recorded burst forth all at once.

"My plan for this life, to sublimate the Xuanhuang Realm into an Immortal Realm, can, in a sense, also be seen as a form of alchemy."

"It involves the same process: adding ingredients, refining with external force, and then the pill is formed."

A brilliant light flickered in Li Fan's eyes as an unprecedented understanding washed over him like a tide.

"However, my final choice to merge with the soul of the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm would be like buying the casket and returning the pearl. It would be discarding the most precious pill after its formation, refusing to swallow it."

"It would be merely licking the patterns on its surface, consuming its dregs..."

Li Fan pondered this. As the thought emerged, an ambition to one day swallow the future Xuanhuang Immortal Realm whole, as if it were a single pill, began to stir within him.

And it was an ambition that, once born, could not be contained.

The thought ignited a desire that was difficult to suppress.

His heart leaped, urging him to act immediately.

Instantly, Li Fan became alert. He closed his eyes, forcefully suppressing the restless impulse within him.

"The line of thought, the idea itself, is not wrong."

"The only problem is..."

"This immortal pill, the Xuanhuang Immortal Realm, is not something just anyone can swallow."

"Even as I am now, even if I used every trump card I have, I'm afraid I still couldn't do it."

Li Fan was not one to be blinded by the prospect of immense benefit; he still maintained a clear understanding of his own strength.

"Even if I could swallow an immortal pill, the result could be indigestion, exploding from the inside out."

"Hmph, how could I be so foolish?"

The details of the Refining Dao Medicine King Scripture flashed through Li Fan's mind once more.

"Sun Piao Miao could be called the world's foremost alchemist."

"But his limit, in the end, is still just a single lifetime of alchemy."

"But I..."

The words of the scripture instantly dissolved into a sky full of starlight, swirling and churning before being absorbed by Li Fan.

"With the help of [Truth], I can perform alchemy for two, even three lifetimes!"

"In this regard, I possess an advantage that no one else in the world can possibly match!"

"I was born to be the greatest of alchemists!"

His gaze once again fell upon the Xuanhuang Realm, his mind racing with new ideas.

"Even if I am destined not to swallow the Xuanhuang immortal pill directly in this lifetime..."

"I can use the methods of alchemy to make the process of the Xuanhuang Realm's sublimation more harmonious and smooth. My previous plan would have worked, but looking at it now, it seems a bit too crude."

"Moreover..."

"The experience I accumulate in this life can be fully utilized in the next, and even in the lives to come."

"Alchemists of this world exhaust their minds and bodies to refine a single good batch of pills. Once the process begins, there is no turning back. There are only two outcomes: success or failure."

"But I... I can continuously refine the same batch of pills, over and over, until it reaches its theoretical peak of perfection."

In Li Fan's vision, a colossal purple-gold cauldron suddenly materialized, enveloping the heavens and the earth.

The majestic Xuanhuang Realm, with all its myriad creatures and creations, was being refined within this purple-gold cauldron, transforming into a single pill!

"Now, all that's left is to decide when to light the fire!"

Sensing that the number of beings enveloped by the Jun Tian Ritual in the small world had finally met the Xuanxian Ark's requirements, Li Fan's figure shot across the void like a bolt of lightning, racing towards the edge of the Star Sea.

Before long, he had returned to the vicinity of the Xuanxian Ark and deliberately released his aura.

"Hmm? The aura about you..."

"It seems you've had another epiphany?"

Perhaps because they had participated in the Jun Tian Ritual together, Zhong Daogong and the other elders of the ark were keenly aware of the subtle change in Li Fan.

This time, Li Fan was not as forthcoming as before.

He simply met their inquiry with a smile.

"The target number of beings for the Jun Tian Ritual has been reached. It can be initiated at any time."

"When do we begin to equalize the power of the Star Sea?"

"I've been waiting for so long, I'm getting a little impatient."

Without asking to enter the ark, Li Fan went straight to the point.

After a brief silence, the ark's elders gave their reply.

"We... still need to make some preparations."

"Seven days from now, right here, outside the ark."

"Fellow Daoist, perhaps you'd like to come inside and rest."

Li Fan shook his head, politely declining. "There's no need. I'll wait right here."

"I've had some new insights while communicating with the Star Sea recently. Being inside the ark would be less than ideal."

The elders of the ark did not insist, and the atmosphere momentarily fell into a strange silence.

Li Fan stood firm amidst the stars, his eyes closed in deep thought.

He truly seemed to be comprehending something.

Seven days later, the elders emerged in a procession.

After nodding to Li Fan in acknowledgment, they began to prepare the ritual in the void outside the ark.

One by one, they planted white paper banners, arranging them in a peculiar sequence.

Li Fan could see clearly that inscribed on those banners were overlapping layers of more than a dozen different True Immortal Scripts.

He was familiar with every single one of the True Immortal Scripts.

But seeing them merged and layered like this, they seemed to take on an entirely different meaning.

"Hmm?"

A thought stirred in Li Fan's mind. He recalled the Immortal Realm chess piece that was still sealed back in the Great Xuan Kingdom.

It also featured overlapping True Immortal Scripts, but the ones on the ark's banners were far simpler by comparison.

"But it should be enough to support the ritual."

As Li Fan watched, each banner seemed like a long, sharp needle.

Standing proudly in the void, they plunged viciously into the Star Sea.

"Heed this call!"

Once the ritual arrangement was complete, the elders returned to their positions.

Zhong Daogong, at their head, flew into the center of the formation.

He tilted his head back and let out a great cry.

(End of Chapter)