Chapter 67: Opening the Muddy Pill Palace, Achieving the Seventh Stage of the Profound Technique in a Single Night

Chen Zhi'an arrived at Eight-Taels Street and reached the entrance of the Solitude Abode, only to find the candles flickering within, yet the place was completely deserted.

"Master Qu?"

Chen Zhi'an called out, but received no reply. After a moment of thought, he stepped into the shop.

"He must have gone out for something. I'll wait for him inside."

Thinking this to himself, he approached the counter, only to see a long saber laid out on the table, alongside a very small wooden box and a... manual.

Chen Zhi'an naturally recognized the long saber as his own Yangsui Saber, but today's Yangsui Saber seemed somewhat different. The scabbard and hilt were darker, a profound black as if they contained immense power.

"The owner of the Solitude Abode is certainly carefree. With the shop doors wide open, he just leaves these items casually on the table?"

Chen Zhi'an picked up the Yangsui Saber, his true essence circulating as the Heavenly Yujing Diagram slowly unfolded in his mind.

Instantly, a ray of light shone from the mist-shrouded Azure Mountain Tower, merging with Nan Liujing's light. Through Chen Zhi'an's eyes, it fell upon the saber.

[Saber Name: Yangsui. Refined with acquired breath and tempered through two thousand cycles. The blade is sharp, and the saber body possesses spiritual breath. Infuse it with true essence to unleash sweeping flames and a continuous momentum.]

Two thousand cycles of tempering?

Chen Zhi'an's eyes lit up.

It seemed Qu Junhui had truly kept his word; he must have poured tremendous effort into this Yangsui Saber.

In just a few short days, a hundred-refined saber had transformed into a two-thousand-refined thousand-refined saber. The leap in its value was almost immeasurable.

Chen Zhi'an felt an urgent desire to test the sharpness of this long saber, but he then remembered that this was Skyspan Capital. Although there was no strict curfew, brandishing weapons at will here would undoubtedly invite trouble.

Suppressing the impulse in his heart, he stored the Yangsui Saber into his Dew-Bearing Ring.

"This acquired breath is truly miraculous. Using the leftover acquired breath from alchemy to temper the Yangsui is equivalent to recreating it!"

For a three-hundred-refined saber to leap to a two-thousand-refined saber was nearly impossible in most circumstances.

The materials used to forge a hundred-refined saber were insufficient to support two thousand cycles of tempering, but with the addition of the acquired breath, the impossible was nearly made possible.

"Apart from the acquired breath, Master Qu must have added some precious materials to this saber as well."

Chen Zhi'an felt a quiet sense of delight.

He had delivered a saber without encountering any danger, and the evil aura emanating from the [Pottage] evil saber had even helped him fully master the saber momentum.

At the same time, it had fulfilled his own inner wish—he was willing to help a figure like Yu Liuke, and the [Pottage] should return to its rightful owner.

Yet, for a matter that brought Chen Zhi'an quite a few benefits, Qu Junhui's reward was exceptionally generous.

With these thoughts, Chen Zhi'an's gaze fell once more upon the manual.

[Long-Day Safe and Hidden Scripture].

Chen Zhi'an flipped through the manual roughly, scanning a few lines, and was immediately struck by Qu Junhui's meticulousness.

"A grade-three profound cultivation method, the Long-Day Safe and Hidden Scripture... It gathers breath, restrains essence, and veils divine essence... Others looking upon it cannot see through it, making it difficult to gauge one's depth."

Such a profound technique for restraining essence and veiling the divine ought to be extremely precious, yet Qu Junhui had left it on the table simply to gift it to Chen Zhi'an.

Without hesitation, Chen Zhi'an accepted the manual, his gaze finally shifting to the wooden box placed squarely in the center.

He slowly opened the box to reveal a white medicinal pill, pure and translucent like a pearl.

A faint, mysterious aura enveloped the pill, flowing gently as if it were a newly exhaled dragon pearl.

Wasting no time, he gathered the pill, returned to the small courtyard on Fusang Street, and bolted the door firmly behind him.

Only then did he cross his legs in the small pavilion in the back courtyard and swallow the pill.

The White Jade Cicada-Shedding Chapter quietly circulated, causing the fruits on the tree of true essence within Chen Zhi'an's primordial pass to tremble in unison, releasing trickles of white-jade-like flowing true essence.

The powerful medicinal efficacy seemed to take effect, transforming Chen Zhi'an's true essence into countless eyes that allowed him to see through his own physical body and his drifting soul.

"The White Jade Cicada-Shedding Chapter... Third Stage, forging the Muddy Pellet Palace."

White jade as the palace, cicada-shedding as the spirit...

As Chen Zhi'an's true essence flowed with rustling sounds, subtle changes occurred within his physical body. It was precisely these changes that brought a slight prickling pain to his mind.

Chen Zhi'an took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

Sensing the Muddy Pellet, forging the Muddy Pellet Palace, and allowing streams of divine essence to take up residence within it were necessary steps on the path of the Divine Essence realm. Moreover, it required the patience of grinding down iron; moving too quickly would only result in an unstable Muddy Pellet.

Yet the medicinal efficacy of this pill, refined with acquired breath, seemed exceptionally swift.

As the medicinal power was drawn out by wisps of true essence, Chen Zhi'an felt his Muddy Pellet stabilize significantly.

And... as the Muddy Pellet Palace gradually took on a nascent form.

Chen Zhi'an suddenly felt a strong sense of familiarity: "I visit the White Jade Capital day after day; my consciousness is akin to divine essence, and the White Jade Capital is just like the Muddy Pellet Palace... Since it is so familiar, why must I be cautious at every turn? Even if I go a bit faster, I fear it will do no harm."

Unable to resist, he closed his eyes once more, attempting to accelerate the forging of the Muddy Pellet Palace.

The flow of true essence sped up, and the White Jade Cicada-Shedding Chapter surged wildly. Chen Zhi'an could feel his true essence being consumed at a breakneck pace.

Yet just as his true essence was about to be exhausted, the acquired breath within the pill would diffuse, replenishing his true essence anew!

"No wonder even wealthy scions like Magistrate's Son Si Hougui view this acquired breath as a rare opportunity."

With total concentration, Chen Zhi'an forged the Muddy Pellet Palace, carving out a void within his mind to serve as a vessel for the condensed divine essence.

Until... an hour passed.

Chen Zhi'an opened his eyes, his consciousness sinking into the Muddy Pellet Palace, only to find that the palace now stood firmly established, lacking only the divine essence to inhabit it!

In a single night, Chen Zhi'an had constructed the most time-consuming Muddy Pellet Palace. If outsiders were to witness this, they would undoubtedly find it incomprehensible.

Even Chen Zhi'an himself understood at this moment...

"With this bone structure and talent of mine, calling me a genius is hardly an overstatement."

A smile appeared on his face.

He was now only a step away from the Divine Essence realm, which was the condensation of divine essence.

"To condense the first strand of divine essence, others require over a month, sensing and nurturing the Muddy Pellet daily until it naturally gives birth to divine essence. I wonder how many days it will take for my Muddy Pellet to produce its first strand... and how I should nurture the Muddy Pellet?"

Just as Chen Zhi'an was pondering this, a sudden cry of surprise rang out.

Startled, Chen Zhi'an turned his head to look, only to see a young man dressed in Daoist robes and wearing a Daoist hair bun stumble over the back courtyard wall and fall down.

Someone was spying on him...

With a slight change in expression, Chen Zhi'an leaped gracefully onto the wall.

Yet the young Daoist who had been there just a moment ago had abruptly vanished.

"It's that young man who arrived yesterday in the carriage alongside General Rongtian."

Though he had only caught a fleeting glimpse, Chen Zhi'an had already recognized the youth's identity.

"A figure ranked twenty-second on the Crouching Tiger Monument, the young mountain master of Old Sword Mountain, yet he crawls over walls like a commoner and even falls down?" Chen Zhi'an was amused and exasperated, but after a moment's thought, he decided not to pursue him.

Even if he caught up, he couldn't beat him.

Besides, he hadn't done anything nefarious; if the boy wanted to watch, let him watch.

With these thoughts, Chen Zhi'an stepped down from the wall. Deciding against staying in the back courtyard, he returned to his room, crossed his legs, and slowly opened the Heavenly Yujing Diagram in his mind.

His consciousness sank into Nan Liujing's Kaiyang Gateway.

The Kaiyang Gateway was completely empty, with purple qi and Yellow Court energy growing increasingly dense. Chen Zhi'an's gaze drifted through the mist and the void, landing upon the Kunlun Marsh.

He saw that the misty Kunlun spiritual Qi within the marsh had grown even more concentrated, and forty red ginger plants had grown into a contiguous patch, the single flower they bore beginning once more to absorb the Kunlun spiritual Qi.

"As I forge the Muddy Pellet Palace, my primordial pass also grows wider, and the Kunlun Marsh within this Heavenly Yujing Diagram becomes increasingly marvelous."

Thinking of this, he mentally tallied the Yujing qi in the void and discovered that there were now more than a dozen additional strands of Yujing qi.

"When my divine essence takes residence in the Muddy Pellet Palace and I officially step into the Divine Essence realm, I imagine the Yujing qi will increase by many more strands. By then, I can use this Yujing qi and the Bright Mirror Tower to inspect surrounding opportunities and treasures."

Elated, Chen Zhi'an sat cross-legged within the Kaiyang Gateway, allowing the purple qi and Yellow Court energy to drift slowly and wrap around his form.

Closing his eyes, the profound cultivation method of the [Long-Day Safe and Hidden Scripture] surfaced in his mind.

He meditated upon it carefully until the sky outside grew completely bright, and only then did his consciousness withdraw from the White Jade Capital.

Opening his eyes in the room, the morning sun was rising outside, casting dappled light through the lattice window.

As he circulated the Long-Day Safe and Hidden Scripture, he could feel his true essence, his spirited vigor, and even the newly forged Muddy Pellet Palace being veiled by layers of mist.

First Stage: True essence and spirited vigor faintly flickered.

Third Stage: Shrouded in hazy obscurity.

Fifth Stage: True and false blurred, utterly indistinct.

Seventh Stage: Akin to being shrouded in dense mountain mists, all things concealed within the thick fog.

In a single night, aided by his own comprehension and the purple qi and Yellow Court energy within the Kaiyang Gateway, Chen Zhi'an had cultivated the manual to the seventh stage, achieving perfection in the Long-Day Safe and Hidden Scripture...

Safe and hidden through the long day; all worlds and all dharmas are veiled by wondrous mist, and the boundless universe is concealed within.

"This is a Buddhist profound cultivation method." Chen Zhi'an was quite satisfied.

At that exact moment, another sound echoed from the back courtyard.

Frowning slightly, Chen Zhi'an walked to the back courtyard, only to find a tiny parcel lying on the ground.

Opening the parcel, he found two liang of silver inside.

"I witnessed this unintentionally; kind sir, please bear no grudge. Let this silver serve as my apology."

Chen Zhi'an was left laughing and crying. Looking left and right, he saw no trace of anyone else.

"A truly rustic apology." Accepting the two liang of silver, Chen Zhi'an decided not to dwell on the matter with the young mountain master of Old Sword Mountain any further.

---

Within the Cuiwei Palace, Princess Shangqiu rested her chin in her hands, gazing at the stack of letters on her desk.

"This Chen Zhi'an may look young, but his conduct is quite mature. So many great prefectures went to seek an audience with him, yet he simply refused to see them.

Now, all these letters requesting paintings have found their way to me."

Extending an arm as white as jade, she flipped through the letters.

"From the Grand Administrator's Mansion, the Ministry of Justice's Mansion, the Dragon Cavalry General's Mansion, the Ministry of War's Minister Si's Mansion..."

"And there's a letter from Minister of Revenue Li's Mansion. Sister Linglong really shouldn't have hung that painting in the East Hall of the Yufu Palace."