Zhanxian (Immortal Executioner)

“Do you really have to go to the Immortal Falling Well?”

Raising this question, was Du Qian, who had always been considerate towards Yang Chen. He could not understand it, Yang Chen was a qi layer disciple, but in the Immortal Falling Well, even with the help of a flying sword, would he be able to obstruct or kill any underground spirit beasts? This kind of unwise action basically did not seem like Yang Chen’s usual way of doing things.

“Naturally!”

Yang Chen smiled, holding out his hand in inviting position to ask Du Qian to sit opposite to him and at the same time he smilingly said:

“After asking for a request from the Palace Master, I cannot go back on it, right?”

“Do you even know how dangerous the Immortal Falling Well is?”

Du Qian was a disciple of the Law Enforcement Hall and at the same time also had a cultivation of the peak foundation stage, yet until now he hadn’t gone to the Immortal Falling Well even once. Not everyone was fond of going to that kind of dangerous place to temper themselves.

“Uncle Master, I have already learned everything that is available in Nine Earth Manor’s Hidden Pavilion, yet you ask whether I know or not?”

Du Qian was only concerned about him, for which Yang Chen appreciated him a lot, thus he was very respectful towards him and so he rapidly replied:

“Anyway, the Palace Master said to prepare properly and I also think that it would not be too late to go after I am genuinely prepared, previously I had just fought for the qualifications, that’s all.”

Yang Chen’s words eased the worry in Du Qian’s heart, Yang Chen thought that his idea of going against expectations by taking a step back was also a good move sometimes. It had to be known that, although the Immortal Falling Well was a dangerous place, the advantages were quite plentiful, so, as long as he had trained therein for a few years and did not die, he would basically become a rich and powerful person and therefore the qualifications to enter the Immortal Falling Well was also a goal for which everyone competed. Yang Chen had obtained one place when he was still in the qi realm, he had a lot of foresight indeed.

“This is also good, first snatching this qualification, then when you are at the foundation stage, it won’t be too late to go!”

Du Qian nodded slightly and was appreciating his words, but soon afterwards, he saw Yang Chen’s strange expression and suddenly his heart was jolted, so he hastily asked:

“You don’t plan to go there before reaching the foundation stage, right?”

“Actually, Uncle Master, I had planned to leave after two months.”

Yang Chen told all of his plans to Du Qian without hiding anything with a smile. Hearing this, Du Qian didn’t knew whether to laugh or to cry.

“Even if you go with your current cultivation, you will not be able to pass the examination for new people, then what will be the point?”

Du Qian did not know what to say, only restraining the smile on his face, he sternly asked:

“You won’t even be able to withstand the most low levelled underground spirit beasts! Why do you want to throw your life away?”

“I may not necessarily be throwing my life away, Uncle Master have you forgotten, I still have the ability to concoct pills.”

Yang Chen didn’t tell him all of his plans, he merely said the most reassuring words to Du Qian.

“Within the Immortal Falling Well, even if there were only second grade yang qi pills, many people would still appreciate them, if I have sufficient herbs, I will be able to exchange them for a lot of benefits.”

“Second grade yang qi pills?”

When Du Qian heard this name, he was greatly astonished.

“You can refine second grade yang qi pills? Are you a second grade pill concocting master now?”

Du Qian could not help but become shocked, even a majority of the foundation stage pill concocting masters could not refine second grade yang qi pills, yet Yang Chen, who was just a minor qi layer disciple, surprisingly already had the ability to refine second grade yang qi pills. If this news was spread outside, then countless pill concocting masters would go mad.

The first grade of concocting implied the ability to refine a pill one time, while the second grade meant that the pill could be refined twice, the effects would just double. The strongest pill concocting master could refine a pill nine times. Generally speaking, refining a pill nine times was considered the limit for the pill.

Every improvement of one level would mean that the level of the pill would be increased by a huge margin, but unfortunately, this kind of increase was not all that easy. Even though Yang Chen had been a Great Principal Golden Immortal in his previous life, when he was at death’s door, he was still just a minor sixth grade pill concocting master. How rare high grade pill concocting masters were could easily be seen from this.

Even in this life, Zhu Chen Tao was the Hall Master of the Medicine Hall, but he was only a third grade pill concocting master, and he had reached this realm just recently. But this was already an achievement which people could look up to. Countless people admired Zhu Chen Tao’s pill concocting skills, he was an existence which could be called a genius.

But at the moment, Du Qian was forced to admit that in a matter such as pill concocting, Zhu Chen Tao was just a nobody who was beyond redemption in front of Yang Chen. Of course, Du Qian did not dare to say this out loudly, but he was greatly startled and he unexpectedly even forgot Zhu Chen Tao’s reputation in his mind.

A second grade elixir, especially an elixir like the yang qi pill did not require Yang Chen to spend much energy. With the help of his Profound Spirit Furnace, Yang Chen could easily accomplish this. If it were not that a third grade elixir would shock the whole world, Yang Chen would have already started to refine it.

Certainly, being a second grade pill concocting master was the perfect shield for Yang Chen. Perhaps making his name at Heavenly Stairs would allow him to resist malicious outside influences for the time he remained within the Pure Yang Palace, but the reputation of a second grade pill concocting master was far more dazzling when compared to any kind of cultivation talent, moreover it was also more secure. Experts of a sect may be willing to kill cultivation geniuses of another sect, but they would not easily offend a pill concocting master, even if he was merely a common first grade pill concocting expert.

Du Qian departed hurriedly after confirming this. He had to inform the higher ups of the sect about these world shocking news. At the same time, he also felt grateful towards Yang Chen for telling only him about this. It was clearly a huge gift by Yang Chen to him.

Within the Nine Earth Manor and the Ye Xiu Manor, Du Qian had defended Yang Chen’s name, he even did not hesitate to confront the Merit Transferring Disciple Chu Heng, this had made the higher ups somewhat resentful towards him. Only after Yang Chen was able to produce the xun qi pill did the higher ups realize Yang Chen’s worth. Now that Yang Chen had been able to become a second grade pill concocting expert, after Du Qian would report it to the higher ups, he would be thought of highly, as a person with foresight who works hard for the sect, the benefits would be tremendous.

Within his own small courtyard, after giving pointers to his four servants, just as he had sat down to prepare and taken out the Profound Spirit Furnace to maintain it, he immediately saw that on top of the peak of Meiqin Mountain, a few rays of light were rising and flying towards him at lightning speed. With a smile on his face, Yang Chen put away the Profound Spirit Furnace and afterwards calmly waited for them, while keeping an eye on those rays of light.

Soon, those rays of light appeared above the Nine Earth Manor, they appeared to be sword shaped rays. As soon as those sword rays dropped down, within Yang Chen’s small courtyard, the silhouettes of a few people could be seen. Before Yang Chen could clearly see who they were, Zhu Chen Tao’s voice reached his ears:

“Yang Chen, can you refine a second grade pill?”

“Yes, Uncle Master!”

Yang Chen hastily bowed and replied and soon after that slowly raised his head. Only then did he discover that apart from Du Qian and Medicine Hall’s Hall Master, Zhu Chen Tao, surprisingly Pure Yang Palace’s Palace Master himself had also come to his small courtyard.

Zhu Chen Tao had a very impatient nature, so hearing Yang Chen’s words, he immediately fished out a great pile of herbs from his qiankun pouch and piled them up in the courtyard and eagerly commanded:

“Immediately refine them in front of my eyes!”

His voice was full of expectation and delight, as if he had never thought Yang Chen would lie.

During the long time he had not met Yang Chen, it seemed as if Zhu Chen Tao’s breath had grown even stronger. Although Yang Chen was not able to tell Zhu Chen Tao’s current realm, he was certain that he had recently increased his strength. It could be said that Yang Chen’s fire controlling skill had allowed him to have an even deeper comprehension, only then could he have this kind of increase in strength.

Although the Palace Master hadn’t said anything, his gaze also contained a similar expectant look with strong praise. Yang Chen, this outer disciple had already given him too many pleasant surprises.

Apart from Medicine Hall’s Hall Master and Pure Yang Palace’s Palace Master, Yang Chen also saw one more acquaintance, the Hall Master of the Foreign Affairs Hall, Xu Cheng Xin. Meeting Yang Chen’s gaze, Xu Cheng Xin also slightly nodded as if he was extremely delighted.

Although the herbs were not equal to Yang Chen’s Profound Yang Fruit in effect, but compared to ordinary materials used to refine yang qi pills, they were far superior. Yang Chen did not argue and took out the Profound Spirit Furnace from his qiankun pouch again, restored it to its ordinary dimensions and placed it within the courtyard. He had intended to start the concoction on the spot, on one hand, Pure Yang Palace’s Palace Master could also watch and on the other hand, Yang Chen was absolutely not worried about any kind of mishaps.

Looking at Yang Chen’s Profound Spirit Furnace, the Palace Master’s and Zhu Chen Tao’s eyes shone brightly. This had also confirmed to the Palace Master that Yang Chen did indeed have the strength to control and refine magic weapons, as this Profound Spirit Furnace was precisely a magic weapon which had been refined. Moreover, it could only be refined by Yang Chen, otherwise it would not allow him to use it.

The Profound Spirit Furnace was a gift to Yang Chen by Zhu Chen Tao, so he naturally was aware about its appearance at that time. Zhu Chen Tao naturally knew that at that time the quality of this Profound Spirit Furnace had increased, he could tell this with just a glance. Regarding this change produced by Yang Chen in the short period of a year, Zhu Chen Tao was greatly regretful that he had become so old.

Yang qi pill was a very low level elixir, a normal first grade yang qi pill, is suited for the use of qi realm disciples, moreover refining it was very easy, even Yang Chen’s servant Ho Lin who did not have any great talent in concocting had also refined a yang qi pill previously. Foundation stage experts have no interest in this kind of low levelled pill.

However a second grade yang qi pill was something entirely different, after being passed through refining once again, it was not any inferior to the yuan cultivation pill used by foundation stage experts. Even the cost of production was lower and the efficacy was higher, when compared to the yuan cultivation pill.

Under the attentive gazes of the Palace Master and the two Hall Masters, Yang Chen was absolutely relaxed. After dealing with the pile of herbs, he entered them into the Profound Spirit Furnace and started refining.

In his previous life, Yang Chen had not refined a yang qi pill, but in this life he had already refined dozens of them. With the experience of two lifetimes, he knew it extremely well. The people who were standing on the side, watched as Yang Chen held the Profound Spirit Furnace with one hand and controlled the flames with the other hand, as he was skillfully adding the herbs one by one. Seeing him work so calmly under such great pressure, all of the spectators nodded inwardly.

It was the first time for the Palace Master to see Yang Chen’s almost perfect control over fire. Zhu Chen Tao and Xu Cheng Xin had already experienced this and were not all that amazed, but the Palace Master was watching with an earnest expression on his face, nobody knew what he was thinking.

In less than an hour, Yang Chen had already successfully refined the yang qi pill. The raw material prepared by Zhu Chen Tao were just enough for him refine a furnace worth of first grade yang qi pills. With his unique pill collecting skill, he took out those hundred yang qi pills from the furnace and after cleaning the residual waste left in the furnace, he once again returned those already refined first grade yang qi pills into the furnace.

This time, Yang Chen did not add any extra herbs, rather he used both hands to hold the handles of the Profound Spirit Furnace, and began to control the intensity of the flames. Slowly, the first grade yang qi pills started to purify.

Purifying the medicines was an extremely meticulous work, as long as one was even the least bit inattentive, the powerful flames could immediately burn down the herbs to ashes. Yang Chen had shown an unprecedented concentration. The spectators were all aware that this moment was very important, so they all held their breath for fear of disturbing Yang Chen. After all, Yang Chen was just a qi layer disciple, but he had already accomplished a feat which not even a foundation stage expert could be certain about accomplishing, naturally they were all very careful.

Yang Chen had required eight hours for purification. Everyone present was a cultivator, so they didn’t make many movements and accompanied Yang Chen from the beginning to the end.

The extremely slender flames were nimbly rolling on the surface of the pills and the spirit power that was circulated to enter into the furnace was leading these extremely small impurities out of the furnace. This process needed a whole eight hours until it was completely finished. At that moment, Yang Chen used his usual technique to take out the pills and pull all of them out of the furnace, and placed them properly within a good jade bottle.

After the refining had ended, Zhu Chen Tao impatiently rushed over to take the jade bottle from Yang Chen’s hands, he popped out a few pills and gave one to the Palace Master and Xu Cheng Xin each, while fiddling with another pill in his own hands from the large amount of pills he had in his hands.

After being refined twice, the yang qi pill had shrunken in size, but its outer surface appeared extremely smooth and round, which gave quite a pleasant sensation when touched. On the pill’s outer surface, two thin, clear veins formed a circle coiling around the pill. The medicinal fragrance on the outside of the pill had decreased quite a bit, but that was actually because the outstanding and flowery smell was restrained to the inside.

Zhu Chen Tao’s method to test a pill was to throw it into his mouth. After consuming a second grade yang qi pill, Zhu Chen Tao closed his eyes and began to carefully sense its medicinal strength. The Palace Master and Xu Chen Xin also stopped inspecting the pill and attentively watched Zhu Chen Tao, waiting for him to open his eyes.

“Plentiful spirit power and also rapidly spreading, I’m sure, this is a second grade yang qi pill!”

After a short moment, Zhu Chen Tao opened his eyes and gave his judgement. Hearing this, a delighted look immediately appeared on the faces of Palace Master and Xu Cheng Xin.

“Yang Chen, what kind of pills can you refine?”

The Palace Master asked, after being pleasantly surprised.

“Only xun qi pills and yang qi pills!”

Saying this, embarrassment immediately appeared on Yang Chen’s face.

“As for other kinds of pills, I have only looked at their methods, but have never experimented.”

“So, your spirit power and medicinal knowledge have all been mastered at the Hidden Pavilion, hasn’t anyone taught you?”

The Palace Master nodded without making any further comments and continued to ask.

“Yes, Palace Master!”

Yang Chen nodded his head in agreement, this was an open secret at the Ye Xiu Manor and Nine Earth Manor, not something which could be hidden, moreover Yang Chen also didn’t want to pretend to be guided by Chu Heng.

“Be relieved and go to the Immortal Falling Well and remember to obtain a few spirit essences, they will be extremely beneficial for your immortal cave afterwards.”

The expression on the face of the Palace Master made it impossible to know what he was thinking and his tone was also serene, only the last words have leaked some of his thoughts.

“From today, if anyone tries to speak out against your identity as an executioner again, directly kill him. If you are unable to kill him, then come back and inform the Law Enforcement Hall and kill him with the help of the Pure Yang Palace!”