Immortal Soaring Blade

Finally, all the disciples gathered, and Instructor Zhou’s powerful voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

“This was your first mission. Its purpose was to help you better adapt to the environment. The sect contributions are there to encourage you to work hard to increase your strength, to stimulate you to cultivate and obtain more resources. The result of this mission is out. The top three not only get the 100 sect contributions, but also the thing I promised before you all set off. This is a rare thing that is very good for Spirit Transformation Realm cultivators.”

When Instructor Zhou said this, he became silent and looked at the disciples below with a mysterious gaze. Sure enough, after he said this, the crowd burst out into discussion, and Instructor Zhou seemed satisfied with this reaction. He finally revealed the name of this mysterious item to the crowd.

“Spirit Tempering Pill.”

This sent off another wave among the crowd. None one had heard of this name before; not even those with good family backgrounds had heard about the Spirit Tempering Pill before. They all looked at Instructor Zhou longingly. They wanted to know the effect of the Spirit Tempering Pill.

“Spirit Tempering Pill. Only my Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect has the recipe for this pill. No other sect has it, because the materials for the Spirit Tempering Pill only grow in the Mysterious Heaven Mountain. This time, regardless of whether you’re in the top three or not, as long as you have gathered all the herbs, we’ll refine the Spirit Tempering Pill for you.”

Looking at the longing expressions of the disciples below, even the serious and cold Instructor Zhou couldn’t help but smile. The corners of his mouth slowly curved up as he slowly said, “The Spirit Tempering Pill has a magical effect for people at the Spirit Transformation Realm. You all know that after reaching the Spirit Transformation Realm, you gather spirit force to condense your foundation formation and prepare to reach the Foundation Realm before condensing your core. When you were at the Blood Movement Realm, you experienced having your bodies cleansed of impurities once, but that was merely the beginning. The function of the Spirit Tempering Pill is to temper your physique again, making your spirit force more pure. Maybe you don’t understand it now, but to put it simply, it's like compressing spirit force. Your body is like a bottle that can only hold a fixed amount of water. After being compressed, it still looks like the same amount of water, but the quality of the water has changed.”

Instructor Zhou simply explained it all at once. After he finished speaking, he silently stood there and watched. The other instructors also quietly stood there and gave these new disciples time to digest the information about the Spirit Tempering Pill.

“Wow, the Spirit Tempering Pill has such a magical effect, I’m so envious.”

“That’s right. If I knew, I would have desperately searched for all the herbs. I wonder what the Spirit Tempering Pill looks like.”

“What is there to be envious about? If we can’t get it now, in a year, once we can take missions to earn sect contributions, we can buy it. I believe that at that time, there will be things much better than the Spirit Tempering Pill.”

“I really want to know who found all the herbs. Although we can buy them in the future, compared to others, we are still behind.”

All kinds of discussions echoed in the square. Even Bai Qingqing was quite excited after hearing the effect of the Spirit Tempering Pill. Her delicate face was red from excitement, and she pulled Zhao Jiuge’s arm. “Jiuge, although I haven't lacked anything since I was a child, I'm really interested in this Spirit Tempering Pill. This is the first time I’ve heard of such a thing.”

Bai Qingqing looked cute with her eyes squinting while pulling his arm like she was acting spoiled. This was the first time he had seen Bai Qinging reveal such an attitude, and Zhao Jiuge thought it was quite interesting. “Since we’ve found all the materials, once the Spirit Tempering Pill is fined, you can have it. I don’t need it since I’m already so fierce. You have seen my Sanskrit Divine Body.” After he finished speaking, Zhao Jiuge coolly rolled his eyes.

Zhao Jiuge believed only one Spirit Tempering Pill would be refined, given how magical the effect was. He thought about giving it to Bai Qingqing not only because of what she had just said, but because she was his friend. She had shown concern for him and had treated him well. Zhao Jiuge was someone who paid other’s kindness—that was his personality.

Facing Zhao Jiuge’s kindness, Bai Qingqing surprisingly didn’t refute him for the first time. Her beautiful eyes smiled brightly like the crescent moon, making her face look even more beautiful. The two of them hadn’t noticed, but their friendship had reached a new height.

On the other side, the youth with the scar looked at Zhao Jiuge and Bai Qingqing being intimate together, causing his face to stiffen. His face became gloomy and his eyes burst with the fire of jealousy as he looked at Zhao Jiuge. He thought to himself, “I’ll let you be proud now. After I defeat you, let’s see if you will have the face to meet other people and stand your ground on the Mysterious Heaven Peak.”

“Okay, let’s announce the result of the mission.” Instructor Zhou’s words were simple and concise.

“First place is Leng Rufeng’s[1] group.”

When people heard this name, the noise from the crowd stopped for a moment. Then, only when the young man named Leng Rufeng stepped forward, did everyone know what he looked like. No one knew who he was before this.

He had an ordinary-looking face with thick eyebrows and big eyes. When he noticed that everyone was looking at him, he felt a bit shy. What left an impression on Zhao Jiuge was the silly smile on Leng Rufeng’s face, which left a good impression on people. Zhao Jiuge knew that this person was born from an ordinary family, as he didn’t have the arrogance of those with family backgrounds. He remembered this person and decided he would try to become friends with him.

“Second place, the youth with the scar’s group.”

After hearing this from Instructor Zhou, the group around the youth with the scar cheered loudly. This made Zhao Jiuge anxious, wondering if he had even made it into the top three, or if those sect contributions would be gone. This was more uncomfortable for Zhao Jiuge than anything else. Bai Qingqing looked at Zhao Jiuge’s uneasiness and cast a comforting smile at him. Finally, Instructor Zhou’s next words finally allowed Zhao Jiuge’s anxious heart to relax.

“Third place is Bai Qingqing’s group. Only these three teams found all the herbs. You guys, come up to receive your Spirit Tempering Pills. The rest of you, keep working hard and don’t be discouraged. Although the first mission is over, this is merely the beginning. In the future, you will have thousands to tens of thousands of missions, and they will not be so simple. If you make a mistake, you might lose your life. Train hard in the following year, master the Sword Energy Elucidation chapter, and break through to the Foundation Realm.”

The smiling Leng Rufeng was filled with doubt, and he asked, “Instructor Zhou, we can obtain the Spirit Tempering Pill now? Doesn’t it need to be refined first?”

“I’ll refine them for you here and let you see how to do it. Instructor Li is quite accomplished in this aspect, so he will refine the Spirit Tempering Pill for you later. All of you, hand over the herbs you have collected.” Instructor Zhou had a mysterious expression on his face.

When all the herbs were handed over to Instructor Li, everyone on the square held their breath and watched Instructor Li’s every move. Everyone wanted to know how Instructor Li’s alchemy was. Most people would find a quiet place to refine pills, as it would take longer depending on the quality of the pill. Some pills even took years to finish.

When the square quieted down, Instructor Li suddenly moved. An invisible wave spread across the square. Then Instructor Li waved his right hand and a three-legged bronze pill furnace  appeared before him. It released strange spirit force fluctuations. The surface of the pill furnace had the carving of a three-legged animal, and the three legs of the animal just happened to be the legs of the furnace. 

Afterward, Instructor Li started moving his hand, using some peculiar hand technique. Everyone’s eyes were filled with doubt as he quickly threw the herbs into the pill furnace. A thick flame suddenly erupted below the pill furnace. The strange, orange fire caused some of the disciples to suck in breaths of cold air. They were a bit frightened by the fire that had suddenly appeared.

Only Zhao Jiuge, who had seen someone else refine a pill before, knew that fire was an attribute of Instructor Li’s spirit force. Although Zhao Jiuge didn’t know what kind of spirit vein Instructor Li had used, it had to be related to fire. He secretly admired Instructor Li. Back at the Mu Mansion, the grey-haired old man had taken several days to refine the Blue Spirit Pills. However, Instructor Li was calmly refining pills before everyone’s eyes.

The heat released by the raging fire made the disciples feel some lingering fear. They were far away, but they could feel the burning sensation on their skin. This was just the radiating heat from the fire—how terrifying was Instructor Li at full power?

Zhao Jiuge became even more curious about what kind of people would be in the inner sect of the Mysterious Heaven Sword Sect, as well as the mysterious head teacher. He had to obtain a spot as one of the inner disciples.

Instructor Li didn’t make the disciples on the square wait for too long. Finally, there was a bang and the air was filled with a faint fragrance. Everyone’s eyes were filled with expectation and curiosity. Everyone knew that the Spirit Tempering Pills had taken form, they just needed to wait for the furnace to open to see the real Spirit Tempering Pill.

When the raging fire dissipated, one could see the visible aura of the pill leaking out from the pill furnace. The Spirit Tempering Pills had been successfully refined.

1. Name literally means cold as wind