Misty Rain of the Old Times

Chapter 790 Wild

Upon closer inspection, the furnace was about five feet tall, with an oval-shaped body, three legs, and two handles. There were fist-sized observation openings on the four sides of the furnace, and the lid was tightly sealed.

Its ancient and mottled appearance is covered with moss and dust, making it difficult to see its original appearance.

After circling it twice, Chen Xuan seemed to be deep in thought. This thing clearly looked like a pill furnace.

Thinking of this, he released another burst of true energy, enveloping the furnace and instantly cleaning its inner and outer surfaces, revealing its true appearance to Chen Xuan.

Upon closer inspection, it is light blue in color and covered with various floral patterns. These patterns are intricate yet orderly, giving it a sense of natural perfection.

Among the many floral patterns, there was a character on the front and back of the furnace that Chen Xuan recognized: '百' (hundred) and '草' (grass).

'Hundred Herbs? Hundred Herbs Furnace, that must be the name of this furnace. It seems this really is a pill-making furnace.'

Chen Xuan was only slightly more interested in this, but not excited at all.

For him, a pill furnace is not a necessity at the moment. Although he has inherited the Dao of Alchemy from Old Liu, with his current cultivation level, he is already very skilled at refining pills that he can't refine. Having another pill furnace won't make much difference to the pills that he can't refine due to his limited cultivation level.

Moreover, he also inherited Old Liu's weapon-refining skills, including the method of refining alchemy furnaces. He can refine them himself when needed, so unless it is a rare and precious furnace, it is dispensable to him.

'It's wild after all. If it's not bad, I might bring it back and find it useful later.'

Thinking this, Chen Xuan began to observe carefully. The Hundred Herbs Furnace was well preserved, having endured countless winds and sun without a single scratch. This showed that it was no ordinary alchemy furnace, otherwise it would have rotted away long ago.

Reaching out to touch it for a little inspection, the texture was cool, solid, and unpretentious. This was definitely a pill furnace created through refining and crafting, not an ordinary item forged from ordinary metal.

Chen Xuan had several methods for refining alchemy furnaces in his mind, but he had not yet studied weapon crafting in depth, so he could not immediately identify the material of this alchemy furnace.

There's no need to worry too much about this; it's not very meaningful. Every alchemist will try their best to create a furnace that suits them, which can be considered their exclusive equipment. What suits you best is the best. If it doesn't suit you, even a good furnace may not be able to refine good pills.

Of course, only great alchemists pay attention to these things; ordinary alchemists should be grateful if they have a good furnace.

'I'm getting carried away. Because I have Lao Liu's alchemy heritage, I subconsciously try to reach his level. This kind of thinking is unacceptable,' Chen Xuan thought to himself, feeling that he was overthinking things.

Putting aside his thoughts, Chen Xuan decided that since the Hundred Herbs Furnace before him was quite extraordinary, he should examine its quality.

'I hope you're not just a pretty face, and live up to your impeccable image that has withstood the test of time.'

After a moment's hesitation, Chen Xuan placed his hand on the furnace and tentatively channeled his true essence into it, being very careful and gentle so as not to accidentally damage it.

As he channeled his true essence into it, the alchemy furnace, which had been standing quietly, trembled and hummed slightly. Then, its surface emitted a blue light, and the floral patterns seemed to come alive.

At the same time, the temperature of the furnace was also rising. Through the observation hole, red flames could be seen shooting out of thin air inside the furnace. As Chen Xuan channeled his true energy into the furnace, the fire grew stronger and stronger, and gradually the interior was completely filled with red flames.

Seeing this, Chen Xuan's interest grew even stronger. He slowly increased the input of his true essence, and the flames and temperature inside changed accordingly. The red flames turned orange, and with the continuous input of true essence, the flames, which had turned completely orange, changed to cyan, and then to blue. At this point, even though Chen Xuan loosened his grip and inputted true essence a little, the color of the flames inside no longer changed, and the furnace body was trembling slightly.

By this time, Chen Xuan had a general idea of ​​what was going on. He stopped channeling his true energy and withdrew his hand. As a result, the flames inside the furnace gradually died down, and the temperature began to drop.

In the brief moment he was testing the waters, the intense heat emanating from the furnace distorted the surrounding air. The astonishing heat caused the moisture within a radius of several feet to evaporate rapidly, and the vegetation to wither, char, and burn. Chen Xuan extinguished the flames with a wave of his hand, so he wasn't worried about causing a fire. The humidity of Cloud Mist Mountain simply couldn't spread.

Looking at the gradually cooling alchemy furnace, Chen Xuan nodded slightly. This was indeed a good thing, of such high quality that it was a treasure that most alchemists would dream of. Even for Chen Xuan, who had inherited the alchemy and weapon-making skills of Old Liu, it was a good thing.

"Since I've encountered it, and it's unclaimed, I'll take it with me. It can serve as practice material in the future. When my cultivation advances further, I can use it to try refining some real elixirs. However, since it's something left behind by someone else, it might not be suitable for me. In the future, I'll still need to refine my own suitable alchemy furnace."

At this point, Chen Xuan had already decided to take it away. He wouldn't covet something that already belonged to someone else, but he figured he might as well pick up this wild one.

It's not like no one has ever been here before, but no one could take anything away until he met him. Perhaps that's fate.

Alchemy furnaces are also classified by quality, but it's not complicated. According to the alchemy knowledge passed down by Lao Liu, there are only three levels: ordinary, rare, and treasure furnace. Each level has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the degree of suitability varies from person to person.

Ordinary quality alchemy furnaces are just so-so. The vast majority of alchemists in the world use furnaces of this level. There's nothing special about them. They are made according to preferences and uses, and require external fuel to raise the temperature so that they can be used for alchemy, such as burning wood or charcoal.

The reason why a rare alchemy furnace is considered a rare item is that it is already a crafted artifact, and it has its own extraordinary features. It does not require external fuel, but can use internal energy, true qi and true essence as energy sources instead of fuel. Moreover, the temperature can also be adjusted, which makes it extremely convenient for alchemists to control the heat.

Undoubtedly, the Hundred Herbs Furnace in front of Chen Xuan is a rare and precious alchemy furnace, and its quality is extremely rare at this level. This can be understood from the changes in the flames he checked several times before, as different medicinal materials have different temperature requirements when refining pills.

If he were to use this Hundred Herbs Furnace to refine the pills Chen Xuan had previously experimented with, once he mastered it, he could even cram in all sorts of medicinal herbs at once, instead of processing each herb individually as before. Moreover, with it, once his cultivation advanced further, he could even try some truly miraculous elixirs. However, as the saying goes, this thing is good, but it might not be suitable for him. Having experimented with pills in Mo City for so many years, he wasn't a novice in array formations, and besides, he also had Old Liu's pill-refining experience in his head.

As for the finest alchemy furnaces, they are truly rare and priceless. It is no exaggeration to describe them as invaluable treasures. Furnaces of that level can either draw upon the fire of the earth's veins to refine pills, or absorb the true fire of the sun to refine pills, or even use heavenly thunder and gale to refine pills. Their mysteries are beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

In the information about alchemy that Lao Liu instilled in Chen Xuan, the treasure furnace probably only existed in immortal sects that specialized in alchemy. As an expert in alchemy, Lao Liu was extremely envious, but unfortunately, he never saw what a real treasure furnace looked like before he died. As an expert in weapon crafting, he also failed to craft a treasure furnace. The Star-Containing Furnace, which Chen Xuan has only used once, is already Lao Liu's most prized work.

Since he had decided to take the Hundred Herbs Furnace with him, Chen Xuan no longer hesitated. His wives were still waiting, and to avoid making them worry, he had said he would be back soon.

Even though it's a rare alchemy furnace, it's still only so big. It's interesting that Chen Xuan couldn't budge it when he absorbed it from a distance.

Reaching out and grabbing the left side of the furnace handle, Chen Xuan tried to lift it with a slight effort of his right hand, but the ground shook and he still couldn't lift it, as if it were rooted to the ground.

He couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Even if he wasn't using his full strength, it shouldn't be like this. This wasn't some legendary treasure furnace connected to the earth's veins. How could trying to lift it feel like lifting an entire mountain?

With his current cultivation level, it wouldn't be impossible for him to move this mountain several hundred meters high if he were serious, but he would only do that if he had his brain caught in a door.

So the problem must be under the stove.

With a thought flashing through his mind, Chen Xuan lightly touched the ground with his toes, and the soil flowed outwards like water ripples, revealing the solid granite beneath the furnace, where the furnace's three legs were embedded, with black gold locks at the joints.

"No wonder it couldn't be easily moved before; it was actually fixed here. The granite below extends across the entire mountain, which is no different from trying to easily move the whole mountain. The problem that the predecessors couldn't take it away lies here. Even a master of innate cultivation would find it difficult to break the black gold lock. Without solving it, there's no way to take away this alchemy furnace unless you smash the furnace and take away the fragments."

With a wry smile, Chen Xuan unleashed an invisible sword aura from his fingertips, severing the black gold lock as easily as cutting tofu. With another lift, the previously motionless alchemy furnace was lifted off the ground.

He weighed the alchemy furnace in his hand. Good heavens, although it was only five feet tall, it weighed over three thousand catties. If we calculate it as sixteen taels per catty, it weighed about two tons. However, this weight was no different from holding a straw for him, and he did not experience any situation where his feet sank into the ground while holding the furnace.

Looking around, there was nothing else worth noting. Chen Xuan had also used his true essence to explore the inside of the mountain and found no secret chambers or anything like that. So he picked up the alchemy furnace and left, not forgetting to restore the illusion array and mist array that he had moved earlier.

"This was truly an unexpected gain, though not of much use. So, is this furnace really something Old Liu left behind? It's a pity he's been dead for so many years, I can't confirm it with him. None of the various inheritance information he gave me mentions this furnace. Could it be because it's not important, or perhaps he simply forgot about it? If he left it, he probably really forgot, after all, only Hanxing was by his side on his deathbed, he wouldn't have had time to explain so much about other things, not even his descendants. By the way, has Liu Yuyuan found his burial place yet?"

Chen Xuan's trip took only about ten minutes. The little princess and her companions hadn't even traveled three miles along the road, and the stove they brought back when they met up with them hadn't even cooled down completely.

"Master is back. Did your journey go smoothly?" Xia Mei noticed his return immediately and went up to ask.

Chen Xuan smiled and said, "What could possibly happen? Aunt Mei, you don't need to worry at all. On the contrary, I wonder if you encountered any bandits in the mountains when I left?"

"A few scouts tried to get close to observe our situation, but they were scared away when I slightly revealed my aura. They probably won't come back. Should I arrange for someone to deal with the bandits entrenched in the mountains?" Xia Mei reported truthfully, asking for instructions instead of making decisions on her own, even though she could have made the decision herself.

Shaking his head, Chen Xuan said dismissively, "If they know what's good for them, we don't need to pay them any attention."

Nodding to indicate that she understood, Xia Mei said no more. Seeing the stove that Chen Xuan had brought back, she asked in surprise, "Is this what you got from your trip, Master? Would you like me to help you store it?"

After all, it was brought back by Chen Xuan himself, so it looked extraordinary. It was her duty to carefully consult him.

To Chen Xuan, this wasn't some shameful treasure, so he casually handed it to Xia Mei and said with a smile, "Then I'll trouble Aunt Mei to put it in the car where there's still space. Be careful, this stove is quite heavy."

Since he had said that, Xia Mei naturally wouldn't take it lightly. She reached out and took it, and immediately felt its weight. Fortunately, it wasn't a big problem. She was secretly surprised. Where did the master bring this from? It seemed he had found a treasure. She just didn't know its specific purpose. Without asking rashly, she tactfully took the stove to the back door carriage. It was so heavy that it would need a separate carriage to pull it.

The little princess and her companions had witnessed the brief exchange. As Chen Xuan got into the carriage, the maidservant skillfully came to his side to help him take off his shoes. Turning back, she chattered, "Master brought back a stove. It's quite nice, and rather large. It'll take up a lot of space in the house. I reckon if it's lit, several rooms nearby will be warm. It's just that we won't need it at all this season; we'll only use it in winter."

Hearing this, Chen Xuan was both amused and exasperated. He gently tapped her head, sat down, and laughed, "That's not a stove for heating in winter, it's a pill furnace, used for refining pills. Don't pretend to know what you don't."

"Oh dear, I didn't know! If you keep banging, Master will go crazy. Are you tired? Let me massage your legs. Is that the alchemy furnace? It's quite unique. Can you really refine pills with all those holes?" the little girl asked with a grin.

Nodding, Chen Xuan didn't explain further, casually saying, "Well, the alchemy furnace. With it, I can't refine miraculous pills yet, but you guys can eat those cultivation-boosting pills at home like candy from now on."

"Really?" The little girl's eyes lit up. Her cultivation level was too low to help the master, but she still remembered Chen Xuan's expectations of her when the two of them depended on each other for survival.

With a speechless smile, Chen Xuan shook his head and said, "You actually took it seriously? Although I don't advocate forcing yourself to endure hardship these days, and there are pills to help improve cultivation, why not use them? But taking too many isn't a good thing either. Cultivation improvement still depends more on your own efforts."

"I know, I was just kidding," the little girl said shyly, sticking out her tongue. She didn't really intend to improve her cultivation level by taking drugs alone; there's a big difference between having the means and not using them versus using them in a different way.

...(End of this chapter)