Chapter 159

Chapter 159: Clues to the Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit

On the seventh floor, Rong Shu, as always, examined the recipes first. This time she paused. The provided recipe was incomplete.

She informed the others of her discovery and offered a reasonable guess: “The missing steps are crucial. Please search the chamber carefully for clues.”

Han Cheng Yun answered readily: “No problem.”

They were all in the same boat, and none of them would refuse such a task. Rong Shu joined the search, heading not for the manuals everyone else was thumbing through but for handwritten notebooks.

She flipped through three in succession without finding anything. Just as she began to suspect her approach was wrong, an unexpected surprise awaited on the last page of the third notebook.

Her eyes brightened faintly as she whispered, weighing each word: “Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit? There is a Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit in the secret realm?”

Was it the very Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit she was imagining?

If the record was true, it stated that the herb garden within the Scorchfire Secret Realm cultivated the Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit. The realm had opened three times in total. She did not know whether someone had discovered it in the first two openings and carried it away.

Even if that was the case, the fruit’s value was so great that it was still worth a trip to the herb garden to see with her own eyes.

Zong Wen Shi asked from across the room, practical as ever: “Fellow Daoist Lin, do the notes say how to unlock the seventh-floor door?”

Rong Shu shook her head: “They do not. These are mainly the alchemical grandmaster’s data from pill experiments. I will keep looking.”

She slipped the notebook that mentioned the Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit back onto the shelf. With everyone watching, showing too much eagerness would only arouse suspicion. Her seemingly casual return of the book convinced Zong Wen Shi and the others there was nothing important in it.

She kept up the act of hunting for the missing steps while turning the matter over in secret: [The Fire Spirit Tribulation Fruit is in the herb garden. It seems I should leave the Scripture Tower as soon as possible.]

Han Cheng Yun’s group likely knew nothing about the herb garden’s treasure. They were rogue cultivators. Some sects and great clans, however, might already have caught wind of it.

After a long search, Rong Shu finally pieced together the critical step from several notebooks and manuals. Following the instructions, she resumed refining. She failed four times before successfully completing a furnace. Success breeds success; spirits lifted, she went on to the second kind… the third… the fourth…

No one knew how much time had passed. When Rong Shu stood to stretch, Han Cheng Yun and the others, who had been waiting quietly in a corner so as not to disturb her, rushed over.

Han Cheng Yun asked, barely containing himself: “Well? How did it go?”

Wu Man echoed with bright eyes: “Did you succeed?”

Rong Shu glanced at them and gave a shy smile: “Mm, I succeeded.”

Han Cheng Yun cupped his hands first in formal congratulations: “Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Lin. You are now a third-grade alchemist.”

Rong Shu blinked. Then she realized that the last few chambers had all required third-grade pills. She had failed a lot at first, then improved as she learned their temperaments. To successfully refine third-grade pills meant she had at least set foot on the threshold.

Others spoke up in turn, praise filling the room.

Zhu Chun said with relief: “Congratulations, Fellow Daoist Lin!”

Yun Gao Fei added, sounding like he had known it all along: “As expected. You were so confident when you chose to challenge the seventh-floor chamber.”

Rong Shu demurred with honest humility: “Just luck.”

Even the taciturn Song Xuan offered flattery: “So young and already touching the threshold of third-grade alchemy, Fellow Daoist Lin may one day become a fifth-grade alchemist. A true genius.”

He added a timely reminder: “The key to advancing from third to fourth grade is fusing an Exotic Flame. Li Rong Mountain within the secret realm has birthed quite a few Exotic Flames. On this trip, Fellow Daoist Lin may well find one.”

From the moment she showed promise as a third-grade alchemist, Rong Shu clearly felt Han Cheng Yun and the others’ attitude shift. A young third-grade alchemist had limitless potential. For rogue cultivators, only a fool would not try to befriend her.

Rong Shu inclined her head: “Thank you for the reminder.” She carried the pills to the door and unlocked the seventh floor.

They proceeded to clear the eighth and ninth floors, both of which also required third-grade pills. After the ninth, Rong Shu said frankly: “Any further and I cannot manage it. How about we stop here?”

Beyond this point the trial would require fourth-grade pills. Without an Exotic Flame, even a mountain of spirit herbs would not be enough. The gap between third and fourth grade was a chasm. A successful fourth-grade pill bore fine pill lines on its surface. Such exquisitely precise control of heat all but demanded the aid of an Exotic Flame.

Han Cheng Yun sighed, content despite himself: “So be it.”

Their gains had already far exceeded expectations.

Upon success in a chamber, they had two choices: continue the challenge by pressing the agate-like gem at the door’s center, or leave the Scripture Tower by turning the gem clockwise half a circle.

Rong Shu turned the gem half a circle, and the door opened on its own. They exited in succession. By now they had descended to the tower’s ground level. A step through the back door would take them outside.

Once out, Rong Shu tilted her head to look up at the soaring height of the Scripture Tower. The formations within had been laid with such skill that they had endured intact for centuries. The secret realm’s master was truly mysterious. Some cultivators had guessed the master might also be a powerful formation grandmaster. But aside from the pervasive presence of formations, there was no proof. The legacies preserved here pointed only to an alchemical grandmaster; the manuals all concerned pill-refining.

Zong Wen Shi’s eyes turned as he offered a proposal: “Why don’t we head to Li Rong Mountain first and see if we can find an Exotic Flame?”

The old cultivator Zhu Chun supported him without hesitation: “No objection here.”

Han Cheng Yun agreed: “Fine.”

Others echoed: “All right.”

Rong Shu watched their ready agreement with a mild smile. That they all spoke with one voice now was, in truth, to give her face. She had just stepped into third-grade alchemy, and her next step would be advancing to fourth grade, which required an Exotic Flame. So they chose Li Rong Mountain first.

Inwardly, however, she could only sigh to herself: [I do not need you to make this kind of sacrifice. We could go to the herb garden first just as well!]