My Master Knows It All

10: Chapter 10 Heaven’s Path, Hell’s Gate_1 10: Chapter 10 Heaven’s Path, Hell’s Gate_1 Ingredients were added, initiating the most basic Ignition Earth Fire.

Cao Zhen manipulated his power, and four Dao Platforms appeared behind him.

These were the four Dao Platforms that he had condensed after his Foundation Establishment, and with every spell he cast, in harmony with the Earth Fire, he fed them into the Pill Furnace, immediately prompting a reaction from the various ingredients within.

Through the spells, Cao Zhen regulated the fusion speed and proportion of the essences, contemplating that he only retained the memory of the pill pulling technique but had never truly practiced it.

He wondered whether he could produce several more pills this time and share them with his disciples afterward.

The servant outside noticed the Formation was activated and that the Earth Fire had already been stirred, but he was surprised to find that not a hint of medicinal fragrance had escaped, leading him to wonder if this person had not come to concoct medicine or to perform alchemy.

Time flew swiftly by, and in the blink of an eye, four hours had passed.

Standing in the middle of the street, Bai Mutian gazed at the stars in the sky and suddenly felt like a fool being watched.

Four hours had gone by!

Under such a night, this street should have been devoid of people by now.

However, because someone on the street had earlier heard about Bai Mutian’s challenge to the Peak Master of Four Treasures Peak, not only were there still people on the street, but the crowd had even grown larger than at the beginning.

At this time, nearly a hundred pairs of eyes were fixed on Bai Mutian, watching him stand there in the middle of the street like a fool.

He could feel that the admiration from the people around him at first had gradually turned into a look of amusement.

Bai Mutian realized he had been played!

He had learned from the servant who had just come out of Precious Cauldron Pavilion that Cao Zhen had gone to the Pill Room to refine pills.

Alchemy was never something that could yield results within a day or half a day!

Yet the two of them had agreed to meet here for a sparring match!

If he left and Cao Zhen subsequently came out of Precious Cauldron Pavilion, the latter could then spread the word that Starshine Peak had backed down without a fight.

Bai Mutian realized he had been duped by a simpleton!

With the situation as it was, he was caught in a dilemma!

To continue waiting would only invite more ridicule, making more people laugh at him for being fooled.

To leave?

To leave now would mean that as soon as he left, Cao Zhen might appear, at which point Starshine Peak’s prestige would be in tatters.

“Cao Zhen!” Bai Mutian muttered through gritted teeth, “Wait until you come out!

I will use my five Dao Platforms to thoroughly humiliate you!”

Cao Zhen, after refining pills for six hours, suddenly clenched the pill spell.

The basic Pill Furnace shook as if a mischievous monkey was about to leap out of it, with all the medicinal essences beginning to align and take the shape of pills.

Cao Zhen knew this was just the initial stage of pill condensation.

If the pill-pulling technique was not up to par, the condensed pills would disperse the moment they left the Pill Furnace, leaving no chance for correction.

A small Dragon Tiger Pill flew out of the Pill Furnace, emitting faint dragon and tiger roars from within, while streaks of medicinal essence formed dragon and tiger shapes coiling atop the pill.

One pill…

two pills…

five pills…

seven pills…

Fifteen Dragon Tiger Pills, each ensconced with Dragon Tiger Qi, appeared in Cao Zhen’s hand.

If Xu Qingfeng saw this scene, he would immediately sell his house to bet on Cao Zhen’s victory in a duel.

When pills begin taking shape, even a layperson unacquainted with them would recognize the excellence of such pills!

Having successfully refined the pills, the next step was to consume them to enhance his Cultivation Realm.

Cao Zhen looked up at the four Dao Platforms hovering above his head and sighed softly.

One of the factors for the slow progress in his cultivation was these very four Dao Platforms.

Cao Zhen’s original self had poor aptitude and might have never hoped to achieve Foundation Establishment in his lifetime, but with his master’s aid, he had forcibly completed it.

As such, the Foundation Establishment was not well done, leading to an even slower increase in cultivation.

The best solution now was to destroy his current cultivation and reconstruct his Tao Base!

Cao Zhen channeled his internal power to shatter the Dao Platforms one after another.

When the last Dao Platform crumbled away, he vaguely heard a sigh and saw the figure of a lonely elder appear in his mind.

As the Dao Platforms broke, the figure of the lonely elder in the sea of consciousness quietly stared at Cao Zhen.

Cao Zhen remembered that this lonely old man was the previous owner’s master; he hadn’t expected that the old master’s last lingering attachment would be within these Dao Platforms, appearing as they shattered.

Cao Zhen felt an indescribable sorrow, knowing it was a natural empathy that affected him, and he softly murmured, “Old man, I will take good care of Four Treasures Peak for you.”

As if hearing this pledge, the elder’s figure bowed with clasped hands and then slowly dissipated within the sea of consciousness.

Upon consuming the small Dragon Tiger Pill, Cao Zhen collected his thoughts and felt the dragon and tiger’s roars within him.

The spiritual energy from the shattered Dao Platforms had not yet dispersed and was entirely absorbed by the Dragon Tiger Qi within his body.

The power of the Dragon and Tiger swiftly purged impurities inside Cao Zhen’s body while gulping down the spiritual energy from heaven and earth, forging anew his Dao Platforms.

Cao Zhen quickly adjusted his cultivation technique, no longer using the set of four-treasure techniques from Four Treasures Peak, but instead brought the middle and ring fingers of his hands together while extending the index, little, and thumb in opposition.

With the index and pinky fingers pointing upward and the thumb pointing downward, he formed the “Dragon Tiger Seal,” practicing the “Dragon-Tiger Harmonizing Skill” from the technique “Eight Consciousnesses Return to the Origin.”

Behind Cao Zhen, a dragon and a tiger formed from Qi appeared, intertwining and rising into the sky to condense a Tao platform.

The dragon and tiger reflected each other’s brilliance atop the Tao platform—the Dragon-Tiger Tao Platform!

As the first Dragon-Tiger Tao Platform successfully converged, another set of dragon and tiger Qi shapes emerged behind Cao Zhen.

However, these were much weaker than the previous ones.

Cao Zhen knew that these might not be enough to condense a second platform, so he hastily consumed a second Dragon Tiger Pill!

If outsiders were to see this, they would surely curse it as extravagant.

With the first Dragon-Tiger Tao Platform established, as long as one cultivated slowly, nurtured by the Qi of the dragon and tiger from the first platform, one could gradually form the second and third Dragon-Tiger Tao Platforms.

Cao Zhen, who had planned on following the pill consumption path, didn’t care about waste.

After taking the second Dragon Tiger Pill, he quickly formed the second Dragon-Tiger Tao Platform.

Exchanging the third Pill for the third platform… Cao Zhen consumed ten Dragon Tiger Pills in one go, exchanging them for ten platforms, pushing his Foundation Establishment to truly perfect Great Fulfillment.

Then he began to manipulate the power of the ten platforms, forming ten streams of spiritual energy that finally converged to form a section of the Immortal Bridge that connected the ten platforms.

Inhaling Qi, Foundation Establishment, Immortal Bridge, Golden Core!

In one breath, Cao Zhen broke through the Foundation Establishment and condensed a section of the Immortal Bridge.

Without any rest, wielding the five remaining Dragon Tiger Pills in his hand, he again forged the second, third, and all the way to the fifth sections of the Immortal Bridge…

Five sections of the Immortal Bridge were complete, yet he ultimately fell short of reaching the Great Perfection of the Immortal Bridge Period with ten sections.

Cao Zhen sighed, realizing that he still hadn’t managed to break through to the Golden Core Realm directly from the Immortal Bridge Realm.

It seemed he had to wait until after the competition to earn money to acquire more pills and a better pill furnace to refine new pills to reach the Golden Core Realm.

Although he only achieved five bridges, Cao Zhen was still very satisfied.

His cultivation base was not the highest among the Peak Masters of Hundred Peaks, but he was no longer at the bottom.

Cao Zhen looked around at the formations and decided he would set up a similar formation on Four Treasures Peak when he had enough money—this formation preventing the leakage of spiritual energy, making sure that no anomalies from his rapid breakthrough would be detected by others.

If he had completed the ten platforms to Perfect Fulfillment on Four Treasures Peak, it would have been impossible to hide the resulting anomalies, and thus, he wouldn’t have been able to earn as much from the betting odds at the gambling house.

The crowing of roosters from above penetrated down into the pill room, signaling to Cao Zhen that day had broken, but he had paid to stay for a full day and night.

Leaving now would mean wasting half a day’s worth of money.

“I’ll use this Earth Fire and Pill Furnace to refine myself,” Cao Zhen stepped into the massive Pill Furnace in front of him, immediately unleashing his mana to protect his body, and through the array, he started to harness a bit of Earth Fire, refining himself like Sun Monkey in the Eight Trigrams Furnace.

The Great Hollow Scripture contained a set of Dragon and Tiger Golden Body, which ordinarily required the Samadhi True Fire to fully refine.

Nowadays, although Cao Zhen was not so destitute that he couldn’t afford trousers, he was still unable to rent a pill room with Samadhi True Fire.

Besides, it wasn’t certain whether the Hundred Peaks Sect had such Earth Fire.

He had to make do with what was available, using this Earth Fire as a placeholder to refine even just the surface would be beneficial.

Ten Tao platforms and an Immortal Bridge!

Six hours later, Cao Zhen opened his eyes, leaped out of the Pill Furnace, put on his clothes, and started moving his limbs—Zhonghua Cloud announced “Administrator level increased.”

Cao Zhen saw his own document within the Cloud Sea had grown larger than before.

Then, Zhonghua Cloud displayed Cao Zhen’s file panel.

Zhonghua Cloud Level 2 Administrator: Cao Zhen

Gender: Male

Cultivation Realm: Immortal Bridge Period, five Immortal Bridges

Identity: Former programmer, current Peak Master of Four Treasures Peak, Alchemy Grandmaster

Specialties: Programming, Grandmaster of Theoretical Alchemy, Grandmaster of Immortal Cultivation Theory

Ownership: Four Treasures Peak

Total cultivation experience points: 31

Extra experience points: 0

Alchemy Level: 38

Talisman Level: 0

Array Level: 0

“Add a random user, add a designated user, deeply connect with a designated user…”

Just as Cao Zhen was about to inquire what “deeply connect with a designated user” meant, the door to the room suddenly burst open.

Amidst the flying debris, Bai Mutian made his appearance.