Chapter Thirty-Seven: Refining the Gourd

With an expression of pure enjoyment, Dao Sansheng grew more and more delighted as he ate, a hint of lingering desire still in his eyes. Watching as the last of the blue orchid grass disappeared, Dao Sansheng’s inner elixir stirred—within it, the two Yin-Yang fish busied themselves. As soon as the blue orchid grass reached his stomach, the Yin-Yang fish swallowed it whole.

Once all the blue orchid grass had been consumed, the fish spat out refined energy—a mysterious force that entered Dao Sansheng’s sea of consciousness. Beneath this sea, there was a tiny crack in the pool of water. The mysterious energy flowed directly toward it, slowly healing the fissure. The pool itself began to expand; what was once a small pond holding just a few buckets of water grew steadily larger.

The water increased, the pond transformed into a stream, and continued to change until it became a small lake—finally it stopped growing. Where there had been a small stone at the bottom, now there was a tiny island. Though not large, the energy figure that once floated above the sea of consciousness gradually grew more substantial—his nose, eyes, and mouth appeared vividly true. Now, he sat cross-legged in meditation at the island’s center.

The changes in the sea of consciousness did not end there. Originally only a few square meters, it now stretched over several miles. Above it, a sky appeared, and the once invisible jade token finally revealed itself. Suspended in the air like a bright moon, it hung high and obvious, its presence a transformation so profound that it was almost unbelievable.

The Skull, which had been at the sect’s entrance with eyes closed after the battle, now opened its eyes again, emerald green light shining forth. Green light rose from its head as it rushed toward Dao Sansheng’s energy figure.

“You were only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining, you can’t have just formed your foundation. We’ve only been apart a few minutes, you little rascal—how utterly baffling you are.”

Dao Sansheng, too, was puzzled, though the changes were undeniable. “My sea of consciousness has changed—did something go wrong, or was there an error in my cultivation?”

“This is a fortune that others could never seize, you truly have extraordinary luck. You’ve awakened your sea of consciousness early, and when you reach Foundation Establishment, it will change again. Your spiritual sense will far surpass those of your peers.”

“Luck? Just a few days ago, I stumbled upon a gourd—inside was a mass of black energy. When I used my spiritual sense to touch it, it was injured, leaving cracks in my sea of consciousness. After finding spiritual herbs to repair it, these profound changes happened.”

“A mass of black energy, eh? Let me see it right away!” The Skull could not contain its excitement, its laughter sinister and chilling, echoing through the room.

Dao Sansheng withdrew from his sea of consciousness and, from the storage ring that tied his hair, took out the yellow gourd he had put away days before. It looked exactly the same as before, unchanged.

The Skull emerged from the sea of consciousness and plunged into the gourd. An hour later, black mist enveloped the gourd, its surface forming a skeletal human face—terrifying and ominous, clearly not a good thing.

The Skull connected its spiritual sense with Dao Sansheng. “This is a treasure indeed! This baleful energy is among the top three in the Ghost Dao. No one here uses it, simply leaving it untouched—lucky for me and your sect, since you’re all righteous cultivators and don’t refine evil objects. But now, it’s mine.”

With that, the Skull got to work. Soon, green ghost fire emerged from the gourd, transforming its color from yellow to a brilliant green, strikingly beautiful.

“Master, help me! I can’t refine it alone—quick!” The Skull’s voice echoed urgently from the sea of consciousness.

Dao Sansheng watched, unsure how to assist. Remembering his own experience refining ghost fire seeds, he decided to try his mutated ghost fire.

A flame of blue, white, and green erupted from Dao Sansheng’s hand, engulfing the gourd. The vivid green gradually divided into three colors. As time passed, Dao Sansheng began to struggle; refining the gourd took too long, his spiritual power nearly depleted. Remembering the remaining pills, he grabbed them and swallowed them all at once.

The Yin-Yang fish, barely rested, saw the energy from the pills and swallowed it up, circling in his elixir field before spitting it out. Though Dao Sansheng was about to collapse, the fresh energy made the flames surge brighter, the tri-colored fire now completely enveloping the gourd. From outside, it looked like a massive blaze suspended in the air.

Time sped by, a whole night passed, dawn broke, but the gourd remained unchanged, and the Skull made no contact.

Dao Sansheng sat for another day, his elixir field nearly drained. Watching the gourd still being refined overhead, he felt bitter and helpless—who knew how long this would take? With his flames, even ordinary magical treasures would struggle to withstand the process.

Just then, knocking sounded outside. Though in cultivation, Dao Sansheng was disturbed, but no major problem would arise. Unable to transmit sound, he panicked, unsure how to respond.

Fat Sparrow, sleeping soundly in his arms, was startled by the knocking and flew over, pecking at the door as a reply. The door creaked open and a familiar figure stood outside—it was Chao Xiong. Standing at the threshold, he saw Dao Sansheng sitting cross-legged on the bed, flames burning in the air, with something unknown inside. None of the disciples outside had ever learned the Qi Refining arts, and this was certainly not how ores were refined.

Dao Sansheng’s strength was waning, the flames in his hand flickering, about to die out. He could only resign himself to fate, silently repeating, “My destiny is mine, not Heaven’s,” and pushed his fire to its limit for one final effort.

Chao Xiong, seeing Dao Sansheng’s face pale and then flush, realized he couldn’t hold out much longer. He quickly took a porcelain bottle from his storage pouch, poured out three pills, and rushed over, prying Dao Sansheng’s mouth open to feed them in.

The pills melted into spiritual energy; the Yin-Yang fish consumed some, while the rest—without passing through the elixir field—was drained, sustaining the flames.

As before, the Yin-Yang fish, after swallowing, spat out new energy after half an incense stick’s time, making the flames grow even larger.

Chao Xiong watched Dao Sansheng’s complexion turn from pale to rosy, the flames burning even more fiercely. He and Fat Sparrow stood by, Dao Sansheng never ceasing his refinement of the gourd until the next dawn.

Chao Xiong’s bottle was empty now. Three days had passed since the refining began, and he grew anxious, out of pills and unsure what to do.

At last, a voice came from within the gourd—the Skull spoke. “The gourd’s refinement is nearly done. The critical moment has passed, leave the rest to me. Master, you can rest now.”

Hearing this, Dao Sansheng nearly exploded with anger. This fellow had watched him struggle, nearly collapse several times, saying nothing—only now did he speak up. Dao Sansheng wondered if it was intentional.