Painting of the Nine Immortals

Chapter 30: The Lost Qing Hua Dan

Translator: /Tatienne Editor: Rundi

Something strange has been happening in the Lin Pavilion.

The graceful and delicate Miss Lin has been guarding the grand hall every day, from morning until night. She would always be looking around as if waiting for a certain someone.

This has been happening for a full four days.

Like usual, this morning Lin Qing Yi was waiting in the grand hall wearing a light green gown that wrapped around her body beautifully. Her flawless face did not have one speck of powder or blush. Her sparkling eyes were watching the door carefully, like a white lotus that was blooming. She was pure and innocent, different from the crowd around her.

The person she was waiting for was the grandmaster alchemist that shook her core.

He was also known as Ling Xian.

After parting ways that night, the entire process of him brewing the Dan kept on replaying in her mind. The way he held the Godly Fire, the way he stood as he made his every move – the more she replayed the scenes, the more fascinated she became.

From Lin Qing Yi’s point of view, Ling Xian must’ve been a grandmaster who belonged to a high-level realm because his skills were better than every other grandmaster she’s met. Due to her obsession with alchemy, she had strong desires to see the grandmaster again and seek advice from him. Therefore, she has been guarding the grand hall every day in hope for his return.

She has been waiting for four days, but the silhouette of that person did not appear. Lin Qing Yi was a little disappointed. She mumbled to herself, “I’ll wait for one more day. If he does not appear, I will attend the Alchemy Gathering by myself.”

Suddenly, a man wearing a black cloak and a bamboo hat appeared in her vision.

It was him!

It was definitely him!

Lin Qing Yi’s eyes brightened as a sentimental smile appeared on her face. Those who were watching her fell in love with her the instant she smiled.

Ling Xian marched into Lin Pavilion. He did not know that Lin Qing Yi has been waiting for him for a long time. Therefore, when Miss Lin walked towards him, he froze in surprise and said, “It’s you… What a coincidence.”

Coincidence?

Lin Qing Yi paused and thought about how she waited for him for four days and yet he called it a coincidence. How ridiculous.

However, she did not speak her mind. After all, waiting for a man for four days was extremely embarrassing for her. If she made it known that she has been waiting, it would cause her even more embarrassment.

Not only was she the number one beauty in the City of Qing and the eldest daughter of the Lin Pavilion, but she was also a famous Eighth-Realm Alchemist. She’s got the looks, the skills, the status, and the background. There were as many men after her as there were salmons that swam against the current every year. If they lined up, they could easily span across the East to the West in lines of twos.

When did such a magnificent woman start losing sleep over a man?

“Yeah, what a coincidence. Lin Qing Yi forced a smile. Her dewy eyes were staring right at him.

Ling Xian checked out the beautiful lady before him, and he was a little stunned.

She had bright eyes and a brilliant smile. She could be described as a beautiful butterfly, due to her being charmingly delicate, exquisitely dainty and ravishingly beautiful. On top of that, she was also distinguishably elegant and coquet, much like a godly fairy that came to the Earth.

In his lifetime, the only other woman who was as beautiful as her was the mysterious lady who taught him that meditation mantra.

After losing his mind for that one second, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to her. “I’m glad I met the elder daughter of Lin here, you could save me a lot of time. Can you please prepare a cauldron room for me and help me find the ingredients listed there?"

“Of course.”

Lin Qing Yi beamed and took over the piece of paper. On it were the names of nine spiritual medicine. She stayed quiet for a while before asking, “this… this is a Dan recipe?”

“You’re smart.” Ling Xian nodded. On the piece of paper were the nine medicines required to brew Qing Hua Dan.

“To come up with a Dan recipe, alchemists need to put in painstaking efforts and spend a lot of time. Each recipe is precious and valuable. You are not worried that I might steal this?” Lin Qing Yi thought Ling Xian trusted her and felt a wave of happiness.

“It’s okay. These are only the ingredients needed for the Dan. Even if you know what they are, you cannot brew one.” Ling Xian was honest. Any spiritual medicine could be mixed and matched to make a countless number of combinations with different effects. Therefore, simply knowing the ingredients in spiritual Dans were useless. Precise portions and proportions needed to be measured to complete a Dan recipe.

What he said made Lin Qing Yi angry for a while. In her mind, she blamed him for simply not saying he trusted her just to make her happy.

“The spiritual medicine on the list aren’t hard to find. However, I am curious, what kind of Dan are you brewing?” Lin Qing Yi asked.

“Qing Hua Dan,” Ling Xian said.

“Qing Hua Dan… this name sounds familiar.” Lin Qing Yi thought about it for a while. She suddenly remembered how she read about this Dan in a book that talked about the lost Dans. She exclaimed, “Qing Hua Dan, the recipe of which has been lost for generations?”

Lost?

Ling Xian was a little confused because he wasn’t really aware of the Dan’s origins. Looking at Lin Qing Yi’s shocked face, he assumed that what she said was true. He didn’t say much more and merely smiled. “Yes, that’s the one.”

“I can’t believe it’s real…” Lin Qing Yi’s small mouth opened as she tightened her grip on the rice paper. Her certainty towards the real identity of this grandmaster deepened. He easily whipped out a lost Dan recipe, how could he not be a grandmaster?

This was the long-lost Qing Hua Dan. Even though it was only a sixth-realm medicinal Dan, its special properties allowed cultivators who lost their abilities to practice after accidents to practice Taoism again.

If a cultivator was born with damaged spirits and a lack of spiritual blood, then his cultivation journey was over. There were only a few medicines with properties that could heal these issues. Qing Hua Dan was one of them.

Inside her hands was a recipe for it, how could she not be thrilled.

“Don’t be too excited. Help me collect the medicines needed. After the Dan is successfully brewed, I’ll give you one,” Ling Xian said.

The attitude Liao Cang Qiong showed when he gave Ling Xian the recipe was so nonchalant that Ling Xian thought he was given a piece of trash. Due to the indifferent attitude Liao Cang Qiong displayed, Ling Xian had no idea the Qing Hua Dan was that valuable. Looking at how excited Lin Qing Yi was, he slowly realized how big of a deal this really was.

If the heavens did not grant Liao Cang Qiong, Alchemy would experience an eternity of darkness.

This was the approval statement all the generations gave Liao Cang Qiong. It was clear now that he really was skilled since he threw out a piece of paper like trash when it was really a rare treasure other alchemists fight over!

“Ah!” Lin Qing Yi realized she was overly emotional. She blushed and said, “you are really willing to give me one?”

Ling Xian nodded and smiled. “Please prepare the ingredients for me. I’m in a bit of a rush.”

“Okay. Go to the Heaven Cauldron Room, and I’ll go get your stuff from the storage room.” Lin Qing Yi turned and walked towards Lin Pavilion’s storage room.

Ling Xian walked to the Heaven Cauldron room. Compared to the Mortal Cauldron Room, this room was drastically different. Not only was the room full of spirits, the most important object in the room, the cauldron, was countless times better than the Mortal room one.

The cauldron sat on the ground. Its body was bright red with a deep red aura around it. It was ancient but atmospheric, heavy and mysterious. It did not look ordinary.

Ling Xian sat in a lotus position and recharged his spirits. He tested himself on the brewing method of the Qing Hua Dan and waited for Lin Qing Yi’s arrival.

Before long, Lin Qing Yi returned gracefully.

She waved her arm, and nine different medicinal ingredients rose to midair. There were strange flowers and unusual plants. Each one of them was emitting light and had a faint fragrance.

“I prepared two of everything, would that be enough?” Lin Qing Yi asked.

“Yes, more than enough,” Ling Xian looked at the high-quality medicinal ingredients and nodded in approval.

For other alchemists, before brewing such a difficult Dan, they needed at least five servings of each ingredient before they dared to start the brewing process. However, because he had a firm grasp on every single herb, two servings were more than enough. He was the owner of the Essence of Herbalism after all, and he knew each herb like the back of his hand.

“I’m going to start the brewing process, do you need anything else?” Seeing that Lin Qing Yi had no intention of leaving, Ling Xian frowned.

“Can I not stay and watch? Don’t worry, I promise I will not to distract you.” Lin Qing Yi flushed. She was not interested in stealing the way Qing Hua Dan were made, she simply wanted to watch how a grandmaster brewed a Dan. Last time she watched, she gained a lot of experience, and she was able to apply what she learned to her own alchemy practice.

She has been wanting to observe for a while, and now that the opportunity finally came, she had to treasure it.

“Um…”Ling Xian thought about it for a second before ordering, “remember not to scare me like last time.”

“Don’t worry grandmaster, I will watch quietly on the side. I promise not to make a sound.” Lin Qing Yi nodded as if making a promise, and then she smiled. “After watching you brew last time, I advanced my alchemy skills significantly. I am really thankful that you are granting me an opportunity to learn again.”

[Watching me brew has this effect too?]

Ling Xian chuckled under his breath. He waved his hand, indicating that Lin Qing Yi should not mind what happened last time. He then spun around, inhaled deeply, and stuck both of his hands on the two sides of the red cauldron.

Bang!

After a dull rumble, a white flame shot up and heated up the entire room. The high temperature was concentrated on the bottom of the cauldron.

Ling Xian was focused. He lifted his hand and a blue herb that was emitting different colors of light entered inside the cauldron. The Flame of Purity engulfed the ingredient and slowly burned the Blue Heart Grass, absorbing its essence.

[Blue Heart Grass, ninth-realm spiritual medicine. It is categorized as a ‘cold’ type of medicine and has the effects of improving blood flow. It is usually grown in places with cold temperatures and has been in use for over 70 years.]

The Essence of Dan was providing Ling Xian with hints again.

After extracting the essence of the Blue Heart Grass, Ling Xian materialized and sent some mana to catch Blue Heart Grass’ powder. Then, following the recipe, he moved on to the second spiritual medicine and slowly burned it with his Godly Fire.

He then continued the process with the rest of the ingredients, until all nine medicines were extracted. He then wiped the sweat off his forehead and breathed out loudly. “Phew. Next, I have to combine all the ingredients.”

The previous step was a test of flame control for alchemists, but this step was the hardest step of the entire brewing process. Due to different ingredients reacting differently to each other, without enough knowledge of the herbs or without strong enough spiritual power, ingredients will cause explosions while in the process of combining. Thus, everything the alchemist did before would go to waste.

Fortunately, Ling Xian had the Essence of Herbalism. Therefore, he had complete control over the spiritual medicine. All he needed was to be careful of how he controls his mana.

Concentrating after an inhale, he divided his mana into nine different streams with each controlling the essence of a different herb. He then carefully converged them.

Everything went smoothly. The medicinal herbs, under the control of his mana, did not produce any negative reactions. Rather, they gently mixed together.

Then, just as Ling Xian let go of his breath, a strange occurrence happened when he tried to combine the last herb with the rest. All he heard was a “bam,” and the cauldron slightly shaking. The nine different herbs turned into dust and became an ineffective waste.

He failed.