Volume 1: Questioning the Past Chapter 24: Refining Together
Compared to Gu Xiaoxing, Bai Xiangtian was even more afraid. He knew the Fifth Elder's character very well. Others might not care about it for the sake of Master Bai's face, but the one in front of him would not do that. So he widened his eyes, as if begging for a chance to explain.
However, the Fifth Elder did not give them any chance at all and directly imprisoned them with his spiritual sense. The two could not even speak. He waved his sleeves and carried them away.
The remaining people looked at each other in silence. There was no need to guess what the fate of the two men would be. If they fell into the hands of the Fifth Elder, losing a layer of skin would be the least of their worries.
Big Fatty thought this was a good idea. Although the inner kitchen had a backer, if the incident really got to the Law Enforcement Hall, they would inevitably be punished. He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Let's all go. Six Fatty, you clean up this place."
After saying hello, Big Fatty and the other chefs returned to the kitchen to continue their work. The disciples who came with Bai Xiangtian also left without saying a word.
At this moment, Gu Xiaoxing and the other two had been brought to the sect's mountain by the fifth elder and entered a cave for cultivation. The cave was very large and even had several medicinal fields with exotic plants and flowers. A young girl was taking care of them carefully.
“Master!”
The girl stood up and saluted respectfully. She was petite, with eyes as pure as an elf's, very cute. She looked at Gu Xiaoxing and the others curiously, knowing that there would be screams in the cave for several more days.
The fifth elder nodded indifferently, raised his hand and slapped his head. The golden alchemy furnace flew out and kept getting bigger. When it landed on the ground, it had turned into a huge furnace three meters high. This immediately frightened Gu Xiaoxing and the others, but it was of no use. They could only listen to the vicissitudes of life and cold voice.
"You like fighting, don't you? Come to my furnace and fight till you're satisfied!"
After saying that, the Fifth Elder waved his hand, and the furnace cover flew up, then closed again. There were already two more people in the furnace. It was at this moment that the spiritual consciousness that had imprisoned the two people dissipated. Before they could react, countless divine patterns and secret symbols on the inner wall of the furnace lit up at the same time, emitting a blazing white light. In an instant, it was as if they were in a sea of fire, the heat was unbearable.
Gu Xiaoxing and the other person used their cultivation to resist at the same time, but it was still extremely hot. The temperature even continued to rise, as if it was really going to refine them. Especially Gu Xiaoxing, whose cultivation was at a low level. In the blink of an eye, his whole body turned red, and his skin felt as if it was being scalded and stinging.
He wanted to shout for help, but as soon as he opened his mouth, hot breath poured into his mouth, as if he had drunk a sip of immortal air. The taste was simply ecstasy and the pain was unbearable. He quickly held his breath and concentrated, put the big fishhook, the divine artifact that assisted in this disaster, back into the storage bag, then sat down cross-legged and resisted with all his might.
Of course, he didn't know about this, otherwise he would have thrown the big fish hook out.
Bai Xiangtian was a little more relaxed, but not much better. That burning sensation seemed to strike his soul directly. Fortunately, he was still able to speak, no longer caring about his image. He yelled and admitted his mistakes and begged for mercy, and also tried to find someone to back him up. But what he got was a crisp voice.
"Don't shout, Master has already left, shouting is useless!" The one who spoke was the petite girl. Her voice was pure and pleasant, but the meaning of her words made people despair.
The fifth elder naturally left and ignored the place to catch the thief. However, he didn't know that he had caught the fish thief by accident.
The temperature in the furnace was getting higher and higher. Bai Xiangtian's energy was directed at the furnace cover and walls, but it was like a drop in the ocean, without causing any waves. Gradually, he could not bear it any longer. He looked at Gu Xiaoxing angrily and wanted to slap him to death. Of course, he could only think about it. Killing fellow disciples was a serious crime, and even if he was the nephew of Master Bai, he could not avoid it.
"Forget it! It would be nice to wait until his spiritual power is exhausted and then enjoy watching him scream and wail." Bai Xiangtian snorted coldly and sat down cross-legged as well, holding his breath and concentrating to resist the heat flow.
An hour passed, and the temperature in the furnace gradually reached a terrifying height. Gu Xiaoxing felt that even if a piece of steel was put in, it would be melted into slag after a long time. Beads of sweat the size of beans kept overflowing and then evaporated. In fact, his physical strength had already surpassed that of ordinary iron, but it was flesh and blood after all, and could not withstand such a long period of scorching. If he had not used his cultivation to resist, he would have screamed in agony.
However, soon, as his own cultivation was slowly consumed, Gu Xiaoxing discovered that under the scorching heat of the alchemy furnace, it seemed to be refining and removing impurities from his body, and his body was strengthening.
Another two hours passed, and Gu Xiaoxing gradually adapted to the situation, but he was still feeling very hot, and most of his cultivation had been consumed. If his cultivation was exhausted, he would endure several times the pain.
In a blink of an eye, another two hours passed. Gu Xiaoxing's spiritual power was completely exhausted. The feeling of burning sensation suddenly increased, but it was quickly suppressed. Green smoke rose from the misty palace in his body, replacing the spiritual power to continue resisting the heat wave.
In the cave, the lovely girl felt that time passed so quickly. She just took a nap and it was already bright in the sky. She glanced at the big alchemy furnace in the center of the cave, curious why there were no screams yet, but she didn't care too much. Her master said that those who were captured were all bad guys. She was simple-minded and would not doubt her master's words. She started to busy herself with her own things.
However, the two people in the alchemy furnace had never felt that time was so slow. Every minute was torture. They had been roasted for a full eight hours.
Bai Xiangtian slowly opened his eyes, looked at Gu Xiaoxing and frowned slightly, "He is only at the sixth level of Qi Condensation. His cultivation should have been exhausted long ago. What happened?"
Bai Xiangtian didn't quite understand, but he was not feeling well at the moment. Even with his huge cultivation level of the eighth level of Qi Condensation, nearly 20% of it had been consumed at this moment. You have to know that he is not a soul-devouring body, and the spiritual power in his body is more refined. Even so, it is difficult for it to last for forty-nine hours. However, there is no other way at the moment, he can only close his eyes, concentrate, and grit his teeth to continue to persevere.
When the tenth hour arrived, the palace inside Gu Xiaoxing's body had become extremely illusory, and finally even the green smoke was running out. He hurriedly took out the burning incense and tried to replenish it, but when he inhaled it, what he inhaled was more hot breath. He stopped immediately. If he inhaled any more, he was afraid that the green smoke would not be replenished and his lungs would explode first.
As his cultivation power weakened, Gu Xiaoxing immediately smelled a burning smell. His clothes, hair, and even eyebrows seemed to have traces of burning. He quickly put away the burning incense and tried the second method. He didn't want to become a bald head, and he didn't want to stay naked with another man.
Not even my eldest nephew!
With a wave of his hand, dozens of spirit stones flew out of the storage bag, floating around him, and were quickly refined into strands of pure spiritual power under the high temperature of the alchemy furnace.
“It really works!”
Gu Xiaoxing was excited, and quickly practiced the Soul Control Technique to absorb these strands of spiritual power into his body. These spiritual powers were extremely pure and did not need to be refined. They were directly absorbed by the Soul Devouring Insects and restored his cultivation.
Time gradually came to the twentieth hour. They had been roasted for nearly two days in a row. Even Bai Xiangtian had consumed nearly half of his cultivation. When he opened his eyes and saw the spirit stones floating around Gu Xiaoxing, he couldn't help but sigh that this method was good. He also took out the spirit stones and began to recover his cultivation.
Time gradually came to the third and fourth days. Although the process was extremely painful, it was undeniable that with the supply of spirit stones, the two people in the furnace had their bodies strengthened a lot after this tempering, and their cultivation had become more condensed and their foundation more solid.
Especially Gu Xiaoxing, his body is already strong, and after this tempering, I'm afraid he is not much inferior to those who have physical cultivation.
Finally, when the fourth day passed, when they had completely endured the 49 hours, when they were filled with joy and thought that everything would be over, what they waited for was nothing. The Fifth Elder did not show up at all, and the alchemy furnace was still extremely hot, with no signs of going out.
Gu Xiaoxing couldn't stand the hot breath he inhaled while speaking, so he could only continue to sit cross-legged.
Bai Xiangtian could not sit still anymore. He went crazy again and kept roaring, but there was no response. Even the cute little girl in the cave ignored him. Finally, out of annoyance, he took out two pieces of strange cotton that could block his hearing and stuffed them into his ears, and continued to take care of the medicine field.
In desperation, Bai Xiangtian chose to save his energy and glared at Gu Xiaoxing fiercely, feeling even more hatred in his heart. If it weren't for this person, how could he have suffered such a torture? He didn't know how long he would be roasted. The only thing that could comfort him was that his body had become stronger and his strength had improved a little.
Until the fifth day passed, time came to the sixth day. On this day, Gu Xiaoxing was distressed because his spirit stones... were exhausted. More than 2,000 spirit stones in the storage bag were swept away. The consumption was huge, but there was nothing he could do.
Because Gu Xiaoxing discovered that even with his cultivation, several days of being roasted had made him lose a lot of weight. If he hadn't had cultivation, he couldn't imagine how much it would be like. The pain was one thing, but the body he had worked so hard to nurture for two months would probably be wasted, and he would be refined into a dry vine in an instant.
Seeing that Gu Xiaoxing stopped taking out spirit stones, Bai Xiangtian showed a mocking expression, slowly took out a middle-grade spirit stone, and sneered: "Have you used up all the spirit stones? As long as you ask me for help, I will give you this middle-grade spirit stone."
One mid-grade spirit stone is equivalent to one hundred ordinary spirit stones and can barely withstand the heat wave for three hours.
Seeing that Gu Xiaoxing remained calm, Bai Xiangtian was about to continue mocking him, but he saw the other party suddenly take out something and his eyes widened immediately.
"Spirit...spiritual essence?"
