Master, This Poor Disciple Died Again Today

Chapter 538: Flaming Furnace

Hui cast around, glancing all around for a hint, anything. Water didnt work Ice didnt either what else, what else?

Death qi?

Cant hurt!

Hui gathered his qi, then sent it outward in a fierce pulse. The flames around him died for a moment, only to surge back a second later.

Catching his breath, Hui nodded. Thats not a solution, but it is a chance! I can use the death qi to suppress the flames, then escape during that momentary reprieve.

Here we go!

He gathered his death qi again, circulating it inside the lotus seed, gathering more and more just under the surface. The lotus seed began to emanate a dark aura, and the flames around it grew lower, suppressed by the death qi. More and more, until the seed trembled with it. Desperately, it desired to sprout, but Hui suppressed it just as desperately. No! Dont sprout now. This qi isnt for sprouting, its for suppressing the flames. Hold back, Hui! Hold back! Push it to the edge, but dont push over! A little closer a little closer. Right there and now!

Hui released his qi all at once. It burst out from the seed. All around it, the flames flattened, dying out. In the same moment, Hui grew from the seed and leaped off the blazing-hot pill furnace, flying for the gap at the very top. Come on! Let me out!

As he zoomed upward, the gap slowly closed. Huis eyes widened. He pushed himself faster. His limbs withered, and flames licked at the edges of his clothes. The gap grew smaller and smaller. By the time he reached it, it was barely the width of a hand.

Thats enough for me! Hui shed his body and threw his lotus seed core through the gap. Hurtling out, he bounced down to the floor and skidded away, tumbling into a corner. Smoke gently curled from his charred seed casing.

From his seed, he once again surveyed the area. Pill furnaces stretched to the ceiling all around him, each one as large as a room. Their bronze sides glistened in the light of the flames that burned beneath each of them, though many also glowed from flames within. A thick medicinal scent hung over the room. One or two of the pill furnaces belched dark fog. In the corner, one of the furnaces let out a delicate, sparkling medicinal mist that beckoned anyone nearby to come over and try its pill. The pale pinkish-purplish mist wafted on a wind of its own, circling slowly around the furnace.

Hui scanned the room again, but again found no one. Is no one watching the furnaces? Is there no pill master here? Whats happening? Usually, pill furnaces cant be left unwatched like this! In the worst case, theyll explode, but even putting that aside

Across the room, the delicate medicinal mist darkened, then blackened. From the heavenly pinks and purples, it quickly deteriorated into the same dark fumes that clouded the tops of several of the other pill furnaces. Bits of dark ash rained down on the bronze furnace. Underneath it, the flames belched, as if protesting the pills failure.

in the novels I read, pill manufacturing is always a delicate process that requires precise timing and constant attention. Even a moments worth of inattention can mean a perfect pill turns into poison like what just happened over there!

I dont know anything about making pills. My only real try ended in a roast duck, a lot of anger from everyone, and most dangerously, heaps of debt! But even I know that leaving the furnaces on to infinitely burn with no supervision like this is a bad idea!

Peering around one last time to ensure no one was watching him, Hui once again circulated his death qi and grew himself a body. Even full-sized, he barely reached a quarter of the way up the pill furnaces sloped sides. He crossed his arms and looked up at them, shaking his head. What kind of pill needs a furnace that large, anyways? You could fit people in there!

Fit people

Er, arent there demonic techniques that involve cultivating souls or humans into pills? Dont tell me, are these furnaces the kind built for that? But then why are they in the Underworld?

Why are they in the Underworld? The Underworld, domain of the dead and counterpoint to the Heavens? Hmm, I wonder why. Theres no way a dark, dangerous place like this would ever be ruled by a demonic cultivator! Hui nodded to himself, smiling along at his own sarcasm. Obviously, if anyones going to conquer the Underworld, its a demonic cultivator! Perhaps even, the kind of cultivator who was rejected by Heavens but still reached the Immortal or near-Immortal realm anyways!

Dont tell me, did I just accidentally enter Senior Zhu Diyus forging space? Senior, please accept my apologies! Small cultivator didnt mean to!

No, no. Deep breath, Hui. Zhu Diyu specifically told me to use the talisman as a key to enter something. He wouldnt have told me to do that if he didnt want me to see whatever was on the other side. But surely he didnt mean just this?

He wandered toward the flames, crouching down to get a closer look. There was a familiar flicker to the flames, a strange shape in their lick. He peered closer, squinting.

Tiny little phoenixes made of fire fluttered in the very edges of the flames, flapping up out of the fire for mere seconds before they fell back into the heart of the flames.

Phoenix fire? Hui murmured aloud. A second later, he frowned. Is that what the fire in my gut looks like? How have I never noticed?

Well maybe its a purer form of phoenix fire, or higher-realm. Sometimes objects dont show their true properties until they reach a certain level of purity or a certain realm. Its especially common in pill forging!

Higher-realm

Who would have a higher-realm version of phoenix fire than Han Qin, the lover-slash-disciple-slashIm actually not sure what his relationship is, come to think of it. Anyways. The point is, who would have a higher-realm version of phoenix fire than Han Qin, the associate of unknown description of the phoenix-fire female cultivator? Obviouslythat female cultivator!

So what are these furnaces using this fire for? I was inside one of them, but I didnt see anything in particular certainly not a furnace-sized pill. There were some ashes and charcoal, but nothing that looked like pill-making materials, demonic, humanoid, or otherwise.

Curious, Hui flew up toward the top of the nearest furnace. He peeked inside.

Nothing. Bits of glowing charcoal and overbearing heat. He reeled back instinctively, wiping his face. Phew. Okay, but theres no smoke on this one. Maybe I should check one of the ones with smoke? And definitely the one with the medicinal mist that just turned into smoke!

He flew over to one of the smoky ones. Before he could peer into it, the thick smoke assaulted his face. His eyes stung, and his nose and lungs burned. Waving his hand in front of his face, he coughed and backed up.

Whew. That is fierce!

Taking a deep breath of the clear air, Hui held his breath and plunged his face toward the crack.

Black gunk clung to the walls of the furnace and coated the furnaces bottom, inches thick. Dried and sticky, it had burned into the furnace to the point of becoming flaky. Hui backed up and grit his teeth, taking a breath of the fresh air again. I would hate to clean that. Thats a multi-day soak with some dish soap in the sink if Ive ever seen one! Hell, that might be the kind of burned-in filth where you just throw away the whole damn dish!

I mean, ahem. Truly, this furnace is ruined. A pill will never be made in this furnace again.

But how about the one that just burned? Surely that one wont be as disgustingly charred in like this one is.

Hui flew over to the furnace that had just burned. With a deep breath, he plunged his head into the smoke.