The smoke and dust within the alchemy chamber gradually dispersed.

After having someone clean up the corpses on the ground, A'Lian's expression suddenly changed.

"What's wrong?" The Third Elder sensed something was off with A'Lian and asked with concern.

A'Lian raised her hand, pointed at the Huo Yun Furnace, and murmured, "The furnace... it's dirty!"

HISS!

The Third Elder glanced at the furnace and immediately drew a sharp, tense breath. The previously spotless Huo Yun Furnace was now stained with specks of blood!

One had to know that a Pill Furnace demanded to be utterly immaculate. What's more, it often needed to be nourished by basking in moonlight. And now it was stained with blood! Especially the blood of the dead! This would greatly disrupt a Pill Master's mental connection to the furnace, leading to alchemy failure. If a Pill Furnace were compared to a magical treasure, then this one was now contaminated.

"It's stained with blood!"

"It's stained with blood!"

The Third Elder walked over to the furnace. He rolled up his sleeves and began wiping the blood off, explaining the consequences of a blood-stained Pill Furnace to Su Xuan as he worked. But it was difficult to wipe clean. In fact, his efforts only seemed to make the furnace body dirtier.

A'Lian also hurriedly had someone bring over clean water. Using a clean towel, she wiped it for a long time before the Pill Furnace was finally restored to its pristine state.

"Brother Su, give it a try," the Third Elder said to Su Xuan. "If you notice anything unusual during alchemy, don't force it. It won't do your alchemical cultivation any good."

"It was my negligence." Su Xuan scratched his head. He hadn't expected the Mysterious Gate Finger to be so powerful that it would explode the man's head, splattering blood everywhere. If he had known that would happen, he wouldn't have used the technique at all; it would have been much better to just kick the man away.

He sat back down by the Pill Furnace and began the alchemy process according to the established steps. An adverse reaction indeed occurred.

Before he had even placed any herbs into the furnace, just while manipulating the intensity of the Alchemical Fire, his mind became restless and agitated. It felt as if the Pill Furnace were constantly resisting his will, making the connection between them extremely sluggish.

When he managed to place one or two stalks of Spirit Grass into the Pill Furnace, the feeling of restlessness intensified. The situation was like a perfectly tuned car that had suddenly been tampered with, causing the engine to make strange noises, the brakes to fail, the accelerator to stick, and the speed to become unstable... everything was a mess.

PHEW!

Su Xuan suddenly extinguished the Alchemical Fire and let out a deep breath. He rubbed his forehead, glanced at the Third Elder and A'Lian who had been standing guard, and shook his head. "Indeed, I can't proceed smoothly. If I force it, I can't guarantee the quality of the pills. I might not even be able to form them at all."

He then asked, "How can we get the Pill Furnace back to normal?"

"It needs to be nourished and purified," the Third Elder replied immediately. "The Pill Furnace is like a pool of water; after being contaminated, it needs time to settle and cleanse itself. Ideally, it should frequently bask in the sun and moon, absorbing their essence to dispel the impurities. That's the simplest method."

"How long will that take, roughly?" Su Xuan was very concerned about this.

"It's hard to say," the Third Elder said after a moment of contemplation. "The better the quality of the Pill Furnace, the longer it takes. It could be as short as seven or eight days, or as long as a month or two... there's no telling."

"We can't afford to wait that long." Su Xuan's expression grew resolute as he stood up. "Let's do this: I'll take the Pill Furnace to Shunfeng Immortal Mountain. While I'm dealing with the aftermath caused by Feng Zhengyuan, I'll also find time to purify the furnace. That way, I won't fall behind on either task."

What Su Xuan suggested was the best solution. The Third Elder and A'Lian said nothing, simply nodding in agreement.

Su Xuan took another careful look at the Pill Furnace, pursed his lips, and muttered, "When it rains, it pours!"

Then he waved his hand. Accompanied by a burst of brilliant, appearing petals, he stored the Pill Furnace in the space within his sachet.

Then he said to A'Lian, "Take me to see the Nirvana Phoenix."

"Of course," A'Lian replied, leading Su Xuan out of the alchemy chamber. "I've hidden the Nirvana Phoenix in a secret chamber beneath my residence. It's perfectly preserved."

Before long, the three of them arrived at A'Lian's residence.

"You... you live alone?" the Third Elder couldn't help but ask as he stood in A'Lian's room and glanced at his surroundings.

A'Lian's room was simply furnished, one could even say austere. There were no luxurious decorations, a stark contrast to the lavish style of the Ten Cauldrons Sect. Even the bed was a single, with one blanket and one pillow.

"Mhm." A'Lian nodded without offering any further explanation. She walked over to the wardrobe, pulled a mechanism inside, and with the sound of grinding gears, a passage leading underground opened in the floor.

A'Lian entered the passage first, leading them down into a secret chamber.

The chamber was chilly. In the center sat a jade bed, and on it lay a large bird with resplendent and variegated feathers. The bird was motionless, its wings and head drooping over the edge of the jade bed.

A'Lian pointed at the bird and said, "This is the Nirvana Phoenix."

The Third Elder walked up to the jade bed, fiddled with the Nirvana Phoenix's feathers, and remarked, "It's quite beautiful."

"And that's all it is," A'Lian said, her lips parting slightly. This thing hadn't helped her at all. Instead, it had brought her great disaster. Of course, it was a misfortune of her own making, for which she could blame no one. For that reason, she was all the more grateful to Su Xuan for giving her a second chance at life. She knew he was only doing it because of his bond with the Third Elder...

Su Xuan also stepped forward to closely examine the Nirvana Phoenix's appearance. He then placed his hand on it to sense the residual Spiritual Energy within its body. Finally, he looked up at A'Lian and asked, "Can I take it?"

"Yes." A'Lian nodded. The thing was of no use to her now.

Su Xuan immediately stored the dead Nirvana Phoenix in his sachet space. After leaving the stone chamber, he went outside and let out a sharp whistle.

With the sound of the whistle carrying True Qi, a white horse unfurled its wings. It descended gracefully from the sky, a sight pleasing to the eye.

This was the first time A'Lian had seen the white horse, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "So beautiful!"

The moment the white horse landed, it nuzzled its head against Su Xuan's face. It had been just as worried about his safety during the great battle at the Ten Cauldrons Sect the night before.

Su Xuan whispered into the horse's ear, "Would you like a new skin?"

The white horse didn't understand Su Xuan's intentions and looked a bit bewildered.

Su Xuan continued, "I assure you, the new skin will be even more spectacular. It'll turn heads everywhere. No matter where you go, you'll be the most dashing one on the street!"

Hearing Su Xuan's exaggerated description, the white horse's eyes filled with a look of longing.

Su Xuan wasted no more time and began to use the Thousand Faces Stone to give the white horse its "new skin."

Before long, the white horse had taken on the form of the Nirvana Phoenix.

The horse flapped its wings, looked back at its long, vibrantly colorful tail, and let out a melodious chirp, its heart filling with delight. My master wasn't lying! This new skin is truly high-class and magnificent!

A'Lian nearly cried out in astonishment. This fake phoenix was indistinguishable from the real one! It had completely deceived her eyes.

Only, she wondered if it could deceive the eyes of Shunfeng Immortal Mountain...

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