“Mm?”
Within Red Maple Valley.
Guo Tianhong’s lovely face was pale. Suddenly, she coughed up a pitch-black beetle—proof that she had already been struck by a chong art.
Opposite her, a sinister-faced cultivator of the Black Chong Sect was about to press the advantage and curse her to death in one go.
Suddenly—
A terrifying cloud of fire erupted outside the valley. That immense fire spiritual power made nearly every cultivator engaged in battle stop what they were doing.
“Dao Foundation? No… it shouldn’t be…”
“But how could such a Qi-Ingestion expert…”
“What powerful fire-element spiritual power. What lineage does he cultivate? [Tail Fire]? [Wing Fire]?”
“Could he be an expert from the Pu family of Yulin?”
In that single moment of distraction, Li Rulong became one with his sword. His strike shone with majestic brilliance, and across the ground, all manner of blades and swords suddenly rang out in unison.
Whoosh!
A flash of golden light burst forth, breaking through the defenses of the Black Chong Sect female cultivator and sweeping past her swan-like neck.
“Senior Sister?”
“Not good—leave!”
The Black Chong Sect cultivators immediately retreated. Pursued all the way, they suffered heavy casualties.
Li Rulong stood there holding his sword, gazing at the red clouds beyond the valley, somewhat dazed. “No wonder my sword heart always felt Brother Fang was dangerous. As expected, he was hiding his true depth…”
“Big Brother…”
Guo Tianhong flew over, her expression filled with shame. “I was useless… and before, I even misjudged Fellow Daoist Fang. I nearly provoked a great enemy for you…”
“It’s fine. Brother Fang was willing to act on our behalf. That already explains everything.”
Li Rulong smiled. “He is unwilling to join us, but he is willing to support our cause…”
“I never expected that Fellow Daoist Fang Shui, aside from being an alchemist, would actually possess such magic power?”
Madam Miaoyi and the other cultivators returned after pursuing the Black Chong Sect cultivators, likewise filled with emotion, wondering whether their previous attitude had not been respectful enough.
“By the way, where is Fellow Daoist Fang Shui?”
Madam Miaoyi’s eyes shifted as she looked outside the valley.
“He should be… gone, I suppose?”
At this moment, Li Rulong felt somewhat melancholy. “In the end… our Daos are different.”
……
“This time, so few cultivators from the Black Chong Sect actually came… That’s completely wrong.”
After Fang Qing killed the triangular-eyed cultivator, he did not even have time to inspect the spoils before immediately piloting the Green Leaf Boat away.
The fierce wind howled past his ears, but his expression was extremely grave.
“In terms of the attackers’ strength, it was probably just within the range that Li Rulong’s group could handle… If not for me, it would have been a bitter battle, but this isn’t normal!”
As a disciple of a Core Formation sect, Fang Qing understood very well that when such sects issued missions, they would certainly account for a margin of error.
Thus, if they wanted to eliminate Li Rulong, they should have sent at least several late-stage Qi-Ingestion cultivators, no matter what.
But the strength of the attackers this time was truly somewhat insufficient.
Even with the constraints of the prior agreement between the Violet Palace cultivators, it was still somewhat abnormal.
“So… is this an unspoken understanding between the two great Violet Palace forces?”
“Or… are they raising gu?”
Fang Qing’s expression turned cold.
Today, hearing Li Rulong personally state his own cultivation method with such a matter-of-fact expression had truly made cold sweat break out on Fang Qing’s back. “Did that old blind man from Biluo Market not remind him that identical cultivation methods can devour one another? Or… did he not dare to remind him? Because he has already been marked by someone, or by some force?”
“At tonight’s banquet, who knows how many people were watching the show, and how many were waiting… to eat him?”
“I originally wanted to interact more with Li Rulong, to take over the treasures of the families he wiped out one by one… But now it seems it’s better to keep a respectful distance.”
……
Jadeite Island, Bihai Sect.
After fleeing back into his cave abode and activating the grand formation, Fang Qing felt a rare sense of long-lost security.
“That damned place… I’d best go there less in the future.”
He came to the side of his bed. Instead of sitting down to cultivate, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
The next day.
The morning sun rose in the east.
On the cliff, Fang Qing sat cross-legged. Taking advantage of the moment when the sun was about to rise but had not yet fully risen, he began gathering qi.
Now that the qi-gathering art for the “Great Sun Purple Qi” was in his hands, it had to be put to use sooner or later.
“Gathering qi here doesn’t pose much of a problem… Great Sun origin qi is abundant. It will probably take another three or four years to obtain this strand of ninth-rank high-grade true qi. Unfortunately, I don’t have the corresponding cultivation method… The Great Sun Purple Qi has been cut off, so the cultivation methods for cultivating it should already have been devalued into scrap paper. If I look patiently, the price shouldn’t be high…”
As usual, after completing his daily qi gathering, Fang Qing returned to his cave abode and began body tempering again.
“Huu…”
He visualized the “Horse-Headed Vajra Guardian.” His face seemed both divine and demonic, while the qi and blood within his body surged, transforming into a strange force that propped up his skin, sinews, bones, and flesh…
After a round of cultivation, Fang Qing sensed that both his physical body and spiritual cultivation had advanced another step. He found it somewhat strange. “The cultivation methods of the Mizang Domain are truly formidable. The key is, why does it feel like I’m progressing by leaps and bounds when I cultivate this?”
Although this body-tempering cultivation method was something he had chosen after careful selection, this rate of improvement still somewhat exceeded Fang Qing’s imagination.
“According to the old blind man, while this art can be advanced through bitter cultivation, it is best paired with the secret medicines and essential oils of the Mizang Domain… I don’t have any resources of that sort, yet I feel that before long, my body refinement will be able to break through to the first-rank middle grade…”
“Don’t tell me that before my qi refining reaches the late stage, my body tempering will surpass it?”
Fang Qing was somewhat worried that this cultivation method still concealed hidden dangers. But when he thought of the Dao-Birth Pearl, he immediately calmed down. “At worst, after I master it, I’ll just cripple it directly and transform it entirely into origin qi…”
After finishing his body-tempering cultivation, he swallowed a few drops of Ginseng-Green Spirit Water and began refining qi.
Before he knew it, night had arrived.
Fang Qing had cultivated for an entire day. At noon, he had only swallowed a single Fasting Pill. His only rest time had been spent reading all sorts of miscellaneous books and pill formulas… occasionally, he even studied the Plum Blossom Changes.
“Too weak… The current me is still far too weak.”
“In order to enjoy myself better and for longer in the future… I should at least first work hard until I reach the Foundation Establishment stage and gain three sixty-year cycles of lifespan, right?”
When night arrived, after converting his magic power into [Basket Water] magic power, he sensed the state of the spring water in the spiritual pool before him, nodded, and began refining spiritual water again.
First was Ginseng-Green Spirit Water. By now, he could already control the success rate at around seventy to eighty percent. If he took it out to sell, he could make a large profit.
“This water-method alchemy… Although it is extremely difficult to get started, and one careless mistake can bankrupt you, once truly mastered, it really does bring in gold by the day… Although Gong Susu’s recommendation back then was meant to trap me, I never expected that by a strange combination of circumstances… she would instead help me succeed.”
After Zha Zhu visited several times, Fang Qing more or less understood what Gong Susu’s side was thinking.
He simply did not quite understand: even if Zha Zhu advanced to Foundation Establishment in the future, would it really bring such great benefits to Gong Susu and the others?
Could it be… that one person establishing their foundation first could drive those after them to establish theirs as well?
“Forget it. In any case, it has nothing to do with me.”
Fang Qing casually tossed a stalk of jade-qi ginseng into the spiritual pool.
At his current cultivation, when refining Ginseng-Green Spirit Water, he had a feeling of “free and unrestrained execution.”
A true alchemist, aside from refining pills according to the formulas left by predecessors, also had to learn to adapt to the time and place.
This was especially true for water-method alchemists!
Every spiritual pool and spring eye had different spiritual energy and water nature. How could they possibly be exactly the same?
Therefore, when refining pills, one had to make subtle adjustments. This was experience that no pill formula could provide. It had to be comprehended personally through refining pool after pool!
“After this pool of Ginseng-Green Spirit Water is successfully refined, I’ll try the Spirit-Congealing Powder again…”
Fang Qing’s gaze was deep and quiet.
……
Four years later.
Inside the cave abode.
Fang Qing sat cross-legged. Black-water magic power rippled around him; he had impressively reached the perfected realm of the sixth level of Qi Refining!
He silently circulated the Commentary on the Water Classic, purifying the black water within his body, faintly sensing a layer of obstruction.
The late-stage realm of the seventh level of Qi Refining seemed only one step away, yet no matter what, he could not cross it.
“A bottleneck?”
Fang Qing was not surprised by this, nor did he forcefully attempt to break through. Instead, he followed the natural course, dispersed his magic power, and slowly concluded his cultivation.
“As someone with middling aptitude, and with magic power cultivated by consuming spiritual water, breaking through to the sixth level of Qi Refining before was still fine. But now, facing the bottleneck of the seventh level of Qi Refining, if I try to force my way through, I’m afraid I will inevitably fail…”
“A middle-grade water spiritual root is still a little lacking. If it were a high-grade water spiritual root like Zha Zhu’s, perhaps she would have succeeded in a single attempt…”
The more he cultivated, the more Fang Qing felt the importance of aptitude.
“Now that I’ve encountered a bottleneck, the most reliable method is to take a pill that can assist in breaking through bottlenecks… However, on the market, this sort of pill that can assist one in breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining is not only expensive, but also extremely scarce… Ordinary disciples definitely can’t afford it.”
“The second method is to go out and fight, to run into opportunities… Especially on the edge between life and death, it’s easiest to break through obstacles. Of course, it’s also the fastest way to die…”
“The third is to slowly temper one’s magic power and endure the passage of time. Some cultivators can do it in a few years or a decade or so, while others remain trapped for decades, or even their entire lives.”
Fang Qing had abundant wealth and did not want to take risks, so he naturally considered the first method.
As for the third? It consumed too much time.
“Wait… My Commentary on the Water Classic has encountered a bottleneck, but the Book of Contemplating the Black Mausoleum has not… If I wait until I’ve also cultivated the Book of Contemplating the Black Mausoleum to the sixth level of Qi-Ingestion, then convert it all over… perhaps it would be comparable to a small half of a pill for breaking through bottlenecks?”
Fang Qing thought of a method, and his heart settled greatly.
“There’s also the Spirit-Congealing Powder… I’ve already advanced it to the final step of combining the elixir. If I can refine it, allowing me to possess divine sense while still in the Qi Refining stage, then a mere late-stage checkpoint can likewise be broken with a snap of my fingers!”
He rose, shook out his robes, came to the alchemy room, and took out a stalk of Seven-Star Grass.
“These past few years, Bajun has grown more and more chaotic… Li Rulong has truly done something enormous. It’s just made my trade between the two worlds increasingly difficult to conduct.”
Thinking of the chaos in Bajun, Fang Qing could not help sighing.
The more chaotic the cultivation world became, the more robber cultivators there were!
On his previous trips, although he had been cautious enough, there had still been one time when he had inadvertently leaked information and been targeted by a group of robber cultivators.
If not for the fact that he had later replenished several high-grade Fire Cloud Talismans and Golden Blade Talismans, along with the aid of the Sea-Transforming Pearl, he might have had to perform an on-the-spot transmigration and expose his greatest secret.