Dusk was settling in.
Su Yang dragged his exhausted body back to his room.
He pushed the door open.
He let out a long breath.
After closing the door, he collapsed onto the hard bed.
Su Yang had only one feeling now.
Aching. His whole body ached.
It was as if he had been taken apart and then put back together again.
Especially after he relaxed.
He felt like even lifting a finger would take all his strength.
His spiritual power was completely drained.
That hollow feeling was unbearable.
“You old dogs!”
Su Yang lay on his back, glaring at the ceiling through gritted teeth.
Just forty spirit ironwood trees had left him in this half-dead state.
Tomorrow they would add ten more. How much worse would that be?
Su Yang lay in bed for a full half-incense stick.
He let the exhaustion wash over him.
But he did not fall asleep.
He could not afford to neglect his cultivation.
He did not want to endure even one more day of humiliation like today's.
So he had to cultivate hard and take out those two old dogs as soon as possible!
Su Yang took a deep breath.
He forced his aching body upright and sat cross-legged on the bed.
He closed his eyes, focused his mind, and circulated the Yuanchu Qingyang Technique.
The next moment,
the spiritual energy all around him seemed to be drawn by some force, surging into his body.
After completing one full cycle,
Su Yang opened his eyes, delight in them.
The Yuanchu Qingyang Technique truly was a near-perfect cultivation technique, improved by the Treasure Mirror.
His spiritual power recovered far faster than he had expected.
The spiritual power flowed along the improved cultivation technique's pathways.
It was incomparably smoother than the original route he had used at first.
At last, it flowed into his dantian without the slightest impediment.
His spiritual power gathered little by little at a visible rate.
From nothing to something, from a trickle to a full reservoir.
Su Yang continued cultivating with his eyes closed.
An hour later,
he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and finished restoring his spiritual power.
The spiritual power in his body had fully recovered.
Not only that,
he vaguely sensed that after this cycle of cultivation, from total depletion to fullness,
his spiritual power had become a little more condensed than it had been yesterday.
His cultivation had also advanced by an almost imperceptible amount.
Su Yang rolled his wrists and shoulders.
The soreness was gone.
His gaze fell on the bundle beside the bed.
The bottle of pills Zhao Qingyao had left behind lay quietly inside.
Su Yang reached for the jade bottle, uncorked it, and took out a brownish-black pill.
An Origin Condensation Pill.
A First-Tier pill.
It was quite helpful to cultivators in early qi refining, strengthening their foundations and improving their cultivation.
Though its grade was not high,
it was all Zhao Qingyao had.
Su Yang studied the Origin Condensation Pill for a moment.
He closed his eyes and, with a thought, reached out to the Yuanchu Treasure Mirror.
The mirror space within the Yuanchu Treasure Mirror appeared in his mind.
The next moment,
the Origin Condensation Pill in his hand vanished and appeared in the mirror space.
“Creation!”
Su Yang silently uttered the word.
In an instant, the Creation Divine Ability activated.
A dazzling, blinding light suddenly illuminated the mirror space.
The light lasted for about three breaths.
Then it slowly faded.
Su Yang focused his gaze, and his thoughts trembled.
The lone Origin Condensation Pill had disappeared.
In its place were five brand-new pills.
The five pills floated quietly in the space.
Each was about the size of a longan.
They were still brownish-black all over,
but now shimmered with a faint, lustrous sheen.
Su Yang's gaze fixed on the surface of the pills.
There were four clearly visible lines.
Pill patterns.
Four of them.
For pills, one pill pattern meant Low-Grade, two meant medium-grade, and three meant high-grade.
So four pill patterns meant:
Supreme-Grade!
Su Yang's heart suddenly raced.
He was so overwhelmed with joy that he could barely keep from shouting.
He struggled to calm himself, then reached out to the Treasure Mirror and took out a Supreme-Grade Origin Condensation Pill.
A delicate fragrance wafted from the pill.
Su Yang brought it close to his nose and breathed in. He could feel the spiritual power in his body stirring.
The medicinal effects of a Supreme-Grade Origin Condensation Pill were many times stronger than those of a Low-Grade one.
More importantly,
Supreme-Grade Pills contained very few impurities.
They were almost entirely free of pill toxins.
If one took too many ordinary pills, pill toxins would accumulate in the body.
Over time, they would damage one's foundation and hinder future cultivation breakthroughs.
But Supreme-Grade Pills did not have this problem at all.
They could be taken freely, without worry.
One pill had become five.
Low-Grade had become Supreme-Grade.
Su Yang took several deep breaths before he finally managed to calm down.
The Yuanchu Treasure Mirror could now activate its Creation Divine Ability once a day.
That meant he could gain four additional Supreme-Grade Origin Condensation pills every day.
With the Treasure Mirror in his possession,
he would never again lack pills for cultivation!
“First, let's test their effects.”
Su Yang put the Supreme-Grade Spirit Origin Pill in his hand into his mouth.
It melted as soon as it entered his mouth; there was no need to chew.
A gentle medicinal warmth flowed down his throat.
The next moment,
the pill's medicinal power erupted, and spiritual energy surged endlessly through his body.
Su Yang did not dare be careless for even a moment.
He immediately focused his mind and circulated the Yuanchu Qingyang Technique with all his might.
The spiritual energy in his meridians was continuously guided and refined, eventually becoming pure spiritual power that flowed into his dantian.
This rate of cultivation
was far, far faster than simply absorbing spiritual energy from heaven and earth with his cultivation technique the day before.
Su Yang could clearly feel it.
The spiritual power in his dantian was increasing at a visible rate.
With every full cycle,
his cultivation advanced another step.
The night passed.
Dawn had just broken.
Su Yang slowly opened his eyes.
Feeling the spiritual power within him, he could not help but smile.
He had consumed three Supreme-Grade Origin Condensation pills.
He had completed half of Qi Refining, Second Layer.
At this rate,
he would break through to Qi Refining, Third Layer after one more night, or two at most!
Su Yang suppressed his excitement.
He got up, ready to work.
His spiritual power had increased considerably, so chopping spirit wood should be easier today than yesterday.
When he reached the Spirit Ironwood Forest,
Su Yang picked up his axe, channeled spiritual power into both arms, and brought it down.
The gash in the spirit ironwood was visibly deeper than yesterday's.
His spirits lifted, and he kept swinging the axe.
One spirit ironwood tree after another fell beneath his axe.
By the end of the morning,
he had felled twenty-five spirit ironwood trees.
Su Yang checked the spiritual power in his body.
More than half remained.
It was a vast improvement over yesterday!
In a good mood, he put away his axe and hurried toward the Servant Court.
At noon, it was time to get a meal.
But before he reached the dining hall entrance,
out by the spirit fields,
he saw two people kneeling on the ground in a posture of abject submission.
They were Ding Yue and Pang Yue.
They were prostrate on the ground, their shoulders trembling slightly, their foreheads pressed to the earth.
In front of them
stood a young woman in a long green dress, three bamboo leaves embroidered on the collar.
An inner sect disciple!
The female disciple had delicate features, but impatience showed between her brows.
She seemed to be questioning Ding Yue and Pang Yue. They had not given her the answer she wanted, and she was not in a good mood.
Su Yang's heart gave a jolt.
He was a mere servant disciple and could not afford to offend an inner sect disciple.
He did not want to get involved.
He quickly lowered his gaze, turned around without a sound, and prepared to take another route.
But the moment he turned,
a crisp voice came from behind him.
“Stop!”
“You, servant disciple! Come here!”