Lu Qinghe did not know that his caution had spared him from disaster.
At that moment, he was pouring everything into breaking through to the third layer of Qi Condensation. After most of the fifty-year Blood Ginseng’s medicinal power had been consumed, his Ren and Du acupoints finally burst open.
In an instant, vast spiritual energy surged into his Dantian. His Magic Power more than doubled, and the Small Heavenly Cycle began to circulate-an endless, self-sustaining flow.
Qi Condensation, third layer.
Lu Qinghe felt no great excitement. This was merely what he had expected.
He had been confident the fifty-year Blood Ginseng would push him to the third layer. The only delay had been the task submission deadline forcing him to wait a few extra days.
He did not stop cultivating. More than half the Blood Ginseng’s medicinal power remained unrefined.
Lu Qinghe continued circulating his technique, drawing out every last thread of potency.
Eight days passed like this. On the eighth day, he finally stopped.
“Fireball Technique!”
A ball of flame materialized in his palm. He hurled it at the cave wall.
With a sharp bang, a hole the size of a washbasin appeared in the stone. That kind of force would punch straight through any cultivator who failed to raise a spiritual energy barrier in time.
A single Fireball Technique consumed only a fifth of his spiritual energy. He could cast five or six in succession.
“Earth Wall Technique!”
The ground heaved upward, forming a solid earthen barrier before him.
Lu Qinghe dispersed the spiritual energy and nodded, satisfied. Fireball for offense, Earth Wall for defense-against an ordinary third-layer cultivator, he could hold his own.
He turned his mind to what came next.
The Affairs Hall was off limits for now. He could not accept assignments there unless Zhou Tong left his post. But failing to complete the sect’s yearly quota would bring its own trouble.
Expulsion alone he could stomach. What truly frightened him was having his cultivation crippled. And once he was powerless, Zhou Tong would never let him walk away.
Lu Qinghe clenched his jaw. “If it comes to that-reach the fourth layer within a year. Become an Outer Sect Disciple.”
Once he held that status, the Taixuan Sect’s protections would shield him. Zhou Tong would find it nearly impossible to move against him then.
But the path was steep.
From the third layer to the fourth, he first had to fill his Dantian completely with spiritual energy, then achieve Spiritual Energy Liquefaction. After that transformation, it would no longer be called spiritual energy-it would be Magic Power. Read this novel at NovelPing for the best experience.
His plan was to continue consuming fifty-year Blood Ginsengs. At the third layer, he could suppress their medicinal force with ease.
Yet after refining a single fifty-year Blood Ginseng, his Dantian filled by only a twentieth.
To bring the third layer to Perfection, he would need twenty of them.
Ten days to refine one ginseng. Five days to recuperate. Half a month per cycle. Twenty Blood Ginsengs meant three hundred days just to accumulate enough spiritual energy from the initial stage to Grand Perfection.
That left less than two months for Spiritual Energy Liquefaction and the breakthrough itself. Nearly impossible.
Worse still, this assumed ideal conditions. The more Blood Ginseng he consumed, the weaker its effect would become.
It was not that fifty-year Blood Ginseng lacked potency. The problem was his crude method of consumption-swallowing them raw was a terrible waste. If refined into pills, a single ginseng’s worth could multiply several times over.
In the hands of a skilled alchemist, twenty fifty-year Blood Ginsengs could produce enough pills to carry someone from nothing all the way to the late stage of Qi Condensation.
But for Lu Qinghe, by the time he reached the middle stage, fifty-year Blood Ginseng would likely do him almost no good at all.
He meditated quietly for several days, then took out another fifty-year Blood Ginseng, swallowed it, and began circulating his technique.
Ten days later, every drop of medicinal power had been refined. Lu Qinghe turned his spiritual sense inward and observed his Dantian-less than a tenth full.
He let out a quiet sigh.
“At this pace, reaching the fourth layer within a year is impossible.”
If anyone knew his thoughts, they would curse him for his greed. His cultivation speed already far outstripped that of a three-root cultivator.
A cultivator with three spiritual roots who reached the middle stage of Qi Condensation within five years was considered a genius.
“I’ve heard a single Spirit Gathering Pill can equal several months of effort, and it doesn’t need prolonged refinement. Far more effective than raw Blood Ginseng.”
He had seen pills in the menial disciple exchange area before-Hundred Herbs Pills, useful only for first- and second-layer cultivators. Their effect was worse than a ten-year Blood Ginseng.
So he had never bothered pursuing them.
But the Spirit Gathering Pill was a genuine Low Grade spirit pill of the Yellow rank. For any cultivator in the Qi Condensation realm, it was a true treasure.
Yet such pills would never appear among Menial Disciples. Even if one was lucky enough to obtain a few, he would hide them away and refine them in secret.
But for a Menial Disciple to set foot in the Outer Sect-that was nearly impossible.
In the end, Lu Qinghe decided to try his luck in the menial disciple exchange area.
He arrived wearing only a simple mask, no elaborate disguise. At the third layer of Qi Condensation, no one in the menial area would be foolish enough to provoke him.
Lu Qinghe set out a hundred jin of Spirit Rice and a jade box containing a ten-year Blood Ginseng. He propped up a wooden sign: “Exchange for Spirit Stones or Spirit Gathering Pills.”
The display drew a crowd immediately. Every passing Menial Disciple stared in shock at the goods laid out before them.
“Which Senior Brother is this? A hundred jin of Spirit Rice-and that Blood Ginseng has to be ten-year!”
“A hundred jin of Spirit Rice is worth ten Spirit Stones. The ten-year Blood Ginseng is another two.”
“A hundred jin of Spirit Rice plus one Blood Ginseng-that’s enough to push a second-layer cultivator straight to the third layer.”
“But what Menial Disciple can produce that many Spirit Stones? Let alone pills. I’ve never even laid eyes on a Spirit Gathering Pill.”
Plenty of onlookers. Plenty of hungry gazes. But no one could produce what he asked for.
A second-layer cultivator stepped forward. “Senior Brother, could I trade other goods for a portion of the Spirit Rice?”
Lu Qinghe shook his head. “Apologies, Junior Brother. I only need Spirit Stones and pills.”
Disappointment flooded the man’s face, but sensing the third-layer aura radiating from Lu Qinghe, he swallowed whatever else he might have said.
This was the cultivation world. Strength decided who spoke and who stayed silent.
Half a day passed with no takers. Lu Qinghe packed everything away, disappointed, and turned his steps toward the Outer Sect.
After walking several li, he stopped.
His gaze shifted toward a patch of shadow not far off.
Every nerve tightened. His spiritual sense had picked up a presence trailing him ever since he left the exchange area.
“Fellow Daoist,” Lu Qinghe called out, his voice steady. “You’ve followed me long enough. Come out.”
One hand gathered spiritual energy for the Fireball Technique. The other prepared the Earth Wall. If anything felt wrong, he would run without hesitation.