Chapter 111 : The Secrets of Qi Refining
Chapter 111: The Secrets of Qi Refining
“Junior Sister’s temperament was still as cold as ever.” Jiang Yuyan picked up a cup of clear tea and took a sip.
The Golden Palace Pill was a third-tier treasure pill essential for Foundation Establishment cultivators attempting to form their Core, and it was worth a fortune.
Even though the Mirror Moon Sect was a renowned alchemy sect in the Earth Proliferation Territory of the Southern Wastes, it still required a hundred years to refine merely five to six furnaces of Golden Palace Pills.
Each furnace yielded between fifteen to eighteen pills, and some had to be shared with the two sects that worked closely with them.
Calculating by a century as one generation, the share available to the hundred true disciples of the sect was only five to seven pills.
In other words, if a true disciple of the sect wanted to reliably obtain a Golden Palace Pill, they had to rank within the top five of the Mirror Moon Rankings.
Had it not been for her repeated failures in Core Formation, which greatly disappointed the sect’s higher-ups and caused her to fall from the top five of the Mirror Moon Rankings to ninth place, Jiang Yuyan would not have needed to approach this generation’s fifth-ranked true disciple, Yun Yishu.
“Senior Sister may as well speak plainly.” Yun Yishu directly put away the tea set, her gaze meeting Jiang Yuyan’s without concealment, her intent to send her away clear.
“I have an ancient secret method that can increase the probability of forming a Nascent Soul. How about exchanging it for your share of the Golden Palace Pill this generation?” Jiang Yuyan confidently named her price.
With Yun Yishu’s aptitude and foundation, even without consuming a Golden Palace Pill, she had a thirty to forty percent chance of succeeding in Core Formation.
“Senior Sister, could it be that the reason you failed twice at Core Formation was because of that so-called Nascent Soul secret method?” Yun Yishu asked calmly.
“Who succeeds at Core Formation without failure?” Jiang Yuyan diverted the topic. “Condensing indestructible metal essence was extremely difficult. Even with the Golden Palace Pill, there were only a handful of true disciples in the sect who succeeded.”
“Senior Sister has no sincerity.” Yun Yishu shook her head, unwilling to continue the discussion.
“If Junior Sister refuses, so be it.” Jiang Yuyan decisively rose and left gracefully.
The bait had been cast. She did not believe Yun Yishu would not be tempted.
Without sparing Jiang Yuyan’s departure another thought, Yun Yishu extended her right palm, and outside the dwelling, the Transmission Talisman immediately transformed into a streak of rainbow light that fell into her hand.
……
Moon-in-Water Dwelling.
Receiving the response from the Transmission Talisman, Chen Beiwu opened the gate of his residence and quietly waited.
“Junior Brother, what do you think Qi Refining is?” A cold, penetrating female voice suddenly sounded.
Chen Beiwu looked up and saw that Senior Sister Yun had appeared before him without his notice, like a beauty walking out of an ancient scroll.
“Cultivators draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into their bodies, temper their flesh, condense spiritual power, and refine themselves. This is Qi Refining.” Chen Beiwu replied.
“Junior Brother only said part of it.” Yun Yishu shook her head and said, “Qi Refining is the very first step upon the immortal path, and it is also the most crucial step.”
“The reason cultivators accumulate spiritual power during Qi Refining, excavate human potential, and break past the limits of spirit and mind, is ultimately to lay the foundation, so that Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul stages thereafter may proceed more steadily.”
Chen Beiwu praised her: “So that was how it was.”
Unlike the short-sighted scattered cultivators of the Southern Wastes, he had received knowledge bombardments from the Immortal Alliance Official Website, so naturally, he understood how important the Qi Refining stage was to cultivators.
“Then does Junior Brother know how to achieve the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining?” Chen Beiwu asked his most pressing question.
Yun Yishu countered, “Do you know the fundamental difference between a cultivator at the Ninth Level of Qi Refining and one at the Tenth Level?”
“Is it that the foundation of strength is greater?” Chen Beiwu cautiously replied.
“No, it is the difference in talent. This determines how many resources a cultivator must expend during Qi Refining.”
Yun Yishu spoke frankly: “In the Profound Secrets Hall, one can exchange for a Breakthrough Pill. With just one pill, a cultivator at the peak of the Ninth Level of Qi Refining can ascend to the Tenth Level. The price is five years of being unable to cultivate. Junior Brother, do you think it worth it?”
After pondering for a while, Chen Beiwu shook his head. “Not worth it.”
Yun Yishu nodded slightly and continued to ask, “Junior Brother, you are of scattered-cultivator origin, so you should know that most Qi Refining cultivators in the Southern Wastes attempt Foundation Establishment at the peak of the Ninth Level. Do you think they are shortsighted, or do they understand gain and loss?”
Chen Beiwu said, “It should be that they have no choice. After all, scattered cultivators lack resources and have no access to Breakthrough Pills.”
“Wrong.” Yun Yishu shook her head and revealed the truth. “At the root, it is because the sects, together with the other four great sects, jointly sealed away all information regarding the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining. Thus, in the eyes of Southern Wastes scattered cultivators, the highest realm of Qi Refining was only the Ninth Level.”
Hearing this, Chen Beiwu was puzzled. “Why?”
“The Eleventh Level of Qi Refining symbolizes the limit of man, corresponding to the number of Heaven’s One that gives birth to water.
A cultivator who could take this step could break free from the shackles of the flesh, their qi and blood flowing like mercury. The price was the consumption of enormous resources.”
“It is no exaggeration to say that the resources required to cultivate a single Eleventh-Level Qi Refining cultivator could at least raise dozens of Ninth-Level cultivators.”
“The Twelfth Level of Qi Refining symbolizes the limit of earth, corresponding to the earthly branches of the Great Cycle.
A cultivator who could take this step could complete the ultimate circulation of spiritual power, turning every movement into cultivation itself. But the resources and effort consumed could at the very least raise several Foundation Establishment cultivators.”
“The Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining symbolizes the evolution of Heaven, the extreme number of the Dao of Heaven.
A cultivator who could take this step could steal a thread of Heaven’s secrets, comprehend the Dao, return to their true nature, and cause their spiritual root aptitude to undergo unprecedented transformation—stepping into Foundation Establishment within a single day.”
Senior Sister Yun’s words instantly made Chen Beiwu understand.
The five great sects sealed away knowledge of the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining not only to restrict the upper limit of scattered cultivators in the Southern Wastes and preemptively eliminate potential rivals, but also to better reap the cultivation resources of all the scattered cultivators across the Earth Proliferation Territory through the sale of Foundation Establishment Pills.
“The sequence disciples of the sects all basically knew of the existence of the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining, yet most of them chose to attempt Foundation Establishment at the Tenth Level. Junior Brother, do you know why?”
Chen Beiwu stayed silent, waiting for his senior sister to continue.
“Because it is not worth it.”
At this point, Yun Yishu paused in tone. “Junior Brother thought taking a Breakthrough Pill was unwise because consuming it could damage one’s foundation, requiring a long period of recuperation to expel its toxins. For geniuses with outstanding talent, the disadvantages far outweighed the benefits.”
“In the same way, in the eyes of some sequence disciples, the Eleventh Level of Qi Refining was only slightly stronger in terms of physique compared to the Tenth Level.
Even though reaching the Eleventh Level could increase the probability of Foundation Establishment by fifty percent—equivalent to consuming a superior Foundation Establishment Pill—it was not worth spending such immense resources. Unless it was the Twelfth Level, which could increase a cultivator’s chance of Core Formation by an entire level.”
“But the Twelfth Level of Qi Refining was exceedingly difficult to achieve. Many sequence disciples of the sect cultivated arduously for sixty years yet could not advance from the Eleventh to the Twelfth Level.”
“And the lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator was merely over a hundred years. Even with life-extending pills, it only reached two hundred at most.”
“Knowing all this, does Junior Brother still wish to obtain the cultivation method for the Thirteenth Level of Qi Refining?” Yun Yishu’s eyes fixed on Chen Beiwu, her tone calm.
“Senior Sister, I want to try.” Chen Beiwu’s gaze was resolute.