Chapter 118: Fortune and Misfortune Intertwined

Although feeling a bit speechless, Qingxi still followed Qiu Yingying into a vast hall. Under the guidance of a maid, the two took their seats at a long table marked number thirty.

Compared to the grand hall on Volcano Island, the Shen family’s main hall was even taller and more magnificent. Eight towering stone pillars soared toward the sky, intricately carved with exquisite patterns. These were formation glyphs, radiating dazzling light to stabilize the entire structure.

At the front of the hall, there were seventy-two long tables, each corresponding to one of the seventy-two prodigies listed on the Rising Stars Ranking. Beyond these tables were numerous smaller seats—positions acquired through bidding.

Had it not been for meeting Qiu Yingying, Qingxi would have been seated among those hundreds of places.

Glancing at the seats behind him, Qingxi muttered with admiration, “No wonder the faction that created Wantong Workshop is so prosperous. The starting bid for a spot is ten spirit stones, but the final price is certainly much higher. Those hundreds of seats must have brought in thousands of spirit stones.”

At that moment, Qingxi gained a clearer understanding of the wealth held by the premier family of Yun Chuan Prefecture.

“By the way, junior brother, how did you come to the Central Region? I clearly remember you were assigned to Li Kantian’s team and should be stationed guarding Wufu City,” Qiu Yingying asked curiously, eyeing him closely.

“Of course, I came here to discuss strategies for resisting the evil demons,” Qingxi replied with the same reason as before.

Qiu Yingying smiled knowingly. “I doubt it’s that simple. Before leaving the Eastern Region, I heard you had already advanced to the mid-stage of the Innate Realm, were honored as the Divine Archer, and once took down an evil demon at the Great Perfection level with a single arrow. You truly have the strength to rank on the Rising Stars List.”

Qingxi's heart skipped a beat. Could Qiu Yingying have guessed something?

“I’m curious—when all twelve meridians are fully opened, does that mean there are no bottlenecks only in the Qi Refining stage, or throughout all cultivation levels?” Qiu Yingying pondered aloud.

Qingxi heaved a sigh of relief, glad she hadn’t uncovered any secrets, and explained, “There are still bottlenecks. However, I have an ancestral pill that increases the success rate of breaking through the bottleneck at the Innate Realm.”

He immediately spent five hundred strands of primordial essence to condense a profound-grade breakthrough pill within the system space and then took it out.

“What a pure pill!” Qiu Yingying said as she took the profound-grade breakthrough pill, sensing the extraordinary purity and power within. If ingested, it would indeed raise the chance of a successful breakthrough.

“What kind of pill is this?” she asked, intrigued.

“This pill is called the Profound-Grade Breakthrough Pill. Taking one increases the success rate of advancing to the early Innate stage by fifty percent; for the mid-stage, it boosts success by thirty percent; and for the late Innate and Great Perfection stages, it increases success rates by twenty and ten percent respectively,” Qingxi explained carefully, following the system’s instructions.

“I’ll take three of them, and I can trade spirit stones for them,” Qiu Yingying said eagerly.

Now that she had advanced to the late Innate stage and knew her chance of reaching Great Perfection was only seventy percent, having three of these breakthrough pills would mean she could attempt the bottleneck just once and succeed, saving a great deal of time.

“No problem. Here are five pills—consider the extra two a gift from me,” Qingxi said as four more profound-grade breakthrough pills appeared in his palm, adding to the one he had already shown her.

“Since you’re so generous, I can’t let you go empty-handed.” Qiu Yingying produced a wooden box and opened it to reveal fifty lower-grade spirit stones.

“Thank you, senior sister!” Qingxi accepted them gratefully.

One spirit stone was equivalent to a century-old spirit herb, which could typically convert into about a hundred and fifty strands of five-element primordial essence. Fifty spirit stones were worth about five thousand strands of primordial essence. Since five breakthrough pills only required two thousand five hundred strands, Qingxi had effectively doubled his resources.

Both exchanged what they needed with knowing smiles, silently acknowledging each other’s understanding.

After learning Qingxi had pills to aid breakthroughs, Qiu Yingying stopped pressing about his cultivation level and instead quietly watched the stage.

As time passed, more and more prodigies entered the hall. Though they all deliberately suppressed their cultivation auras, Qingxi could still accurately read their information at a glance.

Meanwhile, he wondered why, despite having reached the late Innate stage, he had not yet unlocked new system functions.

The little assistant promptly explained, “As mentioned before, new passive functions unlock at the peak of the late Innate stage.”

Qingxi thought for a moment and asked the system, “Pipi Assistant, I’m already late Innate. I’m just a little short of the peak. How about unlocking it now?”

“Insufficient cultivation level. Unable to unlock,” came the calm refusal.

“Then can you at least tell me what the function is?”

“No.”

“...” Qingxi was speechless.

“Senior sister, I’m stepping out for a moment,” Qingxi stood and headed outside the hall.

Finding a secluded spot, he used Earth Escape Technique to burrow ten meters underground. From his system space, he pulled out centuries-old spirit herbs and devoured them greedily. Torrents of spiritual energy surged within him like raging waves.

Relying on his formidable physical strength, he forcibly withstood the tempestuous influx inside his body, breaking through to the peak of the late Innate stage.

“Ding! Detected host’s cultivation has reached the peak of the late Innate stage. Passive function ‘Fortunes Intertwined’ unlocked. Please check your panel,” the assistant’s notification chimed.

Wiping the remnants of herb juice from his lips, Qingxi’s smile grew increasingly arrogant. The feeling of being overpowered was truly different!

Now, he could sense the bottleneck of the Great Perfection stage. Even with his profound spirit root aptitude, he only had a seventy percent chance of success.

If not for the time needed for breakthroughs and the imminent grand assembly, he would have attempted to break through to Great Perfection immediately.

Opening the panel, Qingxi saw the new system feature:

[New Function: Fortunes Intertwined (Passive)]

[Note: Predicts auspicious or ominous fortunes, ranked from best to worst as follows: Great Blessing, Moderate Blessing, Small Blessing, Neutral, Small Calamity, Moderate Calamity, Great Calamity]

“This is perfect!” Qingxi exclaimed.

“This is exactly the kind of passive I need!”

He slapped his thigh and sprang from the earth.

Ever since provoking most of the profound-grade beasts in Thunder Dragon Valley, he feared they might attack at any moment.

Now, with the ability to predict fortunes, he could scan his surroundings before acting, deciding whether to strike or hold back. How splendid!

Soon after, Qingxi returned to table number thirty and sat beside Qiu Yingying.

“If you don’t come back soon, the grand assembly will begin,” she remarked, glancing at him.

Qiu Yingying’s eyes widened in surprise. “Why do you smell so strongly of medicinal herbs?”

“I just went to refine pills,” Qingxi said, producing another profound-grade breakthrough pill in his palm, his smile sincere.

Qiu Yingying nodded slightly, thinking to herself that this junior brother was truly diligent. Even at this late hour, he hadn’t forgotten to refine pills.

No wonder he had reached the Innate Realm at such a young age. Beyond fully opening all twelve meridians and the advantage of pills, it was mostly due to relentless effort.

With this in mind, Qiu Yingying resolved to advance to Great Perfection as soon as possible, aiming to break into the top twenty or even top ten of the Rising Stars Ranking.