Chapter 7: Pill Peak

Qingxi stood before the main hall.

Watching as each wooden stake was shattered, he was so excited he almost leapt with joy.

“So much elemental power! I’ve struck it rich!”

After Tu Yongsheng finished his demonstration, Qingxi walked onto the trampled grass, reached out, and gently touched the earth.

“Ding! You have gained a trace of wood essence.”

“Ding! You have gained a trace of fire essence.”

...

In a short time, he had gathered over a hundred strands of the five elemental essences.

The water essence had already surpassed a hundred, and the others had all exceeded fifty.

He was now very close to advancing his spiritual root.

Before the main hall, Tu Yongsheng basked in the respectful gazes of the crowd, feeling deeply satisfied.

When he saw Qingxi examining the broken stakes, he thought to himself, “Is this boy studying the destructive power of martial arts techniques? Not bad—rare to see such a diligent youngster.”

“Young man, your aptitude is impressive. Today, I’ll teach you a few more martial arts techniques,” Tu Yongsheng said as he walked over.

“Thank you, Elder!” Qingxi was delighted.

Under Tu Yongsheng’s explanation, Qingxi quickly memorized the meridian routes for several martial arts techniques.

Then, practicing on the spot, he found he could master them with surprising speed.

Tu Yongsheng’s eyes widened in shock. “His aptitude is astonishing, no less than the young lady’s, yet his spiritual root is supposedly trash. How strange!”

Half an hour later.

Tu Yongsheng announced loudly, “That’s all for today. Return and cultivate diligently. Come back in seven days.”

He looked at Qingxi with approval, beaming as he said, “Go home and train hard, and practice the techniques I’ve taught you. Next time, I hope to see you make some progress.”

Qingxi quickly stood up and saluted. “I will do my best, Elder.”

The group then dispersed.

As Qingxi was leaving the hall, intending to head to the dining hall for a meal, a plump figure suddenly barreled into him, sending him flying.

“Ouch, who was that?” Qingxi scrambled to his feet, and when he saw the newcomer, his eyes filled with surprise.

“It’s me, Brother Qingxi.”

The chubby Lin Feng wore spotless white robes and beamed with a bashful, honest smile.

“What brings you here?” Qingxi certainly recognized Lin Feng.

But his surprise was because the plump youth had shown up in this place.

“I came to find you, of course!” Lin Feng patted his chest. “Don’t you remember? Yesterday, in front of the Bone Hall, I said I’d made up my mind to be your friend.”

Hearing these words, Qingxi was a bit taken aback.

He had thought Lin Feng was only being polite, yet the other truly intended to befriend him.

Moreover, Lin Feng hadn’t looked down on him for having a trash spiritual root, nor shunned him, but had come here of his own accord. This proved Lin Feng had good character and wasn’t the type to curry favor with the powerful.

“It seems Lin Feng truly is, as the system’s assistant suggested, someone worth befriending,” Qingxi thought. He smiled at Lin Feng. “Good! From now on, we’re real friends.”

Having made his first friend in the cultivation world, Qingxi was in high spirits.

The two walked and talked together, sharing a meal in the dining hall.

When Lin Feng learned that Qingxi had also reached the first level of Qi Refining, he gave him a thumbs-up. “I didn’t expect you to have such talent, Brother Qingxi. You know, many people can’t establish their foundation on the first day.”

“With the help of a Qi Condensing Pill, I saved myself ten days of hard training; otherwise, I’d never have advanced so quickly,” Qingxi replied without a hint of pride.

After all, it was the truth.

Without that first-grade Qi Condensing Pill, it would have taken him at least ten days of grueling cultivation to reach the first level of Qi Refining.

As he finished speaking, Qingxi looked at Lin Feng and instinctively used the system’s scan function.

[Race: Human]

[Name: Lin Feng]

[Level: Peak of Qi Refining, third stage]

...

“In just one day, he’s broken through to the third level of Qi Refining. The cultivation speed with a spiritual-grade root is truly terrifying. Even with pills, I’m only at the first level,” Qingxi thought, shaken.

“The host’s spiritual root is trash, so slow cultivation is normal. With a trash root, if you don’t rely on external aid, reaching the peak of Qi Refining would take at least thirty-five years of nonstop cultivation,” the system assistant’s voice sounded in his mind, leaving Qingxi dumbfounded.

“Thirty-five years without rest just to reach the peak of Qi Refining?”

“That’s right, you heard correctly,” the assistant said calmly. “Once you factor in time for eating, sleeping, martial practice, and chores, you’re lucky if you can devote half your day to cultivation. That means it would take at least seventy years to reach the peak of Qi Refining.”

Hearing this, Qingxi suddenly understood. “No wonder Steward Xu is almost ninety and only just broke through to the thirtieth level of Qi Refining. He must have lost too much time to daily affairs.”

“Not quite,” the assistant continued. “Breaking through realms involves bottlenecks that consume a lot of time, so it’s never smooth sailing. However, since the host’s twelve principal meridians are all open, bottlenecks within Qi Refining don’t apply to you. That’s a huge advantage.”

While Qingxi and the assistant conversed, Lin Feng had already finished eating and patted his belly.

“My master sent me to Pill Peak to broaden my horizons. Want to come along?”

“Pill Peak?” Qingxi’s eyes narrowed.

The Lingyuan Sect was divided into nine main peaks, and Pill Peak was one of them.

There, alchemists above the ninth grade—masters of the profound rank—crafted pills for the sect.

Since alchemy required alchemical fire, there must be a rich source of fire essence there. Qingxi was immediately interested. “Can I?”

“Relax, I’m the sect leader’s disciple. I can take you to have a look—no one will stop us.”

Lin Feng patted his chest with the air of someone who could handle anything.

It wasn’t long before the two arrived at Pill Peak, shrouded in mist.

When Lin Feng presented his identity token, the gate disciples let them through without question.

Inside the mountain, in a blazing alchemy chamber.

They were not greeted by a Pill Peak elder, but by a young man in a red alchemist’s robe.

He was the personal disciple of a Pill Peak elder, tasked with hosting Lin Feng.

“So it’s Junior Brother Lin Feng. I’m Nie Yu, a fifth-grade alchemist. In a moment, I’ll be refining a batch of fourth-grade Qi Condensing Pills. You two may observe.”

With a wave of his hand, Nie Yu summoned five servants with no cultivation, who brought over the prepared ingredients and set them before a massive cauldron.

As Nie Yu released the alchemical fire, the temperature of the room soared. He began skillfully combining the ingredients for the pill.

Lin Feng stood by, curiously glancing around.

Meanwhile, Qingxi placed his hand on the searing stone wall.

“Ding! You have gained a trace of fire essence.”

“Ding...”

Before long, he had accumulated over a dozen traces of fire essence.

“At this rate, I’ll soon surpass a hundred fire essence. But it’s odd—there’s clearly a dense concentration of fire energy here, so why is the conversion so slow?”

Qingxi frowned in puzzlement.

The assistant explained, “The system’s conversion speed is directly tied to your spiritual root’s grade. Since yours is trash, the speed is of course slow. Once you improve your root, conversion will accelerate accordingly.”

“So that’s why you keep urging me to upgrade my spiritual root,” Qingxi thought. He resolved that, whenever possible, he would convert more elemental essence to enhance his root.

Half an hour later.

With a hum, the cauldron opened.

Nie Yu waved his hand and took out three dark red pills.

“Senior Brother Nie is incredible—success on the first try! No wonder even the master praises you as a young genius alchemist.” Lin Feng hurried over, full of flattery.

Nie Yu, delighted, quickly handed a jade bottle to Lin Feng. “I’m just a fifth-grade alchemist, hardly worthy of the sect leader’s notice. But you, Junior Brother Lin Feng, are destined for greatness. When you become a master of the innate realm, please remember me.”

“Brothers in the same sect should help each other. Still, I think you’ll reach the innate realm before I do,” Lin Feng replied smoothly, making Nie Yu laugh even more.

Qingxi also offered a few words of praise.

Having completed the fourth-grade Qi Condensing Pills and being complimented by Lin Feng, Nie Yu was in high spirits. He glanced at Qingxi and said with a smile, “Since you’re a friend of Lin Feng, this bottle of pills is a gift for you.”

He handed over a small porcelain vial.

With a glance, Qingxi could tell it contained three first-grade Qi Condensing Pills. He quickly thanked Nie Yu and happily accepted the gift.