Qi Refining Third Layer
Shen Jingchuan mentally reviewed these words, and his grand plan to make a fortune felt completely solidified. He then continued:
"Sister Xian'er, I have another question."
"Speak," Xian'er said, her voice slightly nonchalant.
"From what you're saying, this Ring has more than just the abilities to travel through time, store items, and upgrade its grade?"
Shen Jingchuan tentatively asked:
"If I absorb more Spiritual Qi, will there be other changes?"
Upon hearing this, Xian'er remained silent for a moment, as if trying to retrieve fragments from the depths of her memory. After a long while, she slowly spoke, her tone carrying a hint of vague certainty:
"Of course, it has more than just this ability. In the memory that remains in my soul, this Ring was not the small, gray one it is now; it should have been a small world of its own."
"With Spiritual Qi so scarce, you can't even unleash one-tenth of your full potential."
She paused, her tone becoming more serious:
"Just try your best to collect as many Spirit Stones as possible and put them into the Ring."
The more Spiritual Qi I accumulate, the faster my soul recovers, the more I remember, and the more abilities the Ring unlocks.
Don't ask any other questions, just remember one thing—accumulating Spirit Stones can't hurt, but you also need to be careful.
Shen Jingchuan's heart skipped a beat.
He had long suspected that the Ring was of extraordinary origin, but he hadn't expected it to be a treasure capable of evolving into a small world.
He suppressed the turmoil in his heart and said respectfully:
"I've got it, Sister Xian'er. From now on, I'll focus all my efforts on collecting Spirit Stones to help you and your Spatial Ring recover."
"That's enough for you to understand."
Xian'er's voice was tinged with weariness:
"Alright, I'll tell you the rest when I remember them. I'm going to rest now; you can continue your cultivation on your own."
"Wait, sister!"
Shen Jingchuan quickly called out to them:
"There's something else. I've tried practicing those Law Technique you taught me last time for a few days, and I can barely use them, but the 'Geng Metal Arrow and Shield Instruction' can only fire one golden arrow at a time. I wanted to ask how to practice it to produce more?"
Xian'er chuckled softly, her tone carrying a hint of matter-of-fact:
"What's the rush? The Law Technique I'm about to teach you are far beyond your current imagination; their power can't be increased simply by practicing hard."
"You're only at the Qi Refining Second Layer, and your Spiritual Power is limited. The fact that you can withstand a golden arrow already shows you have a solid foundation."
She explained slowly:
"You don't need to practice this Law Technique to death. Once your cultivation level increases and your Spiritual Power becomes more abundant, the power you can unleash will naturally increase as well."
Once you reach the Golden Core and Nascent Soul, not only will you be able to unleash a few more golden arrows, but you could also have a rain of swords covering the ground and mountains of gold falling from the sky. Don't waste your time on that now; just focus on improving your cultivation. When your cultivation reaches that level, everything will fall into place naturally.
Shen Jingchuan nodded, his mind now completely clear:
"I see. Okay, I understand. Cultivation is the key. Sister Xian'er, you should rest now. I'll go cultivate right away."
Having said that, he composed himself and withdrew from the Ring's spatial storage.
Sitting on the bed, he first made a mental decision to transfer all the remaining two hundred or so Spirit Stones in his Spatial Ring to the Ring for absorption.
He then took out all the items he had bought that afternoon from his Storage Ring: two Mid-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills, two Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, the Mid-Grade Spirit Gathering Formation Plate, and two Mid-Grade Spirit Concealing Jade. He put them all into his Spatial Ring and, with a thought, commanded the Ring to upgrade all of them.
After doing all this, he still had some doubts and muttered to himself:
I only have a little over two hundred Spirit Stones left. That should be enough to upgrade these things, right? I don't want to run out of Spiritual Qi halfway through and get stuck in the middle, that would be awkward.
Hopefully, this will be enough. I need to get more Spirit Stones as soon as possible; it's too uncomfortable to be so strapped for cash.
He took out three Mid-Grade Qi Nourishing Pills that he had previously upgraded, tilted his head back and swallowed them, then sat cross-legged and began to refine the medicinal power by circulating his cultivation Cultivation Method.
The Mid-Grade Qi Nourishing Pill is mild and mellow in nature. Its medicinal power spreads along the meridians, transforming into wisps of Spiritual Qi that flow into the Qi Sea. After several cycles, the Qi Sea becomes much fuller, and the meridians throughout the body feel warm and comfortable.
After refining the medicinal power of the three Qi Nourishing Pills, Shen Jingchuan paused briefly and focused his Divine Sense on the Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill.
He had only used Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill once before, and hadn't dared to try its effects since. So he took one out and swallowed it without hesitation.
The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, its immense medicinal power exploding forth. Spiritual Qi, several times more potent than that of Qi Nourishing Pill, surged down the meridians, directly reaching the Qi Sea.
Shen Jingchuan felt a jolt throughout his body and quickly steadied himself, focusing all his energy on circulating his Cultivation Method to guide the medicinal power.
The Spiritual Qi circulated rapidly through the meridians, and the Qi Sea filled up at a visible speed, becoming fuller and fuller.
When he reached the third cycle of his Qi circulation, he suddenly felt as if he had encountered a thin membrane at the edge of his Qi Sea. His Spiritual Qi rippled as it struck the membrane, but could not penetrate it.
"This is... the bottleneck of the Qi Refining Third Layer?"
Shen Jingchuan's heart skipped a beat, filled with both surprise and joy. He had thought he would need to cultivate for at least some more time before he could even touch the threshold, but unexpectedly, after using a Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill, he had directly reached the edge of a breakthrough.
He gritted his teeth and didn't hesitate.
Now was the perfect time to break through the barrier. He immediately took out another Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill, tilted his head back, and swallowed it.
The medicinal power of the second pill flowed in, and the already abundant Spiritual Qi surged instantly, like a rising tide, crashing fiercely against the membrane.
Once, twice, three times...
Shen Jingchuan gritted his teeth and focused intently on guiding his Spiritual Qi, repeatedly breaking through the bottleneck.
Boom--
With a soft sound that only he could hear, the barrier suddenly shattered. A surge of powerful Spiritual Qi instantly flooded into the wider sea of qi, and all the meridians in his body trembled, widening slightly.
A feeling of comfort welled up from every part of my body, and I felt an indescribable sense of ease.
"It's done!"
Shen Jingchuan suddenly opened his eyes, let out a low shout, and couldn't hide the joy on his face.
He looked down at himself; a thin layer of dark gray oily stains had seeped from his skin, carrying a faint fishy smell—the impurities expelled from his body during his breakthrough.
He didn't care. He closed his eyes again, circulated his cultivation Cultivation Method, and slowly completed a Greater Celestial Circuit, thoroughly refining and absorbing the remaining medicinal power, thus steadily consolidating his Qi Refining Third Layer cultivation.
Upon further introspection, the Spiritual Qi in the dantian was nearly twice as abundant as before, circulating smoothly and freely without any sense of emptiness, clearly indicating an extremely stable foundation.
Shen Jingchuan let out a long breath, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up in a smile.
With this Ring and the ability to enhance elixirs, his cultivation speed has reached such a rapid pace. At this rate, it won't be long before he reaches the threshold of the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.
Just as he was secretly gloating, Xian'er's angry and anxious voice suddenly came from the Ring space. "You brat, look what you've done!"
This sudden turn of events startled Shen Jingchuan, and he immediately focused his mind on the Ring space.
The space was filled with a deathly gray silence. The thin layer of Spiritual Qi that had been there earlier had completely dissipated, making it look almost exactly the same as when he first obtained the Ring.
He hurriedly snapped out of his daze and looked down. The Ring on his finger, which had been glowing faintly due to absorbing Spirit Stones over the past few days, had now completely dimmed, becoming dull and devoid of any Spiritual Qi.