Spirit Stones, Oh Spirit Stones

Yue Qianchou chuckled, viciously tore off a chunk of meat and chewed it in his mouth. But after swallowing, his face froze as if he had choked. He patted his chest, and a jug of wine appeared in his other hand as if by magic. He gulped down several mouthfuls before finally letting out a burp and exhaling. Grinning, he told the white fox about the golden pearl. She was left dumbstruck, having never imagined that the golden pearl had such a marvelous use.

The former teased, "Sister Bai! Don't you get tired of staying in this place where neither sun nor moon ever shines? Want to come to my territory? It's much quieter than here. No one will disturb you, absolutely."

The white fox gave Yue Qianchou a noncommittal glance and said softly, "Brother Chou! Didn't you say you wanted to make something of yourself in the Cultivation World? From what I've seen, you don't seem to have cultivated at all these past few days." With that, she continued playing her zither and singing softly.

Indulging in pleasures sapped one's ambition! Thinking of how he had spent the past few days doing nothing but playing, Yue Qianchou felt somewhat ashamed. He flung the half-eaten wild chicken leg in his hand far away. With a splash, it fell into the pool and sank. The white fox's brows creased slightly as she played.

No sooner said than done. Yue Qianchou sat down cross-legged, and two Spirit Stones appeared in his hands. Closing his eyes, he circulated the Profound Heaven Art, slowly drawing in the spiritual energy and converting it into True Qi stored within his body. He tossed the depleted stones into the water, and two more Spirit Stones appeared in his hands. When he converted their spiritual energy into True Qi again, he discovered that True Qi had already filled his entire body. His dantian could no longer hold any more.

Yue Qianchou was secretly horrified. Spirit Stones truly were good things. He had only absorbed six mid-grade Spirit Stones, yet the True Qi he had converted was enough to push him through Qi Refining Level Five. If he had drawn spiritual energy from the air instead, how many years would it have taken to equal six mid-grade Spirit Stones?

Without further hesitation, he silently recalled the Level Five methods of the Profound Heaven Art and began cultivating. Cultivating from Levels Five through Ten of the Qi Refining stage was actually quite simple. It was nowhere near as difficult as opening the Eight Extraordinary Meridians during Levels One through Four. As long as one absorbed enough spiritual energy, there were basically no major problems.

Several days passed in a row. When Yue Qianchou refined the last trace of True Qi in his body and poured it into his dantian, his entire body trembled. It seemed as though every cell in his body had undergone a qualitative transformation. He thought to himself, I've finally reached Level Five!

Examining the changes in his dantian, he found that the dantian once filled with True Qi had become empty. Only a few wisps of True Qi floated within it. Yet the former pale white, mist-like True Qi could not compare to this seemingly tangible True Qi at all.

With a stir of his mind, he drew out a wisp from his dantian and guided it through his body. The instant that wisp left the dantian's opening, it transformed into countless streams of True Qi and flooded his whole body. Explosive power filled every inch of him. He circulated the matching attack art from the Profound Heaven Art. Yue Qianchou's eyes snapped open, and he chopped a palm through the air toward the pool.

A tremendous bang echoed through the stone chamber. A column of water exploded several meters into the air before crashing back down. The zither music behind him came to an abrupt halt. Yue Qianchou withdrew his technique and turned around, only for the smile blooming across his face to freeze. The white fox was glaring at him with her beautiful eyes, clearly blaming him for interrupting her music.

He hurriedly scrambled up, cupped his hands, and begged forgiveness. She rolled her eyes at him, too lazy to bicker with him, then continued playing and singing, "Yesterday was like the eastward-flowing water, gone from me forever, never to remain..." Yue Qianchou's teeth ached from listening. He turned around and sat with his back to her. Two Spirit Stones appeared in his hands, and his eyes slowly closed.

"Mm! The tangible True Qi in my dantian is nearly one-third full. Uh..." Yue Qianchou, who had been sitting cross-legged before the pavilion, suddenly sprang up and screeched, "Damn it! Where are my Spirit Stones? Who stole my fucking Spirit Stones?"

His sudden outbursts left the white fox unable to keep playing. Her crimson lips parted as she was about to scold him, but Yue Qianchou's figure abruptly vanished. She was slightly annoyed, and her slender fingers swept across the strings. A harmonious note rang through the cave...

"Spirit Stones, Spirit Stones, where have my Spirit Stones gone?" A sika deer was lying in the grass asleep when a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air, squawking madly and frightening it into fleeing for its life.

Yue Qianchou had returned to the world within the golden pearl. It was now filled with flowers and grass. Two brightly colored Wild Chickens, one male and one female, had been courting each other, but they too were startled into flight by him. He had no time to care about that. Finding the cloth bundle his master had given him, he rummaged through it. Then, as if remembering something, he slapped his forehead and collapsed onto the ground, crying mournfully, "Ai! I used up the Spirit Stones so quickly. This is going to kill me!"

One had to know that Spirit Stones were not easy to obtain. The Qingguang Sect's territory also contained several Spirit Stone mines, and every month, the Spirit Stones extracted from them were distributed uniformly by the sect. Reclusive seniors in the back mountain could receive two high-grade Spirit Stones each month. The sect leader could receive one high-grade Spirit Stone. Elders could receive fifty mid-grade Spirit Stones. Core Formation stage disciples could receive twenty-five mid-grade Spirit Stones. Foundation Establishment Realm disciples received ten mid-grade Spirit Stones plus two hundred and fifty low-grade Spirit Stones. Then there were disciples above Qi Refining Level Four, who could receive five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones each month.

The Spirit Stones the Qingguang Sect extracted each month were not considered few in the Cultivation World. But with over a thousand people, it was impossible to let everyone use as many as they pleased. They could only be strictly distributed according to rank. Since this concerned everyone's interests, even the sect leader did not dare play favorites. Otherwise, not only would he be unable to remain sect leader, he might even be beaten to death.

Of course, only half of the Spirit Stones extracted each month were distributed. The other half was public property of the sect. Naturally, this was to purchase necessities, or to reward disciples who had rendered some merit to the sect.

Logically speaking, Yue Qianchou had already reached above Qi Refining Level Four, so he could receive five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones every month. But in order to conceal certain matters, he had not reported it, nor had he undergone the sect's assessment and registration. Since he had not reported it, naturally there was no salary to collect. In truth, Hao Sansi's fifty mid-grade Spirit Stones each month were not enough for his own use either. The dozen or so Yue Qianchou had used had been pried from between his teeth.

"Ai! How can I keep cultivating without Spirit Stones? Even if I could receive five hundred low-grade Spirit Stones a month, that would only equal five mid-grade ones. Yet one-third of the True Qi in my dantian has already used up ten mid-grade stones. To reach Level Six, I'll still need twenty mid-grade Spirit Stones, equal to two thousand low-grade ones. I'd need to collect four months' worth of low-grade Spirit Stones just to reach Level Six. If I wanted to reach Level Ten Qi Refining, how many Spirit Stones would that take?" Yue Qianchou was thoroughly dispirited.

He had used six mid-grade Spirit Stones just to rise to Qi Refining Level Five. Then, from Level Five to Level Six, he had used nearly ten mid-grade Spirit Stones, and the True Qi in his dantian had not even reached one-third. The spiritual energy required for every increase in level was plainly growing geometrically! If he cultivated all the way to the late Tribulation stage, would he not need Spirit Stones piled as high as a mountain?

Yue Qianchou was truly worried sick now. His name suited him perfectly—remove his surname, and he was called "Qianchou," a thousand sorrows. If he had never used Spirit Stones, it would have been one thing. But now that he had tasted their sweetness, how could he go back to foolishly drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as before? Even if he had the patience to increase his cultivation that way, he probably would not have the lifespan to wait for it.

There was also something he did not know: his dantian's capacity was three times that of an ordinary person. In other words, when ordinary people filled their dantians in two days, he used the equivalent of six days. In truth, ordinary people only needed one-third of the Spirit Stones he used to rise one level.

His master Hao Sansi did not understand this. The Spirit Stones he had given Yue Qianchou were calculated based on half a month, after deducting the time it took to reach Qi Refining Level Four from a month. In other words, Hao Sansi had given him just enough stones, at most, for his disciple to rise one level.

"No choice. I can only wait for Master to return and think of something then." Yue Qianchou stood up dejectedly. In the distance, a wild chicken clucked. Judging by the sound, it had likely laid an egg. This was precisely why Yue Qianchou had caught them in the first place. He had deliberately caught one male and one female, hoping they would lay more eggs and hatch more chicks. That way, he could eat roasted wild chicken whenever he wanted in the future.

But he had no mind for that now. He merely raised his head lazily for a glance before lowering it again. "What?" His lowered head shot back up, and he cried out in alarm. Looking into the distance, he saw that his territory had doubled from its original size. It now likely spanned nearly a thousand meters in every direction.

Yue Qianchou closed his eyes and sensed it. Though it had expanded, it remained under his control... Mm! There were already nine eggs in the wild chicken nest. Before long, he understood the reason. This golden pearl had already become one with him. If he had guessed correctly, every time his cultivation rose by one level, the territory here would double again from its original size.

Seeing something that made him happy eased his worries over the lack of Spirit Stones considerably. He wandered around his territory for a while before returning to the pavilion.

The white fox was no longer surprised by his sudden appearances and disappearances. She raised her head and glanced at him, stopped playing her zither, and asked softly, "The month is up. Are you going back?"

"Mm! I'm going back. I've already overstayed by several days. Master should have returned by now." After saying that, he turned around with a carefree wave of his hand and said, "Sister Bai, I'll come visit you often." What answered him from behind was "Mandarin Duck Butterfly Dream."

After returning to the courtyard, he took a look around and found, strangely, that his master had not returned. If he had, the ground would not be so clean. He pulled over a bamboo chair and wiped it with his hand. There was hardly any dust. He could not help praising the air quality of this era for being more than a little better than in his previous life. Back then, if a room went several days without cleaning, the dust would be thicker than it was here after a month. He turned and lay down, rocking back and forth.

"Eh! Why are so many people running toward Qingguang Grand Hall?" Yue Qianchou, who had been dozing lightly, woke with a start and slightly raised himself. With his current cultivation, hearing people running from not too far away was no problem. After a pause, he lay back down and muttered with his eyes closed, "Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with me."

Not long after he lay down, he suddenly heard someone outside the courtyard call, "Is Martial Ancestor Uncle Yue here?" After calling twice, Yue Qianchou answered, wondering why someone had come looking for him. When he walked outside, an unfamiliar disciple saluted him and said, "Martial Ancestor Uncle Yue, the sect leader requests that you hurry to Qingguang Grand Hall."

"The sect leader wants me to go to Qingguang Grand Hall? What for?" Yue Qianchou asked strangely. It made sense—no one had ever sought him out before, much less the sect leader who had brought him into the Qingguang Sect and whom he had never seen again.

The disciple looked uneasy, as though he had something difficult to say. After a brief silence, he finally stamped his foot, bowed, and said, "Elder Hao led a team to the Newcomer Tournament. On the way back, they happened upon a spirit herb, but the Daluo Sect interfered. The two sides got into a dispute, and several elders were injured. Elder Hao, however, was too severely wounded..."

Hearing this, Yue Qianchou's expression changed drastically. He had no mind to hear anything else. In a flash, he sprinted wildly toward Qingguang Grand Hall.

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