Breakthrough, Mid Qi Condensation

After parting ways with Liu Yu, Ji An returned to the bamboo lodge.

He picked up the wooden carving and wondered when he should seek out Liang Qiu for some fish bladder glue. That stuff worked wonders for bonding wooden objects.

The carving was made of Silverleaf Pine and consisted of two pieces of wood glued together. The adhesive used was nothing more than ordinary tree resin.

Silverleaf Pine was a fairly common type of timber. Ji An had seen several trees while condensing the Wood Origin Pearl.

He subconsciously held the carving up before his eyes, then froze slightly. He walked out of the bamboo lodge and placed it beneath the sunlight.

As the light passed through the hole, Ji An noticed that the color at the center of the carving was distinctly different from the rest. It seemed to be a hidden layer filled with something.

There's something hidden inside!

Ji An's heart leaped with delight. Could it be a treasure map or something?! That would be perfect.

The carving had been personally carved by his father. If something was hidden inside, then his father must have put it there.

The moment that thought arose, Ji An immediately cast a spell and released the Blazing Fire Spell.

This spell could generate a certain amount of heat, just enough to soften the tree resin holding the wooden carving together.

The temperature was not high enough to ignite paper, so it would not burn the wood or whatever was inside.

After casting the spell twice in succession, Ji An gripped the carving tightly and wrenched it apart.

"Open!"

With a snap, the carving split in two. A neatly folded roll of beast hide was revealed, with a hole torn through its center.

What a sin. Please don't let the crucial information be damaged.

Ji An prayed as he exhaled, then slowly unfolded the beast hide.

He understood why his father had not used a jade slip to record the information. Jade slips carried faint spiritual energy fluctuations.

Qi Condensation Stage cultivators might not be able to detect them, but Foundation Establishment Cultivators might not be so easily fooled.

After a long while, once Ji An had repeatedly confirmed that he had memorized everything written on the beast hide, he went to the kitchen and burned it.

The beast hide recorded a secret method for breeding Treasure-Seeking Rats. Treasure-Seeking Rats came in two varieties. The first was called the Spirit Seeking Rat, used to search for spirit herbs. The second was called the Ore-Seeking Rat, used to search for mineral veins.

Back then, his father had bred Spirit Seeking Rats. It was utterly meaningless for a Rogue Cultivator to breed Ore-Seeking Rats.

Although some of the writing had been erased by a spell, the key information had not been lost, and Ji An could piece the secret method together.

The secret method was incomplete and could at most raise a Treasure-Seeking Rat to Foundation Establishment Middle Stage. Even so, such a method was as precious as a treasure to a Rogue Cultivator.

Perhaps his father had harbored thoughts of establishing a Lineage. If used well, these things were enough to cultivate a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and the secret method itself could serve as a Lineage inheritance.

If he had obtained this secret method when he had first entered the sect, Ji An would most likely have sold it off to Zhang Yuanshan and the others. But now, he would not act so rashly.

First, he was unsure of the method's value and would find it difficult to sell it for a good price. Second, he had already weathered the hardest period and could fully use the secret method to build a long-term business.

After destroying the secret method, Ji An went outside, chopped off an arm-thick Silverleaf Pine branch, and tossed it outside the fence gate to dry. The wooden carving still needed to be repaired.

Crop after crop of Spirit Grain was harvested, and half a year slipped by in the blink of an eye.

The cold moon was silent, its slanting light falling upon the bamboo lodge.

Ji An sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, guiding his spiritual power according to the method in his cultivation technique and repeatedly striking at the bottleneck.

He had only used two bottles of the pills obtained from Wei Songnian when he felt that he had encountered a bottleneck.

Though his aptitude was ordinary, he had spared no expense in feeding himself pills and spirit rice. Thus, he faced the issue of breakthrough sooner than most ordinary disciples of the same generation.

Because of Liu Yu's guidance, he had not rushed to break through. Instead, he persisted in using his own spiritual power to batter the bottleneck again and again.

After four months of gradual grinding, the bottleneck had already loosened.

Not only that, but two more inch-long branch meridians had appeared within his body. His aptitude itself had also improved slightly, an unexpected delight.

The spiritual power within him slowly dwindled until he could no longer gather enough strength to strike at the bottleneck.

Ji An ended his cultivation, yet excitement gleamed in his eyes. He had a feeling that the time for breakthrough was tonight!

He rested briefly and nourished his mind.

He took out a jade bottle and poured out a sky-blue pill.

This was the Azure Jade Pill Wei Songnian had given him, a pill used by Mid Qi Condensation disciples to increase their spiritual power.

Using it at the Third Layer of Qi Condensation would be too wasteful, but using it to refine spiritual power and strike at the Mid Qi Condensation bottleneck could not have been more fitting.

Sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion once more, Ji An tipped back his head and swallowed the pill, beginning to cultivate the Clear Origin Scripture.

The medicinal power of the Azure Jade Pill was far fiercer than that of the Yellow Bud Pill. As the cultivation technique circulated, the spiritual energy contained within the pill was rapidly refined.

Because his body had limited capacity, a large amount of spiritual energy actually dispersed through his pores. It was truly a pity.

His spiritual power gathered into crashing waves. Before one wave had subsided, another came surging in. How could that loosened bottleneck withstand it?

In no time at all, as another tide of spiritual power flooded in, the Qi Sea Acupoint suddenly expanded by several degrees.

All of the spiritual power poured into his dantian, after which a stream of spiritual power, different in quality from that of Early Qi Condensation, surged forth and entered his Immortal Meridians.

Ji An immediately discovered that as the new spiritual power flowed in, his Immortal Meridians actually grew several degrees thicker.

At the same time, three more inch-long branch meridians were opened.

A light and nimble sensation immediately arose in his body, as though he had shed his winter-padded clothing after the arrival of spring.

It was also as if he had consumed some miraculous tonic spirit medicine, leaving his five viscera and six bowels suffused with a warm glow.

His sinews and bones gave soft chimes. A current of heat rose from his tailbone and shot up to his waist.

After refining the remaining medicinal power within the pill, Ji An opened his eyes.

For one fleeting instant, every last detail of the dimly lit room was clear in his sight.

Clenching his stronger fists, Ji An softly recited:

"After one year, Qi Condensation Layer 4.

I'm far behind those geniuses, but I have my own rhythm."

His consciousness sank into his Qi Sea and connected with the Stone Turtle.

Master: Ji An

Dao Rhyme: 0

Spiritual Inspiration: Kan Spirit 0.3, Kun Spirit 0.2, Xun Spirit 0.1

Spells: Minor Cloud and Rain Art (Great Accomplishment 81%)

Thick Earth Art (Great Accomplishment 50%)

Wither and Flourish Art (Great Accomplishment 15%)

Blazing Fire Spell (Proficient 38%)

Sharp Metal Art (Minor Accomplishment 21%)

After half a year of Pure Cultivation, the Minor Cloud and Rain Art was already close to Perfection. Ji An was confident that in three months, before the next Spirit Grain harvest, he could raise the spell to the Perfection level.

It was said that the fastest record in the sect for cultivating a Farming Spell to Perfection had been set several hundred years ago by a Spirit Farmer named Yang Decao.

That man had entered the sect for twenty-six years and, at the age of forty-two, cultivated the Thick Earth Art to Perfection.

This senior's life could be called legendary. He broke through to Mid Qi Condensation at the very limit, broke through to Late Qi Condensation at the very limit, and broke through to Foundation Establishment at the very limit.

In the end, Heaven's favor deserted him, and he unfortunately died while attempting to reach Origin Seeking. This was also the highest realm ever attained by a sect Spirit Farmer.

Ji An pushed open the window, gazed up at the white jade plate of the moon hanging high in the sky, and slowly exhaled.

Without realizing it, he had already come to this world a year ago. Those profound memories he had once thought he would never forget had gradually faded during the very act of refusing to forget them.

Now, he had truly integrated into this world. A foreign land had become his homeland.

Outside the small lodge, cool breezes swept through in waves, and the leaves rustled.

The bright moon shone upon the vegetable patch in the courtyard, where several jade-green cucumbers poked out beneath the green leaves.