Spirit Root Test

After Li Ditu left Changqing Mountain, Li Qianqing more or less began refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

Compared with Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Replenishing Pills, Qi Gathering Pills sold better every year, so naturally, more of them were refined.

In more than half of the Li Clan's First Grade Middle Rank Spiritual Fields, the spirit herbs planted were all ingredients for refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

Last time, he had needed to refine sixty sets of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Replenishing Pill ingredients. This time, he had to refine a full two hundred sets of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill ingredients!

The Li Clan's core upper echelon knew that for most of the next half year, Li Qianqing would be putting his time into refining Qi Gathering Pills. Though it would take a great deal of time, the alchemy experience gained would be precious, and there would also be more than ten thousand Contribution Points going into his pocket.

One set of spirit herbs for refining a Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Replenishing Pill could produce at most seven Qi Replenishing Pills. A Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pill produced five, while one set of spirit herbs for a Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill could produce ten.

Ten pills from one set counted as relatively many in pill refinement. Most pills fell between five and ten, while three, fifteen, and the like were rare.

Three sets per furnace, then. The refining will be faster too.

When Li Qianqing took out the Alchemy Furnace, he made up his mind.

After entering the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Pills, with his experience, refining three sets of spirit herbs in one furnace was completely no problem.

The Alchemy Furnace he used now had been upgraded again and was already at the level of a High-Grade Magic Tool. The Mid-Grade Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace had already been replaced, swapped out in February this year. Like the Mid-Grade Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace, the High-Grade Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace was naturally provided by the clan for free. It required no Contribution Points and could be taken directly from the Clan Treasury.

The refining time for a Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill was a little longer than that of a Qi Replenishing Pill. On top of that, refining three sets of spirit herbs together required even more time.

After almost five double-hours, Li Qianqing finally completed one furnace of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

"Still not twenty-nine..."

Li Qianqing's demands of himself were even higher. The first furnace had only produced twenty-eight, while his bottom line was twenty-nine.

"At the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, refining three sets at once is still just a little lacking."

This was not a problem with his experience. The problem still lay in his realm.

After all, even in his previous life, he had never done this. That the Qi Refining Seventh Layer could effectively refine three sets of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Pills at the same time was only his estimate.

His estimate had not been wrong either. It could indeed refine them effectively, but it was just that tiny bit lacking. Once he reached the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, it should be perfect.

Being that tiny bit lacking was not much of a problem either. Next, he would still refine three sets of spirit herbs for Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills together.

This way, a refining task that originally would have taken seven or eight months could be finished in a little over two months.

Just like pills, after spirit herbs were harvested, if they were left for too long, their medicinal power would also be lost. Among the five spirit herbs used to refine Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, the Rank 1 Low-Grade Clear Cry Grass had the shortest shelf life. After one year, its medicinal power would begin to drain away. Clear Cry Grass was also one of the spirit herbs used to refine Rank 1 Low-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

For Rank 1 Low-Grade and Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, only Clear Cry Grass overlapped as a refining spirit herb. The former required two stalks per set, while the latter required five.

After Li Qianqing tidied up briefly, he went to the cultivation room, activated the Rank 1 High-Grade Spirit Gathering Array, then took a Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pill and began cultivating.

Compared with the Qi Refining Sixth Layer, at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, the efficiency of refining and absorbing Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills increased a great deal, but the effect dropped even more fiercely.

Next, he would refine one furnace of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills every three days, rather than refining them all in one go over a little more than two months.

Cultivators could not distinguish the difference between pills refined over one month and one day versus one month and three days, but pills refined over one month and pills refined over six months could still be told apart. If a professional alchemist observed carefully, they could see a difference of half a month.

In this regard, Li Qianqing had a very good grasp.

The first day of Early September.

This was the day the Li Clan began its annual testing of the spirit roots of the clan's children.

Today, Li Qianqing had to extricate himself from alchemy affairs.

He was the leader. Of course, he was not the only one carrying out this task. There were also three Mid-Stage Qi Refining Li Clan Cultivators. "Eleventh Aunt, Fifth Brother, Seventh Sister, last year you went with Fourth Uncle to test the clan members' spirit roots. I will have to trouble you with the task this year as well."

"Qianqing, don't worry. Fourth Uncle already gave instructions half a month ago. You're mainly responsible for watching over things. If there are any clan members with issues, they'll be handed to you. Leave the rest to us." After Seventh Sister Li Qianjing finished speaking, she directly pulled Li Qianqing by the arm. "Let's hurry down the mountain."

"I say, Eleventh Aunt, Fifth Brother, you two should hurry and keep up."

The old came before the young. Every Li Clan Cultivator present was older than Li Qianqing.

The identity of a core upper-echelon member did not mean he was high above everyone else. When facing elders, he still had to behave like a junior.

This was also one of the reasons Li Qianqing was happy with his own clan.

Not all cultivation clans were like the Li Clan. In his previous life, Li Qianqing had seen all kinds of cultivation clans. There were some even more united and loving than the current Li Clan, but most atmospheres were still inferior to the Li Clan's.

The four first headed to Liyang City. Half of the Li Clan's mortal clan members were concentrated there.

One city, three counties, and seven towns were the main settlements of the Li Clan's mortal clan members. Among them, the one city was naturally Liyang City.

In Zhao Kingdom, for mortal settlements of Foundation Establishment Clans like Liyang City, the managers were all highly respected clan members among the Li Clan's mortals.

The other three counties and seven towns were also like this. Most Qi Refining cultivation clans did not receive such treatment. One had to know that the Zhao Kingdom's imperial clan was the strongest Core Formation Clan in Zhao Kingdom, an existence that stood shoulder to shoulder with the Four Great Sects.

Liyang City was very close to Changqing Mountain, only two hundred li away. Very soon, the four arrived at the mortal city.

The Li Clan children aged nine to eleven had already been gathered by the Li Clan members under the Liyang City Steward early this morning.

"Line up properly and come forward for testing one by one."

"No playing around or fighting!"

The Li Clan Mortal Martial Artists maintaining order shouted loudly.

Children of this age were mostly like this. Few would behave obediently and stay still. Most were whispering to each other, and a few had outright started fighting.

Liyang City had a little over a hundred thousand people, of which Li Clan members made up more than seventy thousand. Children aged nine to eleven accounted for nearly four thousand.

The children were divided into three lines for testing. Li Qianqing sat at the very end and carried out the final test.

With a Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator's control over spiritual power, testing spirit roots was not very accurate. They could only make a rough judgment. Any child suspected of having spirit root talent would be handed to Li Qianqing to test again.

This was also one secondary reason why only Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators could establish cultivation clans.

Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivators could not even distinguish in detail whether clan members had spirit roots.

Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivators testing spirit roots would be more meticulous, and the time consumed would also be longer, but basically, one test meant one accurate result.

No matter how much time a Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator spent, they still could not obtain an accurate result. At most, the accuracy rate would be a bit higher.