Mount Climbing Gate

In the year 5023 of the Zhao Calendar, there were still nine years left before Clear Wind Valley's internal conflict erupted completely.

Mid-February.

After nearly eight months, Li Qianqing completed the final furnace of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

The final furnace produced twenty Qi Gathering Pills. Of the two hundred portions of spirit herbs for refining Qi Gathering Pills, aside from the last furnace, where two portions of spirit herbs were refined together, the first sixty-six furnaces had all been refined with three portions of spirit herbs at the same time. Because he was not at the Qi Refining Eighth Layer, when refining three portions of spirit herbs, situations where thirty Qi Gathering Pills appeared were rare. Twenty-nine pills happened the most, followed by twenty-eight.

One thousand nine hundred and twenty-two Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills!

This was Li Qianqing's final refining result.

Of course, the "real" situation definitely did not have this many, and over these past few months, he had also consumed some Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

"I can hand over the Qi Gathering Pills and complete the task."

Li Ditu had chatted with him before. Around early March, he would return to Changqing Mountain and, in passing, take out the pills he had refined. In truth, all of this was to cover for Li Qianqing.

At dusk.

Li Qianqing had already found Li Lilong.

Right now, there were only the two of them here.

"Fourth Uncle, the Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills have already been refined." Li Qianqing handed Li Lilong a Storage Bag, inside which were all Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

Li Lilong took the Storage Bag. He did not open it, and instead asked directly, "How many?"

He naturally knew that Li Qianqing had refined two hundred furnaces of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, accounting for around seventy percent of the total. The remaining thirty percent or so had been handled by Li Ditu.

"One thousand six hundred and two," Li Qianqing answered.

When Li Lilong heard this, he smiled in great satisfaction. "I still underestimated you."

His estimate for Li Qianqing's final number of Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills had been around one thousand five hundred, while Li Ditu's had been around one thousand five hundred and fifty.

Clearly, both of them had estimated wrongly, but Li Ditu had been closer to the answer.

"Qianqing, when you refine Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills now, most furnaces produce ten pills, right?"

Li Qianqing nodded.

This was not hard to calculate. Based on his final refining results, one could infer his current pill-forming rate when refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills.

"This already surpasses your Second Grandfather by a lot."

Li Ditu's current pill-forming rate when refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills was around eighty-five percent. Li Qianqing had clearly already surpassed a ninety-five percent pill-forming rate.

The level of pill-forming rate in pill refining was generally calculated using the most recent five furnaces or three furnaces as data.

"It truly is as your Second Grandfather said. In the future, the family's Rank 1 High-Grade Pill refining really needs to be handed over entirely to you."

Li Ditu and Li Lilong had discussed this matter before. Li Lilong had felt that a portion should still be given to Li Ditu to refine, but now it seemed that what Li Ditu had said was the reasonable course.

"Fourth Uncle, I'll refine them well," Li Qianqing agreed, adding a gesture to show that he had great confidence in himself and would definitely not let down the family's expectations.

With an overall pill-forming rate above eighty percent, after completing this task of refining Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills, Li Qianqing obtained a total of eighteen thousand family Contribution Points. If converted into spirit stones, for a Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator, this was a very large fortune.

It would be enough to purchase an excellent High-Grade Magic Tool, with some left over.

After handing the refined Rank 1 Mid-Grade Qi Gathering Pills to Li Lilong, the remaining matters no longer required Li Qianqing to worry about.

Refining Qi Gathering Pills seemed to have taken a very long time, but in reality it had only been sixty-seven days. He had spent that time refining pills, while all the rest had been used for cultivation. His cultivation was mainly focused on his cultivation method and secret technique, and at present, the secret technique still took a little more time.

Barring any accidents, this year he would be able to cultivate the Divine Sense Secret Technique Void God Needle to the Greater Mastery Realm.

Next, apart from his daily cultivation and his guidance of Li Qiantong and Li Xingtian, he also had to make some preparations. Around May, he would have to go to the Huang Clan.

He was one of the Li Family's core higher-ups. Going to the Huang Clan to invite them to attend the Patriarch's birthday banquet was absolutely brimming with sincerity.

If it were merely some random Late-Stage Qi Refining cultivator from the Li Family going to the Huang Clan, the sincerity would be very ordinary.

Since they wanted to establish a good relationship, they naturally had to let others feel that they were extremely sincere!

Soon, it was May.

The weather gradually turned hot.

Today was the day Li Qianqing went to the Huang Clan.

Before setting out, Li Qianqing made simple preparations, then departed.

The Huang Clan's ancestral land, Pingding Mountain, was more than three thousand li from Changqing Mountain.

Li Qianqing, at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer, used the Light Body Art at full strength. He barely rested along the way, and only after nearly two days did he arrive at his destination.

The journey had been smooth as well.

Generally speaking, after leaving one's own territory, unless a cultivator who had a grudge against him had some kind of inside agent in the Li Family, traveling was very safe in most situations.

As far as Li Qianqing was concerned, clearly neither condition had been met.

At the foot of the Huang Clan's Pingding Mountain.

At the entrance, there was a giant stone clearly marked with the character "Huang." Li Qianqing sent a wisp of spiritual energy into the giant stone, then stood there and waited.

This counted as coming to the door to announce himself. Among mortals, it meant Paying a Visit.

If he directly forced his way in, he would be attacked by the Huang Clan's cultivators, and it would be the kind that would not rest until one side died.

Forcing one's way in directly was an invasion, unless he had already greeted the Huang Clan Patriarch or another high-level figure ahead of time. But if he had greeted them ahead of time, they would have long since been waiting for him at the entrance.

Before long, a middle-aged Huang Clan cultivator came down from the mountain.

"Who goes there?"

"Li Family, Li Qianqing," Li Qianqing replied.

"Someone from the Li Family?"

The middle-aged cultivator stopped and sized Li Qianqing up.

The name Li Qianqing sounded somewhat familiar to him, but for a moment, he really could not remember where he had heard it before.

"Please wait here for a moment. I'll go and return shortly."

The Li Family was an established Foundation Establishment cultivation clan of Xiangshui Prefecture. No matter what, he would still be polite. After all, the Li Family and their Huang Clan had no open conflicts.

"Sorry to trouble you," Li Qianqing also said courteously.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Huang Clan's middle-aged cultivator nodded, then turned and went up the mountain.

Within Pingding Mountain.

The middle-aged Huang Clan cultivator had already appeared before Huang Lixin.

Huang Lixin, at the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, held roughly the same position in the Huang Clan as Li Lilong did in the Li Family.

"Li Qianqing of the Li Family has come, and he's alone..." Huang Lixin hesitated for a moment. For the time being, he could not figure out what Li Qianqing had come to the Huang Clan for.

He naturally knew of Li Qianqing. He was one of the Li Family's recently added core higher-ups, a Three Spiritual Roots cultivator who seemed to have top-tier talent among those with Three Spiritual Roots. Aside from that, Li Qianqing's Alchemy Talent was even a cut above Li Ditu, a top-tier alchemist of Xiangshui Prefecture.

"I'll personally go receive him."

The other party was a core higher-up of the Li Family. Huang Lixin knew he could not neglect him.

Based on the description, this Li Qianqing was also very polite, which meant that he probably had not come to their Huang Clan for anything bad.