Three Years

Spring turned to fall, and three years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, Han Changming sat cross-legged on a wooden bed, enveloped in a layer of pale-yellow light.

Before long, the yellow glow around him faded. He opened his eyes.

"Still no luck. Looks like I'll have to get out and stretch my legs." Han Changming muttered to himself.

A year ago, Han Changming had already reached the seventh level of Qi Refining. But ever since, neither hard cultivation nor taking pills had increased his cultivation by the slightest bit. Spirit Water had helped considerably at first, but its effects had gradually diminished.

Clearly, Han Changming had hit a bottleneck.

All cultivators encountered bottlenecks. Those with good spiritual roots faced them less often, while some prodigies had none at all. For them, cultivation was as easy as eating and drinking, and they advanced to the next realm as naturally as water flowing downhill.

Han Changming had three spiritual roots, so encountering a bottleneck was perfectly normal.

A year ago, Han Changjiong had reached the seventh level of Qi Refining.

All cultivators encountered bottlenecks, but there was no telling when. The lucky ones met them only after reaching a high realm; the unlucky ones ran into them early, and found them very difficult to overcome.

One of Han Changming's clan uncles was fifty years old and still only at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

The time it took to overcome a bottleneck varied from person to person. There was no set amount of time.

Han Changjiong had hit a bottleneck at the fifth level of Qi Refining and needed seven years to overcome it. Han Dehai had hit one at the seventh level and overcame it in just two years. Han Debiao had hit one at the eighth level and needed ten years, while Han Delei had been stuck for twenty.

The Han Clan had a dedicated Monster Hunting Squad, fully equipped and with people assigned to track the monsters' movements. They devised their hunting plans based on the number of monsters and their abilities.

Han Changming could ask Han Deling to take him along with the Monster Hunting Squad to hunt monsters.

Before that, he needed to buy a few powerful magical artifacts and some second-order talismans.

Over the past three years, Han Changming had amassed a great deal of spirit stones by selling talismans. There were more than four thousand in his Storage Bag.

During that time, Han Daohe had come to visit. Han Changming had given him a thousand spirit stones and a second-order Water Escape Talisman. Han Daohe had repeatedly tried to refuse, but in the end, he couldn't resist Han Changming's insistence and accepted them.

After taking large quantities of Spirit Nourishing Pills, his divine sense had grown stronger than that of a cultivator at the ninth level of Qi Refining. Perhaps he had taken too many, though, and developed a resistance to them. Now, the pills barely increased his divine sense at all.

So he had switched to using Spirit Nourishing Incense.

Han Changming could control three first-order magical artifacts at once, but not for long.

A strange squeal came from his waist, and the Spirit Beast Bag there began to stir.

He slapped the bag, and a streak of purple light shot out.

It was a purple scorpion, about half a zhang long, with a pair of purple wings and a golden stinger.

From a distance, the scorpion looked like a giant chunk of amethyst.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion ranked fifty-second on the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect Ranking. It fed on souls and poisonous herbs, and could muddle the minds of its victims.

Three years ago, at an exchange gathering, Han Changming had traded Spirit Water for a Ghost-Faced Scorpion egg.

At first, he had placed the spirit insect egg beside a Spirit Gathering Stone, letting it slowly absorb spiritual energy as it incubated.

Half a year passed without any movement from the egg.

Han Changming had tossed it into Spirit Water to soak. The golden egg slowly turned purple, and after hatching, the Ghost-Faced Scorpion became an Amethyst Flying Scorpion.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion ranked higher than the Ghost-Faced Scorpion. It was venomous, too, but fed on souls and poisonous herbs. Han Changming had tried feeding it Spirit Water at first, but that did nothing. It preferred to devour monster souls and poisonous herbs.

Poisonous herbs were hard to come by, but monster souls were fairly common. You lived off the mountain if you lived on the mountain, and off the water if you lived by the water. The Red Algae Sea might not have much else, but it had plenty of low-level monsters.

Monster souls could be refined into magical artifacts and made to take shape for attacks. The higher their grade, the more expensive they were.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion was a first-order spirit insect, capable of devouring first-order monster souls. Ten or eight souls at a time were no problem, but it had a huge appetite. Each feeding required dozens of first-order monster souls, and its appetite kept growing. It had also grown picky, refusing to eat souls from monsters that were too low-grade.

If not for the two Alligator Turtle Beasts and the Amethyst Flying Scorpion he was raising, Han Changming would have saved up even more spirit stones.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion let out a strange squeal and flew into the air, looking restless.

Han Changming took out a black gourd about the size of his palm and pulled out its stopper. Dozens of green orbs, each as large as an egg, flew out.

The black gourd was a middle-grade first-order magical artifact, the Hundred Soul Gourd, designed to store monster souls.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion pounced like a starving ghost, beating its wings.

The green orbs were no match for it. In a few swift bites, the Amethyst Flying Scorpion devoured every monster soul.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion still seemed unsatisfied. It flitted around the room, letting out a series of strange squeals.

Over the past two years, it had devoured hundreds of first-order monster souls and dozens of poisonous herbs that were over a decade old, yet it was still a low-grade first-order spirit insect.

Han Changming sighed and muttered to himself, "One of these days, you're going to eat me into poverty."

He pulled the stopper from a bottle. A fist-sized green orb flew out, and he could just make out the soul of a crab monster inside.

With a beat of its wings, the Amethyst Flying Scorpion darted straight toward the crab monster's soul, clamping down on it. In a few swift bites, it devoured the soul.

Only then was it satisfied. It landed on the floor and lay still.

Han Changming took out a small, pitch-black herb and tossed it onto the floor.

The Amethyst Flying Scorpion opened its cavernous jaws and swallowed the black herb. It let out an excited squeal and zipped around the room.

Han Changming played with it for a while before returning it to the Spirit Beast Bag.

When he left his room, he saw that both Han Dehai's and Han Changjiong's rooms were shrouded in spiritual light. They might have been cultivating or making talismans.

After leaving the Spirit Talisman Pavilion, Han Changming headed straight for the Hundred Refinements Pavilion.

The Spirit Talisman Pavilion wasn't far from the Hundred Refinements Pavilion. Before long, he had arrived.

The Hundred Refinements Pavilion was just as busy as before.

After greeting the clan members in the main hall, Han Changming went up to the second floor.

Han Debiao was talking to Han Deling. Their expressions were grave, and they seemed to be discussing something important.

"Fifth Uncle, Seventh Aunt."

A sincere smile spread across Han Changming's face as he greeted them.

"Changming! Did you come to see Fifth Brother?" Han Deling asked with a smile.

"No, my cultivation has hit a bottleneck, so I was hoping to go out and hunt monsters with you, Seventh Aunt. Could you take me along?" Han Changming asked, looking hopeful.

Han Deling frowned slightly. "A bottleneck? What a coincidence. A large group of low-level monsters has appeared near the border between the Red Algae Sea and the Green Carp Sea. I was just preparing to take people out to hunt them. You're in."