Qi Refining Middle Stage

Today.

was the day He Song had decided to break through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage!

Since Lin Cong had already set a shining example and told He Song that four-spirit-root cultivators faced little difficulty breaking through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, He Song made no other preparations. After placing a dozen or so Spirit Stones around himself, he decisively began his breakthrough.

Breaking through from the completion of Qi Refining Layer 3 to Qi Refining Layer 4 was not actually difficult.

Of course, this lack of difficulty was defined by He Song's talent as a four-spirit-root cultivator.

The gap between four spirit roots and five spirit roots was still quite obvious.

If one possessed only five spirit roots, breaking through from Qi Refining Layer 3 to Qi Refining Layer 4 would involve a rather formidable bottleneck.

Like Meng Guan.

He possessed five spirit roots.

When breaking through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, Meng Guan had found it more difficult than cultivators with four spirit roots.

When breaking through to the Qi Refining Late Stage, he had been trapped by the bottleneck until he was half-dead with torment.

To make a breakthrough, he had no choice but to leave the Immortal Market and mine ore, and he had yet to return even now.

It was worth mentioning that one month after Chengsan Real Person returned to the Immortal Market, He Song and Wei Fan both received Sound Transmission Paper Cranes from Meng Guan.

In the Sound Transmission Paper Cranes, Meng Guan said that he had encountered an enormous crisis. Fortunately, when the calamity struck, he had been inside a mine shaft. After using the Conceal Breath Art and hiding in a concealed mine shaft for several days, he had managed to survive.

At the same time, He Song and Wei Fan learned what had happened at the Red Spirit Gold Mine during those days.

The Red Spirit Gold Mine had been attacked by several Foundation Establishment Real Persons and dozens of Qi Refining Late Stage cultivators.

More than half of the Rogue Cultivators recruited to mine there had been slaughtered on the spot.

Even among the four Thick Earth Sect Foundation Establishment Real Persons guarding the Red Spirit Gold Mine, one had been killed outright in the ambush.

Fortunately, one of the three remaining Foundation Establishment Real Persons had secretly been a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage True Person. Only then had they managed to forcibly withstand the pressure and send out a distress signal.

The distress signal brought the guards of several nearby Immortal Markets. The two sides fought for several days, neither able to do anything to the other.

Only several days later, when the Foundation Establishment Real Persons sent from Qingyuan Immortal City arrived as reinforcements, did the attackers finally leave.

At the same time.

The guards of the several nearby Immortal Markets also returned to their markets.

But what Meng Guan did not know was that all the nearby Immortal Markets had been attacked by evil cultivators.

Only afterward did He Song and Wei Fan learn that it was not just Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market that had suffered an attack by evil cultivators. The other several Immortal Markets without Foundation Establishment cultivators standing guard had likewise been attacked.

After waiting several more days for the outside world to quiet down, Meng Guan finally emerged cautiously from the mine shaft and returned to the mining crew.

After surviving that disaster, Meng Guan sighed long and hard. As he spoke of how his life had been spared, he also thanked He Song and Wei Fan for their earlier advice.

But since he lacked Spirit Stones and wanted to take a gamble, he would not have gone mining otherwise. Thus, he continued to remain where the Red Spirit Gold Mine was located.

Several more Foundation Establishment Real Persons had been stationed at the Red Spirit Gold Mine, making it even safer than before.

Moreover, he had nowhere else to go.

He could only remain in the mining area and continue mining.

Three years had now passed. He Song knew only that Meng Guan was still mining; he had no way to learn anything else.

But if one had four spirit roots—

like Lin Cong, when he broke through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, he encountered no bottleneck at all.

Once he decided to charge the barrier, the spiritual power within his body began circulating at high speed.

Then he broke through the bottleneck.

It was very simple.

As he activated the Thick Earth Technique,

the spiritual energy around He Song was continuously drawn into his body.

As spiritual energy poured in without end, the spiritual power within He Song's body also began increasing.

When the spiritual power in his body had grown to its limit,

as he continued circulating the Thick Earth Technique, He Song instantly felt his entire body become open and unimpeded, as if his whole being had stretched itself out. An incomparably refreshing sensation from breaking through in cultivation surged into his heart.

In the blink of an eye, He Song had successfully broken through to Qi Refining Layer 4.

Sensing the rapid increase in spiritual power within his body, then sensing the increased speed at which external spiritual energy was converted into his own spiritual power, joy welled up in He Song's heart.

Success!

By merely circulating the Thick Earth Technique, he had naturally and effortlessly broken through to Qi Refining Layer 4.

After savoring the exhilaration of his successful breakthrough,

He Song continued circulating the Thick Earth Technique and began consolidating his cultivation.

With his cultivation having just broken through, should he encounter any mishap, it would be easy for it to fall back to its original realm.

Only after thoroughly consolidating his cultivation could he wield it perfectly without any accidents occurring.

This was also why Lin Cong had immediately decided to leave after receiving He Song's Sound Transmission Paper Crane.

At that time, Lin Cong had just broken through to Qi Refining Layer 4 and still needed to consolidate his cultivation.

If some upheaval had occurred within the Immortal Market, it would likely have been very troublesome.

Time flowed on.

In the blink of an eye, another month passed.

Over that month, aside from spending half a shichen each day casting the Spirit Rain Technique on the Spirit Fields under his care, He Song remained at home consolidating his cultivation.

Now that the month had passed, He Song's Qi Refining Layer 4 cultivation had finally been completely consolidated.

At this point, no matter how casually He Song cast his spells, his cultivation would not fall from its current realm.

Only then

did He Song finally set his mind at ease.

He no longer immersed himself every day in thoughts of consolidating his cultivation.

However, since his cultivation had already broken through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, it was now time for He Song to head to the Spirit Medicine Pavilion and increase the number of Spirit Fields under his management.

In Bamboo Mountain Immortal Market, once a cultivator reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage, their status and treatment would both greatly improve.

Take Spirit Plant Farmers, for example.

During the Qi Refining Early Stage, Spirit Plant Farmers could generally tend only five mu of Spirit Fields, because the amount of spiritual power in their bodies was limited at that stage and the Spirit Rain Technique could not cover a greater area.

At an annual yield of thirty Spirit Stones per mu of Spirit Field, that came to a total of one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones.

But if a Spirit Plant Farmer broke through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage,

the Spirit Fields they could tend would become seven mu.

Compared with the original five mu, adding two more mu to make seven mu did not seem like much of an increase.

Yet in truth, the annual income would rise dramatically.

Still calculating at an annual yield of thirty Spirit Stones per mu, seven mu of Spirit Fields could produce a total of two hundred and ten Spirit Stones each year.

After deducting the mandatory one hundred and twenty Spirit Stones in rent, the number of Spirit Stones available for free use would rise from thirty Spirit Stones with five mu to ninety Spirit Stones now!

The difference between thirty Spirit Stones a year and ninety Spirit Stones a year was enormous.

In this way, Qi Refining Middle Stage cultivators had far more Spirit Stones at their disposal than Qi Refining Early Stage cultivators.

However, after breaking through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, one had to report it to the people at the Spirit Medicine Pavilion before officially receiving the additional two mu of Spirit Fields.

Fortunately, the connections Meng Guan had prepared for He Song were still there.

Zhao Lin, who had taken over Meng Guan's position in the Spirit Medicine Pavilion, had not died in the previous calamity.

Moreover, because the number of Rogue Cultivators in the Immortal Market had suddenly dwindled, every surviving cultivator was left with lingering fear. As a result, whenever they met someone they had known before, they would invariably exchange a few sigh-filled words.