Qi Refinement Fifth Layer (Please Read On)

Ye Jingyong spoke with particular excitement, while Ye Jingyu wore a faint smile. The scene split into two sharply contrasting pictures.

Hearing this, Ye Jingcheng felt somewhat dazed. He had not expected that not only did he have nothing to worry about, but the family seemed to value him even more.

This somewhat confirmed his own suspicions.

He reckoned that if the Crimson Flame Fox performed even better going forward, he might learn more of the Ye Family's secrets!

At the thought, his curiosity only grew stronger.

In the end, he kept refilling Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong's tea.

It seemed Ye Jingyu had noticed Ye Jingcheng's confusion.

Ye Jingyu spoke up as well:

"Jingcheng, cultivate diligently, nurture your spirit beasts well, and with alchemy as another skill under your belt, your future will be boundless!"

"However, you must also understand that the family's finances have always been a major problem. Now that you are feeding two demonic beasts, you can only rely on yourself for most of it!"

As Ye Jingyu spoke, he placed particular emphasis on the words "spirit beasts."

Hearing this, Ye Jingyong nodded and added:

"Jingcheng, once you break through to become a first-rank mid-grade alchemist, with the Crimson Flame Fox at your side, it would be best for you to guard the Ye Family's shop in Taihang Marketplace. Hunting demonic beasts in the Taihang Mountain Range is risky in the end!"

"Thank you for your advice, Fourth Brother, Second Brother. I will consider it carefully!" Ye Jingcheng nodded upon hearing this.

That was what he had been thinking as well. Yet when the family's finances were mentioned, he found it rather strange. The Ye Family had no fewer means of amassing wealth than other families, yet every cultivator outside shared the same impression—the Ye Family was poor!

A faint suspicion surfaced in his heart. Could the family's poverty also be because it was raising high-rank spirit beasts?

Once that thought arose, it refused to leave his mind.

After all, the current Ye Family head's spirit beast was a second-rank Blue-eyed Hanging-eyed Tiger. The spirit food and spirit grain it consumed every day were astronomical in quantity.

And that was only what Ye Jingcheng knew.

Still, what pleased him most now was that he could study new pill formulas for free, without needing to pay contribution points.

One had to know that the contribution points required to learn a new pill formula were no small amount.

Only, the cost of trial and error in refining new pill formulas would certainly not be little.

In an instant, the family token in his hand no longer felt quite so scorching.

After drinking some spirit tea, Ye Jingyu and Ye Jingyong took their leave. Besides giving Ye Jingcheng contribution points, they still had to give contribution points to Jingli.

Once the two had gone far away, Ye Jingcheng resumed cultivating.

After returning from the Taihang Mountain Range, he had finally caught hold of an opportune moment. Naturally, he had to seize it.

He took a fist-sized pill bottle from his storage pouch. Inside was a single medicinal pill.

The pill was called the Azure Spirit Pill. It was suitable for mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators to improve their cultivation. A single pill cost ten spirit stones, and ordinarily, he could not bear to use one.

Now that he had reached a critical point in his breakthrough, it would also help him better control the heat and improve his alchemy. Naturally, he would not hem and haw.

As the Azure Spirit Pill went down his throat, a surge of rich spiritual energy instantly appeared within his body and flowed toward his qi sea.

Ye Jingcheng did not dare slacken in the slightest, hurriedly circulating the Parting Fire Art.

As ripples spread outward in ring after ring, the room soon fell silent.

Ye Jingcheng sank into cultivation, while the Crimson Flame Fox lay curled by the doorway. The Jade Ring Rat, meanwhile, occasionally darted out of the room.

Cultivation knew no years; in the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

Ye Jingcheng's body suddenly glowed red. The next moment, a layer of spiritual-energy ripples rose faintly and slowly spread outward!

The Crimson Flame Fox, which had been lying curled up, sprang out at once and stared wide-eyed.

Ye Jingcheng opened his eyes as well, awakening from cultivation.

"Finally, Qi Refinement fifth layer!" Thinking of how he had languished at Qi Refinement fourth layer for four full years, Ye Jingcheng could not help sighing with emotion.

At the same time, joy welled up in his heart.

He picked up the Crimson Flame Fox and poured a great deal of spiritual light into it.

As the spiritual light entered its body, the Crimson Flame Fox's fur became ever more brilliantly red. At that moment, Ye Jingcheng even had the illusion that its fur had come alive like flames.

The Crimson Flame Fox began to cry out, its large tail gently patting Ye Jingcheng.

Its sky-blue pupils gazed at Ye Jingcheng, while its tongue stirred unconsciously.

It was hungry again!

Ye Jingcheng took out some Azure Cloud Wolf meat and a large bowl of spring water.

Long-eared Deer meat was more expensive, and none of the four had kept any. What remained was only first-rank Azure Cloud Wolf meat.

After feeding the Crimson Flame Fox until it was full, Ye Jingcheng tidied the room. Only after restoring it to spotless freshness and brightness did he leave the courtyard.

He headed toward the Treasure Pavilion.

The Ye Family's Treasure Pavilion had three floors in total. The first floor was for exchanging spirit stones and various spiritual materials, while the second floor was where the Ye Family kept its cultivation arts and secret manuals.

Ordinary Ye Family cultivators could enter the second floor of the Treasure Pavilion for free three times in their lives. The first time was when they had just come up the mountain to cultivate, to choose a cultivation art. The second was at Qi Refinement seventh layer, when they could choose to switch cultivation arts or obtain the latter half of their current art. The third was upon reaching Foundation Establishment.

Naturally, there were differences among the three permissions, especially since the chance to choose the first one was exceedingly rare.

Aside from the free opportunities, one could spend contribution points to exchange for certain spells and pill formulas!

For example, Fireball Technique, Wood Vine Technique, and Quicksand Technique were all basic spells, yet they still cost more than ten contribution points.

Ye Jingcheng walked through the winding stone steps, and the Treasure Pavilion soon came into view. Its doors stood open, and at a glance, Ye Jingcheng spotted Ye Haiping sorting through items inside. He held a jade slip in his hand, seemingly studying something.

Ye Jingcheng did not speak, merely standing there quietly.

Only after several breaths did Ye Haiping notice Ye Jingcheng.

"Jingcheng, what are you standing there for? Come in!"

"Eighth Grandfather, I was worried about disturbing you while you were organizing the materials," Ye Jingcheng replied.

"You're not disturbing me. You broke through?" Ye Haiping shook his head, then examined Ye Jingcheng from head to toe before speaking with some surprise.

"Yes. Your grandson is dull-witted and only managed to break through now. I've made Eighth Grandfather laugh."

"What's there to laugh about? For someone with four spirit roots to reach the fifth level of Qi Refinement at your age is already no easy feat!" Ye Haiping cut him off.

"You're here to choose a pill formula, right?"

"Yes." Ye Jingcheng nodded.

Ye Haiping nodded as well. He said no more, instead leading Ye Jingcheng toward the second floor.

The room on the second floor was narrower than the one below.

Quite a few bookshelves stood within. Some held ancient books, while most were filled with jade slips.

After passing two rows of shelves packed with ancient books and one row filled with jade slips, Ye Haiping finally stopped.

"Jingcheng, there are seven first-tier mid-grade pill formulas here in total. Choose whichever you like!"

Ye Jingcheng nodded and looked over the jade slips. The very first one was the Azure Spirit Pill, precisely the pill he had taken before.

There were also Body-Tempering Pills, Azure Origin Pills, Vitality Pills, and so on...

Seeing this, Ye Jingcheng hesitated. Naturally, he wanted the Azure Spirit Pill formula, since Azure Spirit Pills were considered the most valuable. A single pill could sell for as much as ten spirit stones. If one batch yielded three or four pills, the profits were easy enough to imagine.

But Azure Spirit Pills were also the hardest to refine.

As for raising spirit beasts, Spirit-Feeding Pills were akin to pills that supported the growth of cultivation and vitality. Their strength lay in their balance, but if one truly wanted to increase a spirit beast's strength, Body-Tempering Pills were indispensable as well.