Breakthrough

At first, Ji Yuan had been thinking of buying a few more Green-Yellow Chickens or Half-Spirit Fish to take home.

But the moment the thought of breaking through arose, he could no longer spare attention for anything else. Everything could wait until after the breakthrough.

When he got home, the neighbors on both sides were quiet. Deng Yunliang had most likely gone to rest. As for Lin Hu, Ji Yuan did not know whether he had taken his boat out or gone to sleep as well.

In any case, it was good enough that neither of them was standing around outside.

After returning home, Ji Yuan first fed the Green-Yellow Chickens and Half-Spirit Fish some food. This breakthrough would take at least a day or two, and the creatures he kept needed someone to look after them.

"Looks like I need to explore the path of puppetry in the future. Otherwise, if I ever travel far away or enter secluded cultivation for a long time, no one will care for these things."

As for raising a demon creature himself, Ji Yuan did not dare entertain that idea for now.

A demon creature with intelligence had to be at least a sixth- or seventh-tier great demon, perhaps even one of those legendary great demons capable of Form Transformation.

The path of puppetry was more reliable.

After finishing up, Ji Yuan returned to his room... no, it was a Talisman Room now.

If it had been before, he would have needed a long meditation session to calm himself down. But now, he casually stuck a Calming Talisman onto himself.

Everything was settled.

With his thoughts tranquil, Ji Yuan took out the seven Spirit Eggs he had acquired today, giving himself a warm-up before breaking through his cultivation.

After a while, he finished swallowing the Spirit Eggs.

With a thought, Ji Yuan took Spirit Stones from his Storage Bag. He did not stint this time, taking out a full fifty and placing them around himself.

Looking at the circle of glittering white around him, Ji Yuan's heart settled completely.

With a casual gesture, he gripped two Spirit Stones in each hand and activated the Azure Sea Tide Art within his body. At once, an unprecedentedly pure surge of spiritual energy flooded into his meridians.

It was cool, with a trace of watery moisture.

The spiritual energy coursed through his meridians before slowly sinking into his Dantian.

Cultivation during the Qi Refining Stage had no particular trick to it. One simply absorbed the scattered spiritual energy between heaven and earth without end, turning external things into one's own use.

And compared to advancing from the third layer to the fourth—

Advancing from the fourth layer to the fifth had even less of a threshold. It was simply a matter of water flowing into a channel.

As four Spirit Stones turned to dust and slipped from Ji Yuan's hands, another four followed, then another four, then another four...

Ji Yuan no longer paid attention to how many Spirit Stones he had absorbed. He only knew that outside the window, the sky brightened and darkened, darkened and brightened.

After this repeated itself for two days, Spirit Stone dust had piled into small mounds on both sides of him.

Finally, on the night of the third day, as moonlight squeezed through the window and spilled across the edge of the bed, Ji Yuan, who had been sitting as still as an ancient pine, suddenly opened his eyes.

A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes. His aura leaked out, then vanished.

Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement.

Success!

Ji Yuan slowly exhaled a mouthful of turbid air. At last, he understood why those disciples of immortal sects could reach Peak Qi Refining at such young ages.

The Qi Refining Stage was nothing more than a process of accumulating spiritual energy.

With enough Spirit Stones, he had been able to break through twice in just two months. Not to mention those geniuses with dual Spiritual Roots or single Spiritual Roots.

The Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement could be considered a pillar of strength in Zengtou City.

After his brief delight, Ji Yuan glanced around. Of the original fifty Spirit Stones, only six remained.

A single breakthrough had consumed a full forty-four Spirit Stones.

No wonder there were so few Late Qi Refining cultivators in Zengtou City. Forget the late stage—even breaking through to the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining was not something ordinary people could accomplish.

Feeling the abundant spiritual energy in his Dantian, Ji Yuan picked up another four Spirit Stones and began consolidating his Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement cultivation.

Only after refining the remaining six Spirit Stones did his cultivation fully stabilize. By then, the sky outside had brightened.

He first washed and changed into clean clothes, then scattered the Spirit Stone powder throughout the Pigsty.

After finishing that, he fed the fish and chickens again, gathering the Spirit Eggs from the past few days as well. There were twenty-one in total, which meant this secluded cultivation session had lasted a full three days.

For the time being, Ji Yuan had no interest in eating Spirit Eggs. Instead, he planned to take a walk outside.

But just as he was pacing back and forth along the shore outside his door, he saw a black-robed cultivator with a hooked nose walking down the path opposite him.

This man... Ji Yuan naturally knew him.

Pang Zhiyuan, a Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement cultivator, worked specifically for the Water Dragon Sect. He could be considered half an official. He usually collected the Immortal Residence Fees for Ji Yuan's area.

He had also been the one who had pressured Ji Yuan for his Immortal Residence Fee back then.

But why had he come now? It did not seem to be time to collect the Immortal Residence Fee yet... Ji Yuan muttered inwardly as he watched the man pass in front of him.

"Chief Pang."

Ji Yuan greeted him.

The other man nodded and gave Ji Yuan another look. Then a trace of surprise appeared on his face.

"Middle Qi Refining Stage?"

Ji Yuan was now at the Fifth Layer of Qi Refinement, so his aura was naturally much deeper. Even though he deliberately restrained it, the aura of the Middle Qi Refining Stage was still obvious.

"Just luck."

Ji Yuan cupped his hands slightly.

At this distance, if I unleash the Deathbringer Needle, a sneak attack should kill him instantly... Ji Yuan thought idly.

"Not bad. You haven't disgraced your father."

Pang Zhiyuan nodded, then walked to the entrance of the neighboring Lin Family home and pounded heavily on the door.

A jumble of noises came from inside. Soon, the door opened.

Lin Hu opened it. At a single glance, his face went pale with fright. "Chief... Chief Pang."

"Hand over last month's unpaid Immortal Residence Fee. If you still can't pay today, get out of Zengtou City."

Hearing those familiar words, Ji Yuan fell into a slight daze.

"No, no, Chief Pang. According to the rules, isn't one month of arrears allowed? I'll definitely make it up next month. Please give me a few more days. I'm heading out on the boat shortly."

Lin Hu clutched Pang Zhiyuan's sleeve and begged bitterly, nearly falling to his knees.

"The rules have changed. Immortal Residence Fees may no longer be delayed."

Pang Zhiyuan said coldly, "Hurry up. If you don't pay, pack your things and get out."

Hearing the commotion, Deng Yunliang from next door also came outside. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, he wore the expression of someone watching a show.

After all, he had paid last month's Immortal Residence Fee in full.

It had nothing to do with him.

"Th-there's one Spirit Stone here."

Wu Qin's weak voice came from behind the door.

Pang Zhiyuan casually snatched it up. "You're still short two."

Lin Hu turned his gaze toward Ji Yuan. After hesitating briefly, he still looked at Deng Yunliang.

"Old Deng, lend me some... just two Spirit Stones for now. I'll definitely pay you back next month."

Deng Yunliang sneered. "Where would I get any Spirit Stones? I don't have any."

"No, didn't you win a few last night?" Despair showed in Lin Hu's eyes.

"I'm saving those to win back my losses tonight. Stop dreaming."

Deng Yunliang waved his hand. He was no longer interested in watching the show and prepared to go back inside for some sleep.

Ji Yuan merely watched coldly. Once upon a time, he had been just like Lin Hu, facing such a life-or-death choice... and at the end of it, long-forgotten memories rose in his mind once more.

Back when Ji Qingyun was still alive, the Ji Household and the Lin Family had been on quite good terms.

They visited each other often. Whenever one household made something to eat, they would share it with the other. When Ji Qingyun took his boat out, he would even call Lin Youwei along.

Ji Yuan, who remained at home, would play with Lin Hu. Lin Hu was simple and honest by nature, always following behind Ji Yuan and calling him "Brother Ji" at every turn.

At that thought, Ji Yuan could not help but sigh inwardly.

"I'll pay for him."

Ji Yuan took two Spirit Stones from his sleeve and handed them over.

"You?"

Pang Zhiyuan glanced at him but said nothing more. He used the Object Manipulation Technique to take the Spirit Stones, then left.

He did not care who paid, so long as someone paid.

After Pang Zhiyuan left, Lin Hu looked at Ji Yuan standing in the doorway with his back to the morning sun. He felt that Brother Ji was both very close and very far away.

But without question, he was standing in the sunlight.

Lin Hu opened his mouth, and a trembling sound emerged from his throat.

"Brother... Brother Ji."

"Stop gambling. Live your life properly." Ji Yuan sighed. He said nothing about repayment and simply went back inside.

"Alright, Brother Ji, don't worry!"

"I, Lin Hu, will never gamble again for the rest of my life!"

Lin Hu shouted. Then he gave Ji Yuan's door a deep bow.

He wiped his face, went back to gather a few things, then poled his black-canopied little boat toward Cloud-Rain Marsh.

As for the original ebony Spirit Vessel... don't ask. If you ask, the answer was that he had gambled it away.

On the other side, Deng Yunliang watched this scene, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.