Breakthrough

This time, the extra Spirit Fish was a bream with a long fish spine growing from the front of its mouth.

At a glance, it looked somewhat like the Sword Yellowfish worth around ten Spirit Stones. However, this bream was pitch-black, its body densely covered in mottled patterns.

A Spirit Fish evolved from the Half-Spirit Fish Black-Spotted Bream... the Spine Bream!

Like the Sword Yellowfish, the Spine Bream's valuable part was that sharp spine.

However, the Spine Bream's spine seemed to have other uses as well, so it commanded a higher price. If Qiu Qianhai's Spine Bream was preserved intact, it could fetch at least sixteen or seventeen Spirit Stones.

Qiu Qianhai glanced at the sky. It was still early.

There was no time to lose. Delay invited trouble.

With a raise of his hand, a Water Arrow appeared. He casually sent it flying, and the Spine Bream in the Fish Pond promptly turned belly-up.

With none of his neighbors around, things were convenient for Qiu Qianhai.

After a while, he had sold the Spine Bream at the Fish Pen. As expected, it sold for seventeen Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Adding the three he had saved before, the Spirit Stones on him now totaled a full twenty!

If even this wasn't enough to break through to the Middle Qi Refining Stage, then Qiu Qianhai could only say... I'll definitely do it next time.

As he headed home, even though he took the waterways, he unexpectedly ran into an acquaintance.

Qiu Qianhai was one of the original owner's few friends. Qiu Qianhai had no choice but to stop and chat with him for a few moments.

He learned that Qiu Qianhai had just returned from Maple Leaf Island, and bloodstains still clung to his body.

"All I can say is... they went completely berserk."

Even recalling it, Qiu Qianhai still felt a lingering fear.

"That wasn't even a struggle over opportunities anymore. It was complete chaos. No matter who you were, people killed anyone they saw. If you didn't kill them, they would kill you."

"I only managed to escape back by relying on my Spirit Vessel's speed."

Qiu Qianhai couldn't help thinking of his neighbors. He wondered how they were doing.

"Then go home and rest well. We'll talk again when we have time."

Qiu Qianhai cupped his hands toward him.

"All right. Farewell."

After that, one piloted his Spirit Vessel while the other poled his flatboat, and they departed in different directions.

Qiu Qianhai could also tell that he had probably profited from his trip to Maple Leaf Island, which was why he had hurried back.

As for this friend of his... both his parents had died, giving him a disastrous start in life. Yet, relying on his reckless, fearless nature, he had still managed to establish himself in Zengtou City.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have entered the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining at such a young age.

He even possessed a Spirit Vessel.

Qiu Qianhai had left a deep impression on him.

When he returned home, neither Lin Youwei's family nor Huang Laotou had come back. Qiu Qianhai couldn't be bothered to care and went straight to the rear courtyard to glance at the Fish Pond.

Unfortunately, there were no evolved Half-Spirit Fish.

Only then did he enter his room. First, he placed the twenty Spirit Stones in front of him. Then he calmed his mind and silently circulated the Azure Sea Tide Art. After his mind had completely settled, he took out two Spirit Eggs, knocked them against each other to crack them, and poured the Spirit Liquid inside into his mouth.

Repeating this cycle, after refining six Spirit Eggs, night had already deepened.

All around him was silent. Only occasionally could he hear the lake waters of Cloud-Rain Marsh slapping against the shore. Looking at the twenty Spirit Stones before him, Qiu Qianhai did not hesitate. He picked up two at a time and held them in his hands, once more circulating his cultivation art and absorbing the incredibly pure spiritual energy within.

Two, four, eight... One Spirit Stone after another crumbled into powder and slipped from Qiu Qianhai's hands, but he did not grow anxious.

He had plenty of time. As for Spirit Stones... as long as he stayed alive, they would keep increasing. Thus, breaking through was only a matter of sooner or later.

But beneath this tranquil state of mind, after he finished absorbing the spiritual energy from twelve Spirit Stones, something happened.

In a daze, he felt as though he had broken through some kind of shackle.

The thin membrane that had originally obstructed him was pierced through. The spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth around him surged in of its own accord, seeped into his meridians, and finally sank into his Dantian.

The Middle Qi Refining Stage!

I, Qiu Qianhai, have finally made it!

After a brief surge of excitement, Qiu Qianhai picked up two more Spirit Stones and absorbed the pure spiritual energy within, using it to stabilize his cultivation.

It was not until the next morning, when the Great Sun's rays forced their way through the window, that Qiu Qianhai awoke.

Having completely stabilized his cultivation in the Middle Qi Refining Stage, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air.

After leaving the rear courtyard, he felt that the sky was clear and the earth bright, with a promising future ahead... Hmm, first he had to clean out the Chicken Coop. After collecting six Spirit Eggs, he checked the Fish Pond again.

Good. There were still no breakthroughs.

Only at this moment did he have the leisure to inspect everything around him.

Although advancing to the Middle Qi Refining Stage had not brought about any leap in his life, his perception of the surrounding environment had indeed become several times clearer.

As for the spiritual energy in his Dantian, that went without saying.

At the Second Layer of Qi Refining, casting a Water Arrow Technique would completely drain the spiritual energy in his Dantian. At the Third Layer, he could cast the Water Arrow Technique five times in succession.

Now, if he only used the Water Arrow Technique...

Qiu Qianhai estimated that firing twenty in succession would be no problem... If only his body could be like that too.

Body Tempering!

He had to temper his body!

This breakthrough to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining had consumed fourteen Spirit Stones in total, leaving six. That was just enough to upgrade one building.

After some thought, Qiu Qianhai made his decision.

He would not upgrade the Cave Abode yet. He would upgrade the Pigsty first.

With the Spirit Eggs available, the Cave Abode's twenty-percent increase in spiritual energy at night was practically useless to him.

It was tasteless to consume, yet a shame to discard.

It did not provide much of a boost to his current strength.

The Pigsty was different. Once he raised a Spirit Pig, eating its meat would strengthen his sinews and bones and improve his physique.

By then, perhaps he could even find a pretty female cultivator to cultivate together with.

Carrying all sorts of wonderful ideas in his heart, Qiu Qianhai took quite a while to calm down. Although these six Spirit Stones were enough to upgrade the Pigsty...

What about buying a young Spirit Pig afterward?

Qiu Qianhai had looked into it. A young Spirit Pig cost roughly two to three Spirit Stones, while an adult Spirit Pig cost eight to ten.

Qiu Qianhai's Pigsty could add a hundred pounds of muscle in seven days. In theory, this was also a decent path to wealth.

But he did not really dare use it. There was no helping it. Compared with the Spirit Fish business, which he could attribute to Cloud-Rain Marsh, selling Spirit Pigs was simply too conspicuous.

Other people needed half a year to raise a Spirit Pig to adulthood, while he could do it in half a month. Anyone would think something was wrong.

Of course, this was also related to how small Zengtou City was.

If the market were a little larger, he could change locations and sell them elsewhere.

As for the Spirit Eggs in Qiu Qianhai's arms, being short one or two Spirit Stones... Waiting like this was not a solution either. He might as well sell a few Spirit Eggs first and buy the Spirit Pig back.

Before buying it, however, he had to build the Pigsty first.

Qiu Qianhai looked left and right, and ultimately chose a spot beside the Chicken Coop for the Pigsty.

Moreover, compared with the Chicken Coop, the Pigsty occupied a much larger area.

After Qiu Qianhai spent a day building it, it took up nearly half the space in the rear courtyard, on top of the Fish Pond that was already there.

The three buildings had packed Qiu Qianhai's rear courtyard to the brim.

"The house is still too small. Once my cultivation improves, I'll definitely move into a larger residence!"

Qiu Qianhai thought this secretly as he glanced at the Construction Panel in his mind.

[Upgrade Conditions: Low-Grade Spirit Stone ×5, Iron Ingot ×50 jin, Coarse Salt 10 jin (Not Met)]

The Pigsty's upgrade conditions also required fifty jin of iron and ten jin of salt. Fortunately, these mundane items unrelated to cultivation were cheap in Zengtou City.

A Fragment or two would be enough to settle it.

Looking at the [Pigsty: lv0] floating above the Pigsty, Qiu Qianhai still decided to upgrade it before buying the Spirit Pig.

Before long, after buying the iron ingots and coarse salt from Zengtou City, he had just reached his front door when he saw a battered Spirit Vessel drifting back from the direction of Cloud-Rain Marsh at an unhurried pace.

Only after Qiu Qianhai got a clear look did he realize that the Spirit Vessel was the Lin Family's original blackwood boat.

And sitting aboard it were none other than Lin Hu and Wu Qin, husband and wife.

Both their faces were deathly pale, especially Lin Hu's. His expression was ghastly, and even his eyes had gone vacant.

He only came to himself when the Spirit Vessel reached the shore and he saw Qiu Qianhai there.

At the sight of him, he immediately wailed:

"Brother Qiu, my father and mother... they're both dead."