In the days that followed, Liu Changxu once again settled into a fulfilling life of cultivation.
Liu Changxu abandoned the ordinary Essence-Nurturing Qi Refinement Art and began switching to the Fire Lotus Sword Art, a mid-grade black-tier cultivation art.
This art was an excellent match for Liu Changxu's spiritual root attributes, and practicing it would greatly increase his cultivation speed. Moreover, its accompanying Fire Lotus Sword Technique possessed astonishing power, far beyond the Wind and Rain Sword Technique he had practiced before. After all, the Wind and Rain Sword Technique barely qualified as an upper-grade yellow-tier sword technique.
Liu Changxu could not help lamenting how weak his lineage was. Since the Liu Lineage was merely a Qi Refinement lineage, its best cultivation art was only the lower-grade black-tier Yi Wood Evergreen Art, suitable for cultivators with wood-earth dual spiritual roots, and even that contained only the Qi Refinement portion. Thus, many clansmen, like Liu Changxu, could only practice ordinary yellow-tier arts because of their spiritual root attributes.
In powerful sects and lineages, however, black-tier arts were considered ordinary cultivation arts that even regular disciples could practice.
Earth-tier arts were what outstanding disciples studied, while the finest true disciples could even practice heaven-tier arts. That was why the combat strength of cultivators from those powerful sects and lineages was beyond anything ordinary cultivators could match!
The Fire Lotus Sword Art Liu Changxu had obtained was already the best cultivation art in his lineage. A major reason the Liu Lineage had not produced a Foundation Establishment cultivator in over a hundred years was its lack of a cultivation inheritance for the Foundation Establishment Realm. Reaching Foundation Establishment with the lineage's existing yellow-tier arts was extremely difficult; only black-tier arts offered a better chance of success.
Thus, not only Liu Changxu but also his father, Liu Shihao, decided to switch to the Fire Lotus Sword Art. Although it was not a particularly close match for his father's spiritual roots, it was still his best choice.
After practicing the Fire Lotus Sword Art, taking a Foundation Establishment Pill would give his father, Liu Shihao, a chance of reaching Foundation Establishment at least ten percentage points higher than before. Furthermore, the Fire Lotus Sword Art could take him all the way to the late stage of Foundation Establishment.
Liu Changxu's fortune was truly astonishing. Simply killing an evil cultivator had earned him a black-tier cultivation art. Such a windfall was not something just anyone could encounter!
Over the past few days, Liu Changxu had memorized the Qi Refinement formulas of the Fire Lotus Sword Art so thoroughly that he could recite them backward. However, it was more than one level harder to practice than the Essence-Nurturing Qi Refinement Art, and with no predecessors' experience to draw upon, he could only feel his own way forward.
Fortunately, after many days of exploration, Liu Changxu had finally become able to practice it.
Before formally switching arts, Liu Changxu first brewed a pot of spirit tea. The tea came from the Cloudmist Tea tree he had obtained earlier. Before transplanting it, he had picked some leaves and pan-roasted them. He normally could not bear to drink them, but today he brought them out.
He took a crystal-clear jade teapot from his Storage Bag and poured in spirit spring water. Forming a hand seal, he conjured an orange-yellow flame out of thin air and boiled the water in the jade pot. He added a few tea leaves, and the tender green leaves unfurled, dancing gracefully in the water like fairies clad in green. In moments, fragrance filled the room!
He poured the tea into a jade cup. The emerald-green brew was beautiful, and as he drank a cup, he tasted a hint of bitterness within its fragrant sweetness. His spirits lifted at once, leaving him refreshed and at ease!
Liu Changxu immediately circulated the cultivation formula and began practicing the Fire Lotus Sword Art. Soon, a great quantity of red, green, and blue spiritual energy gathered around him. With each breath, guided by the formula, it surged swiftly along the meridians throughout his body and into his dantian.
Through internal observation, he could see a mass of red, green, and blue spiritual energy within his dantian, constantly spinning, condensing, and compressing in time with his breathing.
This mass of spiritual energy within the dantian was the source of a Qi Refinement cultivator's magical power. Its size and quality indicated the cultivator's cultivation stage and the depth of his magical power.
A Qi Refinement cultivator's magical power was gaseous. Once that gaseous power was condensed and compressed into liquid form, it signified that the cultivator had advanced to Foundation Establishment.
Ever since Liu Changxu began practicing the Fire Lotus Sword Art, he had clearly felt a considerable increase in his cultivation speed, while his magical power grew ever purer. He was delighted.
One afternoon after completing his switch to the new cultivation art, Liu Changxu began studying alchemy. After all, he possessed both wood- and fire-attribute spiritual roots, making him well suited to becoming an Alchemist. His father was also an Alchemist and could guide him, and Liu Changxu had an Alchemy Inheritance in his possession as well. It would have been a real shame not to learn alchemy.
Liu Changxu planned to begin with lower-grade first-tier Qi Refinement Pills. Their recipe had come from the evil cultivator's Storage Bag and required three first-tier spiritual herbs: azure qi herb, red danshen, and watercloud flower. As it happened, the evil cultivator's Storage Bag had also contained plenty of these herbs, so he did not need to buy any.
Liu Changxu took the medicinal ingredients, spirit charcoal, and Alchemy Furnace from his Storage Bag. First, he processed and sorted the spiritual herbs. He lit the spirit charcoal and preheated the Alchemy Furnace, then placed one portion of the sorted ingredients inside, poured in some spirit spring water, and began refining pills. Before long, a scorched smell came from the furnace. Clearly, the attempt had failed.
Liu Changxu stopped refining and took out the Alchemical Notes. Comparing his work against the key points described in the book, he soon identified his mistake. Then he tried another batch, failed again, reviewed what he had learned, and tried again...!
When his father, Liu Shihao, learned that Liu Changxu had begun studying alchemy, he was deeply pleased. He made a special trip to guide Liu Changxu and refined a batch of Qi Refinement Pills in front of him, giving Liu Changxu considerable insight.
On his third day of studying alchemy, Liu Changxu finally succeeded in refining two golden-yellow Qi Refinement Pills. He had used more than fifty portions of ingredients along the way. It truly had not been easy!
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