The Spirit Pressure of the late Foundation Establishment stage weighed on Qi Refining Period cultivators with an indescribable heaviness.
Such powerful Spirit Pressure!
As the Spirit Pressure descended, Liu Yu felt his body grow heavy.
Every movement took far more effort than before, and even breathing became difficult.
The square fell utterly silent. The closer one stood to the lecture platform, the greater the pressure.
Under that immense Spirit Pressure, some disciples had already begun to make spectacles of themselves.
Only then did some of the fervent admirers realize that the woman on the platform was not merely an icy, beautiful fairy, but also a powerful Foundation Establishment Late Stage Cultivator.
The cultivation world had a strict hierarchy. How could an Outer Disciple discuss a Foundation Establishment cultivator however they pleased?
Fortunately, the Spirit Pressure did not last long. Otherwise, Liu Yu felt he could not have held out much longer either, and might well have made a spectacle of himself.
He glanced around. Many of his fellow disciples looked awful and were breathing rapidly. Senior Brother Shang was in much the same state as he was.
The two exchanged a glance and both smiled wryly.
"Hmph!"
Only after the square had quieted down did Martial Aunt Bai give a cold snort.
She took out an exquisite meditation cushion, sat down on it, and began her lecture.
Her voice was clear and lovely, like pearls falling onto a jade platter, yet carried a chill that made her seem unapproachable.
Amplified by a spell, her voice reached every corner of the square.
This lecture covered low- and middle-grade first-tier water and ice spells, along with techniques for practicing and using both types.
She began with the Tier-One Low-Grade Waterball Technique and worked up to the Tier-One Mid-Grade Ice Cone Technique.
She progressed from the basics to deeper principles, from easy to difficult, occasionally casting a spell with a casual movement to demonstrate.
Liu Yu listened carefully, comparing her explanations with the insights from his own practice.
Sure enough, he gained some new understanding. Certain small tricks for using the spells proved particularly valuable.
He firmly committed to memory casting details he had never noticed before, which could slightly improve a spell's power and casting speed.
Anything he did not understand, he memorized by force, leaving it to ponder later when he had time.
Amid that clear, cold, proud female voice, four hours passed in the blink of an eye.
As soon as the allotted time was up, Martial Aunt Bai's explanation stopped abruptly, bringing the lecture to an end.
She ignored several disciples who had the "audacity to defy heaven" and raised their hands to ask questions.
Taking out a blue flying sword engraved with an ice bird, she departed in a streak of blue Escape Light.
In the blink of an eye, she had become a tiny speck on the horizon, without the slightest dragging through mud and water.
This trip was well worth it.
Liu Yu savored what he had learned, feeling rather moved. Only when Shang Chuanjiang called to him did he rise to leave.
By then, the many Outer Disciples in the square were already leaving one after another.
"Until next time."
After descending the mountain, Liu Yu parted ways with Shang Chuanjiang and returned to his cave abode.
Back in his cave abode, Liu Yu resumed his life of arduous cultivation.
He took pills to cultivate every day, fired up his furnace to refine pills every few days, and occasionally visited the Scripture Pavilion to broaden his knowledge and understanding.
The first floor of the Scripture Pavilion was open to all disciples free of charge.
It mostly held miscellaneous accounts, biographies, and material concerning early- and middle-stage Qi Refining. Most disciples had little interest in these.
Liu Yu, however, often browsed those biographies and miscellaneous accounts, hoping to gain a general understanding of this world through them.
After each day's "cliffside qi refining," Liu Yu would casually let slip during conversations with his fellow disciples that he was learning pill refinement and had shown a little talent for it.
In this way, his reputation gradually spread across Greenwood Peak.
He became increasingly well known within the Outer Courtyard faction in particular.
Then one day, an Outer Disciple tentatively asked Liu Yu to refine Pure Spirit Pills for him.
That cultivator supplied four sets of ingredients and ultimately received nine Pure Spirit Pills.
Since word had only recently spread, Liu Yu "frankly admitted" that he was not very confident and that the chance of failure was extremely high, but offered to refine them free of charge.
He only asked that the disciple not blame him if all four sets of ingredients ended in failure.
Ingredients worth twenty spirit stones had become pills worth twenty-seven spirit stones-a modest profit. Naturally, the disciple was delighted.
By this point, refining Pure Spirit Pills was as familiar to Liu Yu as driving a light carriage along a well-known road.
He could generally succeed with one out of every three batches, usually producing eight or nine pills.
Their quality was certainly no worse than those sold in shops.
At least when it came to refining Spirit-Gathering Pills and Pure Spirit Pills, he had already reached the standard of an ordinary Alchemist.
The tree that rises above the forest will be battered by the wind.
He had deliberately made the nine pills he gave that cultivator look slightly worse, precisely because he did not want to stand out too much.
Now Liu Yu's reputation as an Alchemist had truly spread, and more fellow disciples began visiting him.
Cultivators from the Lineage faction came to recruit him, promising all sorts of generous terms if Liu Yu became their Lineage's "dedicated Alchemist."
They even hinted that, once he became their Lineage's Alchemist, they could "guarantee" his admission into the inner sect.
The Shang Household was among them, represented by Shang Chuanjiang.
But Shang Chuanjiang knew Liu Yu was a cultivator whose heart was set on the Great Dao, so he merely went through the motions and did not press him.
The outer sect forces of the Outer Courtyard faction also sent Jiang Qiushui to win him over. They offered all sorts of tempting terms, hoping he would supply their faction with pills in large quantities.
As a member of the same Outer Courtyard faction, Liu Yu found it difficult to refuse.
He could only make excuses, saying he was "not skilled enough yet" and that "cultivation came first." In the end, however, he still agreed to refine pills for the Outer Courtyard faction once a month, free of charge.
When the time came, he could simply hand over a bottle of Pure Spirit Pills to fulfill the obligation.
Inside the cave abode, Jiang Qiushui smiled charmingly, her beautiful eyes looking Liu Yu up and down.
To think Junior Brother Liu, whose cultivation is so unremarkable, actually has quite a talent for pill refinement!
As she watched Liu Yu's increasingly composed and steady bearing, a peculiar glint flashed through her eyes. It seemed she would have to visit him more often in the future!
Only after settling the matter did she take her leave.
For a faction to have no factions within it would be strange indeed.
Liu Yu sighed inwardly, recalling something a great man from his previous life had once said.
He understood that, before he had sufficient strength of his own, he had best not try to be grass atop a wall, bending both ways to curry favor with everyone.
Otherwise, he would only displease both sides. For now, protecting himself and improving his strength mattered most.
Various signs suggested that the Outer Courtyard faction was relatively close to the master-disciple faction, with faint indications of an alliance forming.
The open struggles and covert battles among the three factions over the sect's authority and resources showed signs of growing increasingly fierce.
Liu Yu noticed all this, but had no desire to become embroiled in it.
In his daily life, he quietly cultivated to raise his cultivation level, keeping a low profile wherever he should.
During this period, an outer sect senior brother he barely knew visited with an invitation, claiming to have discovered a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cave abode somewhere.
The abode's owner had already died. Since he could not break through the Cave Abode Restriction alone, he wanted to invite Liu Yu to explore it with him.
They would split any treasures they obtained sixty-forty.
Liu Yu sneered inwardly upon hearing this. It sounded very much like the "invitation to seek treasure" described in the Essentials of Demonic Cultivation.
The method used the lure of spirit plants, spirit herbs, or various treasures to draw cultivators into a trap, then launched a surprise attack while they were off guard, killing them and seizing their treasures.
He refused that senior brother on the spot, explaining that he was wholly devoted to cultivation and would not leave the sect for the next few years.
That senior brother still refused to give up. Only after repeated attempts at persuasion failed did he turn to another target.
Of course, all of this was merely Liu Yu's malicious speculation. He did not know whether it was true.
Later, however, he heard that the senior brother had invited a rather wealthy junior brother from the sect to go with him.
When he returned, he was alone and seriously injured. He claimed that an accident had occurred and that they had encountered a rogue cultivator with ill intentions.
What exactly had happened remained unclear.
Liu Yu frequently leafed through the Essentials of Demonic Cultivation. Some of its contents were things he had never even heard of.
Upon reaching the final page, he unexpectedly discovered that the book also recorded an auxiliary technique, the Spirit-Concealing Secret Art.
This secret art had three levels. Supposedly, mastering the first would allow him to conceal his aura until it left no trace.
Once familiar with it, he could deceive cultivators one minor stage above him, but only within the same major realm.
At the second level, he could freely adjust the cultivation level he displayed, concealing his strength to play the pig and devour the tiger. Only someone at least one major realm above him could see through it.
The third level had even more astonishing effects, allowing him to deceive even cultivators one major realm above him.
Of course, this secret art also had significant limitations.
No matter how far he advanced in it, the cultivation realm he displayed could never exceed his actual realm.
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