"Sixth layer of Qi Refining!"
Zhou Qing's eyes lit up.
In theory, given the cultivation speed of cultivators with a low-grade spiritual root, the sixth layer of Qi Refining was already their limit.
Ordinarily, cultivators with a low-grade spiritual root were nearly seventy by the time they reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining, on the verge of entering their twilight years.
Once they entered their twilight years and their blood and vital energy declined, the hope of advancing another step and entering the Late Qi Refining Period would become vanishingly remote.
Cultivators with a Middle-Grade Spiritual Root had a chance of reaching perfection at the ninth Qi Refining layer before entering their twilight years at seventy.
"In this simulation, no matter how unlucky I am, I should at least reach the Late Qi Refining Period."
"With a little luck, attempting Foundation Establishment won't be an extravagant dream, either."
Zhou Qing was delighted.
He was only twenty-eight now.
He still had forty-two years before reaching seventy, the threshold of his twilight years.
With forty-two years and pill after pill to swallow, even a pig should be able to reach the Late Qi Refining Period.
"Late Qi Refining Period..."
Anticipation filled Zhou Qing's expression.
Whether in the Qi Refining Stage, the Foundation Establishment Realm, or the Core Formation Stage, the same principle applied.
Those in the late stage were also known as Senior Cultivators of their respective realms.
For instance, Late Qi Refining Period cultivators were the Senior Cultivators of the Qi Refining Stage.
Late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators were the Senior Cultivators of the Foundation Establishment Realm.
The same went for the Core Formation Stage.
There was a reason for this distinction.
Compared with those in the early and middle stages, late-stage cultivators experienced a considerable leap in combat strength.
[You reach the sixth layer of Qi Refining and are in excellent spirits.] [You decide to try refining a batch of high-grade pills to raise your skills to the level of a High-Grade Pill Master.] [Several years ago, your Alchemy Path skills had already reached the peak of the mid-grade level.] [Although you have no idea how to break through to the high-grade level, you want to ride the momentum of reaching the sixth layer of Qi Refining and give it a try.] [The high-grade pills you attempt to refine are called Qi Nurturing Pills, one of the easier varieties of high-grade pills to refine.] [Your pill refinement fails, leaving you with a furnace full of worthless residue.] [This failure brings you back to your senses.] [You begin carefully reviewing what happened.] [Even exceptionally gifted pill masters need ten years or longer to advance from Mid-Grade Alchemist to High-Grade Pill Master.] [Pill Master Yun remained at the Mid-Grade Alchemist level for nearly twenty years.] [Pill Master Yun had a Second-Order Alchemist as his teacher and guide.] [You review the lessons of your failure and gain some insights, taking another step toward the skill level of a High-Grade Pill Master.] [In the fourteenth year, you are twenty-nine. After continually taking Qi Nourishing Pills, you gradually develop a resistance to them.] [Your talent, Bane of Pill Refining, allows you to ignore most pill toxins, but it cannot eliminate resistance to pills.] [Taking too much of any pill leads to resistance, making it increasingly less effective on you.] [Considering that Qi Nourishing Pills are taken for daily cultivation during the middle Qi Refining period, it is already quite good that you have only developed resistance now.] [You switch to another mid-grade pill for your daily cultivation.] [Its effects are no different from those of Qi Nourishing Pills.] [The cultivation world has an abundance of pills suitable for daily cultivation during the middle Qi Refining period.] [In the fifteenth year, you are thirty. You enter the courtyard of your cave dwelling and look at Dachun, who is sitting cross-legged there.] [After fifteen years in Black Mountain Market, you have also found a path for Dachun.] [Dachun has no spiritual root and cannot cultivate immortality, but he can temper his body.] [You find Dachun a technique called the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art.] [Compared with Qi Condensation, body tempering entails considerable suffering. The body must undergo constant honing and tempering to improve slowly.] [Moreover, Qi Condensation cultivators have an all-encompassing array of methods, with magical treasures and divine abilities emerging in endless succession.] [Body tempering is much simpler. At least in its early stages, it offers no advantages beyond survivability and close-quarters combat.] [When a body-tempering practitioner faces a Qi Condensation cultivator of the same level, the latter can easily kite the former to death.] ["Young master!"] [Seeing you come out, Dachun hurriedly rises to his feet, his expression brightening.] ["Young master, I've already cultivated that body-tempering art to the fourth level."] [Dachun speaks excitedly.] ["The fourth level? So quickly?"] [You are rather surprised.] [According to your understanding, the fourth level of the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art corresponds to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.] [Dachun was born with extraordinary strength and already had a considerable advantage in body tempering. You simply did not expect him to reach the fourth level so quickly.] ["Try attacking me."] [You speak.] ["All right!"] [Dachun immediately nods.] [Over the past decade or so, you have often sparred with Dachun.] [Dachun's figure blurs. Your expression shifts slightly, and a layer of red protective shielding appears around your body.] [An instant later, Dachun's punch strikes the protective shield.] [In the blink of an eye, the shield begins to burn faintly, and Dachun withdraws his fist the moment it makes contact.] ["Young master..."] [Dachun looks at his somewhat scorched fist, pain showing on his face.] [Had he withdrawn it even a little later, his fist would have suffered far more than a simple scorching.] ["Quite impressive."] [You nod.] [With the speed and strength Dachun just displayed, an ordinary fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator would definitely suffer badly if caught unprepared.] [You have reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining, and your magical power has increased greatly. Had you still been at the fifth layer, you might have been left somewhat worse for wear.] ["Keep working hard on your cultivation."] [You look at Dachun, a smile appearing on your face.] [Originally, you had held no particular expectations for Dachun.] [Given the loyalty Dachun displayed in the first simulation, what harm was there in supporting him through this one?] [But now it seems that if Dachun continues cultivating his body, he might even be able to help you in the future.] [In the sixteenth year, you are thirty-one. There are still four years before the secret realm outside the market opens.] [You begin reducing how often you refine other types of pills, focusing instead on healing and lifesaving pills.] [With your experience from the previous simulation, you know very well that once the secret realm emerges and large numbers of cultivators enter it, demand for healing and lifesaving pills will soar.] [This will cause the prices of such pills to rise by several tenths.] [You are stockpiling these pills now so you can make a fortune four years later.] [As for why you did not stockpile them earlier, pills have a shelf life. Ordinary pills retain their potency for only four or five years.] [Of course, certain precious pills, such as Foundation Establishment Pills, have more effective storage methods that preserve their potency for decades or even a century.] [However, those storage methods are expensive, and using them on ordinary pills would be wasteful.] [In the seventeenth year, you are thirty-two. You master three Tracking Spells in succession.] [In the eighteenth year, you are thirty-three. Pill Master Yun brings you another pill-refining inheritance, and studying it benefits you greatly.] [In the nineteenth year, you are thirty-four. From your observations, Ye Feng's timeline follows exactly the same course as in the first simulation. However, without your help, Ye Feng is not faring well among Pill Master Yun's apprentices.] [In the twentieth year, you are thirty-five. You raise your head and look in a certain direction beyond the market.] [The secret realm has emerged.]