Eighth Layer of Qi Refining

[Next, Vice Alliance Leader You Rou continued sharing information about the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm.]

[This included its dangerous areas, places offering opportunities, and so on.]

[This information had been extremely valuable in the year the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm first appeared.]

[But by now, the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm had long since been picked clean. With a little inquiry, Vice Alliance Leader You Rou obtained exceptionally detailed information.]

[Although Vice Alliance Leader You Rou did not understand why you wanted this "outdated information," she made inquiries because you had asked, deepening the relationship between you.]

["By the way, I found some of the cultivators who first entered the secret realm and created a Memory Projection from their recollections... the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm must have witnessed a bloody battle two or three hundred years ago..."]

[Vice Alliance Leader You Rou took out a Jade Slip containing a Memory Projection of the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm when it was first discovered.]

["A bloody battle?"]

[You extended your spiritual sense into the Jade Slip and immediately observed the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm from a kind of bird's-eye perspective.]

[The Mountain-Sea Secret Realm measured several dozen li across, with scattered halls and numerous Medicine Gardens.]

[However, in the Memory Projection, most of the halls had collapsed, and the Medicine Gardens were badly damaged.]

[From the Memory Projection alone, you could vaguely discern that some powerful being had entered deep into the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm two or three hundred years ago, slaughtering and destroying with abandon.]

["Was it Blood-Sea True Person?"]

[You asked.]

[If Blood-Sea True Person really had destroyed the Mountain Sea Sect, then the being who ultimately fought their way into the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm was most likely that same person.]

["I don't know."]

[Vice Alliance Leader You Rou shook her head. If a True Person personally entered the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm to examine the traces, perhaps they could deduce the identity and origins of the being who had stormed into it.]

["Who can say for certain what happened hundreds of years ago..."]

[You Rou slowly rose, her breath fragrant as orchids, her cool eyes gazing at you with affection.]

[You noticed the atmosphere changing and faintly caught the rich, lilac-like fragrance coming from You Rou.]

["Indeed..."]

[You nodded slightly, then stood and slipped an arm around You Rou's waist.]

[During your time together, you had naturally noticed Vice Alliance Leader You Rou's subtle attempts to seduce you.]

[You guessed that Vice Alliance Leader You Rou was doing this to keep you in the Pill Alliance.]

[After all, before you reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining and showed the potential to become a High-Grade Pill Master, You Rou had never even spared you a glance.]

[After becoming a High-Grade Pill Master, you understood very clearly what price outside factions would pay to win one over.]

[If You Rou could make you stay for good merely by offering her body, it would be a guaranteed profit with no risk of loss.]

[In the cultivation world, some female cultivators did not place much importance on their chastity.]

[Some kept large numbers of male lovers to practice special Dual Cultivation Techniques.]

[Of course, you also took a clear-eyed view of relations between men and women.]

[You Rou was delicate and supple. If the opportunity arose, you would not mind sharing a fleeting romance with her.]

["Pill Master Wang, with your skill in alchemy, why not stay in the Pill Alliance for good..."]

[You Rou's warm breath brushed your skin, while the swells of her chest rose and fell.]

["That won't do."]

[You shook your head at her words.]

[Staying in the Pill Alliance for good meant signing a more binding Spirit Contract with it and serving it exclusively.]

[Most Alchemists in the Pill Alliance had a cooperative relationship with it. This was especially true of High-Grade Pill Masters-even if they accepted no assignments, the Pill Alliance would turn a blind eye.]

[In this simulation, you did not intend to bind yourself too tightly to the Pill Alliance.]

[Or rather, a fleeting romance with You Rou alone was not worth committing yourself completely to the Pill Alliance.]

["It won't?"]

[Vice Alliance Leader You Rou blinked and gently pushed you away. "It's getting late. I should head back."]

[After seeing You Rou out of your cave abode, you fell briefly into thought.]

[First, most of the information about the Mountain-Sea Secret Realm that you obtained from You Rou this time was information you had never uncovered in your first simulation.]

[That alone made this worthwhile.]

[As for You Rou's attempts to seduce you, you did not take them to heart.]

[A little fun was fine, but when concrete interests were involved, you would still weigh matters carefully.]

[You went to the courtyard of your cave abode and saw Dachun practicing the "Blazing Sun Body Refinement Art."]

[Dachun truly had considerable talent for body refinement. Over the past few years, he had already cultivated this body refinement art to the fifth level.]

[The fifth level of the "Blazing Sun Body Refinement Art" was already enough to threaten cultivators at the fifth layer of Qi Refining.]

[In the thirty-fourth year, you were forty-nine. Besides cultivating, you also studied the craft of pill refinement.]

[You keenly felt the vast gulf between a High-Grade Pill Master and a second-tier Alchemist.]

["Boy, your cultivation progress..."]

[The Mountain-Sea Ring Artifact Spirit awakened. After examining your cultivation progress, the spirit immediately fell silent.]

[You could sense that you had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment. Naturally, the Mountain-Sea Ring Artifact Spirit could sense it too, and even perceived it more clearly than you did.]

["Master, I've disappointed you."]

[You felt somewhat embarrassed as well.]

[The Mountain-Sea Ring Artifact Spirit remained silent for a long time, seemingly hesitating.]

[But in the end, the spirit made a decision, and an aged voice rang out. "Boy, don't resist what comes next. I will use my essence to cleanse your marrow and transform your sinews..."]

[Whoosh-]

[You clearly felt streams of warmth pouring out of the sky-blue ring on your hand and continuously merging into your flesh.]

[As these warm currents nourished you, your body felt more comfortable than ever before.]

[Half a day later, you opened your eyes.]

[Vaguely, your perception of the spiritual energy between heaven and earth had become clearer.]

[After cultivating briefly, you discovered that both your intake and refinement of spiritual energy had improved.]

[You discovered that your cultivation aptitude had been enhanced. This left you utterly astonished.]

[In all your years of cultivation, you had never heard of a method that could improve cultivation aptitude.]

["Boy, I'll sleep for now. Keep cultivating. Remember, don't slack off!"]

[The aged voice of the Mountain-Sea Ring Artifact Spirit quickly fell silent.]

[You had only managed to say, "Thank you, Master," before you could no longer sense any activity from the artifact spirit.]

[You had originally had many ques-

tions to ask the artifact spirit, such as questions about Mountain-Sea True Person of the Mountain Sea Sect and Blood-Sea True Person.]

[But now, it seemed they would have to wait until next time.]

[In the thirty-fifth year, you were fifty. After your cultivation aptitude improved, you increased the frequency with which you took pills, and your cultivation speed rose significantly.]

[In the thirty-sixth year, you were fifty-one. The Mountain-Sea Artifact Spirit awakened once more and again cleansed your marrow and transformed your sinews.]

[You realized that the improvement to your cultivation aptitude was only temporary. Even so, it was immensely astonishing. You felt that even a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator could not accomplish anything like this.]

[When the Mountain-Sea Artifact Spirit awakened this time, you finally asked about Mountain-Sea True Person and Blood-Sea True Person. The Mountain-Sea Artifact Spirit did not answer your questions, instead telling you to keep focusing on cultivation.]

[In the thirty-seventh year, you were fifty-two. Your "Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art" finally reached mid-stage body refinement.]

[The "Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art" consumed enormous resources, but the improvements it brought to your physique were also obvious.]

[In the thirty-eighth year, you were fifty-three. You felt that you had already completed half the journey through the seventh layer of Qi Refining.]

[In the thirty-ninth year, you were fifty-four. You learned that a descendant whom Shopkeeper Ouyang valued highly would soon attempt Foundation Establishment.]

[You knew that this attempt at Foundation Establishment would end in failure.]

[In the fortieth year, you were fifty-five. That descendant of Shopkeeper Ouyang failed to reach Foundation Establishment.]

[Although Shopkeeper Ouyang, as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, still had several decades of life remaining and remained the sea-steadying pillar of the Market District.]

[In the forty-first year, you were fifty-six. You began accumulating spirit stones.]

[With the experience of your first simulation, you knew very well that over the coming decades, Black Mountain Market would become unstable because it lacked a successor at Foundation Establishment, and many shops would hold clearance sales.]

[But the eventual outcome was that Shopkeeper Ouyang did raise a successor at the Foundation Establishment Realm. You only needed to wait until the Market Ward's assets fell to rock bottom, buy them, and sell them again after the Market Ward regained its stability. Buying low and selling high would earn you an enormous fortune.]

[In the forty-second year, you were fifty-seven. Shopkeeper Ouyang began grooming a second successor.]

[In the forty-third year, you were fifty-eight. The second successor groomed by Shopkeeper Ouyang failed to reach Foundation Establishment.]

[In the forty-fourth year, you were fifty-nine. With two successive heirs failing to reach Foundation Establishment, rumors gradually began spreading through the Market Ward.]

[Everything was exactly as it had been in your first simulation.]

[Several months later, you reached the peak of the seventh layer of Qi Refining and began attempting to break through to the eighth layer.]

[You successfully entered the eighth layer of Qi Refining.]

[After the Mountain-Sea Artifact Spirit cleansed your marrow and transformed your sinews, you reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining a full seven or eight years earlier than expected.]