Young Friend Zhou Qing

["Brother Zhou, I, Ye Feng, will remember your great kindness for the rest of my life."]

["If I make it out of the secret realm alive this time, I will repay you tenfold, a hundredfold."]

[Ye Feng spoke with boundless gratitude.]

[With these fifty spirit stones, his own savings, and what he had borrowed from other friends, Ye Feng could now scrape together the hundred spirit stones needed to buy his freedom.]

["That secret realm... be careful in there."]

[One reason you were willing to lend him fifty spirit stones was the friendship between you.]

[The other was investment.]

[If Ye Feng truly managed to return alive from that secret realm,]

[even if he gained nothing, he could still bring back information about the Secret Realm's interior.]

[That would help you prepare for future simulations.]

[In the twenty-first year, you were thirty-six. You successfully completed ten years of Spirit Cultivation and entered the ten-year Fire Control phase.]

[In the twenty-second year, you were thirty-seven. You noticed that the emergence of the secret realm had driven the prices of certain supplies in the market up by twenty to thirty percent, such as lifesaving pills and recovery pills.]

[In the twenty-third year, you were thirty-eight. You successfully broke through to the third layer of Qi Refining.]

[In the twenty-fourth year, you were thirty-nine. You discovered that after several years of exploration, the secret realm outside the market had been all but picked clean. Few cultivators still entered it.]

[Even now, you had heard nothing about Ye Feng. You understood that he had probably met with disaster.]

[You later learned that quite a few cultivators in the Late Qi Refining Period had entered that secret realm. Ye Feng had only just reached the third layer of Qi Refining; his chances of dying there were far too high.]

[Ye Feng's death in that secret realm meant the fifty spirit stones you had lent him had been thrown into the water. Your heart ached for some time.]

[In the twenty-fifth year, you were forty. Pill Master Yun personally instructed you in Fire Control, and you benefited greatly.]

[In the twenty-sixth year, you were forty-one. You learned more details about that secret realm.]

[The secret realm that had appeared several years ago was called the Cloudsea Secret Realm. Many spirit herbs grew within it, including quite a few ingredients used to refine Foundation Establishment Pills.]

[In the twenty-seventh year, you were forty-two. You gained an initial grasp of Fire Control.]

[In the twenty-eighth year, you were forty-three. Pill Master Yun thought highly of you and let you stand beside him as he refined pills, observing Fire Control in practice.]

[In the twenty-ninth year, you were forty-four. You began assisting Pill Master Yun with pill refinement.]

[In the thirtieth year, you were forty-five. Your mastery of Fire Control grew increasingly proficient.]

[In the thirty-first year, you were forty-six. You finally completed the ten-year Fire Control phase and entered the final ten-year Pill Condensation phase.]

[In the thirty-second year, you were forty-seven. Your cultivation reached the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining, and you were ready to attempt a breakthrough to the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining.]

[In the thirty-third year, you were forty-eight. You attempted to break through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.]

[The attempt ended in failure. Fortunately, you had prepared thoroughly, and Pill Master Yun had bestowed a supplementary pill on you. You only depleted some of your vital essence and could recover after a few years of recuperation.]

[This failed breakthrough made you realize that every step on the path of immortal cultivation was fraught with difficulty.]

[In the thirty-fourth year, you were forty-nine. While recuperating, you devoted all your energy to Pill Condensation.]

[In the thirty-fifth year, you were fifty. Your failed breakthrough instead made your progress in Pill Condensation quite smooth.]

[In the thirty-sixth year, you were fifty-one. You began preparing to refine an entire batch of low-grade pills.]

[Your first independent pill refinement ultimately succeeded.]

[Being able to refine low-grade pills independently meant you had become a low-grade pill master.]

[Pill Master Yun personally summoned you and said that now you had become a low-grade pill master, he could release the restrictions of your spirit contract. From then on, you would be a free man.]

[Naturally, you were unwilling. Progress on the path of a pill master was just as difficult. Above low-grade pill masters were mid-grade pill masters, and above them were high-grade pill masters.]

[Without guidance from an experienced pill master, becoming a mid-grade pill master would likely remain a distant dream.]

[Pill Master Yun looked at you with gratification and let you remain at the pill workshop. He occasionally had you refine low-grade pills and paid you the going market rate.]

[In the thirty-seventh year, you were fifty-two. You recovered the vital essence depleted during your previous breakthrough attempt and once again made a push for the fourth layer of Qi Refining.]

[After becoming a low-grade pill master, your income had increased greatly, and you purchased many items to aid your breakthrough.]

[You successfully broke through and entered the fourth layer of Qi Refining.]

[In the thirty-eighth year, you were fifty-three. After entering the middle Qi Refining period, you discovered that cultivation had become even more difficult.]

[Your spirit root aptitude was only low-grade. In theory, cultivators with low-grade spirit roots had no hope of entering late Qi Refining.]

[In the thirty-ninth year, you were fifty-four. With Pill Master Yun's guidance, you successfully joined the "Pill Alliance" in the Black Mountain Market.]

[The so-called "Pill Alliance" was a loose organization of pill masters gathered together. Other factions and cultivators often approached the alliance to request pills, and the alliance distributed those requests to its pill masters as assignments.]

[The Pill Alliance brought pill masters together so they could obtain more paid pill-refining work.]

[In the fortieth year, you were fifty-five. After saving enough spirit stones, you rented a tier-one mid-grade cave abode in the market.]

[A tier-one mid-grade cave abode contained more spiritual energy than a tier-one low-grade one. Now that you were a middle Qi Refining cultivator, only a tier-one mid-grade cave abode could meet your basic daily cultivation needs.]

[In the forty-first year, you were fifty-six. You continued cultivating slowly.]

[In the forty-second year, you were fifty-seven. You felt that reaching the peak of the fourth layer of Qi Refining would require at least fifteen to twenty years of arduous cultivation.]

[In the forty-third year, you were fifty-eight. An unexpected visitor came to see Pill Master Yun.]

[Ye Feng.]

[This follower, whom you had long since believed dead, came to the pill workshop to visit Pill Master Yun.]

[the insignificant cultivator in the Early Qi Refining Period he had been back then, but a cultivator in the Late Qi Refining Period.]

[You watched from afar as Pill Master Yun welcomed Ye Feng, lost in a daze of melancholy.]

[Thirty-three years ago, Ye Feng had only just entered the third layer of Qi Refining. Now he had leaped into the Late Qi Refining Period.]

[You realized that Ye Feng must have reaped great rewards while exploring that secret realm all those years ago.]

[You remembered the fifty spirit stones you had lent Ye Feng back then.]

[After you waited outside for a long time, Pill Master Yun came out.]

[Pill Master Yun nodded to you, knowing the relationship between you and Ye Feng.]

[After Pill Master Yun left, you took a deep breath and walked inside.]

[Inside the hall, Ye Feng sat casually, faintly exuding an intimidating spiritual pressure-the spiritual pressure possessed only by late Qi Refining cultivators.]

[Noticing your entrance, Ye Feng glanced at you. Without getting up, he spoke with a smile:]

["So it's Zhou... young friend Zhou Qing."]