Ninth Level of Qi Refining

He returned to his little courtyard.

That night, Xu Changshou used his Fine Steel Sword to cut up the one-horned azure wolf hide. It was much larger than a weasel's hide, yielding a full thirty-six pieces.

Once he finished cutting, Xu Changshou closed his eyes and sat in meditation. It was already late, so he planned to rest for the night and draw talismans tomorrow.

The next day.

At first light, Xu Changshou ate his spiritual meal early and prepared to draw talismans.

The thirty-six pieces of one-horned azure wolf hide could make thirty-six Windwalking Talismans, but Xu Changshou did not intend to use them all for that.

Besides Windwalking Talismans, there was another fairly practical wind-attribute spiritual talisman: the Flight Talisman.

Normally, given a choice, Xu Changshou would definitely choose a Flight Talisman. After all, flying through the sky was far better than running along the ground.

However, Flight Talismans had one fatal drawback: they attracted too much attention.

Flying on swords was the exclusive privilege of Foundation Establishment cultivators. If he took to the air at every turn and some Foundation Establishment cultivator took offense, a casual strike could spell disaster for him.

Still, that did not mean he would never use one. When faced with a deadly threat, escaping with a Flight Talisman would be far better than using a Windwalking Talisman.

Thus, Flight Talismans would have their uses, but not many. He only needed to draw a few.

Xu Changshou had long since decided how to use his Windwalking Talismans and Flight Talismans.

He had plenty of talismans and could draw more whenever he liked. When traveling, ordinary Windwalking Talismans would suffice for routine journeys, allowing him to cover three thousand li a day.

If he encountered danger or needed to travel quickly under special circumstances, he could use Windwalking Talismans drawn on one-horned azure wolf hide to cover five thousand li a day. He would not use them unless necessary.

As for Flight Talismans, including those drawn on one-horned azure wolf hide, he would avoid using them whenever possible and save them for life-threatening situations.

After weighing things up, Xu Changshou decided to use the one-horned azure wolf hide to draw twelve Flight Talismans and twenty-four Windwalking Talismans.

Xu Changshou easily finished all thirty-six talismans in two days.

Once they were finished, he put them all into the jade talisman's space.

Then Xu Changshou took inventory of his belongings.

Twelve Earth Gang Talismans drawn on weasel hide.

Twelve Flight Talismans drawn on one-horned azure wolf hide.

Twenty-four Windwalking Talismans drawn on one-horned azure wolf hide.

Various other spiritual talismans.

Three thousand five hundred Windwalking Talismans for his assignment quota.

Xu Changshou calculated that three thousand five hundred Windwalking Talismans would cover one year and eight months of assignments.

One year and eight months would also be enough time for him to break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

His next priority remained entering seclusion to improve his cultivation.

Now that he had reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining, he consumed Qi Gathering Pills even faster, averaging one pill every two days.

That meant fifteen Qi Gathering Pills a month, equivalent to one and a half spirit stones.

This rate of consumption was frightening. His monthly stipend was only one hundred and twenty Fragmented Spirit Stones. Without outside income, those one hundred and twenty Fragmented Spirit Stones would leave him stretching a threadbare coat over his elbows.

Fortunately, he did not need to buy Qi-Replenishing Pills, or things would have been even worse.

Of course, this was nothing to Xu Changshou. He now earned an extra ten spirit stones a month and could afford this expense.

Next came a long period of seclusion.

For cultivators in the Qi Refining Realm, advancing from the eighth layer to the ninth level of Qi Refining was not difficult. There was no barrier.

Once they had accumulated enough, they could break through.

Breaking through to the tenth level of Qi Refining was different. Like the seventh level, the tenth level was an important dividing line.

The seventh through ninth levels of Qi Refining constituted late Qi Refining, while the tenth through twelfth layers constituted peak Qi Refining.

The twelfth layer was the great perfection of Qi Refining.

The tenth level of Qi Refining would not stump Xu Changshou either. He no longer lacked resources. At worst, he could simply use a Barrier-Breaking Pill.

Time passed.

A year and a half went by in the blink of an eye.

"The ninth level of Qi Refining. I finally broke through."

Xu Changshou opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them.

The spiritual energy within him had grown richer and more powerful. With the slightest urging, it surged like mighty rivers.

His physical strength had also increased, reaching eight or nine hundred jin.

Three stages remained: the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth layers of Qi Refining. His strength would continue to rise, eventually reaching one thousand jin.

The increases in physical strength would be relatively smaller from here on.

In the final three layers, the main improvement would be a meteoric rise in magical power.

A cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining, for instance, had far more substantial magical power than one at the ninth level. If the two fought without weapons or trump cards, the tenth-level cultivator could kill the ninth-level cultivator in a single move.

On the last day of the month, Ye Shanhua came to visit.

"The ninth level of Qi Refining! Congratulations!"

Seeing that Xu Changshou had broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, Ye Shanhua's beautiful eyes filled with surprise.

Through their interactions over this period, she had begun to sense that the Windwalking Talismans Xu Changshou supplied her with had not been drawn by some supposed senior brother. Ye Shanhua strongly suspected that Xu Changshou had drawn them himself.

Of course, even if she had guessed the truth, Ye Shanhua did not expose it.

She wanted Windwalking Talismans. As long as Xu Changshou supplied them, who drew them did not matter.

"You reached the ninth level of Qi Refining so quickly. Junior Brother Xu, you really are something," Ye Shanhua praised.

Xu Changshou smiled wryly. "What does my progress amount to? I can't compare to you, Senior Sister Ye."

Ye Shanhua had already broken through to the tenth level of Qi Refining six months earlier.

They were still separated by one minor stage, and the ninth and tenth levels marked an important dividing line. Catching up with Ye Shanhua would not be easy.

Ye Shanhua smiled. "There's no need to belittle yourself. Your spiritual root is the worst among all of us, yet your cultivation speed hasn't fallen behind anyone else's."

Xu Changshou asked curiously, "What about the others? How are they doing?"

"Of the ten of us, Senior Brother Li is still the fastest. He reached the tenth level of Qi Refining three months before I did. Apart from us, you're the only one at the ninth level. None of the others have broken through."

"Oh!"

Xu Changshou nodded slightly.

In cultivation speed, he had already surpassed the disciples from minor Lineages, though he still lagged somewhat behind Immortal Second-Generation cultivators like Ye Shanhua and Li Linhao.

He fell short of those above him but had more than those below. Xu Changshou was already quite satisfied.

Of course, resources were only one part of it. No one could match Xu Changshou's diligence.

He had grown up herding cattle and learned to endure hardship and work hard from childhood. That also gave him an advantage in cultivation.

"Senior Sister Ye, here are ten Windwalking Talismans for you."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. Here are your ten spirit stones!"

"Junior Brother Xu, I'll take my leave."

"Take care, Senior Sister Ye!"

After Ye Shanhua left, Xu Changshou took stock of his assets again.

By now, Xu Changshou had accumulated two hundred and seventy-three spirit stones and several hundred Fragmented Spirit Stones.

Throughout the past year and a half, he had continued trading with Ye Shanhua while cultivating, bringing in ten spirit stones every month.

Meanwhile, his cultivation consumed one and a half spirit stones each month.

In addition, he was running low on Windwalking Talismans. Only a little over three hundred remained, enough for just two months of assignments.

He had to draw more talismans.

This time, Xu Changshou planned to draw even more, because he would next be striving to reach the tenth level of Qi Refining.

That would require more time and more resources.