The fifth layer of Qi Refining

Many factors determined the success rate of pill refining!

Besides those, there were also Spirit Roots!

That's right—they were Spirit Roots!

In theory, cultivators with metal, wood, and fire Spirit Roots had the highest success rate in pill refining.

According to ancient texts, a metal spiritual root allowed one to better sense a pill cauldron's properties and condition; a wood spiritual root made it easier to control the essence of plants; and a fire spirit root allowed better control over the properties of fire and finer adjustments to the flames.

He Pingsheng had yet to study any of this in depth.

Never mind. Keep refining pills.

As long as there are Waste Pills, it makes no difference to me.

He Pingsheng spent the next dozen or so days in the same monotonous routine.

He finally finished refining all forty sets of ingredients.

Twelve batches succeeded, producing a total of 144 pills.

The quality of these ten successful batches was much the same. Eleven batches consisted entirely of low-grade pills, while only the final batch contained four Middle Grade pills and eight low-grade pills.

Twenty-eight batches of Waste Pills.

Fortunately, none had exploded into powder. At least they had left Waste Pills behind.

The next step was simple: toss the Waste Pills into the Treasure-Gathering Basin, then enhance and double them.

He cultivated while enhancing them.

Those twenty-eight batches of Waste Pills and twelve successful batches made forty batches in total. After enhancement and doubling in He Pingsheng's Treasure-Gathering Basin, they became eighty batches of supreme-grade [Qi-Gathering Pills].

He Pingsheng bought porcelain bottles over several trips, enhanced them into jade bottles, and stored the pills away one by one.

Later, when there were simply too many to store, he even buried some of the pills in the earth beneath his bedroom.

In the blink of an eye, several more months passed.

He Pingsheng practiced the [Lihuo True Method] every day, and his cultivation broke through from the fourth layer of the Qi Refining Stage to the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining.

He encountered no great difficulties along the way.

Nor did He Pingsheng merely sit in meditation like a wooden carving or clay statue when he cultivated. Instead, he alternated between meditative cultivation and divine refining.

Thus, by the time his cultivation reached the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining, his [Mysterious Gate Tranquil Mind True Formula] had also reached the fifth layer.

He Pingsheng's divine sense grew considerably stronger. With a single thought, it could extend eighty zhang in every direction.

That was already quite a distance.

He opened the door!

Fallen leaves rustled bleakly.

Autumn had come again.

Before he knew it, more than two years had passed since He Pingsheng began cultivating.

"It's time for an Outer Disciple to replenish supplies at the Outer Sect Hall!"

He had nearly finished the spirit rice and other supplies at home.

This time, He Pingsheng planned to buy some ingredients for [Grain-Avoidance Pills].

If he could refine those Grain-Avoidance Pills, one pill would sustain him for a month, and one batch for a year.

That would spare him the trouble of lighting a fire and cooking every day.

He Pingsheng closed his door and headed over at an unhurried pace.

The Outer Sect Hall was unusually lively that day, packed with what could only be described as mountains and seas of people.

He Pingsheng swept his divine sense through the hall.

He gained a fairly clear picture of the surrounding cultivators' cultivation levels.

Now, with a single thought, he could sweep an area extending eighty zhang around him. Such powerful divine sense was also well concealed, so those he scanned generally found it difficult to notice. Even if they did notice, they would not necessarily know it belonged to He Pingsheng.

There was nothing to fear.

"Huh..." With a single sweep, He Pingsheng was startled. Their cultivation is so high!

There were cultivators at the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth layers.

By contrast, there were almost none at the first, second, or third layers.

This was far too unusual.

Everyone had formed dozens of small groups, standing in lines as they waited for something.

Curiosity immediately stirred in He Pingsheng. He cupped his hands toward a cultivator beside him and asked, "Greetings, senior brother. May I ask why you're all lining up here? Is something important happening?"

"No idea!" The man glanced at He Pingsheng and shook his head coldly.

He Pingsheng was speechless. No idea?

You're damn well standing in line, and you have no idea?

Forget it... Looks like he just doesn't want to tell me.

But that doesn't matter. If you won't talk, someone else will.

He Pingsheng asked several more people before finally getting an answer.

A selection!

To be precise, the Great Void Sect was selecting inner disciples.

The Great Void Sect had an enormous number of outer disciples and relatively few inner disciples. From time to time, it would select talented individuals with high cultivation from among the outer disciples to enter the Inner Sect.

The requirement for entering the Inner Sect was the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining or above.

But reaching the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining did not guarantee admission.

That depended on one's bone age, Spirit Root, and skills.

Of course, luck mattered too.

This selection had only twenty openings.

Yet thousands of disciples were lining up throughout the hall, a clear sign of the fierce competition.

He Pingsheng now understood why people had responded so coldly to his questions. After all, one more person meant one more competitor.

Now the question was: should he try?

Of course he should.

Inner disciples held extremely high status and could obtain resources more easily.

Although entering the Inner Sect would bring him closer to those mighty cultivators, He Pingsheng was not afraid. His Treasure-Gathering Basin could now be stored inside his body and would not ordinarily be exposed.

And there was more!

The benefits of the Inner Sect did not end there. He could also take part in all kinds of missions and trials.

To name just one example, the dozens of sects in the Daoist Profound Alliance jointly controlled two secret realms.

At regular intervals, they organized expeditions for disciples from the various sects to enter those realms in search of treasures, undergo trials, and so on.

Only inner disciples could participate.

An Outer Sect disciple wanted to enter?

Dream on.

Since such an opportunity had now presented itself, He Pingsheng was certainly going to take his shot.

So He Pingsheng picked a line at random and joined it.

The line moved fairly quickly.

After about two hours, his turn arrived.

Before him stood a table, with two people seated behind it, a man and a woman. Both wore the Inner Sect's standard Daoist robes, which were black with gold embroidery around the collars and cuffs, along with the Great Void Sect's distinctive cloud emblem.

Outer disciples wore dark green.

"Seniors!" He Pingsheng respectfully cupped his hands.

"No need for that!" The woman nodded and said, "Just call us senior brother and senior sister. What's your name, and what Spirit Root do you have?"

He Pingsheng said, "He Pingsheng. A five-element spiritual root!"

"Oh!" The woman looked at He Pingsheng with some surprise. "To reach the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining with a five-element spiritual root, you must have a steadfast heart and tremendous fortune, junior brother!"

He Pingsheng smiled without answering.

The woman asked again, "How old are you this year?"

He Pingsheng cupped his hands and said, "Seventeen!"

In fact, he had added a year to his age. Even counting generously, he was only a little over sixteen. Of course, by traditional age reckoning, calling himself seventeen was perfectly reasonable.

"What?" This time, the male disciple beside her could no longer sit still. "Seventeen? A five-element spiritual root? The Fifth Layer of Qi Refining?"