Under normal circumstances, a cultivator with all five elements could spend an entire lifetime absorbing the spiritual power of heaven and earth and still never break through to the fourth layer.
At most, they would reach the Third Layer of Qi Refining Stage, otherwise known as early Qi Refining.
Yet this fellow He Pingsheng had actually reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining at seventeen. How could that not shock people?
Of course, He Pingsheng had long since prepared an explanation for his cultivation.
"There's no need to be surprised, senior brother!" He Pingsheng said calmly. "I have a Spirit Root with three attributes: metal, wood, and fire. I'm quite gifted in alchemy, so I usually cultivate by consuming pills!"
"It isn't what you're thinking, senior brother!"
"Oh!" The senior brother drew a deep breath and nodded. "That is possible..."
"Wait..." The female cultivator suddenly looked at He Pingsheng and asked, "Did you just say you're skilled in alchemy?"
"Yes!" He Pingsheng replied.
This was no idle boast.
His success rate when refining [Qi-Gathering Pills] was now around thirty percent. Such a success rate was astonishing not only for someone in the Qi Refining Stage, but even for someone in the Foundation Establishment Realm.
"Then..." the woman asked again, "roughly how high is your success rate, junior brother?"
"About one successful batch of pills for every four batches of herbs!" He Pingsheng replied.
"Hiss... no wonder!" The woman sucked in a breath in shock. "One successful batch out of four! As far as I know, seven spirit stones can buy ten sets of ingredients for Qi-Gathering Pills. Assuming you successfully refine three batches out of those ten, that's thirty-six pills. At two spirit stones apiece, that's over seventy spirit stones!"
"Turning seven spirit stones into over seventy... your ability to earn money is frightening, junior brother. If you cultivate by consuming pills, you could naturally reach the fifth layer!"
"However!" she added, "pills do contain pill toxins, after all. Remember to purge the toxins from your body promptly, junior brother!"
"Yes!" He Pingsheng looked utterly sincere. "Thank you for the reminder, senior sister!"
"Off you go!" The woman waved her hand. "The results will be out in a month and posted in the Outer Sect Hall. Don't forget to come and check them then!"
Having said that, she fixed her gaze on He Pingsheng. "You must come, junior brother. As far as I know, some of our martial uncles need disciples who understand alchemy."
"Yes!" He Pingsheng cupped his hands, then left.
After leaving the first floor, He Pingsheng went up to the second, bought some daily necessities as usual, and browsed the wares.
He had intended to buy some sort of defensive treasure, but after looking around for quite a while without finding any, he could only give up.
Returning to his little courtyard, he began refining pills again.
This time, he refined [Grain-Avoidance Pills].
As his divine sense improved, his success rate in alchemy had risen somewhat as well. It was now roughly one in three.
He refined ten batches and tossed both the four successful batches and the six batches of Waste Pills into the Treasure-Gathering Basin. Overnight, they were enhanced and doubled.
He obtained two hundred and forty supreme-grade [Grain-Avoidance Pills] in total.
The effectiveness of Grain-Avoidance Pills varied with their quality.
One low-grade Grain-Avoidance Pill allowed a person to go without food for a month, whereas a single supreme-grade pill could sustain them for half a year.
In other words, the Grain-Avoidance Pills in He Pingsheng's possession were enough to last him a hundred and twenty years.
It was that outrageous.
Fortunately, Grain-Avoidance Pills had no particular fragrance, so ordinary porcelain bottles were sufficient to store them.
For the next stretch of time, He Pingsheng did not meditate and cultivate. Instead, he took out the spells recorded at the back of the Lihuo True Method and began practicing them.
There were only two Fire Attribute spells: the Fire Crow Technique and the Fire Shield Technique.
He Pingsheng had already mastered the Fire Crow Technique, an offensive spell.
The Fire Shield Technique, on the other hand, was a defensive spell.
Once mastered, it allowed him to condense the fire spiritual power within his body into a fire shield for defense. As for how much protection it offered, that remained unclear.
Still, having it was better than having nothing.
And so, He Pingsheng began practicing the [Fire Shield Technique].
Learning the spell was not difficult. After a little over twenty days, He Pingsheng successfully mastered the Fire Shield Technique.
"Manifest..."
At He Pingsheng's soft command, Fire Attribute spiritual power gathered at his fingertips and transformed into a round shield in an instant.
The shield was small, only two feet across.
It could cover He Pingsheng's upper body.
That was already enough.
After all, he held it in his hand and could move it around at will, just like a physical object.
When an opponent attacked, blocking in time with the Fire Shield Technique would not be particularly difficult.
Just how much force this Fire Shield Technique could block remained unknown, however, since he could not test it the way he had tested the Fire Crow Technique.
"I'll have to test it in future battles!"
He Pingsheng drew a deep breath, then sat cross-legged on the ground.
He was thinking about something else: the Inner Sect.
If he happened to pass the Inner Sect selection, what would he do afterward?
Keep racing through his cultivation as before, breaking through another layer every few months?
That would be absurd.
If he dared cultivate like that right under the patriarchs' noses, it would be a miracle if they did not drag him away for a thorough examination.
A cultivator's progress depended on two things.
First, Spirit Roots!
Second, cultivation methods!
With a poor Spirit Root, even the most powerful cultivation method would be of no use.
Cultivating by consuming pills could bypass the limitations of the Spirit Root, but even then, cultivation speed still varied.
That depended on the cultivation method.
For instance, if He Pingsheng consumed the same supreme-grade [Qi-Gathering Pills] but practiced the [Basic Breathing and Qi-Guiding Method] instead of the [Lihuo True Method], his progress would be much slower.
So even if he told others that consuming pills was the reason for his rapid breakthroughs, they would not believe him.
What could I do?
There was no way out!
It was a dead end.
The only way to break out of it was to slow down.
But wouldn't slowing down mean losing more than I gained?
No matter!
There was still a way to make up for it!
He Pingsheng waved his hand and picked up another book: the Everlasting Spring Qi Circulation Art.
If I couldn't keep cultivating my Fire Attribute dantian, I would cultivate my Wood Attribute dantian instead.
In the Cultivation World, Spirit Roots corresponded to dantians. Each type of Spirit Root came with a dantian.
For example, He Pingsheng had a five-element spiritual root, so he possessed five dantians: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
This was nothing unusual. Most people simply cultivated only one dantian because their time and energy were limited. Yet throughout history, those who cultivated two or even three dantians were far from rare.
He Pingsheng decided to give it a try as well.
Cultivating two or more dantians offered one tremendous advantage: deep reserves of magic power.
Just imagine: two cultivators both at the fifth layer of Qi Refining, but the other person had only one dantian to store spiritual power, while you had two.
Wouldn't that give you every advantage in a fight?
I'd give it a try!
He Pingsheng immediately sat down and began studying the [Everlasting Spring Qi Circulation Art].
Four hours later, he finished studying the general principles and the formulas for the first few layers, then began cultivating.
The first step: qi drawing into the body.
This was not difficult. Regardless of the attribute, having done it once made it easy now.
Thus, in just a few breaths, He Pingsheng drew a wisp of Wood Attribute spiritual power through his Spirit Root and into his meridians!
The second step: refine it through one full circulation.
This was a little harder.
It took He Pingsheng roughly a day to complete one full circulation.
The qi surged into his dantian.
His Wood Attribute dantian successfully connected with his meridians.
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