Cultivation: From Mortal to Immortal Venerable

Lin Xueying glanced at Zhou Xun in surprise, their eyes meeting.

The two shared a knowing smile.

Lin Xueying then refocused on the refining process, while Zhou Xun's work was finished.

The two medicinal liquids flowed together smoothly, merging perfectly.

Then came the condensation.

Finally, nine luminous white pills flew out of the alchemy furnace.

Upon close inspection, they were all high-quality, genuine products.

The refining process had gone smoother than Lin Xueying had expected.

Recalling the entire process, Lin Xueying felt it had been incredibly comfortable and fluid.

Everything had gone so smoothly, it felt as if the success had been predetermined from the start.

With this thought, she couldn't help but look at Zhou Xun again.

Their first collaboration had been so seamless, it sparked a peculiar feeling within her.

She suddenly remembered Zhou Xun's greedy demeanor from the previous day. Just as their eyes met again, a wave of inexplicable annoyance surged through her.

"What are you looking at? Start the next batch!"

Zhou Xun was taken aback, unsure of what he had done.

He couldn't figure out when he had offended the young miss of the Lin family.

After cleaning the alchemy furnace, the two, with practiced coordination, began refining again.

The second batch was also very smooth, yielding nine pills.

The third batch produced ten pills.

They only stopped after completing four batches.

"Alchemist Zhou's skill is truly exquisite. Our cooperation today was perfect!" The young lady regained her usual graceful composure.

"You flatter me, Miss. If there's nothing else, I'll take my leave!" Zhou Xun bowed respectfully.

Hearing this, Lin Xueying nodded. After Zhou Xun departed, she fiercely kicked the leg of a table.

Returning home, he resumed his daily routine of cultivation.

He had now reached the peak of Qi Condensation Layer Three, and the bottleneck of the middle stage of Qi Condensation had been hindering him for several months.

In reality, this was a normal phenomenon.

After all, many cultivators never managed to break through in their entire lives.

After eating his Spirit Rice, Zhou Xun began cultivating by circulating the Essence Cultivation Art.

Although his cultivation hadn't increased, he suspected that this type of practice was gradually wearing down the bottleneck.

He could clearly feel a slight loosening at the bottleneck this time.

"At the fastest, it will take a month; at the slowest, a year, and I will break through!"

Upon reaching the middle stage of Qi Condensation after breaking through, both Zhou Xun's Divine Sense and magical power would significantly increase.

Only then would he be able to freely control that flying Mystic Tool.

His magical power at Qi Condensation Layer Three was too thin; even with a flying Mystic Tool, he couldn't fly very far.

After finishing his cultivation, Zhou Xun began practicing his body-refining technique.

He took out several Spirit Herbs from his Storage Pouch and refined them into a medicinal liquid according to the formula in the Hundred Meridian Body Refining Art.

He then mixed it with Spirit Water and poured it into a wooden tub.

Zhou Xun removed his clothes, sat inside, and began circulating the methods of the Hundred Meridian Body Refining Art.

Steam rose, and his skin began to glow with a faint red aura as the medicinal liquid in the tub gradually faded in color.

"Using this medicinal liquid for cultivation, the progress of the Body Refining Art is very smooth. I believe I will be able to achieve initial mastery soon!"

He had already used this medicinal liquid to assist his cultivation nearly ten times, and finally, he was seeing some results.

According to the records in the technique, after achieving initial mastery, his physique would be comparable to a first-order early-stage demonic beast.

More importantly, Zhou Xun's meridians would also be strengthened.

At that point, Zhou Xun's daily cultivation time would increase, and simultaneously, the amount of magical power his Dantian could hold would also greatly expand.

And so, another month passed.

Zhou Xun and Lin Xueying's coordination grew increasingly tacit.

Without any explicit instructions, Zhou Xun could perfectly follow Lin Xueying's rhythm in refining the Spirit Herbs.

For Lin Xueying, each time she refined a Fire Barrier Pill felt like an enjoyable experience.

One day, after Zhou Xun had finished cooperating with the young miss of the Lin family to refine a batch of Fire Barrier Pills, he was called back by Lin Xueying as he was tidying up the Alchemy Room to leave.

"What can I do for you, Miss?" Zhou Xun looked up, his dark eyes as still as an ancient well.

"If I recall correctly, Alchemist Zhou is only twenty this year!" Lin Xueying asked with a smile.

"That's right!" Zhou Xun nodded. When he first joined the Danbao Pavilion, he was only seventeen. Nearly three years had passed since then.

"A first-grade low-tier alchemist at twenty, with practical skills nearing mid-grade, can be called a genius in alchemy!" the young woman praised, her tone full of admiration.

Then, her tone shifted.

"My Lin Family greatly admires Alchemist Zhou's demeanor. I have a cousin, naturally beautiful and utterly captivating, someone who evokes pity even in me."

"What's more, my cousin's talent is not bad. Her water spiritual root sensitivity is nineteen, almost comparable to a medium spiritual root."

"If Alchemist Zhou were to marry into our family, in addition to the previously offered terms, we promise that all other benefits will be provided exactly as they are for direct descendants!"

"Are you interested, Alchemist Zhou?"

After speaking, the young woman stared intently at Zhou Xun, a flicker of imperceptible nervousness in her eyes.

The treatment of direct descendants was a very sincere offer; it essentially meant they were considering him one of the Lin Family.

Zhou Xun was naturally very tempted.

But he still had to refuse.

With the Ningshun Sutra hidden within him, it was impossible for him to find a cultivation partner to spend his days with.

His spiritual root would continuously improve in the future, and if that were discovered, the consequences would be beyond what he could bear at his current level.

"Since I was young, my heart has yearned for the Great Dao, and I have long vowed that my life's ambition is to reach Foundation Establishment. I can only appreciate the Lin Family's kind offer!"

The Lin Family, even if they wanted to, wouldn't be able to grant him a chance at Foundation Establishment.

Consider the Li Family, one of the Four Great Clans of Red Leaf Square, who desperately sought a chance at Foundation Establishment but couldn't find one.

Even Grandmaster Yun Ku obtained most of his Foundation Establishment Pills through his own connections.

"Alchemist Zhou, you don't need to refuse so quickly. Why not meet my cousin before making your decision?" the young woman's voice was cool, but a hint of eagerness showed in the depths of her eyes.

"There's no need!" Zhou Xun refused again.

"If that's the case, then I will convey your refusal." The young woman responded quickly, a slight smile still on her lips.

After finishing his work, Zhou Xun returned home.

As soon as he opened the door, he saw a communication talisman floating in the air.

Zhou Xun was slightly surprised. He couldn't think of anyone who would send him a message. After all, communication talismans were worth ten Spirit Essence, and most people wouldn't waste them without important news.

Without further thought, he reached out, and the communication talisman landed in his palm.

He infused it with his magic power to activate it, and immediately, Hong San's voice came through.

It turned out that after their collaboration ended that day, Hong San had gone to find the manager of the Danbao Pavilion.

At first, the manager supplied the pills at a low price as agreed.

However, not long after, the manager seemed to have discovered that Hong San's source of pills was limited, and thus used it as an excuse to raise the price.

Hong San, having no other choice, had to accept.

But the manager was a greedy person and raised the price again after a short while, forcing Hong San to increase his selling price to maintain his profit margin.

However, this greatly affected his sales.

So, he had no choice but to brace himself and send a message to Zhou Xun, inviting him to meet again at the Yuexiang Restaurant.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xun smiled faintly.

He picked up the communication talisman and whispered softly.

He used the excuse that he had offended his colleagues with the previous matter and would find it difficult to purchase a sufficient quantity of pills again, regretting that he probably couldn't help Hong San.

He rejected the request in this way.