Qi Refining, Second Layer

The next day.

Chen Jianghe stepped out of his fishing boat and onto the harbor, where he saw Wang Kui talking to an honest-looking young man with a broad smile on his face.

The young man's gaze shifted evasively, his expression wavering, as though he felt deeply embarrassed.

As it happened, Wang Kui also spotted Chen Jianghe. Rather than giving him a cold look, he regarded him amicably and signaled with his eyes, asking him not to say anything.

Clearly, Wang Kui was borrowing spirit sand again and feared Chen Jianghe would spoil things.

But Wang Kui was worrying unnecessarily. Chen Jianghe had no connection to that young man, so why would he ruin Wang Kui's good fortune?

Chen Jianghe understood the temperament of people like Wang Kui thoroughly.

Refusing firmly the first time he asked to borrow spirit sand would not make him a sworn enemy; instead, it would stop him from setting his sights on you again.

Chen Jianghe smiled calmly and approached the Cultivator Market from the other side. Besides the year-end gathering and the Fisher-Farmer Conference, his purpose in coming to the harbor this time was to buy a Qi-Nourishing Pill.

"Old Gao, Peiyao."

When he reached the Cultivator Market's ornamental gateway, he ran into Old Gao and Gao Peiyao coming toward him.

"Jianghe."

"Brother Jianghe."

Seeing Chen Jianghe, Old Gao walked over with a smile to greet him, holding Gao Peiyao's hand. Gao Peiyao called out timidly, then hid behind Old Gao again.

After exchanging a few words, Old Gao took Gao Peiyao out of the Cultivator Market and into the neighboring bazaar.

Chen Jianghe also stepped into the Cultivator Market.

It was not appropriate to talk too much in public. Even if there was something to discuss, they would go to a restaurant or a fishing boat.

Having encountered Old Gao at the Cultivator Market, Chen Jianghe could guess a few things.

First, he was bringing Gao Peiyao out to broaden her horizons and familiarize her with the harbor's various surroundings, so that even if he were gone someday, she would not be left groping blindly.

Second, he was probably buying Gao Peiyao a Spirit-Nurturing Pill.

Gao Peiyao was not a cultivation seedling brought back by the Yun Household. Even if she had a spiritual root, the Yun Household would not grant her a Spirit-Nurturing Pill.

Since Old Gao wanted Gao Peiyao to inherit his mantle, he naturally had to lead her onto the path of immortality and make her a Qi Refining cultivator.

A Spirit-Nurturing Pill, which could quickly draw spiritual energy into the body, was naturally indispensable.

Chen Jianghe made a circuit of the Cultivator Market. The stalls were still the same, and most sold materials.

"Guest talisman masters and guest alchemists don't often appear at the Cultivator Market either. Who are they selling these materials to?"

"Could they be selling them to fisher-farmers?"

He had wondered about this the last time he visited the Cultivator Market.

Junior fisher-farmers were not paid much. At most, they earned only a hundred and thirty grains of spirit sand over an entire year, nowhere near enough to cover the expense of teaching themselves to draw Spirit Talismans, let alone refine pills.

Yet with no guest retainers in sight, the only customers for these material stalls would be senior fisher-farmers.

How much could a senior fisher-farmer raising Small Blue Fish earn in a year? Chen Jianghe had asked Old Gao, but Old Gao knew nothing about it either.

If these materials really were being sold to senior fisher-farmers, then the pay for raising Small Blue Fish had to be at least five or even ten times that for raising Big Blue Fish.

Putting those thoughts aside, he approached the pill stall.

The stallholder was still the same woman. Three years had passed, and the wrinkles on her face had grown more numerous and deeper.

The last time he saw her, she had worn a light layer of rouge. This time, neither its rosy color nor its fragrance was present.

Once Qi Refining Stage cultivators passed sixty, their appearances aged very quickly unless they had taken a Youth-Preserving Pill. In just three to five years, they would generally go from looking like young adults in their prime to looking middle-aged or elderly.

"One Qi-Nourishing Pill."

Chen Jianghe took out a cloth pouch he had filled in advance, containing two hundred and ten grains of spirit sand.

Exchanging a hundred grains of spirit sand for one spirit stone required an additional five grains. Naturally, exchanging for two spirit stones required ten.

The woman took the pouch, swept it with her divine sense, and knew the quantity of spirit sand inside. She then picked up the jade bottle containing Qi-Nourishing Pills, tipped one into a wooden box, and handed it to Chen Jianghe.

"You should be about to break through the First Layer of Qi Refinement. Taking a Qi-Nourishing Pill would be a bit wasteful. I suggest buying a Qi-Guiding Pill. That will be enough for you to break through to Qi Refining, second layer," the woman suddenly said. "Thank you."

Just as before, Chen Jianghe thanked her, then turned and left.

Qi-Guiding Pills barely qualified as graded pills. They were also used by early Qi Refining cultivators to improve their cultivation, and cost only half as much as Qi-Nourishing Pills: one spirit stone.

However, cultivators generally did not buy Qi-Guiding Pills. Even if they lacked enough spirit stones for a Qi-Nourishing Pill, they would choose to wait.

That was because Qi-Guiding Pills were actually defective Qi-Nourishing Pills.

When alchemists refined Qi-Nourishing Pills, they did not make them one at a time. Rather, a single batch could produce seven or eight.

Naturally, the quality of these Qi-Nourishing Pills varied.

An inferior Qi-Nourishing Pill of extremely poor quality became a Qi-Guiding Pill worth one spirit stone simply by changing its name.

Although it could also improve a cultivator's cultivation, it contained more than twice the pill toxins of a normal Qi-Nourishing Pill.

In fact, all pills contained pill toxins. Taking pills without restraint would damage a cultivator's foundation.

For those with poor Spiritual Root aptitude in particular, excessive pill consumption would cause too many pill toxins to accumulate in the body, resulting in an extremely high failure rate even when breaking through minor stages.

Of course, provided pills were taken in moderation, their toxins could be expelled from the body over time.

The exception was pills of excessively poor quality, whose toxins were so fierce that even if they were expelled over time, they would still cause some damage to the foundation. Qi-Guiding Pills were one such example.

The toxins in Qi-Nourishing Pills were mild and could be completely expelled within a year, without damaging the foundation.

Chen Jianghe could accept that.

He returned to his fishing boat moored at the harbor.

Chen Jianghe sat cross-legged and circulated the Origin Returning True Water Art, drawing in the sparse spiritual energy in the air to cultivate and bring himself into the right condition.

Once his essence, energy, and spirit had all returned to their fullest, he took out the wooden box, removed the Qi-Nourishing Pill inside, and swallowed it.

An immense surge of pure spiritual energy instantly spread throughout his body.

Chen Jianghe circulated his cultivation art, guiding this spiritual energy through complete circuits within his body. His spiritual root converted it into magical power, which gathered in his dantian.

Four hours later-

"Qi Refining, second layer."

The fluctuations of magical power coming from Chen Jianghe rose a notch, and the Dantian Qi Sea expanded again, reaching the size of a quail's egg.

"Two spirit stones was a little expensive, but four hours equaled a year of bitter cultivation. The Dao of Alchemy truly deserves its place as the finest supporting craft on the path of immortal cultivation."

Chen Jianghe felt that the two hundred and ten grains of spirit sand had been well spent.

Counting the time he had spent cultivating, six years had passed since he took the Spirit-Nurturing Pill granted by the Yun Household and stepped onto the path of immortality.

Without taking the Qi-Nourishing Pill, he would have needed another year to reach Qi Refining, second layer.

In other words, someone with a five-element mixed spiritual root cultivating step by step would need seven years to advance from the First Layer of Qi Refinement to Qi Refining, Second Layer.

No wonder so many old fisher-farmers in the outer waters remained at the mid Qi Refining Stage all their lives. Old Gao had spent seventy or eighty years with the Yun Household and was still only at the fourth level of Qi Refining.

There was a saying widely circulated in the cultivation world.

With a five-element mixed spiritual root, even a lifetime of striving could scarcely carry one to immortality.

It meant that those with a five-element mixed spiritual root had no possibility of cultivating to the Foundation Establishment Realm. Without vast resources, even an entire lifetime of effort would scarcely let them break through to the late Qi Refining Stage.

Chen Jianghe was not discouraged. He had twice the lifespan of a Qi Refining cultivator.

Moreover, Xiao Hei would soon enter the ranks and become a spirit beast, at which point his lifespan limit would rise again.

At this thought, he was filled with anticipation for the future.

Then Chen Jianghe cast aside his distracting thoughts and continued refining the nearly half of the Qi-Nourishing Pill's medicinal power that remained.

(End of chapter)