Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: Second Level of Qi Refining
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The next day.
Chen Jianghe walked off his fishing boat and onto the docks, where he saw Wang Kui, all smiles, talking to a simple-looking young man.
The young man's gaze was shifty, his expression hesitant and clearly uncomfortable.
Just then, Wang Kui spotted Chen Jianghe. But instead of his usual cold stare, he shot him a friendly look, gesturing with his eyes for him to keep quiet.
It was obvious Wang Kui was trying to borrow spirit sand again and was afraid Chen Jianghe would ruin it for him.
But Wang Kui was worrying for nothing. Chen Jianghe had no connection to the young man, so why would he spoil Wang Kui's plans?
Chen Jianghe understood Wang Kui's character perfectly.
If you firmly refused him the very first time he asked to borrow spirit sand, not only would you not make a mortal enemy of him, but he would also stop trying to get anything from you in the future.
Chen Jianghe gave a faint smile and walked toward the market from another direction. His purpose for coming to the port this time, aside from the year-end gathering and the Fishery Farmer assembly, was to buy a Spirit Nourishing Pill.
“Old Gao, Peiyao.”
As he reached the market's archway, he ran into Old Gao and Gao Peiyao, who were walking toward him.
“Jianghe.”
“Brother Jianghe.”
Seeing Chen Jianghe, Old Gao smiled and walked over to greet him, holding Gao Peiyao's hand. Gao Peiyao called out timidly before hiding behind Old Gao again.
After a brief exchange, Old Gao led Gao Peiyao away from the cultivators' market and into the adjacent common market.
Chen Jianghe then stepped into the cultivators' market.
It wasn't wise to talk for too long in public. If they had business to discuss, they would go to a tavern or back to their boats.
Running into Old Gao at the market, Chen Jianghe could guess a few things.
First, he was probably showing Gao Peiyao around, familiarizing her with the port's environment. That way, if he were gone one day, she wouldn't be completely lost.
Second, he was likely buying a Spirit Awakening Pill for Gao Peiyao.
Gao Peiyao wasn't one of the immortal seedlings brought back by the Yun Clan. Even if she had spiritual roots, the clan wouldn't bestow a Spirit Awakening Pill upon her.
Since Old Gao wanted Gao Peiyao to inherit his legacy, he naturally had to guide her onto the path of cultivation and help her become a Qi Refining cultivator.
A Spirit Awakening Pill, which could quickly guide spiritual energy into the body, was essential.
Chen Jianghe strolled through the market. It was the same old stalls, most of them selling materials.
“You don't often see guest Talisman Masters or Alchemists at the market. Who are they selling all these materials to?”
“Could they be selling to the Fishery Farmers?”
He'd had the same question the last time he came to the market.
Junior Fishery Farmers didn't earn much. At most, they might make one hundred and thirty grains of spirit sand a year, which was nowhere near enough to cover the costs of learning to draw talismans, let alone practice alchemy.
But since there were no guest masters around, the only customers for these material stalls could be the senior Fishery Farmers.
How much did a senior Fishery Farmer who raised young green fish earn in a year? Chen Jianghe had asked Old Gao, but he didn't know either.
If these materials were really being sold to senior Fishery Farmers, then the pay for raising young green fish must be at least five or even ten times that of raising large green fish.
Pushing the thought aside, he walked over to the pill stall.
The stall owner was the same woman. Three years had passed, and the wrinkles on her face were more numerous and deeper.
The last time he saw her, she had been wearing faint rouge. This time, there was no trace of its rosy scent.
Once a Qi Refining cultivator passed the age of sixty, if they hadn't taken a Youth-Retaining Pill, their appearance would age rapidly. They would go from looking like a young adult to middle-aged or older in just three to five years.
“One Spirit Nourishing Pill.”
Chen Jianghe took out a cloth pouch he had prepared, containing two hundred and ten grains of spirit sand.
Exchanging one hundred grains of spirit sand for one spirit stone required an extra five grains. So, for two spirit stones, an extra ten grains were needed.
The female stall owner took the pouch, swept it with her divine sense to confirm the amount of spirit sand, then took a jade vial of Spirit Nourishing Pills, poured one out into a wooden box, and handed it to Chen Jianghe.
“You must be about to break through the first level of Qi Refining. Taking a Spirit Nourishing Pill is a bit of a waste. I'd suggest you buy a Spirit Guiding Pill instead. It would be enough to get you to the second level,” the woman said suddenly.
“Thank you.”
Just like last time, Chen Jianghe thanked her and turned to leave.
The Spirit Guiding Pill was barely considered a graded product. It was also a pill used by early-stage Qi Refining cultivators to increase their cultivation, but it cost only half as much as a Spirit Nourishing Pill—one spirit stone.
However, cultivators rarely bought Spirit Guiding Pills. Even if they didn't have enough spirit stones for a Spirit Nourishing Pill, they would choose to wait.
This was because the Spirit Guiding Pill was essentially a defective version of the Spirit Nourishing Pill.
When Alchemists refined Spirit Nourishing Pills, they didn't make them one by one. A single furnace batch could produce seven or eight pills.
Naturally, the quality of these Spirit Nourishing Pills varied.
The extremely poor-quality, inferior Spirit Nourishing Pills were simply renamed and sold as Spirit Guiding Pills for one spirit stone.
While they could still raise a cultivator's cultivation level, they contained more than twice the amount of pill poison as a normal Spirit Nourishing Pill.
In truth, all pills contained some poison. Consuming them without restraint would damage a cultivator's foundation.
This was especially true for those with low spiritual root talent. If they took too many pills, causing an excess of pill poison to accumulate in their bodies, they would face a very high failure rate when trying to break through minor realms.
Of course, as long as one consumed pills in moderation, the pill poison could be expelled from the body over time.
The exception was overly inferior pills, like the Spirit Guiding Pill, whose poison was so potent that even if expelled over time, it would still cause some damage to one's foundation.
The poison from a Spirit Nourishing Pill was mild and could be completely expelled from the body within a year without harming one's foundation.
This was acceptable to Chen Jianghe.
He returned to his fishing boat docked at the port.
Chen Jianghe sat down cross-legged, circulated the Guiyuan True Water Art, and absorbed the thin spiritual energy from the air to cultivate and adjust his state.
When his essence, qi, and spirit were all restored to their peak, he took out the wooden box, removed the Spirit Nourishing Pill, and swallowed it.
A vast and pure stream of spiritual energy instantly spread throughout his body.
Chen Jianghe circulated his cultivation art, guiding the spiritual energy through his meridians in a full cycle, where it was converted by his spiritual roots into magical power and gathered in his dantian.
Two hours later—
“Second level of Qi Refining.”
The magical power fluctuations around Chen Jianghe rose by a level. His dantian's sea of qi expanded again, now the size of a quail's egg.
“Two spirit stones is a bit expensive, but two hours of this is worth a year of hard cultivation. The Dao of Alchemy truly is the best supporting art on the path of cultivation.”
Chen Jianghe felt the two hundred and ten grains of spirit sand were well spent.
Calculating the time he had been cultivating, it had been six years since he took the Spirit Awakening Pill given by the Yun Clan and embarked on the path of immortality.
Without the Spirit Nourishing Pill, it would have taken him another year to reach the second level of Qi Refining.
In other words, for someone with five-element miscellaneous spiritual roots cultivating step-by-step, it would take a full seven years to go from the first to the second level of Qi Refining.
No wonder so many of the old Fishery Farmers in the outer waters remained in the mid-Qi Refining stage their entire lives. Old Gao had been with the Yun Clan for seventy or eighty years and was still only at the fourth level of Qi Refining.
There was a widely circulated saying in the cultivation world.
“Those with five-element miscellaneous spiritual roots will struggle their whole lives and never ascend to immortality.”
The meaning was that it was impossible for someone with five-element miscellaneous spiritual roots to reach the Foundation Establishment stage. Without vast resources, they would struggle their entire lives just to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining.
Chen Jianghe wasn't discouraged. He had twice the lifespan of a normal Qi Refining cultivator.
Moreover, Xiao Hei was about to advance and become a spirit beast. When that happened, his lifespan would increase again.
At this thought, he was filled with hope for the future.
Then, Chen Jianghe cleared his mind of distracting thoughts and continued to refine the remaining half of the Spirit Nourishing Pill's medicinal power.