Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Gathering Qi Pill
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In the Herb Hall of Herb Prosperity Peak, Elder Bu was diligently refining pills today as well. The process of boiling, steaming, and simmering proceeded under his reverent hands, as if it were a sacred ritual.
Yuk-gyeong carefully entered the refining room and sat in a quiet corner.
Elder Bu, who hadn't even glanced to see Yuk-gyeong enter and was focused solely on the furnace, asked without taking his eyes off it.
"Didn't you go out? What was the urgent business that took you outside?"
"I had some pressing matter to handle, so I took care of it and came back."
He'd been raped and committed murder—it was no small affair.
There were just so many things he couldn't speak aloud.
Elder Bu shook his head as if uninterested and beckoned Yuk-gyeong over.
"Enough. Come help with the fire control."
Just as expected from that furnace-loving old man.
Yuk-gyeong approached the furnace at Elder Bu's words and took charge of the air vents.
If the fire seemed weak, he opened the vents to stoke it; if it burned too fiercely, he closed them to temper it.
At first, Elder Bu had been skeptical of Yuk-gyeong's skills, testing him several times. But once he realized the boy's talent was far from ordinary, he entrusted the fire control entirely to him.
'I should thank So Hyang for this. Who knew Fire Control could be put to such good use? Thanks to it, pill refining duties have become a breeze. Help a bit with the fire, and you're done for the day—no more work after that.'
Elder Bu, who had been diligently adding materials to the furnace and infusing it with spiritual energy, suddenly spoke up.
"There is a way in pill refining, called the Dao of the Furnace. This elder has devoted himself to it, seeking its pinnacle."
Elder Bu would occasionally spout such things while refining.
Looks like today was a day for lamenting his lot in life.
Yuk-gyeong let one ear in and one ear out while tending the fire, ignoring the ramblings of this furnace-obsessed man.
Best for his mental health to tune out stories from a Dao of the Furnace fanatic.
After poking at the fire and fiddling with the vents for a while, Yuk-gyeong perked up his ears when Elder Bu's voice grew louder.
"...The Dao of the Furnace is never a minor path. It is the great Dao. Pill refining is the true path to turning mortals into immortals—how dare anyone belittle it?"
Yes, yes. So you're saying you have an inferiority complex toward those who call the Dao of the Furnace a minor path.
Yuk-gyeong somewhat agreed that the Dao of the Furnace wasn't merely minor.
In cultivation traditions, pills greatly benefited tempering the body and invigorating the spirit, even encouraging their use to reach immortality.
But that's just theory—who actually walks the immortal path relying solely on pills?
Too strong a dose becomes poison to the body, and over time, tolerance builds. Climbing the immortal path on pills alone was like trying to walk on one leg.
Thus, pill refining was dismissed as mere auxiliary to cultivation, with pure cultivation hailed as the great Dao and refining derided as minor.
Elder Bu clearly harbored deep resentment over that.
"I see."
He had to respond around now. Otherwise, he'd get scolded for not listening.
"'I see'? What kind of 'I see' is that? You brat, ignoring my blood-and-bone advice again!"
Whoa, even responding gets me chewed out today.
What a capricious old geezer.
Yuk-gyeong quickly added,
"No, that's not it. This disciple has been listening intently to your advice, Elder. I apologize if my response was lacking while managing the fire and listening at the same time."
"You and your silver tongue. Fine, just watch the fire. Hmph, as if I'd share more of these gems. All advice that becomes your flesh and blood."
Thank you—we're good if you don't.
But even after saying that, he'd forget in moments and start prattling on again. Yuk-gyeong had known him long enough.
So stubbornly dishonest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Having reached Response Qi Great Completion, Yuk-gyeong pressed on with steady cultivation. He could now be said to have mastered the Supreme Primordial Yang Chant.
Practicing as described in the Supreme Primordial Yang Chant Scripture was second nature now—even with eyes closed. He'd memorized every word, down to the last jot and tittle.
Supreme Primordial Yang Chant Scripture—fully mastered!
And... Yuk-gyeong hit a bottleneck.
A bottleneck. In a bottle, the narrow neck prevents the contents from pouring out all at once. Like how traffic jams up when a road suddenly narrows.
Cultivation was the same.
Progress had been smooth until it abruptly stalled, refusing to budge.
Yuk-gyeong had never encountered a true bottleneck in Response Qi Realm.
Most hit them at 3rd, 5th, or 8th stage of Response Qi, but for him, it had all flowed easily without any snags.
Until it jammed up completely at Great Completion.
Of course, everyone struggled to advance from Response Qi Great Completion to Gathering Qi Realm. They described it not as a mere bottleneck, but a towering wall.
Yuk-gyeong, who had never felt a bottleneck before, grew anxious at this one in Response Qi 9th stage. Was it because it was his first real one?
It felt like rice was ready to steam but just wouldn't—it left him with this subtle frustration.
"There's this Gathering Qi Pill that helps break through to Gathering Qi Realm quickly, right?"
Only now, slamming into a bottleneck, did Yuk-gyeong turn to pills.
Remembering it, he rushed to Elder Bu in the herb garden and asked about the Gathering Qi Pill. Elder Bu was there.
"Gathering Qi Pills—any chance I could get one? Breaking from Response Qi 9th stage to Gathering Qi is no joke."
"Do you know how rare Gathering Qi Pills are? They require a precious spiritual herb from a specific eastern region, harvested in tiny quantities. Wars have broken out between sects over it."
Elder Bu caressed the herbs with a nonchalant expression, cherishing them tenderly.
Like a school principal polishing the leaves of a beloved potted plant every day.
Elder Bu was as sincere about herbs as he was about the Dao of the Furnace.
Of course he was. Yuk-gyeong probed further.
"That rare, huh?"
"Rare as they come. The refining method is finicky too—even massive sects like ours only produce a handful. Quit yapping and go cultivate. Gathering Qi Pill? Talk about it after Response Qi Great Completion."
Yuk-gyeong snorted inwardly at Elder Bu's words.
Come back after Response Qi Great Completion?
I'm here, Elder Bu.
"I've already reached Response Qi Great Completion."
"What? Response Qi Great Completion? How long since you hit 8th stage..."
Elder Bu grabbed Yuk-gyeong's wrist in shock, checking his meridians. He looked more stunned than when a furnace had exploded mid-refine.
"It's true! How? Weren't you definitely at Response Qi 8th stage? Even a single spiritual root holder should hit bottlenecks!"
"I'm hitting one right now."
"Is this something to brush off so lightly? Cultivating to Response Qi Great Completion without a single bottleneck... Is a single spiritual root really that exceptional?"
Yuk-gyeong scratched the back of his head sheepishly. Too much praise.
"How should I know? It's my first time too."
"Good grief. I reached this realm at forty-something, and here you are accomplishing it in just over a week—then spouting such carefree nonsense."
Elder Bu laughed helplessly and shook his head. Shocking as it was, seeing Yuk-gyeong's nonchalant attitude made him wonder if it was really that surprising. The boy had that peculiar charm.
Of course, the atmosphere was what it was.
The truly astonishing part was reaching Response Qi Great Completion so soon after 8th stage.
What kind of realm was Response Qi Great Completion?
To put it grandly, it was the stage where the body communed with heaven and earth. Spiritual energy intake became free-flowing; what once merely brushed past the body now lingered within bit by bit.
It marked the completion of Response Qi Realm, granting the upper lifespan limit of 150 years for Response Qi cultivators,
halfway into Gathering Qi Realm—not an exaggeration. For ordinary folk, it took decades of training.
How many ascetics in the world toiled in high mountains for Response Qi Great Completion?
One could easily pass as an immortal wandering the mundane world upon reaching it.
Thus, ascending to this true cultivator milestone required overcoming numerous cultivation bottlenecks.
Response Qi bottlenecks—from months for minor ones to years for major—were hurdles every cultivator faced before the true immortal path.
Even Elder Bu, a current Gathering Qi elder, hadn't reached it until his forties—a stark example of how absurd Yuk-gyeong's feat was.
There are many geniuses in the world.
But Yuk-gyeong was beyond that.
A week since entering the sect?
That was barely enough to lay foundations—or even just adapt.
"Elder, do you know how to make Gathering Qi Pills? I really need one."
"How do you think a Gathering Qi cultivator like me became an elder? With the materials ready, I could refine them no problem. I'd get a 50% success rate—half Gathering Qi Pills, half worthless dregs."
A 50% success rate on something as tricky as Gathering Qi Pills was impressive.
Most refiners hovered at 30-40%. Elder Bu clearly had genius-level talent in pill refining.
"Then could you make one for me?"
"Who's getting the materials? Go fetch them from the Contribution Hall, and I'll refine it."
"...So stingy..."
"What? Do you know how precious a Gathering Qi Pill is? Brat! The one I got for major contributions to the sect was a Gathering Qi Pill!"
Yuk-gyeong fled from Elder Bu's tirade.
You rotten old man!
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