Chapter 31 Breakthrough, Mid-stage Qi Refining

After parting ways with Liu Yu, Ji An returned to the bamboo house.

He picked up the wood carving, pondering when he could go to Liangqiu to find some fish glue, as it was incredibly effective at bonding wood.

The wood carving is made of silver leaf pine and is made by gluing two pieces of wood together with ordinary tree sap.

Silver pine is a relatively common type of wood; Ji An had seen several trees when he was refining wood beads.

He subconsciously brought the wood carving to his eyes, paused slightly, and then walked out of the bamboo house to put the wood carving in the sunlight.

As light pierced through the hole, Ji An noticed that the color of the center of the wood carving was distinctly different from the rest, as if it were a layer filled with something.

Something is hidden inside!

Ji An was suddenly overjoyed. Could it be a treasure map or something?! That would be great!

The wood carving was done by my father himself, and any items inside were also put in by him.

The moment this thought arose in his mind, Ji An immediately cast a spell, releasing the Flame Spell.

This spell generates a certain amount of heat, just right for softening the resin used to bond wood carvings.

Because the temperature is not high enough, the paper cannot be ignited, so it will not burn the wood or the contents inside.

After casting the spell twice in succession, Ji An gripped the wooden carving tightly and snapped it in two:

"open!"

With a "crack," the wood carving split in two, revealing a neatly folded animal hide with a hole in the center.

Oh no! Please don't let this critical information get damaged.

Ji An prayed, exhaled, and slowly opened the animal hide.

He understood why his father didn't use jade slips to record information; jade slips had a faint spiritual energy fluctuation.

A cultivator in the Qi Refining stage might not be able to detect it, but a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment stage might.

After a long while, when Ji An had repeatedly confirmed that he had memorized all the contents of the animal hide, he went to the kitchen and burned the animal hide.

The animal hide contains the secret method for cultivating treasure-hunting rats. There are two types of treasure-hunting rats: the first type is called the spirit-hunting rat, which is used to search for spiritual herbs, and the second type is called the ore-hunting rat, which is used to search for mineral veins.

Back then, his father bred spirit-seeking rats; it was pointless for a rogue cultivator to breed mineral-seeking rats.

Although some writing was erased by magic, the key information was not lost, and Ji An was able to follow the secret method.

The secret technique is incomplete, and at most it can nurture the treasure-hunting rat to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. However, such a secret technique is like a treasure to rogue cultivators.

Perhaps the father had the intention of establishing a family. If these things were used well, they would be enough to cultivate a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and the secret techniques could be passed down as a family heirloom.

If Ji An had obtained the secret technique when he first entered the sect, he would likely have sold it to Zhang Yuanshan and the others. But now, he would not be so hasty.

Firstly, the value of this secret technique is uncertain, making it difficult to sell for a good price. Secondly, he has now passed through the most difficult period and can use the secret technique to make a long-term business.

After the secret method was destroyed, Ji An went out and cut a silver pine branch as thick as an arm, then threw it outside the fence to dry. The wood carving still needed to be repaired.

The spirit grains were harvested one crop after another, and half a year passed in a flash.

The cold moon is silent, its slanting light shining on the bamboo building.

Ji An sat cross-legged on the futon, guiding his magical power to break through the bottleneck time and time again, following the methods in the cultivation technique.

He felt he had hit a bottleneck after using only two bottles of the pills he received from Wei Songnian.

Although his aptitude was average, he was fed pills and spirit rice regardless of cost, so he faced the problem of breakthroughs much faster than most ordinary disciples of the same period.

Because of Liu Yu's guidance, he did not rush to break through, but instead persisted in using his own magic power to repeatedly challenge the bottleneck.

After four months of gradual wear and tear, this bottleneck has loosened.

Not only that, two more branch meridians, each about an inch long, have appeared in the immortal meridians of his body, and his aptitude has also improved slightly, which is an unexpected surprise.

His magical power was slowly depleted, and he could no longer accumulate enough to break through the bottleneck.

Ji An finished his cultivation, but his eyes were filled with excitement. He had a feeling that the time to break through was tonight!

Take a short rest and calm your mind.

He took out a jade bottle and poured out a sky-blue pill.

This is the Jade Pill given to him by Wei Songnian; it's a pill used by mid-stage Qi Refining disciples to increase their magical power.

Using the Qi Refining Stage 3 would be too wasteful of medicinal power, but it would be perfect for refining mana to break through the bottleneck of the mid-stage Qi Refining stage.

Sitting cross-legged on the futon again, Ji An tilted his head back and swallowed the pill, beginning to cultivate the Qingyuan Scripture.

The Jade Pill is much more potent than the Yellow Sprout Pill. As the cultivation technique is activated, the spiritual energy contained within the pill is rapidly refined.

Due to the limited capacity of the body, a large amount of spiritual energy was dissipated through the pores of the body, which is truly a pity.

The magical power gathered into waves, one wave after another attacking before the other had subsided. How could the loosened bottleneck withstand it!

Before long, with another wave of magical power surging in, the Qihai acupoint was suddenly expanded several sizes.

All his magical power surged into his dantian, and then a magical power with a different texture than that of the early stage of Qi Refining emerged and flowed into his immortal meridians.

Ji An immediately noticed that with the influx of new magical power, his immortal veins had become several degrees thicker.

At the same time, three branch veins, each about an inch long, were opened up.

A feeling of lightness immediately arose in my body, as if I had taken off my winter coat after the arrival of spring.

It was as if I had taken some kind of miraculous elixir, and my internal organs felt warm and comfortable.

A slight creaking in the bones and muscles, and a surge of heat rose from the tailbone and rushed down to the waist.

After refining the remaining medicinal power in the pill, Ji An opened his eyes.

For a fleeting moment, the dimly lit room became crystal clear in his eyes.

Clenching his fists tighter, Ji An whispered:

"After a year, I have reached the fourth level of Qi Refining."

I'm nowhere near as good as those geniuses, but I have my own rhythm.

His mind sank into his dantian, connecting with the stone tortoise.

[Master: Ji An]

[Taoist Rhyme: 0]

[Spiritual Insight: Kan Spirit 0.3, Kun Spirit 0.2, Xun Spirit 0.1]

[Spell: Minor Cloud Rain Spell (Mastery 81%)]

Thick Earth Technique (Mastery 50%)

The Art of Withering and Flourishing (Mastery 15%)

Flame Spell (Mastery 38%)

[Sharp Metal Formula (Small Success 21%)]

After six months of intensive training, Ji An's Lesser Cloud Rain Technique is nearing perfection. He is confident that he can elevate the spell to perfection within three months, before the next harvest of spiritual grains.

It is said that the fastest record in the sect to master a planting technique was set by a spiritual farmer named Yang Decao several hundred years ago.

The other party had been in the sect for twenty-six years and had perfected the Thick Earth Technique at the age of forty-two.

This senior's experience is legendary. He advanced to the mid-stage of Qi Refining, the late-stage of Qi Refining, and the Foundation Establishment stage at the very last minute.

Finally, he lost the favor of the heavens and unfortunately died while trying to break through to the Chaoyuan stage, which is also the highest level that the sect's spiritual farmer can reach.

Ji An pushed open the window, looked up at the white jade plate in the sky, and slowly exhaled.

A year has passed since I came into this world. Those deep memories that I thought I would never forget have slowly faded away in the process of trying to remember them.

Now, he has truly integrated into this world, and this foreign land has become his hometown.

A cool breeze rustled the leaves outside the small building.

The bright moonlight shines on the vegetable garden in the courtyard, and several jade-like cucumbers peek out from under the green leaves.

(End of this chapter)