Chapter 30: Qi Refining Fifth Layer

Lying on the bed in his room, Lin Zhangqing thought that by the end of this year, Jinzhou Prefecture would hold a large auction.

By then, Grandfather and Aunt would go there to bid for a Foundation Establishment Pill, consume it there to attempt Foundation Establishment, and only return after succeeding; in any case, they must try their best not to travel outside carrying a Foundation Establishment Pill.

All Lin Zhangqing could do was to hasten the ripening of the Earth Soul Fruit for Aunt to consume, thereby enhancing her soul power, strengthening her Divine Sense, and increasing her chances of success somewhat.

He wished to contribute his small share of strength toward helping his family achieve Foundation Establishment.

Lin Zhangqing hurriedly entered the Space and made a round of inspection; all kinds of Spirit Plants were growing very well, and fortunately, no insects or the like had been discovered in the Space yet, otherwise Lin Zhangqing would have had a headache.

After completing today's work tasks—combining the Spirit Rain Technique with the Growth Technique—he observed the Earth Soul Fruit Tree again and estimated it should ripen by year's end, but he feared the timing might be too tight to make it, since the journey was so long that Grandfather and Aunt would definitely need to depart some time in advance.

For now, the only option was to consume a Hundred-Year Vermilion Fruit to raise his cultivation base, then diligently practice the Nourishing Origin Catalysis Technique to slightly shorten the catalysis cycle.

Having made up his mind, he returned to his room, sat cross-legged, and began circulating the Heavenly Circuit; once the circulation reached its peak, he took out a Hundred-Year Vermilion Fruit, swallowed it in two or three bites, and set aside the seed core to plant in the Space later.

The fruit flesh transformed into vast Spiritual Energy that surged straight into his dantian; Lin Zhangqing quickly guided it to assault the fifth meridian, where acupoints along the meridian were blasted open one by one with unstoppable force until the very last acupoint, where it paused only briefly.

Nevertheless, that final acupoint was soon breached as well, and the rush continued until it halted halfway through more than half the acupoints of the sixth meridian, while a layer of gray filth exuded from the surface of his entire body.

At this moment, however, Lin Zhangqing could not bother with such things; he immediately focused his attention on guiding the circulation of the Heavenly Circuit and began consolidating his cultivation base with all his might.

Because this Spiritual Energy had not been cultivated by himself, it took much longer to consolidate, but fortunately, by dawn he had preliminarily completed the process; the remainder could be slowly consolidated over the next two or three months.

He went out to clean the filth from his body and announced to everyone the news that he had broken through to Qi Refining Fifth Layer.

The whole family was overjoyed, especially his mother, who was ecstatic; after all, among Lin Zhangqing's generation, the highest cultivation base currently belonged to Eldest Uncle's son, Lin Changyuan.

At sixteen years old, Lin Changyuan had only reached Qi Refining Sixth Layer, while others were at Fifth Layer or still stuck at Third or Fourth Layer; at thirteen years old with Qi Refining Fifth Layer, Lin Zhangqing was, overall, already quite outstanding.

No wonder his mother was so happy, even happier than if she herself had broken through; she declared that today she would brew Ba Bao Chicken Soup, Lin Zhangqing's favorite, as a reward for him.

Lin Zhangqing felt warmth in his heart; it felt wonderful to be cared for, and inwardly he resolved that, no matter what, he must ensure they would accompany him all the way forward.

The Spirit Fields on Aoyun Peak had been fallow for over a month and were now ready for replanting; taking advantage of everyone being present, they all went to Aoyun Peak to help.

The small group flew toward Aoyun Peak, and the first to spot them was Chuyi; ever since the Spirit Fields had been harvested, Chuyi had been much freer, often soaring and foraging within the range of the Ancestral Mountain, and now all clan members recognized Chuyi and would not harm it.

After foraging, Chuyi would return on its own to rest on Aoyun Peak, since Lin Zhangqing had moved its nest into the Cultivation Room on Aoyun Peak, hoping this would help it advance faster.

Lin Zhangqing smoothed Chuyi's feathers, then unexpectedly tossed out a Spirit Nurturing Pill; Chuyi immediately darted out, caught the pill the next instant as if to show it understood this was a reward, and swallowed it in one gulp.

After playing for a while, he let Chuyi roam freely; the group then discussed and decided that this year they would plant only eight mu of Spirit Rice, while the other ten mu would be used for Spirit Medicines needed to refine Qi Gathering Pills, meaning they were planting two more mu of Spirit Medicines than last year, totaling six hundred plants.

Once the plan was settled, everyone divided the labor and, within a single day, turned over the soil and arranged the Spirit Medicine fields into neat rows.

Only sowing remained; fortunately, Grandfather and Aunt had already completed the seedling raising for the Spirit Rice, while the Spirit Seeds for the Spirit Medicines had been exchanged at the Affairs Hall; with so many hands at home, all the sowing was finished by the next day.

The rest was simply care as before, something Lin Zhangqing had already done for a year, so there would surely be no problems.

Thus, Lin Zhangqing returned to a regular routine of cultivation and daily life: every morning, he steadfastly persisted in cultivation without fail; in the forenoon, he mainly tended to the Sun Purple Crystal Scorpions, feeding them, interacting with them, and training them to understand and follow his commands, and once they grew a bit larger, he planned to divide them into groups to learn cooperative hunting.

At noon, he would visit Baicao Garden or the Spirit Medicine Garden to see if any help was needed, and if time permitted, he would also go to the Scripture Pavilion to read various books.

In the afternoon, he would go to the Spirit Fields on Aoyun Peak to tend to the Spirit Medicines and Spirit Rice, completing his daily catalysis tasks to ensure the Spirit Medicines' growth progress, while also playing and training with Chuyi.

In the evening, he practiced spells and cared for the Spirit Medicines and Spirit Plants inside the Space; most importantly, through Lin Zhangqing's dedicated and arduous practice, the Nourishing Origin Catalysis Technique now yielded about two months and ten days of growth progress with each casting, which basically guaranteed that the Earth Soul Fruit would ripen before Aunt's departure.

This filled Lin Zhangqing with deep relief; the days passed one by one, and fortunately, each day felt very fulfilling.

Two months later, while Lin Zhangqing was sitting in meditation on the Spirit Fields of Aoyun Peak to recover Spiritual Energy, he suddenly felt the Spiritual Energy in the air converging toward the Main Peak.

Could it be that the Clan Leader had broken through? Or had Fourteenth Uncle Lin Maoxiang successfully advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage?

Ever since acquiring that Foundation Establishment Pill, Fourteenth Uncle had been in closed-door cultivation at the summit of the Main Peak, presumably preparing for Foundation Establishment; with such a massive disturbance, it was hard to tell which one it was, but he fervently hoped for success, as either the Clan Leader's advancement or gaining another Foundation Establishment Cultivator was equally important to the Lin family, both enhancing the family's high-end combat strength and external influence.

The convergence of Spiritual Energy lasted for one double-hour before returning to normal, which likely meant success; because that one double-hour had caused a delay, today's Spirit Field tasks were completed a bit late, and only after returning home did he learn that Fourteenth Uncle had successfully achieved Foundation Establishment.

The Lin family had gained another Foundation Establishment Cultivator, and everyone rejoiced for Fifth Grandfather and Fourteenth Uncle.

Fourteenth Uncle was also the first Foundation Establishment Cultivator of the Mao Generation; the efforts of Fifth Grandfather's branch across two generations and over forty years had finally borne fruit today—it had truly been no easy feat!

Seeing Fourteenth Uncle successfully achieve Foundation Establishment, Aunt felt especially envious, a feeling Lin Zhangqing well understood; he could only comfort her by saying her turn would come soon, estimating that by next year she too would be a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Since the Lin family had newly gained a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, a celebration was certainly in order; according to the custom of Pingyang Prefecture, any family that successfully achieved Foundation Establishment would widely issue invitations to sworn friends and allied families, just as the other twelve Foundation Establishment Families in Pingyang Prefecture would also send invitations.

Basically, each would send one or two people to attend, mainly to become familiar faces so that future encounters would not involve strangers—that would be troublesome.

Hearing from Grandfather, Fourteenth Uncle and the clan had discussed and decided to hold the Foundation Establishment Ceremony either at year's end or next spring, which offered these advantages:

First, by that time, all members of the Demon Hunting Team would be within the family grounds, making defenses stronger; should any unexpected incident occur on the day of the ceremony, there would be sufficient manpower to handle it.

Second, having just achieved Foundation Establishment, several months were still needed to complete the transformation, learn Foundation Establishment-stage spells, and prepare Second-Rank Spirit Weapons, among other things.

Achieving Foundation Establishment did not mean one became a Foundation Establishment Cultivator merely by converting Spiritual Energy into Magical Power; one also had to drive the newly born Magical Power to continuously temper the tendons and meridians, making the meridians stronger, while simultaneously using Magical Power to nourish the physical body.

This process had to continue for about three months before one completed the transformation of life level, only then becoming a genuine Foundation Establishment Cultivator, what everyone knew as the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment.

For those with profound foundations, this process would take even longer, though their foundations would thereafter be more stable.

From then on, one's life level would be utterly different from before: an additional two sexagenary cycles of lifespan were gained, and with Magical Power constantly nourishing the physical body, as long as one did not suffer incurable injuries, living to two hundred and forty years would generally be no problem.

Typically, a Qi Refining cultivator had a lifespan of about 120 years, a Foundation Establishment cultivator about 240 years, a Purple Mansion Stage cultivator about 480 years, a Golden Core Stage cultivator about 1,000 years, a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator about 2,500 years, and a Deity Transformation cultivator over 5,000 years.

If one could achieve Ascension to the Upper Realm, a lifespan exceeding ten thousand years would not be surprising; just thinking about it made one's heart soar with longing!

(End of Chapter)