Chapter 192: Six Months Later

192. Chapter 190: Six Months Later

Li Xuan quickly arrived inside Ladi Canyon.

After half a month of construction, the foundation beneath Ladi Canyon has been excavated into a basic shape, but some tunnels and secret rooms' foundations are still unexcavated; these tasks must be done personally by Yellow Turban Warrior, and the slaves must not know.

And these slaves have already been assigned to the outskirts to build a wall; after all, Li Xuan's territory borders the Soul Beast Forest, and without a high wall, Li Xuan worries that soul beasts might break into his domain.

The slaves building the wall have no idea what is happening here.

Li Xuan sits in the carriage idly, since there is nothing urgent, he treats it as a way to relax.

Today's visit is just a stroll; Li Xuan will not interfere with the construction inside Ladi Canyon, so after making a round of inspection, he turns and returns to the temporary camp outside Ladi Canyon.

"Finally I have a place to settle down, and there's nothing pressing, so I can truly relax." Li Xuan says, lying on his own bed, very relaxed.

But after lying on the bed for a while, Li Xuan suddenly gets up.

"I'm still far from Level 40, I must quickly improve my cultivation, and also advance my Alchemy, sigh, I can't find any idle time." Li Xuan's head aches as soon as he thinks about his own matters.

The soul power rank must be broken through, Alchemy cannot stop, the career is not yet formed, comrades still have to work hard.

"Seclusion! There's nothing anyway, seclusion!" Li Xuan slaps his thigh and decides on it.

After making up his mind, Li Xuan locks the door, then enters the space of the Sky‑Holding Bottle, using Green Spirit Liquid to cultivate some ingredients for refining Second-grade Pill.

Li Xuan is now Level 34, and the Second-Rank Xuanling Pill can nicely aid his cultivation.

Therefore, before cultivating, Li Xuan prepares to refine some Second-grade Pill to assist his cultivation.

The refining methods for Second-grade Pill and First-grade Pill are not much different; the only distinction is the amount of ingredients needed. There is some requirement for flame control, but no fundamental change, and no special technique is needed to refine the pills.

Li Xuan's control over flame is meticulous; although the ingredient count has increased, Li Xuan can still keep it under control.

Thus Li Xuan is very confident in refining Second-grade Pill.

Li Xuan's Kongming Eye requires Kongming Crystal and Void Pearl to improve quality, but the Second-grade Pill is more important now, so he pauses the cultivation of Kongming Grass and devotes all effort to cultivating ingredients for Second-grade Pill.

After cultivating enough ingredients, Li Xuan returns to Xiao Mu Wu.

With a thought, the Heart-Burning Bright Spirit Fire Lotus reappears.

Since this is Li Xuan's first time refining Second-grade Pill, he uses his first flame, the one he knows best; after all, for a first refinement, stability is preferable.

After consolidating the fire lotus, Li Xuan begins preparing the ingredients, placing each according to his habit beside himself.

However, refining Second-grade Pill requires at least thirty to forty kinds of ingredients; once spread out, there is no space left in the room.

Moreover, some ingredients are not close enough for Li Xuan to grasp, which is troublesome.

Looking at the scattered ingredients, Li Xuan envisions future refinements of Third, Fourth, even Fifth-grade Pills; with hundreds or thousands of ingredients before him, searching would take half a day, so Li Xuan decides this cannot continue.

Li Xuan thinks, then with a thought, about eighty percent of the ingredients are stored in the Small Cave Heaven space.

When refining pills later, the needed ingredients will be taken directly from Small Cave Heaven, which requires multitasking to control the Kongming Eye to retrieve them.

After settling the ingredients, the preparation is complete, so Li Xuan begins refining the pills.

As each ingredient is tossed into the Fire Lotus cauldron, Li Xuan's spirit becomes highly focused, carefully tempering each ingredient.

Refining Second-grade Pill differs from First-grade Pill; the larger quantity of ingredients involves simultaneously controlling two temperatures to temper different ingredients.

Li Xuan's foundation was honed when he was a First-grade Alchemist, and he is also familiar with the Burning Heart Divine Flame.

Several times the ingredients almost turned to black ash due to temperature, but finally three pale yellow pills were condensed.

Normally, Li Xuan needs half an hour to refine a batch of First-grade Pill; now a batch of Second-grade Pill has taken him two hours.

When Li Xuan makes a swift grasp of the void, the fire lotus instantly dissipates, turning into soul power that returns to his body; the three pills, losing the furnace's support, fall from the air, and Li Xuan quickly catches them all.

The Second-Rank Xuanling Pill is entirely pale yellow, emitting a faint fragrance; because this is Li Xuan's first time refining Second-grade Pill, his technique is slightly lacking, yielding only three pills, all of middle-grade quality, which is probably the lower end among middle-grade pills.

Although the quality is poorer, Li Xuan can feel the massive spiritual energy within the pills, more grand and pure than Yunling Pill, truly worthy of a Second-grade Pill.

"Refining Second-grade Pill is indeed harder than First-grade Pill; flame control must be finer, and it requires multitasking. If I can master Second-grade Pill, my fire‑control ability will further improve…" Li Xuan says, looking at the pills in his hand, a faint satisfied smile appearing.

Li Xuan now does not treat Alchemy merely as a means to obtain pills; besides gaining pills, it can improve his flame control, which also significantly boosts his combat power.

Li Xuan carefully examines the pills in his hand, then takes out a small notebook, reflects on the issues that arose during the recent refinement, summarizes them, and writes them down.

When he has time in the future, Li Xuan can write two legacy journals, which would be his legacy for posterity.

Li Xuan studies the Xuanling Pill for a while, then takes a bottle different from the Yunling Pill's and puts the Xuanling Pill into it.

Li Xuan's dantian now holds enough soul power to refine Second-grade Pill twice; he thinks that after depleting his soul power he will cultivate, which would make cultivation a bit faster than normal.

Thus he prepares another batch of ingredients, ready to refine a second furnace of pills.

Compared with the first refinement, Li Xuan's technique is much more proficient in the second.

Two hours later, a batch of five middle-grade pills lands on the ground; the soul power in Li Xuan's body is completely exhausted, causing him to collapse, his fingers too lazy to move.

"As expected, I still can't drain all the soul power from my body." Li Xuan says, panting, a bit helpless.

He lies on the ground for a while, regains some strength, then climbs up and picks up the few pills.

These five pills, though also middle-grade like the previous three, have a notable quality improvement, belonging to the upper middle tier.

"Not bad, not bad, gradually getting more proficient." Li Xuan nods satisfactorily. Then he brings the pills back to the Sky‑Holding Bottle space, sits beside the Hot Spring, swallows a pill and begins cultivating.

The pill melts upon entry, turning into a pure energy that pours into Li Xuan's meridians.

The previously dried meridians are instantly nourished, and Li Xuan regains strength.

Li Xuan calms his mind and begins cultivating according to Douluo Number One's method, converting the pill's power into his own soul power.

The soul power within the pill continuously flows into Li Xuan's body, and he diligently circulates his technique to absorb it.

……

Two hours later, Li Xuan slowly opens his eyes.

"Two hours barely absorbed all the energy from one pill, boosting cultivation speed by about twenty percent, not bad." Li Xuan briefly analyzes the cultivation speed after using the pill, then compares it with the speed without the pill, confirming it is indeed a few points faster.

From now on, Li Xuan's days consist of cultivating ingredients, refining pills, and cultivating.

As for the construction of Ladi Canyon, Li Xuan has no intention of managing it at all.

……

Half a year had slipped by, and Li Xuan, who had not emerged from seclusion for six months, was now sitting cross‑legged beside the Hot Spring, absorbing the energy from the Alchemy Pill.

Two hours later, Li Xuan finally stopped cultivating and slowly exited the cultivation state.

"Alas, I was so close again; I've been stuck at Level 37 for over a month and still haven't broken through," Li Xuan said with some frustration. However, frustration aside, cultivation can't be rushed.

After six months of seclusion, Li Xuan, with the aid of the Xuanling Pill, broke his soul power level from Level 34 up to Level 37, and was now just one step away from Level 38.

However, for some unknown reason, after three days Li Xuan had tried more than a dozen times, and each attempt failed to break through.

Li Xuan hadn't expected there to be a bottleneck at Level 38.

The failed breakthroughs left Li Xuan a bit dejected, but his cultivation for the day was over, so he emerged from the space of the Sky‑Holding Bottle.

Just as he stepped out of the space, Li Xuan heard a knock at the door from outside.

"Brother, are you inside the house?" Bang Chui's voice came in from outside.

"Why is Bang Chui here? Could something have happened inside Ladi Canyon?" Li Xuan was startled. Bang Chui had been staying with the Yellow Turban Warrior and those slaves lately, precisely to interact more with humans, which would boost Bang Chui's cultivation speed. His sudden appearance suggested something was amiss in Ladi Canyon.

"I'm here, what's up?" Li Xuan stood up and said to Bang Chui.

Then Li Xuan pushed the door open, stepped out, and looked at Bang Chui with a puzzled expression.

"Brother, the Yellow Turban Uncle sent me to check whether you've emerged from seclusion; he has something to discuss with you," Bang Chui blinked, scratched his head, and said to Li Xuan.

"The Yellow Turban Warrior has business with me? What is it?" Li Xuan asked Bang Chui.

"I'm not sure either; it seems to involve building materials. I heard them say recently that the materials might be running low," Bang Chui said after a moment.

"I bought so many things and they've already been used up?" Li Xuan widened his eyes and said in disbelief.

"That seems to be the case, but I'm not clear on the specifics," Bang Chui replied, also uncertain.

"Bang Chui, make a run later and tell the Yellow Turban Warrior that I've emerged from seclusion; if he has business, he can come straight to me," Li Xuan patted Bang Chui's shoulder and said with a smile.

"Alright, brother, I'm off right now!" Bang Chui said, then dove straight into the earth and sprinted toward Ladi Canyon.

It's Bang Chui's innate skill, Earth Escape; although it manifests as a human shape, as long as his soul power is sufficient, Bang Chui can employ Earth Escape.

Half a year ago, Bang Chui's soul power level had already broken through to Level 20, and the Yunling Pill no longer affected him, so Li Xuan gave the Xuanling Pill to Bang Chui. Although Li Xuan's production is modest, it is still enough to supply both of them.

With Douluo Number One and the Xuanling Pill's aid, in just six months Bang Chui's soul power level broke through to Level 23, so the soul power within his body is sufficient to use Earth Escape for a few minutes.

Even though it's only for a few minutes, a single use of Earth Escape lets Bang Chui charge a thousand meters outward.

Since there is no combat now, this skill is perfect for sending messages.

Li Xuan watched the departing Bang Chui, smiled and shook his head—"this little fellow"—then looked up at the time; it was still only morning, not yet noon.

This time, Li Xuan sealed himself for a full six months, raising his soul power level from Level 34 to Level 37, and was now just a hair away from Level 38. As his soul power level rises, the time needed for breakthroughs becomes longer.

"I should go out and move around; staying sealed hinders breaking through the bottleneck," Li Xuan muttered to himself as he sat in the tent beside the wooden hut.

At this moment, construction inside Ladi Canyon was in full swing; all the Yellow Turban Warriors had gone to build tunnels and secret rooms, so around Li Xuan there wasn't a single Yellow Turban Warrior, leaving only an empty camp with some tables and chairs.

After stepping out of his own room, Li Xuan sat here waiting for the Yellow Turban Warrior's arrival.

After a dozen minutes, a Yellow Turban Warrior returned to the temporary camp with Bang Chui and found Li Xuan.

"I've seen the Immortal Master; your six‑month seclusion has brought great improvement," the Yellow Turban Warrior bowed to Li Xuan, then gave him a once‑over and smiled, for the Warrior, being an embodiment of the higher‑ups' will, still had a lofty perspective.

"Warrior, you're too kind. You all have worked hard these six months; I must thank each of you," Li Xuan nodded toward the Yellow Turban Warrior and said.

"Immortal Master, I came to you mainly about building materials. The materials you brought back last time are already eighty percent used, so we hope you can procure another batch," the Yellow Turban Warrior said bluntly, getting straight to the point and telling Li Xuan what he needed.

"Warrior, you've also worked hard these past days; give me the list and I'll go out to purchase as soon as possible," Li Xuan replied without hesitation, nodding at the Yellow Turban Warrior.

(End of Chapter)