Chapter 10: Qi Refinement Third Layer! (Please collect!)

Returned home again.

Yunhe carefully took out the spirit stones and spirit crystals and placed them together in the hidden compartment.

"3 low-grade spirit stones, 45 spirit crystals, 1 medium-grade 'Scarlet Flame Talisman', 5 low-grade 'Protection Talismans', 1 low-grade 'Evil Repelling Talisman'. Still so poor."

Yunhe, who was counting his possessions, smacked his lips.

Cultivating to be this poor, I'm probably the only one among all time travelers.

"I almost forgot there's still a jar of red-pattern spirit honey; it should be the most valuable thing in this pile."

Gazing at that jar of red-pattern spirit honey, Yunhe fell into contemplation.

After a moment's thought, he gritted his teeth.

"If left unsold, it's worthless!"

He then took a wooden spoon.

One spoonful taken out, the honey inside the jar decreased by one-tenth.

"Just treat it as a test of its effect."

Mutters to himself, he gulped down that spoonful of red-pattern spirit honey.

Instantly, a unique aroma filled his mouth, with no cloying sweetness.

"The taste is indeed good, more fragrant than ordinary spirit honey, and smooth on the palate."

Just as he was savoring the taste of the red-pattern spirit honey, a surge of rich spiritual qi welled up from within him; he immediately forgot about its cost or flavor, and hurriedly sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began circulating the "Gold Water Element Classic".

While cultivating, Yunhe could clearly feel that, as the Gold Water Element Classic circulated repeatedly, he had three sources of spiritual qi.

The thinnest of these naturally comes from the surrounding heaven-and-earth spiritual qi.

Given his aptitude and cultivation method, plus the fact that the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi where he is located is not particularly abundant, the amount of spiritual qi that manages to enter his dantian via the Gold Water Element Classic is pitifully small.

Stronger spiritual qi seems to appear out of thin air, coming from the unknown depths.

He knows this comes from the demon beast body far away, a backlash from the demon beast body's cultivation base, which is comparable to the peak of the third layer of qi refinement.

While the thickest strand of spiritual qi comes from his limbs, bones, meridians, and muscles, more precisely from his stomach.

This is the spiritual qi brought by the red-pattern spirit honey.

However, this spiritual qi is also fading at a visible-to-the-naked-eye speed.

Time quickly passed.

After an hour, Yunhe opened his eyes.

There was no change in his expression.

He simply took the wooden spoon again, fiercely scooped another spoonful from the jar and ate it, then immediately closed his eyes and resumed cultivation.

He did this several times in a row.

When Yunhe opened his eyes again, he realized he had unknowingly circulated the Gold Water Element Classic for a full five hours!

But this time, upon opening his eyes, he neither scooped more honey nor immediately plunged back into cultivation.

An uncontrollable joy appeared on his face.

"Third layer! I've finally reached the third layer of qi refinement!"

Heavens, have pity!

After seven months since his transmigration, he finally managed to break through from the second layer of qi refinement to the third layer!

"Red-pattern spirit honey, what a great thing!"

Yunhe happily lifted the jar that now held half a jar of red-pattern spirit honey.

A pang of heartache flashed across him.

Without realizing it, he had eaten half a jar.

But without the aid of the rich spiritual qi within the red-pattern spirit honey, breaking through to the third layer of qi refinement might have taken him several days, or even longer.

Because he realized he had underestimated the small bottleneck between the second and third layers of the qi refinement stage, which is why he consecutively consumed five mouthfuls of red-pattern spirit honey.

"It is said that for cultivators who possess heavenly-grade or earthly-grade spirit roots, there is no bottleneck before foundation establishment, and even foundation establishment is much easier compared to other cultivators."

"Talent!"

Cultivation still places great emphasis on talent.

This is also why geniuses with heavenly-grade or earthly-grade spirit roots are snatched up by the major sects as soon as they appear—they are practically golden-core seedlings, the future of the sects.

In fact, even an upper-grade spirit root attracts the favor of many minor sects.

"Good thing, I can also count myself as someone with a cheat."

Yunhe immediately stopped feeling sorry for himself and comforted himself with the "A-Q Spirit".

No matter what, his cultivation base has finally made progress, reaching the third layer of qi refinement.

He can now look forward to the middle stage of qi refinement.

"Although the red-pattern spirit honey played a crucial role, the real reason I could break through to the third layer of qi refinement so quickly is still the backlash from the demon beast body."

If it weren't for the continuous spiritual qi backlash from the demon beast body over this past month, steadily accumulating his cultivation base, he would not have had the opportunity to use the red-pattern spirit honey to break through his cultivation.

"Although the cultivator body has now also reached the third layer of qi refinement, the demon beast body still has a slight lead in cultivation base, but it's not much, so the backlash will diminish further."

Yunhe shook his head, temporarily setting aside the distant problem of how to break through to the middle stage of qi refinement.

"With his cultivation base improved, the 'Bee Control Technique' should be able to command more spirit bees and red-pattern spirit bees, right?"

Thinking this, he stood up and opened the beehive.

The fifteen newly introduced baby bees have already fully harmonized with the spirit bees.

While the ten red-pattern spirit bees remain clearly distinct from the spirit bees, separated by a partition.

Then Yunhe lightly formed a hand seal, and his spiritual power began to circulate.

Buzz—

Buzz buzz buzz—

The spirit bees and Red Pattern Spirit Bees all surged out of the beehive.

"Indeed."

Yunhe's eyebrows twitched slightly.

"55 spirit bees and 10 Red Pattern Spirit Bees can be fully controlled."

He sensed slightly, then after pondering, he muttered to himself:

"About. 80 spirit bees, 15 Red Pattern Spirit Bees?"

This is his current limit of how many bees he can control.

"Tomorrow I have to go be 'Old Six' again."

Originally, once the number of Red Pattern Spirit Bees reached ten, he stopped seeking trouble with the black-ringed wasps.

Although he had bought talismans and made full preparations, there was still some danger.

So afterward he just kept beekeeping honestly.

Occasionally a black-ringed wasp would show up, and only then would he hunt it to feed to the five-pattern Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

But now that his bee-controlling capacity has increased, he must again proactively seek trouble with the black-ringed wasps.

Yunhe, who had broken through to the third layer of Qi Refining using Red Pattern Spirit Honey, became even more clearly aware of the importance of the Red Pattern Spirit Bees to him.

"Right."

After driving away the spirit bees and Red Pattern Spirit Bees, Yunhe spread his palm, and several slender black stingers suddenly appeared in his hand.

These are the stingers of the black-ringed wasp, and the only thing the spirit bees cannot digest or absorb.

After some investigation, he realized these stingers were not ordinary keratin products; they contained a hint of metal essence.

Metal!

"The Gold Water Element Classic records two arts: one is a low-tier first-rank 'Water Arrow Technique', and the other is a medium-tier first-rank 'Metal Control Technique'."

Practicing the Metal Control Technique requires richer mana and an indispensable special metal.

Previously, when he was only at the second layer of Qi Refining, practicing it was a bit strained.

But now, having broken through to the third layer of Qi Refining with a great surge of mana, he could give it a try.

Yunhe recalled the incantations and hand seals while channeling mana to launch the stingers.

Pop!

The stinger imbued with metal essence landed crisply on the ground, and there was no movement for a long time.

Yunhe pressed his lips together, showing no dejection.

He already knew the condition of this body: poor spiritual roots, and not much talent for cultivating techniques.

Besides, the Gold Water Element Classic isn't some profound cultivation method, so the Metal Control Technique it contains is naturally not profound either.

Repeated practice makes perfect.

Afterward he adjusted his mind, then once again formed the hand seal and stirred his spiritual power.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Accompanied by a series of convoluted, hard-to-pronounce syllables, he formed intricate hand seals with both hands.

The pitch-black stinger lying still on the ground twitched slightly, wobbling back and forth, slowly and gradually floating up bit by bit.

"Using metal to control things, spiritual methods penetrate!"

The next moment.

As Yunhe clearly felt his spiritual power draining, a "whoosh" sounded; the stinger hovering in midair suddenly became nimble, turning into a black thread that darted rapidly around the room.

"Swift!"

Thud!!

The black stinger flashed like a black blade and vanished.

A muffled thud came from a nearby pillar.

It left a tiny black hole.

Looking at the result, he estimated the spiritual power consumed.

Yunhe's mouth twitched slightly.

The damage and consumption were completely disproportionate.

It was not as straightforward as the Water Arrow Technique.

"The original intent of the Metal Control Technique is for cultivators to drive flying swords; using it to manipulate the black-ringed wasp's stingers is indeed a bit of overkill."

"But using it at a critical moment for a surprise attack can also be considered a tactic."

At least it's a medium-tier first-rank technique; with more practice, once fully mastered, its power should still be able to increase.

Most importantly, the movement caused by controlling the stingers with the Metal Control Technique is much smaller than that of casting the Water Arrow Technique.

"Let's just treat this as advance preparation for obtaining a flying sword later."

"Which man doesn't harbor the dream of 'a single sword's chill spanning ten thousand miles, striding alone across the nine provinces with a swaying leaf'?"

He gathered up the several stingers.

A sense of fatigue welled up.

His Cultivation Base had just broken through, and he had practiced the Metal Control Technique for several hours, consuming considerable mana and energy.

Despite his fatigue, he once again formed the hand seal and summoned ten Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

After signaling them to guard the whole room, he then peacefully fell into a deep sleep.

A dim, warm, damp underground cavern.

A giant Turtle the size of a millstone slowly opened its eyes.

Gazing at the cave he had built after much effort digging, he revealed a satisfied expression.

After days of hard digging, Yunhe finally managed to carve out a decent cave for himself.

The cave had exits in all directions, with four passageways leading out to the east, south, west, and north.

It also had two routes, one going up and one going down.

This ensured that even if danger struck and the entrance was blocked, he would still have multiple escape routes.

Besides that, he dug various functional chambers in the cave: a cultivation room, a dining room, a resting room, a breeding room, and others.

Even with a demon beast's body, human instinct still made him act like a delicate turtle.

"Cough cough."

A light cough echoed from within the cave.

Originally, turtles lack vocal cords and cannot make sound, but for some reason Yunhe recently felt his throat occasionally itchy, making him want to cough.

After a while, he discovered he seemed able to produce a little sound.

Through inner observation with his Demon Sense, he found that his vocal cords were actually growing bit by bit!

He estimated it wouldn't be long before he could make a normal sound.

"This is probably part of the evolution."

Stepping on the soft ground, he walked toward the breeding chamber.

The faintly glowing moss gave the cavern a weak light, allowing him to see the interior clearly.

Though called a breeding chamber, it was actually just a small pond.

Inside, he raised a brood of Emerald Water Snails.

He had originally just wanted to try it out, but he actually managed to raise this brood of Emerald Water Snails.

Yunhe felt that his occasional feeding of demon beast meat had played a crucial role.

He came to the pond's edge.

Looking at the Emerald Water Snails hiding under decaying leaves and among the aquatic plants, barely visible, he couldn't help but grin.

He lightly swung his claw.

From the water he scooped up, a plump, round Emerald Water Snail was lifted out.

"Crack—"

He placed it in his mouth and gave it a light bite.

Instantly, the rich juice mixed with a special texture filled his mouth.

Not only did it lack any earthy odor, but it also gave off a faint, fresh fragrance.

Feeling the spiritual energy emanating from his mouth, Yunhe closed his eyes and silently practiced the Source Refining Method.

Soon, the spiritual energy from the Emerald Water Snail was completely refined away.

"Refining Emerald Water Snails is far easier than refining demon beast meat; even without active refinement, their absorption efficiency is much higher than eating demon beast meat—no wonder demon beasts treasure them."

The only drawback might be that the Emerald Water Snails are too small compared to demon beasts; even with high absorption efficiency, their total mass is insufficient.

"If he eats only one every five days, he can keep this brood from dying out, but truly achieving freedom for the Emerald Water Snails seems far off."

"Perhaps I can slow my feeding frequency, or feed them more demon beast meat."

Yunhe thought as he leisurely walked out of the breeding chamber.

He stepped onto an upward slope.

He pushed aside the sealed earth above his head.

A ray of sunlight shone straight down.

Climbing out of the cave onto the small island, Yunhe took a deep breath.

Now he was certain that the spiritual energy here was far richer than that in the market where cultivators reside.

No wonder so many demon beasts could be born naturally here.

"Plop plop plop—"

As soon as Yunhe reached the shore, a Ni Qiu loach popped its head out of the water and greeted him cheerfully.

"You've worked hard; go rest."

Regardless of whether the loach understood him, Yunhe waved his claw.

Having a little guard watch over him while he slept was somewhat safer than before.

"Plop plop."

The accustomed loach blew two bubbles again, then flicked its tail and swam downward.

"Another peaceful day."

He lifted his head to gaze at the rising sun and silently sighed.

He climbed onto the sunbathing platform.

(End of chapter)