Chapter 14

The next day.

The morning sun rose, and the turbid Qi descended; it was the best time of the day for cultivation.

After breakfast, Lou Qinghe sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion.

He prepared to consume the Spirit Gathering Pill he had obtained from Zhou Lin.

He suppressed the restlessness in his heart and placed a Spirit Gathering Pill into his mouth.

A sweet sensation was swallowed down his throat.

The round pill entered his abdomen and quickly began to melt.

At this moment, his sensitivity to spirit energy seemed to have increased.

According to one of the six major characteristics of spirit energy—storage—people, objects, spirit plants, and all things can gather spirit energy, and when a person reaches a certain level, it becomes a Spirit Root.

Lou Qinghe had a mid-to-low-grade Spirit Root, which is the Spirit Root of most bottom-tier loose cultivators.

His affinity for spirit energy was not high, but at this moment, under the effect of the Spirit Gathering Pill, he felt his affinity for spirit energy constantly rising.

The surrounding spirit energy was also rapidly surging toward him; this was Spirit Gathering.

Of course, this was only the most superficial level of Spirit Gathering; higher levels of Spirit Gathering could even turn spirit energy into a liquid state.

Unknowingly, one cycle was completed.

Lou Qinghe slowly opened his eyes and looked at the panel.

【Cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer (46/7200)】

"Did it increase by two proficiency points?"

Lou Qinghe's heart stirred, "That is to say, after taking a Spirit Gathering Pill, my proficiency can increase by two points, and the duration of one Spirit Gathering Pill is two hours, which is enough for me to run two cycles."

"I must not waste it."

Thinking of this, Lou Qinghe continued to settle his mind and cultivate.

Soon another cycle passed, and his cultivation increased to Qi Refining Third Layer (48/7200).

Lou Qinghe calculated secretly, "If I take one Spirit Gathering Pill every day and continue to cultivate tirelessly, I can get six proficiency points a day, which means it will take more than 1,100 days to reach the Qi Refining Fourth Layer."

"But if I take a Spirit Gathering Pill every day, the cultivation speed can be greatly enhanced, and maybe 900-plus days will be enough."

900-plus days—that is still two or three years to reach the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

However, Lou Qinghe believed that constant dripping wears away the stone.

Over the next few days, Lou Qinghe settled his mind, spending most of his time cultivating, and occasionally practicing the Heavenly Intent Sword Controlling Technique.

It was on the morning of the fifth day.

Lou Qinghe was running the Shangqing Taixu Art; he was now only one proficiency point away from reaching the second layer.

He was also very curious about what benefits there would be if he reached the second layer of the mental cultivation method.

Silently reciting the Shangqing Taixu Art, the spirit energy followed his meridians and flowed toward his limbs and hundreds of acupoints. A warm feeling quickly spread throughout his body, finally gathering in his dantian.

This time, it seemed different; the spirit energy that gathered in his dantian was twice as thick as before.

At the same time, changes also appeared on the panel.

The Shangqing Taixu Art had reached the second layer.

【Shangqing Taixu Art Second Layer (1/200): Running one cycle can expand two points of origin spirit energy】

"Two points of origin spirit energy?"

Seeing this, Lou Qinghe was overjoyed, "If I use a Spirit Gathering Pill again, that would be four proficiency points. My cultivation speed will be greatly improved; reaching the Qi Refining Fourth Layer won't take 1,000-plus days, but only 100-plus days."

The breakthrough of the mental cultivation method to the second layer directly doubled his cultivation proficiency.

Suddenly, Lou Qinghe's heart was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Going from the Qi Refining Third Layer to the Fourth Layer in just over two months was something he wouldn't have dared to imagine before.

Even for the geniuses among geniuses in the cultivation world, with the constant resources provided within their sects, their cultivation speed would be no more than this.

"Spirit Gathering Pills, I must get more Spirit Gathering Pills!"

Lou Qinghe made up his mind and thought, "I know the recipe for the Spirit Gathering Pill, so now I just lack the herbs. It's a good thing I got some spirit stones from Zhou Lin that are enough for me to use."

Thinking of this, Lou Qinghe put on his Green Tiger robe, disguised his face, wore a rabbit mask, and walked out the door.

When he arrived at the market, he couldn't help but feel a shock in his heart.

The loose cultivators on the streets along the way were even more numerous than before.

Moreover, there were traces of fighting everywhere, and every now and then, a few loose cultivators would appear, staring at Lou Qinghe like wolves and tigers, as if they wanted to swallow him alive.

Danger!

Now the entire Longmen Market had become extremely dangerous.

Fortunately, he was wearing a robe and a mask, so the loose cultivators with ulterior motives were all secretly guessing his strength.

Lou Qinghe quickened his pace and rushed toward Long Men Tang.

Along the way, he also received some information from other loose cultivators.

Now the Xu Family and the Zhou Family had completely torn off their masks, and Longmen Market had become an important point of contention for the two families.

Because the Zhou Family had prepared in advance, the Xu Family had suffered heavy losses while caught off guard.

Even yesterday, the Xu Family's Second Elder and two guest cultivators were killed by the Zhou Family's young master, Zhou Sheng.

For a time, the Xu Family lost power, and the Zhou Family was in its prime.

Now Longmen Market was almost completely under the control of the Zhou Family.

Without the constraints of the Xu Family, the prices of goods in the Zhou Family's shops had risen by 50%, which made many loose cultivators miserable.

Lou Qinghe hadn't expected that after closing his door to cultivate for a few days, the sky over Longmen Market had changed.

However, this was not something a bottom-tier loose cultivator like him could change or decide.

He soon arrived at Long Men Tang, and this time he was received by a new apprentice.

Zhou Lin was a small person at Long Men Tang; clearly, his disappearance hadn't caused any waves, and no one cared whether he lived or died.

After all, in this world, it is too normal for a loose cultivator to die.

"Get me ten portions of these herbs."

Lou Qinghe handed the herb list directly to the apprentice at Long Men Tang.

On it were the herbs for refining Spirit Gathering Pills.

The apprentice glanced at it briefly and apologized with a smile, "Customer, that will be one Middle-grade Spirit Stone?"

"One Middle-grade Spirit Stone?"

Lou Qinghe raised an eyebrow after hearing this.

He had calculated the herbs for this Spirit Gathering Pill; at most, it should be seventy Low-grade Spirit Stones, but now it actually costs one Middle-grade Spirit Stone?

The apprentice nodded and said, "That's right, that's the price now."

Lou Qinghe pondered for a long while and said, "Fine, pack it up for me first."

Soon, the apprentice had the medicinal materials packed.

Lou Qinghe put down one Middle-grade Spirit Stone and left Long Men Tang.

"Go, follow him!"

Just as Lou Qinghe stepped out the door, two loose cultivators looked at each other and followed him.

This Longmen Market gathered cultivators from two shanty areas; even with the recent chaos, there were still many cultivators in the market.

Not long after walking, Lou Qinghe felt that someone had been following him.

"I'm being targeted!"

Lou Qinghe thought to himself, then performed the Wind Breath Art.

Instantly, his entire aura merged with the wind, and his footsteps gradually quickened as he walked toward the place where the crowd was thickest.

"Quick!"

Seeing the change in the frequency of Lou Qinghe's steps ahead, the two also quickened their pace to follow.

In the market, figures were chaotic.

Lou Qinghe's body wove through the crowd, his aura vanished into thin air, and he was extremely familiar with the market, constantly weaving through alleys and crowds, as if looking at flowers in the fog, making him difficult to track.

At the entrance of an alley, his figure completely disappeared from the two men's sight.

"Lost him, boss!"

The two stopped. The man on the left, who was short with a horse face and a broad forehead, said angrily, "He looked like a fat sheep; what a pity."

The scarred man beside him shook his head and said, "Forget it, this person has unusual methods; don't follow him."

The short man sighed, "What's so unusual? It looks like he hasn't even reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining. With my Qi Refining Fourth Layer and your Qi Refining Fifth Layer cultivation, boss, he should be easy to catch and manipulate."

The scarred man glared at his companion and said, "Liu Yue, this world is very dangerous; we must not be careless."

The loose cultivator named Liu Yue could only nod helplessly, "Boss, I know."

After shaking off the two, Lou Qinghe didn't rush home but continued to stroll around twice more. After confirming that no one was behind him, he carefully walked toward his home.

After returning home, he changed into a black robe and put away the Green Tiger robe and the rabbit mask.

"Hoo!"

Lou Qinghe let out a heavy sigh of relief, his heart also somewhat tense.

The two loose cultivators were the type who often committed murder and robbery, so their skills should not be bad.

"If I encounter such a situation again next time, what should I do?"

Lou Qinghe couldn't help but wonder in his heart; after all, Longmen Market was so chaotic now that it was hard to guarantee he wouldn't encounter such things again.

After thinking for a long time, he had no clue.

The only way was to perform the Fire Control Technique and throw out the biggest fireball with all his might.

"Weakness is the original sin; I'd better hurry up and improve my strength."

Thinking of this, Lou Qinghe took out the pill furnace and prepared to start refining the Spirit Gathering Pill.

A First-Grade Spirit Gathering Pill requires four types of herbs, meaning that four different herbs must be melted into medicinal spirit energy and fused; this difficulty is naturally harder than the Huiqi Pill and the Healing Pill, and the success rate is also greatly reduced.

But Lou Qinghe was different; he had the panel, and his current hidden value was 100%, meaning his success rate in refining was 100%.

With the four herbs in front of him, he extended his palm, and the flames began to burn.

The Variegated Flower, Youyun Chrysanthemum, Three-Leaf Green Ganoderma, and Gold Ginseng began to be refined one by one, and under the steaming of the spirit-filled flames, they quickly turned into strands of medicinal spirit energy.

Midway through, Lou Qinghe also swallowed a Huiqi Pill, fearing that his lack of spirit energy would lead to failure in alchemy.

In the pill furnace, the four strands of medicinal spirit energy began to fuse to form new medicinal spirit energy.

Lou Qinghe felt the pharmacology within with his heart, the subtle changes when each type of medicinal spirit energy fused.

Time passed second by second, and the medicinal spirit energy was constantly fusing.

"Buzz!" "Buzz!"

About half an hour later, a fragrant scent drifted out from the pill furnace.

Lou Qinghe lifted his palm, and the furnace lid opened.

—Clang!

Six First-Grade Low-Grade Spirit Gathering Pills were lying in the pill furnace.

"Six on the first try, not bad."

Lou Qinghe picked up the Spirit Gathering Pill, a smile appearing on the corner of his mouth.