Chapter 85: Mid-Stage Qi Refinement

These round stones had smooth surfaces but were pitted and cratered, with many irregular tiny pores scattered across them.

After a moment, Wang Yu’s gaze dimmed, and he moved to the next round stone, repeating the same actions.

Beside him, Jin Can watched with a half-smile, letting Wang Yu proceed as he wished.

After inspecting all seven Chaos Stones, Wang Yu returned to one of medium size, stroked its surface once more, confirmed its condition, then turned to Jin Can and said:

“Senior Jin, I’ll take this one.”

Among all the stones checked earlier, only this one had faintly resonated with something distant when he activated the Star Mind Technique.

“Are you sure? I think the largest one is more likely to contain spiritual material,” Jin Can shook his head, clearly unimpressed with Wang Yu’s choice.

“It’s fine—I’ve made my choice, and I have some confidence in it,” Wang Yu replied respectfully.

“Very well. It’s your purchase, so it’s your decision. Pay the spirit stones.” Jin Can said no more.

Wang Yu pulled out a storage bag from his person, upended it before him, and a small pile of white crystals appeared.

Jin Can swept his spiritual sense over them, confirmed the count was correct, then rolled his sleeve and collected them all.

He flipped his hand once, and suddenly a golden long-bladed knife appeared in his grasp. He walked to the round stone Wang Yu had chosen.

With a slight flick of his wrist, the golden blade instantly lengthened by a factor of two, its surface enveloped in a layer of white radiance.

“To prevent accidental damage to any spiritual material inside during cutting, I’ll use this Soft Cloud Blade to open the stone,” Jin Can said, then raised his arm and brought the blade down in slow motion. When it reached the center, countless fine white threads erupted from the blade, weaving rapidly to slice the entire stone into countless fist-sized fragments.

“Hmm, it seems spiritual material really did emerge,” Jin Can retracted the white radiance from his blade, restoring it to its original size, but his face showed surprise. He immediately rushed to the pile of fragments and snatched up one piece, examining it closely.

“Senior Jin, what kind of spiritual material is it? How much is it worth?”

Seeing this, Wang Yu’s heart leapt with joy, and he hurried over.

“Pity—it’s only a piece of five-colored Liuli . Though it’s a second-rank material, it’s only useful as an auxiliary ingredient in alchemy, not rare. This size might fetch a hundred or so spirit stones,” Jin Can declared after Jianding , then tossed the stone to Wang Yu, sounding regretful.

Wang Yu fumbled to catch it, staring at the stone.

Embedded within the pale gray rock was a small crystal, thumb-sized, emitting a shimmer of five-colored light.

Second-rank material. Alchemy auxiliary. Over a hundred spirit stones!

Wang Yu couldn’t help but break into a broad smile.

With this, he’d not only recouped his cost for the Chaos Stone, but gained twenty extra spirit stones.

“Kid, you’ve got good fortune. Want to pick another Chaos Stone? Maybe you’ll strike gold again!” Jin Can scanned the remaining fragments with his spiritual sense, found no other spiritual material, then urged Wang Yu with eager anticipation.

Wang Yu felt a pang of temptation, but after glancing at the other round stones, he shook his head firmly:

“No, thank you. I’m not greedy. My first gamble didn’t lose me anything—I’m already satisfied. I’ll wait until I’ve studied more before trying again.”

“Then suit yourself. I’ve managed to extract a stone with spiritual material today, which eased my craving. If you ever want to buy mechanical puppets or other devices from the sect, come directly to me—I’m the only second-rank mechanical artisan in the sect. I’ll give you a ten percent discount.” Jin Can no longer pressed, rolled his sleeve, and collected the remaining six Chaos Stones, smiling warmly at Wang Yu.

“Second-rank mechanical artisan?” Wang Yu was surprised.

So this “Senior Jin” could manufacture second-rank puppets?

“Though the Four Symbols Sect is famed for beast-taming arts, we also recruit wandering cultivators with specialized skills as guest masters. I’m one of them. Now, I must return to my mechanical studies. You may leave.” Jin Can gave a brief explanation, then dismissed him bluntly.

“I’d like to take these fragments back for further study. Also, may I ask—does the Spirit Goods Pavilion sell sha energy?” Wang Yu pointed to the scattered Chaos Stone fragments and inquired about his other needed item.

“These are waste scraps. Take them if you want.”

“Sha energy is at least a second-rank spiritual item, usually born only in extreme environments. We have Black Wind Sha and Golden Sun Sha here—the former costs a thousand spirit stones per unit, the latter one thousand five hundred.” Jin Can was surprised but answered honestly.

That price…

Wang Yu winced. He couldn’t afford that much right now.

So he pulled out two storage bags, sucked up all the fragments into them, bowed, and took his leave.

At midnight.

Wang Yu stepped out of the stone hut, gazed up at the dark sky, and faintly saw scattered stars—the stars of Setan and the moon had vanished entirely.

He walked to the cliff edge, sat cross-legged, and shook his sleeve, letting a fist-sized Star Stone roll out.

He gripped the stone in one hand, closed his eyes, and began activating his spiritual force according to the Star Mind Technique’s incantation.

After a moment, the stone gradually glowed with white crystalline light.

Simultaneously, in the black void above the cliff, some starlight—affected by unknown energy—transformed into countless invisible transparent crystalline threads, slowly sinking into Wang Yu’s crown chakra…

The next morning, Wang Yu opened his eyes again, and the stone in his hand had turned to powder.

After a night of Star Mind cultivation, he felt no fatigue—instead, he was alert and refreshed, as if he’d slept soundly all night.

More importantly, he sensed his spiritual force had noticeably increased, though only slightly. But this was his very first day practicing Star Mind.

With daily accumulation, his spiritual force would surely surge dramatically.

Then, even if his cultivation speed couldn’t match that of dual-spirit-root disciples, it wouldn’t fall far behind that of triple-spirit-root disciples.

Suddenly, Wang Yu lifted his wrist and infused it with Star Mind force. The next instant, a pale white wristwatch materialized.

Indeed!

This device was formed from Star Mind force—and it could manifest even in the cultivation world.

Wang Yu stared fixedly at the unchanging digital time on the watch: ten, nine, eight…

When he mentally whispered “one,” the second digit finally advanced by one, then froze again.

The timer still functioned normally, unaffected by the flow of time.

Wang Yu pondered silently, lowered his wrist, and the white wristwatch blurred and vanished soundlessly.

One month later.

Wang Yu sat cross-legged in the stone hut, cultivating. One and a half incense sticks had passed, yet he showed no sign of stopping—instead, he drew in the surrounding spirit mist, making it denser.

…

More than half a year later.

Wang Yu’s seated form now glowed with intense red light, and the air around him grew steadily hotter, radiating a scorching sensation.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes. The red glow on his body erupted into a wave of qi, his aura surging wildly upward, increasing by more than half in an instant, and his spiritual sense also surged significantly.

This was Foundation Establishment, Level Four.

Wang Yu felt the sudden surge of “robust” spiritual energy within him, and his heart swelled with joy.

Perhaps because he had switched to the Fire Spirit Technique, he felt no barrier—his advancement to Level Four came as naturally as water flowing downhill.

Suddenly, he formed a hand seal.

“Puff!” A crimson flame appeared.

But he kept chanting, his fingers repeatedly pointing at the flame.

The flame blurred, split into two, blurred again into four, then eight…

Wang Yu swept his sleeve, and all the flames vanished. He smiled faintly and murmured:

“With this much spiritual energy, I should be ready to learn flight techniques and class-level spells.”