Chapter 367

He Pingsheng began to comprehend the Dao at four times the normal speed.

Of course!

He was not entirely in seclusion.

When the alchemy shop ran out of pills, Cheng Daocai would still bring in materials for He Pingsheng to refine.

He Pingsheng naturally did not refuse, so he combed the Dao, refined pills, and cultivated simultaneously.

During this time, he also produced a batch of supreme-grade 【Mingwu Pills】 and gave them to Cheng Daocai, who secretly took them to the Free Immortal Sect and delivered them to Qiao Huizhu.

……

The sun and moon turned, spring passed and autumn came!

The peach tree in the courtyard had its leaves turn from green to yellow, and yellow back to green.

Several springs and autumns passed.

Xiaohe's cultivation base had quietly risen from Foundation Establishment Stage One to Stage Eight.

In cultivation, time has no meaning; in comprehending the Dao, years go unnoticed!

Before he knew it, fifteen years had passed.

Over these fifteen years, He Pingsheng consumed five supreme-grade 【Mingwu Pills】, using the method of "dead comprehension" in this basement to comprehend the Dao from nothing.

He had somehow grasped a hint of earth-element Dao, and now his understanding of earth-element Dao had reached a minor level of mastery.

It was no worse than his mastery of fire, wood, or water elements.

"Huh…"

He Pingsheng exhaled deeply.

That's enough.

No need to delve deeper.

After all, he sought to comprehend the Five Elements' rules, then use them to cultivate the 【Five Elements Unified Force】 technique.

Unfortunately, one remained: metal element.

If he followed this method, he could later find a place rich in metal-element rules, then close himself off for another fifteen years consuming pills—then metal-element Dao would also reach minor mastery.

But it was too difficult.

He Pingsheng gave a bitter smile: this fifteen-year seclusion had nearly driven him mad.

Of course, during these fifteen years, He Pingsheng had not merely advanced his understanding of earth-element rules to a basic level—he had also raised his cultivation base.

His cultivation base had risen from Golden Core Stage Two to Stage Four.

His current combat power was significantly stronger than when he was at Golden Core Stage One.

He even felt he could hold his own against Jingxin in battle.

Of course, it was only a feeling.

He Pingsheng rose from his meditation cushion and turned to look behind him.

There lay a crimson, oval egg.

Phoenix Egg!

And a strengthened one at that.

Around the egg, He Pingsheng had placed dozens of Crimson Fire Crystals.

But now, all these Crimson Fire Crystals had been completely drained by the egg.

The crystals remained, but their fire-element rules and spiritual energy were gone.

He Pingsheng waved his hand, and the massive egg appeared in his palm; as he covered it with his hand, he could feel a pulse of life.

The life within was awakening.

But the phoenix's awakening still required vast amounts of fire.

Whether fire spiritual energy or fire-element rules.

He did not know when the egg would hatch—better to keep nurturing it for now.

It would emerge eventually.

He Pingsheng put away the phoenix egg and stepped out of the basement.

Outside… the sunlight was bright.

In an instant, He Pingsheng was blinded by the sunlight.

"Master… you've emerged from seclusion!" Xiaohe had grown into a stunning beauty; she looked at He Pingsheng, her small eyes narrowing into slits.

Seeing Xiaohe, He Pingsheng felt as if gazing upon his own descendant, and with a gentle smile, he ruffled her head.

"Ah… Master, I'm grown now—you can't ruffle my head anymore!"

Xiaohe rolled her eyes.

He Pingsheng asked: "Has anyone come looking for me lately?"

"Yes!" Xiaohe said: "Someone came for you. She was afraid of disturbing your cultivation, so she didn't ask me to call you—she said to just inform her once you emerged."

"Here…"

As she spoke, Xiaohe pulled out a Twinheart Talisman: "It's this one!"

But from the Twinheart Talisman, He Pingsheng could not tell who it was.

"Master, shall I call her over?"

He Pingsheng nodded: "Do it."

He had nothing urgent to do right now.

He Pingsheng went behind the counter and slowly took out a scroll of formation techniques.

The Heavenly Moon Divine Formation.

After about half a day, several figures entered the shop.

The leader was a woman.

He Pingsheng raised his eyebrows: "Princess Wei Chuan?"

Indeed, the woman was Princess Wei Chuan.

He Pingsheng's face darkened: damn it—if Princess Wei Chuan hadn't come herself, he'd almost forgotten she still owed him a supreme-grade magic treasure!

The Soul-Nourishing Banner was still in her hands!

Of course, besides the Soul-Nourishing Banner, He Pingsheng also possessed another supreme-grade magic treasure: the 【Ten Thousand Souls Banner】.

He had always strongly resisted the Ten Thousand Souls Banner, never taking it out or attempting to refine it.

During this seclusion, with nothing else to do, he refined every one of his magic treasures to their utmost limit; when there was nothing left to refine, he also refined the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

Refine it now—might come in handy later!

"Master He, long time no see!" Princess Wei Chuan said, presenting the Soul-Nourishing Banner with utmost respect: "I promised to use it for ten years, but my mother's soul was too severely wounded—it didn't heal in ten years, so I used it another ten."

"I hope you won't take offense!"

He Pingsheng took the Soul-Nourishing Banner: "No issue."

Princess Wei Chuan said: "Master He, you truly are a genius—your cultivation base, I can't even perceive!"

He Pingsheng scoffed: "I'm just a cultivator facing the Third Nine Tribulation—what genius? Hehe…"

He glanced at Princess Wei Chuan's cultivation base.

Golden Core Stage Two.

No wonder he couldn't perceive it.

"I have nothing valuable to offer, but here's some compensation!" Princess Wei Chuan pulled out a storage bag.

And it was a supreme-grade storage bag!

He Pingsheng scanned it—inside were middle-grade spirit stones, neither too many nor too few: roughly two hundred.

Equivalent to two million lower-grade spirit stones.

That was reasonable.

After all, how much is a magic treasure worth?

She gave two million for borrowing it an extra ten years—fair price.

"Then I won't be polite!" He Pingsheng took the spirit stones and casually tucked them away.

Middle-grade spirit stones were useful.

He wanted to test whether they could be strengthened.

After all, all the middle-grade spirit stones he owned had already been strengthened and couldn't be strengthened again.

Could these fresh middle-grade stones be strengthened into upper-grade ones?

"Please… join me for some spirit tea in the back!" He Pingsheng handed the counter to Xiaohe, then invited Princess Wei Chuan into the courtyard, where they sat beneath a pavilion.

He waved his hand and produced a large jar of 【Century Immortal Brew】 from Chunyu Distillery.

"Try my good stuff!"