Chapter 60

He returned to his own small courtyard.

He Pingsheng first checked his array.

Only when everything was fine did he begin his seclusion to cultivate.

It was time to break through to the seventh level of Qi Refining.

He Pingsheng pulled out a supreme-grade [Ji Qi Dan], swallowed it in one gulp, and immediately the [Li Huo Zhen Fa] within his body surged wildly.

In fact, He Pingsheng had already cultivated for a long time; he was not far from breaking through to the seventh level.

According to his estimate, he could fully break through in another month.

But the breakthrough came earlier than he expected.

About ten days later, He Pingsheng shattered the physical barrier within his body, and with a soft puff, his cultivation base surged upward.

Qi Refining seventh level.

After reaching Qi Refining seventh level, his spiritual sense suddenly improved significantly.

“I broke through!” He Pingsheng breathed in deeply with overwhelming joy, then waved his hand, revealing one of the hidden storage bags.

Rustle-rustle…

Many items spilled out.

Among them were magic treasures, talismans, and spirit stones.

The Cui Ping Mountain secret realm’s trial would begin soon; though it was a treasure trove, it was also a place of life and death, and he could not afford to be careless.

He must prepare thoroughly before entering.

So He Pingsheng began to inventory the items he currently possessed.

What still needed replenishing?

First, magic treasures.

He had many magic treasures.

Four supreme-grade [Fei Jian], one [Qing Mu Dun], one [Dan Lu], and two [Chuan Yun Zhou].

Of the four supreme-grade flying swords, two were obtained by upgrading purchases.

The other two came from upgrading the flying sword of the Black Wind Boss.

The Chuan Yun Zhou were originally acquired after he killed the Black Wind Trio’s boss and third brother; they were merely mid-grade magic treasures, but later He Pingsheng placed them in the Treasure Basin and upgraded them into two supreme-grade [Chuan Yun Zhou].

The two upgraded Chuan Yun Zhou were identical, and could be expanded with spiritual power and ridden.

They flew at incredible speed.

Even if his spiritual power was insufficient, he could still insert spirit stones into the slots on the Chuan Yun Zhou, using the spiritual energy within the stones as fuel to drive them at high speed.

Besides magic treasures, there were talismans.

He Pingsheng had two talismans left.

One [Bing Jian Fu], one [Huo Dan Fu].

These two were deadly weapons—he had used them to kill the Black Wind Trio’s boss and third brother.

One strike, one kill.

He Pingsheng believed these talismans would be enough to cripple even a Qi Refining twelfth-level expert.

Whether they could kill outright, he didn’t know.

Unfortunately, he only had two.

“Hmm…” He Pingsheng decided—he would return to Mount Matou’s marketplace and buy some low-grade talismans, then use the Treasure Basin to upgrade each one into a supreme-grade talisman.

Good enough for self-defense.

Besides talismans, magic treasures, and spirit stones, there were elixirs.

Before him lay a large pile of mid-grade spirit stones, each the size of an egg.

The Treasure Basin could upgrade anything, but He Pingsheng’s resources were limited, so when he had no other treasures to upgrade, he would always put spirit stones into the Basin for enhancement.

At first, he dumped hundreds of spirit stones into the Basin at once.

But the next day, he discovered the Basin had its limits.

It could upgrade only one at a time.

Turning one low-grade spirit stone into two mid-grade ones.

Though slow, it didn’t matter.

So whenever he had no other treasures to upgrade, He Pingsheng would put spirit stones in, and over time, he accumulated over four hundred mid-grade spirit stones.

According to the [Xiu Zhen Za Ji], one mid-grade spirit stone could be exchanged for ten thousand low-grade ones.

Over four hundred meant over four million.

He Pingsheng was unquestionably a wealthy man.

Unfortunately, his cultivation base was too low—he could not yet wield mid-grade spirit stones.

He could only keep them for future use.

Besides talismans, magic treasures, and spirit stones, there were elixirs.

He currently had over a hundred batches of [Ji Qi Dan], all supreme-grade.

In addition, he had two batches totaling twenty-four supreme-grade [Jin Gu Dan].

He also had some [Bi Gu Dan].

These elixirs were sufficient for his current needs.

As for techniques, his offensive ones were two: [Huo Ya Shu] and [Huang Jin Li Shi]!

His defensive ones were many: [Shui Dun Shu] allowed him to escape swiftly through water, then there was the fire-based [Huo Dun Shu] and the metal-based [Jin Gang Dun].

With over half a year until the Cui Ping Mountain secret realm opened, there was no rush to acquire other items.

He Pingsheng did not leave seclusion—he continued cultivating.

His fire dantian had reached Qi Refining seventh level; what of the other four—metal, wood, water, and earth?

Keep going!

He Pingsheng began cultivating the wood-element [Chang Chun Xing Qi Jue].

One month later, his wood dantian broke through to seventh level.

In fact, this breakthrough differed from his initial fire dantian breakthrough.

Since his overall cultivation had already reached Qi Refining seventh level, the other dantians rose more easily—only spiritual power accumulation was needed, no physical barrier to shatter.

After another four months, He Pingsheng finally brought all five dantians—metal, wood, water, fire, and earth—to Qi Refining seventh level.

At this point, only a month remained until the Cui Ping Mountain secret realm opened.

Meanwhile, he had also learned the [Ren Shui Dun Fa] and [Jin Gang Dun] techniques.

He Pingsheng opened the array and stepped out of his courtyard.

Not far away was the courtyard of his sixth sister, Zhao Linger.

“Great… Brother, you broke through!” Zhao Linger said, looking at He Pingsheng. “Tian Xiaoqing, He Ba, and I all worried you wouldn’t make it—why did you seclude yourself so long?”

Soon after, Xu Kunlun and Tian Xiaoqing also arrived.

Both naturally scanned He Pingsheng with their spiritual sense; seeing his breakthrough, everyone sighed in relief.

He Pingsheng didn’t hold back—he had been scanned, so scanning them back wasn’t impolite, was it?

He noticed Zhao Linger had also broken through—she was now at Qi Refining ninth level.

Tian Xiaoqing was at Qi Refining eighth level.

As for Xu Kunlun, he was at Qi Refining seventh level, just like He Pingsheng.

“Let’s go!” Zhao Linger said. “We’re all here—I’ll ask Master for permission, then we’ll head to the Mount Matou marketplace to buy supplies!”

“Good!” Hearing they were going to the Mount Matou marketplace, everyone instantly became excited.

Zhao Linger personally went to Yuning Palace and informed Yuning True Person; then the four of them descended the mountain together.

At the mountain’s foot, Zhao Linger pulled out a paper crane. “One crane won’t carry all four of us—does anyone else have a paper crane?”

“I do, I do… hahaha…”

Xu Kunlun also produced a paper crane. “Let’s go—Old Nine, sit behind me!”

Soon, two yellow cranes soared into the sky, heading toward the Mount Matou marketplace.

Zhao Linger and Tian Xiaoqing rode together; He Pingsheng and Xu Kunlun rode together.

Under normal circumstances, such a group—four disciples of a reputable sect, dressed in their official robes—faced no danger.

Bandits like the Black Wind Trio wouldn’t dare touch these inner-disciple members of a major sect, even if given ten lives.

After all, this was the Dao Xuan Alliance.