Immortality: Starting with the Fruit of Taiyin

"Hmm... no rush, let's wait and see."

"After all, according to Han Li, she needs to inquire further about this rumor..."

The message was vague, but Wang Xuan only used it as a reference.

At his current age, time is the last thing he has to lack.

The matter concerning the Han family should be resolved within about six months.

……

A few days ago, Baihefang City.

Han's Dan Pavilion, inside the Earth Fire Chamber.

Flames blazed inside the alchemy furnace, reflecting off Han Li's face.

As usual, the girl methodically refined the medicinal herbs, blended the Kan and Li elements, and gradually condensed the essence of the herbs into a pill.

Judging from her movements, Han Li's progress in alchemy has slowed down considerably in the past six months without Wang Xuan's occasional guidance.

Clearly, given limited resources, unless one is a once-in-a-millennium genius, it is very difficult to become successful solely through self-study.

laugh……

Time passed slowly, and at a certain moment, the subterranean fire suddenly ignited, then gradually faded away.

As the hand seals changed, the alchemy furnace opened, and several pills fell into Han Li's hands.

She was clearly distracted, and for a moment she forgot to wrap her palm with magic, resulting in her being burned by the scorching hot pill.

"……ah!"

"Alright, your time's almost up too... huh?"

A gasp rang out, and Han Li instinctively withdrew his hand.

Behind her, Han Dao, who had just pushed the door open and entered, was slightly taken aback, then burst into exaggerated laughter.

"Hahahaha... Han Li, what are you doing?"

"I--"

"As an alchemist, the fact that you can be injured by the pills you refined is truly an eye-opener for me, hahahahaha..."

"What nonsense are you talking about... I just did it by accident!"

"And why were you allowed in? The elders have stipulated that no one is allowed to enter the Earth Fire Chamber when alchemists are refining pills!"

Faced with Han Dao's ridicule, Han Li's cheeks flushed slightly, but then he felt a surge of indignation.

As she said, even if the group were only first-level alchemists, they should avoid being disturbed by others while refining pills.

According to the rules of the outside world, if an ordinary person dares to trespass into a master alchemist's alchemy room, they can only accept their bad luck if they are killed.

However, Han Dao just smiled when he heard this, and didn't take it to heart at all.

"Hahaha... It's not a big deal. Judging by the time, it's about time I used it."

"Besides, it's just fellow clansmen observing each other's alchemy practices; why be so stingy?"

"you--"

Han Li opened his mouth slightly, but didn't know what to say.

Indeed, this kind of thing can be considered a big deal or a small deal.

Considering this is our own Pill Pavilion, even if we report it to the elders, there probably won't be any follow-up.

Left with no other choice, Han Li could only take away the alchemy cauldron and return to his residence in the Pill Pavilion.

In the past year or two, this kind of thing has actually happened more than once.

As alchemists cultivated by the same family, they are not only from the same clan, but also rivals.

Han Dao and Han Bo were within five degrees of kinship, making them close relatives within three generations, so their relationship was naturally even better.

Subtly, she became the one who was ostracized.

"Hmph, how can a family thrive if they spend all their time with these insects!"

Feeling a little down, the girl let out a soft hum, remembering a joke that Master Wang had once casually told.

According to him, the younger generation of the Han family really doesn't have any talent; most of them are just mediocre and can't inherit the family's heavy responsibilities.

Of course, a Foundation Establishment cultivator's lifespan is four cycles of sixty years. Occasionally, one or two generations might be incompetent, but this wouldn't shake the family's legacy.

But at this moment, when he thought of Wang Xuan, a trace of worry inevitably flashed in Han Li's eyes.

Several days ago, she had overheard Han Dao and Han Bo talking near the Fire Chamber.

Perhaps because they didn't take the girl's presence seriously, the two were only concerned with themselves and didn't notice Han Li's movements at all.

According to them, the Second Elder seemed to have entrusted Master Wang with a "big task," which made them both envious and suspicious of his integrity.

Unlike them, Han Li knew very well that Wang Xuan hadn't returned to Dan Pavilion even once in the past six months, let alone spoken with the Second Elder.

"...Is this...is this considered...framing?"

"No, that's not quite right... So it's a rumor? What kind of scheme is it?"

"Or is this 'entrustment' actually real, but I just don't know it... But if that's the case, how could the two of them possibly know anything about it, given that it involves the future of the family?"

Her mind was in turmoil, and even Han Li herself was unaware of it. Although she had never been exposed to this kind of "scheme" before, she had a strong ability to recognize it.

Her intuition told her that there was probably something wrong... but she hesitated to tell Wang Xuan about it.

After all, there was no problem; it was just a false alarm.

But if this was indeed a scheme orchestrated by the Second Elder, then her actions would be tantamount to betraying the family…

After thinking about it repeatedly all night, Han Li still couldn't make up his mind.

It wasn't until dawn that she made a compromise decision.

"Hmm... The information I heard from those two might be family secrets, but it certainly wouldn't be something I heard from someone else."

"Even if there really is a problem, the two of them are just tools for spreading fake news."

"And even without me, the royal army itself would hear the related rumors..."

With a change in perspective, Han Li quickly convinced himself.

Without hesitating for too long, the girl patted her unremarkable chest and decided to go out more these two days.

Anyway, Wang Xuan had instructed her before he left to pass on news from the market every now and then.

In this way, once a message is received, the recipient can determine whether it is genuine or not.

"Phew...that's it."

With a great weight lifted from his heart, Han Li felt much better.

No longer dwelling on it, the girl closed her eyes and sat cross-legged in her room, immediately beginning her daily practice.

……

Another half month has passed.

Outside the market town, there was a mansion built into the mountainside at random.

Holding the spirit stone, complete the routine cycle of Qi circulation.

After a short while, when the low-grade spirit stone in his hand had lost its luster and looked like a broken brick, Wang Xuan slowly opened his eyes.

A glimpse of jade color flashed in his eyes, then vanished without a trace.

"Another spirit stone... Hiss, is this how cultivation consumes spiritual energy solely through spirit stones?"

His face wasn't looking too good. Looking at the low-grade spirit stone in his hand that had lost all its spiritual energy, Wang Xuan gained a deeper understanding of the importance of spiritual veins.

"No wonder that no matter how high their cultivation level or how wealthy they are, cultivators still need to rely on spiritual veins to cultivate for a long time."

"If it's just a temporary recovery of magical power, that's fine, but if we keep losing like this, we'll squander all our wealth."

Although in terms of the purity of spiritual energy, cultivating with a low-grade spirit stone is equivalent to cultivating with the core of a first-tier high-grade spiritual vein, and a mid-grade spirit stone is equivalent to cultivating with the core of a second-tier high-grade spiritual vein, this is more than enough to supply the cultivation needs of cultivators of the same level.

However, in terms of specific losses, if a Foundation Establishment cultivator were to rely solely on mid-grade spirit stones for cultivation for ten years, it's likely that even selling him wouldn't be enough to pay off the debt.

Simply put, increasing cultivation level and restoring mana are different things.

The spiritual energy consumed by a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator over several decades of cultivation is more than enough to allow him to recover his mana thousands of times after exhausting it.

In other words, Wang Xuan never intended to stay in the mortal realm for too long; otherwise, he wouldn't have been so extravagant as to use spirit stones instead of spirit veins.