Raise a sword!

At dawn.

After a night of rest and recuperation, Jiang Peng finally reached the peak of her energy and spirit.

So, with a thought, the circulation of spiritual energy within his body suddenly accelerated.

He felt a throbbing pain in his meridians, and the Qi vortex in his lower abdomen was rapidly gathering. At the same time, he seemed to become the center of the vortex, recklessly absorbing all the spiritual energy gathered by the spirit-gathering array in the courtyard into his body and refining it.

This continued for about half an hour before Jiang Peng finally felt the opportunity to break through.

The next moment, a very slight 'crack' sound rang out inside Jiang Peng's body.

Immediately following was a surge of spiritual power, which had increased by more than 30% compared to before. This power gradually subsided within the expanded meridians and eventually returned to the dantian vortex, transforming into Jiang Peng's foundational cultivation.

Jiang Peng let out a long sigh of relief on the prayer mat.

He raised his right hand and shook hands.

Breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining not only increased the spiritual power within the body, but it also seemed to advance the body-refining progress of the "Dragon Tiger Technique".

"Indeed, Qi refining and body tempering are actually of the same origin. My rapid increase in cultivation is related to my persistent body tempering."

Then, a wisp of flame appeared out of nowhere in Jiang Peng's palm.

This is not a flame summoned by fire control magic.

The flames summoned by the fire control technique in alchemy do not have much offensive power. What alchemical fire needs is stability and freedom of control, not to be used to deal with the rage of enemies.

At this moment, although the flame in Jiang Peng's hand seemed steady, Jiang Peng knew that if he allowed the flame in his palm to spread, at least the rather spacious training room beneath his feet would definitely be lost.

This flame comes from the "Golden Flame Technique," which Jiang Peng cultivated. This technique complements his fire spirit root, thus giving rise to a method of transforming spiritual energy into fire.

This fire is quite powerful, burning with Jiang Peng's spiritual energy, but it consumes a huge amount of energy.

At least with Jiang Peng's current cultivation level, if he were to use this fire against an enemy, he would only be able to last for half a quarter of an hour before exhausting himself.

This half-quarter of an hour was based on the premise that Jiang Peng's total spiritual power far exceeded that of other cultivators of the same level.

"This is spiritual energy transformed into fire, which should only be able to be refined in the late stage of Qi Refining, but it has already appeared when I am only at the fifth level of Qi Refining." Jiang Peng was somewhat delighted.

This is a good sign.

This means that even though he is only at the fifth level of Qi Refining, his true foundation has already crossed the threshold of the late stage of Qi Refining.

Jiang Peng suddenly wondered if she could use her spiritual energy to create fire and enhance the flying sword.

So he raised his hand, and the exquisite sword flew out from his sleeve. Immediately afterwards, flames ignited on the sword, making it look quite powerful.

But after controlling the flying sword for only a short while, Jiang Peng felt somewhat tired.

However, the guess had been confirmed, and Jiang Peng put the Linglong Sword back into her sleeve with satisfaction.

"It's much more powerful than simply controlling a sword; it's like gaining another trump card," Jiang Peng thought to himself.

......

In the middle of the month, Jiang Peng arrived at the Qin residence.

After refining the Purple Jade Nourishing Pill as usual, Jiang Peng inquired about the essence blood of a late-stage first-tier demon beast.

Elder Qin shook his head and said, "We do have some essence blood, but it has all been taken by the Beast Taming Pavilion, and there is no remaining in the sect."

These kinds of materials are something that most people don't need or know how to use, and only the Beast Taming Pavilion, which has the relevant expertise, is willing to accept them.

Seeing Jiang Peng's disappointment, Elder Qin chuckled, "What's wrong? Do you need this for alchemy?"

Jiang Peng couldn't very well say that he had obtained the recipe for the Beast Spirit Pill.

If this gets out, he'll be in deep trouble.

Therefore, Jiang Peng did not intend to reveal anything even to Qin Yuan, whom he regarded as an elder.

"I once saw a pill that enhanced physical strength. It contained abundant blood and qi, and perhaps the ingredients included the essence of demonic beasts."

Jiang Peng mentioned the ancient elixir that Dan Laomo had fed him back then.

The pill formula had long since vanished with Old Hao's self-destruction, but Jiang Peng still had images of the pill-refining process in his mind. In addition, with his improved pill-refining skills, he could easily recount most of it.

Elder Qin also became interested and discussed it with Jiang Peng for a while.

Ultimately, the two concluded that the pill's effects were not very strong and it was not worth the effort to refine it.

Think about it too.

Old Demon Dan would only test his pills on mortals if he wanted to see them explode and die.

It's only natural that pills that even mortals can tolerate are generally ineffective.

Ultimately, it was an incomplete elixir formula, no longer possessing the glory of ancient times.

Late at night, Jiang Peng prepared to take her leave.

However, before leaving, Elder Qin brought up another matter.

"Kid, you still have quite a few Purple Jade Qi Cultivation Pills, don't you? You've only ever sold these pills to that brat Liu Qinghe, and you still make a profit of one every month."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Peng immediately took a small bottle and handed it to Elder Qin.

"Everything I have left is in this bottle."

Elder Qin didn't stand on ceremony, took the pill, opened it, and casually glanced inside.

"A junior came to me for help, but I usually just throw this pill into the sect's treasury. There aren't any left."

"You didn't accept my spirit stones, so these pills are all my filial offerings," Jiang Peng said with a smile.

Elder Qin shook his head and said, "One thing at a time. Giving you the Purple Jade Ginseng was my way of supporting a junior, and you also contributed money for the auxiliary materials to make this pill... Here's what I'll do: bring me the sect disciple token I gave you."

Jiang Peng was puzzled, but she still handed over the token.

Elder Qin waved his hand, and a beam of light flashed across the token.

"Hehe, this token is a low-grade magic artifact. It's not particularly sophisticated and can only record the owner's identity and contributions to the sect."

"Three thousand contribution points, you can go to the sect to collect them at any time." Elder Qin handed the token back to Jiang Peng.

Looking at the token in her hand, Jiang Peng was both amused and exasperated.

"Whether my status as an inner disciple is genuine or not, you know best, don't you? This identity might work in the marketplace, but it would be exposed if I went to the Cangshan Sect."

Of course, she wouldn't give herself away; Jiang Peng herself was well aware of this.

Elder Qin, being a second-tier alchemist capable of refining Foundation Establishment Pills, could easily appoint Jiang Peng as his true disciple, let alone take on an inner disciple. No one else could object to that.

Because Jiang Peng really did learn alchemy from him, and she really had talent for it.

But Jiang Peng still grumbled a little.

The old man really went to great lengths to get him into the Cangshan Sect, using every trick in the book.

"The Cangshan Sect isn't some kind of cannibalistic place. People would love to go to a sect to cultivate. Sigh, sometimes I really feel like I met you too late. If it were before you learned alchemy, you wouldn't be living such an easy life in the market."

Jiang Peng chuckled and said, "Then you won't be able to run into me."

Qin Yuan waved his hand.

"Get lost, come back next month."

Jiang Peng bowed slightly and then left the Qin residence.

It was already late at night, but Jiang Peng did not head towards Chonglefang. Instead, she took a mask and put it on.

He was going to visit the black market, something he hadn't done in a long time.