When it comes to cultivating immortality, it naturally starts with upgrading the herb garden.

The crimson arrow emitted intense light and heat, illuminating every corner of the room.

Song Chen raised his right palm, and wisps of spiritual energy flowed into the long arrow through the spiritual root in his hand, weakening its crimson color and adding a touch of green.

Then, he lowered his hand to a ninety-degree angle, and the arrow shot straight out, leaving a red tail. It hit the wall outside the courtyard and made a deep dent.

Besides the deep depression, there were also green spots sliding out from the pit.

"It's done!"

The fact that a third-grade alchemist could control spiritual energy so skillfully, and successfully manipulate it on the second attempt, is enough to demonstrate this.

A flash of joy crossed Song Chen's face. Without stopping, he extended his right index and middle fingers together, hooked his thumb under his ring and little fingers, and swung it forward sharply. At the same time, spiritual energy from his dantian flowed out along his spiritual root.

A sword beam shot out in an instant, dancing several meters in front of Song Chen, each beam of light carrying boundless power.

Three breaths later, the sword light disappeared.

This is the first level of the "Three Pure Sword Shadow Technique," the "Slash."

Song Chen can only use the first level at present, not that a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator cannot do it.

However, the subsequent sword techniques can only be used in the late stage of Qi Refining, and even in this first level, he can only unleash 30% of its power.

Even so, the power of the sword light was extremely strong, far beyond what a mid-stage cultivator could withstand.

"If we can accelerate the rate at which spiritual energy emerges from the spiritual root, we can further control the sword's beam to attack at both near and far distances."

"If the intensity of spiritual energy output is increased, the power of the sword beam can be further amplified."

Since acquiring this physical body, Song Chen's perception of his body has become increasingly precise.

The specific strength of the meridians, and the efficiency and intensity of spiritual energy emerging from the spiritual root.

Everything was clearly visible.

"So-called magic is the spiritual energy that emerges from the spiritual root in different ways and at different rates, and then condenses outside the body in different forms."

Unbeknownst to him, Song Chen's understanding of magic had deepened.

At the same time, he couldn't help but feel a deep respect for Feng Sancai.

With a body possessing only a remnant spiritual root and at the peak of Qi Refining, he is truly a formidable figure!

"Those cultivators with incomplete spiritual roots, whose spiritual roots are not complete and lack corresponding spiritual root segments, can't use many spells, right?"

Song Chen shook his head, only feeling fortunate that he didn't have a broken spiritual root and such low cultivation aptitude.

"Pseudo-spiritual roots are similar. They are weak, making it difficult to infuse spiritual energy, resulting in slow cultivation speed and severe energy depletion when casting spells, making them unsuitable for great use."

He conjured a tiny spark from his fingertip, his gaze falling upon it, the firelight illuminating his face with exquisite beauty.

"But why is this blood spirit root so different?"

"Cultivation is only at the speed of a remnant spiritual root, but casting spells is exceptionally smooth, and the loss of spiritual energy is negligible."

Song Chen simply thought it was because the Blood Spirit Root was special, and didn't think about it any further.

He then poured the remaining two thousand taels of Qi Refining late-stage essence blood into the wooden tub, removed his clothes, and stepped inside.

Song Chen thought to himself, "There are already twenty-five drops of spiritual liquid. This blood bath should be able to condense about seven more drops."

The blood essence in the wooden tub rapidly slid down, while the spiritual fluid in the dantian continuously condensed.

An hour later, not a drop of his essence remained. Song Chen stood up, feeling the tremors of his saturated meridians, and felt a surge of satisfaction.

Song Chen's right hand trembled incessantly as he guessed, "His cultivation has increased too quickly; his meridians can't handle it?"

Very well, since that's the case, let the spiritual liquid nourish my meridians. I'll take care of the medicinal fields and refine pills for the next few days.

In the stillness of the night, Song Chen went to the front yard and began tending to the medicinal herb garden.

Looking at the dim pillar of light and the bright, full glow behind it, Song Chen pondered:

"How exactly is the Moon's Breath collected for this [Route Ten]? Even Feng Sancai's memories have never mentioned it."

Song Chen shook his head, thinking he would go out and inquire about it in a few days, and then focused on the spiritual plants in the medicinal field.

In just a few days, the medicinal field produced twelve additional spiritual herbs besides the Meridian Opening Grass, but no spiritual herbs for refining Qi Gathering Pills or Spirit Gathering Pills were produced.

The twelve herbs can be used to refine the First-Grade Heart-Clearing Pill, the Second-Grade Crimson Qi Pill, and the Second-Grade Cold Qi Pill.

Leaving aside the first-grade pills for the moment, the latter two pills gave Song Chen some food for thought.

"The red and cold energies can be neutralized. Perhaps the pill-setting technique can be used to neutralize the red and cold energies, thereby greatly enhancing the spiritual energy of the pill for cultivation."

One thought arises, and ten thousand thoughts vanish.

Song Chen planted a few more seeds, glanced at the fertilizer room and the Night Pillar, checked that there were no problems, and then took the few spiritual herbs to the alchemy room.

For a third-grade alchemist, producing a second-grade pill is as easy as a high school student doing an elementary school problem.

Half an hour later, Song Chen held a Cold Qi Pill containing intense cold energy in his left hand and a Crimson Qi Pill containing intense crimson energy in his right hand.

The two pills were originally special pills used to treat red body disease and cold body disease, respectively.

At this moment, Song Chen was going to replace it, neutralizing the crimson and cold energy into pure spiritual energy.

"Don't adjust the pills yet, try replacing only half of them."

To be on the safe side, Song Chen did not force the medicinal power of the whole pill into half of it, but instead cut the pill in half and replaced each half.

The moment the half-pill, containing intense cold and crimson energy, touched Song Chen, a fierce white light appeared before his eyes, followed by a violent explosion.

boom!

Song Chen was blasted several meters away and his body became embedded in the wall. He was covered in dust and dirt, but fortunately he was not injured.

The two halves of the pill turned black, resembling a discarded pill.

Failed.

Most people would be too scared to continue in this situation and give up immediately, but Song Chen was different. Instead, he thought about the reasons for his failure.

"The theory is feasible, so why are there problems in practice?"

Song Chen recalled that at the moment of merging the pills, the crimson energy seemed to be slightly stronger than the cold energy.

"This time, we'll first adjust the medicinal properties of the pill to make them as even as possible before cutting the pill."

He took out two more pills, but this time he didn't cut them immediately.

Instead, one first uses spiritual energy to bring the two pills to a near-balanced state on one side before cutting them.

Unfortunately, the ideal is beautiful, but the reality is cruel. Achieving a balance between the two pills is an extremely difficult task.

boom!

Song Chenmei bloomed twice, embedding herself in the wall, her lips covered with a trace of frost, her body frozen with a thin layer of ice.

"Again! This time the cold is stronger!"

Undeterred, he began the replacement process again...

No. 18 South Alley, next door.

A sleepy-eyed woman nestled against her husband, saying sweetly, "Husband! It's so noisy next door!"

"Let's be patient a little longer, if it still..."

boom!

The man stood up, his eyes heavily dark-circled, and put on his clothes. "Let's go! Let's give the neighbors some peace and quiet!"

Song Chen was in high spirits. This replacement was more successful than the previous ones, and it was very likely to succeed!

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Who? So late at night!

boom!

With his mind distracted, Song Chen was overwhelmed by the weight of the pills and once again embedded himself in the wall.

"Damn it, is this never going to end? We've only been here a few days, and they keep coming over!"

Song Chen cursed angrily, subconsciously assuming that the disaster was caused by the Blood Spirit Root, and stormed out the door.

He conjured a refined rocket in his right hand, which emitted specks of green light.

Even someone at the sixth level of Qi Refining would feel a chill from this attack.

Song Chen instinctively wanted to throw it out, wanting to strike first and kill the person outside the door directly. Even if he couldn't kill them first, he could still catch them off guard.

But just as he was about to make a move, he heard the man shout.

"Quiet down! Can't a person get some sleep at night?!"

Song Chen was stunned for a moment, put away the rocket, and then realized that he had just disturbed the peace.

Outside the door, the couple stood in the cold wind for a while. Seeing that there was no movement in Song Chen's courtyard for a long time, most of their anger was dissipated by the cold wind.

Sleepiness washed over them; they had been working hard outside for the past few days and hadn't slept for days, so they desperately needed a good night's rest.

The man threatened, "If you keep arguing, don't blame me for being ruthless!"

"My dear husband, I'm so sleepy."

"Husband, carry you on your back! Let's go back to sleep!"

The two of them dragged each other back to number 18.

Meanwhile, Song Chen, inside the door, awkwardly scratched his head, thinking, "Should I send some spirit stones as compensation tomorrow?"

The next day.

The sun has not yet risen, and the swallows have not yet set out.

A bamboo basket appeared in front of No. 18 South Alley, containing ten spirit stones and an apology note.

Clearly, Song Chen has done everything in his power to avoid the harm caused by the Blood Spirit Root.

However, the so-called "intolerance by Heaven" of the Blood Spirit Root cannot be smoothed over by just a few trivial matters.