Daily Intelligence: From Miner to Dao Ancestor of Alchemy and Talismans

The plot is heating up: Update! Come and check it out!

She stood on the cold stone steps, her fingers gripping the hem of her light green skirt so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

When she ran out with Zhou Chengxian, her mind was filled with the image of Xu Yuan releasing his pressure. She thought that the man who had been stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for ten years and had long since become just another ordinary person had already reached a height that she had to look up to in just half a month.

Zhou Chengxian was crippled by the robber, his spirit wine was stolen, and his reputation was ruined. Forget about Foundation Establishment, it's questionable whether he can even gain a foothold in Qingyafang.

Her bet turned into a complete disaster overnight.

Xu Yuan, the man she once cherished but later discarded like trash, became a Qi Refining Level 5 cultivator whom no one in the market dared to provoke.

Regret and resentment, mixed with greed, made her turn back as if possessed.

Seeing no movement in the courtyard, Liu Yue'er moved closer, her voice softening, tinged with a sob: "Brother Xu, back at Zuixianlou, I was completely bewitched, blinded by Zhou Chengxian's allure, and that's why I said those hurtful things. I was blind, unable to distinguish right from wrong. Please forgive me this time, for the sake of our shared journey from the mountains."

As she spoke, she raised her hand to wipe the corner of her eye, managing to squeeze out a few tears. Her eyes were red and she looked pitiful.

The feelings of a young girl in love were real, but it's also true that seeing Xu Yuan stagnate for ten years, those feelings were worn away by reality.

Now she just wants to rekindle this "old flame" and hold onto this promising opportunity.

The courtyard remained quiet and still, without a sound.

Liu Yue'er bit her lip, deciding to be even more explicit, lowering her voice and carrying a somewhat blatant implication: "Brother Xu, I know it hasn't been easy for you to cultivate alone all these years. As long as you're willing to forgive me, I... I'm willing to stay by your side, be your Daoist partner, serve you every day, accompany you in your cultivation, and have absolutely no other intentions."

As soon as these words were spoken, a commotion finally broke out in the courtyard.

It wasn't the sound of a door opening, but a faint chuckle that came through the door, devoid of any warmth, only chilling indifference.

Xu Yuan sat on a chair in the main room, still clutching the newly drawn Thick Earth Talisman in his hand, too lazy to even get up. He heard every word Liu Yue'er said outside the door, but felt no ripples in his heart, only finding it laughable.

It's been ten years.

When they emerged from the mountains, Liu Yue'er was only fourteen years old. She followed behind him timidly, calling him Brother Xu, and would hide behind him whenever they encountered monsters. He thought this girl was kind-hearted and could maintain her integrity in this cannibalistic world of cultivation.

But ten years have passed, and he watched her gradually become materialistic, her face gradually revealing her ambition to climb the social ladder.

In the Drunken Immortal Pavilion, her words, "Only you are still standing still," and that condescending admonition, still sound as clear as if they were spoken yesterday.

Now that he has gained power, they turn around and cry to admit their mistakes, even offering to become his Daoist partners and serve him.

Xu Yuan knew this kind of person all too well.

Today she can turn around and cling to him because of his fifth level of Qi Refining cultivation, but if he falls into trouble tomorrow, or encounters someone with higher cultivation and more power, she will be the first to turn around and sell him out without even blinking an eye.

Keeping such opportunistic and profit-driven people around is like having a time bomb ready to explode at any moment.

He had lived a life of hardship for ten years, and what he feared most was having such unstable threats around him. Let alone someone throwing themselves at him, even if it were a celestial being descended to earth, if it would affect his cultivation or bring him risks, he would never give her a second glance.

Xu Yuan finally spoke, his voice carrying through the door, cold as ice in the dead of winter, showing no mercy: "My place is too small to accommodate someone as important as you. Leave now, and don't ever come back."

In short, it blocked all avenues of retreat.

Liu Yue'er, standing outside the door, turned pale instantly, as if she had been slapped hard in the face. She stood there stunned, unable to come to her senses for a long time.

She didn't expect Xu Yuan to be so disrespectful, refusing to even open the door and dismissing her with just a few words.

Undeterred, she lunged forward, peeking through the crack in the door and crying, "Brother Xu! Are you really so heartless? Back in the mountains, if it weren't for you protecting me, I would have died long ago! My heart was filled with you back then. I've loved you for so many years, but I only hated you for being so weak, for being stuck at the third level of Qi Refining, that's why I..."

"So you just turned around and started currying favor with Zhou Chengxian, didn't you?"

Xu Yuan's voice came again, still calm, but like a sharp blade, it pierced through all her pretense.

Liu Yue'er's crying stopped abruptly. She froze on the spot, her face turning pale and then red, feeling utterly ashamed.

"Your affection is too cheap; I can't afford it." Xu Yuan's voice had lost all patience. "If you don't leave now, I won't be polite."

The chill in Xu Yuan's words sent a shiver down Liu Yue'er's spine. She finally understood that Xu Yuan was truly determined and would show her no mercy whatsoever. If she continued to speak, she would only suffer more humiliation, and might even bring about her own death.

She stood at the doorway and waited for a long while, but there was no sound from inside the courtyard. Tears mixed with embarrassment streamed down her face. In the end, she could only grit her teeth, clench her fists, and slink away, looking back every few steps.

The alleyway returned to silence.

Xu Yuan didn't even bother to get up and take a look. He casually put the drawn thick earth talisman into the box, turned around, and walked to the meditation bed.

To him, Liu Yue'er's little incident was nothing more than a speck of dust he encountered on the road; once it was blown away, he would forget about it.

His most important tasks right now are cultivation, improving his strength, and preparing for the surprise attack three months from now and the bloodbath six months from now.

Sitting cross-legged, Xu Yuan poured out a high-grade Yuan Qi Powder from the porcelain bottle and swallowed it. The pill melted instantly in his mouth, and the warm medicinal power flowed into his dantian along his meridians, rich and pure.

With the continuous supply of free medicinal herbs from Wu Song of Baodan Tower, he no longer needed to be as frugal as before, even when refining a batch of pills. Now, the high-grade Yuanqi Powder in his pill furnace was never out of stock. Combined with the aid of spirit stones in his cultivation, and the exquisite control over spiritual power brought by the True Understanding of Fire Control, his cultivation progressed at a speed far exceeding what he had imagined ten years ago.

The spiritual energy circulates within the body along the path of the cultivation technique, completing one cycle after another.

The barrier of the fifth level of Qi Refining, which was originally separated by a thin membrane, gradually loosened and shattered under the continuous erosion of medicinal power.

The spiritual energy within his dantian became increasingly condensed and profound, his meridians were widened considerably, and even his divine sense became much more acute than before.

He was completely unaware of the sunrise and sunset outside the window.

When hungry, he would take a bite of the fasting pills he had prepared beforehand; when tired, he would close his eyes and meditate for half an hour before continuing his cultivation.

The three days passed in a flash during this period of seclusion and intensive practice.