Cultivation begins with alchemy and collecting runes.

Cultivating immortality knows no time; three months will pass.

Li Xiuyuan stood by the pond next to the pavilion, mentally calculating the time the Migu Rat had been asleep.

Half an hour later.

The adorable Migu Mouse slowly woke up and strolled over to Li Xiuyuan, shaking its head.

"Not bad, this superior-grade 'Love Potion' can make Migu, who is at the third level of Qi Refining, fall into a deep sleep for an hour."

He held a top-grade fasting pill in his hand and fed it to the Migu rat.

『Migu Migu』.

After taking the Bigu Pill, the previously drowsy Migu Mouse's spirits barely improved.

During these three months, Li Xiuyuan was immersed in refining "love potion" and experimenting with its effects.

Through the selfless dedication of the Migu Rat, Li Xiuyuan roughly concluded that a high-grade "Bewitching Powder" could make a second-tier Azure Spirit Snake fall into a deep sleep for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

This timing is critical; the slightest mistake will provoke the Azure Serpent's rage.

A second-tier demonic beast going berserk unleashes combat power far exceeding that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Even disciples from major sects and families wouldn't dare to provoke a raging second-tier demon beast alone.

But who is Li Xiuyuan?

He has a cheat code!

Li Xiuyuan extended his divine sense deep into his sea of ​​consciousness, focusing his gaze on a white rune.

【Love Potion (Complete), 459/500】

[Bewitching Powder [Rune Reward]: Drowsy Sleep x3 (Refinable)]

"One [Sleep Induced] rune is enough to extend the duration of half an incense stick. I have three here, which, combined with the [Bewitching Powder], are enough to keep the Azure Spirit Serpent asleep for more than two incense sticks' worth of time, enough to harvest the Blood Marrow Grass."

……

The days that followed were extremely uneventful.

Li Xiuyuan was so obsessed with improving his cultivation that he couldn't extricate himself.

He never forgot his reliance in the cultivation world: cultivation level, cultivation level, and more cultivation level.

The more his cultivation level increases, the greater his chances of obtaining the Blood Marrow Grass will be.

During this time, he went to the mining area twice, "encouraging" Wu Wen and the others, and casually gave each of them a bottle of mid-grade Qi-nourishing pills to quell their resentment.

He then went to Black Wind Market to purchase some pills to improve his mid-level Qi Refining cultivation.

Black Wind Market.

Walking on the chaotic and crowded streets, Li Xiuyuan looked around at the scattered repair stalls.

There are many more people today, perhaps because it's harvest season in the Wanyao Mountains.

Many more demon hunter teams have emerged, posting recruitment notices in twos and threes, looking for people to form teams to go into the mountains to hunt demons and collect herbs.

"I hope it won't interfere with my Blood Marrow Grass, otherwise the magic sword will start a massacre again."

Li Xiuyuan gazed at the bustling market of independent cultivators, strolling among the crowd as if searching for spiritual objects that interested him.

He has spent most of his time these past few months refining pills, experimenting with refining pills.

But he would still come to the market from time to time to buy medicinal herbs, with the intention of finding a bargain.

After all, this place is deep in the Second Mountain Range, and it is rich in untapped monster resources.

Who knows, that lucky rogue cultivator might have found some incredible treasure in the mountains.

Let's not go too far back, let's go back five hundred years.

The son-in-law of the Xu family, a clan specializing in alchemy, in a certain place in the State of Chu, found the treasure while gathering herbs in the mountains.

He voluntarily handed it over to the wandering Golden Core Immortal, and the son-in-law's descendant thus became the Immortal's disciple, rising to prominence overnight.

Along with his father, a son-in-law with mixed spiritual roots, he also received a Foundation Establishment Pill as a reward from the True Person, and in one day he established his foundation and became a Foundation Establishment Master.

This became a popular story both inside and outside Chu!

Therefore, many rogue cultivators who hoped to rise to the top in one step and receive the help of an adult had the idea of ​​going into the mountains to collect treasures.

It wasn't until recent decades that the gold rush gradually subsided.

However, the many rare resources within the Wan Yao Mountain Range are real and tangible.

Li Xiuyuan walked along East Street, his eyes taking in the goods on the stalls on both sides.

Meridian-Opening Pill, Qi-Transforming Pill, and Qi-Nourishing Pill—these common first-grade low-level pills are plentiful at the stalls of independent cultivators.

As Li Xiuyuan walked to the end of the alley in the east, he saw an unfamiliar stall.

The stall was very neat, with five or six porcelain bottles on a white cloth, each with a handwritten label.

Li Xiuyuan squatted down, his gaze sweeping over the labels.

Four pieces of Turbidity-Clearing Pill. Three pieces of Qi-Condensing Powder. Five pieces of Killing Qi Pill.

The first two are pills that can enhance the cultivation of mid-stage cultivators, but unfortunately, their effects are not as good as the Qi-enhancing Pill.

This was the first time he had ever seen this Demonic Qi Pill; he had no memory of this pill in his mind.

The name is similar to the Sha Yuan Dan (煞元丹), and its purpose is to assist cultivators in breaking through, but it will draw in evil energy into the body.

"What kind of pill is the Fiend Qi Pill? Is it a mid-grade first-tier pill? What is it used for?"

After three months of consumption, Li Xiuyuan had very few spirit stones left, about five hundred spirit stones.

He wanted to buy the Spirit Awakening Pill, but none of the markets around Blackwind City sold this kind of pill.

This caused his cultivation speed to be slowed down considerably.

If this evil spirit pill works, he might as well give it a try.

The stall owner was an elderly woman in her sixties, with a thin face and a strong aura, seemingly at the sixth level of Qi Refining cultivation.

Hearing this, he looked up at Li Xiuyuan and explained, "This Fiend Qi Pill was made by my old man based on the first-grade high-quality Fiend Yuan Pill. It can't help you break through your cultivation level, but it can accelerate your cultivation. However, it will generate fiend qi in your body and damage your meridians."

"These five spirit stones aren't even enough to cover my coffin expenses, but unfortunately the side effects are too severe, so nobody buys them."

"They spend all their time researching this stuff...don't they even know how to supplement their income?"

The old lady muttered under her breath, her words filled with complaints about her husband, but Li Xiuyuan didn't respond.

He picked up the bottle of the Fiend Qi Pill, opened it, and smelled it. The three pills were dark red in color, and their medicinal fragrance was strong, no less than that of the Spirit Awakening Pill.

Li Xiuyuan's primary task is to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining and become a late-stage cultivator, so that he can release his spiritual power as protective Qi to protect his body, thus increasing his ability to defend himself against second-tier demonic beasts.

His physical cultivation was strong enough, and his internal organs were already extremely robust due to the nourishment of the original qi and blood day and night. A little bit of evil qi probably could not harm him.

"Do you have any more? I'll take them all!"

Li Xiuyuan picked up the bottle of evil energy pills and asked a question.

The old lady looked at Li Xiuyuan as if he were a naive young man, her gaze full of surprise. Then she held up her finger: "Including the ones in your hand, there are ten more."

Li Xiuyuan tossed down fifty spirit stones, took the pills, and turned to leave.

He also bought some "Spirit Feeding Pills" to help spirit beasts advance and comprehend the power of their bloodlines.

Another 150 spirit stones were spent.

The Migu Rat's cultivation level had also reached the initial bottleneck, and the Bigu Pill was no longer effective against it.

In this scheme concerning the Blood Marrow Grass, the higher the cultivation level of the Misty Valley Rat, the better.

……

Back in Blackwind City, Li Xiuyuan sat cross-legged.

Pour the dark red pills from the medicine bottle into your palm.

It has a strong medicinal aroma with a slightly pungent spice scent.

Li Xiuyuan did not hesitate and took the elixir.

The elixir melts instantly upon entering the mouth.

A surge of scorching medicinal power exploded down my abdomen, completely different from the warm and gentle medicinal power of the Qiling Pill. It was like suddenly drinking a large can of strong liquor, with the heat rushing to my internal organs.

The pure spiritual energy within the meridians was rapidly circulated by this volatile medicinal power, and the cultivation speed was comparable to that of taking the Qi-awakening Pill.

The spiritual energy he refined continuously strengthened his dantian and qi sea.

Immediately afterwards, a chilling aura seeped out from the medicinal power.

Li Xiuyuan frowned slightly, but he didn't pay it any mind.

With his strong physique and abundant blood and energy, his internal organs and meridians, which had been washed by the evil energy, only felt a slight chill.

The evil energy did not actually invade the internal organs.

At the same time, the body's vital energy and blood are also exerting their power.

The power of Qi and blood transforms into an invisible barrier, firmly blocking the evil Qi from entering the meridians and preventing it from contaminating them.

Although this slowed down the speed of refining spiritual energy slightly, it was still within Li Xiuyuan's acceptable range.

In the days that followed, Li Xiuyuan provided ample spirit stones and evil energy pills to help him.

Li Xiuyuan's cultivation level is steadily improving towards the peak of the sixth level of Qi Refining.

……

Cultivating immortality knows no time; six months passed in the blink of an eye.

As dawn broke, Li Xiuyuan finished refining the last drop of the evil energy pill's medicinal power. The remaining evil energy in his body was almost crushed by the abundant blood and qi and the golden flame magic power within him, and the spiritual energy in his dantian was filled to the critical point.

Li Xiuyuan opened the panel:

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 6, 90/100]

[Technique: Golden Flame Heaven-Burning Technique, Initial Understanding: 98/100]

He is only one step away from the late stage of Qi Refining.

Li Xiuyuan plans to attempt to reach the late stage of Qi Refining.

Based on the cultivation insights that Li Xiuyuan obtained from Xiao Huo, Du Wuxin, and others.

To outsiders, the bottleneck between the mid-stage and late-stage Qi Refining realms would be an insurmountable chasm.

The first method: stimulate a breakthrough through a life-or-death struggle.

This method increases the probability of breaking through bottlenecks by stimulating potential.

The last, gentler method is to take a breakthrough pill, using the power of the pill to 'dissolve' the bottleneck.

However, breakthrough pills are always in short supply, and once they appear, they are snapped up by cultivators, with prices often reaching exorbitant levels.

This amount of spirit stones is not something an ordinary cultivator can afford.

The third method is to slowly refine one's magical power, making it more refined, in order to wait for the right time to break through the bottleneck.

However, the time required varies and is full of uncertainty.

This is the method chosen by the vast majority of cultivators.

After all, breakthrough pills are expensive, costing at least six or seven hundred spirit stones, which makes countless ordinary cultivators despair.

A life-or-death battle is fraught with danger; a single misstep can lead to certain death.

As for breakthrough pills, Black Wind Market doesn't even have Spirit Awakening Pills, let alone this.

Even in the surrounding areas where cultivators live, there are no breakthrough pills for sale.

But Li Xiuyuan wasn't worried at all. He had no bottlenecks before he reached the Golden Core stage in his main cultivation of the Golden Flame Burning Heaven Technique. He only needed to hone his magical power along the way.

Moreover, he had accumulated dozens of "mixed magical powers" on him, which he hadn't used before. Wasn't this the moment he was waiting for?

Li Xiuyuan continuously honed his magical power and comprehended the cultivation techniques.

Half a month later, when his own magical power was about to overflow, Li Xiuyuan did not hesitate to choose to break through the bottleneck of the late stage of Qi Refining.

……

"Concentrate your mind, calm your breath, embrace your inner essence, and guard your oneness!"

Li Xiuyuan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, surrounded by a hundred spirit stones. He released spiritual pressure that shattered the spirit stones.

Once his energy and spirit reached their peak, he slowly opened his eyes, his expression cold and stern.

"Now!"

He unleashed a burst of magical power to activate the Gold-Swallowing Spirit Bowl, then fully activated the [Golden Flame Burning Heaven Technique].

This time, the spiritual energy flowing in from all directions was purified by the spirit bowl, and the pure spiritual energy was absorbed into his body.

Under the accelerated refining effect of the cultivation technique, spiritual energy is continuously condensed and compressed according to the technique's cycle, and finally circulates again.

Until the dantian is so full that it is about to overflow with spiritual power, which is then continuously pushed forward by the subsequent refined spiritual power.

A faint crimson halo emanated from his body, flickering like flames burning.

As time went on, the red glow grew brighter and brighter.

The spiritual energy repeatedly impacted the boundaries of the dantian, causing the dantian, which was originally full to its limit, to expand continuously due to the added spiritual energy.

Li Xiuyuan's black hair at his temples moved without wind, and his breathing maintained a specific rhythm and pace, continuously advancing.

One cycle, two cycles, three cycles.

As the golden flames of heaven-burning magic power continuously circulated within the tiny meridians and thick veins, circle after circle without ceasing.

By the thirteenth cycle, the magical power in the dantian had not increased in the slightest.

Li Xiuyuan knew that there was an invisible barrier blocking the path of the seventh layer of Golden Flame Burning Heaven magic.

This step is what worldly cultivators refer to as the bottleneck!

At this moment, the magical power within his body was like a river flowing downhill being cut in half by a dam, unable to move forward.

Li Xiuyuan smiled slightly, his divine sense reaching the remaining ten 'mixed magic power' runes deep within his sea of ​​consciousness.

He refined it in one go.

"Today."

With a thought, Li Xiuyuan guided the ten white spirit fish to charge forward, controlling the Golden Flame Burning Heaven magic power.

"Bang!"

The invisible dam at the boundary of the dantian seemed to have opened a crack.

Splash!

The spiritual power that had been suppressed to the limit suddenly found a way out.

The next instant, external spiritual energy surged back into his body.

The flow rate of spiritual energy within the meridians increased rapidly, doubling, tripling, tripled...

As the dantian expanded, the spiritual energy that had reached its limit quickly spread out and was then filled with newly refined spiritual energy.

In Li Xiuyuan's mind it seemed like thousands of years had passed, but in reality it was only a few breaths.

A surge of vibrant and energetic spiritual energy washed over his dantian, bringing a warm current.

Li Xiuyuan's expression relaxed, and a flash of joy crossed his heart.

Then, carefully control your magical power to flow along the new meridians opened by the Golden Flame Burning Heaven Technique.

Without the slightest slackening, he immediately consolidated his newly broken-through realm.

Half an hour later.

Li Xiuyuan slowly opened his eyes, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and looked down at his lower abdomen.

I can clearly feel that my spiritual energy is flowing more smoothly and stably.

With twice the amount of mana in his dantian, his combat power increased, whether it was the ability to extend the duration of battles or to fly on a sword.

His divine sense spread throughout the house, carefully sensing every corner, growing to a range of approximately 65 zhang in diameter.

It far surpasses the usual sixty feet of a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, and even more so the strength of his divine sense.

His current spiritual sense is comparable to that of a cultivator at the peak of the late stage of Qi Refining, and is only slightly inferior to that of a cultivator at the perfection of Qi Refining.

[Realm Level: Qi Refining Level 7, 5/100]

[Technique: Golden Flame Heaven-Burning Technique, Advanced Level, 1/100]

"The feeling of being powerful is wonderful!"