Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

Since he was in the mental world, Lu Qian didn't care about the principle of overdoing it or harming his body. He kept swallowing Qi and Blood Pills to cultivate the Xuanjing Technique, all in order to quickly become familiar with the technique so that he could also quickly get started in reality.

Next, Lu Qian tried several more times, and he succeeded about once every three attempts. The key was that the timing of applying the Heart-Stabilizing Flower was extremely important; it was a matter of a split second, and if one was not careful, the flower would be ruined. This was the main reason for his failure.

"If only I had divine sense, I could observe very carefully and succeed in refining every time."

However, divine sense is something that can only be obtained after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage. Some exceptionally talented individuals may also develop it in the later stages of Qi Refining. Lu Qian is currently only at the early stage of Qi Refining, so he cannot rely on it for the time being.

Having gained some experience, Lu Qian withdrew from the inner world and started refining pills in reality. He felt once again that having a cave dwelling would be enough, but there was no need to worry too much.

The people living nearby are mostly disciples who haven't been in the sect for long, and they are all busy doing tasks. Few of them are like him, staying at home all day.

The path to immortality requires struggle at every step; unless there is truly no hope left, very few people will give up.

Lu Qian opened three furnaces in a row and succeeded twice, refining a total of more than fifty Qi and Blood Pills, which should be enough for a while.

The only failure was missing the opportunity to invest in Guxinhua, but overall, 32% was already quite good, and he didn't take it to heart.

After refining the pills, despite feeling somewhat tired, Lu Qian did not rest. Instead, he swallowed a Qi and Blood Pill and began cultivating the Xuan Whale Technique. As a result, his fatigue quickly disappeared, and he was filled with energy, his face glowing red.

"Body-refining techniques are quite useful in the early stages of cultivation."

For cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining, their true energy will be exhausted after using spells only a few times. Having a good physique is very important, not only to be stronger when carrying things, but also to have more energy.

Spells are very useful, but cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining can't use them many times, nor have they learned many spells, so they naturally seem somewhat useless.

At the appointed time, Lu Qian went to the mission hall and indeed saw many flying boats. The fish pond was in harvest season and needed a lot of manpower.

If it's guarding a fishpond, one person can guard several acres, but harvesting fish is a different story. Spirit fish are not so easy to catch; you need to use special magical tools, which requires a lot of manpower.

Lu Qian's task is to collect spirit pearls. He doesn't know the specifics yet, but he'll find out when he gets there. It shouldn't be too difficult. If it were really that hard, Zhao Qi wouldn't be looking for him.

After boarding the flying boat, Lu Qian discovered that the people around him were all extraordinary in their speech and manner, and did not seem like ordinary outer disciples. Most of them were at the mid-stage of Qi Refining, and there were very few at the early stage of Qi Refining.

He had anticipated this situation. People who could receive such missions were usually those with connections. It was too easy for them to hide a few spirit pearls, just like a woodcutter could easily take away spirit wood. Anyway, the sect couldn't possibly search everyone. Such a lucrative job was not something an ordinary person could get.

If Zhao Qi hadn't known beforehand that there was something fishy about this spirit pearl gathering, he probably would have come himself, and it wouldn't have been Lu Qian's turn.

Therefore, even knowing that he could hide a few spirit pearls, Lu Qian still decided that he should behave himself and absolutely not make any mistakes.

Spirit pearls are valuable items; they can be used for alchemy, weapon crafting, and carrying them can have a calming effect. They can even be used as spirit stones to directly absorb spiritual energy. It's very difficult for ordinary people to buy them.

"Is this your first time here? I don't think I've seen you before."

The speaker was a young girl dressed in a pink palace gown, her hair styled in two buns, with a small nose, pale red cherry lips, and two bright, blinking eyes. She was innocent and carefree, like a young lady who had long lived in seclusion.

Lu Qian didn't want to answer, but everyone on the flying boat was of extraordinary status, and he was worried that not answering would anger them, so he had no choice but to say, "This is my first time here."

The girl continued, "Are you here to collect spirit pearls?"

That's complete nonsense. Every single person on the flying boat is collecting spirit pearls.

Lu Qian could only nod without saying a word.

"You seem like a quiet, reserved person. You don't look that old, so how come you're so mature?"

The girl smiled, revealing her teeth, her voice clear and melodious. She quickly ignored Lu Qian and went to chat with others.

Listening to the girl chatting with others, Lu Qian understood her identity. Her name was Meng Lingjun, and she seemed to be an inner disciple. She had come to select spirit beads, since girls love to dress up and she wanted to choose a few suitable spirit beads to make necklaces and bracelets.

Spirit pearls are relatively rare spiritual materials, and they are also the property of the sect. For them to openly choose spirit pearls to make bracelets, their background must be extraordinary.

However, Lu Qian not only had no intention of currying favor with them, but also wanted to stay far away.

Such a person's every move is watched by protectors. If you try to approach him rashly, you won't even know how you died. He has no intention of doing anything about it.

Not long after leaving the Canghai Sect, the flying boats split up and flew in different directions, and in the blink of an eye, they had reached the sea.

Since the Canghai Sect is named after the sea, it is naturally not far from the sea, and many spiritual materials, spiritual fish, and spiritual shells related to the sea are cultivated in the near sea.

Several hours later, the flying boat landed on an island. After everyone disembarked, the person in charge spoke up, "When you are taking the spirit pearls, try not to damage the spirit shells. Don't take any spirit pearls smaller than your little finger; just let them go."

Some people even bring special tools and magical implements, such as a jade stick that looks like a pencil. As long as you touch the spirit shell, it will obediently open its shell. Forcibly prying it open will only cause the spirit shell to resist, so you have to use this specially made jade stick.

Using the jade staff also requires consuming true energy, so each person was given a Yellow Sprout Pill to regulate their breathing and meditate. Lu Qian had just run out of Yellow Sprout Pills. He had been refining pills for the past few days and hadn't done any wood-chopping tasks, so his contribution was a bit insufficient. This bottle of Yellow Sprout Pills came at just the right time.

"The pearl harvesting will take about three days. You'd better not slack off or steal any spirit pearls. There will be people supervising you. As long as you complete the task diligently, you can take a few spirit pearls with you when you leave."

Three days, a total of thirty contribution points, and you can even take a spirit pearl with you when you leave—this is quite a generous offer.

When Lu Qian was doing the wood-chopping task, he could hardly earn ten contribution points even after working for two days. Moreover, after completing the task, he was so tired that he didn't even want to move his fingers.

Not to mention, they even gave us a bottle of Huangya Pill in advance. Moreover, the island is full of spiritual energy, so when we meditate and adjust our breathing, it's no different from cultivating on a spiritual vein.

At the manager's command, the hundreds of people were divided into more than a dozen groups and left one after another.

The group that Lu Qian was assigned to was led by Senior Brother Mo, whose cultivation was at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. He was a taciturn man who didn't say anything, just waved his hand, and the group dispersed to the mudflats to start collecting spirit shells and then harvesting pearls.