Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

Just as Xu Kuzhou had predicted, the next few days were filled with alchemy. Several batches of pills were fired at once, and the entire day was consumed by alchemy. Only when he was extremely tired did he have a little time to meditate and cultivate.

However, after each alchemy session, Xu Kuzhou would give Lu Qian some pills as appropriate. Of course, there were also times when the furnace would explode. If the furnace exploded continuously, it would be considered a state of depletion, and naturally there would be nothing left.

After working non-stop for five days and refining nearly a hundred bottles of Huangya Dan, Xu Kuzhou finally said he could rest. Only then could Lu Qian truly rest. After practicing Qi circulation for five cycles, he slept for a full day and night before waking up.

Fortunately, he had cultivated the Xuanjing Technique, which gave him abundant energy. Otherwise, even if he cultivated immortality, he wouldn't have been able to endure working for five days and five nights at high intensity. The main reason was that his cultivation level was too low.

"I thought I was going to learn alchemy, but I ended up doing manual labor."

Despite saying that, Lu Qian had no regrets. After all, how could anyone sincerely teach you if you don't put in any effort?

Moreover, for Lu Qian, after these few days of alchemy, although he hasn't gotten the hang of it yet, he has already memorized Xu Kuzhou's alchemy techniques completely. All he needs to do now is replicate them in his mental world.

Within his inner world, Lu Qian's surroundings changed, with earth fire raging. He was still using his own Day Furnace, "For refining Yellow Sprout Pills, the Day Furnace is sufficient."

Then came the various processed medicinal herbs, which Lu Qian put into the mixture one by one. Suddenly, a burnt smell appeared, and the alchemy failed!

"The earth fire is still a bit difficult to control; I need to get used to it. However, if I can even adapt to the earth fire, my alchemy skills will also improve."

Controlling fire is a basic requirement for alchemy, which goes without saying. Lu Qian began to try refining pills repeatedly, but problems arose one after another.

"Your cultivation level is too low; you need to control the use of your true energy."

"We can't add too many herbs at once; we must test their properties first..."

"Some medicinal herbs may not show any signs of spoilage on the surface, but they may actually be spoiled or contain too many impurities, which could easily cause an explosion in the oven."

"Don't add too much Xuan Water, or it will affect the success rate of pill formation!"

As expected, what you learn from books is never enough. Lu Qian thought he had already mastered it and that he could successfully refine Huangya Dan in just a few tries.

In fact, the process was much more difficult than he had imagined. The slightest carelessness could lead to failure in alchemy. Sometimes, even if he knew where the problem was, he simply couldn't handle it. It was best to discover the problem in advance and solve it beforehand.

"Some things, you only realize how difficult they are once you do them!"

He failed dozens of times in a row. If he were to actually refine pills in the real world, he wouldn't be able to buy that many materials even if he sold himself. Fortunately, he could practice in his mental world.

Before they knew it, a day had passed. Xu Kuzhou called Lu Qian to refine pills again. This time he was not so impatient. While refining pills, he asked Lu Qian what to do next, and he really gave him some pointers.

Five hours later, the batch of pills was finally finished, much slower than usual. This was clearly Xu Kuzhou's deliberate slowing down, as he wanted to take this opportunity to give Lu Qian some pointers.

When it was over, Xu Kuzhou looked at Lu Qian with a strange expression, "You're much smarter than I thought!"

Lu Qian subconsciously adopted a humble tone, "I've just seen a lot more..."

"Alright, you don't need to say these things in front of me. There are countless people who have been nurtured by alchemists since childhood. It's not that they still can't do it."

Xu Kuzhou interrupted Lu Qian, "The first time I saw you refine the Qi and Blood Pill, I couldn't sense any spirituality at all, but your actual practical skills are much stronger than I imagined."

Lu Qian naturally understood what Xu Kuzhou meant by those words. He didn't seem like a genius at alchemy, yet he learned things very quickly, which naturally made Xu Kuzhou feel strange.

As for his strong practical skills, that's entirely because Lu Qian has practiced thousands of times in his inner world. Given any such opportunity, he could probably learn alchemy, so it's really nothing to brag about.

The spirituality that Xu Kuzhou mentioned was probably the comprehension of a pill refiner. Lu Qian really didn't have much of that, so it was normal that he couldn't sense it.

Time flies, and another half month has passed. On this day, Lu Qian was refining pills, and Xu Kuzhou was watching from the side.

Lu Qian tried his best to do every step perfectly. Although he was not yet very skilled, he could not avoid making any mistakes.

Just as he was about to collect the pills, he calmly swallowed a Yellow Sprout Pill to restore his true energy. He then cast a series of spells to collect the dozen or so Yellow Sprout Pills into a jade bottle.

"It was a success on the first try, even better than I expected."

Compared to his previous harshness, Xu Kuzhou's eyes were now full of praise, but also some doubt. "This is clearly your first time refining Yellow Sprout Pills, but it feels like you have a lot of experience?"

"perhaps……"

Lu Qian gave a plausible reason: "Maybe it's because I've seen you so many times lately, and I've been watching you refine the Yellow Sprout Pill, so I've gradually learned how."

"There are many differences between seeing and actually doing it."

Xu Kuzhou didn't believe such words, but he didn't press the matter either. He simply said, "You've been here for almost two months now, and your performance has been quite good. If you had come a few years earlier, I would definitely have recommended you to my master."

"A few years ago? Back then I was herding cattle and farming."

Lu Qian felt somewhat helpless, but he also knew that it was time to part ways. It was already good enough that he had taught him how to refine the Yellow Sprout Pill. Anything beyond that was a secret technique of the sect, something that could not be taught casually.

"Because your cultivation level is too low, and there are some things that you have to learn from a young age, your master will only accept you if your alchemy skills are outstanding among the young disciples."

Although Lu Qian was just making a casual remark, Xu Kuzhou explained seriously, "If you continue down this path, I believe you will still have a chance."

Lu Qian said calmly, "I will, but I have a favor to ask. Could you allow me to cultivate for a while longer? I'm about to break through to the third level of Qi Refining."

Xu Kuzhou naturally wouldn't object, "Half a year is fine. My master will be coming to check my progress in a while, and it won't be good to keep other people then."

Lu Qian went out and returned to the secret room where he had been before, where he began his seclusion.

However, he still felt somewhat helpless. Among the outer disciples, his cultivation speed should not be considered slow. He had only been cultivating for about five months and was about to break through to the third level of Qi Refining.

Unfortunately, these people were all trained and cultivated from a young age, so compared to them, Lu Qian's cultivation speed was nothing special.

"Let's break through as soon as possible. When I was refining the Yellow Sprout Pill, I had to take one halfway through to recover my true energy. Actually, I'm still a bit overwhelmed!"

After three days of seclusion, Lu Qian even practiced in his mind's world to make sure there were no problems before returning to reality to break through the bottleneck of the third level of Qi Refining. Even though he slowed down, he still broke through to the third level of Qi Refining after half an hour.

His body felt lighter, and the quality and quantity of his internal energy had increased significantly. Lu Qian didn't waste any time and took advantage of the spiritual veins still there to consolidate his cultivation.

"The Zhou Tian Xing Qiao is also about to make progress. In about another month, we should be able to outline the seed of consciousness and begin cultivation."

During breaks from alchemy, Lu Qian did not waste any time. Whenever he had a spare moment, he would ponder out the outline of the seed of knowledge. He was not worried about expending his mental energy in his mental world; he could simply practice mindlessly.

Judging by the time it takes, from obtaining the Zhou Tian Xing Qiao to being able to cultivate, it will take about three months. This is the most difficult cultivation method Lu Qian has ever seen, and this is only the beginning.

Even though Lu Qian wasn't very knowledgeable and hadn't seen many cultivation techniques, he believed that there weren't many techniques more difficult than the Zhou Tian Xing Qiao during the Qi Refining stage.