Cultivation: Beginning with the Heart Reflecting Heaven and Earth

Outer disciples can receive one bottle of Yellow Sprout Pill per month, and need two more bottles, which requires sixty contribution points.

Lu Qian earns an average of three contribution points per day for completing the wood-chopping task, which seems sufficient to sustain his expenses.

However, considering the time required for chopping wood, Lu Qian couldn't possibly chop wood every day, so he needed to balance his cultivation time with his task time.

"No wonder the woodcutting task is always hiring. It's too busy. After completing the task, you're so tired that you just want to sleep, and your cultivation effect is not good. Although the Wanmu Forest has spiritual veins, the various spiritual energies are mixed, making it difficult to refine them."

The environments where ironwood and redwood grow are different. The spiritual energy is singular, and there are people cutting down trees nearby, making noise. Although they are also spiritual veins, they may not be as good as places without spiritual veins.

"Let's do the wood-chopping task first as a transition, and then find an opportunity to switch to another task later."

There was no other way; this was Lu Qian's best option at the moment. He had originally planned to reach the second level of Qi Refining in a month, but that was under the condition that he had plenty of time and resources. Obviously, that was not the case at present.

"I still have one spell to claim, I'll go claim it first."

He already has a Qi Sword, so he doesn't need offensive spells for the time being. Besides, the spells that can be obtained for free will definitely be obsolete in the future, so it's better to choose a utility spell.

In the end, Lu Qian chose the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique. His desire to refine pills remained unchanged. By learning the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique, he could protect the spiritual herbs and thus get involved in pill refining. However, he soon realized that he was wrong.

"The Lesser Spirit Rain Technique is a basic spell for spiritual plants. Although alchemists need to process spiritual herbs, they do not cultivate them themselves. You have made the wrong choice."

Nie Tiefeng laughed heartily, then changed the subject, "However, ordinary people don't have access to alchemists. It's fine for you to develop in the direction of spiritual plants. Many alchemy masters are also planting masters. They have enough understanding of the properties of spiritual herbs to create their own pill formulas and improve pills, so it doesn't matter."

Although Nie Tiefeng was trying to comfort Lu Qian, Lu Qian felt that he hadn't made the wrong choice. Who said that a spirit plant master couldn't refine pills? At worst, he could just produce and consume his own.

Judging from what Lu Qian has seen and heard at the Canghai Sect recently, the Pill Pavilion is not something that ordinary people can access. Without a guide, it is difficult to even get close to the pill furnace, let alone learn how to refine pills.

To join the Pill Pavilion, one must first study alchemy at Purple Smoke Peak, where the Pill Pavilion is located. To join Purple Smoke Peak, one must demonstrate a certain level of alchemy ability. And if one does not join the Pill Pavilion, where can one learn alchemy?

Therefore, many alchemists are actually trained from a young age, with family traditions and master-disciple skills. If someone wants to learn alchemy halfway through their career, they have neither the connections nor the resources, so they can only leave it for later.

Even so, Lu Qian was prepared to try it himself. He could refine pills in his inner world without consuming many materials. As long as he practiced enough times, there shouldn't be any problems.

More than a month has passed since the first time the green bamboo was cut down. Lu Qian and Nie Tiefeng have become good friends, but his cultivation level has not broken through to the second level of Qi Refining in just one month as he had expected.

There's nothing we can do about it. A single logging mission takes at least two days, and the loot is just enough for two days of cultivation. It's like working one day and cultivating the next. What was originally planned as a one-month breakthrough has now become almost two months.

However, with the Yellow Sprout Pills issued by the sect, Lu Qian didn't really have to work every day to cultivate one tree. He only did logging tasks for about ten days a month, and he was about to reach the second level of Qi Refining.

As for swordsmanship, Lu Qian thought that his mastery of the One Qi Across the Sky technique would attract attention, but in reality, no one cared. No matter how difficult the One Qi Across the Sky technique was, it was still a basic swordsmanship. Learning it was like a child learning two-digit addition and subtraction. It was worth praising, but that was all. It didn't mean he was a genius.

However, as long as one's comprehension does not reach the level that causes a qualitative change, spiritual roots are still more important. Therefore, Lu Qian is still just an ordinary disciple with three spiritual roots.

After seeing Nie Tiefeng off, Lu Qian went into seclusion. He first broke through several times in his inner world without any problems before taking Huangya Dan and breaking through to the second level of Qi Refining in one fell swoop.

The bottleneck in the early stages of Qi Refining is almost non-existent, but it can be quite difficult for those with four or five spiritual roots.

After his breakthrough, Lu Qian planned to go to the exchange fair. He had forty or fifty spirit stones, which should be enough to buy something.

The exchange fair within the Canghai Sect is different from the marketplace. It's basically an outer sect disciple selling things they don't need. It's difficult to find a bargain or lose too much money; it's essentially a second-hand market.

Lu Qian had heard of this exchange event before, but he had never been there, focusing solely on completing missions and cultivating diligently. Now, however, he could finally make the trip.

However, before he could make up his mind, Chen Yu, who hadn't come for a while, arrived. He was different from his previous dejected appearance. Although he was still wearing the clothes of a servant, he had a spirited feeling and seemed to have regained his former confidence.

"This means... they've managed to latch onto a powerful figure?"

The thought flashed through Lu Qian's mind instantly, and he couldn't think of any other possibility.

"Senior Brother Lu, I've looked for you several times, but you've never been here."

Chen Yu casually found a chair and sat down. He immediately noticed the tea on the table and smiled. "Did you just see off some guests? It seems you're not just focusing on your cultivation, Senior Brother Lu. You do interact with others."

Lu Qian smiled slightly, "We're just fellow disciples who do missions together, and we occasionally have a cup of tea when we have some free time."

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have almost forgotten. You've been chopping wood in the Wanmu territory the whole time. Aren't you tired?"

Chen Yu was about to continue speaking when he suddenly noticed that Lu Qian's aura was somewhat unpredictable, and he was immediately startled, "You've already reached the second level of Qi Refining?"

For ordinary people with three spiritual roots, it takes about three months to break through to the second level of Qi Refining. This is considered relatively fast, assuming a constant supply of resources.

Lu Qian has only been a disciple for about two months, yet he has already reached the second level of Qi Refining. Chen Yu naturally finds it hard to understand.

Lu Qian himself knew the reason. He entered the cultivation faster than others, and he improved some of the difficulties in the cultivation method through the inner world, which extended the cultivation time. One day of cultivation was almost equivalent to two days for others. With this back and forth, it was normal for his breakthrough speed to be faster.

If it weren't for the need to complete tasks and purchase pills, he could have broken through to the second level of Qi Refining in a month.

Faced with Chen Yu's surprised expression, Lu Qian simply said, "I've had some lucky insight and made a small breakthrough."

He did want to keep a low profile, but whether he did or not didn't really matter, at least not at this stage, as not many people were paying attention to him. He'd deal with the future later.

"It seems that the cultivation method you have chosen is very suitable for you."

Chen Yu quickly found a reason. After all, Lu Qian had no background or resources. He was just a villager, which Chen Yu knew very well. His talent was only three spiritual roots, but he was so much faster than other three spiritual roots. It could only be because the cultivation method was compatible.