On the path to immortality, I can see destiny.

With the five Qingling Pills tucked in his hand, Zhao Fan walked briskly toward the main peak of Danfeng.

Three years have passed since he first joined the sect. It has been a full three years, and he finally has the confidence to stand in front of Uncle Gu again.

The bamboo groves on both sides of the mountain path swayed gently in the breeze, making a rustling sound.

The waiter, following at his feet, seemed to sense his excitement and walked much faster than usual.

Uncle Gu's courtyard remained quiet, with its blue bricks and gray tiles, and a few bamboo stalks in front of the door.

Zhao Fan took a deep breath and raised his hand to knock on the door.

"Come in."

The old man's voice came from inside.

Zhao Fan pushed open the door and entered. In the courtyard, Uncle Gu was sitting at the stone table, holding a cup of tea in his hand, with the chessboard still in front of him.

Seeing Zhao Fan enter, he put down his teacup, glanced at him, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"I've reached the seventh level of Qi Refining, and my spiritual sense has also broken through."

Uncle Gu nodded, his tone calm, but his eyes held a hint of satisfaction.

"It seems these three years haven't been wasted."

Zhao Fan clasped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"Senior, this disciple wishes to take the inner sect test again."

Uncle Gu glanced at him, but didn't ask any further questions; he simply nodded slightly.

"Go to the main peak and wait for me. I'll be there in a bit."

Zhao Fan nodded, clasped his hands in a fist salute, turned and left, with the waiter following him.

The two, one person and one pet, walked along the stone steps towards the alchemy room, one in front and one behind.

"Master, it seems you were right after all. He really does have a secret."

After Zhao Fan left, a young man came out of the house.

This person was none other than Master Gu's disciple.

Uncle Gu smiled slightly and asked how he could tell.

"He's used quite a few Spirit Gathering Pills lately, but he was just a rogue cultivator before, where did he get so many spirit stones?"

"Let's go. He should pass the test without any problems. I'll have you find him a place to stay and build a good relationship with him. It can't hurt."

After saying this, the old man got up and headed towards the main peak.

The young cultivator immediately followed behind.

……

Inside the alchemy room, the middle-aged cultivator was arranging medicinal herbs behind the counter.

Upon seeing Uncle Gu enter, he quickly stood up and respectfully clasped his hands in greeting.

"Uncle-Master Gu."

Uncle Gu waved his hand, walked to the alchemy room on one side of the alchemy room, pushed open the door, and gestured for Zhao Fan to go in.

The alchemy room was small, with a pill furnace in the center, the very one Zhao Fan had used for testing three years ago.

On the stone table next to them, several portions of the ingredients for the Qingling Pill were neatly arranged.

Uncle Gu leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, and said calmly.

"Let's begin."

Zhao Fan took a deep breath and walked to the alchemy furnace.

He didn't rush to take action, but first sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing for a while.

Three years ago, he stood here, his spiritual sense so weak that he couldn't even fully perceive the timing of the fire, and he barely managed to refine two low-grade pills.

Three years later, he stands here again, his consciousness now completely different from before.

He opened his eyes, placed his hands on the alchemy furnace, and slowly poured in spiritual energy.

The spirit stones at the bottom of the furnace lit up, and the temperature inside began to rise. Zhao Fan closed his eyes and sensed, probing the furnace with his divine sense to feel every flicker of the flames.

Clear, precise, without the slightest ambiguity. He could sense every temperature change inside the furnace, and every subtle reaction of the medicinal herbs in the flames.

This feeling is completely different from three years ago.

The first ingredient was added, the second, the third... His movements were fluid and seamless.

Without the aid of spiritual energy to form threads, and without the assistance of the Azure Gold Furnace, he relied solely on his own divine sense and techniques.

He proceeded steadily and meticulously, melting the medicine, dividing the pills, and solidifying them. He divided the liquid into five portions, which spun, solidified, and took shape in the furnace.

Outside the alchemy room, the young cultivator walked over at some point and stood behind Uncle Gu, watching quietly.

He was Master Gu's apprentice, and he was also present when Zhao Fan took his first test three years ago.

He remembered that Zhao Fan's spiritual consciousness was pitifully weak at the time, and the two pills he refined were not even considered low-grade.

At this moment, as he watched Zhao Fan's fluid movements and the pills gradually taking shape in the furnace, a hint of shock flashed in his eyes.

In three years, from barely managing to refine pills to consistently producing five medium-quality Qingling Pills, this rate of progress is considered fast even in the Pill Peak.

He glanced at Uncle Gu, who remained expressionless, only slightly curving his lips.

After an unknown amount of time, the alchemy furnace emitted a soft sound.

Zhao Fan opened his eyes, lifted the furnace lid, and five pills rolled out from the spit and landed in his palm.

The pill is light golden in color, round and smooth, with clear patterns. Its quality is medium, not the best, but definitely not bad.

Using an ordinary alchemy furnace, he refined five medium-quality Qingling Pills through his own divine sense and technique.

Uncle Gu walked over, picked one up from his palm, looked at it, smelled it, and nodded.

He didn't say anything more, but simply put the pill back in Zhao Fan's palm and turned to walk out of the alchemy room.

"Go register."

His voice was calm, but Zhao Fan could hear the satisfaction in it.

Zhao Fan was overjoyed and quickly followed.

The young cultivator followed behind him, his gaze towards Zhao Fan filled with complex emotions.

The three arrived at the alchemy room counter. Uncle Gu said something to the middle-aged cultivator, who nodded, took out a booklet from under the counter, opened a page, and handed it to Zhao Fan.

"Name, age, cultivation level, spiritual root."

Zhao Fan took the pen and filled in the blanks one by one.

The middle-aged cultivator glanced at it, then took out a new jade tablet, engraved Zhao Fan's information on it, and handed it over.

The jade pendant felt warm and smooth to the touch. The front was engraved with the three characters "Suyang Sect," and the back was his name.

Unlike the previous jade token belonging to an outer disciple, this jade token had a ring of light gold lines around its edge and felt slightly warm to the touch.

Congratulations, Junior Brother Zhao.

The middle-aged monk's tone was much gentler than before.

Zhao Fan clasped his hands in thanks and carefully tied the jade pendant to his waist.

Uncle Gu glanced at him and said calmly.

"From now on, you will be an inner disciple of Danfeng. Your senior brother will explain the rules of the inner sect to you."

He gestured with his chin toward the young monk.

"Take him to choose a place to stay."

The young cultivator nodded and smiled at Zhao Fan.

"Junior Brother Zhao, come with me."

Zhao Fan clasped his hands in farewell to his Uncle-Master Gu and followed the young cultivator out of the alchemy room.

The two walked up the stone steps, the young cultivator leading the way at a slow pace, glancing back at Zhao Fan every now and then, as if to make sure he was keeping up.

"Junior Brother Zhao, my name is Meng Chuan, and I am Master Gu's disciple."

He introduced himself, his tone much warmer than before.

"If you ever need anything in the future, you can come to me."

Zhao Fan nodded.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Meng."

Meng Chuan waved his hand and spoke as he walked.

"The rules for inner disciples are a little different from those for outer disciples. Let me explain them to you, and you can remember them."

Zhao Fan listened attentively.

"First, inner disciples can learn advanced pill formulas, including Spirit Gathering Pills and Spirit Returning Pills, but there is an ironclad rule that pill formulas must not be passed on to outsiders."

"What you learn is yours, but you cannot teach it to others, nor can you make copies and sell them privately."

"Once discovered, the punishment ranges from expulsion from the sect to the abolition of cultivation."

Meng Chuan's tone became more serious.

Zhao Fan felt a chill run down his spine and nodded solemnly.

"Secondly, inner disciples receive a fixed amount of cultivation resources each month, which is much more than that of outer disciples. They receive spirit stones, pills, and medicinal herbs. You can check the exact amount yourself at the Internal Affairs Hall."

Meng Chuan paused for a moment, then continued.

"However, inner disciples still have some tasks to do. They must refine two batches of pills every month. You can keep the best quality pill from each batch and hand over the rest to the sect."

"Besides that, you can cooperate with Danfeng on all the remaining pills you refine. Inner disciples can get 70% of the profits."

Zhao Fan nodded; this was much better than he had imagined.

After walking for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the two arrived at the foot of a low hill.

The mountain is not high, but it is full of spiritual energy. Above the mountainside, clouds and mist swirl around, and you can vaguely see clusters of courtyards built against the mountain, layer upon layer.

At the foot of the mountain stands a stone tablet with the three characters "Qingbai Mountain" engraved on it.

Meng Chuan pointed to the mountain.

"The inner disciples all live here. There are more than twenty courtyards on the mountain, and all of them are connected to a second-grade spiritual spring. The concentration of spiritual energy is more than twice that of the outer disciples, which is enough for Qi Refining stage disciples to cultivate."

Zhao Fan followed his finger and looked in that direction, a sense of anticipation welling up inside him.

He had heard of the second-grade spiritual spring when he was in the Su family; it was a spiritual spring that could satisfy the cultivation needs of Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Although only a branch connects to the courtyard, the concentration of spiritual energy won't be as high, but it should be much stronger than the spiritual field behind Danfeng Mountain.

The two walked up the stone steps, with patches of spirit bamboo and spirit wood on both sides.

Meng Chuan led him halfway up the mountain and stopped in front of an empty courtyard.

The courtyard is not large, but it is well-organized and exquisite, with blue bricks and gray tiles. There is a jujube tree in the courtyard, with unripe fruit on it.

There is a stone tablet at the entrance of the courtyard, which is engraved with the number 12 of the character "丙".

"This is empty, you can stay here."

Meng Chuan pushed open the door and stepped aside to let Zhao Fan in.

Zhao Fan walked into the courtyard and looked around. There was a stone table and chairs in the courtyard, and several spiritual herbs were planted in the corner of the wall. There were three main rooms and two side rooms on each side.

He pushed open the door to the main room, which was simply furnished but clean and tidy.

A wooden bed, a desk, a chair, and several calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall.

What surprised him most was the cultivation room. The cultivation room was not large, but a piece of spirit jade was embedded in the wall. A thin spiritual vein was connected to the spirit jade, and spiritual energy was flowing out of the spiritual vein continuously, so dense that it was almost solidified.

Meng Chuan stood at the door, looked at the surprise in his eyes, and smiled.

"A branch of a second-grade spiritual spring, is the spiritual energy enough for your needs?"

Zhao Fan nodded repeatedly.

"That's enough, that's enough."

Meng Chuan then gave a few more instructions, such as how to calculate the contribution points of inner disciples, how many contribution points are needed to exchange for pill formulas, and where to collect cultivation resources each month, etc.

Zhao Fan wrote them down one by one.

"Alright, you can pack up now. If you need anything, feel free to come find me. I live at No. 9, Bingzi. It's just a few steps up the mountain."

Meng Chuan patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave.

Zhao Fan stood in the courtyard, watching Meng Chuan's figure disappear at the end of the stone steps, and a sense of inexplicable peace welled up in his heart.

Three years have passed. From an outer disciple to an inner disciple, from a wooden hut in the back mountain to an independent courtyard.

He returned to the cultivation room, sat cross-legged, felt the rich spiritual energy surging from the spiritual veins, closed his eyes, and exhaled a long breath.

Next, there is only one thing he needs to do: improve his cultivation level as soon as possible, then learn the recipe for the Spirit Gathering Pill, refine the pills himself, sell them, and accumulate more resources to prepare for the future.