Ascending from the mortal realm to become an immortal begins with taking charge of a grotto-heaven.

Twenty high-quality Qi-nourishing herbs and a whole bag of plump, green rice.

If all of them were sold, the value would far exceed his initial investment in purchasing the seeds.

"You can keep the Qingling Rice for your own use, but sell the Yangqi Grass in batches."

Zhang Li secretly made up his mind.

The Qingling Rice contains a gentle spiritual energy. It can be eaten by steaming or boiling in daily life and can also help with breathing exercises and cultivation. It is perfect for personal use.

After resting for a while, he put his storage bag in his pocket, tied the green wood waist tag around his waist, and set off again for Hanxi Market.

Half an hour later, the familiar Cold Creek Valley appeared before them. The valley was still bustling with people, and the cries of vendors rose and fell incessantly.

Instead of heading straight to the stalls and shops that buy spirit herbs, Zhang Li strolled leisurely along the long street, pretending to be a newcomer to the market. He silently noted down the purchase prices of spirit herbs at each stall and shop, and secretly calculated the market prices in his mind.

After wandering around for a while, Zhang Li entered a shop called Baicaotang.

The shop was lined with rows of wooden shelves displaying various spiritual herbs. A slightly overweight middle-aged cultivator was sitting behind the counter, counting the herbs; he was the shop manager.

The middle-aged manager greeted Zhang Li with a smile as he entered the shop, "Junior Brother, are you here to buy spirit herbs, or do you have some goods to sell?"

"I have a batch of Qi-Nourishing Grass that I'd like to exchange for some spirit stones," Zhang Li said, neatly arranging ten vibrant green Qi-Nourishing Grasses on the counter.

The middle-aged manager bent down to examine the leaves carefully, gently touching them to feel their spiritual energy. His eyes lit up slightly: "A rare and superior Qi-nourishing herb, full of medicinal properties. Junior brother is quite lucky."

Zhang Li casually brushed it off, saying that he had accidentally found a hidden patch of spiritual herbs in the back mountains. The steward didn't press for details about his fortuitous encounter and quickly calculated the price: "The market price is two low-grade spirit stones per herb, ten herbs would be twenty stones in total. If you agree, we can complete the transaction now."

The price was almost the same as the market rate he had found out beforehand, so Zhang Li didn't haggle and nodded in agreement.

After the transaction was completed, Zhang Li sold the remaining ten Qi-nourishing herbs in batches to street stalls, earning another twenty spirit stones.

In a short time, the number of spirit stones on his body skyrocketed to forty, a stark contrast to his predicament of having only one spirit stone left yesterday.

With extra spirit stones in hand, Zhang Li took the opportunity to purchase supplies at the market. First, he bought four bags of different types of first-tier spirit herb seeds, which would later enrich the output of his spiritual fields.

After finishing his shopping, he didn't linger any longer and quickly left Hanxi Valley, embarking on the mountain path back to Lingze Peak.

They traveled in silence until Zhang Li safely returned to his small courtyard.

As usual, he closed the doors and windows tightly, and with a thought, his figure appeared in the cave.

Zhang Li took out the ten low-grade spirit stones he had obtained that day and placed them in the black field. The pure spiritual energy within the spirit stones slowly seeped into the soil, replenishing the spiritual essence consumed in the previous process of ripening the spiritual plants.

A moment later, after all the spiritual energy in the spirit stone had been absorbed by Kuroda, Zhang Li then opened the four newly purchased packets of spirit seeds and evenly scattered them into Kuroda.

The moment the seeds touched the black soil, they immediately took root and sprouted, maturing completely in just a few breaths. Patches of lush, verdant herbs spread across the entire floating island, their delicate medicinal fragrance filling the air.

"With such a celestial paradise, how could my path of immortality not flourish?"

Standing by the field, Zhang Li watched the rapidly maturing spiritual herbs and couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

After collecting all the mature spiritual herbs and using some spirit stones to restore the spiritual energy of the Black Field, Zhang Li had a thought and returned to the house.

With all of these spiritual herbs sold, he will not lack cultivation resources for the time being. Next, he will devote more time to cultivation and break through to the second level of Qi Refining as soon as possible. At that time, he can start planning alchemy.

They acquired alchemical traditions, alchemy furnaces, and alchemical formulas, relying on the continuous supply of spiritual herbs from the grotto-heaven to produce elixirs self-sufficiently.

Not only can it completely solve the resource shortage in one's own cultivation, but the surplus pills can also be continuously exchanged for spirit stones.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Li sat cross-legged on the bed, took out a Qi-Nourishing Pill, put it in his mouth, and began to close his eyes and circulate the "Azure Profound Breathing Technique".

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, and a gentle, warm medicinal power slid down the throat into the abdomen, slowly spreading throughout the body.

Zhang Li focused his mind and calmed his breath, slowly guiding the medicinal power into wisps of spiritual energy along the cultivation method, circulating it through his meridians and into his dantian.

His aptitude was too poor, and his normal absorption of spiritual energy was much slower than that of ordinary cultivators. However, with the help of medicinal pills, his cultivation efficiency was several times higher than usual.

From then on, Zhang Li completely calmed down and began a period of secluded cultivation.

Spring goes and autumn comes, cold comes and heat goes, and a year has passed in the blink of an eye.

Lingze Peak, in courtyard number 23.

Zhang Li sat cross-legged on the futon, his blue Taoist robe spotless. He held a spirit stone in his hand, circulating his breathing technique while drawing pure spiritual energy from the stone to accelerate his cultivation.

Although elixirs are good, they should not be taken in excess, otherwise the accumulation of elixirs will seriously delay future cultivation. This point has already been recorded in "The Basics of Immortal Cultivation".

To ensure a smooth path in his cultivation journey, Zhang Li strictly controlled the dosage of pills, taking one Qi-Nourishing Pill every two days to allow his body ample time to detoxify. When not taking pills, he directly used spirit stones to accelerate his cultivation.

He doesn't lack spirit stones right now.

Thus, with the combined blessing of elixirs and spirit stones, Zhang Li had already felt the urge to break through a few days ago.

In the early stages of Qi Refining, there are virtually no barriers to entry. Even those with the worst mixed spiritual roots of the five elements can break through smoothly as long as they have sufficient resources and accumulate enough experience.

Moreover, Zhang Li, with his four spiritual roots, has no problem advancing to the next level.

"You will advance to the second level of Qi Refining today."

hum-

At a certain moment, the magical power accumulated in his dantian finally reached a certain limit.

The magical power accumulated over a whole year surged forth, circulating through the meridians. The circulation route of the breathing technique also underwent subtle changes, opening up more meridians.

The magical power that had increased afterward was all gathered back into the dantian, where it was re-condensed, settled, and stabilized.

Qi Refining Level 2!

Become!

A quarter of an hour later, the rapidly accumulating magical power in his dantian gradually stabilized.

As his cultivation reached its peak, Zhang Li slowly opened his eyes, sensing the magical power within his body.

The breakthrough from the first level of Qi Refining to the second level is only a minor advancement, and the increase in magical power is not significant, only about one-third of the total.

Now that I've broken through to the second level of Qi Refining, it's time to put my plan to refine pills on the agenda.

"It's time to go out."

Zhang Li muttered to himself, a look of certainty flashing in his eyes.

He had accumulated a considerable number of first-tier spiritual herbs of various kinds, most of which were of superior quality cultivated by Kuroda and had been stockpiled for a long time.

Take this opportunity to go to Hanxi Market and sell everything you have to exchange for more spirit stones and spirit seeds. You can also take this opportunity to find out if there are any alchemy inheritances for sale in the market next time.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Li straightened his robes, took out some mature spiritual herbs from the floating island and put them into his storage bag, pushed open the long-silent wooden door of the courtyard, and headed towards Hanxi Market once again.