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

Time is the most fleeting thing; spring goes and autumn comes in a hurry.

Two years later, one morning.

The vast expanse of Crescent Lake is shrouded in mist, with rising fog enveloping the entire island in the center.

Inside the room, Zhang Li finished his practice and stood up. The red fluorescent light surrounding his body slowly returned to his body, and a soft sound of relaxation came from his meridians and bones.

"We are still at least halfway to the sixth level of Qi Refining."

Zhang Li was confident in his own cultivation level and secretly assessed it in his heart.

After two years of arduous cultivation and consuming hundreds of Qi Condensation Pills, his dantian's magical power was much stronger than when he first entered the fifth level, but he was still quite far from reaching the sixth level of Qi Refining.

At the current pace, unless there is another pill like the "Harmony Pill" or other treasure, it will be difficult to complete the plan to break through to the late stage of Qi Refining before returning to the sect.

However, plans are like that, full of changes. He still has plenty of time, so there's no need to push himself too hard.

Dispelling the distracting thoughts in his mind, Zhang Li got up, quickly tidied himself up, and set off for Yunyu Immortal City.

Today happens to be the day Su Qinghe is holding another trading meeting, so he naturally has to go and show his support.

As early as last year's trade fair, Zhang Li had revealed some details, indicating that he was preparing to start refining Qi Condensation Pills.

He plans to announce at the trade fair that he has made some progress, but there is still a long way to go.

"Junior Brother Zhang, it's only been a year since we last met, and your cultivation has improved again."

Upon seeing Zhang Li arrive, Lu Ran, who was already quite familiar with him, glanced at him and immediately noticed that his cultivation level was significantly higher than last year.

This senior sister, who was quite talented in the art of talismans, was still dressed in a tight-fitting outfit. Her long, black hair was tied high into a ponytail that reached her waist, and was held firmly in place by a plain-colored spirit-patterned hairband. A few strands of hair fell down her cheeks, making her eyebrows and eyes look clear and sharp, and she exuded a heroic aura.

Qin Linwu, who was standing nearby, also noticed this and his enthusiasm increased even more. "Junior Brother's cultivation is progressing rapidly, and with the support of alchemy, he will probably reach the late stage of Qi Refining in a few years. If he can refine the Returning Qi Pill at that time, all of us will benefit from your success."

"Yeah yeah."

Liu Changjun and the others echoed in agreement.

After some casual conversation, the trading session continued.

As usual, Zhang Li took out some pills. He bid on any that interested him and bought them. If not, he sat quietly to the side and watched the others trade.

In fact, what interests him most is the casual conversation before and after routine transactions. He always hears a lot of interesting things from the other people, and these intangible benefits are not to be ignored.

And today, he heard another piece of news about a struggle for spiritual veins.

"Have you all heard?" Qin Linwu leaned forward slightly, lowered his voice, and deliberately moved closer to the crowd. "The sect has designated two high-grade spiritual veins, specifically for cultivators and families around Yunyu Immortal City to compete for."

Liu Changjun looked surprised: "Top-grade spiritual veins are extremely precious. Sects usually build resource points on spiritual veins and station inner disciples in the late Qi Refining stage to guard them. They would never easily send them out."

As you can see, within Qingzhou, there are very few cultivator families that possess a top-grade spiritual vein as their family's residence.

Most families with only Qi Refining cultivators have only a single mid-grade spiritual vein beneath their territory, which is enough to support their family's foundation and bring blessings to generations of descendants.

His question raised the doubts of everyone present, and everyone turned to look at Qin Linwu, waiting for him to reveal the reason.

Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, Qin Linwu waved his hand and said, "I don't know the specific reason either. I heard about this from Bibo Lake."

As soon as he finished speaking, a murmur of discussion arose in the courtyard. Everyone was filled with surprise and were speculating about the sect's true intentions.

"Hey! What does it matter? We are all disciples of a sect and have no intention of establishing a family. Even if the top-grade spiritual vein is good, it has nothing to do with us."

The speaker was Tan Kai, who was sitting next to Zhang Li. His tone was indifferent: "No matter what the sect's intentions are, they are not targeting us disciples. Why should we bother with such thoughts?"

Zhang Li nodded secretly upon hearing this. Everyone said that body-refining cultivators were brainless, but he remained skeptical of this.

Zhang Li had some guesses about why his sect would release two high-grade spiritual veins. One was to reap huge profits, and the other was a way to maintain balance and weaken the others, thereby reshuffling the deck.

"Senior Brother Tan sees things very clearly. All we Qi Refining stage cultivators pursue is Foundation Establishment and Dao Attainment. If we really want to establish a family and expand our lineage, that's a matter for decades to come." Liu Hui nodded, deeply agreeing. "Those family cultivators who compete for spiritual veins are doing so to support their families and future generations. They carry the future of their entire clan on their shoulders. But we are all alone, without any ties. We only hope to accumulate resources and cross the Foundation Establishment threshold as soon as possible."

"Yeah yeah."

Tan Kai and his companion's words were met with unanimous agreement from everyone present.

The group chatted amongst themselves, and soon the topic of spiritual veins was forgotten.

After a while, the conversation gradually calmed down, and everyone got up to say goodbye and leave.

Zhang Li deliberately stayed until the very end, and after everyone else had left, only he and Su Qinghe remained under the pavilion.

He had his reasons for leaving them until the end. With a wave of his hand, Zhang Li displayed fifty neatly arranged jade bottles on the table.

"Senior Sister Su, it's the same as always this time, selling Qi Nourishing Pills, fifty bottles in total."

Su Qinghe's gaze fell on a row of jade bottles, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes: "Fifty bottles of Qi-Nourishing Pills, quite a lot more than last time. Congratulations, Junior Brother, on your progress in alchemy."

Zhang Li smiled and didn't say much. This time, he really took out all the Qi Nourishing Pills he had left. Since he was able to refine Qi Condensation Pills, he had temporarily stopped refining Qi Nourishing Pills.

These were the supplies he had accumulated before.

Since the two parties had cooperated many times without any problems, Su Qinghe only checked symbolically to confirm that the quality was as good as ever, and then paid the spirit stones according to the agreed price.

After carefully storing the spirit stones and exchanging a few more words with Su Qinghe, Zhang Li bid farewell and left Yuntian Garden.

In the following period, he needed to find several shops to sell the Qi Condensation Pills he had refined in batches.

After another half hour, Zhang Li entered four shops in succession and sold all the extra Qi Condensation Pills he had.

Pills like Qi Condensation Pills and Qi Nourishing Pills, which can accelerate cultivation, are in high demand and easy to sell. If it weren't for safety concerns, he wouldn't bother with all this trouble.

After finishing all this, the setting sun had already dipped below the city walls, and the afterglow spread across the entire long street. Zhang Li weighed the storage bag full of spirit stones in his hand and began to make calculations in his mind.

With ample resources available now, even if he doesn't refine pills for a year, it will be enough for his cultivation. In that case, the next step should be to focus on cultivation and break through to the sixth level of Qi Refining.

With that thought in mind, he quickly left the Immortal City and headed towards Crescent Lake.