Chapter 31

Xie Junzhi clearly distributed the rewards of the sword selection conference in a few words, and the pie was drawn big and round, as if it were already in Qianya Peak’s pocket.

To everyone, the swords were no longer just swords but layers upon layers of spirit stones, and the peak was no longer just a peak but a grand hall rising from the ground.

So this pot of noodles was eaten like a mobilization meeting. The bleak night of wind, snow, and sword energy could not extinguish the enthusiasm of Qianya Peak to be brave and rich.

During the winter, when there was no land to farm, Huang Li swung his hoe thousands of times in vain. Although cultivators should be free from impurities, perhaps because he had entered the Dao through farming, he felt exceptionally close to nature.

Yi Zui, who had been leaning behind and entering the meditative state to upgrade his cultivation with his own ability, was eventually driven away by Huang Li’s sweat.

Cheng Luocen, with a steadfast gaze, sat cross-legged at the edge of the cliff, closing his eyes. The fierce sword energy battered his body as the old grandpa’s remnant spirit weakly guided him. The silent boy’s spiritual energy flowed, continuously cleansing his meridians, and he quietly entered a meditative state amidst the wind and snow.

Xie Junzhi, who was reading by the window, extended his divine consciousness to cover the entire Qianya Peak, gathering all the sword energy from the Sword Tomb within. He suddenly glanced toward the cliff’s edge, thoughtfully observing Cheng Luocen’s back, his eyes darkening before he withdrew his gaze.

Everyone was striving to escape poverty, and Yu Xizhi was no exception.

In front of her stood a water mirror, a collaboration of the old Taoist in red and Master Tan and a custom made by the Suying Pavillion. It was probably the largest in the entire cultivation world, taking up half a wall. Normally, these two would argue whenever they met, but with Yu Xizhi mediating, they had finally reached a rare peace, each teaching two classes per week, no more, no less.

Master Tan’s figure appeared behind the water mirror. Each had a furnace before them, an old man and a young woman, both staring solemnly at the burning karmic fire.

Yu Xizhi, her hair tied high and sleeves rolled up, focused intensely, gently channeling a few strands of spiritual energy like retrieving chestnuts from a fire, kneading and layering the shattered medicinal herbs onto the small pills.

Alchemy is essentially about purification and enhancing the potency of the herb. When countless spiritual herbs and treasures are mixed, they produce various wonderful reactions and effects. The higher the purity, the better the effect. The quality of the elixir is thus determined by its purity.

Normally, the most authoritative and effective method for purification in alchemy was to use the rhythm of the Taishang Danyang steps to place the herbs into the furnace. However, at Qianya Peak, though the spiritual energy was abundant, it was also mixed with rampant sword energy. Yu Xizhi had tried using the Taishang Danyang steps, but during the process, the herbs were already washed by the sword energy in the air, causing their efficacy to plummet.

She had ruined countless furnaces of pills, spent many sleepless nights, crushed numerous wasted pills, and wasted a considerable amount of spirit stones from her storage pouch buying materials before she came up with the current method.

As it turns out, poverty indeed sparks creativity. This method was undoubtedly feasible. With enough spiritual energy and patience in kneading the pills, not only could alchemy be done at Qianya Peak, but the chances of producing waste pills and causing furnace explosions were greatly reduced.

After conducting an experiment, Master Tan had a solemn expression. He felt that this method had indeed revolutionized the refinement techniques of alchemists. He thought to himself that he had not misjudged his direct disciple; such innovative thinking and creativity were truly deserving of being his successor, Tan Xingjing’s disciple.

Yu Xizhi used this method to practice and refine her ten consecutive draws of Dream-Induction Pills. Now, she was even more focused on refining the current batch of pills than she was with the Dream-Induction Pills.

The reason was simple: Yu Si was about to form his core.

And this batch of pills was meant to nourish and stabilize Yu Si’s foundation after he overcame his lightning tribulation.

Since the Battle of the Sun Eclipse, this was the first time a young disciple from the Kunwu Mountain Sect was attempting to reach the Core Formation stage. The entire sect was somewhat nervous and expectant. Master Huaiyun had generously bestowed numerous spiritual treasures, but the key to withstanding the tribulation lay with Yu Si himself.

In the original story, Yu Si encountered some problems during his core formation.

Whether the book didn’t specify the details or she had not paid attention while reading, Yu Xizhi couldn’t remember. But she knew that Yu Si’s inadequately prepared foundation during core formation was the reason why he was struck down by Long Aotian, despite his extraordinary talents.

Yu Xizhi wouldn’t allow any mishaps.

Even though Cheng Luocen seemed far removed from the main storyline now, she remained vigilant.

Thus, besides refining this batch of pills, Yu Xizhi was constantly experimenting with methods to withstand the lightning tribulation.

First, she learned to draw lightning talismans, from small ones to large ones. Initially, when she used them on Huang Li’s muscles, he barely felt a tickle. But soon, a single strike of lightning brought flashes and thunder, white cranes flew chaotically, and everyone in Kunwu Mountain Sect glanced towards Qianya Peak, thinking someone was undergoing a tribulation.

She then drew a thick stack of various talismans to counter the lightning tribulation. While testing their effects, she endured strikes of lightning herself. Through this grueling process, before being charred by the lightning, she personally identified the ten most effective talismans, drew dozens of each, and waited for the completion of the Nourishing and Stabilizing Pill to give them all to Yu Si.

Master Tan, with a slight frown, still had time for small talk. “Ah Zhi, did you sell the Dream-Induction Pills from last time?”

“The first batch has already been sold. I need to refine another batch these days,” Yu Xizhi replied.

“They were sold in the black market as recommended by Master. I got the black token. Does Senior Sister need the black token recently?”

“She will come to get it from you in a few days. She will also witness Yu Si’s breakthrough, and perhaps she might gain some insights,” Master Tan said with a look of joy.

“Got it!”

On the other side of the water mirror, the karmic fire in the pill furnace roared. Master Tan’s hands moved like lightning, carefully protecting the pills within. With a flip of his wrist, a pure white pill appeared in his palm, clearly of excellent quality.

Yu Xizhi glanced over amid her busyness.

“Congratulations, Master.”

Master Tan, holding the pill, looked pleased. “Your Dream-Induction Pill recipe is indeed excellent. The pill you sent me last time helped me reach the threshold of the Complete Stage of the Soul Accumulation realm. I will now go into seclusion, and when I return, I will have achieved the Complete stage.”

It turned out that the pill in his hand was the real single-shot Dream-Induction Pill, while the ten consecutive draws that Yu Xizhi sold were merely the remnants of this single pill. Just as Yu Xizhi was about to congratulate him again, Master Tan looked through the water mirror and asked abruptly, “Ah Zhi, what stage are you at exactly?”

The girl, who had silently reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, remained calm. This was a question both Master Tan and the old Taoist in red often tried to trick her with. She steadily raised her hand and threw another herb into the furnace. “Don’t ask. If you ask, I’m at the early stage of Qi Refining.”

Master Tan didn’t believe her nonsense. How could someone in the early Qi Refining stage have such abundant spiritual energy? How could she exhibit such sword intent? How could she maintain such focus and refine so many different batches of pills?

Just then, the door behind Yu Xizhi opened slightly, and a round, orange cat yawned, stretched, licked its paw, and curled up neatly at Yu Xizhi’s feet.

Seeing this, Master Tan swallowed his words. He glanced at the orange cat with a complicated expression, remembering some things he knew were true, some things he wasn’t sure were true, and some things that were probably false, but who could say for sure? His mood became even more complex.

Since it was so complicated, Master Tan decided not to burden Yu Xizhi with additional worries. He waved his hand and went into seclusion.

Yu Xizhi spent three full days refining this batch of pills. Unlike Master Tan, who could use spiritual energy to conceal the phenomenon when pills were formed, she couldn’t.

Thus, when the pills were completed, everyone saw a radiant glow covering the sky above Qianya Peak. It looked like a lightning tribulation, but it wasn’t. Only the people from Xuecan Peak recognized it at a glance—it was a sign of top-grade pills being formed!

On Xuecan Peak, Gao Xiude felt extremely sour. He thought to himself that Second Senior Sister had only been studying alchemy for six months; could she already refine top-grade pills?

In the main hall of Taiqing Peak, Xia Yiyao had just let out a clear shout and swung her sword. She exhaled, turned to look in the direction of Qianya Peak, and bit her lip, unable to stop coughing.

Meanwhile, sitting in the bamboo forest on the back mountain of Taiqing Peak, Yu Si opened his eyes. The spiritual energy around him had reached perfection; he was just one step away from forming his core, becoming the youngest Golden Core in Yuancheng Continent.

…

Yu Si was waiting, and so were all the disciples of Kunwu, singing and dancing in anticipation.

Some waited for him to become a golden core cultivator, while others awaited the New Year.

Cultivators emphasized cutting off worldly ties, but this severance shouldn’t be forced. Since cultivators lived long lives, their earthly ties would naturally fade. Therefore, after a year of hard work, many outer sect disciples took leave to visit their families, see their elderly mothers, and provide some support.

Inner sect and personal disciples wanted to witness Yu Si’s breakthrough, hoping to gain some insight.

Outer sect disciples could only see the celestial phenomenon from afar. Some chose to stay, while others wanted to go home.

Huang Shunyu was one of those who wanted to go home.

Despite his hard work throughout the year, he hadn’t even reached the threshold of drawing qi into the body. However, Huang Shunyu maintained a positive attitude, working in the great sect to earn spirit stones, which he then exchanged for mortal currency. Though it was tough, it wasn’t unprofitable.

Huang Shunyu’s home was in Yuebei City, northwest of Qingwu Prefecture, adjacent to the Kongti Desert. The year-round wind and sand were harsh, and even the abundant spiritual energy of Kunwu Mountain couldn’t restore his wind-roughened, tanned skin. This year, his earnings were good, so he bit the bullet and bought two round-trip teleportation talismans, saving him travel time.

Since he didn’t have to endure the journey, Huang Shunyu decided to take some local specialties from Xianyun County back home. As he walked through the county seat, he felt the festive atmosphere and couldn’t help but smile—a touch of human warmth on his wind-scarred face. Just as he was about to leave, he saw someone selling small snakes by the street.

In earthen jars were small green snakes, with the jars painted in rich colors, the hues mingling mysteriously and exotically.

Many children were squatting nearby, watching the finger-thin snakes wriggle with curiosity.

For some reason, Huang Shunyu’s gaze lingered on the small green snakes, unable to look away.

It was a rare sight of green in the desert.

He couldn’t resist walking over, thinking that if so many children liked them, his little sister and brother would find them fun too. In the desert, there were only giant sand snakes as thick as water barrels; where could one find such cute little creatures?

So he bent down and asked, “Sir, how much for these little snakes?”

The old man, his face hidden in the shadows, replied hoarsely, “One low-grade spirit stone for three.”

Huang Shunyu hesitated for a moment, finding it a bit pricey.

“I only want one.”

The old man impatiently said, “I don’t sell them individually.”

Some children laughed and asked their mothers to buy the snakes, and Huang Shunyu thought of his siblings’ smiling faces.

Gritting his teeth, he took out a low-grade spirit stone.

“Then… I’ll take three.”

…

The boy walked into the snow, holding three jars, until he reached a deserted place. Then he activated the teleportation talisman and headed for Yuebei City.

Back at the previous location under the eaves, it was empty and dark. The unlit lanterns swayed slightly in the wind.

There was no snake seller, nor was there the laughter of children.