Chapter 70: Something’s Wrong with Qiu Qianhai’s Breakthrough

"Whoosh—"Ji Yuan inwardly viewed his Dantian, gazing at the Spiritual Energy Pill Cloud that had formed, and let out a long sigh of relief.

The hallmark of breaking through the later stage of the Qi Cultivation Stage is the formation of a Spiritual Energy Pill Cloud within the Dantian, meaning that to break through the later stage, one needs a large reserve of Spirit Stones.

If not, the breakthrough process will halt once the Spirit Stones run out, making progress impossible.

Ji Yuan had prepared four Mid-grade Spirit Stones; the first two he absorbed were still insufficient for his breakthrough... Of the remaining two Mid-grade Spirit Stones, only one-third of their Spiritual Qi remained.

To break through the later stage of Qi Cultivation, at least over three hundred Spirit Stones are necessary.

No wonder there are so few who have reached the later stages of Qi Cultivation in the Cloud Rain Marsh.

Condensing the Pill Cloud is the mark of the later stage of Qi Cultivation. To continue improving one’s cultivation afterward, one must condense more Pill Clouds until the Dantian is filled, signifying having reached the Peak of Qi Refining.

To advance to Foundation Establishment, one must continue to compress the Spiritual Qi in the Dantian, liquefying it into Elixir Liquid.

When the Elixir Liquid fills the Dantian, it means one’s cultivation has reached the Peak of Foundation Establishment.

Finally, compressing the Elixir Liquid into a solid form signifies reaching... Golden Core!

At this thought, Ji Yuan continued to absorb Spiritual Qi to stabilize his cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, another four days passed. Only when the last two Mid-grade Spirit Stones in his hand turned into dust did his cultivation finally stabilize completely.

In fact, he had already stabilized two days prior, but the remaining traces of Spiritual Qi in the Mid-grade Spirit Stones had no other use for him.

Ji Yuan decided to absorb them thoroughly in one go.

Four days later.

Ji Yuan brushed off the powder from the Spirit Stones and emerged from the room feeling refreshed. Qiu Qianhai, who had been waiting inside the room for a long time, immediately stood up, his eyes brimming with joy.

"Great! Now I, Qiu Qianhai, also have a friend in the later stage of Qi Cultivation!"

Ji Yuan cast a slight glance at him, then shook his sleeves and carried his hands behind his back, slightly leaning backward.

"What... did you call me?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Qianhai hurriedly patted the nonexistent dust off his clothes, bowed with cupped hands, and solemnly said, "Junior Qiu Qianhai greets Elder Ji."

"Not bad, a perceptive one."

"Get lost."

Qiu Qianhai laughed as he stood up.

After his amusement passed, he suddenly recalled something and hurriedly said, "A few days ago, after you broke through the later stage of Qi Cultivation, some of the neighbors seemed to sense the energy and brought congratulatory gifts."

"Oh? You didn’t accept them, did you?"

"No, I turned them all away," Qiu Qianhai said with a laugh, hands on his hips, "I looked like a proper servant of a big house at the time."

"That’s good."

Ji Yuan stretched lazily and casually slapped a Calm Heart Talisman on Qiu Qianhai.

"Alright, go and break through yourself. We’ll talk after your cultivation is up."

"Okay."

Having waited so long, Qiu Qianhai was naturally eager.

Watching him rush excitedly into the room, Ji Yuan went to the front courtyard and summoned his various magical artifacts.

After breaking through to the later stage of Qi Cultivation, his strength had significantly increased, demanding reacquaintance with these magical artifacts.

Previously, the desired effect required using five parts of his strength; now, perhaps only two parts would suffice.

With this thought, Ji Yuan first injected Spiritual Qi into the Magical Artifact Boots on his feet. Instantly, he felt as light as a feather, and with just a step, he crossed the entire courtyard to reach the doorway.

This seemed to be the limit of the boots.

Ji Yuan looked back; one step, three zhang... is the limit of these low-grade boots.

Not very suitable for fleeing, but very apt for close combat offense and defense, especially when paired with his Water-Split Dragon Spear.

With this thought, his right hand formed a grasping motion, and the water-blue spear with blades on both ends was in his hand.

With a casual swing, two strands of Spiritual Qi rampaged around him.

Such is an upper-grade magical artifact—practically the limit that can be activated at the Qi Cultivation Stage.

Higher-tier top-grade magical artifacts can only be activated at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

However, using the Water-Split Dragon Spear consumes a lot of energy, making testing it within the courtyard impractical.

After a while, he summoned the White Water Flying Sword.

In front of Ji Yuan, now in the later stage of Qi Cultivation, even this mid-grade Flying Sword seemed less impressive.

Though still usable, there seemed to be no substance when controlling it.

Furthermore, future opponents would likely also be in the later stages of Qi Cultivation, meaning their Protective Magical Artifacts would at least be mid-grade, possibly upper-grade.

Conflicting with that, the White Water Flying Sword would be less effective.

A replacement with an upper-grade Flying Sword is necessary.

The same goes for the Protective Magical Artifact. Though he had many now, they were all mid-grade. Selling them altogether might be enough to get just one upper-grade artifact.

The Dharma Ship also needs to be upgraded to a Flying Boat.

The Talisman Brush too—though this one fares better for now; replacing the low-grade Talisman Brush with a mid-grade one would suffice.

Replacing the whole set... who knows how many Spirit Stones that would take...

But luckily, he hadn’t sold the Cold Iron Sand yet. Selling those forty-one jins should cover everything.

Just as Ji Yuan was thinking, he suddenly sensed something and turned to look.

The room was quiet and still.

But at that moment, he seemed to sense a flash of... blood energy?

He quickly summoned the Vine Shield to protect himself and activated the Xuanguang Shield to cover his body.

Finally, he took out the Water-Split Dragon Spear.

Entering the room, he still sensed nothing.

Could it have been a false sense?

Just as he was puzzled, he realized the blood energy came from... Qiu Qianhai?!

From the room where he was in seclusion.

Faintly, Ji Yuan could hear the sound of a vigorous heartbeat.

Like a drum.

This guy is just in seclusion, why such a commotion?

Ji Yuan waited at the doorway for a while, hearing nothing more, so he let it be.

It seemed that Qiu Qianhai had a secret, much like that finger bone he had obtained... it appeared he had hesitated to break through in front of me?

Did he fear I would uncover his secret?

Reflecting on this, Ji Yuan decided not to leave, opting instead to cultivate in the hall.

He first spent three days painting Talismans, transforming the remaining Mid-grade Cloud Pattern Talisman Paper into mid-grade Talismans.

In future encounters, casting a pile of Talismans could provide some effect.

Subsequently, he converted the Talisman Room into the Enlightenment Room, beginning to comprehend the third layer of "Explosive Accumulation" in the Water Drop Finger, and the second layer of the Canglang Sword Technique, "Mirrored Reflection."

"Explosive Accumulation" was extremely challenging to practice; Ji Yuan tried compressing Spiritual Power around his entire body hundreds of times without finding the key.

"Mirrored Reflection" required smashing water droplets with a Flying Sword, turning them into mirrors around oneself.

This was to confuse the opponent’s vision, and if their magic hit the mirrors, it would cause their trajectory to deflect.

These mirrors could also be detonated by Ji Yuan, turning into Water Arrows to counterattack.

Ji Yuan was stuck at the step of Waterdrop Transformation Mirror for several days of cultivation.

On that day, as Ji Yuan was contemplating "Mirrored Reflection," he suddenly sensed a distinct change in aura coming from the inner room.

Just as his heart leaped with joy, he heard the sound of Qiu Qianhai spitting blood.

"Puff—"

"Qiu Qianhai?!"

Ji Yuan immediately called out.

"It’s... nothing, don’t come in, it’ll be fine in a moment."

The weak voice of Qiu Qianhai came from within the room.

Ji Yuan also stopped in his tracks.

After waiting for a full day, Qiu Qianhai finally emerged from the room. Although his face was somewhat pale, his aura indisputably had stabilized at the sixth level of Qi Cultivation.

"Are you really alright?"

Ji Yuan asked seriously, looking at his condition.

As if knowing he couldn’t hide it anymore, or perhaps simply unwilling to, Qiu Qianhai lightly said, "I practice another cultivation technique, one that can speed up cultivation by burning lifespan."

"Isn’t that a Demon Skill?!"

Ji Yuan exclaimed in astonishment.

"Cultivation techniques are neither righteous nor demonic; it’s people who are,"

Qiu Qianhai chuckled, "There’s no need to advise me. Once I reach the later stages of Qi Cultivation, I won’t practice this Demon Skill anymore. I’ve estimated it might only cut short about twenty years of my lifespan, and once I break through the latter stage, I’ll have at least a century of life left, so it’s not a problem."

"Well... alright,"

He acknowledged that cultivation was a personal matter, so Ji Yuan refrained from saying more, "If you need my help, just let me know."

"Sure, I will,"

they were speaking, a knocking sound came from outside the courtyard.

"Knock—"

"Knock knock—"

(Rest assured, there will be no clichéd storylines of dying from practicing Demon Skills or dying prematurely.)