Chapter Eight: Fourth Layer of Qi Refinement

Tonight, there was finally no need to work overtime. Hong Yan is grateful for the recommendation votes from fellow readers. If you enjoy this book, you’re welcome to leave a review in the comment section; Hong Yan will highlight your comments. Your encouragement is the driving force that keeps me moving forward.

Stepping onto the Six Star Platform, Jiang Yan sat down cross-legged, pulling the front of his long robe over his folded knees. Interrupting Tang Wan’s musings, he said, “Junior sister, I’m going to take the Bone-Altering Pill here and use its medicinal power to transform my constitution. If I don’t take it now, I won’t be able to in the future. I’ll have to trouble you to guard me.”

“The Bone-Altering Pill?” Tang Wan pressed her cherry lips tightly shut. Her senior brother was about to take the Bone-Altering Pill—an elixir capable of changing a cultivator’s innate talent! The sect leader had actually acquired such a high-grade pill. Could it be that he truly found the treasure of a talisman master? Tang Wan couldn’t help but let her imagination run wild.

“No, that’s not right!” Suddenly, Tang Wan exclaimed, her pretty face alight with joy and surprise. Hadn’t her senior brother just said that if he didn’t take the Bone-Altering Pill now, he’d miss his chance forever?

The Bone-Altering Pill is only effective for cultivators below the third level of Qi Refining. Did that mean her senior brother had already reached the third level? She released her delicate hand from her lips and, with a hint of astonishment, asked, “Sect leader, have you already reached the third level of Qi Refining?”

Jiang Yan smiled at the stunned Tang Wan, clearly pleased by her reaction. “Indeed, junior sister. Today, I broke through the barrier of the second level and advanced to the third. I’m only a step away from the fourth level now. Once I reach the fourth level, the Bone-Altering Pill will no longer be effective for me. I have five Bone-Altering Pills here, enough for the five of us, including Yun Ying, to each take one and change our constitutions. I’ll have to trouble you to guard me first, while I go ahead.”

With these words, Jiang Yan didn’t wait for Tang Wan’s reply. He swallowed the Bone-Altering Pill and sat in a corner of the Six Star Platform, beginning his cultivation.

“Fourth level of Qi Refining… five Bone-Altering Pills… all five of us have a chance…” Tang Wan was completely dazed by Jiang Yan’s words.

A cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining was someone even Mount Hua looked up to with awe. A single cultivator at that level could sweep through the entire sect. Yet the sect leader said he was just one step away! In Tang Wan’s mind, her senior brother was becoming more and more mysterious these days. Her own master didn’t reach the third level until he was forty, but her senior brother was not yet twenty!

Tang Wan had never seen a top-grade Bone-Altering Pill before. She only knew about such pills and their wondrous effects from a medicinal compendium—one that Jiang Yan had traded from a disciple of the Golden Flame Sect, the main branch of their order.

According to that compendium, the Bone-Altering Pill was the most powerful first-grade elixir, able to change innate talent, increase the flow of spiritual energy, and expand the dantian… Once, Tang Wan’s greatest wish had been to obtain a single Gathering Qi Pill, a low-grade elixir for quickly restoring spiritual power. But now, her senior brother claimed he could acquire a Bone-Altering Pill that could transform one’s very being! The sudden fulfillment of this wish felt almost unreal to Tang Wan.

But when she saw Jiang Yan swallow the pill, there was no doubt—the elixir truly was a Bone-Altering Pill, and judging by its quality, it was the highest grade.

Tang Wan’s beautiful eyes remained fixed on Jiang Yan atop the Six Star Platform, her gaze shimmering with hope. The sect leader would surely bring glory to Mount Hua, she thought to herself.

Jiang Yan had no time to bother with Tang Wan’s thoughts. He had already taken the Bone-Altering Pill and was beginning to refine its medicinal power.

As the Bone-Altering Pill entered his mouth, it was like a clear stream, flowing straight to his dantian. The gentle, water-like medicinal power began to radiate, flowing along the three newly opened meridians, slowly circulating his spiritual energy through a full cycle again and again. With each pass, the pill’s energy gradually dispersed into his meridians…

As his spiritual energy sped up, Jiang Yan’s body temperature began to rise. Soon, a misty white vapor started to appear around him.

Seeing the white vapor swirling around Jiang Yan, Tang Wan froze. This was a sign that her senior brother had reached a crucial point in refining the medicine; any disturbance at this moment could cause most of the pill’s power to dissipate, or, in the worst case, cost Jiang Yan his life. At once, she became as vigilant as if facing a formidable enemy, her anxious gaze flickering between the entrance to the training ground and Jiang Yan on the platform, her pretty face full of worry.

Time passed swiftly. Half an hour later, the pill’s power was still slowly circulating with his spiritual energy, gradually merging into it. Yet Jiang Yan could feel the energy slowly intensifying.

The Six Star Platform could assist in building foundations, and likewise, it could help cultivators absorb the power of pills. The Bone-Altering Pill could transform a cultivator’s talent, but its power was fierce—after ingestion, it would rapidly disperse, forcefully altering the meridians and dantian. The agony from this process could drive one mad. Yet under the harmonizing influence of the platform, the pill’s power spread slowly within Jiang Yan.

The medicinal force had already pushed Jiang Yan’s spiritual energy through forty-nine cycles—beyond his normal limits. That day, his breakthrough to the third level had only required sixteen cycles. Now, his meridians were beginning to ache faintly.

To Tang Wan, Jiang Yan still appeared calm, sitting cross-legged in the corner, cultivating. But his entire body seemed to be in a steamer, heat radiating from him, thick white vapor drifting from his hair and clothes.

Time slipped by. The medicinal power had now driven his spiritual energy through fifty-six cycles. Jiang Yan felt his meridians burning like fire. Though the gentle release of the pill’s power eased the pain somewhat, this relentless force had been circulating his energy for two hours, and he felt he had absorbed nearly all of it. Yet the flow continued, endless as the Yangtze, slowly pushing his spiritual energy as if inexhaustible…

In the blink of an eye, another two hours passed. The sky was now full of stars. The power of the Bone-Altering Pill had circulated within Jiang Yan for four hours. The searing pain in his meridians nearly made him want to bite his tongue off; the pain crashed over him in waves, unceasing.

Tang Wan watched anxiously as her senior brother sat unmoving atop the platform. Six hours had passed, and still there was no sign of movement. If not for the vapor rising steadily from his head, she would have thought he had fallen asleep.

After six hours, the pill’s power began to wane, and the speed of spiritual energy circulation slowed.

Through this absorption, Jiang Yan discovered something astonishing: after breaking through to the third level, the sluggishness he once felt in his meridians had vanished entirely. His channels had expanded by more than half, and the flow of energy was now smooth and natural.

Suddenly, a muffled boom came from within—a sound like spiritual energy breaking through a barrier.

His spiritual energy still cycled slowly. Unable to inspect his realm just yet, Jiang Yan controlled his flow, absorbing the last essence of the pill to avoid any waste. He sensed that this absorption had lasted far longer than usual.

Indeed, the duration was exceptional. Typically, absorption of a Bone-Altering Pill would not exceed half an hour, even with the platform’s harmonizing effect. But six hours was far too long.

The Bone-Altering Pill was a first-grade spiritual medicine, but the compendium only described pills up to mid-grade. Those available on the market were of the lowest grade, and even those would drive second- and third-grade sects mad with jealousy.

Yet Jiang Yan’s pill was of the highest first-grade! For those below the fourth level of Qi Refining, this was the limit. Anything of a higher grade would be dangerous to take, risking a violent rupture of the meridians and death by bleeding from every orifice.

Circulating his spiritual energy, Jiang Yan finally felt no more medicinal force emanating from his dantian. Still, to ensure every last trace was absorbed, he endured the pain and ran several more cycles until not a flicker of power remained, then ceased his refinement.

Most of the pill’s power had now been absorbed, the remainder settling into his blood to be gradually assimilated over time.

With the process complete, Jiang Yan couldn’t wait to look inward and see if that explosive sound had marked a breakthrough.

Upon examining himself, he could only smile wryly: he had indeed broken through, advancing from the third to the fourth level of Qi Refining…