Chapter 17: Two Years, Sixth Layer of Qi Refinement

Ah—

With a cry, Shen Lian watched as his fire elemental root reached a value of thirty-nine.

Just for this alone, the spirit stones spent yesterday were not wasted.

Shen Lian believed there must be ways to enhance one's elemental roots in the cultivation world.

But surely, such methods must come at a great cost.

The improvement of the fire root, to a certain degree, could also suppress the entanglements of his other roots, increasing the speed at which he refined spiritual energy.

He rubbed his fingers together, and a tiny flame appeared at his fingertips.

Shen Lian gazed at it for a while, then extinguished the fire, a hint of helplessness on his face.

The Qianyuan Technique was simply too gentle.

Among the five-elemental arts, fire was the most explosive.

But at the fourth level of Qi Refining, and with the cultivation method he practiced, his internal fire spiritual power failed to manifest the true might of flame.

With his meager abilities, venturing beyond the marketplace would surely make him easy prey.

“The matter of seeking a new cultivation technique must be put on the agenda.”

Qianyuan Technique only allowed cultivation up to the seventh level of Qi Refining, and he was already at the fourth.

Most cultivation arts were within the sect.

Those circulating outside couldn’t be said to have no merit, but were rare to come by.

At least, here in the marketplace, they were truly rubbish.

Obtaining techniques from within the sect was out of the question.

That path had been severed before he even entered the sect’s examination.

He could only search the black market, auctions, or rogue cultivator gatherings.

With so many rogue cultivators in Yunmeng Market, there were naturally organized trading gatherings.

Shen Lian had heard of them, but never attended.

He was not planning to go anytime soon.

First, he needed to strengthen himself.

…

With no worries about spirit stones and a stable environment, Shen Lian became fully immersed in his cultivation.

Time passed unmarked in his practice.

In the blink of an eye, two years went by.

Inside his cultivation chamber.

Spiritual energy gathered at Shen Lian’s side, a faint red spiritual force flickering on his body.

In the process, black, gold, and green spiritual forces could be seen entwining around the red, forming a bond and affecting the accumulation speed of his fire force.

As spiritual energy broke through new meridians within, Shen Lian's aura surged forth.

He had broken through.

Sixth level of Qi Refining!

In two years, he’d risen from the fourth to the sixth level.

Compared to the previous two or three decades, it was as if he’d ridden a flying sword.

Shen Lian felt no pride.

Such progress was largely thanks to abundant resources, with spirit stones and Huangya pills aplenty.

With so many pills and stones poured in, even a pig could advance.

His fire root value had reached sixty-seven.

That already placed him among those with high-grade roots.

The only flaw was that his superior fire root was burdened by four inferior roots.

Once his internal power settled, Shen Lian slowly opened his eyes.

There was neither joy nor sorrow in them.

After adapting to the life of cultivation, his mind had grown ever more tranquil.

“I wonder, in ancient times, how did cultivators with five roots train? Did their roots entangle each other?”

“There must have been ways, otherwise five-root cultivators wouldn’t have been praised for their Da Luo potential in the legends.”

He stood and stretched, then checked the state of his protective array.

“Advancing to the sixth level of Qi Refining, finding a new technique is truly troublesome.”

Seeing Qianyuan Technique reach its limit, Shen Lian had no choice but to worry about his cultivation method.

The urge to seek a new art had been with him since he first became a talisman maker.

But it was only in these past two years that he’d truly put it into practice.

He had already tried to obtain techniques from Treasure Pavilion and various family shops.

It didn't work.

What was available for sale was common fare, at best allowing cultivation to the ninth Qi Refining level.

For this, he even disguised himself and visited the rogue cultivator black market twice.

He failed to find a suitable technique, and both times was followed.

Though he didn’t come away empty-handed; at least his talisman killing arrays gained two more opportunities for practical use, making him more skilled.

Thinking of this, Shen Lian felt a touch of resignation.

Cultivation arts were tied to progress; he had no choice but to pay attention.

He entered the talisman room.

On the talisman table lay spiritual ink, talisman paper, and various mid- and high-grade first-tier talismans, all placed carelessly.

Recalling the past, he had to uncover his bedding to draw talismans and carefully put away pen, ink, and paper after finishing.

Now, with the protection of his array, everything was so comfortable.

His small courtyard was near the market’s core and close to the law enforcement team’s station.

In two years, demon cultivator disturbances had been few.

In such a stable environment, Shen Lian spent his days drawing talismans and cultivating; at night, he accumulated insight points faster than he had on the market’s periphery.

Yunmeng Market had also developed rapidly in these two years.

From one year ago, many laborers and outer disciples from Bihui Sect had arrived, and the market began to connect with the pioneering markets established by the other two major sects of Chu—Youhuang Valley and Tianyang Sect.

Youhuang Valley and Tianyang Sect were also Chu’s Golden Core sects.

This pioneering effort was a joint enterprise among the three, though their markets were separated by a thousand miles.

To cultivators, that might seem close, but the landscape was filled with mountains, valleys, and endless miasma—dangerous and rarely traversed.

Yet, as wilderness exploration accelerated, the three sects' markets began to connect.

Furthermore, the mining region numbered Thirty-Six Wu was now fully managed by Bihui Sect.

Of course, Bihui Sect’s management had its advantages: they recruited some rogue cultivators for mining.

At least, the open profits in spirit stones were more comfortable.

The downside was that any high-grade ore found belonged to Bihui Sect.

At this moment, Shen Lian’s mind brought forth his data panel.

[Shen Lian: Sixth Level Qi Refining]

[Five Element Roots: Fire 67, Earth 18, Gold 17, Wood 29, Water 18]

[Talisman Maker: First Grade Superior (0/10,000)]

[Insight Points: 49]

[Divine Insight Points: 0]

[Fire Art: Perfect (1000/1000)]

[Fire Escape Art: Perfect (1000/1000), Water Escape Art: Beginner (100/1000), Gold Escape Art: Beginner (89/1000)]

[Spirit Tracing Art: Mastery (735/1000)]

[Poison Refining: Mastery (700/1000)]

In this comfortable and stable environment, Shen Lian gained seven or eight insight points daily on average.

After the price of mid- and low-grade first-tier miasma-clearing talismans returned to normal, he directly upgraded his business and began drawing high-grade first-tier miasma-clearing talismans.

Over the past two years, his focus remained on cultivation.

Talismans were merely a means to earn spirit stones, not something he pursued in bulk.

He didn’t want to attract attention; publicly, his success rate was only about fifty percent.

A high-grade first-tier miasma-clearing talisman cost twelve spirit stones to make, and sold for thirty.

With a forty percent success rate, he could break even; fifty percent meant profit.

Each time, Shen Lian mixed mid-grade and high-grade talismans together for sale.

“It’s a pity I don’t have divine sense.”

He dismissed the panel, sighing softly.

Most widely spread cultivation methods in the world required one to reach the late stages of Qi Refining before nurturing divine sense within.

But sect disciples were different; their high-level sect techniques could allow divine sense to emerge early, sometimes in the initial or middle stages.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.

“In the future, I must be extra cautious when dealing with sect disciples.”

Shen Lian shook his head, suppressing his thoughts.

Two years of cultivation had made him understand that stability was paramount.

As for talisman making, it was just a way to earn spirit stones.

Only by becoming stronger could one be secure.

Thus, he used his insight points to cultivate several more arts, focusing on the path of fire, since his other four attributes were too weak.

He could do without these arts, but when he needed them, he had to be able to use them.

The deeper he delved into cultivation, the more Shen Lian realized that most cultivators could not dwell in immortal lands, sipping dew in the morning and admiring the sunset clouds.

For resources, one had to interact with various fellow cultivators.

Even he, as reclusive as he was, still needed to go out regularly to exchange for cultivation resources.

To retreat to a wild mountain for cultivation was completely unrealistic.

Where there were people, there was inevitably conflict.

Kill or be killed—upon embarking on the path of cultivation, one could not avoid bloodshed…

Spreading a sheet of high-grade first-tier talisman paper on the table, Shen Lian dipped his brush in prepared spiritual ink and began to draw.

The brush moved like a dragon, spiritual energy weaving into the paper, forming runes that curled like dragons.

When Shen Lian raised his hand, the talisman paper glowed faintly—a high-grade first-tier miasma-clearing talisman, complete.

After drawing two more, he stopped.

With his breakthrough to the sixth Qi Refining level, his spiritual power was stronger, and drawing high-grade talismans went more smoothly.

He stowed the talismans in his storage pouch, cast a cleansing talisman on himself, tidied his robes, and opened the door.

To reach the sixth Qi Refining level, he'd secluded himself at home for quite some time; now, it was time to get some fresh air, and perhaps hear what news was circulating in the marketplace.