Chapter 70: Something’s Off About Qiu Qianhai’s Breakthrough
"Hu—"
Ji Yuan inwardly observed his dantian.
Seeing the spiritual qi condensing into a spirit cloud pill, he let out a long breath of relief.
The hallmark of breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining was the formation of a spiritual cloud pill within the dantian.
In other words, to reach the late stage, one needed a large reserve of spirit stones.
Otherwise, if the supply of spirit stones couldn't keep up during the breakthrough, there would be no chance of success.
Ji Yuan had prepared four mid-grade spirit stones.
After fully absorbing the first two, it still wasn’t enough to support the breakthrough.
The remaining two only contained about a third of their original spiritual qi.
To break through to the late Qi Refining stage, at least three hundred spirit stones were needed.
No wonder there were so few late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in Yunyu Marshlands.
Condensing the spirit cloud pill marked the late stage of Qi Refining. To advance further, one had to condense more cloud pills until the dantian was full, signifying the peak of Qi Refining.
After that, to reach Foundation Establishment, the spiritual qi in the dantian had to be continuously compressed and liquefied into pill liquid.
Once the dantian was filled with this pill liquid, it meant reaching the peak of Foundation Establishment.
Finally, compressing the pill liquid into a solid signified the formation of a Golden Core.
With that thought, Ji Yuan continued absorbing spiritual qi, stabilizing his cultivation.
In the blink of an eye, another four days passed. When the last two mid-grade spirit stones in his hand turned to dust, his cultivation finally solidified completely.
In truth, it had stabilized two days prior, but the remaining spiritual qi in the stones wasn’t useful anymore.
So Ji Yuan simply absorbed it all in one go.
Four days later—
Ji Yuan brushed off the spirit stone dust from his body and walked out of the room feeling refreshed. Qiu Qianhai, who had been waiting inside the house for a long time, immediately stood up, his eyes filled with joy.
"Great! Now I, Qiu Qianhai, finally have a friend in the late Qi Refining stage!"
Ji Yuan gave him a cool glance, then casually flicked his sleeves, hands behind his back, leaning slightly.
"You—what did you just call me?"
Qiu Qianhai quickly clapped imaginary dust off his clothes, bowed with cupped fists, and respectfully said, "Junior Qiu Qianhai greets Senior Ji."
"Not bad, you have some sense."
"Get lost."
Qiu Qianhai stood up and laughed heartily.
After his laughter, he seemed to recall something and quickly said, "A few days ago, after you broke through to the late stage, some neighbors seemed to sense the fluctuation and sent over congratulatory gifts."
"Oh? You didn’t accept them, right?"
"Nope, I sent them all away," Qiu Qianhai said, placing his hands on his hips and grinning. "At the time, I played the role of a haughty servant of a great house."
"That’s fine then."
Ji Yuan stretched and casually slapped a Tranquility Talisman onto Qiu Qianhai.
"Alright, go breakthrough quickly yourself. We'll talk again once your cultivation rises."
"Okay!"
Qiu Qianhai had been waiting for this moment and could hardly wait.
As he eagerly entered the room, Ji Yuan went to the front courtyard and summoned his many magical tools.
With his breakthrough to the late Qi Refining stage, his strength had greatly improved.
Naturally, he needed to get familiar with his tools again.
After all, where he previously had to use five parts of strength to achieve a result, now two parts might be enough.
With that thought, Ji Yuan first channeled spiritual qi into the magical boots on his feet.
Instantly, he felt light all over, and with a casual step, he crossed the entire courtyard and arrived at the gate.
That seemed to be the boots' limit.
Looking back—three zhang in one step—this was the maximum of these low-grade boots.
They might not be great for fleeing, but they were perfect for close-range combat, especially paired with his Water-Dividing Dragon Spear.
At that thought, Ji Yuan made a gripping motion with his right hand.
The water-blue spear with blades at both ends appeared in his grasp.
With a casual swing, two waves of spiritual qi surged around him.
An upper-grade magical weapon—it was the limit of what Qi Refining cultivators could activate.
Anything higher, like top-grade tools, required Foundation Establishment to wield.
Though the Water-Dividing Dragon Spear was powerful, it also consumed a lot of spiritual qi.
Ji Yuan didn’t dare test it in the courtyard.
Moments later, he summoned the White Water Flying Sword.
To Ji Yuan, now in the late Qi Refining stage, this mid-grade sword felt rather inadequate.
Though still usable, controlling it felt oddly unsubstantial.
His future opponents would likely also be late-stage cultivators.
Their protective tools would at least be mid-grade—
Maybe even upper-grade.
That meant the White Water Sword wouldn’t be very effective anymore.
He had to get an upper-grade flying sword.
Same for his protective tools.
Though he had many, they were all mid-grade.
Selling them all could probably get him one upper-grade item.
His magical boat needed to be upgraded to a flying boat.
His talisman brush—at least upgrade it from low-grade to mid-grade. That should be enough.
Replacing everything would surely cost a lot of spirit stones...
But thankfully, the Cold Iron Sand hadn’t been sold yet. With those forty-one jin, he could afford everything.
Just as Ji Yuan was thinking this, he suddenly sensed something and turned around.
The house was silent.
But just now, it seemed like a trace of blood qi flashed inside?
He immediately summoned his Vinewood Shield to guard in front of him and activated the Profound Light Barrier to cover his body.
Finally, he took out the Water-Dividing Dragon Spear.
He entered the room but didn’t detect anything unusual.
Was it a false alarm?
Just as he was puzzled, he realized the blood qi came from—Qiu Qianhai?!
It emanated from the room where Qiu Qianhai was in seclusion.
Faintly, Ji Yuan could even hear a strong heartbeat.
Like war drums.
This guy was just breaking through—why all the ruckus?
Ji Yuan waited at the door for a while. Hearing nothing more, he let it go.
It was probably one of Qiu Qianhai’s secrets. J
ust like that fingertip bone he had gotten—perhaps he hesitated before breaking through in front of me?
Afraid I’d learn his secret?
Ji Yuan pondered this but didn’t leave. Instead, he began cultivating in the main hall.
He first spent three days drawing talismans, turning all his remaining mid-grade Cloud Pattern Paper into mid-grade talismans.
In battle, tossing a bunch of talismans might help somewhat.
Next, he changed the [Talisman Room] into a [Comprehension Room] and began studying the third layer of Water Drop Finger—“Stored Explosion,” and the second layer of Bluewave Sword Art—“Mirror Layers.”
“Stored Explosion” was extremely hard to cultivate. Ji Yuan tried compressing spiritual power around his body thousands of times, still failing to grasp the trick.
“Mirror Layers” required using a flying sword to shatter water droplets, forming multiple mirrors around the body.
These mirrors could confuse opponents' vision, and if enemy spells hit them, their trajectory could be altered.
Ji Yuan could also actively detonate the mirrors to launch counterattacks in the form of water arrows.
He practiced for several days but got stuck on the step of turning water droplets into mirrors.
That day, while he was comprehending “Mirror Layers,” he suddenly sensed a shift in aura from the inner room.
Just as he was feeling pleased, he heard Qiu Qianhai seemingly cough up blood.
“Puh—”
“Qiu Qianhai?!”
Ji Yuan quickly called out.
“No, I’m fine, don’t come in. I’ll be okay soon.”
A weak voice came from inside.
Ji Yuan paused.
He waited a full day before Qiu Qianhai finally emerged, his face still pale, but his aura clearly settled at the sixth layer of Qi Refining.
“Are you really alright?”
Ji Yuan looked at him seriously and asked.
Qiu Qianhai seemed to know he couldn’t hide it—or maybe didn’t want to—and said softly, “I cultivated another technique. It burns lifespan to accelerate cultivation.”
“Isn’t that demonic cultivation?!”
Ji Yuan was shocked.
“Techniques aren’t inherently righteous or demonic. Only people are,”
Qiu Qianhai smiled. “No need to worry. Once I break through to the late Qi Refining stage, I won’t practice it anymore. I calculated—I probably lost about twenty years of lifespan. But once I’m in the late stage, I’ll have over a hundred years of life anyway. It’s not a big deal.”
“Well… alright then.”
Cultivation was a personal matter—Ji Yuan couldn’t say too much. “If you ever need my help, just let me know.”
“I will.”
Just then, a knock came from outside the courtyard.
“Dong—”
“Dong dong—”