Cultivating Immortality in Two Realms

Chapter 16 4 years

Four years later.

Dan Island.

Inside the cave, Fang Qing gazed at the jade bottle in his hand.

Once opened, you can hear a whooshing sound from the bottle, as well as the tinkling sound of spring water.

Inside the bottle, there was a clear, transparent, and lustrous true qi, which was the 'Earth Spring Tempering True Qi', a mid-grade fifth-rank qi!

"It's not easy..."

Fang Qing sighed.

Originally, he estimated that he could fully refine a 'Earth Spring Tempering True Essence' in two or three years, which was correct.

However, Fang Qing overlooked the competition for the Cold Spring and the burden of the mission.

The Azure Sea Sect invests spiritual veins, cultivation techniques, and resources in training its disciples, so naturally, the disciples are expected to risk their lives. Unless they have connections or background, they can choose easier tasks; otherwise, they have no choice but to endure it.

As a newly initiated disciple, Fang Qing only had a one-year adaptation period, after which he would have mandatory tasks every year.

Fortunately, the Azure Sea Sect is not currently at war with other forces; otherwise, the death rate in forced missions would rise sharply.

Even so, after Fang Qing managed to get through the previous missions by sheer luck, he also met with misfortune two years ago and was assigned to the sect's fishing team to hunt demon fish in the deep sea. He accidentally suffered some minor injuries, which also delayed his cultivation.

He originally estimated that he could cultivate his Qi Refining Level 3 magic power to perfection in three years, but four years have passed and he is still a little short of perfecting Level 3.

"Next, there's the bottleneck between the early and middle stages of Qi Refining... After that bottleneck, it takes five or six years to advance even one level in the middle stage of Qi Refining, not to mention the later stages..."

"At my age, it's becoming increasingly difficult to break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining before the optimal time of the Jiazi cycle for Foundation Establishment."

"Is this the difficulty of achieving immortality? The slightest setback immediately bleaks one's future..."

Of course, his slow cultivation speed was also due to the lack of resources.

Fang Qing used the contribution points earned over the past four years to save up the minimum necessities of life, intending to buy several spiritual items that exist in both worlds but have a higher premium in the ancient Shu region for resale.

Back in the Floating Boat Market, Fang Qing saw many spiritual creatures, some of which he had never seen on Jade Island, but others that were similar or even identical.

Furthermore, the value of the same spiritual item differs greatly between the two worlds, leaving considerable room for premium pricing.

"I've almost mastered the art of disguise... It took me a full four years."

"It's time to acquire abundant resources to improve my cultivation and alchemy skills..."

Once someone becomes an entry-level alchemist, the sect's mandatory missions will change to alchemy missions, preventing alchemists, who are productive talents, from having to risk hunting demons.

With a thought, Fang Qing took out the Azure Leaf Boat magic artifact and went to the General Affairs Hall.

Inside the main hall, the noise and chatter continued unabated.

There were even more people than usual.

"Haha... With the increased number of missions at the sect's Dragon Transformation Pool, it's clear that a batch of top-grade first-tier dragon serpents are about to break through to the second tier..."

"I wonder how many second-tier demon cores we can get, and how many Foundation Establishment Pills Elder Tianding can refine..."

"According to the usual practice, Foundation Establishment Pills are distributed once every ten years, with true disciples having priority in exchanging them... This year's number of true disciples is quite large. If the sect's own production of second-tier demon cores is insufficient, we will probably have to deploy the Five-Toothed Warship to enter the deep sea to capture second-tier demon fish, kill them, and extract their cores... The casualty rate for this kind of mission is only slightly lower than that of a sect war, so it will definitely be forcibly assigned to us..."

……

Hearing the murmurs around him, Fang Qing's expression turned grave: "Foundation Building Pill... Second-tier demon core..."

This matter is not his concern for the time being, but if the sect does not have enough second-tier demon cores and has to carry out a "deep-sea fishing expedition", then he is very likely to become cannon fodder.

"We must take immediate action."

Fang Qing went to the disciples' stall and began to buy the spiritual materials he had selected.

"Hmm? The prices of some cultivation materials have increased... especially high-quality magic artifacts that can temporarily boost combat power. Is this related to the Foundation Establishment Pill?"

He came to a stall selling elixirs and spiritual herbs and saw a strange flower the size of a bowl: "How much is this 'Blazing Sun Flower'?"

"Twenty contribution points, take them."

The stall owner, a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, was reading a book and answered without looking up.

This 'Blazing Sun Flower' can only be used to refine some basic Yang-attribute pills, and it's not worth much money.

However, in the ancient Shu region, due to the scarcity of Great Sun Spiritual Objects, their premium is particularly high!

Fang Qing had seen one of these plants in the Floating Boat Market before; it was a "treasured item" of a certain pharmacy.

"I bought it."

After buying the spiritual herbs, he looked at the elixirs and saw one called the 'Black Water Elixir,' which piqued his interest: "This is... a Black Water Elixir? Senior Brother is an alchemist?"

"Indeed, the Black Water Pill is particularly suitable for assisting cultivators with water-elemental roots in breaking through from the early to mid-stages of Qi Refining..."

The young stall owner put down his book, a glint of inspiration in his eyes: "I see you're not far from reaching the perfect third level of Qi Refining. Would you like one?"

"this……"

Fang Qing pondered to himself.

He has a mid-grade water elemental root, so normally he shouldn't be stumped by such a minor bottleneck.

But how much time it will take up for him is hard to say.

Taking the "Black Water Pill" to clear the level is indeed a good idea to save time, provided you have enough contribution points!

"What is the price?"

"Only two hundred contribution points."

"Excuse me!"

Fang Qing turned and left.

"Haha... Senior Brother Xu, you've misjudged him. This Junior Brother Fang is short of money and probably can't afford the Black Water Pill you have."

At this moment, a blue-robed cultivator walked over and spoke sarcastically; it was none other than Li Yusu.

"Li Yudan, what did you call me?"

Fang Qing stopped in her tracks.

"Junior Brother Fang, what's wrong? In our sect, the way we address each other among our peers is based on strength. I've already reached the third level of Qi Refining and am about to go into seclusion to break through to the middle stage of Qi Refining. Am I not allowed to call you 'Junior Brother'?"

Li Yusu laughed heartily.

"Junior Brother Yudan, have you overlooked the sect rules? Although there is such a rule, those at the same cultivation level are still ranked according to the order of their entry. Therefore, until you break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, I will still be your senior brother."

Fang Qing didn't know why, even though the faint malice from Gong Susu had disappeared after he broke off contact with Cha Zhu, Li Yusu was still relentless.

Perhaps this is what the boy was jealous of?

Although it's laughable, what makes us human is that we sometimes do nonsensical things.

"Hmph, I won't argue with you about that... The sect is about to launch a 'Great Fishing' operation, and you'll definitely be on the list of ships in the ocean-going fleet. I'll be waiting for you!"

Li Yusu smiled contentedly.

"Then you just wait."

Fang Qing turned and left, too lazy to argue with this person.

Not far away, Hua Lian and Yu Taohua also witnessed this scene.

"Senior Brother Hua...it seems you've misjudged him."

Yu Taohua smiled gently: "This Fang Qing, a prodigy in his childhood, may not be as outstanding as he grows up... But that Cha Zhu, I heard she's already at the fifth level of Qi Refining? Given time, the threshold of the late Qi Refining stage will definitely not be a barrier for her..."

"Indeed, she is a chosen one of heaven..."

Senior Brother Hua sighed in admiration, watching Fang Qing leave. His family's excellent traditions meant he was one of the few who remained composed even when Fang Qing was down on his luck: "As for that Junior Brother Fang, testing jade requires three days of burning, discerning talent requires seven years… Now that we've been disciples for seven years, we do seem somewhat mediocre… But the more so, the more we should greet him with a smile when we see him again, lest we incur resentment. Look at Li Yusu, who, after rising to prominence, humiliated his former senior brother. How good is his reputation? In the sect, reputation is very important; otherwise, even if you become a true disciple, who will you borrow that large sum of contribution points for the Foundation Establishment Pill from?"

"Foundation Building Pill... It's not our turn this time, and it won't be our stage for the next ten years either, but I believe that Senior Brother Hua will definitely become a true disciple and be famous throughout the Blue Sea in the future."

Yu Taohua stared at her senior brother Hua with fascination, her eyes seemingly holding a certain light.

……

"This time, the fishing team will face even greater danger than last time!"

Inside the cave, Fang Qing's expression was solemn.

He didn't care about Li Yudan's words at all, and even quite liked listening to them. After all, the other party had a Foundation Establishment master who could hear a lot of sect information and would unintentionally leak it out.

Once we know about this, we must take immediate action!

"There's not much time left; I need to break through my alchemy skills as soon as possible..."

He took out a bright yellow talisman from his storage bag, pasted it on the gate of his cave, and hung up a sign indicating that he was in seclusion.

This is a talisman that can protect cultivators during seclusion.

Even if divine sense forcibly intrudes, it will automatically turn to ashes, serving as a warning to the cultivator.

After taking protective measures, Fang Qing formed hand seals and began practicing the "Disguise Technique".

As he muttered incantations, the flesh on Fang Qing's face seemed to come alive and twitch. With just a slight adjustment to his eyebrows and eyes, he looked like a completely different person.

Not only that, his aura also began to change, subtly different from that of the local cultivators, and instead carrying some characteristics of the Daoist cultivators.

"Unfortunately, it's just a poor imitation. Once it's used in a real fight, it will be exposed immediately when magic is used. Moreover, if it encounters a Foundation Establishment cultivator or a Dao Foundation cultivator over there... it will probably be difficult to hide it either."

"Four years of hard work, and the exquisite secret techniques of the Azure Sea Sect... this is all we can achieve."

"That's settled then. Tomorrow I'll immediately accept the sect's mission and then go on an adventure. Judging by the dates, the 'Azure Pavilion' will open this year as well."

Ever since learning about the spiritual abilities of high-level cultivators, Fang Qing has tried his best to avoid using the "Dao Sheng Pearl" within the sect.

"I've heard that after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, one can not only occupy a peak alone, but also set up a second-order formation to protect one's cave dwelling... Even a Core Formation ancestor would find it difficult to unknowingly probe the privacy within the formation... Unfortunately, that's still a long way off for me."

……