23: Mid-stage Qi Refining, flying on a sword

The Yellow Heaven Cult successfully overthrew the Yu Kingdom and established a new Dynasty, the "Yellow Heaven Celestial Kingdom," still using the original royal capital as its capital city.

It was renamed: Tianjing City!

The following year was designated as the First Year of Huang Tian.

Until ten days later, when the Yellow Heaven Cult posted a large-scale list for testing Spiritual Roots and recruiting Disciples to Cultivate on Purple Gold Mountain, Yu Xuzi finally truly confirmed that the biggest winner after the destruction of the State Preceptor's Mansion was... the Yellow Heaven Cult?

Yu Xuzi watched the development of the situation with shock and suspicion.

What Huo Li had told him that day was that the Hunyuan Sect held the absolute advantage before he fled, wasn't it?

With the weak power of the Yellow Heaven Cult, how could they possibly seize Purple Gold Mountain from the Hunyuan Sect?

Even if they had some prior connection, the Hunyuan Sect didn't seem like the type to keep an agreement; turning their backs on others was a much more likely scenario.

"The situation is a bit strange."

"Either the Yellow Heaven Cult is a hidden piece of the Hunyuan Sect, or True Man Huang Tian has some other trump card that allowed him to make a desperate comeback and repel the Hunyuan Sect."

"Right, the Breath Concealment Technique!"

A bolt of lightning seemed to flash through Yu Xuzi's heart as he suddenly remembered the Breath Concealment Technique he had used to kill before.

This was recorded in the Incomplete Manual of the Huang Tian True Scripture.

True Man Huang Tian likely knows this technique as well!

"Could it be... his Late Stage cultivation was faked?"

"Is he at Peak Qi Refining, or the Dao Foundation?"

The more Yu Xuzi thought about it, the more he felt that the Yellow Heaven Cult revealed strangeness everywhere.

Especially True Man Huang Tian.

Previously, he didn't understand the true situation of the cultivation world and thought True Man Huang Tian was just an ordinary Loose Cultivator, at most having some Opportunity, such as discovering the hidden cultivation scripture of the Yellow Heaven Cult.

But thinking about it now, the depths of the Yellow Heaven Cult were even deeper than he had imagined.

The unfathomably powerful True Man Huang Tian, along with the Disciples he trained and the large number of Talismans—where did he, a Loose Cultivator, get so many resources?

"It's good to have a great Opportunity; the greater, the better!"

The more Yu Xuzi thought about it, the happier he became.

As long as he kept recording True Man Huang Tian and the Yellow Heaven Cult, no matter how great the Opportunity, it would be his sooner or later.

Because Yu Xuzi had already discovered that every time the bronze pavilion collected a record of fate, the rewards were basically the most precious things of the person being recorded.

The Basic Qi Refining Art, the incomplete Huang Tian True Scripture, and the yu king sword—every single one was like this.

However, since his strength was currently weak, he decided to continue hiding.

He would wait until he broke through to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining and preliminarily mastered the Magical Artifact yu king sword and the State Preceptor's Mansion's Prairie Fire Sword Art before coming out.

[Prairie Fire Sword Art], a second-tier Spell.

It consists of five sword forms in total, the last two of which can only be cultivated by a Dao Foundation Cultivator.

After hearing everything Huo Li told him about the State Preceptor's Mansion and combining it with the information he had collected in the royal palace, Yu Xuzi finally took the time to write a "Brief Record of the State Preceptor's Mansion."

It was this brief record—though its content was sketchy—that earned him the reward of the Prairie Fire Sword Art... Late January, the First Year of Huang Tian.

After nearly a year, Yu Xuzi returned to Yuxu Temple on Cangqing Mountain.

It was quiet here, and no one would come to disturb him, making it perfectly suitable for him to break through to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining.

"Twenty-nine wisps of Mana, just a little bit more."

"huang yuan pill, I wonder how its effect is?"

The pill bottle Yu Xuzi held was exactly what he had obtained from the corpse of that Hunyuan Sect Disciple; inside were three dark yellow Medicinal Pills.

The quality was ordinary, with no unusual phenomena.

He had asked Huo Li at the time and learned that this pill was called the huang yuan pill, which could slightly enhance a Qi Refining Cultivator's Mana.

But it wasn't a graded precious Medicinal Pill; it could only be considered a "Semi-spirit Pill."

Its refining technique was the true "Cultivator's Alchemy method," but limited by the lack of Spirit Medicine, many of the Spirit Medicines in the Pill Formula were replaced, lowering its grade by one level.

For example, instead of using the first-tier Low Grade Spirit Medicine White Jade Ginseng, it was actually refined using only ancient ordinary mountain ginseng that was tainted with a bit of Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence.

Because of this, its medicinal effects were mostly greatly discounted.

But even this downgraded Semi-spirit Pill was something only Disciples of large sects like the Hunyuan Sect could enjoy.

Even Huo Li could basically only get a few pills each year in the State Preceptor's Mansion.

As for Loose Cultivators... what Medicinal Pills?

Nowadays, few Loose Cultivators in the world have even tasted what a Medicinal Pill is like.

"Let's try it!"

Without hesitation, Yu Xuzi poured out a huang yuan pill and tilted his head back to swallow it.

The moment the pill entered his stomach, it turned into a warm current, flowing slowly through his Meridians as thin Mana began to grow.

A moment later, the warm current disappeared.

Yu Xuzi opened his eyes with a slight frown, looking at the pill in his hand with disappointment.

"This medicinal effect... the name 'Semi-spirit Pill' really isn't wrong..."

"Forget it, I'll take them together; it's better than nothing!"

The remaining two huang yuan pills entered his stomach at the same time, and this time the effect was significantly more noticeable.

At the same time.

A Spirit Stone the size of a pigeon egg appeared in his palm, flickering with a gentle white light.

Pure and gentle Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence, far exceeding what drifted in the outside world, gurgled out from the Spirit Stone and surged into his body, constantly being refined into Mana.

"Spirit Stones are still the most useful!"

One cycle, two cycles... until early morning.

The blazing sun rose in the east, and golden light spilled down.

"Buzz—"

A slight vibration sounded from deep within his Dantian.

Yu Xuzi suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp light flashing through his pupils as the aura around him abruptly rose, becoming heavy and long-lasting.

Middle Stage of Qi Refining!

It's done!

At this moment, his Dantian had a full thirty wisps of brand-new Mana.

And each wisp of Mana was much more solid and thick than during the Early Stage of Qi Refining.

If a wisp of Mana in the Early Stage of Qi Refining could only release one Spell, then now it could release at least three or four of the same Spell.

The quality was incomparable.

"Cultivating for over a year and breaking through to the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, not bad, not bad."

Originally, Yu Xuzi felt it was slow, but since learning about the real cultivation world from Huo Li, he suddenly felt it was quite good.

Looking down at his unresponsive left palm, Yu Xuzi murmured to himself, "The Myriad Heavens Star Disk still has no reaction. Does it really require breaking through to the Dao Foundation Realm to Transmigrate to the next world?"

...Two months passed in the blink of an eye.

The back mountain of Yuxu Temple.

"Keng—!!!"

Accompanied by the clear, resonant sound of a sword ringing through the mountain forest, a streak of purple sword light shot up from Cangqing Mountain like a startled swan, weaving freely through the air thousands of feet high.

Below his feet was a rolling sea of clouds, and in the distance were continuous mountain ranges.

The gale brushed against his face, and his robes fluttered loudly.

Yu Xuzi had preliminarily refined the yu king sword, and it was as easy to use as his own arm; naturally, flying on the sword was no problem.

A moment later.

Yu Xuzi landed again in a certain valley in the back of Cangqing Mountain, focused his mind, and began to practice sword techniques according to the Prairie Fire Sword Art, circulating his Mana.

"Prairie Fire Sword Art, First Form—Fire Crows Burning the Wilds!"

"Boom!!!"

Amidst the crisscrossing sword light, it was no longer simple purple light, but blazing flames erupting forth!

Under the pull of the sword momentum, it suddenly expanded, turning into a surging sea of fire that reflected a bright red throughout the valley.

Accompanied by sharp cries, dozens of fire crows composed entirely of crimson flames condensed and struggled to flap their wings and fly out!

In an instant, fire crows danced all over the sky.

Dragging scorching tail flames, they circled and shrieked above the valley.

Where the sword light pointed, they dove down like an army, crashing into the mountain rocks and leaving behind countless charred pits.

"Boom—Boom—Boom—"

For a time, sword light crisscrossed within the valley, the sea of fire surged, and scorching airwaves swept in all directions.

Two quarters of an hour later.

Yu Xuzi withdrew his sword and stood still, a satisfied expression appearing on his pale face.

"The power is indeed good, but my Mana is still insufficient; it's not long-lasting enough."

"But I imagine I should have few rivals in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining; even if I encounter a Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivator, with the rapid escape speed of the yu king sword, I can flee if I can't win."

"Continue cultivating!"