38: One refinement, a hundred spirits
"Xiao Jin, eat more and grow up quickly!"
A buffalo-sized giant frog shot down bloodthirsty demon mosquitoes like cannonballs with its tongue, which was tens of meters long, and rolled them back into its mouth.
Beneath the demon mosquitoes were hundreds of slaughtered domestic pigs. Although the bloodthirsty demon mosquitoes were numerous, they had little intelligence, possessing only predatory instincts.
These domestic pigs were the bait prepared by the Border Defense Force, attracting a large number of demon mosquitoes.
The numbers were still increasing.
In a short while, the giant frog's belly puffed up into a ball, while the young girl beside it looked depressed.
"Qing He, is it not working?" Uncle Qian asked from the side.
"Sigh! Although these Mosquito Beasts are fresh, their rank is still too low. Xiao Jin can only fill his belly by eating this trash."
"Qing He, hurry back and Cultivate. Contracted beasts can be raised slowly. Moreover, your contracted beast is already at the first level of the Qi Sea Realm. Your current priority is to raise your own strength to the second level. Don't forget that others in the Sequence Members have already reached at least the second level by taking qi gathering pills," Uncle Qian said seriously.
"Uncle Qian! Can you please not report what happened today at the high-speed rail station to the Dean?" the girl said guiltily.
She thought about her Sequence Members treatment. If she were really kicked out, losing face would be a small matter, but losing the school's resource support would be a major issue.
"Don't let it happen again!" Uncle Qian said helplessly.
As the number of bloodthirsty demon mosquitoes continued to increase, the sky became densely packed like a rain of blood!
"Qing He, let's retreat. They're about to pull in the net!"
After their blood was sucked by the Mosquito Beasts, the domestic pigs let out painful, heart-wrenching howls!
Hundreds of special tanks were parked within a radius of several hundred meters, all with flame emblems painted on their hulls.
This was special operations equipment: Flame-throwing Tanks.
In addition, a large number of Laser-emitting Vehicles were already in position.
At the command, massive fire dragons spewed from the pipes, shooting directly at the bloodthirsty demon mosquitoes that were fighting for food.
The power of these flame tanks was several times greater than a regular Cultivator's Fireball Technique, and they could be fired with a single button, requiring no hand seals at all.
Under the flames, the Mosquito Beasts could only turn to ashes.
Even if they discovered the soldiers inside the tanks, facing bulletproof armor tens of centimeters thick, these fist-sized demon mosquitoes could not break through the defense at all.
A large number of laser weapons, tracked via visual intelligence, had excellent killing effects.
With Huaxia's current technology, dealing with these bloodthirsty demon mosquitoes was a piece of cake; the problem now was that they couldn't be eradicated.
The Huaxia military could think of no better way than to continuously design traps to trap and kill the demon mosquitoes.
A single mosquito flying out of a Secret Realm could make a small country treat it as a formidable enemy, or even face total destruction.
What about the future?
At this moment, Zhang Sheng was reflecting on the high-speed train back to school.
I was too arrogant.
So what if the Object Manipulation Art was at the Perfected State? The Dantian could only hold a mere few hundred points of spiritual power, with almost no endurance.
I was still too impatient.
Besides, external objects are external objects after all. Talismans are good, but there is a process to activate them. In a life-and-death battle, the activation movement is a huge flaw.
Back at school, Zhang Sheng received the notification that his Yellow-rank Secret Realm suppression mission was complete. He also received over three thousand spirit pearls—partly as a reward for the Moon Shadow Demon Wolf and partly as a reward for the critical transmission... In the Intermediate Alchemy room, Zhang Sheng refined supreme-grade essence food pills while cultivating the Heavenly Circulation Method with all his might to perform Refining Essence into Qi.
One supreme-grade essence food pill was enough to support Zhang Sheng for ten sessions of Refining Essence into Qi. This time, he would not leave seclusion until he cultivated the Heavenly Circulation Method to the Transcendent stage.
Zhang Sheng had to start cultivating Primordial Chaos Qi Refining; otherwise, his Dantian was too small to sustain combat.
The Proficient level Heavenly Circulation Method refined 10 spirit points per session. No matter how many spirit points the Transcendent level Heavenly Circulation Method refined, Zhang Sheng did not plan to Cultivate it to Perfection.
To reach the Perfected State required a hundred thousand sessions of Refining Essence into Qi. He didn't know how long that would take; he feared others would reach the Perfection of the Qi Sea Realm while he was still Refining Essence into Qi.
Zhang Sheng couldn't afford to wait... He cultivated for several days straight.
On the morning of June 17, 2030,
The talent panel finally changed.
"Cultivation Technique: Heavenly Circulation Method (Transcendent: 1/100,000)"
Finally! He finally achieved the Transcendent stage!
A surprise! A huge surprise!
"First Refinement One Hundred Spirits!"
"Not only that, this technique can actually run on its own without active control. I can turn it on or off as I wish—its uses are infinite!"
"This way, can't I continue cultivating the Heavenly Circulation Method while also practicing other Cultivation Techniques and Spells?" Zhang Sheng thought to himself.
However, Zhang Sheng still discovered a problem! His supreme-grade essence food pills were no longer sufficient!
A Proficient level Heavenly Circulation Method refinement session took half an hour, while a Transcendent level Heavenly Circulation Method refinement session only took ten minutes, and the consumption increased tenfold.
Now, one supreme-grade essence food pill could only allow Zhang Sheng to perform Refining Essence into Qi once.
Damn it!
Zhang Sheng temporarily turned off the automatic operation of the Heavenly Circulation Method. The current priority was to Cultivate Primordial Chaos Qi Refining to expand his Qi Sea and Dantian.
A magical scene occurred. As Zhang Sheng operated Primordial Chaos Qi Refining, a massive strand of Spiritual Qi moved through his body like a small Dragon.
If calculated by spirit value, it was 100 points.
As one Minor Cosmic Cycle was completed, Zhang Sheng's body absorbed an equivalent strand of spiritual power from the surroundings.
Zhang Sheng's Dantian was expanded by a third in one go, and the total amount of spiritual power it could hold surged from 300 points to 400 points.
This was the effect of the Transcendent Heavenly Circulation Method.
Cultivating the same Primordial Chaos Qi Refining, Zhang Sheng's cultivation speed was at least ten times faster than that of an average Cultivator.
Sharpening the axe does not delay the woodcutting; it was not in vain to spend so much time cultivating the Heavenly Circulation Method.
However, it took two hours to run one cycle of the Proficient level Primordial Chaos Qi Refining, which was far too long.
This way, he would have no time to practice Spells. One hurdle after another—how could he not be worried!
Zhang Sheng logged onto Myriad Treasures Net; perhaps there would be something to improve the effects!
Zhang Sheng remembered his communication with Tian Xingxing; S-rank and above Alchemists in the school used Spiritual Artifact Pill Furnaces to refine First-Tier Pills.
Myriad Treasures Net should have them, right!
And indeed, there were!
"qi gathering pill (First-Tier Pill): Significantly increases the speed at which a Cultivator runs the Minor Cosmic Cycle. Contains a large amount of spiritual power. A common pill for Qi Sea Realm cultivation."
Zhang Sheng remembered there was a brief introduction to this kind of pill in 'General Knowledge of Medicinal Pills'.
"Quantity for sale: 0"
Although there was a page, it wasn't for sale. There was even a line of large text below: "If you obtain qi gathering pills from a Secret Realm, the authorities are willing to buy them back at a high price. Please contact customer service for details."
It seemed that First Cultivation University did not sell qi gathering pills, and demand exceeded supply.
The more it was like this, the more interested Zhang Sheng became in these qi gathering pills!
With his own Talent's support, Zhang Sheng didn't believe he couldn't refine qi gathering pills.
Immediately, Zhang Sheng purchased the Pill Formula.
spirit plants of at least ten years, a Spiritual Artifact Pill Furnace, and Pill Fire. These three things were basically essential for refining First-Tier Pills.
Zhang Sheng could buy the first two; the key was the latter—Pill Fire.
Although he didn't have the Alchemist Talent, Zhang Sheng thought of an alternative method.
Zhang Sheng formed a hand seal, and the spiritual power in his body circulated through his spleen and lungs. A fist-sized fireball slowly formed in his palm.
"Spell: Fireball Technique (Beginner: 1/10)"