6: Chapter 6 Vigilance

After finishing their rain-summoning, the two returned to that wooden house on the mountaintop.

The house was not large, and the furnishings were even more rudimentary: a table and two couches, with an oil lamp placed on the table.

Wang Shouren sat cross-legged on the couch, closing his eyes to enter meditation.

The spiritual qi within his body flowed slowly like a stream, circulating back and forth along his Meridians.

In the Late Stage of the Qi Refining sixth layer, his spiritual qi was already much thicker than in the Middle Stage, and the whirlpool of spiritual qi in his Dantian had also condensed quite a bit.

There were faint signs of it becoming pure and viscous; if the spiritual qi could be highly condensed and his qi reservoir filled to the brim, he would truly step into the late Qi Refining stage.

Yet he knew clearly in his heart that it would likely be difficult to cross this threshold relying solely on bitter cultivation.

In the Immortal Realm, a Spiritual Root Aptitude directly determined how far one could walk on the path of Cultivate.

The reason why Single Spiritual Root prodigies were fought over by various Sects was precisely because they had fundamentally no Bottlenecks before Core Formation; as long as their spiritual qi accumulated enough, success would naturally follow.

Therefore, a Single Spiritual Root was undoubtedly a Foundation Establishment seed.

Dual Spiritual Roots came second.

As for triple Spiritual Roots, which were third-tier Aptitudes in the Immortal Realm, every small Realm had a hurdle.

From the sixth to the seventh layer of Qi Refining, it seemed to be only a step away, but it was the difference between the Middle Stage and Late Stage. The difficulty increased exponentially, trapping the lifelong footsteps of countless Cultivators.

"No wonder those fourth and fifth Spiritual Root elders of the Yao generation in the Family spent decades in bitter cultivation mostly stuck at the sixth layer of Qi Refining; very few were able to step into the Late Stage."

Whenever he wanted to solidify his spiritual qi and impact that invisible barrier, he always felt that the rotation speed of the spiritual qi whirlpool in his Dantian plummeted sharply, lacking sustained momentum.

The sky went from bright to dark, and then from dark to bright; in a flash, a day had passed.

Wang Shouxin was also meditating, but for his five-Spiritual Root Aptitude, advancing even a single step was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

In the same amount of time, the spiritual qi entering his body was actually less than ten percent of Wang Shouren's.

He secretly opened his eyes to glance at Wang Shouren once, and seeing that his eldest brother's eyes were tightly shut and his breathing was long and steady, he gritted his teeth, closed his eyes again, and continued to urge the Cultivation Technique that was as slow as an old ox pulling a cart.

Ten days of time quietly slipped away amidst this day-after-day bitter cultivation.

On the morning of the tenth day, Wang Shouren opened his eyes, took out a Bigu Pill from his bosom, and swallowed it.

He got up, paced to the edge of the field, and bent down to examine closely.

The heads of the spiritual rice had mostly turned yellow, and when pinched gently with a fingernail, the sap was as thick as milk, indicating that the grain-filling stage was nearing its end, but it would still need more than half a month to fully ripen.

Wang Shouren straightened his body, his brows slightly knitted.

"Ten days of bitter cultivation have increased my spiritual qi quite a bit, but this Bottleneck shows no signs of loosening at all."

Standing on the ridge of the field for a moment, he finally made up his mind, reached out, and took out a cyan porcelain bottle from his bosom.

Unstopping the bottle, five light-yellow Medicinal Pills, qi gathering pills, lay quietly inside.

This was the monthly allocation issued by the Family; last month he gave a whole bottle to his younger sister, and the bottle in his hand was saved from before.

He rarely took Medicinal Pills. Firstly, he did not want to rely too much on external forces; secondly, Medicinal Pills were precious, so he saved wherever he could.

But now time was tight, and he thought that perhaps with the help of the medicinal power, he could break through that barrier in one fell swoop.

Wang Shouren hesitated no longer, took out three pills, raised his head, and swallowed them.

Three pills were the maximum medicinal dosage he could currently bear at one time.

As the Medicinal Pills entered his abdomen, a massive medicinal power exploded with a roar, transforming into a surging wave of spiritual qi that galloped and swept along his Meridians.

His body trembled violently, and a flush appeared on his face.

Because he rarely took Medicinal Pills, there was almost no drug resistance in his body, and the medicinal efficacy was far more violent than expected.

He hurriedly sat down cross-legged, operating his Cultivation Technique with all his might to guide that violent spiritual qi back into his Dantian.

Gritting his teeth, he guided his whole body's spiritual qi to converge into the Dantian, condensing it to impact the barrier.

Once, twice, three times.

After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes and spat out a mouthful of scalding foul air; the flush on his face gradually faded, turning into a trace of bitterness.

"This hurdle of the seventh layer of Qi Refining indeed cannot be forcefully crossed just by relying on low-grade Medicinal Pills like qi gathering pills, but it is not without gains; at least now my spiritual qi is approaching a state of fullness."

Night fell.

Dog barks sounded in the quiet mountain forest, and soon the sound faded away again.

Xiaotian pricked up its ears to listen for a moment, and seeing no movement, it quickly crawled back into its doghouse.

Wang Shouren started awake from meditation, glanced at Wang Shouxin who was still Cultivating, and shook his head.

He only assumed it was a beast from some unknown mountain peak that had strayed in by mistake.

At the foot of the mountain, beside the pile of rubble.

Five men and women in different attire gathered in one place.

The man at the lead was stout and burly with a face full of flesh, wearing a wide-bladed short axe at his waist, the blade of which still retained dark brown traces.

Standing behind him was a tall, thin fellow whose triangular eyes rolled around incessantly.

There were another man and woman standing closer; the man sported a short beard, while the woman wore a grey robe with a veil covering her face.

The woman at the end had a petite figure, holding a soft whip in her hand, looking quite uneasy.

"Damn it, there's actually a spiritual hound!"

The thin fellow with triangular eyes spat and cursed in a low voice.

"Fifth Sister, didn't you scout and say there was no danger here?!"

The one called Fifth Sister was precisely the petite woman; she bit her lip and defended herself,

"I only saw that there was no Formation here; how would I know that person also raised a spiritual hound."

"Then what if he gets alert and runs away? The Wang Family has Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators garrisoning it."

"Alright, stop arguing."

The burly man at the lead waved his hand, his voice low.

"How few days have the five of us siblings spent licking blood from the edge of a blade together? It's just a beast; just be careful not to make any noise.

Do it cleanly, take the reward money and we will flee far away immediately; the Wang Family won't be able to trace it back to us."

"Eldest Brother is right. Later, we'll follow the old method: Fifth Sister will be responsible for blocking the mountain exit, and then like this... like this..."

...

On the mountaintop, Wang Shouren closed his eyes to regulate his breath. For some reason, he always felt a bit restless and could not enter the Cultivation state for a long time.

Opening his eyes, he happened to see Xiaotian wagging its tail, squatting in front of the couch, looking at him with eager eyes.

Wang Shouren took a beast bone from his Storage Pouch and threw it far away.

Xiaotian immediately perked up, kicked with all four legs, and darted out with a whoosh.

"Woof, woof, woof..."

Wang Shouren shook his head, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.

"Normally it takes less than half a quarter of an hour to enter meditation, why am I still so restless today after so long?"

Wang Shouren shook his head, a trace of doubt flashing in his eyes.

"Normally it takes less than half a quarter of an hour to enter meditation, why am I still so restless today after so long?"

Thinking for a moment, he reached into his Storage Pouch and took out a slender stick of incense.

This incense was cyan-brown throughout, slightly thicker than ordinary joss sticks, and felt warm and smooth to the touch like jade. It didn't look like vegetation, but rather like it was carved from some kind of Spirit Stone.

If there were a knowledgeable Cultivator present, they would definitely recognize the origin of this incense.

This incense was named Dragon Saliva Qingxin Incense, taking the core of deep-sea dragon saliva wood as its base, supplemented by more than a dozen spiritual materials refined together.

Although its name carried the two characters for dragon saliva, it was completely different from worldly ambergris.

The fragrance was neither pungent nor dry; smelling it made one's mind clear and limpid, instantly banishing distracting thoughts.

In the Immortal Realm, this incense was often used by Sect disciples to calm their minds. It was quite expensive, costing one Spirit Stone for a tiny stick.

Wang Shouren took out one at this moment, gently rubbing it between his hands. A slight puff of spiritual qi from his palms caused the tip of the incense to ignite without fire, and a wisp of cyan-white light smoke curled upwards.

That smoke was extremely fine and faint, turning invisible after rising half a foot high, leaving only a refreshing chill filling the room, seeming to exist yet not, like threads and strands of silk.

Raising his hand gently, the incense stood upright and was inserted into the small sandalwood incense burner in the center of the table. Amidst the swirling blue smoke, that inexplicable irritability from just now gradually subsided indeed.

The tense string in his heart relaxed, and the spiritual qi whirlpool in his Dantian also resumed its stable rotation.

Wang Shouren sat cross-legged on the couch once more, his eyes slightly closed, his hands forming hand seals, his breathing gradually becoming long and distant.