Chapter 44 Qi Refining Level Nine

Ten more days passed, and news spread from the Taihu Mountain Range that the Luo Family had stolen a treasure from the Yang Family.

The Luo Family claimed it was baseless fabrication meant to stir up conflict between the two families, demanding that Yang Jing punish Yuan Biao.

The Yang Family insisted they were the ones who took it, accusing the Luo Family of being stubborn and refusing to admit it. The two sides were still locked in a war of words, with neither side able to gain the upper hand.

Inside Black Magpie Mountain, when Chen Li heard about the matter, the corner of his mouth curved into a slight smile; if Yuan Biao said the Luo Family did it, he would support it one hundred percent!

In the past few days, Chen Li had opened up several new Immortal Caves.

On the peaks of Black Magpie Mountain, besides the original first Immortal Cave, six or seven more had been opened, their perimeters lined with Restriction Arrays, making them excellent places for secluded cultivation and studying Cultivation Arts.

They were distributed separately to Chen Songli and the others, each of them beaming with joy. They finally didn't have to Cultivate at Immortal Learning Tower anymore and now had their own exclusive Cultivation Immortal Caves.

Chen Li took one Immortal Cave and set up a small water-drawing array reservoir inside. He also installed a sunlight Teleportation Array so that no matter the sun's position, sunlight could be teleported into the Immortal Cave.

Inside the cave, he carved out a very small patch of land and planted qi overflowing grass, blood essence grass, marrow-cleansing flowers, and the Foundation Establishment herb, purple monkey flower, among others.

The scale was about a thousand plants in total, and he cleverly arranged an irrigation array. The reserve water, which needed direct sunlight and irrigation every day, held the Great Sun Seed Jade within it.

After the reserve water was used for irrigation, the water from the reservoir would be teleported to the location holding the reserve water. When there was no sunlight, the reserve water would automatically irrigate the cultivated land.

Chen Li only needed to occasionally check if these arrays were operating normally.

Since he was Cultivating, he certainly couldn't water them manually every day! Productivity definitely needed to be increased. Chen Li also set up a simple Qi-isolating array on the periphery to prevent the fragrance of the herbs inside from leaking out.

Although Chen Songli and the others were slightly puzzled by Chen Li's actions, they figured their father must have his reasons and didn't ask many questions.

Each of their Immortal Caves was arranged with its own unique characteristics. The eldest took his Formation Materials into his Immortal Cave, the second moved the insect eggs related to the Insect Rearing Art into his Immortal Cave, the third brought some Puppet Materials or books on Puppets over, and the fourth didn't have much to move; learning his Pulse Seeking Art in the Immortal Cave was the same as at Immortal Learning Tower.

In Concentric Heart Hall, Zhu Lingyue began comprehending the Third-Rank Formation. Ever since she advanced to Late Stage Qi Refining, she had started attempting comprehension. Chen Songmei, with her ponytail tied up, paced back and forth in the hall, occasionally stumbling. Whenever she saw Chen Songli and the others, she would greet them with, 'Sister, Brother!'.

Another day passed, and Chen Li prepared to enter seclusion to practice Alchemy and attempt a Breakthrough to Foundation Establishment. At Immortal Learning Tower, Chen Li instructed Chen Songli and the others to Cultivate diligently, stating that he would check their progress in learning their respective Cultivation Arts after he emerged from seclusion.

Chen Li named his previous first Immortal Cave the Pill Refining Residence, which would mainly be used for Alchemy in the future.

Inside the Immortal Cave, Chen Li first intended to break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, then start refining the foundation establishment pill, and finally attempt the Foundation Establishment Breakthrough—all in one go!

Before entering seclusion, Chen Li went to the Beast Hunting Sect Cultivation Market and sold three herbs of 300-year-grade or higher, obtaining nearly 30,000 Spirit Stones to maintain the daily operation of the Defensive Formation Array. He also instructed Zhu Lingyue that if any external enemy attacked Black Magpie Mountain, he would sense it, and if she couldn't hold on, she could call him out of seclusion.

Passing by Brother Ox's place, Brother Ox assured him that he would definitely farm diligently, telling the Family Head not to worry!

During this period, the Cultivation environment in the Nanwu Kingdom remained relatively stable. Ever since Yuanwu Prefecture suffered the ravages of Luo Sheng, who underwent Possession, and the An Family Head, everyone was recuperating and accumulating strength, not wanting any major conflict.

Half a month later, Chen Li began his secluded Breakthrough, entering the time of consuming pills for Cultivation again. Inside the Pill Refining Residence, Chen Li took out the more than five hundred bottles of qi overflowing pill and began Cultivating one bottle after another.

...In Chen Songli's Immortal Cave, she took out the books on Second-Rank Formation. After breaking through to the Third Level of Qi Refining, she felt that her father, being at Mid-stage Qi Refining, must be a Third-Rank Formation Master. She, being at Early Stage Qi Refining, figured being a Second-Rank Formation Master was normal, so she began comprehending Second-Rank Formations...

Inside Chen Songyan's Immortal Cave, in a few insect rearing boxes containing some insect eggs, Chen Songyan began casting spells to incubate them.

The art of Insect Rearing is divided into seed selection, incubation, nurturing, and combat control.

He was still in the incubation stage; there was still a long way to go before he could truly control them in combat!

After casting the spell, he had to wait again. This was also the reason he chose the Insect Rearing Art—it allowed him more personal time. He took out a novel written for Mortals and began reading it...

Chen Songxuan was currently inside his Immortal Cave, very seriously studying several books on First-Rank Puppetry Art.

He categorized and summarized which Puppetry Arts the Family needed most urgently, such as spiritual plant Puppets, mineral vein Puppets, etc. For example, spiritual plant Puppets mainly included sowing Puppets, harvesting Puppets, weeding Puppets, and so on.

These could help Uncle Niu liberate most of his productivity...

On the second floor of Immortal Learning Tower, in the Immortal Teaching Room, after finishing several Pulse Seeking Art techniques, Chen Songxiao gazed at the scenery outside the window and smiled foolishly, fantasizing about the day he could find countless Spiritual Veins, gold mines, and so on for the Family.

Time flowed like water, and half a year quietly slipped by...

Inside the Immortal Cave, Chen Li consumed about five hundred bottles of qi overflowing pill over half a year. His Five Spiritual Roots finally broke through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining!

Reaching this stage already surpassed ninety-nine percent of Five Spiritual Roots Cultivators in the Cultivation World. For a Cultivator withMixed Spirit Roots (Miscellaneous Spiritual Roots) to reach this stage was barely better than nothing.

Chen Li emerged from seclusion to check the operational status of the Great Sun Seed Jade Immortal Cave, replacing some array Materials that had been consumed. Half a year had passed, and the herbs that were a hundred, three hundred, and five hundred years old had all matured. After harvesting, Chen Li sowed the next crop.

He looked at the extra thousand boxes of herbs in his hand, delighted in his heart; he would never have to worry about herbs again.

Chen Li did not disturb the children. After seeing Zhu Lingyue, he instructed her to continue her seclusion to refine the foundation establishment pill and attempt the Foundation Establishment Breakthrough!

Zhu Lingyue was very excited to see Chen Li break through to the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining, and upon hearing that he was going into seclusion to break through to Foundation Establishment, she was filled with anticipation!

Nothing of note happened in Yuanwu Prefecture during this half year; everyone was recuperating.

However, quite a few Mortal Cultivators came to Black Magpie Mountain to have their Spiritual Roots tested.

This time, Zhu Lingyue tested twenty children, and only one had a Spiritual Root. She had this child study the Qi Guiding Art on the first floor of Immortal Learning Tower, just like the previous ones, including Li Chun.

Chen Li returned to the Pill Refining Residence, preparing to start refining the foundation establishment pill...