Immortal Reincarnation Tribulation

Chapter 33, last page

Like the Monster Garden, the alchemy room is not open to unauthorized personnel. They have separate offices to handle related matters for the disciples.

An hour later, Du Fan arrived at the pavilion outside the alchemy room office. Just as he was about to enter, he saw a slender white figure flash out from the pavilion. Upon closer inspection, he recognized her as the inner sect female disciple who had come to his spirit garden yesterday to buy spiritual herbs.

The woman's fair face, which had been adorned with a faint smile, froze upon seeing Du Fan, then her expression instantly turned icy.

"Greetings, Senior Sister!" Du Fan was also a little surprised, but after a quick thought, he hurriedly walked over, bowed slightly, and spoke respectfully.

"It's you! What are you doing here?" Upon seeing the other party's respectful demeanor, the woman couldn't bring herself to reprimand him harshly. Instead, she straightened her pretty face and spoke coldly.

"I need to purchase a few Qi Refining Pills." Du Fan didn't hide anything and directly stated the purpose of his trip.

Upon hearing this, a strange look appeared on the woman's face. She figured that after the secret transaction yesterday, this young man must have obtained spirit stones, gone to the Scripture Pavilion to buy cultivation techniques, and now he was buying pills to prepare for cultivation. After a moment's thought, the woman roughly guessed Du Fan's intentions.

"Do you know how many spirit stones a Qi Refining Pill costs?" The woman's beautiful eyes flashed, her face no longer cold, but she asked expressionlessly.

"Uh, it should be ten spirit stones." Du Fan was quite surprised, wondering what this woman's intentions were. However, he had some knowledge of the Qi Refining Pill when he was in the Yao family, and knew that the price of this pill in the cultivation world was around twelve spirit stones. After entering the Kongsang Sect, he also indirectly learned that the price of this pill sold within the sect was ten spirit stones, which was more favorable than outside. Therefore, Du Fan did not think for long before honestly replying.

"Is that so? Then go and do the shopping." The woman still had a stern face, but her beautiful eyes sparkled with a hint of amusement and anticipation.

"Ahem... Senior Sister, I'll take my leave now." The woman's behavior gave him a bad feeling. After coughing lightly, he took his leave and walked into the alchemy room office.

"You look quite young, are you a new inner sect servant?" The young man, dressed in the clothes of an inner sect servant, was fiddling with a bunch of bottles and jars. Hearing footsteps, he turned around, looked them over, and asked after a moment.

"I am Du Fan, a handyman at the Spirit Garden. I am indeed a newcomer and haven't been here long." Du Fan nodded and gave a brief introduction.

"If that's the case, then it's no wonder. I am Xu Fu, also an inner disciple. I am in charge of all the affairs in the alchemy office. Brother Du, are you looking to buy some pills?" The young man seemed to realize something, but then asked tentatively with some uncertainty.

"So it's Brother Xu. I've come here to buy a few Qi Refining Pills. Do you have any?"

"Qi Refining Pill? That's the most common pill, I naturally have some here." Xu Fu was taken aback upon hearing this, but answered without hesitation.

"How much is it? I hope Brother Xu can let me know in advance." Du Fan did not immediately propose to buy, but asked cautiously.

"One Qi Refining Pill costs twenty spirit stones. How many do you want, Brother Du?" Xu Fu was not surprised by Du Fan's question. After a quick glance, he smiled and calmly asked.

"What? Twenty spirit stones each!" Du Fan's mouth dropped open instantly, and he stood there stunned.

"Giggle..." A woman's giggles suddenly came from the doorway, as clear and melodious as a nightingale singing. Du Fan subconsciously turned around and saw the white-robed woman covering her mouth with one hand, trying to suppress her laughter. At this moment, she was smiling like a flower, her body trembling, as if she was extremely happy to see Du Fan's failure.

"Senior Sister Qin, why are you back?" Du Fan was unfazed by the woman's sudden appearance, but Xu Fu's expression changed instantly, and a look of panic flashed in his eyes.

"Hmph! I knew you weren't honest all the time. I thought you wouldn't go too far, but I didn't expect you to double the price of the pills!" Senior Sister Qin suppressed her laughter, deliberately put on a stern face to cover up the remaining smile, and spoke in a cold voice. However, you could not see any anger in her beautiful eyes, which were full of happiness.

"Senior Sister Qin... I certainly wouldn't dare to raise prices like this for the disciples of the sect, but... I only do this for the servants. They all know this perfectly well. Besides, the other servants are the same..." Xu Fu didn't even glance at Du Fan before blurting out without hesitation, as if afraid that Senior Sister Qin would blame him. But before he could finish speaking, the woman waved her hand to interrupt him.

"Alright, I don't want to hear your dirty business. Remember, when this person comes to buy pills again, you must pay the price according to the standards for inner disciples. You must not raise the price. Hmm... This is Master's order!" After giving the order in a deep voice, Senior Sister Qin glanced at Du Fan, who was standing aside in a daze, raised her chin, and turned to leave without expression.

Watching the woman's departing figure, Du Fan was stunned for a moment and forgot to thank her.

"I never expected Brother Du to have connections with Senior Sister Qin and Uncle Huang. Why didn't you say so earlier? Look, it's like the flood washed away the Dragon King's temple. I was rude just now, I hope Brother Du won't mind. Qi Refining Pills cost ten spirit stones each, how many do you need, Brother Du?" Seeing Senior Sister Qin leave, Xu Fu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. He was still shaken. After a long while, he gave Du Fan an awkward smile and forced a speech.

"Who are this Senior Sister Qin and this Uncle Huang you mentioned?" Du Fan didn't answer immediately, but instead asked another question that he was quite interested in at the moment.

"You don't know Senior Sister Qin and Uncle Huang?" Upon hearing this, Xu Fu was dumbfounded.

"Uncle Huang is naturally a Foundation Establishment stage uncle of Kongsang Sect. His name is Huang Tian. In addition to his role as a steward, he is also an alchemist with extremely high alchemy skills. Even in Kongsang Sect, the number of alchemists is extremely rare. The value of pills to cultivators is self-evident. Therefore, Uncle Huang has a high status in the sect, which is far beyond what ordinary Foundation Establishment stewards can compare to."

Although there were several other alchemists in the alchemy room, his alchemy skills far surpassed the others, making him the pillar of the alchemy room. As for Senior Sister Qin, named Qin Xiaoran, she was said to have extremely high aptitude, far beyond that of an ordinary inner disciple; she was Uncle Huang's prized student. Before Du Fan could ask further, Xu Fu slowly recounted what he knew, his eyes shining with admiration and longing.

"I see. Thank you for informing me, Brother Xu. I'd like to trouble you to provide me with ten Qi Refining Pills." Upon hearing this, Du Fan's face showed a thoughtful expression. After a while, he recovered and spoke politely to Xu Fu.

"Brother Du, there's no need to be so polite. Please wait a moment." After what happened with Senior Sister Qin, Xu Fu dared not neglect Du Fan. Moreover, the fact that Du Fan didn't recognize Senior Sister Qin and Uncle Huang made him seem even more mysterious. After a moment's thought, Xu Fu made up his mind to befriend him in the future.

Before long, Xu Fu handed Du Fan a small bottle containing ten Qi Refining Pills.

"No problem, these are one hundred spirit stones." Du Fan naturally took them, checked them over, and after confirming there were no problems, handed over the remaining one hundred spirit stones from the bag to the other party.

After purchasing ten Qi Refining Pills, Du Fan had spent all the spirit stones he had brought. After bidding farewell to Xu Fu, he returned directly to his residence in the Spirit Garden.

He first inspected the herb garden, and finding no problems, he returned to his thatched hut, sat cross-legged on the bed, took out the scroll of "Introduction to the Water Chapter of the Minor Five Elements Manual," and began to study it.

In just half an hour, Du Fan had thoroughly understood the contents of the bamboo scroll.

It turns out that this cultivation method can only be cultivated up to the first level of the Qi Refining stage. Most of its contents describe how to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and then absorb it into the body to generate magical power.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth has many attributes, the most common being the five elements. Only those with specific spiritual roots can sense the corresponding attributes of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, absorb it, generate magical power, circulate it between the meridians, and store it in the dantian. Once the magical power has accumulated to a certain level, one can cultivate spells of the corresponding attributes and unleash immortal supernatural powers.

The so-called Quasi-Qi Refining Stage refers to the stage when a cultivator with spiritual roots can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and absorb the corresponding attribute spiritual energy through breathing techniques. However, at this stage, the cultivator does not have magical power within their body. They need to use the spiritual energy introduced into their body to open up the meridians and complete the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits before they can accumulate and generate magical power in their dantian. At this point, they break through the Quasi-Qi Refining Stage and reach the first level of the Qi Refining Stage.

In other words, the period between sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and generating magical power is called the quasi-Qi Refining stage. Generating magical power within the body is the mark of reaching the first level of Qi Refining. Since only magical power can activate spells, cultivators can only practice spells of the corresponding attributes after reaching the first level of Qi Refining.

After thoroughly understanding the technique, Du Fan began to close his eyes and regulate his breathing, following the instructions.

As dusk fell, Du Fan slowly opened his eyes, his face weary, a flicker of disappointment in his eyes. He had failed…

"Isn't it said that cultivators with spiritual roots can sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in as little as a quarter of an hour or as long as two hours? But I've been meditating for four hours straight according to the cultivation method, and I haven't felt anything at all. Could it be that my cultivation aptitude is really as terrible as Chu Liantian said?"

Thinking back to the day he annihilated the Thousand-Eyed Gluttonous Beast, and the words the man in the green robe spoke about his useless spiritual root, Du Fan couldn't help but feel disheartened. Judging from the man's tone, it seemed that his own aptitude wasn't just last in one realm, but rather last in many realms...