Chapter 1: The Moment of Fulfillment

Page 1/3

Xiao Changfeng said that within the sect’s Dan Ding Peak, records of Zhu Linxian were found, but those records dated back forty-eight years. The records showed that Zhu Linxian voluntarily experimented with a secret elixir developed by Elder Jia. The first two phases were quite successful, but ultimately, the experiment failed. Li Ji’an sighed softly, having long anticipated this outcome. Were it not for circumstances beyond her control, she would never have cut off contact.

Thus, the fates of the five who came here from the forsaken abyss were now clear. Zhu Linxian was the most eager and courageous among them. Upon understanding the cultivation conditions of this world, he resolutely chose the path that was the riskiest but promised the quickest way to get on track. Li Ji’an understood his intentions, for back then, Miao Feisheng’s sole wish to ascend to immortality was to save his terminally ill sister. It was that family who kept blood slaves that gave him hope, but this cultivation world brought him despair.

With limited talent, no backing, and no external help, it was indeed difficult.

After finishing the matter of Zhu Linxian, Xiao Changfeng excitedly shared the results of his own trial. Luck was on his side; he did not encounter any late-stage first-tier beasts and consecutively slew five early-stage beasts, earning third place in the trial with considerable rewards, claiming it was enough to cultivate to the late Qi Refining stage.

Xiao Changfeng possessed twenty-three strands of superior Earth Spirit Roots and practiced a superior-grade technique bestowed by the sect. Its grade was slightly higher than the Yan family’s signature technique but not by much, as he was only an ordinary inner disciple without access to the sect’s core techniques. The Bi Yun Sect’s signature technique was a water-based path that could be cultivated up to the late Nascent Core stage.

He had broken through to the middle Qi Refining stage half a year ago, slightly faster than Li Ji’an. His advantage stemmed not only from resources but also from physical training and sect trials starting from the second layer of Qi Refining.

Five days later, Li Ji’an’s realm stabilized. After ascending to the middle Qi Refining stage, the effect of time scrolls diminished greatly, allowing her to allocate time to accumulate mastery over the myriad arts of cultivation in this world. The greatest goal here was to master talismans thoroughly, leaving herself more trump cards.

Of course, her greatest advantages from the previous life—alchemy and physical training—could not be neglected.

In the ensuing days, she practiced magic power for three hours daily, one hour more than typical middle-stage Qi Refining cultivators, which had some effect.

She followed Yan Qingwan in alchemy for one hour, mainly to test her own alchemical fire.

Because she had not taken enhancement pills or breakthrough pills during the early Qi Refining stage in this world, her magic power was quite refined, and the concentrated alchemical fire was sufficient to refine mid-stage pills.

Physical training took two more hours—one hour with Yan Hongsheng, freeloading on the Thunder Flame Crystals he provided, and one hour in her own courtyard using the Thunder Flame Crystals stored in Guagua’s mouth from the previous life.

Main talismans each took two hours.

Besides sleeping and nurturing her spirit, her schedule was almost fully packed.

“Not bad. Xiao Fan’s talent in alchemy might even surpass your father’s,” Yan Qingwan said inside the alchemy room, watching Li Ji’an’s skilled hands. Her control over the alchemical fire was so natural it seemed innate.

Page 2/3

Although during the years nurturing her spirit roots, Yan Qingwan often explained basic alchemy to her, only recently had she truly gotten hands-on experience, yet within a few hundred attempts, she had become so proficient. This filled Yan Qingwan with mixed emotions.

The same scene unfolded at Yan Hongsheng’s residence.

Though he knew this youngster had good roots, the meticulous control when using Thunder Flame Crystals in mid-stage physical training and the control over qi and blood techniques still made him curse the heavens for their unfairness.

Yan Kongyi was slightly better off, as Li Ji’an had no previous life experience in talisman arts and was learning everything from him from scratch. Yet her comprehension was so fast she needed only three to five lessons to grasp all key points, which amazed him greatly.

Other clan members learning talismans from him needed dozens of lessons each.

By comparison, his desire to keep Li Ji’an within the clan grew stronger.

Six years passed quietly in this fulfilling way.

In the alchemy room, Yan Qingwan frowned slightly at an intermediate Qi replenishing pill just produced by Li Ji’an.

“Xiao Fan, your alchemical fire is indeed more refined, and your control over it meticulous, but… alchemy requires more than just fire control. It needs spiritual perception of the spiritual pressure, accurate dosage of ingredients, and the fire cannot remain fixed as your father’s manuals say. He clearly recorded that adjustments must be made according to actual conditions…”

Six years had passed, and although her alchemical fire rivaled that of a typical late Qi Refining stage practitioner, she still had not produced a high-grade pill.

This was far from the expectation of her advancement to senior alchemist as hoped by Yan Qingwan and the clan elders.

“You still can’t match your father!” Yan Qingwan sighed silently and personally resumed teaching.

Li Ji’an nodded sheepishly, feeling somewhat ashamed.

Only after Yan Qingwan easily produced a batch of high-grade Qi replenishing pills did Li Ji’an leave the alchemy room and return to her small courtyard.

After scanning to ensure no surveillance was present, she summoned Guagua and took out a medium-grade alchemy furnace Yan Qingwan had gifted her three years ago.

She then instructed Guagua to guard it and immediately began refining pills.

Two hours later, with a clear chime, a brilliantly radiant high-quality Qi replenishing pill emerged from the furnace.

Before the pill cooled, she swallowed it whole, activating her cultivation technique.

One must always be cautious, both to guard against others and to avoid causing trouble for Yan Qingwan and the others. After displaying some visible progress, she deliberately lowered her value.

Page 3/3

As the clan’s elder taught, reveal seventy percent and conceal thirty percent—but she concealed a bit more.

After a long while, the high-quality Qi replenishing pill was completely consumed, and her magic power showed a slight increase.

“In the end, I’ve still hit a bottleneck,” Li Ji’an said with some helplessness, carefully sensing the changes in her dantian’s magic power.

Having reached the peak of the sixth layer of Qi Refining half a year ago, the path forward still showed no hope of a breakthrough in the near future.

She had thought that with nearly superior spirit roots, there would be no bottleneck during Qi Refining, but she was wrong.

After all, these were not truly superior spirit roots.

Two years ago, Xiao Changfeng had already successfully broken into the late Qi Refining stage and claimed to have barely felt a bottleneck.

After ascending to the middle Qi Refining stage, the importance of resources became even more apparent. With beneficial pills, spirit-gathering arrays, and special spiritual items, progress was much faster than Li Ji’an’s relying mostly on herself and occasionally accumulating a few pieces of medicine to refine some high-quality pills.

Of course, this was also because Li Ji’an held herself to a high standard, refusing to use anything but high-quality pills.

Most materials she freeloaded from Yan Qingwan were of mediocre quality, resulting in a low success rate for high-quality pills.

After concluding her practice, Li Ji’an looked at the now much closer Guagua.

“It’s fine for now. Continue to stay underground in the gathering area. If you sense that person’s aura, notify me immediately.”

“Gua!” Guagua responded and slowly disappeared underground.

In her previous life, when taming the soul-hosting ants, Li Ji’an had accidentally come across an ancient manual obtained by the Red Stone Hermit. She had kept it in mind and had Guagua remember the master-disciple aura.

Moreover, once Li Ji’an’s soul condensed into spirit consciousness, she repeatedly sensed Guagua and realized that without a soul contract, no one could detect it, so she trusted Guagua to wait underground at Chen Zhaohu’s home.

As long as Chen Qingling returned home, the Red Stone Hermit would not be far away.

It wasn’t that she was in a rush to obtain him now, but she needed to roughly understand his movements and check in a few years whether he was still alive.

When she finally outlasted him, she could read his tomb.

If she couldn’t outlast him in one lifetime, then two, or three, or four—she would eventually outlast him.