Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Seven Years of Cultivation

The three people heard this and all showed smiles on their faces.

The elder said kindly, “Little friend, rest assured, since you are a pharmacist, saving lives and healing the wounded, you naturally deserve preferential treatment. I will ensure your safety.”

Li Jizhou hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “Then… that will do!”

After speaking, the array was activated.

The middle-aged man was about to rush in but was suddenly pulled back by the elder.

Afterward, the elder took out a puppet warrior from his storage bag.

“Little friend, what do you think of this puppet warrior of mine? In the future, you won’t even need to clean the courtyard yourself; leave it all to him!”

With that, the puppet warrior expanded with the wind, and in the blink of an eye, became as large as an adult.

The puppet warrior immediately strode into the courtyard.

The elder scanned the courtyard with his spiritual sense through the puppet. Finding nothing unusual, he brought his son and daughter-in-law in!

“Little brat, why didn’t you activate the array immediately?” As soon as the middle-aged man entered the courtyard, his face flashed with a fierce look, and magical power suddenly gathered in his hand, then he gestured toward the ground.

“Poof~” A spiked rock instantly sprung up from the ground beneath Li Jizhou’s feet.

“Earth element magic!” Li Jizhou’s heart moved slightly.

With his level of spiritual sense, he had already detected the man’s move.

Thus, he was not panicked.

However, he still pretended to be caught off guard, barely dodging in a flustered manner.

“You dare dodge, little brat?” The man instantly became furious.

The elder, however, instantly pulled him back.

“Hey, how can you be disrespectful to Pharmacist Li?”

Then he turned to Li Jizhou and said, “Little friend, do not be afraid. As long as you hand over all your assets, we will not harm you, and afterward, we will protect… huh? What…”

However, halfway through his words, his expression suddenly changed drastically.

“Thud~” The woman was the first to fall to the ground.

Then the man also fell to the ground with eyes wide open, his face full of incredulity.

The elder didn’t even have time to look back at the two before he also collapsed instantly.

Their reaction made Li Jizhou frown.

“So weak?”

Recently, he mainly practiced the Evergreen Skill and didn’t develop any new poisons.

This was just the Spirit-Transforming Powder tested by Gua Gua previously.

At that time, after many experiments, this type of poison only took effect through the air after ten breaths for Gua Gua, exhausting all magical power and collapsing.

He thought Foundation Establishment cultivators should hold out a bit longer,

but unexpectedly… only three breaths…

“Could it be that Gua Gua has some poison resistance?”

Shaking his head, he stopped overthinking,

quickly cleared the possessions off the three, and three fireballs sent them away peacefully.

This time, he did not provide them with full service, as they were just cowardly loose cultivators who bully the weak,

but rather made use of waste by burying their ashes under the peach tree in the courtyard.

At least it acts as fertilizer!

“This is a wake-up call for me!”

“It’s becoming more and more unstable.”

“Fortunately, those who have their eyes on this place are at most like these Foundation Establishment ones, right?”

With today’s trump card, dealing with this level of cultivator is more than enough.

But Li Jizhou did not take it lightly and still made some arrangements throughout the small courtyard.

Just after finishing everything, Gua Gua emerged from the pond with news.

As expected, his previous small courtyard had already been occupied.

Inverted Mountain is ownerless, without rules, peaceful without incident, but in chaos when met with change.

Li Jizhou was aware of this long ago, with no particular feelings.

After instructing Gua Gua to continue monitoring the Celestial Secret Pavilion, he began to assess the loot.

So poor indeed.

The total value of the three was less than ten Spirit Stones, whether due to previous misfortunes or inherently poor.

A Lower-Grade flying sword, scarred and probably soon unusable.

A bottle of Qi Replenishing Pills, suitable to somewhat make up for the lack of spiritual energy here, but… is actually an Inferior Pill.

Though this Inferior Pill has some effect, its side effects are greater, pill toxins accumulate, obstructing the Great Dao.

Only those without hope for the next great realm, yet eager to succeed, would take it.

Of course, it might also be due to ignorance of the Alchemy Dao, being deceived.

In his previous life as a Tier Two Middle Level Pill Master, the pills he consumed were at least top-grade, with almost no side effects, and a slight resistance that could be resolved over time.

Among all the spoils, the puppet technique jade slip from the old man’s storage bag caught Li Jizhou’s extra attention.

The puppet art, ranked behind alchemy, artifact, talisman, and arrays, wasn’t because it was inferior.

In actual application, puppets have unparalleled aspects that other skills cannot match.

The real reason is that the puppet art is highly difficult, with a high entry threshold, and insufficient early-stage effectiveness.

Once puppet art is deeply mastered, it offers a leap in overall combat power and defensive methods for cultivators!

“Originating from metal attribute magical power, shaped by fire element pill fire, connecting its veins with wood attribute magical power, and finally calling its spirit with a powerful divine soul!”

A puppet master must at least cultivate three types of magical powers and possess a strong divine soul.

This is particularly challenging for loose cultivators who struggle to stick to a single cultivation technique.

Of course, this refers to a true puppet master.

And that old man doesn’t count at all.

Playing with the labor puppet left by the old man, it technically doesn’t qualify as a true puppet.

It’s just a preliminary semi-finished product, only originating through metal attribute magical power, without pill fire shaping, wood attribute magical power vein connection, nor spirit invocation.

The exterior is intact, but its movements are sluggish, lacking independent consciousness and can only be controlled in real-time through spiritual sense.

“After leaving Inverted Mountain and finding a stable training place, I can study it during leisure time.”

The primary goal in this life is to live long.

Without compromising this goal, Li Jizhou is willing to explore alchemy, artifact, talisman, arrays, puppets, body refining skills, and anything that could accumulate power for the next life.

“Calmly wait for the Ten Thousand Talisman Pavilion caravan next year!”

He gathered his thoughts, calming and focusing his mind.

Three months later…

“Seven years!” Observing the seventh layer of tree rings forming at the bottom of his dantian, Li Jizhou gently concluded his training.

In the previous three years, because he supplemented his cultivation with the Fire Attribute “Flame Phosphorus Skill” to condense pill fire, the Everlasting Skill, which should have already perfected the Qi Cultivation Third Level, only advanced to the later stage.

However, over this past year, especially during the last six months after receiving a letter from Wu Daniu, he returned to normal practice, focusing mainly on the Evergreen Skill, creating talismans and refining the body during his free time, delving into medical and poison studies,

Furthermore, Pharmacist Zheng’s small courtyard is closer to the outer city compared to his previous residence, with relatively better and more stable spiritual qi.

Therefore, the progress of Evergreen Skill over this year has been much faster than the previous three years.

At this moment, as Li Jizhou reached the seventh layer of rings, a surge of Eternal Spring Magical Power erupted, instantly achieving Qi Cultivation Third Level Perfection!

“Whew~ The next challenge is the bottleneck of the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation!”

Li Jizhou remained neither joyful nor sorrowful, his expression calm.

He began to consider the issue of minor stage bottlenecks.

In this world of cultivation, each major stage is a chasm, impossible to cross without extraordinary talent, requiring the refinement of divine pills using treasures of Heaven and Earth.

Moreover, there’s a divide between each minor stage.

At the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation, one absorbs the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the dantian, transforming it into one’s magical power.

Now that Li Jizhou has perfected the Early Stage of Qi Cultivation, this step is complete. The next step is the Middle Stage of Qi Cultivation, where he begins to initially condense gaseous magical power into liquid.

Liquid magical power is more refined, purer, and more abundant.

However, during the Middle to Late Stages of Qi Cultivation, it is merely a phase of accumulating qi conversion to liquid; only upon true completion of Foundation Establishment does the dantian completely transform into liquid magical power.

Liquid magical power lays the groundwork for the Core Formation, condensing into solid magical power.

Bottlenecks between minor stages are hardly obstacles for those with outstanding talent, overcome in an instant.

Yet, for anyone with a spirit root below top-grade, it is a troublesome issue.

These bottlenecks require time, honing, and opportunities to break through.

Many people are trapped for a long time between these minor stage bottlenecks, wasting years.

Of course, one can also use Breaking Rank Pills to break through the bottlenecks.

However, for an average cultivator, Breaking Rank Pills are not so easily acquired.

Furthermore, there are rumors that overuse of Breaking Rank Pills might affect future potential, posing certain impacts during Foundation Establishment.

But Li Jizhou’s primary intention is to leave the chaotic Inverted Mountain first. With past experience in Foundation Establishment and his experience as a Tier Two Late Pill Master, he isn’t too concerned about it.

One reason he decided to supplement with the “Flame Phosphorus Skill” in the first three years was the hope to refine Breaking Rank Pills during bottlenecks.

Unfortunately, the supplementary practice of the “Flame Phosphorus Skill” slightly slowed the progress of the Evergreen Skill, coupled with the poor spirit vein of this location, resulting in slow progress; three years of cultivation produced only a strand of pill fire, insufficient for refining Middle Stage Qi Cultivation Breaking Rank Pills.

However, right now,

with roughly nine months remaining, the Ten Thousand Talisman Pavilion caravan should arrive, and leaving Inverted Mountain with the caravan should be safe by then.

There is no rush to break the bottleneck.

Time can be used to endure it.

As long as one is steady in this life, time is the one thing that is abundant.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep