Chapter 16: Four Years

Four years later.

Pill Island.

Inside the cave dwelling, Fang Qing gazed at the jade bottle in his hand.

After opening it, a low, wailing wind sound could be heard from within the bottle’s body, accompanied by the tinkling sound of spring water.

Inside the bottle, there was a strand of crystal-clear, transparent, moist, and gleaming True Qi. It was precisely the fifth-tier mid-grade “Earthspring Tempered True Qi”!

“Not easy at all…”

Fang Qing sighed with emotion.

Originally, he had estimated that he could completely refine a strand of “Earthspring Tempered True Qi” within two or three years, and that estimate had not been wrong.

But Fang Qing had overlooked the struggle over the Cold Spring, as well as the burden of missions.

The Azure Sea Sect expended spiritual veins, cultivation methods, and resources to nurture its disciples, and naturally expected the disciples to risk their lives in return.

Unless one had background connections and could choose easier assignments, there was no option but to grit one’s teeth and endure.

As a newly admitted disciple, Fang Qing had only a one-year adaptation period.

After that, every year came with mandatory missions.

Fortunately, the Azure Sea Sect was not currently at war with other factions.

Otherwise, the mortality rate of mandatory missions would have skyrocketed.

Even so, after Fang Qing barely scraped through the first few missions, he capsized two years ago and was assigned to the sect’s fishing team, entering the deep sea to hunt demonic fish.

A moment of carelessness resulted in injuries that were neither light nor severe, and his cultivation was delayed as well.

Originally, he had calculated that three years would be enough to bring the power of the third layer of Qi Refining to completion.

The result was that four years had passed, and he was still just a bit short of full completion at the third layer.

“Next comes the bottleneck from early-stage Qi Refining to mid-stage… After the bottleneck, cultivation in the mid-stage Qi Refining easily takes five or six years per layer. Late-stage Qi Refining goes without saying…”

“With my age, wanting to break through to peak Qi Refining ninth layer before the optimal Foundation Establishment window of the sixty-year limit is becoming more and more difficult.”

“So this is the difficulty of longevity? Encounter just a bit of setback, and the future immediately dims…”

Of course, his slow cultivation speed was also because he had not been using resources.

Over these four years, aside from maintaining the bare minimum necessities of daily life, all of his contribution points had been stockpiled by Fang Qing.

He planned to purchase several Spiritual Items that existed in both worlds but commanded higher premiums in the World of Ancient Shu, and resell them there.

Back in the Floating Boat Market District, Fang Qing had seen quite a few Spiritual Items.

Some did not exist on Jade Island, but some were similar or even identical.

Moreover, the same Spiritual Item could have vastly different values in the two worlds, leaving considerable room for arbitrage.

“The disguise technique is basically mastered as well… It took me a full four years.”

“It’s time to earn a large amount of resources, improve my cultivation, and advance my pill refinement arts…”

Once he became a ranked alchemist, the sect’s mandatory missions would correspondingly turn into alchemy-related tasks.

They would not send alchemists—production-type talents—out to risk their lives hunting demonic beasts.

With a thought, Fang Qing took out the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel artifact and headed to the Administrative Affairs Hall.

Inside the hall, it was as bustling as ever.

In fact, there were even more people than usual.

“Haha… the sect’s Dragon-Transformation Pool missions have increased. Clearly, a batch of first-tier top-grade horned serpents are about to break through to the second tier…”

“Who knows how many second-tier demon cores will be produced, and how many Foundation Establishment Pills Elder Tianding can refine…”

“By convention, Foundation Establishment Pills are distributed once every ten years, with True Disciple priority for exchange… This generation has quite a few True Disciples. If the sect’s self-produced second-tier demon cores are insufficient, they’ll probably deploy the Five-Tusked Great Ship to enter the deep sea, capture second-tier demonic fish, and slaughter them for their cores… Tasks like that have a casualty rate only slightly lower than full-scale sect wars, and they’ll definitely be forcibly assigned…”

…

Listening to the surrounding discussions, Fang Qing’s expression grew extremely grave: “Foundation Establishment Pills… second-tier demon cores…”

This had nothing to do with him for the moment, but if the sect’s self-produced second-tier demon cores were insufficient and a “Deep-Sea Grand Harvest” was launched, he would be very likely to become cannon fodder.

“I must act immediately.”

Fang Qing went to the disciple stalls and began purchasing several types of spiritual materials he had already selected.

“Hm? Some cultivation supplies have gone up in price… especially high-quality artifacts that can temporarily increase combat strength. Is this related to the Foundation Establishment Pill matter?”

He arrived at a stall selling pills and spiritual herbs and saw a strange flower the size of a bowl: “How is this ‘Blazing Sun Flower’ priced?”

“Twenty contribution points, take it.”

The stall owner was a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, reading a book and answering without even lifting his head.

This kind of “Blazing Sun Flower” could only be used to refine some low-level yang-attribute pills and was not worth much.

But over in the World of Ancient Shu, due to the scarcity of Great Sun Spiritual Items, its premium was especially high!

The last time Fang Qing had seen one in the Floating Boat Market District, it had been the “store-protecting treasure” of a medicine shop.

“I’ll take it.”

After buying the spiritual herbs, he looked again at the pills and noticed a “Black Water Pill,” feeling a stir in his heart: “This is… a Black Water Pill? Senior Brother, are you an alchemist?”

“That’s right. Black Water Pills are especially suitable for assisting water spiritual root cultivators in breaking through from early to mid-stage Qi Refining…”

The young stall owner put down his book, a glint of spiritual light flashing in his eyes. “I see you’re not far from peak completion of the third Qi Refining layer. Want to take one?”

“This…”

Fang Qing pondered inwardly.

He had a mid-grade water spiritual root. Under normal circumstances, such a minor bottleneck should not stop him.

But how much time it would delay him was another matter.

Using a “Black Water Pill” to charge through the bottleneck was indeed a good way to save time—provided one had enough contribution points!

“May I ask the price?”

“Only two hundred contribution points.”

“Sorry to bother you!”

Fang Qing turned and left.

“Haha… Senior Brother Xu, you misjudged him. This Junior Brother Fang is short on funds and probably can’t afford the Black Water Pill in your hand.”

At this moment, a blue-robed cultivator walked over and mocked him. It was none other than Li Yudan.

“Li Yudan, what did you just call me?”

Fang Qing stopped abruptly.

“Junior Brother Fang, what? Among fellow disciples of the same generation in our sect, titles are determined by strength. I’ve already reached peak completion of the third Qi Refining layer and am about to enter seclusion to break into mid-stage Qi Refining. Can’t I call you ‘Junior Brother’?”

Li Yudan laughed heartily.

“Junior Brother Fish-Egg, did you overlook the sect rules? Although that rule exists, cultivators of the same layer are still ranked according to order of entry. Therefore, before you break through to the fourth Qi Refining layer, I am still your senior brother.”

Fang Qing did not know why.

Clearly, after he severed contact with Zha Zhu, the faint hostility from Gong Susu had completely vanished, yet this Li Yudan continued to hound him relentlessly.

Perhaps this was simply the jealousy of youth?

Ridiculous as it was, people were human precisely because they sometimes did utterly inexplicable things.

“Hmph, I won’t argue with you over this… The sect is about to conduct a ‘Grand Harvest.’ You’ll definitely be on the roster for the ocean-going fleet. I’ll be waiting for you!”

Li Yudan laughed with satisfaction.

“Then wait.”

Fang Qing turned and left, too lazy to argue with such a person.

Not far away, Hua Lianhua and Yu Taohua had also witnessed this scene.

“Senior Brother Hua… it seems you misjudged him.”

Yu Taohua smiled charmingly. “This Fang Qing showed promise when young, but greatness in youth does not guarantee excellence later… On the other hand, that Zha Zhu is said to have already reached the fifth Qi Refining layer? Given time, the threshold of late-stage Qi Refining will certainly not stop her…”

“Indeed, a daughter favored by heaven…”

Senior Brother Hua sighed in admiration and watched Fang Qing leave. His good family upbringing made him one of the few who remained unchanged even when Fang Qing fell into adversity. “As for that Junior Brother Fang, jade must be tested by burning for three days, and timber judged after seven years… Now that we’ve been in the sect for seven years, he does indeed seem somewhat mediocre… But precisely because of this, when we meet him in the future, we must greet him with a smile and avoid provoking resentment. Look at Li Yudan—rising overnight, he humiliates former senior brothers. What kind of reputation will that earn him? Within the sect, reputation is very important. Otherwise, even if you become a True Disciple, who will lend you that enormous sum of contribution points for a Foundation Establishment Pill?”

“Foundation Establishment Pills… This time it won’t be our turn, and the next ten years won’t be the stage for our batch of disciples either. But I believe, Senior Brother Hua, that in the future you will surely rank among the True Disciples and become renowned throughout the Azure Sea.”

Yu Taohua gazed at Senior Brother Hua with infatuation, a certain light seeming to flicker in her eyes.

…

“This fishing team mission will be even more dangerous than last time!”

Inside the cave dwelling, Fang Qing’s expression was grave.

He did not care at all about some of Li Yudan’s words—he even rather liked hearing them.

After all, the other party had a Foundation Establishment master and could hear a lot of sect intelligence, which he might inadvertently leak.

And once he knew about such matters, he had to respond immediately!

“There’s not much time left. I must quickly break through my alchemy skills…”

He took a bright yellow talisman from his storage pouch, pasted it onto the cave dwelling’s door, and hung up a sign indicating seclusion.

This was a “Protective Talisman,” used to safeguard a cultivator during seclusion.

Even if someone forcibly intruded with divine sense, it would automatically turn to ashes and alert the cultivator.

After completing the protective measures, Fang Qing formed hand seals with both hands and began practicing the “Disguise Technique.”

As he murmured incantations under his breath, the flesh on Fang Qing’s face seemed to come alive and writhe. With only slight adjustments to his brows and eyes, it was as if he had become a different person.

Not only that—his aura also began to shift, faintly differing from that of local cultivators and instead carrying some traits of breath-refining Dao cultivators.

“Unfortunately, it’s only a barely passable imitation. Once I truly engage in combat and use True Power, it will be exposed immediately. And if I encounter a Foundation Establishment cultivator, or one of those Dao Foundation great cultivators over there… it will likely be just as difficult to conceal.”

“Four years of effort, plus the Azure Sea Sect’s high-quality secret techniques… and this is all it amounts to.”

“So be it. Tomorrow I’ll immediately accept a sect mission, then head out to take risks. Judging by the dates, this year’s ‘Azure Fall Market’ should also be opening.”

Ever since learning of the divine sense capabilities of high-level cultivators, Fang Qing had tried to avoid using the Dao-Birth Pearl within the sect.

“I’ve heard that after Foundation Establishment, one can not only monopolize an entire peak, but also set up second-tier formations to protect the cave dwelling… Even Core Formation Ancestors would find it difficult to quietly probe the privacy within such formations… Unfortunately, that’s still a bit far from me.”

…