Chapter 80: Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill

“Such a divine pill—he regretted that he could not see it even once—”

Fang Qing calculated how many Water-Origin Pills he had spent to cultivate to the peak of early-stage Foundation Establishment, and at once a yearning arose in his heart.

“Haha—It was said that when the Azure Sea Founding Ancestor came here back then, it was to pursue news of a secret realm. Later, after searching everywhere and finding nothing, he established a sect here on Jade Island—”

Elder Tianding said, “And our sect’s records state that in the Founding Ancestor’s later years, he discovered a clue to that secret realm, went there, and never returned—”

So that meant it was possible he had died in the secret realm?

Fang Qing had some guesses in his heart.

“The Founding Ancestor’s disciples originally believed the Founding Ancestor had fallen within the secret realm—But many years later, Core Formation forces like the Heavenly Heart Linked Islands and the Zhong Family rose to prominence—Although their inheritances should also have come from the Eastern Sea, it could not be ruled out that they had obtained Core Formation relics.”

Elder Tianding said.

“So—Our sect suspected these two Core Formation forces held clues to the secret realm?”

Fang Qing blinked, and now understood the deeper reason why the Azure Sea Sect insisted on wiping out the Heavenly Heart Linked Islands and the Zhong Family.

“Correct—Even if these two major Core Formation forces did not obtain the Founding Ancestor’s relics, after so many years, our Azure Sea Sect had practically turned the entire Eastern Sea Cultivation World upside down, and still had not found the slightest clue about the secret realm—”

Elder Tianding sighed. “Therefore, that secret realm might lie precisely within the foundational lands of those two great forces—places we previously could not investigate.”

“This inference was rather reasonable.”

Fang Qing stroked his chin. “If the secret realm’s location leaked spiritual energy—there was a strong chance it would nurture a high-tier spiritual vein.”

“Exactly so, that is the logic!”

Elder Tianding stroked his beard. “The sect has already arranged for core disciples to investigate. Presumably, before long, there will be news—”

Profound Azure Cave.

“Near Heavenly Heart Island and Taibai Island, there might be a secret realm entrance?”

Fang Qing toyed with a second-tier precious medicinal herb in his hand, which he had exchanged from the Pill Hall using Elder Tianding’s written order. His expression turned contemplative. “No wonder, the moment the war ended, they could not wait to send people to garrison it—while also treating formation masters exceptionally well.”

“Speaking of it, the Azure Sea Sect could really endure—They wiped out two major Core Formation forces, and only then began searching for the secret realm.”

“Otherwise, it could have turned into a three-way joint development of the secret realm—how could one sect enjoy monopolizing it alone?”

——

“Fine. Now that the medicinal ingredients were complete, he could first refine the Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill.”

As for the Foundation Establishment Pill? That pill was listed as second-tier top-grade, and it carried quite a bit of difficulty.

What was more, Fang Qing still had not finished digesting the alchemical Dao from the World of Ancient Shu, so there was no need to rush at all.

“Besides—The True Qi required by the Heaven-Escape Sword Art still had to be collected carefully by Qin Ruxue—”

He now increasingly felt that taking in a Bright Consort back then had been the right decision.

Even now, looking at it, it seemed not quite enough.

After all, Qin Ruxue was very busy as well.

“Could it be time to start selecting a second Bright Consort? Or a Bright Son would do as well—”

“But no matter what, he would never consider Gong Susu and her senior and junior sisters—”

Inside the pill-refining chamber.

Fang Qing formed hand seals with both hands, sending streams of True Power into the second-tier Cold Spring.

Gurgle, gurgle!

——

The Cold Spring continuously exhaled chill, and the originally blue-green spirit spring water gradually took on a hint of crimson.

“This Water–Fire Pill Art was indeed exquisite—After he performed the sacrificial refinement and infused it with Three Yang Spirit Water, this spring had temporarily advanced to second-tier mid-grade, no worse than that Cold–Hot Twin Springs on Pill Island—”

Watching the cold and hot spring waters in the Cold Spring interweave yin and yang and form the shape of a taiji, Fang Qing nodded in satisfaction.

This Water–Fire Pill Art had been a gift from the former owner of the cave dwelling, the Foundation Establishment cultivator Xiang Shaocen. It could temporarily elevate a low-grade second-tier spiritual spring to mid-grade second-tier. It offered great benefits for pill refinement.

After all, the Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill Fang Qing was preparing to refine next was ranked as second-tier mid-grade. Using a second-tier mid-grade spirit pool to refine it was perfectly complementary.

It was even nearly enough to stretch for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.

The Foundation Establishment Pill was ranked second-tier top-grade; the key issue was that it was far too rare. Refining it at Cold Spring Peak would be utterly shocking.

And using a low-grade second-tier spirit pool, while not impossible, would undoubtedly drag down the success rate due to the spring water’s inferior grade.

In truth, even a mid-grade second-tier spirit pool was slightly insufficient, but it remained barely within an acceptable range.

“He had received the blessings of predecessors’ remnants as well. He still had to express something or other—”

Fang Qing thought of how this matter had once again been entrusted to Qin Ruxue, and immediately stopped overthinking. He took out a second-tier precious medicinal herb, the Azure Qi Ginseng.

This herb was as large as a bowl’s mouth. Its entire body bloomed with dazzling, multicolored purple radiance at every angle, and at a glance it was clearly a rare treasure herb.

“This main ingredient suited tempering with the hot spring first—then switching to the cold spring three days later—With three cycles of cold and heat, it could be completed.”

Fang Qing had already pored over the Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill formula more than once. He had also specifically calculated an auspicious day to open the pool. Now he did not hesitate, tossing it into the spring water. Wave after wave of heat surged in, extracting the Azure Qi Ginseng into liquid—

Fang Qing’s Divine Sense instantly spread out, carefully observing the changes in every medicinal property to assist pill refinement.

Without noticing, three months passed.

“This kind of realm-breaking pill was not only difficult to refine, it also took longer—No wonder it was more expensive, or rather—valuable but not available on the market.

He silently stared at the bottom of the spirit pool. Under Divine Sense observation, he saw that two pill embryos had already faintly taken shape there—half-finished Minor Barrier-Breaking Pills!

By the standards of water-method pill refinement, reaching this point already counted as success.

“The reason he succeeded on the first refinement was likely because his pill-refining skill had already been exceptional, and after Foundation Establishment it had advanced even further. He was fairly confident refining second-tier mid-grade pills—And he had refined pills on Small White Island for nearly ten years. Although he had not been refining Minor Barrier-Breaking Pills, the Water-Origin Pill was also second-tier mid-grade, and it offered a strong effect of analogical understanding—”

“He even faintly felt his pill-refining skill had already touched the threshold of second-tier top-grade—Even if he refined Foundation Establishment Pills, after failing two or three times, he would have confidence in producing a finished pill!”

At this time, Fang Qing continued observing, and saw that atop the two purple pill embryos, one had condensed two silver pill patterns, while the other had only one and a half pill patterns.

“One finished as one standard pill, one inferior pill—”

“Although he had not made any major mistakes during refinement, in the end there had still been subtle, delicate omissions in certain details, causing the pill toxins in both pills to be somewhat over the limit—If he wanted to swallow them, it would be best to warm-nourish them with water-method refinement for a year and a half.”

“If he could seal the pool in one go for more than ten years, this inferior pill would probably upgrade into a standard pill.

Fang Qing nodded, then shook his head. He did not have that much idle time; at most, he could wait one year.

As for the remaining inferior Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill?

If he released it, he did not know how many early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators it would make red-eyed with envy.

“There was no need to rush—Second-tier pills were originally inwardly restrained in medicinal nature and did not easily volatilize; they could be stored for a long time—If paired with a specific warm-nourishing jade bottle and sealing talismans—keeping the medicinal nature intact for a hundred years would not be a big problem. It could completely serve as a trunk-bottom hard currency, or else be kept in reserve for Qin Ruxue—”

The inferior Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill still possessed the effect of assisting a breakthrough bottleneck, but it could carry excessive pill toxins and other negative effects. Even if a cultivator broke through, they would still need to quietly meditate for several years—stabilizing the foundation and restoring primordial vitality, expelling pill toxins, and so on.

But compared to breaking through a bottleneck, those were nothing.

Half a year later.

Using the excuse of returning to the sect to report on her mission, Qin Ruxue returned to the Azure Sea Sect and came to Profound Azure Cave.

“Young Master—this was Long Whale Bright Moon Qi!”

After they spoke heart-to-heart for a time, Qin Ruxue handed a jade bottle to Fang Qing. “This was easy to gather, but the other True Qi Young Master needed had to be sought on a mortal battlefield, which was somewhat troublesome—this concubine has already ordered people to search for ancient battlefield ruins, hoping to gain something.”

“Oh? There was no need to rush—”

Fang Qing comforted her a few times, took the Long Whale Bright Moon, and saw it was deep as the sea, faintly carrying the cultivation image of whale-song and bright moon. It looked extremely extraordinary.

After all, it was seventh-tier True Qi. Whoever consumed it had hope of Purple Palace, and even at the Qi Ingestion and Dao Foundation stages, their True Power would be stronger than cultivators who used low-tier True Qi.

As for the other strand of True Qi, it was naturally also required to cultivate the Heaven-Escape Sword Art, and it too was ranked seventh-tier.

【Lou Metal】, also known as 【Military-Weapon Metal】 and 【Weapons-of-War Metal】, was the true position of Metal—The True Qi it required needed a battlefield environment—In this regard, Small Huan Sea indeed had no real conditions. Instead, in the Land of Ancient Shu, where wars were continuous, gathering qi was even more convenient—”

Fang Qing’s heart stirred, and he smiled. “There was no need to rush this matter; just remember it. But you, while garrisoning Taibai Island, did you discover anything?

，7

Regarding the matter of Azure Sea True Person and the secret realm, he had long since told Qin Ruxue.

Compared to the sect, Fang Qing naturally trusted his own Bright Consort more.

“This concubine originally had some doubts, but by Young Master’s account—the sect indeed intended to investigate Taibai Island. It was just that this concubine did not discover the slightest clue about the secret realm—”

Qin Ruxue said. “Either that secret realm was hidden extremely deep, or it was over on Heavenly Heart Island’s side—”

“If this secret realm were not hidden deep, how could the Azure Sea True Person have searched for most of his life—And how could it not have been discovered by those two major Core Formation forces?”

Fang Qing’s mentality remained excellent. “Just keep watching. In any case, if a sign was found, the secret realm entrance would certainly be guarded by restrictions. You formation masters would be indispensable.”

To be honest, he still had some shadow lingering from the previous matter of the Smoke-Wave Blessed Land.

Even if he knew this secret realm was within easy reach, he might not necessarily spend much effort.

After Qin Ruxue left, Fang Qing took time to pay attention to the World of Ancient Shu side.

Xu Hei had luckily escaped the great calamity and had been buying spiritual items related to 【Ji Water】, but unfortunately gained nothing at all.

“Trash!”

Fang Qing cursed once, then sighed, knowing that the class hierarchy over in Ancient Shu was far too rigid.

For Dao Foundation spiritual items of this sort, Qi Ingestion cultivators could scarcely even get a look.

In fact, the moment one appeared, it would be taken by Dao Foundation and Purple Palace forces, stored away deep in cellars. Without exchange among same-tier cultivators, it was basically impossible to retrieve.

“In the end, it was still a land of scarce resources—not as good as over here on Jade Island.”

He let out a long breath and entered the pill-refining chamber.

With a raised hand, he summoned one standard Minor Barrier-Breaking Pill, brimming with purple qi, with two silver pill patterns on its surface, into his palm.

“Since it has come to this, he would first break through to mid-stage Foundation Establishment—”