Chapter 28 - 10-19

Chapter 10

That night, Qin Ran was in his study. The room was filled with soft light, while outside was the dark of night. The desk was covered with books, all open, and a gentle night breeze blew in through the window, lightly fluttering the pages.

He was hunched over the desk, drawing and scribbling. He was sketching the circulation routes of his cultivation techniques, and writing...the Golden Series Alchemy Method.

What is the essence of alchemy? Ten thousand alchemists would give ten thousand answers. But for Qin Ran, the essence was to organically combine the medicinal components with effects from the ingredients, in order to achieve the desired results.

To some extent, as long as you have the pill formula and ingredients, you just need to extract the medicinal parts from the ingredients, and combine them in the amounts required by the formula, and you can refine the medicinal pill.

So what is the key? The key is how to extract the parts with medicinal effects.

And the quality of a medicinal pill is judged precisely by this - the purer the part with medicinal effects, the higher the quality of the pill.

Similarly, impurities, or dregs, are judged by how much is left over - the more dregs left, the lower the quality of the pill. When the dregs reach a certain level, the pill loses its effectiveness and is considered a waste pill.

Therefore, the most basic skill of an alchemist is the ability to purify ingredients.

Fire spirit root cultivators practice fire elemental techniques, using fire to burn away the dregs (impurities) from the ingredients - this is fire refinement. Water spirit root cultivators practice water elemental techniques, using water to rinse and soak, extracting the medicinal essence - this is water refinement.

Qin Ran was water spirit rooted, so he used the latter purification method, water refinement.

As for whether there were cultivators of other spirit roots who created other refinement methods in this world, such as lightning, wind, earth, etc., one could only say it was possible. He didn't dare say absolutely not, after all the world was so vast.

But in this little corner where Qin Ran was, he had never heard of any.

It was still that reasoning - everyone knew wet nurses were important, but who didn't want to be that awesome warrior at the front? Able to fight and take hits.

If you had a gold spirit root, why not go practice the sword?

Probably only a silly girl like Li Shiyin would take a top gold spirit root and go learn alchemy.

The disciple was silly, it couldn't be helped. Taking on a disciple like this, the master could only try to remedy things.

No Golden Refinement Method? Then create one.

Fire refinement used fire to burn away impurities. Water refinement used water to extract essence. Then how should Golden Refinement work?

Perhaps Golden Refinement could take a middle path - grind metals into a liquid state, then use fire refinement to remove impurities.

Qin Ran thought and wrote, feeling this method could work.

If Li Shiyin practiced a golden elemental object control technique, using that to control metal powder, using the metal powder to grind away impurities and obtain the medicinal essence...

The idea and framework were there, next he needed to design the cultivation route map.

Gold elemental techniques didn't have the effect of grinding and purifying ingredients. To make it have this effect, he could make it follow the cultivation route of a fire refinement technique.

That was to say, one could cultivate two techniques. First guide the heaven and earth spiritual energy according to the gold elemental technique, turning it into personal golden elemental power. Then guide that golden elemental power according to a fire elemental technique, obtaining a fire-natured golden elemental power.

But doing this would bring about many, many problems. First was the issue of requiring two spirit roots to cultivate two techniques, while Li Shiyin only had the gold spirit root. Next was the issue of cultivation efficiency and technique conflict that needed attention.

After scribbling half the night, these problems were still not thoroughly solved. Even the spirit root issue was still minor. Technique conflict was the big unsolvable problem. In the end, Qin Ran only obtained a preliminary idea.

He put away his brush. On the paper was a sketch of controlling golden sand. On the desk were technique references, mostly sword control techniques. He raised his head and looked out the window. The night was very deep now. In the distance, the sounds of birds and beasts could be heard from the forest.

He narrowed his eyes, considering other plans. Even under him, Li Shiyin could still learn the sword. Maybe better than Sword Peak, because Sword Peak had too many people, resources were limited.

It was just that Qin Ran was still hesitating, mainly over whether it was worthwhile, after all he had only taken this disciple for two days.

The next two days, Qin Ran didn't make Li Shiyin recite ingredients anymore, but gave her a basic sword technique to practice on her own. Because he saw that this was a failing student - one look at books and she'd fall asleep.

And unsurprisingly, she really was silly. Have her read and she'd fall asleep in three minutes. Have her practice the sword, and she'd be excited, even forgetting to eat. With just two days of practice on a basic sword technique, she could already perform it properly.

If not for the short time, without condensed qi cyclones, Qin Ran felt she could've condensed sword qi in two days.

That morning at breakfast, Qin Ran glanced up to see Li Shiyin happily popping sugar beans into her mouth, completely complacent. He was a bit speechless. This girl had cried and screamed to come learn alchemy, but now she was here practicing sword every day, extremely happily.

Hmm, so it was still that question, why did he think she was a cool beauty?

"I'm going to the Master Peak today. Write down anything you need on a paper and I'll bring it back for you," he said. "Oh right, can you sew clothes?"

Li Shiyin stirred her cup with a spoon, mumbling shyly, "Father made me learn before."

From her manner, it meant she couldn't. Qin Ran expressionlessly said, "Write down your measurements. I'll have someone custom make them."

"Okay!" Li Shiyin agreed very readily, then asked, "Master, can I go with you?"

"You're too slow. Coming and going would waste too much time," Qin Ran replied.

"You're walking there too, aren't you?" Li Shiyin questioned. "I can keep up."

Qin Ran's eyebrow twitched slightly. Could it be she had exposed his fear of heights? But he was the master after all. His expression didn't change as he rumbled, "I'm using the Divine Walk technique. My speed will be very fast."

"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded disappointedly.

"When you condense your qi vortex, you can start learning techniques. At that time if you learn a flight technique or divine walk technique, you'll be able to freely come and go between Dan Peak and Master Peak," Qin Ran said.

Li Shiyin was unhappy and slumped over the table, feeding herself sugar beans.

"Since you're home alone today, I'll arrange a task for you," seeing her manner, Qin Ran spoke up.

"What is it?" Li Shiyin didn't seem very interested.

After breakfast, Qin Ran brought her outside. Following along the creek, they walked to the middle of the front lawn. He pointed around them and said to Li Shiyin, "I want to build an artificial lake here. I could do it myself with techniques, but to temper you, you will dig this lake."

"You want to build an artificial lake here?" Li Shiyin was shocked. What's more, did she mishear - she had to dig it alone!?

"I told you, cultivation is a process of becoming stronger. Why is the foundation establishment stage called foundation establishment? It's a stage of laying foundations. During foundation establishment, the more spiritual power you accumulate, and the purer, the better the gold core formed. The stronger your physique, the faster you can gather spiritual power, purifying it more, and the easier it is to break through boundaries, greatly benefiting your future cultivation," Qin Ran said expressionlessly. He definitely didn't have any intention of retaliation.

"So you will dig this lake, of course you can use techniques and empower yourself with spiritual power, but you cannot use tools or pills."

Master seemed serious...

"Master?" Li Shiyin spoke pitifully.

It had only been a few days and she was already acting cute and fawning! This evil unorthodox influence must be stopped!

Qin Ran's heart was like iron stone, completely ignoring the pitiful act of Li Shiyin. He raised his hand pointing to the storage room, and coldly said, "Tools are inside the storage room. Start now!"

Having said that, he silently activated the Divine Walk technique and swiftly disappeared into the forest path, not giving himself a chance to change his mind.

Li Shiyin sighed up at the sky, then resigned herself to her fate.

Chapter 11

After Qin Ran left, Li Shiyin reluctantly went to the storage room.

Storage rooms require a lot of space, so naturally they also have spacious arrays set up. The inside space was much larger than it looked from the outside, almost catching up to the ratio of change between the inside and outside of the training hall.

This was Li Shiyin's first time entering the storage room. As soon as she entered, she was stunned by the dense and chaotic objects inside. At a glance, it seemed like everything was there, both recognizable and unrecognizable.

There were tools - hoes, shovels, sickles, baskets, everything needed. There were also unfinished or failed leftovers from the masters, broken tables, chairs, damaged array templates, broken railings, and so on.

Wait, railings?

Li Shiyin was holding a hoe and shovel. She suddenly noticed something strange about the railing.

She looked closely and found it increasingly bizarre, so she went over carrying the hoe and shovel and set the railing upright.

This railing... hmm, very strange.

It was surrounded by a circle of metal railings, about five feet tall. The base was a metal object, about ten feet long and three feet wide, with some strange patterns on it, probably some kind of array lines.

What made this thing so weird was that the metal object at the base looked a bit like a sword.

Li Shiyin stroked her chin and circled around it a few times. She suddenly recalled that the master seemed to be afraid of heights, which gave her a bold guess.

Although it seemed far-fetched, but... this was probably, most likely, possibly, the master's flying sword!

Qin Ran, who was rushing down the mountain, suddenly shuddered and nearly lost his footing, almost tumbling down the mountainside. He quickly stopped and felt a chill down his back, as if he had forgotten something important.

But he couldn't remember what it was for the moment, so he had no choice but to continue on his way.

As he ran, when he arrived at the main peak's Assembly Square, he suddenly recalled that he hadn't put away his epic invention - the railing flying sword!

"She just went in to get a hoe, she probably won't find it!" he reassured himself. "What are the odds of that happening?"

But he still felt uneasy, distracted and unsettled. A famous law circled around his head - Murphy's Law.

The Assembly Square was especially lively today, even more so than usual... mainly because there were more vendors setting up stalls.

The reason was that the Dao Sword Sect's Questioning the Dao Grand Meet had just concluded, and many new disciples had been recruited into the sect. Now was a good time to give them their first lesson on the cultivation world, as it was well known that new disciples were the easiest to cheat.

Not all the cultivators selling wares at the Dao Sword Sect were from the sect itself. There were also some from other sects and independent cultivators wandering around.

Qin Ran came today for two reasons. First, he wanted to buy some daily necessities for Li Shiyin. The poor girl had been wearing the same yellow clothes for days. He had to get her some changes.

Secondly, he wanted to find some sword cultivation techniques, including sword techniques, body techniques, concealment techniques, and battle techniques. He needed all of these.

If Li Shiyin wanted to pursue the path of the sword in the future, he had to prepare these things for her.

Qin Ran wasn't anyone famous. Plus, he was only in his early twenties. Without wearing his peak master's robes, walking down the street, no one recognized him. He was far less conspicuous than the newly recruited disciples. In his plain blue clothes, he crossed the square where disciples were training, and arrived at the marketplace without anyone greeting him.

That's right, in addition to the vendors, there were many disciples practicing martial arts in the square. After all, that was the original purpose of the Assembly Square, for disciples to train.

Arriving at the small market, Qin Ran started from one end and slowly browsed through the stalls, stopping to examine anything interesting. If the price was right, he would take out spirit stones and buy it.

However, after going through over a dozen stalls, he had bought many strange herbs but still couldn't find any interesting techniques.

There weren't many stalls left. If he still couldn't find suitable techniques, would he have to go ask at the Hall of Inherited Skills? But the Dao Sword Sect wasn't a major sect after all, and the publicly available techniques weren't up to Qin Ran's standards. Or should he really have Li Shiyin become a disciple at Sword Peak to learn their secret techniques?

Just as he was pondering this, he suddenly discovered an interesting technique at a small stall.

It was an ordinary little stall, with a cloth mat laid out and assorted books and jade slips placed on it. The stall owner also looked plain and ordinary.

But in the cultivation world, appearance and age were never the point.

The technique was called Tai Xuan Sword Codex, recorded on a cracked, yellowed jade slip. The damage to the jade slip was so severe that when Qin Ran extended his consciousness into it, he only sensed ruin and chaos.

"What's going on with this?" Qin Ran asked the owner.

"I don't know," the owner replied. "It's been passed down in my family. I found it in a box like this, it's just too old right?"

Passed down in his family? Qin Ran sneered inwardly, no doubt it was stolen from some ancient tomb. Were all these secret techniques and manuals family heirlooms?

But he only disdained it in his heart, and didn't show anything on his face. This was how places like this worked. Cultivators set up stalls to sell things, some real and some fake. You could buy or not buy as you wished, but never ask about the origin of the items.

Even if it was the Dao Sword Sect, they only provided the space for stalls and never interfered with transactions. If you got cheated here and bought fakes, don't make a fuss or cause trouble, because no one would side with you, only laugh at you.

Of course, if you had the ability to seek redress afterwards, no one would stop you either...

"How much for this?" Qin Ran asked indifferently.

"One thousand low-grade spirit stones," the owner quoted.

Qin Ran was silent. He held the jade slip to his forehead and examined the contents with his spiritual sense again, then asked, "Is there an unsealing verse?"

The unsealing verse was needed to decrypt the contents of the jade slip, like the passcode to unlock a phone. Without it, the actual contents could not be read.

"There is a verse," the owner replied.

"Ten low-grade spirit stones," Qin Ran offered.

"Get lost if you're not buying!" the owner yelled angrily.

Qin Ran still had no change in expression. He squatted and rummaged through the stall some more, then picked up a movement technique called Fierce Tiger Triple Leap, and a sword technique called Brush Clouds Sword Decision. He indicated them to the owner and said, "Ten low-grade spirit stones plus these two techniques, will you sell them?"

Seeing that Qin Ran was completely shameless, not only refusing to raise his offer but asking for more items, the owner's expression changed dramatically from anger to... obsequiousness. He was afraid Qin Ran would change his mind, and quickly said, "Deal!"

"Damn, got ripped off again!" Qin Ran cursed inwardly, as he took out ten spirit stones from his Cosmic Bag and exchanged for the unsealing verses from the owner.

The owner whispered the verses for unsealing the two jade slips into Qin Ran's ear.

Qin Ran nodded, put all three techniques into his Cosmic Bag, and continued walking forward.

Just then, a young disciple who had been waiting for a while sidled up and called out, "Peak Master Qin, please hold on."

Someone calling for him? Qin Ran frowned and looked back to see a handsome youth in black robes that he didn't recognize. "What is it?" he asked.

"This junior is Huang Feiyu of Sword Peak. I'd like to ask senior a favor," Huang Feiyu bowed respectfully to Qin Ran and said.

Although Qin Ran was young and not very powerful, he was still the legitimate Peak Master of Dan Peak. Hearing that this person was a disciple of the Dao Sword Sect, he accepted the bow frankly.

"This junior wishes to buy some Frost Condensation Pills, but I'm afraid I don't know much about pills..." Huang Feiyu saw that although Qin Ran didn't reply, he also didn't walk away, and was delighted inwardly. He hurriedly continued, "I wonder if senior has time to help out this junior."

Chapter 12

There are indeed genuine items at informal markets like this. And if you have a good enough eye, you can get amazing bargains. But there are even more fakes here.

Especially when it comes to elixirs!

An average person who takes out a finished elixir wouldn't be able to tell if it's a quality elixir or not, let alone if it's a waste pill or even worse, a poison pill, or if it's the elixir he wants.

Don't expect professional elixir-selling sects like Zhican Valley to have integrity either. In fact, elixirs that these major sects bring to places like this to secretly sell are obviously of questionable origin... Maybe it's a pill that was wasted by some inner sect disciple, or one that some elder casually refined. Anyway, elixirs from major sects may be even more unreliable.

It's best to go through official channels and trade between sects for elixirs.

If you must buy privately for whatever reason, you'd better know a thing or two about elixirs yourself. If not, find someone trustworthy who does. By all means do not blindly buy like a clueless kid, or you're guaranteed to get ripped off.

Huang Feiyu was clearly no clueless kid. He didn't know elixirs himself, but he knew to ask Qin Ran for help.

"What do you need Ice Condensation Pill for?" Qin Ran asked.

"This junior is practicing an ice-type sword art, and needs Ice Condensation Pill to assist cultivation," Huang Feiyu quickly explained.

Practicing an ice-type sword art means he has a water spirit root. Qin Ran pondered briefly and said, "Although I've done some research on Ice Condensation Pills, I haven't personally refined one before. I can't say for sure how much I can help you."

Just from his words, you could tell he was being coy. He didn't directly agree to help, but his willingness was obvious.

Huang Feiyu understood this. He bowed again and said, "Elder martial brother is indeed profoundly learned, even studying obscure elixirs like Ice Condensation Pill. With elder brother's help, we're sure to obtain a top-quality Ice Condensation Pill."

Qin Ran knew he was just buttering him up. That was a classic maneuver in the cultivation world - praise first regardless of the situation. If things don't work out and they end up with a low-quality pill, they would certainly hold it against him later. Qin Ran saw right through this, but he didn't respond. He just maintained the bearing of the Peak Master of Dan Peak.

After agreeing with Qin Ran, Huang Feiyu didn't immediately take him to buy elixirs. Instead, he turned around and pulled over a pretty young girl, bringing her before Qin Ran and introduced, "This is my junior martial sister, Tian Wenjin. She wants to buy some Gathering Spirit Pills. I hope elder brother can also look out for her."

Qin Ran looked at Tian Wenjin and sized her up. He saw she was a fifteen or sixteen year old girl, very beautiful with an aloof fox-like face. She possessed an explosive kind of beauty that drew eyes. She was comparable to Li Shiyin.

And from her expression, she still carried an air of the mundane world. Clearly she had not yet absorbed the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, meaning she had not started cultivating yet. She must be a new disciple who just joined Dao Sword Sect at the previous Questioning Dao Conference.

Upon closer examination, Qin Ran noticed currents of qi flowing inside her body. So she already had qi perception. To develop qi perception in less than five days after the Questioning Dao Conference, it seems her talent is also considerable.

Adding to her looks, Qin Ran's thoughts wandered. If Li Shiyin had also joined Sword Peak that day, the two of them would surely become the next generation of peerless beauties at Sword Peak.

"This is the Peak Master of Sword Peak. Call him Elder Martial Brother Qin," Huang Feiyu said to Tian Wenjin.

Tian Wenjin nodded, but brazenly looked Qin Ran up and down, saying, "I know, saw him at the Questioning Dao Conference... That Li Shiyin with the top-tier gold spirit root went with him to refine pills."

Goodness, although Qin Ran looked young, he was still in the elder generation. Yet she eyed him like that, truly lacking manners.

Qin Ran saw this and knew this girl must be quite arrogant thanks to her talent, not taking anyone seriously despite her young age.

This arrogance was different from Li Shiyin's clueless, silly arrogance.

He shook his head to himself and privately judged - this kind of person won't live long in the cultivation world if she doesn't correct her mentality in time.

Because the cultivation world has no shortage of geniuses.

Huang Feiyu was clearly trying to pursue Tian Wenjin. Seeing her attitude, he quickly tried to smooth things over, smiling at Qin Ran, "Elder brother, this way please. I saw Ice Condensation Pills at a stall run by a Zhican Valley disciple."

Qin Ran glanced at Huang Feiyu but didn't say anything more. It wasn't that he was magnanimous, just too lazy to nitpick. That said, he really should have spoken up to discipline her, since Tian Wenjin's personality was prone to getting into trouble...and prone to dying.

Huang Feiyu led the way up front. Soon, the three arrived at the stall selling Ice Condensation Pills.

As a sect focused on pill refining, Zhican Valley produced thousands of pills every day, just like Dao Sword Sect. It was one of the five great sects of North Chu Country.

Behind those thousands of qualified pills produced in pill refining sects like Zhican Valley each day, there were even more subpar pills.

For example, waste pills produced by disciples learning pill refining, poison pills from experimental new pills, and so on. Naturally, other sects wouldn't want these pills. The better ones would be consumed internally, and those that really no one wanted, they would try to sell off to other sects in North Chu Country.

The youth at this stall was selling such pills.

With one glance, Qin Ran could see the quality of the pills at this stall was terrible. There were even a small amount of waste and poison pills.

Since there were basically no pill refiners left in Dao Sword Sect, with Qin Ran being the only one, the Zhican Valley disciples selling pills to Dao Sword Sect were naturally even more brazen. They dared to pass off waste pills as top-grade pills, and inferior pills as high-grade ones.

"How much for your Ice Condensation Pills?" Huang Feiyu casually browsed for a while, then randomly picked up a bottle of Ice Condensation Pill and asked.

"500 low-grade spirit stones a bottle, no bargaining," the vendor lazily replied.

Ice Condensation Pill was an auxiliary pill, very simple to refine. Frankly, it was just a lump of ice that could disperse into ice qi. Even 500 spirit stones was exorbitant for such a pill, let alone 5 spirit stones.

Moreover...

He also crouched down and took over the porcelain bottle in Huang Feiyu's hand. Casually breaking the seal, he peered inside.

"Hey, don't open it! You'll be responsible if it affects the quality!" Seeing Qin Ran's actions, the vendor shouted and tried to snatch back the bottle.

Qin Ran dodged his hand and resealed the bottle.

"Are you an outer sect disciple or apprentice?" Qin Ran asked, still holding the pill bottle. Only disciples of those levels would be made to peddle subpar pills.

"What's it to you?" Zhican Valley disciples had always been arrogant. Even if he was an outer sect disciple, he dared to glare at Qin Ran.

"If you can approve this sale...I'll give you one spirit stone for this bottle," Qin Ran said, tossing the bottle casually.

What crazy bargaining was this? The spectating Tian Wenjin frowned in confusion. She was just arrogant, not stupid, so she didn't make some thoughtless remark.

Huang Feiyu also couldn't help but glance at Qin Ran. He knew the nature of these places. Half price bargaining was normal, but...bargaining like Qin Ran's, this was the first time he'd seen it.

Hearing those words, the vendor knew the man before him was knowledgeable about pills. He sized Qin Ran up a couple times, then hesitated slightly. "Two spirit stones. My master said it has to sell for at least one spirit stone. I want one stone as hardship pay."

"One spirit stone..." Qin Ran didn't back down at all. "I don't believe any pill refiner would refine Ice Condensation Pill to this quality and still daringly sell it."

The vendor fell silent. This was indeed a pill discarded as waste that he had picked up.

"One...one spirit stone then." He replied.

"Tsk!" Qin Ran shook his head in disdain and walked away.

Chapter 13

"Dan medicine can be bought like this?" Huang Feiyu was so shocked that his jaw almost dropped. As expected, one still needs to be an alchemist!

Seeing Qin Ran walking away, he quickly threw out a spirit stone on the stall, then picked up the Ice Condensation Pellet and called out to Tian Wenjin to chase after him.

"Uncle Master, please wait." Huang Feiyu caught up to Qin Ran and said, "If I were to buy this Ice Condensation Pellet myself, I'm afraid I would really have to spend five hundred spirit stones. Uncle Master is indeed amazing to have easily obtained it with just a few words."

He reached into his Cosmic Bag and took out a cloth bag, handing it to Qin Ran, "Here are three hundred spirit stones, thank you Uncle Master for broadening my horizons."

Qin Ran glanced obliquely at the cloth bag. The bag was bulging, making him itch with desire. He thought to himself that disciples nowadays are really fucking rich. But he maintained the image of an uncle master and did not reach out to take it. He only asked, "What sword art are you practicing?"

"Frost Sword Art," Huang Feiyu replied. Seeing that Qin Ran did not take the spirit stones, he also did not insist. His hand shrank back, clutching the spirit stones in his hand instead of putting them directly into the Cosmic Bag.

"Frost Sword Art..." Qin Ran recalled it for a moment, remembering the special training requirements for practicing this sword art. He said, "If you are practicing the Frost Sword Art, I'm afraid the quality of this Ice Condensation Pellet is not enough."

"What does Uncle Master think?" Huang Feiyu asked in a timely manner.

"This Ice Condensation Pellet cannot even be considered a low-grade pill. The duration of each pellet's effects will be very short, and the quality of the emitted cold chi will also be very low," Qin Ran gave his own advice. "If you want to learn this sword art to a certain level, I suggest you find someone to specially refine Ice Condensation Pellets for you. You won't be able to buy suitable pills outside."

Huang Feiyu was indeed not stupid. As soon as he heard this, he understood. Moreover, he had intended to get acquainted with Qin Ran from the beginning. He hurriedly climbed the pole and respectfully said, "I wonder if Uncle Master has time to help this junior with this favor?"

This person is sensible and tactful, Qin Ran praised inwardly. He spoke up, "I can take time to refine it for you, but you'll have to find the raw materials yourself. Also, although refining this pill is simple, after all I have never refined it before, so I cannot guarantee a 100% success rate."

Huang Feiyu understood that this was telling him to prepare more raw materials. He also agreed.

The three of them walked out of the market. Qin Ran looked back at Tian Wenjin and saw that the little girl still had an arrogant expression on her face. He thought for a moment and felt that he should give her some pointers. He asked, "Are you buying the Spirit Gathering Pellet for yourself or someone else to use?"

"Of course it's for myself to use," Tian Wenjin replied.

"Do you know what the Spirit Gathering Pellet is for?" Qin Ran asked again.

"To improve the cultivation level during Foundation Establishment," Tian Wenjin wanted to roll her eyes. Did this person think she was an idiot in cultivation? Who doesn't know that Spirit Gathering Pellets are used to improve cultivation?

"What is the quality of your spiritual root?" Qin Ran was not bothered and continued to ask.

"...Top-grade Thunder Spirit Root," Tian Wenjin answered.

Sure enough, she is a peerless beauty, Qin Ran thought to himself. He said, "If you have a top-grade spirit root, then I suggest you do not use the Spirit Gathering Pellet."

"Why?" Tian Wenjin asked. Spirit Gathering Pellets can improve cultivation! Why not use them? Everyone is using them!

"It's not worth it..." Qin Ran felt that he was really patient and explained, "Or rather, pill toxins."

Pill toxins? This was the first time Tian Wenjin had heard of this statement. She was suspicious that the pills Qin Ran refined were of poor quality, which was why they were toxic. But she did not refute Qin Ran's words, just felt indignant.

After walking along the market for a while, Qin Ran suddenly looked back again and sized up Tian Wenjin. He asked aloud, "Do you know how to make clothes?"

This so-called Dan Peak chief had looked back at her several times already. And now he was extremely disgustingly sizing her up. Tian Wenjin only felt the anger in her heart bubbling up. Hearing his vulgar chat-up line, she impatiently replied, "What girl doesn't know how to make clothes?"

Hmm, Qin Ran murmured, well, there was a girl at his home who didn't know how to make clothes.

"Then can you do me a favor and make two sets of clothes for me?" he requested, "I see your clothes are made very beautifully. Just use your style and make two sets for me."

Tian Wenjin was wearing a light blue gauze outer shirt, pure white silk lining, short sleeves with lace edges, and the skirt just short of her ankles. When the wind blew, the light blue outer shirt was like a blue butterfly fluttering and dancing, making her look youthful and vigorous, yet coldly enchanting.

Although she was beautiful herself, the bonus from the clothes was still objectively there.

"You want me to make clothes for you?" Tian Wenjin twisted her lips. She thought to herself, "How is that possible!"

But before she could open her mouth to refuse, Huang Feiyu next to her took the lead and agreed. He said repeatedly, "Okay, sure. I've heard that Sister Tian is extremely skilled in needlework, the clothes she makes are very beautiful, and will definitely not disappoint Uncle Master."

Tian Wenjin glanced at Huang Feiyu. This senior brother was the direct disciple of Sword Peak Chief Liu Boxian. The man was handsome, had a good personality, high cultivation, and was clearly interested in her. She thought about it and still did not speak out to contradict him.

"I don't know if Uncle Master wants it for himself or someone else?" Huang Feiyu asked again.

Qin Ran did not answer him, but looked at Tian Wenjin and asked, "Will you do it?"

Tian Wenjin did not want to do it, but Huang Feiyu secretly pulled her clothes again. She nodded.

"Okay..." Qin Ran took out a piece of paper from his Cosmic Bag and handed it to Tian Wenjin, "Just make it according to these measurements."

Tian Wenjin took it and saw that the body measurements were similar to hers, clearly clothes for a girl. She immediately understood that this was to make clothes for Li Shiyin.

She stealthily glanced at Qin Ran. Suddenly, a strange smell surfaced in her heart. When she carefully tasted it, it turned out to be sour.

So this is someone else's master?

Qin Ran rummaged in his Cosmic Bag and took out a thumb-sized porcelain bottle, which he also handed to Tian Wenjin. He said, "There are two Spirit Gathering Pellets in here, both above mid-grade quality. Consider it my payment to you, no need to buy them anymore."

Tian Wenjin took the porcelain bottle, pried open the jade seal and smelled it. The aroma of the pills was strong. The smell was pure and fragrant.

"It's hard to buy Spirit Gathering Pellets of this quality on the market," seeing Tian Wenjin sniff the Spirit Gathering Pellets, Qin Ran advised once more, "Although I gave you Spirit Gathering Pellets, I still suggest you do not take them. It's not just during Foundation Establishment that you shouldn't take them, but rather, don't casually take any pills that increase cultivation unless absolutely necessary."

At this point, Qin Ran's words suddenly gained some credibility for some reason. Tian Wenjin silently nodded.

"Alright," Qin Ran finally said, "I just casually suggested it, you can just casually listen. Let's go buy some cloth now..."

Although the market was chaotic and small, it had everything. Good fabrics were also available.

After buying the cloth and some other things, Qin Ran wrote down the pill formula for the Ice Condensation Pellets and gave it to Huang Feiyu, asking him to prepare the medicinal materials himself. Then the three parted ways.

After parting, Qin Ran wandered around the market alone for a while longer, buying quite a few more things.

Finally, he also went to the Merit Transfer Hall to take a look.

It wasn't until the sun approached the western hills that he tidied up and hurried back to Dan Peak.

Chapter 14

On the way back to Danfeng, Qin Ran felt a strange feeling in his heart. It was probably because there was someone waiting for him to come home, and it was a woman...a girl. This feeling was really wonderful. It even made his footsteps lighter as he walked on the stone road in the Danfeng Forest. In his heart, he unexpectedly felt a longing for home...something he had not felt for many years.

But when he walked out of the forest and stood at the edge, looking at the muddy figure in the middle of the lawn ahead, his excitement instantly calmed down.

Li Shiyin was very well-behaved and obedient. As soon as she received the order, she would not slack off. In just one day, she had dug a very large pit out of thin air. And she did not dig in the wrong place either. After all, she had only been digging for one day, so even if she was off, it would not be by much.

However...

Qin Ran sat on the grass at the edge of the pit, looking at the lifeless muddy figure next to him. He thought of the coldly beautiful Tian Wenjin. Why did he think this silly, dirty girl could form a peerless double beauty with her?!!!

"Have you eaten lunch?" he asked.

Li Shiyin's whole body ached. She felt like she couldn't even lift a finger and weakly replied, "Master, you weren't here, so where could I go eat?"

"Hmm?" Qin Ran only felt his blood pressure rising.

So this silly girl didn't even know how to cook. There were so many things in the fridge in the kitchen, all kinds of mountain delicacies, seafood, exotic beasts and the like, yet she didn't know how to cook and had not eaten lunch!

Heavens!

It was settled then, he should send her away. Otherwise, sooner or later she would anger him to death.

Jianfeng Sect? No no no, she was too silly, unworthy of learning the sword. It would be better to find a physique cultivation sect, that would suit her well.

"There is a story from my hometown..." Qin Ran also lay down, looking at the clouds in the sky, and slowly said,

"A family had a silly son. Once, when the parents had to go away on a long trip, worried that their silly son would starve to death at home without food, they made him a very large pancake and hung it around his neck, so that as long as he lowered his head, he could eat the pancake and not go hungry. But when they returned after their trip, they found that their son had still starved to death. Do you know why?"

Li Shiyin thought about it carefully, and asked, "Was it because the pancake wasn't enough to eat?"

"Sigh..." Qin Ran lightly exhaled, trying hard to keep his blood pressure down, and said, "It was because he was a fool who only knew to eat the front and did not know to eat the back."

"Oh!" Li Shiyin tilted her head and suddenly understood, "Oh oh... I see, Master, you're saying I'm silly! There's food in the kitchen but I don't know how to cook."

Qin Ran was silent, because he didn't know what to say. Should he praise her for being smart?

The master and disciple lay stretched out on the grass for a good while. Suddenly, Li Shiyin's stomach let out a "gulu gulu" sound. She was actually a little embarrassed and weakly said, "Mas...Master...I'm hungry..."

Qin Ran closed his eyes, and finally got up to head towards the residence. He said to Li Shiyin, "I'll go cook, you go take a bath."

Li Shiyin obeyed and scrambled up to follow behind Qin Ran.

After dinner, Qin Ran went to the storage room and rummaged around, taking out a large wooden bucket, the kind used for soaking baths.

Before the bathtub was built in the bathroom, he liked to use this bucket to soak in. Now he took it out to prepare for Li Shiyin to use.

Carrying the bucket, he went out to the riverbank to rinse it with river water.

Seeing this, Li Shiyin ran over curiously, "Master, why are you washing this?"

"For you to soak in and bathe," Qin Ran replied casually while controlling the water flow.

"Ah?" Li Shiyin didn't quite understand. "Isn't there a bathtub in the bathroom?"

"Medicated bath," Qin Ran explained.

"Oh!" Now Li Shiyin understood a bit. She had dug a whole lake yesterday and her whole body now ached. No wonder the master, as a proper alchemist, would use medicines to aid in cultivation. It made perfect sense.

She watched as Qin Ran controlled the water flow, washing the inside and outside of the wooden bucket clean. Suddenly, she remembered something and looked towards the storage room, asking, "Master, is that a flying sword in the storage room?"

"Which one?" Qin Ran was so startled he almost dropped the bucket into the river.

"That big iron sword with guard rails." Li Shiyin gestured as she spoke.

"What guard rail big iron sword, and flying sword..." Qin Ran pretended to stay calm. "You're so young but your eyes are already no good, you're seeing things!"

"No..." Li Shiyin argued and ran into the storage room to look, but after circling around, she couldn't find the big flying sword with guard rails she had seen during the day. She ran out again, scratching her head in confusion, "How come it's gone?"

Qin Ran heaved half a sigh of relief and said, "Didn't I say you saw wrong?"

He rinsed the bucket clean, then carried it to Li Shiyin's room, moving the table to the window and placing the bucket in the middle of the room.

"Why put it right in the middle?" Seeing Qin Ran carefully measuring the position, Li Shiyin curiously asked again.

Really, this girl with learning disabilities asked too many questions. Li Shiyin's ten thousand whys.

Qin Ran kept a wooden face and replied, "Although it's useless now, when your foundation is built and your cultivation level is higher, medicated baths will need to be used together with spell formations to be effective."

"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded. The master was thinking so far ahead.

"Alright, come with me..." Qin Ran put the bucket in place and secured it, calling Li Shiyin to go with him.

Going downstairs, Qin Ran fitted Li Shiyin with a pair of water shoulder poles, then led her towards the research building.

He had Li Shiyin wait downstairs in the pill refining room while he went upstairs to gather medicines. Soon he came down holding piles of medicinal ingredients.

There was a pill furnace in the pill refining room with earth fire burning beneath. Although Qin Ran mostly used water refining methods, fire refining pills was more orthodox and he naturally also studied it.

Moreover, pill furnaces were mostly used for fire refining pills, as fire refining allowed for more versatility in techniques.

As Qin Ran refined pills, he also taught Li Shiyin, explaining to her what each medicinal ingredient was called and what effects it had, when to put it in the furnace, when to use water refining, and when to use fire refining. He explained everything to her in detail.

Clearly though, it was in one ear and out the other for Li Shiyin. In just over ten minutes refining a bath of medicinal liquids, she nearly fell asleep listening.

After refining the medicine, it was all poured into the bucket. Li Shiyin carried it herself from the research building back to the residence.

"Soak yourself..." Qin Ran poured the medicine into the wooden bucket, adding in a few more supplemental medicines that didn't need refining. He said to Li Shiyin, "Soak for as long as you feel necessary. Note that first, don't drown..."

"How could I drown from taking a bath?" Li Shiyin laughed.

"I'm telling you to listen, interrupting someone is very rude." Qin Ran glared at her and continued, "During a medicated bath, as the medicine takes effect and repairs your body, it's easy to fall asleep. Falling asleep means it's easy to drown."

Li Shiyin thought about it carefully, and it did seem to make sense. But drowning while bathing was rather ridiculous. She held in her laugh and nodded.

"Second, if you feel uncomfortable anywhere, get out immediately, don't soak anymore. Go rinse off thoroughly with clean water in the shower. Then tell me carefully tomorrow and I'll adjust the prescription," Qin Ran exhorted.

"Okay."

"Third, pay attention not to catch a cold." Qin Ran said, "Soaking too long when the water gets cold can easily cause a cold. Pay attention yourself."

After explaining everything, he turned to leave, but still worried about his silly disciple, said before closing the door, "If anything really feels off, you can call me. I'll be in the study."

"Got it!" Li Shiyin replied loudly, feeling that the master nagged even more than her own mother.

Qin Ran left and went straight to the study.

Li Shiyin closed the door and windows. She sniffed next to the tub, there was a bit of an unpleasant smell, but she was not fussy and took off her clothes to get in.

Chapter 15

The soft light in the study was on. Qin Ran sat at the desk, taking out all the cultivation techniques he had bought during the day from his Universe Bag and neatly arranging them on the desk.

He picked up a pen and paper, prepared himself, then took a jade slip and placed it on his forehead. With the unsealing incantation, he opened it and carefully read the cultivation technique within.

These cultivation techniques were bought cheaply and of uneven quality. Or rather, there were useful techniques among them, but it took a discerning eye to find them.

As a poor cultivator, Qin Ran had to have such an eye. He had to sort through these techniques and find the useful ones - just like a trash collector.

Most of these techniques were garbage, too low in quality to be worth the effort.

After discarding the true trash, what was left most were incomplete techniques, or rather, potentially useful incomplete ones.

This incompleteness was not just missing the first or last parts. No, the pages were eaten by bugs, chewed up in tatters. Forget the text, even the sentences were unreadable.

Next were the fakes. Some idle cultivators would carve gibberish on jade slips and pass them off as top-tier techniques to sell to ignorant, low-level cultivators. And so on.

Then there were jade slips without incantations. These were like blind boxes - if you were skilled in arrays and managed to open them, you might find an ancient master's secret manual inside. Of course, more often after all that effort, you'd get a fake.

Finally, there were the weird techniques with extremely high cultivation requirements. Rarely anyone would need these, so they were hard to sell.

In short, he had to pick out treasures from the trash heap.

Ideally, he wanted to find very powerful techniques without follow-up parts. Qin Ran wanted such techniques to give Li Shiyin a solid foundation.

He was already skilled at this task. In small sects, you had to be familiar with finding good techniques.

He moved swiftly, first skimming through each technique, then sorting them into categories based on the above five types.

After organizing them, he evaluated each technique one by one.

Those too incomplete to salvage were decisively discarded.

Confirmed fakes were of course also discarded.

Jade slips without incantations were kept for later attempts to open them when he had time.

Techniques with cultivation requirements too high to be useful were discarded.

There was another type to discard - very good techniques but with completely unattainable follow-up parts. These had to be discarded as well.

After a whole night of writing and sorting, Qin Ran finally finished organizing all the techniques. The useful ones were kept, the useless discarded.

By now the moon hung over the western mountains, its soft light shining down on the forest treetops outside. Qin Ran stretched and a breeze blew in through the window, fluttering the papers on the desk.

Those papers were full of writing, categorizing:

Techniques without follow-ups:

1. Dayan Sword Canon, first two levels, able to reach Core Formation, but missing follow-up parts after Core Formation. Top priority. Contains Dayan Sword Technique, three moves.

2. Green Cloud Sword Art, first five levels, able to reach Infant Transformation, but only foundation techniques without skills or divine abilities. Secondary priority.

Techniques with requirements too high:

1. Underworld Spirit Immortal Art, complete edition, cultivatable to Unity Realm. Requires Underworld Spirit physique. Excellent skills and divine abilities, can try extracting parts later when have time.

2. Control Spirit Beast Magic Book, first half. Cultivation technique for beast masters to control beasts, but requires blood of intended spirit beast. Somewhat niche, keep as backup.

3. Divine Demon Nine Transformations, first seven transformations. Movement technique, requires several dozen top-tier pills like Divine Demon Pill, Bloodthirst Pill, Immortal Connecting Pill etc. Extremely painful to cultivate, but excellent effects, keep for now.

Techniques needing restoration:

1. Refine Spirit Eight Stages, soul technique. Extremely difficult to restore but still a soul technique, keep for now.

2. Spirit Gold Ten Thousand Refining Art, only first two levels and heavily damaged, but resonates very well with Metal spirit root. Try to restore as much as possible.

3. Gale Nine Transformations, moderately damaged, resonates with existing Gale Steps movement technique, can try restoring.

4. Geng Metal Flying Sword Art, Metal attribute skill.

And some other jade slips without incantations.

After stretching, Qin Ran pressed down the fluttering papers and put a book over them. Though this was proper immortal cultivation, his pre-rebirth habits still lingered, so he decided to rest for now and deal with things tomorrow.

He got up, closed the window, stretched again and walked out the door, directly passing through the exercise room and into the corridor outside. Glancing around, he noticed a shadow down the corridor leaning over the railing looking towards the study.

Following the line of sight back to the study, he saw the light was still on instead of automatically turning off when he left.

Looks like something's wrong with the sensing array in the study, he thought. As a diligent all-nighter cultivator, he loved working at night the most.

The study lights saw the most use and were prone to problems. He would have to find time to adjust the sensing array soon.

But first things first, he had to scold that silly disciple. "You're not asleep yet?!" It was almost dawn.

The shadow at the railing watching the study was of course his silly disciple Li Shiyin. During her medicinal bath earlier she had dozed off, only to be woken by the cold, and had hurriedly gotten out. Looking out the window then, it was already midnight.

Just as she was about to go to bed, she noticed the study light was still on.

Master must still be busy, she thought, and came out to lean on the railing watching the study, lost in thought.

So engrossed she didn't notice her master's approach until he spoke up, startling her.

"Master, what are you doing here?!" she cried in shock.

"What are you doing here?" Qin Ran discretely looked Li Shiyin up and down. His disciple was still wearing his clothes, hanging loosely on her body with a different allure, and temptation.

"I was here after my bath!" Flustered like she'd been caught red-handed, Li Shiyin hurriedly explained, "I came out for some fresh air!"

Qin Ran glanced at her. "Seems like today's training wasn't enough..." With that, he entered his room.

"No no, Master! It was enough! More than enough!" Li Shiyin quickly called out, but Qin Ran ignored her and closed his door, leaving her in the corridor.

She pouted resentfully. "Stinky Master!"

Speaking of stinky, she sniffed herself again and frowned at the medicinal smell. What kind of aroma was that for a girl?

...She didn't know what kind of image she presented earlier, motionless as a statue.

But her master had already gone in, so she was too lazy to care and returned to her own room.

Chapter 16

Qin Ran found a reclining chair in the storage room, which was his master's favorite before he passed away. His master liked to lie under the old locust tree for a whole day. After his master's ascension, he stayed at home all day, mostly lying on the sofa, rarely using this chair, so he discarded it in the storage room.

Today he deliberately took it out because it became useful again.

He took it to the riverside to wash it clean, then moved the chair to the lawn next to the pit Li Shiyin had dug. He then let the chair bask in the sun while he went back into the house, poured a glass of iced soda, and slowly walked back with the iced soda in hand.

He lay on the dried chair, looking at his silly apprentice busily working in the pit, feeling a strange sense of comfort...

Hmm, at this moment, he felt that he should be hung on a streetlamp.

Fortunately there were no streetlamps in this world, he took a deep breath of soda.

Li Shiyin in the pit had become dirty and black, her whole body covered in mud, and the exposed skin was also tanned by the sun.

Recalling when she first joined Dao Sword Sect and attended the Trial Assembly, she was still a clean little girl, and someone was even shocked by her beauty... At that time, she was indeed a beauty with skin like creamy jade.

But after worshipping Dan Peak for just a few days, she had been tortured into this state, and it was not necessary to point out who the culprit was.

At this time, Li Shiyin was dressed in casual clothes, short sleeves, and a skirt to her knees. It was really difficult for Qin Ran to dig out these shabby clothes in the immortal sect. Her long hair was tied in a single ponytail behind her head. Covered in mud and sweat, no one would think she was an immortal cultivator who had joined the immortal sect, only seeing her as a country farm girl.

The medicinal bath Qin Ran made could relieve physical fatigue and enhance physique, but it could not improve skin quality. It was unknown whether he did it on purpose, causing Li Shiyin to become like this.

Li Shiyin dug the mud earnestly. After digging for a while, a large pile of soil accumulated. She then stopped, took a dustpan from the side, shoveled the mud into the dustpan with a shovel. After filling a dustpan, she strenuously lifted it up to dump the soil out. It was at this moment that she saw Qin Ran lying on the reclining chair drinking soda above.

"Master!!!!" She instantly broke down and shouted, spilling the mud in her hands, dirtying her clothes even more, "What are you doing!?"

It seemed Qin Ran had just come back to his senses. He opened his eyes to look at Li Shiyin, but felt the sunlight was glaring, so he squinted.

He needed to get a pair of sunglasses, he thought.

"I'm supervising you!" He pretended to be nonchalant, taking a sip of soda, and said, "To prevent you from slacking off..."

"Ah?!" Li Shiyin couldn't stand it anymore. She bent down, grabbed a handful of mud, and threw it at Qin Ran.

Qin Ran was unhurried. With a movement of his consciousness, the soda in the cup flew out and spread into a thin film, wrapping all the flying mud in it. Then he squeezed it into a mud ball. With a point of his finger, the mud ball flew back and hit Li Shiyin's forehead.

"Disrespectful to your master. You should be punished!" He said, his tone extremely annoying, "Also, this cup of soda was wasted because of you, so you should be fined another cup of soda."

Li Shiyin winced in pain, rubbing her forehead with both hands. It must have turned red, she thought. She clenched her fists angrily, gritting her teeth and secretly vowing that one day she would get back at him.

When she learned how to make soda, she would not let him drink it! Hmph!!

She glared fiercely at Qin Ran, then snorted again, but was helpless and could only pick up the shovel and shovel the fallen mud back.

"Stinky master!" She shoveled a shovel of mud, cursing softly, treating Qin Ran like mud and sand, "Bad master!"

The silly apprentice's daring to be angry but not daring to speak look was really cute. Qin Ran chuckled to himself, but did not show any expression on his face.

"What are you saying?" He asked deliberately.

"Nothing!" Li Shiyin quickly shut her mouth, then cursed secretly in her heart.

After tidying up the spilled mud, she lifted it up again to dump it onto the lawn outside the pit.

Watching her stand at the bottom of the pit and dump mud upwards, Qin Ran started to direct: "This is a lake. You have to dig very deep and big. I suggest you make a staircase on the side, otherwise it will be difficult to dump the mud later."

"Got it!" Li Shiyin replied.

"As for the dug out mud," Qin Ran continued directing, "You have to find a way to dispose of it. Piling it here is definitely not going to work. First, it's unsightly, and second, it will affect later construction. I suggest you learn how to make bricks. Burn these soils, it will be useful later when building pavilions and constructing the lake heart pavilion..."

With so many demands, why don't you come do it yourself!

Li Shiyin threw away the dustpan, put her hands on her hips, and glared at Qin Ran. But soon, she lowered her head, and ultimately still endured it, after all, one had to lower one's head under the eaves.

"A good director is worth a thousand troops." As Li Shiyin continued digging, Qin Ran kept chattering, "Do you understand this principle? I'm directing here, and it will save you a lot of effort..."

"Master!" Li Shiyin raised her hand, "Wouldn't the efficiency be even higher if both of us directed?"

Qin Ran glared at her, "Adults are talking, children shouldn't interrupt!"

Finally, she still listened to Qin Ran's advice. While digging, Li Shiyin also dug steps at the edge of the pit for getting up and down.

After chattering for a while, Qin Ran also felt tired. He took out a jade slip from the Universe Bag and analyzed its array structure, trying to figure out how to crack it.

In fact, teasing Li Shiyin was a spur of the moment impulse. Cracking these jade slips without incantations was the real plan.

Under the scorching sun, the master lazily cracked jade slips on the lawn recliner while the apprentice diligently worked in the muddy pit below.

Suddenly at one point, Li Shiyin in the pit excitedly shouted, "Master! Master! Look what I dug up! Quick, look!"

"What is it?" Qin Ran asked uninterestedly, glancing into the pit. He saw Li Shiyin holding up a long black object triumphantly with both hands.

"A flying sword, it's a flying sword!" Li Shiyin jumped for joy, "I dug up a flying sword used by senior Dan Peak."

Qin Ran's spirit shook. Did this silly apprentice dig up a treasure? He looked closely, then lost interest. With a wave of his hand, he summoned a stream of water to rinse away the mud on the sword, revealing the blade inside.

"Master!" The water mixed with mud splashed Li Shiyin. Annoyed, she put the sword away, no longer wanting Qin Ran to see it. But when she looked at it again herself, she realized she was holding a rusty broken sword.

"You dug up a discarded useless sword and treated it like a treasure..." Qin Ran helplessly shook his head and sighed, "Can you have some backbone?!"

Li Shiyin ignored her wet hair. Looking at the shabby sword in her hand, her hopes were shattered. She pouted, on the verge of tears.

Qin Ran glanced at her without responding, then lay back down with the jade slip.

After thinking sadly for a while, Li Shiyin still threw the broken sword aside, though reluctantly.

"Pick it up. What if you get cut by it later unintentionally?" The villainous master spoke again seeing her throw away the sword.

She waved her fist, but still replied, "I'll put it away later!"

Chapter 17

It was another sunny day. In the morning, Qin Ran was refining pills while Li Shiyin was practicing swords. After lunch and a short rest, Li Shiyin continued to dig the lake.

This big project of building an artificial lake had been going on for five or six days. On the grassy bank of the river, Li Shiyin had dug a rather large pit, about ten meters wide and nearly two meters deep. As expected, this foolish apprentice didn't shirk at all.

After cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Qin Ran went out for a walk, and ended up at the edge of the mud pit to supervise. Compared to the first day of supervision, he now had a sunshade, a small table, and sunglasses, all prepared by him over the past few days.

Sitting under the sunshade with his sunglasses on, he lay in a deck chair, sipping iced soda through a long straw on the small table, his resentment meter filling up. The despicable behavior of the master had been going on for several days. Li Shiyin was gradually getting used to it - she worked with her back facing him, pretending he didn't exist when she couldn't see him.

It was in this situation that two figures appeared in the distant sky, zigzagging crookedly towards Dan Peak. They weren't moving fast, looking like two drifting clouds from afar, taking quite a while to get closer and swooping over the treetops before landing on the grass.

Qin Ran was focused on deciphering the jade tablet and didn't notice their arrival. It was Li Shiyin who spotted the two first.

She stood up straight in the mud pit, craning her neck to look at the two people not far away. One was handsome and gallant, the other graceful and beautiful, their clothes billowing elegantly like a fairy couple.

Li Shiyin didn't recognize the man, but the woman looked vaguely familiar. At the questioning convention, this woman's performance was comparable to hers. If she remembered correctly, her name was Tian Wenjin.

And if her eyes weren't deceiving her, Tian Wenjin had just flown over on her sword.

Tian Wenjin and Huang Feiyu landed on the grass and walked over, stopping a few meters in front of Qin Ran and bowing, "Greetings, Uncle Qin!"

"Mm," By now Qin Ran had of course noticed them already. He sat up from the deck chair, took off his sunglasses, and waved his hand to indicate they needn't be so courteous.

"Did you gather all the medicinal ingredients?" He looked towards Huang Feiyu.

"This junior went to great efforts and finally gathered all the ingredients." Huang Feiyu took out a temporary storage pouch from his waistband, stepped forward and handed it to Qin Ran.

A so-called temporary storage pouch was made with cloth that couldn't withstand the spatial distortions of the storage formation, collapsing after one or two uses, thus 'temporary'. These pouches were inexpensive and commonly seen in the cultivation world.

Qin Ran accepted the pouch, probing inside with his consciousness to examine the medicinal ingredients. He found the quality and quantities were quite sufficient - Huang Feiyu was indeed capable.

"The Ice Condensation Pill is relatively simple to refine, it won't take too long. But I'm quite busy these couple of days, come collect it the day after tomorrow." Qin Ran said, looking up at Huang Feiyu.

"Yes, Uncle." Huang Feiyu nodded, then smiled, "Please be attentive, Uncle. My martial brother and I have an agreement to go hunt the Furious Flame Lion, we're only waiting for me to cultivate this Frost Sword technique."

"Furious Flame Lion?" Qin Ran was a little surprised. The Furious Flame Lion was a level four Greater Beast, comparable to a late Golden Core cultivator. Huang Feiyu was actually going to hunt such a beast? It seemed this disciple's cultivation was higher than he imagined. He nodded, "Mm, I see."

Huang Feiyu took out another pouch to give Qin Ran, saying "This is 100 spirit stones, the fee for Uncle's pill refining."

An inferior quality Ice Condensation Pill cost 500 spirit stones to buy. With Qin Ran's help getting a lower price, the gratitude gift was usually 300 spirit stones. Why was he only giving 100 spirit stones now to specially request Qin Ran to refine pills?

This demonstrated Huang Feiyu's intelligence. Ostensibly only 100 spirit stones, but in truth it was over ten times more.

Firstly, all medicinal ingredients were prepared by himself, Qin Ran only needed to refine them. Secondly, the quantities he provided were very sufficient, enough for three batches, while he only needed one batch. Thirdly, this was just the fee, not the gratitude gift...

As an elder, Qin Ran couldn't accept too much payment from a junior. Huang Feiyu intentionally dispersed the compensation, hoping Qin Ran would take more money.

He deliberately curried favor this way. With such high emotional intelligence and skill in handling matters, in Qin Ran's two lifetimes of experience, he hadn't seen many people like this. But in the cultivation world, it was precisely such talents that went far.

Qin Ran silently approved of Huang Feiyu and raised his hand to accept the spirit stones, saying "I'll do my best to increase the quality."

"Many thanks, Uncle." Huang Feiyu bowed again.

While the two of them were conspiring, Tian Wenjin beside them was looking at Li Shiyin down in the mud pit.

The two peaks of Sword Sect, peerless beauties in Qin Ran's heart, now one was on the grass with the blue sky and white clouds behind her, dressed splendidly with fairy-like bearings and looks - the true peerless beauty; the other was below the mud pit, feet in the muck and rubble, dressed simply in coarse clothes, hair a mess, face smeared - a true village woman.

Tian Wenjin looked down on Li Shiyin from her lofty position. She thought to herself, life was just like this. Once you chose the wrong path, you were finished for eternity. She had already built her foundation and taken the first steps on the path of cultivation, while this person she once viewed as a rival...

How pitiful! She must have made some foolish mistake to receive such punishment.

Li Shiyin looked up at Tian Wenjin from the bottom of the pit. Life was just like this - no comparisons, no harm. If she didn't know Tian Wenjin had already built her foundation, could already fly everywhere wielding techniques, her heart wouldn't feel so unbalanced. She would still be happily digging her lake, deceiving herself it was a special cultivation method.

But the reality was her rival was standing there looking down on her.

A thought flashed through her mind in that moment - her master really was just a trivial Foundation Establishment cultivator, with lowly cultivation and mediocre aptitude, unqualified to be her master. For the sake of her future, perhaps she should go to Sword Sect.

The two girls looked at each other without speaking, but the disparity in their bearings was clear to see.

Having finished his business, Huang Feiyu saw Li Shiyin at the bottom of the pit and said, "You must be Junior Sister Li Shiyin, I've heard of you. You really are exceptionally outstanding."

He introduced himself, "I am Huang Feiyu, a Sword Sect disciple."

Li Shiyin glanced at him but didn't speak.

Huang Feiyu took a look at the mud pit Li Shiyin was in, immediately understanding what Qin Ran was doing. He praised, "Junior Sister has a solid foundation, your future cultivation level will be very stable."

Of the three people present, Tian Wenjin thought he was just being politely chatty, Li Shiyin thought he was ridiculing her, only Qin Ran understood his meaning, but didn't respond.

Qin Ran glanced at Li Shiyin's wooden expression and aloof aura down in the pit, not bothering with her. Instead he turned to Tian Wenjin and asked, "Are the clothes done?"

"Two sets." Tian Wenjin returned to herself, bowed, and took out a package from her pouch to give Qin Ran.

"Mm." Qin Ran placed the package on the table and nodded.

The atmosphere suddenly turned a little cold. Still, Huang Feiyu hastily bid farewell, "Uncle, if there's nothing else, this junior will take his leave."

"I won't keep you. Come collect the Ice Condensation Pill in two days." Qin Ran said.

Huang Feiyu bowed with Tian Wenjin before retreating. At the edge of the forest they finally took to the air, flying towards Sword Sect.

Watching them leave, Li Shiyin clambered out of the pit and came to Qin Ran's side, glaring at him.

Chapter 18

"What do you want to say?" Qin Ran glanced at Li Shiyin, took a sip from the iced soda on the table, and calmly asked.

"Tian Wenjin has established a foundation," Li Shiyin said.

"So what?"

"What am I doing?" Li Shiyin asked.

"You want to refine pills," Qin Ran gave her the answer. "You joined Dan Peak to learn pill refining, but you have no talent for it. Others know from the beginning that they want to practice swordsmanship."

Li Shiyin fell silent for a moment and then asked, "What I'm doing now, is it for the purpose of refining pills?"

In fact, she knew that refining pills didn't require daily sword practice, body strengthening by digging lakes, or bathing in medicinal baths to enhance physical strength.

"No," Qin Ran truthfully answered her.

The things she was asked to do were not for her to be able to refine pills, but to learn swordsmanship.

"I came to Dan Peak to learn pill refining," Li Shiyin said, "If I want to learn swordsmanship, I should go to Sword Peak."

A foolish disciple will always be a foolish disciple. With her words, Qin Ran could easily send her to Sword Peak without taking any responsibility, and then he could return to his carefree cultivation life.

However... Qin Ran remained silent and didn't speak. He was struggling, examining his own heart. He had finished drinking the water in his cup and was still sucking on the straw.

The air froze for a while, and suddenly he understood. His struggle was futile. A forced melon would never be sweet. How others should walk their path, it was still up to the person themselves to choose.

He took out four books from his Universe Bag and placed them one by one on the table in front of Li Shiyin.

"These are four fundamental cultivation techniques. The first book is a gold attribute pill refining technique..." He tried to keep his tone flat, without any fluctuation. "The second book is called 'Dayan Sword Art,' a very good sword technique, but it's only the first two levels. The third book is called 'Geng Metal Flying Sword Art,' specializing in flying swords. The fourth book is called 'Heavenly Sword.'"

"One pill refining technique and three sword cultivation techniques. You can choose one to keep, or..."

He looked at the mud pit Li Shiyin had dug in front of her and said, "I'll send you to Sword Peak."

Li Shiyin lowered her eyes, reached out and flipped through the pages of the book. The handwriting on the pages was fresh, as if it had just been written...

No, not as if. She suddenly remembered that her master would stay up late every night. Perhaps he had really just written it.

"The gold attribute pill refining technique..." The first technique had no name, and she asked aloud, "What is this book called?"

"It hasn't been named yet."

Her hand flipping through the pages paused, and she looked up at Qin Ran. But Qin Ran was looking at the mud pit, pretending not to know.

"Did Master create a new technique for me?" She looked at Qin Ran, her pupils trembling slightly.

After a while, she closed the pages and said, "I won't go to Sword Peak."

Qin Ran turned around to look at her.

"I am willing to follow Master's arrangements." Qin Ran didn't speak, so she continued, "As for the technique, I still need to consider if I want to refine pills or practice swordsmanship..."

Qin Ran reached out and pressed on the clothes wrapped on the table, looking at Li Shiyin, pondering. After a while, he suddenly asked, "Do you remember what I told you before, the purpose of cultivation?"

"Master said that some people cultivate for immortality, while others cultivate for power."

"Yes." Qin Ran felt a slight sense of satisfaction. Despite being a foolish disciple, he was glad that his words had been taken to heart. He asked again, "Do you know the essence of cultivation?"

"Master hasn't mentioned it."

Indeed, his disciple was still naive. Qin Ran thought for a moment and explained, "The essence of cultivation is to absorb the spiritual energy floating in the heavens and earth for oneself. Spiritual energy is a kind of ephemeral energy. Cultivators use cultivation techniques to seize this energy from the heavens and earth, thus becoming stronger."

Li Shiyin listened quietly.

"If I were to tell you that cultivation is the reversal of entropy, where energy is forced to flow from lower to higher states, but the larger the energy of an object, the more unstable it becomes, you probably wouldn't understand," Qin Ran continued. "However, if I were to tell you that one's state of mind must come before their cultivation realm, you might grasp it."

"Cultivation can transform an ordinary person into someone with boundless power. In other words, an ordinary person can suddenly possess immense strength. What would happen then?"

Li Shiyin began to understand why Tian Wenjin had achieved Foundation Establishment while she hadn't.

"There's a saying in my hometown: 'If one possesses a lethal weapon, murderous intent will arise.' Therefore, in the process of cultivating immortality, cultivating the mind is even more important than cultivating the self. If one's state of mind fails to keep up with their cultivation, excessively great power can easily lead them astray."

Where is my master from? How can his hometown have so many profound words? Li Shiyin wondered.

"From this perspective, the better one's talent, the faster their cultivation progresses, and the easier it is for them to go astray," Qin Ran said, looking at Li Shiyin. "Similarly, using elixirs to enhance cultivation also increases the risk of going astray."

"After saying so much..." Qin Ran concluded, "I just want to tell you that cultivation requires patience."

Li Shiyin understood.

She nodded and asked, "Then how did Tian Wenjin achieve Foundation Establishment so quickly? Didn't her master explain this to her?"

"Their cultivation philosophies differ. Sword cultivators have always believed in forging ahead fearlessly and being confident in mastering power," Qin Ran explained. "Moreover, she consumed elixirs."

At this point, he sighed, "I warned her before not to take elixirs, but she still did."

"Once people can obtain benefits through simpler means, they are no longer willing to pursue harder paths. This is another danger of elixirs, and it is even more detrimental than the previous one. It can be considered poisoning."

Li Shiyin had long since adopted a foolish expression and obediently nodded.

With that, Qin Ran took out two porcelain bottles from his Universe Bag and placed them on the table. He looked at the pills and said, "These two bottles contain Foundation Establishing Pills and Spirit Gathering Pills, both of excellent quality. The Foundation Establishing Pill greatly enhances the success rate of Foundation Establishment, while the Spirit Gathering Pill rapidly increases cultivation. If you want to establish your foundation earlier, you can take the pills now. However..."

He raised his head and looked into Li Shiyin's eyes, fixing his gaze on her. "If you decide to take them, then take these two bottles of pills with you when you leave the mountain."

Li Shiyin lowered her head, thinking to herself, "Master seems to be quite wealthy, being able to create his own cultivation technique. He's talented and wealthy, such a master..."

She bit her lip.

Seeing her expression, Qin Ran took a deep breath and didn't retrieve the two bottles of top-grade pills, leaving them there. Then he suddenly scolded, "What are you waiting for? Why aren't you continuing to dig the lake? Do you intend to take forever?"

"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded, turned around, and jumped out of the mud pit, making a loud thud.

While Qin Ran and Li Shiyin confronted each other, Huang Feiyu glanced at the contemplative Tian Wenjin and roughly guessed what she was thinking. He asked, "What do you think of Li Shiyin?"

"It's a pity," Tian Wenjin replied.

"Why do you say that?" Huang Feiyu knew Tian Wenjin's thoughts but still asked.

"She's too foolish, wasting her talent," Tian Wenjin shook her head and said, "With her exceptional Golden Spirit Root, she insists on learning alchemy. It not only attracts unwanted attention but also hinders her own progress. She could have been a formidable opponent, but she gave up on herself too early."

"Is that what you think?" Huang Feiyu inquired further.

"That's what I think," Tian Wenjin confirmed.

"But I don't agree," Huang Feiyu said.

Tian Wenjin looked at him, wanting to know his thoughts.

"I believe she will definitely be your strongest opponent," Huang Feiyu said.

"On the path of cultivation, it's a competition of foundations. One step ahead means being ahead at every step. I have already laid the foundation, while she's still far from establishing hers," Tian Wenjin replied. "I don't believe it."

"The foundation is the most important in cultivation," Huang Feiyu said, "How about we make a bet..."

"Top-tier spiritual roots are more important than any foundation!" Tian Wenjin was quite confident, although she clearly didn't understand what Huang Feiyu meant by foundation. She asked, "Tell me, what's the bet?"

"At the Enlightenment Grand Meeting three years from now, Li Shiyin's ranking will definitely be higher than yours," Huang Feiyu said.

"And what's the wager?"

"If you win, I will give you the Qingming Sword," Huang Feiyu said. The Qingming Sword was a treasure he had obtained after countless efforts. The disciples of Sword Peak all knew that it was the lifebound sword of a nascent soul stage cultivator, a top-grade spiritual weapon.

"And if I lose?"

"From then on, you can no longer consume pills that aid in cultivation progress!" Huang Feiyu declared.

Tian Wenjin looked at Huang Feiyu, and the two locked eyes in mid-air. Then she nodded firmly, "Deal!"

Chapter 19

It had been sunny for a long time. On this night, the weather suddenly changed. Dark clouds gathered in large patches and finally it was going to rain.

Li Shiyin was soaking in the bathtub. Outside was the rumbling of thunder, but she was soaking in a warm and comfortable herbal bath, feeling utterly relaxed. She leaned back comfortably with her toes spread out, listening to the thunder as if it were a wonderful piece of music, and hummed along softly.

The herbal soup no longer had a pungent medicinal smell. When making it, Master had added some fragrant herbs, and now the bath gave off a pleasant aroma. After soaking in it, her body would also become fragrant.

The bathtub had been modified by Master to have a hollow to rest her head and a soft cushion to support her back and waist, allowing her to sleep while bathing without worrying about slipping into the water and drowning.

The room was also fitted with a warming spell formation, so the water wouldn't cool over time. Soaking in this herbal bath was like soaking in a hot spring.

In short, bathing in this herbal soup was pure enjoyment for her.

The heat carried the effects of the medicine into her body, massaging her muscles and soothing the soreness from digging the lake during the day. At the same time, the medicinal essence was absorbed by her muscles, strengthening her body.

For a bucket of herbal soup like this, Li Shiyin would sometimes contemplate how much it cost, but she couldn't even remember or understand how many types of medicine Master Qin Ran used, let alone know the value of the prescription. But she could be certain of one thing - this herbal bath was expensive.

She could only say, her Master really doted on his dumb disciple.

The thunder outside gradually diminished, and rain began to fall. The rain came from very far away. At first it was just a few drops - drip, drip, drip. After a moment, it became a pouring rain.

The sound of rain came in through the window. Soaking in the steaming hot herbal bath, Li Shiyin soon fell into a doze.

But just as she began to fall asleep...

Boom! A huge thunderclap suddenly woke her up.

She opened her eyes and looked outside, just in time to see a bolt of lightning split the sky, followed by a loud crack. The intense flash of light pierced the closed window, leaving her momentarily blinded, as if the lightning was right before her eyes.

"Phew..." She let out a breath, patting her chest to calm herself from the shock.

"Roar!"

Suddenly another roar rang out, this time the roar of a tiger.

The roar that penetrated the soul frightened her all over again. It took her some time to recover her composure.

Heavy rain, late night, thunder, tiger's roar...

Li Shiyin frowned. It seemed something was happening outside.

Thinking this, she got out of the tub, dried herself off, wrapped up in a robe and went out to the porch.

The night was very dark, and the rain was heavy. The darkness oppressed the light, which barely illuminated the wooden house's porch. But farther out, nothing could be seen.

Against this backdrop, Li Shiyin looked up into the distance, peering below the cloud layer. Lightning split the darkness, illuminating two enormous shadows facing off against each other.

One shadow was in the shape of an ox, with a single horn on its head containing divine thunder. Its four hooves stood upon the lightning. The other was a tiger-shaped shadow, standing amidst the darkness, head raised and roaring - one could imagine the tiger's roar from before came from it.

"This is..." Li Shiyin's eyes widened, "A battle between Demon Kings?!"

"That ox is called the Thunder Unicorn Ox, and that tiger should be the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger," Master Qin Ran's gentle voice suddenly sounded from the side. Li Shiyin looked over to see Master leaning against the door frame of his room, arms crossed, also watching that direction. "The heavy rain tonight was brought by the two of them."

Master really does know everything! Li Shiyin thought to herself in admiration. She then asked, "Why are they fighting?"

"Tiger and ox, why do you think they would fight?" Qin Ran glanced at his disciple, seeing her wearing just a thin robe barely concealing her body, and quickly looked away toward the distant battle. "Predator and prey... For them to fight all the way to the front door of a human sect, it really is rare. Both are demonic beasts above the Yuan Ying stage, they should know to avoid human power."

"Is the tiger trying to eat the ox?" Li Shiyin's focus was different however. Pointing at the relative positions of the two demon kings, she said, "But why does it seem the tiger can't beat the ox? Is it on the defensive?"

"Who said the tiger can definitely beat the ox? The relationship between hunter and hunted is never absolute," Qin Ran said. "Also, the Thunder Unicorn Ox feeds on lightning and thunder, it can control lightning and summon lightning. See how its four hooves stand on lightning? And its horn can also shoot divine thunder. In what way is it weaker than the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger?"

"Oh!" Li Shiyin nodded.

As they were speaking, the battle between the Thunder Unicorn Ox and the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger began again beneath the clouds. Roars and bellows continuously sounded as the vague shape of the huge tiger writhed amongst the chaotic flashes of lightning...

This scene was truly frightening. Li Shiyin subconsciously raised her hand to shield herself, but still felt it was useless. So she edged closer to Qin Ran and couldn't help asking, "They won't fight their way here, will they Master?!"

"No!" Seeing Li Shiyin move closer, along with her feminine fragrance, Qin Ran's entire body tensed up uncomfortably. He kept his eyes fixed on the distant battle and shook his head reassuringly, "It looks close, but actually they are very far away. Besides, the Elder Taishangs of Dao Sword Sect must be watching them, as well as the mountain protecting grand formation..."

"Damn it!" However, before he could even finish speaking, a piercing flash of lightning suddenly lit up over there as the Thunder Unicorn Ox unleashed its divine thunder through its horn.

Then the shadow of the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger suddenly vanished, immediately followed by the roar of the tiger and agonized cry of the ox sounding out together.

At the same time, a thin bolt of lightning shot out from that direction toward them.

From the Thunder Unicorn Ox attacking, to the Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger disappearing, to the ox's miserable scream, to the bolt of lightning shooting their way, it all happened in a flash, almost simultaneously.

Before Qin Ran could even finish his sentence, the divine thunder was right before their eyes. He couldn't help but curse, "Fuck!"

At the same time his hands formed seals, summoning out a water shield technique. A membrane of water spread out, protecting himself and his foolish disciple beside him.

The water membrane had just finished forming when, with a crack, the lightning bolt struck it. The water shield then shattered into a mist, dispersing the lightning.

This water shield technique was truly miraculous.

Qin Ran cultivated the alchemy path, determined to pursue immortality to the end. His mastery of concealment arts and shielding arts was extremely high, possibly even better than his alchemy skills.

An ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator really might not have blocked that bit of divine lightning...

Alright, Qin Ran actually hadn't completely blocked it either, and some of the lightning still leaked through and struck him.

This sudden shock left him dazed for quite a while.

"Master? Master!" Li Shiyin called out worriedly. She reached out to support Qin Ran, but was immediately zapped by the residual divine lightning on him, forcing her to pull back her hand. She didn't dare try to touch him again, only standing by anxiously shouting.

Qin Ran slowly regained his senses, still frightened. "I... I'm fine..." he said breathlessly.

He then reached into his robe and pulled out a charred talisman.

His lifesaving ace, used up. One less left.

"What a disaster out of nowhere!" He couldn't help but curse. "Just my luck!"

"Mas... Master!" At this moment, Li Shiyin next to him suddenly spoke up. "It also seems... not completely out of nowhere..."

Qin Ran glanced over, wondering what nonsense his foolish disciple was spewing now. He followed her pointing finger, looking over to a spot on the ground below. There, something was glowing faintly.

Taking a closer look, he saw it was a small cat-sized... tiger cub!

"A Profound Underworld Spirit Tiger... cub?!"