After her breakthrough, her body still brimmed with medicinal energy and wood spiritual power. She seized the opportunity to refine this energy. Her master's medicinal meal was extraordinary—it had strengthened her meridians to the peak toughness of the Qi Refining stage and continued to nourish and enhance them.
Alongside this, her body's defensive ability also improved, climbing even after she reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.
"It'll probably take three days to fully refine this medicinal power."
"Then I might as well go all out in one go."
She casually formed a hand seal, and the boiling dark green tea nearby floated to her. Without hesitation, she drank the entire cup.
Most of her bodily impurities had already been cleansed in the Moon Cleansing Pool, but there were still some congenital remnants. This tea would help gradually expel hidden impurities and clear stray thoughts from her spiritual sea. Slowly, a faint yellow residue emerged on her skin—impurities from her bone marrow. She cast a cleansing spell, and the residue vanished.
An hour later, she used the remaining wood spiritual energy from the Emerald Lamp Fruit to completely stabilize her cultivation, even gaining five extra strands of spiritual energy in her dantian beyond what she had at the eighth Qi Refining layer.
After reaching the late Qi Refining stage, each layer required over ten more strands of energy than in the mid-stage—about forty strands per level. At her current full-cultivation pace, she could generate one strand per day at best.
That's because each advancement required her to fill her dantian before adding another strand. Every realm added to the previous one's requirements. She needed to replenish what was consumed before advancing, which slowed her down. However, under the effects of medicinal pills, her recovery and cultivation speed were significantly boosted.
"To reach the ninth layer, I'll need two fully mature Emerald Lamp Fruits. One fruit provides thirty strands."
"I only have one left. I can replace the other with a spiritual pill."
This journey through the minor realm made her realize how vital cultivation was. Without the realm's suppression of power, she would've faced countless deadly situations.
That peak-stage Qi Refining serpent demon wouldn't have been so easily slain. Not to mention the corrupted cultivators. In short, she only escaped unscathed thanks to the realm's restrictions.
Now, nothing brought her more peace than improving her strength. Her master, Shui Huanmeng, was in a hurry to reach Nascent Soul for a reason—likely due to the sudden demon cultivator incident near their sect's territory. Without greater power, they couldn't protect the sect or its young disciples.
She then released Xiao Yin from the beast-control bracelet her master had given her.
"Is it more comfortable in there now?"
"There's no restriction at all! I can fly freely and shift size however I want!" the sparrow chirped excitedly.
"We're cultivating in Master's courtyard now. Go play with Firefeather Crane, but don't wander too far!"
"Got it, Master!"
Chen Jinshu activated the formation and let the sparrow fly off. Only then did she retrieve the Qingluan Resonance Pendant from her storage bag. She'd felt a resonance in the jade pendant the moment the sparrow came out—it clearly reacted to the bloodline within Xiao Yin.
She couldn't risk the pendant's residual soul trying to possess the sparrow, hence why she waited to take it out. Beast souls couldn't possess cultivators, but they could seriously damage the spiritual sea—and would also vanish in the process.
"What exactly do you want?" Chen Jinshu asked the pendant softly.
No response came.
She took out a Pure-Heart Lotus, refined one petal into white spiritual energy, and injected it into the pendant. The once-ordinary green pendant suddenly flared with brilliant emerald light. The residual soul inside seemed to absorb the energy that repaired its fragmentation.
"If you've recovered a little, come out."
Chen Jinshu softened her tone only because this soul had once helped her and the sparrow in the Valley of Celestial Sound.
In an instant, a tiny Qingluan (azure luan bird) spirit emerged before her—only palm-sized, its form faint and fragile.
"I was too damaged to speak earlier. Thank you, friend, for finding a rare soul-repairing medicine. But the power isn't enough—I can only maintain form for fifteen minutes," said the soul in a steady female voice.
"You're a Qingluan? How have you preserved even a fragment of your soul after ten thousand years? Trying to possess someone?" Chen Jinshu asked suspiciously.
"You jest, friend! I'm just a soul fragment, unable to perform such feats. I survived only due to the rebirth power of the phoenix bloodline within me. Even so, I won't last more than a hundred years before vanishing…"
"A hundred years!"
"For a cultivator, that's the blink of an eye."
"Is there any way to save you?"
"Yes. Once repaired enough, I can exist as a spirit within an item."
"A spirit tool?" Chen Jinshu asked hesitantly.
"Precisely."
"Then why didn't you become this pendant's spirit before? Did something stop you?"
"I hadn't found an heir. Once I become a spirit, I'll be bound—how then could I ever restore the glory of the Qingluan clan?" The spirit's form dimmed further after speaking.
Chen Jinshu immediately refined another petal of the Pure-Heart Lotus and injected it into the soul. After a few dozen seconds, it looked slightly better.
"Then have you found an heir now? Xiao Yin has inherited your legacy?"
"Yes. But its bloodline is still weak, so only a fraction of the inheritance has awakened."
"Then it's time you become the pendant's spirit."
"But I'm still not—"
Before the spirit finished, Chen Jinshu refined all the remaining petals and injected them in.
"Quickly refine the energy and stabilize your soul. While it's not enough to fully restore you, it will buy us time. I'll find the rest of the medicine."
"Thank you, friend!"
The Qingluan soul thanked her and returned to the pendant. Chen Jinshu had her reasons for helping the soul. No one aids a stranger for nothing. First, she needed guidance for the sparrow's future—how to evolve its bloodline and achieve Qingluan form.
Second, the Qingluan Resonance Pendant had already acknowledged her as its master, marked with her spiritual imprint and presence. Others couldn't use it.
If such a powerful spiritual artifact gained a soul, it would greatly enhance her ability to summon birds in battle. The spirit could do that, while she focused on facing stronger foes.
This would become a formidable trump card.
"I wonder how many spirit birds the pendant can summon now?"
This pendant must've once been a Qingluan clan treasure. But after so many millennia, its grade had dropped significantly—it wasn't even a fourth-grade artifact yet, just barely above the protective jade her master gave her.