Cultivation Starts with Rejuvenation

Chapter 67: Chapter 33: The Ten-Year Promise

”Ribbit~ribbit~” The frog poked its head out to confirm Li Ji’an, then immediately leaped out of the pond. In a few jumps, it landed at Li Ji’an’s feet, rubbing its frog head against Li Ji’an’s leg.

After the incident in the medicinal field two years ago, an elder from the Hui Race at the front line blamed this frog and offered Li Ji’an fifty spirit stones, intending to buy it to vent his anger by skinning it alive.

The offer of fifty spirit stones was already quite overpriced.

After all, this frog was merely a Tier One early spiritual beast with thin bloodlines, possessing almost no potential, and only having the talent of ”Heaven-Swallowing.”

This talent was only useful in specific scenarios, such as swallowing things that are difficult to remove but need careful placement like the medicinal field connected to earth veins. Its capacity is similar to Middle Grade storage pouches, except it can temporarily hold living creatures.

Moreover, spiritual beasts require spiritual food and beast pills for feeding and consume the Divine Soul for control and taming.

For lower-level cultivators, it doesn’t even have the cost-effectiveness of a storage pouch.

Even for lower-level cultivators with an interest in beast taming, it’s not as valuable as a spiritual steed, which can at least pull a cart to trade between mundane gathering areas and the market.

Of course, spiritual beasts with this kind of bloodline touch upon the lower Spatial Law, and it’s said that high-tier cultivators favor them, but those are at least Upper Grade bloodlines with potential to advance to high-tier spiritual beasts.

This frog, in all likelihood, was nurtured by the beast taming clan as a niche defective product.

Rare but not expensive.

Back then, this frog almost peed itself in fright from the elder, and Li Ji’an happened to have an interest in researching the path of beast taming, so he gently saved it.

Furthermore, through subsequent studies, he learned that the frog had just been bought by the beast tamer, intended for the Yan Family’s medicinal field without proper cultivation, only using the beast soul stone to control it, equating to a miserable experience.

That’s why it tries its utmost to curry favor with Li Ji’an.

”Go on, I don’t have time to study you today,” Li Ji’an waved his hand, dismissing its attentiveness.

Hastily, he returned to his room, calmly concentrating, observing his dantian.

”Finally transformed completely!”

When he saw that the inner wall of his dantian had entirely changed from flesh-colored to white, he exhaled a long breath.

This signified the completion of his dantian’s transformation from the early to middle stage of Qi Cultivation, reaching the pinnacle of the Qi Cultivation 3rd Layer, ready to challenge the 4th Layer of Qi Cultivation.

”Five whole years!” He spent a full five years on the single step of transforming his dantian.

This is the fundamental disadvantage of having only two strands of spirit charm sensing.

”The Qi Refining Stage is the process of absorbing spiritual qi, refining it into personal magical power, and storing it in the dantian, and the dantian space is limited, requiring qualitative changes after reaching a certain quantity. Foundation Establishment Stage is the conversion from gaseous magical power to liquid magical power, and this conversion isn’t accomplished overnight but gradually starts from the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.”

”In the early stage of Qi Cultivation, magical power is thin, in the middle stage, magical power needs to be more solidified!”

”Middle stage of Qi Cultivation...” After observing his dantian’s transformation, Li Ji’an once again pondered the essence of the middle stage of Qi Cultivation and even the entire Qi Refining Stage.

Now that he’s achieved Third-Layer Perfection of Qi Cultivation, wanting to cross the threshold of the middle stage of Qi Cultivation, a transformed dantian is the foundation. Next comes understanding the pivotal point of magical power condensation, followed by compressing magical power through increased refining quantities to achieve solidity.

In terms of understanding, he’s not worried; he only worries whether the two strands of spirit charm sensing can provide a sufficient amount of condensed magical power!

Actually, at this point, not only him, but most members of the Yan Family and even all Lower Grade spirit root cultivators in the cultivation realm, face this worry. Of course, they have an additional concern about understanding.

Ninety percent of Lower Grade spirit root cultivators at the early stage of Qi Cultivation ultimately turn to the Flying Cloud Pill to assist in magical power condensing and compression.

The remaining ten percent who haven’t used the Flying Cloud Pill for rank advancement mostly achieve it through life-and-death combat, comprehending through magical combat, condensing through magical combat.

A small portion solidifies through grinding efforts over time.

Naturally, those with deep fortune break through with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects.

As for Li Ji’an, placing life-and-death magical combat as the first option is excluded.

Hoping for deep fortune and random opportunities is more of a gambler’s mentality, unacceptable.

The leftover options are only the Flying Cloud Pill and grinding efforts.

Two years ago, Patriarch Yan praised him publicly after returning to the Hui Race and rewarded him generously.

After asking for his opinions, he promised him a Flying Cloud Pill and a Nourishing Source Pill.

The word ’promise’ was used due to the serious scarcity of resources within the clan, where non-frontline combat personnel aren’t granted Breaking Rank Pills unless Li Ji’an could go to the frontline.

At that time, Li Ji’an realized that Yan Zongsheng wanted him on the frontline. Given his externally displayed Tier One early body cultivation strength, coupled with Yan Hongsheng’s affirmation of his power, heading to the frontline battlefield to contend with the Wei Family’s mid-level strength of Qi Cultivation would be a match.

Because of the medicinal field incident, front-line conflicts intensified during that period, with daily casualties, both sides blinded by rage; the Yan Family was truly lacking mid-level strength of Qi Cultivation.

Li Ji’an didn’t even consider it and refused, so Yan Zongsheng had to turn the reward into a promise, promising that if the clan’s pill masters refined the Flying Cloud Pill and Nourishing Source Pill, they would award Li Ji’an.

In response, Li Ji’an accepted, but... unsure of when that would be.

Now, the clan’s pill master naturally refers to Yan Qingwan.

As for her alchemy skill... it barely qualifies as Tier One Middle-Level Pill Master, capable of refining some Qi Cultivation middle stage needed pill medicines. Even after two years of tireless exchange and honing with Li Ji’an, both the success rate and quality of refined pills substantially improved, now able to generate profit.

But, things like Breaking Rank Pill or even Nourishing Source Pill, are a distant prospect.

At the very least, her spiritual sense needs to reach the late stage of Qi Cultivation.

However, it’s still hope.

Moreover, since the medicinal field incident two years ago, after a few rounds of fierce magical combat between the Wei and Yan clans, the situation inexplicably calmed down. Until half a year ago, they suddenly announced cooperation, jointly developing that medicinal field, stabilizing the situation completely.

He now lives comfortably within the Yan Clan, not in any hurry.

It’s worth mentioning, according to Yan Hongsheng, the reason why the two clans suddenly cooperated was due to the revelation of Wei Huai Ren’s affair.

Wei Huai Ren came from a side branch of the Wei Family, with great talent, possessing a Middle Grade Metal Spirit Root and a smooth cultivation journey. The Wei Family even intended to cultivate him into the next generation Foundation Establishment Ancestor.

However, for unknown reasons, during his attempt to break through to Foundation Establishment from Qi Cultivation Stage Perfection, the clan didn’t manage to plan for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

Harboring resentment, he somehow met a mysterious high master unknown in roots, ultimately bewitched, attempting to take control of the Wei Family. When the medicinal field appeared, he seized the opportunity.

During the events of two years ago, the ancestors of both houses mutually suffered injuries, not due to their confrontation, but because of the machinations of the person behind him, exacerbating the tensions between the two clans to an extreme.

Later on, because of the medicinal field incident, he endeavored to push the two clans towards a life-and-death battle.

After that, the ancestors of both houses secretly met due to the threat to their clans’ survival and uncovered the situation.

Unfortunately, though, Wei Huai Ren was heavily injured and managed to escape, while the person behind him seemingly had encounters with the two ancestors of Foundation Establishment, but what ultimately transpired, both ancestors remain silent.

”Brother Li, we should be heading out!” At this moment, Zhang Tiezhu’s voice echoed from outside.

The ten-year promise has come, and they are to return to the starting point of this realm.

As for the five from back then, how many will honor the meeting, Li Ji’an isn’t sure, nor does he have any expectations.

His main purpose for this trip is to find Chen Zhaohu, concerning some issues about beast taming.