The aura of a Qi Refining cultivator was naturally out of the ordinary.
So what if so claid that achieving Qi Refining through a boundary-breaking grand pill made one the laughingstock of the realm?
It was still the Qi Refining stage!
The mont Tang Nianqiu made his appearance, the rogue cultivators who had been causing a scene for the special-rate rooms imdiately shut their mouths.
"Fellow Daoist Tang, your Fortune Source Residence suddenly raising prices like this isn't very honorable."
Fortunately, there was a Qi Refining cultivator among these rogue cultivators as well. This individual took a step forward, standing at the head of the crowd to reason with Tang Nianqiu.
"Fortune Source Residence had to shell out fifty spirit stones for the Unity Fee. We didn't want to raise prices either, but if we don't, Fortune Source Residence will go bankrupt!"
This was complete nonsense, of course. If Fortune Source Residence were that easily bankrupted, the Wang Clan would have abandoned the business long ago. However, Tang Nianqiu had at least provided a pretext.
"If you find the rooms here too expensive, you are welco to rent a courtyard of your own. Senior Jiang's Guard Cultivator Manor rents out spiritual springs to the public."
The rogue cultivator who had stepped forward to lead the protest was left completely stranded by Tang Nianqiu's retort.
It was true that the man surnad Jiang possessed an insatiable greed, going so far as to rent out the spiritual springs allocated to him by the Red Lantern Illumination Sect.
'But if I could freaking afford that, would I even be staying at your Fortune Source Residence?'
"What kind of Qi Induction thods have you two cultivated?"
Back at Forge Peak Residence, Householder Redbrow controlled the artifact refining furnace, asking without even turning his head.
"I have fire and water spirit roots, so I cultivate the standard Qi Induction Mantra used by the Wang Clan descendants. Yu'an is a bit special; he cultivates the Golden Stone Hundred Tempered Chapter."
Householder Redbrow rely knew that the Wang Clan possessed a long heritage, but he did not know it had endured for a thousand years.
He was quite surprised that Yu'an could practice a technique that perfectly aligned with his spirit roots, and his movents in refining the tal even paused for a brief mont.
"What about other things? Do you have any understanding of auxiliary paths like talisman making or artifact refining?"
"From a young age, the clan taught us the Brief Analysis of Golden Stone, Bone, and Wood Spiritual Materials, the Hundred Discernnts of Woven Fabrics, the Identification of dicines and Poisons, and so on. For talisman making, we only learned the basic Qi Induction Talisman.
As for the artificing path, we've only heard of artifact refining and alchemy. Those are resources that can only be studied once a mber of the clan reaches the Qi Refining stage."
Zhong Ningyao was sowhat perplexed.
"Your Wang Family only teaches that much?"
Redbrow glared at his daughter. Ningyao's face tightened, and she did not dare ask further.
"Very well, then you shall start with drawing talismans. Once your Fire Control Spell and talisman drawing are proficient enough, we will move on to the next stage of your studies.
Ningyao, take them to the backyard to practice the Fire Control Spell first, then move on to talisman drawing."
Just as the group was about to leave, Redbrow added another line.
"Right, use ordinary coarse burlap for practice. Don't get it wrong!"
The Wang Clan was far too sly. They sent the children to him without teaching them anything in advance, terrified that he might find out about their family's heritage.
Did this look like treating him as a master?
They were treating him like a thief!
Toward these two cheap disciples, Redbrow's primary strategy was to be generous where necessary and stingy where possible, saving every single penny he could!
In the backyard, Yulou smoothly kindled a fla within the water, which was then instantly extinguished by the liquid.
Beside him, Yu'an's face was completely flushed from straining, yet his subrged hand still held absolutely nothing.
"Junior Brother Yu'an, you must focus when practicing the Fire Control Spell. As long as you concentrate, you will make progress, and eventually, you'll be able to ignite the fire."
Zhong Ningyao had never taught a disciple before, so she did not understand how difficult it was for soone with tal and earth spirit roots to ignite a fire in water.
"Ningyao Shijie, Yu'an's spirit roots aren't well-suited for this style of practice. Could we perhaps alter it and let him try under normal conditions?
Let's start with igniting a fla using normal spiritual energy, and once he succeeds, we can transition to igniting it in water. What do you think?"
Basic cultivation did not involve any profound secrets. Yulou reasoned that it would be better for Yu'an to grasp the sensation of igniting a fla first, before further refining his control over the fire.
Hearing Yulou's words, Yu'an pulled his hand out of the water, and in an instant, a fla surged upward.
"Senior martial sister, look! As long as I'm not in the water, I can execute the Fire Control Spell perfectly."
The boy spoke excitedly, eager to show off his achievent.
Zhong Ningyao scratched her head in confusion.
"Does the influence of spirit roots really matter that much?"
Yulou chose his words carefully.
"I'm not entirely certain, but Yu'an lacks a fire spirit root, so he's already at a slight disadvantage.
To ignite a fire in water when he also lacks a water spirit root adds another disadvantage.
With the two compounding together, it becos significantly more difficult.
By the way, Ningyao Shijie, what are your spirit roots?"
As he reached the end of his explanation, Yulou casually tossed out a probe.
"I have fire, wood, and tal, but my fire spirit root is the strongest, and tal is the weakest. That's why I cultivate the Mulberry Burning Qi Induction Mantra.
It's a pity you don't have a wood spirit root, otherwise you could cultivate this as well."
What a wonderful senior martial sister; her mind was completely pure and simple.
With just a slight inquiry from Yulou, she revealed everything, even expressing regret that her own Qi Induction technique was unsuitable for him.
"It is of no consequence. The primary technique during the Qi Induction realm is not that important; the difference in cultivation speed and prowess isn't that vast," Yulou remarked.
A cultivation base and the cultivated technique shared a relationship akin to a base number and a multiplier.
On the scale of cultivators, the base number corresponding to the Qi Induction realm was rely between zero and one, and the multiplier provided by a Qi Induction technique could not possibly be very high.
However, once one reached Qi Refining or Foundation Establishnt, the situation changed completely.
The base number for the Qi Refining stage could be viewed as 1 to 10, or even 1 to 20. Soone like Tang Nianqiu might only possess a 2 or a 3, while a high-stage Qi Refining cultivator like Wang Rongyuan would be at least a 10.
When paired with the differing influences of techniques, magical artifacts, and unique secret heritages to perform multiplication upon this base, the final cultivation base and actual combat strength would beco night and day.
Take Tang Nianqiu, for example. Though he relied on a boundary-breaking grand pill to break through to the Qi Refining stage, the technique he cultivated possessed considerable power. If he held a well-suited magical artifact in his hands and kept a hidden trump card in reserve...
Ultimately, 2.5 (the average of 2 and 3) × 2 × 1.5 × 1.25... his strength could reach 10 or even more.
Of course, if one applied this sa model to Wang Rongyuan, it would be even more staggering.
However, these matters were still very distant from Yulou.
His primary objective right now was to rapidly elevate his own strength.
At the second layer of Qi Induction, he could not even leave Clear Stream Market alone—or more accurately, he was not permitted to do so.
The immortal path was long and arduous; one must forge ahead with determination.
In truth, regarding the algorithm for a cultivator's strength, Yulou's calculations were mostly correct, but he had still overlooked one crucial point.
This was likely because he had never experienced true magical combat between cultivators.
In the automotive industry of Yulou's past life, there was a term known as engine thermal efficiency.
In the cultivation world, there existed an undefined concept that could be viewed similarly to engine thermal efficiency: the conversion rate between a cultivator's theoretical capacity and their actual magical combat performance.
If calculated through chanical and simple addition, the combined strength of five Tang Nianqius would roughly equal one Wang Rongyuan.
Yet in actual magical combat, even if twenty Tang Nianqius stood before Wang Rongyuan, he wouldn't even lose his breath before their magical artifacts were chipped to pieces against his defenses.
This was precisely the confidence that allowed Wang Rongyuan to act as bait, waiting for rogue cultivators to deliver themselves to their deaths!
"Halt!"
After flying over five hundred kiloters, he finally encountered so foolish creatures who did not fear death. Wang Rongyuan did not flash a smile; instead, he acted so terrified that his flying artifact visibly destabilized.
Only by playing the fool convincingly could he unexpectedly seize the initiative!
First, his flying artifact shook as if disrupted by panic, and then Wang Rongyuan used the montum to descend into the forest below. Because he appeared so utterly flustered, he even landed squarely on his backside.
"Hahaha! I finally caught one! Big brother, co quickly, it's just a fool at the middle Qi Refining stage!"
"Fellow Daoists, what is the aning of this?"
Wang Rongyuan scrambled up from the ground with great difficulty, looking in terror at the three figures rapidly approaching him from the sky.
"Hand over everything you have, and we might just let you leave with your life!"
The three rogue cultivators landed roughly a hundred ters ahead of Wang Rongyuan, and the one with the lowest cultivation base spoke up.
Even though this individual possessed the lowest cultivation, he was still at the eighth layer of Qi Refining. As for the other two, one was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, and the last was at the Great Circle of Qi Refining!
Wang Rongyuan was at the tenth layer of Qi Refining. On the surface, it appeared to be a one-versus-three scenario where the opponents held an overwhelming advantage.
But... was that truly the case?
"Please spare ! I am an inner sect disciple of Dripdrop Cave, an affiliate sect of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect! If you rob , the Red Lantern Illumination Sect and Dripdrop Cave will never let you get away with it!"
The Red Lantern Illumination Sect was one of the Ten Sects. Their sect techniques were highly unique, commanding supre authority over fire thods among the Ten Sects, and their disciples predominantly possessed fire spirit roots.
Dripdrop Cave was an affiliate of the Red Lantern Illumination Sect. As the na implied, the disciples of this sect mostly cultivated water thods.
Fire thods and water thods—had Uncle Rongyuan just exposed his own background?
"Hahaha! Dripdrop Cave? My big brother is an inner sect disciple of Wondrous Peak Mountain! Why would we fear a re Dripdrop Cave?"
'A lie!'
'These people are trying to bluff too!'
"You fool, have you lost your mind?" the cultivator at the Great Circle of Qi Refining bellowed in fury.
Truly, this eighth layer Qi Refining guy was an absolute moron!
The techniques of Wondrous Peak Mountain disciples did not have many distinct characteristics, but they frequently employed magical artifacts of the needle, thread, and cloth variety—watch out for hidden needles!
"Big brother, I'm just making him see the reality of the situation so he gives up resisting.
Hurry up and hand over everything. We can grant you a quick death, otherwise, humph, humph..."
Wang Rongyuan's face was filled with indignation as he cursed loudly.
"Wondrous Peak Mountain disciples resorting to being rogue cultivators? I will report you to the Immortal Alliance!"
After throwing out his curse, Wang Rongyuan executed a slightly clumsy Earth Escape technique, diving straight into the soil.
"A mid-stage Qi Refining worm thinks he can flee? In your dreams!"
The eleventh layer Qi Refining Wondrous Peak Mountain disciple snorted coldly, summoning a spiritual shuttle that shot directly toward the spot where Wang Rongyuan had vanished!
The other two rogue cultivators reacted swiftly as well, imdiately entering a combat-ready state as they searched for any trace of Wang Rongyuan.
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