Li Yun stared at the two items in his hands, genuine delight spreading across his face.
In his right palm lay an ancient sheet of paper, its edges slightly yellowed with age. The surface was densely packed with neat, intricate writing that detailed precise heat control thods and exact spirit dicine proportions. Every line radiated the weight of accumulated alchemical wisdom.
This was none other than the pill formula for refining the Qi Gathering Pill that he had spoken of earlier.
In his left hand were more than ten smooth, pale purple dicinal pills. They carried a faint, refreshing fragrance that lingered in the air and subtly stirred the flow of internal energy within his body.
These were Qi Gathering Pills.
For martial artists who had reached the Xiantian Realm, the Qi Gathering Pill was an indispensable resource, sothing no cultivator at that stage could do without.
At that mont, a new mission notification suddenly appeared before Li Yun’s eyes.
----
[Quest Level: D]
– Objective: [Refine Perfect Grade Qi Gathering Pills.]
– Reward: [500 low grade spirit stones, 4000 EXP.]
----
"This really makes realize that I still haven’t refined a single perfect-grade Body Tempering Pill," Li Yun sighed inwardly. He had spent most of his ti cultivating and honing his martial techniques, leaving him with far too little ti to focus on alchemy.
"I should start paying more attention to pill refining as well," he reflected quietly. "It is useful for earning resources, and it is equally important for my own cultivation."
"Young Master Li, are you satisfied with this gift?" Xi Dong asked with a smile when he noticed the unmistakable excitent on Li Yun’s face.
"Very satisfied," Li Yun replied sincerely. "Patriarch Xi, thank you very much."
He carefully stored away the pill formula, then cupped his hands toward Xi Dong in a formal gesture of thanks.
"Heh heh, Young Master Li, you are too polite. As long as you are satisfied, that is enough," Xi Dong said warmly.
"Patriarch Xi, I will rember today’s kindness," Li Yun said in a solemn voice. "If the Xi Family ever needs my help in the future, I will not refuse."
He understood perfectly why Xi Dong had been willing to part with such valuable items, so he responded with a clear promise.
"That is excellent," Xi Dong said, smiling with genuine satisfaction.
The contents of the storage pouch alone were worth around one hundred and twenty thousand low-grade spirit stones, and that value did not even include the Qi Gathering Pill formula. If that formula were sold, it would easily fetch another hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones, bringing the total value to well over two hundred thousand.
For the Xi Family, this was an astonishing sum, and giving it away caused Xi Dong no small amount of pain. However, if this was the price required to build a relationship with a peerless genius like Li Yun, then there was only one conclusion.
It was worth it.
After exchanging a few more polite words, Xi Dong took his leave.
"I have stayed in Phoenix Fla City long enough. I should prepare to depart tomorrow," Li Yun murmured to himself.
As his voice faded, the room returned to silence. Li Yun sat cross-legged on the bed, entering cultivation once more as he quietly awaited the next day.
...
The following morning.
With a soft rush of wind, Li Yun left the Xi Family estate. He had already bid farewell to Xi Dong and Xi Luo, and without lingering thoughts or hesitation, he departed Phoenix Fla City and continued on his journey.
At the highest pavilion of the Xi Family estate, a solitary figure stood in silence, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon where Li Yun’s figure had long since vanished.
It was Xi Luo.
"Li Yun, have a safe journey," she whispered softly.
She remained there for a mont longer, staring blankly in the direction he had disappeared, before slowly returning to her senses. A quiet sigh escaped her lips as she turned and walked down the stairs.
The thought that she might never see Li Yun again brought a faint ache to her heart. Her beautiful eyes were slightly reddened, carrying an unmistakable trace of reluctance.
Yet what use was reluctance?
She understood better than anyone that, to Li Yun, she was rely a brief encounter along his path. Their lives had crossed, but they belonged to entirely different worlds. After this separation, they would be like parallel lines that diverged after a single eting, never to intersect again.
---
The night was as dark as ink.
A silver moon hung high in the sky, pouring down cool and hazy moonlight that bathed the land below.
Deep within a dense forest, a bonfire burned brightly, its crimson flas flickering and dancing like living spirits. The warm red glow pushed back the surrounding darkness, bringing both light and comfort to the lonely wilderness.
Seated beside the fire, Li Yun, dressed in a green robe, sat quietly, lost in thought.
"This storage ring that Grandfather gave is filled with lightning-elent cultivation arts," he reflected. "Grandfather said this ring once belonged to my father, which ans my father must have had a lightning-attribute physique. Then why was I born with an all-attribute physique instead?"
His brows gradually knitted together as his thoughts deepened.
"Could it be my mother’s bloodline that gave the all-attribute physique?" he wondered. "Grandfather did ntion that the people who took Father and Mother away did sothing to before they left. They may have sealed my physique, which would explain why I was unable to cultivate. I could only cultivate after the other , which is still , transmigrated and awakened the physique with the system."
The more he considered it, the more convincing the explanation beca.
"Enough dwelling on the past. I should focus on what truly matters."
Li Yun set aside those distracting thoughts and took out an old cultivation manual. It was a lightning-elent technique known as the Overlord Thunder Scripture, a top-grade Profound Rank cultivation art whose presence alone carried an imposing aura.
Li Yun understood clearly that once cultivation reached the Profound Rank, the way one cultivated techniques changed fundantally.
To begin with, unlike Mortal Rank cultivation arts that were divided into nine layers, Profound Rank techniques were divided into fifteen layers, making their structure far more complex and demanding.
More importantly, from the Profound Rank onward, cultivators were no longer required to progress step by step through low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade, and top-grade techniques as they had at the Mortal Rank. Profound Rank cultivation arts were divided into two distinct types.
The first type was the direct cultivation art, such as the Overlord Thunder Scripture in Li Yun’s hands. A technique of this kind contained complete thods for low-grade, middle-grade, high-grade, and top-grade cultivation within a single scripture. By following one manual from beginning to end, a cultivator could advance seamlessly through all stages without switching techniques midway.
The second type followed the traditional approach, similar to Mortal Rank cultivation arts, where one needed to cultivate different techniques for each grade, replacing them as one advanced.
Which path to choose depended entirely on personal preference and aptitude.
Li Yun favored cultivation arts like the Overlord Thunder Scripture, which unified all grades into a single, coherent path.
"I will begin cultivating the Overlord Thunder Scripture first," Li Yun decided calmly. "As for wind and fla, I will skip the top-grade Mortal Rank techniques and directly cultivate Profound Rank cultivation arts instead."
After making his decision, Li Yun took out a map from his storage ring and studied it briefly. He then said to himself, "Not far to the south, there is a city called Pill Fla City. I will head there tomorrow."
With that, he put the map away and allowed himself to rest.
When dawn arrived the next morning and the sky was still faintly dim, Li Yun awoke and imdiately set off toward Pill Fla City.
Around noon, Li Yun finally neared his destination. At the far edge of his vision, a colossal city erged, its scale several tis greater than that of Phoenix Fla City.
This was Pill Fla City.
Pill Fla City was the most renowned city within the Crimson Sun Empire, its fa surpassing even that of the imperial capital. It was known throughout the empire as the City of Alchemists.
The reason was simple. Nearly seven out of every ten alchemists in the Crimson Sun Empire gathered within this city. To alchemists across the empire, Pill Fla City was nothing less than a holy land.
With such a concentration of alchemists, the dicinal pill industry here was more developed than anywhere else in the empire. dicinal pills and spirit dicines that were considered rare treasures elsewhere could be found in abundance within this city.
"Pavilion Master Guan asked to deliver a storage pouch to an alchemist in Pill Fla City," Li Yun murmured to himself. "His na is Lin Shan, and from what I understand, they are old friends."
This was one of the main reasons Li Yun had co to Pill Fla City. First, he needed to fulfill Pavilion Master Guan’s request by delivering the storage pouch to Elder Lin. Second, he intended to take advantage of this place to deepen his understanding of alchemy.
More importantly, this city would be his final stop before reaching the recruitnt city of the Martial Ascension Gate. From here, he would still need to cross two more counties, but he did not plan to linger again before finally arriving at his destination.
"I can spare at most one week here," Li Yun muttered to himself. He was well aware that a large portion of the remaining journey to the Martial Ascension Gate’s recruitnt city would be spent on the road.
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