Just like that, the two of them temporarily settled down in a cave. They began to absorb spirit stones to increase their cultivation.
A single spirit stone could sustain a Foundation Establishment cultivator's cultivation for a day. It could be seen how much spiritual energy was contained within.
Three days later, the spiritual energy within a single spirit stone was completely sucked dry.
The spiritual energy was refined within the body. After circulating through the meridians once, it entered the seventh Vortex and continued to settle.
Lu Xuanji was surprised to find that the cultivation speed had increased a little.
The spiritual energy contained within the spirit stone was purer. It could be directly absorbed and converted into True Qi. However, the spiritual energy in the outside world had impurities. After absorption, it had to be continuously refined to remove the impurities before it could be converted into True Qi.
In terms of cultivation speed, it was three times faster than before.
On Mount Ziyang, it would take four years to raise one level, but it would only take three years if he absorbed spirit stones.
Although was a little faster, it would be a waste. Using up 120 spirit stones every year was too much of a waste of money.
Lu Xuanji's cultivation was only at the seventh level of the Qi Refinement stage, and his annual salary was only 50 spirit stones.
If not for the 10,000 spirit stones he had plundered from the Patriarch, he might not have been able to support such a 'waste'.
He felt some heartache, but he quickly made up his mind and continued to squander the spirit stones.
I am a rich man.
As for using these spirit stones to buy some resources to increase cultivation, he might as well forget about it. He would not be able to buy much, and it would not be very useful.
He also had limited space in this storage bag. If he bought a little more, he might draw attention to himself, and it would be easy to be targeted. He might even end up getting himself killed.
It was fine just living like this. He did not want to do this until he was invincible. He only wanted to reach the ninth level of the Qi Refinement stage.
One year later, Ye Feixue encountered a bottleneck and was stuck at the peak of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement stage. It was very difficult for her to enter the sixth level of the Qi Refinement stage.
"That's not right. Didn't the Heavenly Spirit Root have no bottlenecks before reaching the Nascent Soul stage? Why did a bottleneck appear when she was only at the peak of the fifth level of the Qi Refinement stage?"
Lu Xuanji felt that something was wrong. After carefully examining Ye Feixue's body, he quickly discovered that the True Qi in her Dantian had weakened.
"The True Qi has weakened," Lu Xuanji said uneasily, He used his phone to search for the answer.
[Ding Dong. According to a certain book, the spiritual energy in spirit stones is pure. There is no need to refine or purify it before it could be directly absorbed to raise one's cultivation. However, due to the lack of refinement and purification, the refinement of one's meridians will be relatively weak. The lack of sharpness of one's True Qi makes it relatively weak.]
[Consuming pills can increase one's cultivation speed, but pill poison can enter one's body. Absorbing spirit stones can increase one's cultivation speed, and it can cause one's True Qi to be relatively weak. Any shortcuts will result in a price that has to be paid.]
Lu Xuanji's phone rang, and he received the answer.
He was slightly taken aback. He swiped the page, and there was indeed a book that contained the answer he was looking for.
There were 100,000 books stored in his phone.
Lu Xuanji had only read a portion of these 100,000 books. After all, if he were to read them one by one, he might not even be able to finish reading them in a hundred years.
On one of the books, there was a record of the shortcomings of absorbing spirit stones to cultivate. The spiritual energy within the spirit stones was too pure.
If the water was too pure, there would be no fish.
Just like on Earth in his previous life, living in a sterile environment was not good. Drinking pure water every day was also not good for the human body. The human body had appropriate bacteria and viruses, which were beneficial to the human body's health, as long as there was not an excessive amount.
There were impurities in the spiritual Qi in the outside world, which needed to be constantly refined and purified before it could be absorbed. Although the speed was a little slower, the meridians were also refined.
It achieved a necessary balance.
"Little Xue, this is the price of taking a shortcut... but we can fix this. As long as you keep refining your True Qi and using True Qi to refine your meridians, you only need three months to break through the bottleneck," Lu Xuanji said, he said some opinions.
Ye Feixue nodded.
She began to polish her True Qi and temper her meridians, no longer deliberately pursuing a breakthrough.
After about three months, the bottleneck was broken, and she naturally stepped into the sixth level of the Qi Refinement stage.
In terms of time, she had saved nine months.
"Congratulations, you've stepped into the sixth level of the Qi Refinement stage," Lu Xuanji said, but in his heart, he was mumbling.
This stinky girl, the speed of her cultivation was so fast.
According to this pace, she would soon catch up to him, or even surpass him.
"Brother, I don't want to cultivate anymore... I want to go out and look for the elders and other cultivators of the Lu Clan," Ye Feixue said.
"No, we have to cultivate to the ninth level of the Qi Refinement stage at least. We're too weak. We might encounter some rogue cultivators hunting outside, and the cultivators of other clans will besiege us. Without the foundation of the ninth level of the Qi Refinement stage, we won't be safe," Lu Xuanji said.
"My heart is impatient, and I won't be able to cultivate in peace." As Ye Feixue said this, she felt a little bored.
Lu Xuanji also fell silent.
In fact, Lu Xuanji was also getting impatient, and he was unable to cultivate in peace.
The inner demons were growing. There was danger in cultivating in seclusion. Many cultivators died from inner demons, driving themselves mad from isolation while cultivating in seclusion for a long time.
Some cultivators would end their cultivation and enter the mortal world to gain experience. They would either participate in battles or cultivate their bodies and temperaments.
However, haste makes waste. The more eager one is to achieve success, the easier it is for one to go astray.
...
The original plan was to cultivate in seclusion for five years and reach the ninth level of the Qi Refinement stage in one fell swoop.
At the start, things were going smoothly. However, now, it was getting difficult to cultivate.
Both of them were getting impatient and had a lot of distracting thoughts. If they were to continue to cultivate in seclusion, they might go mad.
"Alright, then we'll go out. Remember to keep a low profile. This is the Thunder God Talisman, this is the Teleportation Talisman, and this is the Vajra Talisman. Remember to take it. If you can't defeat the enemy, run away. It's not shameful to run away. You must live to fight another day."
Before going down the mountain, lu Xuanji handed over three talismans and instructed Ye Feixue.
In short, keeping a low profile was the most important. In keeping a low profile, it was also the most important thing to protect one's life.
Of the 36 strategies, running away was the most important.
When faced with a life-or-death battle, the best option was to leave if possible.
Just like that, the two left the cave and walked towards the nearby towns.
Qingshui County was located near a plain. The climate here was warm, the sunlight was abundant, and there was fertile land, which was suitable for the people to live in. There were a lot of towns here, and mortals lived in the towns. Occasionally, Qi Refinement stage cultivators would appear in mortal villages and towns, buying some stuff for their daily lives.
In the county town, there was a tier-1 spirit vein, and some mid-stage Qi Refinement stage cultivators were serving as county magistrates.
Around the plain, there were spirit mountains scattered around Qingshui County.
Some of these spirit mountains belonged to cultivation clans, and some belonged to cultivation marketplaces. All of them were guarded by cultivators.
They scattered around like fortresses, protecting the mortals of Qingshui County from being eaten by Demon Beasts or invaded by demonic cultivators.
The Lu Clan's Mount Ziyang was the strongest among the surrounding spirit mountains. It stood tall and proud in front of 100,000 mountains and was one of the main strongholds to resist the Beast Tide.
Lu Xuanji and Ye Feixue passed through a large number of mortal cities and towns, heading south.
After about a month, they went around in many circles.
Finally, at the edge of Qingshui Prefecture, a cultivation market appeared. This cultivation market was called the Wu Clan Market.
This was a market of the Wu Clan. The Wu Clan was a large clan of Qingshui Prefecture. Within the clan, the highest was only at the ninth level of the Foundation Establishment stage. However, they had a Zifu disciple that was currently working with the Dan Yang Sect.
The Wu Clan was also a large clan second only to the Lu Clan. The Wu Clan had spirit mountains and business not only in Qingshui Prefecture but also in the nearby Yong'an Prefecture and Ping'an Prefecture.