NOVEL NEXT Chapter 58: Another Three Years
Time flies.
Days pass one after another, yet the tasks in He Song’s hands never seem to diminish.
Since Wei Fan returned from Azure Cliff Immortal City, He Song has immersed himself in the joy of studying spells.
Fireball Technique.
Light Body Technique.
He Song spent a total of twenty days mastering these two spells completely.
These two basic spells were quite similar to the Spirit Rain Technique and Spirit Arrow Technique.
Naturally, the time required for mastery wasn’t vastly different either.
Thanks to his stronger soul foundation, He Song has always excelled in learning spells faster than other cultivators.
However, even after achieving proficiency where he could cast the Fireball and Light Body Techniques without losing their effectiveness, He Song still made time every day to practice them.
Practicing spells deepens a cultivator’s understanding of them.
The effects?
Increased power.
Reduced casting time.
These are the extra benefits brought by regular practice.
Beyond these two spells, He Song’s regular cultivation speed also improved significantly.
This was thanks to the bottle of Qi Gathering Pills that Meng Guan had Wei Fan bring back for He Song. Coupled with the Spirit Gathering Formation, He Song’s cultivation progressed at an astonishing speed.
Originally, He Song estimated it would take him four years to advance from the fourth to the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
But with the Spirit Gathering Formation and the pills, He Song managed to break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement in just three short years.
Although this wasn’t a major realm breakthrough, it was still a full year faster than He Song’s initial expectations.
This rapid progress thrilled and astonished He Song.
The combined effects of the Spirit Gathering Formation and ten Qi Gathering Pills were unexpectedly outstanding.
It even made He Song consider spending all his spirit stones on pills to maintain such rapid cultivation speed.
This kind of progress would certainly bring more resources as his cultivation reached the late-stage of Qi Refinement Realm.
Moreover, it would allow him to live in the inner courtyard of the Immortal Market, significantly improving his quality of life.
But—
After carefully weighing the pros and cons and verifying things himself, He Song dismissed the idea.
Qi Gathering Pills cost thirty spirit stones per bottle.
With his annual income of ninety spirit stones, he could only afford three bottles a year.
Those thirty pills would only last him a month.
If he spent all his spirit stones on Qi Gathering Pills, he wouldn’t be able to afford to study spells.
All his spirit stones would go toward pills, leaving nothing for spell scrolls.
And without savings, he might not even afford mundane rice.
On top of that, after finishing the bottle of Qi Gathering Pills brought back by Wei Fan, He Song discovered something else.
While Qi Gathering Pills did speed up his cultivation, they also introduced pill toxins.
After consuming an entire bottle, He Song noticed that the effect of the pills began to diminish significantly by the tenth pill.
At the same time, when channeling spiritual energy, it became noticeably harder to mobilize.
The previously smooth flow of spiritual energy in his body now felt sluggish and obstructed.
However, after about a month without pills, the spiritual energy in his body returned to normal.
This confirmed to He Song that it takes about a month for pill toxins to fully dissipate after consuming a bottle of Qi Gathering Pills.
The presence of pill toxins was one reason He Song abandoned the idea of relying on pills for rapid cultivation.
Sluggish spiritual energy flow is a major taboo for cultivators.
In combat, such sluggish energy would make him vulnerable, even against cultivators of the same level.
And when breaking through bottlenecks, such obstructed energy flow would be a huge hindrance.
Additionally, being in the Spirit Gathering Formation, the sluggish flow from pill toxins also slowed his absorption of spiritual energy.
With reduced absorption speed, the spiritual energy lost to pill toxins essentially offset the gains from rapid cultivation.
In the end, He Song found that the cultivation speed gained from using pills was only marginally faster than normal cultivation within the Spirit Gathering Formation.
With this realization, He Song completely dismissed the idea of spending all his spirit stones on pills.
The difference in speed wasn’t worth the cost.
Instead, He Song decided to allocate his spirit stones toward spells, talismans, and artifacts to improve his overall strength.
After all, as long as he stayed within the Spirit Gathering Formation, his cultivation speed was already much faster than ordinary cultivators.
The Spirit Gathering Formation was the core reason for his accelerated cultivation.
Without it, there was no way he would have progressed so rapidly.
Ironically, this also meant that pills didn’t significantly enhance his cultivation speed in the formation.
Thus, He Song ended up saving a considerable amount of spirit stones on pills.
Now—
Three years had passed.
He Song successfully broke through to the fifth level of the Qi Refinement Realm.
He had taken a small step into the mid-stage of the Qi Refinement Realm. When he reached the sixth level, he would need to decide whether to break through on his own or save up spirit stones to buy a Breakthrough Pill from Azure Cliff Immortal City, like Meng Guan.
In these three years, He Song also continued studying the Introduction to Formations Book.
Thanks to this time and his experience with the Spirit Gathering Formation, he fully mastered the Maze Formation and successfully inscribed the formation bases needed to deploy it.
“Maze Formation… With this array to obscure vision, conceal auras, and confuse the mind, I won’t have to worry about others discovering my spirit farmlands. I’m one step closer to opening those farmlands!”
As He Song finished inscribing the bases for the Maze Formation, a smile appeared on his face.
The past three years had been fulfilling for He Song.
Cultivating, studying, managing spirit farmlands, meeting with Wei Fan and other friends, and keeping in touch with distant acquaintances through Sound Transmission.
With all these activities, He Song hadn’t felt lonely.
Now that the bases for the Maze Formation were complete, He Song felt immensely satisfied.
But next came the deployment of the formation.
He Song’s expression grew serious as he surveyed his meditation chamber, preparing to set up the Maze Formation within.