Chapter 102: A Twist in the Path

After bidding farewell to Lin Qing, he returned to Qingye Peak. Since news had already arrived, there was no need to remain anxious. Over the next half month, he followed a steady routine, cultivating his spiritual power daily and honing the tempering of his sword energy.

His cultivation, at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, progressed methodically, gradually approaching the bottleneck of the Seventh Layer. Initially, he had worried that the rapid surge in his power at Beiya Mountain might be superficial, potentially undermining his foundation. But after these days, he realized that the sword energy left behind by his predecessor, which had transformed into cultivation, was even purer than his own. This eased his mind considerably.

Besides the essential spiritual power cultivation, he allocated some leisure time to practice the Five-Star Pulse-Seizing Technique. The benefits of a strong divine sense were well known to Song Yan. Although progress was slow, any increase in strength was welcome.

Ordinary cultivators at the mid-Qi Refining stage possessed a divine sense range of about eight to twelve zhang, varying with innate soul strength. Yet Song Yan, at Sixth Layer Qi Refining, already had a divine sense extending roughly twenty zhang.

After severing his spiritual root and planting the sword in the palace, he had obtained the complete Five-Star Pulse-Seizing Technique from the Two Poles Pearl. Unfortunately, it required entering the Foundation Establishment stage before it could be properly cultivated.

In swordsmanship, Song Yan practiced diligently without pause. Having mastered the Cloud Sword to perfection, he planned to select another sword technique to study upon reaching the late Qi Refining stage. Witnessing Ye Bian of Linghua Valley effortlessly slay a demon cultivator with a seemingly ordinary strike made him realize the meaning of "one sword breaking myriad techniques."

While the Cloud Sword was versatile and suited for any situation, it was too conspicuous and lacked a truly outstanding aspect. "Then, I must choose a sword technique that can harmonize with my sword Dao true essence, silently and instantly killing the opponent," he mused.

He temporarily set aside the Great Brightness Dharmapala Form of Pure Tranquility, deciding to wait until at least the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining before attempting it again.

During these days, the flying sword in his sword case was nurtured daily, and Song Yan sensed that his connection with Lianli—the sword—grew somewhat closer. More importantly, he felt subtle changes in Lianli’s aura. Perhaps an illusion, but the sword’s might seemed to be slowly strengthening. In contrast, the flying sword Buxizhou, also in the case, showed no such effect.

After much thought, he concluded that the sword case was originally crafted for Lianli’s predecessors—the two flying swords Qingmei and Zhuma—and thus was ineffective or only faintly effective at nurturing other sword weapons, so faint that even its master could not perceive it clearly. It seemed prudent to replace it with a more universal sword case in the future.

One day, Song Yan left Qingye Peak and headed toward Lingyuan Marsh. Having consumed many pills for spirit refining, he planned to visit the market today to purchase some backups.

Passing by Granny Qin’s general store, he noticed the wooden door slightly ajar.

“Hmm?”

Song Yan stepped forward and gently knocked.

“Come in.”

Qin Xijun sat inside, playing with a jade seal she had toyed with for a long time, tapping it on the pill coatings of various elixirs.

“My good disciple has arrived.”

“Granny, what... what are you doing?”

Looking closely, Song Yan saw many types of pills—Yellow Sprout Pills, Bao Pu Pills, Condensing Spirit Pills—even low-grade Qi Nourishing Pills.

“In three to five years, you’ll be breaking through the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining. Granny has been indulging herself all these years, frittering away all her spirit stones,” she explained.

“I must tighten the purse strings and save some spirit resources for you. Otherwise, if you want something in the future and Granny has nothing, how embarrassing would that be for me as your master?”

“Ah…”

“Didn’t expect Granny to know how to refine pills too.”

Qin Xijun was startled: “I don’t.”

Song Yan was confused: “Ah? Then… what are these…”

“Oh, these are... cough, I got them at a low price.”

Qin Xijun lifted her hand, showing the jade seal: “Here, this is the jade seal of the Pill Workshop of Dongyuan Sect.”

“Just a tap here, and these become elixirs produced by the Dongyuan Immortal Sect.”

“I’m auctioning them at Lingxi Market.”

“…”

Song Yan was dumbfounded, speechless for a long while.

“Got business? If not, go about your own affairs and don’t disturb Granny’s great pill refinement career…”

“Ah…”

He suddenly came to himself and asked, “Granny, I want to ask if you know anything about breakthrough pills.”

“Breakthrough pills?” Qin Xijun finally looked up at her future disciple.

Scanning his spirit sense, surprise flickered across her face.

“How did your cultivation advance so fast? Granny remembers you just broke through the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining a few months ago.”

She grabbed little Song, opening his eyelids and feeling his pulse.

“What demonic technique did you practice?”

Song Yan gave a brief explanation, telling her of his encounter at Beiya Mountain.

Qin Xijun nodded thoughtfully, murmuring, “You sure have good fortune…”

“Breakthrough pills… Granny doesn’t have any. But I’ve heard some rumors.”

“Oh?”

Song Yan’s eyes lit up. Could there be hope?

“Next month, the auction at Lingxi Market will feature a pill called the ‘Mingjue Pill.’”

Lingxi Market? He had thought it would be at the Lingyuan Marsh night market’s auction.

Noticing his confusion, Qin Xijun explained:

“Setting aside some junk that falsely claims to be breakthrough pills, the real pills capable of breaking through bottlenecks typically come from sect pill workshops.”

“Such pills rarely appear in the Lingyuan Marsh market.”

“The reasons are complicated; you’ll understand in time.”

“This auction at Lingxi Market will have many fine items, including one Mingjue Pill, apparently from Xuand Sword Mountain.”

“If you think your spirit stones are sufficient, you could try your luck.”

Qin Xijun spread her hands: “Anyway, Granny doesn’t have that many spirit stones.”

Song Yan pondered.

Since the birth of the cultivation world, countless years had passed. Various pills had been refined, formulas modified by predecessors for diverse reasons, optimizing ingredient ratios to create new pills.

Some pills required rare spirit plants, were exceedingly expensive, or extinct. Others used substitute materials with similar properties, slightly reducing efficacy.

Among breakthrough pills for cultivators at the Qi Refining stage, the Mingjue Pill was one refined by pill masters to be balanced and reliable.

This pill contained considerable spiritual power without being overly potent. Taken when breaking through the bottleneck, it could increase the chance of success by about thirty percent.

“Thirty percent…”

Given the current state of the Sword Dao seed, relying solely on spiritual power without external aid, the chance of breakthrough was only about thirty to forty percent—virtually destined to fail.

With the Mingjue Pill, this certainty rose to about seventy percent.

If supplemented with Condensing Spirit Pills during breakthrough, the chance could reach around eighty percent.

This probability was quite high.

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