Zhao Di completed the first layer of Qi Refining and entered the second layer realm, then immediately went to "Ruzi Ge" to find Bai Hu Zi Lao Tou Jian Shi.

  The old man handed Zhao Di a small black crystal bottle after detecting that he had indeed reached the second level of cultivation, with a look of disdain and regret on his face.

  "After all, its also a very helpful elixir for beginner cultivators. Its really a waste to let this useless Five Spirits Root use it!" Jian Shi thought to himself, but he didnt say anything so harsh to his face. He simply explained the effects and usage of the Gathering Qi Powder and then dismissed Zhao Di with a wave of his hand, not even giving him a chance to ask about his cultivation experiences."

  Zhao Di didnt dare to entangle any further and took the small bottle back to his own cultivation chamber.

  He opened the wooden stopper on the small bottle, turned the bottle upside down in his palm, and a round, semi-transparent dan bead with a diameter of about half an inch, with green and yellow colors, fell into his palm. Suddenly, a faint fresh medicinal fragrance wafted up to his nose, and as soon as Zhao Di smelled it, his entire spirit became refreshed.

  "This is the legendary elixir - Qi Gathering Powder? Hmm, its indeed extraordinary, just smelling it makes me feel so comfortable. I wonder what the effect will be after taking it." Zhao Di immediately sat down in meditation, first exhaling deeply three times, and after calming his mind and quieting his breath, he directly swallowed the Qi Gathering Powder into his belly. A moment later, Zhao Di felt a strong spiritual energy emerging from his abdomen, knowing that the Qi Gathering Powder had taken effect, he quickly began to circulate his qi, following Jian Shis instructions to control this powerful spiritual energy as it ran through his body in cycle after cycle, until after eighty-one cycles, this spiritual energy finally returned to Zhao Dis dantian.

  "After taking the Spirit Refining Pill and meditating for half a day, his cultivation has actually increased by so much!" Zhao was overjoyed to discover that his cultivation had advanced by a huge margin.

  "If I can take a pill of Jiqi San every few days, I wont need a year to enter the second layer of Qi Refining, maybe just a month will be enough!" Zhao Di thought to himself, "If theres enough of this Ling medicine, advancing to the third layer within half a year would also be easy!"

  Unfortunately, Zhao Di had also heard that in the cultivation world, spiritual elixirs and medicines were precious resources that could not be supplied indefinitely. Even the Qi Gathering Powder, which was only given to novice cultivators to enhance their cultivation, was distributed by the Nan Hua Jian family at a rate of one grain per person every half year. If the cultivator reached the third layer of the Refining Qi stage, they would receive one grain every two months, and if they reached the fourth layer, they could receive one grain every month. As for cultivators who had reached the fifth layer or higher of the Refining Qi stage, the Qi Gathering Powder was no longer very effective, and they would have to pursue more precious and effective intermediate- and high-level spiritual elixirs and medicines.

  To know that cultivators in order to improve their cultivation speed, apart from relying on excellent spiritual root attributes, the most important external factors are only two methods of improvement.

  One is to find a good spirit vein. The so-called spirit vein refers to a place with a particularly high density of spiritual energy.

  The spiritual energy between heaven and earth is not evenly distributed, but rather dense in some places and thin in others. Generally speaking, where there are many people, the spiritual energy is often thin, such as in mortal cities, which is why few cultivators are willing to enter the mortal realm, as it would be difficult to make progress in their cultivation. Places with treacherous terrain tend to have denser spiritual energy, forming large and small spiritual veins. Based on the density of spiritual energy contained within these veins, they can be divided into lower-grade, middle-grade, and upper-grade spiritual veins. Its easy to guess that the upper-grade spiritual veins with exceptionally dense spiritual energy are naturally occupied by larger cultivator sects. Even lower-grade spiritual veins have been divided among smaller cultivator forces.

  The Nanhuajian family occupies the southern Huashan Gorge area, which is a lower-grade spiritual vein. The spiritual energy here is much denser than in other secular places.

  Cultivating in a place of spiritual energy, the purity and quantity of the spiritual energy absorbed are much higher than those in ordinary places. This is also why cultivators always stay in some secret places and are not willing to move around easily.

  The second effective way to improve cultivation speed is to take some solid foundation-building spiritual pills or medicines, such as the Gathering Qi Powder type.

  These elixirs are extracted and refined from some precious herbs that have been aged for many years using complex methods. Not only are the raw materials extremely valuable, but the success rate of refining is also extremely low. Take the Refining Powder, for example, which requires three types of spiritual grass with a medicinal age of over ten years to be repeatedly refined for a day and night to complete. If its a newcomer who hasnt practiced several times, the success rate will not exceed 10%, even if its an experienced old hand who has refined hundreds of times, the success rate will not exceed 50%. This is still the easiest to refine and lowest-grade Refining Powder, a primary elixir. If its a higher-level elixir, not only are the required raw materials several times more expensive, but the success rate of refining is also frighteningly low.

  Therefore, the cost of alchemy is not something that ordinary cultivators can afford. Those who are skilled in refining certain elixirs have a corresponding noble status - Alchemist. The possibility of becoming an alchemist on ones own is almost zero, and every alchemist has the support of their sect family behind them, which allows them to provide the alchemist with a constant supply of materials to accumulate experience. In the Jian family, there was also such an alchemist, but he could only refine a few low-level elixirs such as Gathering Qi Powder during the early and middle stages of cultivation. Even so, his status in the Jian family was still quite significant.

  In the world of immortals, there is a saying that there are four most sought-after professions, and alchemists undoubtedly rank first.

  After Zhao Di realized the great benefits of taking Dan medicine, apart from practicing diligently every day, he was eagerly waiting for the half-year period to arrive quickly so that he could take another dose of Jiqi San. Without the help of Dan medicine, his own cultivation speed could only be described as pathetic!

  Although with the help of Gathering Qi Dispersion, Zhao Di still took another three years to break through the second layer of Gong Fa and enter the third layer of Refining Qi. At this time, among the young people who started practicing at the same time as him, there were already many who had reached the fifth layer of Refining Qi and became mid-level cultivators. Moreover, a two-spirit-rooted excellent spirit root owner, Jian Kun, had already reached the eighth layer of Refining Qi, just one step away from becoming a high-level cultivator in the Refining Qi period, leaving Zhao Di who was still struggling in the initial stage far behind.

  The most talked-about topic among the people of Jians family was which young man had made great progress in his cultivation recently, or which disciple had mastered what kind of magic technique and advanced rapidly. Apart from those excellent disciples, Zhao Di was occasionally mentioned, but usually accompanied by mocking words such as "five roots" and "waste".

  As for that "Little Wu Gen", he had already decided to give up on his cultivation path and return to the mortal world a year ago.

  Zhao Di, however, was not affected by the ridicule of others and continued to practice diligently, without showing any signs of embarrassment. With his over 20 years of mental age, he would never waste a single moment responding to the teasing and sarcasm of the children around him.

  After a while, the Jian family welcomed batch after batch of children with spiritual roots. Among them, there was even an extremely rare variant spirit root - Wind Spirit Root owner Jian Yun. Since his appearance, he has caused great attention in the Jian family. The high-level members of the Jian family took care of him meticulously, and even arranged for a senior elder who had reached the late stage of foundation building to be responsible for teaching Jian Yuns cultivation. It can be said that everyone in the Jian family, from top to bottom, regarded Jian Yun as the hope and cornerstone of the future prosperity and expansion of the Jian family. From finding top-level wind-attribute cultivation methods specifically for him to various spiritual pills and medicines, as long as Jian Yun needed them, they were sent over continuously. For a time, Jian Yuns cultivation speed was unprecedented, becoming the hot topic of discussion among the people of the Jian family.

  None of this affected Zhao Dis daily seventeen or eighteen hours of meticulous cultivation, but he still received some bad news: the head elder of the Jian family announced that cultivators who had not reached the fifth layer of Qi Refining by the age of fifteen would not be allowed to continue cultivating in Nanhuaxia Valley and must go out to gain experience. Those who did not reach a cultivation level above the tenth layer of Qi Refining could not return.

  Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the so-called "tempering" is just a euphemism. A cultivator who cant even enter the fifth layer, either has extremely dull talent or has poor spiritual roots like Zhao Di. How could they possibly have the opportunity to cultivate to the tenth layer of the Qi Refining stage? In short, its just an excuse to drive them out of the family. After all, a cultivator with too low of a cultivation level contributes very little to the family. For a family to prosper, it will always rely on those high-ranking core disciples.

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