Although Zhao Di worked hard to cultivate and practice, he finally only reached the fourth layer of the Qi Refining stage at the age of 14. Calculating that there was only one year left until he turned 15, it was impossible for him to reach the fifth layer in his cultivation.

  Cultivation is originally an act of defying the heavens, and it becomes increasingly difficult as one advances, with the difficulty increasing exponentially. At his current rate of cultivation, even if he takes a Gathering Qi Pellet every month, it will take him at least seven or eight years to reach the fifth level.

  Since its impossible for him to continue staying at Jians house to cultivate, he might as well suspend his cultivation and prepare for the "trial" a year later.

  Jian family has a place similar to a library, called the Book Pavilion, where there are many collections or handwritten writings by Jian familys generations of cultivators about some important and interesting things in the cultivation world. Since they were going out, they naturally needed to have more understanding of the outside environment.

  This library is managed by a shriveled, obese middle-aged man. Zhao Di bribed him with two pills of Qi Gathering Powder and he agreed to let Zhao Di read books here for half a month, but did not allow Zhao Di to borrow them out.

  Since practicing the "Chasing Wave Scripture", Zhao felt that his hearing, vision and various senses had become extremely sharp, and even his brain seemed to be getting better. As his cultivation continued to advance, this sensory enhancement became more pronounced. After entering the fourth layer of the Refining Qi period, if he put in all his effort, he could hear the sound of a cricket crawling on the ground over 20 meters away outside the house, or see a single strand of hair attached to the grass tens of meters away. As for his brain, he couldnt say that he had a photographic memory, but it wasnt far off either.

  It is said that as long as one reaches the sixth layer of Qi Refining or above, most cultivators can achieve a photographic memory.

  Although the library had over a thousand books, Zhao Di seemed to be reading very quickly. For each book, he would first skim through it, and if there was useful information, he would take a closer look; otherwise, he would put it back in its original place. Even so, after half a month of searching through the library, Zhao Dis head was hurting from overthinking.

  But the harvest of this half month is also surprising, Zhao Di finally has a general understanding of the outside world, especially the Golden Flame Nations cultivation world, and also has a general direction for future outings.

  He didnt dare to hope that he could walk out of the South China Mountain canyon and have good luck, with piles of good things waiting for him to pick up. To continue cultivating in the immortal world, he must have the ability to continuously obtain some spiritual pills and medicines that can strengthen his foundation and improve his cultivation. Otherwise, with his qualifications, its unlikely that he could reach the tenth layer of Qi Refining even if he cultivated until he was a hundred years old, and his lifespan would be similar to that of ordinary mortals. At that time, there would be no opportunity for him to continue pursuing the path of immortality.

  According to Zhao Dis understanding in the classics, there are only two paths to continue cultivation:

  The first is to rely on a Xianmen sect.

  The Golden Flame Nation has over a thousand large and small immortal families and sects, but the most powerful ones are the three orthodox schools and four gates, known as the Seven Great Sects. These seven great immortal giants almost monopolize all the immortal resources in the Golden Flame Nation, from spiritual herbs to precious mines. The rest of the medium and small forces can only survive by relying on these seven giants. Some forces are branches of one of the seven major sects, while others pay tribute to a large sect every year and receive recognition and protection. Even immortal families have a close relationship with the Seven Great Sects. Some immortal families belong to a certain sect and are mainly responsible for continuously sending excellent cultivators to the sect. Most immortal families ancestors were also high-ranking cultivators of the Seven Great Sects, who were allowed to establish their own families after making great contributions to the sect. These immortal families often maintain good cooperative relations with a certain large sect. If the sect encounters danger, they will stand up for the sect due to their close relationship.

  If one can join a certain immortal sect, they will receive certain responsibilities. As long as they complete the tasks specified by their responsibilities, they can enjoy certain benefits and treatment, such as elixirs and so on. The principle that its good to take advantage of a big trees shade is something everyone understands. Therefore, every time these seven sects recruit disciples, the young cultivators of Jin Yan Country are all eager to join.

  The seven major sects disciple quotas are becoming increasingly sought after, and the requirements for entry will not be too low. With Zhao Dis current cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refining and his pseudo-spirit root attribute of the Five Spirits Root, it is fundamentally impossible for any major immortal sect to want to take him as a disciple, let alone smaller sects.

  Even if Zhao Di was lucky enough to join a small sect, the cultivation resources available to such a sect are extremely limited. They can only allocate these scarce resources to some talented elite disciples, how could they possibly take care of someone like Zhao Di? Its likely that later on, there will be many trivial matters to attend to, and not even have time for meditation and practice.

  This road is now impassable for Zhao Di, and there is another road that Zhao Di barely has a glimmer of hope for. That is to master a skill, and be able to make a living in the immortal world.

  Speaking of a specialty, it is inevitable to mention the four popular professions in the Xianxia world. In addition to the first-ranked alchemist, there are also artifact refiners, formation masters, and talisman makers.

  The Refiner is a master of special artifacts that only cultivators can use, and like the Alchemist, they require the support of their sect to be cultivated. Without personally refining dozens of artifacts and accumulating necessary experience, its impossible to become a Refiner. The materials used for refinement are also precious spiritual objects, ordinary cultivators have no chance to come into contact with and refine so many artifacts.

  As for the formation masters, apart from having a certain level of attainment in alchemy, they must also understand many profound and mysterious principles of formations. Such people are even fewer, often only one formation master exists in a medium-sized sect, while smaller sects cannot possibly have a formation master.

  The lowest-ranking Fu Master is the person who makes talismans. Talismans are a good thing that monks often use. In short, making talismans is to seal a certain spell and its spiritual power in a special symbol on the talisman paper by the Fu Master, creating a talisman with this spells power. When using this talisman, just recite a few short incantations, sacrifice a little spiritual power on the talisman paper, and the sealed spell can be immediately activated, which is much more convenient than using spells. Moreover, once the talisman is refined, it can be sold or given to other monks, who can also use it easily.

  Taking the fireball symbol as an example, it is a seal that has sealed the "fireball technique" of this low-ranking spell. The four elders of the Jian family had once given a fireball symbol to one of their direct descendants, also from the same batch as Zhao Di, a little girl. This little girl had the attributes of gold, wood, and water, but not fire, and originally couldnt cast the "fireball technique". However, she took out a yellow paper strip about 10 cm long and 5-6 cm wide, with a flame shape and strange red symbols that looked like centipedes. She shook it in front of her body, and instantly turned into a ball of fire, scaring Zhao Di and the others who were seeing the symbol for the first time.

  The little girl saw several people staring blankly, apparently her goal was achieved, and she walked away with a satisfied clap. Zhao Di asked for a long time afterwards, only to figure out that the thing painted with strange symbols was the legendary talisman.

  The use of talismans is not just convenient and quick, but also has many unimaginable uses, making it one of the most commonly used things by cultivators, along with elixirs.

  If there is a drawback to Fu Lu Shou, then there are two shortcomings.

  First, talismans are consumable items. For example, offensive talismans like fireball talismans can only be used once and will turn to ash after use. Some auxiliary or defensive talismans can be used multiple times, but when the spiritual energy sealed within is depleted, they will also self-ignite and disappear into ash. Therefore, among talismans of the same level, defensive talismans are generally a bit more expensive than offensive ones.

  Since its a consumable item that can be used only once and is less expensive, most cultivators wont easily use talismans unless theyre in a critical situation.

  Secondly, the success rate of making talismans is too low. Generally speaking, even for the lowest-level "Fireball Talisman" and "Vajra Talisman", which are primary talismans in the Qi-refining stage, newcomers often have to fail dozens or even hundreds of times before successfully creating one. Even for experienced hands with thousands of attempts, the success rate is usually only around 30%. If its a higher-level talisman, not only do the requirements for the talisman paper, cinnabar, and talisman brush increase, but the success rate also drops significantly.