One month later.
Inside the alchemy chamber, Ning Fa was cultivating. His entire body was enveloped by a sphere of blue-black circular lightning, its surface covered in countless threads of lightning that flickered in and out of existence. It exuded an aura of destruction, yet also of vibrant life.
Within the lightning sphere, Ning Fa's eyes were tightly shut, his expression solemn. Beads of sweat appeared on his face, and his hands moved in a continuous, rapid rotation of hand seals.
As he abruptly changed his hand seals.
A loud buzzing of electric current, "Sizzle," erupted.
The lightning shield around him instantly contracted into a fist-sized lightning sphere that hovered before him.
This lightning sphere fluctuated, its surface covered in numerous blue-black runes resembling lightning, constantly moving and appearing incredibly mysterious.
Following this, the blue-black lightning sphere rapidly contracted and shot into his abdomen.
Within Ning Fa's dantian, a blue-black point of light first appeared, then expanded explosively into a blue-black lightning sphere the size of a baby's fist, seemingly formed from countless bolts of lightning power.
Innumerable threads of lightning shot out from this lightning sphere, flying towards Ning Fa's limbs and torso, passing through numerous meridians and acupoints.
Immediately, blue-black electrical currents flashed around Ning Fa, making him appear as if he were within a mass of blue-black thunderclouds, a sight of profound mystery.
A surge of ancient, primal thunderous power, subtly laced with killing intent, emanated from Ning Fa.
In an instant, the blue-black electrical currents around Ning Fa retracted, the phenomenon dissipated, and the preceding scene vanished as if it were a dream.
Ning Fa opened his eyes, a smile of relief appearing on his face.
After a full month, he had successfully cultivated the most crucial part of the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture: the Main Thunder Source.
The process had gone so smoothly that even he found it hard to believe.
After all, the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture stated that cultivating the Main Thunder Source in the dantian was extremely difficult, with success only expected after at least one to two years.
Now, Ning Fa had accomplished it in a mere month, which could only be described as miraculous.
This was naturally due to the marvel of his Great Five Elements Thunder Body.
Ning Fa now deeply understood what it meant for the Five Elements Thunder Body to provide a significant boost to the cultivation of lightning-attribute techniques.
Just then, the Thunder Rune Pattern within his dantian suddenly appeared. It faced the blue-black lightning sphere and then slowly began to absorb it.
Subsequently, from the other side of the Thunder Rune Pattern, a significantly smaller silver lightning sphere gradually emerged.
Although it had shrunk, the lightning power contained within it appeared even more potent.
With the appearance of this silver lightning sphere, Ning Fa's spiritual pressure noticeably increased.
Ning Fa was only slightly taken aback, but not surprised.
Even the spiritual power cultivated from the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture was refined by this Five Elements Thunder Rune Pattern; the conversion rate was simply much higher, around three to one.
Now that the Thunder Source had been refined into a silver Thunder Source by the Five Elements Thunder Rune Pattern, it didn't seem particularly strange.
And being able to cultivate the Main Thunder Source in just a month, besides his mysterious physique, was also thanks to the many Essence Replenishing Pills he had consumed during this period.
These pills were all refined by Ning Fa himself, and his mastery of refining this particular pill had reached an extremely high level.
The Essence Replenishing Pills he refined surpassed ordinary Essence Replenishing Pills in both quality and efficacy, making them top-grade Essence Replenishing Pills.
He had previously asked his cousin, Ning Zifeng, for help in purchasing spiritual materials for Essence Replenishing Pills. After he refined them into pills, he had Ning Zifeng take them to the Jinchang Island Market to sell.
This allowed him to earn a considerable amount of Spirit Stones, which he primarily used to buy spiritual materials for Essence Replenishing Pills, and then refine them for his own cultivation.
Ning Fa used this method of consuming pills to compensate for the insufficient concentration of his spirit veins.
If other cultivators in the early Qi Condensation stage knew about Ning Fa's extravagant cultivation method, they would surely be driven mad with jealousy. Most low-level cultivators only dared to consume such cultivation-advancing pills when breaking through bottlenecks.
Even ordinary Alchemists could not afford such lavishness, but who could blame Ning Fa when he possessed the heaven-defying Mysterious Scroll, which allowed him to refine pills with an almost 100% success rate?
Ning Zifeng did not harbor any resistance to Ning Fa's requests and diligently ran errands for him.
This cousin had clearly expressed to Ning Fa earlier that he could ask for his help anytime, as Ning Fa was now the hope of their lineage, and he would assist Ning Fa with all his might.
Now, he was fulfilling his promise with his actions.
Ning Fa felt even more satisfied with his cousin and had already planned to properly support him once he broke through to the middle Qi Condensation stage and became a Rank 1 Mid-grade Alchemist, helping him reach the late Qi Condensation stage quickly and become his reliable subordinate.
Ning Fa's eyes flashed.
Now that the Main Thunder Source had been cultivated, he wanted to seize the momentum and attempt to break through to the middle Qi Condensation stage.
However, he abandoned the attempt after just trying it once, as he still hadn't felt the presence of a bottleneck, indicating that his current spiritual power was still insufficient.
"It seems I'll have to try cultivating a Lesser Thunder Source. It's fine, more Lesser Thunder Sources are always better."
Ning Fa smiled. The smooth cultivation of the Main Thunder Source gave him great confidence in cultivating the subsequent Lesser Thunder Sources.
A few more days passed.
In the alchemy chamber, steam billowed as another batch of Essence Replenishing Pills was completed.
The furnace lid was opened, and six perfectly round, plump, milky-white pills flew out from the alchemy furnace into Ning Fa's hand.
Ning Fa smiled slightly. He felt that his mastery of this pill had reached a new level; in recent days, his success rate had been at least ninety percent.
However, this batch of pills was not for his own consumption but was to be submitted to the clan.
Two days ago, a family steward came to visit. After confirming that Ning Fa's injuries had healed, he handed over the prepared spiritual materials for fifteen Essence Replenishing Pills to Ning Fa.
This meant he would officially begin his monthly alchemy duties, producing fifteen Essence Replenishing Pills per month with a success rate no lower than sixty percent.
For Ning Fa at this moment, this wasn't too much pressure.
He also planned to refine some extra pills. Besides taking them himself, he wanted to quickly accumulate contribution points and exchange them for the "Travelogue of Yun Songzi" from the Scripture Pavilion.
He was very interested in understanding the current state of the cultivation world.
Just then, Ning Fa's expression shifted. He then took out a green triangular formation flag and pointed it forward.
A green light shot out from the flag, and a shimmering blue and white light rippled on the wall in front of him. A fiery light then flew in and landed before Ning Fa.
A charming voice emanated from the fiery light, "The Ninth Elder has returned and is available for the next three days."
Ning Fa's face lit up. This was a message from Ning Xiuying.
A month ago, when he returned from the Scripture Pavilion on Ningchang Island, he had intended to visit Yun Chang Island to thank Ning Shaohong in person. Coincidentally, she had gone to Tianshui Market on business, and it seemed she had only just returned.
Ning Shaohong had helped him so much, and she was his only backing in the family now. He naturally wanted to maintain a good relationship with her.
Ning Fa tidied himself up and then headed to the dock to take a Spirit Boat to Yun Chang Island.
Furthermore, after returning from Yun Chang Island, he planned to visit Lingchang Island as well.
He wanted Wei Chengzong to teach him the pill formulas for the Qi Replenishing Pill and the Spring Return Pill, as these two pills he also needed to master.
A little more than half a day later, Ning Fa arrived at the dock on Yun Chang Island again.
He saw Ning Xiuying again, the fiery beauty in a full set of red battle armor.
Below her short skirt armor, her slender legs were like white pythons, dazzlingly white.
Ning Fa first discreetly glanced at her prominent chest. Ning Xiuying gave him a knowing smile, and her chest seemed to tremble subtly, her surging curves making even the experienced Ning Fa struggle to maintain composure.
Ning Fa quickly coughed twice and then said with a straight face, "Sister Xiuying, please inform her. I have something I wish to discuss with the Ninth Elder."
Ning Xiuying shot him a sideways glance, seemingly mocking his desire but lack of courage.
"Follow me. The Ninth Elder instructed that if you came, you could find her."
Ning Xiuying said with a light laugh.