Ji An suddenly thought of a question and asked:
"Senior Brother, since cultivators at the early Qi Refining stage can't endure the agitated spiritual qi of the daytime, doesn't that mean Senior Brother Liu Yu also can't cultivate during this time?"
"Xiao An," Huang chuckled, "our cultivation is simply about running our techniques to draw in the free-floating qi of heaven and earth.
With the wealth Liu Junior Brother has shown, I can't say for certain about spirit food, but pills? He'll never lack them.
After taking spirit food or pills, the qi contained within them is prioritized during refinement. Even if some stray ambient qi is absorbed, the amount is too little to cause any trouble."
Ji An nodded slightly. Talking about toxicity without considering dosage is just sophistry.
"I understand. But isn't it said that pills always carry some degree of pill poison?
Even a simple Yellow Sprout Pill, made mainly from yellow sprout rice, requires at least two or three days between doses."
"Junior Brother, have you ever heard of a Spirit-Draining Array?"
Ji An cupped his hands respectfully.
"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother."
Huang clearly enjoyed this role of teacher. He nodded with satisfaction before continuing:
"We cultivators can directly absorb the spiritual power from spirit crystals and stones, but the energy inside is far too violent. Unless in an emergency, we avoid using them directly.
A Spirit-Draining Array draws out the spiritual qi stored in crystals, transforming it into a neutral, balanced flow just like the natural qi of heaven and earth.
True, there's some loss in the process, but compared to the advantage of rapidly improving one's cultivation? That loss is nothing worth mentioning."
He clicked his tongue with a sigh.
"Even the most basic Spirit-Draining Array disk costs twenty spirit stones. Add the activation costs and the spirit stones it burns, and only the truly wealthy can afford to use one."
Ji An thought about his own meager wealth, only five spirit crystals, and how his father, an eighth-level Qi Refiner, had scraped together just twenty-seven spirit stones over a lifetime. He sighed inwardly:
"Most people's fates are decided the moment they're born."
Reincarnation was a skill of its own. Those born well were given such a high floor that ordinary people, no matter how hard they toiled their entire lives, couldn't even touch it.
"Exactly!" Huang spat as he spoke with intensity:
"Those born with their ancestral apertures open and immortal meridians already visible once taken in by a sect, they need do nothing. Pills, spirit food, and Spirit-Draining Arrays are all provided.
With the most suitable cultivation method laid before them, they don't even need to practice spells. Within a few months, half a year at most, they'll inevitably step into Foundation Establishment.
How does one advance quickly in the Qi Refining stage? At the end of the day, it's just about absorbing spiritual qi, refining it into spiritual power, and pushing forward!
Even a pig, given such treatment, could become a Foundation Establishment pig demon!"
So this is the immortal cultivator's version of: "If you're standing at the right wind's edge, even pigs can fly."
Ji An grinned, baring his teeth.
"Senior Brother, your words cut right to the heart of it."
Huang sighed, his tone softening.
"My own path is finished. Both of my sons failed to enter a sect; they could only live as rogue cultivators, and both fell hunting demon beasts.
Now, all my hopes rest on my grandson. With my remaining years, I'll carve out a higher starting point for him.
If Feihu can reach Foundation Establishment… my life will have been worth it."
Huang's slightly clouded eyes dimmed for a moment, then lit up again.
He gave Ji An a few more pointers about farming, then left quickly.
During the days before the spirit grain sprouted, Ji An spent nearly all his time refining spiritual essences into spirit crystals, aside from the hours he dedicated to drawing in heaven-and-earth qi and refining it into mana.
If it weren't for the fact that spellcasting required mana, he would have gladly sacrificed even his cultivation time to earn more spirit crystals.
Every day, before dawn at the hour of Mao, he would arrive at Bihaio Lake and refine streams of water-element essence until mid-morning. By the time the hour of Chen was halfway past and the sun had fully lit the sky, he would leave the fire-element qi become too active, and the water essence sank into the depths of the lake, making harvest impossible.
At the start of the hour of Si, Ji An would leave the sect and wander the nearby wilderness, refining wood-element essence or condensing wood-element beads.
If luck was on his side, he might stumble upon a spirit herb or spiritual material, an unexpected windfall.
The yield was never great, but it was safe. After all, he was just an ordinary spirit farmer. He didn't know many offensive spells, though he did have one escape technique, Wind-Riding Technique, which he had cultivated to Minor Completion.
Back in his own spiritual field, Ji An worked diligently, pulling weeds by hand.
Since the weeds had to be uprooted completely, he first used the Minor Rain Technique to moisten the soil before getting to work.
As a new disciple spirit farmer, the sect only granted enough spirit grain seeds to cover two mu of land. This was the only time seeds were provided for free.
Senior Brother Huang had advised him to plant only half a mu this year; his cultivation was shallow, his spells unrefined, and his yield would surely be poor otherwise.
Ji An accepted the advice and decided to cultivate just half a mu of land.
He had the stone tortoise, which meant his spell mastery would progress quickly, but without enough mana, that advantage was meaningless.
Once he harvested his first crop, he could then decide how many more mu of spiritual fields to cultivate.
Half a mu was about three hundred square meters. It didn't sound like much, but it still took Ji An most of the day to clear the weeds.
When he finally finished, he returned to his bamboo house, placed a jade slip against his forehead, and began studying the Thick Earth Formula.
With a better method available, there was no need to rely on hoes and spades anymore.
As an entry-level spell, the formula wasn't difficult, much like the Minor Rain Technique.
This time, it only took him half an hour to commit the essentials to memory.
He began practicing the hand seals. Perhaps because there were similarities between different spell seals, he found it easier this time; he mastered the transitions far faster than he had with the rain technique.
Since he didn't have enough mana left to actually cast the spell, Ji An set the seals aside and went out to prepare his evening meal.
By now, cooking smoke rose in lazy spirals across the valley, and the spirit farmers trudged home under the glow of the setting sun. The scene unfolded like a living ink painting.
He steamed a bowl of coarse rice, added half a bowl of wild greens, and that was dinner.
While the rice cooked, he skimmed through the sect rules listed in the jade slip.
By the time the moon climbed over the treetops, fireflies flickered in the grass, crickets sang their nighttime tunes, and the valley grew tranquil.
Ji An set a cushion down in his courtyard, lit mosquito-repelling incense, and sat cross-legged to cultivate the Clear Source Sutra.
Strands of heaven-and-earth qi entered his body, flowing along his immortal meridians in prescribed paths before refining into specks of mana that gathered in his qi sea.
As expected, half of it was swallowed by the stone tortoise.
When the efficiency of his refinement began to decline, Ji An ended the session.
Even so, he felt refreshed, sharp-eyed, and energized, all the fatigue of the day's labor swept away.
With mana in his body, he recalled the key points of the Thick Earth Formula, then formed the hand seals and cast the spell.
A dull yellow light shimmered brightly in the night, spreading across a dozen square feet of soil.
He didn't pause to check the effects. Instead, Ji An immediately focused on the stone tortoise.
[Master: Ji An]
[Dao Resonance: 0]
[Spiritual Qi: Kan 0.2, Kun 1.4, Xun 0.7]
[Spells: Minor Rain Technique (Initiate 89%), Thick Earth Formula (Initiate 1%)]
Refine all Kan and Kun Qi!
His consciousness was drawn once more into that profound inner space. First, he stood at the Kan position, practicing the Minor Rain Technique. Then, in a blink, he shifted to the Kun position, cultivating the Thick Earth Formula.
[Spells: Minor Rain Technique (Initiate 89% → Proficient 1%)
Thick Earth Formula (Initiate 1% → 83%)]