Chapter Eighteen: Extravagant Cultivation

  All the way, asked several places, either slightly expensive or poor quality. Ling Xiao was not in a hurry, slowly walking along the direction of the city's depths.

  "Special divine artifact, driving and refining secret manual for sale! Scythe, flying claw, flying hammer... 1 piece of low-grade spirit stone per set!"

  Ling Xiao's heart stirred slightly, for in the mundane world, there was still talk of eighteen types of weapons; but the magical tools used by cultivators were even more varied and numerous. Among them, flying swords, needles, mirrors, and flags were the most common, while flying claws and sickle hooks were relatively rare. The secret manuals for these weapons were also extremely scarce and difficult to come by; however, if a seller had one in hand, it was equally difficult to sell.

  One set of low-grade spirit stones for this price, it's really not that expensive. The secret manuals used by Qi Refining stage cultivators are mostly within the range of 1 to 10 low-grade spirit stones.

  Moreover, the law-protecting treasure and the blade, although they can be used as soon as they are offered. But if there is a special secret book, it can make the law-protecting treasure more mysterious and powerful, and exert greater power. Ling Xiao had just obtained the Wujin Claw, and had also confirmed that he would use the flying claw for a while in the future, so he was quite moved by such a secret book.

  Ling Xiao calmed his mind and walked over steadily.

  But seeing that the seller was a young man, similar in age to himself, with over a dozen jade slips placed in front of him, he must have been referring to these as his "secret recipes".

  "The secret recipe of the Flying Claw Clan, I'll take a look." Ling Xiao said straightforwardly.

  The seller rummaged through and handed over a jade slip. Ling Xiao took it, stuck it to his forehead, and examined it with his divine sense. The jade slip was a tool used by cultivators to record various information and secret books; although it looked like a small piece of jade pendant, it could be engraved with a large amount of data using one's divine sense, and it could be stored for a long time. And as long as one scanned it with their divine sense, they could easily see the contents inside, very convenient.

  Of course, for a cultivator like Ling Xiao who is still in the Qi Refining stage, his understanding and application of divine sense are still extremely shallow. Therefore, he needs to stick his divine sense on his forehead in order to achieve it.

  There is a simple restriction in the Jade Simplification, Ling Xiao knows that this means preventing the buyer from completing all the secret recipes.

  Only a detailed introduction to the secret recipe is available, but the specific cultivation method has not been involved.

  Ling Xiao finished quickly, slightly hesitating. This should only be a fragment of a secret recipe, not complete; but the power revealed is already extraordinary. With special techniques, the power of Fei Zhao can be increased by more than 30% in a short period of time. It should be considered a relatively practical secret recipe.

  "This set of secret recipes is incomplete, can you lower the price?"

  "The seller said cautiously: 'How much are you prepared to give?'"

  "What about taking a One-Grain Lower Grade Pill of Cultivation?" Ling Xiao asked decisively.

  One inferior Pill of Cultivation, only worth half an inferior Spirit Stone. Of course, the Spirit Stone can't be cut in half for use. Damaging the structure of the Spirit Stone would cause it to lose more than half of its spiritual energy.

  The price was cut too much, the seller hesitated, but seeing Ling Xiao getting up to leave, he finally gritted his teeth and said: "Deal!"

  ……

  He bought the secret recipe and Ling Xiao immediately turned around, using the remaining two pieces of low-grade spirit stone to buy eight portions of Pei Yuan Dan's materials in the market. Originally, he also wanted to purchase a protective talisman and take a look at some suitable spells. But his pockets were really empty, so he had no choice but to reluctantly give up and hurry back to Qi Yun Peak.

  However, it's still very delightful. With the Black Gold Claw to protect him, his combat strength will instantly take a huge leap forward. Even among the Qi Refining Third Layer disciples, few can wield mid-grade artifacts; although his cultivation is slightly inferior, this Black Gold Claw is of even higher quality than Qizheng's Qingfeng Sword.

  His fighting strength is probably barely among the top ten in that batch of disciples.

  This was even more unimaginable in the past...

  He hurried towards Qiyun Peak, his footsteps seemingly lighter. After leaving the old town far behind, he looked around and saw no one, then took out his flying claws, grabbed a thick branch in the distance, pulled his hand back, and with a push of both feet, his entire body suddenly borrowed force to fly forward.

  As a result, the speed increased even more.

  Ling Xiao hurried along the road, familiarizing himself with the newly acquired Black Gold Claw. This flying claw was indeed worth its price, and it moved extremely quickly; almost as soon as he activated the spell, the flying claw would suddenly appear over ten zhang away. At first, he could hardly keep up with the speed of the flying claw.

  Fortunately, after his cultivation entered the second layer of Qi Refining, his true energy became even more abundant and his reactions faster. He gradually became familiar with the flying claws, and his movements slowly became more fluid.

  But saw a figure in the thicket, first paused, then flashed with black light, and then a figure suddenly rushed out for a long distance, and then paused again... So it repeated, flying quickly forward.

  When I returned to Qiyun Peak, it was already quite late.

  Feng Yi was indeed waiting outside his residence again, with a worried face. Until he saw him return, he finally revealed a happy smile and put his mind at ease.

  Ling Xiao was heartbroken and moved, pulling her back while saying: "Feng Yi, from now on, if you return first, just go back to your room to cultivate and rest, no need to wait for me all the time."

  Feng Yi's face turned slightly red, she lowered her head and whispered: "But... I need to see Ling Xiao to feel at ease."

  Ling Xiao's footsteps didn't pause for a moment.

  Deep down, he just felt warm and fuzzy. He and Fengyi were also considered childhood sweethearts, right? When he was very young, he became an orphan, and Fengyi's parents were kind-hearted people who often had him stay at their home to eat and sleep. They even joked that the two of them, with their close relationship, were like siblings.

  At that time it was of course a joke, but until now, the feeling is still the same. Between them, they are really closer than real siblings.

  Ling Xiao grasped Feng Yi's hand a bit tightly without realizing it.

  They have been taking care of each other since they were young, and after coming to the Qiyun Sect, they have been supporting each other even more. And in the future, it will be like this too, walking together on the path of cultivation.

  ……

  After exchanging the materials for eight pieces of Pei Yuan Dan in the market, Ling Xiao did not rush to refine the elixir again. Instead, he calmed down and spent his days cultivating diligently.

  Before long, it was mid-month again.

  This month, both of them have been collecting medicine and hunting demonic beasts, as well as submitting Ling Xiao's Pei Yuan Dan to obtain contribution points for the sect. It has been their most productive month so far. The 100 contribution points stipulated by the sect are naturally not a problem.

  He got a total of 350 contribution points and spent 200 points to exchange for four pills.

  Fengyi got even more, with over 450 contribution points, most of which were also exchanged for Peiyuan Dan. In fact, this was also the place where outer sect disciples consumed the most.

  This month's big lecture is taught by Liu Weng Laozhang, who teaches the painting of talismans.

  Due to the relatively easy-to-obtain materials used for low-level talismans, during the grand lecture of the sect, Elder Liu also distributed some talisman papers and raw materials to all disciples for practice in drawing talismans. Of course, each person only got two sheets of talisman paper and just enough raw materials for two uses.

  But apparently Ling Xiao didn't have any talent either, and both times he practiced, ended in failure.

  He also secretly used the flames in his body to burn the failed talismans, but no matter how hard he tried, the flames seemed to dislike it as well, and instead of burning, they rolled up to one side like ordinary paper.

  Ling Xiao had no choice but to give up.

  Later, he secretly pondered that the creation of this talisman was different from alchemy. The paper itself had no success or failure to speak of; success or failure depended on the drawing of the characters on it.

  But this is what the flames in the body cannot burn away.

  He was quite disappointed in his heart, originally still hoping to get a low-grade paper charm like this, now he had no choice but to give up. The drawing of the talisman is not simple, and the Qi Yun Sect does not excel in talismans either. Among the outer disciples, only a few people were lucky enough to draw successfully.

  They are all just inferior paper symbols and have not even reached a medium level.

  After the grand lecture of the sect at the middle of the month, fewer and fewer people heard about Ling Xiao's reputation. Ling Xiao also began to feel more at ease and was preparing to take action again to refine the elixir.

  This time I have more confidence and am bolder.

  Xiang Fengyi borrowed another 150 points, adding to his remaining ones, and got a total of 300 contribution points, which were all exchanged for materials. In addition to the eight portions exchanged from the market, he obtained a total of 23 portions of materials.

  With the help of that strange flame in his body, this alchemy was also smooth sailing. Successfully refined 4 low-grade Cultivation Origin Pills, 15 medium-grade and 4 high-grade Cultivation Origin Pills. Then took out 3 low-grade and 2 medium-grade Cultivation Origin Pills from among them to complete the sect's task.

  He also paid special attention to the kind of elixir that Jin Lao mentioned, which had an efficacy of nearly 90%. However, this time he didn't see it, which made him somewhat regretful.

  So one grain is worth 600 contribution points and 6 pieces of low-grade spirit stone.

  Of course, it's also worth mentioning that in the process, he was startled, and the number of low-grade Pilgrim Pills he refined was too small! Fortunately, he still managed to refine 4 pills; otherwise, he really wouldn't have known how to complete his task. Would he have had to submit mid-grade Pilgrim Pills? That would be too embarrassing for an outer sect disciple.

  Fortunately, there was a mishap in between, and a lower-quality...

  Ling Xiao's heart was called lucky, and after wiping away the cold sweat, he also secretly measured it. Why did the quality of his refined elixirs generally turn out to be high? After thinking about it, he secretly suspected that it was because the refining powder he used was directly made from the flames burning within his body. The purity of the powder was very high, so when forming the elixir, the quality of the elixir also turned out to be relatively higher.

  That's certainly good news.

  As for the troubles brought about by having multiple tasks at hand, I suppose it can only be described as a happy trouble.

  Then gave Fengyi 4 grains of medium-grade Peiyuandan. The rest, leaving more than half of the Dan medicine to take, in addition to assisting in cultivation, also quietly went to the next market, sold some, and exchanged for four low-grade attack paper talismans, Huojian symbol, Huoshe symbol, etc.; And two medium-grade defensive paper talismans, Yanguang shield; As well as one high-grade paper talisman, Huodun symbol.

  Then there was nothing left again.

  Ling Xiao couldn't help but feel a sense of emotion, although the speed at which he earned contribution points and spirit stones was not slow, his expenses were also not inferior.

  Of course, with sufficient elixirs and further enhanced strength, this is also something that other outer sect disciples dare not think about. After all, other outer sect disciples can only exchange for two or three low-grade cultivation pills per month at most. And the talismans used are also only low-grade talismans.

  Now Ling Xiao's strength, if calculated with the use of a one-time consumable item like the talisman, he estimated that he could even rival Qi Ming.

  And this time's elixir is even more abundant, Ling Xiao still takes one pill every three days as before.

  Each time I take it, it is - Zhong Pin Pei Yuan Dan.

  It's not that he wants to be so extravagant, but the mid-grade Peiyuandan in his hand is more than the low-grade one. Although it can also sell the mid-grade Peiyuandan and exchange it for a lower grade, it's troublesome to say nothing of the back-and-forth trouble, and some of the price difference will be lost. Calculating that it's not as cost-effective as taking the mid-grade Peiyuandan directly.

  He had no choice but to give up and continue with this "luxury".

  Let's not mention that he is an outer door disciple, even if it is a inner door disciple who has entered the door for many years, most of them are also inferior and medium-grade Yuan Dan mixed with each other. Who can be like him, mainly taking medium-grade Yuan Dan, occasionally still able to take a few grains of high-grade to improve?

  And so, Ling Xiao's cultivation was advancing at a stunning speed.