Chapter 11

Twenty days later, Su Shier exhaled a white breath, and his entire body's joints made a popping sound like beans bursting.

At this moment, his eyes were bloodshot, his body had thinned, and he looked extremely exhausted. But his face was filled with a faint smile.

These twenty days had felt like an eternity to him, filled with unbearable pain.

However, the effect of refining this Qi Gathering Pill was also evident. The true essence in his body had grown from the size of a grain of rice to the size of a soybean.

Now, he had truly become a first-stage Qi Condensation cultivator.

"Indeed, pills are truly good things! Although I had to endure great pain to take the Spirit Gathering Pill, my cultivation speed has increased by more than ten times. In the end, it's still very worthwhile!"

"According to Senior Sister Xiao Yue, Han Yu reached the first stage of Qi Condensation in just ten days. Although my speed isn't as fast as his, it should be about the same as the average person."

Su Shier clenched his fists, his face filled with excitement. He didn't want to compare himself with anyone; for him, being able to advance to the first stage of Qi Condensation in such a short time was already very good.

Controlling his excitement, Su Shier didn't rush to continue his cultivation.

"Although I barely managed to refine this Qi Gathering Pill, my meridians were damaged in the process."

"If I don't wait for my meridians to recover and try again, I will surely die."

"But this is a good opportunity to practice the two techniques in the cultivation method. Otherwise, if I really encounter danger, I won't have the ability to protect myself."

Su Shier thought to himself, swallowed a small recovery pill to heal his injuries, and then got up and went to the courtyard.

Recalling the information about the Fire Control Technique in his mind, he tried to mobilize his true essence and formed hand seals.

"Whoosh..."

In the next second, a fist-sized ball of high-temperature flame appeared in front of him.

The flame flickered rapidly, showing a tendency to escape his control. Su Shier had to increase his true essence.

However, the more he did so, the more unstable the flame became.

In a blink, his true essence was completely depleted.

The flame in the air also vanished with a puff.

At the same time, Su Shier's body went limp, and he collapsed in the courtyard, drenched in sweat and feeling as if all his strength had been drained.

The difficulty of the Fire Control Technique and the consumption of true essence exceeded his imagination.

But Su Shier was not someone who gave up easily. He sat down on the spot and quietly restored his true essence.

Once his true essence was restored, he immediately continued practicing.

This process was extremely monotonous and tedious. If it were other children of the same age, they would find it hard to endure the loneliness, but Su Shier, driven by a strong resolve, didn't find it boring at all.

Gradually, his control over his true essence became more and more proficient. His true essence, in the process of continuous consumption and replenishment, grew slightly.

This discovery delighted Su Shier.

In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed since he joined Yun Ge Sect.

On this evening, in the forest beside the failed pill room, Su Shier was hunched over, leaning against a towering tree, panting heavily.

Compared to half a year ago, his skin had become much darker, and his body had become more robust.

In front of him, three low-level wolf demons with bloodshot eyes, the size of oxen, and covered in wounds, were slowly approaching with bared teeth.

Facing the crisis, he remained calm, quickly forming hand seals and gathering the last bit of his true essence.

"Whirlwind!"

"Fire Control!"

With each low chant, a strong wind blew through the forest, obscuring the wolf demons' vision. Several high-temperature fireballs took the opportunity to land on the wolf demons.

"Bang, bang, bang~"

In the wind and sand, several sparks flew.

The three wolf demons, already at the end of their strength, could no longer hold on. They let out mournful cries and fell to the ground, dead.

Seeing this, Su Shier didn't rush forward but sat down on the spot to meditate.

After a moment, he got up and threw several more fireballs, smashing the heads of the wolf demons to pieces. Only then did he step forward, skillfully tying the wolf demon corpses with a rope and heading towards the failed pill room.

In half a year of cultivation, Su Shier had not only become proficient in the two techniques but also increased his true essence from the size of a soybean to the size of a broad bean.

"These two techniques are already very proficient, but unfortunately, my true essence is still too weak, and I can only cast the spells three times at most. In the future, I still need to rely on the Qi Gathering Pill for hard cultivation. But before that, I need to collect the Essence Cultivation Pill issued by the sect."

"Although I have the mysterious pill furnace and can produce as many Essence Cultivation Pills as I want, it would be strange for a new disciple to not collect the pills for a long time."

"Moreover, if possible, I need to find out the true identity of the black-clothed man."

Su Shier walked along the road, silently planning.

He was already quite intelligent, and in the past half year, he had taken Essence Cultivation Pills every day. Although his constitution hadn't improved, his thinking had become increasingly agile.

After sending the wolf demon corpses back and changing into the disciple uniform issued by the sect, he immediately set off for the Pill Hall.

There was a Pill Hall on each peak, and in principle, disciples from each peak could only collect pills from their respective Pill Halls.

The sect issued pills and other resources once a year, and they could be collected at any time.

In just an hour, Su Shier arrived outside the Pill Hall on Luofu Peak.

From the outside, the Pill Hall looked like a square quadrangle courtyard. The open gate had a plaque hanging above it, inscribed with the three characters "Pill Hall."

Looking through the gate, a five-meter-tall giant pill furnace stood in the center of the courtyard. Smoke rose from the furnace, and the fragrance spread for miles.

Su Shier walked straight into the courtyard and saw seven new disciples, about his age, each with a joyful expression, queuing up to collect pills.

Among them were the three children who had joined Luofu Peak with him on the same day.

In the past half year, they had been learning to read and write. Today, they had finally passed and were eager to collect their pills.

Compared to Su Shier, these people looked much more naive.

Seeing Su Shier enter, the three children immediately recognized him and were very surprised.

"That little beggar! He's still alive?"

None of them had expected that Su Shier could stay in the failed pill room for so long on his own.

The chubby boy, Zhu Hanwei, who was at the end of the queue, raised his eyebrows and widened his eyes.

"Didn't they say there were fierce beasts in the failed pill room? How is this little beggar looking so robust?"

Muttering to himself, Zhu Hanwei ignored it.

In front of the children stood a disciple in his twenties, fat and with a face full of scars.

In front of him were a pile of medicine bottles. He was looking up, impatiently checking an identity badge and then handing three bottles of pills to a square-faced child at the front of the queue.

The square-faced child was excited, and upon receiving the medicine bottles, he eagerly opened one to check the pills.

The next second, the square-faced child suddenly froze, his expression changing slightly.