Chapter 72

Although Qin Fengming had some reservations about cultivating demonic arts, he did not completely reject them. The conflict between good and evil in his heart had existed for a long time. In the future, if there were no good cultivation techniques, he might also cultivate this demonic art.

Although he had obtained several incantations that seemed to be incredibly powerful, he knew that his own cultivation was still too low. If he were to cultivate now, it might be counterproductive, and he could easily be counterattacked, leading to a mental breakdown. Only when he reached the peak of the Qi Gathering stage or the Foundation Establishment stage would it be absolutely safe to cultivate.

The primary issue at this moment was to quickly enhance his own strength. If the enemy he encountered this time was a cultivator at the Great Perfection realm of the Qi Gathering stage, even with top-tier magical tools, his chances of survival would be slim.

Only by enhancing his own strength could he stand firm in the cultivation world, where danger lurked everywhere.

During this auction, he had bought several bottles of Qi Enhancing Pills and obtained two more from the dead. With these pills, breaking through the fifth-level bottleneck should be no problem.

After cultivating for so long, one issue had always puzzled him. When he first entered the sect, Senior Uncle Ximen had said that his aptitude was extremely poor. Although he was a rare Void Spirit Root, it was only a single Void Spirit Root, and cultivation would definitely be extremely slow.

However, he had only taken one year to advance from the third level to the fifth level, and his cultivation was not particularly arduous. Other disciples with single spirit roots had been lingering between the third and fourth levels for a year, which left him very confused.

After that, Qin Fengming's life returned to its original state.

He completed the tasks assigned by Senior Uncle Fei on time every month and learned most of Senior Uncle Fei's alchemy techniques.

At the same time, he incorporated some of his own unique alchemy techniques into his work. Even Senior Uncle Fei nodded in approval, praising him for his high-level alchemy skills at such a young age.

Senior Uncle Fei was delighted and began to cultivate Qin Fengming more intensively. The tasks assigned to him each month were often more challenging, allowing Qin Fengming to come into contact with many rare materials. This greatly benefited his alchemy skills.

Apart from the time spent on alchemy, Qin Fengming devoted himself entirely to meditation and cultivation, absorbing the energy of heaven and earth.

Time flies, and two years passed in the blink of an eye.

At this point, Qin Fengming was twenty-one years old, standing about 1.75 meters tall. Although he was not handsome, he was not unattractive either. His face always wore a faint, lazy smile, making people feel a sense of warmth and closeness.

During these two years, Qin Fengming rarely stopped cultivating except to occasionally help fellow disciples with alchemy.

Through his tireless efforts and continuous consumption of Qi Enhancing Pills, he finished five bottles of pills. With the help of the pills and diligent cultivation, Qin Fengming advanced from the fifth level of the Qi Gathering stage to the seventh level, officially entering the later stage of the Qi Gathering stage. This made the disciples who had initially listened to Senior Brother Su's explanation of the basic elemental spells envious.

When he reached the sixth level of the Qi Gathering stage, the Luoxia Sect gave him two Huangjing Pills, but he did not take them. The person who sold him the Qi Enhancing Pills had informed him that the pills were only effective for cultivators in the middle stage of the Qi Gathering stage and would have no effect in the later stage.

Therefore, he continued to take Qi Enhancing Pills and stored the Huangjing Pills. At this point, he had fifteen Huangjing Pills in his storage ring, making him as wealthy as a small cultivation family compared to his senior disciples.

During these two years, several events that shook the entire Luoxia Sect occurred.

One was that a Lin-surnamed disciple of the Luoxia Sect advanced from the third level of the Qi Gathering stage to the Great Perfection realm in just over three years, bringing joy to the high-ranking officials of the Luoxia Sect, who hoped he would make greater progress on the path of cultivation.

Another was that a female disciple surnamed Yue successfully established her foundation without taking a Foundation Establishment Pill, officially entering the realm of cultivation. She was taken as a personal disciple by a female Senior Uncle who was at the Core Formation stage.

At the same time, several disciples who entered the sect the same year as Qin Fengming also reached the later stage of the Qi Gathering stage, making the upper echelons of the Luoxia Sect very pleased.

Another event was that in eight months, the Luoxia Sect would hold its five-yearly recruitment conference for the entire Da Liang Kingdom's cultivation world.

The Luoxia Sect only accepted scattered cultivators at the eighth level of the Qi Gathering stage or above, and their age could not exceed thirty-five. After entering the sect, they would undergo strict scrutiny, and only those who passed without any issues would become formal disciples.

However, the children of cultivation families affiliated with the Luoxia Sect did not need to meet any conditions or undergo scrutiny. As long as they were recommended by the heads of their families, they could enter the Luoxia Sect and become formal disciples. Qin Fengming, being a formal disciple of Luoxia Valley, was directly admitted to the Luoxia Sect after his innate spiritual energy was discovered.

Qin Fengming, who was in the midst of cultivation, was not disturbed by these events and continued to cultivate diligently.

After reaching the seventh level of the Qi Gathering stage, he spent half a month consolidating his realm and then stopped meditating.

To quickly enhance his strength in the short term, relying solely on diligent cultivation would be very difficult.

After deep consideration, he decided that talismans would be his future direction. Through several magical battles, he realized that a good talisman could play a significant role in combat.

If a cultivator had twenty mid-level talismans like the Fire Snake Talisman and used them all at once, even a Foundation Establishment stage senior would have to retreat.

This method of consuming one's own magical power was especially effective in one-on-many battles. However, this was only theoretical. Controlling talismans did not consume much magical power, but it required the user's spiritual awareness to direct them.

For ordinary cultivators at the middle stage of the Qi Gathering stage, being able to skillfully control two magical tools at the same time was already quite good, and the number of talismans they could control would not be too many. Having twenty was already quite good. However, due to his long-term alchemy practice, Qin Fengming's spiritual awareness was much stronger than that of ordinary cultivators at the same stage.

To quickly master talisman-making, he specifically went to the Mechanism Pavilion to find two books on talisman-making and studied them carefully. Combining these books with the ones he already had, Qin Fengming began to explore the path of talisman-making.

Talisman-making involved using a talisman brush and cinnabar to draw incantations on specially made talisman paper. When drawing the incantations, one had to inject spiritual energy, and the amount of spiritual energy injected had to match the various incantations. If too much was injected, the talisman paper would ignite as soon as the incantation was drawn. If too little was injected, the talisman would not function properly.

Therefore, to create a good talisman, a talisman maker needed to conduct dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of experiments.

Thus, cultivating a talisman maker was like a bottomless pit of consumption. This was why, even though he had many spirit stones at the market, he did not spend them recklessly. He knew that to step onto the path of talisman-making, he had to be prepared for significant waste.