Chapter 52

In the cave, Qin Lie looked haggard, one hand resting on a spirit board, his eyes red as he meticulously drew the spirit array diagram.

Beside him, the ground was scattered with discarded spirit boards, each a testament to his failures. Some stone spirit boards were shattered into pieces, others wooden spirit boards were scorched black, as if silently mocking him.

On his left, there were still over twenty smooth stone spirit boards unused, spotless.

"Bang!"

A sharp explosion came from the wooden spirit board under his palm, a thick smoke rising as the spirit array diagram exploded, once again declaring the spirit board a failure.

"Seventy-eighth one..."

Qin Lie's mouth was full of bitterness as he looked at the scorched spirit board, shaking his head helplessly.

Over the past month, except during thunderstorms when he would practice the Heavenly Thunder Punishment, he devoted the rest of his energy to practicing the drawing of spirit array diagrams.

At first, minor errors would quickly render a spirit board useless.

In the first week, over forty spirit boards became scrap, quickly consumed by his mistakes.

During that phase, he was completely unfamiliar with the drawing of spirit array diagrams, wasting the most spirit boards, and making very slow progress. Often, he could only draw a few spirit lines before suddenly failing and ruining a spirit board.

With repeated practice and repeated failures, he gradually found the knack of drawing spirit lines...

Gradually, his low-level mistakes decreased, and the rate of spirit material consumption slowed down significantly.

He began to be able to make spirit lines intersect, but out of ten intersections, eight would fail.

Occasionally, he would succeed once or twice, but the next intersection would go wrong, causing the spirit array diagram to suddenly collapse.

The spirit array diagram was composed of thousands of spirit lines crisscrossing, extremely complex and profound.

During the drawing process, any mistake, no matter how minor, would render all previous efforts futile, immediately leading to failure.

Over the past month, he went from knowing nothing to gradually becoming proficient, able to avoid many simple mistakes.

From consuming a spirit board every ten minutes to now only one a day, from being able to draw only a few spirit lines to now being able to draw hundreds of crisscrossing lines...

He was making progress bit by bit.

However, he still had not succeeded once, and was still far from approaching success.

The spirit array diagram was composed of 2,357 spirit lines crisscrossing. His best attempt was to draw over 600 spirit lines on a spirit board.

In other words, his best attempt was only a quarter of the spirit array diagram.

Success was still far away, but the spirit boards were almost used up. At the current rate of consumption, the remaining spirit boards would not last until he successfully drew the spirit array diagram...

"To become an alchemist, it is indeed not an easy task. Without great determination and the courage to face failure, one should not even entertain the thought," Qin Lie sat among the pile of discarded spirit boards, frowning, but his eyes gleamed, "I didn't expect that practicing the drawing of spirit array diagrams would greatly benefit my cultivation. This is probably an unexpected gain."

In the past month, he devoted all his energy to practicing the drawing of spirit array diagrams. He thought it would affect his cultivation, but found that the drawing of spirit array diagrams not only did not hinder his spiritual energy enhancement, but also greatly improved his spiritual energy and mental power, which delighted him greatly.

The drawing of spirit array diagrams not only required continuous consumption of spiritual energy but also mental power. In a state of full concentration, he had to precisely control his spiritual energy and use his mental consciousness to grasp the subtle changes in the spirit array diagram...

Each second was a severe drain on his mental consciousness and spiritual energy.

He would quickly deplete the spiritual energy in his dantian, and soon become mentally exhausted. Whenever this happened, he would temporarily put aside the drawing of the spirit array diagram and recover his spiritual energy and mental power through spirit stones in a state of no thoughts.

When he recovered, he would often find his mental state refreshed and his spiritual energy more refined and substantial.

"After the dantian and mental consciousness are completely exhausted, a new round of replenishment and recovery can lead to different levels of growth in spiritual energy and mental power!"

After several such cycles, he came to this conclusion. He then paid attention and truly confirmed that this conclusion was correct.

Perhaps it was also because practicing the drawing of spirit array diagrams not only did not affect his cultivation level but also enhanced his spiritual energy and mental power, so even though he repeatedly failed and wasted spirit boards, he still gritted his teeth and persisted.

"I need to replenish the spirit boards, they are running out." After pondering for a while, he left the cave and set off for Ling Family Town.

During this period, he almost spent all day and night in the cave on Medicine Mountain, eating and sleeping in the cave. When he occasionally returned to Ling Family Town, it was only to replenish supplies, and then he would stay for several days without coming out.

Ling Yushi was also in intense cultivation. The few times he returned to Ling Family Town, Ling Yushi was in a state of cultivation, and the two never met.

That evening, he returned to Ling Family Town and had dinner with the Ling family, finally seeing Ling Yushi at the dinner table.

After a month, Ling Yushi seemed to have lost some weight, but her mental state was excellent, her eyes shining brightly, indicating that her spiritual energy had also improved significantly recently.

"How did you get so haggard?" Seeing him come over, Ling Yushi said with concern, "When a martial artist cultivates, they need a rich diet to supplement their body. Otherwise, their body can't take it. You can't stay in the Medicine Mountain all the time; you need to come out and walk around. At least, you should get some sunlight during the day."

"Okay, I'll pay attention to that," Qin Lie smiled.

Then, he said to Ling Chengye, "Uncle Ling, please send someone to the Star Cloud Pavilion to exchange for three hundred more spirit boards for me."

"Another three hundred spirit boards? That will cost 1,500 contribution points. With so many contribution points, you could exchange for a decent quality spirit weapon," Ling Chengye looked surprised and said sincerely, "Qin Lie, I must remind you that the cultivation of an alchemist is extremely difficult. The amount of spirit materials needed for an alchemist to grow is beyond your imagination."

"I understand," Qin Lie nodded.

He knew that Ling Chengye was not exaggerating. Even a force like the Star Cloud Pavilion could only support ordinary alchemists. Higher-level alchemists were beyond the Star Cloud Pavilion's capacity to support.

The next level, mystic alchemists, required spirit materials for practice that the Star Cloud Pavilion could not afford.

"Without the support of a powerful force, an alchemist cannot grow. It would just be a waste of effort," Ling Chengye advised earnestly. "It would be better to focus your energy on martial cultivation. Although martial artists also need spirit weapons, spirit pills, and spirit stones to assist them, the resources required are much less compared to alchemists. Even without those spirit materials, martial artists can still absorb the omnipresent heaven and earth spiritual energy, which might slow down their progression but allows them to continue cultivating without complete reliance on external resources."

"Right, an alchemist can't advance without materials for practice," Ling Chengzhi interjected.

"I understand. I will consider it carefully, but please exchange the spirit boards for me. Anyway, I don't know what to exchange those contribution points for right now," Qin Lie stated.

Seeing his determination, Ling Chengye nodded and said, "Alright, I'll have someone take care of it."

After finishing the meal, Qin Lie got up and left, heading towards his stone house.

"I'm done eating," as soon as he left, Ling Yushi quickly got up, simply saying, and followed him.

Under the night sky, Qin Lie walked at a steady pace, seemingly waiting for something...

"Qin Lie, Gao Yu recently broke through to the Ninth Level of Body Tempering and has now entered the Star Cloud Pavilion," Ling Yushi's voice came from behind him, and she naturally came closer, walking beside him.

"Isn't it true that only those who break through to the Origin Opening Realm before the age of twenty can enter the Star Cloud Pavilion?" Qin Lie asked in surprise.

"That's true, but nothing is absolute," Ling Yushi's face was calm, her voice gentle like water, "In the Tianlang Mountains, the Gao family suffered heavy losses. The Star Cloud Pavilion also compensated the Gao family by allowing Gao Yu to enter early. Of course, Gao Yu also broke through to the Ninth Level of Body Tempering, just one step away from the Origin Opening Realm, and he is still young, so he will definitely break through to the Origin Opening Realm before the age of twenty, which is why he was accepted early."

"I see," Qin Lie nodded.

"Feng Yi's brother, Feng Kai, quietly left the Star Cloud Pavilion and joined the Ice Shattering Manor while we were still in the Tianlang Mountains. Because Feng Yi's arm was bitten off by a Silver-Winged Demon Wolf, Feng Kai recently announced that he will definitely kill you. You need to be careful in the future," Ling Yushi said with concern.

"Feng Yi only lost an arm? What a pity..." Qin Lie frowned slightly, "The Feng family is now closely watched by the Star Cloud Pavilion and absolutely dare not appear in the territory controlled by the Star Cloud Pavilion. You don't need to worry about him for now."

The two talked as they walked, and soon arrived at Qin Lie's stone house. As usual, Ling Yushi naturally helped clean up and prepared hot water for his bath.

Qin Lie sat casually, watching her busy with a smile, and kept talking about recent events, feeling his heart gradually calm down.

"I will also work very hard and diligently cultivate. I want to break through to the Ninth Level of Body Tempering as soon as possible and enter the Origin Opening Realm early..."

In the bathroom, Ling Yushi solemnly declared, as if making a significant resolution.

"Why are you suddenly so determined? I haven't seen you these few times I came out..." Qin Lie said with a complaining tone.

"The water is ready," Ling Yushi came out, her face darkening, her head slightly lowered, and she said softly, "I don't want you to stay in Ling Family Town because of me. I want to break through to the Origin Opening Realm quickly and join the Star Cloud Pavilion with you. In the future, I hope to be by your side and help you, not... become a burden to you."

She suddenly looked up, deeply into Qin Lie's eyes, her beautiful eyes shimmering with a moving luster, and said softly, "Your progress is too fast, your potential and talent are too excellent. If I don't work hard, I will fall further and further behind you. I just want... to keep up with your pace."

...