Chapter 88

The earth essence contained within the Wu Earth Stone can be directly refined and utilized by Yang Junshan, and its cultivation effect can fully compare to cultivating through the consumption of elixirs. However, all medicines have some toxicity, and even the most skilled alchemists find it difficult to completely eliminate the residual elixir toxins in the elixirs. Therefore, while cultivators enjoy the rapid increase in cultivation brought by elixirs, they also need to spend a considerable amount of time refining and expelling the elixir toxins.

Typically, after consuming an elixir that matches one's cultivation level, at least three days are needed to refine the elixir toxins, meaning it usually takes four days to consume one elixir. If another elixir is consumed within these four days, causing the elixir toxins to accumulate, it is not a simple matter of adding one plus one; it would take at least half a month to expel the toxins. Therefore, while elixirs are extremely important for cultivators, everyone is very cautious when consuming and refining them.

Four days is just the minimum limit. In fact, even when Yang Junshan had an ample supply of elixirs, he would spend at least five days before consuming one.

However, refining Wu Earth Stones has no such restrictions for Yang Junshan. As long as there are enough Wu Earth Stones, he can continuously refine them until the essence within them is no longer sufficient to enhance his cultivation.

In the mine, one Wu Earth Stone can support Yang Junshan's cultivation for about one and a half to two days. After returning to his uncle Han Xiusheng's home, Yang Junshan entered a closed retreat and cultivated day and night, almost refining one Wu Earth Stone every day. When the seven Wu Earth Stones in his possession were all refined, the Bone Marrow Spirit Aperture finally reached the Perfect Stage.

At this point, compared to his peers in Tuqiu Village, Yang Junshan's third stage reached the Perfect Stage about eight to nine months later. Compared to geniuses like Zhang Yueming, who had already entered the inner sect of Hantian Sect, it was more than a year later.

In theory, Yang Junshan had truly reached the Perfect Stage of the third level of the Mortal Realm. However, looking at what was happening in his Gallbladder Spirit Aperture, Yang Junshan himself was unsure whether he had reached the Perfect Stage of the Spirit Aperture or had already stepped into the fourth level of the Mortal Realm.

Since Yang Junshan began cultivating the Six Viscera Brocade, perhaps due to the presence of a Spirit Aperture in the gallbladder, the gallbladder was the first to successfully sense the essence. Among Yang Junshan's three Spirit Apertures, the Gallbladder Spirit Aperture was the first to reach the Perfect Stage. While Yang Junshan was still working hard to absorb Wu Earth Essence and infuse it into the Bone Marrow Spirit Aperture, the Gallbladder Spirit Aperture, after sensing the Six Viscera Brocade, began to accumulate essence that gradually became viscous and solid. If seen by ordinary cultivators, this would mean Yang Junshan had already entered the stage of laying the foundation for Immortal Roots.

Typically, cultivators only step into the fourth level and lay the foundation for Immortal Roots after all their Immortal Spirit Apertures have reached the Perfect Stage. However, in Yang Junshan's case, the Gallbladder Spirit Aperture had already advanced to the fourth level before the Bone Marrow Spirit Aperture reached the Perfect Stage. After much thought, Yang Junshan attributed this to the Six Viscera Brocade, a miraculous body-strengthening secret technique.

Moreover, perhaps because the Gallbladder Spirit Aperture had taken the lead in laying the foundation for Immortal Roots, Yang Junshan did not encounter the expected bottleneck when advancing to the fourth level. Typically, cultivators spend three to five months nurturing and accumulating essence before solidifying their Immortal Spirit Apertures and advancing to the fourth level. However, Yang Junshan's advancement seemed to flow smoothly. Starting with the Gallbladder Immortal Spirit Aperture, followed by the Vertebrae Immortal Spirit Aperture, and as the Bone Marrow Immortal Spirit Aperture began to solidify, Yang Junshan had to temporarily slow down his cultivation.

This was because not only had he used up all the Wu Earth Stones in his possession, but the few remaining Fa Yun Pills had also been refined. The process of laying the foundation for Immortal Roots is a massive absorption of essence, meaning that once the bottleneck to the fourth level is broken, the remaining process is purely the accumulation of essence to catalyze the solidification of the Immortal Roots. The speed of cultivation depends entirely on how much essence the cultivator can absorb into their body. This was why Yang Junshan had gone to great lengths to enter the Qing Shu Village mine to search for Wu Earth Stones.

It had been a month since the Qing Shu Village strike. To provide sufficient essence for the solidification of his Immortal Roots and accelerate his cultivation, Yang Junshan had to enter the Qing Shu Village mine again to secretly dig for Wu Earth Stones.

After the strike, the mining fees and the quota for refined ore in Qing Shu Village were reduced, and the miners were satisfied with the resumption of work. Apart from Yang Junshan often hearing Han Xiusheng complain about the increasing difficulty of the mining work, other conditions seemed to be improving, and many miners from other villages came to join.

The Soft Earth Mine in Qing Shu Village had never prohibited miners from outside the village from entering. However, the last time, Hu Siping and others had gone too far, attempting to replace all the miners with outsiders, which led to a strong backlash from the villagers.

Now, after the cleanup, the mine's atmosphere had improved, and the miners could earn more, naturally attracting more outsiders to join.

However, this also brought trouble to Yang Junshan's digging of Wu Earth Stones. Due to the unfamiliarity of the new miners with the mine, they often came to the mine tunnels where the ore veins had already been depleted, forcing Yang Junshan to be extra cautious.

In fact, in his previous life, Wu Earth Stones were first discovered because some new miners, unfamiliar with the mine, dug randomly and made unexpected discoveries. The news gradually spread, and the situation escalated to an uncontrollable level.

In recent days, Yang Junshan had been secretly digging Wu Earth Stones and trying to find time to cultivate. Due to the cleanup, it was now impossible to take the Wu Earth Stones out of the mine, so he had to bury the eleven Wu Earth Stones he had dug up under a pile of ore residue at the bottom of the mine tunnel.

Because of the constant influx of miners, Yang Junshan's cultivation had to be intermittent. The only good news was that Chu Chuang and his brother continued to leave a portion of refined ore for Yang Junshan after seeing him enter the mine.

"Little Master Yang, please forgive me. Cultivation is not easy these days. The brothers who follow me are all hardworking. They risked their lives to stand up against Wu Ren Realm cultivators like Hu Siping. To help these brothers get more refined ore, I passed on the method you taught us without your permission. I am truly sorry."

Seeing Chu Chuang's guilty expression, Yang Junshan smiled and said, "Brother Chu, let's just be brothers. I am just the son of the village head, not worthy of the title 'Master.' The methods for refining ore are yours now, and you can pass them on to whoever you want."

Chu Chuang was delighted and said, "Little Master Yang, ha, Brother Yang is truly generous. I owe you another favor. From now on, you don't need to dig anymore. Just point out the mine tunnels with rich ore veins, and I will definitely leave you the best portion of the refined ore."

Yang Junshan had already dug more than twenty Wu Earth Stones from this mine tunnel. In his previous life, the two mine tunnels in the Qing Shu Village mine yielded a total of about fifty Wu Earth Stones. This mine tunnel was almost depleted, and recently, Yang Junshan had spent an entire day digging without finding a single Wu Earth Stone, but he had no intention of changing to another mine tunnel.

"According to my previous life's memory, the two mine tunnels yielded a total of three Wu Earth Essence Stones. One tunnel yielded one, and the other yielded two. Although I can't be sure which tunnel yielded two, this mine tunnel definitely has at least one Wu Earth Essence Stone!"

Wu Earth Essence Stones are more potent and pure than Wu Earth Stones. While Wu Earth Stones are greatly beneficial for the cultivation of Mortal Realm cultivators, Wu Earth Essence Stones are equally beneficial for the cultivation of Wu Ren Realm cultivators.

However, this is not the most important aspect. The true value of Wu Earth Essence Stones lies in their significant auxiliary role in helping cultivators break through the fifth level of the Mortal Realm, open their Dantian, and advance to the Wu Ren Realm. Additionally, they have some auxiliary role in helping Wu Ren Realm cultivators break through the initial and intermediate bottlenecks.

Among the thousands of people in a village, only a few hundred can start cultivation, and among these few hundred, only two or three can advance to the Wu Ren Realm. However, the proportion of those stuck at the fifth level of the Mortal Realm is often a quarter, or even a third, of these few hundred.

This shows how important a treasure that helps break through the fifth level of the Mortal Realm is for cultivators at that stage. Breaking through this barrier not only means an increase in strength, status, and wealth but also a longer lifespan and the possibility of further advancement. Moreover, this treasure also has a certain promoting effect on the breakthrough of Wu Ren Realm cultivators at the initial stage.

Although Wu Earth Essence Stones are the essence of earth attributes and only assist cultivators of earth attributes in breaking through their cultivation, the majority of cultivators in Yu Prefecture, under the control of Hantian Sect, practice earth attribute techniques.

The appearance of Wu Earth Essence Stones quickly intensified the competition for Wu Earth Stones. Wu Ren Realm cultivators who heard the news joined the competition without hesitation, and Mortal Realm cultivators at the fifth level fought for their lives to advance to the Wu Ren Realm. More and more Wu Ren Realm cultivators joined, and the competition soon turned into a massacre of Mortal Realm cultivators.

After the battle, several forces in Mengyu County quickly intervened and took control of the entire mine. However, no more Wu Earth Essence Stones were found, and even the ordinary Wu Earth Stones were depleted. The two mine tunnels yielded a total of only three Wu Earth Essence Stones.

This mine tunnel had been dug deep enough by Yang Junshan, but after a whole day, he found neither the legendary Wu Earth Essence Stone nor any ordinary Wu Earth Stones, which made him somewhat discouraged.

Could it be that the information I heard in my previous life was incorrect, and there is no Wu Earth Essence Stone in this mine tunnel?

Yang Junshan swung his mining pick and struck the rock. With a "pu" sound, the entire pick sank into the rock. Yang Junshan was slightly stunned and subconsciously applied more force, causing a large piece of rock to crack open, revealing a natural stone cavity about three feet in size.