Chapter 19

After returning to the Spirit Garden, Chu He seized the opportunity to cultivate. In recent days, he had been squeezing time to take on missions to earn spirit stones. Although the Rain of Sweet Dew Technique was close to a breakthrough, his cultivation progress had ultimately lagged behind, especially in the latter half when he no longer had the assistance of pills.

The cultivation techniques, after being corrected by Instructor Zhang, increased everyone's cultivation efficiency by ten to twenty percent. At the normal pace, even without the help of pills, Chu He could break through to the fifth layer in about two months.

However, he was naturally ambitious and eager to advance, disliking the methodical and unhurried approach. Therefore, he tried every means to make his cultivation more efficient and faster.

If there were no other matters, he planned to focus solely on cultivation during this period, ignoring everything else, in order to break through the fourth layer as soon as possible. Five bottles of mid-grade Qi Enhancing Pills plus one bottle of high-grade Qi Enhancing Pills were sufficient preparation.

However, human intentions cannot match the will of heaven. After a few days, the instructor imparted a new technique, which distracted him.

The technique imparted was the Lesser Metal Technique, used to exterminate the pests that harm spirit plants. This was a relatively important minor technique for spirit farmers.

The Rain of Sweet Dew Technique gathers the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form a fine rain that nourishes spirit plants, while the Lesser Metal Technique evolves the spiritual essence within the body into fine, sharp sword beams to exterminate the small pests that invade the spirit plants.

These two minor techniques can be mastered at the third layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, but to achieve proficiency and use them effortlessly, one must put in considerable effort.

The Lesser Metal Technique is also a mandatory examination item for the spirit farmer qualification. To become a low-level spirit farmer, one must reach the third layer in the Lesser Metal Technique, the same requirement as the Rain of Sweet Dew Technique.

The minimum requirement for a low-level spirit farmer: the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, mastery of the third layer of the Rain of Sweet Dew Technique and the Lesser Metal Technique, and proficient use of farming tools.

Chu He's Rain of Sweet Dew Technique was at the peak of the second layer, and it would also break through once his cultivation realm did. However, the new Lesser Metal Technique required a lot of effort to cultivate to the peak of the second layer.

Due to the minor examination, Chu He had to put the breakthrough on hold. If he failed, he would certainly be caught by the instructor for intensive cultivation, which would not be good for his freedom.

Using water-type spiritual essence to perform a metal-type technique would result in a two to three percent reduction in efficiency, unlike the Rain of Sweet Dew Technique, which complemented each other. While there were no strict barriers between the five-element techniques at a shallow level, the efficiency was inevitably poor. If the technique and the spiritual essence were in conflict, the efficiency would be even lower.

The small sword beams produced by the Lesser Metal Technique were of a gentle and soft nature, not as domineering and fierce as metal. Although their killing power was slightly inferior, they caused almost no damage to the spirit plants, making them particularly suitable for exterminating pests that had invaded the plants.

When this minor technique was cultivated to a deeper level, it could emit sharp sword beams at will, with a power not inferior to that of a low-grade magical tool.

Chu He spent about seven days cultivating it to the second layer, and as a result, he received praise from the instructor, as he was the fastest among the students to master it.

Those who passed the minor examination were much more relaxed, while those who failed had to attend remedial classes every day.

Time flew by, and before he knew it, he had been in the Spirit Garden for more than two months. The gap between the apprentices began to widen, with most entering the fourth layer, but some were still lingering at the third layer.

The instructors' attitudes remained impartial, treating everyone equally regardless of their cultivation level. It seemed that the Qingling Patriarch had put a lot of effort into the school's ethos to create such a good atmosphere.

Chu He had no time to worry about others' affairs. He still acted like a lone wanderer, rarely interacting with other classmates except for the instructors.

Such a monotonous and tedious life sometimes drove Chu He to the brink of madness, but after venting, he quickly calmed down. He knew what he wanted, and paying this price was nothing.

To stand firm on Qingling Mountain, one could not afford to relax for a moment. Achieving this small goal was merely the starting point of a long cultivation journey.

Cultivation knows no days or months. With the assistance of pills, Chu He broke through to the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation Realm just over a month after returning from Qingling Town.

In his room, Chu He sat quietly on the bed, holding a porcelain bottle and lost in thought. There were still two pills left in the bottle.

At the same time, he sighed inwardly: How close! The pills I bought were just enough! I had overlooked the needs of the spirit body.

It wasn't that he had overlooked it, but the spirit body's demand for the medicinal power had exceeded Chu He's expectations. If he hadn't bought an extra bottle of high-grade Qi Enhancing Pills, he might have failed at the critical moment.

This added another layer of pressure to Chu He, and he had to significantly increase his spirit stone income target in his plan.

At this moment, a familiar sensation suddenly enveloped his mind, surprising him.

The feeling of the Purifying Fire devouring foreign objects!

His body was already purified and transparent, and he wasn't poisoned. What was it devouring?!

Chu He was extremely curious and immediately focused his inner vision on the Purifying Fire in his dantian.

"Ah, so that's it!" The unusual behavior of the Purifying Fire made him exclaim in surprise. It was similar to the first time he noticed something unusual, but this time the flames contained gray specks.

Combining the fragmented information fed back by the Purifying Fire, Chu He realized the reason: the Purifying Fire was actually purifying the spiritual essence in his dantian, and the gray specks were impurities separated from the spiritual essence.

"Is it that amazing?!" Chu He immediately became alert.

It could actually purify the spiritual essence!

This was truly a great power!

This also indicated that Chu He's future cultivation efficiency would be much greater than others. Since the Purifying Fire could be used on himself without limit, the difference could be measured in multiples.

As everyone knew, cultivation involved drawing in spiritual energy, refining it, and finally integrating it into one's own spiritual essence. When accumulated to a qualitative change, one could break through to a higher realm. Of course, this was the method for low-level realms; higher realms required the tempering of the Dao heart and the understanding of the Heavenly Heart.

The spiritual energy drawn in from the outside was not flawless, always containing some impurities. Even high-grade spirit crystals could not achieve 100% purity, perhaps only in the legendary Immortal Realm could there be pure and flawless spiritual sources.

Drawing in and refining the spiritual energy were indispensable steps in cultivation. With the mystic power of the Purifying Fire, Chu He could skip the latter step and increase its efficiency to the extreme.

He never expected that advancing to the fifth layer of the Qi Condensation Realm would grant him such great power.

What other mysteries did the Purifying Fire hold? It was like a vast treasure mine, and to dig out good things, it seemed that the effective tool was to improve one's realm.

With this power, even if his spirit body had not yet fully improved and advanced, entering the Innate Realm was only a matter of time.