Chapter 16

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

Before he started training, Li Ming took out a storage bag.

This storage bag was the one he had taken from Duan Xiuwen.

After Duan Xiuwen was sent to the Blackwind Cave to serve his punishment, the elders of the law enforcement hall did not pursue the ownership of his belongings.

And so, the storage bag naturally fell into Li Ming’s hands.

He mobilized his magical power and directly probed into the storage bag. What Li Ming found inside left him a little stunned.

Besides a few dozen low-grade spirit stones, there was nothing good.

It seemed that Duan Xiuwen had lost the majority of his assets to him in the previous battle. No wonder he was so bent on killing him.

It turned out that he was the one who actually had the intention to kill him and take his belongings, but he overestimated himself and was killed instead.

“I thought that Duan Xiuwen would have some money and would make me rich again…”

Li Ming was honestly a little disappointed.

After all, after he encountered the bottleneck, he came to deeply understand the importance of cultivation resources.

That was something that would affect the efficiency of cultivation, so the more the better.

Since there was nothing much in the bag, Li Ming did not think too much about it. He sat cross-legged on the bed and began to cultivate.

He used qi scattering pills every once in a while and it looked as if he were snacking on them.

Although it was a little extravagant, the effects of doing this were very obvious.

The originally shallow true qi was transformed into endless spiritual qi, and it became thicker with every passing day.

The qi refinement pills that he had bought in the market were also gradually running out.

After a few days of refining qi, Li Ming’s temperament had become more ethereal.

While he was refining qi, he was not idle with his body tempering either.

Every day, he would temper his muscles and bones, train in his stance, and refine his body to an even greater level.

Li Ming enjoyed such a life of cultivation and was very satisfied with it.

Today, Li Ming was practicing the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art in the courtyard.

There were small bits of clearly visible flame that appeared in the courtyard, which was a sign that the blazing sun true qi was about to undergo a qualitative change.

He was wearing a thin shirt and standing in the middle of the courtyard.

The true qi in his dantian followed the route prescribed by the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art and attacked each acupoint.

Each acupoint was like a node, and when these nodes were connected, Li Ming’s qi and blood began to burn.

Blood changing, bone forging, marrow cleansing…

As the blazing sun true qi seeped into his bones, Li Ming’s body was also quietly transforming.

With all his meridians connected, he no longer had to worry about the impurities in his body. He could freely circulate his true qi without an impediment by his body.

“Eh? I did not expect that it would be my qi cultivation that would make progress first!”

When he was refining his body, it would also improve his aptitude for immortal cultivation. For example, the vortex in Li Ming’s dantian was violently stimulated and began to rapidly absorb the spiritual qi in his body.

Li Ming struck the iron while it was hot, taking out the last qi scattering pill that he had in his storage bag and swallowed it right away.

“Swish!”

After it entered his mouth, he began to refine it, and very quickly, pure spiritual qi filled every part of his body.

Li Ming directed all the spiritual qi to his dantian.

With this, he could rush into the sixth level of the qi refinement stage.

Li Ming, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, was very happy to see a large amount of spiritual qi being absorbed when it scattered.

This was because one’s aptitude for immortal cultivation affected all aspects of qi cultivation, including the efficiency of the breathing in of spiritual qi. When there was insufficient spiritual qi, it was even more difficult to make a breakthrough.

But at this moment, when Li Ming was making use of the help provided by the pill, the increased efficiency brought by [Lifetime of Qi Refinement] was particularly critical.

“It seems that I won’t actually have to refine qi for a lifetime.”

The vast tide of spiritual qi gave Li Ming hope.

He had already accumulated spiritual qi in his eight meridians, and he continued to have it surge into the vortex.

His body trembled repeatedly, but he did not budge.

After a long time, Li Ming opened his eyes and smiled.

Sixth level of qi refinement, achieved!

From drawing qi into the body to condensing qi into a vortex, the next step was to continue cultivating in the direction of perfecting qi refinement.

He did not expect that by cultivating his body in a different way, his qi refinement would begin to catch up to his body refinement.

Li Ming looked inside his body. After entering the sixth level of qi refinement, the vortex in his dantian became more solid.

As for the spiritual qi in the cave… He had almost taken everything.

Fortunately, the Divine Will Sect was full of spiritual qi and could gather sufficient spiritual qi in less than half a day.

“I’m almost done with the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art.”

Li Ming clenched his fists and his muscles tensed up. He was like a tiger.

At the fourth level of the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art, he was able to infuse the blazing sun true qi into his fists and legs.

Now, he felt that his body cultivation had reached a critical point and that he was just one step away from achieving something great.

As long as he soaked in the spiritual liquid and used the body tempering pills, he would be able to complete the fifth level of the Blazing Sun Body Tempering Art!

“I’ll continue my closed-door training.”

Li Ming devoted himself to his training and was about to enter the room to prepare the resources and materials needed for body cultivation.

However, he heard a knock at the door of his cave abode.

Who could it be?

Li Ming thought for a moment. In the sect, other than Duan Xiuwen, who would come to disturb him from time to time, no one would come to disturb him.

But now that Duan Xiuwen had been thrown into the Blackwind Cave, it could not be him.

…

“Creak-”

When he opened the door to the outer courtyard, he saw a senior sister who was wearing clothing meant for elite disciples.

Li Ming thought for a moment and remembered that this was the senior sister who had seen him train in his fist technique in the rear mountain of his cave abode.

At this moment, Lu Lan’s eyes were filled with admiration when she saw Li Ming.

It had only been a few days since they last met, but his cultivation had improved rapidly.

“Junior Brother Li, I’m sorry to disturb you. I’m Lu Lan and I’m here to ask for your help.”

Lu Lan went straight to the point and explained her intention.

“You need my help?” Li Ming was stunned.

This senior sister was an elite disciple, could there be something she could not handle?

However, Lu Lan’s attitude was very polite. Li Ming politely welcomed her into the courtyard and listened to her explain the matter.

“Junior Brother Li, the elders of our sect have recently captured some ghosts and monsters. They are currently busy putting them in the demon-subduing pagoda.”

“Because of that, the elders are not going to be able to attend to other matters as much, and the sect is now lacking manpower. I’ve come to ask you to help guard the ghosts that are temporarily sealed in the array.”

Lu Lan explained the matter.

“Senior Sister Lu, I’m not strong enough. I’m afraid that…” Li Ming declined.

Lu Lan smiled. “Don’t worry, junior brother, those ghostly beings are trapped by an array. You only need to watch over them.”

“Moreover, the ghost this time are yin by nature, which means that they are restrained by your cultivation technique.”

“And after you complete this mission, you will receive a corresponding reward.”

For an ordinary qi refinement disciple, being able to train while at the same time being rewarded for doing so was indeed a great deal.

Lu Lan just so happened to think of it and felt that Li Ming was a very suitable candidate for this mission, so she came looking for him to ask him to be the one to carry out the mission.

“So, Junior Brother Li, are you willing?”

Li Ming silently listened to Senior Sister Lu Lan’s explanation and suddenly understood why she had asked him to take on the task.

It turned out that she felt that the extreme yang cultivation technique that he practiced was useful in this situation.

Disciples who cultivated fire attribute cultivation methods were not rare, but they were not everywhere.

However… Li Ming was not interested in this mission.

After all, there was already an array to restrict the ghosts and monsters, and whoever went would only need to watch over them.

For someone of his strength, this was just an ordinary small task, and he did not expect the reward to be that much.

Most importantly, he was on the verge of a breakthrough. He did not have that much time to waste.

He might as well go into seclusion and cultivate.

At this moment, a prompt suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

[Option 1: Accept the mission and receive a blue entry.]

[Option 2: Reject the mission and receive a green entry.]