Chapter Twenty: Advancement

  After Huang Shu Lang was taken away, the elder in charge, still fuming with anger, sternly said: "He's only at the third layer of Qi Refining and hasn't even set foot in the door of True Cultivation, yet he dares to be so arrogant. This child will have a hard time making progress in the future."

  After saying this, the elder looked around and said: "Most of you who came today have not exceeded the fifth layer of Qi Refining. I'll tell you about the difference between the fifth layer and the sixth layer of Qi Refining."

  "Chui Changsheng, tell us, what's the difference between the fifth and sixth layers of Qi training?" The elder in charge randomly pointed to a person.

  A sturdy man, as strong as an ox, stood up and said: "I think there is a big difference. Is the sixth layer of Qi Refining higher than the fifth layer by one level? I have been in the fifth layer of Qi Refining for several years, but I feel that cultivation is getting more and more difficult."

  The elder nodded and said, "What you said is not wrong. After cultivating to the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, one will reach a bottleneck. Only by breaking through this bottleneck can one truly become a Cultivator. Therefore, before the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, it is also called Post-Heaven, and after the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, it is called Pre-Heaven. The difference between Post-Heaven and Pre-Heaven can only be understood by those who have experienced it."

  Ishikawa nodded silently in his heart, he had already known the problem of bottleneck when he was in Xiuzhen Town, but the shopkeeper's cultivation was low and it was impossible for him to say something as clear as the Executive Elder.

  The deacon elder cleared his throat and continued, "Let's take a very simple example. After the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage, you can use flying swords to travel through the air, or cultivate your own innate magical instrument, nourish it with your true yuan, and gain endless benefits."

  "Elder steward, what is this 'life-bound artifact' you speak of?" a sixth-layer Qi-refining disciple suddenly asked.

  The elder looked at him sideways and said in a cold voice, "It seems that you don't come to the tea room often. A Benming Faqi can be an ordinary Faqi or a treasure. Legend has it that an ancient cultivator used a piece of ordinary Xuan Iron as his Benming Faqi, and when he achieved Yuanying, he refined this Xuan Iron into a rare Xuan Iron Sword Spirit in the world."

  "What's a destined artifact?" Ishikawa muttered to himself, this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing.

  The elder steward often preached, but he didn't explain much about these cultivation matters. If it weren't for Huang Shu Lang's sake today, the elder steward wouldn't have bothered to say so much.

  After spending half a day, the elder steward broke through the fifth layer of the Qi Refining Period and carefully explained the precautions for refining his life-bound artifact.

  Ishikawa listened with great relish, and since no one had ever pointed this out to him before, he naturally wouldn't let such an opportunity slip away. Every detail was carefully recorded, for Ishikawa was on the verge of a breakthrough.

  To get back on track, Ishikawa still benefited from Huang Shu-lang's aura. If it weren't for his mad dog-like appearance, the elder might not have said so much.

  Finally, the elder in charge left a cold sentence: "You inner door disciples, don't think that just being an inner door disciple is enough. Only when you break through the fifth layer of the Qi Refining stage can you be considered a true disciple of our Water Spirit Sect."

  After the elder left, Ishikawa was about to tidy up his notes and hurry back to his room to reflect on them when three or four monks came over and surrounded him.

  "Shi Shidi, nice to meet you for the first time today. Let's go have a cup of tea and talk about our cultivation experiences."

  "Shi Shidi, I have some excellent Bi Luo Chun tea here, why don't you come and try some?"

  "Shi Shidi..."

  Ishikawa naturally knew that these people were coming for the sake of Yun Lao's reputation as a master, so Ishikawa didn't bother to deal with them. After all, Shi Changlao had taken him on as an apprentice with ulterior motives, and he couldn't make it too obvious either.

  "Gentlemen, the elder's words today were excellent, I learned a lot from them. I must hurry back to digest it, lest I forget." Ishikawa declined everyone's invitation and headed towards his own room.

  Although there were a few people following Ishikawa at a steady pace, Ishikawa didn't have the slightest worry. He was now an inner disciple and there was a restrictive spell array outside his room, so he wasn't afraid of these people making any moves behind his back.

  After returning to the room, Ishikawa took out a Dan Wu pill. The pill emitted a faint green glow, which was not eye-catching at all, but from a distance, one could smell a refreshing medicinal fragrance that invigorated the mind and refreshed the spirit.

  However, the elder didn't mention anything about the Dantian Pill. Ishikawa thought that the value of the Dantian Pill was not trivial, and if each Qi-refining disciple were to receive a few pills, the foundation of the Water Spirit Sect would be gone. Therefore, even without the Dantian Pill, it should still be possible to break through the fifth layer of the Qi-refining stage, it's just that it would take a bit more time.

  In addition, for those large families with juniors covered by their seniors, it is also a very simple matter to obtain a few pellets of Dan.

  Shi Chuan opened his mouth, and threw the Dan of Enlightenment into it. A thick and refreshing air immediately penetrated Shi Chuan's entire body. His limbs also had a light and floating feeling.

  And in his mind, a brilliant light flashed, making Ishikawa's eyes brighten and dim.

  Ishikawa's ears, at the same time, remembered that he couldn't understand the language at all, and then accompanied by inexplicable sounds, little by little, slowly merged into Ishikawa's mind.

  This divine thought slowly wandered in Ishikawa's body.

  Half an hour later, Ishikawa slowly came to his senses, and that strange feeling also began to fade away.

  "It seems like I'm still a bit short." Ishikawa muttered to himself, just now in the midst of it all there was a feeling that seemed about to break through, but at the last moment, it was as if the water had leaked out of a bamboo basket, and that feeling had completely disappeared.

  Ishikawa recalled the words of the shopkeeper and thought to himself, "Perhaps the medicine wasn't enough." He casually picked up four more Dan pills and swallowed them all in one breath.

  In an instant, Ishikawa felt a chill run through his entire body, as if the biting cold of that day when he was training in the Water Dragon Style had penetrated his whole being.

  Ishikawa clenched his teeth, unaware that he was slowly losing consciousness. He only felt that the sky and earth were inverted, and then slowly merged together. A chaotic substance enveloped Ishikawa's entire being.

  After an unknown period of time, Ishikawa was stimulated awake by a foul smell. When he opened his eyes, he found that his body was covered in black, sticky stuff, which emitted a foul odor.

  Looking at his own cultivation again, Ishikawa had unexpectedly reached the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage.

  Unable to contain the excitement in his heart, Ishikawa hastily fetched water and began cleaning up. It took him a full ten large basins of water before he finally managed to remove all the filth from his body. As for that Taoist robe, Ishikawa couldn't be bothered to wash it again.

  After entering the sixth layer of Qi training, Ishikawa found that his whole body seemed to have become much lighter, as if he could jump lightly and leave the ground three or four meters away. In addition, his auditory and visual senses had also become much stronger than before, and from ten meters away, not only could he see the shape of a small bird clearly, but he could also hear the sound of the bird pecking at insects.

  In fact, Ishikawa didn't know that this Wu Dao Dan was a common elixir used to comprehend the Taoist laws, which not only had the effect of clearing one's eyes and concentrating one's spirit but also could improve one's physique. Therefore, it was often used to break through bottlenecks as well.

  If taken one by one, it can also break through the bottleneck. However, Ishikawa took four pills in one breath, exceeding the amount needed to break through the bottleneck. The remaining spiritual power was unable to burst out, and instead greatly tempered Ishikawa's body, causing so many impurities to appear on his skin.

  After breaking through the sixth layer of the Qi Refining stage, Ishikawa was only happy for a while. He knew his current situation and wouldn't feel safe unless he broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

  Currently, the most important thing is that, apart from hiding his own cultivation, Ishikawa also needs to refine his life-bound artifact and increase his own strength.

  As soon as he thought of his destined artifact, Ishikawa hesitated. In fact, there were still many good things on Ishikawa's body that could be upgraded, such as the Golden Book Puppet, the True Shield that could gather a large amount of spiritual power, and Ishikawa's Earth Mother Stone.

  The first two can be used as life-saving instruments in a duel, but the Earth Mother Stone is different and has many special properties.

  It can let Ishikawa get a lot of refining equipment materials, making Ishikawa basically not have to worry about the source of spiritual stones and elixirs. However, on the other hand, the Earth Mother Stone has no attack or defense effect, if it is used to refine the life-bound artifact, will it have any bad influence on Ishikawa?

  After deliberating for a long time, Ishikawa finally made a decision.

  Jin Shu Puppet is an ancient cultivator's creation. The origin of the True Shield's Lingzhu is unknown, but it only has the effect of gathering spiritual energy.

  And the Hetu Luoshu is the real heavenly treasure. If you don't use Hetu Luoshu as your main magical instrument, it's a waste of heaven's gift.

  Ishikawa took out the earth mother stone and stuck it on his forehead, intending to refine the earth mother stone into his own innate instrument.

  Suddenly, a powerful suction force drew Ishikawa's entire body into the earth mother stone.

  This shocked Ishikawa, before that, Ishikawa always used his divine sense to enter the Earth Mother Stone, the Earth Mother Stone was equivalent to a storage bag, only this storage bag was very special.

  Now Ishikawa has entered it completely.

  Ishikawa stood amidst the earth mother stone, the entire space was roughly several hundred feet long and wide, above was yellowish brown, below was also yellowish brown, those mysterious iron, refined gold and other materials were suspended in mid-air.

  However, Ishikawa discovered that a tremendous change was taking place within Tsuchi.

  The yellow above the head is gathering constantly, and under Ishikawa's feet, what was originally supposed to be a chaotic substance has turned into hard rock. Under Ishikawa's feet, there are also layers of yellowish-brown soil.

  Although it's just a thin layer, it's indeed soil with extremely rich spiritual energy.

  The yellow clouds in the sky grew denser and lower, as if they were about to press down on Ishikawa's head.

  "Rumble!" A massive bolt of lightning shot down from the yellow clouds, striking the rocks with a deafening crash.

  On the rock, faintly exposed a thread of cracks.

  Before Ishikawa could regain his composure, several thunderbolts struck again, and the cracks on the rocks grew larger. The thin yellow soil also began to increase slowly.

  In an instant, he had already covered Ishikawa's calf with his footwork.