Chapter 16: Meritorious Acts and Karmic Retribution

  The first attempt at alchemy ended in failure, and Lin Feng couldn't bear to use spirit stones to buy spiritual medicine for practice. He could only continue practicing while occasionally going into the mountains to gather herbs, slowly accumulating materials. During this time, Yang Ze refined several more batches of elixirs, each time Lin Feng carefully observed from the side without missing a single attempt.

  He is now very familiar with the refining methods of commonly used first and second order Dans, but if he were to refine them himself, he still wouldn't have any confidence. This isn't to say that Lin Feng's skills had regressed, unlike his first time refining Dans when he was full of confidence. The more one knows, the more they realize how much they don't know. The deeper one delves into the subtleties of refining Dans, the more Lin Feng realizes its difficulties. On the surface, refining Dans seems to be just a few steps: warming the furnace, concocting, giving birth to the Dan, and taking it out of the furnace. However, in reality, controlling the fire timing and grasping the right moment are the key points. How to do it is based on certain principles, and those principles are rooted in pharmacology.

  The pharmacology is extremely profound, with the medicinal properties of each medicine and the reactions and changes that occur when two or more medicines are combined, making it very complex. Even Yang Ze only has a superficial understanding, and he barely knows the medicinal properties of a few commonly refined pills, which he was able to figure out through repeated experimentation.

  At this point, Yang Ze was quite good, and for Lin Feng, who couldn't even be considered a nominal disciple, he didn't hold back at all, telling him everything he had figured out over the years. Lin Feng benefited greatly, feeling extremely grateful while his desire to refine pills grew stronger. Unfortunately, it's hard to cook without rice, no matter how quickly Lin Feng's knowledge of pill refinement improved, without any spiritual medicine to practice with, it was all just empty talk.

  Although the medicine was not enough to practice, Lin Feng would occasionally go into the mountains to collect herbs and sometimes gain some harvest. If the harvest was not enough to refine a furnace of Dan, he would exchange the herbs for spiritual stones with Yang Ze. When the next harvest was more abundant and he had new ideas to try out, he would exchange some spiritual medicine to practice his hand. In this way, Lin Feng's alchemy skills also showed significant improvement.

  It's been over a year since Lin Feng arrived at the Yang family, and his internal cyclone has shown significant improvement, but he is still quite far from reaching the second layer. However, Lin Feng has gotten used to it and doesn't feel too anxious about practicing anymore. On the contrary, he seems to be obsessed with alchemy, apparently having made up his mind to take the path of cultivating alchemy first before advancing his cultivation.

  This day, Lin Feng was in the Dan room, where he sat cross-legged and began his daily morning practice. Just as he was about to enter a state of oblivion, a voice pulled him back into reality.

  "Is Shixiong here?" A slightly childish voice, Lin Feng immediately knew that it was the exceptionally talented Zhao Chun who had arrived. The only one in the Yang family younger than himself was him.

  "Here, little brother!" As he spoke, Lin Feng went out to greet him and had just turned the corner when he bumped into a chubby little boy, who was none other than Zhao Chun.

  "Brother, the master has asked me to bring you the Dan medicine." Although their cultivation speeds were worlds apart, for some reason, they had a particularly good relationship. Over the past year or so, Zhao Chun had often given Lin Feng Qi-gathering pills, and despite Lin Feng's repeated refusals, he couldn't resist the feeling of exhilaration that came with taking the pills and seeing his cultivation speed increase significantly. In the end, he could only accept them, thanks to Zhao Chun's persistence.

  "Come to Master's place, you know it's time to take the Dan medicine. What did Master ask you to help me with?" Lin Feng is now the second master of the Dan Temple, and Yang Ze has handed over many trivial matters to him, including the management of the special Dan medicine prepared for Zhao Chun. This obvious resource bias was well-known in the Yang family, but no one raised any questions. The cultivation world is just so realistic - as long as you have good qualifications, then whether it's a technique, spirit stone or spirit pill, they will all be supplied to you first. Knowing that Zhao Chun had come to collect his medicine, Lin Feng didn't show him any courtesy either, and with a straight face, joked:

  "Hehe, Shixiong, you don't have to put on a straight face, no matter how serious you look, you can't scare me." Zhao Chun said with a smile, knowing that Lin Feng was just joking.

  "Go, go, go! Do you think I'm joking with you? You know how important this is to Shifu? Tell me, did you ask? Don't say you forgot, ah, smile, you're still smiling. Believe it or not, I'll hit you!" Lin Feng said, but he himself couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the little fatty's silly and smiling face, and he really couldn't keep a straight face.

  "Haha, Shifu, I think you can't beat me now!" With a proud face, the fat boy's silly appearance was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a smug and arrogant look that begged to be punched.

  Lin Feng's eyes narrowed, ever since he entered the Qi Refining stage, he had also fought with Zhao Chun of the Qi Refining second stage many times. Although he lost more often than not, Zhao Chun didn't dare say that he could definitely win against Lin Feng. This wasn't because Lin Feng was particularly formidable or that Zhao Chun, this genius, was mediocre; rather, it was greatly influenced by the fighting style of the Qi Refining stage.

  The spiritual energy cultivated during the Qi Refining stage can not only nourish and transform the body, but also increase one's strength in battle. It can be attached to the body or weapons, increasing defensive and offensive capabilities. Therefore, the amount of spiritual energy is often equated with the magnitude of spiritual power. In the absence of external influences, the magnitude of spiritual power determines a cultivator's combat strength. However, for Qi Refining stage cultivators like Zhao Chun, who have low spiritual power, their physical body's own strength also plays a significant role in battle.

  Although the second layer of Lianqi has twice as much spiritual energy as the first layer, Zhao Chun's physical strength is far inferior to Lin Feng's due to his age. Moreover, everyone practices basic sword skills, so there isn't a big difference in skill level. As a result, Lin Feng occasionally can defeat Zhao Chun who is at the second layer of Lianqi.

  But Lin Feng had just heard very clearly that Zhao Chun said he was definitely no match for him, if that was the case, then there was only one reason, Zhao Chun had advanced again.

  Every time the cultivation of Qi is upgraded by one layer, the amount of spiritual energy is almost double that of the previous layer. Therefore, the later the cultivation, the more difficult it becomes, and the more time it takes. The true Qi inside the body at the third layer is twice that of the second layer, which is four times the amount of Lin Feng's first layer of Qi refinement. The difference between the two is already too great. If Zhao Chun really has reached the third layer of Qi refinement, then Lin Feng will definitely not be able to defeat him.

  "Have you entered the third layer of Qi Refining?" Lin Feng's own voice was trembling, and he didn't know whether it was excitement for his little junior brother or sorrow for himself.

  "Ah, two days ago I suddenly broke through during cultivation, so now Shifu is definitely not my opponent anymore. Alas, who will accompany me to practice sword in the future?"

  A look of deep worry suddenly drove Lin Feng mad, and without saying another word, he swung his fist to hit.

  Zhao Chun dodged Lin Feng's attack with a light leap, then shook his hand and said: "Alright alright, Shixiong, I've asked the master about your questions, do you want to hear them?"

  "Think!" Lin Feng had just responded when he realized that he had fallen into this kid's trap of diverting attention. This kid seemed to have become more clever after entering the third layer of the Qi Refining stage, Lin Feng thought to himself. However, he also restrained himself and listened carefully to Zhao Chun's words, as this was a very important matter for him.

  "Senior brother, the family head said that Wu Ling Gen is also a rare spiritual root in the Xiu Zhen realm. Moreover, it's slow to cultivate, so specialized cultivation methods are extremely scarce. Not to mention our Yang family, which is just a small clan, even many large Xiu Zhen families may find it difficult to obtain specialized cultivation methods."

  "Did you tell the master that I was looking for a cultivation method?" Lin Feng had his own reasons for asking Zhao Chun to ask Yang Mu. In fact, he had his own little scheme. With his poor talent, the master would not be very pleased with him, and even if there was a cultivation method suitable for those with five spiritual roots, the master might not take it out. But Zhao Chun was different, although he hadn't formally become Yang Mu's disciple, he was favored to a degree that surpassed Yang Mu's several entry-level disciples. If he were to ask, perhaps they could successfully obtain the cultivation method.

  "In your family, you're the only one with a five-element spiritual root. I asked him about it casually, and if the head of the household still doesn't know that he's asking for your sake, then there must be something wrong with his brain." Zhao Chun had a smile all over his face, but no matter what, he couldn't hide the look in his eyes that seemed to think Lin Feng was an idiot.

  Lin Feng understood the sarcasm, but surprisingly didn't fly into a rage. He wasn't in the mood to care about this now, and instead asked again, "Didn't you ask the master if there's another way? You also know that Shixiong's innate talent is poor, if he continues to cultivate this ordinary breathing technique, he'll never amount to anything."

  The Qigong method is the most common and widely used technique in the Xiuzhen world. Apart from being simple and easy to understand, it has no other advantages. On the contrary, there are many disadvantages, including slow training speed, low spiritual energy purity, poor physical transformation effect, and the biggest drawback is that it can only be used during the Qi-refining period.

  That means that if Lin Feng cultivates this technique into the foundation period, he will face the dilemma of not cultivating or changing to another technique. Of course, that also depends on whether Lin Feng can cultivate to the foundation period, and judging from the current situation, it's likely to be very difficult for him to enter the foundation period in this life.

  The special Gongfa not only has a targeted effect on different spiritual roots, but also greatly improves the cultivation progress. The Lingqi cultivated is much purer than ordinary Gongfa, in other words, its power is much greater. However, special Gongfa is relatively rare in the Cultivation World, and those who possess it will not easily pass it on to others, unless they are close relatives or formal apprentices. This is also one of the reasons why Lin Feng asked Zhao Chun to ask Yang Mu.

  "The homeowner said there were two methods."

  "Which two, speak quickly?" Lin Feng's eyes lit up, he said with great joy.

  "One is that you find five qigong methods of roughly equal power, and practice all five at the same time. As long as the methods are not too conflicting, your progress should be much faster... "

  "But what?" Lin Feng asked urgently.

  However, it's difficult to find a skill that is roughly equal in power to the five elements, and it's easy to get carried away. Zhao Chun's face was filled with difficulty.

  Lin Feng nodded, after practicing for so long, he also knew not to practice five techniques at once, but rather two techniques simultaneously. If the difference between the techniques was too great, it would be easy to make mistakes, and with one careless move, either his body would explode or his meridians would break, making it extremely easy to go astray.

  Practicing five at the same time is simply betting with one's life, and what's difficult is that even if you want to bet, you need something to bet on. Now, let alone five different properties of gongfa, I don't even have a specialized gongfa for myself.

  Just as he was thinking, Zhao Chun took out a book and handed it to him, saying: "This is the Thick Earth Manual I've been practicing, I copied it down, inside there are also my practice experiences, Master can take a look, if in the future you find the five kinds of Gongfa, you can also practice."

  "Are you giving this to me because you're not afraid of Master's punishment?" Lin Feng knew that special skills were extremely rare and would generally not be passed down to disciples without a name.

  "The master of the house said that this skill was not originally from any family member, but was specially bought for me. I am the first person in the family to practice this skill, and it will belong to me afterwards, so I can pass it on to whoever I want." Zhao Chun's expression was nonchalant, as if he was handing out a worthless book instead of a precious skill.

  "Thank you, junior brother. I won't say anything else. If there's a chance to use me in the future, just speak up." Lin Feng was overjoyed and didn't pretend otherwise. What he lacked most now was a cultivation method, and their relationship wasn't bad, so he didn't mind owing this favor.

  "Master brother, actually there is an even simpler and safer method, don't you want to hear it?" Zhao Chun said with a smile as he saw Lin Feng put away the Thick Earth Manual.

  "Oh, brother Lin, quickly tell me, I've actually forgotten this, what's the other method?" Lin Feng's face turned a bit red, he had gotten excited and forgotten about it earlier.

  "The master also said that Qingyang Gate is the first place for my Taoist cultivation, and it's the best opportunity to find the Five Elements Kung Fu method. So, brother, it's better to wait a few years to see if you can enter Qingyang Gate, and then decide which Kung Fu method to practice. After all, practicing five different attribute Kung Fu methods at the same time is too dangerous." Zhao Chun said this with some worry, although he was young, his cultivation was much stronger than Lin Feng's, and he understood the danger of practicing so many different attribute Kung Fu methods very well.

  "But with my current cultivation progress, can I enter Qingyang Gate?" Lin Feng had no confidence in himself at all.

  "Hehe, don't mind it too much, Master said that although your cultivation is a bit slow, if you can make a breakthrough in alchemy, entering Qingyang Gate as an alchemist isn't impossible. And even if you're not good enough, I'm here for you, right? Master said with my talent, entering Qingyang Gate is almost certain, and when the time comes, I'll definitely help you find the Five Elements technique with all my might."