Cultivating Immortality Begins with Rejuvenation

Quietly observing Li Ji'an, especially his perpetually calm and composed expression, Chen Qingling smirked, finally finding an opportunity to strike at him.

"Aren't you out of your mind?"

"I've already told you, I can only circulate one cycle a day."

"You need to recognize yourself. You only have two strands of fire-type spiritual resonance, and you're already thirty years old, still cultivating the 'Nine Yang Art'. Wake up, Uncle Li!"

Li Ji'an ignored him, focusing on sensing the effect of the spiritual energy circulating one cycle within his body.

"Spiritual energy refines the physical body, but the effect is not as good as nourishing with vital energy."

"It also tempers the spirit."

"What exactly is this heaven and earth spiritual energy? Where does it come from? It's so miraculous..."

Having understood the effect of spiritual energy on cultivation, Li Ji'an calmed his mind again and continued the second cycle of cultivation, wanting to complete the process of transforming spiritual energy into mana as soon as possible.

Chen Qingling, hoping to see Li Ji'an's disappointed expression, became somewhat agitated when Li Ji'an completely ignored his ridicule. However, this time, when he carefully sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations of Li Ji'an's second cycle, he suddenly realized that he had actually succeeded in circulating a cycle.

"You... you... you," a breath stuck in his lungs, causing him to cough incessantly.

Li Ji'an finished his second cycle, looked up at him, and said, "No need to be surprised. Your brother should have told you that my body refinement strength is also good, because my comprehension is decent."

"Comprehension..." Chen Qingling swallowed, somewhat unconvinced.

"I'm not surprised, just... Hmph, what's so great about good comprehension? The Qi Refining stage requires the accumulation of mana. Your spiritual root is poor, and you're old, that's a fact. Even if you comprehend the technique a little faster, what's the use? When you really start refining mana, you'll know the difference between us."

With that, he walked out in a fit of pique.

Li Ji'an nodded secretly, agreeing with his statement.

He knew himself well.

"This is the energy source for releasing spells and performing supernatural powers..."

Sure enough, after he had circulated five cycles, sensing the almost hundredfold amount of spiritual energy, he finally refined less than one-tenth of it into mana. He finally completely understood the feeling of despair in cultivation that Chen Zhaohu and others spoke of due to poor spiritual roots.

According to his understanding of other people's experiences, the proportion of mana refined by ordinary low-grade spiritual roots can reach at least about five percent.

And he, only one percent, still a little short.

However, he was not only not despairing, but rather quite expectant.

"It won't be long before I can become the kind of immortal I once fantasized about, with spells..."

He immediately continued to cultivate, forgetting to eat and sleep.

In the following days, he also had Chen Qingling take him to familiarize himself with the stalls selling spiritual rice, spiritual flour, and monster meat in the market, all of which were daily necessities. There were also talismans, such as dust-cleaning talismans, mind-clearing talismans, etc...

However, most of them were not needed for the time being, and he couldn't afford them either. He only bought a little spiritual rice and spiritual flour.

Spiritual rice and spiritual flour can supplement a small amount of spiritual energy, and directly supplement it to the body, skipping the process of absorbing it from the heavens and earth, only requiring refinement, which is very helpful for improving cultivation efficiency.

But the price of ten taels of spiritual sand per peck also made it impossible to eat every meal, only once every ten days or half a month.

A month passed in a flash. During this period, Li Ji'an almost never left his house. Except for sleeping and eating, he was always circulating his cultivation technique to absorb and refine spiritual energy.

On this day, while Li Ji'an was eating, he heard Chen Qingling going out downstairs again.

He couldn't help but shake his head.

His brother worked so hard to create a cultivation environment for him, but he didn't cherish it that much.

In the past month, Li Ji'an saw clearly that he probably cultivated for a maximum of two hours each day.

Compared to his ten hours of cultivation time every day, it was simply a waste of time.

However, he didn't meddle in other people's business. Everyone would be responsible for their own actions.

Until another five months passed, on this day, Li Ji'an inspected his dantian and "saw" the last part of the dantian wall being infiltrated by mana. He opened his eyes with joy.

"Qi Refining First Layer!"

This result really surprised him.

Chen Qingling had nine strands of fire spiritual root resonance and cultivated a mid-grade technique, yet it took him four months to reach the Qi Refining First Layer.

And he himself only took six months to reach the Qi Refining First Layer.

"The refining efficiency of nine strands of fire spiritual root is at least 50% higher than my two strands, plus he cultivates a mid-grade technique, which is another 10% to 20% higher..."

He had originally prepared himself to take two years to enter the Qi Refining First Layer.

And from the beginning, he planned to spend half a year experiencing the Qi Refining process, and then find a job to survive here.

Unexpectedly... a pleasant surprise!

"Could it be that cultivating immortality also has the saying 'Heaven rewards diligence'?"

"Is it just because my daily cultivation time is five times his, so my cultivation speed caught up with him?"

"No!"

The next moment, Li Ji'an realized something was wrong.

He remembered that when Chen Qingling entered the Qi Refining First Layer last year and became a true Qi Refining cultivator, Chen Zhaohu and several Qi Refining cultivators praised him, and also praised Chen Zhaohu for his efforts for Chen Qingling being worthwhile.

This was enough to show that Chen Qingling's progress of entering the Qi Refining First Layer in four months was in line with his talent and that mid-grade technique.

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"The problem is with me?" Li Ji'an was surprised and uncertain.

That night, he approached Chen Qingling again.

After some probing, he confirmed the reason, and was both surprised and delighted.

It turned out that he had misunderstood Chen Qingling. It wasn't that Chen Qingling wasn't working hard, but that ordinary Qi Refining cultivators had a limit to how much their physical body could withstand the scouring of spiritual energy during the process of absorbing heaven and earth spiritual energy and refining mana. Two hours was already a bit of an overload, and his physical body felt like it was being cut by knives.

In addition to the physical body having a limit, the spirit would also be consumed. If it exceeded the limit, the sea of consciousness would feel like it was being pricked by needles.

If one still forcibly absorbed spiritual energy, the physical body would be damaged lightly, and the sea of consciousness would be shaken severely.

"In that case, perhaps I can also look forward to this life a little... Let's set a small goal, Foundation Establishment!"

Returning to his own small house again, Li Ji'an was full of spirit.

"With this mana, I should be able to release spells..."

"As expected of mana that can communicate with the spirit of heaven and earth, it can actually suppress the power of vital energy."

After trying to stimulate the mana many times, Li Ji'an chose to give up.

His comprehension was indeed much higher than that of ordinary people, but facing this kind of spell that required communication with the spirit of heaven and earth, he still couldn't understand it. It might also be because he didn't have any foundation in this area.

Perhaps after cultivating a few more spells, he could understand its essence and innovate.

Satisfied with finishing his cultivation, Li Ji'an planned to slow down his cultivation for the next half year.

Half a year had passed, and he only had eighteen spirit stones left. If he didn't have any income, next year's rent would be tight.

With free time, he picked up the letter he had received today.

When he first arrived at the market half a year ago, he sent letters to Zhao Shuyuan, Zhang Tiezhu, and Zhu Linxian respectively, informing them of his situation and address.

As for Dong Jiangling, because he had left and never returned, he couldn't send a letter.

Zhao Shuyuan followed a merchant firm to a branch in the north three months before Li Ji'an came to the market. After that, she only replied once after Li Ji'an sent a letter, and the words were somewhat numb.

Zhang Tiezhu became more and more passionate, and his words were full of hope. He informed him that he had already received the Yan family's reward technique in August last year and stepped into cultivation, and had reached the Qi Refining First Layer four months ago.

Zhu Linxian was always taciturn, only saying that he had stepped into cultivation and everything was going smoothly.

And the letter received today was from the Golden Brilliance Immortal City, Zhao Shuyuan.

At the first glance of opening the letter, Li Ji'an frowned slightly.

"Brother Li, cultivation is difficult, the immortal path is hopeless, we..."

Sorry, this chapter is a bit late today.