Peerless in Fire and Wood

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Seeing this, Xiao Feiran could only give up and left in a huff. Subsequently, Zhao Jinshang’s brocade screen shielded the young boys and girls from complaints and yin-yang disturbances; at least there was a sense of relief that their Dao hearts remained unbroken. They were still young, and the path ahead was long.

For the remaining half month, considering the risks in this place, it was decided to stay along the central boundary and undertake training here. To attract beasts and reduce their intelligence, Zhao Jinshang employed a third-grade Beast-Attracting Powder. Without it, the keenly perceptive beasts would be reluctant to provoke a fight.

These beasts discerned the environment through battle aura, the extent of destruction, including bloodstains, performing a simple analysis. Under the influence of the powder, their intelligence lowered, making them reckless yet still susceptible to pain; once their demonic blood was activated, their combat strength remained undiminished, making them suitable for training the younger generation.

Only Jinshang knew that many families had individuals like him.

After thirty days, at sunset, the training ended. Riding the elder’s flying sword back, to test their progress, Zhao Jinshang flew back with full effort. If his originally estimated disciples could not maintain stable stances until now, then their steady postures were proof of their improvement.

Yan Qing, at the tenth layer of Qi Refining, leaned on the elder’s arm without showing off.

The first stage of leveling up for children raised by cultivation families was always under the care of elders, Jin Ming sighed, wondering how wildly different the stories would be for children raised and trained in the wild.

Half an hour later, they arrived at Qingning City. At a hundred zhang above ground, then descending to thirty zhang, the elder flew straight in.

Everyone stood on the giant black-and-white flying sword, positioned on either side of the elder’s sword tip, looking remarkably spirited in the eyes of the Zhao clan’s children.

They flew to the outskirts of the medicinal garden.

“I am very satisfied with your performance this time. You have gathered two fifth-grade spiritual herbs, eight fourth-grade, dozens of second-grade, and over a hundred first-grade herbs. Together, you have slain more than ten beasts at the Demonic Foundation Realm, including two in the late stage of Demonic Foundation and several at the Demon Qi Realm.”

“I will convert your contribution points into spirit stones and distribute them.”

Saying this, the elder placed varying amounts of spirit stones into their spare storage rings. Upon inspection, Jin Ming had six hundred spirit stones, an unusually generous amount compared to a disciple’s salary.

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“If you do not put effort into training, you will find it difficult to encounter excellent opportunities to go to the Northern Ridge in the future. You may disperse now.” With that, he left.

In truth, he was eager to prepare high-grade pills. This time, not only was there the purple-skinned Blackwater Snake at the Demonic Foundation Realm’s peak, but also a large beast, a first-stage Demon Pill Realm Blue-Eyed Leopard. This beast was reckless, seeing the frail-looking elder, and intended to ambush him with speed.

Though Jinshang’s lifespan was depleted, he often used various treasures and medicinal items to nurture his spiritual body, and he possessed the Azure Lotus Fire.

At mid-stage Golden Core, it was as fierce as the late stage.

After an encounter with a six-tailed demon fox, he could protect his disciples’ safety; appearances could be deceiving.

Zhao Yu, Dong Zifang, Xun Liangyi, Qin Dongyang… Zhao Jinming said farewells one after another.

Returning to his own room, Jinming described the training to his parents but did not mention the Fire Profound Pill. He also told them he would close his door for two days to study spiritual methods.

In fact, he was refining the Fire Profound Pill. High-profile use was unsuitable for most; it would inevitably break one’s path.

The elder had informed him that fully refining this pill should take more than two days, so he could not consume it during training.

The Fire Profound Pill was a fifth-grade magic pill made from rare materials, comparable to a sixth-grade magic pill. Any pill that enhanced aptitude had a miraculous effect the first time taken, but the second time would cause great harm due to Dao interference, with subsequent doses nearly useless. This was the natural balance of fate-altering pills. They offered ordinary people a chance at cultivation, but those with poor aptitude could not achieve limitless improvement—perhaps except for the legendary ninth-grade heavenly pills and above.

He activated a first-stage spirit-gathering array indoors, then performed the hand seals and cultivated accordingly.

During training, his Profound Spirit Technique had already reached the peak of the third layer, a high-level Profound Technique with three layers, involving breathing to refine and circulate spiritual energy.

Then he consumed the magic pill. Unlike the benign Wood Spirit Pill, the Fire Profound Pill caused dryness and stirred the spiritual energy violently. But after training, Jinming’s cultivation improved, and he became more familiar with various methods, his control reaching an extraordinary level. Within ten breaths, the pill was securely confined in his dantian, steadily absorbed. Sitting cross-legged, Jinming slowly closed his eyes, feeling the gradual growth of his fire spiritual root.

One day passed.

Two days passed.

On the third day, at noon, Zhao Jinming’s aura thickened slightly. Opening his eyes, he felt pleased.

“A true treasure pill.” He stood upright, pushed open the door, and smiled.

Jinming had dual fire and wood spiritual roots. The wood root was nine and a half inches; the fire root, eight and a half inches.

When a spiritual root exceeds four inches, it is considered good; over eight inches marks excellent cultivation roots.

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In the vast lands of the Nine Continents, cultivators must not overtrain before the age of eight. Between eight and twelve, simple training is allowed. Most cultivators naturally reach the first layer of Qi Refining by eight. It is said that excessive cultivation before eight can affect a person’s qi and luck, such as height, physique, and susceptibility to illness. Some mortals die without ever cultivating; the Heavenly Dao is just, imposing subtle limits on cultivators.

Yet Heaven also bestows blessings, granting innate spiritual bodies to break these limits.

Stepping out of his room to prepare for September, Jinming needed to replenish spiritual flesh and blood.

He arrived at the Zhao Clan’s Treasure Gathering Hall, an important place providing trading needs for clan members. That day, he had intended to visit the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower but gave up after considering his little over two thousand spirit stones.

Within Qingning City, besides many ordinary shop entrances, there were seven important trading locations: the Treasure Gathering Halls of the five great clans, the central plaza’s wandering cultivators’ workshop, and the Ten Thousand Treasures Tower jointly built by the five clans.

Not every cultivation family possessed complete industries. The Zhao family’s strength partly lay in having two elders who were highly talented alchemists. Although the chief elder was strong and commanded a division of forge masters primarily serving the clan, the external sales share was small. The fourth elder focused on the southern town, cultivating spiritual rice and vegetables; two towns raised spiritual flowers and rare herbs, and one specialized in breeding spiritual beasts for external sale to other cities.

The Ten Thousand Treasures Tower was Qingning City’s largest trading center, followed by the plaza’s cultivators’ workshop.

Most of the large share of beast meat in the tower was supplied by the Li family. The Sun family hosted auctions and sold spiritual beasts. The Xu family mainly sold mid- and low-grade array materials and various magical devices such as rainbow umbrellas, storage rings, swords, shields, armor, knives, spears, axes, and whips. The Yang family’s industry focused on trading medicinal materials, cultivating spiritual soil, and importing pills from the Zuo family of Jiang City.

As he walked to the Treasure Gathering Hall, he occasionally received greetings, though most paid little attention. No matter how high one’s talent, it was not enough to shoulder great responsibilities.

The hall rose three stories high, bustling with comings and goings. The Zhao clan was no small cultivation family; three centuries of active recruitment and growth had produced many members.

Inside, the hall was clean, fresh, and neatly divided, not lavishly decorated but spacious and bright. Most Zhao family buildings were similar.

Divisions included: pill sales, small-scale spiritual beast trade, equipment and armor (including pill furnaces, spiritual garments), accessories or essential storage rings, porcelain bottles, and other magical treasures, a small number of cultivation technique and spiritual skill manuals, medicinal materials, talismans, and array materials.

For consuming spiritual beast meat, one could go to the dining hall; here, he sought only the Demon Blood Pill.

What was a Demon Blood Pill?

Before reaching the Demon Pill Realm, demonic beasts had no demon pills. When a demonic beast formed a pill, it was akin to a human at the Golden Core stage. Humans with Golden Core were not yet called true immortals; only when their strength neared the late Golden Core and they gained renown did they earn a distinct title. At this stage, demonic beasts could gradually take humanoid forms, becoming great demons.

Among the beasts, the weak were preyed upon by the strong, often consuming mountain forest secret medicines. Their physique and blood energy were superior to humans. Demon blood was the essence of beasts at the Demon Qi and Demonic Foundation Realms.

Humans could cut down demons and collect their demon blood for safekeeping. Different species’ demon blood could not be mixed indiscriminately and was usually stored in porcelain or jade bottles.

Besides teeth, bones, and hides, demon blood could be condensed into Demon Blood Pills. Using the extracted demon blood from intact beasts, refined in treasure furnaces under gentle fire, the pill refinement removed many impurities. Demon Blood Pills of different species were often used as materials in crafting higher-grade pills.