Chapter 33: Life of Secluded Cultivation

In an instant.

Countless strands of divine sense intersected within the Small Zuo, condensing into dense, intricate patterns. These patterns were like the meridians of the Amethyst Zuo, yet they were more numerous and denser than before.

Without hesitation, Cheng Buzheng flipped his right hand, and another Amethyst Zuo, the size of a millstone, hovered in his palm.

Compared to the giant object in the air, however, it appeared quite petite and exquisite.

With a thought, the giant Amethyst Zuo above the secret chamber emitted a beam of purple light that coiled around the millstone-sized one. Like a large fish swallowing a small one, it merged into the giant Amethyst Zuo in the blink of an eye.

The originally illusory Amethyst Zuo, having devoured the millstone-sized one, became solid, radiating a luster akin to gold and jade.

This was precisely the uniqueness of this spell: it was half spellcraft and half artifact refining, a technique that took the essence of both.

The newly formed illusory Amethyst Zuo could devour fragments of Amethyst Zuo, instantly regaining its previous combat power without any fear of destruction. This was not the case with magical tools; once destroyed, one would have to spend spirit stones to purchase a new one.

Although this special spell was extremely practical, cost-effective, and powerful, it was incredibly difficult to cultivate, consuming vast amounts of time with no guarantee of success.

Even if one were lucky enough to master it, once their cultivation level increased, the spell would no longer be suitable, as its power would be unable to fully unleash the user's true strength.

This caused such special spells to become somewhat redundant, like chicken ribs—useless but hard to discard.

To this day, he had not found anyone who had successfully mastered this particular technique.

Then, with a wave of his hand, the spinning Amethyst Zuo in the air rapidly shrank until it was only the size of an infant's fist in his palm.

He examined it closely. The Small Zuo looked as if it were forged from purple metal, but the spiritual runes faintly emanating from within were more than ten times more complex than before.

He could not immediately test it within the secret chamber.

However, he knew that the power of the Amethyst Zuo had increased at least twofold. Without a comparison, he could not know exactly how much its potency had grown.

At this moment, the Amethyst Zuo had not yet reached its peak power. If it were to devour enough spiritual materials, its power would eventually reach its limit, comparable to a top-tier mid-grade magical tool.

Furthermore, the mana consumption of this technique was similar to that of a normal low-grade First-Tier spell, making it extremely convenient, practical, and highly cost-effective.

After observing it for a long time, Cheng Buzheng flipped his right hand, and the Amethyst Zuo imprinted itself onto the back of his hand, transforming into a small Zuo-shaped pattern that vanished into his skin in an instant.

Then, his gaze fell upon a pile of raw spirit stone ores in the corner.

By now, half of the raw spirit stone ores had turned into useless stones, while the other half still emitted a spiritual glow.

With a wave of his sleeve, an irregular piece of raw spirit stone ore appeared in his hand.

Closing his eyes slightly, he activated the Crimson Fire Formula, absorbing the spiritual energy within the irregular ore he held.

Immediately, a surge of pure spiritual energy flowed into his meridians. He immediately operated the refined Crimson Fire Formula and found that its efficiency had indeed increased significantly—a full twofold increase. This was not a simple matter of one plus one equaling two.

Following the new celestial circuit map, a stream of refined spiritual energy soon drifted within his dantian space.

In the blink of an eye, the newly entered refined spiritual energy was pulled by a terrifying suction into a vortex at the center of his dantian.

As the vortex spun continuously, a small stream of red mana fell into a heavy, crimson cloud beneath the vortex.

Once one celestial circuit was completed, he began absorbing the spiritual energy from the raw ore again.

A surge of pure spiritual energy entered his meridians and began circulating along the circuit once more.

He repeated this process over and over until the spiritual energy within the raw ore was completely absorbed, leaving behind nothing but a dead stone.

After an unknown amount of time, having finished one ore, he drew another from the corner and continued his cultivation, repeating the cycle until not a single piece of raw spirit stone ore remained in the secret chamber.

Sitting cross-legged on the ground, Cheng Buzheng opened his eyes, revealing clear black and white pupils. Realizing how much his mana had increased, he couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

"Since the efficiency of the Crimson Fire Formula has improved, the raw spirit stone ores are being consumed too quickly. It only took seven days to exhaust all these ores! I should go out... and continue searching for the remaining six sheep. Cultivating with raw spirit stone ores is indeed a bit fast in consumption! But the results are truly gratifying... I no longer have to laboriously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. With my current rate of progress, I'll be able to reach the third level of Qi Refinement in less than a year!"

After scanning the secret chamber and seeing nothing but scattered stones, Cheng Buzheng stood up. With a thought, a layer of yellow spiritual light shimmered over his body. He walked to the rock wall and merged into the stone layer.

Three zhang underground within the rock layer, a yellow light moved swiftly, with Cheng Buzheng swimming joyfully like a small fish in a river.

Before long, Cheng Buzheng arrived at the eighth branch mine. It took him a long time to roughly scout all the large and small branching paths within the mine.

However, he still hadn't encountered the "guide." Undeterred, he moved on to the sixth branch mine, checking the paths in order.

He did not bother checking the second or seventh branch mines; since he already knew their spirit stone storage points, there was no need to waste time.

Although the search process was smooth, it was also exhausting. Thinking about the two spirit stone storage points he had found, Cheng Buzheng felt that all the hard work was worth it.

This time, he did not rush to collect the ores from the two storage points he discovered; instead, he continued to explore the remaining branch mines.

It took him a full two days to scout all six branch mines.

Once the scouting was complete, it was time for the highlight of his harvest.

Three zhang underground within the spirit stone mine, a yellow light darted rapidly, occasionally appearing in stone caves containing significant quantities of raw spirit stone ores.

Half a day later.

Inside the secret chamber.

Looking at another small pile of raw spirit stone ores in the corner, the corners of Cheng Buzheng's mouth curled up in a grin, his heart filled with joy.

This large amount of ore had not been taken from a single storage point.

Instead, he had taken only a small amount from each storage point. Unless someone checked very carefully, they wouldn't notice anything was missing.

He was also afraid that if he stripped one place bare, he would be discovered quickly; if they hid the ores, it would be a hassle for him to find them again.

Then, Cheng Buzheng sat cross-legged on the ground, feeling pleasant as he drew in a piece of raw spirit stone ore to begin his cultivation.

In the following month, he successfully mapped out the locations of the remaining six spirit stone storage points.

Having long since prepared for secluded cultivation, Cheng Buzheng began his life of isolation.

Since Qi Refinement cultivators could not yet practice fasting, they needed to eat a little food every few days.

This was not a problem for Cheng Buzheng; the Fasting Pills in the long-necked porcelain bottle in his bosom were enough to last him until the mining task ended.

Although the Fasting Pills were completely tasteless, it was of no consequence. With sufficient resources for cultivation, such trifles were worth mentioning.

This secluded cultivation continued day after day—simple, monotonous, and even tedious.

Aside from carrying a basket of raw spirit stone ores to turn in at the end of every month, his greatest pleasure was visiting the eight storage points every week to check on them and "skim a little off the top."

He would only take enough from each storage point to sustain his week of cultivation before stopping.