Chapter 47: Breakthrough

Like the other clansmen, Li Zhirui spent over a month on the deserted island to finish mining the spirit stone vein completely. This was only possible because they had called upon their respective spirit beasts to help; otherwise, they would have had to stay in the cavern for another month.

However, the hard work was worth it, as they had excavated a total of over sixty thousand spirit stones. If this were added to what Li Zhirui had previously mined, it would be equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Pill.

"Great work, everyone. For this mission, each person will receive three hundred contribution points." After announcing the reward, Li Shilian warned once more, "However, I hope that after you return, you must keep this a secret. Do not tell anyone!"

Everyone was extremely excited. Theoretically speaking, three hundred contribution points were equivalent to three hundred spirit stones. Although they could not be exchanged directly, they could be used to offset the cost when purchasing artifacts or other spiritual items for the clan. Furthermore, contribution points could be used in the Library Pavilion to exchange for spells and cultivation techniques.

After everyone had left the cavern, Li Shilian acted to seal the tunnel to prevent anyone from discovering that a spirit stone vein had once existed there.

The spirit ship steered by Li Shilian was extremely fast, returning to Great Banyan Island in just one day.

"Go back and rest quickly," Li Shilian said, before walking straight toward the main hall. He needed to hand over the spirit stones in his possession to Li Qingqing as soon as possible.

When Li Qingqing heard the number reported by Li Shilian, he said with a look of surprise, "There are actually that many spirit stones?"

Li Zhirui gave him an approximate figure, and considering that the black bear demon had stayed in the cavern for so many years, a rough estimate suggested that this spirit stone vein could yield nearly ninety thousand spirit stones!

This quantity was not far from the upper limit of a micro-vein. A little more, and it could be considered a small-scale vein, and small-scale spirit stone veins were capable of nurturing mid-grade spirit stones.

Although one mid-grade spirit stone was equivalent to one hundred low-grade spirit stones, the spiritual energy it contained was more peaceful and pure, something low-grade spirit stones could not compare to.

Moreover, mid-grade spirit stones had many uses, such as setting up stronger formations or being used as the core of puppets. Most importantly, mid-grade spirit stones were indispensable for upgrading to higher-order spirit veins!

Unfortunately, this vein was just a bit lacking. It was possible that it had been destroyed by that black bear demon before it could fully mature, causing the spiritual energy of the vein to leak and halting its progress at a micro-vein.

Thinking of this, Li Qingqing's excited mood suddenly cooled down. "What a pity."

...

After the group had bid farewell and departed, Li Zhirui ran hurriedly back to his small courtyard. Once the door was closed, he slipped into his spatial dimension.

For the past month, Li Zhirui had not been able to stay in the space for long periods; he could only use the time he took to clear his mind to hurriedly tend to various spiritual herbs.

Fortunately, the space possessed its own miraculous properties. Although the herbs were not as vibrant as they were under Li Zhirui's meticulous care, they were at least healthy, showing no signs of withering or yellowing leaves.

Like an old farmer in the fields, Li Zhirui skillfully and carefully tended to the many spiritual herbs, while Da Qing sat nearby, munching on spiritual fruits with a *crunch-crunch* sound.

A few hours later, Li Zhirui stretched and walked over to Da Qing, only to find that he had already fallen asleep. He had originally intended to play with him, but now he could only give up and quietly leave the space.

After resting well for a day, Li Zhirui returned to his previous monotonous cycle of alchemy and cultivation starting from the next day.

One day, while cultivating, Li Zhirui suddenly heard a faint cracking sound from within his body. He gained instant enlightenment and began to accelerate the circulation of his cultivation technique. The scattered spiritual energy in the outside world began to gather around him, forming a layer of spiritual light visible to the naked eye.

It had been over a year since Li Zhirui's last breakthrough. In truth, given his aptitude and the assistance of a large number of spiritual pills, he should have broken through long ago.

The reason it had been delayed until today was that Li Zhirui had spent a significant amount of time on alchemy, as well as on practicing his visualization techniques, going on training trips, and mining.

However, these things were not without benefits for Li Zhirui. For instance, this breakthrough, which came as naturally as water flowing into a channel, was the reward for his hard work during this period.

Li Zhirui mobilized his divine sense, absorbing the spiritual energy swirling around him into his body. Through the tempering of his meridians, by the time the spiritual energy reached his dantian, it had transformed into his dharma power.

In the Qi Refinement stage, the focus was on the word "refinement"—tempering the spiritual energy to convert it into dharma power, and then striking the barriers of the dantian to expand the area of the dantian's sea of qi, thereby breaking through to the next realm.

In this breakthrough, the barriers of Li Zhirui's dantian had long been broken invisibly, so there was no need for extra effort. Once he absorbed enough spiritual energy and his dharma power filled the sea of qi, Li Zhirui would have successfully broken through to the eighth level of Qi Refinement.

To consolidate his realm, Li Zhirui went into seclusion for nearly half a month before leaving the quiet cultivation room.

Upon exiting, he saw several transmission talismans posted on the door. Li Zhirui removed them one by one. Among them, Li Shile had left two, which were roughly the same in content, asking what he was doing and if he still had any Jade Spirit Pills.

Then there were two left by Li Shiren; one stated that he and Li Shiting had handed over duties and were heading to the market to maintain stability, while the other asked if he had broken through and, if so, to remember to share the good news.

Since Li Shiren was not on Great Banyan Island, Li Zhirui had no choice but to look for Li Shile. As soon as Li Shile saw him, he shouted loudly, "You brat, lately... you broke through?"

"Yes, I had an epiphany while cultivating, so I just went into seclusion to break through. I saw the transmission talismans you left as soon as I came out today, so I hurried over to find you," Li Zhirui explained with a flattering expression.

"Fine, it is understandable." Li Zhirui's breakthrough was a joyous event, so Li Shile couldn't say much, but they were currently in desperate need of Jade Spirit Pills. It might be too late to ask Li Zhirui to refine them now, so he could only hope that the boy still had many pills on hand.

"I don't have many Jade Spirit Pills left; I only have the few hundred I refined before going into seclusion."

"That should be enough to manage for a day or two." Li Shile looked at Li Zhirui somewhat apologetically and said, "I'll have to trouble you in the coming days."

Li Zhirui keenly sensed something was amiss and asked, "Has something happened to the clan recently?"

"It's nothing major. Didn't I mention before that other forces are already selling Water-Refined Pills?" Li Shile sighed and said, "They took advantage of the fact that the clan couldn't produce enough spiritual pills and swallowed up a large portion of the market."

Li Shile then smiled and said, "The quality of our Li family's spiritual pills is the best. As long as we have enough pills, we can definitely win the business back."

"You are right," Li Zhirui nodded firmly. He still held the Pill Extraction Technique and the Pill Nourishing Technique in his hands; if he used these two techniques to refine Jade Spirit Pills, the business would naturally return.

Li Shile suddenly said, "If you are not busy, go to the main hall and tell the Clan Leader about your breakthrough to make him happy."

"Alright." Li Zhirui hadn't originally planned to do so, as it was only a breakthrough of a minor realm and didn't need to be known by everyone.

However, hearing Li Shile say this, Li Zhirui knew that the Clan Leader had also been troubled by the loss of shop business these past few days.

Even though he had previously maintained a composed mindset, when things truly fell upon one's own head, one would still feel irritable.