Chapter 11: Magical Artifacts

"At this rate of cultivation, I’ll be able to break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining in a year at most!" After refining a Jade Spirit Pill, Li Zhirui felt the growth of mana within his body, his eyes filled with joy.

The higher the realm, the longer the cultivation time naturally takes. If he were cultivating normally, given Li Zhirui’s aptitude, it would take nearly two years to break through. But now, with the assistance of the Jade Spirit Pill, the time required for the breakthrough had been cut in half!

"No wonder the disciples of those great powers cultivate so quickly; twenty-year-old Foundation Establishment cultivators are everywhere." With sufficient cultivation resources, coupled with already excellent aptitude, how could their cultivation speed not be fast?

After finishing his cultivation, Li Zhirui carried a jade bottle toward the storehouse, as today was the day he was to deliver the spirit pills.

More than three months had passed since Li Zhirui first submitted Jade Spirit Pills. During this period, he would collect one hundred sets of materials each month, and each time, he was able to submit five hundred pills.

After so much practice, Li Zhirui’s success rate had stabilized at eighty percent, but it had stopped there. It was as if he had hit a bottleneck in his cultivation; until he broke through it, no matter how hard he tried, it was all in vain.

Therefore, Li Zhirui had developed the idea of refining Spirit Replenishment Pills. Through dozens of practice sessions, he successfully refined them, but his success rate was less than forty percent, so he could only practice more to slowly improve.

However, the spirit herbs planted in Li Zhirui’s space had been exhausted, so this time, in addition to the materials for the Jade Spirit Pills, he also wanted to collect fifty sets of spirit herbs for refining Spirit Replenishment Pills.

Li Shile agreed to Li Zhirui’s request quite readily, with only one condition: if the number of Spirit Replenishment Pills was insufficient, he would have to make up the difference with Jade Spirit Pills.

Li Zhirui naturally wouldn't refuse, because after this period of time, he already had over a thousand Jade Spirit Pills in his possession, enough for him to squander.

"By the way, Grandpa Le, I want to sell some Jade Spirit Pills to the family." Li Zhirui suddenly remembered one more thing he had to do and quickly called out to stop Li Shile.

Li Shile seemed to have anticipated this, saying, "The family’s purchase price is two and a half spirit stones per pill. If you entrust the family to sell them, there is a commission fee of two spirit stones per bottle."

"I'll sell them directly to the family," Li Zhirui said without hesitation.

Li Zhirui certainly knew that the second option was more favorable to him, but now that he had the opportunity and the ability to repay the family for raising him, he naturally wouldn't be stingy.

After all, he had to rely on the Li family to grow better; the better the Li family was, the better his own environment for growth would naturally be.

"How many are you planning to sell?" Li Shile asked with a smile.

"One thousand Jade Spirit Pills." Li Zhirui still had over two hundred pills left, which was enough for him and Daqing to consume for a long time.

Besides, he was still refining pills for the family, bringing in three hundred Jade Spirit Pills every month, so he didn't have to worry about a shortage of pills at all.

A flash of surprise crossed Li Shile’s eyes, but he didn't ask about Li Zhirui’s success rate, only saying, "The family doesn't have that many spirit stones right now. I can give you one thousand spirit stones at most, and I'll give you the rest after a while. How about that?"

Li Zhirui nodded indifferently. Anyway, he stayed on the island all day and didn't have to worry about cultivation resources; even if he had spirit stones, he wouldn't have anywhere to spend them. Selling the pills was just because he had too many piled up and needed to deal with them.

"You brat..." Seeing Li Zhirui’s indifferent expression, Li Shile said, half-annoyed and half-amused, "Aren't you afraid the family will swallow your spirit stones?"

Li Zhirui grinned and said, "I trust the family, and I trust Grandpa Le."

If such a situation were to occur, the Li family could not have lasted for over three hundred years, and there hadn't even been any serious infighting or power struggles.

"You!" Li Shile sighed helplessly, thought for a moment, and said, "Wait here." With that, he turned and entered the real storehouse behind him.

Soon, Li Shile walked out holding a storage bag and said, "Now that you’ve broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining, the magic tools in your hands should be replaced. I specifically selected a few pieces suitable for you; take a look for yourself."

Looking at the few magic tools placed in front of him, Li Zhirui’s eyes lit up. He had been so busy with the family relocation and pill refining that he had forgotten he needed to replace his own magic tools.

As a result, the magic tool he was currently using was still the first-grade mid-tier Green Wood Sword he had purchased from the family after breaking through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

Laid out before Li Zhirui were five first-grade high-tier magic tools: the Clear Wind Sword, Wood Pine Needles, Water Mist Bead, Azure Water Sword, and Clear Jade Hairpin.

Among them, the Water Mist Bead was a defensive magic tool; once activated, a layer of water mist would surround the user, providing excellent defense against fire-type spells.

The Clear Jade Hairpin was a rare, special magic tool; wearing it for a long time could nourish the soul and also provide a certain degree of defense against soul attacks.

"Grandpa Le, I want the Water Mist Bead and the Clear Jade Hairpin, and..." Li Zhirui was determined to buy these two, but he couldn't quite make up his mind regarding the three offensive magic tools.

"The Wood Pine Needles!" Li Zhirui didn't hesitate for long before giving his answer.

Although the Green Wood Sword was of a lower grade, it wasn't unusable, and it could be used to distract the enemy before launching a sneak attack with the Wood Pine Needles!

"The Clear Jade Hairpin is 1,500 spirit stones, the Water Mist Bead is 1,000 spirit stones, and the Wood Pine Needles are 1,200 spirit stones." Li Shile smiled as he quoted the prices for the three magic tools.

Generally, for tools of the same grade, offensive magic tools are cheaper than defensive ones, but the Wood Pine Needles were different; they were a set of offensive tools consisting of thirty-six needles, so the price was higher.

Li Zhirui’s expression froze. He knew that first-grade high-tier magic tools weren't cheap, but he hadn't expected the three he chose to add up to nearly 4,000 spirit stones!

One had to know that the price of a second-grade low-tier magic tool was also around 4,000 spirit stones!

"Then I'll take the Clear Jade Hairpin and the Water Mist Bead first. As for the Wood Pine Needles... I'll have to wait until I have more spirit stones to buy them. Grandpa Le, you must save them for me." Li Zhirui made his choice after a moment of hesitation.

Li Shile laughed heartily and said, "Don't worry. Among the family's Qi Refining cultivators, you are the richest. The other clansmen don't have that many spirit stones."

In truth, Li Shile hadn't expected Li Zhirui to be so extravagant! He had brought out these five tools thinking that Li Zhirui needed them and that the family owed him spirit stones, so they could just offset the cost. Who would have thought Li Zhirui would take a liking to three of them at once!

But that was fine; these tools had been sitting in the storehouse for many years, and now that someone was buying them, they wouldn't have to gather dust anymore.

"Thank you, Grandpa Le." Li Zhirui handed over the spirit stones he had just received, put away the two magic tools, and turned to leave the storehouse.

Li Shile felt that no one else would come to the storehouse at this time, so he closed the main door and walked toward the main hall.

"Second Brother, Xiao Rui submitted 1,500 Jade Spirit Pills today."

A look of surprise appeared in Li Shiqing’s eyes. He did the math in his head and said, "His success rate must be at least eighty percent now, right?"

"It definitely is." Li Shile didn't dwell on this topic and instead asked, "Isn't the family planning to open a general store in Yunqing Market? How is the preparation going?"