Chapter 33: Fifth Level of Qi Refining

Fortunately, the power of the low-grade talismans was not great against him. If they had been first-grade talismans being hurled at him in such a barrage, he likely would have been reduced to ashes before he even had time to react.

The black-robed elder was both shocked and enraged, struggling to defend himself. However, due to the continuous casting of spells, his cultivation quickly dropped from the eleventh level of Qi Refinement to the tenth. It seemed as if Lu Xiaotian had an inexhaustible supply of talismans. A wave of despair washed over the elder; he knew Lu Xiaotian's aptitude better than anyone—how could a little fellow who had only luckily reached the second level of Qi Refinement possess so many talismans?

Even in that remote corner of the Beiliang Kingdom, there was no way to obtain such a quantity. Could this fellow have encountered some other fortuitous opportunity?

*This kid has hidden himself deep enough. To possess such a massive amount of talismans and remain completely unfazed... that panicked look just now was also an act to deceive me.* Having roamed the cultivation world for many years, the elder was furious that he had failed to notice even a single clue.

*Bang!*

The earth shield condensed by the black-robed elder was pierced directly through by several golden spears, followed immediately by several fire arrows. The elder was startled; in the past, he would not have feared such things, but his primordial spirit was currently extremely fragile. Even being grazed by spiritual fire would have dire consequences.

"Ah!"

In his frantic attempt to deal with the golden spears and fire arrows, the elder's primordial spirit could not dodge in time. It was struck by several following wind blades, instantly slicing his primordial spirit into several pieces.

Fortunately, being struck by wind blades did not cause the primordial spirit to burn like spiritual fire; otherwise, he would have been annihilated at that moment. However, due to this heavy blow, every time his primordial spirit was sliced, a piece of unconscious spirit fragment was severed. After all, his consciousness could only reside in one piece; the severed parts became mindless fragments.

The initial slicing into several pieces brought a soul-deep pain that chilled him to the bone. Even more terrifying was that Lu Xiaotian still had talismans in hand, and after being sliced several times, the elder's cultivation had plummeted to the seventh level of Qi Refinement.

"Trying to escape? Not so easily." Having dealt a heavy blow to his opponent, Lu Xiaotian was greatly invigorated. Seeing the black-robed elder attempt to burrow into the ground, he realized there must be tunnels the old man had dug over the past year. No wonder the old fellow hadn't managed to climb back to the twelfth level of Qi Refinement despite absorbing spiritual energy; he had been wasting it all on these tunnels. Truly treacherous.

"Earth Spike Technique!"

Lu Xiaotian slapped down a talisman, and several earth spikes instantly erupted from the ground, positioned perfectly beneath the elder's primordial spirit, cutting off his retreat.

"Good disciple... spare... spare my life!"

The black-robed elder cried out in panic. Lu Xiaotian's methods made his heart tremble. Aside from his age, the boy's experience and insight in the cultivation world were already far beyond what they once were.

"Spare you? Did you think of sparing me when you were plotting against me?"

Lu Xiaotian snorted and continued to unleash talismans, kicking a man while he was down. The black-robed elder had lost all will to fight. His floating, soul-like primordial spirit had been sliced into several pieces; aside from the largest piece which retained autonomous consciousness, the rest had become ownerless. One piece drifted toward Lu Xiaotian. Feeling an inexplicable attraction to this fragment severed from the elder, Lu Xiaotian instinctively opened his mouth and swallowed it.

The moment he swallowed it, Lu Xiaotian felt a massive surge of power within his primordial spirit. Qi Refinement Level Two... Level Three!

The speed of advancement was beyond imagination. *What is happening?* Lu Xiaotian was suddenly jolted awake by this rapid increase. Although he had not been in Moon-Watching City for long, he had never heard of anyone whose cultivation improved this quickly.

Naturally, Lu Xiaotian did not know that this was because the black-robed elder had consumed a Soul-Binding Fruit to ensure a successful possession and to maximize his compatibility with Lu Xiaotian's body. The fruit allowed one to maximize the consumption and utilization of the opponent's primordial spirit and flesh to increase one's own strength. The Soul-Binding Fruit was a rare treasure in the cultivation world, sought after but rarely found; it was a matter of destiny rather than mere strength. However, the effect of the fruit was reciprocal—the elder could use it, and so could Lu Xiaotian. When the elder consumed it, he never imagined it would lead to such an end.

Lu Xiaotian did not notice at this moment that the spiritual energy dissipating into the air from their battle was drifting everywhere. A few strands of spiritual energy touched several grass seeds on the ground. After absorbing the energy, the seeds cracked open at a visible speed, sprouting tiny purple buds. As more spiritual energy drifted by, the buds would grow a bit more, only to stop once the supply ceased.

"Bastard, that is mine!" the black-robed elder screamed in rage, but he was currently besieged by several talismans and could not break free to stop Lu Xiaotian.

"It's mine now," Lu Xiaotian chuckled, not letting the dissipating energy distract him from his goal.

"Wind Blade Talisman!"

*Whoosh, whoosh!* Several wind blades shot out from behind the small fireballs, overtaking them and once again slicing several pieces off the elder's soul-like primordial spirit.

The black-robed elder screamed in agony as his cultivation fell once more to the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

"You brat, I'll fight you to the death!" Although his escape speed was not slower than Lu Xiaotian's, the attack speed of the talismans far exceeded his ability to flee.

In his desperation, the elder stopped retreating and instead charged toward Lu Xiaotian.

"Damn it, I've run out of Wind Blade Talismans. If I had known, I would have bought more."

Lu Xiaotian felt quite vexed. Using other talismans might have killed the elder, but they consumed massive amounts of spiritual energy. If he had more Wind Blade Talismans, he could have simply sliced more pieces off the elder's primordial spirit sphere.

By now, the color of the black-robed elder's primordial spirit was incredibly thin compared to the dense, thick state it had been in at the Great Circle of Qi Refinement. However, it still appeared much thicker than Lu Xiaotian's own primordial spirit.

Lu Xiaotian narrowed his eyes, added an earth shield for defense, and then unleashed several more talismans.

"Fire Net Talisman!"

"Golden Spear Technique!"

The black-robed elder let out a fierce cry as several golden short spears appeared out of thin air, shooting toward Lu Xiaotian's primordial spirit. He had originally been a master at the Great Circle of Qi Refinement; even though he had fallen to the fifth level, his cultivation was still far higher than Lu Xiaotian's, and his understanding and comprehension of spells were far beyond what a practitioner of only one or two years could compare to. When the same spells were cast from his hands, they were much more powerful than low-grade talismans.

Having been caught off guard by Lu Xiaotian earlier, his deathbed counterattack was exceptionally ferocious. The golden short spears pierced several holes directly through the incoming fire net and continued to puncture the earth shield protecting Lu Xiaotian.

Lu Xiaotian was startled by how powerful the elder's final struggle was. He hurriedly dodged the last few dying golden spears and cast two earth shield talismans in succession to prevent any accidents. Fortunately, knowing the elder's prowess, he had kept several self-defense talismans in reserve.

"Vine Talisman!" "Earth Armor Talisman!"

"Golden Hammer Technique!"

"Water Whip Talisman!"

"Fire Snake Technique!"

Talismans and spells clashed back and forth. Both sides were now fighting with bloodshot eyes; Lu Xiaotian was determined to destroy the elder, while the black-robed elder fought desperately to maintain a fire curtain, attempting to hold out until Lu Xiaotian ran out of talismans.

*Boom! Boom!* Spells and talismans collided, sending destructive mana flying in all directions. The elder's mastery of spells and combat experience were ultimately beyond Lu Xiaotian's reach.

In the fray, Lu Xiaotian was struck by one of the elder's golden arrows, causing him to shudder in pain. Nevertheless, he endured the pain and continued his counterattack.

Having fallen back to the third level of Qi Refinement, the power of the spells cast by the black-robed elder grew increasingly weak. He was now at the early stage of Qi Refinement, so his spells were only slightly more powerful than low-grade talismans.

*Sizzle!* A pillar of lightning was followed by an exploding fireball, which completely enveloped the elder's primordial spirit. The piercing screams of the black-robed elder echoed from within.

Lu Xiaotian continued to control several talismans, searching the surroundings. When he could no longer find any trace of the elder's primordial spirit, he breathed a great sigh of relief. On second thought, Lu Xiaotian couldn't help but laugh at his own cowardice; it seemed the elder had left a certain psychological shadow on him over the long period of their conflict.

At this moment, a large number of primordial spirit fragments were drifting within the barrier, all of them sliced from the elder's spirit by the wind blades and then scattered. For over a year, the black-robed elder had been his nightmare.

Having finally removed the sharp sword hanging from his neck, Lu Xiaotian felt a sense of heartfelt relief. He greedily absorbed the mindless primordial spirit fragments drifting within the barrier. His cultivation rapidly broke through the third level, then the fourth level of Qi Refinement. By the time the drifting spiritual energy within the barrier was nearly exhausted, he had reached the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

Truly, surviving a great disaster brings great fortune. He had worked hard for nearly two years only to struggle from the first to the second level of Qi Refinement, yet in a single day, he had not only advanced three levels but also completed the massive transition from the early to the middle stage of Qi Refinement.

"Eh?" While chasing the last of the primordial spirit fragments along the path of the drifting spiritual energy, Lu Xiaotian suddenly spotted a cluster of pale purple grass at the edge of the barrier. It was Purple Spirit Grass, and there were over ten stalks in the cluster. When the strand of spiritual energy touched the grass, it vanished, and one of the stalks dropped several seeds, causing a few more tiny purple buds to sprout from the ground.

"So, after absorbing spiritual energy, Purple Spirit Grass automatically drops seeds and sprouts again. But where did this cluster come from?"

Filled with questions, Lu Xiaotian searched the surroundings again but found no other traces of spiritual items. They must have been newly grown; otherwise, if there were truly a large amount of spiritual items, the black-robed elder would have reached the twelfth level of Qi Refinement long ago.

Could it be from the last time he experimented to see if he could bring spiritual items into this mysterious space? When he had brought in a stalk of Purple Spirit Grass, had the seeds accidentally fallen here? And because the spiritual energy hadn't been fully absorbed today, they had absorbed it and taken root?

The stalk of Purple Spirit Grass he had consumed today had no seeds. To verify this, Lu Xiaotian specifically left the space to check the remaining Purple Spirit Grass in the other jade box, only to find it had a single seed—it was indeed missing a few.

It turned out that spiritual grass could actually be cultivated in this space, and as long as there was a supply of spiritual energy, the grass could grow from a sprout to maturity with incredible speed. Such a growth rate was unheard of.

Purple Spirit Grass was a primary ingredient for refining Qi-Gathering Pills. Previously, it would have been of great use to him, but unfortunately, he was already at the fifth level of Qi Refinement. Even if he refined them into pills, their efficacy would be limited; Qi-Gathering Pills only had a significant effect on cultivators in the early stage of Qi Refinement. Once at the middle stage, higher-grade pills were required.

"I'll have to spend more spirit stones to buy the recipes for middle-stage Qi Refinement pills later," Lu Xiaotian said with a bitter smile. Aside from talismans, he had very few spirit stones left. It seemed he would need to earn more and, while at it, inquire about the pill formulas for the middle stage.

"Right, there is still one storage bag that hasn't been opened." Lu Xiaotian suddenly remembered that among the several storage bags, the one belonging to the black-robed elder had remained unopened. He had been eyeing the elder's golden flying sword for a long time, and since the elder had been able to kill three others, the contents of his storage bag must be extraordinary.