Chapter 114: Refining Qi, Eighth Layer

Chapter 114: Refining Qi, Eighth Layer

It was another market-closing day, and Chu Ning was in his backyard, holding a golden orchid fruit.

In front of him stood Ling Xiaobai, and there were also several Grey Spirit Hares present.

"Xiaobai, what do you think of this spirit fruit?"

Chu Ning asked Ling Xiaobai first, holding up the golden orchid fruit.

"Meow!"

Ling Xiaobai mewed in response.

"You want to eat it?"

"This is a mutated spirit fruit, it can't be eaten casually, you little glutton," Chu Ning chided playfully.

However, through Ling Xiaobai's spiritual transmission, Chu Ning also got a general idea.

This Golden Orchid Fruit had a high concentration of spiritual energy.

But since it was a mutated fruit, he wanted to be cautious and also wanted to figure out its medicinal effects.

So, he intentionally prepared some Grey Spirit Hares to test it on.

Picking up a Golden Orchid Fruit, Chu Ning squeezed it with force.

Surprisingly, this fruit was even harder than the Iron Orchid Fruit.

Chu Ning had to exert more strength to break it open.

To his surprise, after cracking it open, there was no juice flowing out.

Instead, the inside revealed white fruit flesh, which seemed to be very juicy.

Chu Ning took out his jade knife and cut off a small piece of the fruit flesh, feeding it to one of the Grey Spirit Hares.

Then, he cut off a slightly larger piece of the fruit.

Squeezing it gently, a drop of viscous juice oozed out and fell into a small bowl of clear water, turning it a milky white color.

Chu Ning picked up one of the Grey Spirit Hares from his side and fed it a mouthful of the diluted juice.

After that, he picked up another hare.

This time, instead of feeding it, he directly applied the diluted, milky juice onto the hare's body.

After finishing these tasks, Chu Ning looked at the half-eaten Golden Orchid Fruit in his hand.

Due to the cuts made, the fruit's core was now exposed.

The core was yellowish-brown, and each seed was about the size of a grain of rice.

Chu Ning carefully removed each seed, intending to cultivate them into seeds using the sect's spirit-planting method.

Of course, this was assuming that the Golden Orchid Fruit turned out to be beneficial and had no harmful effects.

To ensure the accuracy of his experiments, Chu Ning decided to buy a few spirit chickens from Lu Miaoying's shop next door, in addition to the Grey Spirit Hares.

Then, he repeated the previous steps with the spirit chickens.

Some were fed the fruit flesh, some drank the fruit juice, and others had the diluted juice applied directly to their bodies.

Afterward, Chu Ning placed the Grey Spirit Hares and spirit chickens in different areas of his backyard.

He would check on them periodically, at short intervals.

To his delight, none of the Grey Spirit Hares or spirit chickens showed any signs of discomfort.

On the contrary, they all seemed energetic and lively.

Chu Ning didn't rush to conclusions and waited for a day before using his spiritual sense to carefully examine each of them one by one.

He discovered that the spiritual power fluctuations within them, whether it was the Grey Spirit Hares or the spirit chickens, were stronger than the day before.

Among them, the increase in spiritual power was more noticeable in the hares and chickens that had eaten the fruit flesh.

"So, this Golden Orchid Fruit is meant to be consumed directly? Does it no longer have any body-tempering effects?"

Chu Ning was a bit perplexed by this outcome.

The result couldn't satisfy him because he had cultivated the Iron Orchid specifically for its body-tempering properties.

If this hybrid Golden Orchid Fruit lost the body-tempering effect, the mutation would be pointless for him.

At that moment, an idea struck Chu Ning.

He ran to Lu Miaoying's shop next door and bought another spirit chicken and Grey Spirit Hare.

Lu Miaoying was slightly surprised by Chu Ning's frequent purchases of spirit chickens and hares, wondering what he was up to.

Chu Ning, however, paid no heed to her curious gaze and returned to his shop's backyard with his new purchases.

He used his spiritual sense to scan the newly bought spirit chicken and then picked up the other chickens he had experimented on.

A flicker of interest crossed his eyes.

The next moment, he grabbed the recently purchased spirit chicken again.

"Crack!"

Amidst the chicken's mournful cry, Chu Ning snapped one of its wings.

When he tried to break the wing of the chicken that had been coated with the diluted juice, using the same amount of force, he couldn't snap it.

Chu Ning applied a little more force, and the chicken let out another mournful cry.

"Crack." Finally, the wing broke.

Ignoring the chicken's pitiful cries, he grabbed the one that had drunk the fruit juice.

As he had expected, he had to increase the force once more to break its wing.

As for the spirit chicken that had eaten the fruit flesh directly, Chu Ning had to use twice the initial force to snap its wing.

This scene undoubtedly made Ling Xiaobai, who was lying on the side, shiver in fear.

It quickly scurried away from Chu Ning, as if afraid that he might turn his attention to it next.

Fortunately, Chu Ning didn't have any such intentions and instead continued his experiments with the Grey Spirit Hares, proceeding to break their legs.

The entire backyard was filled with the sounds of their miserable cries.

After completing all the experiments, Chu Ning took out a recovery talisman and healed all the injured Grey Spirit Hares and spirit chickens.

Then, he took out another Golden Orchid Fruit and began feeding them again, just as he had done the day before.

By now, Chu Ning had formed a preliminary judgment.

This Golden Orchid Fruit could not only increase the spiritual power of the spirit chickens and Grey Spirit Hares but also temper their bodies.

Among these methods, applying the fruit like the Iron Orchid Fruit produced the least effective results.

Drinking the fruit juice was the second most effective method.

The most effective way was to consume the fruit flesh directly.

Based on this deduction, Chu Ning surmised that if a cultivator were to eat this Golden Orchid Fruit directly, it was highly likely that they would not only enhance their spiritual power but also temper their bodies.

Even though he had made this judgment, Chu Ning still wanted to be cautious.

He decided to continue feeding the fruits for three more days and observe them for a few more days afterward.

For the next two days, Chu Ning chose relatively fixed times each day to check on the Grey Spirit Hares and spirit chickens in his backyard, observing the effects of the Golden Orchid Fruit on them.

Chu Ning tested the strength of their bones and found that they were several times stronger than the ones he had bought later on.

He didn't waste the newly bought spirit chicken and gray spirit hare, though. Instead, he fed them the seeds he had extracted from the golden orchid fruit. After all, he thought that if he were to eat the Golden Orchid fruit himself, he might end up swallowing the seeds as well.

In the end, he found that consuming the seeds had no adverse effects on the spirit chicken and gray spirit hare. They didn't seem to enhance their spiritual power, though.

Only then did Chu Ning truly relax. He decided to try tempering his body with the Golden Orchid fruit.

Before cultivating, Chu Ning checked his current progress:

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), 3rd Layer (540/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual, Vol. 1, Unbreakable Sinews 333/1500]



[Refine Spirit Technique, 1st Layer 802/1000]



During these ten days, Chu Ning had, of course, not neglected his cultivation.

With the aid of the Spirit Nurturing Pills and his daily routine, his progress in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art had returned to an increase of roughly 4 points of proficiency per day.

As for Unbreakable Sinews, thanks to the Iron Orchid fruit's body-tempering effects combined with his regular cultivation, he was consistently gaining 2 points of proficiency per day.

As for the Refine Spirit Technique, when he had focused on crafting talismans, Chu Ning had once achieved an increase of 4 points per day, despite his lesser focus on cultivation and body tempering.

Now, however, he was gaining over 2 points per day, averaging about 5 points every two days.

Chu Ning tossed a Golden Orchid fruit to Ling Xiaobai, who happily crunched away at it.

Chu Ning himself took a fruit, forcefully peeled it, and popped the entire thing into his mouth.

As soon as he swallowed the fruit, he felt a fiery warmth in his abdomen. Should he refine his body first, or cultivate his qi?

Thinking that the Golden Orchid fruit might be effective for both body refining and qi cultivation, he quickly dismissed the thought. As the heat spread throughout his limbs and bones, he felt that the sensation leaned more towards body refining.

In the end, Chu Ning chose to refine his body first. He began cultivating the Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual.

It took several repetitions of the technique to dissipate the scorching heat that had spread throughout his body.

However, his abdomen still retained a faint warmth, a sign of spiritual energy gathering.

Chu Ning paid no heed to checking his progress in the Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual. Instead, he sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

He channeled his spiritual power continuously until all the spiritual energy from the Golden Orchid fruit had been transformed into spiritual power. Only then did he truly stop.

At that moment, he checked his cultivation progress:

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), 3rd Layer (541/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual, Vol. 1, Unbreakable Sinews 335/1500]



[Refine Spirit Technique, 1st Layer 802/1000]



"The Green Wood Eternal Spring Art increased by 1 point, and Unbreakable Sinews increased by 2 points!"

Chu Ning was delighted to see the enhancement brought about by the Golden Orchid fruit.

Consuming just one fruit had simultaneously achieved both body refining and qi cultivation effects, and the results were impressive.

If he used one of these fruits every day, along with the Spirit Nurturing Pills and his regular cultivation, he estimated that he could gain 5 points in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art and 3 points in Unbreakable Sinews per day.

"This is indeed an unexpected delight!" Chu Ning said with a smile as he concluded his cultivation.

He didn't have many Golden Orchid fruits left in his storage bag, only about 60 or so. However, with his abilities, cultivating more of these fruits wouldn't be a difficult task.

Chu Ning went straight to his backyard and took out the seeds he had extracted from the Golden Orchid fruit's flesh, intending to hasten their maturation.

He cast an instant Incubation Art on the seeds. The seeds showed no reaction, which didn't surprise him. Given the exceptional effects of the Golden Orchid fruit, it was reasonable to expect that cultivating them would be more challenging.

This wasn't the first time he had encountered seeds that were difficult to incubate.

He continued casting Incubation Arts, one after another, onto the seeds. In the blink of an eye, he had cast nearly 20 spells.

Still, the seeds showed no response.

Chu Ning casually probed with his spiritual sense, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

In the past, when he had to use a large number of Incubation Arts on other seeds, he would still notice some changes as the spells took effect. Although these changes were subtle, they could be detected with careful probing using spiritual sense.

However, after casting 20 Incubation Arts on the Golden Orchid seeds, he sensed no changes at all.

"Could it be that these seeds can't be incubated?" A sliver of worry flashed through Chu Ning's mind.

Nevertheless, he didn't stop. Instead, he continued casting one Incubation Art after another.

Soon, another 30 spells struck the seeds. Meanwhile, Chu Ning continued probing with his spiritual sense.

Then, he stopped casting and shook his head, sighing softly.

It seemed his earlier worry was coming true. After 50 consecutive Incubation Arts with no reaction at all, there could only be one possibility.

The seeds of the Golden Orchid fruit couldn't be incubated.

"A mutation is indeed a mutation, and it tends to cause problems." Chu Ning sighed inwardly.

He had originally planned to pull out the Golden Core fruits and Iron Stem Orchids from his spirit field if the Golden Orchid seeds could be cultivated.

If he wanted to obtain this Golden Orchid Fruit, he could only rely on the previous accidental method of making the flowering periods of the two spirit plants coincide and then pollinating the Iron Stem Orchid.

This way, it would naturally be less convenient.

But it was a necessary move.

The next day, Chu Ning arrived at the spirit field, just in time to harvest the Iron Orchids that had grown normally.

Chu Ning first picked all the Iron Orchids.

The yield of these Iron Orchids was quite a bit higher than the ones Chu Ning had planted in his yard before.

Initially, he had purchased 100 seeds from Yunhai Pavilion.

Excluding the 20 plants that had already crossbred and mutated, he harvested 270 Iron Orchids from the remaining 80 Iron Stem Orchids.

After picking all the Iron Orchids, Chu Ning began the transplantation process.

He first moved some of the Golden Core Fruits in the middle section and planted the 80 Iron Stem Orchids in their place.

Then, Chu Ning replanted the Golden Core Fruits he had moved, interspersing them with the Iron Stem Orchids.

This way, the 100 Iron Stem Orchids were completely surrounded by the Golden Core Fruits.

This increased the probability of successful pollination.

Chu Ning also planned to dig up a few more Golden Core Fruits and cultivate some seeds from the Iron Orchids he had just harvested. He intended to plant another row of Iron Orchids.

If he could plant another 100 trees, then with the next harvest, he would be able to cultivate 200 Golden Orchid trees.

That way, a single harvest would be enough for his cultivation needs for half a year or even a whole year.

Of course, that was a future step.

For now, Chu Ning's priority was to cultivate this batch successfully.

After transplanting the two types of spirit plants, Chu Ning began to cast the Sweet Rain Art and the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

He needed to induce the next fruiting and ripening process for these Iron Stem Orchids and Golden Core Fruits.

However, at this moment, Chu Ning was more selective about when to use the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Instead of casting it over a large area as he had done before, he carefully controlled the range of his spellcasting.

He made sure that the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art only affected the Iron Stem Orchids and not the Golden Core Fruits.

After all, the Iron Stem Orchids had a longer flowering period.

If he induced fruiting in the Golden Core Fruits now, there was a high possibility that their flowers would wither before the Iron Stem Orchids even bloomed.

In the blink of an eye, ten days passed.

Three days ago, Chu Ning had successfully cultivated the seeds of the Iron Orchids.

Unlike the seeds of the Golden Orchid Fruits, which couldn't be planted, these seeds responded well to the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art, and Chu Ning was able to plant them in his spirit field.

For this purpose, Chu Ning had specifically dug up 100 Golden Core Fruit trees.

He didn't waste these trees, though; instead, he transplanted them all to the backyard of his spirit plant nursery.

After all, these spirit plants could also be used to offset the monthly rent for the Qingxi Spirit Plant Nursery shop.

At this moment, Chu Ning's spirit field was divided into three sections.

One section consisted of the 20 Iron Stem Orchid trees that had already borne Golden Orchid Fruits in the past.

Due to the early harvest, with continuous spellcasting, Chu Ning felt that these trees would likely flower and fruit again soon.

So, he had also been casting spells on the surrounding rows of Golden Core Fruits, trying to synchronize their flowering periods.

The second section was the 80 ordinary Iron Stem Orchids that had only undergone ten days of Green Wood Eternal Spring Art to induce ripening; they still needed some time before they would flower and fruit again.

And the last section was the newly planted 100 young trees, which would naturally take even more time.

Chu Ning applied different cultivation methods to each section, making his work much more intricate than before.

That was why, over the past ten days or so, Chu Ning had spent most of his time outside of his daily talisman crafting and cultivation in the spirit field.

However, on this particular morning, after completing his regular cultivation and having breakfast, Chu Ning didn't go to the spirit field.

Instead, he closed the shop and went straight to the backyard, intending to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), 3rd Layer (596/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual, Vol. 1, Unbreakable Sinews 368/1500]



[Refine Spirit Technique, 1st Layer 824/1000]



After eleven days of cultivation, Chu Ning's proficiency in the third layer of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art had reached 596.

He was just four points away from reaching 600, which would allow him to break through to the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

Chu Ning decided to go ahead and push through to the eighth layer.

Without taking any Spirit Nurturing Pills, Chu Ning took out a pile of spirit stones.

For his previous breakthroughs, he had used spirit stones instead of pills, and he intended to do the same this time.

He leaped into the air and sat down in the center of the circle formed by the Iron Stem Orchids in his backyard. He first cast the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Then, Chu Ning began to meditate with his legs crossed, holding a spirit stone to cultivate.

Chu Ning absorbed the spiritual energy from the spirit stones at a steady pace. However, now that he had reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining, he needed six spirit stones to increase his proficiency by one point.

That was twice the amount he needed at the sixth layer.

So, even with the aid of the spirit stones, Chu Ning still needed some time.

Half a period of time later, the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art cast on the Iron Stem Orchids began to take effect.

Tendrils of spiritual energy wafted out and entered Chu Ning's body, accelerating his cultivation speed.

One after another, he consumed nearly 40 spirit stones.

Finally, Chu Ning straightened his legs and stood up.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), 3rd Layer (601/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Manual, Vol. 1, Unbreakable Sinews 368/1500]



[Refine Spirit Technique, 1st Layer 824/1000]



Eighth Layer of Qi Refining!

After sensing the state of his dantian's spiritual power and checking his cultivation progress, a smile appeared on Chu Ning's face.

There hadn't been any unexpected obstacles or bottlenecks.

After consuming 24 spirit stones and reaching a proficiency of 600, he used 16 more spirit stones to break through the seventh layer of Qi Refining.

At this moment, Chu Ning had officially reached the eighth layer of Qi Refining.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end