Chapter 117: Breakthrough in Refining God Technique, Astonishing the Foundation-Building Cultivator

Chapter 117: Breakthrough in Refining God Technique, Astonishing the Foundation-Building Cultivator

"Summoning us back to the sect?"

Both Chu Ning and Lu Miaoying were slightly taken aback upon hearing this news.

Chu Ning keenly noticed that Lin Changqing had not invited Gu Xiaoqin and Shen Zhengquan, but had only called him and Lu Miaoying.

So, he immediately asked,

"Elder, is it just the two of us? Are Senior Sister Gu and Senior Brother Shen not coming?"

"They don't need to come," Lin Changqing shook his head.

"The sect specifically requested you two by name."

Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he had a faint premonition that something was about to happen.

His current displayed cultivation level was the fifth layer of Qi Refining, while Lu Miaoying was at the sixth layer.

He wondered why the sect would summon them, the disciples with lower cultivation levels, while leaving behind Gu Xiaoqin, who was at the eighth layer, and Shen Zhengquan, who was at the seventh layer.

With this in mind, Chu Ning asked directly, "Elder, did the sect say what this is regarding?"

Having developed a good relationship with Lin Changqing over the past year or two, Chu Ning tried to glean some information from him.

However, to his disappointment, Lin Changqing simply shook his head and said, "No!"

Then, the cold-faced Elder continued, "According to the sect's previous message, they will be taking you back immediately. I also need to go to two other market towns to pick up others.

Why don't you two pack your things? I'll come by tomorrow morning to take you with me."

As he spoke, Lin Changqing turned and left.

Chu Ning had thought that Lin Changqing might privately transmit a message to him with some information, but that didn't happen.

Lin Changqing left decisively, leaving Chu Ning with a head full of questions.

Of course, Lu Miaoying, who was standing beside him, was equally perplexed.

"Junior Brother Chu, why would the sect be in such a hurry to summon us back?"

At this moment, Lu Miaoying's expression didn't show much change, but instead, she seemed curious.

Chu Ning shook his head and said to Lu Miaoying, "Senior Sister Lu, let's pack our things first. We don't know how long the sect will keep us there, and I need to make a trip to the Spirit Field."

As Chu Ning spoke, he walked out.

Naturally, Lu Miaoying didn't linger in Chu Ning's shop either, and she followed him out the door.

As soon as he stepped out, Chu Ning flew directly toward the Spirit Field.

Along the way, he kept pondering this strange news.

What did he and Lu Miaoying have in common that would prompt the sect to summon them?

But no matter how he thought about it, apart from their lower cultivation levels and the fact that they cultivated wood-attribute techniques, Chu Ning couldn't think of anything else.

Upon arriving at the Spirit Field, Chu Ning decided to stop thinking about it and started harvesting the second batch of mature Golden Orchid Fruits.

There were a total of 80 plants in this batch, and each one bore a good number of fruits. Together, they amounted to 300 fruits.

After finishing the harvest, Chu Ning's gaze shifted to the remaining 100 Iron Stem Orchids and the soon-to-be-ripe Golden Prime Fruits, letting out a soft sigh.

These plants had also grown Golden Orchid Fruits, but they were far from maturity, so picking them now would be pointless.

As for the Golden Prime Fruits, they still needed about half a month to ripen.

He hoped that the trip back to the sect wouldn't take too long, so he could return and harvest these spirit fruits as well.

At this moment, Chu Ning didn't feel like using the Greenwood Spring Technique. Instead, he left the Spirit Field and returned to the market town.

When he reached his shop, Chu Ning saw Lu Miaoying, Gu Xiaoqin, and Shen Zhengquan chatting across the street.

Without needing to guess, Chu Ning knew that Lu Miaoying must have shared the news with them.

After a moment's thought, he decided to walk over directly.

"Junior Brother Chu is here too? I just heard from Junior Sister Lu that you're returning to the sect immediately?" Gu Xiaoqin greeted him as he approached.

Chu Ning nodded and then took out the restriction plaque for the Spirit Field from his storage bag, handing it to Gu Xiaoqin.

"Senior Sister Gu, the Golden Prime Fruits in my Spirit Field will be ripe in about half a month. I don't know if I'll make it back in time.

If I don't, Senior Sister Gu can go ahead and pick those spirit fruits herself."

Upon hearing Chu Ning's words, Gu Xiaoqin casually took the plaque and smiled, "Sure, I've always wanted to visit Junior Brother Chu's Spirit Field, and now I have the chance."

Seeing that the three of them seemed engrossed in their conversation, Chu Ning didn't feel like joining in.

He bid them farewell, saying that he had spirit plants to tend to, and turned toward his shop.

Seeing this, Lu Miaoying quickly added, "I need to pack too. I have quite a few spirit beasts to take care of."

And with that, the group dispersed.

Chu Ning returned to his shop and took a turn around the backyard. Since he had visited a few months ago, there wasn't much he needed to bring with him.

After some thought, he decided to dig up the Iron Stem Orchids from his backyard and put them in his storage bag.

Since he would be returning to the sect tomorrow, he could plant them in his courtyard there.

Then, Chu Ning went to his room and took out the tools for crafting talismans.

At the same time, he checked the proficiency levels in his mind:

[Greenwood Eternal Spring Art (Lower Low-Grade Yellow), Third Layer (961/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Art, First Volume, Unbreaking Sinews 538/1500]



[Refining God Technique, First Layer 998/1000]



His recent cultivation had been going well, so his progress in qi refining, body refining, and god refining was quite fast.

"I'm just a little bit away from completing the first layer of the Refining God Technique. With one night and half a day left, I should be able to finish it," Chu Ning thought to himself.

And to increase the proficiency of the Refining God Technique, there was no better method than crafting talismans and using the Black Night Iron Soulwood Sword.

Chu Ning picked up his talisman brush, made some slight adjustments, and began crafting talismans.

After all, the spell talismans he crafted with the Greenwood Eternal Spring Art were very similar to the Longevity Talismans.

Unless one was extremely familiar with talismans, they wouldn't be able to tell the difference at a glance.

One after another, Chu Ning crafted the Greenwood Spring Talismans, each one a success. He made a total of 200 before he felt his spiritual sense deplete to a certain extent.

Knowing that he needed some time to cultivate the Refining God Technique, Chu Ning decided to bring the 200 talismans to Gu Xiaoqing.

Upon hearing Chu Ning's request, Gu Xiaoqing readily agreed and smiled, "Golden Orchid Fruits? I've never heard of this spirit plant before. Don't worry, junior disciple Chu, I don't use that many talismans anyway, so I'll definitely use up all the ones you gave me."

After expressing his gratitude, Chu Ning bought some Fasting Pills and Spirit Yuan Pills from Gu Xiaoqing before returning to his talisman shop.

Back in his room, Chu Ning sat cross-legged on the bed and took out the Black Night Iron Soulwood Sword from his storage bag.

"There's not much wood essence left in it. I hope it can sustain me through this cultivation," he muttered to himself as he examined the sword, which had almost returned to its original wooden state.

Placing the sword on his knees, he began to cultivate the Refining God Technique.

At this moment, within his Niwan Palace, the ball of spiritual sense that Chu Ning had condensed was more than ten times larger than when he had started.

As he cultivated, the ball of spiritual sense formed a vortex once more, drawing in the surrounding qi.

Completely immersed in his cultivation, Chu Ning lost track of time.

Then, a sudden sound rang in his mind, like a drop of water falling heavily.

Immediately, Chu Ning noticed that the ball of spiritual sense floating within his Niwan Palace suddenly dropped.

It fell like a huge water balloon, splashing into a hundred smaller droplets that formed a sphere within his Niwan Palace.

In the next moment, Chu Ning's senses became incredibly sharp.

He felt as if he could see everything in the world.

Spiritual sense emission!

This was the feeling of a vast spiritual sense emission.

Realizing this, Chu Ning immediately tried to gauge the distance of his emission.

To his surprise, it extended to a distance of fifty zhang!

He could clearly sense that in the Beast Taming Courtyard next to the Spirit Plant Courtyard, several Gray Spirit Rabbits were sleeping in Lu Miaoying's backyard.

He could also perceive that across the street, Gu Xiaoqing was meditating and cultivating.

"So, this is what they mean by doubling one's spiritual sense. It doubles the range of my spiritual sense based on the foundation of the first layer of cultivation."

Chu Ning was both astonished and delighted as he finally understood what was meant by the doubling effect of the Refining God Technique.

"I wonder how strong the spiritual sense of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is? My spiritual sense shouldn't be any weaker than an average Foundation Establishment cultivator now.

Oh right, I wonder if I can refresh my talent now..."

Chu Ning suddenly thought of this question.

He quickly checked the proficiency levels in his mind:

[Refining God Technique, First Layer: 1000/1000]



[Refresh Innate Divine Ability: Divine Seal Art.]



"I can indeed refresh my talent with the Refining God Technique!"

Chu Ning was overjoyed.

Moreover, what surprised him was that the refreshed talent wasn't the Illusion God Spike, which was originally part of the Refining God Technique.

Instead, it was a talent called the Divine Seal Art.

At this moment, the Divine Seal Art had become Chu Ning's innate divine ability, and he instinctively understood its usage and effects without any introduction.

After learning about the contents of the Divine Seal Art, Chu Ning's eyes lit up.

It turned out to be a spiritual sense defensive ability with two functions.

The simplest use was to shield oneself from other cultivators' spiritual sense probes.

The effectiveness of the Divine Seal Art in blocking spiritual sense probes depended on one's spiritual sense strength.

Currently, Chu Ning could block probes from cultivators with spiritual sense twice as strong as his.

The other function of the Divine Seal Art was to defend against spiritual sense attacks and reflect double the damage back to the attacker, as long as their spiritual sense strength was not more than twice his own.

If their spiritual sense strength exceeded this limit, the Divine Seal Art would still reduce the damage taken.

"If my deduction is correct, my spiritual sense has reached the early Foundation Establishment level.

For someone to have twice my spiritual sense strength, they would probably need to be at the late Foundation Establishment stage."

Chu Ning marveled to himself, growing more delighted as he thought about the implications.

This meant that ordinary cultivators at the mid Foundation Establishment stage and below would not be able to detect him with their spiritual sense if he chose to shield himself.

And if they did manage to sense him and attempted a spiritual sense attack, the Divine Seal Art would reflect double the damage back to them.

Even against late Foundation Establishment cultivators, while he might not be able to reflect the damage, he could still greatly reduce the harm inflicted.

"What an overpowered innate divine ability!"

Chu Ning marveled to himself, then thought of the Illusion God Spike, which was inherently part of the Refining God Technique.

"Now that I've refreshed a different talent, does that mean I can still learn this secret art?"

Chu Ning had the urge to take out the jade slip, but he stopped himself.

He had no shortage of methods to deal with Qi Refining cultivators, and for now, he had no need to resort to spiritual sense attacks.

Unless his spiritual sense became extremely powerful, Chu Ning didn't plan on easily attempting to use the Illusion God Spike.

With these thoughts in mind, Chu Ning prepared to retract his released spiritual sense.

However, at this moment, he suddenly paused, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

Right then, he suddenly realized that within his spiritual sense perception, a figure had appeared in Lu Miaoying's room next door.

Before Chu Ning even had time to react, the black-robed cultivator silently pointed a finger, and a spell struck the latter's body.

Without even a chance to resist, Lu Miaoying was instantly pierced through by the spell.

Everything happened too quickly, so fast that even though Chu Ning noticed the cultivator, he didn't have time to do anything.

The next moment, the man directly left Lu Miaoying's room and then passed through the courtyard to the Spirit Plant Courtyard, after which he headed straight for the Talisman Shop's courtyard.

And the restrictions between each courtyard didn't seem to hinder the cultivator at all.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

Chu Ning suddenly thought of a possibility.

Each of their courtyards had restrictions, although these restrictions weren't of a high level.

But only a Foundation Establishment cultivator would be able to break through them so easily.

This thought left Chu Ning in shock.

Seeing the man head straight for his courtyard and recalling that he and Lu Miaoying had been summoned by the sect together, Chu Ning instantly understood a lot of things, and his expression turned ugly.

Without hesitation, Chu Ning immediately retracted his spiritual sense.

The Yin Wood Spirit Body's ability to conceal his aura was fully released, and he also decisively used the Spirit Concealment Art to block spiritual sense probes.

The next moment, Chu Ning felt the cultivator's spiritual sense sweep over him.

However, under the shielding effect of the Spirit Concealment Art, the man's spiritual sense didn't detect Chu Ning's presence.

Although Chu Ning had retracted his spiritual sense, his senses were still sharp.

At this moment, he heard the cultivator muttering as he walked around the courtyard.

"How come there's no one here? There's clearly a Qi Refining cultivator at the fifth layer here."

The man's voice was hoarse, and he sounded puzzled.

The next moment, he suddenly turned his head and looked in a certain direction.

Chu Ning's expression changed as he suddenly realized something was amiss.

Little White!

Indeed, at that moment, Little White seemed to be startled as well.

After letting out a frightened squeak, the little guy instinctively ran straight towards the room where Chu Ning was.

Little White was fast, and for a moment, the Foundation Establishment cultivator didn't catch him.

However, the cultivator quickly gave chase.

This made Chu Ning inwardly anxious.

He quickly took out several intermediate, mid-grade defensive talismans from his storage bag, and the next moment, an idea came to him.

He released his spiritual sense, which he had originally retracted, and covered the Foundation Establishment cultivator with it.

At this time, Chu Ning also finally sensed the cultivator through his spiritual sense.

He was a middle-aged man with a mole on his left cheek.

The middle-aged cultivator, who had been chasing after Little White, suddenly stopped in his tracks when he felt Chu Ning's spiritual sense.

The next moment, his expression changed drastically.

"A Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

After whispering to himself, the middle-aged cultivator quickly turned around and fled without hesitation, turning into a black light and disappearing into the distance.

It wasn't until the middle-aged cultivator's figure had completely disappeared from his spiritual sense range and a full incense stick's worth of time had passed without anyone else appearing that Chu Ning finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The events that had just transpired were indeed dangerous.

Chu Ning saw that the cultivator was clearly at the Foundation Establishment stage yet was acting so sneakily, and he guessed that the man probably didn't want to alert others.

So, he tried to release his spiritual sense.

As expected, the man hadn't sensed him at first, but when he suddenly felt Chu Ning's released spiritual sense, he thought that a Foundation Establishment cultivator had appeared and decided to leave.

"Luckily, I just broke through in my Refining God Technique, and I started by blocking his probe with the Spirit Concealment Art. My spiritual sense has also grown stronger.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to sense him at such a distance, let alone drive him away with my spiritual sense."

With these thoughts, he looked at Little White, who was crouching in front of him, and mentally transmitted, "Little guy, you almost got me killed! Get into the Spirit Beast Bag now!"

Although Little White looked aggrieved, he seemed to understand the danger of the previous situation and Chu Ning's anger, so he didn't say anything and directly went into the Spirit Beast Bag.

Chu Ning's expression remained uncertain.

He and Lu Miaoying were just two Qi Refining cultivators at the intermediate stage, yet a Foundation Establishment cultivator had come to kill them.

Chu Ning almost didn't need to think to know that this must be related to the sect's summons today.

And connecting this with some information he had obtained earlier, the man's identity became clear.

He was from the Yin Demon Sect!

And the sect's summons this time must be related to the secret mission in the forbidden land.

As for why they chose Lu Miaoying and himself, it was most likely because they needed disciples who cultivated wood-attribute techniques.

They had even lowered the standard to the fifth layer of Qi Refining.

Chu Ning quickly pieced together the whole situation, his expression turning grimmer.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end