Days turned into nights, and time passed swiftly. In the blink of an eye, over half a year had gone by. During this period, the group in Qingshi County who had naively waited for Qi Ping to show himself had gone from full confidence to complete despair.
They had found virtually nothing in Qingshi County over these months.
The only secret realm they could locate turned out to be nothing more than a massive breeding nest for demon insects. After everyone had fled that realm, it was left completely empty, with nothing of value remaining.
What they absolutely could not fathom was that the person they were waiting for, hoping to catch off guard, had actually been hiding in some godforsaken corner of the Misty Cloud Mountains for over half a year!
This was not something a normal cultivator would do. Even the most apathetic, go-with-the-flow types would be unlikely to venture into a place like that.
While the cultivators from sects hostile to the Qingyuan Sect fumed with rage, Qi Ping had spent the past six-plus months in relative comfort and contentment.
Each day, he cultivated, studied formations, and nurtured spiritual herbs. When tired, he played with the little flower spirit and the small spirit fox. It was a fulfilling and carefree existence.
Qi Ping thoroughly enjoyed immersing himself in this kind of cultivation life.
To him, this was the immortal cultivation life he had always longed for. Enlightenment didn’t necessarily have to come through slaughter. Comprehending the laws of heaven and earth and studying the rhythms of nature could bring one just as close to the essence of the Dao.
During these six months, Qi Ping cultivated Fire Spirit Grass and Flame Essence Fruit, both of which had reached five hundred years in age. They had since been brewed into honey by the rotund brewer bees.
This was his spiritual resource reserve for his upcoming attempt at Foundation Establishment.
The Starlight Spirit Tree had also condensed five vials of liquid spirit essence, which Qi Ping planned to use as a backup in case his spiritual power ran short during the breakthrough.
Another joyful event occurred during this period: the two Soul-Nourishing Grasses given to him by the Red Carp from the Ningshan family turned out to be one male and one female!
After they matured and pollinated each other, Qi Ping obtained a wealth of new Soul-Nourishing Grass seeds.
Through the application of Plant Growth—especially after his skill reached level four—Qi Ping’s current soul strength allowed him to nurture Qi-refining stage spiritual herbs at remarkable speed. Cultivating first-tier herbs was no longer a time-consuming task.
At this point, the spiritual herbs he grew were more than enough to support not only himself, but all of his animal companions—except for Crow.
Crow had already broken through to the second tier, and the herbs required for his cultivation were beyond Qi Ping’s current ability to produce quickly. Fortunately, Crow could meet his own needs simply by basking in the sun, sparing Qi Ping from additional effort.
With a stable supply of Soul-Nourishing Grass, Qi Ping formulated a honey blend with impressive effects based on his Complete Guide to Spiritual Herb Properties and Notes on Alchemical Arts. This honey significantly strengthened soul essence, and Qi Ping’s own soul power had grown considerably as a result.
Thus, following his physical enhancements, Qi Ping’s soul had also reached an exceptionally powerful state. The only pity was that he still lacked a proper soul cultivation technique.
The biggest beneficiaries of the Soul-Nourishing Grass, however, were the little spirit fox and the flower spirit.
As first-tier soul-type spirit beasts, their soul strength surged after consuming enough Soul-Nourishing Honey.
By now, the little spirit fox had advanced from early first-tier to late first-tier since its arrival. Though still small and cute, its soul attacks were nothing to scoff at. An average Qi Refining seventh-layer cultivator would likely find themselves at a disadvantage against it.
But the one who had grown the most was the little flower spirit. With the help of Plant Growth, it had shot up from early first-tier to peak first-tier.
However, after reaching the peak of first-tier, it encountered a bottleneck. For over six months, the flower spirit had remained stuck at this stage. Its soul strength was likely far beyond that of a normal peak first-tier Hundred-Pupil Flower Spirit, yet there was still no sign of breaking through.
Qi Ping felt a twinge of disappointment. Plant Growth could not help the flower spirit overcome the barrier between major tiers. That was something it had to achieve on its own.
Still, this experience deepened his understanding of just how difficult it was for Foundation Establishment cultivators to break through. Even spirit beasts, whose power was heavily influenced by bloodline, struggled to transcend major realm boundaries, even with abundant spiritual power and resources. Qi Ping began to realize he needed to seek out proper spirit beast nurturing techniques. Both the little spirit fox and the flower spirit were still juveniles. Without the right cultivation methods, they might never take that final step, even with sufficient resources.
Cultivation was arduous. Humans faced this difficulty, and so did spirit beasts.
That said, Qi Ping remained confident in Crow and the bees’ breakthroughs.
As for Crow, his will to cultivate was unshakable. Having undergone life-and-death涅槃, he trained tirelessly, seemingly unaware of fatigue, always immersed in cultivation and comprehension.
Qi Ping believed Crow would continue to advance swiftly along the path of cultivation.
As for the bees, once the queen succeeded in her transformation and advancement, the overall quality of the swarm had vastly improved. With the support of spiritual herbs provided by Qi Ping and the boost from [Beast King’s Blessing], Qi Ping had no doubt the swarm would successfully evolve.
Once he broke through to Foundation Establishment, his Plant Growth casting speed would greatly increase. As long as he could cultivate enough five-hundred-year blood ginseng to concoct bloodline mutation elixirs, transforming the swarm to tier two was only a matter of time.
For the tier-two swarm cultivation, Qi Ping intended to select only the finest. His plan was to nurture multiple tier-two mutated variants, then choose three to five of the strongest strains based on their performance.
By keeping the number within this range, he could ensure the queen received the optimal evolution.
Selecting the strongest candidates for a tier-two breakthrough was something only Qi Ping—and perhaps a handful of others—would dare to attempt.
Five-hundred-year blood ginseng was rarer and more expensive than many common tier-two spiritual herbs. For most insect-controlling cultivators, successfully evolving two or three spirit insects to tier two was already an achievement. The idea of conducting rigorous selection like Qi Ping was unthinkable.
But in Qi Ping’s eyes, the cost was entirely worth it. The queen bee’s independent evolution had proven her potential. He was determined to evolve the strongest possible bee strains to allow the queen to continue growing.
And then there was the corpse of the Demon Insect King—Qi Ping’s ultimate trump card!
He was certain that once the swarm successfully absorbed even a fraction of the Demon Insect King’s bloodline, their bloodline rank would ascend to an unimaginable level!
They might even surpass Qi Ping’s other three animal companions in bloodline strength!
However, the Demon Insect King’s corpse was limited, and absorbing its bloodline was extremely difficult. To maximize the chances of success, Qi Ping had to cultivate the strongest possible foundation for the evolving swarm. Only then could a successful transformation be assured.
Thus, this plan of selecting the absolute best was critical. Only through this could he cultivate a swarm with the highest potential.
The price Qi Ping paid for this was merely two or three extra months of effort—a cost he deemed entirely worthwhile.
Of course, the most important development over these past six months was that, thanks to a steady supply of honey, Qi Ping’s cultivation had finally reached the peak of Qi Refining!
Seated within the illusion array, a sense of completion emanated from his being. His cultivation realm had arrived at Qi Refining perfection!
“It really wasn’t easy. It’s been over a year since my last breakthrough to the ninth layer of Qi Refining!”
Qi Ping found it hard to calculate just how many resources he had consumed during this past year to painstakingly reach this stage.
And this was achieved despite his exceptional fire-attribute talent and high level of comprehension. From this perspective, it became far more understandable why so many cultivators lacking talent and resources remained stuck at the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refining. Advancing truly was that difficult!
Qi Ping could already vaguely sense just how arduous Foundation Establishment cultivation would be.
But for now, his priority was to break through to Foundation Establishment first. Once he succeeded, he would gain a lifespan exceeding five hundred years!
