Wait… I’m a Druid in a Cultivation World?! - Chapter 53

After erasing the black-robed cultivator’s spiritual sense imprint, Qi Ping eagerly opened the storage pouch and was immediately stunned by its contents.

986 low-grade spirit stones!
1 mid-grade spirit stone!

This was the first time Qi Ping had ever seen a mid-grade spirit stone. As he knew, it took a hundred low-grade spirit stones to exchange for a single mid-grade one—and even then, it usually required an extra 20-30% premium to actually secure the trade.

“With this, even if I don’t sell the Blood Ginseng, I can afford a powerful spirit beast!”

Animal companions were extremely important to Qi Ping, so he wanted to contract the best one possible. Now that he had acquired the Wildshape ability—allowing him to transform into a bee—his survival skills had greatly improved. Even if a Foundation Establishment cultivator came after him, he stood a decent chance of escaping. This meant he could afford to be a little bolder in his choices and aim for a higher-quality spirit beast.

But more exciting than the spirit stones were an alchemy recipe and a cultivation manual.

……

[Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Pill]

• Grade: Low-tier, mid-rank pill

• Ingredients: Flame Spirit Grass, Spirit-Nourishing Fruit

• Refinement Method: Fire-based alchemy

• Effects: Strengthens the body, stabilizes foundation, slightly improves spiritual energy affinity (enhanced when paired with fire-attribute techniques).

[Woodfire Art (Qi Refinement Layers 1-9)]

• Grade: Advanced

• Characteristics: A dual wood-fire attribute cultivation method. Uses wood to fuel fire, granting the user gentle wood-attribute spiritual energy while concealing fire-attribute power within. When attacking, the fire erupts with explosive force.

“The Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Pill and the Woodfire Art!”

Seeing these two treasures filled Qi Ping with excitement.

First and foremost, the Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Pill thrilled him. During the Qi Refinement stage, taking body-strengthening pills could significantly aid in breaking through bottlenecks.

“In all realms of cultivation, the body is the foundation. A weak foundation makes breakthroughs harder later on.”

Not to mention, this pill also slightly improved spiritual energy affinity and stabilized one’s foundation.

“Sister Nan already grows Spirit-Nourishing Fruits—I can just buy a couple of saplings from her. Aside from Flame Spirit Grass, none of the other ingredients are hard to obtain. For the grass, I’ll need to either buy seeds or find live plants.”

“The real problem is the alchemy furnace. Even the cheapest one costs over a thousand spirit stones!”

“And I don’t know fire-based refinement methods. Getting a spiritual flame is another headache…”

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that becoming an alchemist was a bottomless money pit. Precious fire-refinement techniques, herb extraction methods, fusion principles… The sheer amount of knowledge and resources required was far beyond his current means.

So, Qi Ping had never expected to actually refine the pill at this stage.

Instead, he planned to adapt the recipe using his Master Brewer talent, his Druidic plant sensitivity, and the pill’s ingredient ratios to create a Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Elixir.

Even if it only had half the pill’s efficacy, that would still be a win.

“If the potency is lacking, just use more!”

Ideally, once perfected, he could have his Honey-Maker Big-Bellied Bees ferment it into honey. That way, he could mass-produce [Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Pill (Honey Version)]. As long as he cultivated enough Flame Spirit Grass, he’d have an endless supply.

“And if the Flame Spirit Grass and Spirit-Nourishing Fruit are of high enough quality, the honey version might even surpass the original pill!”

Qi Ping had a clear understanding of his situation: Before reaching Foundation Establishment, obtaining even the most basic alchemy methods was impossible.

His goal had always been to use pill recipes and basic alchemy knowledge as a foundation to brew special-effect honey. This Flame Spirit Body-Tempering Pill was the perfect opportunity to experiment.

Now, not only did he have a clear direction, but the pill itself was exactly what he needed.

“Perfect!”

…..

After studying the pill recipe, Qi Ping turned his attention to the Woodfire Art.

This manual left him more conflicted.

If he didn’t have a fire spiritual root, it wouldn’t be an issue—but he did, albeit so weak that Old Zhou had barely detected it during his assessment.

“With my meager fire affinity, plus the wood-fueling-fire nature of this technique, cultivating the Woodfire Art isn’t impossible…”

“And this is an advanced Qi Refinement technique—my current Wood Shield Art is only mid-grade!”

Qi Refinement techniques were generally classified as low, mid, and high-grade:

• Low-grade: Flawed, nearly impossible to reach Foundation Establishment. (Most rogue cultivators used these.)

• Mid-grade: Balanced, capable of reaching Foundation Establishment.

• High-grade: Superior effects, with powerful traits (e.g., the Woodfire Art’s explosive power).

There might be even stronger techniques, but Qi Ping had no way of knowing. For now, a mid-grade technique was enough to reach higher realms. Legendary god-tier techniques were beyond his reach.

“Should I switch to the Woodfire Art?”

After much deliberation, Qi Ping decided to wait until he contracted his second or third animal companion.

Given his current talent, even with ample Golden Marrow Honey, progressing beyond late-stage Qi Refinement would be extremely difficult without a steady supply of high-grade spirit herbs.

But relying solely on herbs to boost cultivation had serious drawbacks—otherwise, major sects wouldn’t place such strict demands on disciple talent.

“No matter what, I need to solidify my foundation.”

“Once I get my second or third animal companion—preferably one with wood or fire attributes—I’ll decide based on the shared talents.”

“For now, with my Golden Marrow Bees and mutated bee strains, plus my bee Wildshape for escape, I don’t urgently need a combat-focused companion.”

“My next partner should either have high growth potential or grant me a useful talent.”

In a few days, Qi Ping was confident he’d break through to Qi Refinement Layer 4. Once he had more High-Speed Ring-Cutter Bees, he planned to visit Greenrock Market and ask Merchant Gao about spirit beasts. Hopefully, the man had found a suitable seller.

As for the rest of the black-robed cultivator’s storage pouch, nothing else held much value—except for one peculiar item.

A bronze-colored metal token, engraved with a single eerie character:

“眷” (Affinity).

A strange, sinister aura emanated from it.