Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improved Spirit Rice

Chapter 57 Filling the Gaps

"You little brat! Who do you think you are!"

The dog-headed demon cultivator spat as he spoke, his eyes wide with rage: "I've got plenty of spirit stones in my pocket! I'm a connoisseur of food, drink, and entertainment. You lousy shop, even if you begged me to come in, I wouldn't want you! What a piece of trash, ptooey!"

The dog-headed monk turned and left, cursing, his thick tail swishing loudly behind him.

Zhao Cheng'an looked at the scene before him and was both amused and exasperated.

Since leaving the Seven Kingdoms region and exchanging ideas with cultivators from all directions on the Cloud Sea, he has learned a lot about the inside story of the cultivation world.

Sword cultivators, lacking means to earn money and with cultivation consuming vast resources, are often perceived as impoverished and thus occupy the bottom of the social hierarchy. Now, seeing a body cultivator... wow, who knew there were experts among them?

They were expelled from the human race and forced to live in the sewers!

Zhao Cheng'an straightened his robe and stepped into the treehouse.

The moment I stepped across the threshold, the noise outside seemed to be cut off, and my ears were instantly filled with peace and quiet.

The treehouse is a hidden gem, with a very spacious interior.

Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the tree canopy, transforming into beams of golden light. A faint, refreshing herbal scent filled the air, invigorating the senses.

Along the edge of the shop, various exotic flowers and plants are cultivated with spiritual soil, creating a serene and beautiful environment.

A gentle and graceful female cultivator, dressed in a light green dress, approached with a smile and light steps.

"Welcome to Baicao Danlu, sir."

The female cultivator bowed slightly, her voice gentle.

"May I ask what your needs are, sir? Do you require finished pills, or are you looking for specific spiritual materials?"

Zhao Cheng'an stood in the spacious hall of the Hundred Herbs Cottage, his gaze sweeping over the spiritual plants around him that emitted a faint glow.

Hearing the female cultivator's words, he looked away. "I want to buy some pills that can enhance my cultivation."

The female cultivator led him to a counter, pointed to several jade bottles displayed inside, and began to introduce them in detail.

She recommended several types of pills, each focusing on different aspects: explosive power, gentle nourishment, and strengthening the body's foundation.

After listening to the introduction, Zhao Cheng'an's gaze fell on the jade bottle in the very center containing the cyan pill.

"Let's take this kind of Qi Gathering Pill."

The Juyuan Pill has the most stable medicinal properties, making it less likely to leave poison in the body. Moreover, it contains a large amount of wood-attribute spiritual energy, which is quite compatible with his spiritual root.

The female cultivator smiled and nodded, "This bottle contains ten Gathering Yuan Pills, totaling four hundred spirit stones."

Zhao Chengan's eyelids twitched involuntarily when he heard the price, but he still bought it in the end.

After the transaction was completed, Zhao Cheng'an put the jade bottle into his sleeve and turned to leave.

He stopped as he passed a pool of water at the edge of the hall.

A misty haze hangs in the pool, where several fiery red lotuses bloom quietly. Their petals, like burning flames, radiate a gentle warmth.

"This is the Crimson Flame Lotus." Seeing him stop, the female cultivator explained at the right moment, "It is a fire-attribute spiritual plant with very mild medicinal properties. Under normal circumstances, alchemists will use it to refine the Fire Returning Pill to replenish the spiritual power consumed by fire-type cultivators."

Zhao Cheng'an gazed at the Crimson Flame Lotus in the pool, his mind racing.

After breaking through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, a fourth True Spirit appeared within his body. However, he had not yet determined a suitable target for this fourth True Spirit rune.

Although the "Yi Mu Chao Yang Jing" can utilize both wood and fire, two different spiritual roots, its core image is "green wood growing towards the sun," and it always prioritizes the wood attribute spiritual root while using the fire attribute spiritual root as a supplement.

If the runes on the cultivation technique could be further optimized, it might significantly increase the speed of spiritual energy recovery.

However, to use the Qiankun Cauldron for fusion, a suitable carrier must be found.

As a fire-attribute spiritual plant with mild medicinal properties, the Crimson Flame Lotus perfectly matches some of the characteristics described in the "Yi Wood Facing the Sun Classic".

Perhaps we could give it a try.

Zhao Cheng'an turned to the female cultivator and asked, "How much is this Crimson Flame Lotus?"

"Fifty spirit stones per flower."

Zhao Cheng'an took out another mid-grade spirit stone and bought two Crimson Flame Lotuses.

As Zhao Cheng'an stepped out of the Hundred Herbs Cottage, he weighed the noticeably shrunken spirit stone bag in his hand and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

He had received a thousand spirit stones from An Changzhi on the Cloud Sea, which he had initially thought was a huge sum. However, after only a short visit to the Floating Scale Cave Heaven, half of the spirit stones were already gone. The expenses in the cultivation world truly flowed like water.

Back at the residence arranged by the Imperial Academy, Zhao Cheng'an found a large basin, filled it with clean water, and carefully placed the two Crimson Flame Lotuses inside.

He then went into the quiet room and sat cross-legged on the futon.

He took out the jade bottle containing the Gathering Essence Pill from his sleeve, uncorked it, and poured out a cyan pill. The pill was the size of a longan, with a smooth, round surface, and emitted a refreshing fragrance.

Zhao Cheng'an tilted his head back and swallowed the pill.

The pill melted instantly upon entering the mouth, transforming into a warm current that flowed down the throat and directly to the dantian.

Zhao Cheng'an immediately closed his eyes and began to circulate the "Yi Wood Rising Sun Scripture" to refine the medicinal power.

As the medicinal effects spread throughout his body, Zhao Cheng'an clearly felt the huge difference between the Gathering Yuan Pill and the Qi Nourishing Pill he had taken before.

The Qi-Nourishing Pill has a relatively mild medicinal effect, like a scattered wisp of mist, requiring cultivators to spend a lot of time to slowly absorb it.

Although this Gathering Essence Pill is expensive, its effects are surprisingly good.

Zhao Cheng'an used his divine sense to examine his inner self and was surprised to find that the medicinal properties of the Gathering Yuan Pill were actually divided into two parts.

A portion of it transformed into pure, gentle medicinal power, nourishing his meridians and dantian.

Meanwhile, another part spontaneously intertwined and combined within the dantian, forming a tiny yet stable rune array.

This miniature rune array acts like an accelerator, constantly drawing in the surrounding medicinal power and rapidly transforming it into pure spiritual energy, which then merges into Zhao Cheng'an's true spirit.

Even during meditation and breathing exercises, this miniature array of runes can help absorb external spiritual energy, multiplying the efficiency of cultivation.

Zhao Cheng'an opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and was filled with shock.

Among the myriad arts of cultivation, alchemists have always been highly respected. He used to only know that alchemists made money, but now he sees that this craft is indeed extraordinary.

Alchemy requires not only a clear understanding of the pharmacology of various spiritual plants, but also the extraction of the natural runes contained in different materials during the refining process, condensing them into a stable rune array, and ensuring that the rune array and the medicinal properties are perfectly matched to achieve the maximum effect.

The difficulty of this is enough to give anyone a headache just thinking about it.

The Gathering Yuan Pill he is currently taking is just one of the most basic pills in the cultivation world.

Those more advanced pills must be incredibly complex.

The phrase "divine craftsmanship" is probably insufficient to describe it.

Zhao Cheng'an was filled with mixed emotions.

But he quickly regained his composure and immersed himself in his practice again.