My Daily Cultivation Life with a Clumsy Female Disciple

The topic of Divine Essence Condensation came to an end. Qin Ran and Mr. Zhai drank several cups of tea, ate some snacks and fruits, and chatted about other subjects.

Perhaps it had been a long time since anyone had conversed so freely with Mr. Zhai, as he seemed quite enthusiastic. He even brought out a chess board and began playing a leisurely game with Qin Ran.

"Mr. Zhai can refine fourth-grade pills..." Qin Ran inquired, "Does that mean you're already a fourth-grade qi cultivator?"

"No," Mr. Zhai sighed. "We alchemists face the agony of breaking through barriers throughout our lives. Using pills to enhance our cultivation always results in a weak foundation, inevitably leading to insufficient momentum when breaking through. I've been stuck at the third-grade qi cultivator level for over a hundred years now."

"Sir, you look very young..." Qin Ran started to say, then realized and smiled, "Actually, sir, you are very young. There's still plenty of time. You'll definitely break through in the future."

In the cultivation system of the Celestial Sea Domain, only body cultivators were limited by lifespan. First and second grades were no different from ordinary people, and it wasn't until the third and fourth grades, equivalent to the Core Formation and Nascent Soul stages, that lifespan showed a significant increase.

Qi cultivators generally had very long lifespans, no different from cultivators in the Lingnan Region.

As for mind cultivators... they cultivated their souls, so they didn't care about physical lifespan at all.

Therefore, even if Mr. Zhai might be several hundred years old, he was still very young. Wasn't several hundred years old just the prime of youth for someone at the Core Formation stage?

Qin Ran didn't pursue this topic further. After placing a piece on the chessboard, he asked, "Sir's ability to refine fourth-grade pills with third-grade cultivation must be truly remarkable... May I ask, sir, how does one refine a fourth-grade Dragon Breath Pill?"

Mr. Zhai's hand, holding a chess piece, trembled at these words. He looked up at Qin Ran: "Does the Island Lord really want Brother Li to help refine the Dragon Breath Pill?"

"Haha... Nothing escapes Mr. Zhai's eyes," Qin Ran laughed.

Mr. Zhai placed his chess piece and sighed, saying, "Actually, with my peak third-grade qi cultivator's power, I still find it challenging to refine a fourth-grade Whale Breath Pill. Brother Li, with your second-grade cultivation, even though you practice both qi and mind cultivation, I'm afraid it would be difficult to refine a fourth-grade Dragon Breath Pill?"

If Qin Ran remembered correctly, the Island Lord had said that Mr. Zhai judged he could refine fourth-grade pills, which was why the Island Lord came to ask him to refine the Dragon Breath Pill.

But he smiled as he placed his piece, sighing, "When the Island Lord makes a request, I cannot refuse. So I have no choice but to seek Mr. Zhai's help."

Mr. Zhai picked up a white chess piece and fidgeted with it, his expression quite grave.

"If Brother Li really wants to refine the Dragon Breath Pill..." After a long while, he finally spoke slowly, "you face two major challenges."

He looked at Qin Ran and placed the piece on the board, "First, how to handle dragon blood. True dragons are divine beasts, and even a single drop of their blood is not something you or I can easily withstand. How will you manage to extract all the impurities related to the dragon's ferocity, divinity, and other qualities from the dragon blood while being suppressed by the true dragon's power? If even a tiny bit isn't purified completely, forget about successfully refining the pill - the other spiritual herbs will also be contaminated by the dragon blood.

"Second, this pill is called the Dragon Whale Pill. Why isn't it called the Dragon Breath Pill and Whale Breath Pill? It's because after these two pills are refined, they must be used as ingredients to refine a new pill. And because these two pills need to merge into one, the potency, properties, and quality of both pills must be absolutely compatible. If there's any mistake, the pill will fail."

Finally, he said, "When merging the pills, you'll need to withstand the pressure from both dragon breath and whale breath simultaneously... Although I can complete this step, if you make a mistake in your part, not only will the pill be ruined, but I might also face the possibility of death."

Qin Ran's expression became serious.

But... whether Mr. Zhai lived or died was none of his concern. What he was thinking was that using pills as ingredients to refine another pill was an innovative approach worth studying.

"The key seems to be purifying the dragon blood..." he said aloud. "Besides using alchemy techniques and pill water to purify the dragon blood, is it not possible to use other herbs to balance the dragon blood?"

Mr. Zhai shook his head and explained to Qin Ran: "This pill itself requires ensuring that the properties and potency of other herbs are not suppressed by the dragon blood. The proportions, herbs, and ages are all precisely calculated. If we add herbs to suppress the dragon blood at this point, the interactions between the new herbs and the original herbs become unpredictable.

"The resulting changes would be an astronomical number impossible to calculate."

Qin Ran, being someone who often played with pharmacology, understood very well what Mr. Zhai meant.

"It seems there are too many difficulties for me to refine the Dragon Breath Pill," he sighed.

"I don't know how much time the Island Lord has given you, but if it's long enough, I suggest you first reach the third grade of qi cultivation," Mr. Zhai said. "Or if you can find a way to suppress the dragon blood without affecting the other medicinal properties."

Qin Ran replied, "The Island Lord mentioned one or two years..."

Mr. Zhai looked at Qin Ran after hearing this, and after playing several more moves, he said softly, "You needn't worry, he can wait eight or ten years if necessary."

"..." Qin Ran was speechless.

Mr. Zhai's chess skills were profound. After several games where Qin Ran was thoroughly defeated, both lost interest.

After conceding defeat in one last game, Qin Ran stood up and looked at the bookshelves on both sides. To his surprise, he found that the bookshelves on the third floor were filled with cultivation manuals. There were visualization methods, breathing techniques, qi cultivation methods, and everything in between.

He pointed to the books on the shelf and asked Mr. Zhai, "Sir, may I take a look at the books on the shelves?"

Mr. Zhai looked up, smiled at Qin Ran, and said, "Brother Li comes from the Seven Islands region, so you must have seen countless amazing techniques. I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in these crude methods."

...This was essentially a refusal.

Indeed, how could someone casually show their treasured techniques to others?

Qin Ran sighed inwardly and secretly cursed, "I'm from the Land of Immortal Legacy! I've never seen the techniques from your region! I don't have much knowledge..."

"How can you say these techniques are crude?" He shook his head and said, "Mr. Zhai, you're mistaken. Actually, there's no superiority or inferiority among techniques, only among the people who practice them."

"Then go ahead and look!" Mr. Zhai laughed, "But be careful, looking at too many techniques can lead to cultivation deviation."

"..."

Qin Ran looked at Mr. Zhai and saw the faint smile on his face, realizing that this usually serious Mr. Zhai was joking with him.

He shook his head and reached out to take a book on guiding techniques from the shelf.

Guiding techniques were the cultivation methods used by qi cultivators.

The method Qin Ran held in his hand was called "Tidal Guiding Technique."

He stood by the bookshelf reading the book, and it didn't take long for him to finish this qi guiding technique.

Putting the book back on the shelf, he frowned, unsure whether it was because this technique was too low-level or if the qi guiding techniques of the Celestial Sea Domain were inherently inferior. This "Tidal Guiding Technique" was far less sophisticated than the cultivation methods of the Lingnan Region.

After a pause, he picked up another qi guiding technique, and after reading it, found it to be equally crude.

After going through four or five books like this, Qin Ran could draw a general conclusion that the guiding techniques of the Celestial Sea Domain were far inferior to the cultivation methods of the Lingnan Region.

So he gave up on continuing to read the guiding techniques.

After carefully searching the bookshelves again, Qin Ran finally found a legendary visualization method specifically for cultivating the soul, used by mind cultivators.

The visualization method he found was called the "Great Sun Visualization Method." Opening the first page, he saw a painting spread across two pages - a huge sun rising from the sea horizon.

The painting was extremely vivid, truly lifelike. Moreover, it must have been painted using special techniques, because even though it was just a painting in a book, Qin Ran could feel its warmth and even perceive its brightness.

He turned to the second page, which contained instructions on how to practice using the visualization image.

After carefully reading the second page, Qin Ran turned back to the first page. He looked at the painting on the page and slowly closed his eyes, recreating the image in his mind.

As he outlined the painting in his mind, his sea of consciousness seemed to truly become an ocean, and at the edge of his consciousness, a huge sun began to rise.

...Exactly like the painting on the book's page.

After the sun rose in his sea of consciousness, the primordial spirit residing there was bathed in its light. Suddenly, he felt a warm, cozy sensation throughout his being, as if his true body was basking in sunlight.

"I'm getting stronger!!"

Qin Ran could sense it - under the illumination of the great sun in his sea of consciousness, his primordial spirit was gradually strengthening. Although the rate of improvement was small, he was undeniably growing stronger.

His heart swelled with wild joy.

"Even though I'm just an avatar, I can still cultivate and become stronger... On this vast sea, I might even be able to shout 'One Piece!' and aim to become the Pirate King!"

However...

His elation lasted barely two seconds before he suddenly felt a burning sensation on his body. Then, it was as if he had been thrown into a fire - his entire being was scorched with pain!

"What's going on?!"

He was shocked and dismayed. As he had thought, he was merely an avatar, this body just water - how could he feel pain?

He quickly realized it wasn't his body that hurt, but his primordial spirit!

In the radiance of the great sun in his sea of consciousness, his primordial spirit seemed to be engulfed in flames. "What's happening?" His thoughts raced. "Have I gone astray in my cultivation? Is my primordial spirit too strong?"

Then it dawned on him...

The Great Sun, the Great Sun Visualization Method! It must be the purest fire-attribute visualization technique. And he was of the water attribute!

He had actually cultivated the Great Sun Visualization Method!

Understanding this, Qin Ran immediately forced himself to exit the visualization state.

But for some reason, while entering the visualization state had been extremely easy, exiting proved incredibly difficult. Even after opening his eyes, that great sun would appear intentionally or unintentionally in his sea of consciousness, scorching his primordial spirit.

Standing before the bookshelf, he struggled for a long time before finally managing to banish that sun from his mind completely.

"It's said that every spirit cultivator is exceptionally cautious when viewing their first visualization method. This is because the first visualization image a spirit cultivator sees is more easily imprinted in their sea of consciousness. Generally speaking, the first visualization method a spirit cultivator encounters becomes their innate visualization method."

Mr. Zhai's voice suddenly rang out. Qin Ran turned to look and saw Mr. Zhai sitting by the window, smiling gently at him.

"???"

That smile made Qin Ran feel a surge of crisis: Had Mr. Zhai discovered something from what he just said?!

Seeing Qin Ran's gaze, Mr. Zhai nodded politely and asked with a smile, "I personally don't have a talent for spirit cultivation and have never practiced visualization methods. I've only read about these things elsewhere, so I'm not sure if what I said is accurate?"

Qin Ran came to his senses and smiled back at Mr. Zhai, saying, "Mr. Zhai, your knowledge is truly profound. In fact, spirit cultivators refer to this phenomenon as the 'first impression.' It indeed benefits a spirit cultivator's initial practice."

After speaking, he turned back and replaced the Great Sun Visualization Method on the shelf. Though his face still wore a smile, his eyes had grown deep and pensive.

After searching the bookshelf for a while longer, Qin Ran found a Tai Yin Visualization Method and a Raging Waves Visualization Method.

He held the two visualization methods in his hands, hesitating for a long time before finally choosing the Raging Waves.

Waves, after all, should be a water attribute no matter how one looked at it.

Putting back the Tai Yin Visualization Method, Qin Ran opened the Raging Waves Visualization Method. As usual, the first page of the technique contained the first visualization image - a vast, boundless sea. The sky was overcast, fierce winds howled, and the seawater began to slowly churn.

Was this the beginning of waves?

Qin Ran thought of the Great Sun Visualization Method from earlier, where the first image had been a sunrise. He suddenly began to understand these visualization methods a little better.

Turning to the second page, he read the introduction to the technique, then carefully examined the first visualization image again, committing every detail to memory before slowly closing his eyes.

Similarly, he pictured that visualization image in his mind. Gradually, his sea of consciousness once again became an ocean, with dark clouds pressing down from above, thunder and lightning flashing, and waves slowly beginning to form in the sea...

The primordial spirit in his sea of consciousness immediately sensed that the entire space had become humid, as if he had truly arrived at the seaside. He could feel the moist air brushing against his skin, bringing with it a refreshing sensation.

Looking at the activity in his sea of consciousness, he knew this was the calm before the storm.

This time, it was right.

Qin Ran waited for quite a while, and when no side effects appeared, he opened his eyes and continued flipping through the visualization method in his hands.

The first image showed the waves about to rise, the second showed the waves gradually rising, the third depicted wind and waves in full force, the fourth showed raging waves, and the fifth depicted the clearing of clouds and cessation of rain.

Image by image, it described the process from the rise of waves to their subsidence, encompassing five levels of mastery.

Qin Ran examined them carefully, committing all to memory.

After returning the Raging Waves Visualization Method, he found a Starry Sky Visualization Method. He expended some effort to memorize it but didn't dare to cultivate it at all.

Having obtained spirit cultivation techniques, Qin Ran had no further desires and decided it was time to seek out the Divine Essence Condensation.

He bid farewell to Mr. Zhai, saying, "Regarding the Island Lord's Dragon Breath Pill, I still need to go down and contemplate it further. I hope Mr. Zhai won't take offense."

Mr. Zhai smiled and said, "Not at all! Young Brother Li's youthful spirit is truly admirable. Go on, go on!"

Qin Ran bowed respectfully, then opened the door and left.

Mr. Zhai, sitting by the window, watched as Qin Ran exited and closed the door. After a while, he tilted his head to look out the window, observing Qin Ran as he walked away from the library.

He narrowed his eyes, and with a flick of the ring on his hand, several books appeared - the same ones Qin Ran had looked at during his previous visit to the library.

"Li Feiyu..." he murmured, "Who exactly are you? Where do you really come from? And what is your true purpose?"

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