Chapter 33

Consuming a Chi Infusing Pill, Lu Qingfeng could feel a stream of robust energy surging through his body.

The Verdant Sword Art revolved, the compressed Inner Chi cycled, the dynamic power of the pill was being refined constantly, and the Inner Chi gradually grew. When half of the pill’s intensity had been consumed, Lu Qingfeng felt the indescribable bottleneck that was hindering his Inner Chi from growing.

It felt as if he had been imprisoned.

Only by breaking through this imprisonment could he sublimate and soar into the sky.

Lu Qingfeng attempted with all his might to break through.

However, even after the remaining half of the pill’s medicinal power had been exhausted, Lu Qingfeng was still stuck in Level 9 of the Fetal Phase, and he could even feel that his Inner Chi was dwindling.

The moon waxes only to wane!

The same goes for Inner Chi.

“Looks like one Chi Infusing Pill wasn’t enough.”

Lu Qingfeng stood up. He had just experienced the difficulty of ascending to the Genuine Chi Phase. Although he had failed, he wasn’t discouraged. He stood up, adjusted his mind, and went right back into refining pills.

During the next five days…

Lu Qingfeng attempted to break through the bottleneck of the Genuine Chi Phase once or twice a day.

At last, on the fifth day, Lu Qingfeng refined an eighth Chi Infusing Pill and consumed it, and a breakthrough occurred!

Like a crumbling mountain…

Like a tsunami…

His majestic Inner Chi swept through his body, converged into a mighty stream, and gushed downward. Amid this process of the downward surge, the Inner Chi gradually condensed into a single torrent, which stormed toward the invisible bottleneck.

Crack!

The bottleneck shattered!

Like a carp leaping through a dragon’s gate, after breaking through the bottleneck, the Inner Chi quickly condensed. The Inner Chi that had originally felt like a bellowing river crackled in an instant, and amid a pervasive mist, it was reduced into the thickness of a strand of hair.

However, the power contained within such a thread was far beyond Lu Qingfeng’s imagination. It was much more potent than the power contained within his Inner Chi that had surged like a river the moment before.

Boom!

With the emergence of this thread, Lu Qingfeng’s mind was blasted with an energetic roar. After an instant of dizziness came unceasing clarity. It was as if a valve had been opened somewhere within his body, and the thread submerged itself into it and coiled downward.

Waves of Chi flowed across the meridians in his body, passing through the thread repeatedly, then continuing their cycle.

“Genuine Chi!”

“Elixir field!”

Lu Qingfeng was enlightened.

This thread-like energy was Genuine Chi that had been transformed from the extremely concentrated Inner Chi.

The mysterious place where Genuine Chi lay was in a person’s elixir field.

Genuine Chi derived! His elixir field opened up!

“Genuine Chi Phase. It is done!”

…

“Congratulations, Qingfeng!”

Lu Qingfeng was reflecting on everything that was going on while working in the Onyx Tool Refining Chamber when Zhang Zong walked up to him with an exhausted face and congratulated him with a forced smile.

“It’s the Genuine Chi Phase.”

Lu Qingfeng shook his head and looked at Zhang Zong.

Two months had gone by since Lu Qingfeng had broken into the Genuine Chi Phase.

More than two months ago, a tiny combat party under Mu Yuanyi’s command had gone out on a mission.

Zhang Zong had followed them.

He was Singularity’s one and only top-level Tool Refining Apprentice, and Mu Yuanyi and the rest of the party were mostly using puppets. Should the puppets sustain any damage, Zhang Zong would need to repair them on the spot.

Hence, as long as it was an important mission, Zhang Zong would have to tag along with the party.

He didn’t need to go onto the battlefield, so in general, things should have been easier for him.

However, judging by Zhang Zong’s exhausted look, this mission had probably not been an easy one.

“Brother Zhang, what’s going on?” Seeing Zhang Zong like this, Lu Qingfeng halted what he was doing.

More than two months ago was the time when Lu Qingfeng had gone offline before he broke through to the Genuine Chi Phase.

At this time, beast tides had begun cropping up frequently within the Yue Nation’s boundaries.

The Courtyard of Destiny was put in charge of overseeing one direction. All the nine cities including the Twilight City were placed under the Courtyard of Destiny’s protection. In the event of a beast tide, the Courtyard of Destiny would have to send people to deal with it immediately.

As the Singularity Guild was the Courtyard of Destiny’s peripheral force, they naturally couldn’t escape the affair.

Being away for two months this time, as Zhang Zong had been able to return safely, it should imply that the war had been won. However, the specific situation was yet to be known.

“It’s not good!”

Zhang Zong’s eyes were tired, and his face seemed rather solemn. “The beast tide this time was launched without any warning signs. Not only the nine major cities under the jurisdiction of the Courtyard of Destiny but also the entire southern border of the Yue Nation have reported varying degrees of turmoil. There are signs that indicate that this may all be the doing of the Spectral Cult.”

“Spectral Cult?”

Lu Qingfeng raised his eyebrows.

Although he had never run into this cult, he had heard many rumors about them.

The Dongsheng Continent was divided into the three nations of Yue, Qian, and Jin, where the forces of righteousness were slimmer than the forces of evil.

Among the nations, there were four sects within the Yue Nation, all of which were built on Yunmeng Mountain. For example, the 100 Art Sect, which the Courtyard of Destiny belonged to, was headquartered at Ascension Peak on the west side of Yunmeng Mountain.

Therefore, the four sects of the Yue Nation, also called the Four Sects of Yunmeng, belonged to the upright sects.

However, the three sects of the Qian and Jin Nations were cults, collectively labeled as the Six Demonic Cults.

Among the Six Demonic Cults, the Spectral Cult was a massive cult located in the southeast of the Qian Nation.

Their overall strength was equal to that of the 100 Art Sect.

The 100 Art Sect and the Spectral Cult lay on land adjacent to each other, and there had always been frictions, which consisted mostly of tiny skirmishes. This time, the Spectral Cult had seemed excessively hostile and had even teamed up with Demon Beast. Their ulterior motives were yet to be known.

“The 100 Art Sect will deal with the Spectral Cult. Our job was just to deal with the beast tides. But during these times, Qingfeng, you and your pals may have to get involved. The Courtyard of Destiny has been issuing missions on Pill Refining, and since Singularity is the best at Pill Refining, we have been assigned the most tasks,” Zhang Zong said, looking at Lu Qingfeng.

Lu Qingfeng nodded slightly.

In Singularity, Mu Yuanyi was a Tier 1 Pill Refining Master, and under him were the two top-level Pill Refining Apprentices, Wang Tao and Yue Ran. What’s more, they also had a unique Pill Refining Apprentice, Lu Qingfeng. Hence, it was only natural that the Courtyard of Destiny would be inclined to give Pill Refining missions to Singularity.

As an elder of Singularity who was independently in charge of a Pill Refining Chamber, the burden on Lu Qingfeng’s shoulders wasn’t going to be small at all.

However, since Singularity had treated him well over the years, Lu Qingfeng had no complaints.

“Let’s leave that topic aside. Ascending into the Genuine Chi Phase is a great thing. Qingfeng, I think you haven’t even stepped down from Singularity Mountain once over the past few years. Soon, in Snivel Town, the major guilds are going to be organizing a small auction event. Are you interested?”

Zhang Zong continued speaking to Lu Qingfeng with a smile, “You are the most well-off person in Singularity. The auction will be held after the beast tide. The next beast tide or battle may come at any time, so there will definitely be a heck of a lot of goodies.”

The major guilds had just withdrawn from the front line of fighting the beast tide, and people would need a few days to recuperate and rebuild their energy. The auction was scheduled to be held in three days. At that time, the guild of Singularity would organize a group to head down the mountain to Snivel Town.

Singularity was also one of the initiators of this auction.

Lu Qingfeng was for certain going to attend such a great event.

…

With three days to go before the auction, Lu Qingfeng completed the Pill Refining missions assigned to him and the Emery Pill Refining Chamber by Singularity and took time to practice and study puppet crafting in the meantime.

During these two months, he had been trying to craft puppets.

The refining of puppets was far more complex than ordinary Magical Artifacts.

For example, on the giant puppet controlled by Mu Yuanyi, not to mention the puppet itself, just the equipment it had on it was a combination of several Magical Artifacts.

Tier 2 Magical Artifact, Sawtooth Blade!

Tier 2 Magical Artifact, Onyx Buckler!

Tier 1 Magical Artifact, Bone Killing Arrows!

There were also some auxiliary Magical Artifacts.

Aside from these Magical Artifacts, there was also the puppet itself.

From the overall structure to the inner and outer Runic Arrays and then to the Twin Stone…

A multitude of things.

It was already difficult for an ordinary Tool Refiner to master the refining of one Magical Artifact. The energy and effort required to refine a puppet were dozens of times more than ordinary Magical Artifacts.