89: Chapter 89 Gains from Seclusion

During these two years, he had completely cut off contact with the outside world. Whether the world outside was in turmoil or as calm as usual, it had nothing to do with him.

Li Qing knew very well that in this cutthroat world of cultivation, if one lacked strength, one could only be slaughtered by others. Killing Gao Ping and Sun Xiang previously was only possible because his strength was superior. If his cultivation lagged behind, he would be the one to die the next time he encountered danger.

Therefore, for these two years, apart from taking care of Zhou Yao on time, Li Qing exerted all his effort into bitter cultivation. First, he improved his cultivation, and then he practiced the 'Blood Corpse Sutra' improved by the Enlightenment Pavilion, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

When he first went into seclusion, Li Qing was only at the Qi Refining Level 8. However, after two years of day-and-night training, his cultivation soared like a rocket, steadily pushing from Qi Refining Level 8 to the Qi Refining Peak. He was now much closer to Qi Refining Perfection and the Foundation Establishment Stage. If ordinary Loose Cultivators knew of this speed of progress, they would definitely be astonished.

During these two years, Li Qing used up all his High Grade Spirit Gathering Pills and consumed over 15,000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

Only then did his cultivation break through to the Qi Refining Peak!

These expenses of Li Qing's would have been enough to allow an ordinary Loose Cultivator to Cultivate to Qi Refining Perfection.

Yet for him, it only brought him from Qi Refining Level 8 to the Qi Refining Peak.

After spending 15,000 of the 30,000-plus Low-Grade Spirit Stones he had originally saved, only 18,000-plus remained.

Li Qing also understood that he was cultivating the 'Five Elements Art', which naturally cost five times more than that of an ordinary Cultivator.

The higher the cultivation, the more resources it naturally takes to break through. He was now at the Qi Refining Peak, and to rush further to break through to Qi Refining Perfection, he would need a full 25,600 Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

He calculated his absorption rate; even if he didn't slack off and steadily absorbed 100 Low-Grade Spirit Stones worth of spiritual energy every day, it would still take over eight months to break through. Eight months to break through a level of cultivation, that seemed a bit long!

Unknowingly, Li Qing was being a bit of a humble-bragger!

After his cultivation broke through to the Qi Refining Peak, Li Qing stabilized his cultivation and began to practice the 'Blood Corpse Sutra'.

This corpse refining technique was very special; it required using one's own essence blood as a primer to find a suitable corpse to refine into a corpse puppet that would obey his commands.

The corpse used for the corpse puppet was Sun Xiang's body.

When he first started practicing the 'Blood Corpse Sutra', Li Qing suffered quite a bit.

Only when he officially started practicing did Li Qing realize how agonizing this "blood as a primer" process was.

He had to sit cross-legged, circulate the 'Blood Corpse Sutra' technique, and force out his heart's essence blood from beside his Dantian and Qi Sea, drop by drop, slowly transferring it into Sun Xiang's body.

Every time he forced out a drop of essence blood, he felt dizzy, his strength was more than half drained, his face turned pale, his limbs went weak, and even circulating spiritual energy became difficult. Several times, he was so exhausted from the essence blood loss that he collapsed to the ground, needing a long time to recover.

And this blood could not be transferred carelessly. The 'Blood Corpse Sutra' emphasized that "Blood leads the Spirit, Spirit controls the Corpse". Essence blood was not just nourishment for the corpse, but also the link between Li Qing's mind and the corpse puppet.

Every drop of essence blood that merged into the corpse body had to follow the technique's incantations, wandering through the corpse's Meridians and bones, opening up the blocked Meridians, allowing the corpse to slowly generate corpse qi, turning it from a cold, stiff dead object into an Iron Corpse capable of movement and combat.

This process could not be rushed. Li Qing had no experience at first and forced the blood too quickly, which not only left him extremely weak but also caused no reaction from the corpse. Later, he slowly figured out the patterns, transferring only a small amount of essence blood each day, proceeding step by step, using the essence blood to slowly nourish the corpse and carve in his own mental imprint.

When Li Qing had transferred enough essence blood and completed the final refinement, with a thought, the corpse puppet could immediately sense his commands. This was the key to "blood as a primer" — the essence blood imprint, a connection of minds.

When the last trace of essence blood merged into Sun Xiang's body, the originally cold and stiff corpse suddenly stood up. With faint black-red corpse qi permeating its body, it obeyed his commands completely upon a single thought, becoming a true Iron Corpse. Li Qing was both pleasantly surprised and excited.

What was even more unexpected was that the moment the corpse refining was successful, the quiet Portable Cave Abode unlocked a new building — the corpse refining pool.

Li Qing upgraded it to level three without hesitation.

[corpse refining pool lv3] [Effects: Corpse refining speed increased by 40%, rapidly heals corpse wounds, repairs broken remains] [corpse refining pool lv4 upgrade conditions: Foundation Establishment Early Stage, 50 Mid-Grade Spirit Stones, 5 Melting Blood Grass].

This corpse refining pool didn't look big; the pool contained a dark red viscous liquid that bubbled from time to time, emitting a faint, chilling aura, but it was a real treasure.

With this corpse refining pool, the speed of refining new corpse puppets in the future would be nearly half as fast, and he wouldn't need to spend months slowly refining them as before.

If the Iron Corpse was injured in battle, with broken arms or legs or a damaged body, soaking it in the pool would thoroughly repair it in no time, as if it had never been injured. It was equivalent to equipping the Iron Corpse with a dedicated enhancement factory and healing pool.

As for the Iron Corpse refined from Sun Xiang, ever since the corpse refining pool appeared, it had been soaking in the pool to be nourished whenever it was idle. Coupled with Li Qing occasionally nourishing it with essence blood and spiritual energy, its strength had risen all the way, and it was now at the Peak of the First Order Early Stage, soon to break through to the First Order Middle Stage.

Besides cultivation and corpse refining, Li Qing had now stored a full 40,000 catties of spirit rice in the cave abode.

These spirit rice could be sold at the immortal market outside for a large sum of Spirit Stones, which counted as a substantial savings.

There was also the Red-tailed Fox he had brought back, which had been raised exceptionally well over these two years.

The Red-tailed Fox was inherently a clever low-Rank Yao Beast, with fast speed and keen perception, capable of helping to guard against danger. Li Qing fed it the spirit meat he couldn't finish and beast nourishing pills, treating it as a partner.

Under the nourishment of spirit meat and beast nourishing pills, the Red-tailed Fox's strength improved all the way, breaking through to the First Order Peak.

The current Red-tailed Fox had fluffy, fiery red fur, bright and sharp eyes, and a much sturdier build; it ran so fast that only a red shadow remained.

The only drawback was that the fish pond and beast enclosure were empty again, apart from the Red-tailed Fox.

After all, these spirit fish and Spirit Beasts could not withstand the consumption of three mouths.

The first mouth was Li Qing himself.

The second mouth was the Red-tailed Fox, which consumed over ten catties of spirit meat every day.

The third mouth was the Iron Corpse, as the blood and flesh of Spirit Beasts were of immense benefit to the improvement of its Rank.

Looking back and calculating the harvest of these two years, Li Qing felt full of satisfaction.

His cultivation surged from Qi Refining Level 8 to the Qi Refining Peak. Although the consumption was a bit high, Li Qing felt it was all worth it since it improved his cultivation!

He had successfully practiced the 'Blood Corpse Sutra', gained an Iron Corpse at the Peak of the First Order Early Stage, and unlocked the lv3 corpse refining pool.

With the corpse refining pool, Li Qing was confident in refining a second Iron Corpse and building his own army of corpse puppets!

He had saved 40,000 catties of spirit rice, so he had no worries about food and could also sell a large batch for Spirit Stones.

The Red-tailed Fox had also risen to the First Order Peak, giving him another capable helper.

The two years of tedious seclusion had not been in vain; all the hard work had been converted into tangible strength and supplies.

Li Qing stood in the cave abode, looked at the Iron Corpse quietly soaking in the corpse refining pool, petted the Red-tailed Fox that came over to act spoiled, and felt the abundant spiritual energy in his body; the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up into a smile.

Next, it was time to prepare for Qi Refining Perfection.

There was also the foundation establishment pill, which needed to be prepared in advance. Li Qing had a feeling that the foundation establishment pill he currently had would not be enough to let him successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Taking a deep breath, Li Qing composed his mind, and his eyes became exceptionally determined.

Two years had passed, and he didn't know how things had changed outside. With a thought, Li Qing left the Portable Cave Abode.