noffsinger Chapter 36 Qi-Boosting Elixir
Chapter 36 Qi-Boosting Elixir
Two months later.
After receiving his monthly stipend of spirit stones, Liu He's savings reached seventeen spirit stones.
He couldn't wait to ask Li Liangtian to buy the Qi-boosting pills together.
"Ryota, what's wrong?"
Liu He saw that Li Liangtian was carrying a bag of spirit rice.
"I haven't been home for a while. I asked my senior brother Wu for leave to go back and see my parents and family, and bring them some spiritual rice to help them recover."
Li Liangtian received his spiritual rice at the Qixia Peak Dining Hall.
Even those who were on trial as laborers received two bowls of rice for free every day.
The regular servants were treated better; they could eat in the dining hall every day, or choose to receive ten catties of spirit rice once a month.
How is your grandma? Has she recovered?
Liu He remembered that Li Liangtian had mentioned that his grandmother was sick and bedridden, so he had spent two spirit stones to hire a skilled medical disciple to come to his house to treat her.
"She should be better now. Last time, after Sister Zhao's treatment, she was able to walk again. She guaranteed that my grandma would be fully recovered in less than half a month."
"That's good. Your family is so lucky to have you; you're so filial."
Liu He often chatted with Li Liangtian and learned some things about the Li family from him.
This past year has witnessed tremendous changes in the Li family.
Initially, Li Liangtian's family was just an ordinary farming household in the village, and their financial situation was considered to be below average among the poorest households in the village.
When Li Liangtian was working as a trial repairman, he would always collect some dry branches and sticks from the forest area to use as firewood every time he went home, saving his family several tens of coins for firewood.
Later, he was promoted to a regular handyman, and his family's financial situation improved rapidly.
He took the spirit rice he received from the kitchen back home and sold it for money.
In the mortal world, many wealthy merchants are willing to spend money to buy spirit rice; selling ten catties of spirit rice for five hundred taels of silver is very easy.
As a result, Li Liangtian's family became wealthy, bought land, and rose to become a landlord in the village.
His family is not only wealthy, but also influential.
Li Liangtian was just a low-level servant disciple in the sect, but in the outside world, he was known as an "immortal".
There are many people who want to ask him for favors.
"Now that we have enough money, I just hope that my parents, grandparents and other family members will live long and healthy lives. Spending two spirit stones won't be a big deal."
Although Li Liangtian came from a poor family, his family was harmonious and his family members were still alive.
He hoped that his family members would live longer, so that his spiritual journey would not be without their companionship.
"By the way, Liangtian, are you still saving up your spirit stones? I'd like to buy a Qi-Boosting Pill with you."
Liu He got down to business.
"Besides spending two spirit stones on Grandma's medical treatment, I've saved up all my spirit stones. Buying Qi-Boosting Pills together? You became a full-fledged employee two months before me, you must have already saved up enough spirit stones to buy Qi-Boosting Pills."
Li Liangtian was puzzled.
Group buying of Tongmai Dan is quite common, but what about group buying of Yiqi Dan?
What's the point?
"Um, I used some of my spirit stones earlier, and I only have a dozen or so left, enough to buy half a Qi-Boosting Pill. Let's buy it together."
How should Liu He explain that buying half a Qi-boosting pill was enough?
Not half a Qi-boosting pill, but to be precise, just a tiny bit of Qi-boosting pill would suffice.
But it was already strange that he bought half a Qi-boosting pill; he couldn't very well be so shameless as to ask someone to cut a small portion of the pill for him.
"Alright, let's go when I get back from visiting my family... Never mind, I'll just give you the spirit stones, you can go buy Qi-boosting pills."
Although Li Liangtian found Liu He's behavior a bit strange, he simply assumed that Liu He was eager to take the Qi-boosting pill as soon as possible and didn't ask any further questions.
Besides, he trusted Liu He.
The process of going to the Spirit Pill Pavilion to buy spirit pills was skipped; he simply took out a spirit stone bag from his pocket, counted out fifteen spirit stones, and gave them to Liu He.
"..."
Liu He wanted to say thank you, but he didn't say it. He only said, "I'll give you half a Qi-boosting pill when you come back."
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
Zongnei Market, Lingdan Pavilion.
Liu He brought thirty spirit stones to buy Qi-boosting pills.
He was greeted by a senior female disciple from the outer sect.
"Senior sister, I'd like to buy a Qi-boosting pill."
"Okay, just a moment."
The Qi-Boosting Pill is one of the most sought-after elixirs among the menial disciples.
The senior sister took out an exquisite jade porcelain bottle, opened the cap, and poured the Qi-boosting pill onto a clean white handkerchief.
The Yiqi Dan is about an inch in diameter, with a light blue color that reflects a beautiful, shimmering light and emits a mellow, sweet aroma.
"Junior brother, take a look. This Qi-boosting pill is the right size and of flawless quality."
This is "inspecting the goods".
After all, it's a spirit pill worth thirty spirit stones, which a menial disciple would have to save up for a long time to afford.
"Yes, no problem."
Liu He had no way of recognizing elixirs; they were indeed flawless on the surface.
"Senior sister, could you please cut some for me?"
"it is good."
The senior sister didn't say much.
It's common for people to buy elixirs together at the Elixir Pavilion.
There aren't many people who buy Qi-Boosting Pills in bulk, but there are some. This is because some people might be just a little short of breaking through to the second or third level of Qi Refining and don't want to spend more spirit stones.
It's common to use spirit stones sparingly in order to save them.
"40/60," Liu He added as his senior sister took out the spirit dagger.
The blade of the dagger sliced through, splitting the Qi-Boosting Pill in two.
The senior sister then took out an empty jade bottle, filled it with the two halves of the elixir, and handed it to Liu He.
Liu He left with two jade bottles of elixirs.
He chose a 40/60 split because he decided to give 60% of the elixir to Li Liangtian as a way of repaying his trust.
In any case, for Liu He, a 40% spirit pill and a half-spirit pill are the same to him.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
It was late at night.
Liu He excitedly entered the ant nest.
In his magical artifact cave, the ground was covered with broken spiritual pills.
A rich aroma of elixirs wafted over, filling the entire cave.
To make it easier for the ants to carry the elixir into the magical artifact cave, he crushed the elixir into small pieces when placing it in the cave.
Even the tiny fragments of the elixir appeared larger than a watermelon from Liu He's current perspective.
The ants, resisting the temptation of the elixir's fragrance, carried all the elixir fragments to Liu He's cave.
"There are so many elixirs, I couldn't possibly eat them all even if I ate them as meals."
Liu He thought to himself.
Then, he broke off a pill about the size of a whole Qi-boosting pill from one of the broken pills.
Swallow it into the stomach.
After the effects of the elixir were absorbed, he returned to his room on Qixia Peak and began to cultivate his inner energy.
"This feels amazing!"
Normally, circulating the cultivation technique once would increase a barely perceptible amount of spiritual energy, but at this moment, spiritual energy surged like a spring into his limbs and bones, nourishing his dantian and sea of qi.
When the "Gathering Spirit and Qi Technique" is circulated once, the dantian (energy center) expands by one circle.
The two-hour cultivation session ended.
"The boost from this Qi-boosting pill is equivalent to four or five months of my usual rigorous training. There's still some residual medicinal power left, which I'll digest in about two days."
The Qi-Boosting Pill is roughly equivalent to half a year of cultivation for cultivators with lower-grade spiritual roots.
Liu He had previous experience taking the Meridian Opening Pill, and knew that the elixir should not be taken in large quantities at once, but must be taken gradually.
You can only take a second pill after the medicinal effects of the first one have been fully absorbed.
"I certainly can't eat all these elixirs, so I'll share them with the ants."
As before, he did not rashly give the elixir to the queen ant, but first distributed it to the worker ants, soldier ants, and larvae to see the effect.
Elixirs are "medicines," and all medicines have some degree of toxicity.
Liu He knew that some things that are beneficial to humans may be poisonous to other animals.
Therefore, it is necessary to test the effects of the elixir on ants.