Chương 16

The Ember Sanctum truly is extraordinary. It can even adjust its rewards to provide pills suited to the challenger's cultivation. Elara held the two small jade boxes and decided to use both pills inside the Ember Sanctum. The proper order was obvious. First, she would take the Origin-Nurturing Pill to expand her dantian's qi capacity and improve her future potential. Afterward, she would use the Minor Breakthrough Pill to advance her cultivation. Elara sat cross-legged and opened the first jade box.

She removed the Origin-Nurturing Pill and swallowed it. The pill dissolved into a warm current that flowed down her throat and entered her dantian. There, it transformed into a stream of pure energy that nourished the entire space from within. Within moments, Elara could feel her dantian slowly expanding. The effect was even better than she had anticipated. By the time the medicinal energy settled, her dantian's capacity had increased by nearly twenty percent. The immediate advantage was already considerable.

Compared to another cultivator at the same Tier, Elara would be able to store far more qi. As her cultivation advanced and her reserves continued to multiply, the gap would only grow. [Origin-Nurturing Pill successfully consumed.] [Dantian expansion in progress...] Once the expansion was complete, Elara felt no pain or discomfort. She opened the second jade box and immediately took the Minor Breakthrough Pill. [Minor Breakthrough Pill successfully consumed.] [Qi Refining Tier 2 progress +100.] [Breakthrough achieved.] [Qi Refining Tier 3: 11/100] Supported by the pill's energy, her breakthrough came as naturally as water flowing downhill. She encountered no bottleneck or resistance whatsoever. Qi Refining Tier 3. My qi reserves have more than doubled again. Using a single iron sword to attack should hardly strain me at all now. Elara resisted the urge to test her improved strength immediately.

Instead, she took advantage of the medicinal energy still lingering in her body and began cultivating with the Minor Origin Breathing Art. She still had two days left inside the Ember Sanctum. [Cultivation in progress...] [Two days of cultivation completed.] [Qi Refining Tier 3 progress +5.] [16/100] As soon as her remaining time expired, Elara was expelled from the Ember Sanctum again. She would have to wait through another one-day cooldown before she could return.

"The same two days of cultivation gave me only half as much progress as they did at Qi Refining Tier 2. Advancing is becoming much harder." Elara studied the small increase on her progress bar with mixed feelings. Of course, if any ordinary cultivator learned how quickly she was advancing, they would probably be consumed with envy. Even with the increasing difficulty, her cultivation speed was still terrifying by normal standards. This book was originally published on Royal Road.

Check it out there for the real experience. Another six hours had passed in the physical world. Night had nearly fallen outside. Elara ate a simple meal of dried provisions to settle her hunger, then returned to bed and continued cultivating.... Early the next morning, Elara headed to the spirit fields outside Valehaven. Tending those fields was her job now, after all. She was far from the only apprentice leaving the city at this hour.

Some worked for Dawnmere Trading House, while others served major cultivation families or smaller households. Anyone responsible for spirit fields outside the walls generally began work around the same time. After reaching Dawnmere's growing district, Elara registered with Garrick and continued toward the Mindveil Grass fields. Quite a few apprentices had already gathered there.

"Boss, you're here!" Alistair hurried over with several of the others.

"Come sit down and rest. We'll handle all the cultivation work for you." As a fellow Spirit Gardener, Alistair had become obsessed with the combat technique Elara had demonstrated the previous day. Since then, he had been doing everything possible to win her favor, hoping she would teach it to him sooner rather than later.

"How about sitting here?" At Alistair's signal, one of his followers produced a small wooden chair they had prepared in advance and carefully brushed the dust from its seat.

"This spot is clean." Alistair gestured apologetically at the chair.

"You have no idea, boss. If Garrick allowed us to bring large furniture into the fields, I'd have brought you a proper reclining chair so you could rest in comfort." Elara was genuinely surprised by how enthusiastically he was trying to please her. The second son of House Li might not have been particularly accomplished in cultivation, but when it came to flattery, his talent was exceptional.

"That won't be necessary. You don't need to tend my plot either. I'll take care of it myself." Elara politely waved away the offer and walked toward the section of Mindveil Grass she had claimed the previous day. The plot contained somewhere between twenty and thirty plants, nearly all of them with maturity values around ninety-five. Elara had chosen this particular section for exactly that reason. She had been eager to bring the plants to full maturity and collect the random reward orbs they produced.

Unfortunately, another apprentice had already tended the plot yesterday. She had been forced to wait until this morning before casting any additional gardening arts.

"Raincall!" Elara formed the necessary hand seals. A large dark cloud gathered overhead almost instantly, spreading across the entire plot and covering every stalk of Mindveil Grass. Now that she had reached Qi Refining Tier 3 and expanded her dantian, casting Raincall over a wider area required almost no effort. [Raincall successfully cast.] [Mindveil Grass maturity +3.] [98/100] A single Raincall had increased the plants' maturity by only three points.

Mindveil Grass was among the more valuable Rank One spirit plants, so its greater cultivation difficulty came as no surprise. Without pausing, Elara immediately formed the hand seals for Soften Earth. [Soften Earth successfully cast.] [Mindveil Grass maturity +3.] [101/100] The maturity bars above the entire patch filled completely. The Mindveil Grass had entered its harvestable stage, and subtle changes spread across its leaves. The purple speckles covering their surfaces began to emit a faint glow.

More than twenty reward orbs dropped into the field. Elara examined them one by one and quickly noticed something unusual. So the more valuable the spirit plant, the better the odds of receiving higher-quality reward orbs. Among the twenty-odd orbs, three were green. That drop rate couldn't even be compared to what she had received from the Glowmist Grass in her courtyard. Out of twelve Glowmist Grass plants, only one had produced a green reward orb.

This time, barely more than twenty Mindveil Grass plants had produced three. The odds had improved dramatically. As usual, Elara collected the white orbs first. [12 White Random Reward Orbs collected.] [Reward: Two Days of Cultivation each.] All twelve of those orbs granted cultivation progress. Better yet, instead of the single day provided by the Glowmist Grass rewards, each orb granted two full days.

The increased value of the spirit plants had improved not only the quality of the reward orbs, but also the rewards contained within them. Elara's Qi Refining Tier 3 progress surged forward. [Qi Refining Tier 3: 16/100 → 76/100]... [6 White Random Reward Orbs collected.] [Reward: A small amount of spiritual qi restored.] The other six white orbs all restored qi. Unfortunately, most of that energy went to waste.

Once Elara's dantian was full, the excess spiritual qi had nowhere to go and simply dispersed into the surrounding air. The final white orb, however, gave her another pleasant surprise. [White Random Reward Orb collected.] [Reward: Fortune +1.] Elara hadn't expected Fortune to appear again. Her Fortune immediately rose from two to three. [Fortune: 2 → 3] Getting another point of Fortune before I open the three green rewards couldn't have come at a better time. Maybe it'll help me draw something even better.

Elara rubbed her hands together, already impatient to collect the three remaining green orbs.