Chapter 85: Sixth-Level Elixir

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and the middle-aged cultivator with a dark complexion returned to the gates of Tianxuan Sect.
He had reached the sixth level of Qi Cultivation!
Returning to his cultivation cave, Su Che removed all his disguises and sat down to rest. Coming back from the Yinwind Gorge at full speed over nearly two thousand miles, even at the peak of the sixth level, he was quite exhausted.
Having sequestered himself under the black rocks of the underground fire veins in the Yinwind Gorge for half a year, each day of arduous cultivation had been extremely monotonous and painful. Looking back, Su Che was somewhat impressed by his own ability to endure it…
Unfortunately, there were still not enough Earth Spirit Pills. During those six months of seclusion, he could only take one per day; otherwise, it would have been possible for him to rush straight into the later stages of Qi Cultivation.
Yet, even with a shortage of elixirs, Su Che did not dare to go to the cultivation market to sell spiritual herbs himself. Even if he disguised his spiritual energy as that of a seventh-level cultivator, it wouldn’t be enough to ward off some highly ambitious and greedy individuals. Once they discovered he possessed great wealth, they would surely try to kill him and steal from him, leaving his life in grave danger.
Such things were all too common in the cultivation world, happening at any time. Su Che preferred to slow down his cultivation pace rather than take reckless risks and endanger his life.
Now that he had reached the peak of the sixth level, he naturally faced the barrier to the next stage. However, Su Che felt that this time, breaking through might not be too difficult. Perhaps it was due to the peculiar energy formed by the combination of the Immortal Prison Warm Current and the Black Stone Clear Flow, which made this barrier as thin as paper—seemingly easy to penetrate…
Of course, this was just Su Che’s intuition. As for what would actually happen, it would depend on the tests in the coming days.
Su Che planned to go to “Wuhua Peak” the next day to buy an elixir even better than the Earth Spirit Pill. Back then, he would use its powerful effects to break through this paper-thin barrier. Intuitively, he was already 60-70% confident.
After resting for two hours, Su Che first went to the spiritual herb garden, where he met Linglong.
“You…”
Linglong stared at Su Che in shock. “Sixth level of Qi Cultivation?”
“Yes, Senior Sister Linglong,” Su Che nodded. “This seclusion was extremely successful. I actually reached the sixth level in one go.”
“How is that possible? You’re not even sixteen yet. What kind of rare treasures did you consume to achieve this…”

Linglong still found it hard to believe: Half a year ago, he was only at the third level of Qi Cultivation. How could he suddenly reach the sixth level and be on the verge of entering the later stage of Qi Cultivation? After all, it was only because of her exceptional innate talent that she had reached the sixth level at seventeen and entered the later stage at eighteen. But him—his spiritual root had only average qualities with three attributes…

This time, Su Che could no longer hide his true cultivation level. In the next few days, if he broke through the barrier and entered the later stage of Qi Cultivation, he would immediately have to apply to his sect to take the assessment for inner sect disciples. Without that cultivation level, there was no way to become an inner sect disciple—there was no longer any room for discretion.

Faced with Linglong’s surprise, Su Che could only give a vague explanation, “Sister, you’re right. I indeed consumed some rare and precious substance, which is why I achieved such results. Otherwise, with just my innate talent, it would definitely not have been possible.”

“Mm, that makes sense!” Linglong nodded firmly. “On the path of cultivation, fortune often plays a bigger role than innate talent. It seems you’re quite blessed! That’s great, really great. I’m happy for you…”

“Thank you, Sister.”

Su Che bowed respectfully in gratitude, knowing that Linglong was pure-hearted and not good at lying—her words were certainly not empty courtesy.

“Oh, then I can’t just idle around anymore.” Linglong tilted her head, poking her cheek with a delicate, fair finger as she murmured, “If this continues, I’ll soon be overtaken by you. Then I’d have to change my address and call you ‘elder brother’? That would be so embarrassing! No, I need to enter seclusion too…”

Clearly, even Linglong was stimulated by Su Che’s extremely rapid progress.

Su Che smiled inwardly and changed the subject, asking, “It’s been half a year since we last saw each other. I wonder how Brother Yuqing has been recently?”

“He entered seclusion a month ago too!” Linglong waved her hand. “It’s his first attempt at Foundation Establishment. I’m not sure what the success rate is.”

“Oh, Brother Yuqing is finally going to attempt Foundation Establishment…” Su Che was delighted. He sincerely hoped that Yuqing would succeed.

Relatively speaking, the success rate for the first attempt at Foundation Establishment was the highest. If it failed on the first try, subsequent attempts would become increasingly difficult. Yet Su Che believed that given Yuqing’s innate talent, his success rate for the first attempt was at least 80%.

In comparison, with one’s average aptitude, even without opportunities like the Immortal Prison, and even if one had the Foundation-Building Pill, the success rate for establishing a foundation on the first attempt was less than 50%. A person’s innate aptitude often plays the biggest role at critical moments of breaking through boundaries. Those with ordinary aptitudes can only envy and be jealous.

Originally, Su Che wanted to find Yu Qing, give him a general overview of his current cultivation level, and ask for advice on which pills would be most effective for advancing to the later stages of Qi Cultivation… After all, Senior Yu Qing was somewhat like his mentor, so it was only natural to consult him. But since Yu Qing was also in seclusion, Su Che had no choice but to turn to Linglong.

After hearing Su Che’s question, Linglong pondered for a moment before answering, “Normally, cultivators have some intuition about their own condition, and this intuition is often quite accurate. The difficulty of your current breakthrough might indeed be relatively low. In that case, I suggest you take the ‘Purple Fire Pill’ and the ‘Soaring Dragon Pill.’ The Purple Fire Pill is most suitable for your fire-type vital energy, while the Soaring Dragon Pill is powerful and ideal for use during breakthroughs.”

At this point, she wore a sly expression and deliberately lowered her voice, “Both of these are sixth-grade pills, so they’re not cheap! But since you were able to create a pile of top-grade spirit talismans during the last competition, you must not be short of spirit stones, right?”

“Not at all,” Su Che said softly, touching his nose. “It was because Senior Sister gave me three thousand spirit stones that I was able to buy over a dozen top-grade spirit talismans for protection.”

Before he could finish, Linglong rolled her eyes and said, “Come on, I’m not asking you for money. Why act so pitiful?”

Only then did Su Che smile and say, “To be honest with Senior Sister, I do have some ways to make money. I can indeed afford eighteen thousand spirit stones.”

“That’s much better,” Linglong hummed lightly and immediately reached out, “Since you’re so wealthy, lend me eighteen thousand then!”

He had just said he wouldn’t lend money, and now here she was…

Su Che knew she was joking, but he still nodded generously, “If Senior Sister really needs it, I’ll lend it. A few spirit stones are nothing!”

“I just need one thousand spirit stones. Give them to me,” Linglong insisted, still holding out her hand, seemingly determined to get them.

Without hesitation, Su Che took out a bag of spirit stones and handed it to her.

Linglong nodded in satisfaction before speaking seriously, “The price of Purple Fire Pills and Dragon Soaring Pills at Wuhua Peak is 300 spirit stones each. If I go to the old man to buy them for you, it will definitely be much cheaper. I reckon for your current level-up, three Purple Fire Pills and three Dragon Soaring Pills should be enough. At the original price of 1,800, I’ll only charge you 1,000. What do you think? Isn’t my sister generous?”
“Generous! Thank you, sister.” Su Che nodded vigorously first, then even took out an even larger bag of spirit stones and asked shamelessly, “Sister, can I buy more?”
“Greedy!” Linglong glared at him but still took the bag without checking the amount of spirit stones inside. “I’ll ask for you. We’ll take as many as we can get.”
Before she finished speaking, she turned and ran off. It was unnecessary to guess—she must have gone to the herb garden on the third floor to buy medicines from her family’s old man. This girl always acted decisively and without hesitation.
Su Che was secretly pleased. “Linglong’s father is the elder of the herb garden. Since he’s good at growing spirit herbs, he must also be skilled in pill-making. Buying pills directly from him not only saves spirit stones but also avoids drawing attention by going to Wuhua Peak. Truly, one more friend means one more path.”
Lao He was also happy. He had thought about teasing his master a bit, talking about how great Linglong was and how worth pursuing her… But then he realized that his master still hadn’t overcome his deep sorrow for his deceased wife and seemed to have no interest in matters of the heart. If he made jokes about such things, he would definitely get scolded.
Unaware of Lao He’s thoughts, Su Che continued to calculate silently, “I gave Linglong 11,000 spirit stones in total. Even if we buy at the original price, we can get at least thirty sixth-grade pills. I just don’t know if the elder of the herb garden has that many in stock. After all, for a Golden Core cultivator, sixth-grade pills are hardly effective.”