The Spirit Stone Bed and a Half-Step Core Formation Child

After compressing the True Qi in his body, Bai Qiuyuan took out a bunch of fruits from the modifier.

These fruits were also natural treasures found in the immortal palace.

The purpose of these fruits was to expand the Dantian’s capacity and enhance one’s physical constitution.

Bai Qiuyuan picked up a fruit, along with the refining guide he had found earlier, and settled onto the ground, leisurely eating as he read.

Another quarter of an hour passed.

Bai Qiuyuan sensed that he needed to dedicate time to refining his essence to thoroughly absorb the medicinal properties of all the natural treasures he had just consumed.

Only then did he gather the remaining treasures from the table.

“Let’s try refining spirit stones again.”

As Bai Qiuyuan spoke, he raised his hand, palm facing upwards, and the spiritual energy around him instantly converged above his hand!

This time, without even engraving a single rune, a blue spirit stone materialized directly in Bai Qiuyuan’s palm!

Given the dense spiritual energy of the Upper Realm, refining a few spirit stones was a mere trifle.

Refining even more wouldn’t seem to have any discernible impact.

Bai Qiuyuan lifted his hand, grasping the spirit stone, and used his True Qi to perceive its purity.

“Fifty-eight percent! A mid-grade spirit stone!”

“Hmm, no problems here. Now, all that’s left is continuous practice to improve my proficiency.”

“Let’s continue.”

As he spoke, Bai Qiuyuan continued to refine spirit stones while pondering inwardly.

‘This way, if I suddenly pull out a massive amount of spirit stones from the modifier one day, I’ll have a reasonable explanation.’

–The next morning–

Yang Xueqing had already checked out of her room, preparing to depart for the Sword Pavilion.

However, she had waited alone downstairs at the inn for a long time, yet Bai Qiuyuan still hadn’t woken up.

So, Yang Xueqing approached Bai Qiuyuan’s room, knocking and asking.

“Senior? Are you awake?”

“It’s time for us to depart for the Sword Pavilion.”

Creak

The room door hadn’t been fully closed; with a few gentle taps from Yang Xueqing, it swung open inwards.

Then, Yang Xueqing witnessed a sight that would forever be etched in her memory.

Upon the door opening, a breathtaking sea of red light greeted her eyes!

The floor of the inn room was covered in a thick layer of high-grade spirit stones, radiating a brilliant crimson glow!

Due to the sheer quantity of high-grade spirit stones, the spiritual energy within the room was markedly denser than outside.

Immediately after, Yang Xueqing saw a handsome child, clad in white, sleeping soundly atop the colossal pile of red, high-grade spirit stones!

And that person was none other than Bai Qiuyuan!

Gazing at Bai Qiuyuan, who lay sleeping on a bed of spirit stones, Yang Xueqing first froze, then her lips twitched as she stared at the incredible sight on the floor.

This was, after all, the first time Yang Xueqing had ever seen someone use spirit stones as a bed since arriving in this world!

And they were all high-grade spirit stones!

At a glance, there were likely at least five or six thousand of them!

Just as Yang Xueqing was bewildered by the scene before her, simultaneously wondering where Bai Qiuyuan had acquired such an immense quantity of spirit stones…

Bai Qiuyuan, who was sleeping soundly on the floor, suddenly spoke, as if in a dream.

“You want to compare wealth with me? Watch as I drown you in money!”

Yang Xueqing: “?”

Just as Yang Xueqing stood dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what Bai Qiuyuan was saying, the still-sleeping Bai Qiuyuan raised his hand.

Instantly, spiritual energy converged in the room! Several more red, high-grade spirit stones were directly refined within a few breaths!

Upon completion, the still-dreaming Bai Qiuyuan blindly grabbed a spirit stone and casually tossed it into the air.

Since he hadn’t thrown it with much force, the spirit stone Bai Qiuyuan tossed fell before hitting the ceiling, landing back in the luxurious pile of stones on the floor.

After throwing it, Bai Qiuyuan silently rolled over and continued sleeping.

Witnessing this, Yang Xueqing gasped sharply.

‘Could all these spirit stones have been acquired this way?!’

While cultivation could replace sleep, artifact refining could not.

Therefore, after staying up all night, Bai Qiuyuan finally couldn’t resist and collapsed into sleep.

“Senior! Senior! Wake up quickly!”

Yang Xueqing stepped over the spirit stones to Bai Qiuyuan’s side and called out to him.

“Hmm?”

A groggy Bai Qiuyuan finally sat up, staring blankly at Yang Xueqing.

Yang Xueqing: “…”

Bai Qiuyuan: “…”

After a moment of staring at each other, Bai Qiuyuan glanced at the spirit stones beneath him, paused in surprise, then, as if realizing something, with a flick of his hand, he swept all the spirit stones into his spatial ring.

Then, looking at Yang Xueqing, he calmly pretended as if nothing had happened and spoke.

“Morning.”

Yang Xueqing: “…”

“Senior, those spirit stones just now were…”

Yang Xueqing asked after a moment of silence.

“Oh, nothing much. The refining guide I found on that scarred man yesterday contained methods for refining spirit stones.”

“I tried it last night. Do you want to take a look?”

As he spoke, Bai Qiuyuan retrieved the refining guide from his spatial ring and handed it to Yang Xueqing.

Yang Xueqing paused for a second, then took the refining guide, asking inwardly with doubt.

‘[System, can I learn this?]’

‘[Of course you can!]’

‘[Learn.]’

‘[Understood, Host!]’

Soon, on Yang Xueqing’s system panel, a skill named ‘Spirit Stone Refining’ and another named ‘Puppet Refining’ appeared in the skill bar.

Bai Qiuyuan stood up, stretched, and said.

“I’ll come down to find you once I’ve washed up.”

“We can then depart for the Sword Pavilion together.”

“Understood, Senior.”

–Five days later–

–The plaza at the foot of Sword Pavilion Mountain–

Yang Xueqing walked across the plaza, glumly contemplating as she fiddled with a low-grade spirit stone she had just refined.

‘I thought learning that book would allow me to directly refine high-grade spirit stones.’

‘But no matter how I refine them, I can only produce low-grade spirit stones…’

‘It’s truly impressive that Senior managed to refine high-grade spirit stones after only one night of study.’

After personally refining spirit stones a few times, Yang Xueqing now fully understood the inherent difficulty involved.

However, Yang Xueqing could also understand; if it were easy, everyone would have an endless supply of spirit stones.

Next, Yang Xueqing looked at another skill on her system panel: Puppet Refining.

While this skill seemed useful, Yang Xueqing currently lacked suitable materials to refine puppets.

Gazing at these two somewhat unhelpful skills, Yang Xueqing could only sigh helplessly.

‘It seems I’ll have to try these another time.’

Just then, a handsome man, dressed in opulent attire, with long black hair, and holding a fan adorned with an ink wash painting, approached Yang Xueqing, smiling.

“Maiden, might you grace me with your presence and remove your veil, allowing me a glimpse?”

Though his words were politely phrased, his tone still carried an unmistakable air of command.

The man appeared to be of considerable status, with two attendants following him, and his cultivation seemed to be around the fifth level of Foundation Establishment.

Yang Xueqing: “…”

Yang Xueqing had encountered many people who approached her due to her appearance in the past.

But whether she removed her veil or not, such people rarely gave up easily.

Instead, they would persistently pester her.

Upon seeing this, the passersby who had come for the disciple recruitment ceremony consciously cleared an open space, seemingly wishing to avoid getting involved in others’ affairs.

Many others simply watched the spectacle silently from the sidelines, beginning to ‘eat melon’ (TL Note: ‘Chī guā’ (吃瓜) is a Chinese internet slang term referring to observing drama or gossip as an outsider, much like watching a show while eating a snack.).

Just as Yang Xueqing was getting a headache, the man felt someone poke him from behind!

The man immediately turned to look behind him, but saw no one.

He used his True Qi to scan his surroundings and soon frowned.

‘Completely undetectable?’

So the man spoke.

“Who’s playing tricks here?”

“Come out now!”

“I wasn’t hiding, though? Are your eyes just for decoration?”

Below the man, the voice sounded again.

The man instinctively looked down, following the sound, and saw a child clad in a black feathered cloak, wearing a half-face rabbit mask.

The child was currently holding a large bag of meat buns in one hand and a single bun in the other, eating with great relish.

Looking at Bai Qiuyuan, who seemed to exude an aura of utter “harmlessness”…

For a moment, the man fell into deep thought.

Bai Qiuyuan: “… (munching~)”

Man: “…”

“You little brat? I advise you not to meddle. Do you even know who I am?”

The man regained his composure, opened his fan, and chuckled.

Before Bai Qiuyuan could answer, an attendant beside the man immediately stepped forward, as if they had rehearsed countless times, and skillfully introduced him.

“Youngster, listen closely! Our Young Master is the eldest son of the Su family, a cultivation clan! Su Mingcheng!”

As soon as the attendant finished, the fan-wielding man bent down, smiling at Bai Qiuyuan.

“Little brat, seeing as you’re young and haven’t cultivated yet, I won’t hold this against you. Just kneel, and I’ll let you off!”

Thud! “Huh?”

The instant Su Mingcheng finished speaking, he suddenly felt his legs go weak, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground.

Immediately, not only Su Mingcheng himself but also all the onlookers were dumbfounded.

‘How did this person just kneel down while talking?’

“You!”

Upon hearing this, Su Mingcheng’s face flushed crimson with rage.

Although he didn’t know what method Bai Qiuyuan had used, Su Mingcheng was certain that this child before him was responsible!

Seeing that the situation was amiss, the two attendants instantly drew their swords and slashed towards Bai Qiuyuan.

Bang! Bang!

In just three breaths, before anyone could react, the two attendants were each knocked down by a single kick from Bai Qiuyuan!

At the same time, before the two attendants fell, Bai Qiuyuan stuffed a meat bun into each of their mouths!

Finally, the two attendants collided and fell to the ground!

Bai Qiuyuan looked at the two on the ground and chuckled, quipping.

“You two really are something. Charging in without even knowing your opponent’s cultivation level.”

After speaking, Bai Qiuyuan smiled at the now-standing Su Mingcheng, taking another bite of the bun in his hand.

Upon hearing this and seeing his Foundation Establishment fifth-level attendants instantly defeated, Su Mingcheng’s face darkened, and he feigned composure as he asked.

“Oh? And little brother, what is your current cultivation level?”

‘Hmph, no matter how extraordinary your talent, at such a young age, you can at most be a Foundation Establishment cultivator!’

‘My father is a Core Formation cultivator! Once I return, I will definitely have him teach you a lesson!’

“Half-step Core Formation.”

Bai Qiuyuan stated calmly.

Su Mingcheng scoffed upon hearing this.

“A mere Foundation Establishment… What did you just say?!”

Instantly, Su Mingcheng stared at Bai Qiuyuan with an expression as if he had seen a ghost.

Bai Qiuyuan calmly reiterated.

“My cultivation is Half-step Core Formation.”

“Are your ears not working well either?”

In an instant, an aura of coercion infinitely close to the Core Formation stage enveloped Su Mingcheng!

Su Mingcheng, who had experienced his own father’s Core Formation stage coercion, was instantly terrified and crumpled to the ground!

“You!… You’re really Half-step Core Formation!”

“How is that possible?!”

Hiss~

Instantly, everyone in the plaza gasped, looking at Bai Qiuyuan.

Only by reaching the Nascent Soul stage could a cultivator revert their physical body to a youthful state!

The “rabbit” before them had not reached Nascent Soul cultivation, meaning their current appearance… was their true age!

A quasi-Core Formation cultivator who appeared to be no older than twelve or thirteen!

Half-step Core Formation! With just one catalyst, they could naturally and smoothly become a Core Formation cultivator!

They were essentially a quasi-Core Formation cultivator!

Bai Qiuyuan put away his bun, clapped his hands, ignored the crowd, and withdrew his oppressive aura.

His current cultivation was not something Bai Qiuyuan had achieved using a modifier.

Rather, it was because Bai Qiuyuan had consumed far too many natural treasures earlier!

This led to Bai Qiuyuan breaking through every few days on his way to the Sword Pavilion, continuously advancing from the first level of Foundation Establishment directly to the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment!

However, Bai Qiuyuan had heard that Core Formation attracted lightning tribulations, so he had been diligently suppressing his cultivation…

Now, Bai Qiuyuan’s realm was like a bottle of soda filled with pressurized gas, having reached its critical point!

If there were another catalyst, the bottle would directly burst due to excessive pressure!

And the moment the “bottle” burst was when he would become a Core Formation cultivator!

“Do you still have something to say?”

Su Mingcheng knew he absolutely could not provoke this terrifyingly talented child before him, and quickly shook his head.

Seeing this, Bai Qiuyuan smiled, walked over to Yang Xueqing, and said.

“Let’s go.”

“Mm.”

The two then left the plaza together.

Because of Bai Qiuyuan’s dramatic display, many cultivators who had intended to flirt with Yang Xueqing abandoned the idea.

After the two had walked far away, the entire plaza instantly erupted into a frenzy!

“Heavens! That child is practically a demon! He’s actually Half-step Core Formation!”

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a Half-step Core Formation cultivator come to participate in a disciple recruitment ceremony!”

“A quasi-Core Formation cultivator… they could probably enter the inner sect directly, right!?”

[Upper Realm Supplement 1: The Upper Realm is rich in spiritual energy. Even ordinary people in the Upper Realm have at least the first level of Qi Condensation when they are born.]

[Upper Realm Supplement 2: The average age of cultivators in the Upper Realm is:]

[Foundation Establishment – 30 years old, Core Formation – 150 years old, Nascent Soul – 300 years old, Spirit Transformation – 500 years old, the rest cannot be evaluated.]

[The younger you are than the average age, the more talented you are.]

[Upper Realm Supplement 3: Currently, the lifespan for Foundation Establishment cultivators is 150 years, Core Formation is 300 years, and Nascent Soul is 600 years. After that, the lifespan will double with each major level of cultivation!]