Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 70: Celestial Capital Seven Friends (Part 2)
"Buzz!"
A spell is cast, spiritual qi gathers.
Vast amounts of earth attribute spiritual qi, under the guidance of magical power, gather into the spirit field and slowly permeate it.
Zhang Yao is standing in front of the spirit field, hands clasped in a spell, chanting incantations, performing the "Fertile Soil Spiritual Technique" recorded in the "Thick Earth Spell".
This is a support skill, specifically used to absorb earth vein spiritual qi and nurture spirit fields. Because Zhang Yao didn’t put much effort into it and lacked proficiency, he still needed gestures and incantations for assistance.
"Fellow Daoist Qingxu."
A tall and plump figure wobbled over, smiling:
"You’ve really worked hard, Daoist friend, coming to care for the spirit field as soon as you left seclusion."
"Just the other day, Fellow Daoist Zhao praised you, saying that with your spiritual technique the speed of nurturing spirit grass has increased quite a bit."
Zhang Yao smiled slightly, modestly:
"Fellow Daoist Zhao overly praises me."
"It’s just a small trick, not comparable to the profound methods of Fellow Daoist Zhao and his wife; I dare not take credit."
The Celestial Capital Seven Friends practice in seclusion here, and each has a role to maintain their cultivation needs.
Zhao He and Jiang Rou practice wood attribute and water attribute techniques respectively, thus they are responsible for caring for the spirit field, peach orchard, and fruit grove, as well as brewing Jade Dew.
Among the remaining four, "Old He" knows some basic alchemy techniques and is responsible for refining Fasting Pills for everyone.
"Fatty Chen" before them understands some simple arrays and restrictions, taking charge of maintaining the array outside the spirit vein, and the dust proof and decay prevention arrays in the cultivators’ residences.
Finally, the Li Brothers do not have any unique methods; they generally help Old He with alchemy, providing magical power support, and assist in extracting Jade Marrow.
After Zhang Yao joined, because he knew the "Fertile Soil Spiritual Technique," he took on the responsibility of caring for the spirit field along with Zhao He and Jiang Rou.
"Right, Fellow Daoist Qingxu."
After a few casual chats, Fatty Chen spoke:
"A few days ago, Old He opened the furnace for alchemy again."
"It’s just right since you’ve come out of seclusion, go and collect a bottle of Fasting Pills from Old He later."
"Okay."
Zhang Yao nodded.
The spirit vein on Celestial Capital Mountain is small, the space that can be cultivated into spirit fields is limited, only a small amount of spirit grass can be planted, and the grade cannot be too high.
However, the method to refine Fasting Pills is actually not difficult; it requires only three kinds of low grade spirit grass, a batch can be refined about once a year, usually forming over a hundred pills, enough for the seven people to consume.
"Swallowing one Fasting Pill allows one to go without food and drink for a month."
"This is a good thing, in the future I must find an opportunity to learn this refining method from Old He."
Zhang Yao was contemplating this when Zhao He and Jiang Rou arrived together.
"Fellow Daoist Qingxu."
After greeting, the two stood by the spirit field, skillfully beginning to perform the "Small Cloud Rain Skill" and "Spring Breeze and Rain Technique".
These two spells, like the "Fertile Soil Spiritual Technique," are low-level spells not limited by magical power attributes, but with the support of the same attribute magical power, their effect is certainly stronger than others.
After the three finished their tasks, they went to Zhao He’s residence, drank a few cups of Jade Dew, and chatted for a while before Zhang Yao took his leave.
......
Half a year later.
The Celestial Capital Seven Friends gathered once more for their regular meeting.
After drinking several jars of Jade Dew, with a warm buzz from the alcohol, everyone chatted and once again mentioned that "Fellow Daoist Mo."
"I wonder when we’ll be able to, like Fellow Daoist Mo, break through to the middle stage of Qi Refining and swim like dragons in the sea."
Zhao He, Old He, Fatty Chen, and others spoke with quite a bit of envy.
Among those present, the highest cultivation was Old He, who was only at the Qi Refining Third Layer, just like Zhang Yao.
They entered the Immortal Dao mostly through apprenticeships; the rest stumbled upon predecessors’ legacies or ancient scrolls and tried cultivating themselves, luckily forming magical power.
After that, some learned from teachers; others explored on their own, finding the depths of Celestial Capital Mountain and staying to cultivate in seclusion.
Poor talent, low background, lack of cultivation resources, no famous teacher guidance... all these factors led to a difficult cultivation path.
Old He, the eldest, is over fifty and still stuck at the bottleneck of early stage Qi Refining.
"The life of a loose cultivator is indeed carefree but also quite challenging."
Zhang Yao listened to their conversation, a sigh inevitably arising in his heart.
Lu Kingdom is lacking in spiritual qi, cultivators are extremely rare, so there’s no need to compete, naturally a harmonious atmosphere flourishes.
But other places, such as the northern "Wei Kingdom" and "Cang Kingdom," are more competitive.
The cultivation of early stage Qi Refining is too weak; no one wants to take one in, and if they leave Lu Kingdom, they’ll mostly face days without security, hence they stay on Celestial Capital Mountain.
"Sigh..."
Old He, his face flushed, took another sip of Jade Dew, revealing a melancholy look:
"I’m nearing sixty and haven’t shown signs of breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Refining."
"Ultimately, it’s because my spirit root talent is too poor. If only I had an Earth Spirit Root instead of four attributes..."
He didn’t dare to hope for a Celestial Spirit Root; that was too unattainable.
Having an Earth Spirit Root already counts as a cultivation genius in the Immortal Dao, with no worry of rejection when seeking to join a sect outside Lu Kingdom.
"Spirit Root..."
Upon this topic, everyone showed traces of helplessness and resentment.
Spirit Root talent is innate and almost impossible to change externally. They’re all loose cultivators, thus have relatively poor spirit root talent.
Within the Celestial Capital Seven Friends, the most talented Zhao He has only a three-attribute Mixed Spirit Root.
"What a pity."
Zhao He, his face flushed red from drinking, showed regret:
"With my spirit root talent, if I had been around ten, I could have joined some minor sect, even if only as a regular disciple."
"Unfortunately, when I luckily entered the Immortal Dao, I was nearly twenty and could only become a loose cultivator."
Beside him, Jiang Rou hearing this, suddenly snorted deliberately and glared at him.
"No offense, dear wife."
Zhao He hesitated, then smiled:
"Lost the east, gained the sycamore; I missed the chance to join a sect but had the fortune to meet my ethereal wife..."
His playful words and jokes successfully coaxed Jiang Rou into blossoming with laughter.
"Hahaha..."
Zhang Yao, Old He, and others seeing this, joined in laughter, playfully toasting with him.
Zhao He did not hesitate, drained his wine cup, poured another, ready to drink but suddenly paused.
"Hmm?"
Zhang Yao, Old He, Fatty Chen, and others simultaneously sensed something, their expressions changing slightly.
"The array on the perimeter has been triggered... I wonder which fellow Daoist has come to visit?"
