Yuanxiao calculated in his mind the resources he could obtain at this stage and made a rough plan.

The miscellaneous spirit stones in the mine in the back mountain can provide him with a considerable amount of low-grade spirit stones within a year, and these low-grade spirit stones are used for daily practice.

The sect would give inner disciples three low-grade spirit stones every month. For Yuanxiao, with the help of the Revelation Pearl to purify and upgrade, these were three mid-grade spirit stones. These three mid-grade spirit stones, as they were the standard spirit stones used in the world of immortal cultivation, were saved for future transactions.

Today, with the help of Xiao Jin, a pig-sized spirit stone ore was obtained. Yuanxiao has cut it into about 300 pieces with the Feilu dagger and is currently undergoing purification and upgrading in the ring space.

Yuanxiao decided to use these 300 or so purified and upgraded mid-grade spirit stones only when he encountered bottlenecks in his practice or when he was trying to make breakthroughs and advances, so as to make the best use of them!

The Feilu dagger, capable of slicing through iron like mud, was the first spiritual weapon Yuan Xiao acquired upon entering the realm of immortal cultivation. It was presumably loaned to Wang Yin by inner disciple Wang Jin, and now it's in Yuan Xiao's possession.

This dagger must be used with caution and not taken out lightly. It can be used to risk one's life when in real danger. My current cultivation is insufficient, and I cannot fully unleash the power of this spiritual weapon, nor can I control objects remotely. In the future, this dagger may have more uses.

Yuanxiao also had an estimate in his mind that the two brothers Wang Jin and Wang Yin would definitely come to seek revenge on him, not to mention that a dagger had been lost!

Therefore, improving one's cultivation and self-protection ability is also a top priority. At the second level of Qi Refining, one can project one's spiritual consciousness, but only to an area of about two meters around. Although it may seem a bit useless, it is very helpful in improving one's perception of the things around them and discovering more details and clues.

In particular, it provides you with reaction distance and reaction time, so that you can better deal with the risks around you.

Yuanxiao knew that the spiritual consciousness could not be released at any time, nor could it be released all the time.

Because releasing spiritual consciousness not only consumes one's mind, but also requires a large amount of spiritual energy in the body. If the release of spiritual consciousness is maintained for a long time, it may lead to weakness, injury to the soul, or even put oneself in danger. Therefore, cultivators will only activate the exercises to release spiritual consciousness when it is absolutely necessary.

At the same time, when the spiritual consciousness is released to discover others, one may also be discovered by others, which sometimes brings danger to the cultivator who releases the spiritual consciousness.

Unless one's own cultivation level far surpasses that of the other party, a one-way transparent detection can only be achieved. Therefore, cultivators are very cautious about releasing their spiritual consciousness, and generally only use it at critical moments.

Yuanxiao took out the booklet of Qi Refining Mantras and began his second practice of the day according to the mantras and cultivation essentials recorded in the second half of the first level of Qi Refining.

Once you have cultivated to the second level and have your own spiritual power, you can use your spiritual power at critical moments to avoid many dangers, thus increasing your ability to save your life.

Moreover, spiritual consciousness is the basis of controlling objects. Only with spiritual consciousness can one begin to learn to control objects from a distance, can better manipulate some small objects, and can better control and use various spiritual weapons. The combat ability and escape ability will be greatly enhanced!

The practice of the first to third levels of Qi Refining in the early stages is not complicated. It depends not only on comprehension and aptitude, but also on whether one can absorb sufficient spiritual energy into the body, use the high concentration of spiritual pressure in the body to constantly stimulate and transform the physical body, and constantly explore the limits of the body.

There are many small limits in the body of an immortal cultivator. Every time a small limit is reached, there will be a threshold for upgrading. If there is sufficient spiritual energy to impact the threshold at this time, coupled with the corresponding realm of enlightenment, breaking through the obstacles and reaching the next level will be a natural process.

About two hours later, a pile of dark gray spirit stone fragments with exhausted spiritual energy appeared in front of Yuanxiao.

Yuanxiao absorbed more than 30 low-grade spirit stones before he felt bloating and pain all over his body. It seemed that the concentration of spiritual energy in his body had reached a peak and he could no longer compress it.

In order to test the amount of spiritual energy contained in a mid-grade spirit stone, Yuanxiao had previously consumed a mid-grade spirit stone that was one-tenth its size, plus 5 low-grade spirit stones. Now he has absorbed more than 30 more. Roughly speaking, he has absorbed the spiritual energy of more than 40 low-grade spirit stones today.

Although the spiritual energy in his body has reached its peak now, Yuanxiao is still a little surprised by the consumption of spiritual stones.

Just to reach the first level of Qi Refining, one needs the spiritual energy of more than 40 low-grade spirit stones to cultivate to the peak. Then how did the other outer and inner disciples cultivate to their current level?

If Yuanxiao knew the truth, he would probably call himself a rich man!

Yuanxiao was the only one who possessed the Apocalypse Pearl, and only Yuanxiao had been personally transformed by the Apocalypse Pearl through the I Ching cleansing technique. Furthermore, this transformation was thorough, even before he embarked on his cultivation journey. The effects of this transformation far surpassed the physical transformations other disciples underwent upon reaching the first level of Qi Refining.

If the result of the body transformation of an ordinary cultivator who enters the first level of Qi Refining is a small stream, then the result of the marrow cleansing transformation of the Apocalypse Pearl is a broad river!

Not only are the speed and proportion of spiritual energy absorption between the two very different, but the spiritual energy storage capacity limits formed in the body after the transformation are incomparable and there is a huge difference.

The spiritual energy limit of other cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage is not that high, so naturally they do not need so many spirit stones to reach the peak. They mainly rely on time to make up for it, a small amount of spirit stones plus a large amount of practice time, so their practice speed is slow.

Moreover, there are usually some places in the sect with abundant spiritual energy, or they are close to spiritual veins and spiritual eyes, or the sect uses a spirit gathering array to gather spiritual energy. Practicing in these places does not require the consumption of spirit stones, but not everyone has the opportunity to practice in these places!

If you meditate and practice in an ordinary place, although the spiritual energy is thin, it is not completely ineffective. It just takes a long time to practice.

Yuanxiao's bizarre practice of cultivation, which is simple and crude, smashing spirit stones like a rich man until the spiritual energy is full and reaches the peak, may not be found anywhere else in the entire Song Dynasty's cultivation world.

Although they are all at the first level of Qi Refining Stage, Yuanxiao is obviously different from them.

Yuanxiao looked at the description of spiritual consciousness in the Qi Refining Formula, but he was a little confused. Now, as long as he could master the method of activating spiritual consciousness, the second level of Qi Refining would be within his reach.

"It seems I have to find time to visit Senior Brother Mo!" Yuanxiao said to himself.

Before leaving, the Great Elder told him to consult Mo Fei if he had any questions about cultivation. Now, he was faced with the crucial issue of reaching the second level of Qi Refining: how to activate his spiritual consciousness.

Senior Brother Mo had previously asked me to visit him on the lakeside island when I was free, and now was the perfect opportunity. I'd head over there tomorrow morning after I'd finished collecting the miscellaneous spirit stones from the mine in the back mountain.

Yuanxiao suddenly remembered that when Liu San took over the medicine garden, he said that people from Xinshanmen would be sent over next month to collect the spiritual medicine resources, so he had to start preparing now.

Only by completing the sect's mission well can I stay in the Spiritual Medicine Garden more safely.

Yuanxiao knew that he had to start thinking of a solution!