“Cultivation is a personal matter so everyone has a right to examine his secrets, experiment on his treasures, and expand his path.”

The Ant Workers came back with a precious herb each.

Since they were all level 3 Spirit Beasts, their standard for the quality of the herb was not simple either.

Of course, Qai would not expect that all their finds were of a good grade—after all, the search area he indicated was not wide in the first place. But it was already satisfying that everything the Ant Workers brought was not any less mature than 10 years of age.

Qai was not knowledgeable about the varieties of herbs that were valuable to immortals but he was certain that his Spirit Beasts were.

More importantly, his proficiency in tending herbs may be said to be above passable. He had acquired different methods from his mother and Master Han. So he wasn't the least intimidated with the task.

And according to Shu Liang, his Wood elemental affinity could lend him a distinct connection with vegetation. She said this when she explained before that the two best elemental affinities for pill alchemy were Fire and Wood.

When Qai saw all the herbs delivered to him, they could instantly feel the richness of the spiritual Qi energy emanating from them.

‘Whew, I guess I also need to learn the different names and uses of these plants.’

Qai had not yet lasted a day in the sect, and he already felt the need to upgrade his store of knowledge.

He could only sigh.

After examining all the herbs, he then directed the Ant Workers to replant them according to his experience.

And when Qai saw that everything was satisfactorily done, he instructed the Ant Workers to keep watch over the garden plots.

Since he had nothing better to do, he decided to cultivate in seclusion. He had received a batch of Spirit Pills from Shu Liang so he planned to use them immediately.

About a couple of months later, Qai opened his eyes.

His mind was screaming in euphoria.

Apparently, he consumed all of the Spirit Pills—little did he know that if other outer disciples learned of it, they would feel pain at how Qai wasted the precious medicinal pills. One or two of those were probably enough for them to advance.

But despite the number of the medicinal pills Qai used, he only managed to breakthrough one level.

Of course, Qai had no idea that he squandered so many pills for a single breakthrough. His cultivation method was designed to be slow after all. And only by expending so much could he cultivate as fast as the others could.

He was overjoyed though.

But first, he has to quickly ran into the small pond to clean all the impurities that were excreted from his body.

Upon reaching level 7 of the Qi Condensation stage, he gained the final ability provided in the ‘Transcending Autumn Arts.’

But what truly made Qai beyond ecstatic was that his breakthrough shockingly gave birth to Spiritual Sense!

For the first time, Qai could feel every thing around him inescapable from his senses.

Truly unexpected.

If Old Bu were there, he might collapse from a heart attack. He experimented with the cultivation technique on Qai in order to see for himself it's true worth—unfortunately, he died prematurely before witnessing its extraordinary result.

And according to what Old Bu understood, the developed Spiritual Sense from the cultivation technique would be way better than ordinary.

Little did Old Bu know that the reason for that was simply the early inception of Spiritual Sense.

Qai, in his excitement, did not what to do. He simply ran back to his room and sat down in lotus position.

Right after calming himself down, he quickly tried to expand his Spiritual Sense.

‘100 meters!’

That was his limit.

At the very least, he could cover the entire valley.

‘According to the inner disciples, Spiritual Sense is the true basis of control of divine treasures. The stronger the Spiritual Sense, the better the control.’

From his room, Qai could see in the treasure rack his Guandao, his dagger and Old Bu’s flying sword.

He stretched his Spiritual Sense over the area and tried to grab them one by one from afar.

He instinctively chose the dagger first as his target. Perhaps it was because of its small size that he felt he would succeed.

With his Spiritual Sense, Qai forced his spiritual Qi energy to visibly form like a fingerless which tried to pick the dagger up. He then pulled his Spiritual Sense back to him and the dagger did gradually came to him.

Success!

Qai perspired in beads of sweat as he tried to catch up his breath. It was as if his spiritual Qi energy was suddenly depleted.

‘No wonder Spiritual Sense is much compatible with those in Foundation Establishment stage. The spiritual Qi energy required for its use is huge.’

Were it not for Qai absorbing a drop of Cleansing Dew, the quality of his spiritual Qi energy would not suffice.

Qai began to circulate the flow of spiritual Qi energy to regain his strength. After an entire day, he tried to do the same process with his Guandao and he also succeeded.

He cultivated for another day and finally attempted to do the same with Old Bu’s flying sword. Unfortunately, he failed—or more exactly, his Spiritual Sense was blocked.

He tried two more times until he finally realized the problem after feeling exhausted.

Qai took out Old Bu’s storage pouch and attempted to peek into it. As expected, it did the same to his Spiritual Sense.

‘According to Shu Liang, a cultivator would normally refine treasures by placing his brand on it together with some other form of restrictions. And in order to erase them, I need to refine these myself until I place my own mark and recognize me as its new owner.’

The real problem was, Qai had no idea how to do it.

Even if had vague ideas, he knew it would mean expending even more spiritual Qi energy.

Qai didn't want to waste much of his time—as well as his spiritual Qi energy—so he stood up and left his room.

‘Time to pick up books again.’

When he was about to leave his valley, a shout coming from a familiar voice suddenly echoed from outside.

“Junior brother Qai!”

‘Who!?’

When he came out of the restrictions, Shu Liang appeared.

“Junior brother, you never came to my cave. I would soon go into exclusion so I came here to return your things to you.”

“Ah!?”

Qai almost forgot that Shu Liang still kept his share of Spirit Stones and materials from the Scorpion.

“Thank you, Senior sister. I just finished my closed door cultivation and was about to see you.”

Shu Liang wasn't truly convinced but when he sized up Qai’s cultivation base, she was surprised.

“You brokethrough! Congratulations, junior brother.”

Before Shu Liang handed over the items, the two first exchanged some pleasantries.

Qai received more or less 400 Spirit Stones.

Whether they were properly accounted for or not, Qai did not bother. Shu Liang helped him enough to begin with even if the distribution of spoils was a bit unfair.

In his mind, he could clearly see that the ways of cultivators were just that—might is right. So he could only bear all the inconveniences right now until he himself became strong and gained proper footing.

Strength was one thing, but background was quite another. And Qai knew that he was starting as someone alone in the sect so it was best to be cautious.

But before Shu Liang left, she gave another piece of advice.

“Junior brother, since you're now an outer disciple, you can get one cultivation manual on the first floor of the Treasury Hall. Don't waste such a good opportunity. Any additional cultivation method is always counted as a fortune however good or bad it may be.”

Qai was slightly taken aback by Shu Liang’s words.

Then he recalled that he still had in his possession 3 Jade slips. And now that he could use his Spiritual Sense, there would no longer be a problem studying them.

But for now, he really wouldn't want to waste a good opportunity.

“Thank you, senior sister.”