I planted the spiritual roots for my people, and they bestowed upon me a body inscribed with incense

As soon as Li Yuan swallowed the magic pill, an extremely pure and powerful energy surged into his entire body. With the operation of Li Yuan's Five Elements Spirit Absorption Technique, this energy began to merge with Li Yuan's magic power, making the magic power in Li Yuan's body even more solid under this pure energy.

As time slowly passed, Li Yuan had been in seclusion on Bamboo Mountain for more than three months, and the Gathering Power Pills he had obtained from the battlefield had been completely used up.

Fortunately, although Li Yuan's spiritual root was poor, his foundation was still quite sufficient. He successfully broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining with the sixth Qi Gathering Pill, reaching the late stage of Qi Refining.

Having reached the late stage of Qi Refining, Li Yuan clearly felt that his spiritual consciousness was approaching a certain critical point. If he had just the right opportunity, his spiritual consciousness would have undergone a transformation.

After getting up and stretching his limbs, Li Yuan stopped cultivating and slowly walked to the Li family's spiritual field.

Although the Li family's spiritual field still covers twenty acres, its fertility is increasing thanks to their care.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Liu Yue'er slowly approached Li Yuan.

"A breakthrough?"

Li Yuan hummed in agreement, then slowly said:

"Moon, in the next few days, select a few more acres of land near your spirit field. I will then draw some more spiritual energy from the mountain down. It's time to develop some more spirit fields."

Upon hearing this, Liu Yue'er nodded, and then slowly said:

"What will happen to cultivation now that the spiritual energy from Bamboo Mountain has been divided up?"

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

Seeing that Li Yuan was confident, Liu Yue'er didn't think much of it.

Just as Li Yuan was strolling around, Zhou Boyuan slowly walked in from the village entrance. Li Yuan saw Zhou Boyuan coming from afar.

Thinking of the gifts he had given to the Li family, Li Yuan stepped forward.

"Haha, Brother Zhou, it's been a long time since I've seen you."

Upon seeing this, Zhou Boyuan quickly bowed.

"Master Li, please don't flatter me. I've come today hoping you can help me."

"What brings you here, Brother Zhou, to make this trip?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Boyuan brought out the boy behind him.

"Immortal, my nephew has been intelligent since he was a child, and he is now over seven years old. I would like to take advantage of your free time to examine my nephew and see if he has any spiritual roots."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan readily agreed, as this was already a promise made by the Li family.

Calling the boy forward, Li Yuan slowly channeled his magical power into the child. As the power penetrated the boy's dantian, Li Yuan immediately realized that the boy possessed extraordinary talent.

The spiritual energy within him was stronger than that of anyone he had ever encountered before. If nothing unexpected happened, this child would either have the aptitude of three spiritual roots or two spiritual roots.

After withdrawing his magic power, Li Yuan looked at the boy.

"Young man, I'll pass on my cultivation techniques to you. You'll stay in my home for two years. When you reach the mid-stage of Qi Refining, I'll personally write to the Ministry of Revenue to help you establish your own family. How about that?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Boyuan realized that his nephew possessed spiritual roots and quickly gestured to the boy.

"Zhou Shan, why don't you thank the immortal?" Zhou Shan looked at the smile on his uncle's face, then glanced at Li Yuan.

"Thank you, Immortal."

Seeing this, Li Yuan looked at Zhou Boyuan and said:

"Brother Zhou, your nephew is exceptionally talented. I will educate him for your Zhou family for two years, after which I will return him to his original family to settle the previous karmic debt. What do you think?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Boyuan quickly shook his head.

"Immortal, these words are too heavy. If my Zhou family truly becomes an immortal because of this child, my Zhou family will owe you a favor."

This answer was indeed sincere, and Li Yuan, being a good friend, pulled Zhou Boyuan inside for a couple of drinks.

After a few rounds of drinks, Zhou Boyuan left the Li family with the city guards outside the village.

As for the young Zhou Shan, he became acquainted with Li Shouqian during this period.

After informing Li Yuan and Li Daqiang, Li Daqiang took on the task of personally instructing the two. This way, he wouldn't delay his own cultivation, and with Zhou Shan leading the way, he believed that Li Shouqian, given his personality, would definitely work even harder and not fall behind.

When Zhou Boyuan returned home, he told Zhou Shan's parents the news. The two were extremely excited to learn that their child could become an immortal.

At the same time, Zhou Boyuan also began to wander around Luoshan County and the entire Qingshan Prefecture. If the Zhou family really became a celestial race, then the place where they lived must have spiritual energy.

Although I cannot detect spiritual energy myself, I can still find a few places with exceptional spiritual energy.

After settling Zhou Shan in, Li Yuan set off for Qingyang Market. He was afraid he had no hope of entering the secret realm, so he could only try to increase the scale of his family's spirit rice cultivation to increase his family's spirit stone income.

Once the White Snake or he himself had made further progress, Li Yuan planned to reduce the amount of spirit rice he would offer to Ouyang Qinghe. Li Yuan didn't believe that with two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators guarding his territory, any other cultivator would dare to have any improper thoughts.

At the same time, once he and the White Snake have progressed further, it will be time to go and cause trouble for the Qian family. As long as the Li family can deal with the Qian family with its own strength, it will not be a problem to deter the other cultivation families.

Half a month later, Li Yuan returned to Qingyang Market. Upon arriving, he found the market even more bustling than before. The war had killed many cultivators in Daqing, and the secret realm had attracted many more, which unexpectedly made the market even more lively.

However, Li Yuan could clearly sense that many of the figures in the market had strange auras, just like evil cultivators. Li Yuan ignored them and went straight to the Treasure Pavilion where he had bought materials last time after entering the market.

Upon entering and seeing the familiar furnishings, Li Yuan found the manager of Xiuzhen Pavilion, who was none other than Wang Quan, whom Li Yuan had met once before.

"Wang Quan received the materials, glanced at them, and then looked at Li Yuan." He instantly realized what was going on.

"I was surprised to only just remember you, esteemed guest."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan waved his hand.

"Manager Wang, one set of materials from here will suffice."

Manager Wang took the materials, invited Li Yuan to sit down, and then went into the Xiuzhen Pavilion storeroom. Soon, all the materials Li Yuan needed were found, including the black beast skin, which Xiuzhen Pavilion also had.

Seemingly noticing Li Yuan's shock, Steward Wang Quan slowly spoke:

"I suppose the young master is in seclusion and unaware of the situation. The Ten Thousand Beasts Forest is currently in a state of rampage by demonic beasts, with countless demonic beasts surging out of the forest. This has led to a frenzy of accumulation of demonic beast materials. A considerable amount of demonic beast materials have already been transported from the border into Qingyang Market. Furthermore, some even more precious materials have been monopolized by the Great Qing royal family."

Li Yuan was indeed unaware of the monster's rampage in the Ten Thousand Beasts Forest. No wonder the number of cultivators in this market has increased rather than decreased; this is the reason.

It remains to be seen whether the beast tide triggered by this monster rampage will end quickly as usual, or whether a real beast tide will descend.