You're just a single demon beast? I have a whole army of beast tamers!

"Two?" the old man murmured, the interest in his eyes fading instantly. "Two is not unreasonable."

Among cultivators who ascend to immortality in the spirit realm, you can find two or three out of ten.

Above-average quality, not too bad.

"You're right, senior," Qin Shou said humbly.

"Alright, go back and go into seclusion for a few days to stabilize the newly transformed immortal spiritual power."

"Immortal spiritual power is different from spiritual energy; the slightest carelessness can damage one's meridians." The old man waved his hand.

Qin Shou agreed again and turned to walk out of the forbidden area.

After he had walked quite a distance, the old man surnamed Xun picked up his pipe again, glanced in the direction of the stone hall, and muttered to himself:

"With two immortal apertures, it took ten times the immortal spiritual power to convert only forty percent of it. I'm afraid the foundation is unstable."

Even if such a person becomes a pseudo-immortal, it will be difficult for them to go far in the future.

It won't affect the overall situation, so there's no need to alarm the clan leader.

He stopped thinking about it, closed his eyes halfway, leaned back in his chair, and dozed off.

Qin Shou left the forbidden area without showing it on his face, but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The claim of two magical apertures was a pretext he had already prepared.

His body's six orifices were fully open, and even with his best efforts to suppress them, his energy consumption was still far greater than that of others of the same level.

If the Shui family's higher-ups find out the truth, given his current unstable position, his fate could be unpredictable.

Fortunately, the old man was lazy and only had the cultivation level of a True Immortal, so he did not investigate further.

It was already afternoon when we returned to the villa.

Shui Yingyue and Shui Rou were arranging dried herbs in the courtyard when they saw him return, and their faces lit up with joy.

"My lord, you've emerged from seclusion!"

Shui Yingyue put down her work and hurriedly went to greet her.

Shui Rou followed, and although she didn't speak, her concern was clearly visible in her eyes.

Qin Shou nodded: "Let's go inside and talk."

The three entered the house. Shui Yingyue poured a cup of tea, while Shui Rou closed the doors and windows and set up a simple soundproof barrier.

Qin Shou took the tea and took a sip before recounting the general course of his two years of seclusion, only mentioning that he had transformed 40% and was still some distance from becoming a True Immortal.

"It's good that I can get through customs smoothly."

Shui Yingyue said softly.

Qin Shou put down his teacup and looked at the two women: "How is your cultivation progressing?"

Shui Yingyue said first: "I took the pills my husband gave me, and then took advantage of my seclusion to break through to the late Mahayana stage. I have succeeded."

Although it was a difficult breakthrough, his breathing has now stabilized.

Shui Rou also said:

"I have also reached the stage of perfect integration, and I am only one step away from entering the Mahayana realm."

Qin Shou was not surprised by this.

The resources he provided were high-quality pills with highly specific applications; even Mahayana cultivators in the Spirit Realm might not be able to obtain them easily.

The two women have a decent foundation, but they lack experience. Once they catch up, their progress will be rapid.

"It would be good if we could break through."

Qin Shou said, "I need to go into seclusion for a while to consolidate my strength."

"You all continue your cultivation. If Shui Yingyue has the energy, draw some seventh-tier treasure talismans. Once I've established myself in the Immortal Realm, I'll try to find you some high-level talisman manuals."

Shui Yingyue quickly replied, "Thank you, my husband."

Qin Shou said nothing more, got up and went back to the inner room, reset the restrictions, and sat cross-legged on the futon. Feeling the strands of immortal spiritual power within his body that were a hundred times more refined than spiritual energy, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, his eyes flashing slightly.

Forty percent of his immortal spiritual power, though not much, was enough to give him one foot in the realm of pseudo-immortal.

Once he finds enough immortal spiritual power to convert the remaining 60%, he can truly escape the realm of tribulation.

Then, we will begin planning our breakthrough to True Immortal.

He closed his eyes and began to circulate the Small Heavenly Circuit through his six orifices, gradually stabilizing the new life force within his body.

Qin Shou secluded himself in the pavilion for a full year.

During that year, he spent most of his time stabilizing the 40% of immortal spiritual power within his body.

Immortal spiritual power is different from ordinary spiritual energy. It is not only more condensed, but also extremely difficult to control. If one is not careful, it will run rampant in the meridians. If it clashes with the five elements of spiritual power, it will cause the qi to become disordered at best, and damage the foundation at worst.

Fortunately, he had a six-aperture microcosmic orbit in his body, and the Zhenyuan Cauldron suppressed his dantian, which gradually brought back that newly generated power.

When he opened his eyes again, the winter snow outside the window had just melted, and the old locust tree in the corner of the courtyard had sprouted several new buds.

Qin Shou slowly breathed for a moment, sensing the state of his body.

His immortal spiritual power had stabilized at 40%, which, in terms of realm, could be considered roughly equivalent to the mid-stage of a pseudo-immortal.

If we add the immortal spiritual power that has already been poured into his six orifices, his current combat strength is comparable to that of an ordinary late-stage pseudo-immortal. Even when facing someone who has just entered the true immortal realm, he can hold his own.

He stood up and stretched, but his face showed little sign of relief.

There is still an important matter weighing on my mind right now, which is the thousand low-grade immortal crystals I owe the old man surnamed Xun.

"If we rely solely on ninth-grade pills to pay off our debts, it will probably take forever to refine them."

Qin Shou muttered to himself.

He had already done the math.

Although a ninth-grade pill is worth some spirit stones in the immortal realm, a single ninth-grade pill can only sell for a few hundred top-grade spirit stones at most.

It took more than twenty Rank 9 pills to barely exchange for a single low-grade immortal crystal.

Gathering a thousand immortal crystals is by no means something that can be accomplished in a short time.

If there were no other way, relying solely on alchemy would take decades.

"We'll have to resort to the first-grade elixir."

Qin Shou sat down at the table, tapping the surface lightly with his fingers.

He was not entirely without support.

Among the inheritances obtained in Zhenyuan Immortal Mansion, in addition to a set of cave dwelling control methods, there were also the complete inheritances of a first-grade immortal alchemist and a first-grade immortal weapon maker.

I hadn't had a chance to look at it closely before, but now it's come in handy.

He flipped his wrist, took out a pale gold jade slip, placed it on his forehead, and slowly sank his consciousness into it.

Half a day later, he put down the jade slip, a thoughtful expression on his face.

It turns out that the refining of elixirs and spirit realm pills are two completely different things.

In the spirit realm, alchemy involves using spiritual fire to enhance the medicinal power and using a furnace to gather spiritual essence. Ultimately, the success of the elixir depends solely on the amount of medicinal power and the skill of the alchemist.

The elixir is different; its medicinal power is so strong that flames and techniques alone are far from sufficient.

When the elixir is about to be completed, it will trigger the laws of heaven and earth, and bring down a tribulation of lightning.

Only by passing through the tribulation of lightning can the elixir be fully formed and develop its characteristic patterns.

Each time he survives a tribulation of lightning, a new pattern appears on his body.

One-pattern elixir is the lowest quality, while nine-pattern elixir is the highest quality.

Most common elixirs on the market have only one pattern, two patterns are considered high-grade, and three or more patterns are extremely rare.

"It seems that if I were to refine immortal pills in the future, I would need to find a place to shield myself from the lightning tribulation."

Qin Shou thought to himself, "If I can refine more than three runes each time, it will be hard not to attract attention."

Although he thought this way, he was not in a hurry to make plans.

After all, he hasn't even refined a first-grade immortal pill yet, so it's too early to talk about these things.

The most important thing right now is to master the techniques for refining first-grade materials.