A Mortal's Journey to Immortality

Zhou Ping looked at the communication talisman that had turned to ashes, a slight surprise on his face.

He originally thought he would receive a message from the Hall of Merit in about a month, but unexpectedly, more than two months have passed in the blink of an eye.

This gave him more time to refine the Golden Marrow Pill and improve his cultivation.

pity......

Zhou Ping sighed softly, his face darkening as he looked at the two remaining pills in the porcelain bottle.

After refining eight Golden Marrow Pills, his cultivation level only increased to the fifth level of the Qi Refining stage, still quite a distance from the sixth level.

According to his estimation, even if he swallowed the last two pills, he would still find it difficult to reach the threshold of the sixth level.

"I never expected that this precious cultivation medicine, which is supposed to be incredibly effective for mid-stage Qi Refining, would only have this much effect after I took it. Could it be that that old bastard Qin Zhong gave me a defective product?"

Zhou Ping frowned and muttered to himself.

He had already researched it; if other cultivators took this bottle of Golden Marrow Pills, they would at least advance two minor realms. Some exceptionally talented and outstanding young talents could even advance directly from the mid-stage of Qi Refining to the late-stage, with astonishing effects.

It should be noted that ten Golden Marrow Pills are worth at least three or four hundred low-grade spirit stones, which is an unimaginable fortune for ordinary Qi Refining cultivators. Some people cannot even save up one hundred low-grade spirit stones in their entire lives.

Therefore, such an improvement is to be expected. If spending three or four hundred spirit stones could not raise one's cultivation level by two or three levels, then the Golden Marrow Pill would not have such a prestigious reputation.

"Sigh... It seems my aptitude is still too poor. This pseudo-spiritual root truly lives up to its reputation; its efficiency in refining spiritual power is really quite poor."

As Zhou Ping recalled the pure medicinal power that the Golden Marrow Pill had unleashed within his body, he gradually dispelled his suspicions about Qin Zhong.

Compared to the previously taken Wulin Pills and Longxu Pills, its efficacy is several times stronger, and judging from its medicinal effects, it should be genuine.

He thought that with such a precious medicine, his cultivation would begin to advance by leaps and bounds, but now it seems that he was overthinking it. To improve his cultivation, he still needs to rely on quantity, just like before.

Fortunately, he has already collected all the spiritual plants needed to refine the Golden Marrow Pill, and given some time, he can cultivate them all.

Thinking of this, Zhou Ping carefully took out several spiritual plants from the storage bag and planted them carefully in the flower pots he had prepared in advance.

He was to depart for Luoyun Prefecture in five days. He was unsure how long it would take to return to the sect, so he had to transfer these spiritual plants out of his storage bag before leaving, lest they lose their spiritual essence over time.

After two months of observation, he found that this place was quite safe, with almost no fellow disciples passing through. In addition, each residence had its own independent restrictions, which finally allowed him to place these spiritual plants here with peace of mind.

The smoke from the mysterious agarwood had lingered at its top for over two months, greatly hindering his process of cultivating herbs. Now that he could finally cultivate the spiritual medicine again, it was a great stroke of luck for him, naturally making him happy.

After doing all this, Zhou Ping let out a soft breath, feeling much more relaxed.

He flipped his hand and took out a delicate little cauldron, examining it intently with a look of curiosity in his eyes.

This cauldron is the same Huangjing medicine cauldron that appeared at the Guiyuan Auction. It was bought by Gong Yiyi for a high price of thirty spirit stones. Unexpectedly, it has now appeared in Zhou Ping's hands.

It turned out that more than two months ago, when Zhou Ping and Gong Yiyi parted ways at Guiyuan Pavilion, Gong Yiyi took out this Huangjing medicine cauldron and tossed it to Zhou Ping in a pretentious manner as a parting gift.

According to him, he deliberately bought the medicine cauldron because he couldn't stand Qin Changming's behavior. It was of no use to him at all, so he gave it to Zhou Ping as a gift to make friends.

Zhou Ping was naturally utterly unwilling to accept this, but he couldn't resist Gong Yiyi's spoiled nature. In the end, under the tacit approval of Yuan Zhengze and Gong Yunting, he guiltily accepted the Huangjing medicine cauldron.

As the saying goes, it is impolite not to reciprocate. Zhou Ping knew that he had nothing to offer in front of this young lady of the Tai Su family.

Therefore, after thinking for a long time, he took out the remaining bottles of Black Scale Pills from his body as a return gift.

The group of people showed a hint of surprise upon seeing the pills.

After all, it is a body-refining elixir. Although it is only effective for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, it is still a precious item.

Upon seeing this, Gong Yiyi happily put it away. In her words, although she had already consumed enough Black Scale Pills, she still had many younger cousins ​​who had not yet taken them. For the large Gong family, the more the better.

Zhou Ping carefully put away the medicine cauldron, glanced around at the several potted spiritual plants in the room one last time, and after confirming that nothing was missing, he took out his disciple token and walked outside.

He needs to go to the Hall of Merit to officially record this mission. At that time, the Hall of Merit will mark the mission of transferring spiritual plants from Luoyun Prefecture on his disciple token. After the mission is completed, the reward will appear directly in the token in the form of merit points.

According to Zhou Ping's understanding after joining the sect, the merit points of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect are even more precious to the disciples than spirit stones.

After obtaining several cultivation manuals that day, he also learned from Fang Miao that the subsequent cultivation methods of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect would all require the use of merit points to exchange for.

In other words, without the corresponding merit points, even formal disciples of the Azure Lotus Profound Sect would be unable to learn any of the later cultivation techniques and secret arts.

Therefore, these tasks in the Hall of Merit became mandatory training trials for every Qinglian disciple.

Zhou Ping piloted the flying boat towards the Hall of Merit on Jingxin Peak, encountering many other fellow disciples along the way.

Upon seeing Zhou Ping, these people all showed a hint of curiosity, perhaps because of his fifth-level Qi Refining stage cultivation, or perhaps because of his unfamiliar face. After all, a fifth-level Qi Refining stage cultivation was quite rare in the Azure Lotus Profound Sect.

Since Zhou Ping joined the Azure Lotus Profound Sect, he had been in seclusion for two months and had not come into contact with anyone. Naturally, he did not know anyone. Faced with the curious stares of these people, he simply nodded politely, his expression slightly embarrassed.

"This Azure Lotus Profound Sect is really something. They even have to divide a mission into the Hall of Affairs and the Hall of Merit. It's quite troublesome."

As Zhou Ping progressed under the gaze of others, he couldn't help but vent his resentment on the Qinglian Xuanzong sect.