Chapter 44: Qi Refinement Third Level
"Plop!"
The koi was tossed into the rice paddy. It hesitated for a moment before happily swimming around. Compared to the cramped water tank, the vast expanse of the paddy was clearly much more to its liking.
Watching the koi dart joyfully through the water, Gu Mo took out a portion of Sun Essence. Instantly, the koi swam over eagerly, its mouth open, waiting to be fed.
"I've raised you for so long—it's time for you to contribute." Gu Mo stuffed the Sun Essence into the fish's mouth, then said, "From now on, your job is to patrol this area. If you find any insects in the water, take care of them. Got it?"
"Blub!"
The koi smacked its lips as if to confirm its understanding.
Seeing how intelligent the koi had become, Gu Mo felt gratified. After being fed Sun Essence for so long, not only were its scales gradually turning golden, but its intelligence had also significantly improved—it could now understand many of his commands.
The higher the grade of the spiritual plants in the field, the more they attracted spirit insects and spirit beasts. The pea shooters could handle small spirit beasts, but dealing with spirit insects was more challenging, especially since this season's crop was rice.
If spirit insects lurked in the water, the pea shooters would struggle to deal with them. However, with the koi on patrol, any hidden pests could be eliminated, ensuring the Water Spirit Rice remained unharmed.
Watching the koi diligently patrol the paddy, Gu Mo felt at ease and returned to his hut to begin his daily cultivation.
One Month Later
Yuan Niya arrived as promised. After receiving an enhanced Cleanse Technique, she left trembling, barely able to walk. Fortunately, she came under the cover of night, and no one was around. Otherwise, if anyone saw a female cultivator leaving Gu Mo's hut in such a state, wild rumors would surely spread.
After Yuan Niya left, Gu Mo adjusted the power of his illusion array. Before her arrival, he had already used the array to shroud the entire spiritual field, leaving only a single pathway leading to his hut.
Yuan Niya didn't question it—she was far more intrigued by Gu Mo's secrets than by the mysteries of the spirit field. For instance, the sheer amount of spiritual energy he possessed was far beyond what a Qi Refinement First Level cultivator should have. Even considering his mastery of the Perfected Cleanse Technique, which gave him a stronger foundation than most, the gap was still too large to explain.
The truth was simple: Gu Mo wasn't a mere Qi Refinement First Level cultivator—he was already at Qi Refinement Second Level (Peak), just one step away from breaking through to the third level.
Since mastering the Proficient Concealment Technique, he no longer restrained his cultivation speed. He cultivated at full intensity every day, refining ten portions of Sun Essence daily. Each portion equaled three days of arduous cultivation—meaning he effectively trained for thirty days in a single day.
Over the past month, he had accumulated the equivalent of two and a half years of dedicated cultivation, pushing his realm to Qi Refinement Second Level (Peak). He was just one step away from fully opening his third minor circulation and stepping into Qi Refinement Third Level.
But at this point, Gu Mo chose to stop.
His cultivation was progressing too fast, and the Cleanse Technique's effects on refining his body couldn't keep up. To compensate, he began using an enhanced Cleanse Technique daily, ensuring that his Marrow Purification and Constitution Refinement kept pace with his cultivation.
However, casting this advanced Cleanse Technique consumed a great deal of spiritual energy. As a result, he had to reduce his use of the Cloud Rain Technique, causing the water level in the spiritual fields to drop slightly.
Still, this wasn't a major issue. Over the past month, his repeated use of Cloud Rain Technique brought him close to breaking through to Proficient Realm.
The Next Day
Gu Mo stood before the spiritual field and began forming hand seals for Cloud Rain Technique. Suddenly, he had a moment of divine inspiration—his movements became more fluid and graceful.
Dark clouds gathered over the field, denser and larger than ever before. Soon, a steady downpour of spiritual rain fell. Compared to the previous light drizzle, this was a full-fledged moderate rainfall, with several times the volume.
"Finally, a breakthrough!"
Gu Mo exhaled deeply. Just now, his Cloud Rain Technique had reached Proficient Realm—his first spell to reach this level.
Very few people in the Spiritual Farming Division managed to cultivate a farming spell to Proficient Realm, and those who did were usually outer sect disciples. Among servant disciples, only a handful of elderly spirit farmers had achieved this.
With this breakthrough, Gu Mo's workload was significantly reduced. What previously required multiple castings of Cloud Rain Technique could now be accomplished with just one or two casts.
This freed up more spiritual energy, allowing him to focus on casting the Perfected Cleanse Technique. His Marrow Purification and Constitution Refinement finally caught up with his cultivation speed.
Half a Month Later
Gu Mo successfully opened his third minor circulation, officially stepping into Qi Refinement Third Level.
Just like before, his body and spiritual energy remained three times stronger than cultivators of the same level.
For a cultivator with inferior spiritual roots, Qi Refinement Third Level was usually the end of the road, unless they encountered a great opportunity.
Although Gu Mo's potential wouldn't be limited to Qi Refinement Third Level, his inferior spiritual roots were still a fundamental weakness.
As he attempted to merge his three minor circulations into a major circulation to reach Qi Refinement Fourth Level, he felt the first signs of a bottleneck—a direct consequence of his flawed spiritual roots.
However, this wasn't a major problem.
While spiritual root quality was an important factor in breakthroughs, comprehension was just as crucial. Unlike others, Gu Mo had knowledge from another world, which acted as a cheat. By using mathematical models to analyze the complex meridian circulation, he significantly reduced the difficulty of merging his three minor circulations.
Furthermore, the Qi Condensation Technique manual contained valuable insights on merging minor circulations into a major one. While these insights couldn't be followed blindly, they still provided useful guidance, making the breakthrough even easier.
Additionally, cultivation in the Qi Refinement Stage was largely resource-dependent. As long as one had enough resources, even a cultivator with poor spiritual roots and mediocre comprehension could brute-force their way forward.
Gu Mo had Sun Essence. Even if he did nothing else, simply consuming enough Sun Essence would eventually push him past the bottleneck.
Of course, brute-forcing a breakthrough was the least ideal method. The merging of minor circulations was a delicate process. If done crudely, the resulting major circulation would be flawed, limiting future potential. Gu Mo would only use this method as a last resort.
For now, he stopped actively cultivating and focused entirely on merging his minor circulations. Using his past-life knowledge and the cultivation manual's insights, his progress was remarkably smooth.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come.
Since Gu Mo wasn't consuming Sun Essence for cultivation, his daily accumulated portions were instead used to expand the Black Mist Space.
And soon, an unexpected discovery awaited him.