Chapter 11: Magic Artifact

"At this rate of cultivation, I should be able to break through the eighth level of Qi Cultivation within a year!" Li Zhirui exclaimed with delight in his eyes, feeling the growth of mana in his body after refining a Jade Spirit Pill.

As one's realm increases, naturally, the time required for cultivation becomes longer. Under normal circumstances, with Li Zhirui's aptitude, it would have taken him about two years to break through, but now with the aid of Jade Spirit Pills, this time was cut in half!

"No wonder the disciples of those major powers can cultivate so quickly, with twenty-year-old Foundation Establishment cultivators being so common." With sufficient cultivation resources, coupled with excellent innate talent, how could their cultivation speed not be fast?

After concluding his cultivation, Li Zhirui pocketed the jade bottle and headed to the storeroom, as today was the day he was due to deliver Spirit Pills.

More than three months had passed since Li Zhirui first submitted Jade Spirit Pills. During this period, he would receive ingredients for one hundred pills each month and then manage to submit five hundred each time.

After so many rounds of practice, Li Zhirui's success rate in pill creation had stabilized at eighty percent, but it had reached a plateau, just like encountering a bottleneck in cultivation. Without breaking through it, no matter how hard he tried, it was all in vain.

Therefore, Li Zhirui had the idea to start refining Spirit-Replenishing Pills. Through dozens of practice sessions, he successfully crafted Spirit-Replenishing Pills, but the success rate was still less than forty percent; he could only practice more to slowly improve.

However, the spiritual herbs that Li Zhirui was cultivating in his space had all been used up, so this time when coming to the storeroom, aside from the ingredients for Jade Spirit Pills, he also wanted to collect fifty portions of ingredients for refining Spirit-Replenishing Pills.

Li Shile was very willing to accommodate Li Zhirui's request, with just one stipulation—if the number of Spirit-Replenishing Pills was insufficient, they would have to be supplemented with Jade Spirit Pills.

Li Zhirui naturally did not refuse, for over this period, he had accumulated more than a thousand Jade Spirit Pills in his hands, enough for him to splurge.

"By the way, Sir Yue, I'd like to sell some Jade Spirit Pills to the family." Li Zhirui suddenly remembered something else he had to do and quickly called out to stop Li Shile.

As if he had anticipated this, Li Shile said, "The family's purchase price is two and a half Spirit Stones per pill. If you commission the family to sell them, there is a fee of two Spirit Stones per bottle of Jade Spirit Pills."

"I'll just sell them directly to the family," Li Zhirui said without hesitation.

Li Zhirui knew the second option was more beneficial for him, but now that he had the opportunity and capacity to repay the family's kindness, he naturally would not be vague about it.

After all, he was relying on the Li family to grow better. The better the Li family was, the better the environment he would have for his own growth.

"How much are you planning to sell?" Li Shile asked with a smile.

"A thousand Jade Spirit Pills." Li Zhirui still had over two hundred Spirit Pills left in his possession, but that was enough for him and Da Qing to use for a long time.

Besides, he was still helping the family with alchemy, and he could net three hundred Jade Spirit Pills a month, so he never had to worry about running out of Spirit Pills.

A flicker of surprise crossed Li Shile's eyes, but he did not inquire about Li Zhirui's pill creation success rate. Instead, he said, "The family does not have that many Spirit Stones right now; we can give you a maximum of a thousand Spirit Stones. We'll give you the rest after a while, how about that?"

Li Zhirui nodded indifferently. After all, he was staying on the island all day without worrying about resources for cultivation. Having Spirit Stones made no difference to him—they had nowhere to be spent. Selling the pills was simply a matter of handling the surplus he had on hand.

"You kid..." Seeing Li Zhirui's indifferent expression, Li Shile said half-angrily, half-amusedly, "Aren't you afraid the family will swallow up your Spirit Stones?"

Grinning, Li Zhirui answered, "I trust the family, and I trust Sir Yue."

If such a situation were to arise, the Li family would not have been able to endure for more than three hundred years. Not to mention, even more severe situations like underhanded scheming and power struggles had never occurred.

"You," Li Shile said helplessly, thought for a moment, and said, "Wait a moment." With that, he turned and entered the real storage room behind him.

Soon, Li Shile came out with a storage bag and said, "You have just broken through to the latter stages of Qi Cultivation, and it's time to change the magic artifact in your hand. I've specially selected a few suitable for you; take a look for yourself."

Li Zhirui's eyes lit up as he looked at the several magic artifacts laid out before him. Busy with the family's relocation and alchemy, he had forgotten to replace his own magic artifact.

So much so that the magic artifact he currently wielded was still the Green Wood Sword, a mid-grade level one artifact that he purchased from the family after breaking through to the middle stage of Qi Cultivation.

There were five high-grade level one magic artifacts laid out in front of Li Zhirui: the Gentle Breeze Sword, Pine Needle, Water Mist Bead, Azure Water Sword, and Pure Jade Hairpin.

Among them, the Water Mist Bead was a defensive magical artifact that, once activated, would envelop the caster in a layer of mist, providing excellent defense against fire-based spells.

The Pure Jade Hairpin was a rare, unique magical artifact which, when worn for long periods, could nourish the Spiritual Soul and provide a certain level of defense against soul attacks.

"Sir Yue, I'd like the Water Mist Bead and Pure Jade Hairpin, and…" Li Zhirui was determined to buy these two artifacts, but he was somewhat indecisive about the three offensive magic artifacts.

"The Pine Needle!" Li Zhirui didn't hesitate for long before he gave his answer.

Though the Green Wood Sword was somewhat low in grade, it could still be used, and it was perfect for misleading the enemy and then striking with the Pine Needle!

"The Pure Jade Hairpin is one thousand five hundred Spirit Stones, the Water Mist Bead one thousand Spirit Stones, the Pine Needle one thousand two hundred Spirit Stones," Li Shile said with a smile, quoting the prices for the three magic artifacts.

Generally, offensive magic artifacts are cheaper than defensive ones for the same grading, but the Pine Needle was different; it was a set of offensive magic artifacts, with a total of thirty-six needles, hence the higher price.

Li Zhirui's expression froze; he knew that high-grade level one magical artifacts weren't cheap, but he didn't expect the three he picked would cost nearly four thousand Spirit Stones in total!

It's worth noting that the price for a lower-grade level two magical artifact was also around four thousand Spirit Stones!

"Then I'll take the Pure Jade Hairpin and the Water Mist Bead for now, and the Pine Needle… I will have to buy it when I have more Spirit Stones. Sir Yue, please keep it for me," Li Zhirui hesitated for a moment before making his decision.

Li Shile laughed out loud and said, "Don't worry, among the Qi Cultivation cultivators in the family, you are the wealthiest. No other clan member has that many Spirit Stones."

In fact, Li Shile hadn't expected Li Zhirui to be so extravagant! When he brought out the five magic artifacts, he simply thought that Li Zhirui needed them and that the family owed him Spirit Stones, so it was perfect to offset the debt with artifacts. But who could have thought Li Zhirui would take a liking to three of them right away!

However, this was also good because these magic artifacts had been stored in the warehouse for many years. Now that someone was buying them, there was no need to let them collect dust any longer.

"Thank you, Sir Yue," Li Zhirui said as he handed over the still-warm Spirit Stones and carefully stored the two artifacts before turning and leaving the storage room.

Li Shile felt that no one else would come to the storeroom at this time, so he locked the door and headed towards the main hall.

"Brother, Zhirui turned in one thousand five hundred Jade Spirit Pills today."

Li Shiqing's eyes showed a hint of surprise. He calculated in his heart and said, "His success rate in pill making must be at least eighty percent now, right?"

"It definitely is," Li Shile didn't dwell on the topic and instead asked, "Isn't the family preparing to open a grocery store in Yunqing Marketplace? How are the preparations going?"