Chapter 17: Completely Cunning

The hundreds of Spirit Stones traded from the Xuandan Sect's pill shop, along with the Spirit Stones and Spirit Sand scavenged from Jiang De's storage bag, were nearing a total of two hundred Spirit Stones.

This substantial sum was absolutely enough to support Han Yi's cultivation for half a year.

Even within this half year, if he used the Spirit Stones for cultivation, he would at most consume two-thirds of them.

This was Han Yi's estimation.

In other words, by the time the one-year period ended, he would still have enough Spirit Stones to support the completion of his Return to Sect examination.

This was also one of the reasons he decided to stay in the courtyard for the next half year, without leaving whatsoever.

Having organized everything, Han Yi then devoted himself to cultivation without distraction.

Magic Skill: Spirit Void Finger.

He cleared out the two bedrooms in advance, then aimed downward with the attack.

From previous practice, on his Proficiency Panel, as long as he concentrated on cultivation, it would push progress, so the attacking direction, whether downward or forward, would be the same.

Plop!

He lightly flicked his finger, this time, not using one-fiftieth of his body's magic power, but tried to reduce it to one percent.

The reduction in output of magic power felt awkward for Han Yi at the beginning.

But he still persisted, and at the start, after every Spirit Void Finger was flicked, he paused for a few beats, engrossing himself in the hidden mysteries contained within.

Then, the duration of these pauses gradually shortened.

The speed at which the magic power in his body was drawn to his fingertips gradually increased, and the way he condensed his magic power was fine-tuned according to his ever-improving understanding.

Each time might only entail an imperceptible adjustment, even after ten times, there seemed to be no noticeable difference from before.

But after twenty times, after fifty times, after seventy times, the change was conspicuous.

After stabilizing his understanding, he attempted to reduce the magic power condensed each time.

This was both cultivation of Spirit Void Finger and control over every bit of magic power in his body, which indirectly improved his Alchemy Skill as well.

So he continued, without cease.

Inside the closed bedroom, Han Yi moved his hands, and from between his fingers, Spirit Light interlaced and brightened.

The ground kept breaking apart.

Deep pits, shallow holes, shattered stones, fine sand, the original floor tiles were broken so that not even a trace could be found.

However, thanks to the Array of the courtyard and the closed doors of the bedroom, the sound from inside could hardly be heard outside, which did not attract attention.

After depleting the magic power in his body, he practiced with the Spirit Stones in the quiet room next door to recover his magic power.

Cultivation was timeless.

A month later.

[Spirit Void Finger (Enter the Hall 40/100)]

Over this month, Han Yi had practiced to the point where his hands were nearly numb.

His understanding seemed to have hit a bottleneck.

Han Yi decided to put a halt to the cultivation of the Spirit Void Finger and start refining pills.

First the exorcise evil spirits pill, then the Nurturing Qi Pill. As for other pills, he had no Pill Formula, even if he had the materials, there was no way to refine pills from nothing.

With the breakthrough of his Alchemy Skill and the increasing control over every inch of magic power in his body, the quality of his pill refining greatly improved, and the time consumed decreased significantly.

Within a mere half month, he had already refined twenty batches of Nurturing Qi Pills, along with six batches of exorcise evil spirits pills.

The success rate of the Nurturing Qi Pills had reached eighty percent.

Moreover, the success rate of refining exorcise evil spirits pills had reached thirty percent.

Furthermore, within these, three batches of standard quality pills were successful, and the other pills were of good quality, close to the standard one.

This was something that, within the Xuandan Sect, only the inner disciples at the seventh level of Qi cultivation could achieve.

Subsequently, he began cultivation of the 'Spirit Void Finger' again.

While cultivating the Spirit Void Finger, he used Spirit Stones to recover his magic power, thus promoting progress toward the third level of Qi cultivation.

Day rose and night fell, time truly flowed through his fingertips.

At some point in time,

While Han Yi, who was immersed in absorbing the Spirit Stone and recovering his magic power, suddenly heard a series of knocking sounds.

Thump, thump, thump!!

This knocking sound came from outside the courtyard.

If it were any other sounds from outside the courtyard colliding, Han Yi inside the quiet room wouldn't hear them due to the protection of the formation.

But the sound he heard now was so clear which left only one possibility: someone outside the courtyard was shaking the formation.

Only then would the sound be transmitted in here.

Malicious attacks should be impossible.

This was broad daylight and the land deed of this courtyard belonged to Xu Huo Pill Shop, in other words, the Xuandan Sect.

The Xuandan Sect spanned across three counties. Except for Daqian's official forces, no other forces in Mengshan City dared to openly challenge the Xuandan Sect.

So, it's not an attack, it should be someone trying to call him out by shaking the formation.

Han Yi suddenly realized, it had been three months since the last time.

During the last time at Xu Huo Pill Shop, he had agreed to Guan Sheng that he would stay in the pill shop for half a month in place of Guan Sheng.

He was attacked by Jiang De on his way back in a small alley, which made Han Yi become extremely cautious, and decided to reject all going out circumstances, to huddle in the courtyard and quietly wait for the end of the year.

Seeing the persistent banging noise not stopping even after a quarter of an hour.

Han Yi had no choice but to step out of the quiet room, came to the gate holding the array plate of the courtyard's formation, and put a little magic power into it.

With this formation plate, he essentially became the master of this formation and could put the formation into a half-open state besides the functions of opening and closing.

The so-called half-open state means it can transmit sound, but it cannot be used for passage.

"May I ask which fellow Daoist is it?"

After putting the formation into a half-open state, the booming sound became the dominant sound again without the formation's blockage and suddenly stopped after Han Yi spoke.

"Junior Brother Han, it's me, I am Guan Sheng."

Outside the door, Guan Sheng, who had been waiting for half a day, saw the door was closed tightly, couldn't help using the magic skill to shake the formation at the gate. He held back his inner anger, his face even wore his usual smile.

The three-month deadline was up, his plan was about to start, all that was missing was trapping Han Yi in it.

In fact, he was supposed to wait for Han Yi to deliver himself to Xu Huo Pill Shop, but after waiting for half a day without seeing Han Yi, he came to summon him personally.

Worried that showing too much eagerness might arouse Han Yi's suspicions, he even waited for a few hours outside the door in conceality.

Seeing the day getting darker, if Han Yi didn't show up, how could the follow-up plans be carried out?

He could only shake the formation obligatorily to force Han Yi out.

"Junior Brother Han, please open the door."

"The three-month deadline is here, and I am about to go out, I need to urgently hand over the pill shop's matters to you, so I can cope with the coming inspection."

Between the two sides of the door.

Han Yi felt torn upon hearing this.

He did not want to be untrustworthy.

Moreover, Guan Sheng also said that this matter was very important to him. If he broke his promise abruptly, it would disrupt all of Guan Sheng's plans.

It would be like harming him directly.

He couldn't bear it.

About to speak, Han Yi hesitated and retreated, his face changing unpredictably.

"Junior Brother Han? Junior Brother Han?"

"What's the matter?"

"You open the door first, if you have any difficulties, please raise it as soon as possible. I am leaving the city tomorrow, and there's not much time left for the handover."

Outside the door, Guan Sheng's tone was sincere and gentle.

But inside the door, Han Yi became composed.

The murderous intent from Jiang De, the crisis in that small alley, even though it has been three months, it was still fresh in his mind, jumping out at this moment, warning him.

After contemplating for a bit, Han Yi sighed and broke his silence.

Compared to his life, what was breaking a promise?

"I'm sorry, Senior Brother Guan."

"I have had some insights in Alchemy Skill, and I'm afraid I won't be able to leave the courtyard for the next few days."

"Please find someone else, and I will make it up to you later."

As soon as his words finished, he quickly put a hint of magic power into the formation plate, once again activated the formation in his courtyard, then rapidly retreated back into the quiet room.

Outside the courtyard.

Guan Sheng, who had been all smiles, looked stiff.