Chapter 204: Qi Refining Ninth Level

"Teacher Luo, I'd like to exchange for a Spirit-Breaker Pill."

In the treasury office of Building No. 1 on Mount Chicheng, Chen Mobai handed his student ID to the squinting, short, and stout teacher in front of him.

"Three credits per pill. Do you want to exchange for anything else? You only get one chance per semester."

At the end of the semester, students could use their credits to exchange for items from the Wucheng Daoist Academy's treasury. Last year, Chen Mobai exchanged for two of the 'Three Foundation Establishment Treasures'. This year, since he wasn't short on good deeds, and Chen Xinglan had also failed his Foundation Establishment, he only planned to exchange for the 'Spirit-Breaker Pill' he had long eyed.

"No, that's all. Thank you, Teacher Luo."

After swiping his student ID, Chen Mobai took the pill, which was wrapped in tin foil and looked rather simple.

After leaving Building No. 1, he headed straight for Building No. 9.

This was a cultivation cave-dwelling specially opened by the Wucheng Daoist Academy for students.

Chen Mobai reluctantly used his credits for a room with a low-grade third-tier spiritual vein. The door to one of the cave-dwellings immediately opened, and he walked straight in.

Sitting cross-legged on the dusty meditation mat, he felt the unprecedentedly rich spiritual energy surge around him, and he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

However, Chen Mobai didn't waste any time. He immediately took out his Dharma Deduction Puppet from his storage bag.

After inserting a spirit stone, he skillfully input various conditions, then pressed the switch and began to deduce the process of breaking through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

After confirming there were no issues, he put away the puppet and opened the Spirit-Breaker Pill's packaging.

This pill was the best breakthrough elixir for the Qi Refining stage. After taking it, there was an 80-90% chance of breaking through from the seventh to the eighth layer of Qi Refining, and a 50% chance of breaking through to the ninth layer.

Thanks to Wang Xingyu's unlimited supply of Qi Replenishing Spiritual Water, Chen Mobai had finally reached the bottleneck of the eighth layer of Qi Refining a few days ago.

Most people at this point would spend more time refining their cultivation, preferably allowing a natural breakthrough.

In technical terms, this would mean a solid foundation, giving them greater confidence when breaking through to Foundation Establishment in the future.

However, Chen Mobai firmly believed the words of Reverend Qingping: when a bottleneck is reached, one should try every means to break through as quickly as possible.

"Solid foundation" and "profound cultivation" were merely self-consoling words for those who couldn't break through.

A bottleneck is weakest at first; if one delays, it will only become more rigid and harder to break through.

Reverend Qingping was a grand master of the Nascent Soul realm; how could his words be false?

Therefore, as soon as Chen Mobai realized he had reached the peak of the eighth layer of Qi Refining, he immediately sought methods to break through. The simplest method, of course, was to take a pill.

Coincidentally, the Wucheng Daoist Academy's treasury had 'Spirit-Breaker Pills', so he directly exchanged one using his credits.

After circulating the Everlasting Life Sutra for one cycle and confirming he was in peak condition, Chen Mobai no longer hesitated and directly consumed the Spirit-Breaker Pill in his hand.

Three days later.

Chen Mobai opened his eyes, his face filled with joy.

He had broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.

The Dharma Deduction Puppet's results were accurate. The medicinal properties of the Spirit-Breaker Pill, combined with his already peak Qi Refining spiritual sense, allowed him to easily control the suddenly surging spiritual power after the breakthrough and smoothly refine the abundant third-tier spiritual energy in the cultivation room.

After three days of cyclical circulation, Chen Mobai only stopped once he confirmed that his breakthrough realm would not regress.

So this is the ninth layer of Qi Refining?

Feeling the spiritual power vortex in his dantian and Qi Sea, which was twice as powerful as before and almost filled the entire space of his dantian, Chen Mobai couldn't help but stand up.

He injected spiritual power into the Sword Forging Ring, and instantly, nine streaks of sword light flashed out, incredibly sharp.

This was the maximum power of the Sword Forging Ring. In the past, Chen Mobai needed ten minutes to gather enough spiritual power to unleash all nine swords; now, he could unleash them in a single breath.

Although the spiritual power quantity only doubled from the eighth to the ninth layer of Qi Refining, in actual combat, his fighting capability could increase by three to four times.

For those true disciples at the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining, the gap between them and those at the eighth layer was like heaven and earth.

After joyfully testing his new power, Chen Mobai sat down again and began to ponder his next plans.

After reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refining, one could already attempt Foundation Establishment.

However, the probability of success would definitely be higher after achieving the perfect ninth layer of Qi Refining.

His main goal now was to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill from the Divine Wood Sect.

Chen Mobai calculated his contribution points again.

After two years of farming, especially this year's hard work, he had accumulated 3458 sect contribution points in his Divine Wood Sect account.

If he maintained this year's spiritual field scale, by the fourth year, he would be able to gather the 10,000 sect contribution points required to exchange for the Foundation Establishment Pill.

"Even if I gather enough, I'll still have to wait eight years for the Jade Marrow Golden Lingzhi to mature."

After a self-deprecating chuckle, Chen Mobai was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something.

Didn't the Divine Wood Sect also have a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills made primarily from monster beast inner cores?

After Chen Xinglan's Foundation Establishment failed, Chen Mobai hadn't paid attention to this matter.

He wondered if that Senior Uncle Zeng from the Alchemy Department had started refining them.

If they really succeeded in refining it, should he exchange for it?

Chen Mobai thought for a moment, and then an answer immediately formed in his mind.

This was a Foundation Establishment Pill!

Although it was different from the orthodox Foundation Establishment Pills refined with Jade Marrow Golden Lingzhi, its efficacy might only be 80%, and compared to the pills from the Immortal Sect, its elixir toxicity would certainly be excessive. Still, it was a genuine Foundation Establishment Pill nonetheless.

It could increase the success rate of Foundation Establishment by a full 30%. Even if the efficacy was insufficient, it could at least raise the probability by about 24%.

The best Foundation Establishment spiritual items from the four great Daoist academies on the Immortal Sect side only increased the Foundation Establishment probability by 10%.

After affirming this belief in his heart, Chen Mobai began to consider the feasibility of exchanging for that batch of Foundation Establishment Pills.

First, he needed to confirm whether Senior Uncle Zeng from the Alchemy Department had started the refining process.

That was simple enough. As a disciple of the Spiritual Plant Department, he had recently begun to be seen as one of Sun Gaochang's people over the past year. He didn't even need to investigate personally; he could just ask Lu Jun.

The Foundation Establishment Pill was a low-grade third-tier elixir, and refining a batch would take at least six months.

If it was already being refined, it would be ready next year.

While Chen Mobai currently had a considerable amount of sect contribution points, it was still far from the 10,000 required.

The immediate priority was still to earn sect contribution points as quickly as possible.

However, if it came down to it, he could also borrow from someone.

But he didn't know many people in the Divine Wood Sect. Even if Qi Rui, Xi Jinghuo, Lu Jun, and others were willing to lend, it would probably only be a few hundred points at most.

Among them, Qi Rui was also competing for a true disciple position and might even need to borrow from Chen Mobai instead.

As for others, Chen Mobai could only think of Sun Gaochang. Since he was now considered Sun Gaochang's subordinate, if this Foundation Establishment Elder from the Hall of Rewards and Punishments was willing to lend, he might even directly lend the full 10,000 points.

However, Chen Mobai felt he probably didn't have that much influence with him yet.

He still needed to become a true disciple first!

Chen Mobai's mind raced with thoughts, but his expression remained calm.