24 The Fourth-Stage of Qi Refinement

Chen Mu's fire spiritual root potential was 5. According to his estimation, the maximum potential should be 10.

If it was really maxed at 100, then he would really be trash.

And now, he already had four earth spiritual root attributes. He was only six short of gaining the Earth Spirit Physique.

He had to spar with Zhou Jinglei.

They were all brothers and were both latecomers, so he probably would not reject such a small request.

However, he could not lose the spar. Otherwise, his image would be ruined.

Chen Mu decided to cultivate for a period of time before looking for Zhou Jinglei. This way, he could ensure that nothing would go wrong and it would not seem too abrupt.

...

Chen Mu stayed in the cave and meditated.

Before the fifth-stage of Qi Refinement, Outer Sect disciples cultivated according to the most basic spiritual energy circulation method. This method was on the bookshelf.

Once he reached the fifth-stage of Qi Refinement, he would have to choose different cultivation techniques based on his own talent.

Ordinary cultivators with fire spiritual roots cultivated the Flame Control Technique.

The ones with the Fire Spirit Physique cultivated the Divine Flame Technique.

The spirit flames produced by these two cultivation techniques were completely different.

The power of the spirit fire produced by the Divine Flame Technique using the Fire Spirit Physique was three to four times stronger than ordinary spirit fire.

It was the same for other spiritual roots.

For example, the earth spiritual root. The Earth Spirit Shield condensed from an ordinary earth spiritual root had three times the defensive power of an ordinary Spiritual Energy Shield, whereas the Mystic Spirit Thick Earth Shield condensed from Earth Spirit Physique had ten times the defensive power of an ordinary Spiritual Energy Shield!

...

While Chen Mu was cultivating, Zhou Jinglei was sitting cross-legged on a mat in the 121st courtyard of the Green Bamboo Forest.

Thinking back to Chen Mu's encounters over the past two days, he could not help but feel envious.

"Right now, he's probably cultivating in a place with even richer spiritual energy…"

"He neither lacks spirit stones nor pills."

Zhou Jinglei thought to himself.

He was not a jealous person, but he yearned to become stronger.

It was because he had important things to do after becoming stronger.

He had originally thought that with his talent, he would be heavily nurtured by the Azure Yang Sect. He never expected this outcome.

He was somewhat indignant.

"If I can defeat Chen Mu in the Outer Sect Competition a year later, I wonder if the Azure Yang Sect will give me special treatment?"

He could no longer suppress this thought.

After hesitating for a moment, he took out the simple jade pendant.

Then, he removed the jade pendant and placed it between his palms.

Not long after, a faint light shot out from where his palms met.

This jade pendant was his greatest trump card.

It was also because he dared to have such unrealistic thoughts.

Although his aptitude could not be compared to the other party and his cultivation environment could not be compared, with the help of this jade pendant and his diligence, he might have a chance of surpassing the other party.

After all, diligence could make up for one's lack of talent.

However, he had to leave the sect in between, pretending that he had found a fortuitous encounter outside.

Otherwise, it would seem fake if he could defeat Chen Mu with his Earth Spirit Physique.

...

Time flowed like water. In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

The new Outer Sect disciples gradually adapted to the life of the Azure Yang Sect.

Chen Mu, on the other hand, absorbed all the cultivation power stored in the Little Assistant. In addition to his own efforts, his cultivation reached the fourth-stage Qi Refinement Realm!

Among the Outer Sect disciples who were at the fourth-stage Qi Refinement Realm, he was considered to be at the middle of the group.

Under normal circumstances, there was a chance of becoming an Inner Sect disciple at the sixth or seventh-stage of Qi Refinement.

There was a possibility that those at the third-stage of Qi Refinement or below would become servant disciples.

Chen Mu had studied it before. In previous years, 40% of the new disciples would become servant disciples.

In the end, most of these 40% would leave the Azure Yang Sect.

The remaining small group of people were constantly jumping between Outer Sect disciples and servant disciples.

Apart from these 40%, half of the disciples in the other 60% would never have the chance to become Inner Sect disciples.

Half of them would spend an average of two to three years to enter the Inner Sect.

Very few people could enter the Inner Sect in the first year.

It was either someone with exceptional talent or someone like Mu Xiong who had just entered the sect with cultivation.

In short, it was very, very difficult to stand out in the sect with mediocre talent.

As for Chen Mu, he had reached the fourth-stage of Qi Refinement in 15 days!

He was quite satisfied.

15 days of bitter training, multiplied by 21 times, was 325 days.

Coupled with the enhancement of his cultivation environment and multiplying it by two, that was 650 days!

Right now, the cultivation that he possessed was equivalent to that of an ordinary Outer Sect disciple who had cultivated bitterly for nearly two years!

It was more than enough to take down Zhou Jinglei.

No matter how talented he was, he could not possibly reach the fourth-stage of Qi Refinement in fifteen days, right?

With these thoughts in mind, Chen Mu prepared to head to the bamboo forest to spar with Zhou Jinglei.

This time, he wanted to maximize the attributes of the earth spiritual root and replenish his stored cultivation power.

However, just as he walked out of the cave abode, he felt that something was amiss.

This was a visit in the name of a good friend…

He had to bring some gifts.

Not to mention the fact that he had won 500 spirit stones, that was obvious to all.

If he went empty-handed, it would make him seem too petty.

At the thought of this, Chen Mu took out three low-grade spirit stones and went out.

Three spirit stones was the monthly salary of an Outer Sect disciple for ten days. If it was the algorithm from his previous life, it would be ten days' salary.

He was very generous already.

Even though he was lacking in spirit stones, he had to maintain a good relationship with Zhou Jinglei.

Putting aside the fact that he was destined to deal with the calamity, Zhou Jinglei's talent alone could help him a lot.

After his earth spiritual root attribute was maxed out, he could increase his cultivation level in peace.

As for the spiritual techniques or even divine skills that he could learn in the future, he would have to learn them from Zhou Jinglei as well.

If they did not maintain a good relationship with one another, how could he request to spar in the future?

...

After leaving the cave, Chen Mu pointed at the strange stone in the distance.

A beam of spirit fire shot out from his fingertip and pierced through the strange stone in the blink of an eye.

This was the basic spiritual technique of the fire spiritual root, Fireball.

Chen Mu called it a normal attack.

The principle was very simple. It was to pour the spiritual energy in one's body into the fire spiritual root, transform it into fire spiritual energy and then shoot it out from the fingertip.

The rich fire spiritual energy would transform into spirit fire after leaving the body, and its destructive power was extraordinary.

The higher one's cultivation was, the faster it could shoot out.

Chen Mu was now at the fourth-stage Qi Refinement Realm. The speed of his fireball was comparable to a bullet.

In addition, he had the foundation of the dart technique, so not only was his fireball technique fast, it was also accurate and the angle was quite tricky.

Chen Mu smiled confidently as he looked at the tiny black hole created. His footsteps quickened unconsciously.

...

Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at the northern area of the bamboo forest.

He had been to this place before, so he did not spend much effort searching. From afar, he saw the 121st courtyard.

A hundred meters away, he saw Zhou Jinglei talking to another Outer Sect disciple.

From the way the Outer Sect disciples were bowing to him, it was obvious that Zhou Jinglei had been doing pretty well recently.

Chen Mu was in no hurry to show himself. Instead, he waited silently for a moment.

After the Outer Sect disciple left, he appeared and walked towards the 121st courtyard.

"Brother Zhou! How have you been?"