Immortal Reincarnation Tribulation

Chapter 34 Advancing to the Quasi-Qi Refining Stage

Regardless, Du Fan is a scientist by training and a person of great perseverance, so he would not give up easily.

After resting for a while, I began to meditate with my eyes closed again.

For the next three days, Du Fan spent his time meditating and sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

On this day, Du Fan, who was sitting cross-legged on the wooden bed, opened his eyes again, still with a look of disappointment on his face. But the next moment, his eyes suddenly brightened, as if he remembered something important.

Du Fan reached into his robe with one hand and suddenly a small emerald green bottle appeared in his hand. Inside were the ten Qi Refining Pills he had purchased at the alchemy workshop office that day.

"I've never heard of anyone taking cultivation-enhancing pills before becoming a cultivator. I don't know if there will be any problems if I take them now. Never mind, if this continues, I'm afraid I'll never reach the Quasi-Qi Refining stage."

Du Fan made a snap decision, his eyes flashing with determination. He opened the small green bottle, and a fragrant aroma immediately wafted out, filling the entire room.

Upon smelling it, Du Fan felt refreshed and relaxed. Even the slight fatigue he had experienced from meditation dissipated considerably. With his spirits lifted, he poured out a Qi Refining Pill without hesitation.

The pill was about half an inch in size, milky white all over, and emitted a layer of white halo on its surface. When Du Fan held it in his hand, a cool sensation seeped into his skin and flesh through his palm, which was very comfortable.

A glint flashed in his eyes, and he raised his palm, instantly swallowing the pill. The pill transformed into a cool, refreshing sensation upon entering his mouth, sliding smoothly down his intestines and into his stomach, bringing unparalleled comfort wherever it went.

A moment later, the cool air spread instantly, and a tremendous force exploded from the center of the air mass. The violent turbulence instantly filled Du Fan's internal organs, causing Du Fan, who had just been feeling extremely comfortable, to let out a miserable scream, his face veins bulging, and cold sweat instantly appearing.

Du Fan felt as if his entire body was about to explode. An extreme pain stimulated every nerve in Du Fan's body. It was truly worse than death. At this moment, he had a feeling that perhaps death would make him feel better.

He only managed to hold on for a few breaths before collapsing unconscious with a muffled groan.

When he slowly regained consciousness, he felt weak all over, his clothes were soaked with sweat, and his whole body ached. He struggled to get up, but this one movement caused his vision to go black, and he almost fainted again.

He struggled out of the thatched hut and found it pitch black outside, presumably in the dead of night. After observing a spiritual herb for a while, he realized that he had only been unconscious for half a day and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After wandering around the herb garden for a long time, he felt his condition had improved and then returned to the house.

After sitting cross-legged, Du Fan silently circulated the Lesser Five Elements Technique in his mind. After a while, a sigh came from Du Fan's mouth.

"I still can't sense any fluctuations in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Du Fan's face showed bitterness, feeling helpless about his own aptitude. After a moment of blankness, his eyes flashed with a sharp light again. He poured out a Qi Refining Pill and swallowed it in one gulp.

A moment later, another extremely shrill scream rang out, and Du Fan fell into a coma.

When he woke up again, it was already the next morning. This time, in addition to the excruciating pain all over his body, Du Fan was even more exhausted. The feeling that his whole body was about to burst from the pressure of his internal energy left him with lingering fear. At this moment, a strong feeling of hunger suddenly struck him, and he had to eat something first.

When Du Fan climbed back onto the wooden bed, a third Qi Refining Pill suddenly appeared in his hand...

A week later, Du Fan was extremely weak, his eyes were bloodshot, his spirit was low, but his expression was even more crazed, his hair was disheveled, and he looked like a demon from hell.

"Haha..." A loud laugh suddenly came from Du Fan's mouth. His voice was hoarse, like that of a half-dead old man, and at the same time, the tone was extremely sharp. It also contained a sound like bones grinding, which made people feel cold.

"Finally, I've broken through! After consuming the seventh Qi Refining Pill, I've finally advanced to the Quasi-Qi Refining stage! I can finally sense the fluctuations of water elemental energy between heaven and earth!"

Du Fan's entire body was trembling and contorting, signs of his body on the verge of collapse after enduring immense pain. However, he ignored it all, having long since become numb to the excruciating pain. At this moment, he appeared frenzied, as if he had been resurrected from the brink of despair.

While it's not impossible for someone to break through to the Quasi-Qi Refining stage using such methods, there's absolutely no one who has consumed Qi Refining Pills seven times in a row like him. Leaving aside whether ordinary people who haven't even reached the Quasi-Qi Refining stage can afford the cost of Qi Refining Pills, the risks and immense suffering involved are simply unbearable for most.

This involves more than just the excruciating pain that drives one to the brink of collapse. Most importantly, the immense force generated by the explosion of this cultivation pill within a mortal's body can easily cause the user to explode and die. The chance of a mortal dying from the explosion after consuming a single Qi Refining Pill is about 50%. Yet Du Fan consumed it seven times, which undeniably demonstrates his extraordinary luck.

Of course, most others wouldn't have the chance to consume seven Qi Refining Pills as a mortal. Those with spiritual roots, even with extremely poor aptitude, could at most consume one or two Qi Refining Pills and, if they survived, break through to the Quasi-Qi Refining stage. This clearly shows that Du Fan's cultivation aptitude was exceptionally poor.

A day later, Du Fan finally calmed down. He went into a secluded pond in the herb garden to wash away the sweat that had soaked his body over the past week. After changing into a clean set of clothes, he sat cross-legged on the bed and began to practice breathing exercises. At this moment, he could absorb the water spiritual energy he sensed into his body, but his absorption speed was so slow that it was despairing. The matter of using spiritual energy to open up his meridians was even more distant for him.

Half a day later, Du Fan opened his eyes, his face looking rather grim again.

"Why are the meridians in my body so dry and barren? It's hard to believe that they can be opened up by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, as described in the cultivation techniques."

He felt helpless about his situation and then thought of the Qi Refining Pill.

"Now that I've advanced to the Quasi-Qi Refining stage, I should be fine taking Qi Refining Pills. However, these Qi Refining Pills are definitely not cheap. With my aptitude, I don't know how many of these pills I'll need to take to open up all my meridians, connect with my innate essence, and generate magical power."

Du Fan got out of bed, and after understanding his own situation, he was no longer in a hurry to cultivate.

After inspecting the herb garden, he returned to the thatched hut and began arranging the pile of odds and ends he had bought from Sangcheng. He dumped the bundle of odds and ends onto the wooden table, and immediately a number of bottles and jars rolled off, including bowls and basins, all of very different materials and shapes.

Looking at the pile of items on the wooden table, Du Fan pondered for a moment before starting to sort and organize them.

"This thin crystal tube can replace a test tube. Containers for holding liquids are easy to use, and heating instruments are no problem either. Instruments for filtration and separation are a bit troublesome, but this decorative item can barely replace them." Du Fan muttered to himself, while his hands kept moving. In the end, he used wire to bend into a set of oddly shaped racks. After fixing them in place, he hung most of the bottles and jars he had bought on the wire racks. Most of the bottles and jars were connected to each other with rubber tubes.

Du Fan walked out of the house and returned a moment later carrying an iron pot filled with water. Within the water was the black Taotie hair. He placed it on the ground and went out again. When he returned, he was carrying a large quantity of bricks and stones.

Not long after, Du Fan built a simple stove inside the house using bricks and stones. A moment later, he brought a large amount of firewood, put it into the stove to light the fire, and then placed the iron pot containing the Taotie hair on the fire.

He then turned around and pulled out a thicker leather tube, placing one end in the water in the iron pot and the other end into a rather large bottle. This bottle was also secured with an iron frame, and apart from the thick leather tube, it had only one other outlet, with everything else sealed off.

Du Fan then busied himself on the iron rack for a while, and lit an oil lamp under a strangely shaped vessel. After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"This is all I can do with my current methods, but it should be usable with minimal effort."

If a person from Earth were to see this iron frame and the things on it, they would surely be astonished, because it is a basic set of chemical experimental equipment.

"After boiling the Taotie hair water, pour it into a vessel, and then carry out processes such as filtration, separation, distillation, and crystallization. In the end, it should be possible to extract Taotie water powder, the purity of which is naturally far superior to Taotie hair water."

Du Fan's expression revealed anticipation.