Family Cultivation: My Ancestral Home Gets Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 43 Qi Refining Level 1

The night was still and quiet. Jiang Fu'an sat cross-legged on a futon, his eyes closed and his breathing long and even.

Suddenly, a barely perceptible soft sound came from the edge of his dantian.

The invisible boundary that had been firmly imprisoning the magical power silently dissolved.

In an instant, the dantian suddenly expanded.

The sparse spiritual energy scattered between heaven and earth was drawn in and flowed back into his meridians.

In a short while, a sea of qi, several times larger than before, had taken shape, filled with spiritual energy, like mist and rosy clouds.

He slowly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.

Once you've refined the first layer of energy, success will come naturally.

This first hurdle on the path of cultivation is for those cultivators who have excellent aptitude and are skilled in spiritual vein cultivation.

It only takes a few months of meditation to easily get through it.

However, he spent two whole years on it, during which he consumed thirty Qi-Nourishing Pills and fifty Green Spirit Fruits, and dared not slack off in his daily meditation and breathing exercises.

The hardships involved are like drinking water; only the person drinking it knows the truth.

Jiang Fu'an gently exhaled a breath of stale air, and then, with a slight thought, a semi-transparent light screen slowly unfolded before his eyes:

Name: Jiang Fu'an

Age: 32

Lifespan: 60 + 7 + 50

[Realm Level: First Level of Qi Refining]

Hidden injuries: 1 (reducing lifespan by 3 years)

[Destiny: None]

[Spiritual Roots: Five Elemental Spiritual Roots]

[Special Physique: Devouring Body (Purple), Talisman Saint Body (Purple)]

When his gaze fell on the "Lifespan" column and he saw the extra seven years of lifespan, a smile finally spread across his lips.

He gained seven years of lifespan simply by breaking through the first level of Qi Refining.

If one cultivates to the ninth level of Qi Refining in the future, wouldn't that add more than sixty years to one's lifespan?

The fatigue that had accumulated over the past two years suddenly felt light at this moment.

He felt that all the arduous practice day and night was worthwhile.

With a gentle swipe of the finger across the screen, like turning the pages of a book, the image shifted, revealing information about the eldest daughter:

Name: Jiang Xianghe

Age: 11

Lifespan: 67 + 18

[Realm Level: Perfected Third Layer of Qi Refining]

[Destiny Character: Gratitude and Repayment (White)]

[Spiritual Roots: Water, Fire, and Earth]

"He hasn't even broken through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining yet..."

The youngest son, Shitou, also successfully guided Qi into his body a few days ago and entered the first level of Qi Refining.

Now all that's left is for the rice seedlings to sprout, and then the ancestral home can be upgraded again.

In fact, Jiang Fu'an had long realized that his daughter had been stuck at the third level of Qi Refining for more than half a year.

He guessed that the "Spirit Gathering Pill" he had given her must not have been taken yet.

Otherwise, given the quality of the seedlings, they should have broken through long ago.

It's unclear whether she intended to save it for later stages of Qi Refining or for him, her father.

Jiang Fu'an smiled, not in a hurry.

There's plenty of time ahead of him; he has plenty of life ahead of him now.

Now that I've reached the first level of Qi Refining, I can finally try that long-awaited thing—drawing talismans.

Upon thinking of this, he felt a surge of energy and all his weariness vanished.

Jiang Fu'an turned to look at the bed. Miao Ruolan's breasts were half-exposed, and she was fast asleep.

He helped cover it up, then tiptoed out of the room.

Using the cool moonlight under the eaves, we walked through the courtyard and arrived at a small house in the west wing.

Pushing open the door, the room was small and simply furnished: a table, a chair, and nothing else.

The walls and the inside of the doors and windows were carefully covered with thick cotton cloth for sound insulation.

Among the various arts of cultivating immortality, the art of talismans is the most mentally taxing. When drawing them, one must concentrate fully and avoid any external disturbances.

He walked to the table and first lit the half-burnt candle in the ceramic lamp.

A warm yellow halo swayed and dispelled the darkness in a corner.

Then, he took out several items that he had prepared beforehand from the storage ring hidden close to his body:

A talisman brush, a stack of blank talisman paper, and a shallow inkstone filled with cinnabar.

But he did not start writing immediately.

Instead, he took out a thin book from his storage ring: "The Drawing Methods of Five Essential Talismans for the Qi Refining Stage".

The name sounds exactly like something from a street vendor, and in fact it is.

Five low-grade spirit stones, bought from the stalls of independent cultivators in Miaoyin City.

His daughter, He Miao, had initially wanted to persuade him to buy a more expensive book, but he was afraid that revealing his wealth would bring trouble, so he insisted on choosing this one.

Fortunately, despite the low price, the content is genuine.

These days, whenever he had free time, he would peruse and study the text, and had already mastered the five types of low-grade first-tier talismans recorded within—

You must thoroughly understand the patterns, principles, and spiritual energy flow of the Giant Strength Talisman, Quicksand Talisman, Fireball Talisman, Lightness Talisman, and Poison Mist Talisman.

To be on the safe side, he decided to review the text one more time before putting pen to paper.

My fingers twirled the pages, stopping at the chapter on "Lightness Talisman".

Under the candlelight, his gaze was calm as he studied the text word by word.

The reason he chose this talisman first was because he and Shi Tou had improved their worldly martial arts skills considerably over the past two years.

If paired with a talisman that makes the body lighter, one's movements will be even more agile.

In fact, the Giant Strength Talisman is just as useful.

But Jiang Fu'an felt that prioritizing the means of survival and escape was always a safer option.

After reading the last annotation, he closed the booklet, closed his eyes, and mentally rehearsed the runes from beginning to end.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes, his gaze sharpened, and his breathing calmed down.

He reached out with his right hand, his five fingers firmly grasping the talisman brush, dipping it in cinnabar, and then without hesitation, he placed it onto the talisman paper.

At the very beginning of the stroke, the wrist moved like a dragon or snake, and the runes flowed out from the tip of the brush, as smoothly as a stream rushing into a ravine.

The subtle magical power extended along the brushstrokes, seeping evenly into the paper, creating a faint glow.

Halfway through the drawing, the brushstrokes gradually became stiff, and each step forward required a great deal of effort.

Fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on Jiang Fu'an's forehead, and his face turned pale.

Although he possessed the "body of a talisman saint," his understanding of this talisman was already profound.

But you only realize how different it is when you actually try it; understanding is one thing, but creating is quite another.

The talisman brush in his hand seemed to come alive, constantly consuming his magic power and spirit.

The feeling was like a strong man being haunted by a dozen female ghosts, his yang energy rapidly draining away.

A sense of unease washed over me, and my mind went blank for a while.

"puff--"

On the talisman, the unfinished patterns suddenly twisted and twitched a few times, then a wisp of green smoke rose up, and the entire talisman quickly turned black and curled up.

My first attempt at drawing failed.

Jiang Fu'an, however, showed no sign of frustration.

He stared at the discarded talisman for a moment, then began to review the situation.

The reasons for the failure gradually became clear:

Firstly, his own cultivation level was ultimately too low, and his reserves of magical power and spiritual power were shallow. The discomfort caused by the rapid consumption of these resources seriously interfered with his drawing.

Secondly, there are a few subtle turning points in the force and rhythm of the spiritual energy infusion that were not fully considered during the previous deductions, and their effects only became apparent when the paper was actually written.

If we can make some adjustments to these details, we might succeed next time.

He closed his eyes again and sat quietly to regulate his breathing.

While slowly recovering his mental strength, he also corrected those key points in his sea of consciousness.

About half an hour later, he opened his eyes again, the fatigue in them fading slightly.

I picked up my pen and began the second drawing.

However, it failed again.

He remained silent, simply continuing to summarize his experiences of failure.

Learn from failures;

After summarizing, we tried again.

Finally, on the fifth attempt,

The entire talisman trembled slightly, and then a light blue halo appeared.

First-grade low-level Lightness Talisman, completed.