Qi Refining Stage 8

Chapter 27 Eighth Level of Qi Refining

Thanks to Zhou Jiapeng's advice, Zhou Chun had six months to prepare in advance.

He first went to Zhou Jiahe, the peak master of Baozhi Peak, to inquire about the relevant rules of the martial arts competition.

They soon learned from him that such martial arts competitions, which are usually held to test the skills of younger cultivators, either do not allow the use of magic talismans, or there are restrictions on the number and grade of magic talismans that can be used.

As for spirit pets, there will definitely be no restrictions, otherwise even magical artifacts would be restricted from use.

Therefore, in order to achieve a good ranking in such a martial arts competition, in addition to one's own cultivation level, one must work hard on the cultivation of magical artifacts, spirit pets, and spells.

Zhou Chun's current magical artifact configuration is actually quite good, ranking him among the top in the mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators of the Zhou family, but it doesn't necessarily give him a significant advantage.

As for magical cultivation, the youth group registration is limited to cultivators under the age of thirty. Everyone is about the same age, so the age difference is probably not too great.

If you really encounter someone with talent in magical cultivation, you can only blame your bad luck.

Needless to say, most Qi Refining cultivators, except for families like the Zhou family that have passed down the art of beast taming, cannot afford to raise spirit pets, let alone raise them well.

Therefore, after much deliberation, Zhou Chun not only wanted to ensure that he could advance to the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage before participating in the martial arts competition, but also wanted to try to obtain a first-grade high-quality magic weapon for himself.

In that case, as long as the top ten in the youth group are not all cultivators at the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage or above, he should have a great chance of entering.

To obtain a first-grade high-quality magic weapon, Zhou Chun only had two options: either purchase it from the Red Cliff Market or exchange it with his family.

Although the Zhou family no longer distributes spirit coins as welfare offerings to its members, the annual family merit points can still be exchanged for items from the family treasury.

However, first-grade high-quality magic artifacts are extremely precious, with a market price of at least three hundred spirit coins.

The Zhou family has only been implementing the merit system for a little over two years. As an ordinary clansman, Zhou Chun can only receive twenty merit points as welfare offerings each year.

Even including the merits he gained from his previous trip to Red Peach Ridge, it was still far from enough to exchange for a first-grade high-quality magic weapon.

Fortunately, even if he doesn't have enough merit points to redeem, he can make up the difference with spirit coins.

Zhou Chun then checked his own assets and found that, thanks to the compensation he received during his previous trip to the Mu family, he still had nearly eighty spirit coins on him.

In that case, he only needs to collect about a hundred more spirit coins to exchange for a first-grade high-quality magic weapon from the family treasury.

As for how to gather one hundred spirit coins, Zhou Chun's first thought was to borrow money.

When you need to buy something but don't have enough money, this is what most people think.

But after Zhou Chun thought through all the people he could borrow money from, he hesitated again.

There aren't many cultivators in the Zhou family who are close enough to him to lend him money.

And those cultivators who could lend him money seemed to be able to sign up for this martial arts competition.

If Zhou Chun were to ask them for money now, unless they themselves didn't plan to participate in the event, it would seem to affect their relationship regardless of whether they lent him or not.

"Let's get a feel for them first. Let's tell them the news first, and if they're planning to participate, then we shouldn't ask them for money."

Thinking of this, Zhou Chun immediately began visiting each household one by one.

As he expected, after learning that five cultivation families were going to jointly hold a martial arts competition, Zhou Zhengyong and several others expressed their intention to sign up and participate to bring glory to their families.

Two people, however, did not register to participate because they were too old or knew their cultivation level was too low.

However, when Zhou Chun brought up the matter of borrowing money, the two of them pooled their resources together and could only manage to give him less than thirty spirit coins.

It turned out that the spirit coins they had were their own, which they had previously used to buy pills and other items.

Seeing this, Zhou Chun felt embarrassed to take all the remaining spirit coins they had for emergencies, so he gave up the idea of ​​lending them money.

Since he couldn't borrow spirit coins from his family, Zhou Chun had no choice but to turn his attention to the market.

He has several magical artifacts that he can sell at the market for spirit coins. If he takes a risk and uses purifying spirit water to purify a hundred-year-old spiritual herb and sells it, he can make up for the shortfall of more than a hundred spirit coins.

Having made up his mind, Zhou Chun focused on his cultivation, preparing to go to the market to carry out his plan once his cultivation reached the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage.

About a month later, the Zhou family members were finally officially notified about the martial arts competition jointly organized by the five major families, and the relevant rules were announced.

According to the rules, all cultivators participating in the martial arts competition can only bring five magic talismans into the arena for each competition, and only one first-grade high-quality magic talisman is allowed.

Each family and group can only send ten people to participate in this martial arts competition.

In other words, even if all the qualified cultivators in the Zhou family register, they can only send a total of twenty family members from the elite and youth groups to participate.

Because of this restriction, the Zhou family had to hold a selection competition first.

The selection process has been scheduled for one month before the official start of the event.

With the announcement of this news, all the cultivators in the Zhou family who were qualified to participate in the event began to prepare diligently.

Any Zhou family cultivator with a modicum of sense would know that this joint event by the five major families would be a significant performance for the Zhou family after establishing themselves in the cultivation world of Jingguo and Lanzhou.

If they can represent the Zhou family and achieve good results in the event, they will not only receive prizes prepared by the five major families, but also gain the favor of the clan leader and elders, with countless benefits in the future.

In this situation, Zhou Chun soon learned some very bad news.

Those were the remaining first-tier high-grade magic artifacts in the family treasury. Most of them had been exchanged, and the few remaining ones were unwanted items.

"It seems we can't count on the family anymore; now we can only try to find a solution from the market."

A shadow of gloom flashed in Zhou Chun's eyes, and he couldn't help but shake his head, abandoning his plan to exchange for a magic weapon from the family.

Time passed slowly, and after Zhou Chun consumed the eighth [Spring Sun Pill], his cultivation finally broke through to the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage as scheduled.

At this time, his twenty-fourth birthday had just passed less than two months ago.

A 24-year-old cultivator at the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage—his cultivation speed is considered quite fast among the many members of the Zhou family.

Zhou Zhengyong, who is a few years older than Zhou Chun, has only recently broken through to the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, and he also relied on pills to help him break through.

However, after consuming the Blood Spirit Pill, Zhou Zhengyong's spirit pet, the Red-tailed Monkey, successfully advanced to a first-tier high-grade demon beast, greatly increasing its strength.

After Zhou Chun's rock tortoise consumed all three bottles of [Beast Spirit Pills], its cultivation level has now barely caught up with its master.

If Zhou Chun only has the cultivation level of the eighth stage of Qi Refining and a first-tier mid-grade demon beast, the Rock Earth Turtle, his chances of winning against the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators from other families participating in the martial arts competition are really not high.

After all, the late-stage Qi Refining cultivators from other families participating in the martial arts competition would definitely have a first-grade high-quality magic weapon in hand.

In view of this, after breaking through to the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, Zhou Chun went to Pagoda Peak to pay respects to the clan leader Zhou Daoyi and explained his plans to go to Hongya Market.

"The area outside Red Cliff Market is a chaotic place, teeming with bandits and cultivators. If you're going to the market, Zheng Chun, it's best to go with someone. Be extra careful when you're out, and don't let anyone follow you or ambush you."

Inside the Zhongping Hall, Zhou Daoyi looked at Zhou Chun in front of him and pondered for a while, but still did not refuse his application to go out. He just earnestly warned him to be careful when he went out.

After hearing his words, Zhou Chun solemnly replied, "This junior will certainly keep the clan leader's teachings in mind."

Then he left Jiufengling and headed straight for Hongyafang Market.

Zhou Chun naturally wouldn't ignore Zhou Daoyi's warning, but what he was about to do was really not suitable for having Zhou family cultivators by his side.

After leaving Jiufeng Ridge for about a hundred miles, he changed his clothes and then used his flying artifact to continue his journey.

Every time he flew a hundred or two miles, Zhou Chun would stop and meditate for an hour to recover his magical power.

After spending most of the day, Zhou Chun arrived outside the Red Rock Mountains.

Standing on the outskirts of the mountains, gazing in the direction of Hongyafang City, he couldn't help but recall his first visit here more than three years ago.

When he went to the market, he was extremely nervous and terrified.

But this time, that situation will definitely not happen again!

Zhou Chun first found a place to meditate and recover his magical power. After his magical power was fully recovered, he drank a large mouthful of purifying spiritual water, then used his flying artifact to fly more than 300 feet into the sky. He then set up a protective shield and flew directly towards the location of Hongya Market.

This action undoubtedly exposed him to the sight of many cultivators in the mountains below.

However, upon seeing the altitude at which the flight occurred, the bandits abandoned their plans to attack.

At such a high altitude, they would not be able to lock onto the target and would also expose their own location.

Moreover, people who possess flying magical artifacts will be somewhat wary of their background and origins, and will not easily act rashly.

And so, until Zhou Chun flew all the way to the outside of Hongyafang City and landed, he did not encounter any attacks.

(End of this chapter)