Green Gourd Sword Immortal - Chapter 18: Bottleneck
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-
Afterward, over the next week, after Liang Yan refined all three Spirit-Gathering Pills, his speed of absorbing spiritual qi slightly increased. Add to that the abundant spiritual power of the spirit spring and the nourishment of purple qi, and his cultivation speed was far beyond what it had been before.
And ever since he learned that Zhuo Bufan had invited him to his cave residence, Wang Yuan’s attitude toward Liang Yan had clearly become much friendlier. Even the sect resources he had withheld were unexpectedly returned to him. Of course, Li Dali and Sun Qianli naturally weren’t as lucky as he was; the spirit stones and Spirit-Gathering Pills they deserved were still hopeless.
This also made Liang Yan sneer inwardly, and he understood even more deeply how despicable Wang Yuan was. But Li Dali was naturally optimistic and easygoing, and because Sun Qianli had the secret of the spirit spring cave, neither of them would come into conflict with Wang Yuan.
Compared with the other meridians, the Formation Meridian’s Miscellaneous Duties Disciples, due to their sparse numbers and simple relationships, were quite peaceful. Every morning Liang Yan worked, in the afternoon he studied formations, and at night he went to the spirit spring cave to cultivate. Because of the nourishment of the purple qi in the spirit spring, he even saved a lot of sleep time, often sleeping only a few hours every three or four days.
And in the middle of each month, he regularly went to help Zhuo Bufan refine pills, exchanging for three Spirit-Gathering Pills.
Cultivation life was in truth extremely dull. Day after day, Liang Yan repeated the same things.
In the blink of an eye, three years passed.
That night, inside the spirit spring cave, a gray-robed youth sat cross-legged, hands resting flat, expression serious.
This person was Liang Yan. Compared with three years before, he had grown much taller, and his figure was more upright. At this moment, the spiritual power within his body surged, traveling through his four limbs and hundred bones, and his aura gradually climbed. Just as it seemed about to reach a critical threshold, the spiritual power in his body suddenly fell into uncontrollable disorder, passing through his five viscera and six bowels and rampaging wildly. Liang Yan opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, his aura rapidly withering.
'I didn’t expect I’d still fall short at the final step.' A bitter smile appeared faintly on Liang Yan’s face.
With the aid of the spirit spring’s spiritual power and purple qi, plus Zhuo Bufan’s Spirit-Gathering Pills, he had already reached the peak of the Qi Refining third layer two years earlier. Over these two years, countless times he had used the opportunity of his aura reaching perfection to try to break through the bottleneck of the Qi Refining third layer. But what he got in return was countless failures.
Over these two years, apart from his understanding of the way of formations advancing by leaps and bounds, his own cultivation had remained at the peak of the Qi Refining third layer, barely advancing at all!
'Could it be that evil woman really hit the mark—that my natural aptitude is too poor, and I’ll never be able to break through the peak of the Qi Refining third layer in this life?' Thinking of the words of the Master of Yi Xing Pavilion, he couldn’t help but feel a wave of depression.
But Liang Yan immediately steadied his state of mind. 'Hmph! The difficulty of cultivation is like sailing against the current, building a ladder to climb the heavens. I long knew its dangers; how could I give up so easily?'
'Right! That Barrier-Breaking Pill I heard about last time!'
Over these two years, after failing many times to break through the Qi Refining third layer, Liang Yan had also indirectly inquired with some fellow disciples about methods to break through bottlenecks. Although most were impossible for him, he did learn of a pill called the “Barrier-Breaking Pill.”
This pill was said to have a certain effect on Qi Refining stage cultivators breaking through bottlenecks. Of course, the higher the cultivation, the smaller the effect; by the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Refining, its effect was almost zero.
Liang Yan took a deep breath and steadied the spiritual power within his body, secretly thinking: 'It seems I can only find a way to get a Barrier-Breaking Pill and try it.'
It was just that to obtain pills within the sect, one had to go to Pill Pavilion and exchange contribution points for them. As for contribution points, one needed to go to the main hall of the sect’s White Tiger Hall, accept missions, and obtain them after completing them. Missions in White Tiger Hall were mostly posted by cultivators within the sect, using their own contribution points as a bounty to recruit others. Of course, there were also some missions posted by the sect itself; such missions often had extremely high contribution points, and correspondingly greater danger.
But the sect stipulated that only inner sect and outer sect disciples could go to White Tiger Hall to accept missions. As a Miscellaneous Duties Disciple, Liang Yan had no qualification to accept missions at all, so naturally he also couldn’t obtain contribution points to exchange for the Barrier-Breaking Pill at Pill Pavilion.
'Wouldn’t this just be a dead cycle?' Liang Yan felt vexed, but there was nothing he could do. Just as he was frowning in worry, a flash of inspiration suddenly came to his mind.
'Right! Three years have passed. By reckoning the time, it should be time for Martial Uncle Lin Fei to go down the mountain and hold an auction. If it’s at the auction, perhaps there will be a Barrier-Breaking Pill for sale.'
The more Liang Yan thought, the more possible it seemed. He made up his mind that after finishing his Miscellaneous Duties Disciple tasks tomorrow, he would immediately go see this Martial Uncle Lin.
On the afternoon of the next day, before the gate of a quiet pavilion courtyard stood a youth, hands hanging at his sides, face very respectful.
This person was Liang Yan. Coming here, he felt very uneasy. After all, they hadn’t met for three years; whether Lin Fei still remembered him was uncertain. Back then, although the old monk had helped Lin Fei, Lin Fei had also fulfilled his promise and introduced him into the sect for the old monk, so they were already even. Whether he would help him this time could only depend on heaven’s will.
While he was thinking this, a maidservant suddenly walked out from the courtyard, nodded slightly to him, and said, “Immortal Lin requests your presence. Come in with me.”
The servants in these elders’ cave residences were all mortals. Most had no spiritual roots and couldn’t cultivate at all. Their knowledge was also limited, so they collectively called these cultivators Immortals.
Liang Yan followed the maidservant into the pavilion and entered a room in the west wing. The decor inside was simple. A pot of warm tea was brewing on a square wooden table, and behind the table sat a Confucian scholar in blue-green robes, smiling at him.
Liang Yan’s heart tightened. He stepped forward and saluted: “Formation Meridian Miscellaneous Duties Disciple Liang Yan greets Martial Uncle Lin.”
“Haha, no need for ceremony! Worthy nephew Liang, how have you been in the sect these three years?”
“Thanks to Martial Uncle’s care, everything is still well.”
“That’s good,” Lin Fei said with a smile. “Speaking of it, if the old senior hadn’t saved me back then, there wouldn’t be this Lin today. I only did him a small favor, and I’ve always felt indebted.”
Liang Yan felt his mood today was unusually good. After observing a little, he understood in his heart: 'No wonder—so Martial Uncle Lin had just broken through to mid Foundation Establishment not long ago.'
“Worthy nephew Liang, have you come today for some matter?”
“Yes. This disciple has now encountered a bottleneck in cultivation and has barely advanced. I heard Martial Uncle Lin is going down the mountain to hold an auction, and I wish to ask Martial Uncle Lin to bring this disciple along, so I can purchase some pills for cultivation.”
“I see,” Lin Fei nodded. “You Miscellaneous Duties Disciples can’t accept missions from White Tiger Hall, so naturally you have no contribution points to exchange for pills. And the sect stipulates that Qi Refining stage disciples may not go down the mountain as they please, so that’s why you came to me.”
“Martial Uncle sees clearly; this junior really has no other choice!”
“Haha, no harm! You are the old senior’s descendant; this small matter is still within my ability.”
Liang Yan was overjoyed: “This junior thanks Martial Uncle Lin for fulfilling this!”
Lin Fei waved his hand, then suddenly thought of something and said, “By the way, last time I heard Junior Sister Zhou say you seem to have joined the Formation Meridian?”
Liang Yan didn’t know what he meant by this, so he could only nod: “Yes. This disciple is quite fond of formations, so I chose to join the Formation Meridian myself.”
Lin Fei sighed: “The Formation Meridian is sparse in people. Now there are very few outer sect disciples, and I hear there are only two Miscellaneous Duties Disciples; counting you, there are only three. The founding ancestor’s peerless arts—few in later generations can comprehend them.”
Lin Fei lamented for a while, then suddenly asked, “Since you’ve joined the Formation Meridian, have you spent time studying formations?”
“This disciple is untalented. Because of the six-year agreement I made with the Pavilion Master back then, I have spurred myself day and night to read and study formations. Now I can be considered to have a superficial understanding.”
“Then do you understand the Heaven Eye Formation?”
Liang Yan frowned slightly, but still said, “This disciple knows a little. The Heaven Eye Formation is a surveillance formation; it can observe the truth and falsehood of people and break some disguise and concealment techniques.”
Lin Fei nodded in satisfaction: “Not bad. It seems you haven’t wasted your time.” Then he continued, “Since you know the Heaven Eye Formation, could you help set up a simple formation at the entrance of the auction venue? Recently evil cultivators have been causing trouble near Lush Cloud Mountain, and I’m afraid someone might sneak into the auction venue.”
“Although this disciple’s skill is limited, I am still willing to try.”
“Haha, good!” Lin Fei laughed. “Rest assured, as long as you set it up properly and this auction is completed successfully, I won’t treat you unfairly. I’ll use twenty spirit stones as your reward. How about that?”
Liang Yan naturally had no objection. The two talked some more, and Lin Fei finally said, “All right, go back and prepare first. In three days we’ll set off for Lush Cloud Mountain.”
Liang Yan rose and took his leave. On the way back to the dormitory, he had already secretly made up his mind: 'I must use this opportunity to get my hands on the Barrier-Breaking Pill, otherwise I’m afraid I’ll have to wait another three years!'
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread
Follow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-