Chapter Five, Learning the Art of Refining Equipment.

Given Zhou Yang's age and cultivation speed, his success rate in building the foundation is indeed much higher than that of ordinary people. This is also the reason why Elder Zhou Minghan particularly values him.

For example, Zhou Yang may possess a certain masculine attribute in his treasure body. Therefore, even though he has a medium-grade spiritual root aptitude, after practicing the masculine and domineering technique "Golden Yang Fierce Fire Art", his cultivation speed is equivalent to that of a high-grade spiritual root cultivator.

Both have the cultivation of the first level of Qi refining stage, cultivate the same technique, and meditate and cultivate in the same place. The effect of a low-grade spiritual root cultivator meditating for ten days is roughly equivalent to the effect of a medium-grade spiritual root cultivator meditating for one day.

The main material of the first-order magical weapon "Azure Edge Sword" is refined iron. The sword handle can be made of spiritual wood such as hundred-year ironwood. A cultivator in the innate realm can infuse innate true energy into the magical weapon, and can unleash sword light ranging from three inches to one foot depending on the cultivator's cultivation level to injure the enemy.

As for the Dao body cultivators, they are legendary existences. Since the existence of cultivators in this realm, there have been less than a handful of Dao body cultivators, each one a super powerful ruler of their era.

Among the dozens of cultivators currently present in the Zhou family, not a single one possesses a high-grade spiritual root. Even the late Foundation Establishment stage patriarch, Zhou Minghan, only has a medium-grade spiritual root.

How much does the quality of spiritual roots affect cultivators?

As his cultivation level increases, the gap between him and his peers of the same age grows wider. He increasingly feels the importance of aptitude for low-level cultivators.

Zhou Yang began practicing at the age of four and completed the cultivation of the Ninth Layer of the Innate Realm in just three years. In addition to his good aptitude, it was also greatly related to his parents often providing him with special treatment, allowing him to consume "Golden Pearl Rice" and some low-level monster meat on a daily basis.

Of course, for ordinary people, the strength possessed by a practitioner in the innate realm is enough to make them look up in awe.

The Zhou family living on the oasis of Yuquan Lake has over one hundred thousand people, but currently, the total number of Qi cultivation stage cultivators in the Zhou family is less than one hundred, including seven or eight cultivators from other families who are related to the Zhou family.

And a cruel reality is that the older a Qi cultivation practitioner is, the more difficult it becomes to establish a foundation during the Qi refining stage. The probability of a Qi cultivation practitioner over sixty years old successfully establishing a foundation is less than half of that of practitioners under sixty. For Qi cultivation practitioners over eighty years old, the probability of establishing a foundation decreases even further. As for Qi cultivation practitioners over one hundred years old, well, Zhou Yang has never heard of such extraordinary individuals appearing.

These people are able to serve as the managers of the Zhou family, and they are all martial arts practitioners at the innate realm. However, none of them have spiritual roots, so they are unable to cultivate mana and become cultivators in the Qi Refining stage. They can only remain at the innate realm for their entire lives.

After Zhou Xuanjin left, Zhou Yang became the highest-ranking member of the Zhou family on the Qingping Mountain.

It is said that above the top-grade spiritual roots, there are spiritual body cultivators and dao body cultivators.

For ordinary middle-grade spiritual root cultivators like Zhou Xuanjin, it may take until the age of sixty or seventy to possibly reach the ninth level of Qi cultivation.

Such simple yet fulfilling days, three years have passed in the blink of an eye.

However, for ordinary cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots, even if they live up to the lifespan limit of a Qi Refining cultivator, they may not necessarily be able to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining!

Furthermore, if encountering powerful monsters and human cultivators that cannot be dealt with, do not easily leave the formation range. The best way is to defend the formation, then use one's essence blood to activate the third-level messaging talisman and wait for the family's rescue.

Zhou Yang doesn't need much introduction.

Therefore, only about 15 mu of spiritual fields have been opened here, and the planted spiritual valleys are specifically for the consumption of stationed cultivators, without the need to submit them to the clan.

In the following period of time, Zhou Yang's life became simpler.

Cultivators in the Qi Refining stage often consume "Golden Pearl Rice" as their staple food. Just a small bowl is enough to meet the body's nutritional needs for two to three days and even slightly enhance their cultivation.

Among the ordinary people, only one or two spiritual root cultivators may be born out of ten thousand individuals. The descendants of cultivators have a higher probability of possessing spiritual roots, but it is still only a probability of one in several tens.

Zhou Yang knows that these surpluses are the benefits provided by the family to the stationed cultivators. After all, it is the duty of every adult clan member to complete the family's tasks when they descend from the mountain, but they will not receive any additional rewards from the family.

Among these people who possess spiritual roots, the vast majority have inferior spiritual roots. On average, only one out of ten people may have a medium-grade spiritual root. As for superior-grade spiritual roots, they are even rarer. It is difficult to find even one person among a hundred cultivators.

At the moment when the prohibition is completed, it is the time for the long sword to be tempered. If the sword body shows the unique spiritual light of the magic weapon after tempering, it indicates the success of the refining. Otherwise, only a more sharp ordinary soldier's weapon will be obtained.

Stationed at Qingping Mountain, there are three main responsibilities: first, upon receiving an alert from the family to manage the mine, go down to the mine to help the miners eliminate some occasional first and second-order monsters that intrude; second, guard the outside miner's camp, timely collect the refined materials from the camp to the warehouse on the mountain, and wait for the family to come and collect them; finally, take care of the spiritual field of more than ten acres on the mountain, which is related to whether you can feed yourself.

True cultivators with spiritual roots do not acknowledge these mortals as cultivators at all, nor do they bother to engage in any form of communication with them.

So it took another four or five days until Zhou Yang completely mastered the "Cloud Sea Light Array", a second-order formation. Only then did Zhou Xuanjin return to the family with the output of Qingping Mountain's mine for nearly a year.

Any spiritual cultivator, as long as they do not die prematurely, will definitely become a Patriarch in the Golden Core stage without encountering any bottleneck in the process.

"Baoti" is an extremely special physique. Any spiritual root cultivator may possess Baoti. If a cultivator with Baoti can practice techniques that are compatible with their physique, their cultivation speed will be much faster than that of cultivators with the same quality of spiritual roots. Moreover, as their cultivation progresses, they will also gain unique Baoti abilities.

High-quality spiritual root cultivators not only have a fast cultivation speed, but also have a much higher probability of breakthrough when facing the first cultivation barrier, the "Foundation Building" barrier, compared to cultivators with medium or low-quality spiritual roots. Even without taking the rare elixir "Foundation Building Pill" that can greatly increase the success rate of foundation building, there is still a 30% chance of breakthrough.

He did not immediately start practicing refining tools, but instead carefully studied the refining classics and the refining notes given by the elder patriarch, while practicing with the ore he dug up from the iron mine, learning the most basic material refining in refining tools.

Unfortunately, mortals are just mortals. They lack spiritual roots, so even if they cultivate innate true qi, they still cannot cast even the lowest-level first-order spells.

To refine this magical tool is relatively simple. First, the refined iron is forged into a sword embryo by tempering it with spiritual fire. Then, while maintaining the temperature of the flame, the sword embryo is kept in a high-temperature state. At the same time, using the spiritual power and consciousness of a cultivator as a guide, a sharp prohibition is arranged within the sword embryo.

In order to save materials, he chose to refine the simplest first-order sword-type magical weapon, the "Green Edge Sword".

If nothing unexpected happens, Zhou Yang should be able to advance his cultivation to the ninth level of Qi Refinement before the age of forty.

He first summoned several managers responsible for the management, mining, and smelting of the ore veins in the Zhou family, and initially understood the operation process. He also gave them several voice transmission symbols with his own breath left on them, so that they could inform him promptly if anything happened.

However, the effect of a middle-grade spiritual root cultivator meditating for more than ten days may not necessarily be comparable to the effect of a superior-grade spiritual root cultivator meditating for one day.

After spending half a day taking care of the spiritual fields on the mountain, Zhou Yang devotes the next half of the evening to studying the art of refining tools.

As long as a mortal becomes a practitioner in the innate realm, extracts innate true qi from within their body, they can achieve the ability to move like a galloping horse, lift heavy weights, and easily fight against hundreds of opponents. They also have great resistance to various diseases.

Three years later, Zhou Yang, after thoroughly understanding the knowledge recorded in those alchemy classics and mastering the craftsmanship of refining materials, finally took out the materials given to him by the old patriarch and began the formal alchemy process.

Even cultivators from the Foundation Establishment period to the Violet Palace period often consume meals made from this "Golden Pearl Rice".

The spiritual veins of Qingping Mountain are only of the second-grade inferior quality, and they are also artificial spiritual veins. The spiritual energy generated daily can only provide about 20-30% of the residual spiritual energy needed for the daily cultivation of a cultivator in the later stage of Qi training.

Zhou Yang does not discriminate against these mortal cultivators, but unfortunately they have long been discriminated against by true cultivators. The concept of hierarchy has already deeply rooted in their hearts. Even if he takes the initiative to chat with them, no one dares to truly treat him as an equal and chat with him freely. Therefore, in the end, he can only reluctantly let these people leave.

As long as it is not over-planted, the yield from these dozen or so acres of fertile land is completely sufficient for his daily consumption needs, and there may even be a surplus.

Every morning, he starts by facing the rising sun and meditating and breathing exercises for three hours. Then, he practices the five spells he learned from the Tibetan scripture pavilion for another three hours. By the time evening comes, he dedicates half an hour to weeding and pest control in the fertile spirit fields on the mountain.

Zhou Xuanjin handed over the things needed by the stationed cultivators to Zhou Yang while explaining, and taught him how to use these things step by step.

All this sounds simple, but it's not easy to do. Even though Zhou Yang had imagined the refining process countless times in his mind and practiced the arrangement of the "sharp" prohibition countless times in advance, the first time he actually refined the device undoubtedly ended in failure.

Both of them understand these situations, so when they saw Zhou Yang remain silent, Zhou Xuanjin quickly adjusted his mindset and started working with him.

In addition to the spiritual body and the Tao body, there is another special constitution in the cultivation world called "Treasure Body".

The spiritual valley planted in these spiritual fields is called "Golden Pearl Rice". Its appearance is similar to the cotton tree in Zhouyang's previous world. It matures once a year, and each plant bears dozens of fruits. After the fruits ripen and are peeled open, you can harvest golden grains. Because the grains resemble pearls, it is named "Golden Pearl Rice".

With a loud explosion coming from within the cauldron, his first attempt at alchemy came to an end, without even reaching the tempering stage.

This "Golden Pearl Rice" grows in spiritual fields and needs to absorb spiritual energy to survive and mature. Therefore, in addition to being nutritious and delicious, the rice grains also contain trace amounts of spiritual energy, which is very beneficial for cultivators to absorb.

Because he is not a spiritual planter, Zhou Yang also does not understand some of the essential spells that spiritual planters must learn to increase the yield of the spiritual field. He can only water the "Golden Pearl Rice" planted in the spiritual field like an ordinary farmer, weed, catch insects, and ensure that they are not killed by improper cultivation.

Unfortunately, the treasure body does not provide any bonus to the success rate of a cultivator's foundation building. Otherwise, Zhou Yang could have attempted foundation building after reaching the ninth level of Qi cultivation.

Finally, this is the control flag and manipulation method of the Qingping Mountain formation. I can only leave after you have refined the formation flag and become familiar with the application of the formation.