Subsequently, Zhou Ling poured a bowl of wine for both Chu Xing and Zhou Shan before returning to his own room.
In the main hall, Chu Xing and Zhou Shan continued discussing their upcoming trip into the mountains.
"This time, we need to prepare so much—it seems we'll have to venture deeper."
"With Father's cultivation level, he shouldn't even be entering the inner mountains!"
Listening to their conversation from outside, Zhou Ling sighed.
Originally, these matters shouldn't have been his concern. But now that he was capable of crafting low-grade first-tier magical tools, he wanted to ease some of his parents' burdens.
Especially since every time they entered the inner mountains, his mother was left in a state of constant anxiety.
Seeing this always left a bitter taste in his heart.
"By the way, if I can successfully refine one extra Thunderfire Pearl this time and give it to Father, it'd provide him with a decent safeguard!"
At this thought, Zhou Ling's spirits lifted.
Master Lu had given him six artifact beads.
As long as he refined three, he would have fulfilled his task.
The rest would be his to keep.
So, if he could improve his success rate slightly, he could earn a bit more.
With this in mind, Zhou Ling organized the thunder and fire spirit ink and arranged the spirit paper neatly.
However, after repairing the Earthen Shield earlier, his spiritual energy was now depleted to less than twenty percent.
Scratching his head, he muttered, "Looks like I won't be able to continue inscribing the Thunderfire Runes this afternoon."
Though there were still two hours until nightfall, given the current strength of his meridians, there was a limit to how much spiritual energy he could absorb through daily cultivation.
Practicing for two or three hours a day was already his limit.
But Zhou Ling didn't want to waste time like this.
What should he do?
"Ah, right—the Fireglow Grass!"
Zhou Ling promptly retrieved the two Fireglow Grass plants Chu Xing had given him earlier from his pocket.
Fireglow Grass was a spiritual herb that aided in cultivating the Blazing Flame Art.
He had been practicing the Blazing Flame Art for three years now—from initially struggling to complete a single cycle to now being able to perform seven cycles in one go.
However, he had never used any supplementary spiritual herbs, so his overall progress had been slow.
Now that he had Fireglow Grass on hand, he decided to test how much it could enhance his Blazing Flame Art—and see what the [Herbal Resilience] talent attribute was all about.
Zhou Ling immediately activated the Blazing Flame Art, holding the Fireglow Grass in his hand as he attempted to absorb the spiritual energy contained within.
Under the refinement of the Blazing Flame Art's energy, wisps of fire-attribute spiritual energy soon seeped from the Fireglow Grass into Zhou Ling's body.
The moment it entered his meridians, Zhou Ling felt a scorching pain.
The medicinal potency of the Fireglow Grass was unusually fierce, like a small flaming serpent writhing wildly through his meridians.
The burning pain persisted for the time it took an incense stick to burn. Beads of sweat dotted Zhou Ling's forehead, but he gritted his teeth and continued circulating the Blazing Flame Art, refining the absorbed energy.
[You are absorbing Fireglow Grass. Perseverance +1, Spiritual Energy +3]
[You are absorbing Fireglow Grass. Herbal Resilience +1, Fireglow Grass Potency +1]
As the notifications sounded, the searing pain gradually weakened.
The spiritual energy from the herb was fully refined, and the spiritual energy within his body steadily increased.
Soon, his spiritual energy surged like a bottle filled to the brim with water.
Then, with two soft pops, the vast medicinal energy instantly released, spreading throughout his meridians and transforming into pure spiritual energy.
Under the impact of the Fireglow Grass's energy, two spiritual acupoints opened in quick succession within his meridians in just a few breaths.
This brought Zhou Ling's total number of opened acupoints to twenty-four—a significant step closer to the fourth level of Qi Refinement.
"So this is the benefit of Fireglow Grass!"
"No wonder those who use supplementary herbs progress so quickly!"
Once his spiritual energy stabilized, Zhou Ling opened his eyes, exhaled softly, and smiled with satisfaction.
It had been over two months since he reached the third level of Qi Refinement, and in that time, he had only managed to open one additional acupoint.
Now, he was nearly eight years old.
At this rate, reaching the fourth level before ten would not be easy—especially since the transition from the third to the fourth level was a bottleneck.
Breaking through wouldn't be simple.
Yet, this first attempt at refining Fireglow Grass had unexpectedly unlocked two acupoints at once.
Zhou Ling could feel that his previously depleted spiritual energy had not only fully recovered but had also grown substantially.
"Such results are also thanks to the [Perseverance] and [Herbal Resilience] talents!"
Reflecting on the experience, Zhou Ling pondered the nature of these two talents.
The [Perseverance] talent meant that no matter the adversity, as long as he endured unyieldingly, he could unlock greater potential.
For instance, if he had succumbed to the pain of the Fireglow Grass's energy and abandoned the refinement process, he would have gained nothing.
As for [Herbal Resilience], based on this experience, it seemed to amplify the effects of medicinal herbs.
He had only absorbed the energy of two Fireglow Grass plants, but under [Herbal Resilience], the actual potency he absorbed was doubled.
"With effects like this, I need to earn more spirit stones and buy more Fireglow Grass as soon as possible!"
Zhou Ling made a mental note.
Glancing outside, he saw that it was still bright, and the hall was quiet—likely meaning Chu Xing had already left.
After drinking some water and wiping the sweat from his forehead with a towel, Zhou Ling steadied his breathing and resumed inscribing the Thunderfire Rune.
Picking up the inscription brush, he dipped it in spirit ink and began.
This time, the process went remarkably smoothly.
As he lifted the brush after the final stroke, a faint arc of lightning seemed to flicker across the spirit paper.
In an instant, a Thunderfire Rune solidified on the paper.
[You are inscribing a Thunderfire Rune. Born Talent +1, Rune Proficiency +1]
[You are inscribing a rune. Precise Control +1, Rune Proficiency +1]
"Finally succeeded!"
Zhou Ling was thrilled.
However, sensing the drain on his spiritual energy, he frowned again.
Despite the successful inscription, nearly half of his energy had been consumed.
Reluctantly, Zhou Ling had to set aside further attempts for now and headed to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
···
That evening, he successfully inscribed another Thunderfire Rune on spirit paper. As his proficiency improved, the spiritual energy consumption noticeably decreased.
With each increase in rune mastery, the complexity of these inscriptions became less of a challenge for him.
The next day, still a rest day, Zhou Ling spent the daytime successfully inscribing two more Thunderfire Runes on spirit paper.
Feeling sufficiently confident, he finally retrieved the Thunderfire Pearl artifact and began the formal inscription process.
Inscribing on an artifact consumed significantly more spiritual energy than on spirit paper—and was far more difficult to control.
The first Thunderfire Rune attempt ended in failure.
Zhou Ling had no choice but to activate his [Primary Analysis] talent, carefully reviewing his mistakes.
After a good night's rest, he tried again at dawn.
This time, he succeeded.
Over the next few days, he attended the academy during the day and refined Thunderfire Pearls at night.
Within four days, he produced three more successful pearls, with one failure.
Out of the six artifact beads, four were successfully refined—a result that greatly pleased Zhou Ling.
Not only had he earned seven spirit stones, but he also had an extra Thunderfire Pearl.
At market price, that alone was worth over a dozen low-grade spirit stones.
(End of Chapter)