"The greater the storm, the more valuable the fish!"
"But... I just want to fish in calm waters."
Su Ping had been through the information age, washed over by thousands of novels.
He combined this with his own twenty years of arduous cultivation experience in the Immortal Sect.
Su Ping had already imagined a scenario where an Outer Sect disciple on an external mission unwittingly, or deliberately, fell into a trap!
Then, infected by evil qi, became an unwilling Evil Cultivator, eventually redeemed by his own efforts.
And that evil technique jade scroll might very well be an item deliberately given by the schemer!
They simply sought to use the evil spirit to blow things up, to muddy the waters!
Having resolved his doubts, Su Ping planned to return when suddenly, through Grey, the Spiritual Rat crouched in the corner, he overheard Zhou Xuan's conversation from the room opposite.
Little Taoist Zhouxuan from the East King Temple.
These days hadn't been easy for him.
Having purchased a large amount of sugar and sensitive chemicals, he had to resort to connections from his family and spiritual mentors.
He finally settled on a reason that sounded unreliable and looked unreliable, but was better than nothing... researching ancient alchemy.
For the time being, it served as a temporary cover.
As a result, both his parents and his mentor began to worry about Little Taoist Zhouxuan's psychological state.
His mentor constantly warned Zhouxuan that most ancient books on alchemy were later fabrications, falsely attributed to ancestors.
His parents feared that Zhouxuan was so obsessed with cultivation that he might develop a Heart Demon, and hoped he would return home to rest for a while, preferably to get married first.
To readjust his mentality before deciding whether to continue being a taoist.
Having witnessed the True Skill, Zhouxuan, believing himself to be right, naturally couldn't accept these pieces of advice.
But since Su Ping hadn't agreed, Zhouxuan dared not and didn't want to share his recent experiences.
He was still waiting for the day when the grand vision painted by the transcendent expert came true, for him to succeed in Immortal Cultivation and shock everyone unintentionally!
"Okay, Mom, I've got it all figured out!"
"Don't worry, I've had a remote video session with a psychologist, and they said I'm not crazy!"
"Alright, that's it then."
Taoist Zhouxuan waited for his mother to hang up the phone first before putting down his mobile phone.
Talking to his parents made Taoist Zhouxuan feel more exhausted than if he had been studying all afternoon.
"Hm?"
"Taoist, you're back!"
Seeing Su Ping, who looked like an Immortal stepping out of a painting, appear at the doorway, Taoist Zhouxuan hurriedly showed his respect and was unable to hide his joy.
"You've been working hard these days; we have enough sugar and the like for now."
"Ah!"
"Taoist, did I do something wrong?"
Hearing that he no longer needed to buy sugar, Zhouxuan didn't breathe a sigh of relief, but instead felt a chill of panic.
Seeing Zhouxuan's expression, Su Ping extended his hand to his shoulder while a surge of mana went into the other's body, purifying Zhouxuan's whole body.
As Zhouxuan felt warm and his body relaxed again, Su Ping also got a clear idea of how the Little Green Fish had improved Zhouxuan's body.
The situation was quite good.
The effects brought by the Little Green Fish were steadily at play.
The lack of spiritual energy on Water Blue Star didn't hinder the transcendent from making something out of nothing or achieving great results with little input.
It certainly didn't dissipate the effects already present.
"Don't be alarmed, it's just that we temporarily don't need sugar."
"There are still some other materials that I hope you can help gather."
Su Ping took out the Jade Scroll and cast a spell that projected the list of various miscellaneous items he wanted to purchase into Zhouxuan's mind.
After leaving the gold strip behind, just like when he arrived, Su Ping disappeared from Zhou Xuan's sight by the time he realized it.
Zhou Xuan performed a solemn bow towards the empty doorway, then composed a message to send to his mentor and parents.
The gist of it was that he was putting his alchemy on hold and would not continue to buy sugar in large quantities.
Especially to his parents, Zhou Xuan specifically reminded them not to look for any new psychologists for him!
He, Zhou Xuan, was not crazy!
...
This time upon returning from Water Blue Star to the Immortal Cultivation World, Su Ping deliberately brought back hundreds of controlled elite rats.
It was hard to find rats with spiritual intelligence in the Immortal Cultivation World, and the few that were discovered would be taken to the workshop to be sold.
Therefore, Su Ping simply brought them over from Water Blue Star, saving himself the trouble of being suspected of buying too many spiritually endowed animals from the workshop.
Because Su Ping accepting the Rat Taoist and seeking his expertise was an open secret.
The people of Frost Moon Villa already knew that their master had learned this Dharma Method.
They were not surprised by the sudden appearance of hundreds of rats, and they simply prepared more food for them daily.
Only the Rat Taoist faintly felt that the batch of rats summoned by the Inspector seemed somewhat different from his, seemingly possessing more spirituality!
Even someone as low as a Loose Cultivator like him assumed this was the kind of circle only an Immortal Master could have, allowing the master to immediately find a sufficient number of good rats for training whenever he took interest.
This almost made the Rat Taoist envious to tears.
But ultimately, he did not have the courage to ask Su Ping for any.
Now, having just passed his seventieth birthday, he was very aware of what was appropriate, and was wholeheartedly focused on improving formulas for Su Ping.
After Su Ping returned to Frost Moon Villa, he instructed White and Grey to manage the rat horde and take care of the early warning measures.
Feeling inspired, Su Ping then entered into seclusion for ascetic practice.
He even ordered the maids to halt his three daily meals, forbidding them from coming to disturb him.
The invitations from the noble families of Golden Sparrow City were all declined.
Thus, five days later, late at night.
In the cultivation room, Su Ping sensed the threshold of his Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer begin to loosen!
This was happening sooner than he had expected.
Although after becoming a Body Refining Third Layer practitioner, he found that the amount of pills he could consume daily could also be increased.
Consequently, over the following period, he relied on waste pills to pile his cultivation to the brink of the Qi Cultivation Fourth Layer.
He then used Purification Spirit Medicine to cleanse his body of Pill Poison, healed old wounds, and kept his body in a pure and intact state.
But this loosening was still happening a bit too quickly!
Su Ping couldn't help but suspect that maybe the one-tenth of the Ten Directions Annihilation Sacred Body had an effect on Qi Cultivation as well, making his Spirit Root not as simple as a Low Grade Spirit Root anymore!
Being able to advance quickly was naturally a good thing, and Su Ping was not one to linger on it.
He consumed Mana Spirit Medicine and Life Spirit Medicine to elevate his state to the limit, then began to vigorously circulate his cultivation technique.
The mana inside his body grew increasingly smooth and harmonious as it circulated, and slowly, it seemed to boil over suddenly.
Su Ping felt a humming in his mind and body.
The temperature in the entire cultivation room seemed to rise by a few degrees with that one burst.
After a while, Su Ping slowly opened his eyes, feeling a warm and soothing sensation filling his limbs and body.
The mana inside his body had increased by almost thirty percent since before the circulation!
And this new limit continued to climb gradually as the mana circulated.
Su Ping let out a breath.
"Qi Cultivation Fifth Layer, broken through!"
"With this realm, I have finally caught up with most of my fellow Outer Sect brothers who started at the same time as me."