Ye Qin sat cross-legged and swallowed the Dew-Lowering Pill. He immediately felt the vast difference between consuming the elixir and consuming the Dew-Lowering Grass.

When he consumed the Dew-Lowering Grass, the grass in his abdomen transformed into a powerful current of energy in an extremely short time, surging through his meridians like a torrent, bringing with it intense pain. Because of this, taking the Dew-Lowering Grass daily was a form of torture, and he dared not consume too much each day for fear of rupturing his meridians.

However, upon swallowing the Dew-Lowering Pill, there was no such violent reaction. Instead, a warm and peaceful sensation spread through his abdomen. The pill melted very slowly within him, flowing through his body's meridians like a trickling stream, eventually dissipating at the Niwan (Mud Pill Palace).

The melting and absorption of the Dew-Lowering Pill took a long time, requiring nearly half a day to fully absorb its medicinal power. But its advantage lay in its gentle and sustained nature, causing no severe shock to the meridians.

Ye Qin spent a full four or five hours in meditation before he completely absorbed and converted the entire elixir. Then, he let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and suppressed the joy and excitement bubbling in his heart.

The Dew-Lowering Pill truly lived up to its reputation as a top-grade elixir for cultivators in the first to third layers of the Qi Condensation stage; it was indeed extraordinary.

He calculated that one finished Dew-Lowering Pill was equivalent to the medicinal effect of five or six Dew-Lowering Grasses. If he could consume two or three Dew-Lowering Pills a day, that would equate to the power of ten to eighteen Dew-Lowering Grasses, significantly increasing his cultivation speed.

Ye Qin's only current worry was the dross rate. He had only managed to successfully refine one batch out of more than ten crucibles, resulting in an unusually low pill yield.

However, this was mainly due to his inexperience in alchemy and the use of ordinary iron cauldrons. Once his proficiency in alchemy greatly improved with time, the yield rate should rise.

Days spent sequestered in one place refining pills passed remarkably quickly; in the blink of an eye, a month had gone by.

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Through continuous alchemy, Ye Qin had become very adept at opening the furnace and extracting the pills: three-tenths were finished Dew-Lowering Pills, three-tenths were semi-finished products, and about four-tenths were dross.

Among cultivators at the Qi Condensation level, this was a remarkably high pill yield. This success was largely attributable to Ye Qin having ample supplies of Dew-Lowering Grass and sufficient funds, allowing for continuous refinement.

According to Nan Tianba, most immortal cultivation families within the Wu Kingdom often dedicated the entire supply of their spirit herbs to a single alchemist to boost the success rate of pill refinement. Despite this, many alchemists in smaller families only refined a handful or a few dozen batches of pills in their entire lifetime. Nan Tianba, the dignified head of the Nan family of Pingzhou, had only refined about a hundred batches of elixirs over his three or four decades—a feat that qualified him as an experienced alchemist.

Ye Qin’s refining output in one month nearly rivaled Nan Tianba’s output over several decades. How could his pill yield rate not be high?

Ye Qin’s feelings towards Nan Tianba were complex, a mixture of joy and worry.

The joy stemmed from obtaining the Dew-Lowering Pill formula from the Old Ghost. After refining the elixirs, his cultivation speed was almost divine, and his cultivation level rose proportionally. In just one month, he had completed half of the total required yuan qi (vital energy) for the second layer of Qi Condensation—a process that previously would have taken him over half a year.

The worry was that the Old Ghost’s cultivation speed was equally fast. By trading the Spiritual Eye Technique, Wind Controlling Art, and the Dew-Lowering Pill formula, the Old Ghost had gained one month of the White Radiance from him, completing a quarter of the total yuan qi required for the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.

Although, by calculation, Ye Qin hadn't exactly suffered a loss in this exchange, if this continued, the Old Ghost’s cultivation would always maintain a distinct edge over him, preventing him from escaping the threat.

"Old Ghost, after this month, we have nearly completed our prior exchange. You must provide other techniques, or our exchange cannot continue. Otherwise, I will have to stop the Floating Island from emitting the White Radiance," Ye Qin stated slowly, reminding Nan Tianba that the agreed-upon exchange period had expired and it was time for new materials. Otherwise, he would cut off the source of the White Radiance.

"Boy, why did I run into such a miser? You won't even tolerate a small loss. I am the venerable head of a clan; would I try to take advantage of a junior like you?" Nan Tianba, who had been chasing the White Radiance in mid-air, stopped upon hearing this, his tone filled with clear displeasure. In his heart, he was driven mad by jealousy. For the past month, he had constantly sought an opportunity to devour Ye Qin’s primordial spirit. Yet, he never found a moment of Ye Qin's carelessness, nor an opportunity to strike.

Ye Qin’s wariness and precautions towards Nan Tianba had not diminished with the passing of the peaceful month.

He could often clearly sense the undisguised greed in Nan Tianba's gaze when the latter stared at him. Perhaps Nan Tianba didn't even bother to conceal it, given that his cultivation realm was a full two levels higher than Ye Qin’s. Furthermore, his initial attempt to swallow Ye Qin’s primordial spirit had already soured their relationship, making any attempt at concealment useless now, so he simply didn't bother.

Every time Ye Qin left the protective barrier of the Natal Primordial Spirit Stele to absorb the White Radiance on the Floating Island, he required Nan Tianba to stay ten li away.

The yellow glow emanating from Nan Tianba's Earth Primordial Spirit was quite bright amidst the vast grey mist, visible even from ten li away. A primordial spirit, unconstrained by a physical body, moved incredibly fast in the air, covering over a li in the blink of an eye. Only when Nan Tianba was ten li from the Floating Island could Ye Qin guarantee his safety; even if Nan Tianba made a move, Ye Qin could retreat back into the light shield instantly.

"Stop the nonsense, Old Ghost. Bring out whatever other techniques you have, so I don't have to constantly remind you every few days."

"The incantations for spells I know are certainly not few, but offensive techniques are absolutely out of the question for you. Given that you've been trustworthy this past month, I will pre-loan you six basic auxiliary techniques so that I can cultivate for another two months and reach three-quarters of the required yuan qi for the fourth layer of Qi Condensation.

Wind Binding Art, Quicksand Art, Entangling Art, Earth Evasion Art, Wood Evasion Art, Water Evasion Art—six in total. These are the foundational spells for the Wind, Earth, Wood, and Water elemental systems. They are most suitable for someone like you who possesses all five spiritual roots. I think that’s generous enough, ha ha!" Nan Tianba burst into laughter as if recalling something gratifying.

Ye Qin stared coldly at Nan Tianba. "Old Ghost, what are you laughing at? Is it a bad thing that I possess the Five Spiritual Roots? You only have an Earth Spiritual Root; I find your roots too few."

Nan Tianba, giddy with pride, wobbled precariously in mid-air, nearly tumbling over, but he quickly denied it: "No, no, I wasn't laughing at anything. Having the Five Spiritual Roots is indeed rare talent in the cultivation world; you can learn almost all categories of spells. I shall impart these techniques to you now; commit them to memory."

Ye Qin memorized the incantations and formulas for the six spells. Only then did his divine sense withdraw from the Zifu (Purple Mansion).

After seeing Ye Qin depart, the previously roaring and unstable Nan Tianba instantly became cold. He hovered in mid-air, fixing a chilling gaze on Ye Qin's primordial spirit, which was once again seated in meditation on the massive stone stele, letting out a sinister cold laugh.

He had imparted a load of basic auxiliary spells to Ye Qin, but his intentions were far from benevolent.

One must know that spiritual roots are divided into eight types: the five normal roots—Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth—and three mutated roots—Wind (a fire variation), Ice (a water variation), and Thunder (a water-fire variation). Spell systems are also divided into eight types, corresponding one-to-one with the spiritual roots.

Between spiritual roots and spell systems, there is a matching issue.

Matching: When a spiritual root and a spell system match, the cultivator can sense the spiritual energy of that system in a very short time. If they don't match, the difficulty of sensing it increases by dozens of times.

For instance, an Earth Spiritual Root learning a basic Earth spell can sense Earth spiritual power within ten-plus days. However, if the Earth Spiritual Root tries to learn a "Fire System Basic Spell," it might take up to half a year, or even over a year, before any sensation occurs. If an Earth Spiritual Root tries to learn a "Fire System Novice Spell," it would take over ten years to generate a faint sense—extremely difficult.

This means that basic-level spells can indeed be mastered and used if the cultivator is willing to learn them. But novice, intermediate, and advanced spells become progressively harder to practice; only cultivators with matching spiritual roots bother learning them. A cultivator with only an Earth Spiritual Root would not be foolish enough to practice any spell beyond the novice level in systems other than Earth.

Theoretically, in terms of the scope of spell systems he could learn, Nan Tianba was far inferior to Ye Qin.

Nan Tianba only possessed the Earth Spiritual Root, meaning he could only achieve extreme mastery in the Earth system, with proficiency in other systems being extremely limited. Ye Qin, with his Five Spiritual Roots, could achieve a certain level of accomplishment in the other eight systems, even including the mutated Wind, Ice, and Thunder systems.

However, in reality, the situation was not so simple.

This brings up the issue of spell proficiency.

Proficiency: The more spells of the same system are used, the greater the control and the stronger the resulting power.

A Qi Condensation cultivator has a lifespan of only about a hundred years. Within this short century, where would they find the time and energy to disperse their efforts learning spells across eight systems? Being able to master the spells of one system is already considered quite excellent.

"Boy, why are you so unlucky? You’ve just stepped onto the path of cultivation, and you ran into me. I’ll feed you a batch of basic auxiliary spells from various systems later on, just let you practice, practice, practice until you can never master a single spell beyond the novice level. By the time I reach the seventh or eighth layer of Qi Condensation, find a passage to leave this wretched place, and annihilate the Feng family to avenge my blood feud, Pingzhou will be my Nan family’s domain, ha ha ha!"

After his cold laughter faded, Nan Tianba slowly flew away from the space above the Natal Primordial Spirit Stele, slowly searching every inch of the grey rock crevices on the Floating Island. He had a persistent feeling that the method to leave this place must be hidden somewhere on this strange floating island. But exactly where it was, even after racking his brain, he couldn't figure it out; he could only search slowly.

3000-character grand chapter. .