In the alchemy room.
Ning Fa stood before a redwood table.
His expression was incredibly focused as he held a white wolf-hair brush, drawing continuously with swift, flowing strokes.
Streaks of silver spiritual energy swirled around his brush, seeping into a pale yellow talisman paper on the table, where a silver pattern was slowly taking shape.
This pattern's spiritual markings were complex, its silver light flickering intermittently, appearing quite mysterious.
As Ning Fa laid down his final stroke, all the spiritual wen of the silver pattern suddenly connected, its silver light flaring brightly, brimming with spiritual essence.
Ning Fa's expression lit up with joy, but just then, the silver pattern suddenly trembled, its silver light flickering erratically before abruptly shattering.
With a dull thud, the entire talisman paper turned into a pile of black ash, leaving only a few fragments of paper.
Ning Fa's face stiffened, and he dejectedly patted his head.
He had been just one step away from successfully crafting this Thunderball Talisman.
But then, a smile curved his lips. With a thought, the Mysterious Scroll appeared before him.
As white light flashed across the scroll, the pattern from the remaining fragments of the talisman paper slowly materialized on the scroll.
Following that, white lines extended, and below them appeared a blank yellow talisman paper and a blob of vibrant red spiritual ink.
A flash of white light flew out from the scroll, and then, out of thin air, a yellow talisman paper and a small blob of red spiritual ink appeared.
The residual fragments of the talisman paper on the table had vanished without a trace.
Ning Fa chuckled, looking at the scroll as if it were a lover.
This scroll could indeed trace back failed talisman crafts. As long as it wasn't completely reduced to ash, even a small fragment was enough for tracing.
Relying on the scroll's tracing ability, Ning Fa had barely used any talisman spiritual materials in the past month.
Although he hadn't officially crafted his first talisman yet, reaching the verge of success within a month was considered rapid progress.
Especially since he hadn't spent much time on talisman crafting this past month, only dedicating less than an hour each day.
This was partly due to Ning Fa's long-term experience in alchemy, which had greatly honed his spiritual sense's sharpness and control, as well as the precision of his mana transfer.
These were also quite beneficial for crafting talismans.
Another very important reason was that Ning Fa had mastered the Thunderball Technique to the Paragon realm, which provided a significant boost when crafting Thunderball Talismans.
If he were crafting talismans for other Five Elements Spells, it would be difficult to achieve such rapid progress.
Ning Fa put away the talisman paper and spiritual ink in the air, not continuing to craft talismans.
This was because the time allocated for talisman crafting today had ended.
After all, his primary focus remained on cultivation, and he also needed to spend time on alchemy.
Talisman crafting was merely a pastime for him outside of cultivation, and he wouldn't let it overshadow his main priorities by spending too much time on it.
However, looking at the past month, he seemed to possess a decent talent for talisman crafting.
He had quickly gotten the hang of it and believed that it wouldn't be long before he could officially craft the Thunderball Talisman.
Ning Fa cherished the current peaceful time immensely.
He only slept for two to three hours a day, with the rest of his time meticulously scheduled.
First, he dedicated sixty percent of his time to cultivation, striving to improve his cultivation level.
After all, cultivation realm was the foundation, and he was eager to break through to the middle stage of Qi Condensation as soon as possible.
After Ning Fa opened up his Main Thunder Source, he had been focusing on opening up Lesser Thunder Sources during this period and had already selected the first node for opening a Lesser Thunder Source.
It was located at the Tianfu Acupoint on his right arm.
The reason for choosing this location was simple: it was relatively easier and could significantly speed up the casting speed of hand seals with his right hand.
If the Lesser Thunder Source at the Tianfu Acupoint of his right arm was successfully opened, Ning Fa would then proceed to open the Lesser Thunder Source at the Tianfu Acupoint of his left arm.
With the enhancement of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body, the opening of the Lesser Thunder Source proceeded very smoothly.
Currently, the Tianfu Acupoint on his right arm already had the embryonic form of a Lesser Thunder Source, and it might be successfully opened within these few days.
This made Ning Fa once again deeply realize the meaning of the Great Five Elements Thunder Body providing a huge boost to cultivating lightning-attribute techniques.
The Ancient Source Thunder Scripture recorded that opening the first Lesser Thunder Source required at least one to two years.
Secondly, Ning Fa dedicated the remaining thirty percent of his time to alchemy.
The monthly requirement of refining twenty-five Essence Replenishing Pills for the family and Ning Shaohong combined put some pressure on him, but it was manageable.
Ning Fa was extremely serious about refining these pills, showing no complacency or slackness.
This was primarily for himself.
Ning Fa did not believe that reaching an eighty percent success rate in refining Essence Replenishing Pills meant he could become arrogant and complacent, resting on his laurels.
He clearly understood that alchemy was his foundation for standing firm within the family and was crucial for his future cultivation, something he absolutely could not neglect.
This was because the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture had extremely high requirements for cultivation resources, such as Spirit Veins.
In fact, it wasn't just the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture; his Great Five Elements Thunder Body had even higher demands.
Even with excellent aptitude, if the spiritual energy is thin, it's like a clever cook trying to make a meal without ingredients.
Even moving to Ningchang Island, which has a second-tier high-grade Spirit Vein, should be far from enough.
Therefore, Ning Fa can only cultivate by consuming pills, using elixirs like the Essence Replenishing Pill that can advance cultivation to compensate for the insufficient spiritual energy density, so as not to drag down his cultivation progress.
When he advances to higher realms in the future, his demand for elixirs will likely be even greater.
If he relied on purchasing them from the market, it would definitely be a huge expense, so the optimal choice is naturally to refine them himself.
Thus, for his own cultivation, he also has to improve his alchemy skills.
Now, even without using the Mysterious Scroll for tracing the origin of spiritual materials, Ning Fa's success rate for refining the Essence Replenishing Pill is stable at ninety percent, even approaching one hundred percent.
He feels that his mastery of refining this elixir has reached a new height.
Beyond this point lies another realm.
The remaining one-tenth of his time, Ning Fa then uses for talisman crafting and practicing another first-tier low-grade lightning-element spell, the [Lightning Flash Technique].
He even spends more time practicing the Lightning Flash Technique.
This spell is not a pure offensive spell; it's more like an auxiliary spell.
It can release intense lightning, temporarily blinding other cultivators within a certain area, causing minor damage to their eyes.
This spell is somewhat of a chicken rib, because cultivator duels primarily rely on divine sense, and this Lightning Flash Technique has no effect on divine sense.
However, in duels between low-level cultivators, the Lightning Flash Technique is still somewhat useful.
Because low-level cultivators in the early to middle stages of Qi Condensation have weak divine sense and generally lack combat experience, the Lightning Flash Technique, when suddenly used, might achieve a surprising effect.
As it turns out, after the Great Five Elements Thunder Body was truly activated, Ning Fa indeed experienced a huge boost in cultivating this lightning-element spell.
He only dedicated an hour each day to practicing this spell, and within a month, he had almost mastered it to the Great Accomplishment stage.
It looks like it won't be long before he can advance it to the Paragon stage.
It was then that Ning Fa understood that it wasn't that he could directly advance to the Paragon stage after mastering the lightning-element spell to the Minor Accomplishment stage.
Rather, his Thunder Body could greatly accelerate his cultivation speed of lightning-element spells, almost like cheating.
Just as Ning Fa was about to continue practicing the Lightning Flash Technique as usual, a knock came at the door.
Ning Fa smiled, knowing it was likely Ning Xiuying who had arrived.
When he opened the door, Ning Xiuying, with her voluptuous figure, was indeed standing outside.
However, her expression as she looked at Ning Fa was very strange. Her beautiful eyes were fixed on Ning Fa, as if she were trying to see something through him.