Ming Qi's fame from his single battle also deterred most who harbored ill intentions against Tianqi Academy. For a while, no one dared to challenge Tianqi Academy, bringing a long-unseen tranquility to the academy.
Ming Qi's injuries had also healed. These days, besides cultivating, he'd been dining at a regular spot, sharing his cultivation experiences and insights during mealtimes.
Yue Qinglong, however, had been unusually quiet these past few days, speaking less. The original plan was to have him train in the Tianguan Tower, but Meng Junyi suddenly became ruthless and refused to come out, leaving Yue Qinglong unable to enter.
Although acquired cultivation doesn't allow one to utilize vital energy to unleash magical powers, it does require a strong foundation. After all, it's the foundation-laying stage, and the quality of the acquired foundation directly impacts future growth.
Ming Qi had completely integrated into Tianqi Academy and was truly accepted. Therefore, none of the academy's collections were held against him. He was able to learn a considerable number of cultivation techniques and body-refining formulas. However, the cultivation these formulas could only reach the level of combat skills, such as Zhao Fenghua's Soul-Pulling Finger and Ge Chuncheng's Overlord Spear Technique. These could not be compared to supernatural powers.
Ming Qi had little interest in these low-level cultivation formulas because he possessed the mysterious Supreme Mountain and Sea Map, which could provide him with unexpected benefits. He did not have a pressing need for other cultivation techniques.
During this period, Ming Qi had learned a great deal, including alchemy, weapon forging, and formations. However, he did not have the time to delve into these areas yet, as he was about to reach the first and greatest bottleneck in a cultivator's cultivation: breaking through the innate from the acquired!
Ming Qi's foundation was already incredibly strong, unprecedented. Four or five years of laying the foundation had made him a truly extraordinary force. Therefore, without further suppression, his progress was truly rapid.
In less than two weeks, he had already firmly entered the eighth level of the Acquired Realm, the Momentum Realm.
The Momentum Realm refers to the budding of Yuanli. At this point, physical training has essentially reached its limit. One must continuously comprehend and experience the mysteries of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, thereby realizing the innate Yuanqi and preparing for the final sprint.
Ming Qi also knew that the Acquired Realm's journey to the Innate Realm was incredibly difficult. However, from his memories, he knew that while the chances of success were slim, there were ways to increase them. For example, he chose a location with abundant spiritual energy, prepared precious elixirs to increase his chances of success, and deployed a set of formations to forcibly condense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and transform it towards the Innate Yuanqi, reaching a critical point.
All of these could increase the chances of achieving the Innate Realm, but given his current situation, Ming Qi couldn't satisfy any of these possibilities.
Because it was only then that he realized how incredibly poor he was!
Indeed, he was completely broke. Cultivators no longer had any desire for the real gold and silver of the mortal world. All they needed were Yuan Crystals.
Yuan Crystals of varying purity, properties, and grades had become the hard currency used by cultivators in transactions.
Yuan Crystals became such a hard currency among cultivators because they contained the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, aiding their cultivation! They could be used to refine formation flags and set up formations, and to refine elixirs and artifacts!
In short, everything related to cultivation depended on Yuan Crystals!
Although Ming Qi now possessed a considerable amount of gold and silver, they were now completely useless to him.
He had never imagined that the day would come when he would be so poor, despite possessing a considerable amount of gold!
The lack of demand for Yuan Crystals destined them to be expensive. While some could be purchased from mortals with gold and silver, this was ultimately a drop in the bucket for cultivators.
Fortunately, the sect offered some benefits. While the Biyou Sect didn't prioritize its outer disciples, it distributed a number of common elixirs and a considerable amount of Yuan Crystals every month.
He had also learned that the Biyou Sect distributed ten low-grade Yuan Crystals per person each month, with random attributes.
Ming Qi also had a good understanding of Yuan Crystals. They were categorized into low, medium, high, and top-grade. To put it in perspective, if a low-grade Yuan Crystal had an energy value of 100, a medium-grade Yuan Crystal would have an energy value of 10,000, and a high-grade Yuan Crystal would have an energy value of 1,000,000.
This allowed him to determine the exchange rate for Yuan Crystals: 100 low-grade Yuan Crystals would be equivalent to one medium-grade Yuan Crystal. Similarly, one top-grade Yuan Crystal would require a million low-grade Yuan Crystals.
However, for post-natal cultivators, even using low-grade Yuan Crystals during cultivation is a luxury. Generally speaking, most disciples save their Yuan Crystals for the Xiantian stage. After all, upon reaching the Xiantian stage, the speed at which one absorbs and transforms the spiritual energy of heaven and earth far outstrips the body's supply. Only with the help of Yuan Crystals can one steadily improve their strength.
The Biyou Sect is not a major sect, and its supply of Yuan Crystals is naturally limited. The sect controls only a few scarce Yuan Crystal veins. Therefore, the sect's training efforts for outer disciples are not strong enough, and the sect lacks the necessary resources. This is evident simply from the number of Yuan Crystals provided.
Thus, Ming Qi didn't expect to rely on the sect's benefits to increase his chances of reaching the Xiantian stage.
He had to find a way himself!
He had to obtain more Yuan Crystals!
But within the Biyou Sect, it seemed there was no other way except to obtain Yuan Crystals from the sect.
Night.
"You said you need a large amount of Yuan Crystals?"
Ouna looked at Ming Qi in surprise.
Perhaps Ming Qi's battle had completely ignited the fighting spirit of everyone at Tianqi Academy, giving them renewed hope. They had all made tremendous progress, and Ouna had successfully entered the seventh level of the Acquired Realm.
Taking advantage of the break after lunch, Ming Qi shared his thoughts with Ouna.
"Hehe, well, money? Who wouldn't want it? I'm a poor idiot after all."
Ming Qi naturally wouldn't reveal his true thoughts right away; it was common sense to keep things to yourself.
Every cultivator knew that in the cultivator world, money meant Yuan Crystals.
"It might be a bit difficult to obtain Yuan Crystals from a sect," said Tang Qi, standing by.
Ming Qi naturally had no doubt about the word "difficult" coming from Tang Qi, but he wasn't about to back down. He simply hoped Ouna would tell him some solutions.
After pondering for a moment, Ouna said, "Master's quests are a way to obtain Yuan Jing, but they're too dangerous."
"Master's quests?"
Ming Qi's eyes flashed, and he already had some ideas in mind.
Ouna explained, "Master's quests are issued by some of the sect's core leaders and elite disciples within the Inner Sect. Whether it's refining elixirs or setting up formations, materials are essential for cultivation. Although they are innately powerful, they simply don't have the time to care for these things, so they issue the necessary materials in the form of Master's quests. Some of these quests are still achievable for us Outer Sect disciples. After completing these quests, you'll receive a corresponding reward, generally Yuan Jing. More difficult quests may reward magical artifacts, treasures, or secret manuals."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Where does the sect issue Master's quests?" Ming Qi asked.
"In the Trial Pavilion."
Having learned how to obtain Yuan Jing, Ming Qi felt a little relieved. While the difficulty level was quite high, who was Ming Qi? Long accustomed to the idea that wealth and honor are sought through risk, he was incredibly excited about the idea of taking risks.
"Alas, Senior Brother Meng has been in the Tianguan Tower for half a month now, and there's been no movement. We don't know how he's doing," said Qiu Ling, standing beside him, with a look of concern.
Ming Qi said, "Don't worry. All we have to do is trust Senior Brother Meng. He'll definitely succeed."
Everyone nodded. There was no other way. Due to the special restrictions of the Tianguan Tower, only one person could enter. Even if they wanted to explore, it would be impossible. Moreover, only Meng Junyi knew the method to open the Tianguan Tower's restrictions.
After bidding farewell, Ming Qi returned to meditate and cultivate.
The next day, Ming Qi rose early to search for the location of the Trial Pavilion.
Since the sect's missions were open to both outer and inner disciples, the Trial Pavilion was perfectly located: at the junction of the outer and inner gates, a spacious, single-story room.
Arriving in front of the Trial Pavilion, Ming Qi noticed a number of disciples milling around, watching. Among them were the occasional inner disciples, their steps steady and their breath lingering. Ming Qi knew that all inner disciples were innately powerful, so he carefully avoided them whenever he encountered them, trying to avoid any contact.
"Huh? Isn't that the legendary handkerchief genius? Is he also here to fulfill his master's mission?"
Just as Ming Qi stepped onto the steps and entered the Trial Pavilion, someone nearby whispered.
"How do you know? You haven't seen him."
"My friend has seen him. He said he has a strange face. I think it must be him."
"Just guessing! Don't talk nonsense! Maybe he's a senior from the inner sect, an innately powerful master! He could crush you with a single finger."
The two whispered, but Ming Qi ignored them and walked into the Trial Pavilion.
The Trial Pavilion was empty except for countless quest signs hung on the walls. Every now and then, someone would reach out and pluck one of them, walk to the door, hand it to an old man to register, and then leave.
Others would hurriedly come, hang up a few signs, and then leave.
Ming Qi began to look through the signs on the wall one by one.