'Cultivating makes me happy!' Zhang Zhian thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of being a Genius.
Before this, he had never imagined that Cultivate itself could be such an interesting thing.
Admittedly, he had always yearned deeply for the matter of Immortal Ascension in his heart.
But that yearning was like... an ordinary scholar boldly claiming he would become a prince or a minister in the future, when in reality, all he wanted was the prestige of being a high-ranking official, while the hardships along the way were not what he desired.
This applied to the past Zhang Zhian as well; to put it simply, what he truly craved was merely the result of 'Immortal Ascension'.
He felt no joy regarding the process of 'Cultivate' in between.
However, everything was completely different now.
After obtaining the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, Zhang Zhian's attitude toward Cultivate itself had undergone an earth-shattering change.
Every session of Cultivate, every bit of effort... could be exchanged for growth visible to the naked eye.
This constant positive feedback made him gradually fall in love with the act of Cultivate itself.
Thus, in the following months, Zhang Zhian became somewhat addicted to Cultivate, unable to extricate himself.
During this period, except for going out once every seven days to 'find' an Opportunity, he hardly ever left his small courtyard.
In fact, if possible, Zhang Zhian hoped this kind of life could continue forever.
It was just a pity...
"I've finally finished them." Looking at the empty small porcelain bottle before him, Zhang Zhian's face could not hide his disappointment.
Undoubtedly, his ability to Cultivate so diligently during these days was inseparable from the Comprehension Ability boost provided by the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart.
And wanting to activate the Comprehension Ability boost state of the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart inevitably led to an accelerated consumption of his own energy.
In these months, to maintain this 'Genius mode' for long periods, Zhang Zhian would occasionally pop a nourishing origin pill to replenish his energy loss.
Hence the current scene; his nourishing origin pills had finally been completely consumed.
Although he didn't forget to 'encourage' Zhao Lei from time to time when he went out to look for Opportunities, providing him with some small motivation for Cultivate.
Martial Uncle Liu, who was behind Zhao Lei, hadn't forgotten this matter either, and would send someone to deliver a bottle of nourishing origin pills to Zhang Zhian every month.
Even though Zhang Zhian had accumulated some stock previously, this amount of one bottle per month was still unable to satisfy the frantic consumption under his frequent 'Comprehension Ability boost' mode.
'Perhaps I should consider looking for another way to obtain nourishing origin pills?' After a brief moment of disappointment, Zhang Zhian couldn't help but think this way.
'However, a new way... the options before me are really just buying or refining.'
'Buying nourishing origin pills isn't hard; Medicinal Pills of this Rank can be bought in the Sect's Outer Market.'
'Not only is the price cheaper than in the markets outside, but the quality is also superior.'
'But...' Zhang Zhian subconsciously touched his not-so-wealthy Storage Pouch, 'Even so, the price for these nourishing origin pills at the market is fifteen Spirit Stones per bottle, which is five Spirit Stones more expensive than a qi gathering pill of the same grade.'
'If I want to keep the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart's Comprehension Ability boost mode active long-term, I will definitely need to consume a significant amount of nourishing origin pills in the future.'
'Not to mention that this would incur a huge expense of Spirit Stones, the act of frantically purchasing a pill for strengthening the foundation and nourishing the origin is also quite strange.'
'Although since joining the Sect, the fellow Disciples of the Azure Spirit Sect have mostly left a good impression on me, one must always be on guard against others.'
Zhang Zhian lowered his head in thought, 'And considering the long term, if I want to use the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart to boost my Comprehension Ability to assist my Cultivate, I will always have a great demand for this type of Medicinal Pill that can replenish essence and Qi, not just nourishing origin pills.'
'Thinking about it this way, it's indeed best to master the skill of Alchemy myself.'
'Moreover, among my Three Spiritual Roots, I already possess the Fire and Wood attributes, which are the two Spiritual Root attributes most suitable for Alchemy.'
'Just...' Zhang Zhian's face suddenly slumped, 'The Sect strictly prohibits the Alchemists within the Sect from teaching Alchemy techniques to Disciples at the Qi Refining Mid-stage and below.'
Generally speaking, setting aside Disciples with special identities like Zhao Lei.
Disciples who could be admitted into the Azure Spirit Sect basically had at least an Aptitude of Three Spiritual Roots or above, like Zhang Zhian.
It would be an exaggeration to say that all such Disciples had hopes of Foundation Establishment, but reaching the Realm of Qi Refining Perfection was basically not a problem.
Furthermore, in the eyes of the Azure Spirit Sect, the stage from Early Stage to Middle Stage Qi Refining was perfect for letting the Disciples temper their Heart-Nature.
Only by learning to focus on cultivation and not being distracted by outside noise could they go further on the future path of cultivation.
In fact, it wasn't just the skill of Alchemy; it included Artifact Refining, Talisman, Array Dao, and all the other Hundred Arts of Cultivation.
The Azure Spirit Sect strictly prohibited everyone in the Sect from teaching these skills to Disciples at the Qi Refining Mid-stage and below.
Once the Disciples' cultivation reached Late Stage Qi Refining... at that time, even if they didn't actively seek to learn, the Azure Spirit Sect would mandate that its Disciples master one skill.
And this seemed to have some connection to subsequent cultivation.
Of course, the above rules only stipulated that Disciples below Late Stage Qi Refining could not learn the Hundred Arts of Cultivation through official Sect channels, but if these Disciples mastered a certain cultivation skill through other means, the Sect naturally wouldn't be too harsh.
At most, when an Elder found out, they would offer a word or two of admonishment.
Otherwise, Zhang Zhian wouldn't have entertained the thought of learning Alchemy.
After all, for him, even without the help of the 'Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart', Breakthrough to Late Stage Qi Refining was only a matter of time; it wasn't worth violating the Sect's rules for it.
Sensing the Spiritual Qi in his body, which was already much more surging than a few months ago, Zhang Zhian shook his head slightly, 'Even with the boost from the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, my understanding of the Sunset Meal Technique has improved a lot, and my cultivation speed has increased accordingly.'
'But these few short months were only enough to raise my cultivation to the fourth layer of Qi Refining; I'm still quite far from the Qi Refining Seventh Layer of Late Stage Qi Refining.'
'Or else...' Zhang Zhian's expression shifted slightly,'Should I try to see if I can directly use the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart to search for a Pill Dao Inheritance?'
During these months, in his spare time from cultivation, he hadn't forgotten to continue exploring whether there were any hidden settings or limitations regarding the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart's ability to perceive Opportunities.
By now, Zhang Zhian was basically certain that the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart was indeed influenced to some extent by his own thoughts when searching for nearby Opportunities.
As long as he became interested in a certain type of item, there was a high probability that the next refreshed Opportunity would be related to it.
As for why it was a 'high probability' rather than an absolute?
This was because Zhang Zhian had also discovered over these months that the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart seemed to have certain principles for judging an Opportunity.
If an item had an owner and the owner had no intention of selling it at a low price, it didn't count as an Opportunity!
Even if it was ownerless, if it exceeded Zhang Zhian's own ability to obtain it, it still didn't count as an Opportunity!
This meant that even if Zhang Zhian really wanted a certain type of treasure, if there were no Opportunities in his vicinity that met the judging criteria, the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart would randomly refresh a different Opportunity.
However, it was worth mentioning that Zhang Zhian discovered that if the difficulty of obtaining a certain Opportunity was too high for him to get it within the seven-day limit,
He could choose to maintain the connection with that Opportunity, and this connection would not break even if the Opportunity fell into someone else's hands.
The price for maintaining this connection was that unless Zhang Zhian obtained the Opportunity or chose to actively give it up, the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart would not refresh any new Opportunities during that period.
'I seem to be really slapping my own face here.' A hint of helplessness flashed in Zhang Zhian's eyes, 'I only just decided not long ago not to specify my Opportunities at will...'
Before confirming that the type of Opportunity obtained by the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart could be influenced by himself, Zhang Zhian had indeed hoped it would have such an ability.
But after truly confirming it, he had a different thought—what I want might not necessarily be what is suitable for me.
It was even possible that because of such behavior, he might miss out on a much larger Opportunity that briefly appeared nearby.
Of course, Zhang Zhian's sudden realization of this point was also thanks to not long ago... the node where a new round of the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart refreshed a new Opportunity happened to be when his cultivation was about to break through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining.
Thus, he witnessed firsthand how an Opportunity that was originally at the green light level actually downgraded to a white level Opportunity immediately after his Breakthrough.
That was a first-order Spiritual Plant—Flowing Light Grass—growing in a rock crevice.
The effect of this Spiritual Plant was very singular: it could help a Cultivator in Early Stage Qi Refining condense the Spiritual Qi in their body once.
When that Early Stage Qi Refining Cultivator broke through to the Middle Stage, they could perform a second condensation.
This kind of operation could undoubtedly make one's own Spiritual Qi much thicker than that of other Cultivators of the same level.
But conversely, it was unable to perform a second condensation on the Spiritual Qi that had already been condensed once in a Qi Refining Mid-stage Cultivator's body.
This stroke of bad luck made Zhang Zhian feel some regret, but it also made him realize two points afterward.
First, the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart's judgment of an Opportunity's level was fluid, and the evaluation standard was based on the amount of help it could provide to Zhang Zhian at that moment.
Second, with the existence of the Seven Apertures Exquisite Heart, there was no need to worry too much about any single Opportunity; one should believe that the next Opportunity to appear would be better.
It had to be said that this second point really sounded like Zhang Zhian's self-consolation after the fact.
However, it was precisely because of this second point that he realized in his subsequent reflection what was said earlier—the Opportunity I want might not necessarily be the Opportunity suitable for me.
'Slap my face then.' Zhang Zhian finally made up his mind, 'Next time, next time I definitely won't specify an Opportunity at will...'