Chapter 79: Spirit Stones

Pills are not the only things that can assist cultivation.

For instance, a Spirit Gathering Formation deployed through Formation Flags can also aid cultivation, though it barely has any effect on Su Xiaoyu.

Beyond that, there are naturally other items that can produce similar results.

Unique Magical Artifacts, other Elixir Pills, and Spirit Stones.

What Su Xiaoyu took note of were the Spirit Stones.

Although she had heard of Magical Artifacts used to assist cultivation, she had never seen anyone own one. Other Elixir Pills, even if they weren’t Spirit Nurturing Pills, were still pills. Since they all served the function of assisting cultivation, they would likely suffer from the same Drug Resistance. The only exception were Spirit Stones, which didn’t trigger this resistance.

Spirit Stones are an extremely unique type of mineral in the Cultivation World. Alchemy, Artifact Refining, deploying Formations… many things rely on Spirit Stones. Thus, Spirit Stones naturally became the currency of the Cultivation World. All mined Spirit Stones are cut to specific sizes and divided into nine grades based on quality, with the First Grade being the highest and the Ninth Grade the lowest.

Treasure Peak naturally had some Spirit Stones stored on it, mostly Ninth Grade, though there were also Eighth Grade, Seventh Grade, and even Sixth Grade Spirit Stones!

After focusing her attention on Treasure Peak, Su Xiaoyu used the Wind Thought Technique to retrieve one of each grade, from Sixth to Ninth, and attempted to extract them. She then checked the Faith Value required to exchange them on the walls of the Diorama Box.

“So expensive…”

Su Xiaoyu couldn’t help but click her tongue after a quick glance.

A single Ninth Grade Spirit Stone cost 1000 Faith Value, while an Eighth Grade cost 10,000 Faith Value… she didn’t even need to look at the rest.

Looking at the results, Su Xiaoyu deliberated briefly before exchanging for one Ninth Grade Spirit Stone.

Once the Spirit Stone was exchanged, it materialized into the size of a fist. Perfectly square, it sparkled like a translucent gem.

Su Xiaoyu grasped the Ninth Grade Stone in both hands and began cultivating, attempting to absorb the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy within it—it’s worth noting that once a Spirit Stone’s energy is absorbed, its luster diminishes, and its value drops accordingly.

The lowest-valued currency in the Cultivation World isn’t just a Ninth Grade Stone; it’s a Ninth Grade Stone with only ten percent luster. Any less luster and no one will take it.

The one Su Xiaoyu was using was still at one hundred percent luster.

The moment she started cultivating, Su Xiaoyu understood why Cultivators rarely liked to cultivate directly with Spirit Stones and preferred trading them for pills and other items. Extracting Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy from the stone was far from easy; the efficiency was, in fact, extremely poor.

After a long while, the energy Su Xiaoyu extracted didn’t even match the effect of a single Spirit Nurturing Pill. In that same amount of time, she could have taken several pills.

After cultivating like this for a bit, Su Xiaoyu stopped.

She looked at the Diorama Box, thought for a moment, and exchanged for another Spirit Stone.

This time, she took out an Eighth Grade Spirit Stone at one hundred percent luster, costing her ten thousand Faith Value.

“I’m running low on Faith Value again.”

After a sigh, Su Xiaoyu began cultivating with this Eighth Grade Stone.

Compared to the Ninth Grade, the concentration of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy within the Eighth Grade Stone was a step higher, and extraction became noticeably easier. This increased Su Xiaoyu’s cultivation speed considerably; it felt only slightly slower than taking a Spirit Nurturing Pill.

A Spirit Nurturing Pill taken from the Diorama Box cost 400 Faith Value.

An Eighth Grade Spirit Stone, however, cost ten thousand Faith Value.

Although a single Eighth Grade Stone lasted much longer than a pill, Su Xiaoyu felt that even by the time this stone was used up, its overall assistance wouldn’t match that of twenty-five Spirit Nurturing Pills. It would at best equate to the effect of a little over ten pills.

If she had any other choice, why would she resort to this method?

Regardless, being able to continue cultivating wasn’t a bad thing.

And so, Su Xiaoyu clasped the Eighth Grade Stone and cultivated for an entire day, only stopping when darkness fell once more.

She looked at the stone in her hand; its luster had dimmed considerably. She suspected that if she continued cultivating through the night, it would be drained dry.

But she didn’t go back to cultivating. The main reason she stopped was hunger, so she promptly pulled out her Mobile Phone and quickly ordered herself a rice bowl.

After ordering takeout, she paused her cultivation for the moment and instead looked inside the Diorama Box, wanting to see how the Cultivators under her care were doing.

Over the past few days, some people inside the Diorama Box hadn’t changed much, while others had changed significantly.

When Su Xiaoyu’s gaze landed on the Qixi Festival Sect, a hint of emotion surfaced in her eyes.

The members of the Qixi Festival Sect had grown.

After many days, the Drug Resistance from the Divine Medicine Granules had temporarily faded. Consequently, each member took a second Divine Medicine Granule, leading to a collective breakthrough.

For example, Yin Mengyu achieved another breakthrough, reaching Mid Golden Core.

Sect Master Tong Shishi wasn’t left behind either, breaking through from Late Foundation Establishment to Golden Core Initial Stage.

The others each had their own breakthroughs, so much so that the entire Qixi Festival Sect was filled with joyous laughter. They even held a banquet to celebrate.

Of course, they did not forget to thank the Heavenly Maiden.

Without the Heavenly Maiden, where would they be?

Su Xiaoyu watched the scene within the Qixi Festival Sect and couldn’t help but smile.

She listened to their conversations during the banquet and learned quite a few things.

For instance, the effect of the Divine Medicine Granules had weakened.

While the second dose of the granules still caused a breakthrough, everyone could feel that its effect had diminished. A third dose probably wouldn’t trigger an immediate breakthrough.

Everything builds up Drug Resistance.

Su Xiaoyu empathized deeply with this and couldn’t help but lament her own situation again.

After watching for a while, she dragged her view over to the Golden Dragon Market.

Xiao Hongyi still hadn’t returned; she had been searching deep within Magpie Mountain for members of the Bliss Sect these past two days, though she still sent messages back occasionally to confirm her safety.

As for Golden Dragon…

When Su Xiaoyu noticed Golden Dragon, she saw that she was currently hosting a guest. The guest was also a woman, with golden hair and golden eyes, looking somewhat similar to Golden Dragon.

“Hm? Does she also have Demon blood?”

Su Xiaoyu grew curious.

The so-called Demons were new species born when tangible things—plants, stones, water mist, flames, Spirit Beasts—developed sentience. Among them, Spirit Beasts becoming Demons was the most common, followed by plants. Things like stones, water mist, and fire gaining sentience and becoming Demons were exceedingly rare.

The Profound Azure Python, belonging to Luo Cuiyu, the Beast Tamer of the Qixi Festival Sect, was a type of Spirit Beast that hadn’t yet become a Demon. However, as its cultivation increased, such a Spirit Beast could very easily become a Demon, at which point it would possess independent consciousness and even take on a human form.

After becoming a Demon, they could also intermarry with humans and produce offspring. Such offspring would inherit some demonic traits.

For example, Golden Dragon was a hybrid of human and Demon, which was why she was born with golden hair and golden eyes.