Chapter 60 | The Divine Ability Practitioner

After completing the delivery of the Moon Spirit Grass to the Li family, Lu Ming spent the next few days throwing himself even more deeply into his cultivation.

His cultivation of primordial energy progressed by leaps and bounds.

With the profits from this batch of Moon Spirit Grass, Lu Ming's supply of Dharma Inscription Pills had barely paused. Meanwhile, the “Fire Lotus imprint” consistently worked its wonders, thoroughly dispersing any residual medicinal accumulation from the pills and freeing him from any lingering worries.

Thus, in the brief span of less than ten days since his breakthrough, numerous new divine ability markings had once again coalesced on his Divine Ability Bone. At this rate, Lu Ming estimated that it would take less than a month for him to condense his fifth complete Divine Ability Dharma Inscription.

One Divine Ability Dharma Inscription per month.

In a year, wouldn't that mean more than a dozen Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions?

This speed was incredibly rapid. After all, many Grand Divine Ability Practitioners remained stuck in this realm for over a decade, and even then, they might only condense a dozen or so Divine Ability Dharma Inscriptions.

In addition to the increase in his primordial energy, the Upper Divine Ability he was practicing, the “Thunderfire Whip,” was also advancing rapidly. In less than ten days, his thunderfire primordial energy could already condense into a blurry whip shape in his hand, showing the first signs of its power.

However, to Lu Ming's slight surprise, compared to his cultivation of primordial energy and divine abilities, his greatest progress over these past few days actually lay in the alchemy divine ability he had obtained from Zhou Xuan, titled the “True Explanation of the Six Refinements of Clear Qi.”

“I actually... managed to condense a wisp of spiritual sense.”

Inside the inner courtyard of the Thunderfire Hall, Lu Ming opened his eyes, which were filled with pleasant surprise. Just moments ago, when he was practicing the consciousness-refining method from the “True Explanation of the Six Refinements of Clear Qi” to temper his awareness as usual, he had clearly felt a strange change occur.

A sudden point of cool air had appeared at his glabella. The energy settled there, slowly spinning like a tiny vortex.

That was the birth of his spiritual sense.

At this moment, Lu Ming felt the world before him become significantly clearer. When he urged the spiritual sense at his glabella to expand, it actually spread out past his small courtyard. Its range of perception and sensitivity were far more meticulous than simple primordial energy detection.

Crucially, his primordial energy perception and spiritual sense perception did not conflict with each other. With the two layered together, any subtle movement within dozens of feet of him was instantly clear to his mind, which would undoubtedly boost his survival capabilities immensely.

“Furthermore, I've also refined the first wisp of Clear Qi from the “True Explanation of the Six Refinements of Clear Qi”.”

Lu Ming could clearly perceive that along with the birth of this wisp of spiritual sense, a stream of primordial energy suddenly rose within his body and underwent a transformation, giving rise to an ethereal, otherworldly quality.

Lu Ming raised his hand, and a faint wisp of Clear Qi emerged on his palm. This wisp of Clear Qi was highly mystical—it was pure and spotless, yet lacked the dense and violent nature of primordial energy.

This was because Clear Qi was used for refining pills, not for fighting others.

“Next, I just need to integrate this Clear Qi into my Divine Ability Bone and turn it into a divine ability imprint. Once that is done, I can manifest a cauldron at will to refine pills.” With a thought, the Clear Qi on Lu Ming's palm dispersed and flowed into his body, landing directly on his Divine Ability Bone.

The Clear Qi settled on the Divine Ability Bone, gradually beginning to shape into an imprint.

But right at that moment, an unexpected change occurred.

A fiery light suddenly began to flow from the “Fire Lotus imprint” on his Divine Ability Bone. A suction force swept out, directly pulling the wisp of Clear Qi into it. Then, under Lu Ming's dumbfounded gaze, it swallowed the Clear Qi whole.

“Huh?”

Lu Ming was dumbfounded. The alchemy Clear Qi he had worked so hard to refine had just been swallowed by the Fire Lotus imprint like that?!

Then how was he supposed to manifest a cauldron out of energy?! Without a cauldron, how was he supposed to refine pills?!

“Brother Fire Lotus, don't mess around like this.”

While Lu Ming was muttering in bewilderment, the Fire Lotus imprint that had absorbed the Clear Qi suddenly burst with wisps of mysterious light. The mysterious light surged out of his body and gathered above his palm.

In the next instant, Lu Ming's eyes widened.

As the mysterious light swirled, it actually transformed into a cauldron.

The cauldron was glazed in color, but its shape resembled a blooming lotus. Its petals closed together to form the body of the cauldron, and the gaps between the lotus leaves formed several openings.

This shape... looked very much like the Fire Lotus imprint on his Divine Ability Bone.

Lu Ming was amazed. Sensing his Divine Ability Bone, the Fire Lotus imprint was still there, so the cauldron before him was likely its projection.

“The Fire Lotus imprint absorbed the alchemy divine ability I practiced, and then developed a lotus cauldron for me...” Lu Ming curiously walked around the lotus cauldron, even poking it with his finger. The touch felt both real and illusory, which was highly peculiar.

“Am I supposed to use this lotus cauldron to refine pills from now on? I wonder what's different about it.” A trace of anticipation rose in Lu Ming's eyes. After all, his purpose in learning the alchemy divine ability was to stimulate more of the Fire Lotus imprint's mysteries, and right now, it seemed he had indeed taken the right path.

He had a premonition that this lotus cauldron might bring him quite a pleasant surprise.

“Now that both my spiritual sense and cauldron are complete, I can finally start real alchemy.” Lu Ming rose impatiently, left the Thunderfire Hall, and headed straight to the Ward Office to find Zhou Xuan.

Upon meeting, he did not mention his spiritual sense and cauldron first. Instead, he began practicing the “Golden Sun Flame Banner” as usual.

“I say, you kid have been practicing for so long and used up so much of my “Golden Radiance Spirit Liquid,” so why is there still no sign of you mastering the basics of the “Golden Sun Flame Banner”? If you don't make any progress soon, you can go practice on your own. You're wasting too much of my time and materials every day.”

Zhou Xuan brought out the golden liquid mixed from Heavenly Radiance Stone and gold crystals. As he continued to draw golden patterns on Lu Ming's body, he spoke with some confusion.

Zhou Fuling, who was standing nearby, also nodded. When Lu Ming was in the Bone Refining Realm, he was already able to practice Lower Divine Abilities to the Great Perfection stage, which proved that his comprehension and talent in divine abilities were extremely high. Why was he so slow this time?

Hearing this, Lu Ming couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.

He naturally knew what was going on. He hadn't really been practicing the “Golden Sun Flame Banner” much at all. Every time he practiced, he redirected the absorbed “solar fire energy” to temper his physical body instead of condensing a divine ability imprint.

Consequently, if one observed closely, they would find a golden luster flickering within his flesh. Once activated, his physical body would receive a significant boost, elevating his strength, speed, and durability to a whole new level.

He did this to sponge more of the “Golden Radiance Spirit Liquid.” After all, once he successfully mastered the basics, he wouldn't need Zhou Xuan, a Divine Ability Master, to personally draw the golden patterns for him anymore. When that happened, his absorption of solar fire energy would also decrease significantly.

Thus, he was deliberately stalling his progress.

But Zhou Xuan knew nothing of this. In his eyes, Lu Ming came to the Ward Office every day to practice diligently, showing an exceptionally serious attitude. So why was his progress so poor?

Even if he racked his brain, he would never have imagined that Lu Ming would use the “solar fire energy,” which could normally burn away one's cultivation foundation, to temper his physical body... As a result, over this period, Zhou Xuan had been driven to doubt whether he had chosen the wrong person due to Lu Ming's agonizingly slow progress with the “Golden Sun Flame Banner.”

He was having such a hard time just mastering the basics. Expecting him to reach Great Success in half a year? That was pure fantasy.

“Almost there, almost there! I feel like I'm about to master the basics!” Lu Ming chuckled awkwardly.

He felt a bit regretful in his heart. It seemed he couldn't keep sponging off of them anymore. Otherwise, if Zhou Xuan truly believed he had recruited a useless fool, the man might not even teach him alchemy.

With this thought, Lu Ming resumed his practice. In the next moment, the violent “solar fire energy” surged into his body like a tide.

Only this time, Lu Ming no longer used the “solar fire energy” to temper his physical body. Instead, he channeled all of it into his Divine Ability Bone, engraving the already prepared divine ability imprint for the “Golden Sun Flame Banner” into existence.

The moment the divine ability imprint formed, a scorching heat wave suddenly billowed from his body.

Lu Ming opened his eyes, his face filled with wild joy, and said to Zhou Xuan, “Ward Master, I've mastered the basics of the “Golden Sun Flame Banner”!”

Zhou Xuan and Zhou Fuling looked at each other, and then gave Lu Ming a suspicious look. He mastered the basics right after being scolded? Was this kid messing with them or putting on a show?

Nevertheless, mastering the basics was a good thing after all.

Zhou Xuan nodded and said, “Since you've formed the divine ability imprint, you can rely on it to draw the “solar fire energy” and practice on your own in the future. There's no need for me to draw the golden patterns for you anymore.”

Lu Ming agreed, and then quickly said, “Ward Master, I have already developed spiritual sense through the “True Explanation of the Six Refinements of Clear Qi,” and I've also condensed my first wisp of Clear Qi into a cauldron.”

“Oh? That was quite fast. It seems you truly possess talent for the Dao of Alchemy. Manifest your cauldron and let me take a look,” Zhou Xuan said, somewhat surprised.

Lu Ming extended his hand. With a thought, he sensed the “Fire Lotus imprint” on his Divine Ability Bone burst with mysterious light, which surged out of his body and transformed into a lotus cauldron above his palm.

Zhou Xuan looked at the lotus cauldron, slightly astonished. “To be able to manifest such a complete cauldron upon refining your very first wisp of Clear Qi is indeed quite rare. Back then, Fuling took quite some time to manifest a complete cauldron.”

Zhou Fuling was a bit disgruntled, but knowing it was the truth, she immediately snorted, “Since your talent is so good, you should hurry up and refine a batch of pills to test your skills.”