Cultivation: Starting with a Dual Cultivation Technique at the Immortal Rank

3: Chapter 3 Hidden Dragon in the AbyssHe rolled out of bed and walked barefoot to the Pill Furnace in the corner of the Immortal Cave.

This furnace was a second-hand item he had bought at a high price from the market; it used to be acceptable, but now it appeared full of flaws in his eyes.

“I’ll go exchange it for a better one tomorrow.”

Li Yifei casually picked up a few remaining Spiritual Plants—low-grade Materials for refining Rejuvenation Pills.

Without any hesitation or even the need to think, his fingers danced in the air like butterflies flitting through flowers. His spiritual power precisely enveloped the herbs and tossed them into the furnace. Fire rose, herbs melted, and the pill formed.

In just half a quarter of an hour, the furnace lid opened, and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted out.

Three round, full, and crystal-clear Medicinal Pills lay quietly at the bottom of the furnace, each surface shimmering with faint cloud patterns.

perfect quality!

Even for the lowest grade Rejuvenation Pill, being able to refine a perfect quality version meant it could be sold in the market for several times the price of an ordinary pill, and often there was demand but no supply!

Li Yifei pinched a pill and examined it against the dim candlelight, his eyes flashing with the light of ambition.

“This is capital.”

With this unique skill, he could completely compress the cost of pursuing a Dao Companion to the extreme, even achieving a ’zero-cost’ or even ’negative-cost’ conquest.

He could use the perfect quality pills he refined to exchange for Materials and Spirit Stones, then use the excess resources to ’dazzle’ those inexperienced Junior Sisters.

Once the Junior Sisters became his Dao Companions, it would trigger System rewards. They could even grow with the help of Dual Cultivation, becoming vassals and enforcers for his power.

It was a perfect closed loop.

It was a snowball that, once it started rolling, would never stop.

“Lin Qingxue is just the beginning.” Li Yifei put away the pills and cast his gaze toward the pitch-black night sky outside the Immortal Cave, where the stars were scattered like the countless Junior Sisters within the Sect waiting for him to ’save’ them.

“The sky over this Outer Sect is about to change.”

A month passed by quietly.

During this month, Li Yifei’s life was as regular as a precision machine.

On the surface, he became a regular at the Outer Sect’s Pill Fire Hall.

He bought large quantities of Spiritual Plants for refining qi gathering pills and refined pills day and night without stopping.

But he very cleverly controlled the quality of the pills. Out of every ten batches, only one or two were perfect quality, seven or eight were High Grade, and occasionally he would ’slip up’ and refine a few Medium Grade batches.

In this way, his image in everyone’s eyes became more realistic and believable—a gifted Alchemy Genius who still needed tempering.

Rather than a ’monster’ who could refine perfect quality pills one hundred percent of the time.

A ’monster’ would be coveted and dissected. A ’Genius,’ however, would be protected and courted by the Sect.

He sold the refined pills and quickly accumulated his first pot of gold.

After deducting costs, he made a net profit of over several hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones in a month, which was an astronomical figure for an Outer Sect Disciple.

The name ’Senior Brother Yifei’ and his good reputation for being ’generous and helpful’ spread wider and wider among the Outer Sect Disciples.

But behind this glory, Li Yifei’s other side remained unknown to all.

In the underground black market outside the Sect, he hid his identity to buy more Advanced Spiritual Plants, attempting to refine higher-level pills, some of which were used to improve his own strength.

The other portion was sold to buy various Yao Beast inner cores containing violent energy.

Even after maximizing his needs for cultivation pills and Yao Beast cores, his cultivation level and capacity for absorption were limited, resulting in a significant accumulation of Spirit Stones.

Every night, he would return to his Immortal Cave, close the Restriction, and circulate the Nine Revolutions Chaos Body Refining Art, swallowing those Yao Beast cores—which ordinary Cultivators avoided like the plague—directly into his stomach.

The Chaos blood and qi surged, devouring and refining all the violent energy within the Yao Beast cores, transforming it into the purest blood-qi power to continuously temper his Physical Body.

His Body Refining cultivation was growing at a terrifying speed.

Besides cultivating, most of his secret observations were focused on several specific ’targets.’

The number one beauty of the Outer Sect, Su Yanran, was naturally his primary focus. He discovered that this favored daughter of heaven never lacked followers, among whom were even figures of Inner Sect Senior Brothers.

She was like a rose with thorns; the cost of plucking her was extremely high, and the risk was immense.

“The time is not yet right.” Li Yifei soon crossed her off his near-term plans.

Subsequently, he locked onto two other targets.

One was a regular at the Pill Fire Hall named Xiao Waner.

Also possessing a Pseudo Spirit Root and at the second level of Qi Refining, she was sweet and lovely, with a diligent and thrifty personality. She always put every Spirit Stone she saved into buying Alchemy Materials, longing to become an Alchemist to change her fate.

She belonged to the ’low-cost, low-risk’ category.

The other was a woman named Liu Rumei.

With a True Spirit Root Aptitude and at the fourth level of Qi Refining, she had a graceful figure and eyes full of charm. Her personality was more extroverted and lively than Lin Qingxue’s, making her quite popular among the male Disciples.

She was currently stuck at the Bottleneck of the fourth level of Qi Refining and had an urgent need for pills. This was a high-quality project with ’medium cost, medium return.’

Li Yifei was like a calm hunter, silently gathering information on his prey, waiting for the optimal moment to strike.

And this moment arrived quietly when he had been dual cultivating with Lin Qingxue for exactly one month.

On this day, after finishing her cultivation, Lin Qingxue suddenly turned pale and began to retch.

Under Li Yifei’s unlimited supply of pills and the nourishment of Dual Cultivation, her cultivation had long since stabilized at the third level of Qi Refining, and her body was very well-conditioned; such a condition would certainly not appear without reason.

Li Yifei’s heart stirred. He immediately stepped forward to support her and placed his fingers on her fair wrist.

A moment later, an uncontrollable look of joy appeared on his face.

It was a pregnancy pulse!

[Ding! Detected that Dao Companion Lin Qingxue has successfully conceived. Offspring Bloodline is gestating...]

[Host is about to unlock ’Offspring Birth Rewards.’ Please ensure the safety and nutrition of the Dao Companion during pregnancy!]

The System prompt confirmed his judgment.

Li Yifei was ecstatic!

The core function was finally about to start!

He gently helped Lin Qingxue sit on the edge of the bed, softly comforting the young girl who was surprised, happy, and shy all at once.

At the same time, a thought became incredibly clear in his mind.

Now that Qingxue was pregnant, the matter of Dual Cultivation had to be paused, at least until the fetus was stable.

This meant that his path of rapidly increasing his cultivation through Dual Cultivation was temporarily cut off.

Furthermore, for the Family to branch out, how could one child be enough? He had to proceed simultaneously to create a scale effect!

It was time to develop the Family’s ’second partner.’

Li Yifei’s gaze pierced through the stone walls of the Immortal Cave, looking toward the residential area of the Outer Sect Disciples.

In his mind, Liu Rumei’s charming and moving face emerged.

“Junior Sister Liu, your Opportunity has arrived.”