Almost as soon as he began to practice the Residual Afterglow Breathing Technique, a gentle breeze swept through the small courtyard, and the threads of heaven and earth’s spiritual energy entered his body through the acupoints he had already opened.
In the past, no matter how hard Xu Taiping tried, he could not sense the meridians and acupoints, but this time he felt them quite easily. The process of guiding the spiritual energy into the meridians and refining it went smoothly as well.
In the end, Xu Taiping spent about half an incense stick's time to successfully refine a strand of true qi and send it into his dantian.
"Half an incense stick to refine just this much true qi, it’s nothing compared to what Master Ziyang called a genius, but for me, it means I can truly embark on the path of cultivation."
Xu Taiping was not overly disheartened by his extremely slow refinement speed.
"Grandpa said, diligence can make up for lack of talent. If they practice for two hours a day, I will practice for four; if they practice for four hours, I will practice for eight. One day, I will catch up!"
Xu Taiping made up his mind.
"Right, I still have these yellow bean spirit crystals. Immortal Lingyue said holding them while practicing can double the effect."
He suddenly remembered the yellow bean spirit crystals that had grown inside the Dizang fruit. He took one out and began to practice again.
With the help of the yellow bean spirit crystal, his speed of refining heaven and earth’s spiritual energy was more than three times faster than before.
"Immortal Lingyue didn’t lie to me. This spirit crystal is very beneficial to me. With this, I might really be able to break through to the Opening Gate realm within half a year!"
Feeling the increase in his cultivation speed, Xu Taiping was instantly delighted.
With the help of the yellow bean spirit crystal, his current cultivation speed was at least on par with that of ordinary cultivators.
In the following days, Xu Taiping spent two hours each day tending to the medicinal fields, and the rest of the time he devoted to cultivation, not daring to waste a moment.
Time flew by, and three months had already passed.
During these three months, Xu Taiping could clearly feel that the true qi in his dantian was becoming increasingly abundant. He vaguely sensed that he was about to break through to the Condensation Dew stage.
The Condensation Dew stage, as described in the *Residual Afterglow Technique*, is a term used to describe the depth of a cultivator's true qi before breaking through to the Opening Gate realm.
In the *Residual Afterglow Technique*, the depth of a cultivator's true qi before breaking through to the Opening Gate realm is divided into three levels: Condensation Dew, Frost Transformation, and Ice Formation.
Only when the depth of true qi breaks through the "Ice Formation" stage can a cultivator attempt to break through to the Opening Gate realm.
However, after breaking through to the Condensation Dew stage and entering the Frost Transformation stage, a cultivator will generate a layer of icy protective true qi around their body when practicing the *Residual Afterglow Technique*, equivalent to wearing a suit of top-quality steel armor.
Even before breaking through to the Condensation Dew stage, with the abundance of true qi in his dantian, Xu Taiping's physical changes were also quite noticeable.
For example, his eyesight and hearing were much stronger than they were three months ago.
In terms of eyesight, he could now clearly see a sparrow standing on a tree 500 meters away. In terms of hearing, he could distinguish the types of wild animals in the forest within a mile just by listening.
Additionally, his physical strength and agility had greatly improved.
Now, although Xu Taiping looked frail, he could easily lift a 200-pound stone millstone with one hand. In terms of agility, he once chased a wild deer in the nearby forest and kept up without falling behind.
Moreover, since he often went hunting with his grandfather in Green Ox Village, he knew how to use a bow and set traps, so he had been able to eat wild game every day for the past month.
Steamed purple perilla leaves with roasted deer meat and rabbit meat, he never got tired of eating them.
"Speaking of which, it's time to check the traps I set up in the back mountain. Maybe I can catch another yellow goat to eat."
At noon, after practicing for three hours, Xu Taiping rubbed his stomach and got up from the bed, preparing to go to the back mountain to check the traps he had set up.
Because he had to cultivate, he didn't have much time to hunt, so in the past three months, he had set up many traps on the nearby mountains. Now, he just needed to check them from time to time to get some harvest.
However, before that, he had something more important to do—
Sell the medicinal herbs.
The first batch of nine-leaf white perilla seeds had been planted for three months, and Xu Taiping had harvested over 300 pounds of perilla roots and over 60 pounds of perilla seeds, which was exactly three times the yield of an ordinary medicinal field.
"By weight, this batch of nine-leaf white perilla can sell for at least 96 merit coins, which is already three times more than I initially expected."
After placing all the medicinal herbs he was going to sell at the door, Xu Taiping took out the bone flute given by the West Wind Pavilion and blew it hard.
After a while, a white-headed eagle with wings spanning a full ten feet arrived at the door of the small courtyard.
"Uncle White Eagle, please help me sell these medicinal herbs. You can take three merit coins as a commission."
Xu Taiping bowed to the white-headed eagle standing in front of him.
Having spirit birds sell medicinal herbs was also a method he learned from the transmission jade slip. It said that ordinary medicinal herbs could be directly taken by spirit birds to sell, which saved time and effort, but a commission of three merit coins was required afterward.
"I will bring the money tomorrow."
The spirit bird, the white-headed eagle, didn't waste words. After nodding slightly, it grabbed the batch of medicinal herbs with its claws and took off into the sky.
"By tomorrow, I will have money to buy cultivation techniques from the Ten Thousand Scroll Pavilion."
Watching the white-headed eagle fly away, Xu Taiping crossed his fingers and stretched out a big yawn.
Although he still needed to save money to buy a True Fire Talisman, it was necessary to buy a martial technique for self-defense. When he was hunting in the mountains, he almost got injured by a few wild boars.
Currently, he had a full dantian of true qi but didn't know how to use it.
Actually, for cultivators, it would be better to buy a cultivation technique to practice, but unfortunately, he was short of money and couldn't afford it. He could only wait until he saved more money.
Moreover, before breaking through to the Opening Gate realm, even if he practiced the *Residual Afterglow Technique*, the amount of true qi in his body was not enough to support him in casting spells.
"These bow and hunting knife need to be replaced."
At this moment, Xu Taiping had already taken out the bow and hunting knife from the small house, preparing to head to the back mountain.
The bow and hunting knife were left by the previous owner of the Green Bamboo Residence. The hunting knife had many notches on the blade, and the bowstring of the bow had broken once, which Xu Taiping had managed to repair with great difficulty.
Living alone in the mountains, with many wild animals around the courtyard, it was necessary to have these basic self-defense weapons.
Half an incense stick later.
Although Xu Taiping called it the back mountain, according to the map in the jade slip, this mountain should be called Yanglu Mountain, named for the many yellow goats and deer in the mountain.
However, during his few trips into the mountain, Xu Taiping found that there were not many yellow goats and deer, but there were quite a few wild boars in groups.
"If I can hunt a wild boar, that would be good too. At least I won't have to worry about food for the next half month."
Xu Taiping, running through the mountain, cautiously observed his surroundings while muttering to himself.
Although cultivators can practice fasting, the prerequisite is to break through to the Opening Gate realm. Currently, Xu Taiping not only couldn't practice fasting but also needed a lot of meat to replenish the physical strength lost during cultivation.