He sorted through the remaining spoils of war, categorizing and storing them.

Upon careful count, Song Yan now possessed over six hundred and fifty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

In addition, he had five Mid-Grade Spirit Stones.

For a Cultivator in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining, this was undoubtedly a huge sum.

He did not intend to keep all these Spirit Stones in his possession.

After a brief plan, he decided to keep only three Mid-Grade Spirit Stones and one hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones for emergencies.

All other Spirit Stones would be exchanged for Cultivation resources.

He would only feel at ease once these items were fully utilized by him.

"The most important tasks at hand are, on one side, to diligently Cultivate Spiritual Qi and quickly Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level to become an Inner Sect Disciple."

"On the other side, it is to comprehend Sword Intent..."

To be honest, both paths seemed quite far off.

Breaking through to the Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level usually took ordinary Cultivators five to seven years.

Now, after comprehending the rudimentary Dao Heart and obtaining a wisp of formless spiritual essence from the Unmoored Boat,

and having fused with the Wind-Thunder Supreme Spirit, the Dao Seed beneath the Zhen Dao Sword Mansion was already extremely full.

Although there was no comparison, roughly calculated, his speed of absorbing Spiritual Qi might already be on par with the "Genius" Inner Sect Disciples with dual Spiritual Roots.

"Given this, perhaps it will only take three to four years to Breakthrough to the Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level Realm?"

"As for Sword Intent..."

He planned to dedicate more time each day to practicing the sword manipulation techniques recorded in the Essentials of Swordsmanship.

Do your best, and leave the rest to fate.

He didn’t feel any anxiety.

In the following days, Song Yan began his systematic Cultivation: drawing in Qi to refine his spirit, practicing swordsmanship, and whenever he had free time, Cultivating the Five Stars Pulse Grasping Skill.

When he went out, he also paid attention to any rumors within the Sect.

Mainly, he was afraid that his killing of Dan Zifeng would be exposed.

The news of Dan Zifeng’s death did indeed spark a small discussion, but the atmosphere of the discussion seemed to be mostly celebratory.

And soon, no one paid attention to this matter anymore.

It made sense; in such a large Sect, if someone died in a fight outside, it simply meant they were inferior.

Dan Zifeng was not the offspring of a great Cultivator, so naturally, no one would investigate further.

The false prestige of a fox borrowing a tiger’s might had thus died before the new year.

The calm atmosphere made Song Yan feel at ease.

However, he heard another piece of news.

He heard that Senior Brother Lin Qing had passed the Heart Refining Road a few days ago and successfully advanced to become an Inner Sect Disciple.

"This Senior Brother Lin is quite an eccentric..."

He thought to himself.

He had advanced to the Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level early, yet he had never participated in the Heart Refining Road.

He stayed in the Outer Sect for eleven years until he officially advanced to the Inner Sect a few days ago.

Song Yan initially thought that the Heart Refining Road had some special aspects and was a very difficult test.

But after staying in the Sect for a long time, he learned that since the establishment of the Heart Refining Road, there seemed to have been no failures.

"I wonder what Senior Brother Lin was thinking."

Curiosity aside, he couldn’t meddle in other people’s affairs.

Senior Brother Lin Qing was already an Inner Sect Disciple, and now, no matter what he had done before, Outer Sect Disciples would analyze its profound meaning.

On this day, Song Yan left his Immortal Cave and headed towards Tongchen Peak.

Dan Zifeng had not returned for more than ten days, and during a routine check, the deacon Disciple discovered that his life lamp had extinguished and reported it to the deacons of Tongchen Peak.

It was too common for a Disciple to die outside.

However, the Logistics Hall always needed a new person to work.

Song Yan knew this person. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Or rather, he had met him.

In the Logistics Hall, Wu Zheng and the assisting deacon Disciple greeted Song Yan together.

He was smiling, still looking like his usual kind self.

He vaguely remembered that when they explored the Immortal Cave of the Unskilled Rogue Cultivator together, Wu Zheng was only at the Qi Refining Stage 6 Realm.

Perhaps he had stayed in the Middle Stage of Qi Refining for too long, and the Immortal Cave trip had brought him some gains.

So, he heard that not long after he returned to the Sect, he Broke through to the Qi Refining Stage Seventh Level, entering the ranks of the Late Stage of Qi Refining.

Later, he and Senior Brother Lin Qing advanced to the Inner Sect one after another.

"Junior Brother Song, I’ve been waiting for you, old man."

Wu Zheng said with a laugh, patting his shoulder.

He seemed not to mind at all that this Junior Brother had used a fake name when they explored the Immortal Cave together previously.

"These spiritual items sent by the Profound Origin Sect, they are truly tempting!"

Wu Zheng spoke to him without the superiority or airs of an Inner Sect Disciple, instead joking and being quite amiable.

"If you had come a few days later, I, this old man, wouldn’t have been able to control myself and would have swallowed them all, which would have been a grave mistake, hahahaha..."

Song Yan smiled, but his mind recalled Wei Dao.

He said nothing.

Under the witness of the deacon Disciple, the few of them together counted the "compensation" from the Profound Origin Sect.

There was indeed a lot.

Two hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, ten bottles of Huang Ya Pills, three sets of Small Spirit Gathering Arrays, and even a small bottle of special Medicinal Pills among them.

Three pills per bottle, the Medicinal Pills were azure blue, emitting a faint luster.

"Spirit Gathering Pill?"

Song Yan was surprised.

The Spirit Gathering Pill was also one of the mainstream Medicinal Pills used by Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Stage.

However, compared to the Huang Ya Pill, it was more geared towards Breaking through Bottlenecks.

In the Cultivation World, various "Breakthrough Pills" that genuinely increased the success rate of Breakthroughs were not something everyone had the opportunity to obtain.

Most Cultivators in the Qi Refinement Stage, when facing a Bottleneck, could only rely on their accumulated Spiritual Qi to forcibly Breakthrough again and again.

If they were lucky, they could Breakthrough the Realm.

But if their luck was bad... they would have to recuperate and wait for the opportunity to try repeatedly until they Broke through.

And while the Spirit Gathering Pill was not considered a "Breakthrough Pill," its medicinal power was quite potent.

If taken when approaching the Bottlenecks of the Late Stage of Qi Refining, it could still offer some assistance in Breakthrough.

The market price for a bottle of five Spirit Gathering Pills was around forty Spirit Stones, and if the quality was good, it could be even higher.

These three Spirit Gathering Pills, it could only be said that they truly came from the Profound Origin Sect, with excellent quality.

No wonder Dan Zifeng wanted to embezzle these things no matter what.

If all were exchanged for Spirit Stones, it would be close to five hundred... Little did he know, Shen Yu originally made these moves to secretly secure a Spiritual Vein for himself and his Family.

He didn’t expect the situation to completely spiral out of his control in the end, and he was truly afraid that these simple-minded people from the Cave Abyss Sect would just attack the Profound Origin Sect’s mountain gate without a word.

To appease them, the items sent were all of high specifications.

In addition to items for refining spirit, there were also some useless trinkets like "Cultivation World Unofficial Histories" and "Flower Festival Invitation Letters."

"Junior Brother Song, take care."

"No need to see me off."

Song Yan left the Logistics Hall, his mind beginning to ponder how to best utilize this large sum of spiritual resources he now possessed.

"It feels so good to have Spirit Stones."

This "Cultivation subsidy" from the Profound Origin Sect truly pushed his assets to their life’s Peak.

"All of this, I owe to those Elders in the Sect who helped him, and to the Sect Master of the Cave Abyss Sect..."

"Especially Elder Xu Ziqing and the Sect Master."

Although Song Yan knew that their actions were most likely not for his sake,

just seeing their actions, they truly stepped up when needed.

Thinking of this, he felt much gratitude.

Recalling his own mysterious Sect Master, he naturally couldn’t forget that heaven-shrouding sword strike.

It made his heart surge.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person he truly was.

While guessing and imagining, he headed towards the Lingyuanze Market.

He wanted to sell some redundant Spiritual Artifacts and miscellaneous items as soon as possible.

The New Year was approaching, and many Cultivators might not be found then, which would be troublesome.