Strongest Replication

The Dantian Cultivating Pill was a low Level-9 pill. The medicinal herbs used to refine it were even more precious, and the refining method was extremely complicated.    

All the peak Level-9 alchemists of the Chu Family failed 70–80% of the time while refining the Dantian Cultivating Pill. In simple words, if they tried to refine that pill ten times, they would only come out with two or three pills.    

Consequently, Dantian Cultivating Pill was a rare commodity; only disciples with Level-8 talent could get one after becoming a Level-3 Qi Refiner so that they could increase their innate potential.    

However, its rarity wouldn't be a problem for Chu Zhongtian. Thanks to his "copy-paste" ability, as long as he had enough spirit stones, he could get as many pills as he wanted.    

However,on second thought, that seemed like a costly trade. After all, replicated amere peak Level-10 Meridian Enhancing Pill costhim nearly two Level-10 stones.    

So, how many would he need to replicate a low Level-9 Dantian Cultivating Pill? Chu Zhongtian feared that his entire current wealth wouldn't be enough for that. Just thinking about this gave him a headache and a heartache.    

It seemed like Chu Zhongtian had to think of a way to earn more spirit stones. If he relied solely on what he got from the family, let alone duplicating top-tier pills, he might even struggle with cultivating normally.    

Chu Zhongtian shookhis head with all his strength, temporarily putting away the worries at theback of his mind. Then, he swallowed the Qi Increasing Pill heheld in his mouth and began to fill his dantian with spiritualpower.    

Since he had just become a Level-3 Qi Refiner, his newly-opened dantian was utterly empty.    

The Qi Increasing Pill filled his meridians with Qi, and then his 12 meridians turned that spiritual Qi into spiritual power before banking it into his dantian.    

Because this was Chu Zhongtian's first time consuming a Qi Increasing Pill, he experienced the labeled "best effect." After consuming a single Level-10 Qi Increasing Pill, 10% of his dantian was filled.    

Chu Zhongtian lookedat the eight Qi Increasing Pills in his hand and did some briefcalculations. Unfortunately, those eight Qi Increasing Pillswere far from enough to fill his dantian entirely. Therefore, he hadto use a low Level-9 spirit stone to duplicate more Qi IncreasingPills.    

Fortunately, the Qi Increasing Pill was just a Level-10 pill, so a single low Level-9 stone could duplicate it four times. Not counting the Qi Increasing Pill he had consumed, he had 11 pills in his hand after duplication.    

Since a single pill could fill around 10% of his dantian, 11 such pills should be more than enough to fill his dantian completely.    

Despite his calculations, Chu Zhongtian had a hard time believing it. Through his previous pill-popping experiences, Chu Zhongtian discovered a pattern.    

For the first three pills\herbs, he received 100% of the "best effect." For the next three pills, the “best effect” was reduced by 30%. Based on this pattern, starting from the seventh pill, the effects would be reduced by 50%.    

Not tomention, the Qi Increasing Pill was a mere Level-10 pill,so its medicinal effects weren't that great to begin with.    

So, he was sure that 11 Qi Increasing Pills wouldn't be enough to fill his dantian wholly. Still, Chu Zhongtian did not continue duplicating the Qi Increasing Pill.    

Low Level-10 pills weren't considered a very precious pill in the Chu Family. So, with Chu Zhongtian's current status, he could easily get five such pills each year. Furthermore, he had to spend some time adapting to these medicinal properties. Therefore, after consuming so many pills, he had to wait for a period of time before he could pop more pills.    

In the following period of time, Chu Zhongtian consumed the remaining eleven Qi Increasing Pills. In the end, only 70% of his dantian was filled; this worried him to no end. 'How will my future cultivation go if I kept on consuming so much Qi?!'    

Normal cultivators could not only flood their dantian with a single Qi Increasing Pill, but if they were lucky, they could even become a Level-4 Qi Refiner. Yet, 12 such pills could only fill 70% of his dantian: nowhere near flooding levels.    

"Forgetit. I'll take it one step at a time." Since he couldn't solve the spiritstone problem, Chu Zhongtian decided to suppress his worries forthe time being. Thankfully, he still had some low Level-9 spirit stonesleft, so he could still hold on and cultivate.    

Chu Zhongtian spent time consolidating his strength before leaving the cultivation room with his steel knife.    

Chu Zhongtian had gained cultivation levels too quickly recently, so although there wouldn't be any hidden dangers in the near future, it didn't mean he did his foundation any favors. Therefore, he decided to focus on consolidating his cultivation instead of gaining more levels. Then again, the saber technique would act as a supplement and increase his overall strength anyway.    

While Chu Zhongtian waspracticing his saber technique, one of Tranquil Elegant Courtyard'sguards came running over. In a headlong tone, he said, "YoungMaster Tian, quickly go to the living room. The eighth elder iswaiting for you there!"    

"Eighth elder is here?!" Chu Zhongtian did not dare make Chu Fann wait since it was disrespectful and could offend the senior. He quickly handed the steel knife to the guard and walked to the courtyard's living room.    

"Eighth Uncle, why are you here?"    

According to age and seniority, Chu Zhongtian had to call Chu Fann eighth uncle.    

In the past, Chu Zhongtian called Chu Fann eighth elder because he was just a shop assistant. Being a small figure, there was no way he could address Chu Fann so familiarly. Had he dared to call Chu Fann eighth uncle back then, he would have been punished severely.    

Now, Chu Zhongtian's identity had changed, and it was Chu Fann who had asked Chu Zhongtian to call him eighth uncle. Had Chu Zhongtian refused, Chu Fann would've been very unhappy.    

"Tian, you have been back for a while, so are you getting used to your surroundings?" Seeing Chu Zhongtian walk into the hall, Chu Fann put down the teacup in his hand and asked with a smile on his face.    

Suddenly, Chu Fann's pupils widened, and his face revealed a shocked expression. With a tone filled with bafflement, he said, "Tian, you're a Level-3 Qi Refiner now?!"    

Because Chu Zhongtian had been using his spiritual power while practicing the saber technique, his aura was running around rampant. Consequently, Chu Fann could tell his true strength with just a glance.    

"Yes." Nodding his head, Chu Zhongtian said honestly, "I broke through to Level-3 two days ago."    

Chu Fann looked at Chu Zhongtian speechlessly; his heart was filled with shock.    

As a mere Qi Refiner, Chu Zhongtian could only absorb spiritual Qi from his surroundings. And as accorded by his talent and meridians, he could only absorb a certain amount of Qi. In other words, he couldn't absorb Qi endlessly or without stopping.    

Normally, one had to stop and rest after continuously absorbing Qi. They had to prepare their meridians and body before they could absorb any more spiritual Qi. Taking constant breaks while absorbing Qi was the way to go for literally all cultivators.    

Yet, Chu Zhongtian had broken through another level in just ten days after returning to the Chu Family. This cultivation speed was too shocking.    

What surprised Chu Fann even more was the aura that Chu Zhongtian was unintentionally emanating. He discovered that Chu Zhongtian's aura was waaay stronger than any other ordinary Level-3 Qi Refiner. Honestly, it seemed like a Level-5 Qi Refiner's aura.    

Although Chu Fann really wanted to know his dantian's power holding capacity after the breakthrough, he couldn't. Everything pertaining to a cultivator's dantian was their own personal secret. Unless the person himself agreed to it, no one else could easily investigate their dantian.    

As for the information related to Chu Family's ancestor's dantian, it was something that the ancestor selflessly left behind for the younger generation of the family to use as reference.