Chapter 11: Relying on One’s Own Hands for Wilderness Survival

Saved a half-dead White Crane.

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Li Qiuchen didn’t know how this White Crane had managed to tenaciously survive until now; looking at its state, it must have been stuck there for at least half a month.

If it could talk, Li Qiuchen really wanted to ask how it managed to get into that pose.

The White Crane’s beak was broken, so now, let alone speaking, even its cry had turned into a “Gaga” sound.

Losing its beak meant losing the ability to hunt; if it couldn’t eat, it would still starve to death.

With the mindset of seeing a good deed through to the end, Li Qiuchen fed it two fresh fish.

Once the two fish were in its belly, the White Crane immediately regained some spirit, even using an angry gaze to show defiance toward Li Qiuchen.

Li Qiuchen could understand its anger, but he didn’t want to indulge it.

Are we that close? If you’re so capable, don’t beg me to save you.

Leaving the White Crane aside, he began building a house on his own.

Although the mountain ravine was sheltered from the wind and cold, he also had to consider the issue of rising river levels in the summer.

Li Qiuchen chose a spot with higher terrain, cleared the ground, and first began crafting tools.

He didn’t even have a knife in his hand, so he could only use sharp stones as a substitute for an axe to chop trees.

Fortunately, his strength had increased considerably, and there was no lack of food here.

After spending an entire day, he built an extremely crude shack. Li Qiuchen crawled inside and began his daily fixed Cultivation.

The biggest difference between an ordinary person and a Cultivator lies in whether they can refine Qi into their body, commonly known as the Qi Refining Realm.

Without the proper method, even if one Cultivates blindly for a hundred years, they would only be tempering their physical body.

Only by entering the Qi Refining Realm can one be considered a Cultivator and step onto the path of immortality.

Everyone in Songlin Village Cultivates, but the results of their Cultivation were secretly absorbed by the old peach tree; they spent their whole lives toiling in vain.

The “classic of scenic clouds” detailed the Cultivation methods from the Qi Refining Realm to the Golden Core Realm. The mantras themselves weren’t difficult; the most important part was the auxiliary medicine.

Taking pills, taking them heavily—great power produces miracles!

It didn’t seem very high-class, but Li Qiuchen currently liked these low-class things.

If the class is too high, it’s easy to overreach.

Li Qiuchen took several herbs he had picked along the way from his bundle, washed and crushed them, rolled them into a ball, and swallowed them directly.

This was a Pill Formula recorded in the “classic of scenic clouds” called the “Qi Gathering Pill.” According to normal procedures, some ingredients required three steamings and three dryings, the balance of sovereign, minister, assistant, and envoy, and then refinement in a Pill Furnace to bring out the full medicinal properties.

Under the Pharmacists Blessing, these steps could all be omitted.

Straight to the stomach in one step.

The night Li Qiuchen received the Pharmacists Blessing, he gained the ability of photosynthesis… no, the ability to automatically absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. According to the standards recorded in the book, he had already entered the Qi Refining Realm.

But compared to a true Qi Refining Realm Cultivator, he had not yet mastered the ability to refine and convert this Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. It was equivalent to eating while defecating; a small portion was passively digested, while most was wasted.

Solving this problem was simple: honestly Cultivate his family’s Cultivation Technique and build a solid Foundation.

The pitter-patter of rain sounded in his ears. Li Qiuchen snapped out of his meditative state to see a curtain of rain between heaven and earth.

Rain in these mountains came whenever it pleased, without any warning.

If he hadn’t anticipated it beforehand, he would probably be soaked like a drowned rat by now.

Therefore, one must be cautious in Cultivation; there is no harm in being careful.

A sense of warmth came from beside him. Li Qiuchen turned his head to see that the White Crane had also sneakily squeezed its way in.

The temporary shack wasn’t large to begin with. With one person and one crane squeezed together, there wasn’t even room to turn around.

Li Qiuchen was quite speechless. You’re a bird; when you’re normally in the wild, does some wild man build a shack for you to shelter from the rain?

This fellow not only seized his shelter but also stared fixedly at the bundle behind him. It must have smelled the scent of the peach wood core.

I can’t even bear to use it myself, and I’m supposed to feed it to you?

Li Qiuchen stared into the White Crane’s eyes and whispered, “I thought you were a bird with some dignity.”

“Gaga—!”

The White Crane indeed had dignity. It had originally been salivating over the peach wood core, but after Li Qiuchen’s remark, it immediately showed an embarrassed and annoyed expression. After letting out two “Gaga” sounds at Li Qiuchen, it turned its head away and ignored him.

After a night of heavy rain, the scent of grass and earth permeated the mountains.

The river, which was originally only about thirty feet wide, had risen to sixty or seventy feet. In the murky, turbulent water, fish would occasionally leap out.

The White Crane stood by the river, seemingly lost in thought. It tried to catch fish with its claws, and after failing a few times, it found the trick, catching fat fish one by one and tossing them onto the bank.

Then it tried to use its claws to put the fish into its mouth.

Li Qiuchen silently watched this comical scene from the side.

Imagine a person with no jaw or teeth, using their toes to grip a ham sausage and shove it down their throat… This was a proud bird with thin skin and a small heart.

Li Qiuchen had only said one thing to it last night, and it had really taken it to heart.

Seeing it fail time and again, squawking angrily, Li Qiuchen shook his head.

A person shouldn’t lower themselves to a bird’s level.

“Come, I’ll feed you.”

He picked up a fish and fed it down its throat. The White Crane stretched its neck, swallowed it with a gulp, and let out a reluctant “Ga” toward Li Qiuchen, seemingly expressing its thanks.

It nudged the fish on the ground with its claws and stared at Li Qiuchen.

The meaning was clear—feed me!

The White Crane had a large appetite, perhaps because it hadn’t eaten for a long time and was famished.

It actually swallowed six or seven small carp, each a foot long, before flapping its wings in satisfaction.

Li Qiuchen stood by and observed silently. He saw the life energy within the White Crane grow at a visible rate, gradually gathering into shimmering life essence.

As expected, this was a crane spirit.

Any other bird hanging up there for half a month would have starved to death long ago.

However, there were differences even between Spirit Monsters.

The Crayfish Spirit in the back mountain of Songlin Village had already cultivated a nine-foot-long body, could speak human language, use Spells, was invulnerable to blades, and possessed immense strength. If it hadn’t feigned defeat and surrendered, those villagers with hoes and dung forks really would have had no way to deal with it.

The unlucky White Crane before him looked no different in size from a normal crane. Although it had developed intelligence, it couldn’t speak yet and didn’t have much cultivation.

It might taste pretty good… Li Qiuchen subconsciously licked his lips.

But it was too scrawny now; better wait until it was fatter. When winter came, he could pluck its feathers and use it as emergency food rations.

After securing a temporary residence, Li Qiuchen’s next plan was to rebuild the medicinal garden.

The Li family’s Cultivation Technique could be summarized in four words—taking pills to change fate.

The technique itself wasn’t profound enough, so Medicinal Pills were used to make up for the deficiencies.

There was no lack of medicinal materials in the mountains, but not every kind was useful or easy to find.

For example, there was a common local specialty herb called “Howling Out,” which was well-loved and praised by middle-aged and elderly men, but it was of no help to Li Qiuchen’s Cultivation.

Some herbs liked the sun, some liked the shade, some liked to eat meat, and some had to grow alongside other plants… different types had different medicinal properties. It wasn’t as simple as clearing a piece of land and planting them.

Using the most primitive and crude tools in his hand, Li Qiuchen cleared two patches of open ground outside the mountain ravine and planted the heart-calming grass and spirit calming flowers he had found on the way.

These two herbs had mild properties and were usually used as auxiliary materials for refining Medicinal Pills. They were like Sichuan peppercorns or star anise; when you didn’t know what spices to add while stewing meat, adding a bit of these was definitely correct.

Of course, the most important thing was that they were easy to grow; as long as the environment was suitable, they would grow wildly like weeds.

In fact, they were essentially weeds.

heart-calming grass and spirit calming flowers that had just grown for a year could be eaten as wild vegetables, having neither medicinal properties nor toxicity.

Only those plants that survived the frost and wind of the Northern Territory for three to five years would gradually accumulate some medicinal properties.

If they could grow for more than ten years, they would become genuine Spiritual Plants.

Li Qiuchen didn’t have time to wait for them to grow slowly; the main purpose of building the medicinal garden was to accelerate the growth of these herbs.

This was a technical job.

First was the quality of the soil, followed by the source of fertilizer.

The black soil of the Northern Territory was extremely fertile, enough to support the vigorous growth of plants.

And in the mountains, one could also find large piles of dung left behind by wild beasts. This dung couldn’t be used directly; it needed to be mixed with other things and fermented further to be made into fertilizer.

Besides that, there was the Pharmacists Blessing.

To put it simply, it was the ability to control life.

One could both absorb and digest life energy, condensing it into life essence, like the tree core inside the old peach tree.

One could also decompose life essence back into life energy to heal one’s own wounds or transfer it to others, including but not limited to animals and plants.

Question: Student Xiao Ming’s daily Cultivation speed is 1. After taking herbs, his Cultivation speed reaches 2. It takes at least three years to plant and harvest a batch of herbs. For every 0.1 of Cultivation results Xiao Ming uses to assist herb growth and 0.2 of Cultivation time he spends nurturing the herbs, he can reduce the growth time of the herbs by 0.2.

Solve: How much cost must be paid to obtain the highest Cultivation efficiency?

This problem was quite complex.

Li Qiuchen had long ago returned his math knowledge to his teachers from his previous life; he couldn’t calculate it at all.

Anyway… just practice slowly.

Cultivating immortality is for longevity and freedom; caution is necessary, but being overly constrained is not.

When Li Qiuchen read those online xianxia novels in his previous life, he was always puzzled. Some protagonists were either in secluded meditation or on the way to find Heaven And Earth Treasures to prepare for the next secluded meditation.

What did they end up cultivating into?

After a million years of seclusion, they were still pure yang virgins. With a point of their finger, the Great Dao was obliterated, the Universe exploded, and the book ended.

Where is the joy in life?

Li Qiuchen knew very well that he didn’t have such high talent, nor did he hope to reach some invincible level. He would be very satisfied if he could live a happy life while ensuring his personal safety.

It was now not long after the start of spring. Before winter arrived, he had at least five months to build the medicinal garden, continue improving the shelter, and store food in preparation for the winter.