Chapter 76: Good Friends

True energy is born, and the sixth rank is achieved.

Catching the final seconds of the union between Yin and Yang, Su Jingxing drew upon the energy of heaven and earth, successfully advancing to the sixth rank.

Of course, his success was in no small part thanks to the great white goose.

Although Su Jingxing was deeply immersed in his cultivation, he was still aware of the extraordinary happenings outside. At the very last moment, a strange energy enveloped his body. With it, and his soul power-enhanced mind, a flash of inspiration allowed him to absorb the energies of heaven and earth.

He had sensed a similar strange energy before—it was the silvery light radiating from the great white goose.

Thus, his breakthrough to the sixth rank was the combined result of his inner strength, the Spirit-Nourishing Pill, his peak physical body, the “Nine Steps to the Heavens” technique, and the light from the great white goose. Not one could be dispensed with.

As soon as he finished his cultivation and opened his eyes, Su Jingxing immediately searched for the great white goose to express his gratitude.

But on the sloped platform cut into the hillside, the great white goose was nowhere to be seen.

Did it do a good deed and disappear without a word?

No, something was wrong.

A sudden unease gripped his heart. Su Jingxing stood up, performed the “Eight-Step Ascending Dragon” technique down the slope, and entered the valley.

He quickly searched the grass by the incline, and there, as expected, found the great white goose lying motionless.

A colorful, thick triangular viper was inching closer to it.

Whoosh!

Su Jingxing flicked his wrist, sending a throwing knife flying.

With a splatter of blood, the knife struck the viper’s head, killing it instantly.

Su Jingxing hurried over, scooped up the great white goose, and checked its condition.

First, it wasn’t dead. Second, it was severely depleted of strength. Lastly, its aura as a spirit beast had vanished.

No wonder the viper dared to approach, hoping to take advantage.

The disappearance of a spirit beast’s aura was akin to sustaining a grave injury.

To help him, the great white goose had paid a heavy price!

Su Jingxing felt a surge of gratitude as he carried the goose back to the platform on the slope.

Sitting cross-legged, he took out ten Essence Pills, crushed them into powder with his inner strength, fed them into the unconscious goose’s beak, and guided the medicine into its belly.

When all was done, he laid the goose gently on the ground beside him and carefully monitored its vital energy.

At first, there was nothing unusual, but soon, the aura of a spirit beast began to return to the great white goose. Though still faint, its recovery was a good sign.

Su Jingxing stayed by its side. Only when the goose finally awoke did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He took out another ten Essence Pills, placed them in his palm, and offered them to the great white goose.

With sincere gratitude, Su Jingxing said, “Brother Goose, thank you!”

“Honk, honk…”

The great white goose gave two weak calls, stretched its neck, and swallowed the pills.

“No need for more words. In the future, as long as I have a bite to eat, you’ll never go hungry,” Su Jingxing said earnestly, gently stroking its pristine white wing.

“Honk?” The goose tilted its head, puzzled.

“It’s nothing. Just remember that we are the best of friends,” Su Jingxing replied with a smile.

“Honk honk!” The great white goose called out vigorously and flapped its wings.

“Yes, good friends,” Su Jingxing chuckled.

During their exchanges yesterday, Su Jingxing realized the great white goose was quite simple.

Its intelligence had only recently awakened, and before meeting Su Jingxing, it had never encountered humans.

For this reason, when they first met, it hid and observed him from the shadows. Once Su Jingxing recognized its power and made a friendly approach, they quickly became close.

Had Su Jingxing harbored ulterior motives, deceiving it would have been easy.

But the benefit of genuine friendship was that the great white goose had now rendered him a great service.

Without it, who knew how long it would have taken him to reach the sixth rank.

Compared to what the great white goose had sacrificed, a few Essence Pills were nothing.

…

For the rest of the night, Su Jingxing did little cultivation, staying with the great white goose.

At dawn, he fed it another twenty Essence Pills. When its spirit beast aura had mostly recovered and it could fly again, Su Jingxing finally bid it farewell.

For now, he didn’t want to bring the great white goose out of the valley, and reminded it not to fly out on its own.

The reason was simple.

Su Jingxing was not yet strong enough!

Though a sixth-rank practitioner was considered high-level in Qinghe City, it was not the pinnacle, and not enough to protect a spirit beast.

The great white goose’s innate talent was not in combat, either.

If it went to Qinghe City and was discovered, others would surely try to seize it.

Thus, it was safer for the great white goose to stay in the valley for now.

…

Back at the cottage at the foot of the mountain, Su Jingxing ate a little, then began practicing “Nine Steps to the Heavens” to condense more true energy.

“Nine Steps to the Heavens” had nine levels in total.

Though Su Jingxing had already nurtured a stream of Sky-treading True Energy in his dantian, his actual mastery of the technique was just at the beginner level.

At the entry level, condensing true energy was a slow process.

Fortunately, Su Jingxing did not intend to condense true energy here; for that, he would go to the valley where the great white goose resided.

The valley was where the energy of heaven and earth was abundant.

At the moment, the true energy Su Jingxing intended to condense was not from the world, but from his own inner strength.

The inner strength within his body, accumulated intermittently, amounted to a hundred years of cultivation.

Now that true energy had been born, there was no need to retain inner strength—it was better converted to true energy.

The process was not difficult. Guided by the “Nine Steps to the Heavens” technique, less than half an hour later, all his hundred years of inner strength was transformed into Sky-treading True Energy.

Yet it amounted to only one year’s worth of cultivation!

A hundred years of inner strength converted to just one year of true energy—such a low conversion rate.

The Sword Immortal Jinghong had mentioned that typically, ten years of inner strength yielded one year of true energy.

10:1.

But for Su Jingxing, it was 100:1.

Such was the might of “Nine Steps to the Heavens.”

The 10:1 ratio was for ordinary true energy techniques; for advanced ones, the conversion rate was much lower.

Besides inner strength, Su Jingxing also had True Energy Cards.

There was one left, containing two years of cultivation, with no attribute.

Su Jingxing activated it, absorbed it, and converted it into Sky-treading True Energy, finding not a bit of loss—every drop was converted.

That was satisfying!

Whatever the True Energy Card contained, he gained in full.

With higher true energy cultivation, even if one’s level wasn’t as high as others, one could still dominate with sheer cultivation!

Suddenly gaining three years’ worth of true energy, Su Jingxing happily rubbed his hands together.

…

By evening, Su Jingxing had disguised himself as Yang Jian, donned cloak and mask, first visited one of Wan Rong’s secret rooms to collect ten million in black money.

Then he headed for the black market, purchasing three Origin Pills to experiment with.

One Origin Pill cost five hundred thousand Great Yu coins.

Ordinary martial artists could not afford such body-strengthening medicine.

Su Jingxing bought three, swallowed them one by one, and compared their effects to the Power Pills.

He discovered that one Origin Pill was roughly equivalent to a hundred Power Pills.

To transform into the “Demonic Elephant Form” required at least ten Origin Pills afterward.

Which meant, if he wanted to transform, Su Jingxing would need to prepare a thousand Power Pills!

“I thought I was keeping the Power Pills just to prevent exhaustion, but it turns out they have another major use now.”