Crow Immortal
Chapter 40: Recovery

After examining Lu Yun, Elder Yan and Elder Wen proceeded to inspect all the other menial disciples. The stone houses and spirit fields of the disciples were thoroughly searched to confirm no other spies remained. The two spies and Steward Wang were then taken away together.

The other stewards and inner/outer sect disciples also departed on their magical tools. Only two outer sect disciples surnamed Ji and Hua remained at the spirit fields to supervise the menial disciples' cultivation and guard the fields until new management arrived.

"Return to your quarters and focus on your cultivation!"

"With the elders personally eliminating threats at the spirit fields and hunting demonic cultivators at the market district, you menial disciples have nothing to fear!"

After Outer Disciple Hua addressed the group, the menial disciples gradually dispersed. The eight disciples including Wei Kunyi and Li Quan had either been killed or exposed as spies, leaving their stone houses empty. All belongings were carefully inventoried and removed. Wei Kunyi's corpse was properly handled by inner sect disciples and handed over to the spirit fields for burial.

Sun Kang called out to Liu Lan and Han Yu: "Junior Sister Liu, Junior Brother Han, why not come to my place to talk? Today's events were quite sudden, and I know you both must be troubled."

Liu Lan was indeed distressed. First, she had been close to Zhang Shan, only to discover he was a Spirit Beast Sect spy plotting against her. More recently, she'd grown close to Wei Kunyi, who had then been killed.

"No need, I should return to my cultivation."

"Be careful. Too many distractions during cultivation could lead to fatal qi deviations." Sun Kang warned. Liu Lan responded with a muffled acknowledgment before hurrying away.

Sun Kang then turned to Han Yu, who also wanted time to assess the damage from forcibly activating the Spirit Refining Technique five times and declined the invitation.

"Senior Brother Sun, perhaps another day?"

"Very well. After you finish your spirit field duties, let's visit the market district together to relax." Sun Kang proposed.

Han Yu nodded in agreement before returning to his stone house. Taking a deep breath, he circulated the Green Sprout Qi Cultivation Technique to refine the remaining Mystic Heart Fruit's medicinal energy.

He couldn't afford to rush. Even after surviving danger and confirming his safety, he mustn't hastily resume practicing the Blood Refinement Technique. The damage from the Spirit Refining Technique still needed evaluation, though his improved aptitude was undeniable - his capacity to absorb medicinal energy and spiritual qi had clearly increased today.

Noticing his accelerated cultivation speed, Han Yu reflected: "If I hadn't dispersed the Blood Refinement Technique, I wouldn't have passed the elders' inspection nor gained this aptitude improvement. Preserving my life while enhancing my potential is already fortunate."

"It's completely worth spending another half month or month to recover my cultivation."

Only after reaching his daily spiritual energy absorption limit did Han Yu begin examining the damage from the Spirit Refining Technique and the drawbacks of dispersing the Blood Refinement Technique.

His blood essence had severely depleted, reduced to about five drops. The stinging pain in his Danzhong acupoint persisted, proving that dispersing the Blood Refinement Technique wasn't without consequences - it would require substantial blood essence to repair and reform the blood sigil. Meanwhile, his remaining blood essence was continuously being consumed to heal bodily damage, with no clear timeline for complete recovery.

His fire spiritual root had been refined by forty percent. Once fully refined, his cultivation aptitude would upgrade from four spiritual roots to three, representing significant progress.

"My priorities now are recovery and blood essence replenishment, while maintaining Green Sprout Qi Cultivation practice."

"Any market district visit must wait until I've fully healed."

After planning his next steps, Han Yu replicated a section of Spirit Blood Vine and consumed its blood-enhancing sap before slowly circulating the Blood Refinement Technique's blood essence cycle - focusing on healing rather than reforming the blood sigil.

The next day, Han Yu resumed clearing spirit rice stalks from his field. After a full day's work, the field was finally clean. Remembering Sun Kang's earlier suggestion, Han Yu decided against immediately requesting new Green Sprout Spirit Rice seeds from the stewards, opting to wait two months to sow together with Sun Kang and Liu Lan. After the first harvest, planting schedules became more flexible - only one annual harvest was mandatory.

Moreover, the spirit fields' new management hadn't yet arrived.

Another day passed before Sun Kang brought news: the Green Sprout Market had indeed captured a demonic cultivator, who was executed along with the two menial disciple spies caught earlier. Whether this was the old Taoist remained unknown.

That same day, two new stewards arrived at the spirit fields.

The chief steward was an inner sect disciple surnamed Li, dressed in blue robes with gold trim. Arrogant and taciturn, this Senior Sister Li was said to be thirty years old with dual spiritual roots and eighth-layer qi refining cultivation - an unreachable height for most menial disciples.

The deputy steward was an older, experienced outer sect disciple surnamed Hong at sixth-layer qi refining, who spoke amiably with constant smiles.

Their arrival signaled increased sect attention toward the spirit fields. Initially nervous about stricter management, the menial disciples soon relaxed upon discovering that Senior Sister Li and Steward Hong were even more hands-off than Steward Wang, only requiring registration for field departures.

Given their higher cultivation, Han Yu exercised extra caution, no longer allowing the large crow to lead flocks near the fields. The crow companions only returned under cover of darkness. Meanwhile, his daily cultivation and blood essence recovery progressed steadily.

First, his blood essence hadn't fully recovered to its original level, with lingering Danzhong acupoint pain preventing blood sigil reformation and Blood Refinement first-layer restoration. Second, Han Yu hesitated to reform the sigil due to caution toward Senior Sister Li.

Over twenty days passed quickly until Han Yu's blood essence stopped being consumed for bodily repairs, indicating complete recovery from the Spirit Refining Technique's damage. His blood essence restored to twelve drops, with no more Danzhong acupoint pain. He could now reform the blood sigil and restore his Blood Refinement first-layer cultivation anytime.

Concurrently, his improved aptitude reduced the estimated time needed to reach third-layer qi refining via the Green Sprout Qi Cultivation Technique from five months to about four.

One day, Sun Kang arrived at Han Yu's stone house smiling: "Junior Brother Han, come celebrate with a meal at my place?"

Han Yu was surprised: "Celebrate?"

Then realization dawned: "Has Senior Brother Sun broken through to third-layer qi refining?"

Sun Kang nodded with a smile.

Han Yu immediately congratulated him: "Congratulations! You're one step closer to becoming an outer sect disciple at fourth-layer!"

Sun Kang laughed: "That's still far off - nothing compared to Junior Sister Liu's progress!"

As they chatted, they arrived at Sun Kang's residence where Liu Lan was already busy cooking. To celebrate his breakthrough with just these two guests, Sun Kang had splurged - aside from regular dishes, he'd prepared a full pound of spirit rice.

After the celebratory meal, Sun Kang asked: "Shall we visit the market district in a couple days?"