Ning Xiuying's gaze made Ning Fa feel a little uneasy. He coughed dryly, "Sister Xiuying, if you look at me like that, I'll start overthinking things."
Ning Xiuying's lips curved into a smile. She gently played with her hair by her ear, her chest heaving slightly. With a half-smile, she said, "Oh? What are you overthinking? Thinking I'll throw myself into your arms? It's not impossible, you know."
Ning Fa froze. Why was this woman so bold today?
Ning Xiuying let out a chuckle, her delicate face blooming with charm.
Then, she tossed a white storage bag to Ning Fa, saying, "Inside are ten Essence Replenishing Pills for next month, plus four hundred and fifty Spirit Stones."
Ning Fa blinked, then couldn't help but ask, "The number of Spirit Stones seems a bit off. Is it more than usual?"
At this moment, Ning Xiuying was staring at Ning Fa with a mixture of envy and shock. She took a deep breath and said, "Elder Jiu's friend was very satisfied with the pills you refined. They said your Essence Replenishing Pills were exceptionally pure and much more potent than ordinary ones, so they gave you an extra twenty percent in Spirit Stones."
Ning Fa finally understood.
The Essence Replenishing Pills he supplied to the family and Ning Shaohong currently maintained a success rate of about seventy percent.
He had intended to increase the success rate further.
It wasn't that he wanted to hide his skills; after all, during the Pill Hall assessment, he had directly passed with an eighty percent success rate. Revealing that rate now wouldn't be strange.
The main reason was that he himself had a great need for Essence Replenishing Pills.
So, he kept the surplus pills for himself to consume.
Last month, he had given Ning Shaohong nearly forty Essence Replenishing Pills, which, at market price, were worth about four hundred Spirit Stones.
That friend of Elder Jiu had voluntarily increased the payment by twenty percent. It seemed they were knowledgeable and generous, which made Ning Fa feel even better about them.
Of course, he also understood that the person likely recognized his extraordinary alchemy skills and wanted to build a good relationship through this gesture.
"You're truly lucky, kid. The Spirit Stones you earn in a month from refining pills are equivalent to what I earn in a whole year of hard work," Ning Xiuying sighed, half-jokingly and half-seriously.
Only then did Ning Fa understand her expression from earlier.
Although Ning Xiuying was a cultivator in the late Qi Condensation stage, her annual family stipend was only two to three hundred Spirit Stones.
Adding rewards from completing extra tasks and other income, plus family contribution points, brought her total to around five to six hundred Spirit Stones.
Ning Fa earning so much in just one month was naturally a cause for great envy.
However, Ning Fa's situation was exceptional.
Firstly, most Pill Masters couldn't achieve his success rate, and Essence Replenishing Pills were quite difficult to refine. A three percent success rate was considered good for an ordinary Pill Master, with many only achieving one or two percent.
Even if they refined thirty batches of Essence Replenishing Pills a month, they would only earn a hundred or so Spirit Stones, and often they would even lose Spirit Stones.
Secondly, Ning Shaohong's wealthy friend generously provided Ning Fa with Spiritual Materials for free. The cost of ten portions of Spiritual Materials per month was also one to two hundred Spirit Stones.
"Sister Xiuying, thank you for making the trip. Would you like to come inside for a bit?" Ning Fa cheerfully invited.
Ning Xiuying gave him a knowing look. "Just to sit around?"
Ning Fa immediately replied, "If it's not just to sit around, I'm open to that too."
Ning Xiuying shot him a glare and snorted, "I really don't want to see you right now because it makes me feel unbalanced. I might not even want to come deliver Spirit Stones to you next time, to avoid upsetting myself. If you have any conscience, you'll treat me to a meal at Yunxiang Residence in the Jinchang Island Market."
"That's no problem at all." Ning Fa thumped his chest with a resounding thud.
"Alright, it's a deal then." Ning Xiuying's beautiful eyes lit up. She then gave Ning Fa a charming, sidelong glance before turning to leave.
Ning Fa's expression returned to calm, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.
This month, he had also provided the family with nearly forty pills, exceeding the agreed-upon sixty percent success rate. He had earned over a hundred Spirit Stones and a significant amount of contribution points.
Now that he suddenly had over five hundred Spirit Stones, he wasn't sure how to spend them.
He didn't need to spend Spirit Stones on the Essence Replenishing Pills for his cultivation anymore.
He also didn't want to buy magical artifacts or other treasures right now, as his cultivation realm hadn't improved enough to use high-level magical artifacts.
After a moment of thought, Ning Fa came up with a good idea.
The shop his father had left him in the Jinchang Island Market was currently rented out to someone else, and he was earning rent as a landlord.
Ning Fa planned to reclaim the shop after the current lease expired this year. By then, he would have quite a bit of Spirit Stones.
At that time, he would have the capital to manage the shop himself, and he could have his paternal uncle and cousin Ning Zifeng help him look after it.
Given the current prosperity of the Jinchang Island Market, running the shop himself would surely earn him much more Spirit Stones than renting it out.
He even thought that he could personally refine pills to sell in the shop. With his alchemy skills, he was confident he could make the shop's business flourish.
Having figured this out, Ning Fa couldn't help but smile, feeling as if a path to wealth was slowly unfolding before him.
Three months later.
Inside the pill chamber, Ning Fa sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his hands performing profound hand seals. Streaks of silver lightning coiled around him, forming layers of ripples like water waves that enveloped him.
In an instant, these silver lightning bolts were inhaled into Ning Fa's body, converging at the Liangqiu acupoint on his left leg.
There, a silver thunderous mass the size of an egg was fluctuating unstably. As streaks of silver spiritual power gathered, this silver thunderous mass finally stabilized, slowly spinning like a nebula, as if containing infinite mysteries.
This was precisely the Lesser Thunder Source from the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture.
The next moment, this Lesser Thunder Source suddenly shot out four silver light beams.
Three of these silver light beams shot towards the Tianfu acupoints in his left and right arms, and the Liangqiu acupoint in his right leg.
These three acupoints also contained identical silver thunderous masses.
The last silver light beam, however, shot towards a much larger silver thunderous mass in his dantian.
These four other thunder sources, as if stimulated, also emitted four silver light beams, shooting towards each other.
In a short period, these four Lesser Thunder Sources and the Main Thunder Source connected with each other, forming an extremely profound trajectory. Tiny silver runes rapidly flowed around the interconnected silver light beams.
Ning Fa instantly felt the intimate connection between these thunder sources, as if they were a single entity.
This was also the main reason why it was necessary to open up Lesser Thunder Sources during the Qi Condensation stage when cultivating the Ancient Source Thunder Scripture.
This was because every thunder source had to establish a close connection with each other; even the slightest disharmony would disrupt the flow of spiritual power.
This stage was most suitable for cultivation during Qi Condensation. Once one reached Foundation Establishment, it would be very difficult to achieve close connections between multiple thunder sources after opening up Lesser Thunder Sources.
Because of this, the difficulty of opening up each additional Lesser Thunder Source doubled.
The Ancient Source Thunder Scripture stated that the difficulty of opening up a second Lesser Thunder Source after opening up the first would double, and so on.
Therefore, most Lightning Spiritual Root cultivators who practiced this cultivation method could only cultivate three Lesser Thunder Sources.