It turned out that Qin Ruqing indeed had extra energy left.

She effortlessly broke through the first stage of Qi cultivation and continued to absorb spiritual energy.

Without any surprise, she pushed open the doors to the second stage of cultivation.

Even then, her absorption speed did not slow down, and she eventually broke through to the third stage.

The Ancestor stood by, witnessing this with her own eyes.

She could hardly believe that such rapid advancement could happen to his own disciple.

Normally, cultivation was an arduous journey, requiring meticulous effort at each stage over a long period of time.

But for Qin Ruqing, advancing seemed as easy as drinking water or eating a meal.

Even with the Ancestor’s deep cultivation experience, he was genuinely astonished.

What was even more terrifying was that even after breaking through to the third stage, Qin Ruqing didn’t stop absorbing spiritual energy.

Though the speed had slowed significantly, she seemed determined to go further.

Did this child have such great ambition?

Did she really think she could break through to the fourth stage of Qi cultivation in one go?!

The Ancestor felt proud yet subtly worried for Qin Ruqing.

Rapid advancement wasn’t necessarily a good thing; it could lead to a lack of foundational understanding and experience, potentially hindering her progress in the future.

However, at this critical juncture, the Ancestor hesitated to intervene.

She chose to trust Qin Ruqing, believing that she knew what she was doing.

Sure enough, after absorbing spiritual energy for a while, Qin Ruqing’s cultivation not only didn’t rise further but actually slightly declined.

Finally, she chose to stop at the third stage of Qi cultivation and used the remaining spiritual energy to solidify her foundations completely.

When Qin Ruqing opened her eyes, she saw the Ancestor smiling with relief. “You’ve shown patience and prudence, Qingqing. You’ve done well.”

Qin Ruqing smiled shyly, first checking her own cultivation level before expressing her confusion, “Ancestor, last night I woke up from a dream and suddenly felt my body filled with spiritual energy, almost bursting.

But I didn’t communicate with external spiritual energy. Also, the spiritual energy inside me seemed to push open the doors of cultivation on its own.”

Listening to Qin Ruqing, the Ancestor nodded with a smile, as if none of this surprised him.

“Silly child, this means you’ve already attained the state of perfection in innate cultivation. You don’t need to absorb external spiritual energy anymore; the innate energy within you can autonomously circulate through your meridians.”

“I didn’t tell you earlier because I didn’t want to pressure you. Achieving the state of innate perfection is rare nowadays, almost legendary from ancient times. But I didn’t expect you to be so outstanding. With the perfection of innate cultivation, you now have a better chance of achieving mastery in Dao cultivation.”

Seeing the Ancestor’s pleasantly surprised expression, Qin Ruqing understood.

This should be related to the previous technique of ‘Heaven and Earth Breathing’.

The superior technique cultivated the spirit, and this ‘spirit’ referred to the innate spiritual energy within her body.

The Ancestor then asked, “Did you feel any signs of awakening in your Dao Physique when you broke through just now?”

Qin Ruqing shook her head in confusion.

The Ancestor frowned.

It shouldn’t be like this.

With Qingqing already achieving the state of innate perfection, shouldn’t this be enough to awaken her Dao Physique?

Before Qin Ruqing could react, Ancestor Wenxuan suddenly condensed spiritual energy into a blade and made a cut on her forearm about the length of a finger.

She quickly drew a drop of blood from it.

The speed was astonishing.

Qin Ruqing didn’t even see clearly; when she realized it, she lowered her head to look at her arm, and the wound was already healing quickly.

Qin Ruqing: …

Ancestor, you really are quite the daring one.

I mean, even though it doesn’t hurt, couldn’t you at least give me a heads-up next time before doing something like that?

No matter how Qin Ruqing thought about it, the Ancestor was indeed someone who dared to act boldly.

She carefully observed Qin Ruqing’s blood, noticing that compared to before, there was now more Wood Qi in her blood, causing it to faintly shimmer with a greenish hue.

After hesitating for a moment, the Ancestor swallowed the drop of blood and closed his eyes to feel its effects.

This action made Qin Ruqing nervous.

She knew the Ancestor had been hoping she could awaken her Dao Physique with the ingestion of spiritual energy.

However, matters regarding the Dao Physique were mysterious, and she hadn’t sensed anything unusual just now.

She feared disappointing the Ancestor…

Unexpectedly, the Ancestor suddenly opened his eyes wide, revealing a bright expression of joy.

Hmm? She seems so happy… Could it be that the awakening of the Dao body was successful?

The Ancestor appeared visibly excited, speaking slightly faster, “It truly awakened! Just by consuming a drop of blood, the toxins within my body have unexpectedly lessened by a fraction!”

“Just as the rumors say, the first stage awakening of the Blue Lotus Dao Physique can compare to a sixth-grade elixir!”

Wow, a sixth-grade elixir! That’s impressive!

Qin Ruqing immediately brightened up, excitedly exclaiming, “In that case, Patriarch, could my blood heal your injuries?”

This was something Qin Ruqing had been quietly considering.

The Patriarch had been so good to her, and had devoted himself to the Qin family.

Now that she heard how useful her blood could be, her first instinct was to offer it to heal the Patriarch.

Upon hearing Qin Ruqing’s first reaction was to use her blood to heal him, warmth filled the Ancestor’s heart.

She looked at Qin Ruqing affectionately and smiled, “Silly child, what cultivation level do you think I am? If you were to use your blood to heal me, you might end up drained dry. Quickly put this idea aside. Your intention alone makes me very happy.”

Qin Ruqing responded with an understanding sound.

Alright, things weren’t that simple after all.

She quickly regained her composure and comforted the Ancestor.

“It’s okay, Ancestor. Just tell me what medicine you need to heal your injuries. When I become stronger, I’ll definitely find it for you.”

The Ancestor smiled.

Normally, if Qin Ruqing asked about his injuries, he would likely avoid the topic.

But today, with the right atmosphere and Qin Ruqing’s Dao Physique awakening, She was pleased and said:

“If you can find something extremely cold yet gentle, or a spiritual object with both extreme hot and cold attributes, my injuries could be mostly healed. If you manage to find both, not only would I recover, but I could even make further progress.”

The Ancestor lifted her chin slightly, speaking with pride and certainty as she mentioned the last sentence.

Qin Ruqing’s heart surged with excitement as she listened.

The Ancestor was already at the Peak Foundation Building stage. Making further progress meant…

Golden Core Stage..

Qin Ruqing’s heart skipped a beat as she resolved to ask the system for advice.

If the store had what the Ancestor needed, she would use all her accumulated points to obtain it for him.

If not… well, she would find a way in the future.

Qin Ruqing quickly found an opportunity to search for something for the Ancestor.

Soon, everyone in the Qin family knew about Qin Ruqing’s breakthrough to the third stage of Qi cultivation, and naturally, they were all thrilled.

Meanwhile, Qin Ruqing herself was busy checking the rewards she had received from this advancement.

Firstly, her promotion had slightly boosted the family’s Prosperity Value.

Though it was just a small increase, it was extremely precious because it could be crucial for survival.

She still remembered the feeling of hanging by a thread when the family’s Prosperity Value had nearly dropped to its lowest level.

That had been a nerve-wracking experience.

In addition to the family’s Prosperity Value, the side quest “Outstanding Descendant” also made significant progress.

Qin Ruqing wasn’t surprised by this.

As the family’s most talented descendant, this side quest was directly related to her.

What was somewhat unexpected was the progress in the second side quest, “Creating a Harmonious and United Family Atmosphere”. Qin Ruqing guessed that it was because the higher her displayed talent and strength, the more stable the position of the main branch of the family became.

With the main branch stable, the Qin family could enjoy more stability.

Lastly, her breakthrough this time unexpectedly triggered a new side quest:

[Side Quest Four: Become the Face of the Family]

[You must become a widely renowned genius, surpassing all prodigies. People should think of prodigies and immediately think of you and your family.]

To be honest, when Qin Ruqing saw this side quest, she broke into a sweat.

Did this mean she was going to start walking the path of becoming a celebrity?

And that part about “surpassing all prodigies, so people think of you whenever prodigies are mentioned”…

How much of a genius did one have to be to achieve that? Even though Qin Ruqing had awakened her Dao Physique, she dared not make such a boastful claim.

Qin Ruqing hesitated and said, “System, can I not accept this side quest?”

It felt rather embarrassing.

Besides, most importantly, being the face of anything immediately reminded her of a certain girl group from her previous life—it was really quite embarrassing!

[Cannot. This side quest directly affects the progress of the main quest.]

“Okay,” Qin Ruqing reluctantly accepted. “Then, must the one taking on this ‘face’ role be me? Can’t it be someone else?”

[If there is another descendant of the Qin family whose talent surpasses yours, then naturally, it can be passed on to them.]

Well… at the moment, there didn’t seem to be anyone like that.

With no other choice, Qin Ruqing could only accept this “face” task.

Fortunately, for now, this task seemed unlikely to advance quickly—because there were no immediate opportunities for fame.

Qin Ruqing decided to temporarily set this aside.

She rubbed her hands together, patted her face, took a deep breath, and put on a serious expression.

Yes—she was about to start drawing lots again.

Normally, the system was stingy, giving out useless points (which were now useless again, weren’t they?), and lottery chances were only given when there was a significant breakthrough in side quests.

Now, with her breakthrough to the third stage of Qi cultivation and the awakening of her Dao Physique, she barely met the criteria for this “significant breakthrough,” and the system rewarded her with another chance to draw lots.

Qin Ruqing still remembered the shadow of her last draw—she had only gotten three Return Qi Pills. She would remember that for the rest of her life (frustrating!).

This time, Qin Ruqing decided to try a different approach.

The gentle face-washing methods and praying to various deities had been ineffective.

Qin Ruqing felt that this was like a fight. You couldn’t be weak; you had to be strong.

Instead of praying, you had to intimidate them!

“You better give me something good! If not, I won’t buy anything from your store in the future. If I find any cool stuff that your store doesn’t sell, I won’t sell you the rights either!”

“Good or not? Give it to me!”

Qin Ruqing saw that for a moment, the system interface seemed to lag, then a flash of white light appeared, and something was drawn out.

[Congratulations on drawing a golden-tier item, Spirit Treasure Explorer. Item description: It can sense the aura and location of celestial and terrestrial treasures within a certain range and degree.]

Huh? Golden tier?!!