Cultivation! My Augmented Statuses Have Unlimited Duration

by Stayrr

Jiang Li takes a meal and gains the status [Satiety]. [Satiety: Restores 1 Stamina per minute. Duration: ] He no longer has to eat. He sticks a talisman on himself and gains the status [Armored Horse Divine Travel]. [Armored Horse Divine Travel: Increase movement speed by 1000%. Duration: ] Taking pills, gaining spiritual qi, refining the body, nurturing the soul, and increasing

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Read Cultivation! My Augmented Statuses Have Unlimited Duration Chapter 1 online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 1: My Plus and Minus Buttons

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"My head!"

This was the first feeling Jiang Li had after regaining consciousness. It was as if his head had been kicked by a donkey, and it hurt so much that it seemed to have deformed.

He struggled to open his eyes, only to see that he was in a moving carriage.

As the wooden carriage swayed, he could feel the throbbing pain on his head as he grimaced in pain.

Enduring the pain, he opened his eyes and observed his surroundings.

It was a confined space surrounded by black wooden planks. There were also a few young men and women dressed in ancient robes sitting together. Some of them looked at him gloatingly, while others completely ignored him.

He judged that he must have been lying on the floor. The smell of damp mold and the cold wet floor made him uncomfortable, so he struggled to get up.

But at this time, he felt a sharp pain in his mind.

It was as if his intracranial pressure had suddenly increased. Accompanied by a pain that felt like his brain was about to explode, many unfamiliar memories of someone's life flashed through his mind like a revolving door.

Jiang Li's legs gave way, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted again.

"Jiang Li! Wake up! Jiang Li!"

In a daze, Jiang Li heard someone calling him. It was as if his drifting consciousness gradually landed on solid ground, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Did I… transmigrate?

Jiang Li could still remember the smell of smoke when the gaming capsule caught fire.

The security door at home was so sturdy that before the rescue team broke through the door, he had probably been completely cremated already.

Furthermore, such ancient carriages and wooden planks covered in mold could only be seen in movies of ancient times and television programs.

Recalling the memories that appeared in his mind, Jiang Li had some basic understanding of his current identity and the basic situation of this world.

This world was very similar to the setting of ancient times often seen in dramas and novels because there were real immortals here.

Coincidentally, his current body was also called Jiang Li, the son of a martial arts family.

Because he was their first child, they named him after the character for dawn, meaning that there would be many children and grandchildren in the future. Overall, this name was the artistic version of saying "having more kids."

Half a month ago, during a test, the original body's luck was very good and was checked to have cultivation aptitude. This was the commonly known spiritual root.

As the saying went, it was hard to find immortal opportunities. Everyone wanted to cultivate, but similarly, cultivation sects also wanted to recruit more and better disciples to strengthen themselves.

Even if a beggar obtained an immortal opportunity, who could say that he would not rise up to achieve great things?

Therefore, as long as one possessed a spiritual root, most sects would not reject them.

However, his father, Jiang Yuanshan, who was the head of the Jiang family, had clearly been in the pugilistic world for a long time. In order for Jiang Li to become a disciple of a cultivation sect, he had paid a considerable price to the parties involved.

Right now, Jiang Li was on a carriage heading towards the cultivation sect.

When he got up from the ground, his headache had lessened.

He looked at the person who woke him up. It was a young boy.

He had a round face, a big nose, and thick lips. Only his pair of arms were exceptionally small and looked a little funny. However, there was a faint aura of dignity around him. Clearly, he was not a child of an ordinary family.

"Hehe, Jiang Li, you've finally woken up. If you wake up a few hours later, they may throw you to the side of the road to feed the wolves."

When the big boy saw Jiang Li wake up, he seemed to be very happy and smiled a few times.

Jiang Li held his head and searched through his memories. Soon, he found out the identity of the person in front of him.

"Thank you, Yan Hong."

There was still a difference in treatment from those who had been bribed and those who had not. At the very least, the young men and women who were traveling with him were not commoners.

This Yan Hong was the son of a certain prince in their country. Although he was not the son of the first wife, he was still highly regarded. It was obvious that his status was much higher than that of a descendant of a martial arts family.

"Hehe, we're brothers after all. Hurry up and get up."

Yan Hong helped Jiang Li up from the ground. He looked to be only thirteen or fourteen years old, but the strength coming from his arms was so great that it definitely surpassed his adult self from his previous life.

"Also, keep this for yourself. This time, I acted quickly and safe-kept it for you. Don't drop it again."

Before Jiang Li could react, Yan Hong stuffed a small cloth bag over.

Jiang Li touched it in his hand. It was stiff, smooth, and cold, like a jade pendant.

A memory quickly surfaced in his mind.

"My son, Jiang Li, this item is not to be underestimated. Our family has given a huge sum of money to ask for this gift from the immortal. It can prevent you from doing odd jobs for two years and directly walk on the path to immortality! You must take good care of it and not lose it!"

"You are going to seek immortality and pursue the Dao. The journey is long and the future is uncertain. This is the last thing I can do for you. I hope you can become an immortal and bring our Jiang family to greater heights!"

In his memory, that was a burly middle-aged man. He was the father of the original owner of the body, a first-rate martial arts expert who was said to have trained and cultivated his internal force.

Jiang Li quickly checked his entire body. All the valuables had been taken away. Because he had gone on a long journey, besides this jade token, Jiang Yuanshan had also prepared a lot of gold, silver, and money for him.

After opening the pouch and confirming that the jade tablet was intact, he heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, Yan Hong, this 'little prince', was secretly helping him. Otherwise, he would be in big trouble.

In his previous life, the path of immortality was an eternal fantasy. The virtual game that Jiang Li played before he died was also of the cultivation theme. It was impossible for him to say that he had no desire for it.

He did not want to lose the treasure that his family had paid a huge price to obtain and become an odd-job servant for two years in vain.

Although he had been beaten to such a state at the start of the transmigration, the current situation was not without benefits.

It was true that he had accepted the memories of the original owner of the body, but there was still a huge difference in his personality and habits compared to the original Jiang Li. If he were to spend time with the original owner's parents and family, he would most likely be discovered.

The feudal superstitions of this era were very severe, and there were indeed rumors of ghosts and deities. If some traveling immortal came to subdue him, that would be terrible.

However, now that he had left home, everyone knew that cultivating to become a cultivator meant cutting off all ties with the mortal world. In a few years, not to mention changing one's personality, many cultivators would no longer recognize their loved ones and parents. This was quite normal.

"Thank you so much, Yan Hong. Without this, I would be finished."

Jiang Li carefully placed the jade tablet into his inner pocket. Because it touched his wound, he gasped again.

"Hehe, we're brothers after all." Yan Hong's big round face smiled charmingly and innocently.

"But as a brother, why didn't you wake me up when I was lying on the floor for so long?"

Jiang Li's sudden question made Yan Hong's expression become a bit awkward, and he smiled in embarrassment, "Brother, you can't blame me for this. Who asked you to do such a thing to Yan Fengyue?"

Yan Hong's words stunned Jiang Li. He seemed to remember that the original owner of this body was not a good person.

It seemed that he had not died unjustly, and only afterwards did the current Jiang Li take over the body.

"She's a princess. Don't you know how many suitors she has in this caravan? Although I don't like her, I still have to address her as my aunt in terms of seniority."

"Thus, I can only secretly help you with this matter."

Hearing Yan Hong's words, Jiang Li recalled the reason why his original body was beaten up.

Although he was very unwilling to admit it, no matter how he looked at it, this beating of the original body could only be said to be well deserved.

Originally, Jiang Li could be said to be a model example of being ignorant and incompetent. There was no hope for him to learn literature or martial arts. Being able to read and write was already a great blessing by his ancestors.

Taking advantage of his family's influence, bullying people was simply his daily routine.

In TV dramas, those young chivalrous men would encounter the scene of a vicious young master snatching a commoner girl every time they entered the city. Was it simply a plot device?

No, it was just natural for the young master to do such things frequently, so the chance of seeing it happen was quite high.

What was worth mentioning was that this Brother Yan Hong knew him through this way. He did not expect this friend to be so unexpectedly reliable.

As for Yan Fengyue, she was the youngest sister of their kingdom's emperor. It was said that she was born from the late emperor and a foreign woman. Her skin was fairer than snow and her figure was tall.

To most of the young men in the convoy, the exquisite face of a mixed-blood was just too alluring and tempting.

Jiang Li's brain was really not too good. It was one thing for him to act tyrannically in his own territory, because he had a family to back him up at least.

However, in this group, his family background was probably not the worst but far from the best.

After seeing Yan Fengyue, he still did not know how to restrain himself. The consequences were naturally pitiful when he acted out of line.

It was one thing to have his confession rejected, but why did he have to sneak a peek at someone else's bath?

It was one thing to peek at the shower, but how could he be so stupid as to be discovered?

It was one thing to be discovered, but not only did he not run, he even tried to force his way in!

Jiang Li did not need to recall to guess what happened after that. After the escorts who came after hearing the news beat him up, the original owner went to heaven while the current Jiang Li took over and revived in this body.

The most infuriating thing was that the original body had yet to see anything. Wasn't that infuriating?

However, when he recalled some details before he was beaten up, Jiang Li still warily discovered that something was not right.

At that time, Yan Fengyue must have discovered him long ago, but she still deliberately lured the original Jiang Li to the riverside to purposely catch him red-handed.

Hmph, it was not simple at all. As expected, how could there really be any simple people in the royal family?

"Alright, it's my fault. Thank you, Yan Hong. But are you injured? My belongings were taken away by those guys."

Jiang Li used his hand to touch the back of his head. It was a bright red color, and his body was also covered in bruises and swelling. However, if he did not treat it properly, it was hard to say if his injuries would worsen once more.

"Hehe, I've prepared it for you." Yan Hong smiled and handed him a small porcelain jar.

"This is the Pear Blossom Frost secretly made by the Northern Yang Temple. It's a good item that martial artists of the pugilistic world find hard to come by. It's very effective against external injuries. It won't even leave a scar. Even the empress in the palace agreed to use it."

"Alright, quickly treat your wound and come out for dinner. I can't stay here any longer. If someone finds out that I'm here to deliver medicine to you, I won't be able to survive in the convoy anymore."

With that said, he opened the wooden door of the carriage, transformed into a nimble fatty, and sprinted away.

Jiang Li was a little helpless. The truth was that his original body had done something absurd. After a round of angry beating from the masses, he became the target of almost everyone's hostility. If Yan Hong got too close to him, he would indeed be easily isolated by others.

Forget it, now was not the time to think about this. It was more important to quickly treat his injuries.

He took off his clothes and applied a layer of ointment on the injured areas evenly. The stimulation of applying the ointment was excruciating.

However, Yan Hong was not bragging. The effect of the Pear Blossom Frost was really not bad. After just a few minutes of rubbing, wisps of coolness penetrated his skin and acted on his wound, greatly easing his pain.

[Applied the Pear Blossom Frost, Added Status: Slow Healing]

At this moment, a text appeared in his vision before slowly disappearing.

The sudden change surprised and delighted Jiang Li.

He hurriedly called out in his mind.

As expected, just like the virtual online game he played before, a translucent blue screen appeared before his eyes.

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Main Class: Mortal]

[Sub-Class 1: None]

[Sub-Class 2: None]

[Health: 132/200]

[Stamina: 92/160]

[Strength: 0.6]

[Speed: 0.7]

[Constitution: 0.6]

[Mind: 1]

[Enlightenment: 1.1]

[Martial Art: Age Tiger Technique Level 0]

[Skill: Appraisal Level 1, Mountain Splitter Level 1]

[Positive Status: Slow Healing]

[Negative Status: Intermediate Injury, Hunger]

[Slow Healing: Regenerates 2 Health per hour. Duration: 6 hours] ( )

[Intermediate Injury: All attributes reduced by 20%. Duration: 72 hours] ( )

[Hunger: Reduces 1 Stamina per hour]

This… this… isn't this the character interface panel of the game that I played previously? It actually transmigrated along with me!

Jiang Li took a quick glance at the information on the interface and had a rough understanding of it. Apart from the additional Age Tiger Technique and Mountain Splitter, which should be the abilities left behind by the original owner of the body, this body was simply too weak.

However, what made him happy was that there were plus and minus buttons on his panel.

It seemed that something magical must have happened when he died and transmigrated. Not only did he transmigrate with the game interface, but he also brought along the cheat that caused the gaming capsule to short circuit and catch fire.

Jiang Li excitedly pressed the plus button at the back of [Slow Healing] mentally and held it for five seconds.

[Slow Healing: Regenerates 2 Health Points per hour. Duration: ] ()

The duration of the slow healing process immediately changed as an infinite symbol appeared.

Sure enough, it worked!

He pressed the minus button on [Intermediate Injury] for another five seconds before the negative status disappeared from Jiang Li's status bar.

Although he did not recover his lost health, he could feel his body relaxing. He could move freely and was no longer restricted by his injuries.

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Chapter 2: Body Strengthening Pill

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Jiang Li could not help but feel excited. This golden finger did not have any other use other than to change the duration on the status bar.

A single press of the plus button would increase the duration by one minute. After holding it for five seconds, the duration would become infinite.

By pressing the minus button, the duration would be reduced by one minute. After five seconds, the status would disappear completely.

What did this mean?

This meant that if he ate a pill in the future, it was equivalent to eating this pill forever!

After receiving one enhancement, the power of the enhancement would never disappear!

The only shortcoming was that this golden finger was powerless against certain statuses that had no duration.

Take [Hunger] for example. How could hunger, as a status, have a duration such that it disappeared after a period of time?

When it was time to eat, he still had to eat. After he was done treating his injuries and putting on his clothes, Jiang Li finally opened the carriage door and walked out.

At this moment, the sky had already turned dark. Under the glow of dusk, smoke curled up from a bonfire not far away, and the tempting smell of roasted meat could be smelled in the breeze.

"I'm really lucky to be alive again. This smell is much better than my own body's burnt smell."

Jiang Li walked towards the place where the food was distributed. When he approached, there were quite a few young men and women who were similar in age to him. They were sitting together and laughing.

When they saw Jiang Li approach, their voices lowered as they turned to look at him, and their gazes were filled with ridicule and disdain.

He ignored the blatant pointing fingers and calmly walked through the crowd to the long table where the food was distributed.

Jiang Li arrived a little late. The meat soup in the pot had already reached the bottom. However, because many of the young ladies who came along did not eat much, there was still a surplus of roasted meat and steamed buns.

The person distributing the food was a burly man who looked like an iron tower. He was dressed in black and had an ugly mark on his face.

The man glanced at Jiang Li before he scraped off the last bit of soup from the iron pot, and then he casually grabbed a piece of roasted meat and a steamed bun before placing them on the tray before pushing them towards Jiang Li.

The soup, which was originally not much, was completely spilled by this push.

Speechless, Jiang Li took over the tray of food. Suddenly, he remembered that he had an appraisal skill that came along with him from the virtual game. He silently threw an appraisal at the man in black in front of him.

[Name: Unknown, Gender: Male, Class: Martial Artist, Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous!]

Jiang Li was shocked. He did not expect that a random appraisal skill would show someone to be extremely dangerous. Although the main reason was that he was too weak now, the [Extremely Dangerous] written in red made him subconsciously want to distance himself from the other party.

Obviously, he was unable to sit together with the other youths, so he could only carry the plate back to the side of the carriage and sit on the edge to eat.

[Consumed 1 barbecued meat and 1 steamed bun. Hunger status has been removed. Added Status: Satiety]

[Satiety: Restores 1 Stamina per minute. Duration: 30 minutes] ( )

Jiang Li was overjoyed. He pressed the plus button.

[Satiety: Restores 1 Stamina per minute. Duration: ] (-)

It was another new status, and the effect was actually quite good.

As long as he did not remove this status, theoretically speaking, he would not have to worry about hunger anymore.

Furthermore, recovering 1 stamina point per minute was actually very impressive. It was basically equivalent to an ordinary person eating 48 meals a day.

If he only did some simple aerobic exercises, he could even become a perpetual motion machine.

Right at this moment, three youths stood up and walked over from the crowd towards Jiang Li. They held wooden sticks in their hands, and it was obvious that they harbored ill intentions.

Jiang Li was furious in his heart, but after glancing at his trash attributes, he could only helplessly smile bitterly.

Before they approached, he left first. He circled around in a semicircle and sat down near the white-clothed 'immortals' and black-clothed martial artists.

He did not dare to get too close to these people. The boys who wanted to attack him naturally did not dare to act rashly now.

After cursing him for being cowardly and shameless, the three of them swept the wooden sticks in their hands aside and returned to the crowd to sit down.

"Looks like I won't live long enough to reach the Immortal Cultivation Sect. Improving my strength is imminent."

"The bunch of brats over there who claim to be escorts have obviously discovered the joy of bullying their peers. If I don't have enough strength to protect myself, those guys can do anything."

"But how can I increase my strength? Let alone the son of a martial arts family, even a farmer's son is stronger than me."

Jiang Li opened his interface. Although he was only a dozen steps away from the 'immortals' and martial artists, they did not sense anything. Although he had already expected this, he still heaved a sigh of relief in his heart.

He examined the interface and looked at it from top to bottom. The only way to increase his strength was probably to develop the two martial arts he had, [Age Tiger Technique] and [Mountain Splitter].

After searching through his memories, he gained a certain understanding of the martial artists of this world.

Compared to the Immortal Cultivators who had never entered the mortal world, martial artists were much more down-to-earth. As long as they had the guidance of their master, and after a long period of training, almost everyone had hope of becoming a martial artist.

Similar to the wuxia novels he had read in his previous life, the martial artists in this world could be roughly divided into three levels: External, Internal, and Connate.

An external martial artist might still be within the scope of a normal person's understanding, but once he broke through to become an internal expert, he would have the mysterious internal force in his body. It would not be difficult for him to wield a weapon and execute martial arts to fight a hundred people at once.

His father, Jiang Yuanshan, was such an internal expert in the martial arts world, commonly known as a first-rate expert.

Suddenly, Jiang Li suddenly turned his head to look at the black-clothed martial artists sitting not too far away.

He remembered that the original body's father had said before he left that he must be respectful to everyone, because even those black-clothed men who looked like servants were all internal martial artists.

Before he truly embarked on the path of cultivation, if Jiang Li were to die by accident, no one would spare a glance at a mortal.

It was more reliable to improve himself first.

When he recalled all the details of the Age Tiger Technique, Jiang Li sat cross-legged on the ground and immersed himself in the cultivation method to practice it step by step.

Bite the air thirty-six times and hug the visualized Kunlun with both hands. Sound the heavenly drum on the left and right, and smell at the angle of twenty-four degrees. Shake the heavenly pillar slightly. The crimson dragon stirs the water and rinses thirty-six times. After the divine water fills the mouth, swallow it in three gulps. Dragon soars and the tiger runs on its own…

Upper and lower teeth knock against each other thirty-six times. Place your hands on the back of your head and press your palms against your ears. At the same time, slowly breathe in nine times.

After that, take a deep breath and do not let it out. Use the tip of your tongue to stir your mouth up and down, producing saliva. Then, rinse your mouth thirty-six times and swallow the residue three times, making gurgling sounds…

Gradually, Jiang Li entered a special state of mind.

Snores that sounded like a sleeping tiger sounded from his chest and nose. On the character interface, the Level 0 [Age Tiger Technique] also quietly became Level 1.

Things were developing properly, but it was obvious that Jiang Li had not considered a single problem. At this moment, his position was truly too close to the group leaders.

He sat quietly by the side and did not make a sound. The sun had just set and he was already openly snoring.

The three white-robed men were originally discussing something. When they heard the snoring, they looked at each other. It was clear that being disturbed by a mortal made them unhappy, even if this mortal might become their junior brother in the future.

A white robed figure flicked his sleeve, and a strand of strange wind swept up from the ground. Jiang Li who sat cross-legged on the ground was instantly blasted flying, and he woke up from his cultivation state before falling to the ground in an extremely sorry state.

Slam!

Before Jiang Li could react, something hard landed on his chest.

"Stay away from us. This is your compensation." He did not even turn his head as he spoke, only waving his hand to get the mortal to leave quickly.

Jiang Li stood up and cupped his hands before quickly turning around and leaving.

Only after entering the original carriage did his expression immediately darken.

In all fairness, Jiang Li's earlier actions of avoiding and cultivating could be considered to have taken advantage of the other party, while also offending them.

As a cultivator, he was already magnanimous enough not to slap this mortal to death for offending him.

Using such a relatively gentle method to wake Jiang Li up and even giving him a certain amount of compensation was already quite noble.

However, Jiang Li was still very angry. He had lived in a lawful society for more than twenty years.

To him, being swept off the ground and having money thrown at him as compensation was an undisguised humiliation.

Anyone who was treated like this, regardless of whether they were right or wrong, would always be angry.

The arrogance that did not even treat him as one of their kind hurt Jiang Li even more.

Coupled with his sudden transmigration, he felt that he had no one to rely on and could not protect himself. This made his desire for strength and cultivation especially high.

He took a deep breath to calm himself down. It was fortunate that his current cultivation level was too low, and he did not even have the chance to experience Qigong Deviation. Otherwise, if he were to suffer another internal injury, he would really be out of luck.

After secretly warning himself to be careful of Immortal Cultivators in the future, Jiang Li opened his palm and examined the thing that had smashed into his chest.

It was a black pill. It was the size of a bean and had a faint fragrance.

As it was from a cultivator, this was probably the legendary immortal pill.

If Jiang Li was sufficiently willful and unyielding, he should throw this medicinal pill to the ground and step on it twice.

But doing so would be tantamount to provoking the immortal. He was most likely going to die on the spot.

Furthermore, as someone who possessed a golden finger, the value of this first medicinal pill was definitely several hundred times higher than that of others.

Thus, after weighing the pros and cons, Jiang Li had no choice but to give up on the 'Main Character's Attitude' and choose to accept reality.

Appraisal!

The omnipotent appraisal skill swept across, and a line of small words appeared above the pill.

[Name: Body Strengthening Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Low-Grade Yellow-Rank]

The effect of the Level 1 appraisal skill was a little useless. There was very little information that could be obtained. It seemed like he had to develop a habit like in the game, which was to appraise whatever he saw and level it up.

Jiang Li did not know what low-grade Yellow-rank was, but since it could be thrown out so casually, it probably was not that high in the eyes of cultivators.

But for a mortal like him, it should already be extremely precious.

The Body Strengthening Pill, as its name suggested, should be used to strengthen his body. It was just right for the current him.

Without any hesitation, he swallowed the Body Strengthening Pill.

Very quickly, a warm current flowed out from his stomach and slowly flowed through his limbs.

Another two notifications popped up in front of Jiang Li.

[Consumed Body Strengthening Pill. Added Status: Body Strengthening]

[Body Strengthening: Increases physical fitness, increases the cultivation speed of body cultivation methods of Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank and below. Duration: 2 hours] ( )

Jiang Li did not even see the status effect clearly before he pressed the plus button for five seconds.

[Body Strengthening: Increases physical fitness, increases the cultivation speed of body cultivation methods of Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank and below. Duration: ] ()

Looking at the effects of the medicinal pill, it was indeed similar to what Jiang Li had expected. It was just that this degree of increase and extent still required him to personally test it out.

It just so happened that those pampered young masters and young mistresses had set up tents beside the bonfire for the night, and no one would disturb the cold and hard carriage.

Amidst the warmth flowing through his entire body, Jiang Li once again immersed himself in the cultivation of the Age Tiger Technique.

Accompanied by the rumbling of the tiger's snores, the warm medicinal power was continuously absorbed by his body, firmly improving his physique, strengthening his bones and muscles.

In the cultivation world, low-grade Yellow-rank Body Strengthening Pills were indeed the lowest grade of medicinal pills. They were basically only valuable to beginners.

However, Jiang Li was now a mortal with a weak physique. This sort of medicinal pill was extremely precious to him.

The 'Age Tiger Technique' that he cultivated was an external cultivation method, but when he practiced it to the limit, he would be able to cultivate internal force. It was one of the top martial arts techniques in the Pugilistic World.

However, in the cultivation world, it was simply trash that could not be considered to be of any quality.

Therefore, not only was the low-grade Yellow-rank Body Strengthening Pill not weak in Jiang Li's opinion, its effects were even extraordinarily good.

He cultivated for six hours. When he woke up, it was already midnight.

He let out a long breath of turbid air, feeling comfortable all over. He had never felt so good before.

He stood up and stretched his body. Even though he had been sitting cross-legged for six hours, his legs were not numb at all. His blood flow was smooth and his body was light.

He could not wait to open the character panel.

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Main Class: Martial Artist, Level: Third-Rate]

[Sub-Class 1: None]

[Sub-Class 2: None]

[Health: 204/260]

[Stamina: 180/180]

[Strength: 0.6 0.7]

[Speed: 0.7 0.8]

[Constitution: 0.6 0.8]

[Mind: 1]

[Enlightenment: 1.1]

[Martial Art: Age Tiger Technique Level 2]

[Skill: Appraisal Level 1, Mountain Splitter Level 1]

[Positive Status: Slow Healing, Satiety, Body Strengthening]

[Negative Status: None]

Jiang Li's eyes immediately lit up. His strength and speed had both increased by 0.1, his constitution had increased by 0.2, and his cultivation of the Age Tiger Technique had directly risen to Level 2.

He could not help but feel unhappy that his cultivation had improved so much in just one session.

The reputation of medicinal pills in the cultivation world was indeed well-deserved. Even with this result, Jiang Li felt that the grade and level of the Age Tiger Technique was too low and was unable to completely display the full effects of the Body Strengthening Pill.

Otherwise, six hours of body strengthening was equivalent to consuming three Body Strengthening Pills. With the weak body left behind by the original owner, the improvement would definitely not be limited to this.

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As the excitement passed, Jiang Li quickly discovered that his body was sticky and uncomfortable.

This was the first time he had cultivated a martial arts technique after taking the Body Strengthening Pill. As a result, a large amount of filth was expelled from his body.

It might not reach the level of muscle and marrow cleansing, but it was still easy to expel the toxins in his body.

"I have no choice but to shower now."

Jiang Li was disgusted by his own stench.

He took out a change of clothes from his bag. No one snatched these things away.

He got out of the carriage and saw that it was quiet outside.

On the other side of the bonfire, there were only two black-clothed martial artists sitting and guarding the night. The others were all sleeping comfortably in their tents.

Jiang Li walked lightly towards the river. Yes, it was the river where he peeked at Yan Fengyue who was bathing.

The martial artist guarding the bonfire immediately discovered Jiang Li's departure, but he did not seem to care at all. He continued to fiddle with the bonfire in front of him.

"This bunch of brats. I told them not to leave the camp, but they did not believe me. Heh, our mission is to guard the camp. If they run outside and die, it will be for nothing."

Of course, Jiang Li did not know what the martial artist guarding the night was complaining about. As he walked, he went towards the bushes in the darkness, using his appraisal skill on everything.

White flower, ghost needle grass, spring water, blood thorn vine, shore leaf, wind willow…

A bunch of names of plants and insects that he had never heard of before popped up. He was too lazy to care about them. With his current appraisal skill level, he might not be able to identify precious treasures even if they were placed in front of him.

From time to time, yellow or even red appraisal boxes would jump out from the bushes. Some were poisonous snakes and some were scorpions. When they saw Jiang Li, they would calmly turn their heads and take a detour.

The nearby large beasts had already turned into roasted meat on the dining table during the day. The main danger of walking at night was still these poisonous bugs and plants.

As long as he was careful by using appraisal, his safety would be guaranteed. This was also why Jiang Li dared to come out alone.

He quickly walked to the riverside and used the appraisal skill on it. After confirming that there was no danger, he took off his dirty clothes and used the water to clean the stains on his body.

When he returned to the carriage, Jiang Li, who had just enjoyed the fruits of cultivation, quickly dived into it again. The Age Tiger Technique had one style, Sleeping Tiger, that could be cultivated while sleeping.

Even though his cultivation speed was slow, it was superior as a steady stream. Furthermore, being able to maintain vigilance while sleeping was a unique aspect of this unorthodox martial arts technique.

Soon, the carriage was filled with snores, as if a ferocious tiger was lying inside.

A few days later.

Swoosh!

A human figure shuttled through the forest. After accelerating to the maximum, the figure suddenly brandished his sword.

The figure brushed past a large tree, and a sword beam flashed like a waterfall. A moment later, the tree that was thicker than Yan Hong's head slowly collapsed.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The chubby, round-faced Yan Hong clapped as he walked away. He touched the cut on the tree and clicked his tongue in wonder, "Incredible! Incredible! Your Mountain Splitter is getting more and more powerful each time. I take back what I said earlier about competing with you. I don't want to be attacked like this."

He touched the protective soft armor he was wearing. That thing obviously could not block that sword.

"However, Jiang Li, your Age Tiger Technique has improved tremendously. The power of the Mountain Splitter is astonishing too. Many second-rate martial artists in the Pugilistic World would not be your match."

"Those guys from the Wang and Li Families are even weaker than me. How could you have been beaten up by them to such an extent?"

Jiang Li's miserable state a few days ago was still vivid in Yan Hong's mind. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he had almost died from the assault. It was natural to be slightly puzzled by this.

"There was no helping it. I didn't bring my sword with me at that time. Furthermore, they ambushed me from behind and smashed me down with a rock. Otherwise, as someone from a martial arts family, how could I lose to them!"

Jiang Li pointed at the back of his head. The bright red color indicated that it was indeed a fatal injury.

"When I find a chance, hmph! I must beat the shit out of them! Since when have I been bullied like this!"

With a face full of hatred, he vividly portrayed the scene of a thirteen-year-old teenager preparing for revenge.

Yan Hong naturally did not have any doubts. The Great Goose Kingdom was a place of martial arts, and regardless of whether one was a noble or a young lady, they had more or less learned a few moves and some martial arts.

Jiang Li came from a martial arts family and was even the son of the first wife. Although his performance in the past was a little underwhelming, it was normal for him to have practiced martial arts.

"Don't worry, brother. With your strength, as long as you don't get ambushed, the ten of them won't be able to get close to you."

"You don't have to worry about the Lord Immortal. No one cared about what they did to you last time. As long as they didn't kill you in front of them, no one would care."

Yan Hong patted Jiang Li's shoulder excitedly, as if he was the one seeking revenge.

Jiang Li smiled and looked at the sword in his hand, "Yeah… Yan Hong, I'll compensate you when we get to town."

Embarrassed, he handed the longsword back. At this moment, the two edges of the longsword were full of chips. Many places were repeatedly polished and then sharpened again, this sword could not last much longer.

In the past two days, Jiang Li's Age Tiger Technique had gradually increased in level, and his physique had also steadily increased. He sought Yan Hong's help and borrowed the other party's longsword to cultivate the sword technique, Mountain Splitter.

However, the Mountain Splitter was a sword technique that relied on strength to win, and the loss of durability of the weapon was extremely terrifying as well. Moreover, Jiang Li's swordsmanship was lacking by quite a bit. In just a few days of time, Yan Hong's treasured sword that was mixed with a tenth of dark iron could already be declared unusable!

"You… you're too strong, aren't you? Forget it, I'll just give it to you. We're brothers after all… you must return me a better one in the future…"

Yan Hong touched the sword that was full of chips and wanted to cry but had no tears. How could a weapon mixed with dark iron be bought so easily? Even their prince's mansion only had one.

"Er, definitely, definitely. Then I'll use this sword for another two days."

Jiang Li found a stone to sharpen his sword. The two of them were not far away from where the convoy was stationed. They chatted casually and he silently called out the character panel. The screen flashed and his attributes appeared before his eyes once again.

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Main Class: Martial Artist, Level: Second-Rate]

[Sub-Class 1: None]

[Sub-Class 2: None]

[Health: 540/540]

[Stamina: 420/420]

[Strength: 2.1]

[Speed: 1.9]

[Constitution: 2.2]

[Mind: 1]

[Enlightenment: 1.1]

[Martial Art: Age Tiger Technique Level 5]

[Skill: Appraisal Level 2, Mountain Splitter Level 3]

[Positive Status: Slow Healing, Satiety, Body Strengthening]

[Negative Status: None]

Currently, his three physical attributes had reached two points on average. It looked like it was only twice that of an ordinary adult, but it was actually more than that.

The higher the attribute, the greater the bonus. It was not obvious yet, but when Jiang Li's attributes reached over 100 in the future, even a tiny increase would be equivalent to 20-30 points now.

Apart from his stats, his Age Tiger Technique had reached Level 5, and his Mountain Splitter had become Level 3.

If it was an ordinary martial artist, they might need to train hard for ten years to achieve this level, but Jiang Li had already achieved this in less than a week.

This was mainly due to the help of the Body Strengthening Pill.

One Body Strengthening Pill was effective for two hours. These few days, it was equivalent to Jiang Li continuously ingesting sixty to seventy Body Strengthening Pills that were hard to find in the mortal world. Only then could he achieve such an effect.

In truth, he did not know that even in the cultivation world's medicinal pills, there existed the two concepts of "resistance" and "pill poisoning".

Most of the medicinal pills were the most effective when consumed for the first time. If one consumed too many, the effects would continuously decrease, becoming worse and worse.

Furthermore, it was not advisable to rely on increasing the dosage of medicine to make up for the effects and methods. This was because of the existence of pill poisoning.

Therefore, even if Immortal Cultivators were rich, they would not eat pills recklessly like medical supplements.

Jiang Li had yet to realize that his golden finger might be even more useful than he had imagined.

"Yan Hong, I remember that you have also taken a master in some martial arts sect before. I heard that immortals are very prejudiced against such sects. People like us who come with martial arts techniques wouldn't be rejected, right?"

Jiang Li still remembered the enormous strength that Yan Hong's hands possessed. In terms of numbers, it was at least 1.6 to 1.7. At the age of thirteen or fourteen, it was already quite an impressive achievement.

"I did not acknowledge a master. My father hired an elder from the Ardent Sun Gang to teach me martial arts. In fact, the intention was not to learn fighting techniques. It's said that once the martial arts of the Ardent Sun Gang reach a certain level, it will be very beneficial to the procreation of descendants."

"Don't think too much about it. It's just a non-ranked martial art in the mortal world. In the eyes of the immortals, it's just a mortal game."

When he spoke of the immortal, Yan Hong's eyes revealed a desire that could not be concealed. Indeed, who would not have any desire to cultivate and become an immortal?

"That's right. Even an internal expert would still be groveling in front of those Immortal Masters. They will act even more lowly than my servants."

Jiang Li could not help but sigh.

Although internal experts were powerful and could already fly over walls and crack rocks, that was still within the scope of human understanding. If Jiang Li was given a period of time, he would be able to quickly achieve it by relying on the strengthening of his body.

However, Immortals, or Immortal Cultivators, were terrifying existences that could summon the wind, rain, and slash mountains and rivers. With his understanding of modern society, it was difficult to imagine any living being capable of such a feat.

The power of the Immortal Cultivators had clearly exceeded that of ordinary humans. It made no difference to them whether they had some martial arts skills or not.

"That's right. Even if you're a Connate Master, you're still a servant of a cultivator. That's why Jiang Li, it's fine if you cultivate some martial arts to strengthen your body. In the future, you must place your focus on cultivating. Otherwise, if you fall behind and can't catch up to me, I won't wait for you."

Yan Hong tried his best to put on an earnest expression on his round face. It looked very funny.

"Why am I still able to hear an old granny's nagging when I'm several hundred miles away from home? Yan Hong, honestly speaking, are you really only thirteen years old?"

Jiang Li raised the longsword that he had been sharpening for a long time to check its edge. He felt rather helpless towards his good friend beside him. Although he was not a master of time management, he was still an adult. How could he not know the severity of the situation?

"Hehe, don't say that, do you know that a few of the etiquette maids in my prince's mansion ran away in anger."

"That's right, Jiang Li. Do you like Yan Fengyue? Why don't you use force again? This time, I'll be your lookout. After this, we'll be relatives if you succeed."

Yan Hong had a sly look in his eyes. He did not know what this fat guy was thinking.

"Get lost!"

The two of them got up and left the forest after toying around for so long.

It was dusk again, and it was time for dinner.

Jiang Li stood in line to receive his food as usual. However, it was obvious that he was still deliberately isolated by his peers in the line. The people in front and behind him had deliberately stood at a distance, unwilling to be together with him.

This was just like the school bullies in his previous life. They would push aside anyone who was easy to bully. All kinds of profanities, rumors, and even physical torture were used by other students to show their strength and unite their factions.

At this time, most people might not take the initiative to bully Jiang Li, but they would definitely not be kind to Jiang Li or even lend a helping hand.

If it was an ordinary youth, he would probably be driven mad at this moment.

Unfortunately, the target this time was Jiang Li.

After he received his share of food at the long table, he deliberately glanced at the youths behind him with fear, then lowered his head and quickly left.

Due to his flustered actions, the food on the tray was quickly spilled. Then, as if wiping his tears with his sleeve, he grabbed a steamed bun on the ground and ran towards the distant forest.

As he ran, he turned back to look at the youths who had led the beating to isolate him.

Did you know why you should not turn your back on wildlife? It was because the instincts carved into the carnivore's genes make it hard for them to resist the temptation to attack from behind.

Coupled with his terrified expression, it meant that the prey in front of him would not know how to resist even if he knelt down and kowtowed until he died.

This kind of temptation was irresistible to the hot-blooded bullies.

As expected, there were a total of seven youths. Three of them had the surname of Wang, and four of them had the surname of Li. They belonged to the two great families of the Great Goose Kingdom, and they were also the culprits behind the death of the original owner of the body after beating up Jiang Li.

Some of them had just gotten their food and saw a good opportunity to vent their anger. They looked at each other, put down their plates, grabbed the things they could use, and chased after Jiang Li.

"Watch me, watch me. This time, I'm going to break that Jiang guy's legs!"

"That 'leg' as well?"

"Haha, I'll break all three of them!"

"Let's go! Don't let him escape."

The seven teenagers were still immersed in the satisfaction of "saving the damsel in distress" from before. They spoke scary words with hideous faces.

The former owner of Jiang Li's body was also a typical young master, just like these seven guys.

Acting chivalrous? Stop bullshitting. They just liked to beat people up and act cool in front of their goddess.

They chased into the forest and soon saw their target. Jiang Li was leaning against a crooked tree, waiting for them with a smile.

"Hehe! Jiang Li, at least you know there's no point resisting. Stay there and wait for us."

"Do you know? Because of this, we can be merciful and break one less leg. However, we still have to break that middle one!"

"Hahahaha!"

The youth in the lead approached with a sinister smile while holding onto a wooden stick. The other six people also dispersed while laughing loudly, and they blocked all possible directions that Jiang Li could escape in.

However…

Bang!

A figure was sent flying five to six meters away. He was lying on the ground, and it was unknown whether he was dead or alive. It was Jiang Li who had taken out a long sword from behind the tree.

He did not intend to kill anyone. He swung the sheathed sword and sent the person flying!

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"Damn it! How dare you retaliate!"

"Attack together! Beat him up!"

The remaining few people were furious. They waved their wooden sticks and surrounded him.

However, Jiang Li's cowardly image was completely changed in their minds. Not only did he not hug his head and beg for mercy, he even directly faced them.

His speed was extremely fast. When he got close to one of them, he ruthlessly kicked.

That person reacted quickly and placed the wooden stick in front of his feet.

A crisp crack sounded. After Jiang Li kicked the wooden stick, he did not lose momentum and kicked the other party's abdomen instead, causing his body to be kicked into the air. Then, he flew out, following the footsteps of the first youth.

"You're dead! You're dead! You actually dared to attack Li Chao. Our Li family's Third Duke of the fourth generation has countless troops under him! You and your family are doomed!"

That fellow who was beaten up seemed to have quite a high position in the secular world. A few of the youths surnamed Li's eyes immediately turned red, and they cursed Jiang Li with bloodthirsty and savage threats.

They all dropped their sticks and went to draw their swords from their waists.

However, how could Jiang Li give them a chance? He leaped three steps away, brandishing his sheathed longsword and slashing at their heads. Before they could even draw their weapons, they were already thrown onto the ground, their heads bleeding and unable to get up.

He kicked their weapons away with his foot and then kicked each of them in the stomach. Then, he looked at the two teenagers who were still standing at the end.

At this moment, they had already drawn their swords, but they did not dare to step forward. They stood on the spot, not knowing what to do.

"You! How can you be so strong? You weren't like this before!"

A person who was previously weak and feeble and had been easily beaten half to death by them suddenly possessed such strength and defeated them as if he was bullying a child.

This was completely unacceptable to the seven people who had always been the strongest team in the convoy.

"Jiang Li, what happened earlier was led by Wang Lin and Li Chao. It has nothing to do with us."

"You have already offended the Wang family and the Li family. Now that you have vented your anger, let us go. We can write off everything that happened in the past. We promise to help you plead for leniency. Otherwise, you and your family will be finished!"

When they saw Jiang Li looking at them, the two of them took two steps back, while speaking in an attempt to intimidate Jiang Li into stopping.

"Oh? Is that so? We're already two countries away from the Great Goose Kingdom, right? If you have the ability to send a message, then give it a try."

Jiang Li closed in step by step. Their threats were completely useless.

The two youths retreated in fear. One of them accidentally tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground.

Jiang Li took the opportunity to step forward. He brandished his longsword and knocked their longswords to the ground twice.

Then, his tiger claw reached out and grabbed their right arms. After two crisp cracking sounds, their arms drooped down.

They were all pampered second-generation heirs, so how could they endure such pain? They immediately hugged their arms and rolled on the ground, groaning in pain.

It was not until Jiang Li fiercely slapped them twice that they finally stopped crying.

"I advise you not to lie on the ground and pretend to be dead, especially you. I'll break your legs if you don't get up and kneel in front of me when I count to ten!"

"One, two, three… Ha, looks like you guys have some backbone."

Jiang Li counted three times, but none of them moved. They just lay on the ground and looked up at Jiang Li with hatred.

They looked as if they would not kneel down no matter what, and they did not believe that he would dare to do anything against them.

"You guys are really amazing. What gave you the illusion that I'm a good person?"

He picked up a stone the size of a head from the side and walked to the side of Wang Lin, who had been shouting the loudest and taking the lead in beating him up.

The stone fell. Bang! Crack!

Wang Lin's calf immediately bent, and sharp bone fragments even pierced out from his back.

His body instinctively wanted to curl up and hug his broken leg, but Jiang Li stepped on his chest and rendered him unable to move.

He could only scream and scratch his hands on the ground.

"Don't worry, you still have two legs. We'll cheer when I break them all."

"Ah! No, no, no! Don't! I was wrong! Jiang Li, I was wrong! I'll kneel down! I'll apologize to you! I'll die! Ahhh!"

Wang Lin's screams were heart-wrenching. The others also felt a deep sense of fear in their hearts.

"He's serious! He's really going to break our legs!"

How could a group of thirteen or fourteen year old good-for-nothing kids tolerate this? They had grown up to be tyrannical, but the word "unyielding" was not in their dictionary.

They were immediately convinced and knelt on the ground with Wang Lin, who was already dragging his broken leg.

"Tell me, are you guys wrong?" Jiang Li hugged his sword and sneered.

"We were wrong! We were wrong! Jiang Li, we were blind in the past. We offended you. We're sorry…"

There was no sincerity in their voices.

"Not bad, good children know when to apologize. I accept your apology. Young masters, what price do you plan to pay to redeem your legs?"

Jiang Li smiled as he looked at their bulging bags. There was bound to be some good stuff inside.

"As the price, hand over your jade tokens and spirit stones!"

If not for Yan Hong's help, his jade token would have been snatched away by those fellows. Now that it was time to repay his enemy, he naturally would not let them off easily.

Upon hearing the jade token and spirit stones, they immediately became agitated. Their eyes widened in disbelief.

"No. Didn't you say you would let us go if we apologized?" Li Chao from the Li family could not help but ask.

After all, spirit stones were things of the cultivation world. Occasionally, one or two of them would fall into the mortal world, which was also a rare treasure.

It was hard to say if all seven of them had ten in total.

"Let you go? I apologized when you hit me, right? Why didn't you let me go? My patience is limited. If you give up, I can choose to kill you first before taking the spirit stones."

Jiang Li raised the stone again.

Other than Wang Lin and Li Chao, the other five people weighed the pros and cons. If they were to become servant disciples for two years, they would still have a chance to turn things around. However, if their legs were broken now, they might die on the road ahead.

They steeled their hearts and took out a cloth bag one after another, handing them to Jiang Li.

"I'll give you one more chance. If I find hidden ones when I search you, believe me, you'll regret it." As soon as he said this, the faces of two of them immediately darkened. After thinking about it for a long time, they felt that they could not hide it. In the end, they touched their bodies and placed them in their palms.

Jiang Li counted. Sure enough, everyone had a jade token, but there were only three spirit stones in total.

"Yes, very good. Now, I'll give you another choice."

He indicated to the five people who had already admitted defeat. Meanwhile, Wang Lin and Li Chao, who had been keeping their heads down and not speaking, sensed that something was wrong.

"Actually, it's useless for me to keep your jade tokens. Right now, the two of them still have five legs left. If each of you break one, I will return your jade tokens to you."

He said: "Think about it, two years as an odd-job servant or begin your immortal journey immediately. Think about it yourselves."

Jiang Li's words were like a devil's whisper. In an instant, the five people looked at Wang Lin and Liu Chao differently.

"Hey! Hey! What are you guys trying to do?! He's trying to sow discord between us! I'm the son of the first wife! If you guys dare to lay your hands on me, my father will definitely not let you guys off!"

It would have been better if he had not said that, but now that he did, the other five immediately became even angrier.

Just because you are the legitimate sons! We have always been your lackeys! You are the ones who caused this trouble, yet you want us to bear it together!

We are already a few hundred kilometers away from the Great Goose Kingdom, and nobody can even fly back! How can they still use their status as the legitimate son to suppress us!

Once we become immortals, we can disregard the entire Great Goose Kingdom. Why should we be afraid of you?

The more they thought about it, the angrier they got. The more they thought about it, the more daring they became. They started to touch the stones beside them.

"Hey, hey! Jiang Li! I'm willing to hand over the spirit stones! I'm willing to hand over the spirit stones!"

"It's too late now!"

In the forest, miserable screams rang out one after another, causing the young men and women in the convoy outside to look at each other, not knowing what was happening.

They subconsciously thought that Jiang Li had suffered another inhuman beating.

However, the screams clearly came from several different people. They really could not imagine what was going on.

After a long time, Jiang Li walked out with a pile of swords in his arms under the watchful eyes of fifty or sixty soon-to-be cultivators. He was in high spirits and his clothes were neat and tidy. It was impossible to tell that he had been tortured.

Behind him, five disciples of the Wang and Li families dragged Wang Lin and Li Chao out of the forest.

Seeing that all of them were injured and were still keeping a distance from Jiang Li in fear, how could the onlookers not know that they had suffered a loss? It was actually this "lecher" Jiang Li who won!

Oh wait, since Jiang Li won, he should be called Young Master Jiang now.

As Jiang Li approached, the crowd automatically opened up a path.

He walked to Yan Hong, picked out the best of the seven swords, and returned it to him. After thanking him, he brought his spoils of war back to the carriage.

Only then did he heave a sigh of relief.

It seemed that his actions had not crossed the bottom line of those three cultivators.

That night, he offended those few cultivators while cultivating. Although he did not know what they were thinking, their way of handling Jiang Li could be said to be quite gentle.

From this, it could be deduced that the three Immortal Cultivators were more inclined towards kindness and order.

Amongst these people, Jiang Li was afraid that one of them would like to uphold justice.

Even if they did not, at the very least, he could not choose to kill the few of them who made up ten percent of the potential cultivators in the convoy.

The reason was simple. If recruiting new blood was a mission for the Immortal Masters, and Jiang Li affected their mission, he would most likely die an ugly death.

Thus, even though he had a reason to take revenge, he did not go overboard.

In the end, he even used the jade token to sow discord to deal with the culprit.

This way, he could divide the relationship between the seven of them and reduce any future trouble.

He could also divert the trouble to a certain extent. Even if the Immortal Cultivators leading the team were dissatisfied, the punishment would be lighter.

It seemed that his actions were still within their tolerance level.

Now, he had time to look at the loot.

There were a total of eight spirit stones, and he found another five on Wang Lin and Li Chao.

There were two jade tokens, but they were temporarily useless. When they arrived, he could see if there was a chance to sell them.

He could keep the gold and silver for now. After all, the secular world was the foundation of the cultivation world. It might be useful in the future.

There were also three bottles of pills.

One bottle was filled with healing medicine. After using appraisal, Jiang Li directly poured more than ten pills into his stomach.

[Consumed Golden Toad Pill. Added Status: Slow Healing]

[Slow Healing: Regenerates 2 Health Points per hour. Duration: 4 hours] ( )

[Overdose of Golden Toad Pills. Added Status: Promoted Healing]

[Promoted Healing: Regenerates 4 Health Points per hour. Duration: 6 hours] ( )

Jiang Li was stunned by the series of notifications. It turned out that other than the prescribed dosage, some medicinal pills could also be consumed in excess.

For ordinary people, consuming too much of it would be a waste of medicinal effects and excessive side effects. It was not worth it.

But for him, this was a simple action that could increase his bonuses.

After pressing for five seconds and turning [Promoted Healing] into a permanent status, he looked at the other two bottles of pills.

He scanned them with appraisal.

Dragon Essence Tiger Six Flavors Pill… Why did this name sound like it was used in bed?

These two guys were indeed not good people. They came here to seek immortality and pursue the Dao, yet they actually brought this kind of thing, and each of them even had a bottle. They really deserved to die.

This new status directly increased his constitution by 0.5. Indeed, this pill gave him manly vigor!

Knock knock~

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door.

Jiang Li opened the small wooden door of the carriage and peeked his head out to see a girl he did not know.

"Jiang Li, I… I saw that you didn't eat dinner, so if you don't mind, please eat mine."

She shyly handed over a wooden plate. Other than steamed buns on half of the plate, the meat and soup were intact as well.

"Thank you." Jiang Li took the plate and came out of the carriage to thank her.

"You're welcome, my name is… my name is… Ah!"

Before she could say her name, the girl who had her head lowered suddenly blushed. She covered her eyes and ran away immediately.

Jiang Li was a little puzzled at first. He lowered his head and realized that his third leg had changed from sitting to standing upright.

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"Look, look, what did I see?"

"How unfortunate, I originally wanted to invite my brother Jiang Li to sleep in the tent with me, but now it would seem that he already has a better choice."

Yan Hong walked out from the side with his hands behind his back.

He reached out and removed the bowl of soup from the tray. There was even a thin handkerchief underneath.

In this era, such an action was no longer a hint, but a clear indication.

"Get lost!"

"I'm going to practice tonight. It's not like you haven't heard of the snoring before. I'm fine staying in the carriage by myself."

Jiang Li kept his handkerchief and decisively rejected Yan Hong's invitation.

Yan Hong was actually here to congratulate him, because among the young men and women in the convoy, his reputation had completely reversed. He had gone from a wretched and cowardly pervert to a determined and vengeful pugilistic young master.

He had clearly not done anything good, and there was indeed an attempt at peeping, but after he revealed his strength, his peers' opinions of him changed drastically.

In fact, this was quite normal.

Humans were selfish by nature. In the process of interacting with humans, "value" was always the first standard for others to judge you.

Even family and friends, even parents and lovers, would be subconsciously affected by this "value".

Therefore, a person's character was not that important, especially since they were strangers who met by chance. Would anyone really care about your character? What they cared about was your wealth, status, and power.

In this special world, strength was undoubtedly the first criterion of value. So after he revealed his strength, he even directly became the dream lover of many young girls.

On the other hand, Yan Fengyue was not having a good time recently.

It turned out that her group of friends who were close to her still wanted to be nice in front of her. However, they started saying that she was shameless and seduced men.

The most important thing was that the campsite was not big, so Yan Fengyue heard such gossip several times. The awkwardness was not something a little girl could handle.

It was not right for her to pretend that she did not hear it, but she could not expose those friends either. It was unbearable to hold it in.

Time passed day by day on the journey. As their destination approached, several carriages gathered together.

Jiang Li noticed that the markings on the carriage were exactly the same, and the way the robed cultivators conversed was obviously familiar with each other. Obviously, these carriages belonged to the same force.

Every time Yan Hong set up camp to rest, he would communicate with the other teams in exchange for information.

Due to the mysteriousness of those cultivators, or perhaps because they generally looked down on the character of mortals, the useful information they obtained was also very little.

They only knew that these convoys belonged to a force called the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. Every few years, they would send out convoys to test and bring away children with spiritual roots from the secular kingdoms.

According to their speculations, this might be an intermediary organization that connected the mortal world to the cultivation world. With their current knowledge and experience, they were unable to speculate how powerful this organization was.

As expected, if there was a need, there would be benefits. If there were benefits, there would definitely be people who would take this job.

As an intermediary, they would be able to profit from both sides. The owner of the Immortal Ascension Pavilion must have a good financial mind.

Then, on a certain evening when Jiang Li had broken through to Level 7 of the Age Tiger Technique, Yan Hong came looking for him excitedly.

"Jiang Li! Jiang Li! Come out quickly! I have something good to show you!"

Jiang Li slowly ended his martial arts practice and sighed. It seemed that he had to be more careful when practicing his martial arts in the future. If he were to raise the level of his Age Tiger Technique again, he would be able to generate internal force. If he were to be interrupted like this, he would probably cough out three liters of blood from the backlash.

"My young lord, what are you making such a fuss about? If you ask me if I want a wife, I might be interested," Jiang Li came out of the carriage grumpily.

Recently, he had been practicing martial arts in his free time. Because he had those few buffs active the entire time, his energy was always full. If he did not practice martial arts to expend it, it would be unbearable.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Come with me. Another convoy has joined us. This time, you definitely won't be able to guess who is in the car." Yan Hong said excitedly as he pulled Jiang Li towards the back of the convoy.

"Let me guess, a golden-haired girl with blue eyes, a dark-skinned girl with curly hair, or a girl with piercings in her ears, nose, and mouth? Hey, Yan Hong, can you focus on something else besides girls?"

"This time, I guarantee that it's not a girl. No, it seems to be a girl. Actually, it's not a real girl either. Anyway, just follow me."

Soon, Jiang Li noticed that something was not right because Yan Hong and the others were not the only ones that had joined in the fun this time. There were over 200 people in the convoy, and most of them were gathered around the new group.

What kind of person could be so popular?

Moreover, it did not feel like they were looking at a human. Instead, it felt like they were looking at a monkey in a zoo.

Jiang Li and Yi Yun approached. With his brute strength that far exceeded his peers, he forced his way through the crowd.

The carriage that he finally saw stunned him, because the thing on this carriage was not the enclosed box that he was familiar with, but a large iron cage welded together from steel bars the thickness of a thumb.

Inside the cage was a wooden bathtub about half the height of a human. It was the kind that was commonly seen in period dramas.

From the looks of it, could it be that some ferocious beast was locked inside?

Jiang Li looked at Yan Hong with obvious intentions.

"What's inside?"

"Wait and see, it will show itself later."

Yan Hong stood at the front of the crowd confidently.

At this moment, some of the boys got impatient and went up to slap the wooden bucket inside the cage.

Some people even started to throw the remaining pieces of the steamed bun into the wooden barrel.

"Hey, come out quickly! If you don't come out soon, I'm going to throw rocks!"

One of the youths from the other carriages was quite bold. He really began to search for rocks on the ground.

Thump!

A rock the size of a fist was thrown into a wooden barrel by some guy. Something inside seemed to have finally been angered, and water splashed violently.

"Those who don't want to die! Scram!"

The internal martial artist's angry shout rang out, instantly scaring the devilish brat who was throwing the rock, he squatted down abruptly.

No one else dared to stir up trouble. Several black-clothed martial artists appeared and began to forcefully disperse the crowd.

In the end, these soon-to-be cultivators were just a bunch of children. After being frightened, they decisively and honestly dispersed. Jiang Li could only helplessly leave with the others.

At the last moment, he saw a slender arm reaching out to grab the metal bar outside.

"Yan Hong, can you tell me what's inside now?"

Yan Hong scratched his head in embarrassment, "I don't know. But that must be a demon, and it is an aquatic demon."

Jiang Li shook his head. He knew that he should not have held any expectations for Yan Hong's reliability.

"But, a demon…" Jiang Li muttered this word. He did not know if it was the kind of monster he imagined.

At night, the moonlight shone down.

In a quiet corner of the camp, Jiang Li was snoring thunderously in his carriage.

Of course, this was not actual snoring. Otherwise, if it was so loud, Jiang Li's throat would be completely ruined the next day.

The sound came from the vibrating resonance of his chest and skin. Under the effect of strengthening his body, his body was slowly and firmly becoming stronger.

At this moment, a melodious and clear song entered his ears.

So comfortable… so gentle.

It was like a baby returning to his mother's embrace. The gentle singing surrounded him, and he only felt at ease and comfort.

Jiang Li let down all of his guard and vigilance. Subconsciously, he only wanted to relax his body. He did not know when he had stopped circulating the Age Tiger Technique which he was practicing.

He lay on the hard wooden board, but it was as if he was lying on a soft bed with eighteen layers of goose feathers. He actually revealed a satisfied smile.

That was until…

[Affected by the song of the Scaled Demon, Mind attribute's immunity failed. Added Status: Hypnosis]

[Hypnosis: Perception is suppressed by 50%, Mind is suppressed by 50%, forced into deep sleep. Duration: 3 hours] ( )

The two lines of text that suddenly appeared in his field of vision terrified Jiang Li to the point of trembling, and his consciousness slightly cleared up.

But… sleepy! So sleepy!

The intense sleepiness made Jiang Li feel like a ghost was pressing down on his bed. He could not move his limbs at all, and his eyelids were so heavy that it felt like two Yan Hong were pressing down on him. He could not open his eyes at all.

No! I can't fall asleep!

Status! Remove the status!

Five seconds later, Jiang Li abruptly sat up, breathing heavily. He was so close to falling asleep.

Fortunately, the character panel appeared directly in his vision. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still see it clearly.

"What happened?"

Jiang Li's mind was filled with question marks. The Scaled Demon's song was still singing outside. After listening for a while, he began to feel his entire body go soft and drowsy again.

After removing his [Hypnosis] status again, he immediately grabbed the leftover steamed buns from dinner, tore two of them into balls, and stuffed them into his ears.

The melodious song became almost inaudible, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Should I… go out and take a look?"

"The risk seems a little high."

After struggling with these two thoughts for a long time, Jiang Li finally chose a compromising outcome.

He dug a hole in the carriage and looked outside.

He carefully unsheathed his longsword and climbed up the wooden planks of the carriage.

Jiang Li's current strength was several times that of an ordinary mortal, and the sword in his hand was a treasured sword that was difficult to obtain even with a fortune in the mortal world. Wood shavings fluttered about, and an inconspicuous small hole was quickly drilled out.

Through the small hole, he discovered that the outside was already filled with thick fog. The visibility was extremely low, and he could barely see the bonfire not far away.

"The fog smells so fishy!"

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In the forest on the side, the vegetation suddenly swayed, as if there was a big-sized creature running in it. However, in order to guard against the singing, his ears were stuffed full of steamed buns, so he could not hear clearly.

Jiang Li cursed in his heart, and he tightened his grip on his sword as he prepared himself for any sudden events.

A moment later, a large number of black shadows emerged from the forest. A portion of them headed towards the carriage that held the "monster", while the other portion headed straight for the tent area in the center of the camp.

Jiang Li cursed in his heart. Those Immortal Cultivators were all so arrogant but no one could find them at the critical moment.

Before the enemies got close, he quietly opened the wooden door and jumped out.

From the status notification on the interface, this non-stop song was called the song of the Scaled Demon. The person who created this song should be the Scaled Demon, right?

Could it be that it was here to seek revenge for the captured 'demons'?

The shadow approached quickly, and the singing stopped abruptly, replaced by a series of awful howls.

They pounced towards the tent, but the thick cloth could not stop them. One by one, young boys and girls who were sleeping soundly were dragged out of their blankets.

When they woke up from their dreams, they found a group of monsters on their stomachs eating their internal organs!

At this moment, a Scaled Demon seemed to be attracted by something. After sniffing, it actually ran towards Jiang Li.

Its throat made a heavy and hoarse sound, completely different from the beautiful song.

It opened the wooden door of the carriage and poked its head in to take a look. It was puzzling to find that there was no one inside.

At this moment, a sharp blade extended from beneath the carriage and quickly sliced through the Scaled Demon's legs.

The fishy smell of blood flowed out and the monster fell to the ground.

Jiang Li got out of the carriage and went up to take a look. What surprised him was that not only was this monster not ugly, it was actually quite good-looking.

Its skin was fair and smooth, and it had an exquisite young girl's face. Black hair reached its waist, and clung to its streamline body.

It was no wonder that Yan Hong would describe them as "young girls". However those pitch-black and enlarged pupils, as well as the two rows of sharp teeth that were revealed, ruined its appearance.

The longsword instantly pierced through the Scaled Demon's chest. After killing this beautiful monster, Jiang Li no longer hesitated and ran towards Yan Hong.

Earlier, he saw that a few Scaled Demons were already heading in that direction.

The miserable screams of the young men and women before they died pierced through the night sky. In another direction, human voices finally came from the location of those cultivators.

"Damn it! I'm going to make a loss on this mission!"

"Bold demons! How dare you come ashore to seek death!"

"Hurry up and wake up!"

The continuous roars shook the air, and even Jiang Li's eardrums buzzed.

This finally awakened everyone who was under the influence of hypnosis.

The young men and women woke up in a daze. After sensing the commotion outside, they were helpless and confused, it was obvious that they would only increase the intensity of the chaos.

Fortunately, there was no need to count on them.

Flames streaked across the thick fog and hit the Scaled Demons. They were burning talismans.

When the wet Scaled Demons were struck by the talisman, they began to burn fiercely without any delay. No matter how they rolled on the ground, the flames could not be extinguished.

The black-clothed martial artists were also shocked and angry. They grasped their sharp blades and rushed towards the Scaled Demons, cutting them down as if they were vegetables. Compared to humans who were not that tall and strong, these internal martial artists completely suppressed the demons.

Soon, with a roar, they turned around and fled.

At this moment, white figures flashed over and the talismans in their hands changed again. The Scaled Demon that was hit was no longer burning. Instead, it lay on the ground, unable to move.

"Capture them alive!"

"Capture them alive!" The middle-aged cultivator sounded in an exasperated tone.

This mission was originally quite successful. The number of children with spiritual root aptitude was higher by 20% compared to previous years.

It was only then that they sent out a convoy to attack a tribe of Scaled Demons that they discovered by accident and captured many high-quality goods.

As long as they brought the goods back, and if there were a few high-grade spiritual roots among these children, their income would be much higher than normal.

However, just as they were about to return to the base, the convoy was attacked by the Scaled Demons.

The Scaled Demon's song was their racial innate talent and was too special. Even they were caught off guard.

If it were not for the fact that a few of the cultivators with higher cultivation bases woke up in time and woke up their companions, the casualties would have been even more severe.

Now that the losses had been incurred, they could only capture more Scaled Demons to make up for the losses.

Therefore, the Scaled Demons ran in front while the Immortal Cultivators chased after them. They disappeared into the fog with lightning speed.

As for the black-clothed martial artists, they stayed in the camp to guard against the second sneak attack and began to treat the wounded.

"Ouch! It hurts! Do these things have poisonous teeth? Did I get infected?" At this moment, Jiang Li was sitting on the ground, sucking in cold air.

It was because there was the head of a Scaled Demon hanging over his left shoulder.

At that time, he took advantage of the night and the thick fog to run to Yan Hong's tent. Two Scaled Demons were tearing apart the canvas and reaching out to drag him inside.

This fatty, Yan Hong, often liked to wake up at night, so his tent was closer to the edge, which was why he was unlucky to be attacked first.

Jiang Li could not be bothered to complain about his good friend's urinary system. His eyes were sharp and his hands were quick. He threw the long sword in his hand like a hidden weapon.

Originally, the distance was only seven or eight steps, so the basic accuracy could still be grasped. The sharp longsword, pushed by the huge kinetic energy, directly pierced through one of the Scaled Demons, bringing its body two meters forward.

When the other monster saw this, it also let out a roar and put down Yan Hong before pouncing towards Jiang Li.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Li smiled calmly and drew a sword from his waist before stabbing it towards the oncoming monster.

As someone who had played games his whole life, how could he not keep enough equipment on standby?

Jiang Li had snatched back seven longswords back then, and after returning one to Yan Hong, there were six left.

He had one in his hand and one on his waist. If not for the fact that he was afraid that it would affect his agility, he would have tied the remaining four to his back.

At this moment, the function of the backup weapon was revealed. The longsword was slightly lower, piercing through the abdomen and out the back. Although it did not damage the heart, it was still a fatal injury.

However, before Jiang Li could rejoice, the Scaled Demon lowered its head to look at its stomach, and then a sluggish feeling of flesh, blood, and bones rubbing against the blade could be felt. The Scaled Demon actually forcefully pressed itself against the sword.

Jiang Li instinctively wanted to kick it away, but he did not have the time to react.

Its mouth, which looked no different from a human's, suddenly split open to its ears. Two rows of teeth, sharper than a razor, came at Jiang Li's neck with smelly mucus dripping out.

Jiang Li only had time to twist his body to dodge the fatal blow, but his shoulder was still bitten.

This exposed the weakness of Jiang Li's lack of actual combat experience. He had the advantage in attributes and held a weapon, but he was dragged into a brutish fight by a monster.

The Scaled Demon's two rows of teeth were like needles as they stabbed into him. They easily pierced through the flesh on the shoulder and directly pressed against the bones. As the head bit and twisted, creaking sounds could be heard.

A few kilograms of flesh was about to be torn off. The intense pain of sharp teeth rubbing against his bones made Jiang Li's vision turn dark.

It was as if his shoulder would be torn off in the next second.

His left hand could not exert any strength at all, so Jiang Li could only grit his teeth and twist the sword around, turning the sword that had stabbed into the Scaled Demon's body horizontally before suddenly slashing out from the side.

The force of the blow passed from the longsword to the Scaled Demon's body and then to the mouth that was biting his shoulder. The sudden pain almost made him faint.

Jiang Li was in so much pain that he no longer had the strength to attack. After letting go of his longsword, he grabbed the Scaled Demon's head with his right hand and firmly held it down to prevent any further damage from the bite.

The Scaled Demon's chest and abdomen were split open, and a large amount of internal organs flowed out. Soon, its entire body went limp, and its pitch-black fish eyes finally lost their luster.

However, the most infuriating thing was not that he got injured, but that after he fought to the death to finish off the enemy, he realized that the person he wanted to save was still sleeping.

After two slaps, Yan Hong slowly woke up. At this time, the cultivators and martial artists finally arrived.

After figuring out the situation with a few words, Yan Hong was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat. When he found out that it was Jiang Li who saved him, he even thanked him and claimed that there was still a younger sister in his prince's mansion who had yet to marry, intending to make things even more intimate.

"Save the intimacy for yourself, hurry up and help me remove this head!"

Jiang Li was in so much pain that he was about to cry. That damned Scaled Demon was definitely related to a tortoise. After it died, its mouth did not loosen at all.

After Jiang Li firmly rejected the idea of using brute force, Yan Hong took a small knife and cut off the muscles and ligaments on both sides of the Scaled Demon's face. It was only with great difficulty that he managed to take down the head.

The blood that gushed out indicated that Jiang Li's artery had been bitten through. Fortunately, the exaggerated bleeding stopped after five seconds. Otherwise, he might not have been able to escape from a blood-loss shock.

Jiang Li was truly slightly vexed. Now that he thought about it carefully, if his sword strike at that time was not a stab but a head-on chop, then his shoulder would not have suffered such a bite.

In the end, two mere Scaled Demons had already reduced him to such a sorry state. If there was one more, he might have died here today.

However, this was actually something that could not be helped. Not to mention fighting such monsters, Jiang Li did not even have much experience of fighting humans. It was normal for him to have no experience, and he could only slowly make up for it in the future.

"Hey, boy, your life is really tough. Such a huge bite actually only made you bleed this much."

Very quickly, a martial artist came to treat Jiang Li's injuries. The uninjured Yan Hong was sent to the side to dig a hole. Many people died that night and were buried in peace.

He removed the ugly bandage that Yan Hong wrapped and looked at the wound in amazement.

This black-clothed martial artist was quite skilled. He washed the wound with warm water, disinfected it with strong alcohol, and finally applied medicine to bandage it. Perhaps to them, dealing with such external wounds was a common occurrence.

Jiang Li naturally could not tell him that it was because he had removed the bleeding status already. He could only laugh to show that he was also a martial artist and that his body was excellent.

However, he discovered that this martial artist was obviously younger than the other black-clothed people and was much easier to talk to, so he opened his mouth to speak to him.

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Chapter 7: Picking Up a Rock

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Gasp! Brother, be gentler."

Jiang Li was in pain, but this martial artist found it funny.

"Bear with it, kid. Bite injuries in the wilderness are the most troublesome. If you don't treat it properly, you'll be infected with their tooth poison. You won't be able to keep your entire arm."

Jiang Li knew that the tooth poison was what they called the wound infection. Although he could clearly see the abnormal condition with the status panel, he did not want the Scaled Demon's dirty saliva to remain in the wound. He could only endure the pain and continue talking.

"Alright… but Big Brother, what exactly are those things that attacked us today? Why do they look so similar to humans?" Jiang Li asked the obvious.

"Those are Scaled Demons. They are monsters from the sea. They look like humans, and they are all beauties."

"But regarding that monster, actually all males and females look the same, and they even eat humans."

What he wanted to express was very obvious. That beautiful appearance was just a disguise to lure their prey.

Jiang Li also felt a chill down his spine. He was wondering why these Scaled Demons looked like they were all females. So that was the reason.

These days, even those of other races have started to cross dress. It was truly a sight to behold.

"Then Big Brother, why don't you just kill these monsters? Why do you need to capture them?"

He pointed at the martial artists not far away. They were moving the immobile Scaled Demons on the ground and throwing them into the metal cage carriage.

The sneak attack earlier had caused more than half of the Scaled Demons to escape. Now, the ones they had caught were once again locked up in empty cages.

This night attack had caused quite a bit of damage to the convoy. However, with the death of the Scaled Demons, it was obvious that they had lost even more. No one knew what these monsters were after.

"Of course we're selling them. Alright, if you can move, go help the rest. I still have to save others." With that said, he carried the medicine box and left.

Jiang Li touched the bandage and felt that it was more comfortable to move in than Yan Hong's bandage.

He glanced at the interface panel. That bite was indeed ruthless. It took away 77 of his health points.

Although this was just a quantification in the character interface and could not be used to determine the physical condition of the body based on the health points, it still had a considerable reference value.

The medicine that that martial artist had applied to him was clearly inferior to the Pear Blossom Frost. The buff did not even appear.

However, Jiang Li now had two recovery buffs, [Slow Healing] and [Promoted Healing]. With these two, he could recover 6 health points every hour. In about 13 hours, his injuries would completely recover.

To mortals, this speed was quite exaggerated.

As an injured person, he did not need to help clean up the scene. He ran to the metal cages and observed them.

A martial artist had dragged two Scaled Demon corpses back from a nearby forest. They must have been killed by a cultivator while escaping.

From the looks of it, it was not easy to "capture" them alive. Even the relatively weaker talismans could easily kill a Scaled Demon.

As for the Scaled Demons, they clearly did not receive the same treatment of being buried in the ground like the humans. They were gathered together, and when the time came, they would be burned to ashes.

Swish!

A soft sound of water suddenly sounded beside him.

A head slowly poked out from the iron cage!

Jiang Li suddenly recalled that this was the Scaled Demon that Yan Hong had brought him to see after dinner, but he had not seen it in the end.

His interest was piqued, and he observed the Scaled Demon without batting an eyelid. He saw that it was different from the rest of its kind. The hair was completely white, but its eyes were closer to a human's, and the pupils were not as dilated.

A special one! As a transmigrator, Jiang Li loved to find special things.

After a more detailed comparison, he realized that the cage of this Scaled Demon was different from the other cages.

The iron bars were even thicker. There were no locks on the iron door, but it was directly sealed with molten iron. Four talisman papers were added to the four corners of the iron cage.

Jiang Li would not believe that she was not important.

"What is it looking at?"

Jiang Li noticed that the white-haired Scaled Demon had been staring in a certain direction all this time, so it did not notice his spying.

Following its gaze, another Scaled Demon was dragged out of the forest.

The white-haired Scaled Demon's gaze followed the demon corpse as it was slowly moved.

At this moment, Jiang Li saw a black object suddenly fall from the Scaled Demon's corpse.

The white-haired Scaled Demon moved as well, its gaze locked onto that.

Hmph!

Jiang Li purposely made a sound. The white-haired Scaled Demon was frightened and suddenly retreated into the water bucket.

Seeing that it no longer appeared, Jiang Li walked over casually. Then, a handkerchief in his sleeve accidentally fell to the ground.

After picking it up, he walked around aimlessly for a while before returning to his carriage.

After kneading a ball of paper and stuffing it into the small hole he made earlier, Jiang Li took out the handkerchief that the girl had given him. He opened it and saw a palm-sized black rock inside.

He turned and looked at it for a long time. This seemed to be the rock that a naughty kid threw in.

"I've been so excited for so long. Did I just pick up a useless rock?"

Jiang Li did not believe that so he decisively scanned through it.

[Name: Rock with Something Hidden]

[Type: Trash]

[Content: Unknown]

Indeed! There was something hidden within!

There was a faint stench coming from the stone, which was very similar to the fog from before.

He lit a lamp and carefully examined it. On the surface of the stone, he found an extremely fine crack.

Jiang Li did not use violence to break open the stone. He had no choice in this situation now. If there was really something good inside, it would not be his anymore.

He acted just like an injured person, quietly recuperating and sleeping in the carriage.

Later on, it was said that when the Immortal Masters returned, they did not capture many Scaled Demons. It seemed that they were ambushed and several people got injured.

That night, the white-haired Scaled Demon seemed to have lost its mind. It collided crazily against the cage, causing the entire camp to be unable to sleep. It was only after the Immortal Master punished it that it finally stopped.

The rest of the journey was peaceful. The villages and towns they saw gradually increased. They had already left the vast wilderness and entered human territory.

In fact, Jiang Li's injuries had already recovered on the second day of his injuries. However, he had never taken off his bandages, and he had always done it himself when he was changing his bandages. It was only when his peers' injuries were all healed that he chose a time to remove his bandages.

After speeding along the flat road for a few more days, a grand vermilion pavilion gradually appeared at the end of his sight.

"We've arrived at our destination!"

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Chapter 8: Spiritual Root Test

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Great Mountain Branch of the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. I am your guide to the cultivation world."

"I am the person-in-charge, Fu Zhong. I am also the most reputable businessman on this mountain. If you need anything in the future, please choose the Immortal Ascension Pavilion."

"Please follow me."

The group of youths got off the carriage and gathered together. A plump, short, and stout middle-aged man received them.

Fu Zhong was like a typical businessman. No matter who he faced, he would bow slightly and smile charmingly. However, if one really looked down on him because of this, they would definitely suffer greatly.

Jiang Li casually used appraisal on him.

As his strength increased, the danger level of those martial artists in the convoy had already changed to 'high'.

But in the case of Fu Zhong…

[Name: Fu Zhong, Gender: Male, Class: Cultivator, Level: Unknown, Danger Level: Extremely Dangerous!]

It was another bright red [Extremely Dangerous]. This meant that Jiang Li had no ability to resist in front of his opponent. He would not even have a chance to escape.

He was used to the indifference and arrogance of those martial artists and even the Immortal Cultivators leading their teams. This Fu Zhong clearly had the strength to easily crush them, but he could still maintain such an attitude. It could only be said that he was indeed a businessman.

Fu Zhong led everyone around and soon arrived at a spacious room.

It was similar to an indoor field in his previous life. However, it was built using wood and tenons. This was the powerful wisdom of people from ancient times.

The room was quite spacious, and the most eye-catching were ten small array formations arranged in a row.

[Name: Basic Spirit Testing Array]

[Type: Array Formation]

[Grade: High-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Effect: Spirit Testing]

"Young masters and young ladies, listen to me. When you left your hometown, you were tested for having a spiritual root."

"Now, we have to go through a more detailed test to determine the level of everyone's spiritual root. This will determine how far you can walk on the path to immortality and how fast you can cultivate."

"Listen to what I have to say next. You only have one chance to test it."

Fu Zhong's voice was not loud, but everyone could hear him clearly.

The chaotic crowd quickly quieted down, and the sound of gulping could be heard clearly.

Even Jiang Li could not help but feel a little nervous. At this moment, he would see if he had the supreme talent of a Gary Stu or start with the lowest grade trash spiritual root. This was the moment that would decide his fate.

"When I call your names, come up one by one."

"Wang Ming, Han Ping, Li Baichen, Hu Feifei…"

The first ten people stepped forward and stood apart nervously.

"Come, sit on the mat of this array formation and sit cross-legged."

The ten teenagers followed his instructions. Some of them did not do well enough, and some of the assistants beside them went forward to make adjustments.

"Good. Now hold the glass bead in front of you and keep your palms on the side."

It was a translucent bead the size of a coconut. It looked heavy.

"Close your eyes and don't move. Hold the Spirit Testing Bead and don't let go no matter what. Remember, you can only come down when I tell you to!"

Seeing the boys and girls nod solemnly, Fu Zhong then nodded to his assistants standing by the array.

"Let's begin."

The assistants followed his instructions and took out a spirit stone, placing it on the hole in the array formation.

The next moment, the array formation lit up with a fluorescent light. The young men and women sitting on the meditation mats seemed to have been stimulated by something as they began to tremble slightly.

It was no wonder there was no second chance. Every test required one spirit stone. If there was a mistake, the Immortal Ascension Pavilion would not reimburse them.

After two to three minutes, Jiang Li noticed that the Spirit Testing Beads in their hands started to slowly light up.

The colors of the lights were all different. The speed at which they lit up varied as well.

About nine minutes later, before ten minutes passed, the Spirit Testing Bead in one of the youths' hands seemed to have reached its limit. It suddenly flashed and then extinguished.

"Li Baichen, high-grade Earth attribute spiritual root!"

The assistant beside him was clearly very happy. After shouting, he quickly carved out a wooden sign and hung it around the young man's neck.

Fu Zhong personally went up to help Li Baichen up and even helped him tidy up his clothes in a very friendly manner, causing the other party to feel a little overwhelmed.

"Little brother, your potential is not bad. When you choose a sect, you can consider our Immortal Ascension Pavilion."

Initially, Li Baichen did not have much of a presence in the convoy. He had been following Li Chao, who had died on the road, as a follower. After being beaten up by Jiang Li, he became even more obedient.

He did not expect that he would be tested to have a high-grade spiritual root. His face lit up with joy as he raised his head and stood proudly at the side.

Jiang Li noticed that the other party would glance at him from time to time. It was unknown what he was thinking about, but after being glared at by him, Li Baichen pretended to look away casually.

Needless to say, the other party was definitely considering revenge.

Apart from Li Baichen, the others' performance was obviously much worse.

Only two people managed to fill up the Spirit Testing Bead after twenty minutes. A medium-grade spiritual root tag was hung on them.

As for the remaining seven people, they were even worse off. After half an hour, which was also thirty minutes, the energy within the spirit stone was completely exhausted and the array formation was completely extinguished. The Spirit Testing Bead in their hands was still not filled.

Fu Zhong could not be bothered to say anything to them. His assistants distributed the "low-grade" and "inferior-grade" wooden tablets according to the amount of spiritual qi in the Spirit Testing Bead.

From the attitude of the people around them, they clearly realized that something was wrong. Their lack of aptitude would make their future cultivation path full of hurdles.

All of them stood at the side with ugly expressions.

After a few more rounds of testing, Jiang Li had roughly concluded the criteria for judging different spiritual roots based on his observations.

Excluding some unique physiques that were rarely seen in the world, the cultivation world roughly divided spiritual roots into five grades.

Top-grade spiritual root: Fill the Spirit Testing Bead within three minutes.

High-grade spiritual root: Fill the Spirit Testing Bead within ten minutes.

Medium-grade spiritual root: Fill the Spirit Testing Bead within 30 minutes.

Low-grade spiritual root: Fill the Spirit Testing Bead by at least one-third within 30 minutes.

Inferior-grade spiritual root: Fill the Spirit Testing Bead by less than one-third within 30 minutes.

According to the attitude of the members of the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, there was a huge gap between each grade.

Apart from that, there were also spiritual roots with dual attributes and even multiple attributes. Although this talent could not be compared to higher-grade spiritual roots that could accelerate cultivation, it was still very useful to cultivators.

He waited for two more rounds of testing.

"Cai Dezhong, Gu Zhiping, Qiao Jiaju, Yan Fengyue, Yan Hong… Jiang Li."

It was finally his turn!

Now that things had come to this, even Jiang Li felt as if he had returned to the time when he was checking the results of his college entrance examination. He felt even more nervous than that.

After all, one could work hard during the college entrance examination. This aptitude test was completely up to fate.

Yan Hong, who was beside him, was not any better. His teeth were chattering nervously.

They went forward together and lined up to sit on the meditation mat according to Fu Zhong's instructions.

Only then did Jiang Li have a chance to observe the formation patterns on the ground at a close distance.

The lines were interwoven with each other in an extremely mysterious manner. There seemed to be a special pattern between the lines, but the feeling was very strange and hard to comprehend. After looking at it for a moment, he felt the world spinning before his eyes. He quickly closed his eyes and slowly regained his senses.

"Hold up the Spirit Testing Bead, face your palms together!"

Jiang Li did not care about anything else and hurriedly did as he was told.

The semi-transparent Spirit Testing Bead was warm and not heavy, as if it was not completely solid.

After closing his eyes and waiting for a moment, he suddenly felt that the air around him seemed to have become clear. As he breathed, a cold aura flowed into his pores and circulated around his body.

He now knew why everyone who sat on it was trembling all over. This kind of stimulation that came from within the body was indeed hard to suppress.

However, he soon realized that the cold aura was attracted by something and surged towards his palms.

Without a doubt, it was the Spirit Testing Bead.

It turned out that the Spirit Testing Ceremony used an array formation to draw out the spiritual qi within the spirit stone, transfer it into the person's body, and finally visualize it in the Spirit Testing Bead.

According to each person's spiritual root, the speed at which they absorbed spiritual qi would be vastly different. These differences would be completely reflected in the Spirit Testing Bead.

But with his speed, was he fast or slow?

Jiang Li had no way of determining this. He could only use his consciousness to guide and see if he could make the flow of spiritual qi faster.

Slowly, spots of fluorescent light appeared in his pitch-black vision. As the fluorescent lights gathered together, they became clearer and brighter.

In the end, a scene was formed before Jiang Li.

A cold and round moon hung in the sky. Under the faint moonlight, there was an ancient tree with lush leaves standing quietly.

"Yan Hong, high-grade Water attribute spiritual root!"

At this moment, an assistant announced loudly.

After that, Yan Hong laughed arrogantly.

"Haha, I am indeed a genius! Jiang Li, don't be afraid, I'll protect you in the future!"

Jiang Li closed his eyes and could imagine the other party's smug expression.

He pursed his lips and cursed the fatty in his heart.

Before he could count to a hundred, another announcement sounded.

"Jiang Li, medium-grade Yin and Wood dual-attribute spiritual root!"

Jiang Li opened his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief. He was already satisfied with this outcome.

Although it was a medium-grade spiritual root, he was only two minutes slower than Yan Hong in filling up the bead. It was the best among the medium-grade spiritual roots.

Moreover, he had a dual-attribute spiritual root which could give him more points. His aptitude could already surpass 90% of the people in the cultivation world.

At this moment, Fu Zhong, who had just finished speaking with Yan Hong, also had his eyes lit up. He immediately ran to Jiang Li's side and helped him up with his chubby hands.

"Young man, your name is Jiang Li, right? Not bad! You look talented and definitely have a bright future."

"It's such a pity. You're only a few breaths away from having a high-grade spiritual root, but rules are rules. If you exceed the time limit, you can only be considered a medium-grade spiritual root. I can't help you either. Besides, you have a dual-attribute spiritual root. What a pity."

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Chapter 9: The Use of the Jade Token

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Fu Zhong sighed and paused for a while before continuing.

"Little brother, I won't hide it from you. In those sects, top-grade spiritual roots can directly enter the inner sect. As for the outer sect, the treatment of high-grade spiritual root disciples is often much better than medium-grade spiritual root disciples."

"How about this, Little Brother Jiang Li? I, Fu Zhong, only feel pity for you. If you can convince your friends to stay in the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, I will make the decision to give you the treatment of a high-grade spiritual root disciple. How about it?"

Jiang Li was stunned, and then he glanced at Yan Hong before he cupped his hands and bowed to Fu Zhong.

"Thank you for your offer, Senior Fu… I'll try my best." He lowered his voice as he spoke the second half of his sentence, as if he really wanted to persuade Yan Hong to stay.

Fu Zhong was obviously very satisfied. His already small eyes narrowed into thin lines.

Jiang Li glanced at the wooden sign hanging on his body and smiled before Yan Hong stood together.

From the Scaled Demon incident, he could see that the Immortal Ascension Pavilion was most likely involved in human trafficking.

He and the other soon-to-be cultivators were similar to the Scaled Demons. They were products that could bring these people benefits.

However, this Fu Zhong's genuine attitude made him feel much more at ease.

It could be seen that Spiritual Roots above the medium-grade were attractive to the Immortal Ascension Pavilion and other sects.

However, even though he was in their territory, the other party did not force these newbies with potential to join him. Instead, he used such a tactful method to persuade them.

This meant that there must be some kind of rule restricting them, preventing them from doing whatever they wanted to the helpless kids.

The greatest possibility was the other sects in this region.

These cultivators were all elites who had lived for hundreds or thousands of years.

Even if it was just for convenience, the job of finding and recruiting Immortal Cultivators was handed over to the more professional Immortal Ascension Pavilion.

It was impossible for them to not set sufficient restrictions. Otherwise, every time they recruited disciples, the best disciples would be taken away by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. In less than a hundred years, the entire cultivation world would be ruled by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion.

Very quickly, half an hour had passed. The Spirit Testing Array had exhausted its energy and was extinguished. Among the remaining eight people, not a single one was able to fill up the Spirit Testing Bead.

What was worth mentioning was that among the eight people, Yan Fengyue, who was also the woman responsible for the original Jiang Li's death due to his peeping, had a lonely expression on her delicate mixed-blood face. The assistant beside her casually hung a wooden sign with a low-grade spiritual root.

Jiang Li also glanced at her. At this moment, the other party was holding onto the wooden tablet tightly, and her gaze was intentionally or unintentionally sweeping towards them. No one knew what she was thinking.

She thought that she was a great genius and had been sought after by countless people since she was young. After she tested her spiritual root aptitude, she thought that she was going to reach the peak of her life. She did not expect to have a low-grade spiritual root.

On the other hand, Jiang Li, Yan Hong, and Li Baichen, whom she had looked down upon previously, possessed talents that far surpassed hers.

This made her so jealous that she was going crazy, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could only accept reality as she started to plan for the future.

"Yan Hong and Jiang Li have a very good relationship. One of them has a high-grade spiritual root while the other has a dual-attribute medium-grade spiritual root. If they work together, they will be a very strong group among this group of people."

"Yan Hong and I are both from the royal bloodline of the Great Goose Kingdom. Jiang Li tried to woo me before. Although he was beaten up because of me, he can't blame me for that. As long as Yan Hong speaks up for me, I can act pitiful and make him fall in love with me again."

"If I can join them, with the help of Yan Hong and that idiot Jiang Li, perhaps in the future…"

Actually, Yan Fengyue was not the only one who had such thoughts.

After the results of the spiritual root test were out, the unstable group structure in the convoy had already collapsed.

None of them were fools. They each had their own thoughts and considerations. With several high-grade spiritual roots as the core, it would not be long before a new group was formed.

After waiting for a long time, the aptitude test for more than 200 people finally ended.

Including Jiang Li, there were only nineteen people with medium-grade spiritual roots and five with high-grade spiritual roots. There was not a single top-grade spiritual root among them.

The cruel elimination of the cultivation world had begun from this first step.

"Alright, all of you have completed the test and know the attributes and grades of your spiritual roots."

"Now, all those with medium-grade and above spiritual roots, as well as those who have our Immortal Ascension Pavilion jade tokens, follow me. We will head to the Immortal Ascension Assembly shortly."

"As for the others, stay where you are. There are other arrangements for you."

Upon hearing this, nearly half of the young men and women present quickly stood behind Fu Zhong. Most of them wore embroidered clothes, while a few wore plain clothes. They were the children who had previously been tested to possess spiritual roots at medium-grade or above.

And on the spot, there were over a hundred uneasy children left behind. All of them wore rough hemp clothes, and it was obvious that their family did not have the ability to exchange for that kind of jade token.

'Could it be…' Jiang Li and Yan Hong looked at each other, both having some guesses.

"I'll go ask."

Yan Hong seemed to have suddenly thought of something. After saying that, he went to Fu Zhong, who was walking at the front, and said something.

Both of them had round and chubby faces. When put together, it was strangely interesting.

It was probably because of Yan Hong's high-grade spiritual root that Fu Zhong told him many things. He only left after bringing them into a lounge.

It was said that they would have to take another form of transportation to the venue of the Immortal Ascension Assembly. They would also have to wait for the people from the other carriages to test their spiritual roots before they set off together.

Fortunately, there was a large amount of exquisite food placed in the lounge. Everyone had been exhausted from the long journey, and after arriving, they had been tested for several hours in a row. Now, they were tired and hungry. They cheered and ate.

The few people with high-grade spiritual roots had a tacit understanding and sat separately at several long tables. The others chose the dining table to sit at based on their own considerations. To them, this showed which person they chose to join.

However, there was a small problem with Jiang Li and Yan Hong.

"Brother, I know the details behind the jade token now."

"Tell me about it."

Although Jiang Li already had his own guesses, it was naturally best if he could obtain confirmation.

"At that time, the cultivator who tested us for Spiritual Roots told us that no matter which sect we went to, this jade token would allow us to be exempted from two years of labor. This saying is neither correct nor accurate enough."

"This is just an ordinary jade token. It will be useless in any other sect!"

"To be precise, this jade token can exempt you from two years of labor if you join the Immortal Ascension Pavilion!"

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Chapter 10: Trust

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"To be precise, this jade token can exempt you from two years of labor if you join the Immortal Ascension Pavilion!"

As expected, the Immortal Ascension Pavilion was not a good place. Jiang Li silently cursed in his heart. He did not say anything as he listened to Yan Hong's explanation.

"Fu Zhong told me that the Immortal Ascension Assembly also has age restrictions. The age requirement is to be below sixteen."

"Every year, the children sent by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion are between 13 and 14 years old."

"If the faction behind them does not pay a price or have the ability to exchange for this jade token, they will be forced to stay in the Immortal Ascension Pavilion and work for two years. They will only be able to participate in the Immortal Ascension Assembly after two years."

"As for disciples with medium-grade and above spiritual roots, the Immortal Ascension Pavilion would not dare to fool other sects. They are also afraid that these people will take revenge on them when they become stronger. Therefore, in our case, it doesn't matter whether we have this jade token or not."

"However, disciples with low-grade and inferior-grade spiritual roots and no family background who don't even have the ability to exchange for a jade token won't be noticed by so many people. They will waste two years working in various places arranged by the Immortal Ascension Pavilion."

"Some of them will choose to join the Immortal Ascension Pavilion after being brainwashed with ideas and continue to work for the organization. The others will also be trained to be lowly slaves during their two years as laborers. After joining other sects, they will be easier to manage and use."

"Accepting gold, silver, and money from the mortal world can further stabilize the Immortal Ascension Pavilion's control over the Great Mountain Region's mortal world. After two years of wasted cultivation, low-grade cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots are even more hardworking and easy to control. This is in line with the interests of the other sects and the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. Therefore, this tradition has been passed down."

After a pause, Yan Hong looked at Jiang Li seriously and said: "Brother, I have an idea that requires your help!"

Jiang Li laughed heartily as he reached into his robes and pulled out a cloth bag, placing it in Yan Hong's hands. Inside were three Immortal Ascension Pavilion jade tokens and eight spirit stones.

Jiang Li believed in Yan Hong. Simply because of the Pear Blossom Frost that the latter gave him when he was in deep trouble, even if he pocketed these eight spirit stones, Jiang Li would not say anything, he would just end their relationship.

However, if Yan Hong did not lie to him, the trust between them would deepen.

This was very important. After all, one had to form a team in order to level up when playing games. If one could really succeed in seeking immortality alone, how could there be any cultivation world? Would it not be better if everyone meditated silently in that case?

Therefore, Jiang Li also needed friends, and friends from the mortal world were like the brothers he met in school in his previous life. They were the most sincere and trustworthy.

Therefore, Jiang Li took out the spirit stones without any hesitation.

"You want to take away some of the soon-to-be laborers and form your own group, right? As long as there's a way to ensure their loyalty, I'll support you."

"Don't be fooled by the number of people surrounding those guys. There aren't many who can be trusted."

Jiang Li pointed at the four groups that were already chatting happily. If they were to find an empty table to sit at, the situation would definitely not be worse than theirs. However, there was not much meaning in that.

After all, in the upcoming Immortal Ascension Assembly, would those supporters give up the sect that was most suitable for them because of this group? Impossible.

"Hehe, I knew you would understand me."

"I've already asked around. In the cultivation world, there is a kind of contract that cannot be broken after signing. The cheapest one only costs five spirit stones each."

"Furthermore, in many large sects, outer sect disciples would also receive a monthly allowance of spirit stones for the first few years. Even the lowest grade disciple would receive a monthly allowance of one spirit stone."

"When the time comes, we can earn dozens of times more even if we just take back this month's allowance! You can consider these as your share. We'll split the profits 50-50!"

The more Yan Hong spoke, the more excited he became. He took out two spirit stones and a jade token, adding ten spirit stones and three jade tokens.

It seemed like Jiang Li had suffered a huge loss when they split the profits 50-50. However, Yan Hong was the one who handled the rest of the operations. He was the one who enjoyed the fruits of others' labor.

Yan Hong thought for a moment, then took out four spirit stones and gave Jiang Li a look that seemed to say 'watch me'.

He picked up a glass of hard liquor from the dining table beside him and walked over with a smile. The four tables of people had already formed a circle.

He went up to toast them, talking and laughing. All sorts of compliments that he had never heard of were thrown at those of his age. After drinking cup after cup of wine, the atmosphere quickly became harmonious with most people.

Jiang Li seemed to have seen the figure of those top salesmen in his previous life at the table. Coupled with his round face, he looked just like Fu Zhong.

"Why do I feel that you're not here to cultivate? You're here to earn money in the cultivation world, right?"

A short while later, Yan Hong returned with a bright smile on his face. He was holding a bulging pocket in his hand. It was obvious that he had gained a lot.

"Haha, Brother, you're wrong. What's so bad about earning money? Who said that earning money doesn't mean one can't cultivate? Scholars are poor while martial artists are rich, and cultivating is even more expensive with the expenditure of spirit stones. I just feel that only with enough spirit stones can one cultivate to the end!"

"But don't worry brother, you saved my life before!"

Yan Hong was referring to the time when he was attacked by a Scaled Demon. He seemed to have drank a little too much earlier and was suddenly a little agitated when he spoke.

"Don't… don't say that you're returning a favor to me. It's a piece of cake for me to help you, but I can see that you trust me."

He patted the pocket containing the spirit stones and jade tokens. He was very touched by Jiang Li's trust in him.

"However, you nearly lost your life when you saved me."

He placed his hand on Jiang Li's left shoulder, as if he could still feel the scars inside through his clothes.

The tragedy of the attack that day had obviously touched him greatly.

"If you hadn't come, I would have been eaten by those damned Scaled Demons!"

"I, Yan Hong, will say this today. No matter how much money I earn in the future, half of it will be yours!"

After he finished speaking, he raised a wine cup towards Jiang Li once more.

Yan Hong was indeed smart, but no matter what, he was only a thirteen or fourteen-year-old child. In his previous life, this was the age where he was most impulsive and yearned for brotherhood.

There was no way to repay a life-saving favor. That sounded familiar, right? Wasn't this a popular saying in this era?

Jiang Li smiled as well. He raised his wine cup, and the two of them clinked it together before downing it in one go.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

"F*ck! Can't you be a little more polite?"

After saying that, both of them laughed. Yan Hong took the things in his arms and ran out to look for Fu Zhong.

In their team, the result of the spiritual root test was nineteen people with medium-grade spiritual roots and five people with high-grade spiritual roots. In other words, these twenty-four people did not need the Immortal Ascension Pavilion jade token.

Apart from Jiang Li and Yan Hong, there were also seven people who were originally commoners without jade tokens. Yan Hong used four spirit stones to exchange for the remaining fifteen jade tokens.

Of course, the four spirit stones were only given to the four disciples with high-grade spiritual root aptitudes.

Yan Hong also had a high-grade spiritual root and had spirit stones to offer. Those extra jade tokens were of no use to them. Yan Hong had something to ask of them, so they had to give him some face and help him out, right?

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Read Cultivation! My Augmented Statuses Have Unlimited Duration Chapter 11 online for free - AllNovelFull

A few minutes later, Yan Hong ran back with a contract and a spiritual pen.

The lowest grade of contract paper was five spirit stones each, and the lowest grade of spiritual pen was one spirit stone each. All of their funds had been used up now.

Yan Hong rested on the dining table while writing furiously. Very soon, a "proof of allegiance" was formed.

[Proof of Allegiance: Establishing brotherhood; trusting each other in life and death; helping each other in good times and bad; depending on each other be it fortune or calamity; and supporting each other in times of difficulties…]

Of course, these were all beautiful nonsense, because in the contract, these requirements were clearly stated as single items.

Jiang Li and Yan Hong signed their names at the top, and then went back to let the others sign their names as well.

Other than not deliberately sending them to their deaths, Yan Hong had requested that the people who submitted to him serve them unconditionally for 18 months.

Although this was also exploitation and oppression, it was undoubtedly much better than two years of forced labor.

First of all, the time was shortened by half a year. Even if Yan Hong really took away all their monthly allowance, they could still cultivate.

No matter what, it was better than wasting two years of time.

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with the contract. However, if we have to choose, there are good and bad aptitudes even among the low-grade spiritual roots. I still remember a few names. We can choose them first."

Even if two people had the same low-grade spiritual root, the more they filled the Spirit Testing Bead, the better their natural talent would be. Since they wanted to choose, they had to pick the better ones.

"I know. Wait for my good news." Yan Hong then ran out after saying that.

This time, he went out for a longer period of time. While waiting, Jiang Li also found a table to sit at. Soon, many of the soon-to-be disciples who were indecisive surrounded him and began to enthusiastically chat.

Especially when Yan Fengyue and a few pretty girls surrounded him and kept calling him Brother Jiang. It made him feel comfortable.

Clearly, these people were not going to submit but only wanted some support, but at this time, it was good to raise their prestige.

Several more teams were brought in, and the spacious lounge soon became more lively.

In particular, there was a group of young men and women who were obviously older than them who were wearing simple clothing that had gone through wear and tear.

This should be the group of children who were forced to work two years ago.

Like a flock of quails, they huddled in the corner of the lounge. They did not dare to speak loudly or eat more food. The curiosity and liveliness in their eyes were gone.

There were clearly more than a thousand people, but it was surprisingly quiet. It was a stark contrast to the situation where the people were forming their own groups.

This was a group of people who had been beaten by society and had their edges worn down by the cruel world. Even if they were to become a member of the cultivation world in the future, they would still be a group of people working hard at the bottom.

Come to think of it, in his previous life, he was just such a person.

Where there were people, there would be class. Where there was class, there would be exploitation. Such things would never change no matter where they went.

There was only one way to escape the fate of being exploited, and that was to exploit others…

Yan Hong's plan was a brutal capital accumulation, the first step to achieving class advancement.

Of course, in this world with immortals, devils, gods, and ghosts, everything depended on strength. Without enough strength to protect it, no matter how many spirit stones one earned, they would still be as defenseless as rootless duckweed.

After some time, when Fu Zhong appeared again and everyone set off again, Yan Hong finally arrived.

Behind him were 19 soon-to-be disciples who seemed to have survived a calamity. Among them were 10 males and 9 females.

"This is my brother, Jiang Li. Hurry up and greet him!"

"Big Brother Jiang Li!"

Yan Hong reprimanded them sternly. Nineteen youths bowed to Jiang Li at the same time. They bent over 90 degrees and did not dare to straighten their backs before getting a response.

Jiang Li looked at Yan Hong in surprise. He did not expect this fatty to have such an ability. Could it be that he was also a transmigrator? Did he study human resource management in his previous life?

Yan Hong raised his eyebrows and whispered a few words into Jiang Li's ear before handing the contract to him for safekeeping.

It turned out that this guy came back so late because he wanted to strike while the iron was hot and give these 19 people psychological counseling (brainwashing).

From the way he was behaving, the psychological counseling was really effective.

"Alright, get up." Only when Jiang Li spoke did they dare to stand up straight. However, they still lowered their heads, not daring to look straight at Jiang Li and Yan Hong.

"Come aboard with us first."

The venue of the Immortal Ascension Assembly was not in the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. With the Immortal Ascension Pavilion as the center, a rich mortal city had been established.

Most cultivators did not like the clamor of the mortal world, so every year, the venue of the Immortal Ascension Assembly was set on an island in the middle of a lake behind the Immortal Ascension Pavilion.

Except…

"Jiang Li, are you sure this thing is a ship, and that place ahead is a lake?" Yan Hong pulled Jiang Li along and asked softly. After all, he had his underlings behind him. As a leader, he could not reveal his ignorance.

"Cough, cough. What's the big deal? It's just a little bigger than normal." Jiang Li looked at the flying ship that was at least twenty meters tall and the lake that was surging with waves. He calmly boarded the ship.

He had already sensed that this world seemed to be much larger than Earth in his previous life. It was as if everything had been enlarged.

It was reasonable for a lake to have an island, right?

With over two thousand people present, it was reasonable for a ship to fit all of them in, right?

According to the information Yan Hong obtained from Fu Zhong, the voyage would only last for a day and they would reach the island in the middle of the lake by tomorrow.

Jiang Li had observed that although this ship was huge, it seemed to have used some special technique. The speed of sailing was actually not slow at all. Even then, they still had to sail for a day and night. This lake was indeed shockingly huge.

Due to Yan Hong having a high-grade spiritual root, they successfully obtained a large and comfortable room to stay in.

Jiang Li gathered all 19 of his subordinates. After Yan Hong's session, he started to counsel them again.

"Don't worry. Yan Hong and I are not bad people. Don't worry too much in the future. Work hard with us."

"Look at all of you, and then look at us. We are a young and vigorous group, and we will only get better and better in the future. As long as you listen to our command and are willing to suffer, when the organization becomes big and strong, you will be the first batch of contributors to the organization. We will definitely not treat you badly."

"I'm strict with you now and I want you to work hard."

"This isn't for us, but for all of you. It's for us to seek immortality together. Tell me, do all of you want to become immortals?"

"We do!"

"Do you want to live forever?"

"We do!"

"Good! All of you are great. I don't care about talent or ability. I only care about attitude!"

"Tell me your attitude!"

"We will work hard, we will work hard!"

"Let me see your determination!"

"Fight, fight, fight!"

When they went out later on, all 19 of their faces were red and swollen. However, no one knew why they were all smiling and looking forward to the future.

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Chapter 12: A Sword May Rust but Not the Heart

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

The huge ship sailed on the waves, but Jiang Li, who was in the cabin, almost did not feel any shaking or vibrations.

In these few days, he also stopped cultivating the Age Tiger Technique and took an actual nap instead.

A day later, the hull shook slightly as the ship slowly approached the shore. Waves of cries could be heard from the deck as Jiang Li and Yan Hong walked out of the cabin in response.

What entered their sight was an island enshrouded in dense fog. In the morning sunlight, two strange peaks connected heaven and earth.

From afar, one could almost see a few immortal cranes flying through the clouds.

The eyes of the soon-to-be cultivators lit up when they saw this.

After the gangway was lowered, everyone disembarked impatiently and walked along a cobblestone path towards the venue.

"How is it? Did you find out anything?"

Jiang Li finally realized that Yan Hong had a special passion and talent in the ways of human affairs.

While he was lying on the bed, Yan Hong had already brought the 19 subordinates to gather intelligence.

Next was the important moment to choose their cultivation sect.

If nothing unexpected happened, Jiang Li would be living in that sect for a very long time to come. Joining a sect was not like looking for a job. It was not something that you could quit as you wished.

In order to have better prospects and development in the future, it was natural to assess many aspects.

The first thing to consider was the size and future potential of the sect.

Secondly, to consider the monthly treatment given to the disciples by the sect and whether it was of a higher standard. No matter how good a sect was, it would be useless without this.

The third point was the advancement and growth of the individual in this sect. If a sect was completely controlled by certain families and other forces, then no matter how outstanding an ordinary disciple's performance was, they would not have much of a future.

These three points were more important.

There were also things like the comprehensive strength, area of expertise, geographical position, sect culture, main cultivation methods, attributes, and so on that had to be taken into consideration.

Of course, the Immortal Ascension Pavilion would not give you this information. Their goal was to get more disciples to join the Immortal Ascension Pavilion. Naturally, they would not help promote their competitors.

However, this was not completely out of the question. The thousand plus soon-to-be disciples who had suffered two years of labor were their source of information.

They were not given cultivation methods to officially cultivate, so they were still a group of mortals.

However, they had lived in the cultivation world as servants for two years, so they were naturally aware of this basic information.

This was especially true for the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, which was a 'service industry'. From the pavilion masters to the servants, they had to be extremely familiar with the names of powerful sects and powerful cultivators that they could not afford to offend.

Thus, after Yan Hong's hard work, a small booklet that introduced the sects of the Great Mountain Region soon arrived in Jiang Li's hands.

"There are a total of 52 sects participating in the Immortal Ascension Assembly."

"There are four sects that are recommended among them. They are the strongest in the region of the Great Mountain. It is also the choice of the majority of the disciples at each meeting."

"However, some reliable small and medium-sized sects, in order to recruit more new disciples, often provide better treatment to help with cultivation."

"Perhaps in some small sects, with our qualifications, we can directly enter the inner sect after entering. It might even be possible for us to become core disciples and be fully nurtured."

"Come take a look and give me some advice."

Yan Hong flipped through another similar booklet with a conflicted expression on his face. He looked like a straight-A student who had gotten the top scorer in the exams and was currently wondering if it was better to go to Tsinghua University or Peking University1.

Jiang Li was somewhat speechless. However, with the other party's high-grade spiritual root aptitude, he believed that no sect would reject him.

"First of all, we must not choose those unorthodox sects. If we end up receiving incomplete cultivation methods from them, we will have nowhere to cry and regret our choice."

He flipped through it again and realized that the sect on the first page seemed to have been marked a lot.

"This Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak looks pretty good. There aren't many disciples, but the sect is the strongest of the four. It has an inheritance from the ancient Shu Mountain Sword Sect."

"Every disciple that joins can obtain a Life-Bound Flying Sword given by the sect. This treatment is much better than the other sects."

Jiang Li pointed at the first name on the booklet.

"That's right, that's right. The Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak is said to be the undisputed leader of the orthodox path in the Great Mountain. However, their requirements for recruiting disciples are also very special."

"Not only does the grade of the spiritual root need to be above medium-grade, but it also requires a special talent called Sword Heart. Otherwise, even disciples with top-grade spiritual roots will be rejected by them."

"Gasp! Even top-grade spiritual roots are rejected? What kind of talent is this Sword Heart?"

Jiang Li could not help but be surprised. Logically speaking, the average cultivation speed of a top-grade spiritual root was three times that of a high-grade spiritual root and nine times that of a medium-grade spiritual root.

The Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak would actually reject top-grade spiritual roots, they were truly way too willful.

"Alright, then we can go over and test whether or not we have the talent for Sword Heart. But let's think about which sect we should join after failing."

Other than the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, the other three sects were Benevolent Travel Temple, Hundred Tempering Mountain, and Scripture Storage Valley.

Benevolent Travel Temple was a Buddhist sect that specialized in body refinement to cultivate the Invulnerable Vajra Physique. Just like the Five Elements Peak, it specialized in killing and had extraordinary combat strength.

The Hundred Tempering Mountain was an auxiliary sect that specialized in weapon forging and spirit pill refinement. They might not be good at fighting, but half of the spirit pills and artifacts in the Great Mountain Region came from this sect.

When Jiang Li first saw the final Scripture Storage Valley, he thought that it was an extremely ancient sect. That was why it had the confidence to call itself the Scripture Storage.

Unexpectedly, it was the youngest sect out of the four. Its history was less than 200 years old. It was said that it was formed by a group of rogue cultivators. The reason seemed to be due to the excavation of an ancient ruin. As for the exact details, it was unknown from their low-end information channels.

As he spoke, the venue of the Immortal Ascension Assembly was already in sight.

It was a utopia-like place. Wooden courtyards of various sizes formed a small town.

At this moment, the venue was already filled with people. Many soon-to-be disciples like Jiang Li who were not even 16 years old had excited expressions on their faces as they walked in and out of the numerous courtyards within the small town.

"Alright! Young masters and young mistresses! Welcome to the Immortal Ascension Assembly! You will decide on your sects here and follow your senior brothers and elders back to your sects to cultivate."

"I, Fu Zhong, can only send you all here. Now, you can enter the venue and choose your sect."

"In the venue, each courtyard represents a sect. At the entrance of each courtyard, there is a stone tablet with information about the sects on it."

"You guys can check every single stone tablet. However, I'll give you guys a piece of advice. Once you enter the sect, you can't regret it. Any betrayal will be punished by the sect."

"Lastly, if you wish to join the Immortal Ascension Pavilion, please proceed to the seventh residence on the left."

After Fu Zhong took one last look at everyone, his figure disappeared.

The soon-to-be disciples entered the venue and mingled with the first batch of disciples.

Jiang Li and his companion led the 19 people behind them. Their goal was clear as they headed straight for the courtyard where the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak was located.

There were indeed quite a number of people gathered there. After all, the reputation of the number one immortal sect of the Great Mountain Region was there. Many people wanted to give it a try.

They saw a youth holding a rusty longsword pointing straight ahead. Then, the youth gently placed a piece of white paper on the edge of the sword with a proud expression.

"The white paper has not been torn, you are unqualified!"

With that, the sword-wielding youth put down his rusty sword and returned to the crowd.

"This test seems to be for people to use a rusty sword to cut the paper without slashing their sword."

Jiang Li was dumbfounded. What kind of test was this?

Could it be that the rusty sword had a hidden secret?

Appraisal was used skillfully.

[Name: Rusted Iron Sword]

[Type: Weapon]

[Grade: None]

[Note: A useless piece of junk.]

It really looked like an ordinary rusty sword.

"Senior Brother, what do we have to do for this test? We really can't understand it. Senior Brother, please demonstrate how to pass it."

Jiang Li and Yan Hong watched from the side, and after a few more people failed, Jiang Li finally could not refrain himself from taking two steps forward, cupped his hands, and asked.

The sword cultivator from Five Element Peak opened his eyes slightly and glanced at Jiang Li before snorting coldly as if he was slightly displeased by Jiang Li's question.

However, he still reached out and pulled out a rusty sword beside him. He raised it horizontally in front of him, then picked up a piece of white paper and gently placed it on the edge of the rusty sword.

The piece of paper slowly floated down. When it came into contact with the long sword, the piece of paper that should have been blocked by the flat and blunt blade actually slid down without any delay, splitting into two pieces that drifted down with the wind.

This…!

Jiang Li was stupefied as his face was filled with disbelief. This did not make sense.

"A sword may rust but not the heart. This is a quality that every Sword Cultivator must have."

The expressions of Jiang Li and the others fell into the senior brother's eyes. This meant that he had succeeded in showing off this time, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. He was in a good mood, and he even gave a few words of explanation.

"Senior Brother, can I try?" Jiang Li took the sword and shook it vigorously.

With a clang, a large amount of rust fell off the sword, making it look much better.

"Senior Brother, come on!"

The corners of the Swordsman's eyes twitched and he was speechless. He cheated right in front of everyone, why was he acting so confident?

However, he did not care. He casually picked up the paper and put it on.

Sure enough, Jiang Li who had lost himself in the brilliance of the world had utterly no affinity with the Sword Heart, and even shaking off the rust could not sharpen the sword. The piece of paper stopped on the blade without any suspense, and it meant that he had failed the test.

Then, Yan Hong also went on stage to take the test. Similarly, he was without this talent, the two of them could only leave like this.

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Chapter 13: Weng Sanqi

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Jiang Li, I do not wish to become a monk. How about we go to the Hundred Tempering Mountain?"

"At the very least, the artifacts and spirit pills are much easier to obtain there than anywhere else. It will definitely be very helpful to our cultivation."

The Hundred Tempering Mountain was indeed as he had said. Every year, there would be a lot of medium and low-level artifacts produced.

For someone like Yan Hong who loved doing business, it was indeed a very tempting thing to be able to get hold of first-hand goods.

However, when Jiang Li saw the two rows of names of the sect higher-ups, he frowned.

The Sect Leader, Situ Fengzhu, the Second Elder, Situ Tingxin, the Weaponry Refinement Elder, Situ Baige, and the Foreign Affairs Elder, Situ Etong…

First Elder Ma Liuqi, Third Elder Ma Lichou, Alchemy Elder Ma Minglou, and Medicine Elder Ma Changgu…

In the booklet, there were quite a number of high ranking elders of various positions in the Hundred Tempering Mountain. However, all of them had either of these two surnames.

One must know that the history of the Hundred Tempering Mountain had most definitely surpassed five hundred years. However, in all these years, not a single disciple with a different surname had ever managed to emerge in power.

If there was no strange rule that they had to change their names to become higher-ups, one could imagine just how difficult it would be for them to obtain promotion and benefits from this clan-style sect.

There was no way weak newbies like them could withstand the power of nepotism. Jiang Li really did not have the interest to go over and have his youth ruined by such a sect.

After Jiang Li's explanation, Yan Hong broke out in a cold sweat as well. He did not want his entire life of hard work to benefit the relatives of the sect elders.

In that kind of sect, although it seemed like the treatment was good, once you get into a conflict with the disciples of those two families, justice was simply a joke.

"Looks like we don't have many choices left."

The two of them brought their lackeys around the venue and analyzed the pros and cons of the various sects in a low voice. Finally, they walked to the entrance of the Scripture Storage Valley.

Compared to the other three top sects, the advantage of the Scripture Storage Valley was not obvious. There were even many major flaws.

For example, they had been established for too short a period of time and their sect's heritage was lacking.

For example, it was established by unaffiliated rogue cultivators, the distribution of higher-ups was too complex.

Although the problem of factions was not as deep-rooted as the Hundred Tempering Mountain, it still existed.

It was said that there were even demonic cultivators among the rogue cultivators who had joined. From time to time, there would be cases of disciples dying mysteriously.

When it came to the field of expertise, because they were all rogue cultivators in the past, most of the things they knew were not systematic. They knew a lot but were not experts in anything.

Therefore, whether it was refining weapons, refining pills, or drawing talismans, they all knew a little, but they were not very capable.

Compared to the other three sects of the same level, the Scripture Storage Valley was much more mediocre.

However, Jiang Li and Yan Hong still chose it in the end.

This was because, in terms of size, Scripture Storage Valley was indeed considered first-rate in the cultivation world of the Great Mountain Region. Moreover, it only took two hundred years to reach this level.

In the cultivation world, two hundred years might not be enough for the rise and fall of a generation. This meant that this sect had a very promising future. In the future, there was hope that under the hard work of their generation, they could completely surpass the other three sects.

For young people like them who had great potential, such a promising sect was still a place worth fighting for their entire lives.

Okay… fine.

This was not the main reason.

The real reason was that Benevolent Travel Temple mainly cultivated the Metal and Earth attributes, while Hundred Tempering Mountain mainly cultivated the Fire attribute.

The Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak had all five elements, but they did not want the two of them.

Jiang Li had a dual-attribute Yin and Wood spiritual root while Yan Hong had a water attribute spiritual root, so they actually had no other choice.

It was said that only the Scripture Storage Valley with countless cultivation methods in its storage could allow them to obtain the most suitable technique for themselves.

When they entered the Scripture Storage Valley's gate, it was already quite spacious inside. The others did not have as many thoughts as them, most of them already chose their sects.

Cultivators worked quickly. It did not take long for disciples to register and sign contracts.

Jiang Li and the others walked in and saw twenty long carved tables placed in the courtyard. And standing behind the long tables were not real people, but twenty wooden puppets wearing clothes with vivid expressions.

"Hehehe… there are many newbies again."

Behind the table, the puppets that had been quietly standing suddenly moved. Their joints creaked as they moved. Their movements were different, and they could even open their mouths and speak human language.

A few of the lackeys behind them were so frightened that they wanted to turn around and run away, but Jiang Li and Yan Hong quickly stopped them and kicked them down.

They then cupped their hands in the direction of the wooden puppet and hurriedly apologized, "We are sorry for our rudeness."

The lackeys realized what was going on and hurriedly bowed.

"Haha, it's fine, it's fine. You are not the first disciples to be scared."

One of the wooden puppets laughed and waved its hand. The actions were no different from a real person.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I'm an elder of the Scripture Storage Valley's Mystic Gate Hall. You can call me Weng Sanqi." Another puppet with a serious expression began to speak.

"Elder Weng Sanqi!"

Everyone bowed again. However, there were a total of 20 puppets moving around in front of them, and none of them knew which direction to salute in.

"Are you here to join the Scripture Storage Valley?" The puppets beckoned them to come forward a little.

"Our Scripture Storage Valley is one of the best sects in the Great Mountain Region. According to the rules of the sect, after you enter our Scripture Storage Valley, you can choose any basic cultivation method to cultivate."

"Every week, there will be a public lecture by the sect elders. Every month, resources will be allocated to assist in cultivation… and through paying spirit stones and sect contribution points, many cultivation methods, spell techniques, medicinal pills, and artifacts can be exchanged…"

The wooden puppet shook its head as it spoke. Jiang Li discovered that most of the basic treatment did not differ too much from the other sects.

However, Weng Sanqi mentioned several times about choosing cultivation methods and spell techniques during his introduction. It seemed that he was very confident in the sect's collection.

"I understand. Elder Weng Sanqi, may I know what we should do after joining the sect?"

Jiang Li understood that such benefits came with responsibility. High level cultivators could easily live for hundreds or thousands of years. They were much more unlikely to leave an inheritance so early compared to mortals who could only live for dozens of years.

Even if they really wanted to pass on their legacy, people with their spiritual root aptitude would not be chosen.

"We won't charge any fees for joining the sect. In the first year after joining the sect, all you need to do is cultivate in peace without any compulsory requirements."

"However, after a year, all the outer sect disciples will have to start accepting sect missions. Of course, missions are either difficult and easy. Even if your strength can't keep up, you can still accept some laborious missions. You can rest assured about this."

Because of the history of the Rogue Cultivator Alliance, the Scripture Storage Valley seemed a little stingy in the early stages of investment.

The other sects would usually give new disciples a buffer period of two to three years before arranging for them to accept missions.

For many disciples with inferior-grade spiritual roots, it was hard to say whether they could even take the first step in cultivation after a year.

Jiang Li and Yan Hong glanced at each other before the former spoke, "Elder Weng Sanqi, we are willing to enter the Scripture Storage Valley!"

The puppets looked at him together.

"There are already people following you even before you entered the sect? You're not bad. This will make you have an easier time in the outer sect."

"Don't just stand there. Come and fill in the information before signing the contract."

The 21 of them split up in front of the 20 puppets. There was no need for them to line up. They picked up two pieces of paper and began to fill them in.

This cultivation world believed in karma and fate, so it was especially strict about the disciples' backgrounds.

Where did he live? What was his name? How many parents and family members did he have? What did he do before this? Was he married? Did he have no children? Did he kill anyone? Did he start a fire before? Did he kill a man or a woman? Was the fire big or small?

If Jiang Li had a good memory, he could even be requested to write his family's ancestral records…

In short, Jiang Li would fill in whatever he knew, and after studying the terms of the sect contract for a long time, he signed his name.

"Eh? You have a dual-attribute spiritual root. Not bad, not bad. You've made the right choice to join the Scripture Storage Valley."

Jiang Li had a puzzled look on his face. Could it be that there was some other secret?

"Elder, please enlighten me."

After handing over the wooden tablet, Jiang Li walked into the courtyard and finally saw Elder Weng Sanqi, who was controlling the puppet.

"Hehe, kid, do you know the difference between a dual-attribute spiritual root and a single-attribute spiritual root?"

Weng Sanqi's figure was a bit short, a bit inferior compared to these thirteen or fourteen year old children. His hair was gray and white, but his complexion was rosy, not the slightest bit aged. He held a large wine jar in his hands, about to take a sip after saying a few words.

He did not answer Jiang Li's question directly. Instead, he asked this question.

"Cultivators with dual-attribute spiritual root can easily master spell techniques of two elements and have stronger combat power."

After Jiang Li found out about the attributes of his spiritual root, he had asked someone to inquire about this information. However, the opinions he received were all very one-sided. He could only tell what he knew.

"Yes, but that's not all. Having spell techniques of two elements means that you can deal with more situations. It's easier to gain an advantage when fighting with others."

"You need to know that Wood attribute cultivation methods can only increase one's Wood attribute cultivation base. Similarly, Yin attribute cultivation methods can only increase one's Yin attribute cultivation base."

"However, if you cultivate two cultivation methods at the same time, you will definitely slow down your cultivation speed. As a result, you will be far inferior to cultivators who only cultivate one cultivation method. Therefore, many cultivators with a dual-attribute spiritual root will give up and cultivate only one of the two."

Jiang Li thought about it and felt that it made sense. However, since the other party said so, there must be a solution. He calmed his anxious heart and continued listening.

"Elder, please enlighten me!"

Chapter 14: New Disciples

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Haha, young man, don't be afraid. That's why I said you were lucky. Joining our Scripture Storage Valley is your best option."

"Our Scripture Storage Valley has tens of thousands of cultivation methods and countless incomplete secret texts. When the time comes, as long as you choose a dual-attribute cultivation method that is compatible with your own attributes, not only will you be able to cultivate both Yin and Wood together, you might even be able to achieve twice the results with half the effort."

This was the first time Jiang Li had heard of a dual-attribute cultivation method.

However, this was also very reasonable. It was just like how the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak had a way to allow the talent of Sword Heart to unleash power that surpassed the limits of the spiritual root grade.

Dual-attribute spiritual roots were also a type of talent. When there was no suitable cultivation method, it would be of little value, and there was little use in forcefully developing it. Only by possessing a suitable cultivation method would one be able to fully display the advantages of having a dual-attribute spiritual root.

"Thank you, Elder!" After Jiang Li expressed his thanks again, he and the others followed a puppet to the backyard.

It was also a large ship, and its size was no smaller than the one that had sent them here.

However, what made people gasp even more was that such an exaggeratedly huge thing was quietly suspended several meters above the ground, floating slightly like a balloon.

When Jiang Li got closer, he discovered that there were some complicated patterns engraved on the ship that were similar to those on the Spirit Testing Array. He did not know what principles were used to counteract such a huge gravitational force.

"Jiang Li, let's go!" Yan Hong stood on the gangway and could not wait any longer. He could not help but urge Jiang Li as he looked around.

A group of 21 people boarded the airship of Scripture Storage Valley under the lead of Jiang Li and Yan Hong.

"Hey, fellow disciples, it seems we have new companions."

On the airship's deck, twelve youths of the same age were chatting and laughing. When they saw Jiang Li and the others coming up, they all looked over.

"Hello, are you new disciples too?"

Yan Hong and Jiang Li naturally went up to talk, while the 19 low-grade spiritual root disciples behind them stood where they were, obediently not moving at all.

"Hello, I'm Jiang Li. This is Yan Hong." He introduced himself.

"Haha, hello, I'm Yu Banxia. We're all fellow disciples now, so let's get to know each other." Yu Banxia was very enthusiastic and brought them into their circle.

"This is Qu Qianfan from the Qu family of Wild Waves River. He has a high-grade spiritual root aptitude."

A thin youth with bronze colored skin nodded at them!

If Jiang Li did not remember wrongly, this was also a martial arts family in the Pugilistic World. Their legacy technique, Heartbreak Sword, seemed to be very sinister and vicious.

"I've heard of you. I've long heard of the Jiang family's Age Tiger Technique. If there's a chance, we can exchange pointers."

Qu Qianfan had been holding a thin sword the entire time. Although he looked very cold and aloof, after seeing the arrival of the new group and discovering that Jiang Li was someone of the same kind, he immediately greeted with a martial artist's mannerism.

Little did they know that although Jiang Li came from a martial arts family, he did not understand these things at all.

"Brother Qu, you're too polite. I haven't practiced our martial arts to the point of perfection, so I won't embarrass myself."

Everyone was about to start cultivating, so why was he still thinking about martial arts?

"Haha, Brother Jiang, Brother Yan, let me continue introducing you."

"This is Wang Liuliang, he has a high-grade spiritual root." This was a young man dressed like a scholar. He waved the fan in his hand as a form of greeting.

"This is Lu Qianqian, she has a medium-grade spiritual root." This was a very petite girl. She wore a beautiful blue cloud-patterned dress, and she looked shy and timid when she greeted anyone.

"This is Tang Wenxin, he has a medium-grade spiritual root. This is Kong Qingzhou and Pang Xiaowu. They both have medium-grade spiritual roots."

When they reached this point, the twelve of them looked at Jiang Li and Yan Hong at the same time. Clearly, their self-introduction had been too simple. The grade of the spiritual root was what they were concerned about.

"Then, let me reintroduce myself. I am Jiang Li, and I possess a medium-grade spiritual root. This is Yan Hong, he has a high-grade spiritual root."

Hearing this, the twelve people smiled again.

After all, everyone had just entered the cultivation world and were currently poor. Spiritual roots were the only criteria for making friends.

This could be seen from the fact that they were all disciples with medium-grade spiritual roots and above.

"Hmph! A bunch of outer sect disciples. Instead of focusing on cultivation, they are forming factions here. Truly ignorant!"

At this moment, a boy in a white robe walked out of the cabin. His robe was fluttering in the wind, and there was a word "Storage" embroidered on his chest with red threads.

This style was very similar to the clothes worn by Elder Weng Sanqi's wooden puppet. It seemed to be the standard disciple uniform of the Scripture Storage Valley

That person spoke very arrogantly. For some reason, he reprimanded them out of nowhere. Seeing that everyone ignored him, he felt bored and walked back into the cabin after blowing on the deck for a while.

"Who is that? He looks about the same age as us. Could he be one of the senior martial brothers in the sect?" Jiang Li then asked them. Judging from their expressions, they should know each other.

"Humph! Him? He's Qi Tianya, he has a top-grade spiritual root! A genius disciple from our batch! He became an inner sect disciple right after joining the sect. He just changed his clothes and he's already putting on airs as an inner sect disciple. Humph!"

Yu Banxia's expression was ugly. He was jealous and indignant!

"…A top-grade spiritual root. A genius who can enter the inner sect directly. No wonder he dares to speak like that."

"If we can endure it, then we should endure it. After entering the sect, the difference in status between inner and outer sect disciples is extremely great, and the rules are strict. If we see him again, we'll probably have to call him senior brother."

"He's an inner disciple, so he can take an elder as his master and receive guidance. He'll receive more resources and better treatment than us. It might not be long before he leaves us in the dust."

Everyone's 'enmity towards the talented' was triggered and they started chatting.

Hearing this, Yu Banxia's expression sank.

There were very few high-grade spiritual roots among the countless disciples. They could definitely be called geniuses. However, compared to top-grade spiritual roots, they were clearly much weaker.

After talking for a long time, Jiang Li and Jiang Yi finally recalled the 19 lackeys and told them to find a place to stay in the cabin.

"Brother Yan, Brother Jiang, why are you bringing them along? People with low-grade spiritual roots can't help much. They'll only be a burden to you."

After Yu Banxia, Qu Qianfan and the rest found out about their aptitude, they started to despise them. Even before they entered the sect, their sense of class was already deeply rooted.

"Yes, we will pay attention to it. Spiritual root aptitude is indeed very important to cultivators." Jiang Li smiled and did not say much.

No matter how poor their spiritual roots were, or even if they were mortals, they still had their own value. Otherwise, why would the cultivation world recruit so many low-quality disciples?

Without their diligent work to fill the bottom ranks, wouldn't it be necessary for a high-level cultivator to clean the toilet himself?

As they conversed, they learned that Yu Banxia and the petite beauty Lu Qianqian both had a bit of Immortal Cultivator background. It was hard to say exactly how much power they had, but it also gave them a lot of general knowledge about the cultivation world.

According to what they said, those outer disciples of large sects were actually far from being as harmonious as everyone imagined them to be.

In the Scripture Storage Valley, the number of outer disciples was always around eight thousand.

They formed groups while competing openly and secretly, maliciously fought and robbed, and also bullied people while taking their money. These were all common occurrences.

Hence, in order to protect their own interests and defend against possible attacks, Yu Banxia decided to rope in the medium to high aptitude disciples to form a team.

Jiang Li and Yan Hong naturally had no objections.

They would not easily trust strangers who met by chance, but having more friends was better than having more enemies.

Jiang Li and the others were probably the last batch of disciples to arrive at the venue. After the sun set, the people standing on the deck could see that in the direction of the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak, there was a row of cultivators rising into the sky. After tossing out their flying swords, they rode on their swords and disappeared from sight in a few blinks of the eye.

It was still better for them. There were fewer disciples, so they could just let their senior brothers and elders take them away on their swords.

The Scripture Storage Valley however, recruited 600-700 people in this Immortal Ascension Assembly, it was impossible to bring them back without using this flying ship.

Soon, Elder Weng Sanqi and the other inner disciples returned to the ship, and the new disciples were chased into the cabin.

The speed of the flying ship was too fast and they did not have any cultivation. Without the protection of cultivators, how could they withstand the violent winds?

"Alright, everyone is tired. Go and rest. In two more days, we will be able to see the Scripture Storage Valley."

Yu Banxia was more tactful and found two decent rooms for Jiang Li and Yan Hong.

The room was not big, but it looked rather exquisite.

Unlike the previous ship on the lake, this flying ship was clearly of a higher grade. There was even a round crystal embedded in the sideboard of the cabin.

The crystal was in the shape of a convex lens. If one looked out directly, the scenery would not be clear, but if they gently turned the dials around the crystal porthole, a ray of light would shoot out from the crystal and hit the wooden wall behind, showing a magnificent scene.

Unknowingly, another day and two nights passed.

When the light of dawn shone through the crystal lens the next day, the rumbling snores in Jiang Li's room suddenly died down.

As he exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, a thin layer of dust on the ground was blown up. It did not dissipate until it hit the wooden wall two meters away.

"Did I finally break through to become an internal martial artist?"

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Main Class: Martial Artist, Level: First-Rate]

[Sub-Class 1: None]

[Sub-Class 2: None]

[Health: 980/980]

[Stamina: 860/860]

[Strength: 3.5]

[Speed: 2.9]

[Constitution: 3.9 0.5]

[Mind: 1]

[Enlightenment: 1.1]

[Martial Art: Age Tiger Technique Level 8]

[Skill: Appraisal Level 3, Mountain Splitter Level 3]

[Positive Status: Slow Healing, Satiety, Body Strengthening, Manly Vigor]

[Negative Status: None]

Jiang Li felt his blood essence and strength nearly double. He was slightly happy but did not pay too much attention to it.

If nothing unexpected happened, his martial arts cultivation would end here.

They were about to arrive at the sect and officially start their cultivation life. Even if he were to spend some time on martial arts, it would be a waste.

It was already a consolation for his family that he was able to break through to become an internal martial artist before this new life.

Report chapter

Chapter 15: Choosing Cultivation Method

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Clang! Clang! Clang!

A heavy bell chime sounded. This was the same signal as when they set off. It meant that they had arrived at their destination.

His body leaned forward slightly, and he could clearly sense that the flying ship was slowing down.

Soon, the corridor outside became noisy. After all, they were still a group of children, so they were very enthusiastic about fresh things.

It was not until the flying ship descended to a certain height that the locked cabin doors opened. The new disciples swarmed onto the deck and screamed.

It had to be said that the scenery in this world was far more magnificent than the Earth in his previous life.

The wind in front of them was still strong, and when they looked at the enormous gorge that was enveloped by golden light, a silent shock struck the hearts of all the disciples.

That was the Scripture Storage Valley.

The airship slowly landed on a flat spaceport. After the entire ship shook slightly, it announced that their journey to seek immortality had officially started.

"All outer disciples, come to me to collect your disciple uniform and outer sect identity token!"

"Each disciple will take two sets of clothes of the same size. If there are any lost or damaged items, you will have to purchase new ones yourself."

Unlike the elegant white robes of inner sect disciples, outer sect disciples' uniforms were more practical.

The inner wear was a gray garment and the outer wear was a navy blue robe. It was resistant to dirt and tearing.

Touching the fabric, it was smooth and supple. It was obviously several grades better than the clothes worn by the officials in the mortal world.

Any item that leaked out from the cultivation world would be a rare treasure in the mortal world.

"Our Scripture Storage Valley was established in the year 2134 of the Nine Provinces Calendar, and it has been 255 years since then. We had 11 founders, but there are only seven left who are still protecting our sect…"

After receiving the items, everyone continued to follow the group. Elder Weng Sanqi slowly narrated the history and culture of the Scripture Storage Valley as he walked.

255 years was enough time for several dynasties to complete the cycle of prosperity and decline.

However, for the cultivation world, this was a bit too short. More than half of the original founders of the Scripture Storage Valley still remained.

The entrance to Scripture Storage Valley was the mouth of this golden rock canyon.

From the entrance of the valley, it looked like a desolate and rugged landscape. However, under Elder Weng Sanqi's lead, they seemed to have passed through a layer of mist and the world before their eyes suddenly opened up.

The space within the valley was extremely large. It was at least ten times larger than what one could see from outside the valley. Moreover, there was not the slightest bit of desolation. There were flowers, plants, fish, and insects. People were living everywhere.

"This is the outer area of the sect. You'll be spending a long period of your life and cultivation here. If you want to truly join the inner sect, you'll have to work hard to cultivate in the future."

"This is Elder Lu, your outer sect elder. He will be in charge of everything in the future."

"Greetings, Elder Lu!"

Everyone bowed to Elder Lu, but he only nodded and did not say anything. He put on a sour face and looked like he had a bad temper.

"Next, all of you will follow Elder Lu to distribute the rooms. Change into your outer sect clothes and gather here. Remember, I will only wait for half an hour!"

After saying that, Elder Lu of the outer sect walked towards a direction without saying a word. Although his body was hunched, his speed was not slow at all. The disciples could only barely keep up with him after running.

"The places in the sect are all very dangerous. If you don't want to die tragically, don't step into places you are not familiar with!"

Elder Lu brought them to a rather cold and empty dormitory district. It seemed that the new outer sect disciples were not arranged to be together with the previous disciples.

"The rooms from 1 to 752 are all empty. The keys are all on the door. You can decide on your own."

After saying that, Elder Lu acted as if he had completed a task. He ignored the new disciples and turned to leave.

Only then did the new disciples react. They hurriedly went to choose a dormitory to occupy a good spot.

One look at these seven hundred dormitories and one could tell that there were good and bad ones.

The worst one was probably a leaky straw hut, built in a dark, damp corner with insects crawling and rats biting.

On the other hand, it could be a small two-story building. Not only were all the facilities complete, but there would also be a large courtyard in front and behind the house.

At this time, the advantage of teamwork was revealed.

Qi Tianya, who had a top-grade spiritual root, directly entered the inner sect. Thus, among all the new outer sect disciples, Jiang Li's team was undoubtedly the number one.

In addition to him and Yan Hong, there were 14 medium-grade and high-grade spiritual root disciples here. Ordinary people did not dare to offend them.

Even if they wanted to offend them, with Jiang Li, an internal martial artist, holding the fort, what could a group of thirteen or fourteen-year-old children do?

Without spending much effort, they managed to obtain the best dorms. Even the 19 low-grade spiritual root disciples that followed Jiang Li and the others were taken care of and assigned to decent rooms.

The group did not dare to waste any time. After changing their clothes quickly, the group of hundreds of people looked no different from the outer sect disciples they had seen previously.

Not daring to let the elders wait any longer, the majority of the disciples returned to their previous location twenty minutes later.

The rest of the people were also anxious as they watched. They ran out of the dormitory and gathered while tying their belts.

However, no matter where or when, there were always some people who liked to not be punctual.

Half an hour had passed, and almost all of the disciples had already stood in front of Elder Weng Sanqi. However, two minutes later, two youths were still chatting and laughing as they walked over.

Seeing that everyone was looking at them, they quickly ran forward and prepared to blend into the crowd.

"Seems like there's always people who don't like to follow the rules."

Weng Sanqi put down the wine jug and casually swept his right sleeve, causing two jet black rays of light to shoot out and instantly enter their knees.

With two screams, the two youths fell to the ground. They hugged their knees and cried.

"My leg! Ahhh! My leg is broken!"

[Name: Bone-Piercing Nail]

[Type: Dharma Artifact]

[Grade: Low-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: A hidden weapon that can be tempered with poison.]

Jiang Li threw an appraisal skill at it. He did not know whether he should mourn for them or scold them that they deserved it.

When a mortal was struck by an artifact, even if it was the lowest low-grade yellow-rank, their legs could absolutely be declared crippled.

"Hmph! Everyone, follow me. I don't want this to happen again!"

No matter how good Weng Sanqi's temper was, he was still an elder. Even inner sect disciples could not disrespect him, let alone two useless outer sect disciples.

After saying that, he did not care if the two fellows who were rolling on the ground could keep up with him. He led everyone towards the door again.

"I'm going to take you to the Scripture Storage Pavilion to select your own Qi Refinement cultivation method. If you don't work hard enough, this might be your last chance to enter the inner sect. Remember, do not look or talk casually when inside!"

The first day he entered the sect, he had the chance to enter the sect's sacred Scripture Storage Pavilion. This made Jiang Li involuntarily feel a little excited.

After all, it was not as if he had not read thousands of cultivation novels in his previous life. Every time the main character went to the Scripture Storage Pavilion, the treasure vault, or even the garbage dump, there would definitely be good stuff hidden in places like this.

After coughing twice and controlling his emotions, Jiang Li and the others had already stood in front of a metal door.

The metal gate was completely embedded in the cliff wall. The entire Scripture Storage Pavilion was actually dug out after emptying the stone wall.

"The first level of the Scripture Storage Pavilion is full of Qi Refinement cultivation methods. You don't have to look at the skill technique section. The basic cultivation methods are all on the bookshelf on the right side of the first level."

"Each bookshelf has a classification of the attribute of the cultivation method. Everyone only has half an hour. After choosing, I will register it here!"

"Remember! Only choose a cultivation method that corresponds to your own attribute. There will be no second chance!"

After he finished speaking, the metal door slowly opened. The dim space inside also automatically lit up, illuminating the huge space inside.

"Let's go in." Jiang Li and Yan Hong talked to each other before entering the first floor.

Following the instructions, they arrived at the Cultivation Method Area on the right. Dozens of large bookshelves were placed there, and hundreds of people entered in batches. It did not seem crowded at all.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth were the most common types of spiritual roots of the five elements. Naturally, the cultivation methods that were discovered were also the most common. Almost 70% of the bookshelf's cultivation methods were of the five elements.

Yan Hong decisively joined in the selection of the water attribute cultivation method while Jiang Li continued forward. He began to search for books suitable for dual-attribute spiritual roots according to the notes on the bookshelf.

Fire-Earth, Water-Wood, Metal-Fire, Yin-Water… Yin-Wood dual-attribute cultivation methods!

He had finally found it!

Jiang Li heaved a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he still had a chance to choose.

He glanced at the bookshelf. There were only three manuals. They were folded weakly, forming a sharp contrast with the five elements cultivation manuals that were filled to the brim.

"Coffin Burial Art", "Ghost Wood Art", "Deadwood Extraction Method".

Why did it sound like… they're all so dark and evil?

As a cultured person, shouldn't he be looking at more positive things?

Helpless, Jiang Li could only pick up the three books and read their introductions.

In reality, he could only see the introduction. The rest of the content was sealed by the Scripture Storage Pavilion's array formation and could not be forcefully opened.

The introduction of the cultivation method mainly described the characteristics of the cultivation method and the achievements of the cultivators who had cultivated it.

After carefully comparing the three cultivation methods, he discovered that only the "Deadwood Extraction Method" had annotations that it was an ancient cultivation method. Unfortunately, the cultivation method was incomplete and only contained the part for the Qi Refinement realm.

It was naturally impossible for Jiang Li to choose a cultivation method that could only be used in the Qi Refinement realm. However, he was also very interested in the word "ancient".

Previously, he had heard that the Shu Mountain Five Elements Peak originated from the ancient Shu Mountain Sword Sect. The Scripture Storage Valley had also started because of an ancient ruin.

But what exactly happened in the ancient times? After all, the world was always developing according to common sense. There was no reason for things created now to be worse than before.

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Chapter 16: Ghost Wood Art

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Jiang Li put the matter of the ancient times aside for the time being. It was meaningless to rely on guesses. He continued to look at the other two ancient manuals.

"Coffin Burial Art" was a manual passed down by a rogue cultivator clan specializing in corpse manipulation in the past. Later on, the clan fell into decline, so the descendants brought the manual to the Scripture Storage Valley. The cultivation method became part of the collection here.

It was said that during the most glorious period of their clan, there was once a Nascent Soul cultivator. This was also the limit of this cultivation method.

The "Ghost Wood Art" was somewhat special. It was not originally created by humans, but came from an old ghostwood tree that had cultivated a thousand years to become a tree spirit!

According to the records, the tree spirit was extremely ferocious back then. It had once turned hundreds of miles of mountains and rivers into a graveyard. Its cultivation had reached the Earth Immortal realm that surpassed the Nascent Soul realm.

In the end, the heavens were enraged and the thousand-year-old spirit tree died under the lightning tribulation. Only then did the descendants discover the Ghost Wood Art on the remaining tree trunk.

Jiang Li's expression was a bit bitter. Of these two ancient texts, one required him to lie in a coffin and cultivate underground, while the other had him sleep in the graveyard every day to cultivate.

After cultivating either of these, he was afraid that he would be easily eradicated by others in the future as a demonic cultivator.

Furthermore, he had always thought that a cultivation method should allow him to progress all the way to the level of a True Immortal. He did not expect that these cultivation methods actually had a limit.

After letting out a long sigh, Jiang Li still chose the Ghost Wood Art as his initial cultivation method.

First of all, the upper limit of the "Ghost Wood Art" was obviously higher than the "Coffin Burial Art". Also, he could not stand being buried underground in a coffin every day.

After selecting the cultivation method, Jiang Li walked towards the exit of the Scripture Storage Pavilion. Because he could only choose between three books, he naturally was the fastest.

At this moment, most of the disciples, including Yan Hong, were still gathered in front of the bookshelves.

In front of the metal door, the old man and Elder Weng Sanqi, who had opened the door for them earlier, were sitting behind a counter in the middle, discussing which type of spirit wine was more delicious.

"Elder, I've chosen my cultivation method."

Jiang Li respectfully placed the "Ghost Wood Art" on the counter and waited there obediently.

After a short while, the two elders behind the counter finished their cups of spirit wine before turning around to look at Jiang Li and the books on the table.

"The "Ghost Wood Art" is quite a good cultivation method. Kid, bow your head!"

The Scripture Storage Pavilion Elder made a few hand seals, and the pages behind the "Ghost Wood Art" immediately scattered and became accessible to read.

"Since you're being polite, I'll help you out a bit more."

The elder took out a long and translucent jade strip from under the counter and pressed it on the cultivation manual.

Countless black characters crawled out of the book like insects and entered the jade piece that was only a finger wide.

A moment later, the three words "Ghost Wood Art" appeared on the jade piece. That elder raised his hand and patted again, pressing the ice-cold jade piece onto Jiang Li's head.

"Don't resist, calm your mind and gather your spirit!"

Since he had just arrived, there was no reason for the other party to harm him, and he did not feel any malice either, so Jiang Li did not dodge and allowed the jade piece to press down on his forehead.

In the next moment, a refreshing feeling rushed into his mind, accompanied by a series of mysterious and complicated ink-colored characters that were deeply etched in his memory.

"Ghostwood! Ghost within the Wood!"

"Its roots drink the water of the Netherworld! Its leaves cover the moon in the sky!"

"When a ghostwood tree descends upon the earth and overturns the tomb, it must transform into the Yin of all things. When it touches things, they become profound, and when it's divine, it becomes clear and easy to understand. When the earth is vast, it's connected through heaven and earth. The wood is dense and verdant, the moon is beautiful and round, and the wind is pleasant and ghastly. No one fights in the vicinity, and there's the aura of calamity in the surroundings, so it's naturally neither noble nor long-lived."

"All the trees in the region wither and die, the Earth Tomb is crooked, and the Dark Crow Beast tramples upon it. The surroundings are desolate, the front and back are flawed, and it nurtures a lonely and sinister ghost…"

In just a few breaths, thousands of ink characters and ten complex images flooded into his mind.

For a moment, Jiang Li leaned on the counter with both hands. His mind was in a daze for a long time.

"Haha, boy! Just faint, that's right. You haven't even started Qi Refinement and you've already used a jade slip. Consider this your good luck."

This voice belonged to Elder Weng Sanqi.

At this moment, Jiang Li felt a gentle force lifting his swaying body and placing him on a futon.

"You can thank Elder Li after you've stabilized yourself."

Jiang Li held his temples and rubbed them continuously. The dizziness was quickly fading.

A jade slip. Was that a jade slip? It was very similar to the bamboo strips used to make ancient bamboo slips.

Moreover, he had stuffed thousands of words and images into his memory. This method was really amazing.

A few minutes later, the discomfort was gone.

He suddenly thought of something and immediately opened his character panel. Indeed, on the cultivation method column, the words "Ghost Wood Art Qi Refinement Chapter Level 0" appeared.

So it was only the Qi Refinement chapter.

Slightly disappointed, he opened his eyes and realized that there were already quite a number of youths who were bitterly humming while copying down the content of the manual.

It seemed that the others did not receive the same treatment as him.

Actually, no, the few disciples with high-grade spiritual roots were the same as him. They sat crookedly on the mats, frowning and holding their foreheads. They must have been instilled with cultivation methods in jade slips too.

"Thank you, Elder Li! Thank you, Elder Weng!"

Jiang Li stepped forward once more and bowed as he cupped his hands. This jade slip contained a detailed explanation of the cultivation method, and it saved him a few days of hard study at least.

Compared to those young people who were still copying books and did not even know how to read, it was indeed a huge advantage.

"Yes, this is your first month's allowance in the outer sect. You can collect it from the Outer Sect Internal Affairs Hall every month in the future."

"Don't miss out on the lectures at the Outer Sect Study Hall every week. Alright, you may go back and cultivate now."

The two elders nodded and did not care much about his gratitude. After Weng Sanqi threw out a cloth bag, he gave a final reminder and sent him back.

Jiang Li waited outside the door for a few minutes before Yan Hong walked out of the Scripture Storage Pavilion. The two of them walked back to the outer sect area in a low-profile manner.

When they returned to their residence, they opened their sacks and placed everything on the table.

Jiang Li had three spirit stones and two bottles of spirit pills.

The bottle was not full. He looked at the label and counted the pills inside. There were ten Qi Nourishing Pills and ten Qi Recovery Pills.

[Name: Qi Nourishing Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Low-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: It can help with cultivation.]

[Name: Qi Recovery Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Low-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: It can replenish spiritual qi.]

As expected, they were all low-grade Yellow-rank medicinal pills.

He then looked at Yan Hong, who was sitting opposite him. His monthly allowance was five spirit stones, twenty Qi Nourishing Pills, and twenty Qi Recovery Pills. It was nearly twice as much as Jiang Li's.

This treatment was indeed very different.

"Jiang Li, these are for you!"

Yan Hong took out a spirit stone and five Qi Nourishing Pills from his monthly allowance and pushed them towards Jiang Li.

This meant that he wanted to share resources equally with Jiang Li.

In the early stages of cultivation, everyone was poor. Every resource was very precious. Jiang Li was touched that Yan Hong could do this.

But to him, the quantity of medicinal pills actually did not have much meaning.

"No, that's not necessary."

"My cultivation method is rather special. My requirement for resources is different from ordinary disciples."

"Besides, didn't we agree that we would split the profits equally? I won't be polite when it comes to that."

Yan Hong wanted to say something else, but Jiang Li did not reject him directly. Instead, he said that they needed different resources, so he could only give up.

"Alright, but if I leave you in the dust, don't come crying and regret it."

"Get lost! You'll be the one crying!"

After bragging for a while, the two of them parted ways. They could not wait to try their first cultivation session.

Sitting cross-legged with his palms and feet facing the sky, Jiang Li assumed the posture he used to practice martial arts.

Soon after, he began to slowly visualize according to the description and diagrams in his mind.

In his mind, a seed slowly appeared. It was a seed of a ghostwood tree with a grayish-brown surface and a tiny crack on the edge.

Fifteen minutes…

Half an hour…

After an hour later, Jiang Li let out a long breath, feeling as if his entire body was about to freeze.

He did not succeed, he was still thousands of miles away from mastering the "Ghost Wood Art".

With his experience as an internal force martial artist, it should be easier for him to sense spiritual qi than others.

However, after sitting cross-legged for a long time, he only felt a faint sensation. No matter how hard he tried, he could not grasp that feeling.

Indeed, the beginning was always the hardest.

He really wanted to eat all ten Qi Nourishing Pills before cultivating.

However, according to the cultivation method, it was best to cultivate the first wisp of Ghost Wood spiritual qi on its own. If the first wisp was impure with the help of external forces, there would probably be many hidden dangers in the future.

He looked outside. It was still early in the morning. Cultivation emphasized on wealth, companionship, and spiritual lands. The time, place, and people were all crucial.

Right now, this time and environment was clearly not suitable for cultivating the Yin-Wood attribute Ghost Wood Art. It seemed that he had to wait until night.

He temporarily put down his cultivation matter and ran to the window. He inadvertently looked around. It was the first day. Everyone was trying to cultivate and no one was running around.

Jiang Li was very satisfied with this, and he closed all the doors and windows before taking out a handkerchief from his pocket.

This was a love token given to him by a young girl in the convoy. However, he still did not know her name.

Unwrapping the handkerchief, a palm-sized, somewhat flat rock rolled out and hit the wooden table, spinning around.

[Name: Rock with Something Hidden]

[Type: Trash]

[Content: Unknown]

[Note: See if curiosity kills you this time.]

This was the rock he had picked up during his journey.

The few Scaled Demons had been hiding it, especially the White Scaled Demon. It seemed to have taken a fancy to it. He guessed that it must be something important.

He had been calm and collected for such a long time. Now, he had finally found a safe environment to check this stone.

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Chapter 17: Spiritual Root Seed?

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Right, I should get a water basin."

From the look of the white-haired Scaled Demon's rock, Jiang Li was 70% sure that there was a Scaled Demon's egg inside. This was the white-haired Scaled Demon's child.

Then the question was, what was the use of an egg of a Scale Demon?

He brought over a basin of water, which was filled with half a bucket of well water. Then, like beating an egg, he placed the rock above the basin. His thumbs pressed between the cracks of the rock and he slowly increased his strength!

Jiang Li was now a true internal force martial artist. His strength was comparable to a pair of iron pincers, and the nails that were infused with internal force were even sharper and tougher than daggers.

The originally imperceptible crack became larger bit by bit. One could see that inside, there was originally a type of white mucus that stuck the stone together.

He suddenly exerted strength!

Slam!

A round object fell out from the rock and landed on the water basin, causing some splashes before floating on the surface of the water.

This… was a seed?

[Name: Spiritual Root Seed?]

[Type: Trash]

[Grade: Unknown]

[Note: Not recommended for consumption.]

He had guessed wrongly. What was hidden in this stone was not the egg of a Scaled Demon, but something that had been appraised as the spiritual root seed

Spiritual root… Could it be the spiritual root that he was thinking of?

This thing was called a spiritual root seed. Could it be that if it was planted in the soil and watered, it would grow a spiritual root?

Jiang Li was a little confused. Shouldn't spiritual roots be an abstract form of cultivation talent?

Apart from his descendant root1, he did not think that he had any physical organs that could be called a "spiritual root".

Moreover, after reading the appraisal result, there was a question mark behind the name of the spiritual root seed. This was a situation that had never happened before. Jiang Li also did not understand what it represented.

"Strange thing."

After confirming that there was really nothing else in the rock, Jiang Li picked up the seed and studied it.

Apart from the hard shell of the seed, he did not discover anything else.

After some consideration, Jiang Li found a clay pot in the backyard of the dormitory. After filling it with soil, he watered it with water before planting the seed inside.

This thing should be quite valuable. The appraisal skill indicated that this thing could not be eaten. Since it was a seed, there should not be any problem looking at it.

He placed the pot on the table by the window on the second floor so that the sunlight could shine through the window.

During this time, Yan Hong came again and sent over the monthly allowance from his 19 lackeys.

The monthly allowance of low-grade spiritual root disciples was one spirit stone, five Qi Nourishing Pills and five Qi Recovery Pills.

There were a total of 19 spirit stones, 95 Qi Recovery Pills, and 95 Qi Nourishing Pills.

The two of them first took back their capital, which meant that Jiang Li had taken eight spirit stones, while Yan Hong had taken back two.

Then, they split the remaining items equally.

Although the 19 lackeys did not say it out loud, they were still unhappy about it. It seemed that they would need to be given some psychological counseling after some time.

"Jiang Li, I heard that a disciple with a high-grade spiritual root would need at least ten days to get into the Qi Refinement realm. The slower ones would need a month."

"Disciples with medium-grade spiritual roots usually need one to three months, and this is under the condition of meditating every day."

"As for the inferior-grade and low-grade spiritual roots, there's no need to even mention them. Many disciples were unable to draw qi into their bodies even after the first year of the new disciples' term ended."

After such a long period of cultivation, both of them felt helpless.

"I'll take it slow. Once I draw qi into my body, I'll be able to use medicinal pills to aid me. At that time, things will be much easier."

They ate dinner together again. To be honest, the food in the outer sect of the Scripture Storage Valley was quite good. There was no limit to the amount of meat and vegetables they could eat.

However, all the new outer sect disciples were not in the mood to enjoy delicacies.

The two of them ate very quickly. After complaining about how difficult it was to master the cultivation method, their bodies went back to meditating honestly.

In the following half a month, Jiang Li spent most of his time exploring the cultivation method.

He had attended several public lectures in the Outer Sect Study Hall.

This study hall actually had classes every day, but it was usually basic studies and reading classes.

The social structure of this world was very backward, and knowledge and popularization were very low.

Therefore, the usual classes were targeted at these new disciples who were still illiterate.

The weekly elder lecture was the thing that was truly valuable.

For example, the history of a cultivator's origin, the interpretation of cultivation methods and terminology, the common errors of a cultivation newbie, the things to take note of when taking medicinal pills, etc.

Just like the classrooms in his previous life, the disciples loved to listen to the stories of the cultivation world that the elders and senior brothers talked about when they were bragging.

Such trivial knowledge rarely appeared in books, but it was essential knowledge on the path of cultivation.

Just a little bit of information from these elders would be able to save them a lot of trouble.

"Today's lesson was really timely. I've been stuck at that part for five days without any progress. Tonight, I can definitely improve further."

Yan Hong was extremely excited, as if he was about to break through to the Qi Refinement realm.

"Me too. Previously, I only noticed the effects of time on cultivation and neglected everything else. No wonder I feel so strange and sluggish every time I cultivate."

Jiang Li was also enlightened.

"Oh right, where's the thing I asked you to help buy? Is it here?"

"Yes, I've already bought it. It's in my courtyard. However, spending a spirit stone for something like this is a huge loss for you this time."

Yan Hong looked depressed, but Jiang Li did not seem to mind.

The same thing had different value in different people's eyes.

Moreover, Jiang Li wanted it urgently, it was inevitable that the price would be a little higher.

When he returned to Yan Hong's backyard, there was a log that needed at least two people's arms to wrap around it.

Jiang Li went forward to take a look at the tree-ring. This tree was 69 years old, even older than his two lifetimes combined.

"Not bad, not bad. Thanks, brother. This is a big help."

This was naturally a ghostwood tree. As it was just an ordinary ghostwood tree trunk, it could be bought in the secular world with money.

However, it was not easy to find an old ghostwood tree that was over 60 years old. Furthermore, he was in a sect in the cultivation world and was unable to borrow the power of the mortal world. Naturally, he could only spend an expensive spirit stone to purchase it.

He reached out to hug the tree trunk and exerted strength with his feet. The internal force of the 'Age Tiger Technique' spread throughout his entire body. The tree trunk, which was at least 400 kilograms in weight, was lifted up and carried on his shoulders.

"I'm going back. With the help of this thing, prepare to call me Senior Brother."

Jiang Li was very confident. He carried the heavy tree trunk and walked far away.

Due to the fact that the class ended rather late today, the moon was already hanging high in the sky. He did not return to his dormitory directly, but instead headed towards a remote wasteland in the outer sect.

In this half a month's time, he was not some ignorant fool who did not listen to outside matters and had already basically understood the basic terrain of the outer sect.

The place he was going to was a graveyard, a burial ground in the outer sect!

In the conversation with Yu Banxia, he had learned that the Scripture Storage Valley recruited 600 to 700 disciples every year, but the number of outer sect disciples was always around 8,000.

According to his understanding, there were only a few dozen outer sect disciples who could advance to the inner sect through the outer sect competition or breakthrough in cultivation every year.

What about the other disciples? Where did they go?

Some died because of a mistake in their cultivation…

Some disciples died in fights…

Some died during a mission…

In short, every day of a year, one or two people in the outer sect would die.

After many years, this unique scenery of the outer sect graveyard was finally created.

Under the moonlight, tombstones were erected next to tombstones. Burials were stacked on top of each other, and a cold wind was blowing. Ghost flames were floating in the air, and from time to time, ghostly wails could be heard.

The size of the graveyard did not look any smaller than the outer sect residential area, but the burial mound was still so crowded.

Jiang Li carried the ghostwood tree with him. His footsteps were very heavy, and from time to time, the crisp sounds of cracking could be heard.

Every inch of the ground below was probably covered in bones.

"Don't blame me~ Don't blame me~"

With such a large number of burial grounds and such a long history, it was normal for the place to become haunted.

Because this was a cultivation sect, any ghost or spirit that appeared would be easily dealt with. In the outside world, this place would definitely be a dangerous location for the living beings and the paradise of spirits and ghosts.

After finding a slightly flat piece of ground, Jiang Li lightly snorted and directly smashed the ghostwood tree on his shoulder into the ground.

"Damn it! My internal force is almost depleted."

After resting for a while, he recovered completely.

Jiang Li hurriedly made preparations. He did not come here for a casual walk.

He threw off his shoes and stood with his feet apart, burying his bare feet into the soil. The cold and slippery feeling made him feel somewhat comfortable.

Under the moonlight, his shadow overlapped with the ghostwood tree.

Jiang Li slowly opened his hands. From the shadow, it was as if two branches had grown out of that ghostwood tree.

Standing there, Jiang Li closed his eyes and began to visualize and cultivate the "Ghost Wood Art" in the gloomy graveyard.

"Ghostwood! Ghost within the Wood!"

"Its roots drink the water of the Netherworld! Its leaves cover the moon in the sky!"

This time, Jiang Li felt that his cultivation session was far different from before. He could clearly feel the icy cold Yin-Wood qi energy within his reach, and it was still growing denser.

That was for sure. Although the outer sect disciples were not of a high rank and were not strong, they were still cultivators. After a cultivator died, the Yin qi and grievous aura produced by them would naturally surpass that of ordinary people.

Over the past 200 years, more than 10,000 outer sect disciples had been buried in this graveyard.

Therefore, even if it was not originally so, this graveyard had already been turned into a land of extreme yin.

As for ghostwood trees, they were Yin attribute in nature and could lure ghosts. In the secular world's tradition, such trees were not allowed to appear around the graveyard.

However, this time, Jiang Li carried an old ghostwood tree that was over 69 years old and stood within the outer sect's graveyard.

In an instant, a cold wind howled as dense Yin qi began to gather in Jiang Li's direction. Ghost flames ignited in the air, and the number of wisps became more and more erratic.

Over a hundred green ghost flames surrounded Jiang Li and slowly drifted along with the Yin qi vortex.

Report chapter

Chapter 18: Wood-Yin Infusion

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Ordinary people would die on the spot if they stayed at this location with dense Yin qi for more than ten seconds.

Jiang Li was an internal martial artist, he was strong and powerful, but he also felt a chill all over his body.

As time passed, the chill traveled from his skin to his bones and back to his skin. If there was an outsider present, they would realize that Jiang Li's entire body was purple and his lips were black. He did not look like a living person at all.

[Attacked by Yin qi, Added Status: Wood-Yin Infusion]

[Wood-Yin Infusion: Lose 1 point of health per second, all attributes reduced by 30%, Constitution reduced by 1.1. Duration: 12 hours] ( )

This was the first time that Jiang Li had seen a status that used seconds as a unit. Moreover, it was a negative state of depletion.

Losing one health point every second, it was indeed impossible for a mortal body to withstand the Yin qi produced in a graveyard of cultivators.

However, Jiang Li did not immediately disperse his state, nor did he use his internal force to resist. Instead, he focused his mind and calmed his spirit. He used the method written in the 'Ghost Wood Art' to actively guide the Yin qi into his body.

Wasn't that why he had spent half a month cultivating behind closed doors?

Although his current state was painful, drawing qi into his body was as easy as blowing off dust. The seed that he had been visualizing in his mind was taking shape at an unimaginable speed. It became clear, three-dimensional, and full of vitality!

[Ghost Wood Art Qi Refinement chapter Level 0 Level 1]

[Ghost Wood Art Qi Refinement chapter Level 1 has been reached. The new class, Qi Cultivator, has been acquired. Do you want to switch to the main class?]

On the interface, the level of the Ghost Wood Art quietly changed. A striking notification popped up as well.

Jiang Li decisively chose "yes", and his main class was immediately replaced.

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Main Class: Qi Cultivator, Level: Initial Stage]

[Sub-Class: Martial Artist, Level: First-Rate]

There was still a certain difference between the main and sub-class. For example, in the original game settings, the experience gained from the main class would increase by 20%. However, in reality, it was unknown how this would occur.

After cultivating the first level of the Ghost Wood Art and becoming an initial-stage Qi Cultivator, Jiang Li immediately felt the difference.

The bone-chilling numbness was fading bit by bit, and his stiff body was gradually recovering its senses.

At this moment, not only did he no longer feel uncomfortable, he even felt as comfortable as a spring breeze.

Looking at the interface again, the status of [Wood-Yin Infusion] was still there.

However, things were different now. The dense Wood-Yin qi was like a fatal poison to him earlier, but now, it was a great supplement!

[Wood-Yin Infusion: The cultivation speed of "Ghost Wood Art" will increase by 300%. Duration: 2 hours.] ( )

This status had already moved from the Negative Status column to the Positive Status column, the effect was very good.

He decisively pressed the plus button for five seconds.

[Wood-Yin Infusion: The cultivation speed of "Ghost Wood Art" will increase by 300%. Duration: ] ()

Just this status was enough for his cultivation speed to be comparable to the best high-grade spiritual root. The speed was completely different from before.

Jiang Li did not open his eyes and continued circulating his cultivation method while the iron was hot.

Half an hour later, he went through an entire cycle of qi circulation in his body, and a stream of pure Yin-Wood spiritual qi flowed into the Qi Sea of his Dantian.

Only then did he leave his cultivation state, unable to hide his joy.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was shocked. A ball of green ghost fire was floating close to his face.

Jiang Li was terrified to the point of taking two steps back. Only now did he realize that there was not just a single ghost flame, and there were at least a hundred of them. They were silently burning around him without any warmth, and it was an extremely strange scene.

It was just like waking up with hundreds of burly men standing by your bed, smiling at you.

"I can't stay here for long!"

Having achieved his goal, Jiang Li picked up the ghostwood tree and decisively slipped away.

This really depended on luck. The high mortality rate of the outer sect disciples in the Scripture Storage Valley created this graveyard, which was rich in Yin qi and had almost no ghosts.

This place was simply a training ground tailored for him. With the addition of this ghostwood tree, it directly allowed his "Ghost Wood Art" to successfully enter the initial stage. He even obtained a completely new status that could enhance his cultivation speed.

"Now that I've entered the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm, I can use medicinal pills to aid my cultivation. In that case, my cultivation speed will be even faster."

"However, ordinary medium-grade spiritual roots disciples would need at least a month to enter the Qi Refinement realm after they started cultivating officially. My current speed is even faster than most people with high-grade spiritual roots."

"Looks like I have to come to this graveyard more often while keeping a low profile in the future. Otherwise, there's no reason to explain this exaggerated cultivation speed."

Carrying the wood, Jiang Li's steps were as light as flying, much lighter than before.

After becoming a cultivator, his body had also undergone some changes, especially the Wood-Yin spiritual qi. Just by having it entrenched in his Qi Sea, it gave him an endless amount of power, which was obviously much higher than the quality of his internal force.

"I have just entered the Qi Refinement realm but am already comparable to the martial artists in the mortal world, or even surpass them."

"Cultivation and martial arts are indeed two different things. When I learn Dao techniques in the future, even Connate martial artists will be easily killed by me."

He hurriedly returned to his dormitory and placed the ghostwood tree in his courtyard. The night was too dark, so he did not notice that several new buds had sprouted on the old ghostwood tree.

When he returned to his room, Jiang Li first took a glance at the clay pot by the window before gently pushing aside the soil. The seed beneath did not show any signs of sprouting. He was not in a hurry, and he did not pay any further attention to it after watering it once more.

Sitting on the mat in the room, Jiang Li took out a porcelain bottle from his bosom.

It was a Qi Nourishing Pill that could assist in cultivation.

[Consumed the Qi Nourishing Pill, Added Status: Qi Nourishment.]

[Qi Nourishment: Increases the vitality of the human body, increases the cultivation speed of Qi Refinement realm cultivation methods by 50%. Duration: 2 hours] ( )

Jiang Li's hands did not stop moving. Qi Nourishing Pills were stuffed into his mouth one after another.

A warm current surged in his stomach, and the churning vitality rushed to his ears, causing his face to flush red. The pure spiritual qi that was originally locked in the medicinal pill slowly dissipated, and was absorbed by the Ghost Wood Art that he was circulating at all times, continuously strengthening the strand of Wood-Yin spiritual qi in his Qi Sea.

Jiang Li only stopped when his body began to feel bloated like a balloon that had been blown to its limit.

[Overdose of Qi Nourishing Pills. Added Status: Accelerated Qi Nourishment.]

[Accelerated Qi Nourishment: Increases the vitality of the human body, increases the cultivation speed of Qi Refinement realm cultivation methods by 200%. Duration: 3 hours] ( )

Five seconds later.

[Accelerated Qi Nourishment: Increases the vitality of the human body, increases the cultivation speed of Qi Refinement realm cultivation methods by 200%. Duration: ] ()

It was only at this moment that Jiang Li realized that cultivating was such a wonderful thing. Spiritual qi continuously flowed into his Qi Sea, and the Wood-Yin spiritual qi flourished. He could clearly sense that he was becoming stronger every moment.

His cultivation speed was raised by 500%. Was this how it felt for top-grade spiritual root geniuses to cultivate?

As expected, the web novels were right. This feeling was even better than the feeling of having s*x. Cultivators often went into seclusion for a few years or decades, but it was actually not as boring as outsiders imagined.

Unknowingly, time passed by quietly as he cultivated.

The seed that Jiang Li visualized in his mind also cracked open slightly, and a sprout could be faintly seen from within.

A week later, at the Outer Sect Study Hall.

When the Lecture Elder walked into the main hall, his movements paused for a moment before a gratified expression appeared on his face.

"It seems like some of you have already achieved a breakthrough!"

"Come show me who you are."

The Lecture Elder picked up a name list and looked at everyone's seats.

"Yu Banxia, high-grade spiritual root. Hmm, not bad. This means that you've been working hard."

Yu Banxia, who had always been sitting in the first row of the school, puffed up his chest proudly.

After encouraging Yu Banxia, the elder looked at Jiang Li.

"Jiang Li, medium-grade spiritual root?"

The Lecture Elder frowned.

"Jiang Li, did you consume the pills in advance?"

The elder's voice was clearly dissatisfied. His first reaction when he heard that a medium-grade spiritual root disciple was able to break through to the Qi Refinement realm at this time was from the use of pills.

However, he had already mentioned in the first lesson of the outer sect that disciples with medium and high-grade spiritual roots were not allowed to consume medicinal pills before entering the Qi Refinement realm. That would severely affect the potential of their later cultivation. The gains would not make up for the losses!

Only disciples with low-grade spiritual roots and below, who did not have much potential to begin with, were allowed to consume medicinal pills as they could not even break through without taking them.

Now that he felt that Jiang Li had violated his teachings, he was naturally very displeased.

"Elder, I did not take the pills beforehand. It is all thanks to your guidance that I was able to make a breakthrough at this time."

Jiang Li did not start a verbal fight without a word. Instead, he praised the other party first.

He had no interest in turning some small conflicts into a battle of reputation or a life and death battle.

"Oh? It has only been 20 days since you started cultivating. The other disciples with high-grade spiritual roots have yet to break through. Tell me, what kind of guidance did I give you to surpass the others so quickly?"

Of course, this elder still did not believe him. If Jiang Li had the backing of an Immortal Cultivator or had an elder behind him, then setting up a formation or something to help him cultivate would naturally be no problem.

However, Jiang Li had a clean background and was an ordinary outer sect disciple. What could he do?

"Elder, you may not know this, but the cultivation method that this disciple practices is the 'Ghost Wood Art'. In the lecture last week, Elder said…"

Jiang Li calmly explained what he had done.

He had only spoken halfway when the outer sect elder's brows completely relaxed.

How could he not understand the situation at the outer sect's graveyard? There were at least dozens of ghosts that he had casually killed when he passed by.

Ghostwood trees were Yin attribute in nature, and this was common knowledge in the cultivation world. Ordinary ghostwood trees could only become spirits after a hundred years, but if they were planted in the outer sect's graveyard, they would probably awaken after ten years.

It would be strange if Jiang Li's speed of cultivating the 'Ghost Wood Art' was not fast while staying there.

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Chapter 19: Choosing Another Manual

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Not bad, not bad. I didn't expect you to be such a smart and courageous disciple."

The Lecture Elder thought about it. If that was the case, this method really originated from his teachings.

With just a few words, he was able to make a medium-grade spiritual root disciple surpass several high-grade spiritual root disciples. Which other Lecture Elder could be stronger than him in terms of teaching ability?

As he thought about this, his gaze towards Jiang Li became even more gratified.

"Come, let me see your spiritual qi."

Jiang Li did as he was told. He pulled out a wisp of spiritual qi from his Qi Sea and released it from his palm. A misty streak of azure light rotated a few times in his palm before dissipating due to lack of control.

The surrounding temperature plummeted, and Yan Hong, who was sitting beside him, could not help but shiver.

When the Lecture Elder saw this scene, he was even more certain that relying on the Qi Nourishing Pills would not allow him to cultivate this kind of spiritual qi.

"Good, you have a very pure spiritual qi. In the future, the power of your spell techniques will be stronger than others. That troublesome graveyard is quite a good place for you."

"What you did was very correct. You didn't let me down. However, this method is far too risky. If you weren't an internal martial artist, you would have died by now."

The Lecture Elder even gave him a casual lesson. Jiang Li also acted as if he had been taught a lesson, making the other party even more satisfied.

"Are you guys seeing this? Listen to my class, but don't just listen. You have to use the knowledge flexibly."

"Jiang Li is the best example. In the future, all of you must be more flexible in your thinking. Cultivation also requires thinking."

After the elder took the opportunity to educate the other disciples, he once again looked towards Jiang Li and Yu Banxia with a gentle gaze.

"Yu Banxia and Jiang Li, since you've already broken through to the Qi Refinement realm, you don't have to come here anymore. Just go to the Cultivation Hall next door."

"All outer sect disciples who have reached the Qi Refinement realm will study there. The knowledge taught there is more profound and will be more helpful to you."

"You can even learn some simple spell techniques there for free."

The "study hall" they were currently in targeted disciples who had yet to enter the Qi Refinement realm. Most of them had just entered the sect this year, and a small number of them had yet to successfully draw qi into their bodies.

The Cultivation Hall next door, on the other hand, targeted the Qi Refinement realm disciples. They would really teach them how to use spiritual qi and some harmless utility techniques.

After all, there was a huge difference between having spiritual qi and not having it. It was just like how summer insects could not stand ice. How could they sit together in class?

In the study hall, the purpose of the Lecture Elder was to let the disciples enter Qi Refinement as soon as possible.

In the Cultivation Hall, the Skill Imparting Elders hoped that their disciples could master a skill as soon as possible. For example, planting spirit herbs, cultivating spirit fields, and excavating spirit mines.

This was the only way they could enter production as soon as possible and contribute to the development of the sect.

Jiang Li had already expected that the new class would be available. However, it was said that there would still be rewards if the new disciples performed well every year.

As expected, the Lecture Elder continued.

"Every year, among the new disciples, the top ten disciples who break through to the Qi Refinement realm will be rewarded. Naturally, you will also be rewarded."

"Take these two talismans. The two of you can use them to go to the first level of the Scripture Storage Pavilion after class and choose a spell technique."

The Lecture Elder lightly stepped forward and two pieces of yellow paper landed on the table in front of them.

"Thank you, Elder!"

After the two of them thanked him, they put away the talisman paper under everyone's envious gazes.

The hundreds of disciples present all had fervent eyes, secretly determined to double their efforts. But with their spiritual roots, what was the use of working ten times harder?

These rewards were prepared for the disciples with better talent and more resources.

After class, the people in the circle surrounded and kept flattering them.

Lu Qianqian said: "Banxia, Jiang Li, you guys have kept it a secret for so long. You guys broke through without telling us."

The petite lady kept complaining, but it was not uncomfortable to hear at all.

Qu Qianfan also added: "Don't be too pleased with yourself. I can feel it. My breakthrough will happen in a few days. When the time comes, I definitely won't lose to you."

"Brother Yu, Brother Jiang, do you have any tricks to teach us!"

After a long while, the two of them finally finished dealing with everyone's goodwill and walked towards the inner sect area together.

"Leave the inner sect immediately after you have finished choosing the spell technique. You are not allowed to wander around or stay here."

This time, when they passed through the inner sect passageway, there was no elder leading them. After they were stopped, they showed the talisman given by the elder and were allowed to pass.

"Tsk, stop putting on airs. I, Yu Banxia, will become an inner sect disciple one day. What's there to be arrogant about?"

Yu Banxia was very unhappy with the disciple's attitude.

"Right, Jiang Li, you've given everyone a shock this time. What sort of technique do you intend to choose for this reward?"

Jiang Li realized that Yu Banxia's attitude towards him had changed. Previously, because of his medium-grade spiritual root, he was actually a sidelined character in their circle.

But it was different now. Jiang Li could rely on the graveyard to cultivate. That place was not a one-time use place, and it would not vanish after being used. This meant that his cultivation speed would always be extremely fast in the future, and his status in everyone's hearts would naturally rise along with it.

"You're exaggerating too much. I just happened to be lucky enough to succeed. Didn't the Elder say that if I wasn't an internal martial artist with powerful blood vitality, I would have died before I could draw qi into my body."

Jiang Li did not point out their change in attitude, he only replied modestly.

"I don't know what technique to take either. I guess I'll choose a Wood attribute spell technique."

As they chatted, they soon arrived at the Scripture Storage Pavilion.

After handing over the talisman paper, the metal door of Scripture Storage Pavilion opened for them again.

The Spell Technique Area was the same as the Cultivation Method Area. They were all labeled with attribute categories.

Jiang Li naturally started searching for Yin and Wood spell techniques again.

As expected, there were very few Yin-Wood attribute spell techniques.

These few books were a set with the "Coffin Burial Art" in the cultivation method section. It was the legacy handed down by the corpse manipulation rogue cultivator clan.

In terms of attributes, he should be able to use it as well. However, as expected of the corpse manipulators, these spells were all related to zombies, leaving Jiang Li helpless.

Those who were related to zombies would often end up in pitiful situations like being lonely and crippled, right? Those unlucky Taoists in the movies in his previous life, as well as the corpse manipulation clan that had once been wiped out, were the best proof.

Jiang Li was a little repulsed by things that would harm his luck.

However, it was too practical to give up.

In the end, Jiang Li chose the most expensive spell technique from the available choices.

[Zombie Puppet Technique]

He glanced at Yu Banxia, who was still picking at the bookshelf.

After all, there was some conflict between what to choose. If they took a profound technique, they might not be able to learn it in a short time since they had just entered the Qi Refinement realm.

However, if they chose a spell that was too basic, then the value of this reward would be too low. They would be wasting this opportunity.

Fortunately, Jiang Li was less troubled in this aspect.

He touched the small pouch in his arms. There were 21 spirit stones lying quietly inside.

The Qi Nourishing Pill cost two spirit stones per bottle, and the Qi Recovery Pill cost one spirit stone per bottle. He used the Qi Nourishing Pill and the Qi Recovery Pill to exchange for six spirit stones with Yan Hong.

Adding on the 15 spirit stones he had, he had only managed to gather 21 spirit stones.

After he had made his breakthrough, Yan Hong had helped to ask around about the prices of spell techniques in the Scripture Storage Pavilion. Some of the most basic spell techniques of the five elements even cost less than ten spirit stones.

Jiang Li saw that it was indeed the case.

When he was selecting the [Zombie Puppet Technique] earlier, he was aiming for the most expensive one.

Now, on the other hand, the Yin-Wood attribute bookshelves were the exact opposite. He looked at the lowest price row. There was nothing he could do about it. He could not afford anything of a higher grade.

Similarly, without much hesitation, Jiang Li selected a technique from both sides and walked to the counter to hand it to Elder Li.

The Scripture Storage Pavilion's Elder Li raised his eyes to glance at Jiang Li.

"20 spirit stones."

Jiang Li's funds immediately shriveled, leaving only a single spirit stone lying there.

Elder Li casually put away the spirit stones. This small amount of spirit stones was simply too insignificant to him. He handed over three jade slips and placed them on the counter.

Jiang Li was already in the Qi Refinement realm and could already use his spiritual qi to activate the jade slip.

He sat down on the mat next to him and placed the three jade slips on his forehead one after another. He slowly inserted his spiritual qi into the jade slips according to the techniques he had learned in class. A large amount of information about the spell techniques flowed into his mind like liquid.

After using three jade slips in a row, he still felt a little dizzy, but he no longer felt dizzy for the first time.

After he handed the jade slip back, Yu Banxia finally chose his spell technique.

"Bye."

"Bye."

With tacit understanding, they did not exchange information about any of the techniques they had chosen. After leaving the inner sect area, they parted amicably.

Jiang Li did not return to the dormitory to continue cultivating, nor did he rush to try out the cultivation method. Instead, he arrived at the function area of the outer sect.

The function area was the area where the outer sect disciples had the most daily activities, such as the trading area and mission area.

Jiang Li first walked into the trading area.

The trading area was huge, but the planning inside was very messy.

Other than the rows of shops with shop fronts, there were also many disciples who laid a piece of cloth on the ground and sat down by the side of the road, setting up stalls like the night market in his previous life.

This caused the outer sect trading area to become even more bustling and chaotic.

The prices of the goods were lower than those in the shops. This attracted many disciples who were short of money.

From time to time, disciples would come forward and haggle.

Sometimes, Jiang Li would be one of them. But most of the time, he would wander aimlessly in the trading area.

Of course, he was not bored.

With every step he took, his Level 3 appraisal skill would be thrown around crazily.

In fact, the majority of the items on the ground here were ordinary miscellaneous items. The weapons used by mortal warriors, such as sabers, spears, staffs, and so on, were at most of better quality.

There were also some animal fur, bones, internal organs, and other biological materials. Most of them were obtained by the outer sect disciples when they went out on missions.

Medicinal pills, artifacts, incomplete manuals, and other cultivator items could be seen here. However, the quantity was quite low. Furthermore, nearly half of them were either broken or fake.

No one was a fool. Things that were slightly better and had value were kept and used by themselves. It was very rare to see them sold here.

However, the security in the outer sect trading area was pretty good. All the disciples placed their items on the ground but nobody tried to steal or snatch anything.

After all, the existence of the Law Enforcement Hall was a great deterrent to them.

"Yan Hong, how's business today?" Jiang Li walked to the depths and saw his chubby friend.

Yan Hong also took up an ordinary stall in the trading area. He was very careful in doing some business.

There were not many things on his cloth. A few basic medicinal pills and a few basic spiritual materials were goods that were commonly sold on the streets. Jiang Li had seen them at least twenty times along the way, and there were even fewer people who went up to ask for the price.

"Haha, Jiang Li, it's you. I've gained quite a bit today. I plan to wait a bit longer and officially open my shop next month."

Yan Hong waved a booklet in his hand. It was filled with names and numbers.

Of course, he was not talking about gains as in spirit stones, but these numbers instead.

Yan Hong had been in this market for more than ten days. From the moment he figured out the rules, he casually set up a stall and sat there.

As for their 19 lackeys, they were also called over. Every day, they would go around the entire trading area asking about the price and haggling. Finally, they would gather at Yan Hong's place for him to register and tabulate.

He was new here and did not know how to start doing business.

"You really are meant to do business. In that case, their monthly allowance next month will be used as the starting capital. Don't give it to me for the time being. However, don't forget about your own Qi Refinement cultivation."

Yan Hong's enthusiasm for becoming a businessman did not diminish after he came to the sect. Instead, he became even more determined.

Jiang Li naturally expressed his support towards this. After all, if he had a merchant friend supporting him, regardless of whether it was purchasing resources or selling items, it would be very helpful.

"I know, I know. I have a high-grade spiritual root. Don't worry."

"By the way, didn't you guys go to pick a spell technique today? How was your selection? Do you have any special resources that you need? I can keep an eye out for you."

Suddenly, Yan Hong thought of this.

After a moment of pondering, Jiang Li organized the information about the spell techniques in his mind, and discovered that there was indeed something he needed.

"Are there any zombies for sale in this outer sect trading area? What's the exact price?"

Yan Hong was stunned. He scratched his head and looked pensive.

After recalling for a moment, he dabbed some saliva on his finger and quickly flipped through the book.

"There are zombies, but they are too big and not convenient to carry. The demand for them in our Scripture Storage Valley is small, so it's very rare for outer sect disciples to capture them."

"So in the outer sect, only two shops have zombies for sale, and the quality is very low while the price is very high. In short, it's not worth it."

"Hmm, alright. Then you should help me keep an eye out. I also want methods to capture zombies or refine them."

"Also, help me keep a lookout for seeds of some spiritual trees and spiritual materials. There's no rush. If the price is suitable, I can buy some."

Jiang Li stated his request. Yan Hong nodded and wrote down these two points.

"See you then. I have to go to the Mission Area again to see if there are any missions that can be taken at the initial-stage of the Qi Refinement realm."

Jiang Li used his appraisal for two hours as usual before walking towards the Mission Area.

This appraisal skill came with the system, but as usual, the speed of leveling up was simply too slow. He could only take time out every day to speed up the progress, but he could not force it.

However, his understanding over the past few days made him deeply understand his poverty.

The monthly allowance given by the sect was far from enough. He needed to think of a way to earn more spirit stones.

However, he did not know how to refine pills or weapons. As a novice who did not have a skill to utilize, he could only go to the mission area to see if there were any missions suitable for him.

After all, in the Scripture Storage Valley, outer sect disciples had to do missions after a year. Some disciples had not even drawn qi into their bodies at that time.

If even they could receive missions in the Mission Area, why couldn't Jiang Li, an initial-stage Qi Refinement cultivator, do the same?

The outer sect mission area was a very large indoor hall. There were also a lot of disciples here. They were talking in groups of three or five. Most of them were gathered in front of the three large tokens to check out the missions they could accept.

Here, Jiang Li could clearly sense an aura that was different from the trading area.

The expressions of the disciples here were obviously more urgent than the disciples in the trading area. Some disciples that had been here all year round even had icy expressions as if they saw everyone as enemies who had killed their fathers.

From time to time, a few older outer sect disciples would return to hand in their missions. Some of them were covered in blood, while others directly carried some unknown monster, appearing rather fierce.

Jiang Li understood a bit. Even though the mission area did not have any requirements for accepting missions, it was still very considerate to have divided the missions into three difficulty levels, and the missions one was suggested to take were classified as much.

Initial-stage Qi Refinement, mid-stage Qi Refinement, and late-stage Qi Refinement.

Although these three stages were all in the Qi Refinement realm, the gap between them could often be several times, or even ten times.

Jiang Li estimated his own strength. He had only started cultivating for a few days and had yet to master any spell techniques.

The single sub-class of an internal martial artist would at most allow his body to be slightly stronger than the average cultivator at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm. He did not seem to have much of an advantage here.

On the other hand, he was quite confident in his recovery ability.

As he thought about it, he realized that he was actually quite ordinary. Then, he walked to the mission board of the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm.

"Disciple to Fan the Flames: The disciple will go to the Alchemy Hall to fan the flames for the Pill Furnace. Each person must work for two hours."

"Requirements: Fire or Wood attribute spiritual roots."

"Reward: Five Qi Recovery Pills per person per day, and one spirit stone."

"Collecting Ghost Needle Grass: Head to the Herbal Hall to gather spiritual materials for the Ghost Needle Herb Garden. Each person must pluck 300 grams of needle leaves."

"Requirements: None"

"Reward: One Healing Pill per person per day, and one spirit stone."

"Cleaning the Sect: The disciple will head to the outer sect residential area to clean up the environment. Each person must clean up 20% of the area."

"Requirements: None"

"Reward: Each person gets one spirit stone every seven days."

"Pill Testing Disciple: Disciple will head to the Alchemy Hall to test out the effects of a pill. Disciple's safety is ensured."

"Requirements: Physically Strong and Healthy"

"Reward: Three spirit stones per person per test."

---

Read Cultivation! My Augmented Statuses Have Unlimited Duration Chapter 21 online for free - AllNovelFull

Chapter 21: Pill Testing Disciple

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Jiang Li glanced at the noticeboard. Many of the missions on the noticeboard for the initial-stage Qi Refinement cultivators were long term.

These missions could be divided into several categories.

One: 'Physical labor', this kind of mission was mostly issued directly by the sect, and it was the mission with the least difficulty and the lowest remuneration amongst all the missions. Cleaning, transporting supplies, and other heavy and dirty work belonged to this type.

Ordinary healthy mortals could do it. It was also for those disciples who had yet to draw qi into their bodies a year later.

Two: "Technical labor", these missions were mostly issued by the sect's mining factories, spirit fields, herb gardens, and other organizations. The mission content was mostly about mining, farming, reclaiming spirit fields, and other jobs.

Due to the difference between the excavation of spirit mines and the planting of spiritual materials and plants in the mortal world, disciples often needed to reach the Qi Refinement realm and master certain techniques before they were qualified.

Three: "Spiritual qi labor", experienced outer sect disciples would know that this kind of mission was actually quite difficult.

For example, the mission of the disciple fanning the flames of the pill furnace needed them to continuously send out spiritual qi of Fire or Wood for two whole hours. Ordinary Qi Refinement disciples would not be able to withstand it. The Qi Recovery Pills in the reward would usually be consumed on the spot.

If one did not have a certain amount of accumulation in the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm, or rather, Level 3 in the information panel for Jiang Li, it was best not to try. Otherwise, one's Qi Sea might be damaged and one's cultivation level would decrease. The gains would not make up for the losses.

Four: "Harvesting labor", such missions were usually done outside. The mission issuer would state a specific material, and the location information would be provided. The disciples would then go and search for it.

This was also the only mission that an initial-stage Qi Refinement realm disciple could take on. During the course of the mission, there would often be some unexpected gains, extra income, and the favor of many opportunists.

However, because they were out of the sect's territory, there would often be a certain amount of risk in the process of gathering the items. Disciples needed to have a certain degree of ability to protect themselves and also a certain amount of knowledge about spirit materials.

Five: "Injury labor", this kind of mission was more controversial. It was famous for being quick to earn money, but every time they carried out a mission, they could not avoid some injuries, it was completely up to luck. This was the same as selling their life and body in exchange for spirit stones.

The "Ghost Needle Grass" and the "Pill Testing Disciple" missions were both similar. It was fine to collect Ghost Needle Grass, even if there was some bleeding, the swelling and pain in the palm would pass after a few days.

To a large extent, the action of being a pill testing disciple was a gamble. The sect would not feed you poison, but the effects of the newly developed pills and the side effects would require a bold and tough disciple to experience them personally.

All in all, as long as one did it, they would basically be able to succeed. The only difference was the price one had to pay.

Jiang Li licked his lips and suddenly smiled. He really liked some of the missions there.

The swaggering and smiling Jiang Li walked to the counter in the Mission Hall.

The female disciple at the counter, Su Xuewei, saw a disciple in front of her walking over with such a confident smile. She thought that he was going to take on some earth-shattering mission, or perhaps he had just completed some unbelievable task.

She hurriedly sat up straight and put on a smile to receive Jiang Li.

"Junior Brother, do you want to accept a mission, distribute a mission, or submit a mission?"

Indeed, this was a disciple who sat behind the counter in the Mission Area and easily handled the paperwork to obtain a huge remuneration. Could it be that someone really thought she was an outer sect disciple?

In the sect, these disciples who stayed in key positions and worked leisurely while receiving generous rewards were all inner sect disciples.

Some of them were extremely talented, some were promoted from the outer sect, and some were even born in the inner sect from birth.

Of course, the high and mighty inner sect disciples were not born with Foundation realm cultivation. They would also go through the Qi Refinement realm. At that time, they would take up these "official" positions, and Su Xuewei was one of them.

She might be young and her cultivation level was not high, but she could address all the outer sect disciples as Junior Brothers or Junior Sisters.

"Lit… Senior Sister, I want to accept this mission!"

Jiang Li almost called her little sister, but he changed his words in time and handed over a slip of paper with the words "Pill Testing Disciple" written on it.

After all, although the reward for this mission was high, it was not much different from the "human volunteers" who tried new drugs in his previous life.

"Yes, yes. You want to accept the herb-picking mission, right? Which material? Is it the snake demon's gallbladder?"

Su Xuewei glanced at the note, clearly not seeing what was written on it. She actually replied something completely different, her big eyes blinking as she waited for Jiang Li to continue, making him feel a little embarrassed.

"Cough cough, Senior Sister, you saw the words on it, but you didn't see them completely. Why don't you take a look again?"

Su Xuewei was stunned for a few seconds before she looked at the note again.

"Pill. Testing. Disciple."

She read out each word, causing the disciples around her to burst out laughing.

She had thought that he was taking an incredible mission, but to think it was just this.

"Oh, oh, oh. Junior Brother, I saw wrongly. It should be the "Pill Testing Disciple" mission. Give me your outer sect disciple identity token and I'll register you."

Jiang Li wished he could stuff her mouth shut. Why did she think he handed her a note? She even said it out loud…

Fortunately, there were no disciples he knew around him. As long as he acted normally, only others would feel awkward.

Jiang Li's expression did not change as he finished registering the information, and then he took back the identity token before turning around and calmly leaving.

"Junior Brother, you have to be at the Alchemy Hall's Pill Chamber at nine in the morning tomorrow. Don't be late!"

"Oh right, Junior Brother! Take care of yourself!"

Before leaving, the girl still shouted this, loudly in fact.

This time, even more people heard it without any suspense. Those disciples who looked very down and out looked at him as if they saw their own kind.

It was only Jiang Li's first day in the Mission Hall, and he was already about to die of embarrassment.

"Alright! Thank you for your reminder, Senior Sister!"

He did not know if this senior sister was doing this on purpose, but it caused Jiang Li to be rather depressed. After all, he would be too embarrassed if news were to spread.

Forget it, reputation and strength were incomparable.

Now, they were mocking him for being a drug-tester. But when he becomes powerful one day, he would definitely let them know what it meant to be unable to climb up the social ladder.

So, should he consider wearing a mask next time?

As Jiang Li thought about this, he directly walked into the outer sect's graveyard. He had to come here every day to stroll about and conceal his cultivation speed.

In addition, before buying a real zombie, he wanted to find a kind senior brother and borrow his body temporarily.

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The next day, around nine to eleven in the morning.

Jiang Li arrived at the Alchemy Hall on time.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but the temperature here seemed to be higher than other places.

Looking at the area of the Alchemy Hall, the tall chimneys on the roof were constantly emitting thick smoke. He wondered if, thousands of years later, the air of the cultivation world would also be affected by the pollution of "chemical engineering".

"Senior Brother, I took the mission listed by the Pill Chamber."

When Jiang Li arrived, there were already a few outer sect disciples who were also here for pill testing.

Contrary to Jiang Li's expectations, the others all had terrified and uneasy expressions. The income of the pill testing disciples was high, but if one was unlucky, they might have to lie in bed for a few months.

He went up and explained his purpose for coming.

"Mm, give me your identity token." That disciple took the token and compared it to the information on the list of pill testing disciples.

"Oh? It's been a long time since a Qi Refinement realm disciple took on this mission. Elder Red Hair will be very happy now."

"Haha, Junior Brother Jiang Li, right? Our Alchemy Hall's missions always give the most generous rewards. You have to come often in the future."

This inner sect senior brother was especially enthusiastic towards Jiang Li, causing him to be speechless.

The reward was generous but no one came. Did he not know why?

Of course, he could not say it out loud. He just smiled and said, "Okay, okay."

"Since everyone is here, let's go in from here. We'll go all the way."

Two of the other outer sect disciples were clearly experienced, and Jiang Li followed them all the way forward. In next to no time, they arrived before a pill refinement room constructed from white stones.

"Little Four! Quickly go take a look and see if those pill testing disciples have arrived!"

They had just approached when a deep male voice came from the room, followed by panicked footsteps.

A moment later, the door of the concocting room was pushed open from inside, and a young girl jumped out like a rabbit.

"What took you so long? The elder is getting anxious. Come in quickly!" The girl waved her hand repeatedly. The pill testing disciples did not dare to argue that they came punctually and followed her in.

Soon, Jiang Li saw the Pill Chamber's elder. He was over two meters tall and had a full beard and hair that resembled an afro. The color was strangely bright red.

It was no wonder he was called Elder Red Hair. This title was very apt.

"En? There are only these few today? Hmph! The outer sect disciples nowadays are getting more and more gutless." Elder Red Hair was very dissatisfied.

However, the Scripture Storage Valley was a righteous sect after all. They could not do as they pleased. It was impossible for them to capture disciples to test the pills.

"Same old rules. One pill for each of you on the table. After you eat it, tell me how you feel. It's simple."

The female disciple called Little Four opened a porcelain bottle on the table and poured out six pills.

"What are you waiting for! Hurry up and eat! I've already reduced the dosage, you won't die from eating it." Seeing that the disciples still did not understand, the red-haired elder urged impatiently.

Only then did the six disciples, including Jiang Li, reluctantly step forward and each of them picked up a medicinal pill.

This pill was completely black and smelled like burning rocks.

The size of the pill was much smaller than a normal Qi Nourishing Pill or Qi Recovery Pill. It was only about a quarter of the normal size. It seemed like this elder was not lying. The dosage of the pill was indeed reduced.

Appraisal!

[Name: Unnamed Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Ungraded]

[Note: An incomplete product with certain effects.]

When he saw that it was indeed not poison, Jiang Li put the medicinal pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

When the others saw this, they had no choice but to follow Jiang Li and swallow the medicinal pill. After all, they had accepted the mission to come here. It was too late to regret now.

"How is it? Do you feel anything?"

"Feel it carefully. If you have any special sensations, you can tell me."

The young lady called Little Four had unknowingly tied her hair into a ponytail with a piece of cloth. Then, she carried a notebook and stood beside the six of them. She asked while observing them.

"I—I feel tired."

"Yeah, yeah, me too. I'm getting tired…"

"And my skin. My skin is a little hot and itchy. My whole body is itchy!"

"Ah no, I can't breathe! Senior Sister Little Four! Senior Sister Little Four, save me!"

Apart from Jiang Li, after the other five disciples felt uncomfortable, they began to scream in fear.

Two of them had practiced martial arts before and their physiques were better than the average person. They were barely able to stand. The other three disciples, who were completely ordinary people, had already collapsed onto the ground.

Looking at their weak limbs and short breaths, it did not seem like they were pretending.

Little Four quickly went up to take notes. She had already taken out the first-aid medicinal pills and was ready to feed them at any time.

"Sigh! Did I fail again?!"

Looking at the five sickly disciples who looked like they were half dead, the red-haired elder appeared disappointed.

Then, he turned around and saw Jiang Li who was still standing there perfectly fine.

"You… Why are you fine?"

Jiang Li was speechless, was he supposed to not be fine?

It was not that he was really fine. It was just that the matter was not serious.

[Consumed an unknown pill. Added Status: Small Loss of Stamina]

[Constitution above 4 points, Small Loss of Stamina nullified!]

[Consumed an unknown pill. Added Status: Acute Respiratory Allergy]

[Constitution above 4 points, Acute Respiratory Allergy reduced by 70%!]

[Mild Acute Respiratory Allergy: 5% swelling of respiratory trachea, 7% reduction in lung capacity. Duration: 30 minutes] ( )

[Consumed an unknown pill. Added Status: Mild Strengthened Skin]

[Mild Strengthened Skin: Skin strengthened by 5%. Duration: 20 minutes] ( )

Jiang Li felt a little helpless. This newly developed medicinal pill was indeed a flop. The side effects were even stronger than the positive effects. No matter how one looked at it, it could not be considered a success.

"Elder, perhaps it's because I'm at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm and am also an internal martial artist with a stronger physique. The side effects are much weaker on me than them."

Jiang Li's calm answer made the red-haired elder's eyes light up. He took two steps forward and stared at him with a burning gaze.

"What about you? What do you feel? Quick, tell me. Tell me in detail. Don't miss out on any details."

He directly snatched the notebook from Little Four and started to write it down.

"When I ate it, I felt a little tired, just like them. But it was very slight and it didn't last long before the feeling disappeared."

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Chapter 23: Ice Toad Saliva

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Jiang Li rubbed his chin as if he was thinking about something. He shared some of his experiences with the information displayed on the interface.

"Yes, continue, anything else?"

Elder Red Hair was a typical impatient person. Who knew how he managed to refine pills with such a personality?

"Also, Elder, look. My throat is a little swollen. Their condition should be worse than mine. This should be the reason why they have difficulty breathing."

Jiang Li opened his mouth and let out a "Ah!" before displaying his slightly swollen trachea to the red-haired elder.

"Little Four! Look!"

With a reminder from Red Hair, Little Four immediately put on a pair of beast skin gloves and pried open the mouths of the other five disciples, checking their throats.

As expected, everyone had different levels of allergic reactions, and their trachea was quite swollen.

"Swelling of the airway! So that's it!"

The red-haired elder ran to the medicine cabinet and took out two spiritual materials that looked like "aloe vera". He casually squeezed them into liquid and let the six of them drink it.

Everyone's shortness of breath quickly disappeared, and the status on Jiang Li's interface, [Mild Acute Respiratory Allergy, was also quickly removed.

"Good, good, good. You're really the best pill testing disciple I've ever seen. I'll reward you with another spirit stone this time."

The red-haired elder was delighted. Now that he knew the side effects of this medicinal pill, he was able to adjust it accordingly. It could be said that he had taken another huge step toward the birth of this new medicinal pill.

"Thank you, Elder. Should I continue?"

This elder was not cut out for this, he rambled on about things and did not even ask questions properly. This personality must have caused him to waste a lot of effort in his experiments.

"You have more to share? Alright, alright, speak!"

Jiang Li still did not understand why the other party was so excited. However, if he knew the value of a brand new pill formula, he might be even more excited himself.

"It's the skin. At first, the skin all over my body felt itchy. Then, I felt that the skin was a little tougher than before. It wasn't a lot, but it has indeed become a little tougher."

Jiang Li started to pull up the skin on his arm. The 5% strengthening was very light. If it was not for the interface notification, he would not have felt it himself.

"Hahahaha! I knew it! I knew it! I definitely succeeded!"

"As expected, it's not that my medicinal pills are bad! It's that the previous pill testing disciples were too useless. How can a group of mortals test the quality of the medicinal pills!"

"This is a Hard Skin Pill developed based on the Stone Skin Technique. You bunch of idiots actually only feel itchy. What a waste of my efforts!"

"The five of you, get out of my sight once you get your reward!"

The red-haired elder roared at the five outer sect disciples. He felt that their medicinal trial had been done poorly and they were not dedicated to their work.

Fortunately, he did not dock their remuneration. Otherwise, these few testers might cry on the spot.

"Jiang Li, right? You're truly not bad. You've done extremely well. I want to reward you."

"Do you know that the Alchemy Hall of our Scripture Storage Valley has always been suppressed by those guys from the Hundred Tempering Mountain? Their new pills and pill formulas earn countless spirit stones every year!"

"As a member of the Scripture Storage Valley, Jiang Li, don't you want to change this and contribute to the sect?"

The red-haired elder suddenly became a little fanatical as he patiently and systematically instilled the concept of "collective honor" into Jiang Li?

So it seemed that everyone in the upper echelons would automatically master the shameless ability of promoting "collective honor".

Jiang Li cursed in his heart. He was just an outer sect disciple, why would he care about this?

However, on the outside, he still looked touched.

"Elder, what should I do?"

"Jiang Li, I'll give you five more, no! Seven spirit stones! Try another pill, how about it?"

The red-haired elder looked at Jiang Li with great anticipation. He even increased the reward for Jiang Li himself.

Jiang Li knew that at this price, what he would eat would definitely be the official version of the medicinal pill, and not the experimental version that reduced the dosage previously. The danger would obviously be greater.

However, would he be afraid?

"Alright, Elder. For the sake of the sect and the new pill formula, I'll accept this mission!" Jiang Li agreed righteously.

The red-haired elder was overjoyed. He ran to the medicine cabinet and quickly took out handfuls of spiritual materials and placed them on the table.

Little Four also hurried over to help. She cut and ground the spiritual materials, making all sorts of preparations skillfully.

Jiang Li was standing beside them. He saw the spiritual material that they had previously used to alleviate acute respiratory allergies.

This elder actually planned to improvise the pill formula at the last minute and then refine the medicinal pill to let Jiang Li test the medicine.

Would everything really be fine in such a rush?

Jiang Li curled his lips and could not be bothered to comment. Since he agreed so readily, it was naturally impossible for it to be because of the other party's persuasion.

On the contrary, if the red-haired elder did not have such thoughts, Jiang Li would probably have made such an anxious suggestion.

After all, there was a reason why he was here as a pill testing disciple.

A mere [Mild Strengthened Skin] was obviously unable to satisfy Jiang Li's appetite.

He wanted to take more pills.

In next to no time, the preparations for the pill refinement were completed, and the red-haired elder summoned a ball of flames before blowing it towards the bottom of the pill furnace that was over 10m tall. The spirit flames were instantly ignited, and the scorching temperature caused Jiang Li to retreat repeatedly.

"So hot!"

Working in such an environment everyday, being an alchemist was a tough job.

However, Jiang Li watched as Little Four, with her hair tied up in a ponytail, entered the pill furnace's range with ease, handing out one spiritual material after another to Elder Red Hair.

Looking at her inner sect uniform and the identity token on her waist, she should also be in the Qi Refinement realm. Why wasn't she afraid of the high temperature?

"Junior Brother Jiang Li, what is your spiritual root attribute?"

Little Four suddenly asked Jiang Li.

"Ah? I have a dual-attribute Yin-Wood spiritual root."

There was no need to keep it a secret. It could not be hidden anyway.

"Wood attribute spiritual root, this is great!"

Little Four called out excitedly, then took out a fan from a corner and handed it over.

There was also a bottle full of Qi Recovery Pills.

"Help to fan the flames. It's very simple. I'll give you more spirit stones later." Little Four lowered her voice as she spoke, "Oh, right. There's a jar by the wall. If you apply the contents on your body, you won't be afraid of the heat."

After pointing in a direction, she trotted off to assist the red-haired elder.

Jiang Li followed the direction she pointed at. There was indeed a jar by the wall.

Appraisal!

[Name: Ice Toad Saliva]

[Type: Material]

[Grade: Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: This sticky liquid is perfect for relieving heat.]

[Apply the Ice Toad Saliva, Added Status: Cool Skin.]

[Cool Skin: Increases Fire Resistance by 50 points. Duration: 60 minutes.] ( )

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Chapter 24: Hard Skin Pill

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After applying it, the temperature in the alchemy room seemed to drop instantly.

A cool feeling lingered on his skin, resisting the heat of the outside world.

He took a few steps closer to the pill furnace. Although he still felt a bit hot, it was already within the acceptable range.

This thing is good!

Jiang Li's eyes lit up. He decisively pressed the plus button for five seconds.

[Cool Skin: Increases Fire Resistance by 50 points. Duration: ] ()

Another reliable buff obtained!

"Every two breaths, fan the flames!" The red-haired elder's voice sounded.

Jiang Li stood at the opening of the pill furnace that Little Four had left him in charge. Then, he simply transferred Wood attribute spiritual qi into the small fan and gently waved it forward.

Just like what Little Four had said, it was not difficult.

The Wood attribute spell technique that he bought previously contained information on how to use a single attribute spiritual qi.

As he waved his fan, a green wind filled with vitality blew forward.

As the Wood element spiritual qi blew on the wood fire, the flames under the pill furnace instantly rose.

Jiang Li silently counted down the seconds. Two breaths of time was approximately five to six seconds. He then waved his fan, allowing the spirit fire under the pill furnace to maintain a stable burning state.

However, he was only at the Qi Refinement realm for a short period of time, and his spiritual qi was limited. This fan would consume a bit of his spiritual qi with each wave, so it brought him a lot of pressure.

He opened his personal interface.

[Name: Jiang Li]

[Age: 13]

[Race: Human]

[Spiritual Root Attributes: Wood, Yin]

[Spiritual Root Grade: Medium-Grade]

[Main Class: Qi Cultivator, Level: Initial Stage] (Accelerated Cultivation Speed of 500%)

[Sub-Class: Martial Artist, Level: First-Rate]

[Sub-Class 2: None]

[Health: 1380/1380] (6 points/hour)

[Stamina: 1260/1260] (1 point/minute)

[Spiritual Qi: 27/29]

[Strength: 4.6]

[Speed: 3.7]

[Constitution: 4.8 0.5]

[Mind: 1.3]

[Enlightenment: 1.1]

[Fire Resistance: 50]

[Cultivation Methods: Ghost Wood Art Qi Refinement chapter Level 1, Age Tiger Technique Level 8]

[Skill: Appraisal Level 3, Zombie Puppet Technique Level 0, Yin Attribute Spell Technique Level 0, Wood Attribute Spell Technique Level 0, Mountain Splitter Level 3]

[Positive Status: Slow Healing, Promoted Healing, Satiety, Body Strengthening, Manly Vigor, Cool Skin, Accelerated Qi Nourishment, Wood-Yin Infusion]

[Negative Status: None]

During this period of time, Jiang Li had broken through to become an internal martial artist and had also become a cultivator of the Qi Refinement realm. His attributes had undergone a considerable change compared to before. There were also many new columns that had not appeared before, and they had become more detailed.

However, he was indeed a novice who had just entered the Qi Refinement realm. His spiritual qi value was merely 29 points.

If he waved the fan every five seconds, he could only last for 2 minutes 25 seconds at most.

The timing was too short and did not match his masculine image at all.

Sure enough, he had to use the Qi Recovery Pills.

Jiang Li bit open the bottle cap and poured a Qi Recovery Pill into his mouth.

As soon as the Qi Recovery Pill entered his stomach, Jiang Li felt as if he had directly swallowed an effervescent tablet.

Threads of spiritual qi escaped from the pill and directly replenished his Qi Sea from the inside.

[Consumed Qi Recovery Pill, Added Status Qi Recovery]

[Qi Recovery: Restores 6 points of spiritual qi per minute. Duration: 30 minutes] ( )

Recovering six points of spiritual qi per minute meant recovering one point in ten seconds. That was not enough.

Jiang Li glanced at the red-haired elder and Little Four discreetly, then brought the porcelain bottle to his mouth and downed half the bottle.

[Overdose of Qi Recovery Pills, Added Status: Accelerated Qi Recovery. After the status expires, the user's Qi Sea will dry out.]

[Accelerated Qi Recovery: Restores 30 points of spiritual qi per minute. Duration: 30 minutes] ( )

Followed by five seconds of pressing the button as usual.

[Accelerated Qi Recovery: Restores 30 points of spiritual qi per minute. Duration: ] ()

What? The Qi Sea dries out? Sorry, the status would probably not expire in this lifetime.

Jiang Li looked at this buff and was still slightly disappointed. Was this the upper limit of the Qi Recovery Pill? He still could not recover spiritual qi every second.

However, one point of spiritual qi recovered every two seconds was already more than the expenditure rate. At the very least, as a disciple who fanned the flames, Jiang Li was able to become a perpetual motion machine.

Of course, he still had to keep up the pretense.

Jiang Li puffed up his cheeks and swallowed air every ten minutes or so.

He was pretending that he was still holding the pills in his mouth and swallowing them one by one.

In fact, this was also a common thing in the cultivation world. One could free up their hands to deal with enemies or do things. The speed of consuming pills was the fastest like this. It was a very practical technique.

The Skill Imparting Elder had taught him before, so Jiang Li's actions did not seem too abrupt.

About 1.5 hours later, Jiang Li was already sitting at the side.

Due to Elder Red Hair's request to fan the flames more intensely, Little Four was worried that he would not be able to hold on and had already replaced him.

Right at this moment, the pill furnace suddenly emitted a muffled bang as the spirit fire below slowly extinguished.

With a wave of Elder Red Hair's hand, more than ten round pills flew out and landed on a jade plate on the table, emitting a hot medicinal fragrance.

Jiang Li noticed that a few of the pills were charred to varying degrees. Clearly, they had become waste pills.

The remaining pills looked pretty good.

They were different from the original small black pill. The normal version of the "Experiment Hard Skin Pill" had a gray, cracked texture on the surface and looked very magical.

[Name: Experimental Hard Skin Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: A pill that has not been tested for safety, advised to be taken with caution.]

It actually became medium-grade Yellow-rank directly? Jiang Li began to look forward to it.

"Jiang Li, come and have a taste. Don't worry, I'll guarantee that you'll be fine."

Jiang Li took an experimental Hard Skin Pill. The temperature had not completely dropped yet. After gently blowing on it, he placed it into his mouth and swallowed it.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill. Added Status: Strengthened Skin.]

[Strengthened Skin: Skin strengthened by 50%. Duration: 30 minutes] ( )

Oh, this was not bad. Jiang Li could already feel it. He was now very resistant to beatings, and his skin was much tougher than before.

It was just like processing a cowhide and making it into leather armor. It was already rather difficult for ordinary mortal swords to break through his skin.

But before he could rejoice, his vision went dark and his legs went weak, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill. Added Status: Anemia]

[Anemia: All attributes reduced by 30%, stamina temporarily reduced by 300 points. Duration: 3 hours] ( )

Why was there… a different negative status!

This time, it was not over just yet. Immediately after, his stomach rumbled, and a feeling of wanting to release arose spontaneously.

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Chapter 25: The Temptation of Becoming a Registered Disciple?

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

He had the satiety status and rarely ate nowadays. He did not expect to encounter such an awkward situation one day.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill. Added Status: Diarrhea]

[Diarrhea: Gastrointestinal movement speed up by 100%, digestive absorption efficiency decreased by 70%, stamina decreased by 100 points temporarily. Duration: 3 days] ( )

Jiang Li decisively removed these two negative statuses. His face suddenly turned pale, and only then did it slowly recover.

"How is it, Junior Brother Jiang Li? Your expression has become extremely unsightly."

Senior Sister Little Four came up to show concern, while Jiang Li waved his hand to indicate that he was fine.

"I feel weak and dizzy. It's very similar to the feeling I had when I was injured and lost a lot of blood."

"Also, my stomach feels really uncomfortable. It feels like it's going to explode…"

Jiang Li explained the effects and side effects of the Hard Skin Pill to her personally.

After hearing those words, Elder Red Hair started to frown. After pondering for a long time, he slapped his forehead.

"Ah! I should have known! I should have known! Yellow earth root and water soft thorn grass can produce toxins when used together!"

"I can't use these two materials. No, I have to change the other materials to mediate the effect."

Jiang Li was speechless. It looked like the difficulty of developing a pill formula was extremely high.

The characteristics of spiritual materials were not unique to begin with. When they interacted, some would produce positive reactions, while others would produce negative effects. It was simply a very normal thing.

Even if an alchemist knew the medicinal properties of all spiritual materials like the back of their hand, it would still be extremely difficult for them to complement each other into a mature and perfect spirit pill. It would require an extremely terrifying amount of calculations.

Furthermore, how many alchemists could say that they understood all of the different types of herbs and medicines in this world?

"Elder, I feel that there are still some flaws in this pill. It's just that it's slightly more subtle and doesn't show externally very well."

"I'm afraid that if we don't find a problem now, the next time you modify the pill formula, it will fail again because of this reason."

Jiang Li put on a hesitant expression like he did not know whether he should speak or not, so he spoke to the elder who was muttering to himself while evaluating the pill formula.

The red-haired elder was stunned.

"Are there any hidden flaws? If I don't resolve them now, will they definitely appear later on?"

"What should I do? What should I do? If… if…"

The red-haired elder's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he turned to stare at Jiang Li.

"Jiang Li, you have a medium-grade spiritual root, right? And you have Yin and Wood attributes as well." He suddenly talked about this.

"Yes, Elder." Jiang Li made an expression of confusion. In truth, he knew that this was Elder Red Hair's attempt to start a new 'overbearing' proposition.

"I'm saying that with your talent, you're not inferior to ordinary high-grade spiritual roots."

"I mean to say, I'm willing to give you a chance, Jiang Li."

Elder Red Hair guided him patiently and kindly, as if this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

"Elder, what do you mean?" Jiang Li's eyes were filled with anticipation as he fully displayed the image of a youth that was unable to restrain himself from being tempted by the 'huge promise'.

"If you're willing to help me complete the Hard Skin Pill formula, I'll take you in as my registered disciple!"

"Think about it, Jiang Li. Although registered disciples are still outer sect disciples, you can accept my teachings and obtain my resources. No one will look down on you anymore."

"Think about it, Jiang Li. This is an opportunity that countless people dream of."

Elder Red Hair felt that he had completely fooled Jiang Li, so how could an outer sect disciple resist the temptation of becoming his registered disciple?

Especially when he was an elder of the Alchemy Hall. Just think about those fragrant medicinal pills.

How many people would be willing to sacrifice their lives for those little things?

Jiang Li rolled his eyes in his heart.

What kind of registered disciple would he be? He should be a lab rat testing medicinal pills for a long time.

To think that he could say something like "I'm doing this for your own good". It was really disgusting.

When Jiang Li and Yan Hong faced their subordinates, even though they also used some language skills, they had long signed a contract. It was a clear exchange of benefits, so it was definitely good for both sides.

This red-haired elder's hair was red, but his heart was really a little dark. He was using this title to tempt him to test a large amount of pills… This was really impressive.

However… Jiang Li wanted this to happen.

Otherwise, why would he deliberately hint at the other party with his words? Wasn't it so that he could openly and passively take a few more pills to consume?

Jiang Li deliberately quickened his breathing, making himself look agitated, "Elder! What should I do!"

"It's very simple. Jiang Li, when you consume a single medicinal pill, some side effects might not be obvious. So long as you eat a few more, then wouldn't it be obvious?"

"If we discover these problems in advance, we will definitely be able to improve the pill formula faster!"

The red-haired elder finally showed his true colors.

"No! Master! Junior Brother Jiang Li is only at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm. He won't be able to withstand it…"

This inner sect senior sister, Little Four, was a warm-hearted person. She directly took Jiang Li's body into consideration and voiced her objection.

However, a disciple was still a disciple in the end. After being glared at by the red-haired elder, her voice quickly became softer as she shrunk to the side and no longer dared to speak.

"Jiang Li, do you know that the Qi Nourishing Pills and Qi Recovery Pills that you Qi Refinement realm disciples consume the most are not low-grade Yellow-rank when they were first developed?"

Being interrupted by Little Four, the red-haired elder seemed to have seen a hesitant expression appear on Jiang Li's face, and so he changed the topic, starting from another angle.

"Not low-grade Yellow-rank?" Jiang Li did not know what he wanted to say, but he was still intrigued by this type of secret of the cultivation world.

"Yes. At the beginning of the creation of the pill formula, the effects of these two pills actually reached high-grade Yellow-rank. The effects are more than ten times that of the current medicinal pills."

"Gasp! More than ten times! Then why did their effects become so much worse in the end, and was set as low-grade Yellow-rank medicinal pills?"

Jiang Li was indeed shocked. He really did not expect that such a basic medicinal pill had such a history.

"It's because of the side effects. When the pill formula was created, the alchemists encountered the same predicament as us. The side effects were too great and could not be eliminated no matter what."

"Therefore, in the end, the alchemists had no choice but to continuously reduce the effects, thus controlling the side effects within an acceptable range. In the end, they decided on the pill formulas for these two pills."

"In fact, most of the pills in the cultivation world now have similar experiences. They all have all kinds of hidden side effects, but because they are too subtle, no one has discovered them."

"But if you consume a large number of the same pills in a short period of time, the side effects will burst out again."

As he listened, Jiang Li came to a realization and roughly understood what this red-haired elder was trying to say.

"Jiang Li, if I want to, I can reduce the effects of the Hard Skin Pill a little. It won't be long before I can produce a low-grade Yellow-rank Hard Skin Pill formula."

"But if that's the case, you won't have the chance to become my disciple anymore."

The red-haired elder sighed, as if feeling pity for Jiang Li.

Jiang Li: …Alright… After going around in circles, it turns out that your true objective lies here. Aren't you just threatening me?

"The choice is in your hands, Jiang Li."

Jiang Li hesitated for a moment before making up his mind as if he was betting his life, "I'm willing to do it, Elder!"

Jiang Li thought to himself: Even if you didn't say so much, I would have agreed long ago.

However, the secret between alchemists in the cultivation world was indeed valuable news to him.

He was even more certain that he would continue to be this pill testing disciple, no, this registered disciple.

Because according to what he said, while the side effects of a semi-finished product were great, the positive effects were even more extreme. The help it provided to Jiang Li was undoubtedly much greater than the finished product.

"Alright, alright, alright. Continue then. As long as you help me complete this pill formula, I'll take you in as my registered disciple. In the future, you can continue to improve my pill formulas."

The red-haired elder was overjoyed. Jiang Li, on the other hand, began to grab the medicinal pills from the jade tray and continued to send them into his mouth.

One, two, three, four, five…

Jiang Li's decisiveness stunned the red-haired elder and Little Four.

Was this outer sect disciple so brave?

Since he knew that the side effects were huge, why did he not eat them one by one? He was really playing with his life!

[Overdose of Hard Skin Pills. Added Status: Sturdy Skin. After the effect ends, a large amount of subcutaneous bleeding will occur.]

[Sturdy Skin: Skin strengthened by 230%, spiritual qi damage resistance increased by 50 points. Duration: 45 minutes] ( )

The increase of 230% meant that his skin's defense increased by more than three times. In addition, there was also an increase in his resistance to spiritual qi damage.

This was a satisfactory number.

Before Jiang Li could smile in satisfaction, the hidden side effects that he had fabricated actually appeared.

The world in front of him became blurry, and soon, even his palm became blurry.

[Overdose of Hard Skin Pills. Added Status: Blindness]

[Blindness: Vision decreased by 90%. Duration: 3 days] ( )

If this had happened during a battle, the enemy would have died laughing.

The statuses of diarrhea and anemia appeared again, and they were even more severe now. Fortunately, Jiang Li was quick to react, and his personal interface did not vanish because of his blindness.

After pressing a few buttons, the discomfort lasted for a total of fifteen seconds before all the abnormal statuses disappeared.

Of course, he could not show this.

He shouted, "I need the latrine!"

Then, he was hurriedly escorted over by Little Four.

Through the wooden door of the latrine, Little Four made a detailed record for him.

Hearing the issue of having severe loss of vision, the red-haired elder started to frown. It was as if he had not expected this at all.

He sat in front of the table and repeatedly studied every medicinal ingredient in the pill formula, striving to find the problem.

As for Jiang Li, due to 'physical discomfort' and 'eyesight loss', he was personally sent back to the dormitory in the outer sect area by Little Four.

Before she left, he was handed the reward for testing the pills today—30 spirit stones and two bottles of medicinal pills!

After Little Four left, Jiang Li immediately jumped out of bed energetically!

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Chapter 26: Mid-Stage Qi Refinement

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

[Sturdy Skin: Skin strengthened by 230%, spiritual qi damage resistance increased by 50 points. Duration: ] ()

[Cool Skin: Increases Fire Resistance by 50 points. Duration: ] ()

These two buffs were the result of Jiang Li's hard work and laborious acting.

In addition, as for the [Accelerated Qi Recovery, it was so common that he himself had many of those pills, so it was not considered a gain from today.

He touched his own skin. It was tough and stiff. He could not even pinch his skin.

He took out his longsword. This was his loot from the journey here.

The sharp edge of the blade pressed against his wrist, and he slashed with all his might.

The friction between the edge and the skin was extremely difficult to feel. With a creak, even the slightest bit of force would cause a gap to appear.

After taking the sword away, he observed it carefully. There was a shallow cut on the surface of the skin and the cuticle. It looked like a white line that would disappear after being wiped.

Jiang Li's constitution had already exceeded five points originally, so all aspects of his body far surpassed ordinary mortals.

With the addition of the [Sturdy Skin, his physical defense had increased by more than three times. It was already quite difficult for him to injure himself.

Jiang Li lit another lamp and placed his palm on the flickering flame, allowing it to roast his skin.

It was slightly warm and the temperature was slowly rising. It was not until five minutes later that he felt pain in his palm.

Was 50 points of fire resistance already that terrifying? Although the power of mortal fire and spirit fire was vastly different, as long as he continued stacking them together, one day… hehehe…

Oh right, there were still two bottles of pills.

Jiang Li picked up two porcelain bottles and cursed silently.

He was clearly unsatisfied with these two bottles of pills.

[Name: Clear Sight Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: If your vision decreases, quickly use the Clear Sight Pill.]

[Name: Blood Recovery Pill]

[Type: Medicinal Pill]

[Grade: Medium-Grade Yellow-Rank]

[Note: No need to fear even if you vomit blood now.]

Jiang Li opened it and counted. There were only five in each bottle.

Forget it. Five should be enough.

He opened the two bottles of pills and directly poured all of them into his mouth.

[Overdose of Clear Sight Pills…]

[Overdose of Blood Recovery Pills…]

After obtaining two more statuses, Jiang Li once again began cultivating the 'Ghost Wood Art' and practicing the three Qi Refinement realm spell techniques.

For three consecutive days, Jiang Li did not leave his room. Even his meals were delivered by Yan Hong.

He showed everyone that he was in a very weak state.

Perhaps no one had deliberately monitored him, but many people knew that he was on a pill-testing mission. It would be too suspicious if he was not injured at all.

Three days later, he walked out of the room with a "pale" face and entered the outer sect's graveyard to continue his cultivation.

Although his cultivation speed would no longer be raised further whether he went to the graveyard or not, in the eyes of outsiders, he had to put on a disguise. In addition, he needed to find a corpse to practice the Zombie Puppet Technique.

Days passed by like this repetitively. Yan Hong and the other high-grade spiritual root disciples crossed the Qi Refinement hurdle within a month and became initial-stage Qi Refinement cultivators.

They were also in the top ten, and they had also received the reward of a Qi Refinement realm spell technique.

After that, they went to the Outer Sect Cultivation Hall along with Jiang Li and Yu Banxia to further their studies.

Jiang Li did not stop going to Elder Red Hair of the Pill Chamber either. Or rather, it was impossible for the elder to let such a great lab rat like him escape.

In the blink of an eye, three months had passed.

At this moment, Jiang Li was sitting cross-legged on the muddy ground of the outer sect's graveyard.

From time to time, poisonous insects such as centipedes would crawl out of the black and smelly soil. However, after crawling out of the ground, these poisonous insects would quickly fall into an uneasy struggle before curling up into a ball and never moving again.

The cold full moon hung in the middle of the night sky. Under the bright moonlight, the poisonous bugs of all sizes had already piled up to a thin layer on the ground.

Around the area where Jiang Li was seated, fifteen thick ghostwood trees were erected in two circles.

Five ghostwood trees in the inner circle, standing upright.

Ten ghostwood trees in the outer circle, placed with the root-side up.

In the Taoist Feng Shui Theory, among the five elements of Yin and Yang, this represented the basic Yin-Wood array formation. It could also be considered a simplified version or prototype of an immortal cultivation array.

For the past three months, Jiang Li had been testing pills at the Pill Chamber for Elder Red Hair. Every time, he would be 'seriously injured'. Similarly, his income was considerable each time.

He handed a portion of the spirit stones to Yan Hong and asked him to help him collect some of the necessary items.

These fully aged ghostwood trees were one of them.

Under the effect of the Yin-Yang Five Elemental Array Formation, the yin qi in the outer sect graveyard surged like a tidal wave. Even the poisonous insects that lived in the graveyard all year round could not endure it and crawled out of the ground to die.

Jiang Li, who was seated at the center of the Ghostwood Tree Array Formation, did not show any signs of discomfort. He sat down cross-legged and welcomed the incoming Wood-Yin spiritual qi.

Crack!

The sound of something cracking could be heard.

In his consciousness, the seed that he visualized had completely sprouted.

The fresh and tender branches grew upwards to welcome the moonlight, and the strong roots dug into the soil to absorb nutrients.

After a long time, Jiang Li opened his eyes. His eyes were filled with joy.

"I'm finally at the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm!"

Even with the 500% increase in cultivation speed, it took him three months to reach the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm.

Without this bonus, he would probably need another year or so to break through.

He opened his personal interface and took a look.

[Main Class: Qi Cultivator, Level: Mid Stage] (Accelerated Cultivation Speed of 600%)

[Ghost Wood Art Qi Refinement chapter Level 4]

[Wood-Yin Infusion: The cultivation speed of "Ghost Wood Art" will increase by 400%. Duration: ] ()

The Ghost Wood Art had entered Level 4, and his cultivation had also reached the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm.

Because of his breakthrough in the Qi Refinement realm, his various attributes had also increased significantly. He was now a qualified mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator.

The effect of [Wood-Yin Infusion] had also become stronger because of the formation he had set up. Together with the effect of [Accelerated Qi Nourishment, the cultivation speed bonus of the Ghost Wood Arts had increased to 600%.

However, advancing from the mid-stage of Qi Refinement to the late-stage of Qi Refinement would undoubtedly be even more difficult. This was true even if his cultivation speed had already reached the level of a top-grade spiritual root.

It would take even longer. Half a year? A year? It was hard to say.

Jiang Li formed hand seals with his hands. After concentrating for a moment, a single syllable came out of his mouth.

"Sink!"

As he spoke, the fifteen wooden stakes surrounding Jiang Li began to vibrate and disappear into the ground.

He had not used any spell techniques but only his spiritual qi. This was what he could do as a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator.

Report chapter

Chapter 27: Pale and Sickly

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"Isn't it a little too conspicuous to reach the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm in just three months?"

After Jiang Li hid the ghostwood trees under the ground, he did not immediately run out of the graveyard. Instead, he found a place to sit down and began to think.

His spiritual root aptitude was only at the medium-grade. In the eyes of ordinary people, using the graveyard to cultivate to reach the cultivation speed of high-grade spiritual root aptitude was already very impressive.

If he directly surpassed a high-grade spiritual root and reached the cultivation speed of a top-grade spiritual root, that would be a huge problem. He would definitely receive the attention of many people.

If he was valued, he could directly join the inner sect.

What he was afraid of was that he would become meat on someone else's chopping board. In the end, he would be dissected and refined into a pill. It would be a tragic sight.

Judging from the reaction of that red-haired elder, it was not impossible.

Hence, for safety's sake, he had to control his cultivation level. It would be best if he could expose this after Yu Banxia and the others broke through to the mid-stage.

But every seven days, he had to go to the Pill Chamber to test the pills.

Relying on the few aura concealment techniques he and Yan Hong had gathered, there was no chance of hiding it from a powerful sect elder.

"Looks like I'll have to use this thing."

Jiang Li took out a small porcelain bottle from his bosom. When he opened it, what came out was not a medicinal fragrance, but an unpleasant burnt smell.

[Name: Waste Pill]

[Type: Trash]

[Grade: None]

[Note: Waste pills are created from failed refinement attempts.]

After pouring them out, he saw that they were black pills with uneven surfaces.

These were waste pills that Jiang Li had gotten from the red-haired elder.

After all, the other party had to paint a rosy picture for him. Since Jiang Li wanted these worthless things, then there was naturally no reason for him to refuse.

Although he did not know what Jiang Li wanted to use it for, the red-haired elder still instructed him not to eat it no matter what.

"If it's not necessary, I really don't want to eat this." Jiang Li muttered to himself, and then he picked up a useless pill and placed it into his mouth.

[Consumed a waste pill. Added Status: Pill Poisoning]

[Pill Poisoning: All attributes reduced by 20%, spiritual qi strength decreased by 30%, spiritual qi recovery speed decreased by 30%, cultivation speed decreased by 10%. Duration: 2 years] ( )

Ugh…

The smell of burnt food would cause a severe reaction in the intestines, and the body would feel uncomfortable.

It was extremely difficult to expel the poison from the body, and the duration was extremely long.

This was pill poisoning!

A useless pill not a pill burnt by accident.

It was because during the process of refining pills, an alchemist would deliberately use a method to transfer most of the pill toxins produced during the refinement process to a portion of the pills, resulting in the creation of waste pills.

Therefore, eating waste pills was an extremely unwise action.

For others, the pill toxins accumulated from eating pills accumulated over a year, two years, or even ten years might be equivalent to eating a single useless pill.

"The consequences are serious. No wonder the cultivation world fears pill poisoning so much."

"This thing can really destroy a person if it accumulates too much. I wouldn't dare to eat it if I didn't have the ability to get rid of statuses."

However, the effect of this one pill did not seem to be enough.

Helpless, he could only take another useless pill.

[Pill Poisoning: All attributes reduced by 40%, spiritual qi strength decreased by 50%, spiritual qi recovery speed decreased by 50%, cultivation speed decreased by 30%. Duration: 5 years] ( )

The aura on Jiang Li's body had completely fallen back to before his breakthrough. His face still looked sickly.

He was totally the kind of person who ate too much medicine and ended up becoming crippled.

Just looking at himself made him feel pity for himself.

Now, not to mention the red-haired elder, even stronger cultivators would not be able to see his true strength.

This was because Jiang Li's true strength had indeed fallen back to the initial-stage of Qi Refinement. He was not even disguising himself, so how could he reveal any flaws?

It was just that this attribute that affected his cultivation speed was not too good. In the future, when he was cultivating, he had to first remove this status. When he needed it, he had to consume the useless pills again. This was really a kind of torture.

After leaving the graveyard, Jiang Li first visited the trading area for two hours.

Yan Hong had already laid out quite a lot of things in the stall. As he continued buying and selling in this trading area, they were finally starting to have a stable income.

After farming the appraisal skill, Jiang Li walked towards the mission area.

"Jiang Li!" He had just walked through the door of the Mission Hall when a voice sounded from behind him, causing him to stop in his tracks.

Several men and women who were also wearing outer sect disciple robes caught up to him from behind.

Jiang Li saw that they were all familiar faces.

"We saw that the person walking in front looked like you. I told them it was you, but they didn't believe me."

"What do you think? I'm not wrong, am I?"

It was naturally Yu Banxia, Lu Qianqian, and the rest.

They looked travel-worn, as if they had just returned from a long journey.

"Jiang Li, you've also started to come to the Mission Area to accept missions. Are you alone?"

Yu Banxia and the others looked at Jiang Li in surprise. There were seven or eight of them at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm. They only dared to come to the Mission Area to accept missions and earn spirit stones.

Jiang Li was alone. It did not seem like it was his first time.

"Jiang Li, you look terrible. Are you sick?"

Jiang Li's sickly expression was very obvious. Some people would even believe that he was beyond cure.

"Regarding this… my cultivation method is a little special. I became like this after being corroded by Yin qi in the graveyard for a long time. I'll be fine after I break through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm."

Everyone had been envious of Jiang Li for having the convenience of cultivating in the graveyard. But now, it seemed that it was not as easy as they had imagined.

Jiang Li randomly came up with a reason, and then looked at them and conversed.

"I have taken a few simple missions. After all, the resources given by the sect are not enough."

"What about you guys? Seems like you guys came back from outside, did you take a mission that required you to leave the sect?"

This time, it was Jiang Li's turn to be surprised. The missions involving leaving the sect were all quite risky, so how could ordinary disciples have the courage to do so?

"That's right. The first ten to become Qi Refinement disciples have all been rewarded with a spell technique. The cultivation speed of our high-grade spiritual root is also fast. In fact, we are already stronger than many of the older disciples."

"Yu Banxia is still the best. He has already completed a few inner sect missions and brought us along to accept this mission."

"Let me tell you a secret. We've gained quite a lot this time."

Speaking of missions, they were obviously excited. Each of them showed off the bags behind their backs, beaming with joy.

"Congratulations, is this a harvest-type mission? If you have any additional gains, Yan Hong is doing quite well in the market now. He might be able to give you a better price."

Jiang Li thought about it and felt that it made sense. In this circle, the ones gathered were the most talented and strongest amongst their batch of new disciples.

Almost every single one of them received the reward of a spell technique. There were only ten such rewards every year. It was only natural for them to possess such strength.

After Jiang Li congratulated them, he helped Yan Hong solicit business.

"Actually, I have the same intention."

"Also, Jiang Li, are you interested in accepting missions with us?"

Yu Banxia scratched his head and looked embarrassed. He then invited Jiang Li.

"Is it also a mission that requires going outside? I would like to give it a try, but I'm afraid that won't be possible for now."

Jiang Li did some calculations. He still had some things he had not finished recently. Furthermore, it was likely for him to go out on a mission for ten days to half a month. He would not be able to leave before Elder Red Hair was done.

"It's fine, we're planning to rest for a while."

"Moreover, I have a feeling that I'll be able to break through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm in about a month's time. At that time, we can all take on an even more rewarding task together."

When Yu Banxia said this, the pride in his eyes almost turned into sparks.

If he could be the first amongst this batch of new disciples to break through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm, he would be proud enough.

"You're about to break through?"

"Then we'll have to rely on you from now on."

When Jiang Li said this, everyone also praised him.

"Then it's settled. We'll talk again next time. We'll go submit the mission first."

"Yeah. Talk to you next time."

After Jiang Li made an agreement with them, they separated.

"About a month. I'll follow behind him and succeed in my 'breakthrough' as well."

This sickly state made him very uncomfortable. It was better to be liberated sooner rather than later.

Jiang Li walked into the hall and ran to the counter of that inner sect senior sister, "Senior Sister Su Xuewei, help me register."

He handed the outer sect identity token over. Without saying anything, the other party understood.

After all, Jiang Li came once a week for three months consecutively, and he accepted the same mission every time. If she still could not remember it, there would be an issue with her brain.

"It's you again, Junior Brother Jiang Li! My goodness! You look horrible! Do you really intend to accept this mission?"

Jiang Li: I think… I should put some powder on my face before going out next time.

"Thank you for your concern, Senior Sister, but that pill formula is about to be completed. I really don't want to give up halfway."

Su Xuewei nodded. She felt a little sorry for Jiang Li's persistence and intelligence. Even if the pill formula really succeeded, what did it have to do with him?

Why did he have to sacrifice himself for it?

However, she still quickly registered Jiang Li's information regardless.

The reason why Jiang Li had to come here to receive missions every time he tested the pills was mainly to guard against the red-haired elder.

Even though the red-haired elder would welcome him if he did not take the mission, and would also reward him handsomely, once he accepted the mission, the sect would record it down.

Under the supervision of the sect, even sect elders would restrain themselves a little.

Without this restriction, Jiang Li was afraid that the other party would do something extreme.

"Hahaha, Jiang Li, you're here!"

"I modified five pill formulas this time. One of them must be correct. Come, come! Quickly come and try!"

Report chapter

Chapter 28: Pill Formula Succeeds

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

When the red-haired elder saw Jiang Li, he was extremely excited. He instantly appeared beside Jiang Li, grabbed his arm, and walked in.

The force from his arm was completely irresistible. Jiang Li could only helplessly be dragged in.

Just as the red-haired elder had said, there were five bottles of pills on the table.

He had been working really hard recently. His robe had turned black and his hands and face were covered with ashes. One look and one could tell that he had not left the alchemy room for a long time.

From the past few pill trials, this Hard Skin Pill formula was indeed about to succeed. It had reached a critical moment, which was why he was so excited and motivated. He even took out five improved plans in one go and let Jiang Li test the medicine.

At this moment, he was really not worried about killing Jiang Li.

"Junior Brother Jiang Li! Your complexion is so bad! Has the side effects from last time still not disappeared? Or has it gotten worse?"

Little Four saw Jiang Li's expression and immediately became worried. She started pleading for Jiang Li, "Master! Let's wait a while before testing the pills. Junior Brother Jiang Li's body won't be able to endure it!"

However, the red-haired elder was unmoved, completely ignoring Jiang Li's expression and physical condition.

"Fool! The pill formula has already reached the critical moment! Don't tell me you want our efforts to go to waste!"

"You're not allowed to say such things again. After testing the pills, I'll provide some more pills to help Jiang Li recuperate."

The two-meter-tall burly man with fiery red hair and beard glared at them. Any child under the age of eight would probably pee in their pants.

Little Four was also teary-eyed from the reprimand. She just looked on worriedly, not daring to say anything else.

Indeed, the difference between a mid-grade Yellow-rank pill formula and an outer sect disciple was quite obvious.

"Senior Sister Little Four, don't worry, I'll be fine."

"As long as the Hard Skin Pill is completed, I will definitely recuperate well."

Jiang Li comforted her, then picked up the medicinal pills on the table and began to consume them.

In truth, these medicinal pills were already much weaker than the initial version of the Hard Skin Pill.

Even with Jiang Li's help, the red-haired elder's standards were still a little low.

There were some side effects that he could not figure out. In the end, he had no choice but to weaken the medicinal effect bit by bit to avoid these side effects.

The current Hard Skin Pill only gave a 35% increase in skin defense. It was 15% worse than the complete version Jiang Li had eaten the first time.

This effect also happened to be stuck at the standard criteria for evaluating medium-grade Yellow-rank pills. It could be considered Elder Red Hair's last bit of stubbornness.

If the effect was also lower, not only would the price drop drastically, the additional defensive effect would also be pointless and there was no need to eat it.

Jiang Li did not say anything further and started to try the pills.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill….]

After eating this one, his body became stiff. After strengthening his defense, was he supposed to stand there and get beaten? It was obviously not usable.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill….]

There were no side effects after eating the second one. However, the hardened skin was scattered in patches everywhere like the stripes on the spotted puppy. This was rejected too.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill….]

Eating this would cause hair loss for three days? This… doesn't seem to affect the battle, right? This would be left as an option for later.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill….]

Why was there no reaction after eating this? Wait, this effect was quite interesting!

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill….]

After eating this, the nose would bleed for half an hour. Forget it. When using this against an enemy, they would think the user was a pervert.

After eating five types of Hard Skin Pills in a row, Jiang Li wiped away the two bloody trails that flowed down his nose. Then, he excitedly pushed the bottle of Hard Skin Pills in the middle over.

"Elder! Success! We finally succeeded!"

"This is it! This is it!"

Jiang Li spoke incoherently as blood flowed from his nose.

"Really?! Really?! Does this medicinal pill really have no side effects?"

The red-haired elder was overjoyed and asked Jiang Li in disbelief.

"Elder, after eating this pill, I only felt a slight itch on my scalp and lost a bit of my hair. I don't feel any other discomfort."

Jiang Li wiped his nosebleed on his head and pulled off a hundred or so strands of hair, but that was all.

"Hahahaha! Good! Very good! Losing a few strands of hair is the side effect? Success! Success! I've really succeeded!"

The red-haired elder was overjoyed. He also threw a "Hair Loss Hard Skin Pill" into his mouth. After feeling the effects for a moment, he was overjoyed.

While the two of them were happy, only Little Four had a strange look of disdain on her face. She silently took half a step back, standing a bit further away from the Hair Loss Hard Skin Pill.

Medium-grade Yellow-rank. From this low rank and grade, it did not seem very important.

However… economic value could not be judged based on quality alone.

There were only 100 super sports cars on Earth. They were very expensive and profitable.

But could it really be more profitable than selling electric scooters all over the world? Impossible.

Just like in the current cultivation world, there was basically no mention of Heaven-rank medicinal pills.

However, for those pills, they might not even be able to refine a few cauldrons of Profound-rank or Earth-rank pills in ten years. They were definitely not comparable to the Qi Nourishing Pills and Qi Recovery Pills sold throughout the cultivation world.

They were practical, simple, and mass produced!

That was the most profitable pill formula!

As a combat consumable medicinal pill, the sales volume of the Hard Skin Pill definitely could not compare to those two types of basic medicinal pills.

However, the practical effects and relatively low cost of creation were enough to make this pill formula worth quite a bit.

"Little Four, clean up this trash and bring your junior brother to the Alchemy Hall to register."

Once this pill formula was completed, those failed products in front immediately became trash.

However, Jiang Li still had value that could be used, so he did not suffer the fate of being directly abandoned. On the contrary, it was the red-haired elder who took the initiative to fulfill his promise, asking Little Four to bring him to the Alchemy Hall to fill him in as a registered disciple.

"Yes, Master!"

"Thank you, Elder! Oh no, thank you, Master!"

Jiang Li thanked him and changed his title at the same time.

Elder Red Hair, on the other hand, was in a very good mood and was laughing non-stop.

While Little Four began to pack up the medicines on the table, Jiang Li hurriedly rushed forward, snatching the work and starting to pack.

"Senior Sister Little Four, leave this to me! I'll do it!"

He took the remaining four failed porcelain bottles into his arms, which warmed Little Four's heart.

She thought to herself that with this registered junior brother of hers in the future, he would be able to share some of her hard work.

"Come, Junior Brother Jiang Li. First, come here and wash the bloodstains. After that, I'll bring you to register."

"Alright, thank you, Senior Sister."

In order to make himself look more pitiful, Jiang Li specially did not turn off the nosebleed status.

Now that he was done, he quickly removed the status.

Jiang Li fiddled around in the bathroom for a while. After tidying up, he walked out and threw the four porcelain bottles into the waste bin.

Report chapter

Chapter 29: Spiritual Armament

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

"This is the area where elders of the Alchemy Hall undergo refinement. If there's nothing else, it's best not to come over. The elders don't like to be disturbed."

"This is the place where the Alchemy Hall disciples refine pills. It's best that you don't go too close. This is because some disciples are still newbies. It's very common for their furnace to explode."

"This room is amazing. It's the future Pill Chamber of your beautiful Senior Sister Little Four. When I become independent, I'll refine pills here."

On the way to register with Little Four, Jiang Li did not walk in a straight line. This kind and lively senior sister brought him around the area of the Alchemy Hall and introduced the layout and restrictions of this place to him.

"Senior Sister Little Four, in the Alchemy Hall, are there many Pill Chambers like our master's?"

Jiang Li noticed that there were very few white rooms in the Pill Chamber area.

"Not many. The investment in creating a new pill formula is really too high. Although there is the support of the sect, it is also a huge pressure and challenge for the alchemist himself."

"In our Scripture Storage Valley, there aren't many alchemists who have the ability to create new pills. Our Master Red Hair is one of them. They don't usually create pills."

"Only when they have inspiration will they apply for resources from the sect to support their pill creation."

"Creating pills isn't always guaranteed to succeed. For example, Master Red Hair has already failed many times. Before I became his disciple, he seemed to have failed many times as well."

Jiang Li's eyes flickered.

"What about those failed pill formulas? Have they all been destroyed?" He asked tentatively.

"How is that possible? Although those pill formulas didn't succeed, they've already paid an extremely great price. Even if they can't eliminate the side effects in the end and can't form a pill, it's still a great reference to those who came later."

"All the failed pill formulas that have been abandoned are stored in the Pill Chamber. If you want to see them, you can look at them too."

Little Four's reply made Jiang Li's eyes light up. However, he did not show it on his face. He chatted and laughed along the way. In the end, he registered his name at the office of the Alchemy Hall.

The so-called registered disciple did not count as taking an actual master. Jiang Li was still an outer disciple now.

In fact, there were many registered disciples in the Alchemy Hall.

This meant that one of their abilities had caught the eye of an elder, and from there, the elder would take them under his wing and teach them.

Of course, in the Alchemy Hall, the vast majority of registered disciples were selected because of their talent in alchemy, whereas Jiang Li was selected because of his 'Pill Testing' talent.

However, the reason was not important. After registering, Jiang Li would be like the other disciples. In the future, he would be able to directly enter the Alchemy Hall and receive pill making lessons.

This was different from the marginal teaching methods taught by the elders of the Cultivation Hall. Only here could Jiang Li truly learn deep knowledge.

When he returned to the Pill Chamber, Elder Elder Red Hair was no longer there. It looked like he had gone to seek credit from the sect's higher-ups with the new pill and formula.

However, there were a few things left on the long table.

Apart from the reward for Jiang Li today, there was also a pill robe, a pill book, and a small pill furnace.

"Junior Brother Jiang Li, Master left these for you."

"This small cauldron was used by Master when he was young."

'Oh? Is there something special about this pill furnace?' Jiang Li thought.

"Our senior brother used it before, and then I used it too. Now, Master is passing it to you."

Jiang Li: Fine… I was dreaming.

"Senior Sister Little Four, can we go take a look at the old useless pill formulas?" Jiang Li suddenly asked.

"Useless pill formulas? What are you looking at those for? Don't tell me you want to successfully improve the pill formulas? No way, no way. Even Master and the other elders didn't succeed."

Little Four waved her hands. She wanted to get rid of Jiang Li's unrealistic thoughts.

"No, no. It's just that you know, Senior Sister, the price of a completed pill formula is very expensive."

"I've only just started learning how to refine pills, so I don't need to succeed. I can first use the useless pill formula to accumulate some experience, right?"

Jiang Li came up with a reason. Little Four thought about it and felt that there was nothing wrong with it so she did not object anymore.

"I see. Alright then, follow me."

Little Four brought him to a large room at the back.

The moment she opened the door, the strong smell of rotting paper assaulted his senses.

These were all useless pill formulas that were still in the testing stage. Very few of them had enough value to be stored in jade slips.

"Most of these here are Yellow-rank medicinal pills. The difficulty of refining these two bookshelves here is relatively low. You can pick one from here."

Jiang Li's lips were dry as he looked at the rows of bookshelves, as if he was looking at piles of glowing spirit stones.

Jiang Li searched for a long time before finally choosing a pill formula that he liked. He took out a pen and paper and started copying it from the side.

After a long time, Jiang Li compared the words again. After confirming that there were no mistakes, he put away the pill formula and left.

Jiang Li carried the small pill furnace back to the outer sect. When some people saw this, it drew quite a bit of envious attention.

Although a small pill furnace and an old one at that, the price of a pill furnace was probably over a hundred spirit stones.

This was already an extremely expensive price that ordinary outer sect disciples could not afford.

Moreover, buying a pill furnace naturally meant that he was practicing alchemy. This kind of sub-occupation that was sought after by everyone in the cultivation world, if he could have some achievements, he could even make a leap in the ranks of a low-level cultivator.

This was especially true for many cultivators with low-grade and inferior-grade spiritual roots. Their cultivation was basically hopeless, and only these secondary professions could possibly be the path they could walk down.

After returning to his room and placing the pill furnace on the table, Jiang Li closed the door and windows. After checking that no one was eavesdropping, he took out a porcelain bottle.

This was one of the products of the abandoned Experimental Hard Skin Pills.

After swapping it with the waste pills on Jiang Li, he brought them out.

At that time, after Jiang Li consumed the fourth experimental pill, his skin did not change at all. Therefore, he told the red-haired elder that it was a failure since nothing happened.

However, this was actually what appeared on his interface.

[Consumed Experimental Hard Skin Pill. Added Status: Hardened Absorption]

[Hardened Absorption: The skin hardens after absorbing spiritual qi. The extent of hardening is determined by the absorbed spiritual qi. Duration: 2 hours] ( )

The effects of the previous medicinal pill had already passed. After Jiang Li consumed the medicinal pill, he waited quietly for a moment.

He then channeled a stream of spiritual qi into his palm.

The spiritual qi was quickly absorbed by the surface of his skin. Jiang Li felt his palm becoming harder and heavier, as if he was wearing a layer of armor.

Indeed, this was very interesting.

[Overdose of Experimental Hard Skin Pills. Added Status: Spiritual Armament. After the effect ends, skin petrification will occur.]

[Spiritual Armament: After the skin absorbs spiritual qi, it hardens. The absorption speed of spiritual qi increases. The extent of hardening is determined by the absorbed spiritual qi. Hardening effect is twice as much as Hardened Absorption. Duration: 2 hours] ( )

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Chapter 30: Mountain Crushing Scripture

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Spiritual Armament, wasn't this Armament Haki?

Jiang Li once again covered his right hand with spiritual qi. This time, the surface of his palm quickly turned black, and the speed at which it hardened was much faster than before.

His hardened right hand directly grabbed the sword's body, and it actually let out a metallic sound. He gradually increased his strength, and the fine long sword was even deformed from his grasp.

With these two factors combined, his defense would only grow stronger.

Perhaps, he could consider developing his body cultivation.

After making up his mind, Jiang Li started to get busy again.

Cultivating routinely every day, training spell techniques, listening to lessons in the Cultivation Hall, exploring the outer sect graveyard, and now, he had to start learning alchemy. Perhaps he also had to practice a body cultivation method…

Jiang Li was busy day after day.

One and a half months later, at the edge of the outer sect, on the cliff of Scripture Storage Valley.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Every few breaths' time, there would be muffled sounds of collision coming from the cliff.

The cliff walls of the cliff continuously produced many fine cracks as the collisions occurred. After the cracks continued to spread, the outermost layer of rocks could not bear the impact and broke off.

The figure at the bottom of the cliff was hit by the falling rocks and the shattered rocks buried him instantly.

But soon the gravel began to shake, and a young man with dark but shiny skin broke through the pile and climbed out.

Who else could it be but Jiang Li?

In the cultivation world, the mainstream viewpoints were actually quite disdainful towards dual cultivation.

This was because the path of cultivation was a long one, and there was almost no end to climbing it. At least for now, no one in the cultivation world had ever touched the ceiling of cultivation.

Where did he get so much energy to divert his attention? How could there be so much time to waste?

Cultivating multiple cultivation methods at the same time was something that many cultivators did not approve of.

If one were to cultivate a spirit refining technique that could speed up cultivation, then of course it would not be a problem, the more the better. However, this kind of cultivation method was extremely rare. In the cultivation world, there were few cultivation methods that could achieve such an effect.

As for body cultivation methods, they were famous for having poor effects in the early stages and slow in the later stages. They were considered useless.

Under normal circumstances, if cultivators had special body cultivation talent, or if they had the Buddhist cultivation method of Benevolent Travel Temple that could speed up their body cultivation, they would venture into this aspect.

Typically, cultivators would only attempt to dual cultivate when they reached a bottleneck to make up for their shortcomings and increase their strength.

However, after much consideration, Jiang Li finally decided to focus on cultivating the 'Ghost Wood Art' and also a body refinement technique.

Due to his status bar, many of the enhancement effects on his body were based on percentage. The benefits of body refinement were far greater than others.

Those permanent buffs were equivalent to special talents after all.

It could be said that not only did he have the talent to train his body, but he could also continue to increase and strengthen his body's talent. Under such circumstances, not training his body would be a waste.

Therefore, Jiang Li requested Senior Sister Little Four, an inner sect disciple, to bring him to the Scripture Storage Pavilion to choose the current body cultivation method he was practicing.

In the Scripture Storage Valley, although outer sect disciples could also enjoy the benefits like exchanging for cultivation methods through the Scripture Storage Pavilion, the requirement of going into the inner sect was troublesome.

Under normal circumstances, one had to obtain the approval of an elder from the Cultivation Hall or the Internal Affairs Hall.

However, if Jiang Li told them that he wanted to train his body… he would be lucky if he did not get scolded.

Thus, he decided to look for the easy-going inner sect senior sister, Little Four, to help him pass through the disciple guards before arriving at the Scripture Storage Pavilion.

After a few selections, he found an incomplete manual of an ancient body refinement technique called the Mountain Crushing Scripture.

This ancient cultivation method was also incomplete. It only contained the contents of Qi Refinement to Foundation realm. There was nothing else after that.

However, the cultivation of a body refinement technique was far less difficult than a Qi Refinement technique. As long as there were not too many conflicts, it was practically possible to seamlessly connect them together, so Jiang Li did not hesitate too much.

He had spent 230 spirit stones in exchange for it.

That was more than half of Jiang Li's hard-earned three months' worth of remuneration, yet it was all gone just like that.

He had already handed over the remaining half to Yan Hong and asked him to help him collect supplies. Therefore, Jiang Li had become a poor man from head to toe.

He pulled back a distance, putting some distance between himself and the cliff wall.

Then, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, his muscles bulging as he leaned to the side and lowered his shoulders. His feet continued to accelerate as he pushed towards the cliff.

Boom! The rock cliff cracked again.

It was said that the Mountain Crushing Scripture was created by a cultivator imitating a beast of antiquity called the Mountain Crushing Ape. When cultivated to the limit, one could use their body to directly smash through the mountain range with boundless power.

However, with Jiang Li's current level, he could only increase his strength and toughen his body.

After bumping into the cliff for a long time, Jiang Li finally ended his physical training for the day. He cut off his supply of spiritual qi and deactivated the Spiritual Armament. His dark skin slowly returned to its original state.

"Junior Brother, you have cultivated for four hours today. If you don't reach six hours, the fee will still be one spirit stone regardless."

Jiang Li was speechless. He had clearly only used the rock cliff to train, yet they had to collect a spirit stone. Why didn't they just rob him?

However, disciples were not allowed to cause irreparable damage to the other areas of the outer sect, so he could only pay to cultivate here.

After paying the spirit stone, he left the outer sect cultivation area.

"Have you heard? Someone among this year's new disciples has already broken through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm!"

"Really? This year's new disciples have only been in the sect for less than half a year, yet someone has already reached the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm?"

"That's right. He broke through two days ago and was praised by the elders of the Cultivation Hall."

"His talent is probably not much weaker than the inner disciples' geniuses."

"That's right. The Lecture Elder said that he might not have a chance this year, but he might be able to pass the outer sect competition next year and enter the inner sect."

"This… sigh… We've already been in the sect for more than two years and we're still stuck at the initial-stage Qi Refinement realm. I'm afraid we'll have to stay in the outer sect for the rest of our lives…"

Jiang Li walked through the bustling outer sect trading area and heard many conversations like this.

In the same batch of outer sect disciples, there was probably no one else who could have such a cultivation speed.

Jiang Li found Yan Hong's stall and asked.

Yu Banxia had already broken through to the mid-stage Qi Refinement realm two days ago.

Right now, he was stabilizing his cultivation base and familiarizing himself with his explosive strength. Yan Hong reckoned that he would contact them in a few days.

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