Seeing Lin Ying Again

Early the next morning.

Morning light streamed through the paper window, cutting a pale golden band through the air.

Fine motes of dust drifted quietly in the beam, while white mist spread and flowed across the floor like a thin veil, making the entire room look like an immortal realm.

Lu Yang sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling the Spiritual Qi surging vigorously within his Dantian, he suddenly lit up with ecstasy.

Compared to level two, the level-four Heavy Sword Instruction circulated Spiritual Qi through his meridians roughly four times faster!

Combined with the effects of both the Qi Nourishing Pill and the Spirit Cuisine, a single night of cultivation had given him as much progress as half a month normally would!

He had been worried that he would struggle to break through to Mid-stage Qi Refining this year, but looking back now, that concern had vanished completely.

At this rate, he would probably need only a little over a month to break through!

Even if that cultivation speed fell short of the legendary monsters with transcendent-grade and supreme-grade Spirit Roots, it was certainly comparable to that of a genius with a high-grade Spirit Root.

And if a genius with a high-grade Spirit Root cultivated on aptitude alone without the aid of pills, they would probably be slower than he was now!

And... this was only the beginning.

Once the quality of his Spirit Root improved further, his cultivation speed was bound to soar again.

When that time came, he might even be able to measure up to a genius with a supreme-grade Spirit Root.

After all, even in a top-tier sect like the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, which held sway over Qin Province, disciples with supreme-grade Spirit Roots were exceedingly rare.

As for a transcendent-grade Spirit Root like Mu Yunxue's, one might not appear even in several hundred years.

Otherwise, her entry into the sect would not have alerted even the sect master.

"No matter what..." Lu Yang slowly clenched his fist, unable to suppress the smile tugging at his lips. "My prospects for the future are completely different now."

He rose from his bed, spread his arms, and gave a long stretch.

A series of crisp cracks sounded from the bones throughout his body.

He rolled his neck and began his daily tasks.

The Tycoon System's daily tasks were prepared for tycoons.

For a cultivator, things like running and reading were naturally so easy they were hardly worth mentioning.

Yet the rewards were exceptionally generous—attribute points and general experience, every one of them could give his foundation a tangible boost.

He pushed the door open and walked out of the room.

The morning sun was leaping over the peaks of the mountain range on the horizon, its golden rays cleaving the roiling sea of clouds and bathing the mountains in a layer of radiance.

The morning breeze brushed his face, carrying the cool, fresh fragrance of mountain vegetation. Lu Yang drew a deep breath, and his spirits lifted abruptly, leaving him a little more awake.

He began his morning run along the mountain path.

As he rounded a bend, two young women were walking side by side down the stone steps ahead.

Both wore entry-level disciple robes and were talking quietly as they walked.

Hearing footsteps behind them, they instinctively looked back.

When they saw that it was Lu Yang, both froze for a moment, then instinctively straightened and greeted him respectfully. "Greetings, senior brother!"

Lu Yang was a little surprised and took another look at them.

Ordinarily, when entry-level disciples met, a nod was enough of a greeting at most, unless they knew each other well.

This was the first time anyone had addressed him so formally as senior brother.

He gave a slight nod. "Mm."

Without stopping, he passed between them and continued running.

The two young women turned and watched his retreating figure gradually disappear into the morning light, their eyes sparkling.

"That senior brother is Senior Brother Lu Yang, the one who's been eating Spirit Cuisine in the dining hall every day for the past two days, right?"

"Definitely. Senior Brother Lu Yang is so rich, eating so well at every meal..."

"And Senior Brother Lu Yang is so handsome, too." One of the young women blushed slightly, her voice growing softer. "If only I could win Senior Brother Lu Yang's favor."

Hearing this, the other young woman reached out and gently tugged her sleeve. "Forget it..." she said helplessly. "That senior sister who ate with Senior Brother Lu Yang yesterday evening is a genuine outer sect disciple. She's so beautiful—how could we compare?"

The young woman fell silent for a moment, then took a deep breath, her tone firm again. "Come on! It's still early, so let's hurry to the market, buy our pills, and come back to cultivate. Let's try to enter the outer sect as soon as possible, so we can see Senior Brother Lu Yang again!"

The two quickened their pace, and their slender figures soon disappeared at the end of the mountain path, where the morning mist lingered.

Lu Yang ran a circuit along the mountain paths between the disciples' residences. All the entry-level disciples he met along the way treated him with considerable respect.

After a moment's thought, he understood why.

He had probably drawn too much attention eating in the dining hall these past two days. Eating the most expensive Spirit Cuisine at every meal for days on end, it was hard not to attract notice.

Even so, he had no intention of toning it down.

If he were a Rogue Cultivator, he would have worried that someone might covet his Spirit Stones and secretly kill him.

But in the Golden Rainbow Sword Sect, even private fights between disciples were brought before the Law Enforcement Hall, let alone murder for wealth.

The rules of a top-tier righteous sect had always been strict.

As long as he stayed within the sect grounds, he had no need to worry about someone taking a desperate risk for a few Spirit Stones.

As the saying went, it was easy to enjoy the shade beneath a great tree.

Besides, he had plenty of talismans and pills of his own.

Time flew like a white steed glimpsed through a crack, and in the blink of an eye, ten days had passed.

One morning, Lu Yang closed the Cultivation Method manual in his hands and slowly breathed out a mouthful of turbid Qi.

With a thought, he summoned the panel before his eyes.

Physique: 3.2

Intelligence: 2.3

Charm: 2.2

"Heavy Sword Instruction" level 4 (366/400)

After ten days of daily tasks, all three of his basic attributes had made considerable progress.

He could clearly feel that his physical strength was now probably no worse than that of an Early Qi Refinement body cultivator who specialized in tempering the body.

And at the rate he was steadily improving with system attribute points each day, it would not be long before he left Early Qi Refinement body cultivators behind.

The boost to comprehension from his increased intelligence was even more immediate.

Even though the Heavy Sword Instruction had reached the profound level of four, his powerful comprehension had allowed him to grind its experience up to three hundred and sixty-six points in just ten days.

He was only one step away from level five.

Tomorrow, he would break through.

When that happened, his cultivation speed would soar another notch.

He had originally estimated that breaking through would take a little over a month, but that had not accounted for the speed boost from his Cultivation Method's breakthrough.

Now, by his calculations, once his Cultivation Method reached level five, he would probably need at most another ten days to reach Mid-stage Qi Refining with certainty.

Over those ten days, Lu Yang had gone to the dining hall without fail every noon and evening for a meal of Spirit Cuisine, spending roughly eleven or twelve Spirit Stones a day.

In the eyes of the other entry-level disciples, this was already an extravagantly wasteful way to live.

But only Lu Yang himself knew that the Spirit Stones in his possession had not decreased; instead, the more he spent, the more he had.

By now, he had saved up more than sixteen hundred low-grade Spirit Stones in his Storage Bag, enough to raise "Tycoon's Confidence" another level.

As it happened, he had also used up his last Qi Nourishing Pill today.

He planned to go to the market to restock.

Besides buying pills, he would ask Senior Sister Lin Ying to stroll around with him and raise her favorability.

Of course, even without the generous rewards from favorability, simply strolling around with a beautiful senior sister was quite nice in itself.

For Lu Yang, this was a rare chance to relax between bouts of arduous cultivation.

With the strain of cultivating every day, he needed to let his spirits breathe now and then, lest the tension cause trouble.

Earlier, he had already contacted Lin Ying through his sect token and learned that she happened to be selling pills at a stall in the market today.

Lu Yang quickly got ready, pushed open the door, and stepped outside.

The morning light had grown bright and warm, and the white mountain mist had dispersed, revealing verdant pine woods and distant peaks appearing and disappearing amid the sea of clouds.

The mountain breeze swept over the treetops, bringing the fresh scent of pine resin mingled with earth.

He strode down the mountain path, heading toward the market.