Light of Debt, Practicing New Spells

After spending 1 Spirit Stone to buy 10 types of Spirit Herb Seeds, Chen Ze was very satisfied, and the stall owner was satisfied as well.

With the transaction complete, Chen Ze took the Spirit Herb Seeds and headed toward a stall he had eyed earlier.

He had just seen spells for sale at one of the stalls, most of which were basic spells and not very expensive.

Previously, he had been afraid to spend his Spirit Stones recklessly because he needed to sell his spirit herbs.

Now that the Spirit Herb Seeds were in his hands, it was only natural to go over and do some shopping.

Arriving at the spell stall, Chen Ze didn't waste any words; he picked up the three spell books he had already set his sights on: Breath Concealment Art, Earth Shield Art, and Heart Piercing Stab.

These three were all fundamental spells. Breath Concealment Art was used to suppress one's aura, a must-have for any cultivator venturing into the Monster Forest.

Earth Shield Art was an earth-element defensive spell; it was perfect since Chen Ze possessed an Earth-element Low-grade Spiritual Root, and a defensive spell was exactly what he lacked.

Heart Piercing Stab was an offensive spell; having one more way to attack meant having one more tool at his disposal.

"Fellow Daoist, how many Spirit Stones for these three spells?"

The stall owner glanced at the three books Chen Ze had chosen—very ordinary ones—and spoke directly, "2 Spirit Stones each, 6 Spirit Stones in total."

"Can you make it a bit cheaper? You see, these are all the most common spells. How about 4 Spirit Stones?"

"Fine, take them for 4 Spirit Stones," the Rogue Cultivator stall owner said readily.

These spells were only useful to cultivators just starting out like Chen Ze, and since these three books could be copied, he was still making a profit even with 1 Spirit Stone less. As long as he could sell them, it was fine.

Chen Ze paid the 4 Spirit Stones, tucked the three spell books away with satisfaction, and left in a hurry; he couldn't wait to get back and start practicing.

After returning home, Chen Ze began to carefully flip through the three spell books. Fortunately, all three were quite basic, and practicing them wasn't very difficult. Without much effort, he had basically mastered them.

He spent another five hours pushing the proficiency of Heart Piercing Stab directly to Mastery.

Because Heart Piercing Stab was a relatively simple finger technique, it only had one move, but that move was always aimed straight at the heart.

Chen Ze was very satisfied with this technique; it prioritized speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness—a single strike to kill.

Once the proficiency of Heart Piercing Stab reached Mastery, Chen Ze felt that when he thrust his finger out, it was faster, trickier, and even carried a sense of piercing through the wind.

Heart Piercing Stab was originally an offensive finger technique, but if he had a Magic Artifact in his hand, he could unleash even greater power.

After practicing non-stop, Chen Ze felt a hint of exhaustion, so he cooked some Spirit Rice.

After eating, he sat in meditation to rest for a while.

He then began practicing Earth Shield Art and Breath Concealment Art. By the time he had brought both spells to Mastery, it was already late at night.

There was still some Spirit Rice left from what he had cooked during the day, so Chen Ze finished off two more bowls.

With his spiritual power restored to Perfection, Chen Ze took a look at his Attribute Panel.

Name: Chen Ze
Cultivation: Qi Refining Second Layer 74/100
Talent: Earth-element Low-grade Spiritual Root
Cultivation Method: Xuantian Record (Entry) 95/100
Spells:
Ignition Art (Perfection) 840/1600
Breath Concealment Art (Mastery) 1/200
Earth Shield Art (Mastery) 1/200
Heart Piercing Stab (Mastery) 1/200
Myriad Things Space: Level 1

"The Xuantian Record only needs 5 more cycles for the proficiency to level up. Currently, running the Xuantian Record 5 times increases my cultivation by 1 point; once it levels up, my cultivation speed should also increase."

"It looks like I'll be able to break through to the Qi Refining Third Layer very soon."

Thinking that his cultivation was about to break through, Chen Ze felt a surge of motivation and decided to keep practicing.

He continued to improve his Ignition Art; he had already experienced the power of the Ignition Art at the Perfection level of proficiency yesterday.

The thief from yesterday, who had a higher cultivation than him, hadn't even been able to withstand a single blast of his Ignition Art.

Since this was his strongest trump card right now, it naturally made him even more eager to practice.

In a rented room next to Chen Ze's, no lights were on. In the darkness, a pair of gloomy eyes stared fixedly at Chen Ze's house.

Chen Ze was still practicing, and his room was brightly lit.

"It's already the middle of the night. What is this brat doing? Is he not planning to sleep all night?"

If it weren't for the fear of causing too much of a commotion, the subordinate sent by Shopkeeper Tong would have already charged in and taken Chen Ze down.

"I don't believe it. Let's see how long you can hold out. Once I catch you, I'll definitely give you a good beating before sending you off to the Mine."

Shopkeeper Tong's subordinate felt frustrated; a small fry was wasting several days of his time.

The night passed quickly, and the sky outside began to brighten.

"The proficiency of the Xuantian Record has finally reached Mastery."

Chen Ze checked his condition; despite not resting all night, his mental state remained quite good.

Chen Ze did not rest, instead letting his consciousness enter the Myriad Things Space.

After returning home and harvesting a batch of Spirit Rice, he had cleared two Spirit Fields and planted two Spirit Herb Seeds.

"Not bad. It's a relief that the stall owner didn't lie; these really are Spirit Herb Seeds."

He looked at the two spirit herbs in the Spirit Field, which had already taken shape after a day, though they lacked the necessary age.

The two spirit herbs, a Spirit Treasure Grass and a Heavenly Soul Flower, were the primary ingredients needed to refine Qi Gathering Pills and Spirit Restoration Pills, respectively.

These were things the stall owner had mentioned when introducing them to Chen Ze.

Both pills were used by those in the Qi Refining Realm; the Qi Gathering Pill was used to restore spiritual power during cultivation and was relatively common.

The Spirit Restoration Pill was much more precious, used to enhance and repair damaged Spiritual Sense.

The Spirit Treasure Grass could be harvested for alchemy at 10 years of age, while the Heavenly Soul Flower required 30 years before it could be used as medicine, and its value increased with its age.

A 10-year-old Spirit Treasure Grass could sell for 30 Spirit Stones, while a 30-year-old Heavenly Soul Flower could sell for as much as 200 Spirit Stones.

Chen Ze sighed at the high cost of Cultivation Resources while simultaneously running some calculations.

With the 500-fold time acceleration in the Spirit Field, it would take less than 8 days for the herbs to reach 10 years of age.

As for the 30-year mark, it would only take 22 days.

"A massive profit!"

"Once these spirit herbs mature, as long as I save the seeds, I can continue planting them."

"The activation of the Myriad Things Shop is just around the corner."

After harvesting another batch of Spirit Rice, Chen Ze planted the remaining eight Spirit Herb Seeds into the Spirit Fields.

The returns on spirit herbs were so immense that Chen Ze couldn't resist the temptation, deciding to abandon planting Spirit Rice altogether.

He didn't want to remain a slave to the fields; he was about to become a tycoon of spirit herbs.

"Keep cultivating, keep grinding."

Chen Ze seemed to see the hope of immortality, envisioning the day he would soar through the skies and gallop across the Cultivation World, and his passion for cultivation surged once more.

After withdrawing his consciousness from the Myriad Things Space, he didn't rest at all and immediately began cultivating again.

This time, he didn't push for five hours straight; after only three hours of cultivation, Chen Ze noticed a change on his status interface.

In those three hours, he had used the Ignition Art 120 times and circulated the Xuantian Record three times, yet his cultivation had increased by 1 point.

"Does the Xuantian Record at the proficiency level now grant one point of cultivation for every three circulations?"

"My current cultivation is Qi Refining Second Layer 76/100. I'm only 24 points away from a breakthrough, which means I need to circulate the Xuantian Record 72 more times. If I cultivate for 20 hours a day, I can break through in four more days."

"In four days, I will have only been in this world for 10 days total. The original owner took 15 years just to reach the second layer."

"If I break through a layer in just 10 days, that's probably several times faster than the cultivation speed of those Personal Disciples from the Qingyun Sect!"

Since arriving in this world and inheriting the memories of the original owner, Chen Ze had never held any affection for the Qingyun Sect.