Names Are Important

This fish-shaped jade talisman was cyan, but its surface was covered in rust-like stains, making its color rather mottled.

"I'm leaving," Lü Shenliang stood up.

Wang Li said, "As you wish."

"Senior Sister, be careful," Lü Shenliang said as she walked towards a stone hut in front of her.

Wang Li said, "I'm your junior brother, not your senior sister."

"Believe it or not, I'll self-detonate my Golden Core?" Lü Shenliang said.

"I believe it very much," Wang Li said. "But you're a mushroom right now."

Lü Shenliang said, "Then I still want to self-detonate my Golden Core."

Wang Li said, "Then I won't accept it either."

Lü Shenliang stopped talking. She walked into the stone hut and into the quiet room inside.

Only then did Wang Li let out a sigh he had suppressed for a long time, yet still couldn't hold back.

The sigh contained countless emotions.

His senior sister usually cultivated on this solitary peak. About half of her time was spent lucid. Although her thoughts were unique when she was lucid, it was just difficult to communicate, not impossible.

But every time she went out with him on important matters, as soon as they returned to this solitary peak, she would lose her clarity of mind within moments if she relaxed even slightly.

He had figured it out completely after many times. When she was not lucid, she would usually say a few random things, and then say, "Then I won't accept it either." After that, she would cultivate peacefully and wouldn't impulsively self-detonate her Golden Core.

Logically, since they were so familiar with each other, he should have gotten used to it long ago. Yet, every time he faced such a scene, he still felt unaccustomed.

Lü Shenliang's figure had already disappeared into the stone hut.

However, these few stone huts inevitably reminded him of his Master.

"Master, you really can't just pick names randomly. For cultivators who defy heaven, names are truly important."

He gave a wry smile.

His Master was named He Wanshi. As a result, he turned into a stubborn stone due to accidentally being poisoned, and Wang Li lost his Master not long after he joined the sect.

His senior sister was named Lü Shenliang.

The character "liang" in Lesser Jade Continent originally had two pronunciations.

One was pronounced "liàng."

Beautiful woman!

He felt that his senior sister was undoubtedly a beautiful woman.

But when his Master, He Wanshi, introduced important figures in the Profound Heaven Sect during his initiation, he told him that the "liang" in his senior sister's name was pronounced "jìng."

Gentle and serene, like the profound abyss's beauty.

The name was likely chosen with this meaning in mind.

For cultivators, appearance was somewhat important, but more crucial were temperament and state of mind.

In this regard, pronouncing the character as "jìng" instead of "liàng" seemed more fitting.

But Wang Li felt something was off back then.

Lü Shenliang, Lü Shenliang, Lü Shénjīng... Nǚ shénjīng (female neurosis). If you say it quickly, doesn't it sound like "female neurosis"?

Later, when she failed her tribulation while forming her Golden Core, although she didn't die, her Golden Core was damaged, her soul was unstable, and her mind was often unclear. This practically fulfilled her name.

Although there was definitely no saying in the Heavenly Dao laws that names determined destiny, how could such things be explained clearly? As for himself, his name was Wang Li, which seemed to imply constant separation.

He had joined the Profound Heaven Sect with a bunch of fellow disciples, seemingly very fortunate, but soon lost his Master and soon found himself on this solitary peak, as if betrayed by everyone.

If changing his name would help, he felt he absolutely shouldn't be called Wang Li. He should be called Wang Ju (Gather), or if that didn't work, Wang Jujuju (Gather Gather).

However, for now, as long as his senior sister could eventually recover and stayed on this solitary peak, it didn't seem uncomfortable.

He quickly finished all the spirit fruits on the square table and then held the cyan fish-shaped jade talisman in front of him.

As his True Essence flowed, this cyan fish-shaped jade talisman emitted the unique aura of a spatial artifact.

The lotus leaf that covered his head like a canopy, the straw mat beneath him, and the small purple table were all stored within this fish-shaped jade talisman.

If any cultivator saw this scene at this moment, they would surely find it incredible.

According to common sense in the Cultivation World, cultivators at the Qi Refining stage could not use any spatial artifacts for storage.

Just as the True Essence of Qi Refining stage cultivators was insufficient to power most flying artifacts, their True Essence was also completely insufficient to power the spatial arrays of such spatial artifacts.

Even the lowest-grade Treasure Pouches required cultivators at least at the Foundation Establishment Stage to use.

But now, Wang Li was using this fish-shaped jade talisman seemingly without any effort.

After using this artifact to store these items, he also walked into a stone hut and entered the quiet room he used for cultivation.

His quiet room looked very ordinary, seemingly no different from the cultivation quiet rooms assigned to newly initiated disciples in general sects.

Besides a stone bed, there were only the simplest stone tables and stools.

But the moment spiritual energy began to fluctuate from his body, these stone beds, stools, and other items disappeared amidst a distortion of light and shadow.

This is an extremely advanced illusion array!

The previously unremarkable quiet room suddenly expanded to more than double its size.

The entire suddenly enlarged quiet room was empty, with only a circular altar-like array disk protruding several feet high in the center.

This array disk had countless fine, wriggling runes like earthworms. They looked very mysterious, but any cultivator at the Qi Refining stage or above should be familiar with it. This is a low-level spirit gathering array used during cultivation to ensure that the spiritual energy from spirit sand does not dissipate.

Not just in the Lesser Jade Continent, but throughout the entire Cultivation World, cultivating with spirit sand is mainstream.

The reason is very simple: spirit sand is equivalent to the preliminary purification and crystallization product of spiritual energy. Cultivating with spirit sand is more efficient than absorbing spiritual energy directly from the environment.

As for why spirit stones, which have higher purity, are not mainstream, it's because the vast majority of cultivators in the entire Cultivation World are in the Qi Refining stage and early Foundation Establishment stage.

For low-level cultivators, spirit sand offers better cost-effectiveness.

Spirit sand containing the same amount of spiritual energy is much cheaper than spirit stones containing the same amount of spiritual energy.

Therefore, it is only natural that spirit sand has become the universal currency of the entire Cultivation World, serving as a standard for measuring value through barter.

Since the Three Sages established their rule and all the immortal sects on various continents came under their command, strict standards have been set for the amount of spiritual energy within spirit sand.

The impure Vital Energy in a single grain of spirit sand must not exceed thirty percent, and the amount of spiritual energy it contains is precisely what a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining needs for one day of cultivation.

This might sound like a considerable amount of spiritual energy.

However, as cultivation progresses, the cultivator's need for spiritual energy increases exponentially.

Simply put, a cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining needs one grain of spirit sand per day. When they reach the second level, they will need two grains per day, and at the third level, they will need four grains per day.

And so on. By the time they reach the sixth level of Qi Refining, they will already require thirty-two grains of spirit sand daily.

But in reality, for someone at the sixth level of Qi Refining, thirty-two grains of spirit sand is far from enough for their daily cultivation needs.

This is because even the most ordinary cultivator, during the process of cultivation, will accumulate some resources and utilize auxiliary methods such as spirit medicine, magic tools, and magic arrays, all of which greatly enhance their ability to absorb spiritual energy.

According to the common understanding in the Cultivation World, if a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining cannot refine and absorb less than two hundred grains of spirit sand daily, then it is impossible for them to achieve the Golden Core stage in this lifetime.

However, the reality is that almost more than half of the cultivators can meet the standard of absorbing two hundred grains of spirit sand daily by the sixth level of Qi Refining. Yet, even if they can complete various trials and collection tasks set by their Sect, the amount of spirit sand the Sect can provide is only a fraction of what they actually need.

The vast majority of these cultivators are starving, so to speak.

This is precisely why many Foundation Establishment stage cultivators are reluctant to use spirit stones for cultivation.

A single spirit stone contains an amount of spiritual energy equivalent to one hundred grains of spirit sand, but it contains only one-third of the impure Vital Energy compared to one hundred grains of spirit sand.

The less impure Vital Energy absorbed into the body, the purer one's True Essence becomes, and the less cost will be incurred in the future.

However, a single spirit stone costs one hundred and twenty grains of spirit sand.

In such a situation of scarcity, this extra amount of twenty grains of spirit sand is enough to make people abandon spirit stones and choose spirit sand for cultivation.

After all, all cultivators who are struggling consider cultivation speed. As long as their realm can advance, the long-term negative effects of accumulated impure Vital Energy can be ignored for the time being.

Wang Li is currently a cultivator at the fifth level of Qi Refining.

If judged by the amount of spirit sand consumed, his future achievements would indicate that his current daily capacity to refine and absorb spirit sand is around one hundred grains, which is considered quite good. If he can consistently obtain enough spirit sand without interruption in his cultivation progress, then he still has hope of achieving the Golden Core stage.

Having the opportunity to achieve the Golden Core stage is already remarkable for a Sect like the Profound Heaven Sect.

But when he sat down in the center of this spirit gathering array, he took out a full five hundred grains of spirit sand from his fish-shaped jade talisman and scattered them on the array disk.

With a soft hum, faint spiritual light ignited on the array disk, and this spirit gathering array was directly activated by him.

He wasn't in a hurry either. He took out the jade box containing the Purity Returning Spirit Pill from his fish-shaped jade talisman, then directly took out the Purity Returning Spirit Pill sealed within the jade box and swallowed it.

If Meng Xiqiong could see this scene at this moment, he would undoubtedly be shocked speechless again.

But the fact is, this Purity Returning Spirit Pill was intended for Wang Li in the initial plan of Lü Shenliang and Wang Li, not for Lü Shenliang.