Carefree Wander

Ever since he had transmigrated and inherited everything in this body, his proficiency had only increased on the premise of success.

So it had never occurred to him that failure could also raise proficiency.

But thinking about it carefully, why couldn't failure raise proficiency?

Success had never come directly. It was accumulated through failure after failure.

Though the experience gained from failure was scant, weren't those tiny scraps of experience also part of success?

It was like learning to drive. A beginner truly couldn't take a drainage ditch corner.

But one successful hill start, one successful parallel park, one successful straight-line acceleration—weren't those successes, one after another?

It was precisely those tiny successes that eventually piled up into an old hand at cutting into traffic in the big city, the Autumn Mountain Bend Car God.

And there was another point!

It wasn't as if he had never achieved a complete success!

He had!

The system's Achievement Points had directly brought him to Entry Level, which actually meant he had already gained the experience of one success.

Why could only sects and Cultivation Families afford to support orthodox pill refiners, while independent pill refiners were so few and far between?

The reason was actually simple: the initial investment was simply too great.

So great that an Alchemy Apprentice could fail continuously without even seeing the hope of a single success. Faced with such enormous early investment, independent cultivators could only gaze at it and sigh.

But sects and families were different. They had sufficient wealth to support those constant early failures.

And once an Alchemy Apprentice succeeded even once, he would possess the experience of success. Reproducing that success afterward would naturally follow.

That was why successful people remained successful forever.

And Luo Chen, in truth, could be considered to have a force behind him nurturing him, allowing him to skip all the early investment of failure and directly reach Entry Level!

And this system was far more awesome than any sect or family.

Some people truly lacked talent, but as long as Luo Chen reached Entry Level, it meant he possessed a certain degree of talent.

Of course, that Entry Level depended on the Achievement Points provided whenever each skill's proficiency broke through a rank.

So.

"All my success comes from my own hard work!"

After discovering that his proficiency was rising, Luo Chen's mood, which had already mostly settled, became even better.

He was practically pumped full of chicken blood, howling with excitement!

But having understood yesterday that haste made waste, he also knew that his current state of excitement was not particularly suited to directly refining pills.

So today, he planned to do something else to change things up.

What would he do?

Practice martial arts!

More accurately, he should call it practicing lightness skill.

He knew his own situation best. His cultivation realm was not high, his mana was not abundant, and the Low-Grade Flying Sword in his hand was merely for show. He had not even learned Attraction Art, so he could only hold the flying sword in his hand and hack at things with it.

When the original owner had entered the mountains back then, he had actually only gone around the outermost edge, helping others carry demonic beast meat back to the city.

Under such circumstances, what would give him the greatest chance of staying alive?

The answer was naturally being able to run!

Logically speaking, the most suitable means of escape for Qi Refining Stage cultivators was Swift Travel Talismans, or briefly flying away by controlling a magical artifact. At worst, they needed a spell like Wind Riding Art.

But unfortunately, Swift Travel Talismans were damn expensive, and ordinary people usually could not even buy them.

Magical artifacts required Attraction Art for support, and their effects were even inferior to Wind Riding Art.

And common goods like Wind Riding Art were something Luo Chen had not been able to afford before.

A single manual cost dozens of Low-Grade Spirit Stones.

So he could only set his sights on the lightness skills of mundane martial arts.

Though it was merely a Mortal-grade Martial Art, that did not mean it was useless. At the very least, it did not rely on spiritual energy.

Luo Chen did not have much spiritual energy to begin with. The spiritual energy of low-rank independent cultivators was not much better, and many battles were fought by standing rooted in place and firing away.

Thus, mundane lightness skills that consumed no spiritual energy still had their place!

Sitting at the great gate, he spread open a lightness skill manual he had bought from the Marketplace for ten taels of gold.

Carefree Wander

What a badass name!

Its introduction was equally badass: "Ride the righteousness of Heaven and Earth, command the transformations of the six breaths, and wander the infinite!"

Of course, in reality, it was merely the Founder's Great Fantasy.

After reading it seriously and carefully several times, Luo Chen tried to get started—no, to get his feet started!

This was not a combat lightness skill centered on bizarre footwork. Rather, it was a travel-type lightness skill that focused on borrowing force, shedding force, adjusting one's body at high speed, and coordinating rhythmic breathing to achieve fast, long-distance running.

When he first started, Luo Chen was still somewhat unaccustomed to it.

That borrowing force and shedding force sounded rather mysterious. How exactly was he supposed to command the six breaths?

But after running for an entire morning on the plains across the creek, he genuinely gained a few insights.

"When the wind is strong, adjust your body and shift with the wind. Don't travel against it."

"If there are branches or high slopes, borrow their force to leap. When landing, either shed the force and land light as a feather, or use the recoil to accelerate and dash onward."

"Your breathing rhythm cannot be thrown into disorder, and your mindset must remain calm. Though you may not be carefree, you must uphold your heart and do your utmost."

"Heh, not bad. This lightness skill is actually starting to have that flavor."

While eating lunch, Luo Chen glanced at the Proficiency Panel.

In the skills section, an additional entry had appeared: [Carefree Wander Entry Level: 13/100].

"Entry Level already, and the proficiency is rising pretty quickly too!"

"Cultivation crawls like a turtle, while the Martial Dao soars like a roc. So I'm actually a one in ten thousand martial arts prodigy!"

Hugging his large bowl, Luo Chen chuckled foolishly.

Unfortunately, the Martial Dao could not grant immortality. Otherwise, becoming a Martial Saint for fun would not have been impossible.

After practicing Carefree Wander for another half day in the afternoon, Luo Chen grew increasingly adept, and his proficiency shot upward at a rapid pace.

While resting, Luo Chen looked into the matter deeply and ultimately attributed it to his body's current strength.

He ate Spirit Rice and demonic beast meat every day, circulated the Evergreen Art to absorb spiritual energy, and cultivated through breathing. Even if he were a pig, he would have to be a demonic pig by now.

With a stronger physique, wouldn't his control over his body naturally become stronger as well?

It was like those basketball superstars in his original world. Did people think their skills alone made them superstars? No, they first needed bodies brimming with talent.

Even the superstars said to have the least talent possessed bodies stronger than those of ordinary professional basketball players.

His current physical strength was already high enough. Having obtained a manual for training the body, he was not exceeding his limits—he was merely developing the bodily functions he ought to possess.

Toward evening, Luo Chen soaked in the one-meter-deep creek, lowered his head, and dug out a pile of yellow mud.

Then, relying on his memories, he molded a clay figurine.

Phoenix eyes, caterpillar eyebrows, a dignified appearance, and an imposing presence—even girls from an art academy would have to praise how well he had sculpted it.

"Lord Guan, just wait. Tonight, I'll stick on your beard and carve you an Azure Dragon Crescent Blade!"

As he muttered to himself, several beast roars sounded from the forest in the mountains several li beyond the plains.

Immediately afterward, several streaks of Evasive Light shot out of the woods with swish, swish, swish.

Luo Chen vigilantly sprang to his feet, returned to the house, picked up his Magic Sword, and shut the great gate.

On the plains across the creek, those streaks of Evasive Light had already descended into the weeds, gazing toward the depths of the mountains.

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