Two Years

Time quietly slipped away amidst cultivation and study. Two months later, Wang Hong broke through to the second level of Qi Refining, thanks to the combined effects of elixirs and Spirit Grains.

During these two months, what Wang Hong didn't expect was that his Spirit Wine had gained quite a reputation. It started with his neighbors trying the Spirit Wine he gave them; they felt it was decent.

When they learned the price was only ten Spirit Stones, "decent" was no longer an adequate description – it was fantastic. News quickly spread throughout the neighborhood, drawing many people to queue up and purchase it.

The primary effect of Spirit Wine was to rapidly replenish mana. Especially during combat, spiritual energy was consumed extremely quickly. Possessing an item that could quickly replenish mana was akin to having an extra life. A single bottle could at least fully replenish the mana of a cultivator in the mid-Qi Refining stage.

Spirit Wines with similar effects were sold by the liang, and one liang cost about ten Spirit Stones.

When Wang Hong realized the situation was getting out of hand, he raised the price to twenty Spirit Stones per bottle. He then secretly went to the mortal market and bought tens of thousands of pounds of strong liquor, which he infused with ginseng and ganoderma.

Wang Hong didn't know why the medicinal wine he brewed had such excellent effects. Perhaps it was due to the special environment of the Mysterious Space, with its dense spiritual energy; perhaps it was because of the long storage time; or perhaps it was both.

Even after raising the price to twenty, people's enthusiasm for buying didn't wane. In the end, he had no choice but to limit purchases, allowing each person to buy only one bottle per day.

He also spread the word that the stock of this Spirit Wine was limited and that the price would increase in a year. This caused even more people to line up to buy, and consequently, many of his other items in the shop also sold well.

After dealing with these matters, Wang Hong once again immersed himself in cultivation and study.

Two years later…

Wang Hong squatted in front of the tall, thin man's book stall, flipping through his piles of books. He found no more books that interested him. In the past two years, Wang Hong had bought and read every book related to cultivation from this stall.

He casually picked up a book of cultivation gossip and news, flipping through it haphazardly, and said, "Hey, Skinny Stick, why do you always peddle the same few books? Don't you get anything new?"

The tall, thin man grinned slyly and said, "There is actually one. This is a family heirloom, a treasure of my old man."

With that, he furtively pulled a book from under the stall and handed it to Wang Hong. The entire book was bound in a very ancient style and was slightly yellowed. The edges of the pages were tattered. Wang Hong opened the cover, and several clear, large characters met his eyes: "Newly Compiled Spring Palace Illustrations." Wang Hong flipped through a few pages, his face immediately flushing red. He glanced around, saw that no one was paying attention, and quickly handed it back to him. This earned him a burst of laughter from the tall, thin man.

Having spent a lot of time with the tall, thin man, Wang Hong knew his nickname was Skinny Stick. As for his real name, no one ever called him that, and Wang Hong didn't know it either. He was a disciple of a small cultivation family and had already reached the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Small families had limited resources, and each person could only receive one Qi Gathering Pill and two Spirit Stones per month. Even this treatment was envied by many rogue cultivators.

"Don't you always want to learn alchemy? Tonight, at the Wan Family Preaching Hall, a Foundation Establishment senior will personally explain the Way of Alchemy. It only costs ten Spirit Stones. Are you going?" Skinny Stick asked after hiding the Spring Palace Illustrations.

Qingxu Immortal City had countless cultivation families, large and small. The larger families had their own Preaching Halls, specifically for teaching their disciples.

At some point, they began allowing rogue cultivators to eavesdrop, charging Spirit Stones for it. Then, it gradually developed into a very profitable business. Rogue cultivators were as numerous as the hairs on a cow in the city, and with no one to guide them, they had to rely on their own exploration, which was naturally extremely difficult. As long as there was an opportunity to listen to the teachings of a senior, they were naturally willing to spend Spirit Stones.

"Of course, I'm going! Are you going? Let's go together?" Wang Hong invited. In the past year, Wang Hong had not missed a single event related to alchemy, talisman crafting, or spell cultivation.

"Of course I'm... not going! Our family already has an alchemist. Without family support, I can't afford to splurge like you, a little rich man who spends money like water."

Wang Hong immediately put on a sorrowful expression. "You know as well as I do that after deducting the cost of goods, I'm lucky if I make a two Spirit Stone profit on selling a spiritual herb. Look at my little, half-dead shop; how many spiritual herbs does it sell in a day? You at least get a Qi Gathering Pill every month, and I haven't even seen what a Qi Gathering Pill looks like yet."

While crying poverty, Wang Hong secretly rejoiced, "I'm a rich man at the Qi Refining stage, but I just won't tell you. I just like to be rich in secret." He truly dared not show off his wealth. Although the city was safe, he wouldn't be staying in the city forever.

In the past two years, the Spirit Wine had sold exceptionally well, bringing Wang Hong a direct income of forty to fifty thousand Spirit Stones from the Spirit Wine alone. Unfortunately, the original Spirit Wine had all been sold. The newly brewed Spirit Wine might still be lacking in age, so he planned to let it sit for another year or two until it reached the proper age before selling it.

In addition, he earned tens of thousands of Spirit Stones from selling spiritual herbs. The mutated ginseng had completed its mutation and had truly become Crimson Blood Ginseng. Wang Hong had allocated a separate plot of land to cultivate these Crimson Blood Ginsengs.

Of the remaining unmutated ginseng, Wang Hong only kept a few with higher ages; he dug up and sold the rest. Wang Hong guessed that the Purple Ganoderma, White Jade Ganoderma, and Solomon's Seal, as well as other spiritual herbs, might also mutate in the future.

In total, over the past two years, he had earned over a hundred thousand Spirit Stones, making him an absolute tycoon among Qi Refining cultivators. Wang Hong remained low-key, quietly accumulating wealth.

While earning Spirit Stones furiously, his cultivation had not fallen behind. He had already reached the peak of the third level of Qi Refining and had also practiced some very basic spells, such as the Qi Gazing Technique, Wind Riding Technique, and Object Manipulation Technique.

Most of the Spirit Stones Wang Hong earned were consumed by the Mysterious Space. The land area of the Mysterious Space had now expanded to eight fen.

Wang Hong used four fen of this land to grow the spiritual herbs needed for the Qi Gathering Pill. He sold some of them and kept materials for two hundred more batches, intending to learn alchemy. Naturally, he needed a large amount of materials for practice.

Besides the Mysterious Space, cultivating his forty-five subordinate soldiers also cost him a considerable amount of Spirit Stones. After all, their aptitude was too poor, or they even had no aptitude, so the resources consumed naturally grew exponentially.

Since he announced the reward system, everyone had also proposed many suggestions.

The most mature plan currently was to convert Internal Energy into spiritual energy using cultivation techniques.

Several people were already practicing this method, first cultivating Internal Energy through an Internal Cultivation Method, and then converting it into spiritual energy to cultivate spiritual energy using cultivation techniques.

However, the efficiency of this method was extremely slow. The soldiers currently practicing this method were all still only at the first level of Qi Refining.

After all, paths are forged by those who walk them. Perhaps they could find a better method in the future.

Perhaps Wang Hong could recruit a batch of rogue cultivators with spiritual roots, which would be easier to cultivate, but loyalty would be incomparable. These soldiers were comrades who had faced life and death together on the battlefield. It would take an unknown amount of time for externally recruited individuals to formally integrate.

Moreover, since they trusted him and entrusted their lives to him on the battlefield, how could Wang Hong break his promise and abandon them so easily?

Even if they couldn't cultivate and there was no way forward, Wang Hong was determined to ensure they lived the rest of their lives without worry about food and clothing.

The Wan Family was located on a street not far from the market. The family had several Foundation Establishment cultivators, three alchemists, and a pill shop. They were considered a mid-to-upper-tier power in Qingxu City.

Wang Hong paid the gatekeeper cultivator ten Spirit Stones and stepped into the Preaching Hall. Wang Hong had been here several times before.

Twenty to thirty people were already seated around the hall. Wang Hong casually found a cushion and sat down.

There were still more than ten seats empty in the center; no one dared to sit there. Those seats were reserved for the Wan Family disciples.

A moment later, a group of youths entered, all dressed in fine clothes. The one leading them wore a white robe, was tall and slender, with fair skin, and was quite handsome. However, he had a habit of looking at the sky and looking down on people. This person was Wan Da, the legitimate son of the Wan Family.

Afterward, a few more rogue cultivators arrived one after another, and then a bell chimed, instantly silencing the somewhat noisy hall.

A very elegant middle-aged man slowly walked out from the back hall. Everyone bowed in unison.

The elegant man nodded slightly, returning the courtesy, then flicked his sleeve and sat down in the main seat.