Azure-Flower Foundation-Nourishing Spirit Pill

Back home, Jiang Yuan was watching TV as usual.

The difference was that sounds of Lin Wanqiu chopping vegetables and humming drifted from the kitchen. Clearly, she was in a good mood now that she did not have to work overtime.

"Hi, Brother!"

Jiang Yuan flashed him a sweet glance, then turned back to the TV.

A five-hundred-yuan red envelope was only worth that one sentence.

Jiang Ding curled his lip, set down his backpack, and went to the kitchen to help.

"Ding Ding, you're back."

Humming a tune, Lin Wanqiu said, "The Azure-Flower Foundation-Nourishing Spirit Pill Yuanwang mailed over has arrived. I left it in your room. Remember to take a look later."

"Got it, Mom."

Jiang Ding was delighted. This was one of the very few pills capable of improving one's aptitude. If not for the connections of Spirit Veil University's Cultivation Department, even ordinary cultivators would find it difficult to obtain.

He washed a potato clean, placed it on the cutting board, and wiped the sword blade with a cloth.

Jiang Ding gripped the sword hilt as inner force coursed through several meridians throughout his body that had been initially opened.

Clang!

Exhibiting Sword Style!

A bright streak of sword light flashed. The sword returned to its sheath as though it had never moved, while the potato remained oval and completely unharmed.

Jiang Ding lightly touched the potato with his index finger. Matchstick-sized potato shreds spread apart, uniform in size and thickness—except for the two middle layers, whose shreds were as thick as chopsticks and uneven in size.

"My control over inner force still isn't up to standard."

Jiang Ding frowned, placed another washed potato on the cutting board, and gripped the sword hilt.

Lin Wanqiu clicked her tongue inwardly.

She had reached Inner Qi Perfection and had worked as an Optical Formation Engraver operator at Rongcheng Steel Plant—a highly precise job—for over a decade, yet even she could not achieve such a level.

Was the gap between Eaglet Inner Qi and ordinary inner qi really that vast?

One streak of sword light after another flashed. Potatoes became shreds one after another, and the kitchen seemed to turn into a battlefield of flashing blades and dancing sword shadows.

"That's enough, that's enough!"

Seeing Jiang Ding had already sliced four potatoes yet still looked eager for more, Lin Wanqiu hurriedly said, "If you keep cutting, we won't be able to finish it all."

Jiang Ding could only place chopped scallions on the cutting board, draw his sword, and slice them into countless segments. Then came celery, beef, and more.

Once they were done, he washed the blade with dish soap and carefully dried it with a cloth.

Jiang Ding sheathed his sword, sat on the sofa, and closed his eyes to rest. Inner force circulated as he nourished the ten primary meridians of the fourth orthodox meridian, the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian.

After dinner, the family finally went downstairs for a walk to aid digestion. Jiang Yuan took the chance to play with her little friends, while Lin Wanqiu chatted with the neighbors.

Jiang Ding practiced his sword gently nearby, promoting digestion.

"Ding Ding, why don't you go play basketball with them?"

Lin Wanqiu pointed at the basketball court in the distance, somewhat worried about her son's socializing skills.

Come to think of it, she had never seen her son playing with any friends.

"No."

Jiang Ding shook his head and continued practicing his sword.

Half an hour later, Seeing Lin Wanqiu deep in conversation with the neighbor ladies and Jiang Yuan happily playing with her friends, Jiang Ding called out a greeting, then went home alone and entered his room.

The first thing that met his eyes was a palm-sized, pure-black box bearing Spirit Veil University's "Veil" school emblem.

Slightly excited, Jiang Ding tore open the seal. Inside was an emerald green pill bottle and a white instruction sheet.

[Azure-Flower Foundation-Nourishing Spirit Pill]

[Produced by the Alchemy Workshop affiliated with Spirit Veil University's Cultivation Department. Suitable for martial artists below the Innate Realm. Has the effect of improving a martial artist's aptitude. Pregnant women and children under seven are prohibited from using it. Drug Administration approval certificate number...]

After carefully checking that there were no signs it had been opened before, Jiang Ding sat cross-legged on the bed and swallowed the spirit pill in one gulp.

An icy-cool sensation slid smoothly from his throat into his stomach. Then, that warm-cool feeling abruptly spread outward, extending from his stomach into his flesh, blood, tendons, and bones—especially the meridians in various places.

It was as though he were soaking in a hot spring. All over his body felt incomparably comfortable, as if he had returned to the moment of his birth, utterly clear and unobstructed.

Jiang Ding closed his eyes and silently sensed every minute change within his body.

A full hour later, the pill's effects had finished. His stomach suddenly twisted in pain, and he hurriedly dashed for the bathroom.

After a long while, Jiang Ding returned to the bed, sat cross-legged, and circulated his inner force to nourish the fourth orthodox meridian.

A moment later, delight appeared on his face.

"Double... My cultivation speed has doubled!"

Jiang Ding was greatly shaken. "The Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, which originally required two days to nourish completely, can now be nourished and tempered in just one day!"

"My aptitude now wouldn't be considered poor even among the common people of the immortal sects. At the very least, I count as a minor genius. And with the lesser mastery level Eagle's Takeoff Sword Art, plus an endless daily supply of Hundred Essence Qi Transforming Pills..."

"It should have reached the cultivation speed of a genius."

At that thought, Jiang Ding couldn't help but feel profound gratitude toward his uncle and Lin Yuanwang.

Such precious pills probably could not be easily exchanged even in Spirit Veil University's Cultivation Department. His cousin Lin Yuanwang must have spent considerable time and effort on them; it was not as simple or casual as his uncle had made it sound.

Two days later, In the small courtyard.

Beneath the morning sunlight, Jiang Ding's Sword lay across his knees. His eyes were slightly closed as his inner force circulated through and nurtured the ten main meridians of the sixth regular meridian, the Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Meridian. More than half had already been nurtured.

In just two short days!

The ten main meridians of the fourth regular meridian, the Hand Yangming Large Intestine Meridian, and the fifth regular meridian, the Hand Shaoyang Triple Burner Meridian, had already been fully nurtured!

Knock, knock, knock!

"Come in!"

Jiang Ding opened his eyes and teased, "Steward Huang, I thought you wouldn't be coming back."

Huang Deyou had always been timid and afraid of trouble. After offending the Wild Wolf Gang, ordinary people would not dare continue working here. That was why Jiang Ding had deliberately given them time off and awarded them twenty taels of silver—a gesture that carried a hint of severance pay.

"What are you saying, Boss?"

Huang Deyou said solemnly, "I, Old Huang, am one of this shop's men in life and one of this shop's ghosts in death. My heart has never changed!"

In truth, more than once, he had considered not coming back.

But when he looked at the twenty taels of silver in his arms, still warm from his touch, he simply could not bear it. Once the time came, his legs carried him to the shop on their own, impossible to stop.

It had only been a little over Half a Month!

How much was an ordinary person's life worth, anyway?

If he missed this opportunity, he would regret it every time he recalled it for the rest of his life.

It was not just him. Of the four shop hands, every single one had stayed.

Jiang Ding smiled. This was a good thing; it meant that the so-called great figure behind Long Shi had given up and would not continue pestering them.

"Boss, Shopkeeper Long San of the Four Seas Merchant Guild has come to visit."

Huang Deyou approached Jiang Ding and lowered his voice. "Han Lin said that Shopkeeper Long came by two days ago as well. When he saw you weren't here, he left. Then he came again the next day. This is his third day."

Suspicion and surprise filled his eyes.

Just what kind of background did his boss have, to make Long San humble himself like this?

The Four Seas Merchant Guild was no small household. Though it behaved rather meekly toward its honored guests, it was still a major trading house renowned throughout the entire Yue Kingdom.

Members of the Long Clan possessed an innate pride; even before people from Marquis Zhen Dong's Estate, they remained neither servile nor overbearing.

Just as Huang Deyou thought he would once again need to announce that Long San was permitted to enter, he saw Jiang Ding already rise, straighten his clothes slightly, and fasten his sword at his waist.

"Come with me to welcome Shopkeeper Long."