Qi Replenishing Pill

"Was it really not good?" Lu Ming asked in puzzlement.

Dugu Mingri shook his head. "It was very good, but it couldn't be called peerless."

He continued:

"I began cultivating at twelve. It took me nearly three years to reach the peak of the ninth layer of the Nei Qi Realm. But after that, I spent a full six months without successfully breaking through to the Zhen Qi Realm."

At this point, he sighed.

Hearing this, Lu Ming secretly compared himself to Dugu Mingri. From the beginning until now, he had cultivated for less than two months, yet he was already at the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm.

Therefore, compared to him, Dugu Mingri's talent truly could not be considered anything special.

But that depended on whom he was compared with. According to Old Man Zhao, setting aside the credit of the Heavenly Saber Art for making breakthroughs easier, if Lu Ming could maintain this cultivation speed, then even peerless geniuses were rarely seen in his league.

The only pity was that he had started late.

In this world, the most suitable age to begin cultivating inner qi was generally twelve.

That was because one's meridians had only fully matured by then, allowing inner qi to circulate through them.

And he was nearly two years late.

Some time ago, he had turned fourteen.

"As for why you asked me why I didn't join a sect, it's because I wanted to wait until I became a Zhen Qi Realm cultivator and directly become an inner disciple of one of those sects."

"I just didn't expect to be stuck there for half a year. That's why I entered the mountains this time—to see whether I could find a breakthrough opportunity through life-and-death combat."

"Did you find it?"

Lu Ming did not know how to comfort him.

The corner of Dugu Mingri's mouth lifted. "I can feel my realm loosening. I believe it won't be long before I can refine true qi and step into the Zhen Qi Realm."

"Then congratulations."

Lu Ming felt that Dugu Mingri was a decent person and was genuinely happy for him.

"You're not bad either. You're even stronger than I am. You reached the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm at only fourteen. At this rate, you should reach my current realm before you turn fifteen."

Dugu Mingri assumed that Lu Ming had also begun cultivating at twelve, which was why he said this.

Lu Ming did not explain. To avoid shocking people too much, it was better to keep a low profile.

Thus, the two of them chatted as they made their way back. Through their conversation, Lu Ming learned many more hidden matters.

For example, the Young Master of the Yang Family whom he had encountered at the blacksmith's shop earlier had already become a Zhen Qi Realm expert before turning fifteen.

He was hailed as the most talented person in Shuofeng City in nearly twenty years.

He also learned which famous young geniuses and experts had emerged in Shuofeng City, and even throughout the entire Zhao Kingdom, in recent years.

Every one of them possessed astonishing talent.

In short, their conversation had greatly broadened Lu Ming's horizons.

At the same time, it let him know that the geniuses of this world were as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river. They were not scarce at all. The real question was who could rise above the rest and walk all the way to the end.

And he was brimming with fighting spirit.

Soon, the two of them left the mountains and began competing in lightness skills.

Since Lu Ming was carrying more things, Dugu Mingri put them into his Storage Ring for the sake of fairness. This made Lu Ming envious for quite some time.

With competition between them, their traveling speed naturally became extremely fast.

Lu Ming was now at the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm, and his Soaring Cloud Skill had also broken through. His farthest leap could cover twenty meters.

Dugu Mingri was not weak either. The lightness skill he cultivated had a name similar to Lu Ming's. It was called the Soaring Cloud Skill, and it was a Human-tier Mid-grade technique.

It was not that the Dugu Family lacked more advanced lightness skills. It was simply that Human-grade, high stage techniques and above could only be fully displayed by Zhen Qi Realm cultivators.

Of course, those with extraordinary talent were another matter.

"You win. I didn't expect that not only was your saber technique formidable, but you had also cultivated your lightness skill to such proficiency."

Beside the official road on their return stood a huge desert poplar. This was the finish line they had agreed upon for their competition.

In the end, Lu Ming arrived first, leading by a dozen meters or so.

"Your Soaring Cloud Skill is obviously good at climbing high just from its name. If we were competing over who could fly higher, I definitely wouldn't beat you."

Lu Ming spoke modestly. In truth, there was one thing he had not mentioned: Heavenly Saber inner qi provided a tremendous boost to speed, and he had not used his full strength.

"A loss is a loss. When fighting someone to the death, there aren't so many excuses."

Dugu Mingri was extremely straightforward, openly acknowledging his shortcomings.

That was also why Lu Ming felt Dugu Mingri was worth befriending.

After resting briefly, the two continued on their way. When the sun slanted westward, they successfully reached Shuofeng City.

"This is for you."

After entering the city, Dugu Mingri returned Lu Ming's cloth bag to him, then tossed him a porcelain bottle as well.

"What's this?"

Lu Ming caught it in confusion.

"Qi Replenishing Pills. They can quickly restore inner qi. They're extremely useful when facing a tough battle or fighting in a group."

"Isn't this too valuable?"

Lu Ming knew about these pills. Buying them at an apothecary cost eight hundred taels of silver per pill, and there seemed to be more than ten pills in this bottle.

"Keep them. I'm about to enter the Zhen Qi Realm, so they're useless to me."

Dugu Mingri waved his hand, then said, "It's already late today, and we both look rather bedraggled. Let's meet again next time."

They had already exchanged addresses.

"Then I hope that by the time we meet again, you'll have become a Zhen Qi Realm Martial Artist."

Lu Ming had no choice but to accept the Qi Replenishing Pills.

"Haha, I'll borrow your auspicious words."

The two soon parted ways. Lu Ming did not hurry home. Instead, he planned to sell the spoils he had obtained from this trip into the mountains first.

There were many pedestrians on the street, but Lu Ming did not feel crowded at all. When people saw that his clothes were almost dyed red with blood, they instinctively moved aside and opened a path.

"My goodness, this person isn't very old, yet he's covered in such a murderous aura. Judging by his bloodstained clothes, he must have killed quite a few monsters, right?"

"Nonsense. Can't you see the cloth bag on his shoulder? It's packed full. He definitely killed plenty of monsters."

"He's a ruthless one. He's even more impressive than those veteran Monster Hunters. They couldn't carry out so much loot in one trip."

The surrounding people discussed him animatedly, but Lu Ming ignored them completely. He hurried along and soon arrived at a shop.

"This is the tiger bone of a late-stage first-level monster. It can be used as medicine and is worth one thousand one hundred taels."

"These are the teeth of a mid-stage first-level Wind Chasing Wolf. They can be used for refining weapons. This quantity is worth six hundred taels."

"This is the hide armor of a Red Rock Lizard. It can be used to refine protective inner armor. Unfortunately, its level is a little low, so it isn't tough enough. It's only worth three hundred taels."

The shopkeeper sorted through the items in the cloth bag one by one. The more he examined, the more shocked he became.

He had not expected that this young man, whose cultivation was only at the sixth layer of the Nei Qi Realm, could hunt so many monsters in a single trip.

There were even quite a few materials from late-stage first-level monsters. Those were equivalent to human Martial Artists at the seventh to ninth layers of the Nei Qi Realm.

He had no idea how the other party had killed them.

"Could he be a genius capable of defeating opponents above his level?"

After finishing the inspection, the shopkeeper muttered to himself. But he quickly tossed those thoughts aside and focused on calculating the price. A moment later, he said:

"The items our shop can purchase are worth a total of six thousand seven hundred taels. Do you think this price is suitable?"

Hearing this, Lu Ming secretly swallowed. He knew that Martial Artists made money quickly, but he had not expected them to make this much.

This was only the profit from one trip. If he made a few more trips, wouldn't he never have to worry about money again?

But he quickly came to his senses. Perhaps only he could do this.

After all, ordinary people did not possess his profound cultivation arts and martial skills. And even if they did, they would not have his talent to rapidly cultivate those arts and skills to a profound level.

Thus, they could transform them into their own strength.

That could be said to be the reason he was able to defeat opponents above his level.

Without thinking any further, he nodded. "That's fine."

"Rest assured, this is absolutely the fairest price I can offer."

Seeing Lu Ming agree, the shopkeeper was also delighted. He truly had not cheated him, but he could still make a considerable profit.

With six thousand seven hundred taels of silver notes in hand, Lu Ming went to other shops to sell the remaining materials, along with two steel sabers whose personal imprints he had erased. He obtained another two thousand one hundred taels.

Of course, most of that amount came from the two steel sabers.

Lu Ming only accepted one thousand taels. He used the other one thousand one hundred taels to purchase a slender saber suited to him.

After his fierce slaughter of the monsters, the steel saber worth fifty-five taels had long since become riddled with notches.

Therefore, he had no choice but to replace it.

After dealing with the spoils from this trip, he carried the reserved venison leg and headed back.