Li Xiuchang walked back to Eastern Geng District No. 18. He first opened the cultivation room door and confirmed that the dense smoke had dispersed before entering to begin cultivating.
This time, Li Xiuchang directly put two spirit stones into the Spirit Eye, and the entire cultivation room immediately filled with spiritual energy.
Spiritual energy was everywhere in the Immortal Shade Realm, but in the mortal world it was thin, barely enough to sustain ordinary breathing exercises.
Cultivation sects such as the Immortal Dust Sect were built atop Spirit Veins, where spiritual energy was far denser.
At that moment, the spiritual energy in Li Xiuchang's cultivation room was several times denser than outside, allowing him to achieve twice the result with half the effort.
The only problem was that such a cultivation environment required a constant expenditure of spirit stones to maintain.
When it was time to save, Li Xiuchang saved. But when it was time to spend spirit stones, he was never stingy.
He also wanted to raise his Cultivation Level as quickly as possible—at the very least, enough to fly through the air. Otherwise, traveling was simply too inconvenient.
"Only those in the Late Qi Condensation can fly on swords. But once you reach the Second Layer of Qi Condensation, you can pilot a flying boat. Of course, buying a flying boat is another expense."
Li Xiuchang calculated that the dozen or so spirit stones he had on hand, together with the ten spirit stones the sect distributed each month, might not even be enough to support his daily cultivation, much less allow him to save up for a flying boat.
He still had to find a way to earn spirit stones himself.
Outer sect disciples generally earned spirit stones through the Cultivation Techniques they had mastered. But Li Xiuchang was still waiting for news from Senior Brother Song Yu, so for the time being, he had not gone to the Reception Area to choose a technique inheritance.
Li Xiuchang buried himself in secluded cultivation for two days, barely stepping out of the cultivation room. He solved all his meals with Grain-Aversion Pills.
After two days of bitter cultivation, he had only just managed to absorb all the spiritual energy in the cultivation room.
The two spirit stones placed in the Spirit Eye had released such surging spiritual energy that Li Xiuchang spent two full days absorbing it without sleep or rest.
This was not a good thing. It meant that his speed of absorbing spiritual energy was rather slow, with his inferior Spiritual Aperture dragging him down.
"At this rate of cultivation, even if I cultivate until I die, the most I'll reach in this life is the Foundation Establishment Realm."
"As expected, shutting myself away and burying myself in bitter cultivation doesn't suit me. Even with a good cultivation environment, it's difficult to make up for the gap in Spiritual Aperture aptitude."
Li Xiuchang did not possess the endless lifespans of the protagonists in the "immortality genre," so he could not resign himself to the status quo. He had to do something to speed up his cultivation.
For him, burying himself in bitter cultivation was no different from sitting around waiting for death.
But after thinking for a moment, Li Xiuchang realized that no matter what he wanted to do, it either required spirit stones or "length."
And he was desperately short of both.
He had seventeen spirit stones left, and only one inch of usable "length."
"I was planning to practice multiple techniques anyway. Why not choose a technique inheritance first, practice it a little, and accumulate some length along the way?"
"If Elder Zhao successfully takes me as a disciple later, I'll focus on alchemy. If I'm rejected, then nothing will be delayed."
Li Xiuchang had made up his mind and immediately set off for the Reception Area.
Who could have expected that just after he stepped outside, he would run straight into an unfamiliar man?
"Are you Junior Brother Li Xiuchang? Senior Brother Song Yu asked me to bring you a letter."
Senior Brother Song Yu had sent word... Li Xiuchang immediately accepted the letter and thanked him.
Only after the messenger senior brother had gone far away did Li Xiuchang unfold the letter and read it.
"In ten days, at the summit of Wangping Mountain. Accept Elder Zhao's disciple-selection trial."
Senior Brother Song Yu was indeed reliable. He had successfully secured Li Xiuchang a chance to become a disciple of an elder.
However, this good news did not disrupt Li Xiuchang's plans. He continued on to the Reception Area to choose an inheritance.
The moment Li Xiuchang left Eastern Geng District, Zhang Wanzhi emerged from who knew where. He glanced in the direction Li Xiuchang had gone and shook his head slightly.
Zhang Wanzhi went straight to Eastern Geng District No. 8. Ignoring the obstruction of the Courtyard Protection Array, he forced his way through it without damaging it in the slightest.
He entered the house as easily as if he had walked his own road, and saw "Old Gui" sitting upright in a chair.
"Are you sure this Li Xiuchang is beneficial to our plan?" Zhang Wanzhi asked. "I've observed him for several days and haven't found anything special about him."
Seeing that Old Gui gave no reaction, Zhang Wanzhi did not mind and continued speaking on his own:
"Besides, this kid's Cultivation Level is far too low. How could he possibly get involved in our plan? How can a fledgling help a roc chase the sun?
"Are we supposed to wait for him to grow? With that lousy aptitude of his, if we don't lend him a hand, I'm genuinely afraid he'll die halfway there.
"He secluded himself for two whole days, yet the magic power he gained wasn't even as much as what I can increase by taking a breath through a single pore. At this rate of cultivation, even reaching mere Core Formation will be difficult!
"Old Gui, give me a straight answer. Did you calculate something wrong?"
Zhang Wanzhi talked for a long while, but Old Gui remained unmoved, not even looking Zhang Wanzhi in the eye.
"Old Gui? Old Mute Gui?" Zhang Wanzhi called twice, then asked suspiciously, "Did you seal off your hearing?"
He immediately used Spiritual Sense transmission, intending to send Old Gui everything he had just said word for word.
But only after transmitting did he discover what was going on. He kicked Old Gui to the ground and cursed:
"Damn you! You even used Nascent Soul Egress just to hide from me, making me put on that act for nothing all this time."
Zhang Wanzhi then scratched his head irritably. "The wretched couple isn't here, Old Mo hasn't returned, and there isn't even anyone to discuss things with."
"I choose the Spirit Chef inheritance!"
After arriving at the Reception Area, Li Xiuchang made his choice without hesitation and directly selected the Spirit Chef Arts.
Setting aside the matter of Elder Zhao taking him as a disciple, the Spirit Chef path was indeed a good choice.
The Immortal Dust Sect did not restrict the number of techniques its outer sect disciples could practice, but the prerequisite was that they had to raise at least one technique to the first rank.
Outer sect disciples could also continuously obtain various technique inheritances from the Reception Area, but only first-rank inheritances were available.
For example, this first-rank Spirit Chef inheritance obtained by Li Xiuchang merely taught him how to get started and become a first-rank Spirit Chef.
After becoming confident that he was a qualified first-rank Spirit Chef, he would still have to take the Spirit Chef examination. Only after passing the first-rank Spirit Chef assessment and receiving identity certification could he obtain the subsequent second-rank Spirit Chef inheritance.
At present, only a few of the Immortal Shade Realm's top sects possessed the qualifications to conduct examination and certification for Cultivation Techniques. The Immortal Dust Sect was one of them.
Thus, the Immortal Dust Sect's disciples could take technique examinations within their own sect. However, the examinations were extremely strict, and experts from other sects supervised them, leaving no possibility of favoritism.
The benefit was that once they passed the examination and received identity certification, their technique rank would be recognized wherever they went, as long as they presented their rank certificate.
After swearing an oath and promising not to disclose the inheritance's contents privately, Li Xiuchang successfully obtained the first-rank Spirit Chef inheritance.
The contents of the inheritance were still recorded on paper because Li Xiuchang had yet to cultivate Spiritual Sense and could not read Jade Slips for the time being.
He also received a Storage Bag along with the inheritance.
This was likewise a benefit for new disciples after they cultivated magic power, distributed together with their technique inheritance.
Li Xiuchang now possessed magic power and could use the Storage Bag as well.
But without the assistance of Spiritual Sense, the item he pulled out of the Storage Bag each time might not necessarily be the one he wanted.
Before you continue