The middle-aged man wearing black-rimmed glasses put down the water cup in his hand and glanced at the personal information form Lin Li had filled out.
Then he raised his head and smiled at Lin Li, who was currently inwardly ecstatic and fantasizing about becoming an incomparably powerful Cultivator after eating several hundred Miracle Small Tree fruits.
"Mr. Lin, you're the first person I've encountered in all these years who waited this long to register as a Cultivator."
"Huh? I..."
Lin Li, who had been immersed in his fantasies, was jolted awake by the middle-aged man's words. He froze for a moment.
Just as he subconsciously prepared to explain that he hadn't deliberately waited until now to register as a Cultivator, the explanation at the tip of his tongue immediately went back down his throat.
A person had to keep a low profile and lie low. That was the successful experience of countless predecessors. He absolutely couldn't let others know the secret behind his explosive cultivation progress.
Lin Li smiled at the middle-aged man in response and offered no further explanation.
"So this person deliberately waited until now to test his cultivation!"
"In other words, he became a Cultivator several years ago. Then, if he only came to test his cultivation and register as a Cultivator now, wasn't he afraid of being discovered and fined back then?"
"What a strange person."
"To put on such a show, he actually waited until reaching the First-Order High Stage before registering as a Cultivator. What a complete oddball."
The people who had initially been shocked that Lin Li had tested at the First-Order High Stage now looked at him strangely and whispered among themselves.
Although the people around them had lowered their voices and were murmuring under their breath, the testing room was only a little over a hundred square meters. No matter how quietly they spoke, their words still reached Lin Li's ears.
Lin Li wasn't angry at their criticism. On the contrary, he was delighted. The more they guessed in that direction, the more it suited his wishes.
The middle-aged man responsible for testing everyone's cultivation saw that Lin Li kept his mouth shut and merely smiled at him. Like those criticizing Lin Li, he also made the same assumption, deciding that this young man in his early twenties was simply someone who loved showing off.
Afterward, the middle-aged man wrote down Lin Li's cultivation level on his information form and handed it to him.
"Thank you." Lin Li thanked him, then took the form and left the testing room.
At ten thirty in the morning, Lin Li walked out of the Official Institution after registering as a Cultivator. From this day onward, he was also a registered Cultivator.
"Next, it's time to go to that place." Lin Li looked up at the sun, then went to the roadside, hailed a taxi, and headed for his next destination.
Seven or eight minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of a bustling shopping plaza.
"That'll be fifteen yuan."
"Driver, I'll scan to pay."
"Sure."
After paying the fare, Lin Li got out of the taxi and quickly walked toward the shopping plaza ahead.
The shopping plaza had quite a large flow of people. The various shops along the street were basically packed with customers, with only one shop being the exception.
The shop's decor was rather high-end, but because the goods it sold were mainly aimed at Cultivators, not many customers came inside to shop.
Looking in from outside the entrance, there were only one or two customers in the shop, and they were the sort who only looked and never bought anything.
Spirit stones were produced from Spiritual Energy ore veins and contained vast amounts of Spiritual Energy. They were currently the primary cultivation resource for Cultivators.
Old Third Liu's Spirit Stone Shop, located in the busiest section of the shopping plaza, was a shop specializing in the sale of spirit stones. Lin Li had come here precisely to buy some spirit stones and speed up his cultivation.
After eating the red fruits produced by the Miracle Small Tree on the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li had become a Cultivator with First-Order High Stage cultivation in one fell swoop.
Such tremendous progress should have been enough to satisfy him. However, if Lin Li wanted the Miracle Small Tree to continue growing Small Tree fruits, he had to break through to the First-Order Peak as soon as possible and become a Beast Hunter.
Then he would personally go into the wilderness to hunt Exotic Beasts and obtain Exotic Beast Meat that had been freshly harvested within the past hour.
Under normal circumstances, after most Cultivators broke through to the First-Order High Stage, they needed anywhere from one year to several years to break through to the First-Order Peak.
But the Miracle Small Tree fruit Lin Li had eaten had been far too potent. It had propelled him straight to the First-Order High Stage and pushed him to the threshold of breaking through to the First-Order Peak.
Lin Li now felt as if he could break through at any moment. If he cultivated normally, he should be able to break through to the First-Order Peak after spending half a month.
But he couldn't wait that long, so he had come here to buy some spirit stones to assist his cultivation and strive to break through to the First-Order Peak in the shortest time possible.
A salesgirl in her early twenties, with long hair falling over her shoulders, attractive features, and dressed in a black uniform with black silk stockings, saw Lin Li enter the shop and immediately came over to greet him warmly.
"Welcome."
"I want to buy spirit stones."
Lin Li's purpose was extremely clear. After entering the shop, he directly told the pretty salesgirl in front of him why he had come.
"Sir, please follow me." Seeing how strong this customer's intention to buy was, the pretty salesgirl's bright smile grew even more radiant. She smiled and extended a hand, gesturing for Lin Li to follow her to her counter.
The other salesgirls in the shop saw their colleague snatch up such a customer in an instant and secretly cursed themselves for being one step too slow and failing to secure the sale.
"Sir, how many spirit stones would you like to buy?" The pretty salesgirl invited Lin Li to sit in the chair before the counter, then stepped inside it and asked him with a smile.
"How much are the spirit stones in your shop?" Lin Li lowered his head and looked at the crystal-clear spirit stones inside the glass counter as he asked casually.
"Fifty thousand yuan each."
"Fifty thousand yuan each? The price I found online seemed to be forty-nine thousand yuan each. Why are yours a thousand yuan more expensive?"
After hearing Lin Li's words, the pretty salesgirl immediately judged that this young man around her age was probably buying spirit stones for the first time, which was why he was confused. She promptly explained with a smile.
"Sir, we aren't quoting random prices. The state has expressly stipulated that the market price of a single spirit stone is uniformly fifty thousand yuan. It's just like the price of tobacco—you can't set it arbitrarily.
"The spirit stones you saw online that cost forty-nine thousand yuan each were probably smuggled in from abroad.
"Although those spirit stones are somewhat cheaper, buying black-market goods carries risks. There's no guarantee that some of the Spiritual Energy contained in the spirit stones you receive hasn't already been consumed."
Before you continue