In the days that followed, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
Cultivating, crafting talismans, and plundering the Silver Jade Fish's talent.
After resting up, he would spar with his young wife, Ding Yuyao, trying out all kinds of different exercises.
Every time he went out to buy Silver Jade Fish, Shen Xuan would use the Breath Concealment Technique and disguise his appearance.
At the Marketplace, he never tried to haggle for a bargain, and did his best to buy from different fishmongers.
Just like with the Breath Concealing Talisman, after plundering the Silver Jade Fish's Invisibility talent, his skill at crafting Invisibility Talismans also steadily improved.
"What, Fellow Daoist Shen, are you studying Invisibility Talismans again?"
As Shopkeeper Ding exchanged Talisman Paper and Cinnabar for Shen Xuan and handed him the spirit stones, he teased him.
In his view, Shen Xuan had already mastered the Breath Concealing Talisman. There was no need for him to study another talisman of the same grade.
"Having more skills never hurts. Besides, when hunting in the wild, the Breath Concealing Talisman works better when used alongside the Invisibility Talisman."
"Exactly! Fellow Daoist Shen really has thought it through!"
Every month, Shen Xuan sold a hundred and sixty Invisibility Talismans, storing away any extras for the time being.
He went out once every ten days, disguised himself to buy Silver Jade Fish, and secretly sold ordinary Invisibility Talismans on the side.
Half a year later.
In the cultivation room.
The Mysterious Jade Talisman emitted a golden light that enveloped the six or seven Silver Jade Fish on the table.
Before long, the fish all turned belly-up and became a heap of dead flesh, devoid of spiritual energy.
Shen Xuan focused his gaze.
On the Mysterious Jade Talisman, the ancient golden characters shifted once again.
[Talent: Stealth Initiation (2/100)] [Dao Rhyme: 82] [Invisibility Talisman: Minor Mastery (12/800)]
It was much like when he had plundered the Breath Concealment talent before.
A wave of insight surged into Shen Xuan's mind.
He became an unknown silver fish, shifting his form in the vast ocean and merging with the water until he was completely transparent.
The seawater constantly changed color, and he changed along with it, remaining invisible the whole time.
Unless someone looked closely from nearby, they would have no way of noticing it.
When he opened his eyes, Shen Xuan was delighted.
[Spiritual Root: Water 10/100]
Then came a series of sudden premonitions.
Shen Xuan immediately understood: he had sensed an opportunity to break through!
He quickly took out two spirit stones, crushed them, and held one in each hand.
Threads of spiritual energy streamed from his palms in the training room, gathering into a faint, misty haze that seemed like a celestial paradise.
Shen Xuan sat cross-legged, hands clasped in a seal, with his palms and the soles of his feet facing upward.
His eyes were half-closed. His Spiritual Sense communed with the world, while spiritual energy swirled around him.
Whether this breakthrough succeeded would determine the course of his future Dao Path!
If he succeeded, he would enter the Mid Qi Refining Stage and shed his status as a bottom-tier cultivator; if he failed...
If he failed, he would remain in the Early Qi Refining Stage for the rest of his life, forever mired in the lowest rungs of the Cultivation World!
Shen Xuan guarded his mind and used his Spiritual Sense to guide the spiritual energy through every meridian in his body.
The vast spiritual energy summoned by the Divine Treasure Canghai Technique suddenly burst forth. With his dantian as its source, the Five Elements revolved, surging like a boundless ocean.
At last, he reached a critical point.
BOOM!
It was like thunder, yet there was no sound.
The shackles shattered.
Every bone and muscle in Shen Xuan's body seemed to leap with joy, brimming with inexhaustible strength.
Shen Xuan slowly opened his eyes.
At that moment.
The aura around him surged dramatically.
After breaking through to Qi Refining Level 4, his spiritual energy had increased by a full thirty percent!
He could feel the spiritual energy inside him flowing like a vast ocean, circulating through his organs in an endless, ceaseless current.
His body seemed to have undergone a qualitative transformation. His dantian, organs, meridians, bones, muscles, nerves, and everything else had all been strengthened.
As he carefully sensed the changes in himself, Shen Xuan felt so overjoyed he could weep.
"I've cultivated for forty years, and now that I'm past sixty, I've finally entered the Mid Qi Refining Stage!"
Qi Refining Level 4 was the threshold of the Mid Qi Refining Stage.
He was already sixty-one!
After enduring more than forty years of hardship, he had finally glimpsed a sliver of hope!
Shen Xuan spent a little time steadying the spiritual energy inside him.
He stood, left the training room, and headed to the inner residence.
Ding Yuyao was cultivating the Jade Maiden True Scripture. Wearing only tight-fitting clothes, she moved through all sorts of gentle poses, her graceful figure inviting the imagination to run wild.
At seventeen, nourished by abundant Spirit Rice and Yao Beast Meat, she seemed to have blossomed all over again. Her snow-white skin had a rosy glow, and her curvaceous figure moved with a light, captivating grace.
Shen Xuan walked straight over.
"Husband, I haven't finished practicing yet!"
"I'll teach you!"
The next morning.
The excitement in Shen Xuan's heart slowly subsided.
He glanced at his young wife, still lost in sleep.
Ding Yuyao was sleeping soundly, a faint smile on her lips.
Inside the Mysterious Jade Talisman:
[Lifespan: 61/112] [Technique: Divine Treasure Canghai Technique Proficient (2/400)] [Realm: Qi Refining Level 4: 1/100]
The Divine Treasure Canghai Technique had advanced to the Mastery Stage.
As his realm improved, his Lifespan had also increased by four years.
Generally speaking, a cultivator's Lifespan was closely tied to their cultivation realm.
An ordinary cultivator could live for one hundred and twenty years in the Qi Refining Realm, two hundred and forty years in the Foundation Establishment Realm, and five hundred years in the Core Formation Realm.
Of course, Lifespan varied according to the techniques each cultivator practiced, so there was no single rule.
Overall, there could be some variation, but it would not be too great.
Some Qi Refining cultivators lived as long as a hundred and fifty years.
They were just exceedingly rare.
"Looks like I'm a long-lived man after all!" Shen Xuan thought to himself.
Judging by the Lifespan displayed on the Mysterious Jade Talisman, if he successfully cultivated to Qi Refining Perfection, he would surely live past a hundred and thirty.
After breaking through to Qi Refining Level 4, his Talisman Crafting skills could advance another step, making him a Mid-grade Talisman Master in due course.
His ability to earn spirit stones would increase substantially.
He would be even more capable than a Late Qi Refining Stage Monster Hunter!
"Stay steady. Don't get carried away!" Shen Xuan cautioned himself.
He got out of bed as quietly as he could.
He went to the training room.
There, he continued cultivating and stabilizing his aura.
He stayed cooped up at home for more than ten days, consolidating his Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivation.
[Talent: Breath Concealment Mastery (28/400)]
By then, after more than half a year of cultivation, his Breath Concealment Technique had reached the Mastery Stage.
Shen Xuan used the Breath Concealment Technique to disguise his aura as that of a Qi Refining Level 3 cultivator.
Cultivators usually judged one another's realms by their Spiritual Sense and auras.
With Shen Xuan's Mastery Stage Breath Concealment Technique, ordinary Qi Refining cultivators could not see through his disguise.
As for Foundation Establishment cultivators—
There were only a handful of Foundation Establishment Grand Cultivators in the entire Qinglong Bay Market, fewer than five.
Moreover, they all lived in the core area of Qinglong Bay, where the spiritual energy was dense, and rarely ventured out.
Once he was ready, Shen Xuan went out again with the Invisibility Talismans he had crafted and headed to the Ding Family shop.
"Fellow Daoist Shen, you're here!" Shopkeeper Ding greeted him with a smile.
Every ten days, Shen Xuan came to the Ding Family shop to sell talismans, exchange them for Talisman Crafting materials, and take a few spirit stones. It had become a routine.
As Shen Xuan's Talisman Crafting skills improved day by day, Shopkeeper Ding's attitude toward him grew more and more sincere.
Shen Xuan took sixty Invisibility Talismans from his Storage Bag, ten of them premium-quality.
"Exchange them all for spirit stones."
"Ah! You're not exchanging them for materials to make Invisibility Talismans anymore, Fellow Daoist Shen?"
"I'm taking a break for now."
"All right."
Shopkeeper Ding handed him fourteen spirit stones.
"Anything you'd like to buy?"
A shopkeeper couldn't bear to see a customer take spirit stones home without spending them.
"Do you have any Spirit Burst Pills?"
Before you continue