"Attribute Panel, charge!"
In the Earthen House, inside Lin Yi's room, Lin Yi held the silver he had gotten from his father. Without the slightest hesitation, he gave an order to the Attribute Panel in his mind.
"Whoosh!"
As Lin Yi's command fell, the four large silver ingots vanished in an instant, like a breeze.
Right after that, the charge percentage on Lin Yi's Attribute Panel began to climb rapidly.
96.6%!
97.6%!
98.6%!
Finally, after a few moments, when the number on the Attribute Panel reached 100%, a line of text appeared before Lin Yi's eyes:
"Congratulations, Dao Master. The charge has reached 100%. You may use an Immortal Skill to Evolve Talent. Would you like to proceed?"
"Evolve!"
Lin Yi answered firmly.
At once...
"Rumble!"
The transparent Attribute Panel transformed, becoming a vast Starry Sky.
White, red, yellow, green, purple, and gold stars shimmered in the Starry Sky.
The white stars were the most numerous, filling a vast swath of the sky. Red stars came next, but there were still quite a few of them.
But the yellow stars were much fewer, likely not even half a percent of all the stars.
There were even fewer green stars, probably less than one percent.
As for the purple and gold stars, they were so scarce as to be almost absurd. Even combined, there were fewer than a hundred.
Despite their small numbers, those fewer than one hundred purple and gold stars shone like the sun and moon in the Starry Sky, their dazzling light even eclipsing all the other stars.
As Lin Yi's command took effect, a white star suddenly fell through the vast Starry Sky, seemingly about to become Lin Yi's talent.
"A Pure White Grade Talent?"
Seeing the star's color, Lin Yi felt a little disappointed.
But considering that white stars made up most of this starry panorama, getting a Pure White Grade Talent was actually quite normal.
Sigh! I can only hope it's a talent for physical aptitude!
Lin Yi prayed silently.
But just then—
"Detected that this is the Dao Master's first time actively using a cost to Evolve Talent. Talent grade automatically increased by four ranks. Pure White Grade Talent upgraded to Mystic Purple Grade Talent!"
As the words appeared, the white star that had been falling rose back into the sky under Lin Yi's astonished gaze.
In its place, a dazzling purple star, bright as the moon, plummeted from the Starry Sky!
Then it shot swiftly out from the bottom of the Starry Sky, into reality, and merged into the space between Lin Yi's brows.
At once, another line of text appeared before Lin Yi:
"Congratulations, Dao Master. Talent Evolve succeeded. You have obtained a Mystic Purple Grade Talent—Martial Saint Body!"
[Talent: Martial Saint Body] [Rank: Mystic Purple Grade] [Description: You were born sacred. Your aptitude for physical cultivation is unrivaled in this age. You are a peerless genius born once in a hundred billion! A true, unrivaled prodigy!]
"Boom!"
As the words appeared, Lin Yi's whole body rang out. His muscles and bones resonated together, as if an endless, mysterious energy were strengthening him.
In an instant, Lin Yi felt his aptitude soar without limit. His body transformed from deep within his genes, and waves of bliss surged through him, rising from the marrow of his bones and the depths of his soul.
"Ha! Hoo! Ha! Hoo..."
In the room, once the transformation of his aptitude was complete, Lin Yi began instinctively circulating his main cultivation method, the Sixth-Rank Breathing Technique—Whale Swallowing Breathing Technique.
His organs worked steadily, his breathing flowed without pause, and he seemed like a giant whale gulping down water as he refined, in great mouthfuls, the medicinal power that had long lingered deep within his body.
As he refined it, Lin Yi's body grew stronger and stronger.
The cultivation progress on the Attribute Panel rose rapidly as well.
[Cultivation: Eighth-Rank Early Stage (93%)] [Cultivation: Eighth-Rank Early Stage (94%)] [Cultivation: Eighth Grade Mid Stage (1%)]
Lin Yi's transformation continued. He practiced for a full half hour before finally stopping.
Then Lin Yi took a closer look and saw that all the attributes on the Attribute Panel had changed dramatically—
[Dao Master: Lin Yi] [Cultivation: Eighth Grade Mid Stage (8%)] [Cultivation Method: Sixth-Rank Cultivation Method, Whale Swallowing Breathing Technique] [Martial Arts: Sixth-Rank Martial Art, Bright Moon Saber Art (Great Accomplishment, 96%); Ninth-Rank Martial Art, Black Tiger Saber Art (Perfect, 73%)] [Immortal Skill: Evolve Talent] [Existing Talents: Martial Saint Body (Mystic Purple Grade), Saber Dao Genius (Crimson Grade)] [Current Charge: 0.3% (Talent Evolve becomes available when charge reaches 100%.)]
"Eighth Grade Mid Stage, 8%. I made that much progress from a single session?"
Seeing the number on the Attribute Panel, Lin Yi was stunned. He could hardly believe his eyes.
To go from 93% of the Eighth-Rank Early Stage to 8% of the Eighth Grade Mid Stage would have taken him at least several months of hard cultivation at his former pace.
But now?
He'd done it in just half an hour!
There was also the fact that a lot of medicinal power had already accumulated deep within his body, but the Martial Saint Body had made this possible all the same. There was only one word for it—terrifying!
"Martial Saint Body. It really is a Martial Saint Body!"
Lin Yi couldn't help feeling overjoyed.
"No wonder it's a heaven-defying talent found only once in a hundred billion!"
"One session has made my cultivation advance so rapidly. Even though I come from humble origins and have very few cultivation resources, and won't be able to maintain that incredible pace once the medicinal power in my body runs out, I'll still break through the mere Eighth-Rank Late Stage in half a month at most."
"If I'm lucky and manage to catch a few more thieves in that time, earning enough money to buy Qi and Blood Pills, I'll be able to cultivate even faster!"
"Then I really will be invincible!"
At the thought, Lin Yi's eyes gleamed.
Qi and Blood Pills were a basic medicinal supplement for martial artists' cultivation on the Nine Provinces Continent.
Their medicinal power was quite good. Each Qi and Blood Pill Lin Yi swallowed was about equal to three days of hard cultivation.
And that was with most of the medicinal power going to waste because his aptitude was so poor.
With the Martial Saint Body's now absurdly efficient absorption, Lin Yi estimated that each Qi and Blood Pill he swallowed could be worth at least half a month—or even longer—of his former hard cultivation.
So, if he had enough Qi and Blood Pills, just imagine how fast he could cultivate!
"However, a single Qi and Blood Pill normally costs a full five taels of silver. Given my family's finances, I figure we can afford eight or nine a month at most."
"If we buy more, the family won't be able to make ends meet."
"And besides that, ever since I Evolved my first talent, the amount of silver required to charge my Attribute Panel seems to have gone up too."
At the thought, Lin Yi looked at the charge percentage on the Attribute Panel, his face turning bitter.
He had charged a total of eighty taels of silver into the Attribute Panel. Subtracting the sixty-eight taels consumed by the previous charge to reach 100%, the remaining twelve taels should, in theory, have brought the charge to 0.6%.
But the Attribute Panel showed only 0.3%, just half of what theory predicted.
By that calculation, getting the charge back to 100% would now cost twice as much as before: a full four thousand taels of silver!
Four thousand taels?
Even if Lin Yi's family saved every last penny, it would take them at least five or six years to scrape that together, not to mention the money needed for cultivation...
"Sigh! We're poor! So poor!"
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