Year's End

"Good grief, I told you, you're old enough to start absorbing and refining spiritual energy directly. You don't need to practice qi sensing anymore... Qi sensing is for children whose Spiritual Roots haven't fully matured. It nourishes their roots. You..."

Faced with Li Ji'an's earnest request, Chen Qingling was growing rather impatient.

That was, until he saw the secret-recipe garlic fried chicken Li Ji'an held out to him...

"That's no trouble at all. I'll teach you as soon as I've finished eating."

After a year together, Li Ji'an had gotten to know the Chen brothers better.

Chen Zhao'hu had never spent resources on his own cultivation. He'd done that so he could provide his younger brother, Chen Qingling, with the resources to cultivate.

When Chen Qingling was tested for spiritual affinity at eight, he'd shown five strands of fire affinity, giving him hope of nurturing a Mid-grade Spiritual Root.

So, over the years, Chen Zhao'hu had rented a cultivation chamber for him in United Market. Aside from occasionally getting bored and returning to spend time with Chen Zhao'hu, Chen Qingling spent most of his time in the market practicing qi sensing.

Half a year ago, a test confirmed that his potential had nearly reached its limit, and he began genuine cultivation.

Unfortunately, his fire affinity had only reached nine strands, leaving him just shy of a Mid-grade Spiritual Root.

He cultivated the Blazing Spirit Art, a Fire Element Cultivation Method Chen Zhao'hu had bought for him. Last month, he'd reached the first layer of Qi Condensation, becoming a true Qi Condensation cultivator.

"Old Li, you're already thirty. Why bother with qi sensing? There's no need to do it after fifteen; your Spiritual Root's already set. You could sense flowers blooming, and it still wouldn't do you any good.

"If you really can't let it go, then buy a cultivation method and start practicing. Quit wasting your time." Another early-stage first-tier body cultivator in the group teased him as he drank.

"What's the point of practicing qi? Brother Li's Root Bone is exceptional. He might even be about to surpass Brother Tiger. Body cultivation is enough for him. At least he won't have to spend like we do. We scrape together a few spirit stones, and still can't bring ourselves to visit Heavenly Immortal Tower. What's the point of living?" Another teammate, a second-layer Qi Condensation cultivator, grumbled.

Aside from Chen Zhao'hu, Li Ji'an, and two early-stage body cultivators, the rest of Chen Zhao'hu's hunting team were all temporary Qi Condensation cultivators.

Most of these temporary cultivators were Rogue Cultivators without anyone to rely on. To stay in the market and cultivate, they had to find every possible way to earn spirit stones.

Li Ji'an smiled and shook his head. "I may have started late, but I can teach the next generation. If I practice a little myself, I'll know what I'm talking about. Then, if my children or grandchildren ask me for advice, I won't be completely in the dark."

That was indeed what he thought.

The difference was that he was accumulating qi-sensing experience for his next life.

"Hey, you lot. You haven't even managed to live well in your own lives, yet you're always thinking about making things better for the next generation... Aren't you tired?"

"If Tiger weren't doing it for this ungrateful brat, with his body-cultivation skills he could have married a whole houseful of women. Maybe he'd even have found one with a good Spiritual Root. What a waste..."

Chen Qingling sucked on his fingers as he rolled his eyes at the second-layer Qi Condensation cultivator who'd called him ungrateful.

But he didn't dare talk back.

It was simple: once he'd begun Qi Condensation, he'd understood how hard cultivation was. To him, a third-layer Qi Condensation cultivator was now a senior expert, and he was no longer as fearless as a newborn calf.

That night, Li Ji'an finally got the Qi Sensing Method out of Chen Qingling without paying a thing, saving himself three spirit stones.

The reason he'd targeted Chen Qingling was that his method had been bought for him by his brother at considerable expense. It was far better than the methods used by the Rogue Cultivators in the team, who had no one to rely on.

"Heaven has the five elements, which overcome and generate one another; people have the five elements, which complement one another. Heaven and man respond to each other; qi is stored within the body..."

After Chen Qingling had impatiently explained the method once, Li Ji'an returned to his room to study it alone.

"This isn't difficult..."

With the souls of five lifetimes layered together, he understood this beginner-level method at once.

On his fifth attempt, he sensed a faint resonance between the air and his dantian.

"So this is spiritual energy... It really is thin!"

No wonder Chen Qingling had said qi sensing was useless in this spiritually barren place: there was almost nothing to sense.

Li Ji'an tried again and again, until he was sure he'd mastered the Qi Sensing Method.

The reason he could sense the resonance between the spiritual energy and his dantian in such a spiritually barren place was, naturally, the enhancement of his five lifetimes' worth of souls.

Over the past year, he'd also figured out why each time he returned to youth, his spirit grew stronger, his thoughts sharper, and his comprehension better.

It was his soul!

In this Cultivation World, Qi Condensation cultivators absorbed spiritual energy and refined it into magic power, transforming their dantian.

Body cultivators followed a path much like the martial arts of the Immortal Bestowed Dynasty. In the early stages, they tempered their bones and refined their qi and blood, needing no external resources. But in the middle and later stages, they needed the spiritual materials associated with their cultivation methods to raise their physical limits and continue tempering their bodies.

Whichever path one followed, the soul was crucial.

Qi Condensation cultivators needed the soul to reach Foundation Establishment, and many of the Hundred Arts of cultivation also relied on it. When the soul was refined into Spiritual Sense, and that Spiritual Sense grew strong enough, it gathered into divine sense, then the Primordial Spirit, and finally the divine will... Whether one was cultivating, fighting, refining pills, or drawing talismans, none of it could be done without the soul.

Body cultivators also needed the soul, especially in the middle and later stages. The stronger the soul, the greater the impact the body could withstand while being tempered. Otherwise, the body might endure the strain, but the soul would be too weak to bear it, risking damage.

The soul also had an even greater effect on a body cultivator's sensitivity.

As for the rare soul cultivators, who specialized in the soul and used it to sustain the body, there was even less to explain.

Li Ji'an had a great advantage in this regard!

After comparing himself with several early-stage Qi Condensation cultivators, he'd found that their Spiritual Sense was clearly weaker than his.

"I should find a method to refine my Spiritual Sense as soon as possible... Refining it will greatly improve my five senses."

"It's a shame soul-cultivation methods are so rare. Otherwise, the soul-cultivation path would probably suit me better in this life."

He finished his practice and stood up, just in time to see the dawn sky ablaze with rosy clouds.

A new day had begun.

It also meant that his one-year agreement with Chen Zhao'hu had come to an end.

Over the past year, Chen Zhao'hu had really treated him like a lucky charm, saying he only needed to stick with the team.

And just as Chen Zhao'hu had said, the team hadn't suffered a single casualty that year, and their gains had been better than before.

This had only strengthened Chen Zhao'hu's belief that Li Ji'an was a man blessed with great fortune.

What he didn't know was that Li Ji'an had simply used his powerful soul to sense potential dangers in advance and secretly guide them around them.

As for their gains, Li Ji'an had also hoped to save up more spirit stones.

Cultivation was difficult. Wealth, companions, methods, and a place to practice were all essential!

He took the twenty-four spirit stones and seventy-three liang of Spirit Sand he had left after setting aside a year's worth of living expenses from the hidden compartment, and tucked them into his robes.

Then he gathered the stack of letters at the very bottom.

There were eight in all. One had come from Zhang Tie Zhu three months ago. He'd written that he had joined a pioneering team as soon as he arrived, and after nearly a year of hard work, had caught the attention of a steward from the Yan House. He'd been rewarded and could now see a chance at immortality.

One was from Zhu Linxian, sent six months ago. She'd said only that she was leaving United Market to seek opportunities elsewhere. She hadn't mentioned anything else.

The remaining six were all from Zhao Shuyao.

She'd sent one nearly every two months, writing about everything from leaving the settlement last year and arriving at the market, to parting ways with Dong Jiangling and Zhu Linxian, to failing to get a job at the Spirit Pill Pavilion...

The first half of the year, she'd mostly tried to persuade him, describing the hope and future cultivation markets offered and trying to rekindle his ambition.

But in the second half of the year, especially in her letter from last month, she'd stopped urging Li Ji'an to pursue cultivation. Her words were weary from beginning to end.

Dong Jiangling, meanwhile, had vanished without a trace.

"Hopefully, these spirit stones will be enough for me to establish myself in the market!" Li Ji'an went to say goodbye to Chen Zhao'hu.

It was time to truly enter the Cultivation World.