Enlightenment

After Qiusheng and Wencai cleaned up the smashed tables and chairs in the room, they each went off to rest.

They had been through quite a lot that night.

Qiusheng in particular was still excited.

He had unexpectedly gained seventy Exorcism Points. Now, his cultivation could take another step forward!

Character: Qiusheng (Maoshan Sect inner disciple).

Cultivation: Occultist+ (late stage).

Exorcism Points: 90.

Dao Arts: Talisman Crafting+ (beginner), Shangqing Dongxuan Record (intermediate), Maoshan Basic Martial Arts+ (intermediate), Palm Thunder+ (beginner), Lightning Bolt Fist+ (beginner).

Lifespan: 60+.

The moment Qiusheng lay down on his bed, he eagerly opened his status panel.

Seeing that he still had ninety Exorcism Points left filled him with inexplicable excitement.

Without hesitation, Qiusheng tapped the plus sign beside his cultivation once more.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have consumed 60 Exorcism Points and successfully raised your cultivation to the early Occult Master stage."

The familiar system prompt rang in his ears. Overjoyed, Qiusheng continued looking over his status panel.

When he saw that the plus sign beside Palm Thunder was still there, he immediately perked up and raised Palm Thunder's cultivation progress as well.

"Ding! Congratulations, Host. You have consumed 30 Exorcism Points and successfully upgraded Palm Thunder to the beginner stage."

As the altered system prompt sounded again, it also informed Qiusheng that he had successfully become penniless.

"Using Exorcism Points to cultivate and break through really is fast, but the cost is simply too great."

"No, hiding in the Public Mortuary and waiting for the next major events to happen is far too passive. I still need to travel around and capture more wronged souls and vicious ghosts to raise my Exorcism Points."

Feeling the magical power surging through his body, several times more powerful than it had been at the Occultist realm, Qiusheng felt an urge to go out and roam.

Forcibly suppressing his emotions, he sat cross-legged and began cultivating the Shangqing Dongxuan Record without pause.

He could not act impulsively. His cultivation was still too shallow. At the very least, he needed to reach the Human Master realm before he could leave the sect and venture out for training.

Thus, he could only rely on arduous cultivation to forcibly suppress that unrealistic desire in his heart.

And so, another night passed.

The next day, before dawn had fully broken, Qiusheng had already climbed out of bed. Looking at Wencai, who was still sleeping like a dead pig, he secretly shook his head.

After washing up briefly, he began running laps around Uncle Nine's Public Mortuary.

The Public Mortuary where Uncle Nine lived covered a sizable area. A single lap around it was at least six hundred meters, and Qiusheng had set himself a goal of twenty laps.

After all, he now possessed magical power, and his physical condition was not bad either. He felt it would be a waste not to develop his body and martial arts skills.

More importantly, in this world filled with supernatural horrors, sometimes running faster than others meant having a better chance of surviving.

By the time Qiusheng finished running, the eastern horizon had finally begun to glow pale white. His twenty laps were complete.

Drenched in sweat, he went to a patch of high ground near the Public Mortuary and began practicing the Heavenly Dipper Bagua Steps while cultivating the Shangqing Dongxuan Record.

Having gained a deep grasp of the Shangqing Dongxuan Record, he could now cultivate anytime, anywhere, in any posture, as long as he willed it.

Thus, Qiusheng paced back and forth across the small slope. Streams of spiritual energy invisible to the naked eye swiftly flowed into his body, continuously soothing the muscle soreness caused by his exercise and strengthening the magical power within him.

"Tsk, tsk. That kid Qiusheng has finally gotten the idea. Senior Brother, I'm green with envy that you have such a disciple."

"Junior Brother, stop praising him. Your Jiale is quite good too."

Uncle Nine and Taoist Four Eyes stood not far from Qiusheng, practicing the Maoshan Sect's basic leg techniques as they spoke softly.

"Senior Brother, don't mention that little bastard. He's cultivated for so many years, yet he's still stuck at the early Occultist stage. He's practically driving me mad."

The moment Four Eyes heard his senior brother bring up his disciple, his temper flared.

"Junior Brother, think about it. You spend all day outside transporting corpses, while Jiale stays home alone. With no one to supervise or guide his cultivation, how could he possibly improve by leaps and bounds?"

Watching Four Eyes berate his own disciple, Uncle Nine immediately spoke up.

After Uncle Nine said that, Four Eyes became somewhat embarrassed.

Come to think of it, he spent all day away from home, transporting corpses everywhere. His disciple was no cultivation prodigy, so it was only normal that his progress was slower.

Still, after being stimulated by Qiusheng, Taoist Four Eyes had made up his mind. When he returned this time, he would definitely give his disciple a good lesson and let him properly enjoy what a master's burning affection felt like!

"Hm? What is that kid doing?"

The two old men were whispering away when Four Eyes suddenly caught sight of Qiusheng from the corner of his eye. Qiusheng, who had been practicing the Yu Steps, had now stopped moving.

Facing east, his eyes slightly closed and his feet lightly planted at the poles of yin and yang, he had fallen into a strange state.

"Damn! Senior Brother, isn't your disciple about to ascend in broad daylight?"

Taoist Four Eyes stared wide-eyed at Qiusheng. A stream of pure white breath continuously flowed in and out through Qiusheng's nostrils. It was about three inches long, growing a little stronger with every breath Qiusheng took, an exceedingly mystical sight.

"Ascend, my ass. This kid has truly encountered great fortune. He has actually entered a state of enlightenment."

"Enlightenment? Senior Brother, you mean..."

"That's right. It is a state that all of us Daoist cultivators desperately wish to enter, yet only those with great comprehension can attain it."

"To be ashamed, in all my years, I have only entered enlightenment once. It was precisely through that one enlightenment that I crossed the Human Master bottleneck and entered the Earth Master realm."

Looking at Qiusheng now, Uncle Nine could not help sighing.

"Senior Brother, could it be that this kid's cultivation aptitude surpasses even yours? Among the disciples of our generation, only you and that person possessed the most outstanding aptitude."

Taoist Four Eyes stared at Qiusheng with shining eyes, a fiery emotion rising in his heart. Right now, he wished he could snatch this martial nephew straight from his senior brother and take him home to cherish like a treasure!

"No, Junior Brother. Qiusheng's aptitude can only be considered decent, not exceptional. But his comprehension is simply terrifying."

"That is the main reason he entered the state of enlightenment. What remains to be seen is just how much benefit he can gain from this state of enlightenment."