Tao Dapeng

South of the city, Maple Leaf Residential Area.

"Su Xue..."

Jiang Ran watched the tall figure walk away, lost in thought.

It was not because he had been struck by her beauty.

The policewoman's kindness had eased his taut nerves considerably, and it had also shown him that there were good people in this new world.

In his previous life, he had seen all manner of wolves, snakes, rats, and leopards. After crossing over, he had suffered one misfortune after another. To him, a kindhearted police officer was undoubtedly a good sign.

He turned and went inside, closing the door behind him. The scene within came into view.

The room was less than thirty square meters. There was no kitchen, only a simple stove, and clothes lay scattered haphazardly around the room.

Though extremely bare-bones, this was government-subsidized housing in Pingjiang. There was no rent and no property fee, so it was already quite good for Jiang Ran.

"It is a little small, but it is enough."

Jiang Ran shook his head with a wry smile and began tidying up the room.

He had not been some top-tier tycoon in his previous life, but after working hard for half his life, he had still amassed a considerable fortune. Now, after crossing over and returning to square one, he could only huddle in a palm-sized subsidized apartment. It truly gave him the bleak feeling of a tiger fallen to the plains.

Fortunately, cultivation existed in this world, thoroughly piquing Jiang Ran's curiosity.

In his view, a little hardship now did not matter. If he could truly get on the right track and succeed in cultivation, he would gladly live in a villa and eat seafood.

The room was small, and he soon had it spotless.

At that moment, the few items on the coffee table were all the property Jiang Ran possessed.

A small glass bottle, a red card, several hundred in loose cash, and a piece of jade.

The glass bottle contained Qi-Gathering Powder, which could assist cultivation. Less than half remained.

The red card was Pingjiang City's minimum living allowance card, with over a thousand in benefits deposited into it every month.

As for the jade...

"So this is a spirit stone." Jiang Ran reached out and gripped the translucent jade, filled with curiosity.

As the True Origin Formula circulated, wisps of spiritual energy slowly began to move and flow into his body.

The sensation was exceedingly marvelous. Every thread of spiritual energy that entered his body brought a faint, warm feeling, as though it were nourishing him.

"Cultivation does not seem that difficult..."

Jiang Ran opened his eyes and looked at the jade in his hand, suddenly realizing something.

Cultivation truly did not seem difficult. What was difficult was having sufficient resources for it.

Holding a spirit stone gave him abundant spiritual energy, naturally speeding up his cultivation. But without spirit stones, relying solely on meditation... that was an entirely different matter.

Jiang Ran gave it a try and discovered a cruel reality: without the aid of spirit stones, his cultivation speed would be at most one-tenth as fast.

"Right, I should try the qi-ingestion technique."

That test revealed a problem.

The spiritual energy within the spirit stone seemed to receive some sort of summons, surging into Jiang Ran's body at an astonishing speed.

The first stage of the four stages of nurturing qi, Blood Nourishment, was advancing at an unimaginable pace.

Nurturing qi required ten years of arduous practice for even a chance at completion. Iron Ox had begun training at nine, yet he was still far from having enough mastery.

According to Old Man Liu, Jiang Ran had passed the optimal age. It would be even harder for him than Iron Ox to ingest qi in the future.

But now...

Jiang Ran could clearly feel his strength growing without end.

This was a sign that his nurturing qi was advancing. Once he mastered all four stages of nurturing qi and his blood, essence, heart, and soul were complete, his physical body would forge Xuanling, allowing him to absorb qi and enter the Dao!

If he continued cultivating at this speed, who would need ten years of nurturing qi?

At most, one year would be enough for success!

Just as Jiang Ran was practically floating with delight, a faint sound reached his ears.

—Crack.

The surging spiritual energy abruptly stopped, and the progress of his nurturing qi technique halted with it.

The translucent spirit stone before him was no longer as lustrous as before, gradually losing its sheen.

Its spiritual energy had been exhausted. This spirit stone had become a useless rock.

"This..." Jiang Ran's eyes widened, and he stood there stunned for a long while.

It was spiritual energy. The spiritual energy within spirit stones was the finest tonic, capable of nourishing the physical body and advancing the nurturing qi technique.

There was no need to say anything about its nourishing effect; it was naturally unparalleled. But this rate of consumption... was it not a little too fast?

Though this spirit stone had been used many times already, it still contained quite a bit of spiritual energy. If it had only been used for the True Origin Formula, it could have lasted at least another week.

But now, under the powerful draw of the qi-ingestion technique, it had been depleted in less than half an hour.

This was his only spirit stone!

"Cultivation costs way too much money!" Jiang Ran grimaced in distress.

Spirit stones were the common foundational spiritual resource of the Heavenly Lu Kingdom. They could be used directly for transactions or as an equivalent exchange medium. Converted into currency, a standard spirit stone cost a full thousand Tianlu Coins!

A thousand bucks for one spirit stone...

That meant Jiang Ran's monthly living allowance could buy him at most one spirit stone. He could not even afford a second!

No wonder the previous owner of this body had always ranked near the bottom at school.

It was not entirely because his talent was too poor, nor because he had not worked hard enough. He simply could not compete with others.

—How could anyone cultivate immortality without money?

Jiang Ran took a deep breath. He had finally come to deeply understand this point.

Just one spirit stone cost over a thousand. Those other cultivation resources were even more terrifyingly expensive.

In this world, money could buy everything. As long as one had money, cultivation was not difficult at all. Talent was the least important thing. At least during high school, money was the absolute truth!

"I need to make money first. At the very least, I need to get into a good cultivation university before I have a chance to access a good inheritance." Jiang Ran quickly sorted out his thoughts.

There were many ways to make money, but his status as a high school student severely limited his options.

He knew very well that his greatest advantage at the moment was undoubtedly traveling between two worlds.

Pingjiang had abundant resources. As long as he had money, he could buy anything he wanted. As for the Grand Ruins Realm, Black Dragon Mountain's side seemed somewhat lacking in spiritual resources for now, but its cultivation inheritances and technique resources were clearly somewhat better than Pingjiang's.

It would be easy to make use of that. As long as he found a suitable opportunity, he could profit from it.

"I will report back to school first, then head to Black Dragon Mountain over the weekend."

Jiang Ran quickly came up with several plans.

Just then, a burst of dense footsteps came from outside, accompanied by noisy chatter.

His first thought was that the neighbors downstairs were arguing.

The living conditions in subsidized housing were limited, and the soundproofing was terrible. A little noise was normal.

But the noise drew closer and closer, soon reaching his own door. That was rather abnormal.

"Aunties, hurry! Jiang Ran lives in 619!"

Jiang Ran suddenly froze. That voice... was far too familiar.

It was Tao Dapeng, the previous owner's only friend—or rather, his best brother.

Before someone knocked his front door apart, Jiang Ran hurried over and opened it.

There was more than just Tao Dapeng outside. A large group of elderly women had gathered as well, each wearing an indignant expression.

"What are you all..." Jiang Ran was bewildered.

Tao Dapeng let out a wail and lunged forward, wrapping Jiang Ran in a hug.

"My good brother, how did you get so thin? You have suffered so much these days..."

"Wuwuwu... It was far too hard for you to survive. Why is your life so miserable, Jiang Ran..."

For a moment, the scene descended into chaos.