After cultivating for a full day and night, Wang Lang slowly opened his eyes. Feeling the growth of the qi within his body, he could not help but do the math in his heart.
If last night's active cultivation was compared to working for wages, then after painstakingly circulating his cultivation technique all night,
the Vajra Qi and Righteous Qi that had grown within his body combined amounted to roughly 1 unit of profit.
Meanwhile, the passive boost brought by the orange entry Innate Qi was like lying down and collecting rent—over the same amount of time, it could yield 5 units.
"I painstakingly meditated all night, yet the returns aren't even as good as lying flat and breathing for a day? Doesn't that make all my effort look pretty stupid?"
Wang Lang grumbled inwardly, then immediately began considering a solution.
He examined the four entries he currently possessed, his gaze eventually settling on the purple entry [Intentional Blast Punch].
This entry allowed him to accumulate traces of intent by enduring damage.
Ever since obtaining this entry, especially after receiving that female ghost's enthusiastic hospitality at the Ten Thousand Souls Tomb,
he still had quite a bit of trace intent stockpiled within his body.
With that, the path forward was clear. Since active cultivation brought low returns, he had to make up for it elsewhere.
But under the enhancement of [Innate Qi], his physical body had grown increasingly formidable.
The growth in trace intent brought by ordinary pain and injuries had become negligible, no more than a mosquito's leg.
If he wanted to keep accumulating trace intent, he had to be ruthless with himself.
He had to actively seek out extreme environments and temper his body in a near self-mutilating manner.
Sitting still to cultivate only brought a return of 1, but if he actively entered an extreme environment, though the process would be painful,
the returns might be [trace intent +1], [qi +1], [physical strength +1], sending the overall gains soaring straight to 3!
What a bloody profit!
With that thought, Wang Lang no longer hesitated and pushed open the door.
The daylight was just right. The Little White Fox was nowhere to be seen in the courtyard, but he did not care.
That little thing had maxed out her chatterbox attribute. He truly did not want to talk too much with her.
Not far from Listening Waves Mountain Manor flowed a broad river called the Dadu River.
Its waters rushed day and night, exceptionally swift, filled with countless undercurrents and whirlpools. Even ordinary boatmen did not dare enter the water lightly.
Wang Lang arrived at the riverbank, felt the moisture filling the air and the imposing force of the current, then nodded.
"This is the place. The water pressure is strong enough, and the current is fast enough. It should have some effect."
He leaped into the river without circulating any cultivation technique to resist it, relying purely on his physical body to contend against nature's might.
He sank into the deep waters, pressed beneath massive boulders, held his breath and focused his mind, allowing the river and its immense water pressure to madly squeeze and scour his body.
At the same time, he circulated the <Vajra Subduing Demons Sutra - Spirit Condensation Chapter>.
Compared to sitting still and cultivating, this method, which made every inch of skin and every bone endure tremendous pressure,
indeed produced far more noticeable gains in qi and body tempering.
At the same time, it also allowed him to accumulate a little trace intent.
He was not going to die anyway, so he might as well train himself to death!
Wang Lang hardened his heart and directly entered a long-term idle cultivation mode at the bottom of the river.
One day, two days... Time quietly slipped away beneath the scouring current.
Meanwhile, after wandering around Listening Waves Mountain Manor several times, the Little White Fox, Su Yao, gradually went from leisurely to restless.
"Where is he? Where did Langzi run off to? Don't tell me he thought I talked too much and secretly ran away by himself?!"
After finally following his scent to the Dadu River, she saw Wang Lang sitting like an underwater statue,
standing firm amid the rapids, his aura almost completely merged with the river water.
"Th-this is how humans cultivate?"
Su Yao stared, dumbfounded. She had never seen such a cultivation method before.
Feeling the aura around Wang Lang continuously growing stronger, Su Yao blinked her fox eyes and thought,
"Since I'm already here... should I give it a try too?"
After hesitating again and again, she also tried cultivating in the shallow waters by the riverbank, imitating Wang Lang.
And so, day after day, Wang Lang sat imprisoned at the bottom of the river while Su Yao accompanied him in training by the shore.
Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
One day, Su Yao happened to lower her head and see her reflection on the water's surface. Her entire fox body instantly froze.
In the reflection, the once slender Little White Fox had visibly grown thicker limbs, clear, bulging muscle lines, and fur that seemed to conceal explosive power beneath it.
Su Yao looked at her much sturdier outline in the water, the corner of her mouth twitching several times. "..."
She finally understood why Wang Lang called himself a scholar despite having a physique as burly as a humanoid ferocious beast.
The side effects of this cultivation method were far too outrageous!
"Th-this is the price of gaining power?!" Su Yao wailed inwardly.
Though the side effects of this cultivation method were a little fox-shocking, its effects were undeniably real.
She had originally been stuck at the late First Rank for a long time, but under these three months of hellish accompanying training,
she had actually forced her way to the peak of the First Rank, only one step away from condensing her Demon Soul True Body and entering the Second Rank.
The Demon Race's Second Rank was equivalent to a human Qi Refiner's Spirit Condensation Realm. Its core lay in condensing the demon soul, which would bring a qualitative leap in strength.
Su Yao sighed, glanced at Wang Lang in the middle of the river, where there was still no movement at all,
then decided to stop caring about that fellow who cultivated like he was not human and ran off into the mountains to find fruit to fill her stomach.
As she searched, she muttered inwardly, "What kind of monster is Langzi? He can actually go months without eating or drinking?"
"I remember Mother saying that to truly abstain from food, one has to cultivate to at least the Third Rank..."
At the same time, Wang Lang sank his consciousness into his personal panel,
and as he looked at the data displayed there, a satisfied smile spread across his face.
To make such progress in merely a few months could only be called astonishingly fast.
One had to know that after ordinary Qi Refiners entered the Spirit Condensation Realm, every breakthrough through a minor realm required years, or even longer, of water-wearing-stone effort.
That was because the strengthening of the spirit and the refinement of divine consciousness were by no means easy.
The Bedrock Realm of the Body Refinement path was even more difficult. Every breakthrough required massive amounts of qi and blood to support it.
Ordinary Body Cultivators either had to grind away slowly with time, or consume medicinal meals, soak in medicinal baths, and frantically replenish resources.
But Wang Lang had none of those worries.
The threefold effects of the [Innate Qi] entry had practically turned him into a machine that never stopped growing stronger.
The pressure of extreme external environments not only could not hinder him, but instead became the finest catalyst for accelerating Body Refinement and qi cultivation.
"Sure enough, cheats... no, only the combination of effort and talent can bring the greatest efficiency."
Wang Lang thought, thoroughly satisfied with his progress.
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