Cultivation Soars, Entering the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm

When they reappeared, they had returned to the familiar wasteland, only at another rift. The depths of the canyon were likewise crawling with Human-Faced Spiders.

"Get to work."

Deep within the canyon.

Chen Qiu took a deep breath and summoned all the Human-Faced Spider Wraiths he had accumulated, repeatedly carrying out the same work as before. With this group of Human-Faced Spider Wraiths fighting for him, even though there were far more Human-Faced Spiders here than at the previous location—

He did not feel much pressure.

Of course, before that, he had used two Heavenly Dao Retrospection Talismans to reselect the two traits he had discarded at the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm: "Start Over" and "Never Lose Heart."

Fat Dragon let out a soft sigh. After stretching his slightly sore body and muttering under his breath, he wielded his long blade and joined the battlefield as well. He was responsible for luring the monsters, while Chen Qiu was responsible for killing them.

He understood one thing clearly: Chen Qiu possessed an opportunity to choose one out of three every time he advanced in the Qi Refining Realm. He did not know exactly what kind of opportunity it was, but he could be certain that no one with such an opportunity was an unknown nobody.

Traveling with Chen Qiu was far safer than wandering alone. At the very least, they could watch each other's backs.

At the edge of the cliff above the canyon.

The bearded burly man spoke in a hoarse voice. "Brother, do you believe Young Master Chen is the young master of some great lineage beyond the Great Xia Kingdom?"

"Of course not."

The scholar sitting cross-legged on the ground could not help but laugh. "Even you would be suspicious, so how could I believe it? Young Master Chen did not expect us to believe him when he said that. He merely made up an excuse on the spot."

"If I'm not mistaken, he must have encountered some opportunity that was inconvenient to show others."

"But what does that have to do with us?"

"As long as he is willing to name a price and can afford it, we will work for him. Even if we are truly deceived, then so be it. No choice in this world comes entirely without a price."

This world was too vast, far too vast.

So vast that countless people encountered opportunities at every moment. Obtaining an opportunity was nothing unusual. Or rather, among those who could cultivate to the Golden Core Realm or above, who had never encountered an opportunity?

Opportunities were nothing rare. Living long enough was what was rare.

Dense swarms of Human-Faced Spiders died without end. Countless infant cries drifted through the depths of the canyon, shrill enough to pierce the ears. There were far more Human-Faced Spiders here than in the last canyon they had encountered.

And Chen Qiu's cultivation continued to rise.

"Your cultivation has soared. You have officially entered the Ninth Level of the Qi Refining Realm."

"Choose one of the three random traits below within ten breaths."

There were no particularly good traits this time.

He merely glanced over them before quickly selecting a white trait.

"Trait Name": Woodcutter's Sacred Physique.

"Trait Grade": White trait.

"Trait Effect": When chopping firewood, you will exert less effort and never grow weary.

The three traits randomly generated by this breakthrough were all useless white traits, but he did not care. He casually chose one, and it could happen to be used for trait self-detonation as a trump card.

The effect of trait self-detonation was that by detonating a trait, he could unleash a full-power strike that surpassed his own cultivation by one major realm.

If he detonated a trait at the first level of the Foundation Establishment Realm, the power released would be a full-power strike from the first level of the Golden Core Realm.

Simple, crude, and useful.

Its only drawback was that it wasted traits, and he just so happened to have no shortage of traits.

Before long, the sky gradually darkened. Stars shifted, and the moon slowly emerged above the black clouds. Night winds kept rushing through the canyon.

"This weather doesn't seem right."

Fat Dragon panted heavily, exhaustion written all over his face. With one hand on his hip, he raised his head and looked upward. At some point, the sky above had become covered in black clouds, creating an oppressive atmosphere. "Looks like there's going to be a downpour."

He was already at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm. Although he mostly lured monsters over for Chen Qiu to deal with, over this long stretch of time, the scattered monsters he had killed had still allowed him to break through to the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

Damn it.

Killing monsters really did make cultivation rise quickly.

And Chen Qiu's cultivation had once again reached a breakthrough.

"Your cultivation has soared. You have officially entered the Tenth Level of the Qi Refining Realm."

"Choose one of the three random traits below within ten breaths."

Once again, there were three useless traits.

After hurriedly glancing through them, he chose another white trait.

"Trait Name": Alchemy Aptitude.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": Your success rate in refining pills will increase slightly.

Hadn't this white trait appeared before? Was the chance of randomly obtaining this white trait really so high? He wondered how many types of white traits there were in total.

Later, he would have to visit the marketplace and see whether there was any intelligence for sale, something like a trait archive.

As Chen Qiu pondered these trivial matters, he sat on the ground somewhat exhausted and panted heavily. He took out a leather water pouch from his storage bag, brought it to his lips, and gulped down water.

At his side.

A full fifty or sixty Human-Faced Spider Wraiths were fighting for him.

If wraiths could last longer than one hour, there would have been even more Human-Faced Spider Wraiths fighting for him.

"Keep going!"

After catching his breath for a moment, Chen Qiu rose from the ground again. His body was somewhat sore as he gripped the hilt of his blade, his gaze resolute as he charged once more at the endless Human-Faced Spiders surging toward him.

This work was far more exhausting than chopping firewood.

But the positive feedback it brought was far stronger than chopping firewood as well.

Ordinary mortals could earn more than a hundred copper coins a day from chopping firewood. But he had arrived here as an unregistered outsider and could only sell the firewood he chopped to others at low prices, earning a meager profit that was not even enough to cover his meals.

At last—

After who knew how long he had been swinging his blade, Chen Qiu felt every muscle in his body turning sore. Black clouds had already filled the sky overhead, as though a torrential downpour accompanied by violent winds could descend at any moment.

And he had finally broken through to the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm!

"Your cultivation has soared. You have officially entered the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm."

"Choose one of the three random traits below within ten breaths."

1:

"Trait Name": Flawless Body.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": After reaching the age of eighteen, for every additional ten years you maintain a flawless body, you will gain one random trait.

2:

"Trait Name": Jade-Stealing, Flower-Plucking.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": After reaching the age of eighteen, each time you deflower someone who possesses the 'Flawless Body' trait, you will gain one random trait.

3:

"Trait Name": All-In.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": All traits you possess will be forcibly cleared. From then on, you will be unable to obtain or possess any permanent traits, but you may randomly obtain ten temporary traits every day.

-

"..."

Chen Qiu looked at the panel before him and sighed softly. This was already the third breakthrough in which he had failed to randomly obtain a trait suitable for himself. None of these three traits were particularly useful to him.

Especially the third trait. Not only was it useless, its side effects were enormous.

He made his living off traits. If all his traits were forcibly cleared, wouldn't that be complete nonsense?

Without thinking much about it, he casually selected the "Flawless Body" trait.

Including this one, he now had three completely useless traits that he could detonate at will. That counted as quite a substantial trump card. If the situation became urgent, he could also detonate the "Man with a Missing Heaven" trait that enhanced his five senses.

Having many traits was good. Even if they were useless, it did not matter. He could just detonate them like fireworks for fun.

Chen Qiu stood in the canyon and looked up at the black clouds overhead. The fierce wind gradually swept through the canyon, whipping against his hemp clothes as the chill grew stronger. After a night of struggle, Human-Faced Spider corpses carpeted the surrounding ground.

And his cultivation had reached the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

He only needed to fill up the cultivation progress of the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm and reach Qi Refining Great Perfection before he could begin Foundation Establishment.

His progress was far faster than he had imagined.

.