Gu Jiu's Defenses Crumbled

The power of Flame Palm seemed somewhat ordinary.

After watching it for a few moments.

Yue Shuo circulated the Sharp Metal Art again, trying to activate Golden Light Slash, the Tier-One spell that came with the Sharp Metal Art.

A streak of golden light swept from his hand.

Under his deliberate control, it landed on a stone bench in the courtyard.

A faint sizzling sound rang out.

[Golden Light Slash (Tier One): 1/100 (Beginner)]

After examining the stone bench, Yue Shuo found that the golden light had penetrated two inches into the stone. Estimating the bench's hardness, he was fairly satisfied.

After all, this was only the beginner stage.

Next came the two remaining techniques.

[Thousand Waves Slash (Tier One): 1/100 (Beginner)]

[Evergreen Technique (Tier One): 1/100 (Beginner)]

Yue Shuo was only twenty-some cultivation points away from advancing. He felt that activating the spells and secret arts attached to these techniques would be easy.

After expending his remaining five points of Divine Sense until only one remained.

Aside from not trying the remaining two arts of the Three Planting Arts.

He had now learned every spell he could activate.

The difference between secret arts and spells.

He roughly understood it now.

Secret arts leaned more toward techniques for wielding spiritual power. They were difficult to learn and difficult to improve.

Spells had fixed spell models.

Easy to learn, hard to master.

But neither made much difference to him.

As Yue Shuo pondered in the courtyard, he held the bottle of Grain-Repelling Pills Gu Jiu had brought back from the market.

And the remaining three Spirit Stones?

The Spirit Stones were only the size of thumbs.

They resembled jade.

Only more suffused with misty radiance.

Yue Shuo thought back. One Gathering Spirit Grass sold for three Spirit Stones. He had sold ten, so there should have been thirty Spirit Stones.

One Spirit Carp cost twenty-five Spirit Stones.

One bottle of Grain-Repelling Pills cost three Spirit Stones.

There was one extra Spirit Stone.

Could it be that Shopkeeper Qin had calculated that Gu Jiu would be made to bear the brunt of someone's anger and had given him extra money for medicine?

After grumbling inwardly, Yue Shuo did not dwell on it further.

He could just ask Gu Jiu about the source of the Spirit Stones later.

Gu Jiu had not mentioned the Spirit Carp in front of Zou Chongying and Tian Wan before, so he probably had not had the chance to report on the Spirit Stones.

Once the Spirit Carp had stewed until fragrant in the pot.

Yue Shuo first took out his own bowl. After thinking for a moment, he took out another bowl as well.

Yue Shuo's cooking was ordinary, and he did not have particularly high standards for food, so he had never striven for perfection in his culinary skills.

But he had a good memory and steady hands.

As long as he knew which seasonings to use, how much oil and salt to add, and put them in precisely.

The taste would not be too bad.

Of course, the seasonings and ingredients of his previous life were not all available here, so he had never held any expectations for this world's food.

There were still plenty of children in the village who could not eat their fill.

It was already good enough that he could!

Yue Shuo had originally thought his terrible cooking would make the Spirit Carp taste strange. Yet when he picked up a piece and tried it.

It was unexpectedly delicious.

Yue Shuo's eyes widened considerably.

So it was not that this world's food was bad—it was the ingredients!

The Spirit Carp carried a faint sweetness of its own. Its flesh was tender, melting almost the instant it entered his mouth and transforming into a warm current that circulated through his body.

Hm?

Yue Shuo immediately circulated the internal cycle of the Wood Essence Art.

There was no need to draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body. Simply circulating energy within his body did not consume much Divine Sense.

On the contrary.

After refining the energy transformed from that piece of Spirit Carp meat.

He found that his mind had become a little more comfortable as well.

He glanced over it.

His Divine Sense had risen from one point to two.

It had not recovered much.

But he had only eaten one piece of Spirit Carp meat.

When Yue Shuo looked at the Spirit Carp meat again, his eyes grew noticeably more fervent. He had originally intended to give Gu Jiu a portion.

"Forget it. I'll give him a Grain-Repelling Pill instead!"

It seemed a little stingy.

But after considering it, Yue Shuo felt it would not be wise to reward him too generously.

After all, for a Spirit-Drawing Stage Prospective Disciple like himself, one Spirit Carp was a crucial resource on his Dao Path.

Being overly generous was not always granting favor.

If he gave away Spirit Carp meat worth around ten Spirit Stones this time, would he have to reward dozens of Spirit Stones next time?

One Grain-Repelling Pill contained a trace of spiritual energy.

Grain-Repelling Pills were not Tier-One Elixirs.

They were below Tier One.

Basic pills.

Each was worth 0.6 Spirit Stones.

There was too much spiritual energy in Tier-One spirit elixirs for Mortals to absorb and refine, which was why even Yue Shuo and the others could not take them before advancing.

Moreover, Yue Shuo had learned about the prices.

At present, on Little Hemmu Island, within the Qin Clan's sphere of influence, in the city with the largest population of ordinary Mortals and the most flourishing commerce.

One Spirit Stone could be exchanged for ten taels of gold or one thousand taels of silver.

It was exceedingly valuable.

At the same time.

If one wanted to buy basic pills suitable for Mortals on Little Hemmu Island, they came at an extremely high premium.

One Grain-Repelling Pill.

Could sell there for at least ten taels of gold.

Perhaps even more!

Of course, the Qin Clan regulated this. Private sales were forbidden, and only the Qin Clan's own shops held exclusive rights to sell them.

Some information he had learned before flashed through Yue Shuo's mind.

As he ate another piece of Spirit Carp meat.

While refining it.

He inspected his attribute panel internally.

Aside from his Divine Sense slowly recovering bit by bit, his cultivation value had also risen from '477.2' to '479.2'.

Then, after this piece of Spirit Carp meat had been eaten and refined.

It became '481.2'!

One piece gave him two cultivation points!?

That was equivalent to the gains from one complete round of Spirit-Drawing Entry cultivation!?

Yue Shuo no longer hesitated and continued eating the Spirit Carp meat!

When half the Spirit Carp meat remained.

Yue Shuo discovered that his cultivation was full!

[Cultivation: 500/500 (+2.2)]

At the same time, he saw that the breakthrough probability had changed slightly in the numbers, just as he had expected.

[Breakthrough Probability: 52% (+2%)]

After focusing his thoughts on the increased figure for two seconds, a line of small text appeared.

(Tier-One cultivation technique proficiency: Additional breakthrough probability +2%)

Sure enough, there was a way to increase breakthrough probability!

However, the proficient level only increased it by 2%.

He was still over sixty proficiency points away from minor mastery in the Wood Essence Art, while his other cultivation techniques were each ninety-nine proficiency points away from proficiency.

And the Wood Essence Art was also the fastest for him to cultivate.

If he wanted to raise his breakthrough rate through technique levels.

He naturally had to grind the Wood Essence Art first!

Afterward, seeing that his Divine Sense had recovered to twelve points, Yue Shuo first went to Gu Jiu's little wooden hut.

He took the remaining one of the two Grain-Repelling Pills Zou Chongying and Tian Wan had given him earlier.

And stuffed it into Gu Jiu's mouth.

The moment he finished, Gu Jiu woke up and tried to rise to pay his respects.

Yue Shuo stopped him.

"I fed you a Grain-Repelling Pill. You have internal injuries, so don't move recklessly. Tell me if you need any other medicine!"

Hearing about the Grain-Repelling Pill, Gu Jiu visibly became agitated again.

His eyes reddened too.

Yue Shuo could not tell whether Gu Jiu was truly so easily moved or whether there was an element of performance in it.

But he knew how to make a stance that benefited himself.

"I don't know whether you can consume Spirit Carp, but I saved some for you... Oh, right, I've already stewed it." Yue Shuo smiled at Gu Jiu.

Tears immediately welled up in Gu Jiu's eyes.

Young Master!

Spirit Carp had to be eaten raw to retain all of its spiritual energy. Stewing it would waste at least thirty percent of it!!

And the Grain-Repelling Pill could have been given to this servant as a reward.

Grain-Repelling Pills were not healing medicine!

If this servant ate one when advancing, it could increase his chances by thirty percent!

Gu Jiu, who considered himself utterly loyal, could no longer hold back his tears. Even when grievously injured, he had not cried—but now, his defenses had truly crumbled.