Qi Refining Third Layer!

Buzz!

With a clear ring, Chen Zhuo, who had just arrived in the Ancient Cultivator world, activated a Golden Armor Talisman.

And then...

Nothing happened.

He encountered no one this time.

The Sinister Old Man's corpse had vanished. Only brown bloodstains and scraps of torn clothing remained where it had lain.

It seemed beasts from the mountains had dragged his body away and eaten it.

Chen Zhuo watched his surroundings warily as he took out the Spirit Message Jade Slip and asked in a low voice, "Little Jade, Little Jade, check the Spiritual Qi levels nearby!"

This was a little loophole.

His Divine Sense currently reached only five meters. He could not probe anything beyond that.

But if he used the jade slip to scan for Spiritual Qi, Little Jade would detect any nearby cultivator who had not concealed their aura.

"Hello, cultivator! Current Spiritual Qi levels range from 4.84 to 5.11. Spiritual Qi is abundant here—what an excellent place to cultivate! You must be in some high-grade spirit-gathering chamber, right? Haha, your Immortal Dao Potential is truly limitless!"

That was what his locally installed, offline Little Jade told him.

Seeing this, Chen Zhuo relaxed at once.

"The Spiritual Qi in the Ancient Cultivator world is actually comparable to a high-grade spirit-gathering chamber?"

Chen Zhuo let out a long sigh, feeling a little wistful.

A high-grade spirit-gathering chamber cost ten Spirit Coins per hour.

No wonder he had broken through to the Qi Refining Second Layer so quickly. By the standards of the Immortal Estate world, even his cultivation alone had saved him hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Spirit Coins!

"I heard Ancient Cultivators had fairly ordinary Spiritual Roots and never maintained them. By today's standards, many of them had spiritual energy sensitivity of only ten—an inferior Spiritual Root..."

Chen Zhuo thought, My spiritual energy sensitivity is nineteen. My Spiritual Root is classed as inferior, but it's almost low-grade. Even the standouts among Ancient Cultivators, those with Heavenly Spiritual Roots, only had sensitivity around fifty...

A sensitivity of ten to nineteen meant an inferior Spiritual Root; twenty to twenty-nine meant low-grade; thirty to thirty-nine meant mid-grade.

Only a score from forty to sixty counted as a high-grade Spiritual Root.

Anything above sixty was a supreme-grade Spiritual Root!

Ten thousand years ago, the threshold for a supreme-grade Spiritual Root had been around fifty-five.

But over those ten thousand years of progress, cultivators in the Immortal Estate had learned to maintain their Spiritual Roots and improve them.

Today, the strongest known Spiritual Root belonged to the Immortal Estate's leader, "Heavenly Lord Hunyuan Kaiji Chengzhen," who had reached late Spirit Transformation. His spiritual energy sensitivity was an astonishing ninety-four.

"So by the standards of the Ancient Cultivator world, my Spiritual Root aptitude is that of a normal cultivator..."

It was the only way Chen Zhuo could comfort himself.

Ah Q-style self-consolation might be shameful, but it worked.

With that thought, Chen Zhuo drew a deep breath, savored the Spiritual Qi in the air, and could not help looking intoxicated.

"Now that's the stuff! This is Spiritual Qi. This is cultivating immortality!"

Over the past five days, Chen Zhuo had strained with all his might in the Immortal Estate world and gained only two wisps of Spiritual Qi. It had nearly driven him mad.

Here, he could cultivate a wisp in an hour or two!

That was the difference!

As he cultivated, Chen Zhuo began turning things over in his mind.

By now, he was thoroughly familiar with the Everlasting Spring Art. He only needed to pay a little attention when a major cycle ended; the rest came almost by instinct, leaving him free to think about other things.

For example...

A cultivation marketplace—Cloudford Market!

There had been several sheets of paper in the sinister old man's Storage Bag.

At first, Chen Zhuo hadn't understood the writing on them. After returning to the Immortal Estate and looking it up, he learned that it was an Ancient Cultivator script. He studied a little of it, and with Little Jade's help, unraveled the mystery.

It was the sinister old man's cultivation manual, a method called the Azure Abyss Embracing Unity Scripture.

To tell the truth, Chen Zhuo had been startled at first.

With a name that grand, it had to be a high-level manual!

Later, Chen Zhuo discovered that a grand name did not necessarily make for a high-level manual.

The Azure Abyss Embracing Unity Scripture was merely a low-level, water-aligned method for Qi Refinement cultivators. It was slower to cultivate than the free method distributed by the Immortal Estate, Whale Swallowing Art (Fifty-First Edition).

It did include a few minor spells, though, which surprised Chen Zhuo.

Spells such as Soft Water Barrier and Water Thread Bind.

One raised a protective barrier; the other bound its target.

The barrier the Sword Qi Talisman had torn through so easily had been this spell. It was basically useless, but better than nothing.

Although Chen Zhuo had a single Wood Attribute Spiritual Root, cultivators were never confined to their own alignment. As long as they had Spiritual Qi, they could learn the spells.

Without the matching Spiritual Root, though, casting them merely consumed his magical power. In sheer strength, his spells would fall far short of those cast by cultivators with the matching roots.

Besides the sinister old man's cultivation manual, there was also a map.

A map of this world!

Chen Zhuo's spirits lifted!

The map marked quite a few places, including dangerous areas. The sinister old man had probably bought it elsewhere.

It also bore many of the Sinister Old Man's notes and markings, some written in peculiar terms.

But the notes had been meant for the old man's own use, and Chen Zhuo could not work out what some of them meant.

He did, however, recognize several place names.

Cloudford Market, Jade Radiance Market, and the Grand Void Little Market!

There were three cultivator marketplaces in these mountains!

The map contained other notes as well. All three markets, for instance, were marked "under the protection of the Qiwu Sword Sect."

The problem was that Chen Zhuo did not know where he was. This was no game map considerate enough to mark its holder's current location.

Still, from the map's descriptions of the surrounding terrain and the Sinister Old Man's claim that he came from Cloudford Market, Chen Zhuo could roughly deduce his position.

He was probably a few dozen kilometers from Cloudford Market.

Chen Zhuo shook his head, set the matter aside, and devoted himself to cultivation.

The most important thing now was to break through to the Qi Refining Third Layer.

Cloudford Market and the other marketplaces could wait until he was strong enough to explore them.

Chen Zhuo sat cross-legged beside the stream, steadied his breathing, and circulated the Everlasting Spring Art.

Although Chen Zhuo had taken no pills over the past five days, he had eaten leopard meat every day, storing up plenty of energy within his body.

Now, guided by Spiritual Qi, the power accumulated from that meat erupted at last.

Boom!

A muffled sound came from within Chen Zhuo's body.

His eyes snapped open, shooting out flashes like lightning. He felt as though he had shed his old bones and been remade.

"Qi Refining Third Layer—I did it!"