Take the Shot!

"Judging by appearances, this civilization was basically still in ancient times. But the Qi Refining Fourth Layer cultivator inside that sedan chair proved this really was a world of immortal cultivation."

Chen Zhuo rubbed his chin, thinking as he played the video over and over. "An ancient world of immortal cultivation? Now that was interesting. The books said ancient cultivators were selfish to the bone and loved killing people for their treasures..."

In the Immortal Estate, resources were everything, and cultivators were coldly sorted into ranks. But one thing about it was good: its powerful cultivators did not launch massacres at the slightest disagreement.

Whatever its faults, a capitalist society was still more advanced than a feudal or slave society.

In the Ancient Immortal Realm, the weak were prey to the strong, and strength was king!

Killing people for their treasures, letting a fellow cultivator die so you could live—those were everyday occurrences.

If it really was that kind of world, Chen Zhuo figured he had better be careful and stay alive.

"Fortunately, the World-Breaking Pearl has no cooldown. I can use it whenever I want. If I run into danger, I can leave this world at once and return to the Immortal Estate..."

As Chen Zhuo thought this over, a bold idea occurred to him. Wait. Could I just skip out on my debts?!

Skipping out on debts was hardly commendable, but Chen Zhuo realized that if he could not repay what he owed, he could simply disappear into the Spirit Pearl World.

Then no one would be able to find him!

The trick was a little underhanded, though. Chen Zhuo would not use it unless he had no other choice.

Besides...

There was one problem that worried Chen Zhuo most.

What if the language and customs of the Spirit Pearl World were different from those of the Immortal Estate World?

What if we can't understand each other? The Spirit-Message Jade Slip has a translation function, but I can't exactly take it out. I could communicate directly through divine sense, but I'm only at Qi Refining Second Layer. My divine sense is so weak I couldn't communicate jack shit...

Chen Zhuo sighed. Just then, he noticed something, and his eyes lit up.

He could hear voices in the video!

They were faint, barely there, but unmistakable.

It was a conversation.

The sedan bearers were talking with the person inside.

He could not make out much, but he caught words like "trade" and "spirit slaves."

A thought struck Chen Zhuo, and his eyes lit up!

He could understand them!

The language of this world was almost the same as that of the Immortal Estate!

Only the pronunciation and intonation were slightly different, and neither would get in the way of conversation.

It was a bit like the difference between the southern and northern states on the peninsula.

Or between a northeastern accent and a Henan accent: understandable, just a little different.

"I don't know a thing about this world, so I'd better not wander around blindly."

I should just treat this place as somewhere to cultivate with abundant Spiritual Qi and focus on training, Chen Zhuo thought. Here, I can cultivate at least as fast as someone born with innate spiritual roots. Graduating shouldn't be a problem. If I'm lucky, I might even complete a Junior College-to-University Transfer...

For now, Chen Zhuo's greatest goal was to reach Foundation Establishment during his twenty years as a student and complete a Junior College-to-University Transfer.

He had no choice.

In this world, vocational college was vocational college, and university was university.

Chen Zhuo could not even say he had forgotten his roots. He could only say he had forgotten his vocational college!

Exhausting.

Chen Zhuo sighed and closed his eyes. The next moment, heaven and earth overturned, and the sun and moon went dark.

In an instant, he was back in the Immortal Estate, lying on his bed.

Chen Zhuo opened his eyes and took out the medicines.

"Myriad-Mechanism Essence-Nourishing Solution. Spirit-Flow Stabilizing Injection..."

Chen Zhuo took a deep breath.

He had borrowed more than three hundred Spirit Coins to buy these two medicines. They had cost him nearly everything he had, but their effects were supposed to be impressive.

He had chosen not to inject them in the Spirit Pearl World in case something went wrong afterward and he could not react in time. If all went well, returning to the Spirit Pearl World after the injections would be easy enough.

The trip would cost only a few wisps of Spiritual Qi. He could cultivate those back in half an hour.

"I hope they boost my cultivation speed as much as Sijing said they would!"

Chen Zhuo took out both medicines and followed the instructions to give himself the injections.

There was nothing fancy about it. He went slowly and steadily.

The instant Chen Zhuo injected the spiritual solution, a wave of burning heat surged through him.

"Holy shit!"

Chen Zhuo could not help swearing. The sensation was painful and pleasurable at once, leaving him with feelings too tangled to describe!

"That's enough, that's enough—what a kick!"

All at once, Spiritual Qi rushed toward Chen Zhuo as though it were free.

Chen Zhuo immediately realized he could not cultivate in the Immortal Estate World, where spiritual energy was thin. He would never get the most out of the medicine here!

With that thought, everything before his eyes went dark!

Black light flashed, and Chen Zhuo vanished from his bed in the Immortal Estate.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in the Spirit Pearl World.

He stood beside the same familiar stream, surrounded by the same lush green mountains and clear waters.

This time, though, Chen Zhuo felt entirely different.

"Ah!"

Chen Zhuo could not hold back a cry.

Was this what taking the shot felt like?

"Sore and swollen, but it feels good..."

Gritting his teeth, Chen Zhuo managed to sit cross-legged.

The medicine was taking effect.

It really could make a Qi Refining cultivator's training twice as effective for half the effort.

But once it kicked in, it felt like someone was scraping his calves with a fascia blade.

Pain and pleasure came hand in hand.

As Chen Zhuo sat cross-legged and circulated his cultivation art, Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth surged toward him like a tide. "This..."

"This..."

Chen Zhuo's eyes widened.

He was drawing in Spiritual Qi countless times faster than usual!

When he cultivated in the Immortal Estate, it was like a crow dropping pebbles into a jar and waiting for the water to rise high enough to drink.

Cultivating in the Spirit Pearl World was like drinking through a narrow straw.

But now he had picked up the bottle and was gulping straight from it!

The Spiritual Qi poured into Chen Zhuo like water from a bottle, flooding his body as fast as he could gulp it down.

It flowed through his meridians and began nourishing every part of his body!

Chen Zhuo felt as if his whole body were about to burst!

"Holy shit, that's too fast!"

Chen Zhuo hurriedly circulated the Everlasting Spring Art and began Cultivation!

Under normal circumstances, his body could not withstand such a powerful rush of Spiritual Qi!

But that was all right. Chen Zhuo had come prepared.

The Spirit-Flow Stabilizing Injection.

He had bought it for this very moment!

Another shot!

As the new medicine entered his body, Chen Zhuo soon steadied.

"Phew..."

Chen Zhuo let out a long breath and felt much better.

He could feel his cultivation climbing steadily.

"So this is what a shot can do?"

Chen Zhuo was stunned.

At his normal cultivation speed, even in the Spirit Pearl World, it would take him at least eight months to advance from Qi Refining Second Layer to Qi Refining Third Layer.

But with the injections speeding him along, he might reach Qi Refining Third Layer within a month!

"Traditional cultivation? More like Spell Cultivator cultivation!"

Chen Zhuo immediately abandoned his unrealistic plan to cultivate the old-fashioned way and take things slowly. I need to earn a whole lot of Immortal Dao Potential, then spend Spirit Coins on medicine!

As for whether his head would turn pointy someday, he would worry about that when it happened.

The only problem now was...

There did not seem to be any way to earn Immortal Dao Potential.