Chen Banxia (Thanks to "Yidu Aaa" for becoming a top supporter)

The hotel room had a meditation cushion, standard equipment in just about every guest room in this world for cultivators who liked to meditate.

Chen Shu cultivated until midnight and was exhausted.

Lately, he had begun to sense it—

His Spirit Sea Lock had loosened.

Whenever he finished cultivating, at the moment his spiritual power was fullest, he could faintly feel that he might shake the Spirit Sea.

At this point, the strength of his Spirit Sea would barely improve further, so the daily improvement in the quality of his spiritual power had become negligible.

His cultivation had hit a bottleneck.

He had also met the minimum requirement for using a breakthrough potion.

It was time to attempt a breakthrough.

If he relied solely on himself to attack the Spirit Sea Lock, Chen Shu estimated it might take him more than two years to go from being able to shake the Spirit Sea to breaking the lock and expanding it.

That did have a benefit: over those years, the gains in Spirit Sea strength and spiritual power quality would be tiny, but not zero. And the strength of the Spirit Sea and the quality of spiritual power before a breakthrough directly determined the capacity of the new Spirit Sea afterward. So there was a benefit to taking it one step at a time.

A tiny one.

But the time cost was too high, and the payoff too low.

If you went without a potion, your Spirit Sea might indeed be a smidge larger than those of other equally talented Fourth-Tier Cultivators by the time you reached the Fourth Tier. But cultivators your age with similar talent would probably have reached the Sixth Tier and been standing at the pinnacle of life for ages.

Chen Shu generally chose a middle path.

After reaching a bottleneck, he would keep cultivating until he felt he could make no further progress, then use a potion to break through. That also improved his odds of success.

Thank goodness for technological progress.

If he had been born in ancient times, he probably could not have afforded those rare treasures and miraculous pills.

Their effects might not have been good, either, and most came with side effects. But with modern pharmacology advancing by leaps and bounds, cultivators in the First through Third Tiers who met the requirements for potion use generally had a success rate above ninety-five percent when breaking through with a potion. There were no side effects, and it did not affect later cultivation.

Things were different at the middle tiers.

Potions still helped somewhat with the breakthrough from the Third Tier to the Fourth, but after the Fourth Tier, their effect became vanishingly small. They could only serve as an aid or a placebo. At present, no potion anywhere in the world could help with advancement to the high tiers or beyond.

Thus, low-tier cultivators were nothing unusual in this world. With decent talent and a willingness to work, you could reach the Third Tier on potions alone.

Middle-tier cultivators were much rarer.

And for various reasons, the Yi Nation government currently had little desire to see anyone outside the military advance to the high tiers. Even for people working in technical research, middle-tier abilities were sufficient. The payoff for advancing higher was too low, and Spirit Decline Syndrome too severe to make it worthwhile.

"Lying down feels better."

Click.

Chen Shu switched on the light and peeled a grapefruit.

It was bitter as anything. Not tasty at all.

He went to the window, opened it, and poked his head out to look next door. The light in Ning Qing's room had gone out long ago.

He woke after a full night's sleep.

He and Ning Qing went out for a bowl of hot-and-sour rice noodles. Those were no good either—not sour at all. Ning Qing went back to the hotel, while Chen Shu unlocked a shared bike and followed the navigation to his sister's place.

It was not very far.

With his youthful looks, Chen Shu soon slipped into the residential complex, where most tenants were students. He found the door at the given address. It stood ajar.

Creak...

Chen Shu pushed it open and stuck his head inside.

The apartment was not large; he could see the living room at a glance. His first impression was that it got plenty of light. It had a projecting balcony, and the decor and furniture were fresh in color, simple, and tasteful. He did not know if she had tidied up before his arrival, but the place was quite neat.

A woman lay curled up on the sofa, hugging a cushion, apparently asleep.

He took a closer look. Yep, it was her.

Chen Banxia.

He had the right place.

Chen Shu walked in, glanced at the woman on the sofa, then turned and deliberately slammed the door.

Bang!

Chen Banxia woke with a start and sat up, revealing a face that looked sixteen or seventeen. Her skin was snow-white, and her big eyes went wide.

"Why did you slam it so hard!?"

"Sis! My dear sis! Haven't seen me in so long—did you miss me?" Chen Shu walked into the living room with a smile and sniffed. He caught a faint medicinal smell, which did not surprise him. His sister was studying pharmacology at Jade Capital University.

"Why are you talking like that?"

"I can't do the impression."

"And that... that..."

Chen Banxia put down her cushion and stood up, peering behind him. She recalled how Chen Shu had put it. "Where's that girlfriend you're not dating? Why didn't she come?"

"She has things to do."

"What could she have to do when she's just arrived in Jade Capital?"

"That's none of your—"

"I bought her candy when she was little, and she can't even come see me." Chen Banxia was a little unhappy, but her attention soon shifted. "You stayed at a hotel last night?"

"In two rooms..."

"I don't believe you!"

"I'll show you the booking."

"Fake! A smokescreen! You made it just to fool me! I'm not listening!"

"You're overestimating how much you matter to me. Going out of my way to lie to you wouldn't be worth it."

"Hmph..."

Chen Shu sat down on the sofa and pulled Chen Banxia's cushion into his arms.

It still held the warmth of her embrace. Nice and cozy.

Chen Banxia did not look much like Professor Chen or Lawyer Wei, though there was a slight resemblance. She looked more like Professor Chen's younger sister—Chen Shu's aunt. She was neither tall nor short, with a face that made her age remarkably hard to guess: round baby cheeks, very fair skin, and eyes as large and round as a child's. Like a child's, they were still bright and dark, reflecting the light. It was hard to believe she was twenty-five.

She looked sixteen or seventeen, fresh out of secondary school.

Chen Shu turned toward this girl who only looked like a teenager. "You leave your door open while you sleep at home? Aren't you afraid some thug might come in?"

"Your big sister's powers are beyond compare!"

"Hah~~"

Chen Shu could not be bothered with her. He looked around the apartment she rented. "How many rooms does this place have?"

"Two bedrooms and two living areas."

"Why rent a two-bedroom place when you live alone?"

"One-bedroom places are too hard to find. Otherwise I'd have to share with someone. I might as well rent two bedrooms and use the spare one for pharmaceutical experiments."

"No roommate?"

"No."

"Really no roommate?"

"?"

"Hmm..."

Still suspicious, Chen Shu got up and crept toward the two bedroom doors. He opened one first: a bedroom decorated like a little princess's. Behind the other was an empty bed frame against the wall, piled with odds and ends. The remaining space held an experiment table and a lot of things he did not recognize.

She really did live alone.

When he turned around, Chen Banxia's adorable, girlish face was right in front of him, staring.

A fair-skinned fist shot toward him.

Thump!

Chen Banxia drew back her hand, displeasure creasing her brow. "You don't trust your big sister!"

"What if you've started dating someone?"

"You know your big sister that poorly? You deserve a punch for that too!"

"You didn't believe me just now..."

"You two were childhood sweethearts. Ning Qing said she wanted to marry you when she was little—you told me that yourself. A girlfriend you're 'not dating'? Is that the same thing?"

"Whatever you say..."

Chen Shu did not much care. He stretched and looked down at Chen Banxia. "What are you treating me to for lunch today, my dear sis?"

"I bought groceries. You can cook for me."

"I come all the way to your place, and you're not taking me out to eat..." Chen Shu could hardly believe it. "And you want me to cook?"

"I haven't had your cooking in ages. I've missed it."

"Hmm..."

"Go on, cook! Once your big sister's happy, I'll buy you a potion to break through from the First Tier to the Second!" Chen Banxia smiled, looking adorable even then. "I'd guess you're almost ready to break through to the Second Tier, right?"

"Soon, soon."

"You understand?"

"I understand, I understand." Chen Shu nodded repeatedly. After a pause, he asked, "Can I have the cash instead?"

"Why would you want cash?"

"I want to buy it myself."

"Why? Tell me which brand you want and I'll get it for you. I can get an insider price."

"I have a twenty-percent-off coupon."

"You're not planning to spend the money on dating, are you?" Chen Banxia folded her arms and leaned back, eyeing her younger brother suspiciously. She trusted him, but she always had the feeling he was capable of anything. "If you need money for dating, I can give you a dating allowance too. A little one."

"Am I that kind of person? Can't you have a little faith in your own family?" Chen Shu was indignant. "By the way, how much is the dating allowance?"

"Fine, I'll give you cash."

"The dating allowance..."

"We'll talk about that later."

Chen Banxia picked up another cushion, tipped sideways, and lay down on the sofa again, her head by Chen Shu's legs. She closed her eyes. Her face was snow-white, whiter than that of many girls wearing foundation, and naturally so. Her eyelashes were long. "Go cook. I'm going to sleep a while. If you're missing any ingredients, use my phone to order them."

"..."

Seriously. He had only just eaten breakfast, and now he had to make lunch.

Chen Shu went to the fridge first.

Oh, hey, there was even a sticky note on it!

The note read: Dry-tossed noodles with a sausage for breakfast, self-heating hotpot for lunch, luosifen for dinner (remember to cook the cabbage).

"..."

He opened the fridge.

There were slightly wilted, yellowing garlic shoots; unimpressive green peppers; cucumbers of questionable edibility; pork belly, pork tenderloin, fish, chicken, ribs, scallions, ginger, garlic, eggs... Besides those, there were plenty of carbonated drinks, several jars of different condiments to eat with rice, and a tub of spicy pickled cabbage. It was obvious which items were regulars in this fridge.

Chen Shu took a look around the kitchen and found some ingredients and seasonings that did not need refrigeration.

He also found a mountain of instant noodles, luosifen, self-heating hotpots, dried noodles, and the like.

"The life of an older homebody..."

Chen Shu sorted everything out and got to work.

Two hours later.

On the dining table sat braised ribs, twice-cooked pork with garlic shoots, shredded pork with green peppers, mushroom and chicken stew, a whole fish dry-braised in sauce, and a big bowl of cucumber and century egg soup... Chen Shu washed his hands and went over to the living-room sofa. The young woman was sleeping soundly, hugging her cushion. Without ceremony, he reached out and patted her face.

"Lunch is ready, Chen Banxia!"

Her cheeks were plump, soft, and springy. They felt nice.

Thanks to this book's first top supporter—

A bow so deep my chest showed.

Boss, you're too generous!