The Monster Bar

After returning to his room, Wen Ning decided to do something productive: cultivate.

He sat cross-legged on his bed and checked the merit points he had accumulated lately. Between the reward for the Yamamoto incident, his daily patrols, and running the Bathhouse, he was only a little short of reaching Late Earth Immortal.

Bai Lu had told him last time that he could break through once he saved up twelve thousand. That number was now within reach.

He guided the magical power in his dantian along the circulation route Wen Zhong had taught him, slowly converting his merit into cultivation. The swirling mass of energy in his dantian grew a little denser, and arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips, brighter and heavier than before. But every time he felt close to breaking through, the bottleneck stood like an invisible membrane he simply could not pierce.

After several fruitless attempts, he knew he would not be breaking through tonight.

He was still a little short on merit.

Wen Ning stopped cultivating and flopped onto his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling for a while.

Cultivation was different from back scrubbing. With back scrubbing, every bit of effort produced a matching result.

Sometimes, ten times the effort in cultivation did not even make a ripple. He rolled over, thinking he would go out for a walk tomorrow to clear his head.

The next morning, Wen Ning let his mom know he was going out, then headed up the mountain along the trail behind the village.

Halfway up, the Five Thunder Righteous Method in his dantian suddenly stirred. It was not the wary agitation he felt when encountering evil spirits, but a faint, gentle sensation, as though something nearby was neither human nor ghost.

He stopped and followed that sensation into the