Right Mind Formula

Li Yu greeted Lu Dan, hoisted Jin Ling onto his back-she was too exhausted to move-and headed back with him.

"Have you taken on a disciple, young friend?" Lu Dan asked curiously.

"Not at all. Like you, I'm only teaching her some basic knowledge." Li Yu shook his head.

Lu Dan fell silent for the rest of the walk. Only as they stepped into the courtyard did he say, "It seems you, too, are blessed with fortune, young friend."

Fortune?

Confusion showed on Li Yu's face, but Lu Dan said nothing more and went straight to his room.

Shi Sang was waiting at the entrance with her belly protruding. Seeing Jin Ling on Li Yu's back, she hurried over to take her from him. "Sorry for the trouble, Immortal Master..."

After putting Jin Ling back in bed, Shi Sang brought a bag of spirit stones to Li Yu. She said she would refund his rent as previously agreed, and had even added two more.

Li Yu took only the two extra stones and said those would be enough.

Unable to persuade him otherwise, Shi Sang could only thank him. A little while later, she brought him a bowl of rice with meat.

Li Yu said, "I've no longer needed food since I began cultivating. You don't need to bring me any from now on."

Shi Sang looked hesitant, but still nodded.

At dawn the next day, Li Yu opened his eyes and drew his Taiyi true essence, now back at the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, into his dantian.

Having mastered Taiyi Starshine, he could fully grasp the state of his own body. Thus, this breakthrough had come naturally, like water flowing into a channel.

Moreover, at his current pace, he could return to his peak—the Qi Refinement Ninth Layer—within half a year.

But for Li Yu now, the real focus was Whirling Illumination.

Ever since learning about this realm, he had been pondering it, yet he still had not crossed its threshold. Aside from his comprehension, the key problem was his lack of a foundation.

Li Yu could only pin his hopes on the Great Evolution Academy.

Although the Galaxy Platform had countless instructional videos, his progress was slow without anyone to teach him. He also needed to cultivate the Purple Glow Art and the Taiyi True Explanation, leaving him little time to study.

Just as he was about to watch a livestream, he suddenly heard movement outside.

Opening the door, he found Jin Ling huddled in the kitchen, boiling water.

As soon as she saw Li Yu, Jin Ling brought him a bowl of thin rice porridge.

Seeing that the sun was about to rise, Li Yu took Jin Ling to the earthen hill to cultivate the Purple Glow Art again.

This time, after sitting upright with her eyes closed for the time it took an incense stick to burn, Jin Ling actually succeeded in drawing a wisp of great sun ascendant purple qi into her body.

"Hm?"

Li Yu was greatly surprised. On closer inspection, he discovered that Jin Ling had already formed her spiritual sense.

A quarter of an hour later, Jin Ling's spiritual sense was exhausted, forcing her cultivation to stop. But she had refined three wisps of great sun ascendant purple qi.

"Did you develop your spiritual sense last night?" Li Yu stopped practicing Yi Light Condensing Edge and could not help asking.

To grasp the basics in a single day meant that Jin Ling possessed not only extraordinary aptitude, but also top-tier comprehension.

Jin Ling hesitated, then explained, "Last night, Old Master Lu taught me a Right Mind Formula..."

Right Mind Formula?

Was it a cultivation method of the Orthodox School?

Sectarian boundaries were taken seriously here in Mountain Sea, and asking about another sect's inherited cultivation methods was taboo, so Li Yu did not question her further.

He planned to ask Old Master Lu directly when he returned that evening.

After waiting a while for Jin Ling to recover some of her energy, Li Yu told her to go home first.

He went to the inner city instead, strolling along a street where cultivators gathered. Thanks to the Ordinary Mask, no one paid attention to him, allowing Li Yu to listen in at ease and gather all sorts of news.

One piece of information particularly caught his attention.

Ying Ruomu had chartered a second-tier Subsea Vessel and gone out to sea with several close friends.

Hearing this, Li Yu breathed a sigh of relief, then asked around about pearl harvesting.

He had not forgotten that this was his assignment. Moreover, harvesting pearls was his best chance of earning enough spirit stones in a short time.

Pearls containing spiritual energy were used as fragments of spirit stones, as were shells.

For low-level cultivators, a single spirit stone was still quite a lot. For example, one spirit stone could buy dozens of fasting pills, but low-level cultivators only stocked a bottle when heading out to sea or exploring island ruins. In their daily lives, they preferred to cook and eat meat themselves.

Many items sold at the stalls along this street were priced at just a few spiritual pearls or a string of spiritual shells.

Precisely for that reason, pearl harvesting was a job with a guaranteed minimum return and a very high ceiling.

The Five Lotus Sect's pearl-harvesting grounds ranked among the top three in these waters for their yield rate, so many outsiders wanted to get in.

For instance, the Sea Shell Token in Li Yu's possession, which granted entry and exit, could sell for a hundred spirit stones on the local black market.

Hearing this, Li Yu was tempted. Selling it would give him exactly enough to buy passage to Southland.

But it was still too early. If the sect discovered something like this, he would be severely punished.

Because direct sales of Sea Shell Tokens were strictly investigated, the local black market had another method: selling one-time access.

For example, someone could pay one spirit stone to rent Li Yu's token for a day. However many spiritual pearls they harvested that day would all belong to them.

This required a reputable broker to act as guarantor, however. Otherwise, someone could easily rent it and never return.

And such incidents were far from uncommon.

Once an outsider took a token away, the operation of the formation enveloping the entire pearl-harvesting ground had to be changed if the matter came to light. The access tokens held by the other disciples also had to be updated. Within the sect, this was considered a grave offense.

Li Yu committed this information to memory, then went to look around the docks. There were many professional pearl harvesters here, both mortals and cultivators, all available for hire.

For instance, disciples of the Five Lotus Sect who had accepted pearl-harvesting assignments and wanted to finish quickly could register at the local branch and bring hired outsiders inside with them. Some, however, had sticky fingers and often secretly swallowed high-quality spiritual pearls while harvesting, carrying them away in their bellies. Thus, this trade too was a mix of fish and dragons, requiring careful scrutiny.

After making his inquiries, Li Yu calmly analyzed the situation and decided to withdraw. Forget it. I'll give it a try myself once my Taiyi Starshine advances another step.

At present, Taiyi Starshine only allowed him to look inward. Once it advanced another level, he would be able to observe things outside his body.

Then, as long as something was within his field of vision, he would be able to detect any unusual fluctuations of spiritual energy.

Li Yu felt

that using it to harvest pearls would surely bring a great haul.

It was still early when he returned.

Li Yu took out his tablet and began browsing. As soon as he opened the Galaxy Platform, he discovered a private message in his inbox.

The moment he opened it, he stood up in excitement.

It had been sent by the Great Evolution Academy's official account.