Spirit Pill Pavilion

Once Xu Changxing began circulating the cultivation formula of the Spring Renewal Art, the spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth swiftly gathered toward him.

Without realizing it, he settled into cultivation.

And without his noticing, the glow of the morning sun slowly appeared on the horizon.

Xu Changxing had actually cultivated for an entire night.

Yet when he opened his eyes again, he felt none of the exhaustion of a sleepless night. Instead, his mind was clear and his body refreshed.

With the aid of his third-grade Wood Spiritual Root, he had mastered the basics of the Spring Renewal Art in a single night.

Beyond that, he was delighted to discover that he could cultivate without spirit stones.

Thanks to his third-grade Wood Spiritual Root, he could absorb the spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth.

Xu Changxing quietly estimated for a while and found that cultivating by absorbing ambient spiritual energy was roughly twenty to thirty percent as efficient as cultivating with spirit stones.

Although that efficiency was hardly impressive, it had the advantages of being sustainable and completely free.

In places rich in spiritual energy, his cultivation efficiency would rise even further.

Moreover, cultivating with spirit stones was now more than three times as efficient as before, and he could make better use of the spiritual energy within them.

If he had possessed a third-grade Wood Spiritual Root when he first transmigrated, he would most likely have reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement by now. With a little more luck, even completing Foundation Establishment would not have been impossible.

On the path of cultivation, the gulf between having talent and lacking it was simply enormous.

Beyond cultivation speed, the power of the same Spell Arts differed dramatically depending on whether the cultivator possessed a spiritual root.

The Wood Attribute Spell Arts Xu Changxing cast now were at least twice as powerful as those cast by cultivators with Wood Spiritual Roots of the lower three grades.

And that was with only a third-grade Wood Spiritual Root.

If he could obtain a first-grade spiritual root, or even a heavenly spiritual root, then even the most basic Spell Arts would become terrifying in his hands.

It was said that geniuses who were invincible among their peers needed spiritual roots of at least the third grade.

Otherwise, no number of magical artifacts could bridge the gap in spiritual roots. After all, those top geniuses would hardly lack magical artifacts themselves.

With my current aptitude, I probably still don't count as a top genius, but in an ordinary sect, I should be considered pretty talented...

Xu Changxing basked in that thought for a while before suddenly realizing a problem.

He was out of spirit stones.

He had already exchanged everything he gained from killing Gao Teng and those thugs for points.

If he wanted to run another simulation now, he would have to find a way to get spirit stones.

Where to get them, however, was a problem.

Although his cultivation had improved considerably, he was still at the very bottom of the cultivation world.

One careless move could get him killed.

There were, once again, two paths before him.

The first was to head to Red Sparrow Town, as he had in the previous simulations.

In those simulations, he had always settled in Red Sparrow Town first, and nothing unexpected had happened.

That suggested it was relatively safe there.

He could also obtain Xia Shanyang's letter of recommendation there, making it the more reliable option.

The second path was to destroy the unknown demon in the ruined temple.

If he could eliminate that demon, he would most likely obtain a magical artifact used to suppress it.

An artifact capable of suppressing a demon would sell for at least several hundred low-grade spirit stones.

Although that unknown demon had damaged his foundation in an earlier simulation, he had survived, after all.

With the seal still holding firm, he did have a chance of eliminating the demon.

But after a little thought, he abandoned the idea.

It simply was not worth it.

This world was far too dangerous. Picking a fight with a demon clearly stronger than himself for a demon-suppressing artifact of unknown grade was hardly wise.

When he had the option of playing it safe, it was better to do just that.

Having made his decision, Xu Changxing left without looking back.

Two days later, he arrived in Red Sparrow Town.

Red Sparrow Town was not large, but it was quite lively.

After making a circuit of the town, he bought a courtyard residence near the cultivators' market.

The courtyard was quite spacious, and the rooms were clean and tidy.

Its price was also rather steep, costing Xu Changxing a full two low-grade spirit stones.

This was his first time spending spirit stones, and it felt quite good.

Once the former owner had left, he took the bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills out of his Storage Bag.

In the earlier simulations, he had relied on this bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills to reach the eighth level of Qi Refining.

Now, however, he hesitated.

Taking the Spirit-Gathering Pills would indeed allow him to break through his current cultivation level.

But if he sold the bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills for spirit stones, he would very likely have enough points for another simulation.

In the previous few simulations, he had always reached the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement.

Putting the same spirit stones into the system would most likely yield a greater return.

With that thought, Xu Changxing put away the bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills and headed out toward the market.

He had originally intended to find a spot in the market and set up a street stall. After all, he had done that for over a decade and knew the trade inside out.

But before he had gone far, he spotted a Spirit Pill Pavilion.

An idea stirred in his mind, and he walked inside.

Xu Changxing was now a Seventh Qi Refining Level cultivator with a third-grade Wood Spiritual Root. Even dressed in hemp clothing, his bearing was far beyond that of an ordinary person.

The shop assistant did not dare show the slightest neglect and hurried over with a broad smile.

Xu Changxing wasted no words. He took out the bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills and asked,

"Do you buy Spirit-Gathering Pills here?"

The assistant smiled. "Of course we do.

"For pills as easy to sell as Spirit-Gathering Pills, we pay eighty percent of the selling price."

Xu Changxing took the bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills out of his Storage Bag and asked,

"Take a look at these Spirit-Gathering Pills. How many spirit stones can you offer?"

The assistant uncorked the bottle and sniffed it, then carefully considered the lingering scent for a moment before saying,

"This bottle contains twelve Spirit-Gathering Pills of middling quality.

"We can offer you four low-grade spirit stones per pill.

"With twelve pills in the bottle, how about we round it up to fifty low-grade spirit stones?"

Curious, Xu Changxing asked, "You can approve this transaction yourself?

"Don't you need to ask your shopkeeper to inspect them?"

The assistant smiled. "If someone else brought pills in, we would naturally have to examine them carefully.

"But you have such an impressive bearing that anyone can tell you are no ordinary man. Why would you deceive us over a mere dozen or so low-grade spirit stones?

"Naturally, there is no need to inspect this bottle of Spirit-Gathering Pills again.

"But if you would like to meet our shopkeeper, I can ask him to come out."

At those words, Xu Changxing's expression grew rather strange.

There had also been a Spirit Pill Workshop in Kettle Bell Town, where he had previously scraped out a living. Back when he ran a stall there, he would occasionally go to the workshop to accept herb-gathering jobs.

Over time, he had become familiar with the assistants there and gained a rough understanding of the Spirit Pill Workshop's trading procedures.

Whenever that Spirit Pill Workshop bought pills, the shopkeeper inspected the goods personally, using several detection spells each time to ensure there was nothing wrong with them.

The shopkeeper of Kettle Bell Town's Spirit Pill Workshop guarded not only against cultivators coming to sell pills, but also against his own assistants at every moment.

If an assistant dared accept a customer's pills without permission, the punishment ranged from a vicious beating to having their corpse dumped in the wilderness.