Chapter 19

Li Yang thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you have any First Grade Low Stage Star-Attracting Pills?"

"You want to trade it for lower-stage ones? Why? This one is better quality, causes less rejection when you use it, and can increase your cultivation speed."

Li Yang shook her head. "I don't want to waste it."

Fang Chuyun: "..."

Li Yang said frankly, "I don't need to cultivate that quickly, so I want to trade it for lower-stage Star-Attracting Pills. When I cultivate, I'll have a greater margin for error too."

That was the difference between people from humble backgrounds and scions of prominent families.

The latter sought high-quality pills and took pills above their level, wanting to cultivate faster; but how could the former afford such things? They had to count every penny and put every last resource to use on the cutting edge of the blade.

Fang Chuyun paused. "All right, then I'll trade you three First Grade Low Stage Star-Attracting Pills for it."

Li Yang immediately said, "Then I'll pay you another fifty thousand yuan." She happened to have that much on hand.

But Fang Chuyun said, "No need. My sister's company produces First Grade Low Stage Star-Attracting Pills. I get a discount when I buy them: two hundred and fifty thousand for three."

Li Yang was filled with respect when she heard that. "Sister Fang is amazing!"

Fang Chuyun said, "She minored in pill-making, so she went into a related business."

Li Yang admired her from the bottom of her heart.

A pill company...

That sounded really rich!

Fang Chuyun acted swiftly and decisively. She took Li Yang's Second Grade Star-Attracting Pill and soon returned with three First Grade Low Stage Star-Attracting Pills.

The two chatted for a while longer before Fang Chuyun left.

After closing the door, Li Yang looked at the lower-stage Star-Attracting Pills on the table.

She wondered how much lifespan it would take to improve the quality of these low-quality Star-Attracting Pills.

If it wasn't much, this could be a way to make money.

Li Yang picked up a lower-stage Star-Attracting Pill and thought, Consume one year of lifespan to improve the quality of the Star-Attracting Pill.

[Drawing on your limited pill-making experience, you attempt to purify an extremely inferior Star-Attracting Pill. Fortunately, though your pill-making skills are poor, the pill's quality is even worse. After a year of tireless effort, you have improved the Star-Attracting Pill to Second Grade.]

Li Yang: "!"

She ignored the system's pile of nonsense and looked straight at the last line.

It had actually reached Second Grade, and it had only cost one year of lifespan!

Sure enough, the five years she had sunk into it before hadn't been wasted. Now that her pill-making experience had improved, the lifespan consumed had decreased too.

A Star-Attracting Pill with a market price of a hundred thousand had become worth two hundred and fifty thousand in minutes.

This deal worked!

Of course, that was on the condition that she entered Central Capital Academy's agronomy department and gained a stable, safe source of "lifespan."

Li Yang longed for that field of golden wheat more than ever.

Gold was good.

It wasn't just life—it was money too!

Chapter 19

Li Yang also raised the remaining two First Grade, Stage One Star-Attracting Pills to Second Grade.

But she couldn't bear to spend more of her life improving the other three First Grade High Stage Star-Attracting Pills Zhong Kun had given her.

This would do. Three Second Grade pills plus three First Grade High Stage pills made six Star-Attracting Pills in total, enough to last her a while.

As for trading...

There was no rush. She could wait until she got to military academy.

Li Yang quite liked Fang Chuyun and could tell she was straightforward, but they weren't very close yet, and it wouldn't do to keep troubling her.

Besides, she had to keep things secret on Zhong Kun's side too.

She could explain one Star-Attracting Pill as payment for helping him deal with a mutant plant, but another three would be harder to explain.

After putting the Star-Attracting Pills away on her person, Li Yang looked at the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique.

She had originally planned to wait until she enrolled and had a professional teacher before cultivating, but Zhong Kun and Fang Chuyun had both said she could start once she reached the limit of her physique... so she would get some practice in early.

She still had her academic exam ahead of her, followed by a summer vacation of more than two months. She wouldn't officially enroll until September.

Rather than waste that time, she might as well improve her strength as much as possible.

Li Yang glanced at the system panel. She still had thirty-two years of lifespan, enough to "splurge" a little more.

"Consume one year of lifespan to cultivate the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique."

[You persevere in meditation for a year. Because your comprehension is so poor, you struggle to master even the most basic breathing method. Your progress in cultivating the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique is 10%.]

Li Yang couldn't help complaining, "Did this Longevity System minor in PUA?"

Day after day, it either said her talent was poor or that she was stupid. Now it had found a new way to put it and started saying her comprehension was poor!

Li Yang had plenty of "life" on hand, so she wasn't worried. She continued consuming her lifespan.

If one year gave her 10% progress, then ten years should be enough, right?

It was past nine in the evening, and Li Yang wasn't planning to do any more practice questions. She simply consumed her lifespan one year at a time, watching her progress in the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique.

20%... 30%... 40%...

The system kept using the same wording, and amid one cry of "your comprehension is so poor" after another, she finally forced her progress up to 100%.

[Although your comprehension is extremely poor, your willpower far surpasses that of ordinary people, and you have finally learned the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique. A new function will soon be available on the system panel. Please wait.]

Huh, another new function?

Li Yang watched the system panel intently. It had turned grayish white and seemed to be undergoing adjustments.

It was taking a little longer this time. Li Yang sat on her bed with nothing to do but wait, and her thoughts began to wander.

It had taken her ten years to learn the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique... her comprehension really was a bit poor, huh.

Li Yang didn't know how long other military academy students needed to learn it, but it surely didn't take them this long. Forget ten years, she guessed they wouldn't even need one... Hmm, maybe they could get started in a month?

After all, this was only a basic cultivation technique.

About ten minutes later, the system lit up again.

It was clearly a major upgrade. The entire interface had become more polished, and the deathly white page now had a faint green glow.

Li Yang was quite pleased. "Longevity System, now you're starting to look a little full of life."

The personal information section had also become clearer, and new data had appeared.

Name: Li Yang

Lifespan: 22 years / 50 years

Physique: 95

Spirit: 90

Star Apertures: 1 (95%)

Cultivation technique: Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique (100%)

Pills: Star-Attracting Pills (can be improved)

Note: Only 22 years of lifespan remain. Please harvest plants as soon as possible to obtain lifespan.

Note 2: The Star-Attracting Pills contain too many impurities. It is recommended that you consume lifespan to purify them.

Li Yang immediately spotted the words "Star Aperture." They were a key term in the Basic Star-Wielding Cultivation Technique.

For an ordinary person to become a Star Wielder, one key threshold was drawing stars into the body.

Simply put, drawing stars into the body involved two steps. First, one had to sense Starlight and draw it into the body through meditation. Second, one had to keep the Starlight inside the body, which required opening the Star Apertures within it.

Because Li Yang had cultivated by spending her life, she had little real sense of the cultivation process. She closed her eyes and tried to sense where her Star Aperture was.

The instant she closed her eyes, she entered the meditative state that had once been so difficult to achieve.

Though her eyes were closed, she saw her own "body."

Of course, it wasn't her actual body, but a silhouette in the darkness. It was as though her soul had left her body, allowing her to observe it from the outside.

In the dark night, her body was only a blurry outline, with a tiny point of starlight at her heart.

The point of starlight was small, but bright.

Especially in all that darkness, it shone as brilliantly as the North Star.

Was this a Star Aperture?

Li Yang opened her eyes and looked at the system panel again.

She pondered. Only one Star Aperture has opened, but what does the 95% after it mean? What will happen when it reaches 100%?

Li Yang looked at the notes below.

Two of the original four notes were gone, including the reminder about the upper limit of her Physique Points.

Did that mean she could continue increasing her Physique Points?

Li Yang noticed something else. "My Physique Points are at 95, and the progress for Star Aperture 1 is exactly 95% too. Is there a connection?"

Li Yang decided to test it. "Consume one year of lifespan to increase my Physique Points."

[You cultivate in seclusion for a year. Because there is too little Starlight in your surroundings and you have too few Star Apertures, your Physique Points increase to 120.]

Li Yang drew a sharp breath. "That much?!"

Reading the first part of the system's message, she had thought her Physique Points would rise by a few points at most. She hadn't expected them to burst forth and shoot all the way up to 120!

The next instant, Li Yang let out a low moan.

Sure enough, when her Physique Points rose too much, her body reacted noticeably.

Her physique had already been very strong for an ordinary person. Now that these twenty-five Physique Points had been added, she felt her body undergo changes that went beyond human limits.

A thin sweat broke out on Li Yang's forehead. The pain wasn't just from her muscles growing; her bones were cracking and popping too. She looked down at her palm and saw a little Starlight flickering there, while her body continued to grow stronger.

Li Yang clenched her fist. She felt that if she put even a little strength into it, she could smash the bed into a pile of powder.

The feeling of being full of strength was wonderful. Li Yang felt that even her five senses had sharpened. With her Spirit Points already at 90, her mind felt clearer than ever and her thoughts opened up, leaving her feeling as though she could work through mock college entrance exams all night without tiring.

In just three to five minutes, Li Yang had adapted to the changes in her body.

Sure enough, as her physique increased, her ability to adapt had improved too. It was unlike the beginning, when she had rolled all over the bed in pain.

Li Yang summoned the system panel again and looked at the Star Aperture field.

As her Physique Points rose to 120, her Star Apertures had changed as well. The number of Star Apertures had become two, and the progress after it was now "20%."

It wasn't just her Star Apertures that had changed. Even her maximum lifespan had broken through to one hundred years!