Chapter 9

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

This store owner looked like he was about 30 to 40 years of age. He was wearing a robe that was gray and white in color. His attainments in cultivation weren’t revealed, and he looked as if he was a worldly merchant. However, without even spending too much time thinking about it, Lu Qingfeng knew that this person must be way higher than he was in cultivation to be able to possess so many talismans in his wares.

Perhaps he was already in the Genuine Chi Phase. However, nobody could be sure about that.

“Greetings, elder, my name is Lu Qingfeng. Do you not want me to stay here?” Lu Qingfeng made a bow with his hands folded in front of him as he asked this question.

He had little knowledge of the various rules of the market. It was true that he really didn’t know if he was breaking the rules or not.

“I deem myself unworthy of the elder title, young one. My name is Huang Luo. The only thing that I have that is more than what you have is a few years of age. If you’re willing, you may just call me Brother Luo.”

Seeing that Lu Qingfeng looked quite pleasant, Huang Luo shook his head in answer to Lu Qingfeng’s question and said, “Aside from the stalls in the market that require one to pay rent, you’re free to linger in other places. It’s just that in the earlier phases of cultivation, the last thing you should want to do is to slack off. I see that you’ve been walking around in the market for quite some time and were kind of spacing out a bit. I couldn’t bear to see you like this.”

This was indeed one of the reasons.

Most certainly, however, there was another thing. This stall that he had wasn’t very big. With Lu Qingfeng sitting there and not moving, it was equivalent to occupying half of his store, which would ultimately affect his business.

“Thanks for your reminder, Brother Luo.”

Figuring out what he meant, Lu Qingfeng immediately moved.

“It’s okay. I just hope that you don’t regret it when it’s too late for you to cultivate.” Seeing that Lu Qingfeng only seemed to have understood about half of what he’d been trying to say, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

The mud does not hold the wall, he felt.

He immediately closed his eyes and pretended to go to sleep, unwilling to speak anymore with Lu Qingfeng.

“Farewell.”

Lu Qingfeng was still thinking about talking with this elder who was the first ever who had taken the initiative to speak to him, but he hadn’t expected to be turned off before he’d even started talking. He smiled and left after making a slight bow with both of his hands clasped in front of him.

…

The bustling market formed a stark contrast with the quiet Bluestone Tablet.

In the Bluestone Tablet, he stayed in a very small space.

The workbench for handling medicinal herbs stood in the middle, and it was empty all around it. There was no table, no chair, no bed, and so on.

After Lu Qingfeng was finished handling the medicinal herbs every day, he would cultivate and rest in this space.

Regular players couldn’t stand the silence in the Bluestone Tablet, feeling that the atmosphere was very depressing. Lu Qingfeng, on the contrary, having spent 16 years living in Blackwood Village, was very much used to it.

A 100 times time difference.

A month had passed by in the game, but in the real world, less than four hours had gone by. Lu Qingfeng exited the game, had dinner with Lu Qingyu, and then was pestered by her to teach her to read for a bit before he went back to the game.

This time, he was prepared. Before he went offline, he took a Fasting Pill and paid close attention to the time when he was offline. When he logged into the game again, exactly six days had passed in the game.

“I must continue my cultivation.”

“Cultivating in the Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic.”

“Studying Deciphering Medicine.”

“Handling basic medicinal herbs.”

…

Time flew by without Lu Qingfeng noticing it.

In a trance…

Another two months had passed.

Ever since Lu Qingfeng had enhanced Deciphering Medicine, his speed of handling medicinal herbs had gotten even faster.

Initially, he could exchange for one Yellow Dragon Pill approximately every eight days, which was already doing a lot better than a regular newbie. After one enhancement, it would only take him about four days to exchange for a Yellow Dragon Pill.

Lu Qingfeng redoubled his efforts.

When he’d cultivated his way to Level 3, he once again enhanced Deciphering Medicine.

As the saying goes, sharpening your axe will not delay your job of chopping wood. At present, Lu Qingfeng relied entirely on Deciphering Medicine to complete the herb handling quests of the Luo Sheng Pill Refining Workshop in exchange for Yellow Dragon Pills for cultivation.

For him, enhancing Deciphering Medicine had an even higher cost-performance ratio than enhancing Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic.

Upon a second enhancement, the medicinal herbs Lu Qingfeng could handle every day were at 200 portions with a stable pass rate above 95 percent.

On average, he could acquire 30 portions of handled basic medicinal herbs every day. Every two days, he could exchange for a Yellow Dragon Pill and a Fasting Pill.

“With two enhancements, I think I’ve almost tapped all the potential of Deciphering Medicine. Even if I continue enhancing it, my handling speed and pass rate wouldn’t increase much.”

“I wonder what will happen after I [Elevate] Deciphering Medicine.”

For a technique such as the Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic, upon elevation, its Level cap would be increased, that is, it would extend to more techniques on the basis of the original one.

As for Deciphering Medicine, he really had no clue about what would happen.

“Will more herbs appear?”

“Or will it roughly be the same as an enhancement?”

Lu Qingfeng looked at his experience pool and found that, without his knowledge, his experience points for Level 3 were full again.

“I’ll elevate Deciphering Medicine once and enhance Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic once!”

From Level 1 (0/5) to Level 3 (15/15), it was exactly 30 experience points.

[Deciphering Medicine Updating. Enhance: 0/40; Elevate: 0/10; Merge: 0/10]

“Elevate: 10/10.”

[Scroll: Deciphering Medicine]

[Grade: Preliminary]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance, One-time Elevate]

[Description: This basic Pill Refining manual records the handling methods of 49 kinds of medicinal herbs; attached: Fasting Pill Recipe.]

“Fasting Pill Recipe?”

Lu Qingfeng checked the elevated Deciphering Medicines and found that there were neither more medicinal herbs nor any enhancements, only a recipe for the Fasting Pill.

“Elevating Deciphering Medicines will give me pill recipes?”

Thinking about it carefully, the content of Deciphering Medicines had been 49 basic medicinal herbs, including their handling methods. This scroll itself was the Fundamentals of Pill Refining. After it was elevated, what it did was precisely updating it on its basis. Hence, acquiring a pill recipe was entirely normal.

This would save Lu Qingfeng from the trouble of searching for pill recipes. Even if it was only a simple recipe like that of the Fasting Pill, if he wanted to get one, he wouldn’t have to think about getting it at a price of less than 20 Fasting Pills.

Now, it only cost him three Yellow Dragon Pills, plus some time.

It was entirely within the scope of his acceptance.

“If I can get the Fasting Pill’s recipe, maybe I can further elevate it to get the Yellow Dragon Pill’s recipe as well.”

Lu Qingfeng was tempted. Immediately, he gave up on enhancing the Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic to elevate Deciphering Medicine one more time.

His Level immediately went down like him taking off his pants, back to Level 1. However, the outcome of the update left Lu Qingfeng in very much joy.

[Scroll: Deciphering Medicine]

[Grade: Preliminary]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance, Two-time Elevate]

[Description: This basic Pill Refining manual records the handling methods of 49 kinds of medicinal herbs; attached: Fasting Pill Recipe, Yellow Dragon Pill Recipe.]

“The recipe for the Yellow Dragon Pill.”

This was like literally being given a pillow when he was sleepy.

With this pill recipe, Lu Qingfeng could study the art of Pill Refining in advance. Then, when he’d mastered the refining methods of the Fasting Pill and the Yellow Dragon Pill, his cultivation in the real world would also be able to advance by leaps and bounds.

However, calculating his time, he realized that he had spent a total of three months in the game after he’d been reincarnated. In reality, about a day and a night had gone by. It was almost time for him to get out of bed.

“I’ll go off now and continue my studies at night.”

Life in reality still had to go on.

At the very least, before Lu Qingfeng was able to contend with or avoid the Truth Sect sufficiently, he still had to use some of his window-dressing skills to cover up what he was up to.

Also, the crops in the fields must not be abandoned. Based on his current progress in cultivation, he wouldn’t be able to accumulate enough strength before exhausting all the food at home.

Without crops, he wouldn’t starve to death if he learned how to refine Fasting Pills, but if he couldn’t pay tribute to the Truth Sect, it would spell trouble.

…

From this day onward…

Lu Qingfeng worked in the morning and spent two hours in the afternoon cultivating in the Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic and collecting and handling herbs.

In this way, he had to enter the game every half an hour and eat one Fasting Pill to stay alive. This might seem to be a little troublesome, and, in fact, his timing had to be extremely precise. The time when he had to log into the game couldn’t be even one breath cycle late.

Unfortunately, without Lu Qingfeng in control, his avatar in the game couldn’t work on the Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic. If he could have gained Levels when he was offline, his efficiency would have improved by 30 to 50 percent.

However, even though he wasn’t able to cultivate when he was offline…

Lu Qingfeng would enter the game at 6:00 o’clock in the evening every day and go offline at 8:00 o’clock the next morning. Every night, he would stay in the game for two months.

In the blink of an eye, ten days went by in reality.

In the game, three years and four months passed, and, though his time was intermittent, Lu Qingfeng had stayed in the game for a whole two years.

…

Name: Lu Qingfeng

Race: Human

Faction: None

Title: None

Cultivation Stage: Level 1 of Postnatal-Fetal Phase

Level: 1 (3/5)

Chi Control: 4/4 (Grade: Refined)

Destined Life Span: 19/68

Innate Talent Level: 1

Merit: Unknown

Karma: Unknown

Technique: Yellow Court Classic (Novice) [Property: Ability Upgrade (Level 1); Commanding Power (Level 1); Karma Nullification (Level 1)]; Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic Level 2 (Apex) [Updatable]

Magic: Fireball (Level 1); Celestial Eye (Level 1); Shifting Steps (Level 1); Smoldering Palm (Level 1)

Abhijna: None

Equipment: None

Pill Refining: Fundamentals of Pill Refining (Expert) [Updatable]; Deciphering Medicine (Expert) [Updatable]

West City District.

Lu Qingfeng called upon the Attribute Panel while sitting behind a store.

After more than three years in the game, although Lu Qingfeng’s Level was still stagnant, his Attribute Panel was still pleasing to the eye.

[Technique: Aucuba Scorching Sun Classic (Incomplete)]

[Grade: Refined. Has a total of 9 Levels]

[Ability Upgrade: One-time Merge, Four-time Enhance]

[Cultivation Stage Requirement: None]

[Technique Property: Power of the Scorching Sun]

[Description: A fusion of Aucuba Style, Scorching Sun Classic]

…

[Scroll: Deciphering Medicine]

[Grade: Preliminary]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance, Three-time Elevate]

[Description: This basic Pill Refining manual records the handling methods of 49 kinds of medicinal herbs; attached: Fasting Pill Recipe, Spirit Cleansing Powder Recipe.]

…

[Magic: Fireball]

[Grade: Low Rank. Has a total of 4 Levels.]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance]

[Description: Contains immense temperature. Able to destroy and ignite everything.]

…

[Magic: Celestial Eye]

[Grade: Low Rank. Has a total of 2 Levels.]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance]

[Description: Examine the cultivation attainments of a target that is not above your current stage/phase. Can cause mental trauma to ordinary people, causing them to panic.]

…

[Magic: Shifting Steps]

[Grade: Low Rank. Has a total of 2 Levels.]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance]

[Description: A lightness skill. Consumes stamina. Grants extremely fast speeds.]

…

[Magic: Smoldering Palm]

[Grade: Low Rank. Has a total of 2 Levels.]

[Ability Upgrade: Two-time Enhance]

[Description: A palm technique. Contains Yang Energy. Can break through stones and make them smolder.]

[Note: Magic Grades are divided into Low, Middle, High, Supreme.]

…