For now, I decided to invest 10,000 points to convert the battle aura into spiritual energy.

  [10,000 points have been deducted. The surrounding battle aura will be converted into spiritual energy.]

  Along with the system notification, the spiritual energy around me began to grow dense.

  I was grateful that it converted the battle aura into spiritual energy, but couldn’t it also make it absorb automatically?

  Perhaps hearing my thoughts, the system scolded me.

  [...Shouldn’t you at least put in minimal effort?]

  Ahem. Well, that was true.

  Still, I should at least be allowed to think about it.

  After calming my mind, I focused on cultivation.

  If I didn’t absorb the converted spiritual energy and turn it into mana, it would simply dissipate.

  That would make the 10,000 points a complete waste.

  Beneath the city wall.

  Inside my cleverly concealed personal space.

  In case something unexpected happened, Baizi and Peach stood guard as Dharma protectors.

  Sitting cross-legged, I concentrated on the flow of spiritual energy surging toward me.

  The amount of battle aura created by the clash of three Spirit Severing cultivators was truly enormous.

  A considerable portion must have been lost during the conversion into pure spiritual energy, yet the remaining density was still beyond imagination.

  The system only created the environment.

  Turning that into something truly mine was entirely my responsibility.

  Anyway, in this damned cultivation world, nothing ever came for free.

  With a bitter smile, I recalled the first verse of the Nine Transformations Spirit Root Scripture.

  Among the spiritual roots sleeping within my body—Wood, Fire, Earth, and Water—I was currently tempering the Wood spiritual root, which had the greatest affinity.

  The source of life, a force that hid strength within softness.

  As I focused my mind, the dense spiritual energy gathered around me began flowing into my body.

  My skin prickled, and my meridians screamed.

  I clenched my teeth and endured.

  Compared to ninety-seven years of closed-door cultivation, this pain was nothing.

  For Ginger waiting for me.

  For my parents who had passed away.

  For a new life—this level of pain meant nothing!

  The spiritual energy I absorbed flowed directly into the Wood spiritual root.

  Receiving the massive influx of energy, the root began to swell.

  Now I had to control this power carefully and compress it.

  The first transformation.

  It had already been one month since I stepped into the First Transformation.

  Lowering my consciousness further, I began compressing the spiritual power.

  It felt like pushing a massive bundle of cotton through the eye of a needle.

  Amid intense pain, the spiritual power condensed.

  Every bone in my body twisted, and cold sweat poured down like rain.

  I had felt it before, but the pain after entering the First Transformation was beyond imagination.

  Well, tempering a spiritual root could never be easy.

  No one could help me with this.

  At this moment, I had to break through using only my own will.

  After some time passed—

  The spiritual power stretched to its limit suddenly contracted and condensed into a dense core.

  The first compression was complete.

  Within my mental image, the Wood spiritual root shone with a far clearer and purer green light than before.

  But it was not complete.

  Eight more compressions were required before the First Transformation of the Wood root would be fully completed.

  And that First Transformation itself had to be repeated nine times before a single spiritual root reached the stage of Great Perfection.

  No wonder it required five hundred years.

  Thinking about such a long time made me laugh.

  A Qi Refinement cultivator’s lifespan was barely one hundred and fifty years.

  For others, this cultivation method was nothing more than an unreachable dream—an utterly useless technique.

  But I was different.

  Again and again, I absorbed and compressed the spiritual energy.

  With each compression, the Wood spiritual root became purer.

  The vitality contained within it increased explosively.

  This was not merely an increase in quantity.

  It was a qualitative change—a fundamental transformation.

  Suddenly, memories of the past flashed through my mind.

  My parents’ meaningless deaths.

  The betrayal of relatives.

  The cold indifference of the world.

  The sudden separation from Ginger and the few people who had stood by me.

  Through those experiences, I had always been anxious and withdrawn.

  Yet all those trials had shaped who I was now.

  The countless emotions I had suppressed again and again in the past.

  Those memories resembled the cultivation process of the Nine Transformations Spirit Root Scripture.

  At that moment, realization dawned upon me.

  That’s right. I’m not weak. My soul is stronger than anyone’s.

  I steadied the heart that threatened to collapse under the pain.

  Taking a deep breath, I repeated the process once more.

  The pain remained, but now I could endure it calmly.

  Finally—

  The ninth compression of the Wood spiritual root was complete.

  “Huu…”

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  Even so, this only completed one stage within the First Transformation.

  Still, taking the first step held great meaning.

  As I exhaled deeply, the impurities inside my body escaped like black smoke.

  The Wood spiritual root that endured nine compressions now shone with purity incomparable to before.

  The enormous amount of spiritual energy I obtained today had helped immensely.

  This was still only the first stage of the First Transformation.

  Even though I had taken just a single step among the Nine Transformations, the changes were considerable.

  Of course, since I merely compressed energy, my cultivation realm itself hadn’t risen.

  But the Nine Transformations Spirit Root Scripture could only be practiced by Qi Refinement cultivators anyway.

  A satisfied smile spread across my face.

  After cleansing the turbid energy from my body, I cautiously checked my surroundings.

  Fortunately, the changes caused by the system seemed undetectable to others.

  Even when I examined the area with Divine Sense, there was no sign of disturbance in the surrounding heaven-and-earth spiritual energy.

  Still, I had to remain cautious.

  Imagine finishing cultivation only to run into someone on the way out.

  That would be awkward.

  After sending Baizi and Peach to check if anyone was nearby, I carefully slipped out.

  ***

  Back in my dormitory room, I lay down on the bed.

  Converting battle aura into spiritual power for cultivation…

  It would be nice if opportunities like this appeared more often.

  Well, something like this probably wouldn’t happen easily.

  As I stared at the ceiling, something suddenly came to mind.

  Fatigue washed over me, but there was something I needed to do.

  After asking Baizi and Peach to guard again, I entered the subspace.

  Baixuan was sitting on the wooden platform with a gentle expression, studying a jade slip.

  When he saw me, his face brightened.

  “Ah, benefactor. You’ve come?”

  “Yes. I had to leave the city today, so I took care of something that had been delayed.”

  Perhaps guessing what it was, Baixuan’s eyes quickly reddened.

  “C-Could it be…?”

  Without answering, I took out the jade coffin from the storage table.

  The bones inside the jade coffin had already sorted themselves naturally.

  A total of seventeen sets of remains.

  Baixuan began crying as he stared at the jade coffin.

  Trying my best not to look directly at him or the remains, I spoke.

  Ahem… it felt like I might cry too.

  “I’ll bury the remains behind the cabin. It’s better if they stay together here.”

  After shedding tears for quite some time, Baixuan composed himself and bowed respectfully.

  “Thank you so much, benefactor. Not only did you rescue me from the Ghost Dao, you even retrieved my family’s remains.”

  Considering the work Baixuan would do for me in the future—and the Direct Command Token from his family—the value was more than enough.

  Leaving Baixuan kneeling in gratitude, I quietly exited the subspace.

  At times like this, it was best to give someone time alone.

  Even though I could endure days without sleep or food, nothing relieved fatigue like sleep.

  I lay down on the bed.

  Now it was time to rest.

  ***

  The next morning, I woke to the sound of birds chirping.

  Opening the door, I saw a note from Senior Ling Xuan.

  It said we should eat breakfast together, report yesterday’s results to the Section Head, and receive more goods.

  It would also be nice if we could find out what reward awaited the top seller.

  After finishing my morning preparations, I entered the subspace and drank spiritual spring water.

  Perhaps because my Wood spiritual root had developed, drinking the spiritual spring alone seemed to suppress my hunger.

  An unexpected effect.

  Baixuan was nowhere to be seen—perhaps he was sleeping.

  Behind the cabin, two graves had been built.

  One for the family.

  One for the servants.

  After paying respects at the graves, I left and headed to the dining hall.

  Senior Ling Xuan and Senior Yang Dongwu were already seated there.

  “You’re finally here? Come eat.”

  “One Bigu Pill is enough for me. I’ll eat later.”

  Perhaps because I drank spiritual spring water earlier, I had no appetite at all.

  At this rate, maybe I should start collecting Bigu Pills.

  Since one was given daily, saving them for a month would give me a free bottle.

  Even this was a case of small gains adding up to something big.

  “Oh dear, then we shouldn’t have called you. You could have rested more.”

  Senior Yang Dongwu sounded genuinely regretful.

  A very fitting attitude for someone who valued rest and slacking off.

  “It’s fine. Waking early to breathe the morning air and chat together is nice.”

  While they ate, I sat beside them sipping tea.

  The dining hall provided one cup of spiritual tea every day.

  Since spiritual tea cost more than Bigu Pills, it was definitely a benefit worth enjoying.

  After the seniors finished eating and drinking tea, we went to see the Section Head.

  The Section Head greeted us with a puzzled expression.

  “Hm? What is it? Don’t tell me something happened to the formation plates—or you lost them?”

  The fact that he said that first suggested some other group had already caused trouble.

  Senior Ling Xuan immediately shook his head.

  “No, nothing like that. Yesterday we managed to sell all the formation plates. We came today hoping to receive more.”

  The Section Head’s eyebrows shot up.

  “Oh? You sold all fifty already? You didn’t dump them on your family members, did you? If that’s the case, they’ll all be confiscated once the contracts are checked.”

  Judging by his reaction, someone had indeed forced their family to buy them.

  Even in the cultivation world, there were all kinds of people.

  “That’s not the case. After learning the village locations yesterday, we hired someone skilled in business and completed the task smoothly.”

  Only then did the Section Head’s expression soften.

  Stroking his beard, he burst into laughter and praised us.

  “Hahaha! I never expected you to have such talent. Until now, aside from a few who tried tricks, no one has made any sales. I was quite worried. If only everyone were like you.”

  It seemed he had been holding in quite a lot of frustration.

  After showering us with praise, he invited us to sit in chairs in his office.

  Still smiling with satisfaction, he handed us baggage sacks.

  Three of them.

  Fifty formation plates per person.

  Considering yesterday’s sell-out, we could probably sell them without difficulty.

  “Well then, that’s all the extra we have. I’d like to give you more, but the Formation Path Pavilion works painfully slowly.”

  The Section Head, a true workaholic, clicked his tongue.

  “If you keep this up, first place will be yours for sure. The prize for first place is quite generous—you may look forward to it.”

  So… what exactly is the prize?

  I barely suppressed the urge to ask.

  This was a cultivation world where disciples were turned into alchemy ingredients.

  Standing out unnecessarily would bring no benefit.

  Especially for someone like me with no background.

  At that moment, Senior Yang Dongwu—who came from a powerful family—spoke up.

  “Section Head, what exactly is the first-place prize? If we knew, we could sell with even greater enthusiasm.”

  Senior Yang Dongwu, my guiding light and role model!

  The Section Head’s eyebrows twitched slightly as he examined him.

  Seeing that look made me glad I hadn’t spoken.

  After clearing his throat, the Section Head explained in a somewhat reluctant tone.

  “Ahem. If you must know, I’ll tell you. But don’t spread it. Who knows what trouble it might cause.”

  Just how good was this reward?

  “This time, the City Lord has made a major decision. It’s not only our Spiritual Agriculture Pavilion—other departments have similar missions. For example, in the Formation Path Pavilion, the group that produces the most formation plates will take first place.”

  My fists clenched instinctively.

  It felt like something huge was about to be revealed.

  “In our Spiritual Agriculture Pavilion, the group that sells the most formation plates will be first place. Try not to be too shocked. The reward given to the top team of each department… is the chance to explore the secret realm of the Heavenly Palace.”

  The seniors’ faces filled with both greed and concern at the unexpected revelation.

  The Section Head continued.

  “Of course, it will still take time before the Heavenly Palace secret realm opens. Not every first-place team will enter either—there will be another selection process. But still, an opportunity is an opportunity.”

  I quickly lowered my head to hide my expression.

  Exploring the Heavenly Palace secret realm…

  That was one of the events in the game.

  Normally, you could only participate by joining the Heavenly Palace or becoming a disciple of one of its affiliated sects.

  Was Qingliu City offering this benefit because it suffered heavy losses during the recent disaster?

  Still… a secret realm.

  The Heavenly Palace secret realm was extremely dangerous.

  It was divided into poisonous lands, deserts, jungles, and volcanic regions, and the starting point was random.

  Among them, the most dangerous was the poisonous land.

  The entire area was filled with toxic energy.

  Qi Refinement cultivators would often melt the moment they entered.

  You could literally die at the very start.

  But I was different.

  As long as the Subspace User Protection Law existed, poison wasn’t frightening.

  If even the battle aura of a Spirit Severing cultivator could be converted into spiritual energy, poison should be no problem.

  Right, system?

  […Correct. Depending on the density of the energy, full conversion into spiritual energy may be difficult. However, survival should be entirely possible.]

  More importantly—

  I knew the locations of all the important items there.

  The first-place reward was a chance to explore the secret realm!

  Even if I had to push myself a little, I absolutely had to enter.

  The secret realm contained many rare spiritual herbs that even the Spiritual Agriculture Pavilion couldn’t obtain.

  Even if the herbs weren’t very old, it didn’t matter.

  I had the subspace.

  And unlimited time.

  This was truly—a perfect opportunity.