[Special Project: First Journey to the Secret Realm]

[Objective: Enter the secret realm and obtain at least one rare and precious material for Foundation Establishment breakthrough.]

[Reward: Comprehend a minor supernatural power.]

Upon hearing the system's voice, Chen Yi perked up.

Minor supernatural powers are said to be far more powerful than ordinary spells, and only the most outstanding talents from major sects have the opportunity to master them...

Mastering even a minor supernatural ability basically makes one an overwhelming force among those of the same level.

He licked his lips and said, "What else is there to say? Count me in!"

Wu Lingyao wanted to say a few more words of persuasion, but before she could even speak, Chen Yi agreed.

Her eyebrows furrowed slightly. Was it because someone else was paying for the tickets?

However, out of kindness, she still reminded him, "Then you must be fully prepared and try to draw as many talismans as possible, especially offensive and defensive ones. As for your cultivation level, try to improve it as much as possible in the next few days."

Chen Yi guessed that Wu Lingyao had already broken through to the seventh level of Qi Refining with the help of the Happy Talisman, so her friend was probably also at the later stage of cultivation.

As for myself, at the fifth level of Qi Refining, there is indeed a gap between me and them.

But it's alright, there's still time, isn't there?

With a schedule in place, seven days is plenty of time to improve significantly...

Moreover, he had talismans with him, so he wasn't in such a bad situation.

It seems that in the next few days, besides dealing with the monthly exam, I'll also need to draw more talismans.

After all, it's your own life; no matter how many rare and precious treasures you have, you still need to be alive to enjoy them...

After discussing their points and resting enough, the two returned to the field to continue practicing their swordsmanship.

[Through your efforts, your magical skill has improved; proficiency +3!]

Chen Yi sighed inwardly: It seems that the speed at which proficiency improves is also related to the sparring partner.

Wu Lingyao's understanding of swordsmanship is clearly far superior to his.

The two practiced together, and Chen Yi's swordsmanship improved more significantly, which in turn affected his overall skill level.

[Warning! It's time for , please begin immediately!]

[Thunder Tribulation Countdown: Three, two...]

"See you tomorrow!"

Chen Yi hurriedly said goodbye to Wu Lingyao and left the training ground.

He held the backpack in front of him, and reached one hand through the zipper gap to touch a stack of rough banknotes.

It was Wu Lingyao who made the payment.

The reason Chen Yi wanted to take cash was because he was worried that the microloan apps on his phone would directly transfer his money away.

Given the cultivation methods of this world, this is not impossible.

Therefore, he must keep the money firmly in his own hands...

As the saying goes, money should be spent wisely. Paying back money as soon as you have it is even more foolish than wasting it.

Unless you repay the loan and your credit limit is increased, you can continue borrowing.

However, in order to ensure the efficiency of his cultivation, Chen Yi decided not to return it for the time being!

After calming himself down, he looked at the semi-transparent panel again.

Spell Level 1 - Proficiency 120/200 (+20)

"My spell proficiency has increased by 20 points. Until my swordsmanship catches up with Wu Lingyao's, the improvement should be quite good..."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the school's library.

This place contains a large number of martial arts manuals, including techniques for the Qi Refining stage.

However, the books here cannot be taken away; they can only be viewed here.

Furthermore, accessing this page requires payment.

[Warning: This is the designated time for self-study of the cultivation technique. Please do not do anything else!]

"The cultivation methods not only include internal strength, but also the reading and learning of mental cultivation methods, body tempering methods, and movement techniques should also fall under the category of cultivation methods!" Chen Yi retorted.

"Moreover, the reason why I have made no progress in body tempering is because I lack a body tempering method. Finding a body tempering method does not contradict my grand plan of becoming the most powerful and strongest Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment cultivator!"

[Under investigation...]

[The situation is confirmed; clearance granted!]

[Corrected: Reading classic texts and secret techniques such as mental cultivation methods, body tempering methods, movement techniques, and supernatural abilities also falls under the category of "self-study of cultivation techniques" and will not trigger the penalty mechanism!]

Chen Yi nodded secretly: "To know one's mistakes and correct them is of utmost importance. Lao Biao, I knew I hadn't misjudged you!"

Please do not use PUA on this system!

"Ahem! I was correcting your mistake, how could that be considered pUA?" Chen Yi said without batting an eye.

As he spoke, he walked to the library and recharged his campus card.

The campus card at Xiande Middle School can be used not only for purchases in the cafeteria but also for various other facilities.

There is a price list at the self-service top-up station.

"The pricing details for this facility are as follows: 40 per hour for the first floor, 80 per hour for the second floor, and 120 per hour for the third floor."

Although it wasn't the first time he'd heard this, Chen Yi still couldn't help but complain, "Knowledge is money, the ancients were right!"

After all, the complete version of a technique like the Sword Control Technique is kept on the third floor of the library. To learn it, one would have to spend at least several days in the library, and that's assuming one has exceptional talent.

To learn sword control, Wu Lingyao spent seven or eight hours a day in the library, and it took her seven days to master it. She also spent six or seven thousand yuan in total.

Therefore, it wasn't excessive for her to ask Chen Yi for 7 Happy Charms.

"Fortunately, I have the 'Still Water' skill. Entering a state of flow greatly increases my learning speed, which can save me a lot of money..." Chen Yi thought to himself.

He pondered for a moment and then deposited 1,000.

Firstly, he wanted to go to the third floor, which was more expensive, and secondly, he could use the money for food and to pay for other facilities.

"Tsk! Principal Ma, you're really ripping me off! Recharge a thousand and there's practically nothing to give away..."

After the 1000 balance arrived in his account, he didn't rush to leave, but continued to keep an eye on the balance.

He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that it wouldn't deduct fees to offset debts without reason.

It seems the principal hasn't gone too far; he won't deduct money from the student card to pay off his student loans...

"Ding! We've reached the third floor!"

As Chen Yi took the elevator to the third floor, the moment he stepped out of the elevator, 120 yuan was deducted from his card balance.

He raised an eyebrow; the deductions were indeed swift!

I'd already been charged as soon as I stepped halfway into the reading area...

It is worth mentioning that the school library adopts a "take it first, then look at it" policy, and any time less than one hour is counted as one hour.

In other words, he has to stay here for a full hour to avoid losing money.

Of course, if you don't want to continue being charged after 1 hour, you have to leave the book area in time.

There was a time when someone was charged 120 yuan because they still had one foot in the library area, and had to go back and study for another hour...

Chen Yi went to a screen and searched according to his needs.

"Body Refinement", "Suitable for mid-to-late stage cultivation", "High difficulty", "High potential", "Practical".

After filtering through a series of keywords, the search interface got stuck.

All I could see was a circle spinning endlessly; nothing happened when I tapped anything, not even the exit button...

Chen Yi raised an eyebrow and tapped "I want to recharge".

Then, a miracle happened. The interface smoothly switched to the recharge page, popping up various zero-discount packages without any lag.

Holy crap! We've been set up by capital!

I spent an hour searching for a book but couldn't log in, but paying the fee took only a second...

Fortunately, after exiting the recharge interface and waiting for another ten seconds or so, the circle finally finished spinning.

He also found several body-refining methods that suited him, just as he had hoped.

Following the instructions, we arrived at the area where the body-refining techniques were displayed.

The first book is "The Hundred Refined Copper Skin Technique".

Features: After being attacked, the skin is tempered with a medicinal bath, gradually hardening the body's surface defenses. Once mastered, the skin turns bronze, making it difficult to injure with swords and blades.

Difficulty of cultivation: ★★★☆☆ (Requires enduring physical pain; medicinal bath materials are consumed in large quantities)

Chen Yi shook his head. Suffer physical pain? And need a medicinal bath?

I've given up!

They can't endure any hardship!

Moreover, this method focuses on strengthening the skin and muscles, which doesn't quite meet his needs.

The second book is titled "The Meridians and Collaterals of the Wandering Dragon".

Features: Emphasizes stretching the body's meridians, mimicking the movement of a dragon, enhancing flexibility and explosive power. Upon completion, magical power flows through the meridians like silk threads, greatly increasing movement speed.

Difficulty of cultivation: ★★★☆☆ (To practice this skill, one must first be sterilized)

Chen Yi's eyelids twitched violently as he read it.

I was initially tempted by the promise of significantly increasing movement speed, but after seeing the warning about the difficulty of cultivation, I instantly lost all desire to continue reading...

I promptly found the next book.

The third book is called "The Secret Method of the Qi and Blood Furnace".

Features: Using the body as a furnace, it burns blood and qi to transform into pure yang energy, repeatedly tempering the five internal organs. After cultivation, the blood and qi become as vigorous as a furnace, impervious to heat and cold, possessing extremely strong resistance to poisonous miasma and evil qi, and accelerating the recovery of magical power.

Cultivation Difficulty: ★★★★☆ (Requires control over the intensity of qi and blood burning, otherwise it is very easy to damage the foundation)