Chapter 63
Su Jing sat on the soft cushions in the study on the second floor of the villa, her fingertips gently stroking the dark blue cloth cover of "Basic Cultivation Techniques"—the faint fragrance of spiritual herbs still lingered between the pages, which she had accidentally picked up while planting the herbs yesterday.
She adjusted her posture, facing the south-facing window, and formed the standard "breathing mudra" with her hands, palms facing upward, thumbs and index fingers interlocked, and the other three fingers naturally extended. This is the standard starting posture for "guiding qi into the body" in the exercise.
The moment she closed her eyes, she focused her mind and sank into the space—
On the 20 cubic meters of land in the planting area, tiny, tender green shoots have sprouted from the dark brown soil, each shoot tip gleaming with a faint blue light, like scattered stars in the soil.
A system panel popped up with the following message: [The spirit herb seedling has survived and releases 10 points of spiritual energy daily. The current spiritual energy concentration in the space is 0.8 (normal environment concentration is 0.1-0.5), which is suitable for cultivation.]
Following Su Jing's thoughts, spiritual energy flowed into the study like a gentle stream, surrounding her and bringing a cool, refreshing sensation, gentler than the morning mountain breeze and more soothing than chilled spring water.
According to the instructions, she lightly touched the roof of her mouth with the tip of her tongue and slowly inhaled—the spiritual energy entered through her nasal cavity with the airflow, descended down her throat, and when it passed through the Tanzhong acupoint, she could clearly feel a faint warm current swirling around the acupoint, unlike the scattered energy she had when she first started practicing.
She patiently guided the warm current to continue sinking, passing through the dantian, and finally reaching the Qihai acupoint. After pausing for three seconds, she used her mind to push the warm current upwards and back, completing the microcosmic orbit along the Ren and Du meridians.
During the first cycle, the warm current was somewhat sluggish, even slightly pausing when passing through the "Neiguan" acupoint on the wrist; but as spiritual energy continued to flow in from the space, the warm current gradually became smoother—
The spiritual energy released by the spiritual herb is purer than the spiritual energy of the outside world, and can be absorbed directly without filtering. In just half an hour, Su Jing completed ten cycles of the Small Heavenly Circuit. The spiritual energy in her Qi Sea acupoint was like a pool of clear spring water, gently swaying and emitting a blue light.
"It's time to try to break through to the first level of Qi Refining." Su Jing thought to herself. Following the steps of the "Qi Condensation Technique," she mobilized all the spiritual energy in her Qi Sea acupoint, gathering it into a stream of energy three times thicker than before, and slowly pushed it along the meridians to break through the barrier of the "first level of Qi Refining."
As the airflow struck the barrier, she could feel a slight swelling in the veins of her arm, like tiny insects crawling under her skin, but without any pain.
The purity of the spiritual herbs and their spiritual energy helped her avoid the "pain of breaking through barriers" that ordinary cultivators experience.
When the airflow struck the barrier for the third time, a soft "whoosh" exploded in my consciousness—not a physical sound, but the sensation of the meridian barrier breaking.
The spiritual energy instantly surged into the wider meridians, rushing like water bursting its banks, quickly circulating once along the Ren and Du meridians, and finally flowing back to the Qihai acupoint. At this time, the Qihai acupoint could hold twice as much spiritual energy as before, and the blue light it emitted changed from light blue to bright white.
Su Jing slowly opened her eyes. The "breathing seal" on her palm was still in place, but she could clearly feel the changes in her body—
The icy feeling in my fingertips disappeared, replaced by a uniform warmth that spread from the Qihai acupoint to my limbs and bones.
The soreness in my lower back that I had left from repairing the robot has completely disappeared. Even my breathing is longer than before. When I inhale, I can clearly feel the airflow reaching deep into my lungs, and when I exhale, I can slowly expel the stale air.
The system panel notification sounded at the right time, and a light blue light membrane unfolded before my eyes: [Congratulations! You have successfully broken through to the first level of Qi Refining (mid-stage). Your physical strength has increased by 20%, your speed by 15%, your current physique level is 19, your spiritual energy perception range has expanded to 10 meters, and you can initially control trace amounts of spiritual energy (such as condensing a spiritual energy protective layer)].
Su Jing stood up and walked to the dumbbells in the corner of the study—these were 20-kilogram dumbbells she had stockpiled before. Before, it would have taken all her strength to lift them with one hand, but now, she could hold the dumbbell bar with her right hand, lift her arm slightly, and the dumbbells would be steadily raised above her head. She could even maintain this posture and walk three steps in place without feeling any soreness in her arm.
She walked to the window, opened it, and jumped—the distance from the second floor to the ground in the yard was nearly five meters. When she landed, she subconsciously used her mind to mobilize the spiritual energy in her Qihai acupoint to gather under her feet. The moment she touched the ground, the spiritual energy cushioned the impact like a soft cushion, and her knees did not feel any stinging pain. It was even more stable than walking down the steps normally.
“Spiritual energy can not only assist in cultivation, but also be used in actual combat.” Su Jing was overjoyed and was about to test the effect of the spiritual energy protective layer again when a private message notification suddenly popped up on the system panel. The sender was Ivan, the “Black Bear (Russian Bear Country)” in dark blue, and the profile picture was still the same black silhouette holding an energy crystal.
She opened her private message. Ivan's message was direct, without any unnecessary pleasantries: "Su Jing, I need to purchase 200 Body Strengthening Pills. I don't have enough points, so I'll settle in gold. Just give me a price; as long as it's reasonable, I can gather the gold anytime." He also attached a picture—
The image shows blocks of gold piled in a metal barrel, gleaming brightly. A dagger is placed next to them for comparison, indicating that the total amount of gold is considerable.
Su Jing recalled the previous pricing strategy for users outside of China—Jack 50 grams of gold per healing pill, Emily 30 grams of gold per energy-gathering pill, and Ivan was quite sincere when purchasing laser guns before, and even exchanged them for supplies (frozen meat, diesel). This time, the health-enhancing pills could be priced at 100 grams of gold per pill.
She typed on the panel to reply: "200 Body Strengthening Pills, priced at 100 grams of gold per pill, totaling 20,000 grams of gold. The gold purity must be ≥99.9%. The transaction will be transmitted via encrypted system transmission. I have reserved the pills. Once confirmed, the transmission can be initiated immediately."
Ivan's reply came faster than expected, taking only two minutes: "Price agreed, gold ready, encrypted transmission channel applied for, we can begin now."
Su Jing walked to the open space in the center of the study, the place where she had previously made her deal with Lao Zhou, and the space was spacious enough.
She clicked "Confirm Transfer" on the panel, and in less than ten seconds, a pale blue light membrane unfolded out of thin air—
Twenty transparent jade bottles appeared first on the left side of the light membrane, each containing 10 pale yellow health-enhancing pills, and a bitter medicinal fragrance instantly filled the air.
On the right, a pile of gold blocks emerged, uniform in size and more orderly than the gold that Lao Zhou had given them before, clearly having been sorted in advance.
[System notification: Encrypted transmission completed! 200 Health Pills have been successfully delivered, and 20,000 grams of gold (99.92% purity, meeting the agreed requirements) have been received. Further processing can proceed.]
Su Jing squatted down and picked up a piece of gold—it felt heavy in her hand, with a smooth and impurity-free surface. She scratched it with her fingernail, leaving a faint mark, confirming that it was pure gold.
Instead of immediately melting it down as before, she focused her mind and stored all 20,000 grams of gold into the "Precious Metals Zone" of her space. The panel automatically popped up an inventory update notification: "[20,000 grams of gold added to the Precious Metals Zone. Current total inventory: 46,000 grams of gold. It has been stored separately from the original gold bars and can be withdrawn or melted at any time.]"
She walked to the window and looked at the precious metals section of the space—newly acquired gold nuggets were piled on the right side of the shelf, contrasting sharply with the 26,000-gram gold bars on the left, their golden luster particularly dazzling in the dim light of the space.
The study still held the faint fragrance of medicinal herbs and the bitter taste of elixirs. Outside the window, the setting sun was slowly sinking behind the mountains, dyeing the sky a pale orange-red. The occasional beeping of the patrol robot could be heard. Everything seemed peaceful and orderly.
Su Jing looked down at her palms—the spiritual energy from her cultivation still lingered in them, and when she gently clenched her fist, she could feel the spiritual energy in her Qihai acupoint responding slightly.
She knew that breaking through to the first level of Qi Refining was only the beginning of cultivating immortality; spiritual herbs were still growing, pills were still being sold, and preparations for the apocalypse were far from over.
Ivan's transaction not only replenished her gold reserves, but also made her realize something more clearly—
The demand for cultivation resources is far greater globally than imagined. In the days to come, she will need to balance cultivation, resource reserves, and trade to make better preparations for the upcoming extreme weather.
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