Excellent. His sub-profession had advanced to the second rank. A faint smile touched Li Meng’s lips. His gaunt frame rose from the bed, and he picked up his cyan robe from the floor to put it on.

Outside, the plaque on the fence gate flipped over. Before long, an Outer Disciple arrived on a flying sword.

“These are actually Mid-grade pills! Senior Brother, your alchemy skills have improved again.”

“Senior Brother, Mid-grade pills are too expensive. Do you have any Low-grade ones?”

Li Meng, reclining on his lounge chair, glanced at his Junior Brother. Fourth layer of Qi Condensation—he must have joined the sect not long ago.

The Joyous Union Sect opened its gates to recruit new disciples every ten years. Those cultivators who passed the trials could join the sect.

“Take them. I’ll sell them to you at the Low-grade price!”

The fourth-layer Outer Disciple was overjoyed. He hastily bowed in salute. “Many thanks, Senior Brother!”

Watching his Junior Brother depart into the distance on his sword, Li Meng stroked his beard. He remembered how difficult life had been when he first joined the Joyous Union Sect. He had nothing to his name, every step a struggle. The meager monthly stipend for Outer Disciples was a drop in the bucket. It had taken him ten years to firmly establish himself within the sect.

While he took a slight loss now and then, his overall profits were substantial. Cultivation wasn’t just about cultivating the Dao; one also had to cultivate social connections and worldly wisdom.

Nowadays, if he wanted to refine Low-grade pills, he had to use spirit plants of lower age. Even selling Mid-grade pills as Low-grade ones meant he still turned a profit. Not only did he earn spirit stones, but he also earned reputation. Why wouldn’t he do it?

His moniker, “The Benevolent Old Bachelor Who Scatters Wealth,” wasn’t for nothing. Even Foundation Establishment Seniors would show him some courtesy when they met him.

Time flowed swiftly, and night soon fell.

Sitting on his lounge chair, Li Meng eagerly awaited the arrival of a certain beauty.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

Senior Qu’s voice suddenly sounded from within the house.

Li Meng stiffened in surprise. When had Senior Qu entered his house?

“It seems I need to set up some formation arrays around Little Bamboo Peak. Thankfully, I haven’t encountered any peeping toms recently, or that would have been utterly embarrassing.”

Li Meng had no desire to tarnish his lofty image in the eyes of his Junior Brothers and Sisters. He stood up from the chair, his lean body scurrying into the house.

“Senior Qu, I’m here!”

“You’re here. No need to announce it.”

“I just missed you.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

“There’s a saying: ‘A day apart feels like three years.’ Senior Qu, could you stay tonight and discuss the Dao with this Junior?”

“No. I still need to cultivate.”

“Cultivate with Senior Chen?”

“It’s not as sordid as you think. Senior Brother Chen and I are merely fellow Daoists who engage in ‘Dao Exchange’.”

Time trickled by, bit by bit. The night grew deeper.

Early the next morning, at dawn.

With a soft click, the door to the house opened from within.

Li Meng and Qu Rou walked out one after the other. They sat opposite each other at the tea table.

Li Meng flicked his sleeve lightly. Two cups of tea appeared on the table before them. Qu Rou picked up her cup and took a small sip. Her gaze flickered toward her Junior Nephew Li.

“What are you secretly smiling about?”

“N-nothing!”

Li Meng chuckled softly and set down his cup. “Senior Qu, may I ask you something?”

Qu Rou’s delicate brows furrowed slightly, her expression turning cold. Li Meng froze in fear, his body going rigid.

After a long moment, Qu Rou turned her head away. Her cool voice drifted out softly.

“I was stuck at the early stage of Foundation Establishment for twenty-seven years. After discussing the Dao with a Golden Core Senior for three years, I successfully achieved a breakthrough and obtained resources sufficient to reach late-stage Great Perfection.”

It was impossible not to feel a twinge of jealousy. But this was simply how things were. When Senior Qu had chosen Dual Cultivation with that Golden Core Grandmaster to seize her breakthrough opportunity, he probably hadn’t even been born yet.

In the Joyous Union Sect, it wasn’t unusual for lower-level cultivators to trade with higher-level ones for breakthrough chances. Many disciples chose this path when they saw no hope of advancing on their own.

Qi Condensation disciples would seek out Foundation Establishment Seniors as trading partners. Foundation Establishment Seniors would seek out Golden Core Grandmasters. Golden Core Grandmasters would seek out Nascent Soul Ancestors.

Those who could cultivate to the Golden Core stage while maintaining their Pure Yang or Pure Yin bodies were all prodigies favored by Heaven itself. Yet a Golden Core Pure Yin or Pure Yang body held little allure for a Nascent Soul Ancestor. It was essentially a one-sided extraction. Instances of Golden Core Grandmasters seeking Nascent Soul Ancestors as trading partners were rare. Whether a higher-level cultivator would even consider such an offer was another matter entirely.

“Senior Qu, you will definitely form your Golden Core!”

After sharing another cup of tea, Senior Qu departed.

Li Meng returned to his room to continue cultivating. Alchemy served cultivation, and cultivation was currently the most important task.

When night fell again, Senior Qu returned.

…

Early the next morning, Li Meng was startled awake by birdsong.

On the bed, Li Meng opened his eyes. He stared blankly at the ceiling. When had he fallen asleep?

Last night, he had slept without any awareness. After their… session… he had intended to rest briefly before resuming cultivation. He hadn’t expected to sleep straight through until dawn.

Movement by the bedside caught Li Meng’s attention. He turned his head toward the sound.

“Se… Senior Qu?”

Senior Qu was standing beside the bed, putting on her dress. Her snow-white, graceful figure was gradually being concealed by the silken garment.

Had Senior Qu stayed last night? No wonder it felt like he had been holding something warm and soft during the night.

Ah, right. He had asked her to stay. But hadn’t she refused?

By the bedside, Qu Rou adjusted her slightly disheveled dress. She turned her head and cast a cold glance at Li Meng.

“The last time!”

With those words thrown down like ice chips, Qu Rou turned and left without a backward glance. All she left for Li Meng was her retreating back with its elegantly curved waistline.

[+5 Affection] [+25 Sub-profession XP]

“Women…”

On the bed, Li Meng’s lips curved into a slight smile. He seemed to be savoring the sensation of holding Senior Qu as he slept last night.

Senior Qu’s Affection was approaching 50. He wondered what her attitude toward him would be like when it reached 100.

Li Meng got out of bed and began dressing unhurriedly. Soon after, the house door opened from within.

Li Meng’s somewhat gaunt figure emerged. Bathed in sunlight, Li Meng squinted up at the azure sky.

“I’ll visit Market City in a few days.”

Li Meng swept his Divine Sense over his storage pouch. His current assets amounted to roughly six thousand spirit stones. He also had over thirty bottles of various first-rank pills. Each jade bottle could hold ten to twenty pills, meaning four to five hundred first-rank pills in total.

“It seems I need to think of ways to earn more money!”

Six thousand spirit stones weren’t enough. Refining second-rank pills required spirit plants over five hundred years old. A five-hundred-year spirit plant cost ten times more than a hundred-year one. Six thousand spirit stones would only suffice for a few batches of second-rank Spirit Recovery Pills.

Li Meng settled into his lounge chair in the courtyard, silently calculating in his mind like an abacus clicking away.

“Even Flawless first-rank pills and Divine Firmament Talismans are qualified for auction houses. I could just toss them into an auction.”

“No. The principle that ‘the crime lies not in owning jade but in being an ordinary man who owns it’ is an eternal truth.”

Although auction houses in Market Cities run by major sects promised confidentiality for sellers’ identities, showing up as a Joyous Union Sect disciple would undoubtedly invite unnecessary trouble.