“Burp—”

A full and satisfied Qin Lu let out a belch, picked a tooth with a toothpick, leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling beam.

A faint trace of worry lingered on his face.

Unconsciously, half a month had already passed since he arrived in this world.

During these two weeks, adhering to the mentality of “If others don’t provoke me, I won’t provoke them; if others do provoke me, I’ll think about it some more,” he had been cautiously and discreetly developing in a low-key manner.

But he never expected that today, in a moment of impulse, he actually got into a fight with that Fang Hu. This action undoubtedly shattered his own newbie protection period, landing him in a dangerous situation.

This filled Qin Lu with panic.

After all, this world was far too dangerous. It felt like everyone had violent tendencies; being competitive, aggressive, and fond of fighting was commonplace, as if each person was a terrorist.

And his own strength was far too weak, merely at the second layer of Qi Refining. He simply couldn’t compete with other cultiv…

“Wait!”

Qin Lu’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Today, I drove off a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, didn’t I?”

“Pah!”

Qin Lu spat out the toothpick in his mouth, sat up straight again, his eyes turning fervent.

“Today, just two of my [Ignition Technique]s nearly killed Fang Hu. According to my current spiritual energy reserves, I can cast over ten [Ignition Technique]s at once. That means…”

“Even if four or five people came, I could easily defeat them!”

Qin Lu widened his eyes. Only now did he belatedly realize that his own strength didn’t seem weak at all!

But after a moment, his expression shifted from slightly pleased to serious and solemn.

“No, no, fighting can’t be calculated like that. If others swarmed me all at once, I might not even get to cast a second [Ignition Technique] before being killed.”

Qin Lu stroked his chin, his mind beginning to race rapidly.

“Since I can’t move into the market immediately now, I can’t just sit around waiting for death either!”

“Fang Hu is only at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. If my strength were a bit higher, I shouldn’t have to worry too much about him causing me trouble again!”

“What can improve my strength right now…”

Thinking this, Qin Lu willed it, and the status panel immediately appeared before him.

[Name: Qin Lu]

[Lifespan: 35/102 years]

[Cultivation: Qi Refining Layer 2: 80/100]

[Techniques:]

「Mystic Sun Mantra」(Proficient): 40/200

[Skills:]

Spells:

「Ignition Technique」(Mastered): 5/600

「Finger Flick Technique」(Mastered): 1/600

Talisman Crafting:

「Water Qi Shield」(Novice): 66/100

[Talents: None]

After a quick glance, Qin Lu muttered to himself:

“Both spells need six hundred proficiency points to Breakthrough. That’s too hard. Their current power should be sufficient for now, no need to upgrade them yet.”

Whether it was the [Ignition Technique] or the [Finger Flick Technique], upon reaching the ‘Mastered’ level, it seemed like a qualitative transformation had occurred.

Their power increased exponentially. A single [Ignition Technique] could even directly shatter a defensive talisman.

“Hmm, as for cultivation level…”

The cultivation bar was currently at eighty points. He was only twenty points away from advancing to the third layer of Qi Refining.

Cultivation points required meditation and practice to increase.

Based on Qin Lu’s observation, previously, every five meditation sessions would increase the value by one point. Later, after the [Mystic Sun Mantra] upgraded to ‘Proficient’, the same number of meditation sessions yielded one and a half points.

Cultivation was also the slowest category to improve.

Qin Lu slowly shook his head. “This won’t do either. One meditation session takes two hours. Ten hours only yields one and a half points. The improvement is too slow. It would take at least half a month to advance…”

Looking back and forth, his gaze settled on the “Talisman Crafting” category again.

“As for the [Water Qi Shield], I can currently make four per day. If I don’t practice spells, I should be able to make seven. That way, I could Breakthrough in three days…”

“But defensive talismans don’t seem very effective…”

Qin Lu shook his head once more.

In a duel, talismans that could only be used for defense didn’t directly enhance one’s own combat ability.

“Sigh… What should I do!”

Qin Lu let out a long sigh, clasped his hands behind his head again, leaned against the chair back, and let his gaze wander aimlessly around the house, his expression quite troubled.

Suddenly, his gaze stopped on an item on the table, a gleam flashing in his eyes.

It was a white porcelain bottle.

“Right! How could I forget about this!”

Qin Lu slapped his thigh, silently cursing himself, quickly reached out to pick up the porcelain bottle, and pulled out the cork stopper.

Instantly, a wave of fragrant aroma surged out, rushing to his nostrils in an instant.

He tilted his hand, pouring the contents of the bottle into his palm.

The object was smooth on the outside, oval-shaped, bluish-green in color, about the size of a little fingertip, and emitted a faint spiritual energy throughout.

They were precisely two pills.

“What kind of pills were these again?”

Qin Lu closed his eyes to recall.

Searching through his memories, he finally remembered that these pills were called [Spirit Gathering Pills], used to assist Qi Refining stage cultivators in their meditation and cultivation.

By swallowing a pill during meditation, one could increase the speed of absorbing spiritual energy, indirectly speeding up cultivation through meditation.

But as for how exactly he obtained these pills, he simply couldn’t remember.

“Let’s test their effects first!”

Qin Lu was a man of action. He immediately took a sheet of talisman paper from the table, began grinding ink, and prepared to draw the talisman.

After all, meditation could recover spiritual energy. Since he was currently full of spiritual energy, it made more sense to use it up first before meditating again.

The process of crafting the [Water Qi Shield] was already very familiar to Qin Lu. With no one knocking on the door to disturb him this time, he quickly completed the talisman flawlessly.

With that done, he shifted his position and sat down on the meditation cushion.

After assuming the cross-legged meditation posture, Qin Lu didn’t hesitate further. He directly tossed a fragrant [Spirit Gathering Pill] into his mouth.

The pill melted upon entering his mouth.

In an instant, Qin Lu immediately sensed a surge of potent medicinal power exploding in his mouth, then beginning to travel down his throat. The medicinal power flowed like a rushing river, swiftly heading towards his dantian.

“So potent!”

Qin Lu was startled. He hurriedly focused his mind, began silently reciting the incantation, and activated his cultivation technique.

As his technique circulated, the spiritual energy within his body gradually awakened, quickly merging with the vaporized medicinal power, becoming thicker and stronger.

Then, like good friends holding hands, they began to circulate through the meridians around Qin Lu’s body.

“Ah, so comfortable~ Technological wonders are truly different.”

Qin Lu inwardly sighed with emotion, continuously circulating the spiritual energy.

Time also passed by quickly in this manner.

One hour later.

Qin Lu opened his eyes on time, immediately willed it in his heart, and summoned the status panel.

After clearly seeing the information, joy couldn’t help but appear in his eyes.

The original cultivation value of eighty points had now risen to eighty-three points!

A single pill was actually equivalent to twenty hours of his cultivation!

“Excellent! This way, the time needed for me to advance to the third layer of Qi Refining can be greatly reduced!”

Qin Lu felt immensely excited. He immediately stood up, walked back to the table, and began crafting talismans again.

He wanted to exhaust his new spiritual energy and continue meditating!

In an instant, Qin Lu’s grinding attribute was activated once more, filling him with motivation!

==========