As for pill toxins,Wang Hao couldn’t care less right now.Even”Old Demon Han”had consumed far more pills than him without any issues!

His status panel had now updated:

[Name:Wang Hao

Age:18

Cultivation:Qi Refining Level 3(111/112.5)

Cultivation Technique:Red Lotus Illusory Wood True Scripture(Layer 1)

Spiritual Energy:111/111

Skills:

Alchemy:Tier 1 Low-Grade(Not Initiated)

Talisman Crafting:Tier 1 Low-Grade(Not Initiated)

Spiritual Arts:Fireball Technique(Not Mastered),Entangling Vine Technique(Not Mastered)

Divine Arts:You have not yet mastered any divine art.]

To break through,he needed to increase his Fire and Wood attribute spiritual energy by another 1.5 points.The efficacy of a single Gathering Spirit Pill was no longer sufficient.Two pills would be enough,but it carried significant risk.After all,when he refined a single Gathering Spirit Pill,he already felt his meridians swelling intensely with a dull ache.Taking two at once might just burst them!

But what in this world comes without risk?Since arriving here,Wang Hao had been cultivating inside his room the entire time,with no attachments to speak of.If he died,so be it.Perhaps he might even return to his old life and play games with his buddies…

Wang Hao first ate a hearty meal.Glancing at the door,he suppressed the urge to go out for a stroll and settled onto his meditation mat once more.After completing one full cycle of spiritual power circulation,he resolutely swallowed two Gathering Spirit Pills.

An explosion of potent medicinal energy erupted in his abdomen,surging into his Dantian as his cultivation technique circulated,bringing with it a searing,tearing pain!

“Hmph,”Wang Hao grunted softly,cold sweat instantly streaming down his face.

“Endure it.The technique is still circulating.I haven’t lost yet!”

Gritting his teeth,Wang Hao persisted in channeling his spiritual power.Wherever the vast medicinal energy surged,it felt as though his meridians were being ripped apart,intensifying the agony.

But Wang Hao knew that as long as he could keep the technique running,there was a chance of success.While his Dantian and meridians were being torn,their endurance and capacity were also being forcibly expanded!

Sweat soaked through his clothes,dripping onto the floor with soft patter sounds.Wang Hao’s face grew increasingly contorted and haggard.But he persisted!

Five days later,accompanied by a faint pop sound from within his body,the pressure on his Dantian suddenly vanished,while the aura emanating from his body began to climb.His tightly clenched teeth finally relaxed.

Wang Hao continued circulating his technique for another half day until he felt reassured that his realm had stabilized.

Opening his eyes,he let out a heavy sigh and laughed.”Qi Refining Level 4…it wasn’t that difficult after all!”

He wasn’t boasting or putting on airs;although the process had been dangerous and painful,it hadn’t been fatal.This gave him much more confidence about the path beyond Qi Refining!

It was said there were three major bottlenecks in the Qi Refining stage.The first was breaking through from the early to mid-stage(Level 3 to 4),then from mid to late-stage(Level 6 to 7),and finally from the eighth to the ninth layer.

Now that he had broken through the mid-stage bottleneck,according to the pattern,he could steadily cultivate up to the sixth layer of Qi Refining!

Wang Hao cast a simple Cleansing Technique on himself,let out a comfortable”ah,”stretched lazily,and muttered to himself,”Now that I’ve reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining,I can learn some spiritual arts.I also need to spend time trying out alchemy and talisman crafting.Besides,I only have three Gathering Spirit Pills left;I must go out and buy a batch!”

Wang Hao made plans inwardly.Old Wang had given him an alchemy furnace.The materials for the Novice-level Fasting Pills were just Spirit Rice,so he didn’t need to buy those externally.However,Old Wang hadn’t given him a talisman brush.He probably didn’t have one on hand,or perhaps he simply didn’t expect Wang Hao to succeed in talisman crafting.But for initially familiarizing himself with talisman concepts and practicing the patterns,a brush wasn’t strictly necessary;ordinary paper and ink would do!If he truly felt he had talent later on,he could buy a proper brush then.

Calculating based on the efficacy of Gathering Spirit Pills,to reach Qi Refining Level 5,he would need at least twelve bottles of pills—that was three hundred and sixty Spirit Stones.Currently,he only had one hundred and thirteen stones,one hundred of which were given by Old Wang.The shortfall was huge!

It seemed he must sell some of the Spirit Rice from the farm.Besides that,he should find other spiritual plants.Relying solely on Spirit Rice income was too slow.

The farm’s land was currently all Tier 1;Tier 2 crops couldn’t be planted yet.However,among Tier 1 spiritual plants,there were many with high returns.Disadvantages like”difficult cultivation conditions”or”excessive nutrient consumption”simply didn’t exist for the farm.Wang Hao could definitely look for such high-value plants.

The farm currently had four plots of land.Saving enough money to unlock the fifth plot would take time.But since Wang Hao planned to sell part of the Spirit Rice to fund his cultivation,the expansion would have to be postponed.

Once he bought high-economic-return spiritual plants,his capital accumulation speed would increase!

Thus,Wang Hao gathered all his assets and headed out.

He didn’t wander aimlessly,but whenever he encountered something unfamiliar,he would stop to take a look.For example,in shops selling spiritual tools,he always went in to ask about prices.

Old Wang had only given him one defensive spiritual weapon;he still lacked an offensive one.The low-grade flying sword from before no longer suited him after reaching the mid-stage of Qi Refining;he needed an upgrade.However,the priority remained spiritual plants and pills.

But since he was already there,asking about prices couldn’t hurt!

After wandering the streets for half a day,Wang Hao grasped the market price for ordinary mid-grade Tier 1 spiritual weapons:between twenty to fifty Spirit Stones,depending on quality.This price didn’t seem expensive to Wang Hao—just about the cost of one bottle of Gathering Spirit Pills—but for ordinary cultivators,it might take several years to save that much!

After visiting several shops,Wang Hao took a fancy to a sword sold by a shop under the Qingyuan Sect’s banner.It was named the Red Gold Sword:three chi long,three cun wide,dark red throughout,and visually striking.It was priced at only thirty Spirit Stones.

To be honest,this sword had nothing particularly stunning about its enchantments.The reasons Wang Hao favored it were firstly its aesthetics,and secondly,the material used to forge it was Red Gold Iron—a top-grade Tier 1 material.

Using top-grade material to produce a mid-grade sword obviously indicated the artifact smith’s skill wasn’t masterful yet;this sword was likely a practice piece.

But the material was genuine.The Red Gold Sword was far sturdier than ordinary mid-grade Tier 1 spiritual weapon and could even hold its own against top-grade ones in a clash.

Although Wang Hao didn’t understand artifact forging,he knew a bit about materials.The raw material alone cost over twenty Spirit Stones.Adding the spiritual charcoal and labor consumed during forging,thirty Spirit Stones was a very fair price.

However,he wasn’t in a hurry.After finishing his other tasks,if he still had spare money,he would acquire this sword.

To avoid trouble,Wang Hao found a clothing shop and bought a set of black robes and a bamboo hat with a long black veil to conceal his face.His appearance wasn’t conspicuous;many rogue cultivators in the market district dressed exactly like this to protect their privacy.

Wang Hao visited several shops dealing in the grain business and sold his Spirit Rice in small batches.

After reclaiming the fourth plot of land,he had harvested three more crops,totaling one 1200 jin.He only sold slightly over 100 jin per shop to avoid attracting attention.In total,he sold them for 110 Spirit Stones.

This was normal;shops always bought at a slightly depressed price to make their profit.

Now he had 220 Spirit Stones.Having money,it was most cost-effective to convert it immediately into cultivation resources.Although Spirit Stones could also speed up cultivation,the effect was far inferior to consuming spiritual pills designed to boost cultivation.Using Spirit Stones directly for cultivation wasn’t a good choice,unless they were high-grade ones.