Chapter 2: The Qi-Consolidating Pill

Staring at the suddenly appearing words before him, Wang Chen was momentarily stunned, then a look of ecstatic joy spread across his face.

As a transmigrator, he naturally knew exactly what this was.

It was his golden finger!

With a flood of information rushing into his mind, Wang Chen quickly grasped the purpose of his golden finger.

Critical hit cashback!

Whenever he gave gifts to female cultivators, depending on their beauty and their favorability towards him, he could receive a system-generated critical hit cashback!

The more beautiful the female cultivator and the higher her favor towards him, the greater the multiplier for the critical cashback!

There was no upper limit!

In theory, if he gifted a female cultivator an ordinary axe, a critical hit could yield a Pangu Axe!

It all depended primarily on the cultivator’s beauty and favorability.

In an instant, the gloom weighing on Wang Chen’s heart vanished, and as he looked toward the direction where Leng Yue’er had left, a determined gleam flashed in his eyes!

Before, he had refrained from competing because his past self was unreliable and he lacked the confidence to speak up.

But now, there was no way he would let the person he loved fall into another’s arms.

However, before that, he needed to fill his stomach.

Close the door, go home.

Looking at the cloth bag on the table, Wang Chen lifted his hand and untied it.

One by one, spirit-infused grains of rice appeared before his eyes, glowing faintly.

Besides the spirit rice, the bag contained a piece of demon beast meat.

The demon beast meat was clearly pre-processed, looking extremely appetizing.

Approaching the stove, he brought water to boil. Soon, smoke curled up as he rinsed the rice and put it in the pot, placing the demon beast meat atop the spirit rice.

Fifteen minutes later, the fragrance of the spirit rice mingled with the aroma of the meat, filling the room. Unable to wait, Wang Chen lifted the lid and took a large bite.

His ravenous manner resembled that of a starving ghost reincarnated.

“Delicious!”

“Truly delicious!”

Despite his disheveled eating, his eyes shone brightly.

Before transmigrating, he had eaten many things, but never had any food smelled or tasted as sweet and fragrant as this meal.

It was an innate joy springing from the body itself, not mere satiation.

No wonder cultivators found eating grains bland and tasteless; compared to food suffused with spiritual energy, food lacking it was like dry kindling, naturally devoid of flavor.

Satisfied and full, Wang Chen let out a contented burp.

Only then did he have time to retrieve a premium Qi-gathering pill from the system space!

Opening the porcelain bottle, he poured one pill into his palm. Observing the three cloud-like patterns emerging on the pill’s surface, surprise shone in Wang Chen’s eyes.

Cultivators pursuing immortality naturally rely on external aids, with pills being a great boon on the path of cultivation!

Due to differences in refining methods and consumed spiritual materials, pills are graded, divided into nine ranks!

Each rank is further split into nine patterns; the higher the pattern, the stronger the pill’s effect.

A first-grade pill of the Qi-gathering variety can display at most three patterns due to the pill’s inherent composition.

It’s like cotton—it can never be forged as hard as steel, no matter what.

Thus, a three-pattern Qi-gathering pill is considered a supreme-grade pill!

Not only is its effect outstanding, but crucially, it does not leave any pill toxin within the body.

Its value is ten times that of an ordinary Qi-gathering pill.

Such pills are extremely rare and hard to come by!

An ordinary Qi-gathering pill costs thirty spirit stones!

That means this batch of premium pills in his hand was worth at least thirty thousand spirit stones!

Calculating the value of the pill, Wang Chen couldn’t help but gasp.

A typical cultivator’s monthly income was at most a hundred or so spirit stones.

The meal he just ate cost two spirit stones.

Spirit-rich food was very filling for cultivators.

Usually, one meal per day was enough.

Yet here, a three-pattern Qi-gathering pill cost three hundred spirit stones—and was impossible to buy!

Using such pills for cultivation was like literally consuming spirit stones!

After marveling at the price of this supreme pill, Wang Chen swallowed it without hesitation.

The pill melted instantly upon entering his mouth. In a flash, powerful medicinal energy erupted within his body, turning his skin a deep red.

Without time to think further, he quickly sat cross-legged on the bed, circulating the Lingxi Technique he had learned previously to refine the pill!

Soon, a thin mist of spiritual energy enveloped him, making him look like an immortal.

In truth, the medicinal force was too overwhelming to be fully absorbed at once; it began to seep out through his pores.

Though it somewhat strengthened his muscles and bones, compared to the wasted energy, it was negligible.

In fact, even disciples of major sects rarely dared use such supreme pills for routine cultivation.

Most saved these pills for breaking through bottlenecks.

To use them casually like Wang Chen was not lavish—it was outright wasteful!

Time passed unknowingly as he cultivated.

A full day and night slipped by.

At dawn the next day, Wang Chen opened his eyes again. A surging energy flashed through him.

A sharp gleam sparked within his eyes, radiating an intimidating aura, then slowly faded.

[Host: Wang Chen]

[Innate Talent: Four Spiritual Roots]

[Realm: Qi Refining Stage, Level Four (56%)]

[Technique: Lingxi Technique (38% proficiency)]

[Spells: Lightness Technique (Beginner 89%), Fireball Technique (Beginner 69%)]

[Immortal Arts: First-tier Talisman Crafting (Beginner 95%)]

Reading the information displayed on the system panel, joy flashed in Wang Chen’s eyes.

One supreme Qi-gathering pill had propelled his cultivation two levels higher.

Crucially, he had broken through the bottleneck from early to mid Qi Refining, becoming a strong practitioner at mid Qi Refining!

Although this strength was still low among cultivators, he had at least evolved from a small workhorse to a big one.

At least here in the outer district of Ningyue Ward, he was a minor expert.

If he could, he would devote every hour of the day to cultivation.

Yet his rapid breakthrough demanded some time to consolidate his foundation; otherwise, it would be unstable.

Thus, he had to temporarily abandon cultivation and turn his attention elsewhere.

Finally, his gaze settled on the Immortal Arts.

Over a hundred thousand cultivators lived in Ningyue Ward, most surviving by hunting demon beasts and selling their meat to sustain their cultivation journey.

They earned their living by the blade’s edge.

His past self’s parents were like this.

To prevent his past self from following in their footsteps, they had found him a skill in talisman crafting.

Although limited to first-tier talismans, it gave his past self a foothold in the bustling ward.

Compared to ordinary scattered cultivators, his past self’s starting point was already very high.

Any money-making skill was valuable.

Unfortunately, his past self had wasted this good hand terribly, a tragic waste of potential.

Wang Chen would never make the same mistake.

Soon, he found his past self’s eating utensils in the corner of the room, spread cinnabar and yellow talisman paper on the table, preparing to craft talismans.