Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

"Is there any other change?" Chen Li wondered thoughtfully.

He rose from his meditation cushion and began to experiment.

His mouth silently chanted a spell while his hands, like afterimages, moved swiftly to form seals.

Soon a Golden Light Body Protection Skill enveloped him. He then dispelled it and cast the spell again.

Twice!

Three times!

...

After performing it eight times in a row, his Spiritual Power was depleted.

Since his Longevity Skill reached the Grandmaster level, his Spiritual Power had been slowly purifying. Now, the number of times he could cast spells had nearly doubled; one portion of Spiritual Power could be utilized as two.

"There seems to be no difference from before... wait! What is this?"

Chen Li suddenly discovered, to his surprise, that the Longevity Skill was operating on its own, continuously absorbing surrounding Spiritual Energy. In a short while, a thread of Spiritual Power was reborn within him.

"This is... automatic recovery!" Chen Li exclaimed in both shock and joy.

He estimated the speed at about thirty percent of the meditation recovery rate.

"As expected of the Max Level Longevity Skill."

It was already past midnight. Chen Li decided not to sleep.

He patiently waited for the recovery of his Spiritual Power.

Before the sky was fully light, his Spiritual Power had automatically returned to full.

At the same time,

the Longevity Skill stopped running.

"About half a day’s time." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"What a pity, it can’t automatically cultivate!" Chen Li thought, somewhat greedily.

Even so, this ability was quite useful. At least now when he practiced his spells, he no longer needed to meditate frequently to recover Spiritual Power, saving him a great deal of effort.

Then he cast another Golden Light Body Protection Spell.

After a while, the Longevity Skill spontaneously began operating again, slowly restoring his Spiritual Power.

...

After depleting his Spiritual Power again, Chen Li consumed several Qi and Blood Elixirs and some dried meat to replenish his consumption. He went to the training room, undressed, took out the Green Jade Sword from his storage bag, and began practicing swordsmanship.

With his current constitution, even without sleep for the entire night, he still didn’t feel the slightest bit fatigued.

The air occasionally burst with short, sharp explosions.

Air surged violently.

Basic swordsmanship was just so simple and brutal, repeatedly honing the body’s power output to make each sword strike faster, stronger, and more destructive.

Now, when he swung his sword, not only his muscles exerted force, but all of his internal organs also responded to his will as if squeezing every bit of potential from his body.

It must be said, this ordinary swordsmanship had been practiced to an incredible level by Chen Li.

It’s just that the consumption was indeed too great.

It was like his physical energy was burning.

After practicing for only three minutes, Chen Li began to gasp for breath and his rhythm slowed.

Even though it was summer, the unventilated basement was even more stifling. Yet Chen Li’s skin was flushed, emitting billowing steam—a result of the high-intensity exercise elevating his body temperature.

He rested intermittently, practicing in intervals.

He continued like this until it was completely light outside, then stopped and left the basement, his body exhausted.

Zhou Hong had already prepared breakfast.

"Did you practice all night again?"

"I lost track of time."

"You should take care of your body; you’re already forty-four years old." Zhou Hong advised, then fell silent, accustomed as she was.

"How can you not know about my health?" Chen Li laughed.

"Pfft!" Zhou Hong secretly spat out in her mind, her face reddening as she said, "I don’t know at all!"

The two chatted casually as they ate.

There was no distinction between breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Chen Li downed three large bowls of Spirit Rice and ate two kilograms of Demon Beast Meat before he felt full.

Because Luoluo City is at the core of the Longevity Domain, Second Order Demon Beasts were extremely rare, but there were still some First Order ones. Chen Li often saw people selling First Order Demon Beast meat.

The effects... let’s just say they’re better than nothing. Along with the Blood Qi Elixirs that he ate like candy, they prevented his body from becoming too worn out from training.

"In a while, I’m going out. Today is the first auction to be held since the war. I’ll go take a look; there should be plenty of good stuff." Chen Li said.

"Be careful. It’s very chaotic outside now. Maybe I should accompany you," Zhou Hong said, worried.

"No need. It’s easier to move alone. With my disguise techniques, nothing will go wrong."

...

After breakfast, Chen Li drank a cup of tea and rested for a bit before he left the house.

He altered his appearance along the way and arrived at the auction house in Luoluo City. The place had been severely damaged during the war, but now it had been restored to its former state, showing no signs of the conflict.

Seeing that most people were concealing their faces, Chen Li followed suit and pulled out a piece of cloth to cover his own, not wanting to attract attention.

After all, the newcomers to Luoluo City these days weren’t very cautious,

often resorting to underhanded tactics.

After paying a low-grade Spirit Stone and receiving an auction plaque and a catalogue, Chen Li followed the crowd inside, found a corner to sit in, and casually flipped through the auction catalogue in his hand.

"There are even Arrays for sale? I wonder which Foundation Establishment family that’s been looted has these."

However, Chen Li wasn’t concerned.

This kind of thing wasn’t of use to him yet.

First, a Qi Cultivation disciple using an Array would attract too much attention.

Second, he had no place to set one up, and they were said to consume a lot of Spirit Stones.

There were too many good things at this auction.

Chen Li even saw several first-order pill recipes as well as several scrolls on Artifact Refining.

He looked around,

"There seem to be quite a few Foundation Establishment cultivators here today."

The Chen Li of today was no longer as ignorant as he once was; such things could serve as the foundation for a Foundation Establishment family or even a sect, and even he was somewhat tempted, but after considering it, decided against it.

He simply didn’t have the energy to learn another craft.

He finally saw the Foundation Establishment Elixirs, not just one but as many as three.

He immediately felt a sense of calm.

He had to secure at least one this time.

...

The auction was in full swing, with bids being called out one after another, and various items being sold for sky-high prices.

A set of second-order mid-grade Thick Earth Gathering Spirit Formation was sold for the astronomical price of twenty-one top-grade Spirit Stones, equivalent to more than two thousand one hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones, leaving Chen Li secretly astonished and greatly enlightened.

He wondered who had brought this Formation to auction, and even Chen Li couldn’t help but harbor a fleeting thought of robbery.

Of course, this thought was fleeting.

As for the pill recipes and the Artifact Refining books,

they too sparked fierce competition.

Some went for as few as three or four top-grade Spirit Stones.

Others as many as seven or eight.

For the first time, Chen Li felt that he wasn’t as wealthy as he imagined.

The auction finally turned to the Foundation Establishment Elixirs he was interested in.

"... The starting bid is one hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones, and each bid must increase by at least one."

...

"Two hundred thirty for the first time, two hundred thirty for the second, any more bids? Sold!"

Chen Li continued to sit for a while, then, taking advantage of the heated atmosphere during another Foundation Establishment Elixir auction, he quietly stood up, discreetly collected the Foundation Establishment Elixir from the auction house and left without delay, attracting no attention.

Once on the main road, seeing people coming and going, Chen Li’s tense spirit relaxed slightly:

"Two Foundation Establishment Elixirs should be enough. If I still can’t establish my foundation with these, it must be fate."

He looked up at the sky, a clear azure.

He breathed out lightly.

...

Summer gave way to autumn.

The oppressive heat gradually faded, bringing a touch of coolness.

The corvée labor that Zhang Yan had been worried about finally arrived.

"Those under fourteen are exempt!"

"The widow, the orphan, the lonely, the disabled, they’re exempt!"

"Newcomers, exempt!"

...

At the corner of the street by a notice, the crowd gathered around.

"So they’re only drafting locals, eh?"

"Sigh, it’s a three-month draft, and who knows what dangers lie ahead. The Returning True Sect is so stingy; when the Longevity Sect was in power, there wasn’t this much trouble."

"What can we do against the mighty? To the eyes of the Golden Core Ancestor of the Returning True Sect, aren’t we just mortals?"

"Heh, what’s the big deal?" A Loose Cultivator, who had migrated from the Returning True realm and seen much of the world, didn’t get angry upon hearing this; he sneered, "Even those Foundation Establishment cultivators have to serve, why should you be any different? Hehe, you’ll suffer in the future."

"Hiss! Even Foundation Establishment has to serve?"

"The Returning True Sect is truly domineering."

The crowd, some sighing, others discussing, wore troubled expressions, and aside from those newly migrated from the Returning True realm, a faint air of melancholy hung over the entire shanty area.

PS: Thanks to the alliance leader Baili Jilian, I’m thrilled; finally, we have an alliance leader, haha!

And it’s a double celebration as the book has achieved the milestone of ten thousand words on average.