Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

Late at night.

"Pfft... Pfft... Pfft!"

A palm-sized piece of flesh nailed to the wall vibrated continuously under a series of eerie bursts of energy, occasionally shedding fragments of meat.

"Spiritual Power Finger Snap"

One of the simplest skills in the Qi Refinement Realm, just slightly more powerful than the Fire-Starting Skill used for lighting fires.

No incantations needed, no hand signs required, and the consumption of spiritual power was extremely low.

Chen Li, even though it was his first encounter with it, had managed to get the hang of it after just half a day of pondering and experimenting.

As for the power... it probably met the standards of firearms according to criminal law.

Ten meters away, it felt like a gentle breeze, five meters was just enough to break the skin, and to kill a chicken, one had to be within three meters.

Of course, that was the power he had achieved shortly after he mastered it yesterday.

However, as he practiced today, Chen Li astonishingly discovered that the force of this "Spiritual Power Finger Snap" seemed to become more concentrated, its power growing increasingly larger, and with every session of practice came new insights and revelations, as if he were divinely aided.

"Pop!"

Something sounded off.

Chen Li walked over with curiosity, lifted the flesh, and to his surprise, found that the slice of meat, which was as thick as five fingers, had been pierced through, even leaving a shallow pit in the wooden wall behind it.

"This... the power has become this great?"

He was standing five meters away.

He couldn't help but open the panel.

He discovered that the proficiency of Spiritual Power Finger Snap had, unknowingly, advanced to proficiency.

"Why does this progress feel a bit abnormal!" Chen Li exclaimed with joy yet with a tinge of doubt, his brows gradually knitting together.

Not counting the time spent exploring, he had spent a total of only three to four hours practicing "Spiritual Power Finger Snap," occasionally practicing it on a whim while drawing talismans, as a break from the monotony of life.

After all, it was indeed quite fun.

When spiritual power was stimulated and the force of the finger was released, the force cut through the air, making small pits in the black mud on the ground beneath his feet.

Extremely stress-relieving.

"However, even with the added benefit of 'unfounded' muscle memory, it's still a bit too fast. Could it be... I'm that one in a million talent in skills, though not so much in cultivation?"

Chen Li laughed at himself sarcastically.

"Wait, I seem to have been overlooking something all along..." he thought of a possibility.

Suppressing the faint excitement within him, Chen Li once again used "Spiritual Power Finger Snap," and, unsurprisingly, the piece of meat was pierced through once more, but Chen Li's attention was no longer there.

He quickly opened the game panel.

What was originally "Spiritual Power Finger Snap Proficiency: 1/400" had startlingly changed to "Spiritual Power Finger Snap Proficiency: 2/400".

"Whew, just as I thought!"

His heart began to pound fiercely as he continued to test.

With each use of the finger snap, the proficiency on the panel increased by one.

He kept stimulating it until his spiritual power was nearly depleted before he stopped.

By that point, the proficiency of "Spiritual Power Finger Snap" had changed to "21/400".

"Huff... Huff!"

Breathing rapidly, he looked at the panel, both shocked and delighted.

"Every time I practice, does the proficiency forcibly increase by one?"

"Is this an implicit rule of the game panel? Is there a guaranteed reward for effort?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

He had always thought that the function of this game panel was just to record his status, allowing him to understand his attributes more intuitively, but he had utterly overlooked that it also concealed such a powerful ability.

"No wonder when practicing, vague intuitions and realizations would emerge in my mind! No wonder my progress in making talismans was so fast, I had always thought it was due to the triggering of the original owner's memory.

"Now it seems that, for the most part, it's the game panel making an impact," Chen Li mused.

He let out a long sigh, and the suppressed anxiety that had been lingering in his heart since his transmigration seemed to dissipate with his breath, making him feel somewhat lighter.

"The future holds promise!"

"The future really does hold promise!" he couldn't help but get excited and murmured to himself.

However, as the corner of his eye glanced over the realm indicator on the attribute panel that had never changed, the excitement on his face gradually faded.

"If the realm can't be elevated, it all comes to naught!"

In fact, Chen Li had a hunch about this. Even though the game panel had undergone some miraculous transformation and merged with him after his transmigration, its essence was still akin to that of a computer.

It could deduce skills according to the original game's rules and provide insights, but when it came to meddling with matter and energy (spiritual power), it was utterly powerless.

"Sigh, greed never ends. It's unexpected joy that I can improve the proficiency of my skills; I shouldn't hope for too much more," Chen Li consoled himself, yet he couldn't hide his disappointment.

"Sigh, sleep, just sleep," he said, feeling somewhat listless.

Though that was what he thought, before going to sleep, he still dutifully sat and practiced his Qi Cultivation for several cycles until his spiritual power was restored, then lay down to sleep, utterly exhausted.

He believed in perseverance—he could wait a month, two months, and if that wasn't enough, even a year.

He was still of age... not too old; there would be a time for a breakthrough.

He set himself a small goal.

For instance, to reach the fourth layer of Qi Cultivation in five years. Forget it, not to stress himself, ten years.

By that time, his lifespan would likely surpass a hundred. With a skill for crafting talismans and no worries about food and drink, and perhaps a few women by his side, what more could he possibly ask for in life!

...

In the following days, Chen Li continued the reclusive lifestyle he had been leading.

When his food supply ran out, he paid another visit to the market.

Making the most of the opportunity, he bought a book on swordsmanship from a down-and-out Loose Cultivator for the price of five jin of gold.

For such a price, naturally, it wasn't anything special—just a common swordsmanship passed down from the secular world, devoid of complicated techniques and without the need for the use of spiritual power, containing only some basic moves.

But, this was perfect for beginner Chen Li.

He wasn't any cultivation genius, nor did he have any foundational skills. Simply looking at the crude pictures resembling stick figures, he couldn't learn high-level swordsmanship even if he was given the manuals.

True to this, several days went by without any sign of the swordsmanship skill solidifying on the game attribute panel.

But Chen Li didn't mind.

He considered it a way to exercise his body.

Right now, his main focus and target was on preparing to craft Evil-Repelling Talismans.

Unquestionably, Evil-Repelling Talismans were a hot commodity in the market, especially for low-level Loose Cultivators. They were considered essential for home, travel, and treasure hunting adventures.

As the name suggests, an Evil-Repelling Talisman could dispel sinister energies and cause some damage to ghostly entities. Even when encountering powerful ghosts, it could self-ignite to serve as an alert and warning.

Of course, on the flip side, carrying an Evil-Repelling Talisman might provoke powerful ghostly entities—that was another matter altogether.

Chen Li was hesitant to begin crafting, primarily for two reasons.

On one hand, the Evil-Repelling Talisman was of a high level.

If Cleaning Talismans, Silencing Talismans, Guiding Talismans were considered low-level talismans suitable for the Qi Refinement Realm, then the Evil-Repelling Talisman was certainly a mid-level talisman, corresponding to the fourth layer of Qi Cultivation.

With his current status at the third layer of Qi Cultivation, it was a bit of a stretch.

He could manage to draw them, but the failure rate was unimaginably high.

On the other hand, the processed animal skins left by the original body could at most be used to make five talismans.

There were plenty of unprocessed animal skins, but he had no idea how to perform the subsequent steps and had very few related memories.

This meant that he had only five chances before he would have to start selling his possessions.

"Annoying!"