Cultivation: I can see the proficiency level

A low-grade talisman master.

Over the past ten days, Wang Mian has devoted most of his time and effort to drawing talismans, thanks in large part to the insights and experiences of the Bian family recorded in the Nine Talismans Scripture.

He also had a talent for drawing talismans. He became interested after a brief exposure to it, and he was single-minded and tireless in his pursuit. He was overjoyed every time he completed a talisman, and sighed and reflected every time he destroyed one.

Drawing talismans is mentally taxing. Working so hard that one forgets to eat and sleep while drawing talismans often leaves one extremely exhausted. Instead, one uses the practice of magic and magical power as a way to rest and recover one's spirit while drawing talismans.

Occasionally, Yu Tinghe would come to ask about swordsmanship and cultivation, full of questions. Wang Mian was determined to repay Granny Yu's kindness and would answer her questions without reservation.

In terms of cultivation, he could not offer Yu Tinghe any advice. He had a golden seal shining upon him, and now there were no bottlenecks or obstacles in his cultivation. He only needed to be down-to-earth and climb step by step.

He taught Yu Tinghe quite a bit about swordsmanship.

Having just entered the realm of talismanic arts, Wang Mian had already used up all the talisman paper and ink he had obtained from Bian Zemin. Now, there wasn't a single talisman paper left in his storage bag.

There were about two hundred completed talismans left, all of them offensive and defensive talismans.

Detonation tag.

Xuanjia Talisman.

Wang Mian disliked drawing any talismans that aided cultivation, except for the Spirit Gathering Talisman. He particularly favored offensive and defensive talismans and paid special attention to them.

In his spare time, he would spar with Bai Jiuniang. With his cultivation at the fourth level of Qi Refining, Wang Mian was no longer as helpless as he had been in the bamboo forest before.

Relying on his sharp sword energy and combined magic, he was able to fight Bai Jiuniang for over a hundred rounds.

With progress in cultivation, after a month of practice, one-fifth of the progress has been completed. At this rate, another four months will be needed to advance to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

His magical skills have improved, and he has already mastered the basics.

Having perfected the art of concealing one's appearance, changing one's appearance and shape is now as easy as drinking water or eating.

"I have about five hundred spirit stones, and a third of them have been used up in just over a month. These spirit stones really don't last long." Wang Mian looked at the storage bag that had been emptied of talisman paper and spirit ink, and then glanced at the spirit stones, which were already less than half gone.

The pills were also consumed, especially the Bigu Pill, of which Wang Mian used up one bottle, while Bai Jiuniang used up the remaining two bottles of Yiqi Pill.

Demonic beasts have a stronger resistance to pill poison, and the time interval between taking pills is much shorter than that for cultivators. Wang Mian almost never takes pills, which all benefit Bai Jiuniang.

It also lived a life of bliss, eating elixirs like candy.

Wang Mian took out the storage bag that Hua Gu had given him, preparing to check how many spirit stones and elixirs were inside.

Since he had enough spirit stones to cultivate, Wang Mian did not want to be distracted by the amount of profit, so he never opened this storage bag, including the two storage bags he obtained from the Lü family cultivators.

The spiritual ink was used up, and there were no talismans left.

His progress in talismanic arts could not be halted. Relying on his mid-stage Qi Refining cultivation, he could occasionally draw a mid-grade talisman that was slightly less difficult, but it was very unstable.

The mid-grade talismans in the Nine Talismans Scripture were already like enchanting bewitches on Mandarin Duck Slope, relentlessly seducing him. He needed to become at least a mid-grade talisman master before he could draw all the mid-grade talismans he could.

He urgently needs to purchase a batch of talisman paper and spirit ink, but if he does, he won't have enough spirit stones left.

"So many spirit stones?" Inside the refined storage bag were hundreds of gleaming spirit stones. A sweep of spiritual sense revealed a total of over seven hundred spirit stones.

Upon closer examination, it seems reasonable. The Bian family is a celestial clan, and they may have exchanged many spirit stones for elixirs and purchased magical artifacts, leaving behind a considerable number of spirit stones for circulation.

Several seniors received magical artifacts, elixirs, and talismans, and they shared their earnings with him, which was roughly the same amount.

After all, besides spirit stones, there were also seven or eight bottles of Qi-boosting pills, two or three bottles of herbal pills, and several bottles of healing pills inside, which were worth three or four hundred spirit stones.

Wang Mian even felt that he had taken the lion's share of the profits this time.

"With these pills in reserve, there's no need to buy any more for Jiu Niang." Wang Mian couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. These pills would be enough for Bai Jiu Niang to use for a long time.

Perhaps it can help it break through one more hurdle.

In the world of cultivation, most beast-taming cultivators keep one demonic pet. If you see someone carrying a spirit beast pouch who can summon several demonic pets with a wave of their hand, they are usually extremely wealthy. It is best to flee far away, as you are likely no match for them.

Raising demons is costly, as is physical cultivation; this is a consensus in the cultivation world.

One bottle is worth thirty-eight spirit stones, and the Hundred Herbs Pill is worth forty-two spirit stones. If a cultivator doesn't consider the cost of the pill's toxicity and takes into account drug resistance, they would need to consume approximately fifty bottles of pills to reach the bottleneck of breaking through from the fourth level of Qi Refining to the fifth level.

Even if all these pills were fed to the demon beasts, they might not be able to break through the second minor barrier and reach the bottleneck of the superior grade.

Bai Jiuniang wagged her tail, accepted the bottles of Qi-boosting pills that Wang Mian handed her, and whimpered twice, her voice full of joy, which made Wang Mian smile.

After placing the spirit stones and pills, he casually took out the storage bag he had obtained from the Lü family cultivator.

A set of Qi-seeking array plates.

There are four mid-grade magic artifacts: one sword-shaped artifact, one cone-shaped artifact, one protective magic bead, and one protective magic ring. They are all exquisitely crafted and of high quality, judging from their appearance.

The two storage bags contained over eight hundred spirit stones, more than thirty talismans, and eight or nine bottles of elixirs, mostly the Lü family's signature Jade Lotus Elixir, used to enhance cultivation at the sixth level of Qi Refining.

Among them are two bottles of Disease-Clearing Pills, which are enhanced versions of the Spirit-Cure Pills and Healing Pills, and are mostly used by high-level cultivators.

With this calculation, he now possessed two thousand spirit stones. If the value of his magical artifacts, pills, puppets, and talismans were also factored in, he would have a total of over four thousand spirit stones. This was the first time in his life that he had ever possessed such a large quantity of spirit stones.

Even those at the late stage of Qi Refining might not be able to produce so many spirit stones.

Hearing that a Foundation Establishment Pill starts at 30,000 to 50,000 spirit stones and can fetch a sky-high price of over 100,000 with bidding wars, Wang Mian looked at his storage bag again, and the bulge in it suddenly deflated.

Having risked their lives and obtained so many spirit stones by chance, they still have to spend a lot of them. Moreover, cultivating to the fourth, fifth, and sixth levels of Qi Refining requires a large amount of spirit stones. In addition, raising Bai Jiuniang is also very expensive. How can they be considered wealthy?

After burning his clothes, undergarments, and other miscellaneous items, Wang Mian transferred the spiritual rice, spiritual tea, and spiritual incense to his storage bag, and then put away the several empty storage bags.

He now has five empty storage bags. Wang Mian plans to exchange these empty storage bags for a spirit beast bag so that Bai Jiuniang can carry the spirit beast bag when she travels in the future.

"If I don't become a mid-grade talisman master after a trip to the wild market, and I don't break through the fifth level of Qi Refining, I won't leave Fallen Mountain." His worries about the Heart Stone vanished without a trace in an instant.

If he could purchase the Spirit Nourishing Mushroom, a key to breaking through to the fifth level of Qi Refining, in the wild market, he would never leave Luopo Mountain without exhausting his spirit stones, and would spend half a year cultivating in peace.

"Ninth Sister, come with me to the market town."

Bai Jiuniang suddenly flew up and hovered in front of Wang Mian.

Wang Mian shook his head and pointed to the torn collar. Bai Jiuniang nodded in sudden understanding, shrunk to the size of a cat, and with a flash of white light, she darted into Wang Mian's collar, only peeking out to look.

Reaching out to wipe his cheek, Wang Mian transformed into the face of Master Luo Yi. With a shake of his body, he grew taller and fatter, taking on the appearance of a middle-aged man.

"Looking like this, I doubt even the old shopkeeper would recognize me." Wang Mian's aura was so different from his real appearance that if he changed his face again, even Jiang Hao, standing right next to him, wouldn't be able to tell him apart and would have to call him "senior."

Setting up the Qingyu Shuttle, Wang Mian transformed into a streak of light and flew towards the wild market on the southern slope of Luopo Mountain.