Living a peaceful life in the world of cultivation

After carefully experiencing it, Lü Ping adapted to the new changes brought about by the slight increase in his cultivation level.

With a powerful physique, the blood and qi flow freely like a surging river, and the muscles all over the body are smooth and defined, like a dormant volcano ready to erupt at any moment; as cultivation increases, the spiritual energy within the body flows at will; and the spiritual consciousness is refined to the point where one can hear a pin drop.

"Absorbing the spiritual energy within a single cluster of spiritual energy is equivalent to a month of my arduous cultivation."

"I estimate that after absorbing another ninety or so spiritual energy clusters produced by the Rejuvenating Grass, I will be able to try to break through again and reach the sixth level of Qi Refining."

The cultivation of Qi in the Qi Refining stage is not too complicated.

Absorb spiritual energy, nourish the body, increase cultivation, and temper spiritual consciousness...

With his powerful spiritual sense and long-term experience in absorbing spiritual energy, Lü Ping was able to make relatively reasonable judgments about the growth of his cultivation and breakthroughs in realms.

but.

Although Lü Ping came from a mortal Taoist academy under the Huayang Sect, it was because of his mortal origins and spiritual roots that he was able to enter the mortal Taoist academy.

In the mortal Taoist academy, only ordinary cultivation was taught. After leaving the mortal Taoist academy, one never received systematic teaching again.

Therefore, in terms of physical strength and spiritual awareness, Lü Ping could not make a reasonable and accurate judgment about himself. He could only measure his physical strength and spiritual awareness by the standards of most cultivators in the market.

"Thanks to the many elixirs and secret techniques, my spiritual sense and physique are definitely stronger than those of the cultivators in the market."

"But just how strong?"

"I have no idea what standards there are for defining and quantifying this."

Lu Ping shook his head. There wasn't much information recorded in Manager Lu's notes about spiritual awareness and physical strength.

Within the market, unless one is a cultivator who has dedicated many years to this practice, the definition and classification of this practice are not very clear.

For Foundation Establishment family descendants and powerful sect disciples, this knowledge is easily accessible. However, for independent cultivators or half-baked cultivators from mortal academies, the price they have to pay to acquire such knowledge is not easy.

This is why the Zhao family went to great lengths to send Zhao Xiaofan into the Huayang Sect.

"They know they are strong, but they don't have a clear understanding of to what extent they are strong."

Lu Ping did not have such blind power or be blinded by it. The cultivation world is so vast, and cultivators use all sorts of tricks. Not having a clear understanding of oneself is a dangerous sign.

Many independent cultivators in the market are the same; they bury themselves in their cultivation and, apart from the increase in their cultivation level, they cannot clearly understand the level of their overall strength.

Anxiety washed over me like a tidal wave.

Fortunately, a cool sensation from the Qingxin Jade soothed my restless heart.

"Cultivation is also about cultivating the mind; I will pay more attention to this from now on."

After adjusting his mindset, Lü Ping put the matter out of his mind.

The next day.

Dawn breaks.

With seventeen Rejuvenating Herbs in his possession, protected by a golden sword talisman and a green wood amulet hidden inside his Taoist robe, Lü Ping hurried towards the inner city of the market.

At this moment, the market seemed to come alive.

The market town, which had been shrouded in the cold winter for months due to the wind and snow blowing from the Snow Toad Mountains, was now quiet and lifeless as the Yunzhu Li family was about to embark on the second phase of their land reclamation in the Snow Toad Mountains.

It can be said that the Xuechan Mountains were both their strength and their weakness.

The unaffiliated cultivators walked tirelessly through the alleyways, full of enthusiasm for the future.

It is obvious that the previous batch of pioneering cultivators returned with a full load, and the sight of the Yunzhu Li family transporting cultivation resources with crimson-scaled demon horses in the snowy night greatly stimulated the rogue cultivators who had previously been observing.

Not only that.

The great harvest from the Yunzhu Li family's land reclamation has affected not only the local cultivators of Yunzhu Market, but also many cultivators from other places. It should be noted that many small caravans and itinerant merchants have now settled in the outer western district.

Long queues formed again at the entrance to the inner city.

Once inside the inner city, Lü Ping didn't need to pay much attention.

Every talisman shop and medicine store sold out of demon-finding talismans, defensive talismans, and healing and restorative pills as soon as they hit the shelves.

The wandering cultivators, hurrying along, chatted in twos and threes.

"Fellow Daoist Wang, you also plan to participate in the second phase of the wilderness exploration."

"That's only natural. What future can one find by being confined to the marketplace and cultivating spiritual plants?"

"That's absolutely true. Unless you can even grasp the basics of alchemy, it's hard to say whether you can even reach the late stage of Qi Refining if you spend your whole life as a spirit plant master, let alone reach the Foundation Establishment stage."

"By the way, fellow cultivator, have you heard? It's said that a rogue cultivator in the Eastern District discovered a small cloud-patterned iron ore vein during the last land reclamation!"

"That's true!"

"Naturally, the rogue cultivator in the Eastern District used this to obtain the talisman inheritance. Unfortunately, he acted too quickly; as soon as he got the talisman inheritance, he sold it to Master Qian, the talisman master."

"In return, the talisman master rented two courtyards with spiritual springs for him, and took in his son to teach him the art of talisman making!"

The more Lü Ping listened, the more suspicious he became. The Eastern District cultivators these cultivators were talking about, plus Master Qian, were none other than Zhao Dashan's family.

Unexpectedly, one day Zhao Dashan would become a cultivator in the eyes of the other rogue cultivators. However, the tone of these cultivators was not only envious, but also covetous.

In his words, he also criticized the spiritual plant masters, showing disdain and contempt.

"Oh."

"This time, the Snow Toad Mountains will likely see many more corpses."

Since the group coveted Zhao Dashan's talisman inheritance, Lü Ping naturally wouldn't give them a friendly look.

The Snow Toad Mountains are man-eating, and these are the people they've been eating.

Inside the Lingcao Hall.

Even Manager Lu got busy, and surprisingly, he didn't exchange pleasantries when Lü Ping arrived.

However, when he saw Lü Ping present the perfect quality Rejuvenating Herb, his eyes lit up and he immediately offered a price.

"All other quality Rejuvenation Grass will be purchased for three low-grade spirit stones; perfect quality Rejuvenation Grass will be purchased for four low-grade spirit stones."

Manager Lu carried a smoky, fiery smell, and given his identity as an alchemist, he had most likely just returned from the alchemy room.

Lu Ping's offer to Manager Lu was meaningless.

After the money and goods were exchanged.

Shopkeeper Lu acquired seventeen Rejuvenating Grasses, two of which were of perfect quality; Lü Ping acquired fifty-three low-grade spirit stones.

But Lü Ping's gains didn't stop there. Shopkeeper Lu gave him thirty portions of Rejuvenating Grass Seeds for free, and some information was revealed in his words.

The first batch of pioneering cultivators could only be considered small-scale operations; the second phase of pioneering would truly involve bloodshed! It would require the corpses of rogue cultivators to fill the gaps!

Upon hearing this, Lü Ping felt a little heavy-hearted, thinking of Zhao Dashan's preparation to participate in the reclamation again.

After leaving the Spirit Herb Hall, Lü Ping went to the Treasure Pavilion and spent thirteen low-grade spirit stones to purchase cultivation books.

Then.

Lü Ping went against the grain of the restless rogue cultivators.

After returning to the East District, I unusually did not go home first.

Instead, Lü Ping went to visit Zhao Dashan.

"Brother Dashan, are you home?"

A moment later.

Zhao Dashan warmly pulled Lü Ping into the courtyard, and before they could even sit down, he got straight to the point.

"Brother Dashan, the second phase of land reclamation might be quite dangerous..."