Taoist cultivation begins with being a miner

"I took eight Guyuan Zengyang Pills today, but I still feel a bit weak. I have to say, Old Liu's Daoist partner is really too terrifying."

It is far superior to the monsters outside the city. No wonder Old Liu has not been home for a long time. Now it is stuck to him and he can't get rid of it.

That damned old Li, I fell for his trick without even realizing it. I curse him to have a child without eyelids.

"I took ten Qi-strengthening and Yang-increasing pills today, and I only managed to fight to a draw with Lao Liu's Daoist partner."

My body is so weak now, I get out of breath after just a few steps. Am I getting old?

"..."

"Old Liu's Daoist partner is simply inhuman. I was so weak, yet she still wanted more. After I finished a pot of Ten-Ingredient Aphrodisiac Soup and twenty Yuan-Strengthening and Yang-Increasing Pills, I didn't need to eat anything for a whole day."

The problem is, if this continues, I might die in my bed one day.

"I felt dizzy and lightheaded when I went out today. I looked up and saw golden light shining brightly in the sky. Is this my time coming?"

"For my safety, I've decided to move."

Lu Yan: ...

In ancient times, a single scheme harmed three virtuous men; now, a woman defeats three men.

tsk tsk~

Lu Yan continued writing without stopping.

"Huh~ Did Lu Yan offend some powerful force? How come he has an enemy who is at the mid-stage of Qi Refining? He's only at the second level of Qi Refining. He's probably beyond saving if he's attacked by a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator."

I unexpectedly saw news related to myself.

Ji Ba Mao's brother-in-law will definitely not let this go easily, so I must be more vigilant.

For the next period of time, Lu Yan repeated this kind of life.

In the morning, I mined and fed chickens; in the afternoon, I made talismans and practiced martial arts; and in the evening, I cultivated the Eight Trigrams. My life was busy and fulfilling.

Occasionally, he would team up with Zheng Qu and the others to hunt monsters, and then drink and chat to strengthen their bond.

In this cold and heartless world, it is indeed not easy to have a friend.

These guys are really crazy. They only have 30 days a month. While others go out hunting for 10 or 8 days, they spend the rest of their time resting, cultivating, and handling miscellaneous matters.

They spend twenty days a month hunting monsters outside the city, and getting injured is commonplace.

During this time, they were robbed several times by other high-level cultivators, but they were also very pragmatic and would abandon their prey and run away, thus escaping danger several times.

The first thing I did after earning spirit stones was to change my residence. I jointly rented three courtyards in the north of the central city.

Unfortunately, it's quite far from Lu Yan's place. After all, their purposes are different. Lu Yan needs it for convenient mining, while they need it for convenient hunting.

The more you earn, the more you spend. The rent of six spirit stones a month is not cheap. Even if you share a place, it will cost two or three spirit stones per person.

As for food, since they often go out hunting, they can no longer eat the non-nutritious fasting pills and must eat spirit rice and monster meat.

This means each person will need four or five spirit stones per month.

Each person receives five or six spirit stones and pills per month for cultivation.

Talismans, healing pills, and other miscellaneous items cost three or four spirit stones each month.

Therefore, each person's monthly expenses range from fourteen to eighteen spirit stones. They also need to budget for magic tools, storage bags, and cultivation techniques, which leaves them no choice but to go out hunting desperately.

On average, they can catch three red-clawed rabbits a day, which is equivalent to twelve spirit stones. On average, each person gets less than two spirit stones.

If other cultivators rob them, they will lose everything and live a very difficult life.

Lu Yan has made great progress in the past month. Not only has his physical strength and power increased significantly, but his cultivation level has also improved a lot.

Most importantly, the Mine God's Pickaxe can now be wielded, and if the Vajra Talisman is used in conjunction with it, it will be no problem to fight.

As for Ji Ba Mao's brother-in-law, whom he was wary of, for some reason he hadn't made a move against him.

You can't guard against thieves forever if you're a thief for a thousand days. Lu Yan decided to take the initiative to deal with this problem after a while.

At midnight (11 PM to 1 AM), the wheel refreshes again.

After thinking for a long time, Lu Yan decided to see what the Ghost Word Spinning Wheel would produce.

After Lu Yan clicked, the spinning wheel slowly stopped after a while.

Finally, ten phantom images appeared: seven identical purple orbs of light, a pile of stones, a piece of wood, and a piece of white jade.

Lu Yan didn't recognize any of these things, so he clicked on the purple light cluster first.

"Origin of the Soul"

It is the essence of the soul; absorbing it can enhance one's own soul.

Friendly reminder: After death, the body eventually turns to dust, and the soul also dissipates from the world.

"In that case, I will safeguard your origins."

Wow! I never expected that the roulette wheel would produce this, which made Lu Yan overjoyed.

In this world, cultivation techniques are easy to learn but the spirit and soul are difficult to fathom. They have form but no substance, roots but no source, yet they are closely related to a person's entire life.

However, one's soul can only become stronger as one's cultivation level increases. Of course, some precious pills and rare treasures can also achieve this, but how many of those things are there?

The stronger one's soul, the stronger one's consciousness will be, and the stronger one's control will be. At that time, one will be more powerful in making talismans, refining pills, forging weapons, or creating arrays.

For Lu Yan, this divine soul essence is no worse than the bloodline fruit, and may even be better. After all, he currently makes money by making talismans, and in the future, he may very well obtain the inheritance pearls for alchemy, weapon forging, and array making.

Then Lu Yan examined the other three items: the stone was Yinmo Stone, Ghost Wood, and Cold Jade.

All of them are Yin-attribute materials, which can be used for refining weapons and creating formations.

From then on, Lu Yan understood the functions of all four turntables. The Human-shaped turntable produced spirit stones and items, while the Demon-shaped turntable, which also belonged to the human race, produced blood beads and demonic items.

The Demon Wheel produces various fruits and medicinal herbs, while the Ghost Wheel produces divine essence and Yin-attribute materials.

For now, I have enough items. I can stop using the zigzag wheel for now, and I can use the Mine God's Pickaxe to defend myself. My need for health beads is no longer so strong. I can just mine every day to slowly improve my health.

Over the next few months, I will take turns spinning the Ghost and Demon roulette wheels to improve my aptitude and spiritual power, striving to break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining as soon as possible so that I can draw first-tier intermediate talismans.

After planning his future, Lu Yan began absorbing the essence of the divine soul.

As a result, I encountered the same problem as with the Qi and Blood Beads at the beginning: my soul was absorbing it very slowly, and I didn't know how many days it would take to absorb this small clump of soul.

However, with his experience with the Qi and Blood Beads and the Pickaxe of the God of Mining, Lu Yan began to draw talismans.

Sure enough, after using his divine soul, the ball of divine soul power was being rapidly absorbed.

In one day, one-third of the divine soul essence was absorbed, and fifteen talismans were drawn.

It kills two birds with one stone: it can both enhance one's spirit and create talismans.

For the next two days, Lu Yan did not go to work, but stayed at home absorbing the essence of the divine soul and drawing talismans.

In three days, he absorbed a whole mass of divine soul essence and also drew more than forty talismans.

Putting down the talisman brush, Lu Yan had no intention of continuing. He needed to deal with the matter of his brother-in-law Ji Ba Mao, otherwise he would have no peace of mind.