Only I Have the Law: A Realistic Cultivation Game

The next day.

The first day of the National Day holiday.

Xu Zhiyi still gets up early to exercise.

Burpees and mountain climbers are now easier to do.

He practiced for half an hour without breaking a sweat.

So he searched online for some more difficult moves that required a high level of physical exertion.

For example, many basketball and rugby players use explosive crawls to train full-body explosive power and core rigidity; pistol squats to train lower limb explosive power; and V-shaped crunches and dragon flags to train the core.

His favorite gesture is the dragon flag.

This is said to be Bruce Lee's signature core move.

He went back into the room, lay down on the bed with his head against the edge, grabbed the edge of the bed with both hands, stretched his whole body into a straight line, with only his shoulder blades touching the bed, and used his core strength to lift his whole body up until it was almost perpendicular to the bed. He held this position for about 20 seconds, and then slowly lowered himself down to a position that was almost horizontal, but not yet touching the bed.

This movement requires maintaining a rigid torso throughout, strictly prohibiting bending over, and ensuring that no part of the body other than the shoulder blades touches the bed. It demands extremely high core strength and is a huge test of endurance, balance, coordination, and so on.

However, given Xu Zhiyi's current physical condition, she can still perform these movements with ease.

Morning exercise over.

Xu Zhiyi took a shower, changed her clothes, went downstairs to buy breakfast, and then rode a shared bicycle to a jewelry store to exchange the silver in her backpack.

However, silver prices have recently dropped sharply, and jewelry stores are only offering 15 yuan per gram for buyback.

It's more than seven yuan less than last time.

The capital market is terrifying!

Xu Zhiyi regretted not selling the silver in her bag sooner.

But then he thought that if the price of silver really dropped, he wouldn't feel so bad about using his magic weapon "Money God".

Thinking of this, he changed his mind, originally planning to sell all the silver. He chose to keep two ingots and exchange the remaining 50 taels of silver for money.

The 50 taels of silver, weighing 2100 grams, sold for 31500 yuan.

This was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for him!

Adding to his previous balance, and the more than 4000 yuan he withdrew from the creator incentive program on the short video platform yesterday, as well as the more than 4 yuan worth of ginseng and lingzhi he bought last time, he now has a total of 6 yuan in his wallet!

With this huge sum of money, Xu Zhiyi set off for Nanchansi Pedestrian Street with great confidence.

This pedestrian street is a 4A-level cultural tourism block built on the three core landscapes of the ancient canal, Nanchansi Temple, and Miaoguang Pagoda. It combines ancient charm with the lively atmosphere of the city, and has everything from cultural landscapes, antiques and calligraphy and paintings, flowers, birds, fish and insects, to delicious snacks.

There weren't many people on the pedestrian street in the morning.

As Xu Zhiyi stepped into the iconic archway, it was as if she had traveled from the modern era to ancient times. Not only had the high-rise buildings become antique two-story buildings, but the cement road under her feet had also become a bluestone road.

Shops of all kinds opened one after another along the streets.

Antiques vendors, calligraphy and paintings sellers, jade sellers, incense and candle vendors, snack hawkers... the things sold on this street are all kinds of things, and you can find everything you need.

Xu Zhiyi carried her bag and slowly walked inside.

His goal today was clear: to gather all the materials needed to craft the exorcising talisman, the spirit-gathering array, and the storage bag, and to find as many materials as possible to craft the Soul-Severing Dart.

In his view, common items like yellow paper, wolf-hair brushes, and vermilion ink shouldn't be hard to find. The real trouble lies in things like ethereal stones, black iron ingots, and ghost stones—things whose very names exude mystery.

He strolled around the pedestrian street and soon found a shop selling the Four Treasures of the Study. It looked quite old from the outside, with an antique-style signboard that read "Hanmotang" hanging above the door.

Upon entering, one sees various powder-coated cold-rolled steel shelves displaying Xuan paper, picture albums, and calligraphy copybooks, while glass cabinets display all kinds of brushes, inkstones, and ink sticks, with special spotlights shining brightly.

It has a very modern feel!

The shop owner, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was sitting in a chair drinking tea. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and smiled gently: "What would you like to order, young man?"

"Do you have yellow paper, wolf-hair brushes, cinnabar, and pine soot ink?" Xu Zhiyi asked directly, stating her purpose.

"some."

The shop owner didn't ask any more questions. He put down his teacup, got up, took a strip of pale yellow talisman paper from the shelf, opened the counter, and took out a few pens and several boxes of cinnabar and ink sticks.

"These are the ones that lay Buddhists usually use when requesting talismans, and they are all of good quality."

The shop owner didn't treat Xu Zhiyi casually just because she looked young. Instead, he pointed to the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones on the table and introduced them one by one: "The yellow paper is produced in Jing County, the wolf hair brush is made from the tail of a wolf from Northeast China, the cinnabar is ground from raw cinnabar ore, and the pine soot ink is produced by the Huizhou Old Ink Factory. If you know anything about this, you should have heard of them."

Xu Zhiyi didn't understand.

However, he has his own methods.

He reached out and took the sheet of yellow paper in his hand.

The moment my fingertip touched the paper, a line of small print appeared in the lower left corner of my field of vision:

You have obtained 100 pieces of ordinary yellow paper.

Sure enough, you can see it!

With a firm resolve, Xu Zhiyi picked up the wolf-hair brush, cinnabar ink, and pine soot ink in turn.

These were all classified as normal by the game.

Xu Zhiyi asked about the price first.

"A ream of paper costs 20, a pen 120, cinnabar 65, and ink 200. If we buy them all, I'll give you 400."

The shop owner quoted a price that wasn't cheap, but it was within a reasonable range.

Xu Zhiyi thought for a moment, then put the yellow paper and wolf-hair brush aside. "I'll take the paper and brush. Do you have any better cinnabar or pine soot ink?"

Yes, yes.

The shop owner took out several beautifully packaged cinnabar and pine soot inks from the cabinet, but Xu Zhiyi shook her head as soon as she touched them, "Anything better?"

"This is a brand new ink made by hand by a contemporary master of intangible cultural heritage. Young man, you don't even like this?" The shop owner looked at Xu Zhiyi with some surprise, as if to say, "Kid, do you really know this or are you just pretending?"

Xu Zhiyi doesn't understand, but the game panel does.

He can tell whether something is really good or not just as soon as he holds it in his hand!

Finally, the shop owner took out a box of cinnabar and a box of pine soot ink from the innermost cabinet, opened the complicated packaging, and handed them to Xu Zhiyi. "These two boxes are the best in my shop. The cinnabar is from Wanshan, and this pine soot ink has a purple jade luster after 40 years of aging. This is the only box I have in my shop!"

If you still don't like these two things, then you probably won't find anything better on this street.

The shop owner spoke with great confidence.

Even though Xu Zhiyi wasn't an expert, she could tell that these two items were indeed good things.

The cinnabar was pure in color, neither too orange nor too dark, and under the light, it had a warm and gentle luster that was not dazzling. The pine soot ink was also as firm and smooth as jade, with a dark and lustrous black color that had a hint of purple. There was a thin layer of ink frost on the surface, and it smelled of a refreshing pine resin fragrance and a faint medicinal fragrance.

He held the cinnabar in his hand.

You have obtained 1 piece of superior cinnabar.

The cinnabar has been found!

Xu Zhiyi's eyes lit up, and then she took the pine soot ink in her hand.

You have obtained 10 pieces of superior-grade pine soot ink.

Now we have everything!

Moreover, this piece of pine soot ink is considered a quantity of 10 in the game, but he only needs 2 portions to refine the talisman.

Xu Zhiyi was overjoyed and asked the shop owner about the price.

You wouldn't believe it until you asked, and what you found out was quite surprising.

That box of cinnabar was alright; it was 10g, and a box cost 1200.

And that box of pine soot ink was even more outrageous; it was just a small piece, yet it cost 18,000 yuan!

Xu Zhiyi checked online and it seems that these two things really are that expensive.

He could only look sincerely at the shop owner and ask, "I'm a student, could you give me a discount?"

"What respectable student would buy this stuff?" The shopkeeper chuckled. "How about this, if you buy pine soot ink, this box of cinnabar is yours for free."

"How about buying cinnabar and getting pine soot ink for free? Just kidding, can you give me a discount?"

After some haggling, Xu Zhiyi finally secured the pine soot ink and cinnabar for 17,500 yuan. Oh, and two reams of yellow paper and a fine wolf-hair brush.

The shop owner hadn't expected to make such a big sale so soon after opening, and politely saw him out.

As soon as he stepped outside, he saw a middle-aged man with an anxious expression rushing over. If he hadn't reacted quickly, he would have almost bumped into him.

The man didn't apologize and rushed into the store.

Xu Zhiyi guessed that he had something urgent to attend to, so she didn't mind. She turned around and went into a fabric store, where she spent less than 100 yuan to buy two feet of pure cotton combed fabric and 100 grams of 6A grade double-column long silk.

You have obtained 2 pieces of sturdy cloth.

You have obtained 1 piece of superior silk.

Then I went to the handmade leather goods shop next door and spent 100 yuan to buy two feet of buffalo leather.

You have obtained 2 pieces of tough leather.

The only material missing for crafting a basic storage bag is the [Ethereal Stone].

But what exactly is this ethereal stone?

As he was thinking, he stuffed the buffalo hide he had just bought into his backpack, preparing to go to the jade shop to take a look, when he heard someone jogging towards him from behind:

"Wait a minute, young man!"

Xu Zhiyi looked back in confusion and found that the person who came was the middle-aged man who had almost bumped into him earlier.

The man was in his early forties, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a long-sleeved white shirt. He looked refined and cultured, but at this moment he seemed to be in a hurry, with fine beads of sweat on his forehead, as if he had something urgent to attend to.

"Young man, I'm really sorry."

The middle-aged man approached Xu Zhiyi, forcing a smile, but his tone betrayed his urgency, "You were the one who bought that forty-year-old purple jade pine soot ink at Hanmotang, weren't you?"

"Um?"

Xu Zhiyi hesitated slightly, feeling a bit doubtful and wary, but still nodded. "I bought it. Is there anything I can help you with?"

That's right.

The middle-aged man breathed a slight sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and said seriously, "This ink is very important to me. I wonder if you could part with it, young man?"

"no."

Xu Zhiyi refused without even thinking.

Upon seeing this, the middle-aged man quickly said, "I didn't explain clearly. I'm willing to pay a high price for that ink!"

High price?

Xu Zhiyi's eyelids twitched.

How high can it be?

He just spent 17,500 yuan on this ink, and he was still very upset about it.

Even though he knew that the ink was only worth that much, he still felt like he had been ripped off.

Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, someone was willing to pay a high price to buy it!

It seems he wasn't killed.

He got a great deal!

……