Li Chuan stared at the woman before him, secretly pleased when she showed no signs of anger after his bold remark.
Just as he had suspected.
This senior sister had remained without a cultivation partner all this time—she must have been waiting for a destined encounter.
Everything suddenly made sense. He had always wondered why so many female disciples in the Yin-Yang Sect remained partnerless despite the sect’s dual cultivation techniques being ineffective when practiced alone.
Turns out, these disciples weren’t idle at all.
A faint smile appeared on the woman’s face, accompanied by a subtle blush.
"Junior Brother, really… how could you say such things so directly?" she murmured, though she subtly shifted her stance, leaving just enough space.
Li Chuan understood immediately. With a grin, he stepped into the room.
The door closed behind him.
......
Six hours later—early the next morning—Li Chuan emerged from the room, thoroughly satisfied.
He hadn’t expected the senior sister’s "bonding price" to be so affordable.
He had offered 100 Spirit Stones without specifying a duration, waiting for her to propose the terms.
And she had been surprisingly fair—100 Spirit Stones for a full day of companionship.
The price was only a fifth of what Chu Mengyou charged! How could he not be shocked?
After all, while Chu Mengyou was one of the Ten Great Beauties among Qi Refinement cultivators, this senior sister was no slouch either—her looks were at least upper-tier.
At most, she was just a few levels below Chu Mengyou.
No wonder he had managed to haggle Chu Mengyou’s price down by half back then. What he had thought was a bargain was actually still steep in others’ eyes.
But Li Chuan didn’t care. Spirit Stones could always be earned back, and with his current skills, making money was effortless.
If spending a few extra Spirit Stones meant deepening his bonds with the Yin-Yang Sect’s senior sisters, so be it.
Like this time—though he could have enjoyed a full twelve hours, he left after just six.
Before departing, he casually remarked, "Senior Sister, you’re still far inferior to Chu Mengyou. I’ve lost interest—consider the remaining Spirit Stones a tip."
The words were deliberate. In truth, this senior sister was stunning in both looks and figure—only slightly less so than Chu Mengyou, still a peerless beauty in mortal eyes.
But Li Chuan was here for revenge, to repay past humiliation.
Fifty Spirit Stones to insult her body, another fifty to wound her pride—whatever she thought, he was satisfied.
A hundred Spirit Stones well spent for vengeance.
Cultivation was about following one’s heart—this was the Yin-Yang Sect’s doctrine. So his actions weren’t improper.
Only by leaving no regrets could one break through swiftly.
Li Chuan could already feel his cultivation loosening. It wouldn’t be long before he reached the fourth level of Qi Refinement, finally escaping the nightmare of limited lifespan.
Thank you, Little Black Book.
He now had 2 points of Fortune, but upgrading Herbal Identification from Level 8 to 9 required 3—he was still 1 short.
For now, he had no plans to enhance other skills. Herbal Identification remained the fastest way to earn money.
Returning to his quarters, he meditated, refining the yin energy within him using the Primordial Yin-Yang Awakening Art. He had intended to resume herb gathering afterward, but the session lasted another full day.
Still, his Primordial Yin-Yang Awakening Art had advanced to the second layer—a joyous occasion.
His first act upon emerging was to seek out Chu Mengyou and hand her 21 Spirit Stones.
Though yesterday’s senior sister had been cheaper, Chu Mengyou—a top-ten beauty at the tenth level of Qi Refinement—held far greater allure.
Once his Fortune reached 3 points, he immediately upgraded Herbal Identification to Level 9.
Now, he could recognize 99% of first-tier spiritual plants in the world. The remaining 1% would require another 5 Fortune points.
Though the final level demanded the most, Li Chuan knew that 1% likely contained priceless rarities—perhaps even plants unknown to the world.
That last fraction was invaluable.
Back to Minor World No. 1.
This place, scoured by countless Yin-Yang Sect disciples, still held treasures for Li Chuan—he just had to venture farther.
Even in newly discovered spiritual herb worlds, most disciples’ daily earnings paled in comparison to his.
Such was the advantage of expertise.
Most searched for herbs based on known growth patterns, but in vast forests, no one could inspect every patch of grass.
Without deep knowledge, many spots were easily overlooked.
Many of the places where Li Chuan found herbs would be ignored by lesser herbalists—their limited expertise wouldn’t even consider such locations possible.
Especially spiritual grasses, small and inconspicuous, often hiding among mundane plants. Some were so rare that even standing right beside them, most wouldn’t notice.
"What a waste," Li Chuan muttered, standing on a scorched patch of grassland, staring at a withered crimson plant at his feet.
"Some fool mistook Fire Sun Grass for Blaze Grass and burned it all—must’ve destroyed over a thousand Spirit Stones’ worth!"
Cursing, he knelt and pulled out his supreme-grade spirit hoe.
The tool’s inscribed arrays glowed faintly as a barrier enveloped the dried plant.
A surge of scorching energy erupted from the grass but was contained by the hoe’s protective field.
Fire Sun Grass’s venom wasn’t deadly, but skin contact could stir inner fire—requiring certain… releases to soothe.
If it seeped into a fire-aligned cultivator’s body? Their organs would roast, leaving them incapacitated for days.
Hence the hoe’s brilliance.
Its arrays trapped spiritual plants, neutralizing any defensive reactions.
As a crafted, element-neutral treasure, it was perfect for harvesting delicate specimens.
Not that Fire Sun Grass was particularly rare—worth about 200 Spirit Stones, or 100 within the Yin-Yang Sect.
Its defining trait was growing in clusters.
Yet here, only one remained.
Fire Sun Grass grew solo only when conditions were harsh—like when previous clusters had perished.
Hence Li Chuan’s certainty of destruction.
The scorch marks told the story.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
