On the twenty-ninth day after arriving at the Sea Cloud sect, Jiang Yue got out of seclusion.
His cheeks were flushed red, and his body had a healthy glow.
Yu Nianzhen looked at him, and his heart beat faster.
Although they were still thirteen, his mind and heart were far older. There was no way to look at the person he loved without having a reaction.
He sighed and forced himself to calm down.
"How?" He asked.
"Good."
Jiang Yue had a beautiful smile on his face.
The calm that Yu Nianzhen had just forced quickly crumbled, and he looked at the other with a dazed expression on his face.
"All my meridians have been connected. My qi is now flowing in a cycle, and my body feels stronger and relaxed."
Yu Nianzhen nodded.
Jiang Yue was doing so well, but his cultivation was experiencing a lot of difficulties.
In one month, he had only managed to connect his fourth meridian.
At this rate, he was worried that it would take several months to connect his remaining five meridians.
If things continued in this manner, he would not break through to the origin forging realm before fourteen.
Although he did not show it, Yu Nianzhen was a little desperate.
He did not want to fall short of his goals.
However, his body refused to cooperate and cultivating had become an uphill battle.
Without a choice, Yu Nianzhen had spent most of the month refining stone milk.
At least he had made a lot of progress with that, and his force value had already reached eight thousand kilograms.
Unfortunately, his body had grown immune to the stone milk. If he wanted to continue increasing his force value, he had to find another way.
"We can try pills." Jiang Yue suggested when he heard Yu Nianzhen's concerns.
A force value of eight thousand was still two thousand short of the maximum force value at the meridian awakening realm.
If stone milk didn't work, they could switch to body tempering and meridian strengthening pills.
Yu Nianzhen also thought so.
Peak grade silver rank body tempering and meridian strengthening pills had the same effect as one hundred years stone milk.
There was a chance that switching to pills would be effective since their bodies were not used to them.
"Let's go to the resource hall after eating."
There were still two days before the opening of the ten storey pagoda, and Yu Nianzhen wanted to prepare.
Besides body tempering and meridian strengthening pills, they needed to buy other pills and weapons.
It was unknown what they would encounter in the ten-storey pagoda and because of that, Yu Nianzhen didn't dare to be complacent.
He at least wanted to buy some healing pills and weapons for himself and Jiang Yue.
In this way, they would be prepared if they had to fight within the pagoda.
After eating, the two went down the mountain and headed to the South region of the outer sect.
The resource hall was the largest building in the outer sect.
It had five floors, and each floor was guarded by an outer sect elder.
The first floor had miscellaneous items like bathtubs and other daily necessities.
The second floor was dedicated to pills, herbs, and elixirs.
The third floor was for weapons, while the fourth and fifth were for artefacts and treasures.
"Let's go to the second floor first. We can check the rest when we are done."
Jiang Yue didn't have an objection to that.
The two entered the resource hall and climbed to the second floor.
Unlike the martial hall that was arranged like a library, the second floor was more like a neighbourhood store.
The disciples couldn't browse the merchandise.
Instead, they had to make the order and wait for someone to deliver.
As soon as the two arrived, an attendant quickly approached them.
"May I ask what the two want?"
The attendant wore a blue robe that was brighter than those worn by odd job disciples.
This showed that he was an outer sect disciple.
Yu Nianzhen guessed that working as a hall attendant was a way to earn contribution points, but he didn't ask.
"Are there healing pills?"
"Yes. We have the silver rank rejuvenation pill."
"How is its effect?"
"It can instantly heal minor injuries. It can also heal major injuries, but it takes a little time. The peak grade rejuvenation pill can reconnect severed limbs, but it cannot regrow limbs."
"There is also a rejuvenation elixir. However, its effect is not as good as the pill."
The attendant was very efficient in explaining the pills, and the two soon came to a decision.
They bought four peak grade rejuvenation pills and twenty of the lower grades.
Although pills were cheaper in the sect, this purchase still amounted to six thousand gold coins.
However, the two didn't care about the gold.
It was better to have more healing pills than less.
Also, the pills could be stored for a long time without losing efficacy.
Even if they were not used in the ten-storey pagoda, they could be used even after they broke through to the origin forging realm.
The attendant could see that the two were new disciples who were preparing for the ten-storey pagoda.
Since he was happy with their purchase that would earn him a few gold coins in commission, he went out of his way to help them out.
"You should also prepare blood replenishing pills."
Although rejuvenation pills could heal injuries, they couldn't replenish blood.
If one lost too much blood, they would still feel dizzy and weak after using a rejuvenation pill.
Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue didn't hesitate.
They bought twenty blood replenishing pills for five thousand gold coins.
Afterwards, they bought ten peak grade body tempering pills and ten peak grade meridian strengthening pills for one hundred thousand gold coins.
The attendant was ecstatic and was especially happy when they gave him a tip of one gold coin.
"At this rate, we will soon need to exchange for more gold coins." Jiang Yue sighed as they climbed to the third floor.
Yu Nianzhen also thought so.
However, he wasn't worried since they still had eight hundred drops of stone milk.
"We still have more than one million gold coins, and it should be enough to buy what we need."
The third floor was more like a supermarket, and the two could walk around to look at the weapons.
"Have you thought of what weapon you want?"
Jiang Yue had an illusion origin; thus, his choice of weapon was more flexible than Yu Nianzhen who had a sword origin.
"I was thinking of using a whip."
"Mmm."
The two headed to the sword section first.
The sword was a common weapon in the Cangxing world, and the section had thousands of swords.
However, none of the swords had any fancy designs.
All had a basic design and only varied in length, width, weight, and forging material.
"All the weapons in the outer sect resource hall are low-grade silver rank." An attendant informed when he saw that the two people were looking at the swords.
"Why is that?"
"Meridian awakening realm cultivators cannot naturally release qi and because of that, they can't draw out the power of silver rank weapons and artefacts. At this stage, the silver rank weapon will forcibly draw qi from your body to use."
"A meridian awakening realm cultivator can barely withstand the draw from a low-grade silver rank weapon. Higher grades would be impossible to use, and if you insist, it may damage your meridians."
Yu Nianzhen recalled the flying sword that they had bought in Fengying city.
He didn't know its grade, and he was now thankful that he hadn't tried to use it.
He had a feeling that the draw from it would be very terrible since it had an additional flying effect.
"All the weapons here were made by the smithing hall in the inner sect." The disciple continued to explain.
"What's the cost?"
"Iron swords are the cheapest and cost between ten and one hundred gold coins. Common steel swords cost between one hundred and five hundred gold coins. Those made with unique materials are in the thousands."
Yu Nianzhen took a minute to think about it.
Although the weapons were only low-grade silver rank, he would need to use the sword for a while.
Because of that, he couldn't be careless with his choice.
It was better to buy a good sword that could be used for a long time. This was especially important since gold coins couldn't be used in the inner sect.
If he wanted to change a sword in the inner sect, he would need contribution points.
Although he would eventually need a higher rank sword, it was good to delay the matter for as long as possible.
"Show me the swords made with the best metal."
The attendant was happy, and he brought them to the end of the lane.
Yu Nianzhen took his time to examine the swords.
However, there was little difference between them.
In the end, he could only rely on his instincts to choose a black sword made of black steel.
Jiang Yue chuckled and thought, 'he really likes black.'