Night.
Chen Li's eyes were closed as he flexed his muscles, carefully feeling their strength as they tensed.
Sometimes his palm acted as a sword, slashing through the air with a hissing sound. At other times, his figure was like an illusion, moving swiftly.
Perhaps due to the nourishment of spiritual power day and night, this body had an extremely high limit, and until now, he had not felt the presence of a bottleneck.
He could now leap three meters high.
Take a step that spanned five or six meters.
At the same time, he could also easily lift a boulder weighing over half a ton and throw it seven or eight meters away.
Having trained to this extent, if he were on Earth, claiming to be a superhero would not be an exaggeration, but in this world of cultivation, he was still a mere bottom-dweller, just a lowly Loose Cultivator who had practiced the 'Mortal Body Refining Skill'.
Chen Li was well aware of this fact.
As a newbie in the Cultivation World who had crossed over for less than three months and had not inherited much memory from the original body's owner, he had to learn everything from scratch.
With his round-the-clock diligence and the aid of the game panel, he had practiced some rudimentary skills (the lowest level of spells, the swordsmanship of mortals).
Despite having achieved a high level of skill and apparently decent power, he was never truly confident.
How could his three months of effort compare to others' lifetimes of cultivation?
Those Loose Cultivators who battled day in and day out in the wilderness, didn't each of them possess rich combat experience?
Didn't each have several life-saving trump cards?
The strength he assessed for himself was not an underestimation—an adept Qi Cultivation third-layer Loose Cultivator he certainly was, and he guessed he could just about contend with an average Qi Refinement mid-stage practitioner.
"Actually, my biggest weakness is the lack of real combat experience!"
"Counting the scuffles in kindergarten and elementary doesn't cut it. After junior high, there was just that once I fought on impulse. I had it all planned out in my head, but after throwing the first punch, I was completely lost, and everything turned into a mess of flailing. It was all instinct from there on out.
After being taught a lesson, I've never fought again."
While Chen Li was reflecting, his figure suddenly flickered, moving three meters away as if he had shifted position without moving. Almost at the same time, the force of the 'Spiritual Power Finger Snap' was unleashed from his fingertips.
"Hiss!"
It burrowed into the mud floor of the living room, blasting out a deep pit.
"Moreover, my heart is not ruthless enough, and I'm not calm enough when faced with major events."
Like that last conflict, seeing someone's arm being broken stunned him.
"These are all my weaknesses. However, I believe there's nothing that can't be overcome with practice."
His body kept shifting, left and right, forward and back, retreating and rolling, his mind simulating various enemies and possible attacks, gradually becoming completely immersed and forgetting himself.
...
Early the next day.
Zhao Wanjun had just stepped outside when she saw her usually reclusive neighbor heading out as well.
"Chen, you're always so devoted to your cultivation, it's truly rare to see you out. It's been over a month since we last met, despite living next door to each other," Zhao Wanjun greeted with a playful tone.
Chen Li replied with a slightly embarrassed smile and a clasped-hand salute,
"Zhao has seen me at an embarrassing moment. With my limited strength and concern for my own life, how could I dare to wander outside carelessly? Today, I'm planning to check out the market."
After some idle chatter, Chen Li breathed a sigh of relief and bid farewell.
Zhao Wanjun couldn't help but chuckle as she watched Chen Li's retreating figure.
She had never seen someone so cautious. Although he concealed it well, she could still sense the tension in his spirit, as if he were on a battlefield, making him seem uneasy, anxious, and urgent, almost as if he feared someone was out to harm him.
...
Feeling the faint gaze from behind vanish, Chen Li truly relaxed.
Half an hour later, he arrived at the market.
The market was as it always had been, even livelier, with people of all sorts coming and going. Chen Li would greet anyone who looked slightly familiar with a clasped-hand salute.
Having lingered here for three months and setting up a stall eight or nine times, he now knew quite a few people, most of whom he had met while running his stall, having just a nodding acquaintance.
He didn't linger, heading straight for the bookstore.
He had wanted to visit this place for a long time, but had always been reluctant to waste Spirit Stones.
The books here, in a word, were expensive.
Books useful for those in the Qi Cultivation Realm.
Some cost a few Spirit Stones.
Others cost upwards of ten, and dozens of Spirit Stones were not unheard of.
And that was just for paper books. The prices for jade slips that could be read with Divine Sense were even more astonishing.
Of course, there were cheaper ones.
Anything that didn't involve increasing one's strength was very cheap.
But that was relative.
Chen Li picked out some books on geography and travelogues of the Cultivation World, totaling five, and it cost him one Spirit Stone.
He didn't have much money on hand now.
A Mid-grade Spirit Stone... was meant as a reserve and didn't count.
Only five Low-grade Spirit Stones remained as loose change.
Now that he had spent one, only four remained.
His appetite was still increasing, and soon, he feared that even that Mid-grade Spirit Stone might not be safe.
"Sigh, I hope the success rate of the Evil-Repelling Talismans can be a bit higher," he said.
He exhaled softly.
He had considered making his own talisman paper and mixing his own blood ink, but the thought of it was daunting, too much trouble, and too time-consuming.
Now he even felt that there wasn't enough time for cultivation.
He would wake up early each morning to practice swordsmanship, rest a while until noon and then draw talismans, followed by meditating to recover his qi.
In the afternoon, he would practice discharging Spiritual Power with a flick of his fingers, meditate to recover qi again, continue practicing swordsmanship after dinner and, even right before bedtime, meditate to cultivate qi.
His entire day was fully scheduled.
He had no time to make talisman paper or mix blood ink.
The only time he could relax was when he visited the market every half month to sell the talismans he had crafted over time.
"As long as I reach Foundation Establishment, I won't have to struggle like this. With strength, I won't have to be so cautious. And once I have longevity, I've heard that one can live for over two hundred years; even if I reach Foundation Establishment at 70, I'll still be in the prime of life, without such urgency.
By then, I'll be surrounded by wives and children, and grandchildren clinging to my knees. If I am lucky enough to reach the Golden Core... heh heh!" he fantasized about a beautiful future while vigilantly surveying his surroundings.
He hurried back home, poured a glass of boiled water, and eagerly picked up a copy of "Geography of the West Wilderness: Longevity Sect Edition." He began to understand this world, but after reading just a few pages, his expression changed drastically.
"How can this area be so vast?"
The Longevity Sect was located in the far western corner of the West Wilderness. Chen Li had originally thought that leaving here was just a matter of crossing a few mountains, at most a two or three-day journey.
In reality, the Longevity Sect's territory far exceeded his imagination.
The 'neighboring' sects' influences were not as close as he had imagined.
The Longevity Sect controlled an area that was over eight hundred li from east to west and more than one thousand five hundred li from north to south.
There were five large rivers marked on the map.
Twelve mountain ranges.
Swamps and lakes were scattered like stars.
Yet such a vast area appeared unusually desolate.
There were only five market towns marked on the map, and only one large city: Luoluo City, where the Longevity Sect was located.
Chen Li examined the map closely and quickly found the market town he was in, 'Green River District.' After studying it for a while, he breathed a sigh of relief. The market town he was in was on the western side of the map, at least... more than five hundred li away from the somewhat central Luoluo City.