Jiang Ning walked forward along the road, constantly comparing the buildings on both sides of the street with the changes in the future.
After the old houses here were demolished, a large number of resettlement households emerged, and then a 32-story skyscraper rose from the ground, which would become a new landmark building in the future.
With Jiang Ning's recollections, the immense feeling of alienation gradually dissipated, and the sense of being grounded returned.
He sensed the surrounding Spiritual Energy and found that its concentration was significantly lower than that of the sect he had belonged to in his previous life.
The higher the concentration of Spiritual Energy, the faster the cultivation speed. If it was too low, even with his Heavenly Spirit Root, he would find it quite troublesome.
As Jiang Ning walked, half an hour later, he had moved away from the city center. This area had better greenery, and the concentration of Spiritual Energy was nearly thirty percent richer than before.
He continued walking and, before he knew it, arrived at the river dam, where a smooth asphalt road had been constructed.
People were walking and running everywhere. Some elderly gentlemen carried small Bluetooth speakers in their hands, playing operas as they leisurely strolled, and there were old men selling fish by the roadside.
Jiang Ning stood to the side, his gaze sweeping across the landscape, with a vision quite expansive. A river flowed quietly in the distance, with many boats moored along its hundred-meter-wide surface.
This was the Huishui River.
The concentration of Spiritual Energy here was almost exponentially higher than in the city center, sufficient to support Jiang Ning's cultivation.
In this life, he had been given another chance, and Jiang Ning certainly would not give up cultivating.
The benefits of cultivation were numerous. Even without achieving the path to immortality, it could strengthen the body, extend life, and grant abilities beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Jiang Ning hadn't forgotten how in the future, when his family members were seriously ill and hospitalized, they incurred exorbitant costs but still couldn't save their lives; the helplessness and misery were something he could not forget.
Now, as long as he practiced cultivation and became a cultivator, he could specifically refine a few Elixir Pills to ensure the safety and health of his loved ones for life.
Moreover, living in modern society, without relying on cultivation, it would be hard for Jiang Ning to guarantee great wealth and honor.
Before he came into contact with the world of cultivation in his past life, he was just an ordinary office worker. Even though he had foreknowledge and knew what would happen in the future, if he were to compete with those real business tycoons, his methods might not be sufficient.
Cultivation was his strongest talent.
Jiang Ning glanced at a village located beneath the distant river dam. Close to the dam, a series of bungalows that looked quite old caught his eye.
It was also where he planned to rent a place to live.
In his senior year of college in his past life, Jiang Ning returned to Yuzhou City for an internship, when a piece of news broke out.
The renovation of old houses led to digging too deep into the foundation, unearthing a small jar with gold bars inside that sparked a scramble among workers, resulting in a bloody incident that caused quite a stir.
At that time, Jiang Ning had gone to see the commotion, and the site was exactly the third bungalow from the west.
Now, the jar had not yet appeared, and Jiang Ning could take it and avoid a bloodshed. Why not?
Similar incidents had occurred frequently in the past few years. For instance, in 2017, several people in Yuzhou had studied lottery tickets, bought many together, and one of their tickets won, with a single prize of over eight million.
However, that would be in '17, and besides, lottery tickets were too unpredictable, which Jiang Ning never trusted. By 17, with successful cultivation, he would not need a mere lottery ticket to enhance his life.
What he needed to do now was rent the house before school started, move in, and then dig up the jar.
The location was about three kilometers away from Fourth Middle School, fifteen minutes by bike and forty minutes on foot, barely acceptable.
Jiang Ning glanced at the sky; the sun had set. He simply made a call and told his aunt that he would eat out that evening.
His uncle and cousin ran a restaurant and often didn't come back until after midnight, so when his aunt heard this, she didn't object but simply mentioned it to his cousin's wife and Shen Qing'e.
Upon hearing this, Shen Qing'e felt a mix of emotions. She had come to Yuzhou with Jiang Ning, who had promised to take her out to have fun, but on the very first day, he behaved like this, which was really too much.
She silently decided that when Jiang Ning returned, she definitely would not speak a single word to him.
Even going to check out the school tomorrow, she decided not to accompany Jiang Ning, unless he coaxed her and invited her to snack street again!
...
As night fell, the street lights on the Huishui River dam lit up, and more and more pedestrians appeared.
Jiang Ning paced back and forth, pondering which cultivation technique to practice.
In his previous life, the cultivation technique he practiced was "Ice Soul Life Skill." He cultivated to a profound level where passions and desires faded away, leaving him free from worldly wants, almost like a piece of wood.
In this life, Jiang Ning absolutely would not touch that again. If a person loses all desire, what is the point in living?
Jiang Ning browsed the cultivation techniques in his mind, and after some selection, he chose three: one for cultivation method, one for Divine Sense, and one for Body Refinement.
He decided to cultivate all three simultaneously.
In the Cultivation World, with its rich Spiritual Energy, Jiang Ning initially focused solely on enhancing his mana. Only upon reaching a certain realm did he begin to cultivate his Divine Sense and body.
But now, in the Real World with its thin Spiritual Energy, concurrently cultivating all three paths suited fast power enhancement. Although modern society was not very conducive to cultivation, its vast industrial productivity nonetheless had advantages that the Cultivation World could not match.
For example, the buzzing noise coming from the transformer box at the roadside.
A warning sticker on the transformer box read, "High Voltage Danger. Keep Away."
Jiang Ning sensed an electromagnetic field emanating from around the transformer box. If an ordinary person got too close, they might encounter danger.
Such incidents were often reported in the news.
Jiang Ning didn't dare get too close either. His body was fragile and lacked exercise, unable to withstand high voltage.
In the Luoyun Sect's treasury was a top-tier Body Refinement technique known as "Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Body Tempering Technique." It was the defining technique of a power that rose quickly thousands of years ago, thanks to their location in a Thunder Domain. At their peak, they produced three Nascent Soul Perfect Cultivators, each with unparalleled combat strength, and they dominated the Cultivation World for nearly a millennium.
However, when the Thunder Domain dissipated, the sect fell into decline.
When choosing Body Refinement Techniques in his previous life, Jiang Ning had considered this powerful technique but ultimately decided against it. Thunder Domains were scarce in the Cultivation World, and relying on lightning bestowed by heaven was not in line with his true purpose of cultivation.
But now, with the transformer box nearby, Jiang Ning instantly decided to cultivate the "Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Body Tempering Technique."
He sat at the roadside two meters away from the transformer box, facing the flow of Huishui River. This distance was not too close; even the elderly passing by got closer than he did.
Jiang Ning practiced the Thunder Skills, and with his talent, combined with knowledge from his previous life, he quickly mastered the basics.
Though the electromagnetic field itself did not conduct electricity, he used this formidable technique to defy nature and draw the current into his body from afar.
"Sss~"
Jiang Ning inhaled sharply. The faint electric current entering his body made his skin itch and his hair stand on end, causing an uncontrollable shiver, but thankfully the cover of night meant no one noticed him.
Jiang Ning continued to move the electric current, refining his body, and reveling in the sensation of growing strength bit by bit.
Time silently passed, and the number of pedestrians on the river dam gradually increased, and then eventually dispersed. Only then did Jiang Ning stand up.
He flicked his T-shirt with a fingertip, and a spark of electricity flashed brightly, quite noticeable.
Jiang Ning clenched his fists. His slender muscles swelled, the current coursing through him, brimming with power. Body Refinement was indeed miraculous; a few hours of cultivation was comparable to two months of running.
This was the essence of Cultivation.
He glanced at his phone; it was already 10:30 p.m.
"If nothing unexpected happens, Junlong should be on the 11 p.m. high-speed train," Jiang Ning muttered to himself. Jiang Junlong was his uncle's youngest son.