When Park Su woke up, he saw Xu Nuo sitting in front of him, cultivating. He was about to share the good news of his breakthrough, but seeing Xu Nuo's focused state, he decided to join him in silent cultivation. He then realized that practicing Taoist techniques immediately after his breakthrough seemed to speed up his cultivation; the spiritual energy from the air rushed into his body at an unprecedented rate.
This flow invigorated his dantian, making him feel incredibly refreshed, to the point where he momentarily forgot about Xu Nuo, fully immersing himself in the state. When he came back to his senses, Xu Nuo was sitting in front of him, looking at him, "How do you feel?"
Xu Nuo's sudden question made Park Su a bit dazed, but he nodded, "Pretty good, just feel like there's an extra kind of energy in my dantian."
Xu Nuo nodded in response, "Looks like you've officially stepped into the first tier of Taoist cultivation. From today, you can be considered a junior Taoist with spiritual energy, taking your first step.
Now, you'll need to accelerate your cultivation even more. Since you started learning Taoism later, without the energy stone to modify your meridians, you might not have been able to enter this path at all. Because of this, you need to spend a lot more time cultivating to catch up."
Park Su was helpless against his partner's bluntness but was also motivated to further his cultivation and pleased to have stepped into the world of Taoist techniques.
After three days of cultivation with Park Su, plus the final surge of spiritual energy, Xu Nuo's Taoist cultivation had stabilized at the peak of the ninth tier. He suddenly felt that reaching the tenth tier might be achievable by the end of this hunting trip.
When Park Su and Xu Nuo emerged, they noticed the looks of awe from the lower-tier espers, which puzzled Park Su. What had he done to earn such admiration?
Xu Nuo was initially confused too but soon figured it out. At that moment, Ge Qing and Lu Shang hurried over. Lu Shang, seeing them both looking fresh, didn't comment further.
Ge Qing, who could never keep his thoughts to himself, immediately approached, wrapping an arm around Park Su's neck with a mysterious air, "I'm really curious, what level are you at now? You've broken through again, right? But this time, your breakthrough was so loud that even the average mid-first-tier esper felt it!"
Hearing this, Park Su understood why the crowd outside was suddenly looking at him with such reverence; they had all sensed the commotion from his breakthrough. They knew his strength was now higher than they had initially thought, and thus, they couldn't treat him with the same casual attitude anymore. Having spent a long time at the grassroots level, Park Su understood their mindset.
He felt a bit proud that one day he would be looked at with such awe, though it was somewhat awkward since some of those people were once considered friends. Fortunately, their relationship wasn't what it used to be, so he could accept their admiration and indulge his minor vanity.
Seeing Ge Qing's exaggerated expressions, Park Su couldn't help but find it amusing, but he had no intention of revealing his exact strength. He just said with a hint of smugness, "At least I should be stronger than you now."
Ge Qing felt a little choked by the retort but then realized his question was quite abrupt. He knew Park Su wouldn't mind, but Xu Nuo might be different. He glanced at Xu Nuo somewhat timidly, only to find Xu Nuo's gaze fixed on the hand he had around Park Su's neck, which made him feel a chill, prompting him to release Park Su immediately, scoffing to himself about Xu Nuo's possessiveness.
However, he had nothing to argue about Park Su's statement. Park Su's strength was never weaker than his, especially with the enhancements from the green ivy and hallucinogenic dandelion, and now with his breakthrough, his personal strength was likely on par with Ge Qing's.
Previously, although he couldn't see through Park Su's actual cultivation, he knew it was around the third tier, but now he couldn't gauge it at all, suggesting Park Su was at least a fourth-tier esper.
Indeed, neither Park Su nor Xu Nuo's cultivation speed could be judged by ordinary standards; only deities could match deities.
Only when Ge Qing released Park Su did Xu Nuo's expression soften as he turned to Lu Shang, saying, "You should keep your man in check. Don't let him always be hands-on with other men."
Lu Shang nodded in acknowledgment and smiled, "I know, I'll make sure he's more mindful."
The conversation turned somewhat awkward for Park Su and Ge Qing, so Ge Qing quickly changed the subject to update them on the recent progress of the lower-tier espers. Thanks to the nuclei Xu Nuo had distributed, everyone had been diligently cultivating, and there had been notable achievements. All mid-first-tier espers had reached their peak, and those at the peak of the first tier were now second-tier.
Out of the eleven they brought, Lü Xia had reached mid-second tier, six others were now at the initial second tier, the one who was previously at initial second tier had reached mid-second tier, and the remaining three were at the peak of the first tier.
Park Su was quite pleased with the report, especially regarding Lü Xia, who was only at the peak of the first tier when they started but had now reached the mid-second tier. Xu Nuo, however, wasn't overly surprised by these outcomes and was satisfied with their current states. He had chosen Shi Lei, Lü Xia, Ge Qing, and Lu Shang as key members for his team, so he had given them an extra boost behind the scenes.
Aside from the nuclei he shared publicly, he had given each of them from five to twenty additional second-tier crystal nuclei in private. If they couldn't perform better than the low-tier espers with this advantage, he would need to reassess their potential.
Upon leaving seclusion, Xu Nuo noticed Ge Qing and Lu Shang were now at the peak of the third tier, Lü Xia had reached mid-second tier, and Shi Lei was on the brink of mid-second tier, just needing a slight boost. However, Xu Nuo decided not to give Shi Lei more nuclei; he had helped him this far, and now he wanted to see if Shi Lei would show initiative.
Shi Lei sensed that he was treated somewhat differently from the other low-tier espers by Park Su and Xu Nuo. Firstly, because he had been involved in more exclusive activities with them, and secondly, due to the five extra second-tier nuclei Xu Nuo had given him, which had helped him reach the second tier, only a small step away from mid-second tier.
Although he was unaware that this was a test from Xu Nuo, he still wanted to catch up with Lü Xia. Even if he felt he wasn't worthy of her, deep down, he hadn't given up on that idea. Therefore, he decided to use the rest time to hunt more zombies, aiming to break through to the mid-second tier as soon as possible.
Xu Nuo and Park Su didn't have much time to delve into Shi Lei's thoughts; their focus was on leading the group to gather supplies in Pingcheng. This time, they planned to change strategies since everyone had recently improved their abilities. They would spend more time here to let everyone integrate their new powers, stabilize them, and practice their abilities while still collecting resources.
Although Park Su had reached the fourth tier, Xu Nuo hadn't yet, so he intended to gather enough nuclei to break through during this period. Thus, in the following days, Xu Nuo mostly acted alone, while Park Su stayed with the main group to ensure their safety.
Each time Xu Nuo left, Park Su was filled with worry, knowing that despite not being at the third tier, Xu Nuo's Taoist techniques were more than enough to handle zombies.
Even if Xu Nuo encountered situations beyond his ability, he could use his Taoist techniques and unique footwork to escape danger. However, Park Su couldn't help but worry each time Xu Nuo left, although he always returned safely, without even a hint of blood on him.
If Park Su didn't see Xu Nuo every night absorbing and cultivating with a large pile of crystal nuclei, he might have thought Xu Nuo was just out having fun rather than hunting zombies.
Due to his concern, Park Su was even stricter with those he considered friends from his previous life, knowing that only by enhancing their abilities could they survive longer in this apocalypse. Therefore, he set high expectations, requiring them to exhaust their abilities completely during each hunt before allowing rest.
This approach required caution since without protection, they could easily become zombie fodder. However, these low-tier espers trusted them implicitly, following their directives without reservation. As a result, Ge Qing, Lu Shang, and Park Su remained vigilant, stepping in several times to deal with large groups of zombies.
These efforts were not in vain; within just three days, everyone's abilities had solidified significantly, making the team a formidable group of espers.