: Cultivation Progress, Red Cliff Market

Chapter 5: Cultivation Progress, Red Cliff Market

Beside a pool of water on the outskirts of Yunlan Mountain.

After killing two rogue cultivators who had tried to ambush him, Zhou Chun traveled for dozens of miles until he confirmed with the help of the "Red-billed Sparrow" that there were no traces of humans nearby. Only then did he stop to rest by this pool.

He first meditated for more than two hours to restore his magical power to its peak state, and then, as usual, took out the stone jar and used the purifying spiritual water to cleanse the turbid and evil energy in his body.

Only then did they check their harvest.

The two rogue cultivators didn't have much of value on them. Besides a total of thirty-four spirit coins, they only had two low-grade first-tier magic artifacts that were barely worth a few spirit coins.

All the other miscellaneous items combined weren't even worth ten spirit coins.

With such meager resources, it's no wonder that after guessing that Zhou Chun was a lone Zhou family cultivator who had migrated from elsewhere, the two were tempted by his wealth and decided to kill him to steal his treasure.

Even excluding the priceless stone jar, Zhou Chun possessed 135 spirit coins, two mid-grade first-tier magic artifacts, and two low-grade first-tier magic artifacts.

Even the other miscellaneous items, when added together, are worth forty or fifty spirit coins.

"This is what a lowly rogue cultivator in the cultivation world looks like!"

"Most of the spirit coins I earn are spent on buying meditation and cultivation time, so how can I possibly save any extra money?"

"Like those guys burdened with mortgages and car loans, even if they work overtime like crazy, how much money can they actually save in their bank accounts?"

Zhou Chun couldn't help but express his feelings and sighed deeply.

This also strengthened her resolve to return to the Zhou family.

In this dangerous world of cultivation, the situation is completely different for low-level cultivators who have organizational protection versus those who don't.

He quickly determined the direction and headed towards the area where the market town was located, based on what he had found out.

……

Early in the morning, Zhou Chun sat cross-legged on a mountaintop, beginning his meditation practice for the day.

Just as he was meditating for half the night, the first rays of sunlight appeared in the east, and purple energy came from the east, which he absorbed into his body and refined.

A soft "pop" sound suddenly came from inside his body.

However, it also opened up an acupoint in the body.

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Purple Mansion, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Deity Transformation are the six known cultivation realms in the world of cultivation.

The Qi Refining stage involves transforming essence into Qi, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth externally and one's own essence internally, combining the two to condense magical power.

The level of magical power of a Qi Refining stage cultivator is measured by the number of acupoints he has opened.

The human body has 108 major acupoints. When a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage opens up one more acupoint, their magical power will become more profound.

At the same time, because the quality and total amount of magical power of a cultivator in the Qi Refining stage will change slightly after each of the nine acupoints is opened, the cultivator has divided the Qi Refining stage into twelve levels.

The first to fourth levels of the Qi Refining stage are divided into the early stage of Qi Refining, the fifth to eighth levels into the middle stage of Qi Refining, and the ninth to twelfth levels into the late stage of Qi Refining.

Zhou Chun is currently at the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage, belonging to the mid-stage of Qi Refining. Now, with the opening of a new acupoint, he has opened forty-seven acupoints in total.

At the age of twenty-one, Zhou Chun's cultivation speed, reaching the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage, is quite impressive.

But in reality, his spiritual root aptitude is not outstanding; it is only a mid-grade spiritual root aptitude.

It can be said that his level of skill at this age is entirely due to his own hard work and diligent practice.

Yes, Zhou Chun has gradually adapted to her new identity.

In his subconscious, he had already identified himself with the immortal cultivator Zhou Chun, and his daily habits and way of speaking were all moving closer to Zhou Chun.

Upon sensing that his cultivation had improved again, Zhou Chun was overjoyed and immediately continued to circulate his cultivation technique to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and refine it into magical power to fill the newly opened acupoints.

The cultivation method practiced by the disciples of the Three Absolutes Sect is mostly the "Five Qi Rising to the Sun Scripture," which is a foundational cultivation method suitable for almost all spiritual roots and aptitudes.

The magical power cultivated through the "Five Qi Rising Sun Scripture" is balanced and peaceful, with pure energy, making it easy to switch to any cultivation method after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage.

This technique is not unique to the Three Absolutes Sect; many cultivation families and even sects use it as a foundational technique for their disciples.

The best time to practice the Five Qi Rising Sun Scripture is when the sun rises in the morning.

As the sun rises and all things revive, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, in a state of yin and yang harmony, is at its most active and most suitable for absorption and refinement.

The effects of cultivation during the hours from 5 AM to 7 AM are equivalent to the effects of cultivation during four or five hours at other times.

"This turbid and malevolent energy is truly vexing. No wonder cultivators these days dare not cultivate outside without the protection of a purification array!"

At this moment, Zhou Chun woke up from his meditation, slowly exhaled a breath of white air, and couldn't help but frown and complain.

It turns out that although he could use the purifying spiritual water in the stone jar to remove and purify the turbid evil energy in his body, when the turbid evil energy entered his body during cultivation, it would still cause a constant stinging sensation in his acupoints and meridians, and make it difficult for him to calm down and meditate.

I can't feel the blissful, ethereal feeling of cultivation that I remember at all.

This shows that even with the stone jar in hand, Zhou Chun could only cultivate with peace of mind in a place protected by the purification array.

After finishing his cultivation, Zhou Chun got up and stretched. He took out some dry food from his storage bag and swallowed it with water. He then fed the "Red-billed Sparrow" a handful of some dried fruit that it liked. After that, he continued his journey to the cultivator market in Lanzhou, Jingguo.

Lanzhou has only one market for cultivators, and that is Hongya Market.

This cultivator market is located in the Red Rock Mountains in central Lanzhou. It is managed by the Qinglian Temple, a major sect of the Jingguo Sect, and is the preferred place for cultivators in Lanzhou to buy and sell cultivation resources.

However, at the same time, the entire Red Rock Mountain Range is an extremely dangerous place.

Because of the market's role in attracting cultivators, many cultivators who make a living by killing and robbing treasures lurk in the wilderness outside the market, ready to ambush cultivators entering and leaving the market at any time.

Although the market town sometimes sends out patrol teams to patrol and crack down on these bandits, it is difficult to eradicate the problem and prevent such incidents from happening.

Therefore, when Zhou Chun arrived at the outer edge of the Red Rock Mountains, the others also became highly vigilant.

Instead of recklessly using the "Wind Control Technique" to travel, they tried to conceal their aura and move forward slowly.

The places he went through were all places that the "Red-billed Sparrow" had repeatedly scouted beforehand.

Even so, he still held a "Wood Spirit Shield" talisman in his hand, ready to activate it at any time.

In fact, most of the time, cultivators in the Qi Refining stage would travel in groups when entering and leaving the market for safety reasons.

A lone cultivator in the Qi Refining stage like Zhou Chun is either extremely confident in his own strength.

Either he's like he is now, suddenly arriving in a place where he knows no one and has no trustworthy friends to travel with.

In this respect, the activity range of cultivators in the Qi Refining stage is also restricted. They generally do not easily leave the vicinity of a familiar market or go to an unfamiliar market.

For two consecutive days, Zhou Chun traveled through the Red Rock Mountains, covering a distance of less than a hundred miles.

On this journey of less than a hundred miles, he heard the booming sounds of magical explosions from three battles between cultivators.

Each time the sound started, it ended very quickly, never lasting more than fifteen minutes.

During this time, the "red-billed finches" that were scouting ahead warned him seven times, each time making him extremely nervous, and he chose to take a detour to avoid them.

With the help of the "Red-billed Sparrow" to scout ahead and to be cautious, Zhou Chun finally arrived outside Hongyafang City safely on the afternoon of the third day after entering the Red Rock Mountains.

When he saw the market area shrouded in the mist of the array ahead, his heart finally settled down.

Then he recalled the "Red-billed Sparrow" that was on guard in the air, and held the little guy with gratitude, saying, "Little Red, you have done a great service these days. When we get to the Zhou family, I will definitely take good care of you."

After saying that, he fed the little guy until he was full and carefully put him in his pocket.

Next, just like when he entered "Qingyun Valley" in Yunlan Mountain, Zhou Chun faced a background check before entering the market because he had never registered there before, and he had to pay five spirit coins as a deposit.

He was only allowed to enter the market after the deposit was paid.

(End of this chapter)