My eye for things was naturally good.
A smile tugged at the corner of Lu Li's mouth as he headed straight for the Pill Tower.
Arriving at the Pill Tower, under the stunned gaze of the Pill Tower deacon, Lu Li used his remaining sixty thousand contribution points to exchange for sixty bottles of True Essence Pills, then hurried back toward the dormitory.
The True Essence Pills came ten pills per bottle, each bottle costing one thousand contribution points.
After walking for a while, Lu Li suddenly stopped and turned to look at a man wearing a Sun-and-Green-Sword badge who was following behind him. "Senior Brother, what is the meaning of following me all this way?"
Seeing that Lu Li had noticed him, the man smiled and quickly walked up. "Junior Brother, you can't possibly use up so many True Essence Pills all at once, right? How about... lending this Senior Brother a few bottles?"
Lu Li frowned. "Sorry, I'm actually exchanging these for another Senior Brother. I can't lend them to you."
With that, he turned and walked away directly, simultaneously releasing his Divine Sense to stay alert to any movements from behind.
Hearing that Lu Li was exchanging them for another Senior Brother, the man couldn't help but show a flicker of hesitation. Looking again, Lu Li was already far away. He muttered 'Count yourself lucky, kid,' then turned and left.
Seeing that the other party didn't pursue, Lu Li finally relaxed, thinking that the principle of not flaunting wealth was indeed correct. It seemed he would have to be more careful from now on.
Although he was a formal disciple, his cultivation base was at the very bottom. For him to possess so many True Essence Pills at once and not attract anyone's attention would be strange indeed.
Soon, Lu Li returned to his small courtyard.
Qin Feng's door was tightly shut, presumably he was cultivating inside. There was no sign of Liu Xinyu in the courtyard either. Only when Lu Li entered the main hall did he discover Liu Xinyu sitting by the door to the left room, lost in thought.
Looking closely, her complexion was still somewhat pale.
Lu Li frowned slightly and walked over, asking, "Junior Sister, are you ill? Why is your face so pale?"
Liu Xinyu gave a slight shiver. She didn't look up, instead burying her head lower. "I... I'm fine."
"Junior Sister, if you're sick, you need to get treatment..."
"I'm really fine."
"Alright." Lu Li stared at Liu Xinyu for a moment, then turned and returned to his room.
Sixty bottles of True Essence Pills, a total of six hundred pills. Each pill's effect lasted for one hour. Calculating, this could sustain him for fifty continuous days of use within the Time Palace, equivalent to five days in the outside world.
Six hundred True Essence Pills eaten in five days-if this eating method were to get out, someone would probably capture him for study.
Liu Xinyu watched as Lu Li's door slowly closed, a struggle flickering in her slightly reddened eyes.
Cough...!
Suddenly, she covered her mouth and started coughing violently. When she opened her palm, it was actually stained crimson. She sobbed softly, "Why... why must heaven treat me this way..."
Inside the room.
Lu Li lay motionless on the bed, his mind having already entered the Time Palace.
He wasn't in a hurry to cultivate. Instead, he began carefully reviewing the memories concerning the Great Profound Scripture. Those tiny golden characters had merged with his memory the moment they entered his mind, but they hadn't been fully comprehended yet.
It was like reading a book. The words were memorized, but their meaning wasn't yet understood.
As he continued reviewing, the delight on Lu Li's face grew stronger. This Great Profound Scripture was indeed more complete than the Qingyang Formula he had cultivated before, and its methods for absorbing and refining were also more advanced.
Moreover, the Great Profound Scripture could be cultivated all the way to the Nascent Soul level. Of course, that was still somewhat distant for him.
After studying it thoroughly for a full four or five hours, Lu Li finally grasped the Qi Refining chapter completely. He then sat cross-legged in the hall and began absorbing Spiritual Qi. As he chanted the incantation, the Spiritual Qi within a ten-zhang radius instantly swarmed toward his body.
The speed was remarkably fast, far beyond what the Qingyang Formula could compare to.
After the Spiritual Qi entered his Dantian, Lu Li began the process of separation and refinement according to the method described in the Great Profound Scripture. The refinement speed was actually more than twice as fast as with the Qingyang Formula, and this was without taking any True Essence Pills.
In other words, his current state could completely match his previous state when using the Qingyang Formula while taking pills.
This gave Lu Li even more confidence. Who said that a person with Nine Spiritual Roots couldn't cultivate? They just hadn't encountered a powerful enough technique.
Of course, outsiders definitely couldn't do this, because even if they had the technique, they wouldn't have this much time.
After one complete refinement cycle, Lu Li focused his mind. Sixty jade bottles immediately appeared before him. He opened one, took out a dark green True Essence Pill, and swallowed it. Then, with another powerful inhalation, the surrounding Spiritual Qi instantly swarmed toward him again.
With the enhancement from the True Essence Pill, the refinement speed increased once more.
And so, Lu Li continuously refined Spiritual Qi, broke through acupoints, refined, broke through acupoints, keeping himself busy and content.
In the blink of an eye.
Ten days passed in the outside world.
During this time, Lu Li had also come out twice, both times just to go to the dining hall to collect some dry rations before hurriedly returning.
Each time he returned, he could see Liu Xinyu sitting by her door, lost in thought. Her complexion seemed to grow paler and paler, and there were even dark circles under her eyes. But no matter how Lu Li questioned her, she insisted she was fine.
Lu Li had no way to handle this.
On the one hundredth day within the secret realm, Lu Li's body suddenly moved. In an instant, he appeared ten zhang away. The speed was so fast that only an afterimage could be seen.
"Ten zhang in one breath. The Gale Steps can be considered at the Novice level." Lu Li murmured to himself with a pleased expression.
He had actually stopped cultivating the Great Profound Scripture as early as the seventieth day in the secret realm, after opening the twenty-sixth acupoint, and had switched to cultivating the Gale Steps. Calculating, he could now be considered to have reached the mid-stage of the third level.
According to the records of the Gale Steps, ten zhang in one breath was considered Novice, twenty zhang was considered Small Success, fifty zhang was considered Great Success, and one hundred zhang was Perfection. Of course, this was the optimal state for the Qi Refining period.
If one reached the Foundation Establishment period, according to the text, the speed that could be unleashed at that time depended entirely on how much True Qi was used and the strength of the physical body. There was no specific upper limit. This was the terrifying aspect of the Gale Steps.
"I wonder if these Gale Steps have what it takes to contend with Qin Feng's ghostly, flickering movement technique."
Recalling that day inside Qingyang Mansion, Qin Feng's teleportation-like movement technique still gave Lu Li a lingering sense of fear. If it hadn't been for his own strong physical body and the fact that Qin Feng was extremely weak at the time, he probably wouldn't have been able to leave alive.
Suddenly, Lu Li looked down at the dark cyan robe he was wearing. He noticed that faint, inky-colored light still shimmered and flowed across its surface. He frowned. The robe had a good appearance, but it seemed a bit too eye-catching.
Moreover, wearing it, he always felt it was too loose, not fitting well.
"This thing clearly isn't Mortal Grade. Could it be..." A sudden idea struck Lu Li. He squeezed a drop of blood from his fingertip and let it fall onto the robe.
Instantly.
A dark light flashed across the robe, and a stream of information flowed into Lu Li's mind: Ink Cloud Treasure Garment, contracts and expands freely, can self-repair and self-clean...
"It actually can be blood-bound!"
Focusing his mind, Lu Li willed it. The robe suddenly transformed, actually changing into a set of dark cyan martial attire, identical to the set he had worn before, fitting him perfectly.
"This is really a good item. This is much more comfortable."
Lu Li looked himself up and down, moving his body around a bit. He felt much more at ease. He didn't really like robes; this kind of martial attire was much more convenient for movement. Focusing his mind once more, the shimmering light around the garment disappeared, making it look not much different from ordinary clothing.
Ding ding ding...
Right at that moment, a series of crisp, light sounds suddenly came from the roof.
Lu Li quickly withdrew from the Time Palace, opened his door, and saw that it was Liu Xinyu.