The outer city did have spiritual energy.
Whether it was what naturally filled the world, drifted over from the Million Mountains of the Eastern Wilderness, or leaked out from the inner city, spiritual energy was present to some degree.
Otherwise, so many rogue cultivators would not have converged here from every corner of the world.
Yet that concentration of spiritual energy was barely enough for cultivation.
Barely enough was no exaggeration. When Luo Chen had cultivated diligently in the past, his realm progress bar would advance by only a sliver every half month.
In other words, filling the hundred-point progress bar for the third layer of Qi Refining would take a full four to five years.
And that assumed he never wasted spiritual power in between, ensuring that every session yielded progress.
In reality, the original owner of this body had endured more than three years without making an inch of headway in his cultivation.
Naturally, struggling to make a living and lacking enough time to cultivate were also reasons for that.
Only after Luo Chen transmigrated and relied on his proficiency panel to grind his mastery of the Eternal Spring Art to the proficient level did that situation begin to improve bit by bit.
Even then, he had remained stuck around the seventies on his progress bar for a long time.
In the end, it was only thanks to a bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills and a perfected Eternal Spring Art that Luo Chen managed a grueling breakthrough to the fourth layer.
Yet if he had been cultivating in the inner city back then, that time could have been cut by at least a third!
"Such is the power of a spirit vein!"
"And this is only a tier-one spirit vein!"
"It's hard to imagine how fast sect disciples cultivating on tier-two or tier-three spirit veins must progress!"
Luo Chen uttered three exclamations in succession, showing just how stirred he was.
If he were in places like that, would he be able to reach the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Refining before his lifespan ran out?
Luo Chen didn't know. He only knew that his life was already vastly better than before.
From here on, he had to work hard to stay in the inner city long-term. This was a true place for cultivation—unlike the foul outer city, a cesspool reeking of mud, excrement, and occasional wafts of blood.
Yet midnight arrived, and Luo Chen was shaken out of his romantic musings by the bone-chilling cold.
"How can it be this cold?"
"Even with the constitution of a fourth-layer Qi Refining cultivator, I can barely withstand it."
"I have to buy a quilt tomorrow!"
No good. It was too cold to sleep at all.
Luo Chen climbed out of bed and decided to find something to do.
Processing medicinal herbs was out of the question; he lacked tools and certain ingredients.
Luo Chen took out the set of Jasper Sabers and tried channeling spiritual power into them.
*Buzz...*
A crisp humming sound resonated, yet the seven flying daggers didn't budge at all.
"Did something go wrong?"
He pondered for a moment and channeled spiritual power into each blade one by one, until he poured it into the largest wooden blade. Only then did all seven blades flare together with emerald radiance.
"So the sub-blades are controlled by the mother blade."
Realizing this, Luo Chen grew all the more engrossed.
Under his manipulation, the seven flying blades orbited slowly around him like funnel drones.
"Go!"
Luo Chen pointed at the floor in the corner, and one of the sub-blades shot out instantly.
Like an arrow, the sub-blade hummed and shrieked through the air, plunging into the floor.
It was fast, and the power wasn't bad either.
The blue-brick floor was pierced through as easily as tofu.
And that was only a single sub-blade. What if all seven blades struck at once?
What if the seven blades formed a formation that could attack and defend with equal ease?
Luo Chen was intrigued, but then he awkwardly hurried to the corner and pulled the small wooden blade free.
"I really have to buy an Attraction Art manual. This isn't an expense I can skimp on!"
Yes, he hadn't learned the Attraction Art yet, so his spiritual power could only move in straight lines.
It was essentially the kind of fighting style where "I'll supply the brute force, and you pray for a miracle."
The Soul Breaking Nail was fine; it was inherently a one-way shot.
However, this set of Jasper Sabers was meant to advance and retreat freely, forming a dense forest.
Without the Attraction Art to coordinate them, having this set of artifacts was truly a waste.
After playing with the Jasper Sabers a while longer, Luo Chen reluctantly put them back into his storage bag.
In principle, the Attraction Art was simply a flexible application of spiritual power. If one were familiar enough with their spiritual power, one could deftly manipulate all kinds of artifacts even without knowing the spell.
Evidently, though, Luo Chen possessed neither that degree of mastery nor that level of comprehension.
Or rather, the vast majority of low-tier cultivators could never reach such heights.
With so little spiritual power to begin with, when would they ever have the chance to become that familiar with it?
That was precisely why predecessors of profound cultivation had devised the Attraction Art as an ingenious boon for low-tier cultivators.
No longer playing with the Jasper Sabers, Luo Chen had other pastimes to kill the hours.
Lightness skills and reading!
The room didn't have furniture yet, so there was plenty of space.
Carefree Wandering was not a lightness skill that merely chased speed. At advanced levels, it prioritized carefree ease and unhurried grace.
Luo Chen darted and shifted around the room, leaping to the rafters or dropping lightly to the floor, doing his best to rein in his force with every movement.
Truth be told, compared to his previous wide-open, headlong dashes, this offered a distinctly different sensation.
In his hands was the *Record of Customs Across the Six Domains*, of which Luo Chen had only read half.
Previously, he had learned the most about the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect and the Hehuan Sect.
After all, one was the local superior sect, while the other was famous for its romantic scandals.
"Mu Qingcheng of the Mandarin Duck Crescent Blades, one of the Six Great Killers of Tianfan City—a rare female powerhouse among Golden Core cultivators. Her twin Mother-and-Child Mandarin Duck Crescent Blades possess the might to overturn heaven and earth and sever yin from yang."
Luo Chen clicked his tongue in wonder as he read.
Among the six superior sects of the Far East Six Domains, one was renowned throughout the world for weapon forging: Tianfan City.
Wanbao Pavilion in Dahe Market was Tianfan City's property.
This sect excelled at forging artifacts, and aside from common ones, they took a special liking to forging unusual weapons.
Over countless years, they had actually managed to forge six immensely powerful exotic magic treasures.
Tianfan City bestowed them upon six Golden Core cultivators, who had forged an illustrious reputation over the years.
Just like Mu Qingcheng of the Mandarin Duck Crescent Blades whom he was reading about now: Foundation Establishment in ten years, Core Formation in a hundred. Though she had never taken part in the War of Reclamation, she had earned a resounding name among Golden Core cultivators today.
Relying on her Mandarin Duck Crescent Blade magic treasure, she had forged a path for Tianfan City's businesses in regions beyond the Far East Six Domains.
After reading about this female cultivator's deeds, aside from marveling at her strength, Luo Chen drew only one conclusion.
"So even Golden Core big shots have to hustle for spirit stones!"
What he was doing right now was essentially no different from what they did.
In other words: I am equal to a Golden Core big shot!
...
*Squeak!*
The layout of this single-courtyard siheyuan was quite traditional; the main gate sat right next to the reverse-facing room.
Thus, when Luo Chen got up early in the morning, preparing to head out shopping, he ran straight into Caiyi returning from work.
"Good morning!"
"Good morning... *yawn*..." Caiyi stretched with a yawn, her slender waist catching the eye.
"Getting back this late?"
Caiyi said helplessly, "Business at Tianxiang Pavilion has been absurdly good lately. Those of us who dance and sing naturally have to bear the brunt of it."
Absurdly good?
Wasn't business at Tianxiang Pavilion always good?
Glancing at Luo Chen, who was getting ready to head out, Caiyi asked curiously, "Are you heading out? By the way, I haven't asked what you do yet—having enough spirit stones to live in the inner city at the fourth layer of Qi Refining."
"Alchemist. I usually set up a stall at the Rogue Cultivator Market in the south of the city. If there's anything you want to buy, I can bring it back for you," Luo Chen replied.
"An alchemist!"
Caiyi's sleepiness vanished in an instant.
Her neighbor was actually this impressive.
"We'll talk later. I've got a busy day ahead."
Luo Chen waved his hand and hurriedly walked out the door.
Leaning against the doorway, Caiyi watched his departing back, her thoughts anyone's guess.
Chapter 25