Chapter 172 - 40: Staying Up Late to Practice

Chapter 172: Chapter 40: Staying Up Late to PracticeAlthough obtaining Immortal Law is out of reach, Martial Arts still have to be practiced. There are countless things Xiao Jie has to do now, but the most crucial goal is to advance his Inner Strength from entry-level to Master. To achieve this, either his Inner Strength has to increase beyond 500 points, or he must level up a set of Inner Strength to LV10. Neither is easy to do. Regrettably, it would take some time before Monkey Wine could earn big money. Later on, it would be possible to buy another secret book to practice. Although mastering Flying Wild Goose Skill would lead to mastery of Inner Strength, the higher the level, the slower the progress. Who knows when it could be mastered? Learning a new Inner Strength would be much simpler. For now, he could only focus on improving his Flying Wild Goose Skill. Xiao Jie went to the martial arts gymnasium in Xiaofeng City, rented a practice room, and began meditation while watching his character practice Inner Strength. The experience points for the Golden Wild Goose Skill also started to grow slowly. System notification: Inner Strength Experience +1. System notification: Inner Strength Experience +1! System... Xiao Jie calculated the time; it took an average of 30 seconds to gain one point. To reach full level, it would take at least several hours... With nothing else to do, Xiao Jie sent a message to Mr. Ramen to check in, but to his surprise. System notification: The person you are messaging does not exist. What? Xiao Jie felt a sinking feeling, vaguely anxious. Could it be that he had logged off? But it wasn’t dark yet. Given Mr. Ramen’s personality, it seemed unlikely that he’d log off so early. Could something have happened? Xiao Jie felt increasingly worried. Meanwhile— "There’s no monster, boss, not a single one." Fuck your sister, Mr. Ramen, dare to deceive me! Cloud Guest cursed loudly as he looked at the decrepit thatched cottage before him. After toiling all afternoon in this ruined fishing village, it all turned out to be in vain. Not only were there no regular mobs to farm, but he didn’t even spot a single monster hair. They tried various methods, all to no avail. He couldn’t believe he was duped even after all the coercion and inducements. Cloud Guest grudgingly muttered to himself, "Mr. Ramen, you’re ruthless, refusing to tell the truth even faced with death. I don’t feel guilty about killing you!" Feng Buping sighed and said, "Let’s just forget it, then. We don’t even know where that Hidden Moon Following Wind has gone. Maybe this leveling point doesn’t exist at all. We can just continue leveling around Luoyang Town. Or let’s go a bit further. I heard there are mountain bandit plunder teams spawning in the mountains to the east. With our team’s strength, we should be able to handle them." Cloud Guest hesitated. Just then. A private message suddenly appeared in his inbox. Xiong Batian: Cloud Guest, you piece of trash, what the hell have you done? I gave you command of the second team, and just after a few days, you’ve got so many people killed? Cloud Guest’s heart skipped a beat, dreading what he feared most. "Which one of you ratted me out?" No one made a sound. Cloud Guest glanced at Feng Buping, suspecting it might be him, but he didn’t dare to voice his thoughts. After all, he was a Swordsman, a high-end profession among Physical Professions, but Feng Buping was a Ghost Curse Master, a Master of Magic, which put him at a disadvantage. Damn! Cloud Guest: Boss, I was just trying to help the team grow. Xiong Batian: If you’re not capable, then stop embarrassing me. You managed to create such a mess just trying to level up the team. Cloud Guest: You’re right, Boss. I won’t be reckless anymore. I will focus on leveling properly with the team. Don’t worry about the lost members. The system released a new announcement yesterday, so soon a group of players will be coming from Newbie Village. I’ll make sure our numbers are replenished. Xiong Batian: Are you brainless? You think we’ll just let it slide after so many died for no reason? What about the morale of those remaining in the second team? You must kill that guy, and it would be best to secure the leveling point. This is a matter of morale; we can’t take it lightly. If you can’t handle it, I’ll let Feng Buping lead the second team. Cloud Guest: Don’t worry, Big Brother, I’ll take care of it. After closing the private conversation, Cloud Guest was resolute. He had finally become the leader of the second team, and he couldn’t afford to lose that position no matter what. He had to deal with Hidden Moon Following Wind and make it look good. "The boss has spoken, this isn’t over! Those two can’t stay in the wild forever. They’ll either go to Xiaofeng City or return to Luoyang Town. Leave someone in Luoyang Town to keep watch; let’s head to Xiaofeng City!" ———————— System notification: Inner Strength Experience +1; your Flying Wild Goose Skill has advanced to the Sixth Layer. Finally reaching the Sixth Layer, Xiao Jie checked the time; it was already nine in the evening. At this rate, it would probably take another several hours to reach full level. If he didn’t sleep tonight and kept training, he should be able to max out by tomorrow. But that would interfere with the next day’s plans. Should he level up using auto-play? Xiao Jie looked at the computer screen, hesitating. In theory, there should be no danger hanging in there, but recalling that his character’s life was his own, he didn’t dare to take the risk. Maybe he should ask around in the group chat, right, ask Mr. Niu, who is a Qi Gong Master; he must know some tricks for leveling up Inner Strength quickly. Thinking about it, XOao Jie was reluctant to switch tabs; he hesitated for a moment and then took out his phone. Hidden Moon Following Wind: "Mr. Niu, are you there?" Niu Baoguo: I’m here. What’s up? Hidden Moon Following Wind: I’m working on leveling up my Inner Strength, do you have any tips? Niu Baoguo: There aren’t really any tricks per se, but there is still some knowledge you need to understand. Cultivation is all about comprehension; the higher the comprehension, the more Experience Points you get. Second is elixirs. Some elixirs can increase the speed of Inner Strength cultivation, such as the Gathering Yuan Pill, which is quite suitable for your level. There are even better ones, like the Small Rejuvenation Pill and the Great Returning Pill, but they are too expensive, so I do not recommend them. Third is the mentor. If you’re lucky enough to meet a Worldly Expert who is good at Inner Strength, maybe a few pointers from them can give you a few thousand Experience Points. Hidden Moon Following Wind: Is it safe to auto-play while leveling up? Niu Baoguo: Honestly, I’ve never heard of anyone being killed while auto-playing cultivation, but at the end of the day, it’s still your own life at risk, and I personally wouldn’t dare to do that. Xiao Jie thought that’s exactly it. Better to spend money on elixirs then. Xiao Jie ran to the auction house, first to check the selling situation of the goods. He wasn’t sure if the market was saturated or not, but not a single piece of Secret Dog Food had sold in several hours. On the other hand, all ten bottles of Monkey Wine were sold, earning 10 silver coins. After deducting a 10% fee, he was left with nine taels of silver, which was pretty sweet. Good stuff indeed doesn’t worry about sales. It’s a pity that there’s no more supply of raw materials; otherwise, I could make even more. In the four hours since, there weren’t enough new wild fruits in the auction house to make even two bottles of wine. That also wasn’t hard to understand. Aside from a few special recipes that required wild fruits, they were mostly useless. Eating them could only increase satiety by 1 or 2 points, not even as much as a steamed bun. Even if you listed them for sale, it would be hard to sell them. Naturally, no one would sell them. Even if they did pick them, they would probably just eat them as food. Unless I could find someone to supply them exclusively. But since these wild fruits aren’t pricey, it would be hard to get someone interested in trading them in small quantities. And if I were to offer a high price, it would increase the cost of Monkey Wine. It’s best to find beginners around level 10 who don’t have much money. These wild fruits aren’t difficult to collect, and if the price is right, you can still make a bit of coin, which can be somewhat enticing for newbies. Xiao Jie contacted a few people who had sold wild fruits before and chatted with them... Finally, he managed to find two suitable suppliers. One was an archer at level 11, named Da Xue Man Gong Dao. The other was a Swordman at level 12, named Wind Forest Fire Mountain. Both were newbies just out of Newbie Village, not daring to stray too far from the town, with no other means to make money besides picking wild fruits, hunting, or mining near the town. Since these wild fruits respawned in large numbers around Newbie Village and small towns and weren’t very valuable, these two only listed them for sale casually, with the thought of just seeing what happens. Now that Xiao Jie was offering 10 Wen for each, they immediately agreed to supply in large quantities and listed all they had in the auction house. With this arrangement, the cost went up 50 Wen, but since the profit margin was large, it didn’t affect earnings. Although there was some loss in fees from buying and selling, compared to the high profit of Monkey Wine, it was no big issue. Soon Xiao Jie purchased another batch of materials and made five more bottles of Monkey Wine to list for sale. Next, Xiao Jie checked the price of the Gathering Yuan Pill. The Gathering Yuan Pill was priced at 800 Wen each, and it could enhance Inner Strength Experience Points acquisition by 100% for an hour. Xiao Jie spent all his money and bought 10 pills in one go. That way, one hour of practice was as effective as two, and in no more than ten hours, he could level up his Inner Strength to full level. Since it was only Basic Internal Skill which required less Experience Points, higher levels of Internal Skill couldn’t be handled this way in the future. Xiao Jie returned to the Practice Room, took a Gathering Yuan Pill, and resumed meditation, beginning his cultivation. Since he didn’t dare to auto-play, he had to sit in front of the computer and watch his character meditate. Being cautious, he didn’t even dare to play with his phone and kept watching his character perform Inner Strength, taking another Gathering Yuan Pill every hour until 3 a.m. when finally— Whoosh, a flash of golden light. System Notification: Your Flying Goose Skill has reached the 10th Layer. The Skill is now fully mastered and can no longer be leveled up. Because your Flying Goose Skill has advanced to the 10th Layer, you’ve acquired the advanced Skill Body Effect, "Yan Hang". System Notification: You have successfully leveled a field of Internal Strength to the 10th Layer. Your Internal Strength level has progressed from Basic to Master. I finally did it! Xiao Jie yawned deeply. Staying up half the night really made him sleepy. Thankfully, as a professional player, staying up this late wasn’t difficult for him. He checked the effects of Flying Goose Skill. [Flying Goose Skill 10th Layer (Basic Internal Skill) Basic Effect: Increases the upper limit of Inner Power Value by 300 points. Skill Body Effect: Enhances jumping, Rolling, and Qinggong effects by 100%. Advanced Skill Body: When you fall from the air, you can activate the "Yan Hang" effect. It consumes 1 point of Inner Power Value every 3 seconds, allowing you to glide down slowly without taking fall damage.] Not bad at all, now I can finally start learning Flying Cloud Chasing Moon. He quickly opened his inventory and clicked on the secret book with eager anticipation. Double-clicking the secret book with his mouse, his character was enveloped in a flash of white light. System Notification: You have learned the new Skill "Flying Cloud Chasing Moon (Qinggong)". I’ve finally learned it... It wasn’t easy at all. Xiao Jie looked at the time; it was already past one o’clock. It seemed he would have to wait until tomorrow to test out his new Martial Arts. He logged off from the game and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.