Global Cultivation: Only My Shop Prices Drop a Billionfold

After reaching the first level of Qi Refining, Lin Yang’s meridians had widened considerably. A vortex of spiritual energy turned slowly in his dantian, drawing in the energy around him with each revolution.

【Realm advancement detected!】

【Player’s meridians have expanded and a dantian vortex has formed!】

【Base cultivation speed doubled!】

He continued circulating the Primal Qi Refining Scripture.

【Cultivation +1920!】

At last, he was a little more satisfied. “That’s more like it!”

Lin Yang immersed himself in cultivation. Whenever his sixty-fourfold acceleration card expired, he immediately bought another. At only 0.001 low-grade spirit stones apiece, they were so cheap that failing to renew them would be an insult to his big spirit stone!

Time slipped by unnoticed. Four hours passed. The vortex inside him grew larger, and his meridians expanded with each breakthrough.

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: Second level of Qi Refining!】

…

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: Fourth level of Qi Refining!】

…

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: Seventh level of Qi Refining!】

Lin Yang opened his eyes. Powerful spiritual energy spread from his body, making the table and chairs in front of him sway.

“Seventh level! Let’s see my stats!”

【Strength: 2360!】

【Physique: 2348!】

【Agility: 2286!】

【Soul: 2490!】

【Spiritual power: 32800!】

His basic attributes had all reached over two thousand, and his spiritual power had surpassed thirty thousand. Even so, the basic attributes didn’t seem to have risen all that much. When he’d first reached Qi Refining, all four had jumped by nearly a thousand points. Now, after advancing six levels, they had only a little more than doubled.

He soon understood why. The Primal Qi Refining Scripture was, after all, a Qi Refining technique. It primarily improved his realm and the quantity and quality of his spiritual power. Strength, physique, and soul increased incidentally with his realm. To strengthen his body specifically, he would need a body cultivation technique; to strengthen his soul, a soul cultivation technique.

“I see. A basic technique is for leveling up. If I want combat skills or other attributes, I’ll have to cultivate other techniques. Fair enough.”

He wasn’t worried. Realm was the foundation. Once he had pushed his realm to Golden Core, even an ordinary fireball spell would be more than a minor Qi Refining cultivator could withstand. Raising his realm came first.

He closed his eyes again.

【Cultivation +6480!】

【Cultivation +6720!】

As his realm rose, his gain was approaching seven thousand cultivation points a minute. The other Qingyuan Sword Sect disciples would probably stare in disbelief if they knew. Yet Lin Yang felt it was getting slower. Each successive level demanded vastly more cultivation; advancing from the seventh to the eighth required more than all the earlier levels combined. At this rate, who knew how long it would take?

“Six or seven thousand a minute definitely isn’t enough. I need to speed it up!”

He searched the shop for ways to cultivate faster. The first thing to catch his eye was a small Spirit-Gathering Array core.

【Small Spirit-Gathering Array Core!】

【Tier: One!】

【Quality: Epic!】

【Effect: Four cores form a small Spirit-Gathering Array, greatly increasing spiritual energy concentration within its range!】

【Original price: 2,000,000 low-grade spirit stones each!】

【Discounted price: 0.002 low-grade spirit stones each!】

“I’ll take all four!”

【Purchase successful!】

Four palm-sized white disks appeared. Following the instructions, Lin Yang placed them in the four corners of his cultivation chamber. He waited. Nothing happened.

“Start up! Gather the energy already!”

The cores remained motionless. Just as he began to suspect he’d bought fakes, the system spoke.

【Player has not mastered an array skill!】

【Small Spirit-Gathering Array cores cannot be activated!】

Lin Yang stared. “Damn it, I bought them and can’t use them?”

【You haven’t learned an array skill. How is that my fault?】

“Fine, fine. That’s how we’re playing it?”

He put the cores away for when he learned an array skill and looked for alternatives. A golden meditation cushion soon caught his attention. There were many kinds: some calmed the mind and suppressed inner demons; others aided comprehension. Lin Yang needed cultivation speed, and he would only buy the best!

【Tier-One Epic Spirit-Gathering Cushion!】

【Effect: Gathers surrounding spiritual energy and increases cultivation speed! Maximum boost: sevenfold. Multiplies the effect of cultivation cards.】

【Original price: 3,000,000 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Discounted price: 0.003 low-grade spirit stones!】

“Surely this doesn’t need an array skill.”

He bought it and sat on it. Golden light spread from the cushion, drawing the nearby spiritual energy slowly toward him.

【Spirit-Gathering Cushion activated!】

【Spiritual energy concentration in the current area is too low!】

【Actual cultivation speed multiplier: 1.01x!】

“One point zero one?” He thought he must have misread it. He circulated the Primal Qi Refining Scripture again.

One minute later:

【Cultivation +6787!】

He had been gaining 6,720 points a minute. Now he gained 6,787—a whole sixty-seven extra!

“A cushion worth three million gives me sixty-seven more points a minute? You’ve got to be kidding!”

It wasn’t that the cushion was ineffective. The Demon Beast Suppression Hall was on the outskirts of the Qingyuan Sword Sect, where spiritual energy was sparse. The cushion could gather what was nearby, but it couldn’t create energy out of nothing. With so little to draw on, even the best cushion had nowhere to pull more from.

“I need to increase the concentration around me somehow.”

He searched the shop for products that directly increased spiritual energy concentration. Nothing! A Spirit-Gathering Array could do it, but even that needed time to draw in the surrounding energy—and he couldn’t use one without an array skill.

After some thought, he searched for the single word “spirit.”

“Now that’s a lot of results!”

Products flooded the screen: spirit marrow, spirit spring cores, spirit liquids, and more. One caught his eye: Spirit-Gathering Liquid. A bottle of the common variety cost a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones. It contained abundant pure spiritual energy and was normally used to refine pills or cultivate rare spirit plants.

Lin Yang scrolled straight to the best version.

【Tier-One Epic Spirit-Gathering Liquid!】

【Effect: Contains abundant, highly pure spiritual energy. Can be used for pill refinement, artifact refinement, and growing spirit plants!】

【Original price: 1,000,000 low-grade spirit stones per bottle!】

【Discounted price: 0.001 low-grade spirit stones per bottle!】

An ordinary alchemist needed only three to five drops for a furnace of pills. If the cap were removed, the energy would slowly evaporate into the air. Nobody else would dream of wasting something worth a million low-grade spirit stones a bottle like that.

Lin Yang would!

“Not enough spiritual energy? Then I’ll make my own high-energy environment! Buy a hundred bottles!”

【Purchase successful!】

【Total spent: 0.1 low-grade spirit stones!】

One hundred white jade bottles appeared in neat rows. He arranged them in several circles around the Spirit-Gathering Cushion, then opened every cap.

The first! The tenth! The fiftieth! The hundredth!

When the last cap came off, white mist drifted from the bottles. All hundred bottles of epic Spirit-Gathering Liquid released energy at once, like a hundred thin wisps of cooking smoke. The concentration in the chamber rose wildly. A thin haze became a bank of immortal mist that soon half concealed Lin Yang, then grew so thick he couldn’t see his own hand. Droplets of condensed spiritual energy formed on the floor and walls.

【Major increase in surrounding spiritual energy concentration detected!】

【Spirit-Gathering Cushion effect enhanced!】

【Current actual cultivation speed multiplier: 6.4x!】

Lin Yang surveyed the bottles and nodded. “Now that’s more like it! I’ll call this the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai School of Cultivation!”

He renewed his sixty-fourfold acceleration card and sat cross-legged on the cushion. “Let’s cultivate!”

Boom! As soon as he circulated the Primal Qi Refining Scripture, the white mist surged into him as though swallowed by a whale. All hundred bottles trembled, releasing a steady stream of energy that the cushion gathered around him.

【Cultivation +43008!】

Over forty thousand a minute—more than six times his previous speed!

“That’s right! With enough money, I can create whatever conditions I want. Bad cultivation environment? I’ll just throw money at it until it’s good!”

He closed his eyes and ran the scripture with all his strength. Half an hour later, the vortex in his dantian expanded again.

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: Eighth level of Qi Refining!】

He didn’t stop. The hundred bottles continued to evaporate, and dense energy poured into him from every direction, rapidly increasing his reserves. An hour later, a muffled boom came from within him. His dantian vortex expanded several times over, and his spiritual power grew ever purer as it condensed.

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: Ninth level of Qi Refining!】

Two more hours passed.

【Current state: Qi Refining perfected!】

Lin Yang opened his eyes. “Qi Refining perfected! Foundation Establishment is next!”

Once he reached Foundation Establishment, he could unlock the tier-two shop. The tier-one shop was already outrageous; what could he buy in the next one? Just thinking about it filled him with anticipation.

A new notification appeared.

【Player has reached perfection in Qi Refining!】

【Foundation Establishment is a major realm breakthrough and cannot be achieved through accumulated cultivation alone!】

【A Foundation Establishment breakthrough carries a chance of failure!】

【Player may take Foundation Establishment Pills to improve the chance of success!】

“There are Foundation Establishment Pills?” Lin Yang looked at the shop, a broad, self-satisfied grin spreading across his face. “Ha ha ha! If money can solve it, it’s not a problem.”