Watching Rihai retreat to her room to train, Aotian turned his focus back to his own training—and to the pot of rice in front of him.
'Other reincarnators take pills to aid their cultivation and break through realms… but me? I eat pot after pot of rice to advance.'
He sighed, a mix of bitterness and amusement.
'Well, the important thing is to get stronger!'
He shrugged and started eating.
…
While Aotian trained, his avatars worked on deducing the newly acquired techniques.
The first ones analyzed were the Qi camouflage techniques.
Since they only had eight of these techniques, it wasn't possible to synthesize anything of high quality. However, as they urgently needed one, they had to settle for choosing the best among them and training it.
Tian Zhu, Lie Zheng, and Bao Hui dedicated themselves to training and, within a few hours, reached perfection in the technique.
Of course, their absurd speed was due to several factors.
The technique was only at the Qi Refinement level, which already made the learning process faster. Moreover, three minds were training simultaneously, supported by the deduction abilities of the sect leader and his high cultivation level, further accelerating the process.
But even upon reaching perfection, the technique was simply bad.
It could conceal the sect leader's aura from anyone below his cultivation level, but any cultivator at the same level or higher could see his true power.
For the elders, the situation was slightly better. No Qi Refinement cultivator would be able to see their true cultivation, but Foundation Establishment cultivators could still perceive their actual strength.
After finishing their training, the three cloaked themselves and headed to the mountain gate.
Upon arrival, they found Guard Xu, who now displayed a serious and icy expression, his eyes scanning every person who passed by.
Clearly, he was taking his job much more seriously.
'He wasn't like this when Bao Hui first met him…' Aotian found it odd for a moment but then recalled something.
'Ah… I see.'
Thinking of Bao Hui and remembering how he had tricked Guard Xu twice, Aotian understood that he himself was the reason for the change.
"Stop!" Guard Xu's firm voice rang out as the three approached.
"Remove your hoods!" he ordered, trying to see their faces.
Lie Zheng said nothing.
He simply took out a storage pouch, manipulated it briefly, and tossed it toward the guard.
Simple and rude words left his mouth.
"Step aside."
Then, without hesitation, he walked straight past, leading the other two.
"You—"
Just as Guard Xu was about to protest, he felt the weight of the pouch and immediately stopped.
Inside were 30 low-grade spirit stones, enough to cover the entrance fee. Additionally, the storage pouch itself was worth a few dozen stones.
'This covers my losses from that bastard before…' He snorted but decided not to provoke these hooded cultivators.
…
After passing through the gate, the three began searching for a place to live on Black Rock Mountain.
Training in an environment rich in spiritual energy was much more efficient, as it sped up energy recovery and allowed for longer cultivation sessions.
The avatars could also train to increase their cultivation strength, but there were some rules that Aotian discovered by asking the system.
And although the system answered questions, it only had information about itself. Questions about the world? Aotian would have to figure those out on his own.
According to the system, the avatars' level depended directly on the host's level.
If Aotian were at the first level of Qi Refinement, an internal elder based on him would have a higher realm, meaning the first level of Foundation Establishment.
But if the elder broke through to the second level before Aotian advanced, he wouldn't advance again when Aotian did—unless Aotian reached the third level before him. Only then would he advance based on Aotian.
In other words, it wasn't worth wasting time cultivating the clones. After all, at least for now, Aotian would advance much faster than they would.
It was much better to have them focus on synthesizing techniques and spells or learning new skills like alchemy.
Upon arriving in the city, the avatars split up.
As the Elder of the Treasure Pavilion—or basically the sect's treasurer—Bao Hui was responsible for finding a place to rent.
While he searched, the leader and Lie Zheng waited.
Some time later, Bao Hui came running back, a cheerful smile on his face.
"Leader! I got a bargain!"
Tian Zhu just stared at him, uninterested.
Bao Hui puffed out his chest with pride.
"I found out that the house rental manager was sleeping with his best friend's wife. Well, I just wanted to help, so I asked if he'd like me to tell his friend so they could… clear things up."
"..."
"But unfortunately, he refused, his face red and teeth clenched. I think he was too embarrassed to accept my kindness!"
"..."
"So, to thank me for my generosity, he rented me a house in the middle part of the mountain… for half the price!" Bao Hui revealed his 'stroke of luck' with an innocent face and an excited smile.
"Humph!" Lie Zheng snorted, irritated.
"You clearly extorted him. But I won't say anything else… he doesn't seem like a good person anyway…" His eyes narrowed at Bao Hui, and he continued, "Just like you!"
"Old Liu, you're slandering me!"
Bao Hui immediately defended himself, his face radiating unshakable honesty and resolution.
"I'm known for my charity and generosity!"
"Bah!" Lie Zheng spat on the ground, incredulous at his shamelessness, and said, "You're known for your stinginess!"
"Ha! And you're a spendthrift!" Bao Hui crossed his arms. "I'm still mad that you gave a storage pouch to that guard! Do you know how much that costs? A fortune! If you had let me handle it, we would've saved a few more spirit stones! You're going to bankrupt the sect with your reckless spending." He shot an angry look at Lie Zheng, who returned it in kind.
"That tattered pouch was worth a few broken stones at most!"
"What do you know about value, old spendthrift?!"
"Cunning fox!"
"Stinking skunk!"
"ENOUGH!"
The thunderous voice instantly ended the argument.
The sect leader, unable to maintain his usual indifferent demeanor, was massaging his forehead, clearly having a slight headache from the two.
"Bao Hui, lead the way. Let's settle in first."
…
Aotian, lying on the floor, exhausted, wore an amused smile.
Playing roles with his avatars was something he really enjoyed.
'Too bad no one is watching… When I have disciples, it'll be even more fun to play these roles and see their reactions.'
Still chuckling to himself, he got up and headed to his room to wash up.
At dinner, he would make more rice and return to training. But during midday, he let his body rest.
'A few more days, and I'll reach the final stage of blood refinement… Then, in about three weeks, I should perfect blood refinement… and from there, things will speed up.'
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
'Bones are much more resistant to the tempering of spiritual energy… maybe two weeks will be enough to perfect bone refinement. But I still don't have the essence refinement manual ready…' He frowned.
'I need to go shopping. Even adding the few manuals I found before to the 50 I bought, it's still not enough to be sure…'
Aotian then decided on his next destination.
'Qianbao Pavilion.'
That was the pavilion in Blue Cloud City, where his main body was currently located.
Bao Hui's expense in purchasing the Foundation Establishment technique had a purpose. He planned to sell it at Qianbao Pavilion and become rich once again.
'Let's start writing the technique while it's still early! But first, I need to absorb all the essence manuals I have before looking for more.'
Upon reaching his room, Aotian sat at the desk he had bought with Rihai.
On it, a brush, ink, and paper—all sponsored by Rihai.
He picked up the brush, but before he began writing, a thought occurred to him.
'Fortunately, Blue Cloud City is enormous and ruled by low-level cultivators. They don't dare overcharge for anything, which allows many cultivators to bring mortals into the city without spending a fortune. This created a market for mortal goods, letting me buy simple things like paper and ink. If not for that, I'd have to buy the spiritual versions of these items… which are absurdly expensive.' He chuckled softly.
Unlike Blue Cloud City, Black Rock Mountain—where the avatars were—was ruled by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
And with such power, he oppressed the population to maximize his own profits.
Expensive rent. Small spaces.
And the mountain core, where the spiritual energy was densest? Reserved only for him and his most loyal subordinates.
Most cultivators who lived well there were powerful enough to generate a good income.
As for the weaker ones… they were forced to move away, seeking opportunities in other cities.
And just to enter the city, they were charged 10 spirit stones. Not a small amount for low-level cultivators…
Normally, a Qi refiner had about 500 spirit stones per month—when lucky.
The city even had a slum, where these impoverished cultivators struggled to survive. And that was only allowed because it was a way to drain spirit stones from even the poorest cultivators.
The only real advantage was the spiritual energy. After all, this mountain sat atop a perfect first-grade spiritual vein… But aside from that, Black Rock Mountain lagged behind Blue Cloud City in every aspect, including development, population, and size.