Chapter 242: Setting Off for the Dragon Frost Swamp
That’s right!
How could she have forgotten? The items from the system’s rewards were truly top-notch.
Even though the rewards for the Qi Refinement Realm were all things that could be found on the Yunzhou Continent.
But just looking at the 100 scrolls of Cultivation Techniques, you could tell the system was extremely generous.
The system gave her something as heaven-defying as opening a Spirit Root right from the start. What if it had even more incredible things later on?
In an instant, Song Jiulai felt a surge of enthusiasm for the future main story quests.
’I must urge the players to make progress faster!’
’No, they’re all too lazy right now. They won’t work unless I push them. I need to come up with an event to motivate them.’
Especially now that a large batch of new players had arrived.
And some of them were just slackers.
It was simply outrageous!
Seeing Song Jiulai agree, Nan Qi raised her hand and summoned both the Nine Transformations Dragon Bone and the Lotus Birth Kill, presenting them to her.
As Song Jiulai handed over the five top-grade spirit stones, her heart was bleeding.
’How did it land exactly within my budget!’
Every time she spent money, it felt like she was on the verge of bankruptcy.
After giving her the mental method, Nan Qi said, "When you reach the Core Formation Stage, come back to the True Treasure Pavilion. I will give you the Middle Stage of Lotus Birth Kill then."
But she was just saying that.
For someone with poor talent, reaching the Core Formation Stage could take a hundred, maybe even two hundred years.
By then, who knew what the situation would be?
But on the Yunzhou Continent, time was the most insignificant of things.
After all, its history spanned tens of thousands of years.
Song Jiulai smiled warmly. "Okay, okay! A pleasure doing business with you, boss. I’ll be back."
Nan Qi paused for a moment before replying, "Of course. You’re welcome anytime."
After Song Jiulai had left, Nan Qi muttered to herself, "Strange, why does he feel so familiar?"
Meanwhile, the system asked, "Why didn’t you praise her? Did you forget you swore to shower her with compliments?"
Song Jiulai clicked her tongue. "Flattery requires the right timing. I couldn’t make it work this time, but I will next time for sure! Besides, the Magic Treasure I have is useful, and she already gave me a Cultivation Technique. One shouldn’t be too greedy!"
System: "Is it because you couldn’t be greedy that you had no choice?"
Song Jiulai: "If you say ’like father, like son’ one more time, you can go eat shit."
System: "See! Like mother, like daughter!"
Song Jiulai: "..."
’Damn it. Sooner or later, I’m going to find out what the hell this dog of a system really is.’
Song Jiulai didn’t have time to bicker with it right now.
Now that she had two new Cultivation Techniques, she rushed back to the inn, full of excitement, and immediately began practicing the Dragon Transformation Bone.
For safety, she had specifically chosen an extraordinary Cultivator Inn.
Her room was equivalent to a private Cave Heaven Blessed Land; no other Cultivator would notice anything she did inside.
This would prevent her from attracting unwanted attention if her cultivation caused a major disturbance.
’Nan Qi said the Dragon Transformation Bone undergoes a qualitative change once you have a Sea of Consciousness. But I already have a Sea of Consciousness, so what happens now?’
As she integrated the mental method, the process of cultivating the Dragon Transformation Bone instantly appeared in Song Jiulai’s mind.
How to cultivate it depended on one’s personal comprehension.
Different insights would lead to different cultivation processes, resulting in subtle variations.
This was why some people were better at cultivation, and others were worse.
Palm Thunder was relatively simple and direct. Spiritual Energy was converted into lightning. As long as one understood the process, it wasn’t difficult, and its power grew with one’s cultivation.
The Nine Transformations Dragon Bone, however, was different.
Song Jiulai sat in meditation on a patch of grass, her eyes shut tight.
First, she drew Spiritual Energy into her body, merging it with her flesh and blood, guiding it inch by inch along her meridians.
Then, she began to execute the Nine Transformations Dragon Bone mantra, her consciousness spreading to every inch of her body.
A mental method required extreme caution, or one could easily suffer a cultivation deviation.
Song Jiulai knew her comprehension skills weren’t as freakishly good as some of the players, so she chose the safest method: first understanding the changes in the mantra during its operation at the slowest possible speed.
This way, she could quickly detect any problems that arose.
Of course, the consequence was that she would experience more discomfort than others.
An agonizing pain radiated from every tiny part of her body.
It was unbearable!
Extremely unbearable!
But there was an upside. At least the process was running smoothly.
The Dragon Transformation Bone altered one’s flesh, blood, and meridians in a forced Body Refining. When she first began to cultivate, even her blood started to thicken.
If anyone could see inside Song Jiulai’s body, they would be shocked to discover her blood spinning ceaselessly, stirring her meridians, and gradually seeping out an aura that Song Jiulai had never seen before.
As the Heart Method Mantra continued to run, that mysterious aura grew stronger, and Song Jiulai became more and more adept at executing the mantra.
The aura was colorless, yet Song Jiulai felt as if it were a phantom-like silhouette.
Finally, as the aura gradually coalesced into a long strip, it began to circle around Song Jiulai’s Dantian.
At first, its speed was extremely slow. With every rotation, Song Jiulai felt her entire body convulse.
Her eyes were closed and her brow was knitted tightly. She hadn’t felt this kind of internal pain in a long time, and it made her lips tremble.
At this moment, even the system fell silent.
It never disturbed Song Jiulai while she was cultivating.
’The host might be a pain in the ass normally,’ the system thought, ’but when it comes to enduring hardship, she’s actually quite tough.’
’She complains that she’d rather die, but in reality, she’s the most serious when it comes to practicing Cultivation Techniques—all because she’s terrified of getting beaten up.’
Time passed, though it was unclear for how long.
PHEW—
Just as Song Jiulai was completely immersed in her cultivation, she was jolted awake by the searing heat of her Jade Token.
It meant that the time to depart for the Dragon Frost Swamp had arrived.
They were gathering people for departure.
If she didn’t make it within one incense stick’s time, the Jade Token would be voided, and she wouldn’t be able to go.
Song Jiulai stopped her cultivation. Although she still felt some discomfort, it had eased considerably.
Furthermore, she could clearly feel that the rotating gas inside her body was a little faster than when she had started.
But only by a little.
In all this time, it had only completed two rotations.
Song Jiulai opened her eyes and asked the system, "How long was I cultivating?"
System: "Three days."
Song Jiulai was shocked. "Two rotations in three days? That’s slower than a turtle!"
’This mental method really isn’t for ordinary people,’ she thought.
However, she felt that her body had changed somewhat.
It was just a change she couldn’t quite describe.
She squeezed her wrist. "I don’t feel anything. It’s still so soft... Ooh, my skin is so smooth..."
This was the benefit of Cultivation!
She subconsciously ignored the scorpion sleeping in her sleeve.
Now she had to wear long sleeves every day for its sake, otherwise she couldn’t hide the little thing.
It wouldn’t do to scare other people.
The system said coolly, "You’ve only been cultivating for three days. Were you expecting to turn into a muscle-bound woman?"
Song Jiulai didn’t waste time bickering with it and got up to head for the meeting point.
In a tall building beneath the Teleportation Array, a guide from the Sea View Sect was gathering the Cultivators.
Song Jiulai spotted two familiar faces at a glance.
Honghuang and An Xiu.
Song Jiulai had never interacted with her players face-to-face before; she had mostly just put on an act in her original appearance.
Now that she was using a different face, she walked over with great interest.
Over there, standing among the leaders, a blurry image of a woman flashed before Shen Hai’an’s eyes again.
He frowned slightly. ’How strange. Why is the prophetic image flashing again?’
He scanned the group.
But he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.