He began to attain enlightenment from the Demonic Sect.

Chapter 3 Qi Refining Level 2

The world was white with snow, and the cold air was like a tide.

With half of the nourishing pill's medicinal power still slowly nourishing his body, Du Jianyuan felt warm all over and walked much more lightly than usual.

"As expected of a mid-grade pill... it will greatly benefit my physique and true essence."

Du Jianyuan sighed with emotion as he followed his colleagues toward the talisman room at the summit.

"Yuan...Yuan-ge'er, you're still alive?"

On the mountain road, a thin young man saw Du Jianyuan, his eyes wide with disbelief.

This man's name was Huang Quan, and he had worked as a paper maker in the talisman shop for over ten years.

Almost all the newcomers who had just been promoted to the talisman room had received his help.

Back then, Du Jianyuan was able to quickly master papermaking thanks to his help, allowing him to finish work earlier each day and earn extra money.

Seeing Huang Quan quickly approaching and touching him all over, Du Jianyuan slapped his hand away and teased him:

"Don't worry, Brother Quan, I'm not going to die. Remember to pay me back the two catties of spirit rice you owe me as soon as possible."

"Go away, when did I ever owe you spirit rice?"

Huang Quan rolled his eyes, then chuckled softly:

"It seems Lord Ling is still reluctant to send you away... Remember to teach me a few moves when you have time, maybe one day I can use this skill to save my life and make a living."

Du Jianyuan simply said, "I don't have any special skills, I'm just young and strong."

Huang Quan: "..."

Du Jianyuan's joking expression vanished, and he asked in a low voice:

"Brother Quan, how did you find out about this?"

Huang Quan covered his mouth and nose slightly with his hand, lowering his voice even further:

"Yesterday, Lord Ling sold over sixty servants to the Crane House in one go. I searched the Talisman Room but couldn't find you. I thought you were also..."

Du Jianyuan's heart skipped a beat, and he asked:

"Why does the head servant of Tsurubo need so many menial servants?"

"If I knew this secret, would I have spent over a decade struggling to afford even a legitimate martial arts technique?"

Huang Quan said irritably, but thinking that many servants had suffered because of their outstanding appearance, he couldn't help but feel a little fortunate:

"Being handsome is a sin... Luckily, I'm not particularly good-looking."

……

The atmosphere inside the room was oppressive.

Du Jianyuan noticed that many people looked dejected and guessed that they were mostly like him, having emptied their pockets to buy back their lives from Ling Yue.

This is why many people, despite their best efforts, still cannot afford an authentic martial arts technique in their entire lives.

If someone has even a little bit of savings, it will be extorted clean by the gang leaders in no time.

Only with the help of a benefactor, or by seizing the opportunity to accumulate enough spiritual stones and successfully cultivate the technique, can one have a sliver of hope to escape the sea of ​​suffering.

"Cheer up, everyone! The sooner we finish our work, the sooner we can go home!"

Ling Yue didn't come today; the person in charge of supervising this area is the foreman Yan Jun.

Du Jianyuan silently went to his workstation and laid a half-dry paper blank, which had been given to him by an ordinary person, on the stone slab.

He skillfully mobilized his true essence, forcing out a wisp of magical flame from his palm and slowly refining it.

Only after removing all the impurities from the paper blank and cutting it to a length of one foot and a width of three inches can it be considered a qualified low-grade talisman paper.

Du Jianyuan was already very skilled at this job, and he controlled the heat extremely well, neither too high nor too low.

"Brother Yuan, your magic power seems to have become much purer... Did you take a Nourishing Essence Pill?"

Seeing that Du Jianyuan had already finished refining five low-grade talisman papers, half an hour faster than usual, Huang Quan couldn't help but ask.

However, he only thought that the other party had taken a low-grade Nourishing Essence Pill and did not consider the possibility that it was a mid-grade one.

After all, a mid-grade Nourishing Essence Pill costs at least eight spirit stones. With such spiritual resources, it would be more worthwhile to exchange them for cultivation techniques.

"Yes, it was given to me by a fellow villager."

Du Jianyuan was meditating with his eyes closed, recovering his magical power, when he casually replied.

"Are there really such... nice fellow countrymen here?"

Huang Quan originally wanted to say that the fellow villager was stupid, but he felt it was inappropriate to say it, so he changed his mind.

Du Jianyuan just smiled and didn't say anything.

Three and a half hours later.

Du Jianyuan was exhausted and pale, but looking at the thirty flawless low-grade talismans, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

A paper craftsman at the first level of Qi Refining only needs to complete thirty low-grade talismans each day before he can stop working.

"It's finished two hours earlier than before... I'll have enough time to cultivate and break through to the next level when I get back."

Once his magical power had recovered somewhat, he took the talisman and went to hand it in.

"My lord, all the talismans for today have been prepared. Please take a look."

Yan Jun was leisurely drinking tea and reading scriptures. Upon hearing this, he didn't even raise an eyelid. He casually pulled out ten sheets and said indifferently:

"The quality is acceptable, but the quantity is incorrect. Go back and refine enough before coming back."

"..."

Du Jianyuan's heart sank, and he immediately understood why he was being made difficult.

"Damn it, I can't just hand it in too early... That bastard saw how quickly I made the paper and pocketed a third of it!"

But he had no choice but to swallow his anger and return to his workstation to continue refining paper.

Seeing that Huang Quan, that old fox, had been meditating for more than 35 minutes, Du Jianyuan slowly came to his senses.

"I guess Quan-ge already noticed that Yan Jun was watching me, but he didn't dare to warn me. Otherwise, if Yan Jun came after him, it wouldn't be as simple as just getting a few scrapes on his skin..."

Thinking of this, Du Jianyuan sighed softly.

It will be impossible to leave work early from now on.

After Yan Jun learned that he had the ability to refine forty low-grade talisman papers, he would make him refine that many every day before releasing him.

This rule is like the saying "Heaven rewards diligence"—once you make progress, you never regress.

"After all, a single low-grade talisman can sell for a pound of spirit rice, which is three spirit stones a month... If I were the foreman, I wouldn't let this hardworking ox or horse stop working early either."

"Besides, I'm not the only one like this..."

At this moment, Du Jianyuan also saw some people who didn't know the rules trying to leave work early, but in the end they slunk back to refining paper.

Two hours passed.

Many people went over one after another to hand in their tasks.

Du Jianyuan slowly finished refining the last two sheets of paper and presented them to Yan Jun.

"My lord, all the talismans have been prepared. Please take a look."

"Um."

This time, Yan Jun did not make things difficult for him. Instead, he accepted the talisman with a half-smile on his face and waved it away as if shooing away a fly.

The other party didn't say anything, but Du Jianyuan knew exactly what was going on.

Starting tomorrow, forty copies every day, not one less.

"Thankfully... I'll reach the second level of Qi Refining tomorrow, so they can't push me too hard."

……

Back in the cabin.

Du Jianyuan closed his eyes and regulated his breathing.

Because the spiritual energy inside the room is much thinner than in the talisman room, the recovery speed of magical power and energy is much slower.

Fortunately, the Nourishing Essence Pill was still working, allowing his slightly tired body and magical power to recover quickly.

Du Jianyuan concentrated and entered a meditative state.

Last night, his magical power had traveled past the knee joint, through the Zusanli acupoint, down to the Yongquan acupoint on the sole of the foot.

This is the end of the Small Heavenly Circuit and the final checkpoint for connecting the Yin Meridians.

As time slowly passed, the gentle and soft magical power had accumulated to a certain point...

Then he thrust in suddenly!

"Bang!"

A muffled thud came from inside his body.

Du Jianyuan felt a lightness throughout his body as the magical power passing through his Yongquan acupoint slowly transformed into a dark red fire, flowing along his meridians back to his Qi Sea and nourishing his true essence.

The process went smoothly, no longer as fraught with obstacles as it had been at the beginning.

"It's done!"

"Second level of Qi Refining!"