I have a panel that reduces proficiency.

Chapter 33 Bewilderment

Fang Shi looked closely and realized that this was the woman who had made a scene in front of his stall that day.

Presumably, she was unwilling to spend money and would rather die than ask Chen Santai to repair the formation, which is why she luckily escaped a calamity.

Before Fang Shi could even speak, the woman launched into a tirade: "You're also at the second level of Qi Refining, you should know how crucial this is for the child. The Songyuan Academy's spring exam is just around the corner, and my daughter is only missing this one bit of spiritual energy. What are you, an adult, doing, competing with a child? Let her go in first, how long will that delay you? Look at all the other parents around, aren't they all at the front of the line? If your child stays up an hour late, she won't be energetic for the spring exam tomorrow, can you bear to do that?"

She became more and more agitated as she spoke, her voice sharp and shrill, attracting the attention of many people around her.

The few independent cultivators with children listened, and although few agreed with her, none of them immediately stood up to speak.

If the woman speaks politely, then it's true that it doesn't matter.

Anyway, I heard from people while I was queuing that it only takes half an hour to get in, so it doesn't matter if you're a little earlier or later.

But her bossy attitude reminded him of what happened at the market stall that day.

Fang Shi said, "Have you forgotten how you threw a tantrum in front of my stall that day? You still have the nerve to come here now."

The woman was taken aback, a hint of confusion appearing in her eyes. She looked Fang Shi up and down and asked, "Who are you? I...have I seen you before?"

At this moment, the little girl who had been pulled in front as a shield spoke timidly, her voice barely audible: "Mother, ever since that night's checkup, you've been confused. Your memory has gotten worse, and you don't remember many things."

Fang Shi frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

Before the little girl could answer, the woman's bewilderment vanished, replaced by her previous arrogance. She snapped, "What business is it of yours whether I remember or not! A mere Qi Refining Level 2 cultivator dares to negotiate with me?"

Snapped!

Before Fang Shi could make a move, Zhao Hu acted first.

He slapped the woman across the face, the sound as crisp as a firecracker exploding.

The woman abruptly turned her head, staggered a couple of steps, covered half her face, stared wide-eyed, and looked utterly incredulous.

Zhao Hu stepped forward and said, "So what if you're at the second level of Qi Refining? Aren't you also at the second level of Qi Refining? What right does a mid-stage second level Qi Refining have to look down on others like that!"

Once the conversation started, the surrounding rogue cultivators also chimed in.

"Fellow Daoist Fang neither cut in line nor robbed you; he waited in line obediently for so long, why should you let him have you?"

"Exactly! This spiritual vein was given to everyone out of Elder Xuanmu's compassion, not just for your family. Your daughter wants to take the academy entrance exam, but other children can't? Fellow Daoist Fang, you've been working hard all day, drawing array patterns until your hands are so sore you can barely lift them. What's wrong with coming in to recover?"

"Your daughter just said that you've been confused and have a bad memory ever since your checkup—in my opinion, you not only have a bad memory, but you've also forgotten how to behave properly."

Several rogue cultivators chattered amongst themselves, causing the woman's face to turn pale. She glanced at Zhao Hu and said angrily, "So what if he's at the peak of the second level of Qi Refining? What's so great about that!"

After saying that, he grabbed the little girl whose face was already flushed red and who wished she could bury her head in the ground, and ran to the back of another line.

Zhao Hu snorted and turned to the other person, saying, "It's only because she's not thinking straight. If she knew you were a formation cultivator who could earn five extra spirit fragments every day, she definitely wouldn't dare to be so arrogant."

Fang Shi then recalled what the little girl had said earlier and asked, "But her daughter said she's been feeling confused ever since the examination?"

Zhao Hu said, "The turbid air is no good thing. Her personality is already annoying, and when she had bad luck, she ran into the turbid air that damaged her soul, making her mind even more unclear."

Without the woman's interference, the disciple of the Three Plates Temple guarding the spiritual vein leisurely registered Fang Shi's name, handed him a wooden token, and said calmly, "Go in, half an hour, return the token when you come out."

Fang Shi accepted the wooden plaque, thanked him, and pushed open the door to enter the stone house.

Zhao Hu's voice came from behind: "Brother Fang, enjoy yourself!"

Fang replied, "Yes."

……

The stone house wasn't large, but it was much brighter than Fang Shi's former six-foot-square cultivation room.

The walls are made of a single piece of granite, covered with intricate patterns. A faint, ethereal light flows through the patterns, casting a soft glow over the entire room.

Fang Shi sat down cross-legged and inserted the wooden plaque into the groove next to the door.

With a soft "click," the array patterns beneath their feet suddenly lit up, and a rich spiritual energy surged from the earth's veins, bubbling upwards like a spring.

The spiritual energy was extremely pure, seeping into the skin and penetrating the meridians through the pores. Fang Shi felt every inch of his body was relaxing.

This is mid-grade first-level spiritual energy.

Fang Shi had lived in Qiyuan Town for many years and was used to the taste of low-grade spiritual energy. Now that it was first-grade, the difference was obvious.

The difference between the two is like that between a 40-degree hot spring and a 42-degree hot spring—it may seem like only a two-degree difference, but the feeling is completely different.

The monthly rent for this spiritual vein is one hundred fragments of spirit.

Even if both parents are independent cultivators in the early stages of Qi cultivation, they may not be able to afford to support only one child.

Besides this spiritual energy expense, the tuition fees at Songyuan Academy, as well as the pills and talismans used to aid cultivation, are all major expenses.

Even if it were to shorten the time it would take to reach the third level of Qi Refining, Fang Shi would never take this path.

Renting a house in Qiyuan Town and focusing on cultivation for a month would only cost me sixty spirit fragments, totaling one hundred and twenty for two months.

But Taoyuan Township is different—the monthly rent plus miscellaneous fees is at least NT$150 a month, and you also have to pay a handling fee equal to the monthly rent when you rent a room.

In the first month, I had to spend 200 spirit coins just on rent and handling fees, and then it would be 100 spirit coins a month.

He simply can't afford to live there.

Those places have always been the bases of mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators whose productivity has greatly increased.

But at this moment, this spiritual energy surged into the meridians as if it were free, like a spring rain overflowing a dried-up riverbed.

Fang Shi closed his eyes and began to circulate the "Small Water Cloud Technique," allowing the spiritual energy to flow slowly along the familiar path.

Magic has a characteristic called "independent and unchanging".

It is taken from "There is something undifferentiated and complete, which existed before heaven and earth. Silent and still, it stands alone and unchanging, ever-present and inexhaustible, and can be regarded as the mother of all things under heaven."

This means that once magical power is cultivated, it remains constant and is not easily dissipated.

As long as it is not actively consumed, not scattered by others, and not eroded by external forces, it will neither increase nor decrease.

When cultivators meditate and cultivate, they absorb spiritual energy and refine it into magical power, which is called "increase".

Casting spells, engaging in magical battles, drawing talismans, and refining elixirs all consume magical power, which is called "reduction".

After "reducing" it, you can recover simply by absorbing spiritual energy again; there is no need to "add" it back from scratch.

According to Fang Shi's understanding, the process of refining magical power is like expanding a production line and warehouse in the dantian.

"Increase" means to extend the production line and build a larger warehouse.

"Reduction" means using up the inventory in the warehouse.

"Restoration" simply means restocking the warehouse—the production line and warehouse are already in place, so there's no need to rebuild them.

Therefore, restoring mana puts far less pressure on the meridians than adding new mana.

The impurities in mid-grade first-level spiritual energy are relatively fewer compared to the early stage of Qi Refining, requiring almost no effort to remove. It easily flows through the meridians and bursts forth towards the dantian.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Fang Shi's magical power, which he had consumed during the day in setting up the formation, was fully restored.

My lower abdomen felt full, and I felt indescribably comfortable all over.

When ordinary cultivators reach this stage, their meridians are already exhausted due to the immense pressure of their work during the day. They can only sit quietly and let their bodies naturally absorb spiritual energy to purify their constitution, without daring to actively cultivate.

However, the vows made by different parties are not the same.

After his Spirit Summoning Seven entered the proficient stage, the upper limit of his meridians' capacity was equivalent to being expanded by 20%, which was much higher than that of ordinary rogue cultivators, allowing him to continue cultivating.

Therefore, he activated the "Small Water Cloud Technique" again, allowing the spiritual energy to flow faster through his meridians.

One circle, two circles, three circles... step by step, refining the gentle spiritual energy.

The more he refined it, the happier Fang Shi became.

He had calculated that the 323 fragments of spirit he had previously accumulated were only enough for five and a half months of full-force cultivation.

If you want to break through to the third level of Qi Refining, you can only work half the time and cultivate half the time, and endure for another eight months.

On days when he worked, he earned no more than five grains of spirits.

Even during my cultivation days, I only maintained a cultivation speed of 100%.

But things are different now.

The daily income from working is five grains of spirit essence, plus two meals of green sprout rice, and half an hour of first-grade mid-level spirit vein.

This means that he not only made money, but also gained at least 20% more cultivation efficiency for free—the reason it was 20% instead of 30% was because half an hour was too short to allow his meridians, which had been restored by the Seven Steps of Spirit Invocation, to reach their limit.

So this isn't work, it's a huge windfall.

For a moment, Fang Shi didn't think the explosion was a bad thing.

He even wished the reconstruction work could last longer.

After working for more than two months, he had saved enough money to make a breakthrough.

As for the strange things that happened during the lockdown, he wasn't completely unaware of them. However, he knew in his heart that he was just a small rogue cultivator at the second level of Qi Refining, so why should he worry about things that he shouldn't be concerned about?

[Small Water Cloud Technique Proficiency +1]

【Small Water Cloud Technique (Proficient): 51/200】

[Refining Level 2 +1]

[Second Level of Spirit Refinement: 69/200]

……

Half an hour later.

When Fang Shi came out of the stone house, the night breeze was cool.

He returned the wooden plaque to the young Taoist, who took it, ticked it off in the booklet, and said, "Next."

Zhao Hu said, "They're here, they're here."

After receiving the token, Zhao Hu asked Fang, "Brother Fang, how is it? Don't you feel refreshed all over?"

Fang Shi said, "Yes, I feel much better."

Zhao Hu sighed and said, "It's a pity our meridians are so exhausted that we can't refine the magic power. We can only soak for half an hour, which is a real waste of such a good spiritual vein. If we could refine the magic power, I would love to stay in there for three days and three nights."

Fang Shi said, "It's good enough if I can feel comfortable for a while."

Zhao Hu chuckled and said, "That's true."

Then he rushed in immediately, unable to wait any longer.

The woman, standing behind another line, muttered to herself as she watched Fang Shi and Zhao Hu's conversation, "A twenty-year-old Qi Refining Level 2 cultivator with such exhausted meridians would be wasting his spiritual veins going in. It would be better to let my daughter go in; at least she could refine some magic power."

Hearing this, the little girl tugged at her mother's sleeve and whispered, "Mother, please stop..."

Before she could finish speaking, the woman abruptly lowered her head, glaring at her daughter, her voice suddenly becoming shrill: "It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, would I have lost so much face? Can't you finish your homework faster and come to line up earlier? Other children start cultivating at four, and you're six and still sensing Qi. How could I face you? How could you face me?"

The little girl lowered her head immediately after being scolded, tears welling up in her eyes, but she dared not cry.

The woman continued cursing, and some of the scattered cultivators around her frowned, while others shook their heads, but none of them spoke.

Fang Shi glanced at it from afar, his expression unchanged, then looked away and turned to walk back.

He's just an outsider; no matter what he says, he can't change other people's family matters.

The other independent cultivators thought the same way, so no one spoke up.

……

Time flies like an arrow; seven days have passed in the blink of an eye.

Fang Shi spent his days carving array patterns and setting up formations at the construction site in the Yizi District, and his nights soaking in the Spirit Vein Stone House for half an hour. After returning, he would use the method of lying down and returning to his roots to enter a dream and deduce the formations.

The casual workers on the construction site gradually became familiar with their jobs—those who moved bricks moved them quickly, those who built walls laid them neatly, and even the few group repairmen were no longer as flustered as they were on the first day. There were far fewer instances of cinnabar being used to paste bricks and the patterns going astray.

During the meal that day, Fang Shi, as usual, finished answering questions for several array cultivators.

[Spirit Locking Array Proficiency +1]

【Spirit Locking Array (Proficient): 36/200】

After everyone thanked them, the topic gradually shifted again.

"You said that all four towns are under lockdown, we can't get out, and people from outside can't get in. But it's strange—how come we're also separated from the other side of District B? A couple of days ago, I wanted to go around to see an old neighbor, but I was stopped halfway by a Taoist boy who said that the area was closed."

"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. We've been working here for seven days, but where are the people from over there? We haven't seen a single one of those who were assigned to Zone B, not even a shadow of them."

"Do you remember? That day during recruitment, when Manager Zhou came, his Taoist robe had some..."

"Be careful what you say! For the past seven days, Manager Zhou has been inspecting the construction site every day, and he's always been clean and tidy. So, nothing serious must have happened over there."

Like Fang Shi, the independent cultivators also felt that something was wrong, but they couldn't quite put their finger on it.

However, life was generally comfortable, and people would only gossip about it privately at most—otherwise, would they oppose the Three Plates View?

After finishing work in the afternoon, Fang Shi went to the Lingmai Stone House as usual.

Zhao Hu, who was ahead of him in line today, came out beaming and patted Fang Shi on the shoulder, saying, "Brother Fang, that was great! I'm going back now, you can enjoy yourself."

Fang Shi nodded, took the wooden plaque, and pushed open the door to go inside.

Half an hour later, he came out of the stone house.

[Small Water Cloud Technique Proficiency +1]

【Small Water Cloud Technique (Proficient): 54/200】

[Refining Level 2 +1]

[Second Level of Spirit Refinement: 72/200]

Fang returned the wooden plaque to the Taoist boy and walked back along the familiar broken brick path.

The night wind was a bit cooler than in the past few days, making the holes in the ruins howl.

Fang Shi walked with his head down, his mind still swirling with thoughts of those cultivation techniques.

Suddenly, a black crack appeared in the void three feet in front of him without any warning.

A pale yellow figure fell out of the crack and landed straight on the ground—it was a girl of about fifteen or sixteen years old, her pale yellow shirt was covered in dust, her hair was disheveled, and her face was also covered in dust.

She opened her eyes and stared blankly at Fang Shi.

Fang Shi paused, then asked, "Who are you?"

The girl's eyes were filled with confusion as she murmured, "I...I don't know...Hey, why did you run away!"