Waterfall

Although Sun Xun accepted the handkerchief, he only put it away. He used his spiritual energy to dry his robe which was easier and faster.

Song Jia was impressed at his skill. 'I'll be able to do that soon!'

They continued to head to the inn, with no more accidents.

"Young Masters, welcome back… The two are currently resting in their room. Would you like for me to call them?" Lu Ping greeted them. She had been waiting in the lobby for them to return.

"No need. Just gather everyone once Kang Yin comes."

"The owner of the food stall? Why would he come?..unless… you got the approval to open a business?"

"Yup. Go and talk to the innkeeper, get two rooms for us. We'll be resting here tonight to settle the business matters."

"Yes, young master.." She quickly left to do what was told.

"Big brother.. How long will you be staying in the city?"

"Not sure. I don't need to leave for the moment, why?"

"Nothing.. I just want to talk to you about our business plans since we're now partners.."

"Alright.. I can also provide you with some manpower."

"That will be good as well."

Lu Ping came back. "Young master, the rooms are ready."

"Alright. Go and rest first.. Big brother, I'll see you later then..If you have any conditions, let's talk about it then. I'll go rest first in the room.."

Song Jia went inside the room for her and locked the door behind her.

She immediately went inside the Spirit Artifact.

"Jia! You're here!"

"Mn! I got a question for you.."

"Go ahead.."

"Do we have all kinds of vegetables planted here for cooking?"

"Yes! We have every vegetable you could think of."

"Good. So we can get the vegetables here to start the restaurant business. As for the meat.."

"We don't have any.. Unless you bring some here and they'll reproduce. We can make a farm in the back. Your space is bigger than last time. So accommodating different animals is no problem."

Crystal was bored with nothing to do inside anyway. The only thing keeping her occupied is taking care of the Spirit Artifact's space for Jia. She was also intrigued with her mistress's plans.

"Alright. I want to refine pills for selling.. I need money to pay off what I owe and to buy the other things needed for the restaurant."

"Sure! I'll prepare the lab!"

Song Jia nodded and went to the library, rummaging through the books. She found the manual for body sculpting elixir, large body elixir, Heart Calming Elixir, and Happiness Elixir.

She spent a couple of hours reading and understanding it, envisioning how to do it. Then she went to the laboratory to start refining.

She failed on her first and second try, on her third try she succeeded. On her fourth, she was able to perfect it.

She continued to produce elixirs and also refine more pills such as inedia, bigu, hemostatic, and essence pills. She also made some bone ointments.

After she made a dozen boxes for each elixir and pill, she decided to cultivate.

"Ah! Jia! I forgot to tell you about what I've found after you advanced.."

"What?"

"Come with me.." She led her quite a distance from the mansion and stopped at a waterfall.

"A waterfall? How did it get here?"

"It's not an ordinary waterfall.. It's soul fluid. Drinking it will energize you, and heal you. Cultivating in it will help your foundation and will help you advance faster and safely,"

"Wow. That's convenient.."

"Hehe.. It is! Keep advancing and we might find more treasures around here.."

"Alright.. I'll go cultivate for now. Let me know when Lu Ping comes to get me."

"Sure! Sure!"

Song Jia took off all of her garments and walked bare. She swam in the water and went closer to the waterfall. A huge stone was beneath the waterfall. She went up and sat in a lotus position, closing her eyes in meditation. Already she felt calm and serene.

Her mind was clear as if being cleansed. She didn't feel cold nor hot. She felt her body being strengthened from inside out.

While she was cultivating, she has steadily advanced with the help of the soul fluid. From the 3rd rank, level 3, she advanced to 5th rank, 1st level. A spirit amassing pill was needed to safely advance from the fourth rank, but it was no longer needed as the soul fluid aided her.

4th rank was simply an upgrade in the strength, storage, and the use of spiritual energy in comparison to the qi transformation stage. Upon reaching the separation and reunion boundary, two paths appear in one's mind. This state is known as separation and reunion. If one drowns themselves in the thrill of seeking power, they become unable to suppress their raging emotions and desires. This is called Becoming Devil. These people are generally more brutal, bloodthirsty, and violent.

To reach the 5th rank realm, one needs to purify their spiritual energy into the significantly more powerful True Qi, which can perform far more complex tasks than spiritual energy. Cultivators can fly because of this.

After she made a breakthrough, she stopped cultivating. She needed to get used to this new power first.

'This is really effective! What if I use the soul fluid when refining pills?..hmm'

As she thought of this, she was convinced it was a good idea.

So she called Crystal to bring some vials and to take some soul fluid.

'I'll keep some for emergency use..'

She then went back to refining pills, and this time with the soul fluid. The result was amazing! It leveled up all of the elixirs and pills.

"Crystal, we should put the vegetables in crates already, so it's easy to bring out later on.."

"Alright!"

She and Crystal harvested the fruits and vegetables and placed them in crates. She also made containers of different herbs and spices.

"What about the perfume?"

"Ah! Those? It's ready!"

"Good! I'll also sell some.."

She put it inside glass vials and sealed it. She kept those in a spatial ring.

Since she still had time, she went to sleep inside her room in the mansion. A couple of hours later, Crystal woke her up.

"Ah.. Lu Ping is right out of your door."

"Okay.."

She went back inside her room in the inn.

"Come in."

The door opened and Lu Ping came as he put her feet on the floor.

"Young master, Kang Yin is here. They're waiting for you."

"Alright."