Chapter 4: Bitter Cultivation

Su Yun remembered, this was a detail.

He couldn't remember most details, but this one appeared in the first three chapters, and he remembered it quite clearly.

With a little more here and a little more there, Xiao Yan was exactly fifteen years old when the plot started.

"Nine years left," Su Yun thought.

No wonder he calculated the time so tightly.

As a small commoner with no backing, only an outdated system, wanting to grow up and be impressive on this Dou Qi continent, intercepting the protagonist's opportunities was the most reliable method.

Every man for himself, heaven condemns the earth!

...

Years of cultivation passed in the blink of an eye.

"Sigh...

This Foundation Spirit Liquid is consumed so quickly."

Looking at the basin once again clear and bottomless, Su Yun's eyes were deep as he sighed.

Each time, the Foundation Spirit Liquid only allowed him to cultivate for two months. Every two months, he had to visit the stalls in the market.

He felt a bit guilty when he thought about it.

Standing up, getting dressed, he headed back to the market.

With the support of various stall owners, his cultivation results were satisfactory.

After a year and a half of bitter cultivation, his cultivation had just broken through to the seventh stage of Fighter Qi seven days ago.

This result was not as good as Xiao Yan's, but it wasn't slow either.

Xiao Yan laid a solid foundation for three years, and because of his re-cultivation, he was able to advance from the third stage of Fighter Qi to the seventh stage in a year.

He didn't waste three years like Xiao Yan. In a year and a half, he had advanced from the fourth stage of Fighter Qi to the seventh stage, an increase of three stages of Fighter Qi. Having such cultivation before the age of eight was already satisfying.

In the original work, Xiao Yan's fiancée, Nalan Yanran, was only at the eighth stage of Fighter Qi at the age of twelve. Even the young master of the Yunlan Sect didn't surpass this level. The so-called talented youths of the Gama Empire were even worse.

Su Yun's cultivation had already surpassed his peers by a long shot.

...

This time, he didn't go to the market where the Xiao family was located. He was still cautious, which was his first rule.

Every two months when he came to collect materials for the Foundation Spirit Liquid, he alternated between visiting the markets in Wutan City, just to be cautious. Although there was almost no chance of being discovered when collecting materials from a meter away, caution was never wrong.

The consumption of the Foundation Spirit Liquid was quite fast, and he had collected materials many times. He was naturally skilled at it. After arriving at the market, he collected the materials in no time.

"There's only one Bone-Cleansing Flower and a Level 1 Magic Core left..." Su Yun thought.

"There's one here." Su Yun's eyes lit up. The stall owner was yawning, so Su Yun immediately activated the scanning and recovery function and collected it.

After getting it, Su Yun casually walked past the stall.

"Hey, I remember there was one more Bone-Cleansing Flower just now, where did it go?"

Hearing the voice behind him, Su Yun didn't react.

He had encountered similar situations before.

But he was walking fine in the aisle, not touching anything at the stall, so there was no suspicion.

Turning back to see the stall owner scratching his head and looking around, Su Yun sighed and silently admitted his guilt.

After uttering a sentence in his mind, Su Yun pushed his guilt aside and stopped trying to defend himself.

He was looking for the last ingredient in the market.

"Hmm..." Su Yun's heart moved.

Suddenly, three men walked towards him. The one in the middle was dressed luxuriously, with the other two following behind. Obviously, they were some young masters.

"Hmm, this bracelet is nice, I'll take it." The wealthy young master looked around and casually picked up a bracelet from the stall, stuffing it into his pocket.

"Zhang Yu, pay."

One of the guards took out a gold coin from his pocket and threw it onto the stall, and then the three of them left.

Su Yun raised his eyebrows. There was a Level 1 Water Elemental Magic Core embedded in the bracelet.

Such jewelry and weapons embedded with magic cores would cost at least a thousand gold coins even for a Level 1 magic core in this Dou Qi continent.

"This, sigh..."

The stall owner's face turned ugly, but he didn't dare say anything.

Passersby pretended not to see anything.

Su Yun looked at the man and silently scanned him.

Name: Gareo

Gender: Male

Cultivation: Sixth stage of Fighter Qi

Technique: None

Combat Skill: None

"Gareo? Isn't he the supporting character who covets Xiao Xun'er in the original work?" Su Yun thought.

He did remember Gareo, a minor antagonist in the early stages of the original work, with no significant role.

"His talent is quite poor. He looks about thirteen or fourteen years old, but only at the sixth stage of Fighter Qi." Su Yun secretly sneered.

If others knew what he was thinking, they would probably spit out blood.

Gareo's talent was not low. At the beginning of the original work, at the age of twenty-two or twenty-three, Gareo broke through to become a One-Star Fighter, which was considered above average in this small place like Wutan City.

Su Yun had always compared himself to geniuses like Xiao Yan and Xiao Xun'er, neglecting the average level in the Gama Empire.

This Dou Qi continent was truly a survival of the fittest. Being from one of the three major families, Gareo could cause a stall owner like this to suffer.

Seeing this scene, Su Yun's desire for strength rose to another level in his heart, and he silently mourned for the stall owner for three seconds.

Not meddling in other people's business, Su Yun wandered around the market for a while, collected a Level 1 Wood Elemental Magic Core using the system, and then left the market.

...

Back at home, Su Yun sat cross-legged on the floor, not immediately starting his cultivation.

He had already reached the seventh stage of Fighter Qi.

 With his cultivation speed, reaching the ninth stage of Fighter Qi would only take another year or two.

Su Yun was thinking about condensing the Fighter Qi Cyclone.

In this Dou Qi continent, to become a fighter, one must condense the Fighter Qi Cyclone inside their body.

However, condensing the Fighter Qi Cyclone was not easy and had a considerable failure rate.

After a failure, the Fighter Qi, which had reached the ninth stage, would drop back to the eighth stage. Some unlucky people failed to condense it even after more than ten attempts.

"Forget about gathering Qi." Su Yun sighed.

Although he had the system and the lifelong memory of the Medicine Elder, the resource issue was his pain point.

Even the materials for the Foundation Spirit Liquid were obtained (stolen) through the system. This method had obvious drawbacks.

Magic cores above Level 3 and herbs for refining Level 3 potions were basically unseen in this market.

As for imitating Xiao Yan and going to the auction house, it was possible.

But this Wutan City's Mithril Auction House didn't have Fighter Qi Cyclones...

Su Yun didn't dwell on this matter for long. He had the Foundation Spirit Liquid, so even if he failed a few times, re-cultivation was simple.

After merging the Foundation Spirit Liquid, Su Yun once again immersed himself in bitter cultivation.

(End of this chapter)