Chapter 34: Returning to the Old Residence

“To reach the third level of Qi Cultivation within half a year, conventional training methods alone won’t suffice,” Su Che thought. “Lao Hei, do you have any suggestions?”
After a brief thought, Lao Hei replied, “Master, there are many ways to speed up cultivation. Given your current situation, you can only rely on pills and spirit stone arrays.”
“What are spirit stone arrays?”
Su Che was familiar with using large amounts of pills to enhance strength, but he had never heard of “spirit stone arrays” before.
Lao Hei explained, “There’s a special array platform that can accommodate a dozen or even more spirit stones. When you sit cross-legged on it to cultivate, you can absorb both the spiritual energy from the world and the pure energy from the spirit stones, greatly increasing your cultivation speed. The downside is that it consumes spirit stones at an astonishing rate.”
“I see!” Su Che praised. “I didn’t expect you to know so much, Lao Hei.”
“Master, don’t forget—when I was created, I absorbed the memories of a human cultivator named Chen Shi. Recently, I also glimpsed some memories from Han Youming’s mind. After all, they are both at the third level of Qi Cultivation and have been in the cultivation world for seven or eight years. They surely know more than you do.”
“That’s true. The life experiences of criminals are also valuable assets that should be fully utilized,” Su Che said, drawing parallels and thinking of other aspects. He ordered, “Lao Hei, compile the cultivation insights of these two criminals and tell me in detail another time.”
Lao Hei responded with a loud affirmation.
……
Outside Xuanji City, Su Che bowed and said to the Lei siblings, “Senior Lei, Senior Qingxue, I need to enter the city for a while and will return to Xuanji Peak in a few days.”
Xuanji City was more than a day’s journey away from Xuanji Peak in the Tianxuan Mountain Range—far farther than the journey to the Yinfeng Gorge. A round trip was indeed difficult, so Su Che had to finish his personal matters before returning to the mountain gate.
“Alright, see you on the mountain,” Lei Xiao agreed readily.
Once in Xuanji City, there was no need to worry about safety; no one would dare harm a disciple of the Tianxuan Sect here, so Lei Xiao didn’t need to give any further instructions. Moreover, Su Che’s performance in the Yinfeng Gorge had proven that he indeed possessed real skills, his overall strength far exceeding that of an ordinary first-level Qi Cultivation cultivator.
Lei Qingxue spoke softly, “Junior Su, thanks to your expertise in searching, we saved a lot of time on this spirit herb collection task. I won’t say thank you again, but if you need any help in the future, just ask us.”

“Senior Qingxue is being too polite; this is what I should do,” Su Che replied modestly. “If there are more tasks like this in the future, you can still ask me to join.”

Working together on missions with people like the Lei siblings was a mutually beneficial arrangement, and Su Che enjoyed it greatly.

“Then it’s settled!” Lei Qingxue smiled gently and took out two bottles of pills from her pouch, saying softly, “This time, when we head to the Yinwind Gorge, you didn’t take on any collection tasks in advance, which means you lost at least 200 contribution points… These two bottles of pills are our thanks to you.”

“No, no, Senior Qingxue is being too kind,” Su Che said, slightly stunned, and quickly refused. It was entirely his own mistake for not taking on the relevant tasks; he had no right to accept her compensation!

“It’s not us being polite—it’s you being too polite!” Lei Xiao took the pills from his cousin and forced them into Su Che’s arms. “It’s just two bottles of pills; there’s no need to be so hesitant.”

“Alright then, thank you, Senior.” Su Che wasn’t one to be stubborn, so he accepted the gift willingly.

The two bottles were labeled ‘Soul-Purifying Pill’ and ‘Qi-Condensing Pill,’ both of which were the most suitable auxiliary pills for Su Che’s current stage.

The ‘Soul-Purifying Pill’ could cleanse the body, expand meridians, strengthen physique, and remove impurities. Taking it regularly helped strengthen and build a solid foundation for the body. During the Qi Cultivation stage, a cultivator’s body served as a container; only if this container was strong enough could it hold more true qi.

The ‘Qi-Condensing Pill’ simply helped cultivators generate more true qi. The amount of true qi produced by one pill was equivalent to what could be absorbed from the natural energy of the world in an entire day of hard work.

Coincidentally, one of Su Che’s reasons for entering Xuanji City was to buy these two types of pills. However, the two bottles given by Lei Qingxue were definitely not enough. To undergo a half-year retreat, he needed more than ten bottles of each.

After that, the three of them said goodbye to each other. The Lei siblings returned to the mountain gate, while Su Che headed into Xuanji City.

He didn’t rush to buy the pills right away. First, he needed to return to the small courtyard he had rented before—more precisely, the one that the original ‘Su Che’ had rented before his resurrection…

Back then, the courtyard was shared by Su Che, Jiang Chen, Senior Brother Wang, and Hutou, four self-cultivating disciples. Now, with Su Che and Jiang Chen having left, it was likely only Senior Brother Wang and Hutou were still there.

Walking on the streets of Xuanji City, Su Che, dressed in the robes of an outer sect disciple, enjoyed the admiring looks from countless self-training disciples. He was well aware of their thoughts—although his three-plus years as a self-training disciple involved absorbing others’ memories, he had still experienced it firsthand, making it deeply profound for him.

Upon entering the courtyard, there was no need to knock on each door. Through Lao Hei’s perception skills, Su Che confirmed that Wang Zhenshu (Senior Brother Wang) and Hutou were diligently practicing in their respective rooms. Especially Wang Zhenshu—with an age equivalent to fifteen, the threat of being eliminated was imminent.

“Hutou, Senior Brother Wang…” Su Che called out in the courtyard. Soon, the two of them came out of their rooms.

“Junior Brother Su…” They both smiled and stepped forward to greet him, but upon seeing Su Che’s attire, they were momentarily stunned before correcting themselves, “Un… Uncle Su.”

Su Che quickly waved his hand. “We’re all brothers. Please don’t call me ‘uncle’ or anything like that.”

Hutou laughed foolishly, while Wang Zhenshu nodded slightly.

Su Che pointed to the bedroom where he had once lived and asked, “Is my room still unoccupied?”

“No,” replied Wang Zhenshu. “Without your instructions, we wouldn’t rent it to anyone else.”

“Good. Let’s go inside and talk.”

Su Che entered the room first. It was clean and tidy. Even though no one had lived there for over twenty days, there wasn’t a speck of dust on the table, indicating that the two of them had continued to clean it for him every day.

Su Che fell silent for a while as memories related to this place flooded back. The former Su Che had lived in this bedroom for over three years, experiencing every kind of emotion—hardships, joys, sorrows, and sweetness…

After the three sat down, Hutou, filled with envy and joy, spoke up first, “That’s great, Senior Brother Su! You’ve truly become a full-fledged disciple! Is the jade plaque around your waist one from the Ten Major Peaks?”

“Yes, I’ve joined the Xuanji Main Peak,” Su Che nodded gently.

“Congratulations, Senior Brother.” Wang Zhenshu also changed his address. No matter how close they were, he didn’t dare call Su Che “junior brother” anymore. Yet, the envy and anticipation in his eyes were hard to hide.

Su Che understood their feelings. A friend who had lived under the same roof had moved ahead and achieved something they admired, so their emotions were naturally complex. Envy was inevitable, but there was also a strong hope that they could offer help in some way.

After a few casual conversations, Su Che took out some meat from red-backed demon bears from his Qiankun Bag and piled it on the table—over 200 pounds in total.

There was still over a thousand pounds of bear meat in the Qiankun Bag, which wouldn’t go bad even in another month. But these days, Su Che had eaten it every day, at every meal, until he was almost sick from it—just seeing those pieces of meat made him feel nauseous.
“This is…” Wang Zhenshu and Hutou stared blankly at the bright red meat on the table.
“It’s the flesh of the Red-Backed Demon Bear—a highly nourishing substance!” Su Che explained. “It was by eating this continuously for several days that I was able to generate true energy successfully.”
“Is that so?” Wang Zhenshu stared at the bear meat with gleaming eyes, wishing he could pounce on it and feast immediately… The deadline for reaching the age of 15 was approaching fast, and the daily torment was unbearable—words couldn’t describe his anxiety…
At last, there was a glimmer of hope!
“You two share this bear meat and eat it all within a few days. Once you adjust your mindset, reaching the first level of Qi training shouldn’t be difficult,” Su Che said gently.
“Okay, okay! Thank you, senior brother! Thank you so much…” Wang Zhenshu and Hutou nodded vigorously, repeatedly expressing their gratitude.
Most self-trained disciples faced extremely difficult circumstances—without strong connections, good family backgrounds, spirit stones to buy pills, or the ability to hunt monsters, they received almost no external help.
In fact, self-trained disciples like Wang Zhenshu were quite capable in most aspects. With just a little external help, they could break free from their constraints, surpass themselves, and achieve the dream they had longed for day and night.