Shi Jiu had been busy in his room all afternoon, and at this moment, he felt a slight hunger.
So, he walked towards the Helian Family's dining hall, also hoping to inquire if the Sect had any explanation for the magical phenomenon that occurred that morning.
When Shi Jiu arrived at the dining hall, he amusingly discovered that no matter which world it was, people were indeed most fond of conversing while eating and drinking.
The dining hall was filled with continuous chatter, all exchanging various bits of gossip.
Furthermore, the scene from that morning had been unanimously named "Strange Phenomenon" by everyone.
Some said that the Strange Phenomenon during the day was actually two powerful cultivators from the Upper Realm battling, and the losing party, fearing they would renege, wanted all the cultivators in the cultivation world to bear witness to who won;
Others said that it was actually the birth of a Heaven-reaching Magic Treasure, and the scene from that day was a re-enactment of a crucial process during its initial refinement;
Still others said that it was actually a conspiracy of the Demon Race; wasn't there a voice shouting about the 'Grand Burial of Light and Darkness Rules'? In reality, it was the Demon Venerable of the Demon Race attempting to sacrifice certain rules of the cultivation world, thereby using the power of the sacrifice to Breakthrough his own cultivation.
In any case, the various theories in the dining hall were utterly chaotic, with all sorts of exaggerated conspiracy theories emerging endlessly, leaving Shi Jiu utterly dumbfounded.
He couldn't help but marvel at the boundless human imagination. However, Shi Jiu also noticed that no one else had gained any Opportunity or change from the Strange Phenomenon that morning. It seemed only he had acquired this peculiar Vortex due to the so-called "Grand Burial of Light and Darkness Rules."
At this moment, Feng Ming spotted Shi Jiu from afar coming to the dining hall and excitedly ran over to find him, eager to discuss his own conjectures about the morning's events.
Shi Jiu smiled as he listened to Feng Ming enthusiastically explain his own conjectures. He now felt quite peculiar; although he didn't understand what that morning's Opportunity was about, he seemed to be the only one who had truly approached that morning's Strange Phenomenon.
However, he truly couldn't reveal it, and he had to listen to all sorts of chaotic guesses from those around him. This feeling was truly strange.
At this moment, Feng Ming mysteriously informed Shi Jiu that the Old Ancestor of the Helian Family, who had been in seclusion for many years, had reportedly emerged from seclusion today.
It was said he had gone to the Seven Luminaries Sect, likely related to the Strange Phenomenon that occurred that morning.
Shi Jiu's heart tightened slightly. It seemed the fortuitous encounter he had received was indeed significant, as it was something that could cause a Core Formation Stage Cultivator, who was rarely seen, to break seclusion specifically to inquire about it.
Immediately after, Feng Ming joyfully informed Shi Jiu that both the Helian Family's ancestral school and the Spirit Herb Hall's academy had just posted notices at their entrances, stating that due to important family matters to discuss, classes would be suspended for five days starting tomorrow, allowing all Disciples to temporarily not attend the academy and instead comprehend Cultivation Techniques on their own. Finally, they wouldn't have to attend classes.
Unfortunately, given Shi Jiu and Feng Ming's cultivation and status, they couldn't leave the Helian Family at will. Otherwise, Feng Ming would have wanted to take Shi Jiu to the external market to broaden his horizons.
Shi Jiu's heart stirred. He had heard others mention before that both the Seven Luminaries Sect and the major cultivation Families had established markets near their Sects and Families.
These served as channels for inner Disciples and other external Cultivators to exchange Cultivation resources, and there were also high-level Cultivators of the Sect who permanently resided within the markets to ensure the safety of transactions.
And surrounding these large markets, there were also smaller markets set up by some minor forces or Elders within the Sects, which were much smaller in scale.
However, it was said that some goods that couldn't be openly displayed circulated there, though the safety was much lower than in large markets, and incidents of murder and robbery frequently occurred.
Nevertheless, the operators of these small markets had intricate connections with the major forces, so both the Seven Luminaries Sect and the major cultivation Families maintained a tacit approval, turning a blind eye to them.
Although Shi Jiu also wanted to experience the market, he was currently only at the Cultivation Level of Qi Refining stage 1, and his cultivation was still too low. Compared to ordinary Mortals, his physical fitness seemed only slightly stronger.
There wasn't much difference otherwise. In fact, if ordinary Cultivators at Qi Refining stage 1 or 2 were to clash with Mortals who had practiced martial arts for several years, they would essentially be evenly matched at best.
If it were a Martial Artist with profound martial arts, they could even defeat Cultivators at Qi Refining stage 3 or 4. However, when encountering Cultivators at Qi Refining stage 5, their chances of winning would sharply decrease.
Because Qi Refining stage 5 can be considered a small watershed in the Qi Refining stage. When a Cultivator's cultivation reaches the Realm of Qi Refining stage 5, firstly, they gain the ability of "internal sight." Their control over various parts of their body is incomparable to Mortal Martial Artists.
Secondly, both the intensity of their internal Magical Power and their physical fitness will experience a relatively significant improvement.
They can control some low-level Magical Artifacts to defend against enemies, and even the lowest-level Magical Artifacts cannot be resisted by ordinary fists and feet or Mortal weapons.
In Shi Jiu's plan, even if he were to go down the mountain to the market, he would wait until his cultivation was a bit higher and he had some self-preservation ability. Then, he would take the surplus produce from his contracted Spiritual Plant field to see if he could exchange it for some Medicinal Pills that could enhance his cultivation in the market.
However, since he now had the "Vortex," a Heaven-sent Spiritual Object, he probably didn't need to rush to the market.
He had already condensed all the Magical Power in his body once, and his Meridians were empty. He probably needed to absorb more Magical Power to Breakthrough into Qi Refining stage 2.
Moreover, since Shi Jiu had discovered this function of the "Vortex," in the future, when meditating and absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, he wouldn't need to slowly filter out the Impurities from the Spiritual Qi. He could try to directly absorb it into his body and then hand it all over to the "Vortex."
Allowing the "Vortex," this cold Spiritual Qi purification machine, to help him purify would likely make his Cultivation speed advance by leaps and bounds. Thinking of this, Shi Jiu wanted to immediately return to his small room and begin absorbing Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi to Cultivate.
Thinking of this, Shi Jiu wanted to bid farewell to Feng Ming and leave. However, at this moment, a sarcastic voice came from behind him:
"Oh, isn't this our most diligent senior, Shi Jiu, from the Spirit Herb Hall? I heard that this morning, our senior was so frightened by that Strange Phenomenon that the Magical Power in his body became chaotic.
He barely reached the first stage Realm and almost fell back down. We don't understand, he works so hard every day, why does he make no progress? And his courage is truly pitiful, hahahaha!"
Shi Jiu frowned and looked back, recognizing the speakers as a few Disciples who attended classes in the back row of the academy, and who were also among the most mischievous of the lower-level Disciples in the Spirit Herb Hall.
The one who had just spoken was the small leader of this group:
Zhao Hu Xing
Although this person wasn't particularly diligent, his Spiritual Root was indeed a High Grade Four Spiritual Root, much stronger than Shi Jiu's.
Although he wasn't as diligent in Cultivation on weekdays, his cultivation was almost synchronous with Shi Jiu's at Qi Refining stage 1, and he seemed to have reached it a bit earlier.
However, although this fellow's talent was considered good among Shi Jiu and the others, he greatly disliked the tedious study of Spiritual Plants, so he was often punished by the old man of the academy.
Therefore, he was quite annoyed by Disciples who were enthusiastic about studying Spiritual Plants, often making sarcastic remarks, so it wasn't specifically aimed at Shi Jiu.
Normally, he rarely provoked Shi Jiu, after all, Shi Jiu was a genuine young man in his twenties.
Moreover, after his Transmigration, he had done farm work in Hou Family Village for so long, and his muscular physique wasn't for nothing. His overall physical development was much more robust than Zhao Hu Xing and the others.
And Shi Jiu was usually very low-key, always living a three-point-line life of academy—dining hall—small room. So today, Shi Jiu didn't know what kind of fit this Zhao Hu Xing was having to provoke him.
He gently patted Feng Ming, who was about to stand up to support Shi Jiu, signaling him not to intervene, that he could handle it himself. Then, he turned around and stood up, scolding Zhao Hu Xing and the others:
"A good dog doesn't block the way. Don't look for trouble. If you don't believe me, provoke me now and I'll beat you to death."
After speaking, Shi Jiu walked straight over and heavily bumped Zhao Hu Xing with his shoulder, directly causing Zhao Hu Xing to stumble.
Shi Jiu, whether before or after his Transmigration, was never a person with a good temper. Usually, he focused entirely on Cultivation and study, and Zhao Hu Xing and his group rarely interacted with him, so they had always kept to themselves.
But today, daring to say such sarcastic remarks in front of him, he had to teach them a lesson.
Otherwise, such people would take an inch if given a mile. What's called 'taking a step back opens up a vast sea' is simply self-consolation for the weak. Taking a step back only makes one angrier the more one thinks about it.