Following the same procedure until the afternoon, Li Jizhou continued to repair the heart meridian of the woman in the green shirt twice more, thus saving her life.
His own Evergreen Skill also ran smoothly, marking his true entry into the technique.
"Still a bit overworked!" Upon returning to his room, he activated the restriction, feeling both physically and mentally exhausted.
Luckily, the Eternal Spring Magical Power within him allowed him to barely endure the short-term hunger.
However, having reconnected the woman's heart meridian three times in a row, his Divine Soul was greatly depleted. He needed sleep to recover.
Without further thought, Li Jizhou fell asleep immediately!
Unexpectedly, he slept for three days and three nights.
On the evening of the third day, Li Jizhou awoke, feeling refreshed and filled with Magical Power.
"Ribbit ribbit ribbit~" The sound of a frog echoed at the door.
"Is that woman alive?" Li Jizhou opened the door and walked out.
The frog immediately began to jump up and down, signaling for Li Jizhou to follow it to the ugly woman's room.
Li Jizhou glanced at the ugly woman's room, his eyes narrowing gradually.
Repayment of kindness?
Or, repaying kindness with enmity?
However, after a brief consideration, Li Jizhou smiled knowingly and then feigned a look of deep concern, quickly following the frog into the main room.
If the woman intended to repay kindness with enmity, he would probably already be dead; she wouldn't wait until he woke up to act.
Moreover, after years of interaction, he somewhat understood the character of the ugly woman.
Cold exterior, warm heart.
However, since I saw her true face after a decade of disguise, it's likely unavoidable that she might resort to some clumsy threats.
"Senior, your wound..."
"Clang~"
As expected, as soon as Li Jizhou entered the room, a flying sword appeared across his neck, just as he was about to express his concern.
He looked up, and the green-shirted woman was nowhere to be seen. Only the middle-aged ugly woman, who had maintained a cold face for more than a decade, was gazing at him indifferently.
However, Li Jizhou was not at all panicked, having roughly guessed that she was putting on a show.
"Senior Xu? You're back?" he said in a tone befitting his current identity, pretending not to know about the ugly woman's disguise.
"Did you save someone?" the ugly woman asked suddenly with a softened tone.
"Yes, Junior just lifted a finger; it's nothing worth mentioning!"
"Li Jizhou, you have such audacity to save my enemy!" the ugly woman suddenly erupted in anger.
Li Jizhou was speechless. He had imagined several possible reasons the ugly woman might use, but she unexpectedly used such a foolish one to cover up her disguise.
Li Jizhou appropriately showed an expression of sincere fear and lowered his head, glanced at the frog, and quickly explained: "Junior... Junior did not know she was Senior's enemy, and besides... Junior has been kind-hearted since childhood; I truly couldn't stand by and watch someone die, Junior..."
"Hmph! Kind-hearted? Do you know how many people kindness has killed in the Cultivation Realm? Do you know how many unjust souls have died because of that woman?
If that woman survives, anyone who dies because of her afterward will owe part of their death to you!"
Li Jizhou's eyelids twitched; she was indeed ruthless, cursing him so harshly just to add authenticity?
"But the frog..."
"The frog is a beast; whoever controls the Spirit Pet Bag is its master. Are you going to compare yourself to it?"
"..." Li Jizhou inwardly grumbled that although he knew the ugly woman was pretending, her words were somewhat insulting not only to him but also to the frog.
"Ribbit~ ribbit~" The frog also let out two aggrieved croaks.
The ugly woman glared at it sharply.
"Ribbit~" The frog immediately covered its eyes with two paws and buried its head in the ground.
Li Jizhou took a deep breath: "Senior's teachings are correct; Junior admits his mistake! In the future, Junior will not meddle!"
"Hmph, suit yourself. If others find out about you saving that woman, I'm sure her enemies will thank you properly." The ugly woman sneered again.
"I beg Senior to keep this secret for Junior; Junior doesn't want to die!" Li Jizhou feigned a look of panic.
The corner of the ugly woman's mouth curled slightly, then she tossed a storage bag: "The things of that woman shouldn't dirty my bed!"
Li Jizhou hurriedly caught it.
It was the same one the frog spat out that night, but after he paid twenty-six taels of Spiritual Sand that night, he hadn't touched anything inside and had left it beside the green-shirted woman.
"Thank you, Senior, Junior takes his leave!"
Li Jizhou turned and walked out.
A light chuckle sounded from behind, just loud enough for him to hear.
"Hmph, you actually practiced that trash Evergreen Skill just to save that woman? Ruining your prospects, how pitifully stupid!"
Li Jizhou halted his steps slightly, then hurried back to his room with a face full of sweat.
Immediately, he activated the restriction, revealing a wry smile.
The moment he saw the ugly woman, he completely confirmed one thing: that night, the green-shirted woman was indeed this ugly woman named Xu!
He could still sense the Evergreen Skill within her.
As for Xu Mei's secrets and the story behind it,
Li Jizhou didn't even want to think about it.
The harshness of the Cultivation Realm was something he had experienced in his past life. No one who becomes a cultivator is a fool, and many have their own secrets and untold stories.
Curiosity is a Life-taking Talisman!
If you want to live long, you must suppress your curiosity!
"I must quickly enhance my cultivation and earn Spirit Stones to leave here!"
The strongest way to earn money, in any world, is always through power!
In the Cultivation Realm, strength is power.
Therefore, most cultivators in the Cultivation Realm strive to elevate their own realm and fight.
But this path is basically contrary to Li Jizhou's goal in this life.
Where there is struggle, there is risk, and it's not stable!
Moreover, Evergreen Skill is famously poor in offensive capabilities.
Beyond power lies commerce.
However, transactions involve many entanglements, and without strength, you might end up laboring for others.
After eliminating other options,
Mastering one of the hundred arts of cultivating immortality became Li Jizhou's only choice.
With rich alchemical experience from his past life enhancing his current life's alchemy skills, he should be like a fish swimming in water. Unfortunately, in this world of cultivation, each of the five elements has its own duties. To practice Alchemy, one needs Fire Attribute Magical Power to Condense Pill Fire. With this life's focus on Evergreen Skill, Wood Element Magical Power cannot Condense Pill Fire.
To practice Alchemy, he must also cultivate a Fire Attribute Cultivation Technique to Condense Pill Fire.
Of course, if luck is on his side, and he can melt some kind of Heaven and Earth Anomalous Fire, he wouldn't need to painstakingly cultivate a Fire Element Cultivation Technique.
No matter what, the road of Alchemy is currently not feasible for Li Jizhou.
His initial Qi Cultivation is not yet stable, so how can he cultivate a second technique?
Additionally, practicing Alchemy requires at least one Pill Furnace, the cheapest of which costs about fifty Spirit Stones.
Furthermore, Alchemy materials, even the most basic, are not cheap. Even though he has past life experience and current life proficiency, allowing him to perform Alchemy skillfully, it's still impossible without the Condensed Pill Fire. He can only wait to attempt after reaching Qi Cultivation Third Level.
Moreover, in this life, he also wants to accumulate more skills for the next life.
Of several top skills, such as Pill, Artifact, Talisman, Array, Puppet, and Beast Mastery, he should have some exposure.
For others with only one life and limited energy, being greedy might lead to failure.
But for him, accumulating experience for the next life means the more skills, the better!
"In this life focusing on Wood Element Cultivation Techniques, the most suitable path is the Talisman. Although Talisman Techniques cannot enhance cultivation like the Alchemy Dao,
they are excellent for both offense and defense, second only to Magical Artifacts in the Cultivation Realm, and they are consumables often in short supply. Crucially, the materials for Talisman are inexpensive initially, and they have a low entry barrier. Moreover, there is an existing Talisman Master for guidance and learning."
Thinking of the Talisman, Li Jizhou couldn't help but recall that secret realm from his previous life.
Who would have thought that in the small Cultivation Country of the Liang Kingdom, there would be the grave of a Tier Four Grand Talisman Master at the Golden Core Stage?
"I wonder how the timeline of this life compares with the previous life? Is there any chance to plan around that grave?"
Once decided, Li Jizhou began to plot his study of the Talisman path.
After a few moments, he had reached a conclusion internally.
It was then that he looked at the storage bag Xu Mei had thrown to him.
Out of habit, he scanned it with Basic Spiritual Sense and, naturally, found nothing unusual.
However, what was inside made him pause slightly.