A priest in North America, what the hell is the Demon Gate system?

Li Ang felt as if he could clearly sense a flow of energy within his body that he could draw upon and travel throughout his entire body.

At the same time, a system notification sounded in his mind: [Mana: 1 → 2]

"If the previous 1 point of magic power was just laying a foundation, now I can finally feel the existence of magic power!"

Li Ang was overjoyed and quickly followed the method recorded in the "Blood Demon Qi Technique," concentrating his mind and trying to guide the flow of energy.

He used his divine sense to envelop one of the tendrils, guiding it along the route shown in the cultivation method diagram from the dantian, up the Ren meridian, past the Tanzhong point, to the Baihui point, and then down the Du meridian back to the dantian. This completes one small cycle.

It was just a small cycle of Qi circulation, yet Li Ang felt sweat on his forehead and a slight fever, but he also felt unusually comfortable, like a high school student who had been hungry all morning finally getting a full plate of rice with toppings in the cafeteria.

He continued to guide the airflow, which was, to be honest, quite tedious, but time flew by.

The light in the office gradually shifted from the desktop to the floor, and the room gradually became warmer. Occasionally, birds chirped and cars drove by outside the window.

Li Ang was completely immersed in his own world. He could feel that with each cycle of the universe, he could gradually sense some red energy in the air, which should be the so-called evil energy.

By integrating the malevolent energy into his meridians and dantian, the heat in his dantian became increasingly noticeable, gradually transforming from a slight warmth into a stable, warm current.

After an unknown amount of time, when Li Ang guided the last bit of malevolent energy into his dantian, the warm current in his dantian suddenly burst forth with powerful energy!

A surge of energy, several times stronger than before, erupted from his dantian and instantly coursed through his meridians. Li Ang could clearly feel that he was significantly stronger in every aspect!

A red light flashed in Li Ang's eyes, and the system notification sounded again:

Congratulations, Butler, on breaking through your bottleneck!

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Level 1 → Qi Refining Level 2]

[Mana: 2 → 3]

[Constitution: 2→3]

[Divine Sense: 3→4]

The breakthrough brought about a comprehensive improvement, enhancing magical power, physical constitution, and spiritual consciousness.

Li Ang moved his fingers and tried to gather a trace of magic power at his fingertips, following the method recorded in the "Blood Demon's Aura Technique".

"Blood Fiend Finger!"

A faint, dark red aura emerged from the tip of the index finger, gradually transforming into the shape of a finger knife, seemingly containing immense power.

"It looks just like the Tall-nut from StarCraft," Li Ang remarked.

Next, Li Ang tested the Concealing Breath Technique. Although no one around could provide feedback, after using the Concealing Breath Technique, Li Ang really felt as if he had become one with the environment, and his presence was almost eliminated.

"If I had this during the college entrance exam, I would be invincible, haha."

After a moment of reflection, Li Ang realized that with his current total mana, he could probably support the Blood Fiend Finger technique three times, or maintain the [Concealing Breath Technique] for a few minutes, which was already quite good.

Li Ang stood up from his chair, stretched, and moved around a bit. His bones cracked softly. The physical improvement brought about by his increased cultivation gave him a very strong sense of comfort.

I glanced at the clock on the wall and realized it was already 11 a.m. I had spent almost four hours cultivating without even realizing it.

Li Ang walked to the window, opened the blinds, and sunlight streamed in, making the office very bright.

The churchyard was empty; the chairs and stalls from last night had been removed, and the church had returned to its usual tranquility.

He felt in his pocket and took out the Purple Heart medal.

Li Ang briefly examined it, then held it up to the sunlight for another look. The bronze surface reflected the sunlight, and Washington's profile remained as arrogant as ever, nothing particularly special.

"I wonder if anyone in the country would sell this as salted fish."

Li Ang looked at it for a while, put the medal away, and then picked up the tracking compass.

The compass is about the size of a palm, with a wooden frame and a dark yellow copper disc on the surface, engraved with dense markings.

In the center is a pure black pointer, standing vertically in the middle.

Li Ang pondered to himself, "According to the system description, this compass can indicate the current location of the target based on items closely related to it."

The person I want to find most right now is naturally the missing Father Andrew. I'm looking for him for the safety of Uldum Town, not because he's worth 1000 contribution points!

"Right now, the most relevant things I have are my notebook and my revolver."

Thinking this, Li Ang silently took out his notebook, since the priest's words often appeared in this notebook.

Li Ang activated a wisp of his divine sense, establishing a connection between the notebook and the compass, much like pulling an electrical wire in the End of the World.

Immediately, the compass needle lay flat and began to spin rapidly.

"Come on, let me see where old Andrew is..."

Li Ang watched the spinning pointer and silently recited a prayer.

However, after the pointer spun for a while, it seemed to be spinning aimlessly, first stopping in the east, then in the south, and then in all four directions for a moment before suddenly turning upside down and pointing downwards!

"Wait, what, does this mean it's everywhere?" Li Ang couldn't hold back anymore. Could this compass have been broken as soon as he got it?

"No, even if America breaks down, we can't believe it's a system tool malfunctioning! We need cultural confidence!"

Li Ang frowned as he recalled the spatial rift that night and what James had said.

"The mirror image of Uldum... Could it be... a parallel world from another dimension?" Li Ang, a semi-science fiction fan, instantly came to his conclusion and muttered to himself.

Father Andrew's notes also mention "rituals" and "runestones".

All of this seems to point to a mystery that I haven't yet figured out.

With that in mind, Li Ang simply put away the compass. He could figure it out later if he didn't understand it now.

He was only at the second level of Qi Refining, barely touching the threshold of cultivation. With only a revolver and a soul banner in his hand, venturing into a place that was clearly the lair of a dungeon boss would be suicidal.

"It needs to develop a bit more," Li Ang thought to himself, then took out a small cloth bag from the drawer, opened it, and inside was a seed.

It's dark red with a hint of pink veins, about the size of a jujube, and feels incredibly warm to the touch. It also tickles your fingertips, as if it's alive.

These were the Desire Grass seeds that had been awarded as a reward earlier.

Li Ang held the seed in his hand and looked at it. To be honest, the color and the feel of it didn't seem like anything legitimate.

But we only have so many resources right now, so we have to use them all, right?

There was a small vegetable garden in the backyard of the church, which was meant to allow the clergy to be self-sufficient. It had been abandoned for a long time, but Li Ang, in keeping with the small-farmer spirit of the Chinese people, planted some tomatoes and lettuce, which he now used as an experimental plot.

"If only I had Han Laomo's little green bottle, I could be a farmer in Laomei."

With a sigh, Li Ang walked toward the vegetable garden.