First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

After everything was on track, Xu Mu began to cultivate the "Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds".

This technique is crucial; it can be used not only to escape but also to travel quickly.

This trip to the cultivation world will last a year. The actual time spent on business is very little; the real time is spent on the journey.

He flew from Wulei City to the border of the mortal realm on his sword, but due to the limitations of his Qi Refining stage flight speed and mana, it took him nearly a month.

It took another four months to ride back to Taoshan County from the border.

This would take five months for the entire journey, while the shelf life of the Spirit Gathering Fruit is only six months at most, which is barely enough to make ends meet.

However, it takes ten months to travel back and forth, which is a huge waste of time and not conducive to doing business.

If it could fly, it would greatly shorten the travel time.

The "Thousand Miles of Clouds and Mist" technique is more advanced than the Sword Control Technique. If one can master it, it will not only consume less mana but also be faster.

With the help of the Qi-restoring pill, it would be enough to support his flight in the mortal realm, greatly shortening the journey.

As the saying goes, to get rich, build roads first; transportation is the most important thing for doing business.

If we can't build roads, then we'll switch from riding horses to flying airplanes.

rustling...

A gentle breeze rustled through the leaves.

Xu Mu closed his eyes, sensing the air currents in the forest, and then moved swiftly through the jungle.

The key to "A Thousand Miles of Smoke and Clouds" lies in understanding the artistic conception of the wind and the lightness of the clouds and smoke.

It's not just swordsmanship that has artistic conception; all Taoist arts have artistic conception. One who can comprehend even one of them is a genius in that path.

Unfortunately, Xu Mu has always had poor comprehension.

Therefore, he did not expect to become a genius in popular magic, but only hoped to persevere, comprehend the basics, and learn the art, which would be enough for him.

……

Two years later, Xu Mu successfully broke through to the seventh level of Qi Refining.

The effects of the two sisters' youth-preserving pills had just worn off, and he had just taken two new ones, which would last for another five years, so he didn't need to rush to the cultivation world.

Although he had run out of spirit stones, he did not plan to plant any more Spirit Gathering Fruits. Instead, he focused on researching the "Composting Technique" to plant other Grade 2 spiritual herbs.

It doesn't matter if I slow down my cultivation; I'll first learn the second-stage alchemy technique and the "Thousand Miles of Clouds and Mist" skill.

……

Four years later, Li Zhiyuan was 35 years old and Li Zhihua was 33 years old.

That day, Xu Mu had to go out again.

"I'll be back as soon as possible," he said softly.

"Please be careful on your journey, young master."

"Come back soon..."

The two sisters bid each other a reluctant farewell.

Xu Mu smiled, hugged the two of them for a while, and then turned and left.

This time, instead of going downstream, he took to the air and disappeared into the sky as a wisp of smoke.

He is like a cloud, a wisp of smoke, riding the wind.

Similar to Earth Escape Technique, one is underground, and the other is in the wind.

He devoted a great deal of effort to this technique, spending a long time specifically studying it.

Fortunately, the effect was quite good, at least much better than the Earth Escape Technique.

This indicates that his affinity for the wind element is significantly higher than that for the earth element, but slightly lower than that for the fire element.

His high affinity for the fire element is likely due to the "Samadhi True Fire Technique," as he did not demonstrate any related talent before mastering this technique.

The key to the Samadhi True Fire Technique lies not in the fire element itself, but in "calming the mind and nourishing the qi," which is his strength, so he was able to cultivate the Samadhi True Fire and ultimately improve his affinity with the fire element.

At this moment, he used the Thousand Mile Cloud Leap, which allowed him to fly a mile in one breath, greatly enhancing his ability to escape.

Moreover, flying in the air not only allows for greater speed but also shorter distances. Neither mountains nor rivers can hinder his progress, making travel much more convenient.

Fly like this for a while, then stop to rest and recover your magic power.

With frequent stops and starts, the journey that would normally take four months was completed in just six days, and they arrived at the edge of the cultivation world.

"It's definitely high-end stuff!"

Xu Mu couldn't help but admire it.

This saves dozens of times the time.

The consumption was a bit too high, a total of 12 Qi-restoring pills were used.

That's 24 in total.

Although he refines some Qi-restoring pills every year, this one round trip will wipe out three years' worth of his inventory, which is really painful.

"It seems this tactic can only be used once every four years at most, otherwise the cost is too high and we can't afford it."

He didn't want to have to spend money to buy Qi-restoring pills again.

They were already poor. They had to spend money to buy youth-preserving pills, raise twin sisters, and buy spirit stones for cultivation. Where would they find spare money to buy anything else?

……

I've arrived at Five Thunder City once again.

Although I killed Sun Zhijie last time, he was just a rogue cultivator with no connections, so killing him was no big deal.

In cases like Nanliangu, it was locals who robbed him, making it impossible for him to continue doing business there.

That's one of the good things about Five Thunder City; there are no powerful families who bully others, and everyone relies on their own strength.

After paying 10 coins to enter the city, the next step is to consider where to set up a stall.

Setting up a stall requires a place where people rob, steal, and extort.

This is the drawback of Five Thunder City; doing business here will involve greater risks.

Prime locations require stall fees and offer little protection; items can still be stolen.

After thinking for a moment, Xu Mu set up a stall on a street not far from the teahouse, where there was foot traffic and no stall fee.

However, just as he set up his stall, an old man walked over and said coldly, "Fellow Daoist, I had my eye on this spot first."

Xu Mu glanced at him; he was at the ninth level of Qi Refining.

However, he was not intimidated and said calmly, "Just because you like it doesn't mean it's yours. Don't you know the order of arrival? Why don't you take a fancy to the treasure pavilion of the Qinglan Sect?"

The other person's face darkened: "You've got guts."

After saying that, he left in anger.

There are rules in the city: private fights are not allowed, or you will be punished.

Once we leave the city, no one cares how we fight anymore.

Xu Mu is now capable of both fighting and running, so he's not afraid of retaliation and doesn't bother with him, continuing to set up his stall.

In a place like this, if you don't dare to fight for yourself, you'll miss out on even the best opportunities.

……

This time he brought 13 Spirit Gathering Fruits and corresponding auxiliary medicines, with six flying swords floating behind him as a deterrent.

With his current strength, he is qualified to take the initiative to draw his sword. If some rogue cultivators want to cause trouble, they should think twice.

The reason there are so many Spirit Gathering Fruits is that the expansion plan of the medicinal field has been effective, and now it is possible to plant four Grade 2 spiritual herbs at a time.

A single Spirit Gathering Grass can typically produce three to five Spirit Gathering Fruits.

His Spirit Gathering Grass was affected by the concentration of spiritual energy in Medicine God Valley, resulting in a relatively low yield; at most, it could only produce four Spirit Gathering Fruits.

Two more were given to the small animals as a treat, so in the end there were 13 left.

Achieving such results is already a huge breakthrough.

The key lies in the nutrient.

Using the "Jade Purity Qi Observation Technique" and applying the principles of Qimen Dunjia, he found the best spot for gathering spiritual energy within the valley.

By burying the spiritual fertilizer in the ground, it will be nourished by spiritual energy during the composting process, thus enabling the cultivation of more Grade 2 spiritual herbs.

Finally, he raised the price again; originally, a Spirit Gathering Fruit sold for 60 talismans, but now it sells for 65.

Market prices are determined by supply and demand.

Anyway, there are more independent cultivators here who can make money and want to improve their cultivation level, so there's no worry about selling. He can just set up his stall for a couple more days.

Ultimately, out of respect for his six flying swords, the rogue cultivators were all very easy to talk to.

Buy what you can afford, and leave if you can't afford it and can't negotiate the price.

Finally, with the addition of auxiliary medicines, it sold for 1064 coins.

Including the remaining 52 coins, and subtracting the 10 coins for the city entrance fee, I finally have 1106 coins.

A bumper harvest.