Seeking immortality begins with daily intelligence reports.

About three hours later, Li Shen's dantian and sea of ​​qi gradually filled up. Knowing that the time had come, he swallowed the Breakthrough Pill without hesitation and, with the help of the powerful medicinal force, rushed straight to the barrier in one go.

boom!

It felt as if thunder had exploded within him, and the invisible barrier was finally crushed.

The dantian suddenly expanded, spiritual energy surged, the previously blocked meridians in the body were opened, the spiritual power in the body flowed more naturally, the five senses were greatly enhanced, and the whole body felt light and clear.

Qi Refining Level 6, done!

A surge of joy welled up in Li Shen's heart, but he didn't show much emotion on his face.

While he still had some time left, he used the Qi Gathering Array to stabilize his cultivation level, and at the same time summoned the Seven-Colored Python to meditate and cultivate together.

Originally, I wanted to release the spirit-devouring ants, but then I realized that the spiritual energy here is mainly gathered by the Qi-gathering array, and there are no physical objects. If I released them and they damaged the array patterns, I would be blacklisted by the Zhao family, which would be a loss.

Time passed quietly, and as the spiritual light from the array patterns in the training room gradually dimmed, Li Shen slowly opened his eyes.

The time had come, and he got up, pushed open the door, and went out. Dusk was creeping in from the horizon.

In the days that followed, Li Shen's schedule was almost completely packed.

He drew talismans to sell spirit stones, rented training rooms to cultivate, and spent the rest of his time practicing movement techniques and basic spells.

Four months passed just like that.

Although his cultivation level hadn't broken through, he had already mastered the Wind Shadow Step to the second level, and using it had indeed increased his speed considerably.

Of particular note are the intelligence gathered over these four months concerning the Tang family.

Tang Wu was confined to his home by his father and was not allowed to leave the Tang residence unless he made a breakthrough in his cultivation.

Therefore, Li Shen has had a very comfortable four months.

Furthermore, at midnight yesterday, a rather valuable piece of intelligence emerged.

[The plant expert Liu Rou recently found a batch of medicinal herb seeds that turned out to be a Yin Ning Flower.]

Liu Rou lived in the same courtyard as him and was also a spiritual plant master, making her an important candidate for Li Shen's consideration.

The seeds of the Yin Ning flower are among those seeds, but how to obtain them in a reasonable way is the problem.

Li Shen considered buying it from Liu Rou under a pretext when it bloomed.

But upon closer examination, I rejected the idea.

The reason is naturally that it takes too long, and many things can happen in the meantime, including but not limited to Liu Rou dying, too many seeds, not enough energy, not being able to take care of Yin Ninghua, and others buying it first, etc.

So how do we reasonably reserve Yin Ninghua seeds during the seed-seeding period, and ensure that Liu Rou will take the initiative to cultivate them carefully without suspicion?

This has become Li Shen's main focus at present.

After much deliberation, Li Shen had no choice but to put the matter aside and spend the rest of his time investigating Liu Rou, hoping to find a natural opportunity to make contact with her.

A few more days passed.

While practicing his talisman-drawing skills, Li Shen used the pretext of wanting to learn alchemy to find Lin Xiaoxiao.

Once, when Li Shen went to the Zhao residence, he accidentally revealed to Lin Xiaoxiao that he had become a guest talisman master.

Lin Xiaoxiao was so shocked that she couldn't speak for a long time. You should know that her master had only recently become the Zhao family's alchemist.

After that incident, Lin Xiaoxiao deliberately avoided Li Shen, as if she felt that the two were from different worlds, and would call him "senior" whenever they met.

Li Shen tried many methods to help Lin Xiaoxiao cheer up again.

Through these days of inquiries, both direct and indirect, Li Shen has a thorough understanding of Liu Rou's basic situation.

This even made Lin Xiaoxiao wonder if Li Shen had feelings for Liu Rou.

Although the other party is a widow, the cultivation world is not like the mortal world, and such matters are not avoided; widows can still become Daoist partners.

In some ways, being a widow has its advantages.

Li Shen made up an excuse to brush it off, but he couldn't find a suitable one. Just as he was about to go all out and buy it directly, an unexpected incident occurred.

On this day, Liu Rou unusually did not return home before sunset.

After getting dressed, Li Shen searched each of the roads Liu Rou took home from the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.

Soon, he spotted Liu Rou deep in an alley.

Liu Rou was surrounded by four cultivators of different statures, and her slender figure looked particularly helpless.

Li Shen probed with his divine sense and found that the four people had different cultivation levels, including those at the mid-stage and late-stage of Qi Refining.

The highest level is the eighth level of Qi Refining, and the lowest level is the fifth level of Qi Refining.

The four of them didn't seem like the type of cultivators who had undergone a tribulation. Liu Rou was only at the fifth level of Qi Refining. If a cultivator had completely overwhelmed her in strength, he would have killed her long ago and wouldn't be wasting time talking here.

Li Shen summoned a mid-grade concealment talisman, pressed himself against the wall, and slowly approached, catching all of their conversation.

"Madam Liu, we're just following the rules. Your deadbeat husband borrowed five hundred spirit stones, and it's all in writing with a written agreement. Now, with interest compounded, it's already a thousand. No one in the Wild Wolf Gang ever dares to renege on their debts."

The one speaking was a scarred man with eight layers of internal energy.

Liu Rou looked nervous, crossed her arms, and replied in a trembling voice:

"I can't come up with a thousand yuan right now."

She was just a plant cultivator, and a thousand spirit stones was not a small amount for her.

A cultivator with a pointed mouth and monkey-like cheeks standing nearby chuckled lewdly upon hearing this:

"Can't pay? Then use a woman to pay off your debt! With your looks and figure, even though you're a widow, you might fetch a good price as a concubine to some other cultivator! If all else fails, come back to our guild with us and grow herbs to pay off your debt. You can leave whenever you pay it off! We live very comfortably in our guild; I guarantee you won't want to leave!"

Liu Rou took a step back, her back against the wall. She had never heard her husband mention this before, but the aura on the spiritual contract was definitely his.

She bit her lip, organizing her thoughts as she spoke:

"Could you grant me a little more time? I'll definitely find a way to raise the money."

"Grace period?"

The scarred man squinted:

"We've already given you leeway by not contacting you before. Either come up with a thousand spirit stones today, or according to the gang's rules, we'll have to take you back first."

Upon hearing the leader's words, the remaining three all took a step forward, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense.

As Li Shen listened, a rather good idea suddenly popped into his mind.

"Wait a minute."

Li Shen's calm voice came from the alley entrance.

He stepped inside slowly, his figure clearly outlined by the twilight.

The aura of the sixth level of Qi Refining was released steadily.

Scarface Liu and his gang immediately became alert, their eyes sweeping over in unison.

Realizing that the newcomer was only at the sixth level of Qi Refining and was alone, the tension lessened slightly, but the person remained vigilant.

"Who are you, fellow Daoist? The Wild Wolf Gang is on business here. It's best if bystanders don't meddle."

The scarred man warned in a deep voice.

Li Shen stopped a short distance away, first nodding slightly to Liu Rou to indicate that she should calm down, then facing Boss Liu, he cupped his hands and said:

"I live in the same courtyard as this fellow Daoist Liu you're surrounding, so we're friends. I was just passing by when I overheard that you have some debt disputes with him?"

"So what if it is?"

The sharp-mouthed cultivator interrupted, his eyes darting around, and said with a lewd smile:

"What, are you perhaps her new lover?"