Jia Ren's time was packed with alchemy, talisman crafting, insect breeding, body refinement, and poison making.

Cultivation always took priority.

He ensured at least four hours were devoted to cultivation daily. Aided by Five Elements Spirit Pills and Ju Yuan Ling San, his cultivation progressed rapidly with the support of these high-quality elixirs.

Even disciples from the Great Sects could not afford such luxury, constantly using expensive Five Elements Spirit Pills and Ju Yuan Ling San for cultivation as Jia Ren did.

The supply of Five Elements Spirit Pills was the first to run out, followed closely by the Ju Yuan Ling San.

Once he switched to the Spirit Enhancement Pill, Jia Ren immediately felt a significant drop in efficacy.

He had tried purchasing them from other pharmacies, but unfortunately, the Five Elements Spirit Pill and Ju Yuan Ling San were hard to come by.

The Tianbao Pavilion and Pill Cauldron Pavilion had the backing of the Yuding Sect and the Five Elements Sect, yet even they could not guarantee a steady flow of high-grade elixirs.

Jia Ren was wary of the Tianbao Pavilion and did not visit it again.

Although the Spirit Enhancement Pill's effects were somewhat inferior, when consumed in large quantities, the progress in cultivation wasn't slow.

Beyond his daily cultivation, he would go to the market to buy spiritual medicine, poison, and Spirit Insect Eggs.

Spiritual medicine was rare, and precious medicinal herbs were even scarcer, often sold to shops by loose cultivators first.

Many of the spiritual medicines at the stalls had already been picked through, making it difficult to find any overlooked treasures.

"How much for these Spirit Insect Eggs?" Jia Ren inquired, looking at the hundreds of rice-grain-sized insect eggs the stall owner was selling.

After careful identification, he confirmed they were the eggs of the Flying Lintel Moth.

These creatures possessed extremely weak combat capabilities. Their only advantage was their strong reproductive ability, hence they were not highly valued.

Crucially, the Insect King Refining Technique required the fusion of insects, making the Flying Lintel Moth a suitable choice.

Having spent only three Spirit Stones, Jia Ren packaged up and took away hundreds of moth eggs.

"Fellow Daoist, if you come across any Spirit Insect Eggs, you can sell them here. I'll come to the market every few days."

Since insect eggs were not valuable, loose cultivators were reluctant to spend time and energy collecting them.

Jia Ren would not venture deep into the Great Wilderness for adventures, leading to a stagnant variety and number of his Spirit Insects.

The Insect King Refining Technique required a vast number of insect eggs to improve its proficiency level, so he had to seek help from others.

Since there was demand and a market for Spirit Insect Eggs, with Spirit Stones paving the way, people would naturally be willing to collect for him.

"Rest assured, I have partnered with a Monster Hunting Team, and I will definitely keep an eye out for you."

A Monster Hunting Team? Let's hope so.

Jia Ren returned content with his Flying Lintel Moth eggs and resumed his routine of increasing proficiency levels.

Time flew by in cultivation, and before he knew it, three months had passed.

Jia Ren opened his eyes after meditating in seclusion. A light seemed to flicker within them, his aura more profound.

"I've made a breakthrough!" A smile appeared on Jia Ren's face. He had reached the pinnacle of the Ninth Level of Qi Refinement, the very limit of this stage.

One more step would lead to the Foundation Establishment Stage and the prospect of a longer life.

With the breakthrough to the Ninth Level of Qi Refinement, his lifespan limit increased once more, now reaching one hundred and fifty years.

To further extend his life, apart from breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage, there were no other options.

In three months of cultivation, aside from his cultivation breakthrough, the Proficiency Panel recorded significant improvements in various skills.

His Evil Warding Talisman reached Grandmaster Level but couldn't advance further due to a lack of new Evil-warding Spirit Ink.

The Burning Spirit Pill, Featherweight Talisman, Fire Bullet Talisman, and Talisman Paper creation all reached Grandmaster Level. His Mixed Refining Vajra Body, however, was stalled by a shortage of medicinal materials, preventing the Dark Gold Body from reaching full completion.

Poison concoction was straightforward. Jia Ren, never stingy with Spirit Stones for poisons, saw his proficiency in it soar. Bewildering Five-Colored Smoke, Soul-Sealing Powder, and Bone-Dissolving Corpse Powder all reached Grandmaster Level.

His Insect Control Technique (Soul Hosting Seal) was at Grandmaster Level, and the Insect King Refining Technique also reached Grandmaster Level.

The Insect External Incarnation was a forbidden art fraught with danger. It gave Jia Ren pause, and he had not yet practiced it.

The Profound Water Pill was at Master Level. His study of the True Water Refinement Technique had barely reached the entry-level after three months.

In the realm of spells, aside from the Gather Water Spell, Sun Locking Secret, and Return to Origin Sword Qi, the Battle Demon-Breaking Staff Technique had not been initiated, but most of the others had reached Grandmaster Level.

I haven't wasted my nights of hard work. Jia Ren looked at the Grandmaster Level skills on his Proficiency Panel, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.

Hard work is never in vain, and his tireless efforts had been rewarded.

Elevating those skills from Grandmaster Level to Extraordinary Saint Level would still take time. He had a number of Breakthrough Points on hand and considered prioritizing the Evil Warding Charm Art. Other spells and techniques would be addressed once more Skill Breaking Points became available.

As Jia Ren entered the Insect Breeding Room, he saw a giant moth flapping its wings, scattering glimmers of phosphorescence. On the other side, the domain belonged to the Exotic Black Mosquito, with a clear demarcation between the two, each keeping to themselves.

After the Flying Lintel Moth eggs had hatched, he decisively used the Insect King Refining Technique to refine a Flying Lintel Moth King.

An ordinary Flying Lintel Moth King didn't satisfy Jia Ren. He aimed to improve the proficiency level of the Insect King Refining Technique by merging this Flying Lintel Moth King with the Poisonous Phosphorus Moth King.

Although he hadn't held much hope, the fusion was surprisingly successful, producing a moth unrecorded in any texts.

It had six wings on its back, and patterns akin to eyes adorned them; a prolonged gaze could draw one into an illusion.

A mutant?! An exotic moth!

Jia Ren was pleasantly surprised and immediately commenced research on the mutant moth, confirming its abilities.

It had almost no combat capacity—one might call it utterly weak in battle—yet its support abilities were not to be underestimated.

The exotic moth possessed various innate talents: it could cast illusions on targets, affecting their spirit.

The second ability involved creating illusory clones—non-combat illusions that could distract targets.

Lastly, there was the phosphorus powder it scattered. Jia Ren dared not experiment on himself, so he flew to the outskirts of the Great Wilderness and found a Magical Beast to test it on.

This was a hallucinogenic phosphorus powder that could engulf targets in illusions upon contact.

All three effects were illusion-based, making it a very rare and special magical moth.

The mutations of Spirit Insects are unpredictable; some turn out to be useless, while others are quite precious.

This magical moth was skilled in illusions, a rare direction for mutation.

"I shall call you the Illusionary Demon Moth!"

Jia Ren put on a thin pair of gloves to avoid contact with the phosphorus powder and quickly collected it.

The new Illusionary Demon Powder could be added to his arsenal of poisons, becoming a formidable new option alongside lime powder, stinging hairs, and Bone-Dissolving Corpse Powder.

Aside from Illusionary Demon Powder, there were also the silk threads from the Green Silk Worms.

Once he achieved an elementary understanding of the True Water Refinement Technique, he could use Green Silkworm Thread to make Taoist Robes and defense artifacts.

The last thing Jia Ren checked on were the Puppet Bugs. They grew slowly, and the three Puppet Bugs still showed no signs of laying eggs.

"It's a pity," Jia Ren mused, "there's no such elixir as the Spirit Nourishing Pill to speed up their growth."

After inspecting the insects, Jia Ren looked towards several special tanks in the distance, in which three Spirit Fish were particularly conspicuous.

They were the Ink Jade Crucian, the Wutou Trout, and the Golden Bone Fish.

All three were products of bloodline reversion induced by Spirit Attracting Bait. The first two were relatively common, fetching various prices and offering decent profit margins.

The Golden Bone Fish, however, was unheard of; it seemed to be an extinct type of Spirit Fish.

The rarer the item, the higher its value.

No matter how many Spirit Stones one had, one could not buy a Spirit Fish that had vanished.

Jia Ren now understood the true use of the Spirit Attracting Bait: to induce atavism in Spirit Fish, breeding species that had long vanished, each one worth an unimaginable amount.

Jia Ren glanced at the three Spirit Fish he had been continuously feeding Spirit Attracting Bait, but there were no further signs of evolution.

Spirit Attracting Bait can only cause atavism once. More precisely, this is the limit of their bloodline's power; there's no potential for further advancement.

Spirit Fish were hard to sell. He could only consider whether to red-braise or steam them.

"I could go to the Ming Family and buy a few different types of Spirit Fish to try," Jia Ren murmured to himself.

Going to the Ming Family meant an inevitable trip to the Grand Wilderness Mountain.

"I'm carrying too many things," he muttered before leaving, looking at more than ten Storage Bags, each with Ten Directions capacity.

Two Storage Bags were filled to the brim with Spirit Stones.

Jia Ren hadn't had any major expenses, so his normal consumption of Spirit Stones was low.

The most significant expenditure was actually the Yun Luo Illusion Array, maintained by medium-grade Spirit Stones.

Four Storage Bags contained their respective talismans: Evil Warding Talismans, Demon-Spotting Talismans, Featherweight Talismans, and Fire Bullet Talismans. Two more bags held blank Talisman Paper.

Three other Storage Bags were filled with various poisons, as well as a range of spiritual medicines and herbs used to make them.

The remaining two held magic artifacts, elixirs, and various miscellaneous items.

"Having too many treasures is also a bother," Jia Ren sighed.

He had considered buying a larger Storage Bag, but the Ten Directions Storage Bag was already the largest available in the Great Wilderness Market.

"Selling them is not an easy task." Jia Ren had thought about selling off his talismans. Unfortunately, the sheer quantity meant doing so would cut into time better spent on cultivation and increasing his proficiency levels.

Apart from Evil Warding Talismans, other talismans wouldn't fetch many Spirit Stones.

The Evil Warding Talisman couldn't be sold; doing so might attract unwanted attention.

As time passed, this situation remained unchanged.

"I'll just carry the most precious items," he decided.

He took the Storage Bags containing medium-grade Spirit Stones and the Spirit Beast Bag. He then selected another Storage Bag filled with commonly used magic artifacts, precious talismans, and elixirs.

With everything ready, Jia Ren hid the remaining Storage Bags and activated the Yun Luo Illusion Array.

"Daoist Shi, it looks like you're going out."

The loose cultivator surnamed Li approached him enthusiastically, even bringing five pounds of Spiritual Beast Meat.

Initially, Li had indeed been cautious around Jia Ren, but it turned out he had completely misjudged him.

Jia Ren was clearly an ascetic cultivator who spent most of his time training, rarely interacting with the outside world.

"Thank you, fellow daoist. These are a few Featherweight Talismans made by a Talisman Maker I know. Please accept them," Jia Ren replied, handing over some of the earliest Featherweight Talismans he had crafted, as an exchange of courtesy.

"By the way, Daoist Shi, do you remember Wang Mingyan, the female cultivator from the Wang Family? I wonder if you're still interested?"

The loose cultivator surnamed Li didn't stand on ceremony and readily accepted the Featherweight Talismans.

"I have no interest in a dao companion."

After exchanging a few more cordial words, they parted swiftly.

I wonder how Yang Bingzhi is doing?

It had been three and a half months since he last saw Yang Bingzhi.

After such a long time, he wondered if there was any news.

This trip was specifically to head to the Grand Wilderness Mountain.

The Grand Wilderness Mountain was still a desolate landscape. The Spirit Vein had not recovered, and the land would maintain its current state until Spirit Rice could be planted.

On the familiar stone table, deeply engraved characters remained, unerased by wind or rain.

The absence of any responding message was disappointing.

Jia Ren took out a teapot, planning to brew tea as usual, only to discover in astonishment that a Sound Transmitting Talisman was hidden inside.

It was protected by a special restriction; it would self-destruct unless touched by someone with the corresponding aura.

Could this be what Yang Bingzhi left for him?

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