Zhou Leng sat at his desk, recalling the conversation with Xue Chengsong, and then wrote down the main points on paper.
Afterward, Zhou Leng went next door to chat with Li Linhan.
Li Linhan wasn't a smooth talker and didn't know much about the Martial Arts Academy or Martial Arts Hall, focusing more on cultivation.
"... If you don't want to stop at the Innate stage, you should proceed steadily and avoid misusing Essence Qi Pills..."
"... Misusing pills early on can cost ten times more to compensate in the future, possibly without ever compensating..."
"... Pills have pros and cons; you must use them sparingly but not excessively..."
"... Your third brother in the military academy received even better guidance than I did. He said that after reaching Qi Nourishing Perfection, you shouldn't rush into advancing to Blood Transporting Period, but first temper your True Qi..."
"... Before advancing to Blood Transporting, it's best to prepare two types of pills: one Replenishing Essence Pill and ten Blood Replenishing Pills..."
"Small advancement requires eating a lot of food and supplements, and it's even more so after a major advancement..."
"If Replenishing Essence Pills and Blood Replenishing Pills are insufficient, your body's Qi and blood will fall into a prolonged deficit state, which will take a long time to recover from."
"This is why some experts at the Blood Transporting Period get stuck for years, with no hope of reaching the Innate stage, because they wasted time at crucial moments..."
Zhou Leng listened intently.
Combining the opinions of both, the future path became clearer.
Leaving Li Linhan's house, Zhou Leng headed to the nearest Martial Arts Mall to prepare for the upcoming cultivation.
Upon reaching the mall entrance, a middle-aged man with a shoulder bag whispered, "Hey handsome, need any pills?"
Zhou Leng immediately shook his head.
"Ours are very cheap."
"No, thank you." Zhou Leng politely declined.
"Look for me if you ever need them." The man handed him a business card.
Zhou Leng took it, but threw it in the trash bin as he walked away.
News about fake pills sold online flashed in Zhou Leng's mind.
The Martial Arts Mall had a dazzling array of items.
Gravity Cultivation Armor, surveillance drones, Demonized Cutting Knives, Demon Spirit Protective Suits, and other demonized items including Demon Spirit Artifacts were all available.
Qi Nourishing Pills, Blood Cleansing Pills, Blood Replenishing Pills, Body Refining Soup, Vitality Bone Powder, and other dizzying varieties.
At the counter selling martial arts instructional videos, the screen flickered with martial arts masters demonstrating meticulously.
On Blue Star, once you reach the appropriate level, you can learn all martial arts heart methods and original videos for free, but some of the more detailed and targeted martial arts instructional videos require payment.
However, these video fees are generally not too high, ranging from one hundred to ten thousand.
Zhou Leng didn't buy directly at the mall but went online to purchase some discount coupons, then used the martial arts video learning coupons from the Progress Award to redeem directly in "Martial Arts City".
He first selected the instructional videos of a Grandmaster who had practiced the Mystic Tide Technique and Overlapping Waves Palm simultaneously.
Another Grandmaster had also practiced the Mystic Tide Technique and Eight Trigrams Step, but because of the depth of the Eight Trigrams Step, the price was higher.
Finally, Zhou Leng walked to the meat herbal cuisine area.
Planning to stay under the Frost Giant Tree for an extended period soon, Zhou Leng bought six portions of meat herbal cuisine.
In the pill area, he stood for a long time, pondered for quite a while, and then purchased ten Great Nourishing Pills.
Great Nourishing Pills are 1,000 each, categorized as a mediocre but comprehensive elementary pill, most suitable for post-cultivation breakthroughs and essential for high-tier martial artists.
It is said that even Demons and other alien races secretly purchase Great Nourishing Pills, making them hard currency in the Ten Realms.
After buying the Great Nourishing Pills, Zhou Leng looked at other pills in the pill area.
He needed to prepare for the breakthrough to Blood Transporting Period with one Replenishing Essence Pill and ten Blood Replenishing Pills, totaling 200,000.
After deducting the daily cultivation needs, there was still a shortfall of about 150,000.
All he could do now was look.
"Is your Replenishing Essence Pill out of stock?" Zhou Leng looked at the shelf where "Replenishing Essence Pill" was labeled, but there were no pills.
"You don't buy pills often, do you?" the sales clerk asked.
"No."
Today was the first time Zhou Leng used money to buy pills.
The sales clerk continued, "Most pills on Blue Star are in short supply. Normally it's fine, but once war preparations start, major factions will purchase pills in bulk. Pill manufacturing takes time; during this period, production can't meet demand, causing shortages. Once out of stock, sales are restricted."
"For instance, Replenishing Essence Pills have always been popular. Now that it's the start of the school term, it is expected to enter a restricted sale phase lasting two to three months unless you have a 'quota certificate'. Otherwise, normal places won't sell them. At the most critical times, even meat herbal cuisine is unavailable, let alone pills."
Zhou Leng remembered hearing about pill quotas but, as transactions often involved millions, it was irrelevant to him and he never paid attention
Zhou Leng asked, "If I want to buy Replenishing Essence Pills now, I'll have to wait two to three months?"
"Yes, there's no other way."
"Are there any other channels?"
"Officially, only one: in Martial Arts City, where you can buy them based on military rank and war merits, but even that's limited. Besides that, all legit channels require a quota certificate to purchase."
"Why is a quota certificate necessary?"
"Think about it; it's not just our martial artists who need pills. The Demon Worship Sect and even aliens need them too. If anyone can buy unrestrictedly, you can imagine the consequences. Plus, those with quotas are mostly from the Demon City Army, Martial Guard Department, or Pioneer Company. Naturally, in a war, their supply needs priority. Of course, there are other miscellaneous reasons too."
"I see."
Zhou Leng took out his phone, opened Martial Arts Mall, and indeed, Replenishing Essence Pills were marked as out of stock there too.
These are 100,000 each pills.
Zhou Leng then searched on online platforms, and all official platforms were out of stock, with only some private vendors having them.
Some prices remain unchanged, while others have increased significantly.
As for authenticity, no one dares to say.
"Troublesome..."
Zhou Leng carried the meat herbal cuisine and Great Nourishing Pills, walking out of the Martial Arts Mall.
The pedestrian street in the evening wasn't crowded, and after a short walk, a group of people approached, one of whom was an acquaintance.
"Zhou Leng, here to shop?" The person nodded slightly, their gaze sweeping over the meat herbal cuisine packaging in Zhou Leng's hands, a hint of curiosity flashing in their eyes.
Zhou Leng also nodded and said, "Group Leader Jiang."
That person was Jiang Yan, the deputy group leader of the slaughtering workshop at Pioneer Company.
The two said no more and passed by each other.
"Acquaintance?" A young man dressed in shiny leather clothes and pants, hands in pockets, tilted his head and glanced sideways at Zhou Leng's back.
Jiang Yan said, "A student working part-time at the slaughtering workshop."
"Hmm? A part-time student can afford so much meat herbal cuisine? I can't even afford it. There are medicine boxes inside, those two plastic bags are worth at least twenty or thirty thousand." The leather-clad youth said.
"Hmph. No wonder he hasn't been answering my calls or coming to the workshop. Seems he's made it big," Jiang Yan sneered.
"Now I remember, you cursed this brat. During their college entrance exams, they didn't show up, leaving you short-handed, which caused the manager to reprimand you and lose your promotion chance?"
Jiang Yan's face darkened, "Tu Rong, stop bringing up old scores."
The leather-clad youth, Tu Rong, laughed loudly, threw an arm around Jiang Yan's shoulder, and while walking whispered, "Want the guys to help you vent?"
The others laughed, crowding in closer.
Jiang Yan glanced back at Zhou Leng's disappearing figure, his eyes flickering, right fist clenched then relaxed, "Forget it, he has an elder in our company as a minor supervisor. Despite missing an arm, he's still a Vitality Stage expert."
Tu Rong chuckled, "A Vitality Stage expert, well, a bit of trouble, but no worries, our boss is Vitality Stage too."
"If I want to vent, I'll deal with Hu Yi myself."
"Let's go eat, though I have to leave early today. I have plans with Tao Bing. Ever since that kid hooked up with Young Master Chang, he's been living large, huh."
Jiang Yan muttered to himself, "Help me come up with a plan first. Lately, our manager seems out of their mind, acting like they've fallen into a demon, always berating me without reason. He doesn't budge, I can't move up a step. Even sleep's been troubled these days."
"Alright, alright, I'll help first. You really look worse than usual today."
"Yes, recently I've been waking up startled in the middle of the night. Let's go, eat some meat herbal cuisine hot pot for recuperation."
The slightly bright crescent moon hung in the sky, below it, four smaller crescent moons hovered.
Zhou Leng glanced at the sky and quickened his pace.
After Blue Star entered Martial Arts Civilization, humanity worshiped martial power, and violence incidents surged.
Dragon Country maintains old era policies with the Martial Mansion, relatively safe, but most countries are in chaotic disarray.
In the technological era, the chaos of Cactus Country was well-known, with the presidential election just starting, dozens of candidates were killed.
In the Martial Arts Era, at least half the countries resembled Cactus Country, completely controlled by capital, chaos armies, religions, and underground forces.
Even though Dragon Country is one of the safest nations, due to rampant power, it breeds many underground forces.
Zhou Leng checked the surveillance camera up high.
This was a crowded downtown area, cameras were intact; in slightly less crowded spots, cameras had all been smashed.
Images of the people around Jiang Yan flashed in Zhou Leng's mind.
The people around Chang Luan, despite wearing flamboyant colors, seemed rebellious but still like students.
The people with Jiang Yan clearly belonged to a type of underground gang.
Only Jiang Yan, the group leader, had bloodshot eyes, giving an uncomfortable feeling.
Back home, Zhou Leng borrowed a spice pot from Li Linhan and simultaneously stewed two pots of meat herbal cuisine.
Recently, Zhou Leng had been gradually transporting solar electric stoves and other tools in batches to the Frost Tree.
Originally he intended to bring a tent and similar items, but discovered the climate there was comfortable, no wind or dust, not even insects, so he felt no need to bring them.
However, the temperature suitability there was only beneficial to one person and one dog; ordinary food left there would rapidly cool down, like a natural refrigerator.
After greeting Li Linhan, Zhou Leng moved all necessary items, arriving at the Frost Giant Tree.
There he commenced his lengthy martial arts cultivation and divine text study.
The first move of the "Establishing Image Chapter" was crucial. Yet even consuming meat herbal cuisine only allowed for cultivation once every three days.
Due to the excessive strain on the body, recovery and regrowth time were required.
After each session, whole-body pain ensued.
On the third day post-cultivation, bones, muscles, skin, and the entire body would improve.
Especially strength.
Basic strength, more difficult to enhance than inner and external skills, can only slowly improve at the Body Refining Stage and Vitality Stage.
Aside from the "Establishing Image Chapter," other practices shouldn't be neglected.
The "Mystic Tide Technique" forms the foundation of foundations; without perfection in it, advancement in the Blood Transporting Period is impossible.
The Overlapping Waves Palm and Eight Trigrams Step were the most suited external skills and should be honed meticulously.
Mountain Charging Fist, Flying Cloud Leg, and Wandering Body Step supplement deficiencies in Overlapping Waves Palm and Eight Trigrams Step, integrating multiple external skills for diverse encounters.
With the High-level Spiritual Land here and reduced sleep, Zhou Leng's cultivation progress far exceeds average martial artists.
Cultivation, cultivation, continued cultivation...