Being a Late Bloomer in the Cultivation World

Surges of potent Medicinal Power flowed out from the Earth Essence Pill, rushing through Wei Tu’s limbs, bones, and Circulation Acupoints.

Day after day.

Several days later.

A faint yellow halo began to appear around Wei Tu’s arms.

Drawn in by this faint yellow halo, the surrounding Earth Spiritual Qi swiftly poured into Wei Tu’s body, transforming into Thick Earth Spiritual Qi.

’I’ve formed a quarter of the Thick Earth Body?’

’One Earth Essence Pill can form a quarter of the Thick Earth Body. This means I’ll need at least four Earth Essence Pills to fully form it...’

Wei Tu opened his eyes, glanced at his reflection in a mirror, and shook his head.

Forming the Thick Earth Body required Spiritual Power equivalent to about one hundred Spirit Stones.

He lived in the Shantytown on Danqiu Mountain. If he factored in the ambient Spiritual Qi and followed a conventional cultivation path, it would take forty years, but he could reduce the cost from one hundred Spirit Stones to just over thirty.

Such was the benefit of living on a land with Spirit Veins.

However, if he didn’t follow the conventional path and cultivated solely with Earth Essence Pills, he would have to spend at least one hundred twenty-eight Spirit Stones.

The extra twenty-eight Spirit Stones were the price a Cultivator paid to shorten their cultivation time.

One step ahead, always ahead.

The younger one was, the higher their chances of succeeding at Foundation Establishment.

’In two years.’

’I’ll go to the Marketplace to buy another Earth Essence Pill. One every five years.’

’This way, I can shorten the time needed to form the Thick Earth Body to between ten and fifteen years.’

With this in mind, his thoughts shifted, and he looked at his Golden Purple Destiny Chart.

「Five Elements Spirit Body: Thick Earth Body (32/100): Eight sessions a day, completion in forty years.」

After consuming that one Earth Essence Pill, his progress in forming the Thick Earth Body had jumped by 26%.

From 6% to 32%.

...

「Two months later.」

Thanks to Wei Tu’s deliberate efforts, his reputation as a Talisman Master had grown considerably within the Shantytown.

Although Wei Tu could only paint the Earth Spike Talisman and his abilities were limited, the other Cultivators saw no harm in befriending a Talisman Master with decent potential.

During this time, Wei Tu also began studying another talisman from the *Talisman Dao Introduction*.

Basic Talisman—Calm Heart Talisman: When used, it can reduce a Cultivator’s restlessness during meditation, making it a cultivation-support type of Talisman.

Within a few short months, Wei Tu’s painting of the Calm Heart Talisman reached the introductory stage, with an average success rate of one talisman for every ten attempts.

This ratio was just enough to break even, neither profitable nor a loss.

The progress for the Calm Heart Talisman on his Golden Purple Destiny Chart was also different from the Earth Spike Talisman; its cultivation period was nearly half that of the former.

This was just like when he cultivated the *Tiger Crane Double Form Fist* after achieving Great Success in his Health Cultivation Pile Skill.

「Calm Heart Talisman (13/100): Seven sessions a day, completion in three years.」

Wei Tu deduced that the number of sessions and the time required for progress on his Golden Purple Destiny Chart were closely related to his physical condition.

The better his physical condition, the more sessions he could perform for a Cultivation Technique of the same level, and the shorter the cultivation time would be.

With this in mind, Wei Tu began cultivating another Spirit Body from the *Five Elements Spirit Body* manual—the Evergreen Body.

The Evergreen Body was a Wood Attribute Spirit Body, which was within the cultivation scope of his Spirit Root.

As expected, after he reached the introductory stage of the Evergreen Body, Wei Tu noticed its progress was different from that of the Thick Earth Body.

「Five Elements Spirit Body: Evergreen Body (1/100): Thirteen sessions a day, completion in twenty-five years.」

However, Wei Tu wasn’t in a hurry to switch to cultivating the Evergreen Body. He set it aside for the time being and continued to focus all his efforts on the Thick Earth Body.

Wei Tu understood the principle of not biting off more than he could chew.

While Wei Tu was steadily cultivating, Fu Zhizhou, who had left Danqiu Mountain to work as an Assassin, finally returned for a visit.

Fu Zhizhou brought three catties of Spirit Beast Flesh and a three-foot-long Demon Beast Hide as gifts for Wei Tu.

"Third Brother, on this trip, Fellow Daoist Helian and I killed a Snow Python Rabbit in the Yaolang Mountain Range..."

"After we skinned and processed it, the whole thing sold for over forty Spirit Stones," Fu Zhizhou said excitedly.

In half a year, he had earned over twenty Spirit Stones from a single trip. This was dozens of times more than what he earned as a Spirit Farmer on Danqiu Mountain.

"Fourth Brother, did you use the Earth Spike Talismans I gave you?" Wei Tu asked.

A High-Quality Earth Spike Talisman was equivalent in value to a Level 1 Talisman and could sell for nearly ten Spirit Stones.

If Fu Zhizhou had used both High-Quality Earth Spike Talismans, then considering the gifts he brought, he would have made almost no profit from his trip.

"Those are my trump cards from you, Third Brother. How could I use them so easily?" Fu Zhizhou shook his head with a smile.

"That’s good."

Hearing this, Wei Tu felt relieved.

He thought for a moment, then added a warning, "Fourth Brother, if you use up the High-Quality Earth Spike Talismans, don’t try to be a hero. Tell me right away. I happened to make another one over the past six months."

"I don’t go out on adventures, so it’s useless to me."

In reality, over the past six months, his Talisman Painting skills had improved so much that he had managed to create three High-Quality Earth Spike Talismans.

However, he understood the importance of concealing one’s true abilities.

Always keep a Backup plan.

"I know, Third Brother," Fu Zhizhou replied with a smile.

「A few days later.」

While painting a Talisman, Wei Tu suddenly sensed a fluctuation of Spiritual Power from the shack next door.

’Fourth Brother must have exchanged his earnings for Spirit Stones and bought an Earth Essence Pill.’

He was very familiar with this kind of Spiritual Power fluctuation; it was the normal reaction of a Cultivator after consuming an Earth Essence Pill.

However, four or five days later, Wei Tu sensed another fluctuation of Spiritual Power from the adjacent shack, and this time it was more intense than the last.

’Did Fourth Brother exchange all the Spirit Stones he got from Wuyun Tower for Earth Essence Pills?’

’Is that why he’s having two cultivation surges in a row?’

Wei Tu’s brow twitched, a hint of displeasure on his face.

He and Fu Zhizhou had entered Danqiu Mountain together, registered their residence there, and even lived in adjacent shacks.

Now, Fu Zhizhou was flashing his wealth, which would very likely draw unwanted attention and involve him in the process.

But soon, Wei Tu’s composure returned.

Fu Zhizhou was different from him. He couldn’t afford to cultivate safely and steadily. If he didn’t convert his Spirit Stones into strength quickly, he would very likely die outside Danqiu Mountain.

As for the risk, Fu Zhizhou was probably in greater danger of being targeted than he was.

Given that, what was there for him to be upset about?

Another five days passed.

Fu Zhizhou stopped his cultivation and bid Wei Tu farewell.

Time flowed on, and more than a year passed.

Wei Tu’s reputation as a Talisman Master in the Shantytown finally made another great leap, becoming even more well-known.

Seizing the opportunity, Wei Tu introduced his other main product, the Calm Heart Talisman, to earn Spirit Stones.

’It’s time to go to a shop in the Marketplace and buy an Earth Essence Pill for my cultivation.’

「Six months later.」

Wei Tu counted the money he had earned as a Talisman Master and saw that it exceeded thirty-two Spirit Stones.

He no longer hesitated and prepared to follow his plan to go to the Marketplace and buy an Earth Essence Pill for his cultivation.

But just then—

BANG! BANG! BANG!

A sudden pounding came from the wooden door.

Wei Tu frowned instantly.

He put the Spirit Stones from the table back into a cloth bag and stuffed it under his bed.

Only after doing all this did Wei Tu walk to the door and unlatch it.

"Fellow Daoist Tong, what’s the urgent matter?"

Wei Tu opened the door and saw it was Tong Peipei, a fellow Talisman Master. He couldn’t help but frown again.

Tong Peipei was the Red-Robed Female Cultivator he had run into at the Inner Collection.

"Fellow Daoist Wei, didn’t we have an agreement? To differentiate our products and never sell the same type of Talisman, so we don’t drive down the market price and become enemies."

"So why are you out there selling Calm Heart Talismans?"

Tong Peipei squeezed into the shack, pulled a stack of Calm Heart Talismans from her robes, and slammed them on the table. Then she plopped down on a stool and said irritably.

"Since when were you selling talismans like the Calm Heart Talisman, Fellow Daoist Tong?"

Wei Tu was surprised to hear this. He didn’t recall Tong Peipei’s main business being a Basic Talisman similar to the Calm Heart Talisman.

"More than half a year ago."

"I started painting and selling the Water Heart Talisman... It’s normal for you not to know, Fellow Daoist Wei, since you live like a recluse..." Tong Peipei said with a frown.

"More than half a year ago?" Hearing this, Wei Tu’s expression soured. He sneered, "I also happened to start painting the Calm Heart Talisman more than half a year ago."