The Undying Immortal System

I spent the remainder of the month working on my cash flow. Thankfully, having risen to Martial Disciple 2, I had more energy to work with. I did not, however, have the free rein I thought I would after I began cultivating again.

Concocting pills takes energy from the body. The higher your cultivation base, the more energy you have. Simple enough. As you use energy, it naturally recovers at a relatively slow rate automatically. I’m not sure if this is like osmosis, or just the body converting calories into qi, all I know is it’s a natural regeneration. If you want to recover energy quickly, though, you can cultivate and forcibly draw qi in to replenish yourself.

Originally, I had planned that once I started cultivating again, I would use that to recover qi to be able to concoct pills faster. That plan was put on hold after my lesson with Cao though. Recovering qi like that would lead to a decrease in qi purity over time. Say my qi starts at 80% purity. I can only really use the fire qi. When I use it, it leaves my body, but the mix of chaotic qi remains. When I cultivate to get it back, more impurities are brought along with it.

It isn’t as bad as 80% pure, then 80% of 80%, then 80% of 80% of 80%. That would be a quick path to damnation. Actually, when I use fire qi, chaotic qi is mixed in with it… chaotically, so a lot does end up leaving the body. At the surface level, the drop in purity might not even look like much at all. If you push all your energy out and cultivate it back, it’s more like 80% to 79.9%. Tiny at first, barely noticeable, but if you aren’t careful, it can ruin you.

I decided to do my best to get a better cultivation technique. I really wanted to break into Martial Master this lifetime, so I wasn’t going to put my future at risk for little gain.

At the end of the three-month mark, I was happy. I paid my rent and had a good sum of contribution points to spare.

I could pop out five pills a day, and at least half were High-Purity. Each day I was making 40 points, give or take. Of course, this only lasted for six days before my special points ran out. Then, I had to make up for ingredient costs out of my profits. Still, I was managing 15 a day profit. At the end of the first three months, I had racked up a total of about 500 contribution points.

This seemed almost too easy. Two more months and I would get my hands on that High-Yellow cultivation technique. It was just a matter of time. I wasn’t sure why everyone didn’t get the High-Yellow technique by the end of their first year.

“Because it’s too hard!” said Bao when I asked. “Look, most people move up one step at a time. They start with the free technique, then go to Low, then Mid. Learning the extra complications that come with a higher-level technique takes time and energy, and we usually spend that on alchemy.”