74: Improve again, Juyuan ninth level

After drinking three jars of nü er hong, Jiang Lan's eyes were slightly tinged with intoxication.

He looked out the glazed window; the sky hadn't fully brightened yet.

A series of light footsteps sounded from the top of the stairs.

Jiang Lan didn't pay attention, continuing to stare out the window in a daze, lost in thought.

Until the footsteps stopped beside him.

A somewhat familiar voice entered Jiang Lan's ears.

"Young Master, I call you every day, but you ignore me. Why are you here drinking alone today?"

Jiang Lan paused, then looked at the person speaking beside him.

The newcomer was dressed in a light green silk dress, a section of her snow-white, slender arm exposed. She had an oval face, cherry lips, and willow-leaf eyebrows.

Despite being in this place of pleasure, a hint of innocent purity inexplicably shone in her round eyes.

At this moment, she had a playful smile on her face.

Jiang Lan put down the wine jar. "Sit."

If she were a stranger, he would have told her to leave.

But this woman, he could grudgingly consider an acquaintance.

The young lady smoothed her skirt and sat on the chair beside Jiang Lan.

"Young Master, have you encountered something troubling? Tell me about it."

Jiang Lan picked up the wine jar, a stream of wine flowing into his mouth. After swallowing, Jiang Lan put down the jar and gently wiped the wine from his lips with his finger.

"Troubling isn't the word; it's just something I haven't figured out."

"Tell me?"

"What do you think a person lives for in this life?"

The young lady heard this and was silent for a while before replying:

"I think, for a man born in this era, it might be to become immensely wealthy, or to pass the imperial examination, or perhaps to be granted a marquisate and become a prime minister."

"Oh?" Jiang Lan's eyes, slightly intoxicated, looked at the young lady with some interest. "Those are what men live for, but what about you?"

The young lady smiled.

"I don't have such grand ambitions. I just see everyone else living, so I live too."

"Haha, good, 'just see everyone else living' is a good one."

The young lady tilted her head. "I spoke first, what about you, Young Master?"

"I live this life not for a marquisate or prime ministership, not for passing the imperial examination, and not for immense wealth."

The young lady was stunned.

Throughout the world, human desires are mostly these, but this Sir says he doesn't pursue them?

"Then what is it?"

"For peace under heaven."

The young lady was stunned again, and then she seemed to want to laugh.

But after seeing Jiang Lan's eyes, the urge to laugh somehow faded, replaced by a genuine sense of conviction.

"Mm." The young lady nodded emphatically. "Sir, I believe you."

Though she said it, Jiang Lan didn't believe she truly did.

Peace under heaven, easy to say.

But how vast is the world? And how many demons are there? How can there be peace?

Jiang Lan also didn't know when this idea had suddenly popped into his head.

He just felt that the world had been chaotic for too long.

Now, it was time for peace.

Draining the fourth jar of nü er hong, Jiang Lan set the wine jar down heavily.

Exhaling, he said:

"Did the madam send you down?"

"Yes." The young lady responded obediently.

Jiang Lan reached into his chest, pulled out a gold ingot, and placed it on the table.

"Go back."

After speaking, without waiting for the young lady's reaction, Jiang Lan stood up directly.

Leaving Chun Quan Courtyard, he walked towards his own small courtyard.

Back home, Jiang Lan first tidied up, changed his clothes, and then sat cross-legged on the wooden bed.

Before him, the familiar virtual light screen appeared... [Name: Jiang Lan] [Cultivation: Qi Gathering Seventh Level] [Cultivation Technique: Three Yuan True Nurturing Skill, Golden Sun Transformation Art] [Martial Skill: Blazing Sun Demon Suppression Blade (Minor Accomplishment), Flood Dragon Swim (Beginner), Hidden God Art (Minor Accomplishment), Shadow Blade Art (Return to Simplicity)] [Remaining Lifespan: One thousand three hundred fourteen years] [Cultivation Techniques and Martial Skills can be infused with Lifespan to increase strength.] [Demons can be suppressed or slain to increase Lifespan.]

…Looking at the panel, Jiang Lan pondered for a while.

Previously, each minor Realm advancement required over three hundred, almost four hundred years of his Lifespan.

Now that he was Cultivating the Golden Sun Transformation Art, he wondered if it could speed up his Cultivation.

Although Jiang Lan felt it was feasible, he hadn't personally tried it yet.

Such things require trying to know.

"Golden Sun Transformation Art, two hundred years."

[Year 1: Although you are Cultivating the Golden Sun Transformation Art for the first time, you discover that this Cultivation Technique and the previous Three Yuan True Nurturing Skill lead to the same destination, with many similarities. You find its Cultivation increasingly effortless.]

[Year 176: You continue to Cultivate, your Martial Dao Realm steadily rising, advancing to Qi Gathering Eighth Level!]

[Year 200: You continue to Cultivate, progressing towards Qi Gathering Ninth Level, but due to limited time, you do not successfully Breakthrough.]

Looking at the lines of text that flashed by, coupled with the gradually filling power within his body, Jiang Lan's eyes lit up.

The last time he infused Lifespan, it took nearly four hundred years to advance one minor Realm.

But now, it didn't even use two hundred years?

A pleasant surprise!

Originally, Jiang Lan thought that an increase in Cultivation speed of one-fifth would already be quite good.

He didn't expect this to double his progress speed!

This way, a Realm that originally required two thousand years of Lifespan could now be achieved with only one thousand years of Lifespan.

How could Jiang Lan not be surprised by this?

He clenched his fist and whispered, "Another three hundred years."

[Year 170: You Cultivate diligently, and your Martial Dao Realm finally reaches Qi Gathering Ninth Level!]

[Year 300: Your Realm steadily improves, and the True Yuan within your body continues to fill. At this rate, you will reach the Peak of Qi Gathering Ninth Level in less than a century.]

"Then another hundred years."

[Year 93: The True Yuan in all your major acupoints overflows, and your Realm advances to the Peak of Qi Gathering Ninth Level.]

[Year 94: You begin to plan your Breakthrough into the Mortal Shedding Realm, only to discover that neither of your Cultivation Techniques contains any records on how to Breakthrough into the Mortal Shedding Realm.]

[Year 95: Helpless, you can only research it slowly yourself, but with little effect.]

[Year 97: During a day of research, you suddenly have a flash of inspiration, thinking that combining the two Cultivation Techniques might yield different results.]

[Year 100: You continue to study, and although there is some progress, the time is too short to see any significant results...]

Jiang Lan: "..."

Was the System seeing his Cultivation speed as too fast and directly changing to outright robbery?

"Alas..."

Shaking his head, Jiang Lan was helpless.

There was nothing he could do; the System hadn't lied. The two Cultivation Techniques he learned indeed only had records up to Qi Gathering Ninth Level, with nothing beyond that.

Perhaps the people who wrote the Cultivation Techniques never imagined that future generations would actually be able to Cultivate to Qi Gathering Ninth Level using the Cultivation Techniques they wrote.

Of course, a greater possibility was that the people who wrote the Cultivation Techniques hadn't even reached Mortal Shedding themselves, making it impossible for them to know how to Cultivate beyond the Mortal Shedding Realm.