Importance of Clan Points

Over eight days had passed since Shi Li had decided to approach Huo Shenshou to learn alchemy, aiming to reach the peak of the 2nd Stage before doing so. Of course, with his illnesses and his Wood-level aptitude reducing the speed at which he broke his acupoints open, it took around the same amount of time for him to open another 30 acupoints. Nevertheless, even though he had focused on opening his acupoints and eating his fill during times of rest, he still could not forget the miraculous properties of the liquid he had drunk over a week ago.

Pop!

As a small pop resounded throughout the insides of his body, another acupoint was opened in Shi Li's body, bringing the total number of acupoints open to 60. Allowing qi to flow throughout the already opened acupoints, Shi Li instantly felt the increase in power brought about by opening more acupoints. In fact, he had also tested his hypothesis from before his cultivation session, coming to the conclusion that acupoints that were affected by the liquid would return to their original state once the qi inside them was used.

In any case, he felt like he had the confidence to approach Huo Shenshou and ask if he could learn alchemy from him. Though, as he thought about the qi that was in his body, he could not help but let out a mocking chuckle as he muttered, "Although the amount of qi in my body has doubled, at most, I could only stand up against a cultivator halfway to reaching the peak of the 1st Stage in terms of qi amount."

"If I continue with this line of thought, once I reach the peak of the 9th Stage, then I would only have as much qi as someone halfway to reaching the peak of the 3rd Stage." As the 9th Stage needed the cultivator to break through to 6 acupoint clusters instead of 3, this was the conclusion he had arrived at.

Eventually, Shi Li stopped mulling over it, eating the box of food that was placed on the table sometime ago as he looked out of the window. Looking at what time it was, he quickly ate his fill as he soon stood up, tidying up the mess he had made after eating. Just as he was about to leave his room and head out to town once more, his eyes could not help but fixate to a couple of books he had not touched all this time.

Moving closer to the table the books were on, he picked them up and read the text written on their covers. At that moment, he quickly remembered that he was only given a month to return them. Now that he had been assiduously cultivating for close to 3 weeks now, that meant he only had a week or so left before he had to return them. With that in mind, he decided to take a detour towards the clan's library first before heading out to town.

And so, he went ahead and grabbed the two books, which were the internal and external cultivation techniques he had chosen, and infused his legs with qi as he made his way to the library.

With his cultivation now at the peak of the 2nd Stage, as well as how close the clan library was to his room, he did not have to recover his qi along the way at all, making him lightly smile as he arrived at the library.

Looking at Shi Daoliang, who was still sitting beside the doors to the library, Shi Li respectfully bowed towards him before giving him the techniques he had borrowed. "Greetings, Elder Daoliang. Here are the cultivation techniques I've borrowed sometime ago."

Nodding in response to Shi Li's words, Shi Daoliang received the two books and looked through them, nodding in satisfaction sometime later as he ripped a piece of paper with a few words on it, presumably the receipt Daoliang made when Shi Li borrowed the books. Placing the two books on a nearby table, Shi Daoliang looked at Shi Li as he lightly chuckled, saying, "And I thought you'd return them a day or two before the deadline. Never did I think you'd return them a week early."

Shi Li awkwardly chuckled in response as he replied, "Although I would have liked to keep it for myself for a bit longer, at the speed I'm currently cultivating, there's no point in me doing so, Elder. Unlike others, I'm still far away from reaching the Meridian Opening Realm, much less to say start focusing on the Body Tempering Realm."

With Shi Li being able to open an acupoint within 8 hours while those without his illnesses at his aptitude would able to do so at 2, they would have more than enough time to break through to the Meridian Opening Realm with the time given to them by Shi Daoliang. Nevertheless, it wasn't as if Shi Li didn't get anything out of it.

Other than the fact that he now knew the first three realms of cultivation for both paths, he also found out that the first realm for external cultivation, Body Tempering, actually had 18 stages, instead of 9 stages, like what was written in The Basics of Cultivation he had read. With that in mind, he decided to chalk it up as the book having information that was outdated or missing.

Of course, there was also the fact that he now knew how to cultivate his body, even though he could only go as far as the first three stages, being unsure of how to proceed after that. Placing all those thoughts aside, Shi Li was certain that he wouldn't have to think about borrowing the technique again for quite some time.

"Sure, you say that you have no need for the technique any time soon. But with the progress you've made in three weeks, you've definitely gotten far," Shi Daoliang could not help but say in response to Shi Li's words, not being conservative in his compliments at all.

Naturally, Shi Li thought that Shi Daoliang was just complimenting him to not pressure him into thinking that he was slower than others. Nevertheless, hearing those words of praise from someone older than him truly made him feel like his efforts weren't going unnoticed.

"So, is there anything else I can help you with before you leave?" Shi Daoliang asked sometime later, prompting Shi Li to go silent for a bit as a thought soon surfaced in his mind. Taking in a deep breath, Shi Li replied, "I think there is, Elder Daoliang. Are there any techniques that would allow me to use a smaller amount of qi to achieve the same result regarding a certain technique or skill?"

This thought popped up in his mind all of a sudden as he could not help but recall how he lamented the lack of qi he had earlier in his room. Fortunately, Elder Daoliang did not disappoint his expectations as he replied with a nod, "Indeed, there are. Those techniques are called auxiliary techniques, more specifically qi conservation techniques. Most of the time, only people from our clan that use techniques that use up a lot of qi would elect to learn them. However, it's not like people experiencing the same plight as you haven't thought about learning some of these techniques either."

Hearing that there were indeed techniques like the one he had in mind, Shi Li could not help but get his hopes up as he asked, "How do I obtain them, Elder?"

"Well, you'll have to spend Clan Points," Shi Daoliang replied. "It takes a certain amount of Clan Points to borrow something from the library, even more if you want a copy you could keep for yourself. Only with tokens are you exempt from spending Clan Points, just like the token you gave me close to a month ago."

Seeing the confusion written all over Shi Li's face, Shi Daoliang could not help but go silent for a bit before letting out quite a long sigh. Muttering, he asked him, "Did your parents not tell you what Clan Points are?"

Shaking his head in response, Shi Daoliang scratched his head and started to explain, "Well, Clan Points, from what the name suggests, are points that the clan uses as a type of currency. You can use Clan Points in exchange for a number of services and resources, such as pills, weapons, techniques, and so on. Of course, coins are still an important asset to any clan. But since the clan wanted to reduce the amount of money they used to maintain the clan, they elected to use points instead."

'Sounds like something a sect would use instead of a clan,' Shi Li could not help but think to himself, wondering why the clan decided to use points in the first place. Placing those thoughts at the back of his head, he asked, "So, how do I earn them, Elder?"

"By doing missions," Shi Daoliang replied before pointing towards at a certain direction. "At the center of the clan's estate, you'll find the mission hall. There, you could accept missions that would give you Clan Points as a reward."

"Alright, Elder Daoliang. Thank you for the advice," Shi Li said before bowing, turning around to leave not long after. While Shi Daoliang looked at his fleeting silhouette, he could not help but lightly chuckle, saying, "What an interesting kid."