Chapter 5 – Can’t Withdraw the Credits?

Chapter 5 – Can't Withdraw the Credits?

Even the Five Great Families rarely manage to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills with ease. The most reliable way to acquire them today is to buy directly from the Azure Origin Sect. To keep its affiliated families in check, the sect sells just one pill to each of the Five Great Families every twenty years—and the price is anything but friendly: fifty thousand low-grade spirit stones.

Smaller clans like the Wangs simply can't save up that sum in twenty years. At best, they manage to purchase one pill every forty—or even sixty—years.

Because of this, the Azure Origin Sect also holds auctions to sell a few of its pills—giving wandering cultivators a chance, and drawing many of them to the Blue Bull Plaza.

Wang Hao shook his head.

"Foundation Establishment Pills are still far off. No use thinking about it now…"

After eating, he returned to studying the True Scripture of the Red Lotus and Illusory Wood with renewed focus, preparing to switch cultivation techniques.

Changing techniques is a critical event for any cultivator. Fortunately, Wang Hao was still at the very beginning of the path, having only reached the first level of the Evergreen Style. That made the transition much simpler than it would be for someone in the middle or late Refinement of Qi Stage.

For two full days, he devoted himself to understanding the scripture, simulating its energy flow in his mind countless times. He even used his system's graphic-design software to draft a meridian map, marking all the key points before attempting to circulate Qi through the new cultivation route.

It was Wang Hao's first time changing techniques—and had he known how long it would take, he never would've eaten that spirit rice that night. Two days of meditation practically wasted! After that, he got wiser and stuck to ordinary rice—just enough to fill his stomach.

Beyond a few main meridians, the energy pathways of the new technique were completely different, and progress was agonizingly slow.

Opening new meridians was painful, too. Even with his strong will, it took Wang Hao nine days to complete a full cycle of energy circulation for the new method.

When he finally saw wood-and-fire spiritual energy drawn in around him, forming a yin-yang fish–shaped vortex in his dantian, Wang Hao sighed with relief.

"I did it at last! I deserve a pot of spirit rice as a reward… Then I'll keep cultivating to solidify it."

At that moment, the spiritual energy in his dantian was still weak—only first level Refinement—but his dantian itself had already been expanded to the equivalent of level three. Now he just needed to keep circulating the technique and absorbing spirit energy—like a cultivator who's drained his mana and is recovering after hours of meditation.

The problem was he was using a brand-new, unfamiliar method. Some of the newly activated meridians had never been used before, and it would take time to strengthen them enough to support a third level breakthrough.

"Alright, the spirit rice I planted on the farm should be ready! Let's see if my golden finger really works…"

With a thought, he opened the virtual farm. Sure enough—the spirit rice was fully grown. He clicked Harvest and collected two hundred jins of spirit rice from the two plots.

He opened his virtual warehouse, sold one hundred jins, and received payment in spirit stones. The price matched real-world rates.

Watching his balance jump from 0 to 10, Wang Hao licked his lips in excitement:

"All or nothing now!"

He frantically tried to withdraw the ten spirit stones from the system, sending commands to his consciousness.

Unfortunately… nothing happened.

"Damn it! Where's the withdraw button? This is a scam!" he shouted in frustration. After calming down, he tried to console himself:

"Okay, maybe I'm too low level. The system might only allow withdrawals at level 5… or 10. That's how games are—patience is key…"

Sighing, he tore out the remaining stalks from the two plots and opened his backpack to replant. But…

It was empty.

The two free seed packets had been used.

"I probably need to buy more from the shop," he thought, opening the system store.

There he saw:

Spirit rice, spirit wheat, yellow-sprout herb, spirit peaches, spirit apricots…

"Even Crimson Blood Ginseng? That's a core ingredient for Foundation Establishment Pills!"

The further down he scrolled, the more surprised he became. Not only Crimson Blood Ginseng, but also the Core Condensation Fruit—used in Golden Core Pills—was available.

And most impressively: seeds for Nascent Soul–stage medicinal plants!

Sadly, they were all locked. And it didn't seem to be a level restriction.

Other first-order low-grade plants—like spirit wheat and yellow-sprout herb—were locked too, even though spirit rice remained unlocked.

"Do I have to find these seeds in the real world?" he wondered. "Actually, I already own some…"

He did indeed have a few. Though not rare, he possessed low-grade herbs like Wide-Leaf Herb—a common vegetable among cultivators, similar to kale or chard in his former life.

Some grew in his backyard, and many seeds lay stored in his pouch.

"I've never tried planting those seeds directly…"

He headed out to his backyard "spiritual field." Though called that, it was just two fen of soil Wang Hao used as a vegetable garden.

Approaching, he glanced at the seeds in the store.

"Just looking won't unlock them…"

He considered uprooting one plant by hand but hesitated. Instead, he went to the kitchen, where two harvested Wide-Leaf Herbs lay without stems or roots.

He touched them. No reaction.

"No roots or stems—no unlock…"

Back in the yard, he plucked a living, intact Wide-Leaf Herb with his own hands.

Immediately, its seeds in the system lit up.

"Unlocked?" he smiled.

He bought a batch for one spirit stone and planted them on the spot.

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Copiar

EditarStatus: Germination Stage — 23h 59m until sprout.

"So I just need to touch a live plant—no seed required. That's far more practical!"

If acquiring seeds were mandatory, it wouldn't be a problem for low-grade herbs, but high-grade seeds aren't sold. Live plants, however, were more accessible. Medicinal plants at markets came with roots and stems, sealed in jade boxes. Many cultivators—alchemists and body-refiners—needed live specimens to preserve medicinal properties longer. Some were even replanted after purchase to maintain their spiritual essence.

Of course, live spirit plants were much more expensive than common ingredients.

But no one buys them expecting to cultivate them to seed production—that takes hundreds of years for high-grade herbs. Only great clans or sects can invest in that.

"Unfortunately, this farm is still just a game… What good is unlocking seeds if I can't withdraw spirit stones? It'd be great if I could at least use the spirit rice I harvest in real life…"

No sooner had Wang Hao finished speaking than a white flash of light burst before his eyes.

And then…

A cloth sack appeared out of nowhere.