The commotion from Xia Li opening his apertures was significant, instantly catching Lin Ye's attention.

  "Brother Xia? How did your blood vitality suddenly become so powerful?"

  Lin Ye looked at Xia Li as if he'd seen a ghost. The martial path was easy to start but difficult to master—after all, martial arts also focused on body refinement.

  The realm of mortal martial artists was mostly Tempering. After Tempering came Meridian Opening, corresponding to Qi Refining, which could accommodate spiritual energy entering the body.

  After Meridian Opening came Aperture Opening.

  From Xia Li's commotion just now, he'd already entered the Aperture Opening realm, corresponding to Foundation Establishment in the Profound Dao.

  The path of Qi Refining—this was the mainstream of the cultivation world, formally called the Profound Dao.

  And he also practiced martial arts, so he could feel it very clearly. Before boarding his flying boat, Xia Li had been a Profound Dao cultivator with uncondensed blood vitality, nourished only by spiritual energy.

  How had his martial arts suddenly reached Aperture Opening?

  "Have they? I feel quite hollow—it's all superficial realm. I just opened some apertures first as a matter of convenience. I'll condense the meridians and apertures together later."

  "You can do that?"

  Lin Ye was completely stunned. This was refreshing his understanding of martial arts.

  No, not just martial arts.

  This was equivalent to a mortal achieving Foundation Establishment overnight, then stating they could refine qi while continuing to establish their foundation.

  Was this reasonable?

  The sequential order was completely wrong!

  It was like building a house by skipping the foundation entirely and just air-dropping the mansion.

  "Is that not allowed?"

  "It's not that it's not allowed. I just haven't seen anyone do it your way. I won't comment."

  Lin Ye refused to comment. He held a reverent attitude toward the unknown and wouldn't immediately criticize or deny.

  After all, in many people's eyes, he himself was rather mysterious, often accomplishing things others couldn't. But what he usually received in return was skepticism.

  Such experiences taught him not to casually question others.

  "But Brother Xia, since you've entered the martial path, let me present this as congratulations."

  Lin Ye took out a jade box from his storage ring. An undeniable medicinal fragrance immediately spread out.

  "This is a supreme-grade Marrow Cleansing Pill, and the blood catalyst is Beast King Blood—it should count as a holy-grade among Marrow Cleansing Pills."

  Lin Ye understood the principle of reciprocal exchange well. Only by offering truly valuable items would Xia Li give him good items without reservation.

  However...

  Just when he thought this Marrow Cleansing Pill should make Xia Li show a surprised expression, he noticed a flash of disdain in Xia Li's eyes.

  "What the—bro, what's with that look!!"

  Lin Ye was greatly shocked. This was a Marrow Cleansing Pill refined with Beast King Blood! He'd been saving it for when he broke through martial realms in the future, yet Xia Li actually looked down on it.

  "How should I put it... the item isn't bad, it's just a tiny bit inferior to what my sect has..."

  On Earth, after beginning martial arts and reaching the required physical strength, one could receive an injection of Evolution Serum.

  The effects varied by person, but physical strength would be greatly enhanced. As long as about fifty percent of the body was still flesh and blood, an injection was recommended.

  This was also why Ke Xiao had arranged martial modification for Xia Li after his Foundation Establishment.

  Cultivating on Earth meant following Earth's methods—making use of every available technology at each stage.

  "Brother Xia... you know what I'm going to say."

  Lin Ye put away the box, then grabbed a large handful of spirit stones from his storage ring.

  His meaning was already obvious—he wanted to buy!

  "You don't need to give me more spirit stones. The fifty thousand from before is completely enough."

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  "Eternal gratitude beyond words!"

  Lin Ye clasped his hands firmly toward Xia Li. In this era where advancement channels were blocked, where good items had their circulation restricted with prices but no market...

  Though he'd had opportunities to obtain spirit stones, he had no opportunity to spend them. Such frustrations often made Lin Ye beat his chest in frustration.

  But after meeting Xia Li, these troubles were easily solved. As long as Xia Li's items were good enough—it was just spirit stones?

  Take them!

  Take them all!!

  "Brother Lin, then do you want other types of items? Besides weapons, I have many pills for body enhancement similar to the Marrow Cleansing Pill."

  "Do you have pills that can improve my compatibility with space? Similar to Fire Essence Pills or Water Essence Pills."

  "But there probably aren't any, right? Such pills probably don't even exist in Lingxu Cave Heaven..."

  "I do."

  Before Lin Ye finished, Xia Li casually replied that he did.

  Earth actually had them, and they weren't even expensive. The Spatial Dao seemed profound, but on Earth, phase technology was actually slightly more advanced than spirit-tech.

  Because technological methods could observe the nature of space more easily than spiritual energy. Earth had produced a large batch of space-related theories hundreds of years ago—it was just that developing the corresponding technology came later.

  This technological accumulation had started early, much earlier than spirit-tech.

  "What!!"

  Lin Ye immediately stood up. He was emotionally agitated beyond measure—mastering the Spatial Dao early held extremely important significance for him!

  Even just half a step past the threshold, being able to barely glimpse a trace of spatial trajectories.

  "Brother Xia, may I ask what effects your sect's spatial pills have?"

  "My sect calls it Phase Liquid. After taking it, spatial perception is significantly enhanced."

  "How many spirit stones?"

  "Same as before—the fifty thousand you gave me is enough."

  "Not enough!!"

  Lin Ye emotionally insisted it wasn't enough. Clearly he was the one paying spirit stones, yet he acted as if Xia Li was overcharging him.

  "I can't take advantage of Brother Xia. I'll add another thirty thousand spirit stones!"

  "This..."

  "You're looking down on me if you don't accept!"

  "Fine, fine, fine—I'll accept, I'll accept!"

  Xia Li was helpless. Phase Liquid only cost two thousand spirit stones and was even somewhat hard to sell—on Earth it was slow-moving stock.

  No other reason...

  For Earth's cultivators, perceiving spatial trajectories never required personal effort—the Heaven Chip handled it all.

  Phase Liquid was bought just for amusement. Now it was mainly used as an additive in artifact refining.

  "Brother Xia, you truly surprise me. I'm so glad I met you. It seems your appearance is my greatest opportunity."

  "Well... likewise."

  Xia Li was also looking for an easy-going, spirit-stone-rich mark, and Lin Ye complemented him perfectly.

  At least in the short term, the spirit stones earned from Lin Ye were enough for Xia Li to spend freely.

  The two unknowingly deepened their bond, both believing the other was their opportunity and that they'd taken advantage of the other.

  Right now, the more they looked at each other, the more pleasing they found the other. If one of them had been of the opposite sex, something might have happened.

  And Lin Ye was truly excellent at being a person.

  Throughout the journey, he kept presenting good items to Xia Li—various spirit fruits and supplements forced upon him—pushing Xia Li's realm all the way to Middle Foundation Establishment.

  If Lin Ye hadn't worried that consuming too many external items would affect the foundation, or that rising too quickly would cause an unstable realm, he might have forcibly fed Xia Li to Golden Core on the road.