### Chapter 356: Striking it Rich!
Qing Luan had her own sales channel. As the personal disciple of the Beast Tamer Peak’s master, she knew many clients in need of talismans. All Yun Zhonghe had to do was hand over the talismans to her, and she’d take care of everything else like a well-oiled machine.
The process of transferring the talismans was super simple. Yun Zhonghe just had to release the talismans while Qing Luan, using her spiritual energy, would deftly pull them into her Sea of Consciousness to complete the transfer.
It was a win-win collaboration: Yun Zhonghe got spirit stones from this partnership, while Qing Luan didn’t have to worry about Yun Zhonghe’s talent affecting her. Life was good!
“Oh, by the way, Senior Sister Qing,” Yun Zhonghe asked cautiously after successfully transferring the third-grade talisman. “Can I come back for more talismans later?”
He was a bit short on cash and wanted to rake in more.
“Hmm… that’s possible, but only if you take me along,” Qing Luan replied. She didn’t believe Yun Zhonghe would catch another third-grade talisman; the success may have just been a stroke of luck.
Just to be safe, she wanted to accompany him to prevent any leaks of information that could lead to trouble. She absolutely did not want to end up like Master Youyue’s disciple!
Hearing Qing Luan’s response, Yun Zhonghe felt a wave of joy wash over him, as if he’d stumbled upon a great money-making scheme. His spirits soared! But with his spiritual energy depleted, he opted to leave the stone tower.
Outside, the Minotaur punched through the barrier again, letting them out like it was a Sunday stroll in the park.
Yun Zhonghe left a second-grade talisman in his Sea of Consciousness, which wrapped up Chen Leling’s identity issue. All he needed to do next was a quick registration in the outer gate lobby.
In the end, he thanked Senior Sister Qing several times.
Qing Luan got a bit shy from all the gratitude, waving her hand while wearing a tangled smile. She leaned in and whispered to Yun Zhonghe not to blabber about securing a third-grade talisman around the sect, as it could adversely affect talisman sales.
Yun Zhonghe quickly nodded, understanding the importance of keeping a low profile and with his mastery of keeping wealth under wraps.
On the way back…
Yun Zhonghe and Xia Linglong turned around to return together, but halfway through, she had to break off to head back to Xuanjian Peak to deal with some personal affairs.
Thinking about how, without Xia Linglong’s support, he wouldn’t have pocketed those spirit stones or solved Chen Leling’s identity issue so well, Yun Zhonghe was filled with gratitude towards her.
“Oh, it’s nothing! I’m just happy to help you, Junior Brother Yun…” She said, a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks, her eyes sparkling with that special radiance only a girl could have.
She really was quite ecstatic.
With a charming smile curving her lips, she encouraged Yun Zhonghe, “I’m heading back now. Good luck, Junior Brother Yun! I believe you’ll do great in the upcoming competition!”
“Thanks for the good vibes, Senior Sister!”
And with that, they parted ways, each stepping onto their respective paths.
Yun Zhonghe watched Xia Linglong’s disappearing figure, thinking, “What a great woman! Kind, wealthy, and an absolute knockout! Marrying her would definitely be great!”
Of course, those thoughts weren’t coming from Yun Zhonghe.
Tao Jiu’er, standing nearby, sported a mischievous grin, eyeing Yun Zhonghe with a teasing look that made him feel awkward.
Here we go again!
“Jiu’er, cut it out! Xia Senior Sister and I are just friends, nothing more,” Yun Zhonghe defended himself fervently.
“Just friends? Really? Doesn’t seem like it to me! Honestly, it looked like she was about to glue herself to you back in the stone tower!” Tao Jiu’er playfully winked, her sly smile betraying she was reveling in this topic.
Tao Jiu’er loved poking fun at Yun Zhonghe, sometimes making him unsure whether she was serious or just testing his resolve.
Rolling his eyes at her, Yun Zhonghe thought, I’m not just some kid she can mess with anymore!
Suddenly, he got an idea, smirking, “Honestly, I’d prefer it if you watched me like that, Jiu’er.”
He hit a home run with that one!
Tao Jiu’er froze, her face turning a noticeable shade of crimson, her ears following suit, as if Yun Zhonghe had pierced her heart with his words.
“What?! What the heck are you talking about?!” she stammered, half-flustered, half-miffed, giving him a death glare. She waved her fist around, threatening to hit him but looked unsure. “You, Yun Zhonghe! Since when did you get so smooth? Trying to tease your older sister now, huh? I’ll teach you a lesson! Don’t run away!”
Seeing her reaction, Yun Zhonghe just grinned and ducked away from her “attack” while chuckling, “Jiu’er, I’m just kidding! Don’t be mad, okay?”
The two bickered playfully as the sunset cast long shadows, their figures stretching out across the ground.
…
In the Outer Gate’s Scripture Pavilion—
Yun Zhonghe was perched in a corner, surrounded by several wisps of spiritual energy of different colors released from the spirit pills he’d previously swallowed.
It had been three days since his trip to Beast Tamer Peak.
After sorting out Chen Leling’s identity issue, he dove headfirst into the treasures of the Scripture Pavilion, immersing himself in the study of spells.
As the medicinal effects of the spirit pills slowly permeated his body, Yun Zhonghe opened a newly acquired tome on spiritual energy comprehension, juggling both spell study and spiritual energy cultivation at the same time.
With the deepening mastery of Observation Heart Technique, Yun Zhonghe realized that even studying twenty low-level spells concurrently while running the technique was now a piece of cake for him!
The Observation Heart Technique not only granted him remarkable insight and perception, but it also optimized his control and application of spiritual energy, fully leveraging the advantages of multiple Spiritual Pearls at his disposal.
Thanks to the technique, he could also maximize the pure spiritual energy from the tome.
Right now, Yun Zhonghe focused, feeling waves of gentle spiritual power gathering from the tome, as numerous Spiritual Pearls spun around in his mind, creating a delightful resonance.
His spiritual realm was improving at an eye-popping pace!
Yun Zhonghe couldn’t help but marvel at the power of the Observation Heart Technique. If he had been using his previous method, the Spirit Refining Technique, there was no way he’d hit such efficiency!
On top of that, the speed-up in spell study was skyrocketing his spiritual realm growth; the efficiency had easily jumped over tenfold—perhaps even as much as fifteen times!
“At this rate, I might break through to the Nurturing Nature level before the big competition!” he mused, his mind hard at work as his Spiritual Pearls grew denser.
Ever since his visit to the stone tower, Yun Zhonghe’s hopes of breaking through to the Nurturing Nature level had soared.
A third-grade talisman could sell for quite a handsome sum, so Yun Zhonghe could now spend spirit stones without a care, confidently buying more tomes to accelerate his spiritual development.
Throwing spirit stones around didn’t sting anymore.
This time, while practicing the Observation Heart Technique, Yun Zhonghe felt remarkably different.
Inside his mind, the tome of the Observation Heart Technique seemed to illustrate a miniature version of himself training in his Sea of Consciousness according to the principle of the heart technique. Every detailed movement, every profound incantation, was deeply etched in his memory, enriching his understanding of the Initial Understanding stage and even giving him early glimpses into the Nurturing Nature concept.
Compared to the sophistication and depth of the Observation Heart Technique, the Spirit Refining Technique he practiced before was just plain crude—not even close to the same level.
Moreover, as he dug deeper into the Observation Heart Technique, the capacity of his Spiritual Pearls experienced unprecedented expansion, while his spiritual energy strength steadily improved.
Was this how it felt to reach the first level of the Observation Heart Technique?
Yun Zhonghe felt his spiritual energy had grown fearsome.
The last time he rescued Su Xiaoxiao’s consciousness, bursting through the Disaster Empress’s mental barriers, his willpower reached its peak, allowing him to break through a bottleneck in the Observation Heart Technique and simultaneously enhance his spiritual energy strength.
It was probably the reason he could “luckily” capture that complete third-grade talisman.
Yun Zhonghe had a strong intuition about it.
Even though his spiritual realm was still at the late Initial Understanding stage, when it came to spiritual energy strength, he was already on par or even superior to those who just entered the Condensed Spirit stage!
Initial Understanding and Nurturing Nature were just about increasing the quantity of spiritual energy, but they hadn’t hit the qualitative level of cultivation.
However, the peculiarity of the Observation Heart Technique allowed Yun Zhonghe to bypass conventional limits and advance the strength of his spiritual energy two whole stages ahead of the game.
Otherwise, how could he have captured a third-grade talisman?
He couldn’t think of another explanation.
But because of that, he had found a treasure trove!
Yun Zhonghe threw himself back into his training, nearly forgetting the passage of time.
The time he could spend in the Scripture Pavilion was limited, needing contribution points to learn spells, so he cherished every second.
Even when he sensed Senior Sister Xing Bu drifting back, he merely diverted a smidgen of focus and quickly submerged himself back into his training world.
That rascal had been out for several days and finally remembered to come back!
“Oh, not bad, not bad! In just a few short days, your spiritual realm advancement has almost reached 20%!” Senior Sister Xing Bu praised as she sauntered back, checking on Yun Zhonghe.
Although he hadn’t reached the Golden Core stage yet, his spiritual energy was already veering toward the Nurturing Nature level…
It’s worth noting that being able to achieve Initial Understanding before reaching the Golden Core stage was a rarity, let alone touching on the threshold of Nurturing Nature!
Goodness, talk about incredible!
