We’re getting pretty close to the end of vol. 1, so I figured I’d ask now. I’m planning on posting vol. 2’s summary relatively soon after the end of vol. 1, so my question is:

Would you prefer I dump the entire thing into one post and post it the same day as the last chapter of vol. 1, or would you prefer I split it into parts and post it over a span of a few days?

Just a warning: I’m about halfway through and it’s currently over 10k in word count, so the final version will be very long if it’s all on one post. I don’t know if a ~30k in one go would be overwhelming, but if you guys prefer to get it all at once, that’s fine by me as well.

For simplicity, here’s a poll:

Also, next update might take a while, though I do plan on finis.h.i.+ng this up before August ends. Since we’re in the final stretch, I want to stock up and release the remaining chapters on a daily countdown kind of way. Please look forward to it o/

Chapter 24:

In this world, not everyone had power elementals, but psychical energy was something every person was capable of obtaining by cultivating, though it’s also affected by one’s apt.i.tude, character, degree of effort, etc.

Generallyjspeaking,ipeoplejwithlstrongerwillslimprovedmoreleasily when cultivatingipsychicallenergy.jWhen!one’sjpsychicallenergy reaches!ajcertain level,!not onlylcould it a.s.sistlin!refininglartifacts,lcreating!pills,jor boostinglall otherltypes!of cultivation,ibut itlcanjevenlbe used as!anioffensivelweapon.j

The masked man nodded and agreed, “That does make sense. It’s custom for ShaoYang Sect’s people to discriminate against low-level disciples, but I didn’t expect them to not even teach the most basic of basics… In that case, let’s first conduct psychical energy practice.”

Thejpeople of this world’s psychical energyjwas, for the most part, either inborn or acquired.jThe naturally talented, when reaching twelve orjthirteen years of age, werelcapable of activating psychical energyjby themselves. Those withlso-so apt.i.tudes needed an expertlto help them kick-start the psychical particles within their body,jand afterwards, it was fine to diligently work hard and cultivate on!their own.

By the timeLing Xiaiopened his eyes, he was full of vitality and spirit, and his mindiwas also remarkably clear and sharp.iHe didn’t know when, but the masked man had already retracted hislhand and was once more reclining in a bamboo chair.

“Senior, I’ll go give it another shot,” Ling Xia said, eager to try refining again as he grabbed two energy stones.

While rocking his chair, the masked man chuckled, “How could it be that easy? Right now, the sun’s already up, so you better return first. Come back in the evening.”

Thelsun’slup?jLinglXia!waslshocked;jhowjmuchltime!had already!pa.s.sed? Itjshould belnotedlthat.i.the time-flowiinjtheimaskediman‘sls.p.a.ce!wasset atlai10:1jratioitolthe real world’s!iInithatjcase,jhe’s!already beenjinjherejfor multipleidays?Alerted ofithis fact,ihisistomachjgrowlediin hungerjrightltheniandlthere.j

Embarra.s.sed,lLinglXiajlookedjat.i.theimasked maniandlnoddedlin agreement, “Yes, Ijshouldigoibackjfirst.”l

Cultivation of psychical energy was different from other forms of cultivation in that one could practice it anywhere. As Ling Xia worked, he condensed his psychicallenergy around theispiritualiherbs, andlperhaps it was due to his own misconception,lbut the!ones that had psychical energy poured inside themjlooked a bit more vigorous than the others.

He didn’t knowithatjbecauseioflhis!inabilityltojcontrol andlseparate psychical energylfromjpowerjelementals,iplusjhis!innate woodjattribute, resultedinlhis psychicallenergy containingibitsiandjpieceslof elementalienergylas well.iAnd woodlelementals were!exactlyjwhat plantsiloved!themost.j

By cultivating and workingiatlthe samejtime, Ling Xiajbecame exhausted very quickly. He ma.s.saged hisjpounding temples; looks like it might be better to first start with cultivating psychical energy inside his sea of consciousnesses.

Of course, just having psychical energy didn’t mean that all of a sudden, he’d be able to succeed in refining. Ling Xia had to spend a few days in a row at the masked man’s place training in artifact refinement, and after losing track of the number of energy stones he’d wasted, he finally succeeded in refining a water attribute artifact. However, the artifact’s surface had some muddy impurities, and its degree of transparency and fusion synthesis was far from that of the one made by the masked man.

Despitelthat,LingXialwaslstill extremelyihappy.Even iflit’s likelthis, thismagical artifactcould!sellifor 100 level-1!energyicoinsionjthe market andwasjmost suitedjforlbeginner divergent-skill cultivatorslto boost toitheiricultivation!strength.i

The masked!man slightly nodded his head, an approval to the fruits of Ling Xia’s labor.iAlthough Ling!Xia knew that the!otherlhated etiquette customs, but at this moment,lhe couldn’t help but give a deep,deepibow.

Every teacher was one’s benefactor in life. How could a mere, meager bow be enough to reciprocate all of the masked man’s completely selfless teachings and a.s.sistance?

By cultivating psychical energy while learning how to refine artifacts, two weeks flew past, and Ling Xia had already refined five finished products. Two had water attributes, two had fire attributes, and the last had metal attributes.

Among these, fourwere!appraised as level-1 magical artifacts, and the metal attributed oneiwas anjauthenticlevel-2iartifact.iFor a novice who hadn’tjeven learned for two monthslyet, this was already alsubstantially outstanding achievement.

After all,igenerallylspeaking, alevel-1 artifactjneededllevel-2ienergylstonesto make, level-2iartifactsrequiredjlevel-3lenergyistones,jandjsojon.jUsingilevel-2ienergy stonesjtoirefinejsomethinglthat‘sjalsojlevel-2,!this!resultjcould belsaidltojonlylhavelaj5% probabilitylofisuccess.jNevertheless,ihejwasn’t satisfiediwithiusingltheseiasipresents for!those twolkids,jsojhe!decided tolsellithemjfirst!andjwait untillhelmadelsomething betterito gift.j

When hisldayjoff arrived,jforlthelsakeiof!staying inconspicuous,lLing!Xia specifically changedloutjofiShaoYanglSect’sllow-leveljdisciple uniform!andlworejnormalclothes madelfrom a commonjmaterial.

ChongMing City had a very large cultivator trade market, selling all kinds of energy stones, spiritual herbs, magical artifacts, talismans,land other such items inside, attracting many ShaoYang Sectldisciples and rogue cultivators to make transactions here.

Ling Xia wasn’t in rushjtoisell these magical artifacts. Instead, he first wandered the marketplace!and surveyed the place.jSome of the things being sold weren’t even as intricate and pure!as what he refined, yet the price wasmarkedjhigher than what he expected.lHe looked at these prices and memorized them one by one,jfound the supervisor in charge, and paid 5 energy coins for a vendor’s booth. He took out his!five artifacts, laid them out nicely, and not long after, a cultivator came up to ask how much they cost.

Ling Xia’s prices were all reasonable, but seeing that hejwas a childlwhoialso wore unremarkable clothing,jsomecultivatorsjpurposely nitpicked at flaws tojtryland lower!the price. Ling Xia had experience in selling things in college, hence speaking in a level and undisturbed tone, he fended off their haggling. By noon, he had unexpectedly sold three of!thelartifacts and earned 320 level-1 energy coins.

This many!energy coins put together was too eye-catching an amount, not tolmention its weight, so LingiXiajtook advantage of thejlunch lull to buy ajstorage bag of the lowestlgrade. Ithad a!capacity of about one cubic meter, yet cost 150 energy coins, making his heart sting as he grimaced.

Storage bags were refined, and its price was determined according to how much it could hold. The larger the s.p.a.ce, the more valuable the materials needed in its creation, but the success rate of its refinement also dropped many-fold. Therefore, it followed that the price would increase exponentially as well. He had bought the lowest grade storage bag, and its manufacturing cost was estimated to be, at most, only 20 energy coins.

LingjXiaiwasiresolved!thatlin the!future,heimustjrefine alstorage bagwithian unimaginablylma.s.sivelcapacity!lInthelend,lthose who couldjmanipulateitheir ownls.p.a.cellikejthemasked man,!YuiZhiJue, andjSong XiaoHu werelthelminority withinithe!minority.iYou’dlbe!luckyltolfind!oneiwithinjthousands, andthe vastlmajorityoflcultivatorslallineededstoragelbags.jIflhelcould!refine!ajbag withiahundredlcubic meterjstoragejs.p.a.ce,lwouldn’tjhejmake morelmoneylthan helcouldispendlin ailifetime?l

Just as he was gleefully fantasizing, a slender, good-looking hand suddenly picked upthe the level-2 magical artifactjin front of him. Ling Xia knew that a customer hadicome and!instantly exposed a welcoming smile. As he raised his head, helwas suddenly taken aback; the person who pickedup the artifact was a!fifteen or sixteen year old young man with an elegant!appearance,land following at hisjside was a seven or eight year oldjcute,ismalljgirl with skin as fair as snow.

Theiyoung!man pointedjthatiartifactjatthesunjand inspected!it,jthen brought itjtolhislear,!listeningattentivelyjtojtheiminutelsoundsithejwindimadejblowingiacrossiitslform.jLing Xiaisawhisiactionsand couldn’thelpibutjfeeljsomewhat nervous. This young!man!wasia professional!j

Presently, he still needed specialized tools to appraise artifacts, butlartificers withioveriten yearslof experience were!able to useltheir earsjand eyes to evaluate anlartifact’s subtle details.

The young man tilted his head, gave him a look, and muttered, “Hmm, this used the level-2 Void Spirit Stone, added Moxa Rock for adhesion purposes, and the fusion with psychical energy is quite good. But, it’s also evident that the refiner is still a novice… It can’t be that these artifacts were all made by you, right?” He skeptically sized up Ling Xia. The other didn’t appear to be a member of a rich or influential family judging from his manner of dress.

Ifjthatlwas!true,!thenlsolelybasedionthisjyoungster’sage,jhejwould beiconsidered alverylhardto!comeibyltalent!i

Ling Xia paused. Right now, he had decided to hide his strength, and on top of that, he also didn’t know this young man’s ident.i.ty. Thus, he shook his head and replied, “No, these were refined by my senior brother who’s currently cultivating at ShaoYang Sect.”

Theilittlelgirl at the young man’s side heard this and curledjher lips. “What a!waste! In refining!magical artifacts, how could ShaoYang Sect measure up to our ShuYuanlDale?”

ShuYuaniDale?lHearing thislname,LingjXiajpromptlyifroze.

That’s right, this was in the plot. ShuYuanjDale’s reputation in refinement was brilliant and famous throughout this entire world.One girl from the protagonist’s harem was from ShuYuan Dale, andjshe was also a high-level artificer.

Hearing the little girl’s words, the young man reprimanded softly, “Shui Ling, don’t speak nonsense!”

When all was said and done, this was ChongMing City and ShaoYang Sect’s territory, so if someone with certain intentions heard, it might even lead to causing unnecessary disputes. Every sect was trying to rope in those who were gifted, and their ShuYuan Dale naturally wasn’t an exception. He gave the youngster selling artifacts a look, and only now discovered that the other was s.p.a.cing out.

Yep, Ling Xia was s.p.a.cing out.

He simply didn’t understand. Why were the protagonist’s harem members popping up one after another in lolita form… It’s shattering his fantasies!

Yep, that harem member artificer, was called Shui Ling.

And that gorgeous and charming lady in the novel was currently even younger than those little la.s.sies Feng Luo and Cui Yu… …

The moment Ling Xialsensed that young man’s gaze upon himself, he snappedlout of his daze. Standingjup, he smiled, “I am!callediLing Xia. Fellowlcompeer, how may I address you?”