After a long period of silence, Chen Chen put away his token and began walking towards the courtyard.

The ethereality in the courtyard was far denser compared to the area outside. Apart from a cultivation room, a bedroom, and other facilities, there was also a small medicinal herb field in the middle of the courtyard, which was piled with spirit soil.

"Hu Xian'er, what's the cage next to the medicinal herb field for? Why does it look like the chicken coop I have at home?"

Chen Chen asked curiously, pointing at the cage at the side of the field.

Staring at the sky, Hu Xian'er answered casually, "I don't know, it's probably for chickens."

After hearing her words, Chen Chen gave her a quick glance, before tossing her into the cage without hesitation.

"Rascal! Why did you put me in this demon-trapping cage!?!" Hu Xian'er hollered furiously. The instant her claws touched the edge of the cage, she retracted them back, as if she had been electrocuted.

"Demon-trapping cage? Great item!" Chen Chen exclaimed with a smile on his face. Now that he had such an item, he finally didn't have to carry Hu Xian'er in his arms.

'It'd be a pity to kill this vixen but if I don't kill her, I have to keep my guard up at all times. I'd better keep it caged. When I'm free, I can pull her out for a quick chat as well.'

"System, is there anything precious within a 20-meter radius, other than this demon-trapping cage?"

Chen Chen asked the system in his mind. In order to gain a thorough understanding of his residence, it was the fastest to do so using the system.

"There is a spirit wood bed on the left, 16 meters ahead of you, a white jade prayer cushion on the left, 13 meters ahead of you, a spirit crystal, 12 meters underground, and a black metal elixir furnace on the right, 18 meters ahead from you. Host, you are wearing black crocodile inner armor."

As Chen Chen listened to the system, he walked towards the room ahead of him. He was vaguely certain that the system would not be able to search and detect the things in the storage ring.

There was Dragon-Taming Wood in the storage ring, which was definitely much more valuable than the demon-trapping cage

…

As soon as he entered the room, the first thing that he saw was the white jade prayer cushion that was carved with strange patterns. There were streams of light rotating around. He could tell at a glance that it was a rare treasure.

Chen Chen sat on it carefully and he immediately felt the surrounding ethereality converging towards him at a speed that was several times faster than usual.

However, due to his lack of cultivation of techniques, there were no changes in the ethereality that entered his body. It simply started accumulating.

"I have to cultivate some technique."

Chen Chen muttered to himself before taking out the 'Tianyun Divine Thunder Technique' to study it carefully.

Truth be told, he was under quite a lot of pressure right now.

With the superb combination of the system in his body, such excellent cultivation conditions, and his stellar qualifications, it would only prove that he was too dull to understand the technique if his status of cultivation did not improve quickly.

How could Chen Chen accept such?

Hence, he began studying the Tianyun Divine Thunder Technique with serious focus, as if he was studying for college entrance exams in his previous life.

…

Before he knew it, half a day had passed.

It was proven that the profoundness of the Tianyun Divine Thunder Technique was far less than that of math and chemistry.

Realizing that it was noontime, Chen Chen suddenly closed the secret book and took a deep breath.

In the next second, the ethereality in his diaphragm began to flow rapidly. In an instant, it turned from a pool of stagnant water into three vortexes, forming a triangle, creating a powerful suction force.

Under the effect of the suction force, all the ethereality within hundreds of square meters in the entire courtyard instantly entered Chen Chen's diaphragm. It then slowly integrated into the three vortexes, making the suction force of the three vortexes even stronger.

At this moment, Chen Chen suddenly understood the true significance of cultivating immortality.

The so-called cultivating immortality was in fact taking in ethereality from the world to make oneself stronger.

If the process was compared to pouring water into a bucket, cultivation techniques would be a ladle used for scooping water into the bucket.

Good technique would be akin to a large ladle while poor technique would be akin to a much smaller one.

Techniques were the ladle and one's qualifications were the bucket.

A person without good aptitude for cultivating immortality would be equivalent to a bucket full of holes that naturally could not be filled with water.

If there were only a few holes and the speed of the water input was faster than the leakage, it would mean that one had some aptitude in cultivating immortality.

A primeval spiritual body like Chen Chen's could be compared to a large, impressive bucket that even had a pump attached to it to allow water to be pumped into the bucket, emitting the need for a ladle.

"Low qualifications cannot be compared to great qualifications."

Chen Chen sighed in his heart. It was the difference between incorporating into one's body as much ethereality as one sucks in, and losing 70% to 80% of the ethereality one takes in.

The difference was huge!

Unfortunately, Chen Chen also had his troubles.

For example, his innate spirit body would devour ethereality too quickly when combined with the advanced Tianyun Divine Thunder Technique. In a short while, all the ethereality in the entire courtyard would be devoured.

Although the spirit crystals underground were continuously emanating ethereality which was spreading upwards, the speed at which it was spreading was far slower than the speed of Chen Chen's devouring.

Thinking of this, Chen Chen took out the Spirit Stones from his storage bag.

He was now figuring out the technique without a master. Holding onto a low-grade Spirit Stone, he inhaled deeply; after about a minute, the stone had turned to ashes.

All the ethereality in the Spirit Stone had converged and accumulated in the vortexes in his diaphragm.

Seeing that he was getting stronger at a speed visible to the naked eye, Chen Chen decided not to be stingy with the Spirit Stones as he took them all out of the bag.

Bang bang bang...

The Spirit Stones turned to ashes one by one. By the time Chen Chen had devoured a hundred Spirit Stones, the three vortexes in his body had grown much larger.

"Is this considered a breakthrough to the fourth tier of Qi training? Seems like cultivating immortality is becoming a piece of cake for me. At this rate, won't I have to switch identities with my master by the end of the year?"

Chen Chen was shocked.

He had only seriously cultivated for one afternoon and had already broken through from the third tier to the fourth tier of Qi training.

Unfortunately, there were not many Spirit Stones for him to suck.

In order to continue, he had to go out with the system to find some treasures.

…

At the same time, Xiao Wuyou had been standing quietly outside the courtyard for an hour.

The moment he felt Chen Chen's breakthrough in cultivation, he suddenly let out a long sigh.

"His innate spirit body is really terrifying. The Tianyun Divine Thunder Technique is several times more difficult for achieving a breakthrough compared to ordinary techniques, but this disciple of mine managed to accomplish it so effortlessly. However, his consumption of Spirit Stones is also a hundred times faster than a normal person. Forget it, it's just some Spirit Stones, he's the only disciple I'm accepting anyway."

Xiao Wuyou shook his head gently, waved his sleeves, and turned around to leave.

…

In the cultivation room in the courtyard, Chen Chen was still continuing to cultivate. However, a large pile of Spirit Stones suddenly landed at his front. When he looked carefully, he realized that there were at least a thousand.

When he saw the Spirit Stones, Chen Chen looked outside.

He knew that the Spirit Stones were from his Master, but he couldn't help but wonder, 'What does Master mean by this? Does he want to render the system useless?'

The system seemed to have felt the pressure of survival. A moment later, the system's voice sounded in Chen Chen's mind, "Host, the resources you consumed have reached a certain standard, hence, you are rewarded with 1X opportunity to track within the Tianyun Mountains."