Chapter 53

Heaven does not forsake those who toil. Just as Qi Xiang felt his soul becoming extremely weak and was about to give up, a sudden cool and comfortable breath silently infused into his soul.

The breath was as fine as a thread but continuous, like a refreshing dew that quickly replenished the depletion of Qi Xiang's soul, making him feel refreshed and very comfortable.

For a moment, Qi Xiang felt his soul was like a balloon being inflated, though its shape and size did not change, it was filled with a force that made its surface increasingly hard and solid.

"This is the refinement of the soul..."

Qi Xiang was both surprised and delighted, but he did not dare to relax at all, maintaining this breathing rhythm. In fact, his soul was not breathing, but resonating, a resonance of waves.

When the magnetic energy of the soul and the body's magnetic energy were in the same frequency, a vortex-like energy field was generated, which then absorbed the cool and comfortable breath floating in the universe, gradually refining the soul.

Qi Xiang did not know the principle behind this, but he felt very comfortable.

His soul seemed to float in the clouds, feeling very comfortable and content. At this moment, he completely forgot all his troubles and sorrows, and even forgot the outside world. In this instant, he felt as if he had obtained eternal happiness!

Time passed, and the light smoke dissipated.

At dawn, the sun had not yet risen above the sea, but the eastern sky was already a silver white.

At this moment, Qi Xiang suddenly felt his soul inexplicably hot, as if his whole body was about to burn. He woke up in a panic and hurriedly returned to his body, feeling the scorching heat dissipate.

"Is it morning already?"

Qi Xiang subconsciously looked up and understood what had happened.

After all, the energy of the sun was extremely intense, and a small flame could not compete with the bright moon. A soul as weak as a flickering candle naturally could not be directly exposed to sunlight.

"It seems I have to wait until night..."

Qi Xiang felt very helpless and suddenly had a sense of time dragging on.

In short, in the following period, Qi Xiang became a complete shut-in, staying in the estate all day and never leaving.

During the day, he strolled and exercised in the estate, and at night, he refined his soul, immersed in the path of cultivation.

In the blink of an eye, several days passed. During this time, Qi Xiang felt that every day was very fulfilling and satisfying. He felt that this kind of life was what he had been pursuing all his life.

He also hoped that it could continue like this forever.

However, one evening, when Qi Xiang habitually reached for an incense pill to light, he found the box empty. He was surprised to see that the incense pills were all used up, not a single one left.

"Ah?"

Upon discovering this, Qi Xiang was momentarily stunned.

"Never mind, if there's no butcher, do we not eat pork?"

Qi Xiang thought for a moment and felt that even without the incense pill, he should be able to enter a state of tranquility and let his soul leave the body. He lay on his side, slowly discarding杂念, trying to enter a state of mental peace.

At first, Qi Xiang felt good, but as time passed, thoughts kept flashing one after another.

For some reason, he always felt something was missing, preventing him from achieving a clear and calm mind.

After a long time, Qi Xiang felt restless and could not help but stand up, standing by the window of the attic, letting the night breeze gradually dissipate his烦躁.

At this moment, Qi Xiang suddenly realized that he had unknowingly developed a dependency on the incense pills, getting used to the presence of the fragrance. Without the fragrance to assist him, he naturally felt unable to calm his mind.

"Or perhaps, this dependency is a necessary catalyst..."

Qi Xiang carefully pondered and felt that the fragrance in the cultivation process was like the grains and cereals a person needs when hungry, a necessity of life, indispensable.

"No wonder Chen Bixue said, don't play cultivation if you don't have money. This isn't cultivation, it's burning money."

Qi Xiang sighed lightly. At this stage, he could basically predict that as he delved deeper, the amount of money he would need would definitely increase.

Tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions...

This should be a gradually increasing process.

Qi Xiang looked up at the night sky, where all was silent. After a moment, his bewildered eyes gradually became determined. As his thoughts fluctuated, a faint light suddenly caught his attention.

"Huh?"

Qi Xiang focused his gaze and saw a faint glow on the opposite mountain, as if a firefly was dancing, looking quite beautiful and splendid.

However, after watching for a while, Qi Xiang felt something was wrong. The firefly was flying too fast, and its movement was erratic, going up and down, left and right, appearing and disappearing...

Qi Xiang watched for a moment, feeling dizzy and almost unable to catch the trace of the glowing light.

After all, these days, as he refined his soul, his body also benefited greatly. His senses of smell, hearing, and vision became increasingly acute. During the day, he could clearly see a fly several dozen meters away.

What was even more surprising was that his night vision was better than during the day.

So now, even from a distance of several hundred meters, he could clearly see that something strange was happening in an estate on the opposite mountain.

To speak of it, in this continuous mountain range, there were about twenty to thirty mansions built. Each mansion was in a different position, scattered in a staggered manner across the mountains.

The estate Qi Xiang bought was located in the middle of the mountain range, directly opposite another estate.

The two estates faced each other across the mountain, at the same height, with a winding S-shaped valley in between. The two estates were like the yin and yang fish in a Tai Chi diagram, embedded on either side.

Strictly speaking, the location of the opposite estate was better. It faced the sun and was sheltered from the wind, which in feng shui terms meant it embraced the yang while facing the yin, making the mountain more vibrant and lush.

Unfortunately, the opposite estate already had an owner.

However, for many days, Qi Xiang had not seen anyone enter or leave that estate. In other words, the owner of that estate, like him, was a standard shut-in, not fond of going out.

This was a side note. What now interested Qi Xiang more was what that glow was all about.

He squinted to look, but the distance was too great, and everything was blurry. He could only see the glow moving quickly, but could not discern the specific situation.

Qi Xiang studied it with great interest until the glow disappeared, then reluctantly gave up and went back to bed.

The night passed without incident. The next morning, Qi Xiang picked up his phone, which had been thrown in a corner, intending to check his financial status and see how much money he had left.

At first glance, Qi Xiang was speechless. It turned out that his phone had been out of power for a long time, and he had been so engrossed in cultivation that he had not charged it.

He casually charged his phone and then opened his laptop to log into his bank account. He was not aware of the situation until he checked, and he was shocked.

"1 million for the walnuts, 1.5 million for the incense, 5 million for the bet, 3 million for the Taihu Mystic Pearl..."

Qi Xiang listed the expenses and could not help but hold his forehead: "A total of 10.5 million, minus 300,000 for Xiao Ding's commission, and 9 million for the estate, the balance should be... at least over 1 million."

However, when Qi Xiang carefully calculated the balance, he was horrified to find that his bank account had only a few hundred thousand left, far less than 1 million. He quickly checked the detailed transactions and could not help but smile bitterly.

The figures were correct, and the bank had not made any mistakes.

After buying the estate, he had redecorated it according to his taste.

During the decoration, he had made a large purchase.

Although these expenses were small, they inevitably added up, and the small amounts accumulated into a significant expenditure.

"Tragic..."

Qi Xiang could not help but sigh. He had inadvertently become a commoner again, what a sin.

"Well, I have to work hard to earn money again..." Qi Xiang racked his brains, thinking hard about whether he should go to Macau, when his phone, now fully charged, was turned on.

Instantly, a series of missed calls and unread messages flashed before his eyes. He casually browsed through them and found that all the messages and calls were from the same person.

Qi Xiang thought for a moment and then dialed back.

After a moment, the call was connected, and Xiao Ding's excited voice immediately came through: "Boss Qi, you finally answered my call."

"Sorry, I've been busy lately. I left my phone at home and didn't have it with me..."

Qi Xiang said calmly: "Brother Ding, what's up?"

"Boss Qi, have you returned to Nanjing?" Xiao Ding asked.

"Not yet." Qi Xiang shook his head: "Still in Huzhou."

"Great..." Xiao Ding was very happy: "Boss Qi, I'll get straight to the point. Someone wants you to help authenticate a painting. Are you available?"

"Ask me to authenticate it?" Qi Xiang was surprised.

"Exactly." Xiao Ding explained: "You don't know, recently, the appraisal and collection masters in the circle have been invited to a large appraisal event and have all gone north..."

"In other words, for things they are unsure about, they can't find a master to make a judgment, so they either delay the purchase or take a risk."

Xiao Ding laughed: "However, in the past few days, someone found me and asked me to pass a message to you, Boss Qi, asking you to come out of retirement and help."

"Why?" Qi Xiang was still confused.

"Why what?" Xiao Ding was taken aback.

"I'm not an appraisal master, why would they find me?" Qi Xiang was puzzled: "If they ask me to help authenticate it, won't they be afraid I'll make a mistake?"

Xiao Ding could not help but laugh: "Ha, Boss Qi, you really like to joke, you're too modest..."

... ...

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