Chapter 5

At this moment, Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes. If someone had noticed, they would have seen that his eyes were shining like light bulbs. After a long while, the light in his eyes gradually subsided.

"This Void Body Refinement Technique is indeed the best foundation-building method in the world. On my first cultivation, I actually directly broke through the barrier and entered the early stage of foundation-building. With the current cultivation speed, I can enter the Mystic Realm in at most half a year," Chen Fan sighed.

He didn't expect that even in a place like Earth, where cultivation was almost impossible, his progress would be so fast. Although it was related to his reincarnation and re-cultivation, it also showed how remarkable the foundation-building method of the Great Dao Sect was.

Chen Fan stood up and shook his body vigorously, causing a 'crackling' sound, like popping beans.

He clenched his fists, feeling an immense power surging within him.

Suddenly, he punched the nearby willow tree. The old willow tree, which would take two people to encircle, trembled violently, and countless leaves fell.

Chen Fan retracted his fist and saw a fist-sized indentation several inches deep on the willow tree.

This willow tree might be over a hundred years old, with extremely hard wood. If such a punch hit a person, it might create a hole.

After all, this was just his first cultivation. In the future, as his cultivation deepened, breaking this willow tree with one punch would not be a problem. Moreover, he hadn't even used the true essence in his body, relying solely on physical strength.

The Void Body Refinement Technique not only refined qi but also the body. At this point, Chen Fan was already half a superhuman.

Chen Fan shook his head. Compared to the power of shattering stars with a finger snap in his previous life, this several-inch-deep fist mark was nothing.

"I still need to continue cultivating," he sighed. Suddenly, he saw the sun rise from the distant lake, realizing he had been sitting there all night. He didn't feel tired; instead, he felt full of energy.

However, his stomach seemed particularly hungry. After all, he was still a mortal, not yet at the stage of abstaining from food. Not eating for a day and a night, how could he not be hungry?

He patted his body and decided to go back and treat his stomach.

Just as he walked out of the willow forest, three people approached.

A woman in a white training suit was supporting an elderly man in a Tang suit, who was nearly seventy years old. Behind them was a young man with sharp eyes, looking very agile.

It was a strange combination.

Especially the woman in the training suit with a ponytail, who had a cold and beautiful face, a well-endowed chest, and a tall, slender figure. She was no less attractive than Jiang Churan and even had a more heroic aura.

However, Chen Fan was immersed in the joy of his significant cultivation progress and didn't pay much attention, glancing at them and leaving.

But it was clear that the three had noticed him.

As they passed by, the agile young man stared at him intently. After Chen Fan walked away, he turned to look at the elderly man in the Tang suit, as if seeking instructions.

The old man shook his head: "Probably just a young man passing by for a run. It's a coincidence."

...

Chen Fan returned to his home in the lakeside community. He first found a breakfast stall and had a hearty meal. Then he went to the supermarket to buy daily necessities and to the Chinese medicine store to order some herbs. By the time he returned home, it was already noon.

At this time, he received a call from Aunt Tang, asking him if he would come to her house for lunch.

Thinking of the cold faces of Jiang Haisan and Jiang Churan, Chen Fan immediately felt a headache and quickly said he needed to review his lessons and wouldn't go.

After hanging up, Chen Fan suddenly realized that his parents hadn't called to greet him. He had come to Chu Prefecture alone for school, and his parents didn't care?

"My mom is even less affectionate to me than Aunt Tang," Chen Fan sighed.

However, he quickly put these thoughts aside.

The herbs he had ordered from the Chinese medicine store had arrived. Cultivators relying solely on their own cultivation would definitely progress very slowly. Although the herbs on Earth were young and had low potency, they were better than nothing.

He didn't need any complicated methods like medicinal baths. He drew a formation on the ground, sat inside it, and scattered the herbs around. With a pinch of his fingers, he activated the formation, and a fragrant aroma rose from the herbs, gathering around his body.

"Soul Seizing Formation."

One of the most basic formations in the cultivation world, which could be set up even at the foundation-building stage.

As the name suggests, it drew out the spiritual energy from the herbs to aid the cultivator's cultivation.

The cultivation world at the center of the universe had developed for countless years and had long developed countless advanced methods. There was no need to boil, stew, or soak the herbs like in martial arts novels, which were too weak and outdated.

The Soul Seizing Formation could not only extract the spiritual energy from medicinal herbs but also from other materials like spirit stones, spirit jade, and even spirit treasures.

Of course, this depended on the skill and cultivation level of the person setting up the formation. Chen Fan was undoubtedly a master of formations.

He continued to cultivate until evening before opening his eyes.

"This afternoon's cultivation was more effective than last night's. Unfortunately, it can't last long," Chen Fan frowned. "These herbs are so ordinary, yet so expensive. The money my mom gave me was almost all spent on these Chinese herbs. The remaining money isn't enough for another cultivation session."

He didn't realize that the herbs he bought, such as angelica, ginseng, astragalus, and caterpillar fungus, were all precious Chinese herbs.

"It seems I still need to go to that place with concentrated spiritual energy to cultivate," Chen Fan thought, never imagining that he, a great cultivator at the transcendence stage, would be troubled by money.

"Why didn't my mom, who is so rich, give me more pocket money? Sigh," he grumbled.

After a night's sleep, he got up around 5 a.m. the next day and ran to the cultivation spot he had found the previous day.

But when he arrived, Chen Fan was surprised to find that his cultivation spot was already occupied.

A woman in a white training suit with a ponytail was practicing boxing under a willow tree by the lake.

The elderly man in the Tang suit occasionally coughed and gave her a few pointers. The agile young man was leaning against a black SUV parked by the roadside, constantly watching the surroundings.

Weren't these the three people he had seen the morning before?

Chen Fan was puzzled and walked up. The elderly man in the Tang suit glanced at him and then ignored him, turning back to watch the woman practicing.

Chen Fan, who had left hastily the previous day without a thorough observation, now saw something different.

The woman in the white training suit was tall, beautiful, and exuded a heroic aura. Especially when she practiced boxing, her every move was powerful and graceful, her slender waist bending in the wind, and her chest outlined in a breathtaking manner, giving off a unique heroic aura.

But that wasn't the key. The key was that Chen Fan saw traces of true essence in her body.

"Could she be a cultivator?" Chen Fan was astonished. He never thought he would encounter a cultivator on Earth.

"No!" Upon closer inspection, Chen Fan realized something was off. "Her true essence is too weak, too scattered. It's countless times weaker than a true cultivator's true essence. At this level, she can't even cast a spell or draw a talisman. The cultivation method she uses has only a few simple channels."

Looking at her training suit, the boxing techniques she was practicing, and the elderly man in the Tang suit who had stopped giving pointers since their arrival, Chen Fan had a sudden realization.

"Is this what they call internal energy?"

In his previous life, Chen Fan, born in Huaguo, had grown up watching various martial arts TV shows and naturally knew about the existence of martial arts and internal energy.

However, as he grew up, he realized that the martial arts in TV shows were all fake. But after embarking on the path of cultivation, he occasionally pondered that the so-called martial arts and internal energy might be a weaker version of cultivation techniques.

Like Chen Fan, although he was only at the early stage of foundation-building, he had the strength to punch through steel plates and kick down trees, and could jump several meters high. Not to mention the true essence in his body, which would make him a formidable martial artist in a martial arts novel.

The internal energy or true qi of the woman with the ponytail was far inferior in quality to a cultivator's true essence.

This was like the difference between gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel.

Martial artists were like gasoline, suitable for small cars. A cultivator's true essence was like aviation fuel, capable of powering planes and even rockets! Although they were both fuels, the difference was vast.

Not to mention, as a cultivator's cultivation progressed, they could use various spells, abilities, and magical treasures, even harnessing the power of heaven and earth.

This was something that martial artists relying solely on internal energy could never achieve.

Understanding this, Chen Fan realized how far this woman was from a true cultivator.

Chen Fan relaxed and watched the woman's boxing, shaking his head.

His head-shaking didn't bother him, but the woman with the ponytail and well-endowed chest couldn't stand it. She had already been annoyed by his constant staring and head-shaking, as if her boxing was mediocre.

This woman was also a proud person. She immediately stopped her boxing, her beautiful face cold, and walked up to him.

"What are you shaking your head for? Do you even understand what you're looking at?"