Chapter Forty-Five: Spending Money

As the shark fin entered his mouth, Qin Jing felt as if he exploded the very next moment!

Hot, unbearably hot!

Sweat poured forth at an alarming speed, soaking his clothes in an instant. Within seconds, Qin Jing realized his entire body felt as if it had turned to water.

An endless thirst surged through his nerves, and he grabbed the teapot, gulping down its contents in desperation.

A foul, intense stench assaulted his senses the next moment, but Qin Jing was utterly unable to move. He felt as if all his strength had been drained from him in an instant.

He thought he might faint, but at that critical moment, the spiritual power he had just cultivated from the "Six Stratagems" appeared within him, adding a sliver of energy. Even so, all he could do was quietly endure.

He had no idea how much time passed before the wondrous power finally faded away. An overwhelming hunger swept over him.

Fortunately, he had just cooked lunch with spirit rice. Crawling and stumbling to the rice cooker, he didn't care about appearances and began grabbing handfuls of rice, stuffing them into his mouth.

The spirit rice entered his stomach, dispersing into a gentle spiritual energy that began replenishing his lost strength...

After regaining some energy, Qin Jing rushed to the bathroom to shower.

When he had finally tidied himself up, night had already fallen outside.

He sat cross-legged again, circulating the "Six Stratagems," and instantly felt a difference from before. If previously his cultivation of the "Six Stratagems" was clumsy and slow, drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth bit by bit, now it felt as if he were a magnet—spiritual energy flowed to him naturally, transforming into spiritual power and becoming his own strength.

He even sensed a barrier—the wall that separated mortals from the extraordinary!

Before the resurgence of spiritual energy, breaking through from ordinary to extraordinary was impossible; the barrier was so thick that even the rarest geniuses couldn't breach it. Even now, breaking through required deep fortune and powerful aptitude—people like Hathaway and Zheng Qiuyin were among the chosen few of this era.

But now, after only a single day of cultivation, Qin Jing could sense the barrier. This meant that his aptitude had been vastly improved in that brief period—and this was just one-tenth of the shark fin's effect!

"Within ten days, I must finish the shark fin!"

Qin Jing silently made up his mind. He even decided to temporarily halt his cultivation. Zheng Qiuyin had once said that to ascend to the first extraordinary level, one needed to build up steadily; the higher your aptitude, the deeper your accumulation, and the broader your future path.

Since he could secure a brighter future, why not strive for it? Qin Jing thought greedily. He had no fear of the current environment. In the cold sea where even a level-three extraordinary like Hathaway could rule, and with the protection of three level-nine extraordinary alchemical puppets, Qin Jing saw no danger for himself.

"In fact, I can continue trading, use an exclusive sales strategy, get more magical shark fin from Jenny, push my aptitude to the limit. No, I should also take the other two snacks, bring my physique and mental strength to the peak of ordinary humans, and then, in the most perfect state, ascend to the first extraordinary level!"

"Of course, to become stronger, g-points are essential. Every call with Jenny costs 30g, and transferring items costs another 10g—40g is equivalent to 400,000 yuan. My cultivation is more expensive than those pay-to-win mobile games."

After making these plans for the future in his heart, Qin Jing then ate 1g each of the magical matcha cookie and the magical mille-feuille. Compared to the magical shark fin, these two "snacks" were a bit inferior. They didn't transform him as dramatically, but even so, he felt his muscles stronger, his mind sharper, and experienced a refreshing clarity, as if the world itself had become brighter.

What surprised him most was that, after eating the magical mille-feuille, his mild nearsightedness completely disappeared—his eyesight even improved.

But there was one small frustration...

Years of irregular battles with Chen Hua had left Qin Jing somewhat "weak" in that regard, perhaps even contributing to their breakup. After all, young men and women have strong needs.

After eating the magical mille-feuille, Qin Jing was stunned to feel his waist filled with heat, and that part of him stood tall and firm. He even wondered—was it his imagination, or had it grown longer, thicker, harder?

Well, for a man, this was a happy dilemma. That night, for the first time in ages, Qin Jing opened his computer, found the hidden folder on his g-drive, and played a few videos...

The next day

"A wonderful new day!"

Qin Jing rose early, standing at the shop's entrance, stretching under the morning sun, feeling his spirit and energy fuller than ever—his whole state was unprecedentedly good.

"Good morning, Xiao Qin. Tsk tsk, look at you, glowing with health. How much did you make yesterday?"

Old Song was up as usual, feeding his old yellow dog at the door.

"Haha, not much, just over ten million."

"Pfft, who'd believe that? If you said your recycling business made a hundred thousand in a good day, I'd believe it. Besides, in business, you need capital, right?"

Capital? Do g-points count?

Qin Jing smiled to himself, but he wouldn't say such things—not even joking.

Seeing his silence, Old Song remembered he'd spent a small yellow fish for some spirit rice yesterday. Maybe Qin Jing really had made a tidy profit. He sidled over, grinning. "So, what's your plan for spending your earnings? Want to check out some of my antiques?"

"Another day. Honestly, I've always coveted your stuff, but today I have things to do."

Old Song's collection was already clearly marked on the recovery map, and there were a few good items, but Qin Jing didn't have time today.

"Things to do? Not opening the shop?"

Old Song was surprised. In his eyes, Qin Jing was a reliable businessman. Surely he wasn't closing shop just because he made a bit of money?

"If you make money, naturally you have to think about how to spend it."

Qin Jing smiled, closed the door, waved to Old Song, and walked away.

"Don't splurge too much, kid. At your age, you ought to be thinking about settling down. And the price of houses in Cold Sea is no joke..."

Old Song's voice drifted after him, and Qin Jing felt a bit moved. This old neighbor had always looked after him. Selling him spirit rice yesterday was really no loss.

"But, about the house..."

Qin Jing mused as he walked out of Erdaozi Alley, luxuriously hailed a taxi, and gave the destination.

No rush for a house. Yesterday's ten million was already down to three million, and with previous savings, barely 3.8 million. That met the down payment for a regular apartment, but with GDP points, he should get a small villa, right? It's just a million or so more.

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Recommended: a friend's new book, "That Person Is Shining." It's a sci-fi work with settings similar to "Lord of the Mysteries." If interested, check it out.