Bidding farewell to Du Jian, Bai Yu fell into deep thought.

"Immortals? It's still too early to make contact."

From the first day he transmigrated, he knew that this world had cultivators.

Occasionally, cultivators from major sects would descend to the mortal realm to recruit disciples.

However, as a Changsheng, Bai Yu did not plan to interact with cultivators too soon.

In the path of immortality, there are too many uncontrollable forces, and the possibility of unexpected dangers is high. Who knows what kind of risks one might face?

Therefore, only by accumulating enough strength in the mortal world can one begin to explore the path of immortality.

Bai Yu turned to Old Mo and said:

"Old Mo, remember, the first principle for us Changsheng is to fight beyond our level."

"At least one level higher, preferably two. If it's a whole realm higher, even better."

"A Stage Three Martial Artist surpasses Stage Two, Stage Two surpasses Stage One, a Grandmaster surpasses an ordinary martial artist."

"Once we've accumulated strength comparable to mid-level cultivators, we'll explore the path of immortality."

Old Mo feigned surprise and barked a few times.

It meant: This kid is terrifying, he has already grasped the essence of the path of survival.

It pretended to grin and grimace, amusing Bai Yu.

The man and the dog played around.

On the way back, Bai Yu fell into worry again.

The reason? He was a bit short on money.

His own savings, plus some spoils from the Chen Family, weren't much.

He had spent quite a bit on the way to River City.

Rural bullies and city officials are different; cash is scarce, and most wealth is in land and property.

Living in River City is not easy.

The monthly salary is only a hundred wen, and a bowl of scallion noodles costs two wen.

He could buy coarse rice to cook himself, but it's not cheap either.

In Peach Blossom Village, a jin of coarse rice costs one wen, but in River City, it's three wen.

Bai Yu's monthly salary is only enough for dozens of jin of coarse rice.

The gap in his monthly salary is large, so he can only hope to earn some extra money, like with Du Jian.

The work at the Charity Mortuary, the extra income is significant.

But making money off the dead, Bai Yu couldn't bring himself to do it.

This kind of bottom line, once broken, is hard to return to.

Although he still had some savings, living off them wasn't a solution.

But to make money, he couldn't rush; it had to be done step by step.

In the days that followed, Bai Yu conducted funeral processions by day and practiced martial arts by night.

Life was simple yet fulfilling.

One night, Bai Yu was practicing with a knife in the small courtyard.

Under the moonlight, the firewood knife swung, its blade like lightning.

Bai Yu, in high spirits, channeled qi through his arms and slashed horizontally.

The blade flashed like lightning, and a piece of wood as thick as a fist was cut in half with a perfectly smooth cut.

He exhaled a long breath, as if he had realized something.

Looking at the panel, the Soul Severing Blade had broken through, advancing to the First Glimpse of the Path!

With the Soul Severing Blade at the entry level, his strength had improved significantly.

In high spirits, Bai Yu practiced the Five Elements Fist once more.

After completing the routine, he felt completely refreshed.

At this moment, a voice came from outside the courtyard:

"Xiao Bai, have you recently broken through a realm?"

Bai Yu turned to see Daoist Lin Jiu.

"Uncle Jiu, please come in and have a seat."

"I've indeed recently broken through to Stage One Flesh Refining."

This was precisely the first step of Bai Yu's plan.

To slightly reveal his strength.

The identity of a Stage One Martial Artist would make earning money much easier.

Daoist Lin Jiu pushed the door open and sat on a bamboo chair.

Bai Yu hurriedly poured him a cup of tea.

Lin Jiu nodded lightly and said:

"I can tell, Xiao Bai, you practice martial arts diligently, no wonder you've broken through a realm."

"However, there's a problem with your fist technique."

Bai Yu was taken aback and quickly asked:

"Uncle Jiu, what problem did you find?"

Lin Jiu said:

"The more you practice this fist technique, the more your qi and blood deplete."

Bai Yu feigned surprise:

"Uncle Jiu, you could see that? Indeed, the more I practice, the more my qi and blood deplete, and I don't know why."

Lin Jiu took a sip of tea and smiled faintly:

"The reason is that your fist technique has only the form, not the method."

"It's fortunate that you have extraordinary talent, to be able to enter the Flesh Refining Realm with this fist technique."

He wasn't wrong.

If Bai Yu didn't have the Record of World Burials to supplement his qi and blood through funeral processions, he might have become a dried corpse by now.

Lin Jiu said solemnly:

"From now on, you must not practice it anymore. Continuing will shorten your lifespan."

"Qi and blood are the foundation of a martial artist. Only with abundant qi and blood can you progress further."

"If you keep depleting, not only will you have no hope of advancing, but you'll also damage your essence."

Bai Yu added more tea for Lin Jiu and asked:

"Uncle Jiu, if I want to advance further, how can I resolve this?"

Lin Jiu said:

"There is a way, just switch to a different cultivation technique."

"I see your fist technique follows the cycle of the five elements, similar to a technique called the Five Spirit Fist."

"If you obtain the Five Spirit Fist, you can directly switch techniques."

Bai Yu's eyes lit up and he asked:

"Uncle Jiu, where can I find this Five Spirit Fist technique?"

Lin Jiu blew on his tea and said:

"Generally, cultivation techniques are not shared. Even if some martial halls are willing to teach, the tuition isn't cheap."

"But you can try your luck at the black market."

"The Five Spirit Fist is a Yellow Rank High Grade technique, and even on the black market, it might cost dozens of taels of silver."

Bai Yu felt a bit helpless.

Dozens of taels of silver, how long would he have to work to save up?

But taking this opportunity, he could ask Daoist Lin more about certain things.

"Uncle Jiu, you mentioned Yellow Rank High Grade techniques. How are these techniques classified?"

Lin Jiu chuckled and said:

"Both cultivation techniques and martial skills are divided into four ranks: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow, each rank further divided into upper, middle, and lower grades."

"The higher the quality of the technique, the faster the cultivation, and the stronger the power at the same realm."

Bai Yu nodded thoughtfully and asked:

"Oh, I see."

"Then, Uncle Jiu, what realms can we martial artists be divided into?"

Lin Jiu, in a talkative mood, explained to Bai Yu:

"This isn't a secret, so I'll tell you."

"As far as I know, martial artists can be divided into the Muscle Realm, Qi and Blood Realm, Divine Transformation Realm, and above that, the Gang-Sha Realm, Grandmaster, Great Grandmaster, Martial God, and Martial Saint."

"Each realm is further divided into three sub-realms, for example, the Muscle Realm is divided into Stage One Flesh Refining, Stage Two Tendon Forging, and Stage Three Skin Tempering."

"The Qi and Blood Realm can be divided into Stage Four Meridian Opening, Stage Five Bone Tempering, and Stage Six Organ Refining."

"Above Stage Three, you need to circulate qi and blood and condense True Qi, so abundant qi and blood are crucial."

Lin Jiu put down his teacup, stood up, and walked out, saying:

"Xiao Bai, sometimes recognizing your own strength is a good thing."

"Before acquiring a new fist technique, you must not practice anymore. Damaging your qi and blood foundation will make future progress difficult."

After sending off Daoist Lin Jiu, Bai Yu felt an even stronger urge to make money.

Eating, drinking, and living all require money, and switching to a better cultivation technique requires money too.

A single wen can stump a hero.

In the following days, Bai Yu didn't make any rash moves, suppressing his urge to make money and slowly integrating into the Charity Mortuary.

Mangzi, knowing Bai Yu possessed martial skills, felt even more guilty.

"What have I done? Xiao Bai has martial skills and doesn't hold it against me, what a good person."

He slapped himself hard again:

"I really deserve to die."

Even Immoral Wu, who visited every few days, paid more attention to Bai Yu.

He used to like giving a wen to have others buy him meat and tea.

A wen couldn't buy much meat, and the rest had to be covered by the attendants themselves.

After Bai Yu revealed his Flesh Refining Realm strength, Immoral Wu no longer ordered Bai Yu around like that.

Soon, Bai Yu had been at the Charity Mortuary for over a month.

Today was payday.

Immoral Wu handed out a hundred wen salary to Zhu Tong and the others.

Bai Yu expected to receive a hundred as well, but Immoral Wu rolled his eyes:

"Newcomers have half their salary withheld for the first six months, here's your fifty wen."

Bai Yu felt a chill in his heart.

The shortage of money was becoming more severe.

Immoral Wu patted Zhu Tong on the shoulder, encouraging everyone:

A quick look at "pawread dot com" will leave you more fulfilled.

"Work hard, and next year I'll find you a wife."

"As long as you work hard, I'll be able to get a new mount."

Bai Yu was speechless.

Truly, there's only a wrong name, not a wrong nickname.

Immoral Wu was truly immoral.

After Immoral Wu left, Mangzi spat hard.

"Bah, what a thing."

"If I become a great hero, the first thing I'll do is take his life."

Bai Yu smiled wryly and said:

"Well, at least we got paid, we can have a good meal."

Zhu Tong shook his head and said:

"Got paid? Xiao Bai, you're too naive. We got paid, but it's not fully ours yet."

Just then, a rough voice came from outside:

"Charity Mortuary, it's time to pay this month's protection fee."