After going downstairs for dinner, Andrew Grant didn’t linger outside and went straight back to his rented room.

When Andrew Grant returned, Julia Scott was washing the dishes, clearly just having finished dinner. Seeing that Andrew Grant had come back early and hadn’t wandered around outside, Julia Scott felt much more at ease.

He greeted Julia Scott with a smile, then continued upstairs. Passing by Henry Cole’s room, he saw him lying on the bed reading a novel—Huang Yi’s “A Step into the Past.” This novel had become extremely popular recently, and some of its descriptions were rather explicit. Perhaps because of this, when Henry Cole heard footsteps at the stairway, he hurriedly stuffed “A Step into the Past” under his pillow and pretended to be deep in thought. He just didn’t realize that the tent in his pants was standing tall.

“Damn, it’s just you!” As soon as Henry Cole saw it was Andrew Grant, he immediately rolled his eyes, then pulled “A Step into the Past” back out from under his pillow and continued reading.

“What novel are you reading, sneaking around like that?” Andrew Grant asked casually.

“Huang Yi’s novel ‘A Step into the Past.’ It’s really good. Do you want to read it? I’m on the third volume now, and I haven’t returned the first two yet. I can lend them to you,” Henry Cole said.

“Thanks, but I’ll stick to my own books.” Andrew Grant shook his head and left with a smile.

“Geez, working so hard even before school starts!” Henry Cole rolled his eyes again and buried himself back in his novel.

Andrew Grant returned to his room, closed the door, and instead of reading, sat cross-legged on the bed, focusing his mind and keeping his mind clear, practicing his daily meditation.

The cultivation method Andrew Grant practiced was called “The Profound Art of Nine Elixirs Embracing Simplicity,” a superior and mysterious technique. However, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was now so depleted and filled with turbid air that only during the hours of midnight and dawn could he barely cultivate. At other times, even the best techniques were basically ineffective. So usually, Andrew Grant used meditation to refine his spiritual power, which wasn’t affected by the changes in spiritual energy.

He had used a lot of mental energy drawing talismans today, so Andrew Grant needed to meditate in time to recover his spirit.

He sat like this until midnight, that is, from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Andrew Grant quietly opened his door, passed the stairway and the rooms behind, and went out to the balcony.

A bright moon hung in the sky, its silvery light pouring down, bringing a rare coolness to the summer night. At this hour, the once lively county town was especially quiet, with only the faint sound of insects chirping.

“Midnight is when yin is at its peak and yang is just born, the time when yin and yang alternate. It’s the best time of day for cultivation, and should be cherished.” Andrew Grant recalled Brian Clark’s words in his mind, while his body, out of habit, sat cross-legged with his hands cupped below his abdomen.

Soon, Andrew Grant’s belly began to rise and fall rhythmically, and at his nostrils, two faint streams of visible breath moved in and out, like someone exhaling in winter—white mist could be seen, though not as obvious.

The bright moon quietly slipped behind the clouds, and an hour quickly passed. Andrew Grant slowly opened his eyes, let out a gentle sigh, got up, returned to his bedroom, lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, and stared at the ceiling, looking a bit frustrated.

“The county has a high population density, crowded buildings, and plenty of factories. Even though I chose a place near the park and the hills, the air is still much more polluted than at Baiyun Mountain. Even at midnight, there’s barely any spiritual energy in the air. Ten sessions of cultivation here probably can’t compare to one session at Baiyun Mountain. But since I have to study in the county, it’s not practical to go back to Baiyun Mountain to cultivate. What should I do?” Andrew Grant stared at the ceiling, feeling the almost nonexistent increase in his internal power, and couldn’t help but feel troubled.

Ever since he received the inheritance two years ago, he had made rapid progress, with noticeable increases in his power after each cultivation session. But today, the improvement was almost imperceptible.

“It seems I can only try to find a way with elixirs or by setting up a spirit-gathering array. But refining elixirs requires rare herbs, and setting up a spirit-gathering array needs jade. I’m just a poor student from the mountains—where would I get the money to buy those?” Andrew Grant thought of two solutions, but as soon as he remembered how expensive the materials were for both, he felt even more frustrated and helpless.

Chapter 0014: A Thousand-Year-Old Wild Polygonum Multiflorum

“If nothing else works, I’ll just have to keep cultivating slowly like this. Over time, I’ll still make some progress.” After thinking for a long time without coming up with a good solution, Andrew Grant tried to comfort himself.

“But after graduating high school, I’ll definitely go to college. After that, I’ll have to enter society, work, and live—I can’t just become a hermit living deep in the mountains, cut off from the world. At this rate, the spiritual energy in big cities will probably be even scarcer. Am I really going to keep cultivating at this snail’s pace for the rest of my life?” Just as Andrew Grant had managed to comfort himself, he suddenly realized this wasn’t just a problem for the next three years of high school, but for his entire future cultivation, and he couldn’t help but feel troubled again.

“I absolutely can’t go on like this! Master taught me so much and placed such high hopes on me—how can I be so careless and discouraged? Besides, I was lucky enough to inherit the legacy of Samuel Grant, the great ancestor. If I waste such a great opportunity, I’d be asking for a bolt of lightning to strike me down.”