These acceleration methods either require powerful divine or demonic blood, or top-tier heavenly treasures, and more or less all have some side effects.

“Plan Nine: Areas rich in vital energy. The distribution of vital energy across the myriad worlds is uneven—some places are barren, others are abundant. The passive tempering of the nine orifices in the Kaiyuan Realm is related to the amount of vital energy present…”

“Note:

Vital Energy Holy Lands: Battlefield of the Heavens, Academy Secret Realms, Human Realm Holy Lands…”

Seeing this plan, Ethan Sutton was slightly stunned.

Areas rich in vital energy!

In the Kaiyuan Realm, one actually can’t sense the existence of vital energy, but he also knew that Nanyuan City was by no means a place abundant in vital energy.

“I’ve heard of this before—the bigger the city, the more of a holy land it is, the faster cultivation goes. This should be related to the amount of vital energy.”

The teachers in Nanyuan wouldn’t mention these things, because even if they did, it would be pointless.

These days, moving house isn’t that simple.

“So, if you could go to a big city, or to some secret realm or holy land, you could safely accelerate your cultivation, but the speed isn’t that fast—not as efficient as the previous methods.”

Abundant vital energy only increases the speed a bit, it’s not like the previous methods where you achieve instant results.

Even so, Ethan Sutton still longed for it a little.

Unfortunately, he had no way to access any of the vital energy holy lands listed above.

The Battlefield of the Heavens goes without saying; as for the Academy Secret Realms, he’d heard higher academies had them, but he wasn’t sure about the details. The Human Realm Holy Lands were even more out of reach.

“Plan Ten: Vital Energy Liquid.”

“Vital energy liquid can be naturally formed or artificially produced. In places with abundant vital energy across the myriad worlds, some vital energy liquid may be born, condensed from extremely dense vital energy, and is extremely rare.”

“Artificially produced, it is condensed by a Soaring Realm expert gathering vital energy.”

“The effect is comparable to that of areas rich in vital energy.”

“……”

Don’t even think about the natural kind. As for the artificial kind… Soaring Realm!

Ethan Sutton gave a bitter smile again. What is the Soaring Realm?

Thousand Jun and Ten Thousand Stone are still just physical enhancements. He didn’t know much about the Soaring Realm, but he knew it was a realm above Ten Thousand Stone. At that point, humans could soar through the air and conquer the skies.

The Soaring Realm is a major transformation. Are there people in the vast Nanyuan City who have reached the Soaring Realm?

Maybe, like the city lord of Nanyuan.

But is that someone Ethan Sutton could even approach?

At Nanyuan’s middle academy, the strongest was the headmaster, who had only just entered the Ten Thousand Stone Realm not long ago.

If the Ten Thousand Stone Realm could condense vital energy liquid, with the headmaster’s personality, Ethan Sutton might have been able to ask for a drop or two. But the key is, the headmaster can’t do it.

“Not a single reliable one!”

Ethan Sutton complained. No wonder these books were tossed in the corner.

For people like Ethan Sutton, none of these plans were feasible.

The simplest possibility was to go to a place rich in vital energy, or to obtain vital energy liquid. But even the lowest grade of vital energy liquid was related to the Soaring Realm, which was still unimaginably far from Ethan Sutton.

His father had reached the seventh level of Thousand Jun eighteen years ago, but over the years, because Nanyuan’s vital energy wasn’t abundant and he’d lost his military resource supply, he’d only reached the ninth level of Thousand Jun by now.

Even so, in Nanyuan City, that was already considered an accomplished person. Of course, his father didn’t see it that way. Before rejoining the army, he’d always worked as a supervisor in the traffic department, living a leisurely life.

If it weren’t for taking care of Ethan Sutton, with Logan Sutton’s ninth-level Thousand Jun strength, it wouldn’t have been a problem to secure a good position in Nanyuan City.

“None of it’s going to work!”

Ethan Sutton flipped through the books again, and soon put them back in place.

After thinking for a moment, Ethan Sutton walked over to Grace Miller, showing a hint of apology. “Grace Miller, sorry to bother you, is it okay?”

Grace Miller put down the book in her hand, looked at Ethan Sutton, and smiled softly, “Go ahead.”

“I haven’t really paid much attention to cultivation matters these past years. Do you know about vital energy liquid?”

“You want to buy vital energy liquid?”

Grace Miller immediately understood. The books Ethan Sutton was reading were the ones she’d recommended, so of course she’d read them too.

“Vital energy liquid… this is a strategic resource. There’s no way to buy it in Nanyuan City.”

“But over in Daxia Prefecture, you can, though you need to register with your real name to purchase it.”

“There are many types of vital energy liquid. The liquid condensed by experts of different realms is different. For the Kaiyuan Realm, the liquid condensed by Soaring Realm experts is actually the most suitable, because it’s cheaper and the vital energy isn’t too concentrated, which actually helps with opening orifices. If it’s too dense, it can harm the body.”

“But… the price isn’t low!”

“Even for vital energy liquid condensed by a Soaring Realm expert, it takes three days to condense a single drop. But Soaring Realm experts also need to cultivate and need vital energy themselves. Unless they’re really short on money, very few are willing to condense it…”

As Grace Miller spoke, she looked at Ethan Sutton, “Ethan Sutton, there’s really no need to buy it. It’s too much of a waste! And vital energy liquid only increases the concentration of vital energy, it doesn’t guarantee you’ll open your orifices.”

“I know, thank you. How much is a drop of Soaring Realm vital energy liquid?”

Ethan Sutton certainly knew it wasn’t cheap, but he still wanted to ask. When his father left, he’d left him quite a bit of money.

Or rather, all the family’s savings were with Ethan Sutton, since going to the Battlefield of the Heavens was too dangerous, and Logan Sutton was worried he might not come back.

“100,000 Anping coins!”

“……”

Ethan Sutton’s heart clenched. 100,000 for a single drop!