After breaking through, I stayed seated for a moment, feeling the difference. From Tier 1 peak to Tier 2, my strength had more than doubled—almost tripled. A Tier 1 cultivator was still within the range of what a normal human body could theoretically reach through years of conditioning alone. Tier 2 was something else entirely.
I got up, cleaned the room, and started refining again.
More days passed. The silver accumulated steadily. I almost never spent the profits, saving everything toward a Tier 3 manual tho there were some expections. The routine was the same as always: refine, cultivate, sleep.
I browsed the market occasionally. Most of what was available were either incomplete techniques or items with close to no practical value. But one afternoon, I found something worth buying—a purification formation. Unlike most formations, it didn't require spiritual stones to activate. It drew Qi directly from the surrounding air instead.
I bought it immediately and started studying it.
Once I had the basics down, I incorporated it into my refining setup. First, I drew the main rune—an inverted triangle. Around it, I drew the side runes. Though they were called side runes, it was actually a rune language. I didn't know what it truly meant; I simply copied the image from the book.
To activate it, I squeezed a drop of my own blood onto the center. The manual said the formation automatically gathered Qi from the air, but the process still needed a catalyst to start. The effect was immediate. The formation started, and the dust and air residue were pushed back, keeping the area around the furnace perfectly clear.
Tho my pills didn't reach mid-grade mortal quality, but they were better than before. they had stronger effects. The formation cost one hundred silver, but thanks to the increased quality, I was able to raise my price from five silver a pill to eight. It was a solid profit.
Time passed without much changing. I stuck to my routine and continued cultivating with the Tier 2 manual while waiting to buy a Tier 3.
The only problem was the immense price jump. A good Tier 2 manual cost around one hundred and fifty silver. But Tier 3 manuals ranged from one hundred to five hundred gold. With one gold being equal to a hundred silver, the difference was staggering.
The reason was the fundamental shift in the cultivation process. Tiers 1 and 2 were just about strengthening your meridians. But after Tier 2, you had to start connecting all of them to build something similar to a Dantian.
Because of that structural change, there were no true "Tier 3 only" manuals. They were all continuums meant to take you to Tier 6. The manuals that cost five hundred gold were usually fragments of Tier 9 ones. They had better efficacy and prepared your foundation for the peak of the mortal realm. Buying one meant you wouldn't have to tear down your progress and start over when you eventually needed to transition from a Tier 6 manual to a Tier 9.