One hour later.

  Linguang City Upper District, in front of the Grand Elevator.

  Xia Li stepped out of the observation elevator. The scenery before him was completely different from the dirty, run-down Lower District. The Upper District was a true future city where greenery and technology merged perfectly.

  Plants were seamlessly integrated into every corner of the city, but never dominated—only serving as accents.

  Almost all billboards were holographic projections. Between skyscrapers, hundred-meter-tall holographic women danced.

  Various holographic images flew through the sky above the city—goldfish, dragons and phoenixes, and things Xia Li couldn't even name.

  "Compared to this, the Lower District might as well be living five hundred years in the past."

  Seeing the Upper District's splendor, Xia Li couldn't help but sigh. It seemed the new era hadn't eliminated class divisions—it had widened the gap even further.

  Despite completely liberating productive forces, the lower classes lived even worse than five hundred years ago. Lower District residents didn't even have the privilege of being exposed to wind, sun, and rain.

  "Whatever. Thinking about this is useless. Better get my business done."

  Xia Li opened his map and began searching for his destination. Someone like him with no property in the Upper District had to pay a fee just to be there.

  One spirit stone per day, deducted directly from his bank account.

  And the Upper District's spiritual energy concentration wasn't even that high—just 0.001%, which was admittedly far ahead of the Lower District, but couldn't hold a candle to Fenghe City.

  He quickly arrived at the Upper District's department store and walked into a shop selling enhancement serums.

  The store's merchandise was dazzling. Various serums were displayed in glass cases, with manufacturers and effects clearly labeled.

  Walking to the Qi Refining serum section, a well-dressed female attendant approached to ask what he needed.

  What surprised Xia Li was that she didn't look down on his shabby clothes.

  "What kind of serum are you looking for, sir? Specific enhancement, or attribute constitution serums?"

  "Attribute constitution serums."

  Xia Li specified what he wanted. In the other world, so-called talent mostly related to spiritual roots and constitution.

  Spiritual roots...

  The Spirit Core was his spiritual root. He could swap it anytime.

  As for constitution...

  Inject serums!

  One shot and you'd have a fire spirit body, water spirit body, whatever you wanted.

  "What attribute would you like?"

  "I'd prefer a non-elemental spirit body. It can be weak now, but with high growth potential."

  Xia Li wasn't foolish enough to rush for a spirit body now only to narrow his future path, limiting himself to techniques matching that element.

  After all, Earth's spirit bodies weren't natural. Natural spirit bodies gave bonuses for corresponding elements without penalties for others.

  Earth's serum-induced spirit bodies gave higher bonuses for corresponding elements, but severely weakened the effects of other elemental techniques.

  "Then I recommend these three serums."

  The attendant immediately led Xia Li to a display case.

  "Spirit Nurturing Serum. After use, you'll gain a Spirit Nurturing Body with all-around basic talent enhancement. The improvement isn't dramatic, but it won't alter your foundation."

  After introducing one, the attendant led Xia Li to another case.

  "Mystic Meridian Serum. After use, it significantly widens your meridians and has a chance to open acupoints. It also benefits physical cultivation. If your goal is the martial path, I highly recommend Mystic Meridian Serum."

  "Finally, there's Genesis Serum. Similar effects to Spirit Nurturing Serum, but with a chance to gain self-cultivation ability. You'd be able to cultivate without a Spirit Core or Heaven Chip."

  "If your goal is to reach higher and farther—realms that even Spirit Cores haven't reached yet—I strongly recommend this serum."

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  The attendant was very professional. Even knowing that realms beyond Spirit Core capability had been achieved by very few people globally, selling the product was what mattered.

  Genesis Serum and Spirit Nurturing Serum had similar effects, but their prices differed by nearly double.

  Spirit Nurturing Serum sold for three hundred spirit stones. Genesis Serum sold for six hundred forty-eight spirit stones.

  As for why 648 specifically, that traced back to a certain tradition from before the Spiritual Revival—supposedly a mystical number for verifying bloodlines.

  "I'll take the Genesis Serum."

  Xia Li hesitated only briefly before decisively choosing Genesis Serum.

  Most people on Earth couldn't self-cultivate and had to rely on Spirit Cores. Though self-cultivators were still outclassed by Spirit Core users, this concerned the future.

  The highest realm Spirit Cores could currently reach was peak Soul Transformation. Though news indicated that Golden Body-stage Spirit Cores had been developed, who knew when they'd hit the market.

  Golden Body—a realm unique to Earth's cultivation tradition, corresponding to Void Refining on the other side.

  After Soul Transformation, Earth's tradition diverged from the other world's.

  Because realms beyond Soul Transformation were calculated by the Heavenly Dao Computer. Earth's ancient tradition only went to Soul Transformation; everything after was explored by the new era.

  "Genesis Serum, is it? Would you like to use it now or have it packaged?"

  "Now."

  "By the way, spending over five hundred spirit stones in our store comes with a bonus. Add fifty spirit stones now for a bottle of Enhanced Surge Serum."

  "Add it!"

  Xia Li didn't hesitate. He was here to spend.

  Surge Serum—this was Earth's true "Surge Qi Pill."

  Earth had moved past the era of rolling pills. Now it was all about liquid serums—highly concentrated, fast-acting, easily absorbed, zero waste. Though not as convenient to store and transport as pills, they'd captured most of the market.

  One bottle of Surge Serum was more effective than ten Surge Qi Pills taken together. And taking ten at once would make you explode, but injections wouldn't.

  Excess medicinal properties would accumulate in the body and release slowly. That was technology!

  "Sir, I'm detecting that your Spirit Core's functionality is slightly insufficient. Would you like to..."

  "Give me a discount and I'll upgrade."

  Xia Li knew these mall tricks. Want his spirit stones? Fine—just make the discount good enough!

  "Of course. Your purchase today qualifies you for Level 7 membership. I'd like to recommend the Speed Cultivation Type-4 at a discounted price of ninety-eight spirit stones. This Spirit Core has excellent conversion efficiency and supports up to Foundation Establishment."

  "Buy!"

  "Thank you for your purchase. We'll also include a free Spirit Core modification. Would you like to proceed?"

  "Tell me about the modification options."

  "Sacrifice performance in some areas to boost performance in others. Speed Cultivation Type-4 doesn't currently support lossless modification."

  "Then sacrifice capacity to further increase conversion efficiency."

  Xia Li figured as long as he could refine spiritual energy fast enough, smaller capacity didn't matter. He could just replenish frequently.

  "Understood. Please proceed to payment. Cash spirit stones or Heaven Chip payment?"

  "Heaven Chip."

  With that, Xia Li activated his Heaven Chip's payment function, linked to the store's account, and transferred the spirit stones. Total: 796 spirit stones.

  This used up almost all of his prepared eight hundred-plus stones.

  "Payment received. Please wait..."

  The attendant went to prepare. Though they weren't a Spirit Core specialty store, they had partnership arrangements with other stores. One contact and someone would deliver the Spirit Core immediately.