No way I can sit still at work anymore—getting rich so suddenly makes me feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles. And the drool in my mouth? I simply can’t control it. Long before the lower emissary shift ended, I grabbed a few boxes and went home.

"Don’t disturb me."

I left these words with Hu Tian, slammed the door, and locked myself in the study.

First thing, forget everything else. I opened one box of low-grade pills—inside, a full hundred pills dazzled my eyes. I recognized all of them; they were the Small Nourishing Pills I always dreamed about!

I crossed my legs, regulated my breath, calmed my mind, and steadied my spirit.

Better take one and satisfy the craving first.

"Huh?! What’s going on? Why does the energy in this pill feel different?"

This was my first time taking an elixir after breaking through to the Gathering Spirit Realm. Previously, I relied on the energy stored in the Black Beast Tattoo at my chest from the Soul Furnace for "natural" cultivation, mainly to strengthen my foundation. Now that my foundation was stable, I wanted to use this elixir to push my realm further, but swallowing a Small Nourishing Pill actually made me realize things weren’t the same anymore.

Before, taking a Small Nourishing Pill felt like a cool breeze filling my belly, spreading through my whole body. But as I consumed more, the effect dulled; the cooling sensation gradually faded into almost nothing.

This time, one Small Nourishing Pill brought back that original cooling experience, surprising and delighting me at the same time.

Even more surprising, the medicinal power didn’t weaken as it usually would.

What’s going on?

To figure it out, I went ahead and swallowed four Small Nourishing Pills in a row, and reflected on each one carefully. Slowly, I understood what was happening.

The root of it all was still the Black Beast Tattoo at my chest. At some point, a barely detectable force extended from the various acupuncture points in my chest and spread throughout my body, forming a tight network. This network locked in the medicinal power that would usually dissipate due to resistance, sealing it in my meridians and absorbing every last bit.

"I never had this before. Could it be that after entering the Gathering Spirit Realm, the Black Beast Tattoo’s abilities grew stronger?" I could only guess wildly. When it came to the tattoo’s abilities and uncontrollability, I was utterly clueless.

Another interesting observation: the Black Beast Tattoo’s "feeding urge" doesn’t include elixirs!

I’ve eaten Yin Tofu—the taste of Xizhilan jelly; eaten Life Soul—sour plum powder; eaten Soul Furnace—deluxe sour plum powder; eaten Evil Core—salty chocolate.

But with elixirs, I’ve never felt that out-of-control feeding urge. I used to think Small Nourishing Pills were too low-grade to trigger the Black Beast Tattoo. But now, in front of me, are hundreds of pills, including a top-grade Treasure Pill, yet the tattoo remains utterly sluggish, showing no response.

Elixirs are also energy, so why don’t they trigger the tattoo’s reaction?

This is what interests me the most.

Listing all my past experiences, I quickly found a common thread: every item that triggered the Black Beast Tattoo’s "feeding urge" was tightly connected to the soul—Yin Tofu, Life Soul, Soul Furnace, Evil Core.

But the essential nature of an elixir? It’s made from medicinal herbs—nothing to do with the soul.

Following this logic, is it safe to say that the Black Beast Tattoo only feels a feeding urge towards soul-type items? At least right now, that seems to be the case.

This discovery made me excited. For the first time, I got a small grasp on the tattoo imprinted on my body.

My thoughts cycled around and came back to the present. Since the Black Beast Tattoo doesn’t lose control over elixirs—probably because a Great Realm breakthrough granted it new abilities—this gives me an advantage no one else can match.

For cultivators like Tang Qingyuan, elixirs aren’t just for consumption—they’re something halfway between "silver coins" and "spirit stones," serving as "substitute currency." Especially the Small Nourishing Pills, now useless for him, are valued this way.

But for me now, elixirs are just there to be eaten—no currency function at all. Eating them gives me the highest benefit.

Because now when I take pills, I don’t develop resistance! That is, while others can only get effects from a hundred Small Nourishing Pills and then need to hunt down higher grade pills—repeating the cycle of resistance—I never encounter that problem.

Forget a hundred—eat ten thousand and the taste and effect stay exactly the same.

To test my theory, I bravely swallowed twenty Small Nourishing Pills one after another, reflecting on each one in detail. From start to finish, the effect didn’t diminish at all, and that magical network from the Black Beast Tattoo didn’t fade or weaken in the slightest.

I actually wanted to keep going, but after more than twenty Small Nourishing Pills, the massive energy flooding my body made me too scared to eat more.

Because when I came back to myself—I’d broken through.

Gathering Spirit Realm Second Layer!

Just like that, smoothly and effortlessly—a seamless breakthrough.

This wasn’t just the work of today’s twenty Small Nourishing Pills, but also thanks to the daily flow of Soul Furnace energy from my Black Beast Tattoo over the past two months.

One Small Realm breakthrough won’t bring much change in strength. Accumulation is key. But one thing I can’t afford to slack on: consolidating my realm. This concerns my future path, so with each breakthrough, I make sure my realm is stabilized to the optimum before moving forward again.

After calming my True Qi, I felt my veins slowly widening again, and my Sea of Consciousness showed signs of expanding.

This is the increased upper limit from raising my realm.

Most cultivators won’t experience what I do. They can’t breakthrough with each realm pushed to the absolute limit—unlike me, always hammering through my ceiling and feeling each new cap clear as day after a raise in realm.

Cultivation finished, I glanced out the window—still deep night. Wide awake, I got up for a glass of water, then started sorting through the inventory in my boxes.

Looking at the middle grade pills, there are mainly two categories: the most common is the Great Nourishing Pill—each one equals ten Small Nourishing Pills in effect, and they’re also for cultivators who’ve developed resistance to Small Nourishing Pills. Then there are supportive elixirs like Blood Supplement Pill.

If this were before, I’d have been incredibly excited. But now, I’m actually pretty calm.

No more resistance—unless it’s a special functional high grade pill, simply energy-providing high grade pills don’t interest me anymore.

They’re all for the same use anyway—eating low grade is more cost-effective, tastes better, so why waste money?

Fortunately, the top-grade Treasure Pill I embezzled this time isn’t just an energy provider—it’s a functional pill.

"Ten Thousand Spirits Pill? Hmm... Isn’t that a detoxification elixir?"