Suijun starts with the principle of rewarding diligence.

Seeing that the values ​​on the panel were still increasing, Bu Qu's mind gradually calmed down.

"In other words, a progress level of 300 is merely a threshold for advancing to the next rank. I suppose the difference in spiritual energy concentration that Senior Brother He mentioned is reflected on the panel in this way."

Once he understood this, he was overjoyed.

A towering building rises from the ground. The stronger the foundation, the greater the future achievements.

He is a late-game hero with innate Sky Spirit Power, so naturally he's not in a hurry.

"If I absorb and convert all the spiritual energy contained within the Crimson Scale Sturgeon, my progress will reach one thousand. That means, for the same stage, my spiritual energy reserves are more than three times that of an ordinary cultivator! Hehe, that's pretty strong."

Bu Qu smiled, a grin spreading across his face, a new idea forming in his mind: 'If I absorb all the Crimson Scaled Sturgeon and then eat another one, could I grind the progress to two thousand? ...Won't that burst my meridians?'

After thinking for a moment, he decided to take a nap first.

After staying up for so long, the excitement wore off, and a strong feeling of drowsiness began to wash over me.

Anyway, it's not a cloudy day today, so we won't be able to catch any red-scaled sturgeon.

Even if you can grind the progress to 2,000, you still need to have Red Scaled Sturgeon to eat.

When I woke up, it was already bright daylight.

I glanced at the panel, and the progress had already reached 388! And it was still rising, showing no signs of stopping.

Bu Qu pondered for a moment: 'At this rate, it'll probably take absorbing all the spiritual energy contained within the entire Crimson Scaled Sturgeon before advancing to the next level. Senior Brother He also said that ten Crimson Scaled Sturgeons are needed to cultivate spiritual energy to perfection.'

He nodded and busied himself on the boat for a while.

After filling their stomachs, they went into the water.

It can both accelerate the absorption of spiritual energy and improve the progress of water control, achieving two goals at once!

Buqu submerged himself in the water and quickly descended.

Before long, he arrived at the deep pit at the bottom of the lake.

I looked up and down; the pit was pitch black, and I couldn't see anything.

His current water control range is only two levels, meaning that his bright field of vision in the water is only about two feet.

Beyond this distance, it depends on the original brightness of the underwater environment.

There is a type of planktonic organism on the bottom of the deep lake that looks like a glowing squid.

These glowing squid, like stars, illuminated the dark lakebed.

Buqu used his water-controlling technique to push a glowing squid into the deep pit.

The glowing squid was swept several feet into the deep pit by the impact of the water flow.

Using the light emitted by the squid, Buqu could see that the rock walls of the deep pit were uneven and covered with reddish aquatic plants, which looked like some kind of algae.

As for how deep the pit was, he still couldn't tell.

The glowing squid was startled by a strange current of water, causing it to curl up into a ball, its body radiating a golden light, as if surrounded by subtle electric currents.

After a while, the glowing squid, finding nothing else amiss, returned to normal and quickly fled the pit.

Bu Qu wondered to himself, 'How deep is this pit? Could there be a treasure fish hiding inside?'

With his current abilities, he is not yet able to explore in depth.

After all, he can only move underwater for three hundred breaths now.

If you dive too deep and can't come back, then it's not worth dying so badly.

Buqu suppressed his desire to explore and quickly returned to the lake.

With twice the water pressure, it can submerge to a depth of several dozen feet in no more than ten breaths.

The art of water control has another hidden advantage: it can ignore water pressure.

This trait gave him the ability to explore rivers, lakes, and seas.

Without this trait, the body would have to withstand an extra atmosphere of pressure for every three zhang (approximately 13 meters) of descent.

He was so deep in the water that he was overwhelmed by the pressure without even needing anyone else to help him.

Even those who practice martial arts and Taoist cultivation will experience some degree of exhaustion when resisting this pressure; the deeper they dive, the greater the burden becomes.

.....

Two days later.

Buqu caught another red-scaled sturgeon, hung it at the stern of the boat, and resisted the urge to eat it directly.

I glanced at the panel:

[Progress: 996/300]

[To be digested: 5]

"Wait a little longer, let it digest before eating."

Bu Qu sat at the stern of the boat, watching the numbers jump up and down with bated breath.

997 ....

998 ....

999 ..

The panel flashed twice the moment the value jumped to 999:

[Spiritual Power: Level 1]

[Progress: 0/300]

"Is it full at 999? There are still 2 points left?"

After pondering for a moment, Bu Qu concluded that 999 was probably the upper limit that each level of spiritual power could reach.

As for the remaining two points... the natural losses during leveling up?

He closed his eyes and looked inward, discovering that his meridians, nourished by spiritual energy, seemed to have been reborn, and he had gained a greater affinity for spiritual energy.

With a balance of tension and relaxation, spiritual energy, like silk threads and mist, filled the space.

Bu Qu tried to use the water control technique, but soon discovered that the spiritual energy in his meridians would slowly deplete and become thin.

However, when he stops controlling the water and sits cross-legged to cultivate, he can draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body and transform it into his own spiritual power.

The speed at which spiritual energy is replenished is much faster than the speed at which spiritual energy is refined.

"At this rate of recovery, even if I use up all my spiritual energy, I only need to meditate cross-legged for an hour to replenish it. So there's no need to be too frugal."

He had been worried about the depletion of his spiritual energy, but now he realized he had been worrying unnecessarily.

Buqu scooped up the red-scaled sturgeon hanging at the stern of the boat and ate it with gusto.

He then continued to sit cross-legged and relentlessly launched an attack on the second stage of spiritual power.

[Spiritual Power: Level 1]

[Progress: 3/300]

[To be digested: 1001]

[Estimated digestion time: 50 hours]

Looking at the panel, Bu Qu discovered that the spiritual power contained in each red-scaled sturgeon was not exactly the same.

Fish vary in length and weight, and the spiritual energy they contain will naturally differ as well.

Fortunately, they are all around 1000, which is basically enough to meet the upper limit of the spiritual power requirement for each level.

After guiding the spiritual energy through his body for one cycle, he opened his eyes.

His eyes were bright and sparkling, as if they held stars.

The scene before my eyes was clearer than ever before.

This is the benefit of cultivation. Even without knowing the Five Elements techniques, the physical enhancement alone is captivating.

Bu Qu glanced at the sky and said happily, "I'm lucky today, it's another overcast day. Later, I'll catch another red-scaled sturgeon, just in case. If one isn't enough, I can immediately eat another to replenish it. I'll make sure I cultivate each stage of spiritual energy to its limit!"

.....

In the blink of an eye, Buqu had been living on the lake for ten days.

I haven't been idle during this time either.

The red-scaled sturgeon ate three, and one was still hanging from the stern of the boat.

He sat cross-legged at the stern of the boat, waiting for his spiritual power to break through.

Shortly afterward, the panel showed new changes:

[Spiritual Power: Level 3]

[Progress: 0/900]

"Hmm? 900? Does upgrading from level three to level four require 900 progress points?"

Bu Qu thought for a moment, then said, "That makes sense. Senior Brother He mentioned before that there's a bottleneck every three stages. It seems we've reached that bottleneck. He said there's no bottleneck problem when cultivating with the Crimson Scaled Sturgeon, probably because the Crimson Scaled Sturgeon contains enough spiritual energy."

He ate the red-scaled sturgeon hanging at the stern of the boat, and only opened his eyes after guiding his spiritual energy through his body for a full cycle.

"Judging by the time, if I go back to the county town now, I probably won't make it in time for the spirit-testing at the Taoist temple. Oh well, Senior Brother He didn't say I had to go, so I might as well not go."

But he still had to go back to the county town.

The ship's supplies are running low, and we need to go back to replenish them.