To be fair, five percent progress is actually pretty good.
Gaining basic proficiency in a supernatural power without even having acquired it yet—that was almost impossible before.
Aside from the gains in supernatural powers, Su Fan’s own cultivation level had also increased quite a bit.
He was now at 18% of the Yuqing Stage.
Thinking of this, Su Fan suddenly remembered the fortune-teller female ghost he had left behind in the shop.
With a single thought, a wisp of black energy emanated from the Tarot cards on the counter and condensed into a solid form.
The fortune-teller female ghost was now much stronger than before, yet she didn’t give off any black energy at all.
Because as her strength increased, she had learned to perfectly control her own yin energy.
But the main reason was that Su Fan, worried his antiques would be tainted by the yin energy, had scolded her more than once.
The fortune-teller female ghost who appeared looked at Su Fan, and before he could even open his mouth, she turned around to go get a broom.
“Stop, stop, stop!”
Su Fan’s face darkened as he immediately called out to stop her.
“I didn’t call you out this time to have you clean. Why are you so eager to volunteer…”
“…”
The fortune-teller female ghost stopped floating and looked at him, her eyes filled with confusion.
Faced with this deafening silence, Su Fan cleared his throat a little awkwardly.
“Let me ask you, while none of us were in the shop, how many demons showed up? Did any cultists try to sneak in and cause trouble?”
The protective arrays Dean and Sam had carved could only prevent demons or people possessed by demons from entering; they couldn’t keep out cultists whose minds had been twisted by evil.
That was exactly why Su Fan hadn’t taken the Tarot cards with him.
Seeing the fortune-teller female ghost nod, Su Fan thought to himself, Just as I expected.
Given what had happened earlier in the neighborhood, besides those who participated in the ritual, there were other scattered members causing trouble outside, and another group ready to provide support at any moment.
Their plan had been so meticulous, how could they have forgotten to raid Su Fan’s antique shop?
But since the antique shop was safe and sound, their fate was easy to imagine.
“How many?”
A Ten of Swords flew out from the Tarot cards and landed in front of Su Fan.
Ten, huh…
That’s quite a few people.
Su Fan started thinking.
They even managed to scrape together ten people to raid the antique shop.
Just how far had the reach of the Paimon cult extended?
Even though Su Fan had severely wounded Paimon’s true form, plunging it into slumber.
These cultists could no longer draw power from the source they worshipped, so they wouldn’t amount to much.
But as the saying goes, it’s easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. It wouldn’t do to not prepare early.
In the future, he’d probably have to start studying the art of arrays.
【Starting from scratch again. 】
Not having any foundation in arrays wasn’t a big deal, after all, Su Fan had the system and pretty good natural insight.
It was just that the requirements for hiring shop assistants seemed to be getting more and more outrageous.
He might have to add another one in the future: being able to activate the arrays that protect the shop.
With this thought, Su Fan let out a breath.
One step at a time. First, he needed to recover from his injuries.
Reining in his somewhat scattered thoughts, Su Fan finally closed his eyes and began earnestly repairing his body and replenishing his depleted spiritual power.
【You use your spiritual power to repair your body, which has suffered backlash. Your spiritual power undergoes a slight change, and your ability to heal yourself improves a little. 】
The system’s notification appeared in his mind, and Su Fan was quite surprised.
He had no idea that healing could also increase proficiency and skills.
Thinking about it now, it was probably because he hadn’t suffered any serious injuries before.
Su Fan quickly continued to focus on circulating his spiritual power.
Unlike before, the efficiency of repairing his meridians was a little faster.
As the spiritual power flowed through his limbs and bones, the previously damaged parts gradually returned to their original state.
Not only that, their strength seemed to be a bit higher than before he got hurt.
After completing one major circulation, Su Fan looked inward at these parts and quickly understood what was going on.
Wasn’t the process of the body being damaged and then repaired essentially the same as body refinement?
Training works by consuming energy through a certain intensity of exercise, causing muscle fibers to tear. After the torn muscle fibers heal, they become tougher.
Body refinement cultivators temper their bodies through a thousand hardships, until they can directly block other cultivators’ spiritual swords and magical treasures with their physical bodies.
However, this process is extremely painful and requires continuously absorbing external energy—specifically, the essence of various medicinal herbs that can replenish vital energy and blood.
Since Su Fan wasn’t taking any medicinal baths right now, the consumption naturally came from his own spiritual power.
Judging from the results, after the subtle change, his spiritual power was quite effective at nourishing his body and meridians.
With this in mind, Su Fan deliberately began a comprehensive strengthening.
The result, naturally, was a sharp increase in the rate of spiritual power consumption.
Sure enough, before the second major circulation was even fully completed, Su Fan’s spiritual power ran out.
Not only that, but he was also hungry.
Very hungry.
It felt like every cell in his body was sending out hunger signals, craving nourishment.
The intense emptiness surging from his stomach forced Su Fan to stop healing.
Opening his eyes, he saw it was now early the next morning.
Su Fan got up and tried to move his body.
Well, the pain was gone, but his whole body was weak from hunger.
【I should have asked Ron to make some food.】
Su Fan sighed inwardly.
He floated lightly to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and chugged down some milk that hadn’t expired yet.
He grabbed a stack of hundred-dollar bills from the counter, opened the door, and wobbled his way to the nearby supermarket.
【Good thing there aren’t many people around right now. 】
Su Fan’s steps were unsteady, occasionally shaky, looking a bit off.
In this day and age, things weren’t like his previous life where certain substances were legalized. If someone mistook him for a drug addict, it would be a hassle.
Although almost all the patrol officers knew Su Fan and could confirm his identity with just a quick check, it would still delay him getting back to cook a meal.
He didn’t want to wait a single moment longer.
After stepping into the supermarket, Su Fan grabbed two shopping carts and headed straight for the sections selling meat and various high-calorie foods.
He swept everything off the shelves and tossed it all into the carts.
Before long, Su Fan arrived at the cashier with the two carts.
The young cashier scanned the barcodes while sizing Su Fan up.
He’d seen big shopping trips before—young people often came to check out with carts full of snacks and drinks for parties.
But this was the first time he’d seen someone buying almost nothing but meat and spices, with very few drinks.
Was the apocalypse coming, and this guy was stockpiling supplies?
As he kept scanning, the cashier looked up and suddenly noticed the young man in front of him had vanished.
Ran off?!
The cashier immediately started looking around for the previous figure.
He’d seen this kind of thing before, but mostly it was gang-affiliated black kids or homeless people doing it.
The guy from earlier seemed pretty normal in his clothes and appearance… didn’t seem the type…
Just as he was about to call the mall security, he saw Su Fan pushing two more fully loaded carts toward him…
The cashier: …
