[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-after-the-sky-fell":3,"chapter-after-the-sky-fell-after-the-sky-fell-chapter-10":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","After the Sky Fell",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2280866,4462,"Chapter 10: Lao Ya","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-10",10,"\u003Cp>In the dim living room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi sat motionless on the floor, eyes gently closed, breathing steady, completely immersed in cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The incomplete knife coin granted him an unimaginable advantage; the pure energy flowed continuously into his body, guided by his will and absorbed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After absorbing this energy, the cells in his body spontaneously began to evolve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The evolved cells divided faster, lived longer, and were stronger than before; these subtle changes eventually manifested in the whole organism, enhancing the cultivator’s physical strength, bone resilience, and lifespan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a comprehensive transformation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, cultivation was a process of self-evolution.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, after about two or three hours of meditation, Li Yi was struck by intense hunger, forcing him to open his eyes and break his cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So hungry.” He licked his lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His stomach growled loudly; a fierce craving filled his entire body. The food he’d eaten the night before had long been digested—he needed to eat immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi did not panic, for he knew this was normal: as his body evolved, its energy consumption increased, and the most obvious sign was an insatiable appetite. He stood up to cook himself a meal—first, fill his belly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The milk, noodles, and instant ramen in the fridge were quickly devoured, but he was still hungry; finally, even the white sugar used for seasoning was dissolved in warm water and swallowed in one gulp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only after eating everything edible in the house did his hunger finally subside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No wonder some say the medical pod isn’t meant for the Silent, but for cultivators. Now I understand: after entering the medical pod, a cultivator gains a comfortable, stable environment—the pod automatically regulates air temperature and humidity, blocks noise, massages the body to promote circulation, prevents illness from prolonged sitting, and most importantly, automatically replenishes the nutrients the body needs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi glanced at the two medical pods in the room, thinking to himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“A secondhand medical pod costs at least a million. A brand-new model starts above thirty million. The cheapest nutrient solution is a thousand per vial, enough to sustain a Silent for ten days. But the top-tier nutrient solution costs a hundred thousand per vial—pure liquid gold. That must be what cultivators use.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Otherwise, cultivators would be woken up by hunger every few hours, severely disrupting their cultivation efficiency.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So if an ordinary person wants to cultivate, they must at least own a medical pod and enough nutrient solution. If they have extra money, they hire a guide to help channel cosmic energy into the body, drastically shortening cultivation time.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“When you add it all up, cultivation is full of expenses. It seems most people avoid cultivation not because they fear its toxicity, but because they’re broke. With money, all these problems vanish.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing the sugary water, Li Yi smacked his lips, ran the numbers in his head, and was quietly stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So my top priority is to find a job that pays big, fast money. Otherwise, even with this incomplete wonder-item, my cultivation path will be rough. I must also provide for my parents, so they can lie peacefully in their medical pods in deep sleep—I can’t keep feeding them cheap thousand-tael nutrient solution forever.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“With money, I’ll upgrade to the latest, top-tier medical pod and buy the hundred-thousand-tael nutrient solution.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His aspirations had changed; his desires and ambitions grew larger. He no longer settled for the meager wages from his old jobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Continue cultivation. Tomorrow, I’ll ask Lin Yue how people who’ve entered cultivation earn money.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi entered meditation again, slipping back into cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The night passed quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At dawn.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi left early—he was starving. Everything at home was gone, so he headed straight for the breakfast shop downstairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Boss, twenty buns, please.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His voice was loud and strong. Though hungry, his mental state was unusually sharp, his body light and full of energy—no trace of the exhaustion he’d felt during his old jobs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was only his first day of cultivation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he ate, Li Yi pondered how to earn money today. He still had over a thousand taels left, but his home was out of food. If he didn’t bring back two vials of nutrient solution by evening, his parents would starve too.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he thought, his mind was interrupted by a phone ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He checked the caller: his usual shady job broker—the Yellow Curly Hair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this Li Yi?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The voice on the other end wasn’t Yellow Curly Hair’s. It was deep, familiar—he’d heard it before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He remembered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was that barely-known Lao Ya.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi’s heart tightened; his expression turned grim. He hadn’t expected Lao Ya to resolve the Investigation Bureau’s trouble so quickly—this group wasn’t ordinary cultivators; they had influence and backing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s me, Lao Ya.” He chose direct confrontation, not evasion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You ran off fast yesterday—vanished in a flash. Where are you now?” Lao Ya asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi said: “Cut the crap. You’re not interested in me, a poor kid. You want what I brought back from the Ruin District, right?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re sensible. Hand it over. That thing isn’t for you. Don’t stir up trouble.” Lao Ya’s tone was low, laced with threat.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Who’s stirring trouble? You or me? We agreed: find the item, pay up. But I haven’t seen a single tael. Yesterday, you didn’t pay, and you tried to kill me—you broke the deal first. Pfft. What kind of scum are you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m giving you ten minutes. Transfer the money now, or I’ll take this stuff to the Investigation Bureau and report it as stolen goods.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi immediately stood his ground, firing back at Lao Ya through the phone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You can spot me from ten meters away, but through a phone screen, you can’t touch me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more confidently he spoke, the more he proved he wasn’t guilty—he hadn’t stolen anything from Lao Ya.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya’s face twitched; he nearly crushed the phone in rage. Then he explained: “Liu Yan’s death was an accident. We killed her, yes—but she was possessed by a spirit. There was no saving her. We had no choice.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Whether she was possessed? That’s your story. If I get caught by you, I’ll probably be possessed too. You’ve lost all credibility. To get the item back, pay me first. Otherwise, I’ll report both the wonder-item and the stolen goods—nobody walks away clean.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya fell silent for a moment, then replied: “Fine. I’ll pay you first—but send me a photo of the item. I need to confirm it’s still in your possession.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Pay first. Then I show you the goods.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya’s voice turned icy: “Brat, you’re greedy to the point of suicide. You really think I can’t touch you? I called you today—I can find your home tomorrow. In Tianchang City’s old district, there aren’t many households with two medical pods. You’ve been exposed. I advise you to behave.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi froze, falling silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could run if trouble came—but his parents lay helpless in their pods, unable to flee. That was his weakness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Send me a photo of the item. I’ll pay you according to its value.” Lao Ya said. Though he threatened, he dared not push Li Yi too hard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this kid really took the item to the Investigation Bureau, they’d suffer far greater losses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were cultivators. Not worth being dragged down by a few worthless lives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, this was a Safe Zone. In the Ruin District, Lao Ya would’ve killed him outright to avoid trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi had no choice. Under this threat, he swallowed his anger and conceded: “Fine. I’ll photograph what I have and send it to you.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He opened his backpack, pulled out a pile of ragged clothes, took a photo, and sent it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya immediately showed the photo to Ning Wu beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These are the burial items Li Yi retrieved from the second basement level. Any value?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Wu studied the image: “These clothes aren’t from our world—the material is unusual. But they’re unlikely to be wonder-items. Wonder-items are nearly indestructible. These are rotted and torn—barely worth anything. Our focus should still be on Wang Hu and Wei Li.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Could he be lying, hiding something?” Lao Ya asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ning Wu closed her eyes, recalling yesterday’s scene, then said: “Unlikely. The number of clothes in the photo matches what Li Yi held yesterday. But to avoid complications, pay him a little to recover the items.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Understood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya nodded, then continued speaking to Li Yi: “What you have is trash—worthless. But given the unusual nature of this matter, I’ll pay you ten thousand to take it off your hands.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ten thousand? Wasn’t it two million?” Li Yi nearly cursed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lao Ya sneered: “A few ragged clothes? You think you’re holding a wonder-item? Demanding two million? Ten thousand—take it or leave it. Walk away, and you get nothing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi gritted his teeth and spat out one word: “Take it.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even a mosquito’s blood is blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These bastards were truly heartless. If he hadn’t taken the five-ten-thousand-tael deposit earlier, he’d be ruined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You’re probably too scared to show your face. Leave the item in a locker at the mall. I’ll send someone to pick it up.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fine.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Yi hung up. The moment before, he’d been grinding his teeth—now he exhaled deeply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d probably fooled them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t know how long it would last, but for now, Lao Ya’s group wouldn’t target him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, Li Yi knew it wasn’t his cleverness—it was that Lao Ya’s attention was fixed on Wang Hu and Wei Li. They were far more likely to possess wonder-items.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But he also knew: if he kept cultivating, the next time they encountered him, his possession of the wonder-item would likely be exposed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gap between cultivators with wonder-items and those without was enormous—not something “you’re a genius” could explain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before that happened, he needed to gain some self-defense ability—at least enough to open a Spirit Medium channel like that woman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of this, Li Yi took a deep breath; a heavy sense of danger enveloped him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After dealing with Lao Ya, he immediately headed for Uncle Biao’s Meditation Room.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His understanding of cultivation was still far too shallow—he needed to consult Lin Yue.\u003C\u002Fp>",1702,"2026-06-20T01:26:56.586Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","61b193bbe1a1aba5d455fef47c02db50928038deb3861926b431a8678483efd2","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-11","after-the-sky-fell-chapter-9",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fafter-the-sky-fell-cover.jpg"]