After ending his first encounter with Ji Xingyao, Lu Yan returned home.
In the following days, there were no reports online about the deaths of Li Zhaoheng and Gongyang Xuanming, as if no one knew about this large-scale case involving the deaths of more than ten people.
Even Fenglan Hotel, the scene of the crime, remained silent, only issuing an external notice claiming that the presidential suite had electrical issues and would temporarily cease operations.
According to Lu Yan's speculation, it was likely because of Gongyang Xuanming's special status and the bizarre manner of death of the people at the scene, the upper echelons of Luocheng suppressed the matter.
On the surface, Luocheng appeared as calm as water, but in reality, undercurrents were already flowing; if a similar case were to occur again, it would surely provoke a large-scale crackdown by the upper echelons.
Being the prime culprit, Lu Yan naturally understood this well, so after resolving the threat posed by Gongyang Xuanming, the demonic cultivator, he stayed home over the past days and continued cultivating without venturing out.
As long as he didn't take further action to leave traces, the concealment of the Soul Banner would make it impossible for the upper echelons of Luocheng to investigate.
After several days of such cultivation, Lu Yan discovered he encountered a bottleneck.
However, this bottleneck didn't originate from Lu Yan himself, but from the environment he was in.
When he first started cultivating, Lu Yan noticed that the concentration of Spiritual Qi in his surroundings was very low; absorbing a strand of Spiritual Qi took a large amount of time, so he used some Spirit Stones to accelerate his cultivation, successfully reaching the first level of Qi Cultivation.
The cultivation after advancing to the first level of Qi Cultivation also confirmed Lu Yan's conjecture.
Entering the first level of Qi Cultivation, he could swiftly extract Spiritual Qi from the outside and refine Magical Power; within the Cultivation Realm, advancing from the first to the third level of Qi Cultivation was just a matter of polishing effort, with no bottleneck to speak of.
Yet, Lu Yan could clearly sense that the speed of refining Magical Power in the past few days was extremely slow, with the Spiritual Qi in the air so sparse that it was barely sufficient for casting spells, and utterly incapable of supporting normal cultivation.
Only by using Spirit Stones could he maintain a normal cultivation speed.
This issue was particularly headache-inducing for Lu Yan; though his wealth appeared to be worth hundreds of Spirit Stones right now, they were all ill-gotten gains from robbing Shopkeeper Chu; a typical cultivator at the first level of Qi Cultivation would consider themselves fortunate to have one or two Spirit Stones on hand.
The primary functions of Spirit Stones are to assist in breakthroughs, set up arrays, and purchase precious cultivation resources.
Cultivation is inherently a skill honed over time, mostly dependent on the Spirit Veins of one's blessed sanctuary for support; even exchanging Spirit Stones, breaking through from the first to the second level of Qi Cultivation can take dozens of Spirit Stones, enough to purchase a decent low-grade Magical Artifact.
All used for cultivation, even sect disciples wouldn't be this wasteful with their Spirit Stones.
Reluctantly, Lu Yan had to temporarily halt his regular cultivation.
Lu Yan actually suspected that the concentration of Spiritual Qi might relate to the urban environment, contemplating visiting the renowned mountains and rivers in the urban version to verify whether the Spiritual Qi in these places was abundant.
Otherwise, if every urban version failed to enable cultivation, it would undoubtedly waste a lot of Lu Yan's cultivation time.
However, the time for version updates was already approaching, and visiting famous places would surely consume valuable remaining time, leaving him no choice but to wait for the next urban version to explore.
Unable to cultivate his Cultivation Technique and refine Magical Power, Lu Yan attempted to once again condense the Red Lotus Karma Fire.
Theoretically, after killing more than ten people at Fenglan Hotel in one go, there should be Karmic Force gathering around Lu Yan's body, meeting the conditions for condensing the Red Lotus Karma Fire, yet for some unknown reason, Lu Yan still couldn't successfully use this exquisite spell.
After several days of attempts, Lu Yan eventually gave up, ceased his cultivation, and began preparing for the imminent world version update.
Having experienced two version updates before, Lu Yan gained some understanding of version updates, though limited to the urban and xianxia versions.
Lu Yan could decide the direction of the version update from three options, unable to assure whether there were any stable environmental options like the xianxia version among them.
If confronted with a version lacking resources and with a dangerous environment, Lu Yan's strength might not grant him an advantage, hence he needed to make preparations early.
He didn't forget that the previous options included both the apocalypse version and cyberspace version.
During the remaining ten days, Lu Yan utilized his savings to purchase a large amount of supplies, stuffing them into the storage bag.
These supplies included vast amounts of water, food, and daily necessities, and luckily, Shopkeeper Chu's storage bag was of high quality, with more than ten squares of space.
These things were sufficient for Lu Yan's three months of daily life needs.
Besides that, Lu Yan also contemplated getting some firearms and other items.
Though Lu Yan had plenty of Talismans at his disposal, using them consumed Spirit Stones, far less economical and convenient than firearms.
Unfortunately, Xia Country banned guns, forcing Lu Yan to abandon this thought.
...
In that same outdated house, Lu Yan stood by the window, quietly watching the progress bar that had already reached 99.9%.
As the number jumped again, a string of characters popped up in front of Lu Yan.
[This Urban Version has ended, change value for this version: 3%]
Lu Yan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows; this was his first time seeing a data named "change value for version," which had never appeared during the previous two updates.
"Change value for version? From a literal standpoint, it seems to refer to changes brought to the version?"
Thoughts raced through Lu Yan's mind rapidly.
"There was no change value in the previous two versions because my influence, whether in power or otherwise, was too weak to affect the overall version change of the world.
Why, then, does this urban version have such marked changes? Is it due to my killing Gongyang Xuanming, the demonic cultivator?"
Such a notion flashed through Lu Yan's mind but was promptly dismissed.
"Not right! Gongyang Xuanming is considered a significant figure in Luocheng, not to mention the influence of his father behind him; but even in the scope of the whole urban version, he's nothing more than an inconsequential ant.
His life or death is irrelevant to the world as a whole, insufficient to account for a 3% change in version value.
In such a case, it seems there's only one explanation left.
The source of the change value for the version is my breakthrough to the Qi Cultivation Stage within the urban version, becoming the sole cultivator of this realm!"
Enlightenment dawned upon Lu Yan, but greater doubts arose in turn.
"Yet what changes does this version's change value bring?"
Regrettably, the text appearing before him did not answer Lu Yan's query; information popped up once again.
[The update progress for the version is full, choose one from the following versions for update.
Hidden version: After the old days perished and the True Gods slept, only madness remains on the path to the extraordinary!
Monster version: The world is a massive monster game, with everyone as forcibly entered players.
Apocalypse version: After the apocalypse, what remains of the world?]