Chapter 55: Chapter 54: Spirit-Imbued Snow Lotus and Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt
As it turned out, Xiao Chen’s decision to find Elder Chen first was absolutely the right one.
After listening to his report, Elder Chen was completely calm. "Mm, I understand. Leave the rest to . How has your training in magic been recently?"
Xiao Chen answered humbly, "It’s going well. I should be able to et the requirents without any issues."
Elder Chen then asked him about alchemy and gave him a few routine words of advice, but didn’t bring up the matter of the Flying Sword again.
He didn’t even ask about the Black Market.
His silence said it all.
’The Chen Family is famous for its Pill and Artifact Dual Proficiency,’ Xiao Chen guessed, ’and there are even mbers of the Chen Family involved in Artifact Refining within the sect.’
’Could that Flying Sword be the handiwork of so Chen Family clansman?’
’If that’s true, it’s actually not entirely bad news. At least it would an this is just a common case of embezzlent, and no Outer Disciples have t an unfortunate end.’
Of course, since Elder Chen said he would handle it, Xiao Chen didn’t worry about it any further.
He returned to his room and began to refine the Storage Bag.
This Storage Bag was clearly much harder to deal with than the last one.
It took him a full two hours to finally erase the original Restriction and claim it as his own through refinent.
The good news: there was indeed a small booklet inside the Storage Bag.
The bad news: it wasn’t a magic technique, but a diary.
"Damn it, who in their right mind keeps a diary?"
Xiao Chen was a little disappointed not to have gotten the "All Grass and Trees Are Soldiers" technique, but he opened the diary anyway, hoping to find so valuable clues inside.
"Fifth of the Apricot Month. The Divine Fire Sect has beco unstoppable. Big Brother says we must start preparing."
"Eighth of the Peach Month. The Loose Cultivators in Hezhou are dirt poor. We killed three of them and didn’t even get a hundred Spirit Stones."
"Eleventh of the Lotus Month. Big Brother says Hezhou isn’t safe anymore. Small groups of Demon Cultivators have started crossing the border. We’d better head to Li State."
"Nineteenth of the Lotus Month. Two bastards from the Luotian Sect killed Old Five. Fucking hell. From now on, any of these son-of-a-bitch Demon Cultivators we see, we kill them all. Avenge Old Five."
"Third of the Osmanthus Month. The boss finally agreed to pull a couple more jobs. Should’ve done this ages ago. How else are we supposed to get Spirit Stones for cultivation?"
Two pages were torn out from the middle.
"Twenty-first of the La Month. Old Four got taken down. He shouldn’t have gone out alone. The Spirit-Imbued Snow Lotus fell into the hands of so kid nad Ye Fei. We have to kill him and avenge Old Four."
Although the diary didn’t cover a long period of ti, it contained a great deal of information.
According to the news that had been circulating in Li State, Hezhou—the state adjacent to Quanzhou—had not yet been invaded by Demon Cultivators.
But judging from the diary, the news released by the three Major Sects was likely outdated.
Xiao Chen didn’t doubt the three Major Sects’ ability to gather intelligence for a second, but he had reason to doubt whether they would tell the truth to Loose Cultivators.
’Furthermore, the Luotian Sect is actually a Demon Sect. This is a huge problem.’
’I’d never even heard of this sect before, but Scarface recognized my Profound Fire Crow instantly.’
’Thank goodness I haven’t used this magic in front of anyone else since I learned it. Otherwise, I would’ve been branded a real Demon Cultivator without even knowing it.’
’In that case, the vendor who sold
that fake wine must have been a Demon Cultivator too.’
’Fucking hell. No wonder they tried to rob . They’re real pieces of work.’
’Looks like I’ll have to use the Profound Fire Crow as sparingly as possible from now on. I’d better keep it hidden as a trump card to avoid misunderstandings.’
’But that leaves
without a go-to magic technique.’
’Hiss... oh, right. Where the hell are my magic techniques?’
Xiao Chen suddenly rembered that he had been in the Inner Sect for four or five months now, approaching half a year.
’The Cultivation Technique I was supposed to get from the Scripture Pavilion still hasn’t arrived.’
’That damned Jiang Family. I’ll add this to their tab.’
’Go on, then. Keep it from
until after I reach Foundation Establishnt, if you dare.’
Xiao Chen made up his mind. Once he was stronger than the Jiang Family, he would find them and settle the score.
But that was a long-term solution, and it didn’t solve his imdiate problem. He was once again without a go-to magic technique, which was incredibly frustrating.
Then there was the Spirit-Imbued Snow Lotus.
Xiao Chen had actually heard of it. It was a rather famous Tier One Spiritual Object, and knowing about it was basic common sense for an Alchemist like him.
’But their leader called it a Foundation Establishnt Spiritual Object. How could this thing possibly be related to Foundation Establishnt?’
’The main ingredients of the Foundation Establishnt Pill were no secret, and the Spirit-Imbued Snow Lotus was definitely not one of them.’
’Could it be for the legendary Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt?’
There are three thods for Foundation Establishnt: Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt, Earth Dao Foundation Establishnt, and Human Dao Foundation Establishnt.
Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt involves a Cultivator consuming Treasures of Heaven and Earth corresponding to the Five Elents, using these Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects to break through to the Foundation Establishnt realm.
This thod of breakthrough has an extrely high success rate and is said to be of considerable help to one’s cultivation after reaching Foundation Establishnt.
However, the cost is astronomical. The Treasures of Heaven and Earth it requires are all rare items that cannot be cultivated in large-scale Spirit Fields.
There hasn’t been a single recorded case in Li State for over a hundred years, so it has basically beco the stuff of legend.
As for Earth Dao Foundation Establishnt, this is the current mainstream thod: consuming a Foundation Establishnt Pill.
For Cultivators with Middle Grade and Low Grade Spiritual Roots in particular, the Foundation Establishnt Pill can significantly increase the chances of a successful breakthrough.
Moreover, even if the breakthrough fails, the pill can effectively protect one’s life essence from being damaged. After a period of recuperation, one can fully recover.
However, the ingredients for the Foundation Establishnt Pill are also extrely rare.
While not as precious as the materials for Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt, they are still limited in quantity, and all supply channels are firmly controlled by the three Major Sects.
A Loose Cultivator with no connections or fortuitous encounters would find it nearly impossible to obtain a single Foundation Establishnt Pill in their entire lifeti.
Of course, it is possible to reach Foundation Establishnt without the pill.
This is the Human Dao Foundation Establishnt thod, which involves using all of one’s Qi Blood to forcefully break through the great bottleneck to the Foundation Establishnt realm.
Having access to related Cultivation Techniques or Secret Techniques can also slightly increase the success rate.
But on the whole, Human Dao Foundation Establishnt is extrely difficult. Those who succeed are the lucky few, one in a hundred.
The consequences of failure are severe. In mild cases, one’s Qi Blood is greatly damaged, requiring long-term recuperation. In severe cases, one’s cultivation Realm will drop, leaving behind permanent damage that makes it impossible to attempt Foundation Establishnt ever again.
’Don’t tell
the Spirit-Imbued Snow Lotus is actually one of the Spiritual Objects for Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt.’
Xiao Chen stared at the white Snow Lotus in the Storage Bag, a little dumbfounded.
Yes, inside Scarface’s Storage Bag, there was also a white Snow Lotus.
It was about a foot long with a thick, erect stem. It was a tubular flower with sixteen petals. Each petal had a long base, and the blades were ovate.
How to put it? You couldn’t say it was just *similar* to the description in the Pill Book... you had to say it was a perfect match.
’So, that Old Four had one, and this Scarface had one... They each had one!’
’Holy shit, what were they doing during those three months?’
Xiao Chen imdiately realized the two torn-out pages from the diary must have sothing to do with these Snow Lotuses.
Sothing big must have happened during that ti last year.
It was a sha that he, a local, hadn’t heard a single whisper about it.
Besides that, Scarface’s Storage Bag also contained a brand-new, low-grade Flying Sword and an earthen-yellow Magic Robe.
One hundred thirty-three Spirit Stones, half a bottle of leftover Qi Gathering Pills, two Black Market Tokens, and the Identity Token of an Azure Fla Sect Inner Sect Disciple.
There were also two Triple Fireball Talismans that hadn’t been used, a storage box containing several unfamiliar seeds.
... and various sundries like Night Clothes, dried beef, and a Wine Gourd.
The most valuable items in the bag were likely those unknown seeds.
Xiao Chen carefully put the storage box away. When he had a chance in the future, he would find soone reliable to appraise the seeds and see what they were.
The amount of Spirit Stones was rather low. Scarface’s main wealth must have been his magic techniques, along with the Talismans and the Earth Puppet he had used up in the fight.
Unfortunately, all of those things had already been expended.
After organizing everything, Xiao Chen began to count on his fingers all the things he now had to do.
First, in the coming days, he needed to cultivate the "Vertical Earth Golden Light" Escape Technique to improve his chances of survival.
Second, he needed to find and cultivate a new magic technique to replace the Profound Fire Crow.
Third, to buy that new magic technique, he would have to earn Spirit Stones, which ant firing up his furnace and doing so Alchemy.
Fourth, he needed to cultivate the "Fire Transformation Treasure Talisman" as an additional preparation for the Secret Realm.
And finally, he had to find so ti to ask around for information about Celestial Dao Foundation Establishnt.
’Hiss! I’m suddenly so busy.’
Thinking about all the work he had to do, Xiao Chen couldn’t help but take a sharp breath.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.
A sudden knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
Steward Chen’s voice followed. "Junior Brother Xiao, Third Uncle has an Alchemy job. Are you free to co lend a hand?"
’Wait, that’s not right!’
’Didn’t I just get back from Elder Chen’s place?’
’Why didn’t he ntion needing a hand with an Alchemy job earlier?’
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