Chapter 255: Chapter 142: Reward
"Nephew Chen, what’s on your mind?" A voice sounded from behind him.
Chen Qing turned around to see Shen Xiuyong from the Affairs Department, who had approached without him noticing.
"Elder Shen," Chen Qing greeted with a slight nod.
Shen Xiuyong walked up to him, standing shoulder to shoulder as they gazed toward the mountain gate. "Tsk, tsk," he said. "This Xiao Bieli from Cold Jade Valley really is something else. That Yan Yaoyang kid’s foundation wasn’t bad, and he had the backing of Qixia Manor, but he still lost."
His tone shifted as he patted Chen Qing’s shoulder. "But don’t let this spectacle intimidate you. That kid looks impressive now—he’s opened Eleven Main Meridians and is at the peak of the Late-stage Embracing Pill Force, just one step from Astral Force. But that one step... heh heh, it’s an insurmountable chasm!"
Shen Xiuyong lowered his voice. "That Xiao Bieli is only a few steps ahead of you, a temporary lead. He’s showing off his prowess now, and it looks like he has the upper hand, but the truth is, the bottleneck to Astral Force is the ultimate challenge in one’s Cultivation. It’s ten, even a hundred times more difficult than any bottleneck in the Embracing Pill Force realm!"
Clearly, Shen Xiuyong thought Chen Qing was intimidated by the pressure Xiao Bieli represented, so he had come to offer some guidance.
Chen Qing understood his intentions, but he didn’t bother explaining himself. "I would be glad to hear more."
Shen Xiuyong’s expression turned serious. "The difficulty of breaking through to Astral Force is immense. You have to draw upon the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, connect the Heaven and Earth Bridge, temper your Flesh Body, and condense True Astral! One misstep in this process, and at best, your foundation is destroyed. At worst, you perish completely. Even with Cold Jade Valley’s profound resources, Leng Qianqiu’s personal guidance, and mountains of Treasure Medicines and Treasure Fish, if he manages to break through in three to five years, he’d be considered a once-in-a-generation talent! It’s not at all unusual to be stuck for a decade or more until your potential is completely depleted."
Chen Qing went along with him, asking, "Is reaching Astral Force... truly that difficult?"
"Difficult? It’s harder than scaling the heavens!"
Shen Xiuyong’s tone was decisive, his expression complex. "It is. I myself am stuck at this very bottleneck—the Great Perfection of the Late-stage Embracing Pill Force! I opened all twelve Main Meridians years ago, and my True Qi is polished to a fine purity, but I just can’t seem to find the threshold of the Heaven and Earth Bridge. I can’t sense enough of the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, let alone perform Energy Introduction to temper my own body. How many heroes in all of Yunlin have been stopped by this single step?"
He took a deep breath. "So, a head start doesn’t guarantee you’ll win the race! The path of Martial Arts is long. The one who first breaks down the gate to the Astral Force realm—that is true accomplishment! That is the person who will truly shape the future! No matter how powerful someone is in the Embracing Pill Force realm, before an Astral Force master, they are nothing but a slightly stronger ant."
Shen Xiuyong’s perspective resonated perfectly with Chen Qing’s own deepest thoughts.
’The goal of a river is not to be the fastest, but to flow without end.’
’Astral Force is the true ticket into the ranks of Yunlin Prefecture’s top masters.’
’Fortunately for him, he had no such bottleneck when it came to Astral Force.’
’The only things he lacked were time and resources.’
Seeing Chen Qing’s serious expression, Shen Xiuyong felt a little relieved, realizing his words had clearly been taken to heart.
He felt a certain kinship with Chen Qing. The young man had extraordinary potential and was much younger than Xiao Bieli; his future achievements might not be any less.
He had been worried that the day’s events would trouble him and disturb his state of mind.
But now it seemed the young man’s will was firm, and he remained undisturbed.
Chen Qing cupped his fist. "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Uncle."
"Think nothing of it."
Shen Xiuyong smiled. "Let me tell you something important. At the auction in the neighboring Fengle Mansion in a few days, it’s rumored that... a ’Profound Iron Box’ might appear. It’s already attracting a lot of masters."
"Profound Iron Box?" The term felt both familiar and foreign to Chen Qing.
He seemed to recall seeing the term in the *Jianghu Anecdotes*, but since he hadn’t known what it was, he hadn’t paid it much mind.
"That’s right!"
Shen Xiuyong’s eyes gleamed. "It’s an incredible thing! They’re forged by master artisans from the extremely precious Profound Iron. They are unbelievably sturdy, impervious to both fire and water. Their greatest function is that they can preserve items like Treasure Medicines, Booklets, and Parchment Scrolls for a thousand years without decay!"
"Once opened, they’re difficult to close again perfectly, so the Profound Iron Box itself becomes both the ’container’ and the ’proof’ of a great treasure. Most of these boxes were left behind during the fall of old dynasties, the ruin of Sects, or the annihilation of great families. The items sealed inside could be anything from Superior Martial Arts Secret Manuals, rare Treasure Medicines, ancient Secret Techniques, and Exotic Treasures, to even Inner Armor or small Treasure Artifacts..."
He paused, his voice dropping to an even lower, more eager whisper. "But most importantly, there are rumors that some Profound Iron Boxes might contain an ’Astral Condensing Pill’!"
"Astral Condensing Pill?" Chen Qing’s gaze sharpened.
"Precisely!"
Shen Xiuyong’s expression was grave. "The Astral Condensing Pill is an incredibly miraculous and precious Elixir. It has a wondrous effect for those at the Late-stage Embracing Pill realm trying to break through the bottleneck to Astral Force! It’s said to increase the success rate of a breakthrough by about thirty percent! Thirty percent, Nephew Chen! For those of us stuck at this threshold, that’s like a ladder to the heavens! However..."
He sighed. "The method for refining this Pill has long been lost. The required Treasure Medicines are exceedingly rare, and the Pill Formula itself is priceless. Rumor has it that only the Celestial Treasure Upper Sect might still possess the refining method. That’s why it’s practically impossible to buy an Astral Condensing Pill on the open market."
"Many people like me, who are stuck at the bottleneck, can only take a gamble on those Profound Iron Boxes! If you strike it rich and open one to find an Astral Condensing Pill, you’d ascend to the heavens in a single step! Of course, this has also caused the prices for well-preserved boxes with mysterious origins to be driven sky-high, often costing hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."
After listening, Chen Qing understood completely.
’The Profound Iron Box is basically a "blind box," a game of chance. But the potential contents are truly priceless, especially that elusive Astral Condensing Pill, which holds an immense allure for masters at the Late-stage of the Embracing Pill Force.’
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