After giving the two scholarly brothers so instructions on minor matters, Chen Qiu returned to area 8 of the Asking Heaven Market, the "Demon Beast Area," and once again purchased a large batch of demon beasts. Just like last ti, he instructed the shopkeeper to severely wound them before delivering them to a certain inn.
Although his strength was already completely capable of dealing with these Qi Refinent realm demon beasts.
He tried to avoid troubling himself with things that could be handled by others.
...
Spending less than 200 spirit stones, Chen Qiu and his companion watched from a guest room in an inn as the demon beast shop's shopkeeper, with an uncontrollable smile, continuously brought in large batches of demon beasts.
They filled three whole guest rooms.
"Here."
Chen Qiu sat on a wooden chair, poured himself a cup of cold tea, and said nonchalantly to the side where Fat Long was standing, "What are you dazed about? Helping you break through your cultivation for less than 200 spirit stones is quite a bargain."
Yes.
The breakthrough in the Qi Refinent stage of cultivation was just that simple, provided you could find a large cluster of Qi Refinent stage demon beasts and had the strength to kill them or enough spirit stones to buy the severely wounded ones, building a foundation in a single day was a simple matter.
But either way, it had nothing to do with ordinary people.
Not to ntion the 200 spirit stones required for soone like Fat Long to break through from the seventh level of Qi Refinent stage to the Foundation Establishnt stage, even the thirty spirit stones needed to move from the third level of the Qi Refinent realm to the seventh level were beyond what most Qi Refinent cultivators could afford.
Many cultivators at the Qi Refinent stage were quite poor.
Or rather, the logic should be reversed.
It's not that the Qi Refinent stage is poor; rather, those who stay in the Qi Refinent stage are poor. Those with even a small amount of savings would have already established their foundation, as only with Foundation Establishnt can one truly step into the threshold of cultivation.
As long as you have 300 spirit stones, you can go from the first level of the Qi Refinent stage to the first level of the Foundation Establishnt stage in a day.
The breakthrough in the Qi Refinent stage of cultivation was just that simple.
After breaking through to the Foundation Establishnt stage, the progress of cultivation would slow down significantly. At this point, killing Qi Refinent stage demon beasts no longer increased cultivation progress, and adult demon beasts at the Foundation Establishnt stage were essentially not for sale, as such beasts could not be bred in mass through human efforts; one had to find them in the wild.
They were hard to kill and, even if one managed to kill one, the increase in cultivation progress was minimal, which was the most headache-inducing part.
The mainstream thods for enhancing cultivation at this stage relied on two types.
The first type involved possessing a sufficiently good ntal thod and finding a place with dense spiritual energy, then cultivating the ntal thod in seclusion daily seeking breakthroughs.
The second type relied on persisting with pills.
Just like his Heavenly Dao Foundation, which had been rotating automatically from last night to now for almost half a day, but his cultivation progress hadn't increased at all, not even filling his Dantian with spiritual energy.
After his Foundation Establishnt stage, the spiritual energy inside his Dantian was half empty, not yet full.
"Alright, alright."
Chen Qiu, a bit reluctant to see Fat Long's grateful expression, waved his hand, "Start quickly, don't delay."
...
Soon—
The guest room entered a state of noisy silence.
Fat Long, holding a butcher knife, went "crack, crack" with each beast.
Chen Qiu sat cross-legged on the bed, holding spirit stones, absorbing the spiritual energy within them.
Finally.
An hour later.
When Chen Qiu opened his eyes again, the guest room was in complete disarray, and Fat Long was nowhere to be seen. He frowned and looked down at a few shattered spirit stones on the bed, as he had just consud three spirit stones to replenish the spiritual energy in his Dantian.
It wasn't that the consumption was too much.
But the absorption was too slow.
It had taken him an entire hour just to absorb all the spiritual energy from those three spirit stones.
His current Foundation Establishnt was of a width of 110 centiters and a height of 100 centiters with Heavenly Dao Foundation enhancent. Even with the Heavenly Dao Foundation's enhancent, the absorption was still slow, which ant his Foundation Establishnt couldn't accommodate much spiritual energy.
After he attended the auction tonight and went out tomorrow to hunt demon beasts, increasing his Foundation width to several hundred centiters or even a thousand centiters.
Did that an that every ti he replenished the spiritual energy in his Dantian, it would take nearly ten hours?
What about when it reached ten thousand centiters or even a hundred thousand centiters?
Would it take a month to fill his Dantian with spiritual energy?
Such a long ti was enough for his enemies to decimate his Nine Tribes three or four tis!
"This won't do..."
Chen Qiu shook his head and muttered, "I need to find a better ntal thod."
The strength of the Heavenly Dao Foundation was linked to the ntal thod; if the ntal thod was too weak, then the Heavenly Dao Foundation couldn't play too big a role. His current ntal thod was just a mid-grade Yellow Level, still insufficient for his needs.
He took out the auction item list from his bosom, scanned it a few more tis, and indeed saw a ntal thod auction item on the last page.
The supre ntal thod of the Foundation Establishnt stage, "Seven Lamps Awakening the World".
In reality, it was rely a top-tier Yellow Level ntal thod, which is just a half-slang term used in Jianghu to classify cultivation techniques and spiritual treasures, whereas the official terms grouped them as—
Qi Refinent Realm, Foundation Establishnt Stage, Golden Core Stage, and so on.
A top-tier ntal thod during the Foundation Establishnt Stage is the one best suited for cultivators at that stage, being the strongest among them, and it remains highly effective even up to the Golden Core Stage.
Furthermore.
There was another item in the auction list that he was determined to acquire.
The Mid-grade Thunder Summoning Technique during the Foundation Establishnt Stage, which perfectly complented his entry, "Focus Power." This spell was a great fit for him.
This type of spell was actually quite common; Zhao's Comrce shops even sold it, and it was not expensive.
It could be bought for just 2 spirit stones; bargaining might bring it down to one spirit stone, especially since it was a copy and genuinely had no significant cost. If you have so friends, getting a friend who practices this spell to make a free copy for you might be no problem at all.
But the "Thunder Summoning Technique" at the auction was a product of the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm; once learned, it would instantly be at a highly accomplished stage, naturally making it extraordinary and no re trifle.
Moreover, there were also two mid-grade "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talismans" in the auction list appropriate for use during the Foundation Establishnt Stage, and he needed these too. Many items at this auction were things he really wanted, all of them valuable.
Only through the shopkeeper did he learn about the "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talisman," which could only be used twice per great realm. He had already used two low-grade "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talismans" during his Qi Refinent stage. By obtaining this mid-grade "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talisman," he could take all entries when breaking through a small realm during Foundation Establishnt if the three random entries he received were all good.
Chen Qiu was sitting cross-legged on the bed studying the auction list, pondering how to arrange the next few days, when Fat Long entered with a grim expression.
The uncontrollable aura of the Foundation Establishnt Stage that seeped from him was a sign that his realm had just broken through and was not yet stable.
"Congratulations,"
Chen Qiu put away the auction list he held, stood up, and walked over to the table; he filled his cup with cool tea again, looked towards Fat Long, and said smilingly, "How does it feel to be at Foundation Establishnt Stage? Why the long face? Surely the three random entries you got aren't all trash?"
"Hmm."
Fat Long sat down on the wooden chair with a bitter face and began guzzling cool tea from the teapot directly to his mouth. The initial entries had been trash, which was agonizing enough, and he had reluctantly co to accept this, harboring a hopeful anticipation for the "three choices" entries upon reaching the Foundation Establishnt Stage.
However...
It seed like God was playing a joke on him.
Just thinking of the three random entries he got upon breaking through brought a surge of desire to smash his head and die!!!
-
"Cultivation has greatly improved, officially stepping into the first layer of the Foundation Establishnt Stage."
"Please choose one of the three random entries below within ten breaths."
1:
"Entry Na": Yama's personal decree.
"Entry Level": Grey.
"Entry Effect": You will definitely die one year from now, but you absolutely will not die within this year.
2:
"Entry Na": Prodigy.
"Entry Level": Grey.
"Entry Effect": Any progress you make in cultivation will be ten tis faster and without any bottlenecks, but you can only live to be 25 years old, with no ans to extend your life.
3:
"Entry Na": Hundred Percent Accuracy.
"Entry Level": White.
"Entry Effect": Any female of the sa race who shares a room with you will definitely beco pregnant afterwards.
...
"I am 24 years old this year, and in thirty days it will be my birthday, officially turning 25."
Fat Long's face was nearly filled with despair as he spoke with a trembling, sobbing voice, "If I choose the first entry, I'll die next year. If I choose the second entry, I'll die as soon as winter begins in thirty days. Do these 'three choices' even give a chance to choose?"
"Only the third entry won't end in death, but what the hell is the use of the third entry!!!"
"I ca to cultivate!!!"
"Not to have babies!!!"
"Relax..."
Chen Qiu patted Fat Long on the shoulder with a complex expression, struggling to find words of comfort, and after a long pause, he finally managed to say, "Maybe there's so pink entry that makes 'the more children you have, the stronger you beco.'"
"I have already thought of a na for this pink entry, 'More children, more blessings.'"
"There are also other ways to obtain entries, such as through the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm and auctions. There is still hope in the future."
"Consider this entry as a free pick for now; relax, don't rush."
"It will get better."
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