In the Qingfeng Sect, the sixteen newly concocted Foundation Establishnt Pills had caused a great stir, and disciples everywhere harbored their own sches.
Inside White Jade Tower, it remained silent as ever.
The master of the tower was still in seclusion, and no one dared to disturb him.
Another year passed. Just as the commotion over the Foundation Establishnt Pills subsided, another piece of explosive news broke.
The forr Sect Leader, Wei Dao, just a few years after advancing to Foundation Establishnt Perfection, had chosen to rge with a Tier Three Demon King’s Core and beco a Fake Pill Cultivator.
According to his disciples, Wei Dao had damaged his foundation while forcefully trying to break through, losing all hope of reaching Core Formation.
He could only settle for second best, using a Tier Three Demon Beast Inner Core as a vessel to house his Divine Sense and beco a Fake Pill Cultivator.
He was in the pri of his life, so this was a great misfortune for Wei Dao personally, but for the Sect, it was a stroke of luck amidst the misfortune.
For at least the next hundred years, the Qingfeng Sect would have another Core Formation Level combatant.
Even if Ancestor Yangg were to pass away in a few years, the Sect wouldn’t have to rely solely on Ancestor Ge Cang, who, no matter how powerful, couldn’t be everywhere at once.
This matter affected several surrounding commanderies, and a number of sects found excuses to visit, attempting to confirm the news.
It was clear that although everyone looked down on Fake Pill Cultivators, they still took them very seriously.
In the end, it was Sect Leader Yu of the Hundred Flowers Sect who personally ca to the Qingfeng Sect to negotiate a major transaction worth hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones, and Wei Dao himself made an appearance to host her.
After returning, Sect Leader Yu told the disciples of the Hundred Flowers Sect that they now had another kindred spirit in the world.
Only then was it confird: Wei Dao had indeed beco a Fake Pill Cultivator!
Everyone in the Liang Country Cultivation Realm knew that the Hundred Flowers Sect currently had no Core Formation True Man presiding over it. Only the stunningly beautiful Sect Leader Yu, a Fake Pill Cultivator, skillfully navigated the political landscape to maintain the Sect’s prestige.
Since the news that Wei Dao had beco a Fake Pill Cultivator ca from her, it had to be true.
「Three years had passed since Bai Zichen entered seclusion.」
Tong Huan walked into White Jade Tower, used a Dust-Removal Technique to clean the table and chairs, then kowtowed from a distance outside the Quiet Chamber, performing a disciple’s salutation before preparing to leave.
Three years had made him grow much taller. Having been active in the Spirit Fields since he was young, his skin was tanned, and he looked lean and sturdy.
Because his master had instructed him not to rely on Elixirs before reaching the Late-Stage of Qi Refining, Tong Huan’s Cultivation was still only at the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.
As an Elder’s Inner Chamber Disciple, he was automatically considered an Outer Sect Disciple upon reaching a certain age.
However, Tong Huan usually lived near White Jade Tower and didn’t interact with the other Outer Sect Disciples. Besides his own illustrious master, his teachings ca from Senior Brother Lu Songx.
Although Senior Brother Lu Songx was sowhat older, he was a late bloor and had finally stepped into the Realm of Qi Refining Great Perfection a few months ago, already in his fifties.
At this age, he was on the verge of his vitality beginning to decline.
Normally, he would still need to spend at least three to five years polishing and purifying his Magical Power and tempering his physical body.
Adding the ti needed to gather Sect Contribution points and wait in line for a Foundation Establishnt Pill, he would have very little ti left for the breakthrough itself. His chances were basically slim.
But clearly, Senior Brother Lu Songx had not given up hope. He continued his arduous cultivation daily without any change in his ntality, earning Tong Huan’s deep admiration.
"Huh!"
Just as Tong Huan was about to leave, he suddenly heard a grinding sound from the stone door of the Quiet Chamber. The door slid open to both sides, and a dashing young Cultivator strode out.
"Greetings, Master..."
Tong Huan knelt on the ground, a trace of excitent and nervousness in his voice.
As Bai Zichen’s only Inner Chamber Disciple, Tong Huan had not spent much ti with his master. Everything he knew about him ca from others.
The youngest Elder in the Qingfeng Sect in the last hundred years, Black Mountain’s First Sword Cultivator, the Sect’s Core Formation Seed, the most talented individual after Ancestor Ge Cang...
All sorts of evaluations, filled with the highest praise, and various titles had been heaped upon Bai Zichen.
Therefore, Tong Huan was constantly worried. ’With my rate of Cultivation progress, will Master think I’m dull-witted and unteachable, and expel from his tutelage?’
"Ah, it’s Huan’er. Who else is here? Tell them to co over... And bring the records of all major events from the past few years."
Bai Zichen slowly paced to the front hall. Three years of seclusion in one go was a new record for him.
In the past, his seclusions would usually last a year or so before he would erge.
This ti, in order to re-cultivate his Five Crystal Glaze Body from the Realm he had been knocked down from, he had endured the tedium and spent a full three years to master the initial stage of the Glazed Body.
’Three years again. Exactly the sa amount of ti it took to cultivate the Glazed Body the first ti.’
Comprehending the Glazed Fire Jade consud a massive amount of Divine Sense.
Even with Spirit Tea to hasten its recovery, he couldn’t afford any distractions.
And during the phase of cultivating the Glazed Body, only his Divine Sense was free. Besides practicing Visualization of the Heaven and Earth Furnace Map and studying the True Enlightennt Sword Technique, he couldn’t do anything else.
During the two years of cultivating the Glazed Body, although he hadn’t made much progress with the Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture, he had integrated and consolidated all that he had learned, making significant, if not obvious, progress.
The first to arrive at White Jade Tower was Cai Heng. He first reported on the matters he was in charge of, then handed over the Spirit Field accounts for the past few years.
During Bai Zichen’s seclusion, they had harvested two cycles of Dragon Tooth Rice and three cycles of Red Light Rice, all of which were bumper crops.
The largest buyer for the Dragon Tooth Rice was still the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion with their bulk purchases. The Red Light Rice, due to its low price and the vast number of Qi Refining Cultivators, actually sold very well.
Thanks to Elder Jiangg, more than half of the Tier One Spirit Rice had been sold.
Currently, Bai Zichen had over fifty thousand Spirit Stones deposited in his account at the Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion. With the voucher, he could withdraw them from any branch at any ti.
"Has the dust settled on those sixteen Foundation Establishnt Pills?"
Bai Zichen asked while flipping through the record of major events compiled by his subordinates, which covered all the important information both inside and outside the Sect.
"Aside from the five True Disciples, three Stewards and one disciple who was just promoted from the Inner Sect to a Steward also applied to exchange for the Foundation Establishnt Pills. However, based on the information we’ve gathered, only five people have consud them so far."
The fate of the Foundation Establishnt Pills was a topic of utmost concern for every Sect Disciple, whether it affected them personally or not.
Cai Heng was no exception, even though he had long given up on the idea of Foundation Establishnt due to his age.
"However, only two succeeded: one True Disciple and one veteran Elder."
"Senior Brother Wei chose to beco a Fake Pill Cultivator?"
Bai Zichen’s heart trembled when he saw this piece of information.
Although a Fake Pill Cultivator possessed the strength of an Early-Stage Core Formation Cultivator, they had no possibility of further advancent in their lifeti. Crucially, their lifespan did not increase and remained the sa as a Foundation Establishnt Cultivator’s.
One would only choose to beco a Fake Pill Cultivator when they truly had no other choice and were facing imnse danger.
For this very reason, Fake Pill Cultivators were often not regarded as peers by true Core Formation Cultivators.
Nor would anyone bestow the respectful title of "True Man" upon a Fake Pill Cultivator.
"I heard he damaged his foundation while trying to break through, so it was a move of last resort..."
Bai Zichen remained noncommittal. ’I don’t believe Wei Dao would choose the Fake Pill path.’
’Besides, Ancestor Ge Cang himself examined Wei Dao and concluded that his Core conception was complete, and reaching Foundation Establishnt Perfection was just a natural progression. How could he have suffered an injury that damaged his very foundation?’
’Recalling Ancestor Yangg’s questions back then, it’s highly likely the Sect adopted my own deception tactic.’
’They’re presenting Wei Dao as a Fake Pill Cultivator to make the surrounding, ill-intentioned powers wary.’
’Counting the days, it’s indeed about ti for Ancestor Ge Cang to head to the Lotus Secret Realm. It’s ti to release the smoke bomb.’
The remaining matters were not important to Bai Zichen.
...
’Genggeng is finally making so progress. Raising it all these years wasn’t a waste after all.’
Genggeng sensed its master’s aura, tossed aside the tender bamboo shoot in its paw, and waddled over excitedly.
Aside from its growing size and drastically increased weight, the most important thing was that it had finally beco a Tier One Top-Grade Spirit Beast.
If it hadn’t advanced soon, Bai Zichen would have started to suspect his Spirit Beast had no future prospects for growth.
Genggeng’s current size ant it could no longer climb onto Bai Zichen’s shoulder to sit,
but it still tugged at his pants, trying desperately to climb up.
"Alright, stop fooling around... I have to make a trip to the Mountain Gate. I’ll take you with ."
Although he had reacquired the Glazed Body, he had no intention of going out to adventure and train.
The trip to the supposedly perfectly safe Zengguang Immortal City had nearly cost Bai Zichen his life, leaving him with so trauma.
In any case, he wasn’t lacking resources, and his Cultivation progress was smooth. Cultivating at ho was much faster than roaming outside.
Right now, he only wanted to raise his Realm first. If he truly achieved Core Formation, the Fire Dragon Returning Essence Scripture would grant him the Divine Technique of transforming into a Fire Flood Dragon.
According to the scriptures, although the Fire Flood Dragon couldn’t incinerate all things like the Fire Dragon transformation could, it could still manipulate Spirit Fire and enhance the effects of Fire Elent Techniques.
This trip back to the Mountain Gate wasn’t to attend an Elder council; he was heading for the Artifact Refining Hall.
Possessing several Flying Swords, as well as a Sword Refining Secret thod for a Tier Three Flying Sword, made Bai Zichen determined to beco a Specialized Refiner who excelled at Sword Refinent.
He used two thousand contribution points to exchange for two complete sets of Tier One Artifact Refiner inheritances from the Artifact Refining Hall.
One was from the Sect itself, while the other was a Refining Inheritance that the Liu Family of Monkey Mountain had presented to the Qingfeng Sect. Since it ca from an Outer Province, it followed a completely different path.
’I believe this will allow to spend a great deal of ti during my upcoming cultivation, at least to get my foot in the door.’
At the sa ti, he purchased a large quantity of basic Artifact Refining Materials and a Top-Grade Magical Artifact Level Great Cauldron, which was more than enough for Refining ordinary Magical Artifacts.
The first thing he did upon returning to White Jade Tower was not to imdiately start learning the way of Artifact Refining, but to maintain his Flying Swords.
’The Sound Bamboo Sword is fine. With three to five days of nourishnt from the Sword Nurturing Technique, the rice-grain-sized chip should be restored... My own Celestial Xin Sword has a nick and needs to be properly maintained. And then there’s this Willow Leaf Sword... I wonder if it can even be repaired.’
Bai Zichen took out a bottle of Tier Two Sword Tempering Spirit Water, poured it into a clean pool, and subrged both Flying Swords completely.
Afterwards, he opened one of the Tier One Refining Inheritances and found an item called the Ancient Bronze Ring, a Low-Grade Magical Artifact, to use for his initial practice.
The Ancient Bronze Ring was quite simple to use. It could only manifest a golden halo to block attacks.
For just this one Low-Grade Magical Artifact, Bai Zichen ruined over seventy sets of materials. Just from calibrating the fire intensity of the Top-Grade Magical Artifact Level Great Cauldron, he failed another five tis, directly burning five sets of Artifact Refining Materials to charcoal.
A month later, an Ancient Bronze Ring finally popped out of the Great Cauldron. The Refining was a success, and he snatched it up.
’Artifact Refining is no easier than Arrays. It also takes a massive amount of ti...’
Bai Zichen shook his head with a wry smile. Normal disciples entering the Artifact Refining Hall had to start as a Fire Burning Boy and work their way up step by step. Who would waste so many Spiritual Materials right from the start?
They would wait until the Artifact Refining Hall granted them a single chance at Refining, then carefully pour all their effort into showcasing their talent.
They lived in fear that a single failed attempt at Artifact Refining would get them demoted back to a Fire Burning Boy, forcing them to spend several more years stoking fires and adding wood.
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