Using entries to cultivate immortality in chaotic times

After giving the two scholarly brothers some 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 time, 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 Refinement 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 Refinement stage of cultivation was just that simple, provided you could find a large cluster of Qi Refinement 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 mention the 200 spirit stones required for someone like Fat Long to break through from the seventh level of Qi Refinement stage to the Foundation Establishment stage, even the thirty spirit stones needed to move from the third level of the Qi Refinement realm to the seventh level were beyond what most Qi Refinement cultivators could afford.

Many cultivators at the Qi Refinement stage were quite poor.

Or rather, the logic should be reversed.

It's not that the Qi Refinement stage is poor; rather, those who stay in the Qi Refinement stage are poor. Those with even a small amount of savings would have already established their foundation, as only with Foundation Establishment 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 Refinement stage to the first level of the Foundation Establishment stage in a day.

The breakthrough in the Qi Refinement stage of cultivation was just that simple.

After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, the progress of cultivation would slow down significantly. At this point, killing Qi Refinement stage demon beasts no longer increased cultivation progress, and adult demon beasts at the Foundation Establishment 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 methods for enhancing cultivation at this stage relied on two types.

The first type involved possessing a sufficiently good mental method and finding a place with dense spiritual energy, then cultivating the mental method 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 Establishment 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 consumed 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 Establishment was of a width of 110 centimeters and a height of 100 centimeters with Heavenly Dao Foundation enhancement. Even with the Heavenly Dao Foundation's enhancement, the absorption was still slow, which meant his Foundation Establishment 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 centimeters or even a thousand centimeters.

Did that mean that every time he replenished the spiritual energy in his Dantian, it would take nearly ten hours?

What about when it reached ten thousand centimeters or even a hundred thousand centimeters?

Would it take a month to fill his Dantian with spiritual energy?

Such a long time was enough for his enemies to decimate his Nine Tribes three or four times!

"This won't do..."

Chen Qiu shook his head and muttered, "I need to find a better mental method."

The strength of the Heavenly Dao Foundation was linked to the mental method; if the mental method was too weak, then the Heavenly Dao Foundation couldn't play too big a role. His current mental method 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 times, and indeed saw a mental method auction item on the last page.

The supreme mental method of the Foundation Establishment stage, "Seven Lamps Awakening the World".

In reality, it was merely a top-tier Yellow Level mental method, 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 Refinement Realm, Foundation Establishment Stage, Golden Core Stage, and so on.

A top-tier mental method during the Foundation Establishment 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 Establishment Stage, which perfectly complemented his entry, "Focus Power." This spell was a great fit for him.

This type of spell was actually quite common; Zhao's Commerce 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 some 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 mere trifle.

Moreover, there were also two mid-grade "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talismans" in the auction list appropriate for use during the Foundation Establishment 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 Refinement stage. By obtaining this mid-grade "Heavenly Dao Retrospective Talisman," he could take all entries when breaking through a small realm during Foundation Establishment 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 Establishment 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 Establishment 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 come to accept this, harboring a hopeful anticipation for the "three choices" entries upon reaching the Foundation Establishment Stage.

However...

It seemed 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 Establishment Stage."

"Please choose one of the three random entries below within ten breaths."

1:

"Entry Name": 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 Name": Prodigy.

"Entry Level": Grey.

"Entry Effect": Any progress you make in cultivation will be ten times faster and without any bottlenecks, but you can only live to be 25 years old, with no means to extend your life.

3:

"Entry Name": Hundred Percent Accuracy.

"Entry Level": White.

"Entry Effect": Any female of the same race who shares a room with you will definitely become 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 me 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 came 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 some pink entry that makes 'the more children you have, the stronger you become.'"

"I have already thought of a name 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."