noffsinger Chapter 72 7 years
Chapter 72 7 years
Chapter 72 Seven Years (Bonus Chapter, Please Subscribe)
Seven years later.
Little White Island.
Fang Qing sat cross-legged, staring at the Water Essence Pill in his hand.
This Water Essence Pill was not only crystal clear, but also had two intricate pill patterns on its surface, clearly indicating that it was a mid-grade second-tier medicine. "I didn't expect the drug resistance to develop so quickly. Fortunately, I've been taking low-grade second-tier Water Essence Pills, and I've kept the mid-grade Water Essence Pills refined from second-tier demon cores."
He tilted his head back, swallowed the pill, and silently circulated the "Azure Sea Technique" to digest its power.
Splash!
Within the dantian, nineteen drops of dark blue liquid magic power surged and rolled, continuously circulating through the meridians.
Suddenly, a perfectly round, dark green liquid mana condensed again, causing the liquid mana within Fang Qing's dantian to reach the twentieth level, forming a small patch of emerald green water.
Twenty drops of liquid mana!
This is the peak of the early stage of Foundation Establishment!
"Finally—I've reached the peak of the early Foundation Establishment stage—"
Feeling the surging magical power within his body, and the invisible bottleneck, Fang Qing nodded, then shook his head.
With the help of elixirs, he progressed at a rapid pace. In less than ten years, he had the hope of breaking through to the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, almost surpassing Zhong Lingxiu, who had an ice spirit root!
But the price is—
"The bottleneck in the middle stage is not so easy to break through. Before breaking through the bottleneck, no matter how much you cultivate or even consume Water Essence Pills, you can only restore and replenish your mana. You cannot break through the upper limit of twenty drops of liquid mana."
For cultivators to break through bottlenecks, they either need a stroke of luck, gain insights from life and death, or slowly wear themselves down over time!
"The aptitude of a mid-grade water spiritual root is indeed lacking, especially in the Foundation Establishment stage where it almost becomes a burden—if I had a heaven-grade spiritual root, or even an aptitude like Zhong Lingxiu's, I could easily break through the bottleneck of the mid-Foundation Establishment stage—"
"But now? If I rely solely on myself, I certainly won't be able to break through in a short time—unless I take a pill that helps break through bottlenecks!"
These elixirs must be extremely precious.
"Based on my merits—that should be enough, right? It's just that it might reveal my cultivation speed, so it's better to gather the materials myself and refine it—"
At this point, Fang Qing could say without hesitation that he was extremely wealthy.
After all, this is the result of several years of hunting demons!
Unlike other Foundation Establishment cultivators who rely on luck and search for a needle in a haystack, they can easily catch the most suitable traces of second-tier demonic beasts without encountering any major dangers.
With this wealth, gathering the materials for a breakthrough pill shouldn't be difficult.
"Among the sect's second-tier alchemy manuals, there are three types of breakthrough pills—the most suitable for my current situation should be the Minor Breakthrough Pill." This pill is ranked in the middle grade of the second tier, and I am quite confident in refining it—it's just that gathering the materials may take some time.
Feeling the surging magical power of his own perfect early stage Foundation Establishment, Fang Qing had a thought, and the aura on his body quickly dissipated, turning into the fluctuation of ten drops of liquid magical power.
By using the Dao-Born Pearl to conceal their cultivation level, even a Core Formation Ancestor could not detect anything amiss.
It wasn't that Fang Qing was afraid of anything; it was just an instinct to keep a trump card up his sleeve.
Inside the Dao Sheng Pearl, the ten drops of liquid magic power finally took shape, transforming into wisps of energy that condensed into small clusters.
In addition, there is the Yuan representing the completion of the ninth level of Qi cultivation in "Guan Heiling Shu", and even the Yuan representing the third level of "Da Ri Guan Ding Mi Gong".
It must be said that this technique is indeed profound and obscure; without the help of the Yuan Initiation, it would be difficult to make progress.
After observing for a while, Fang Qing took out the Soul Banner artifact and examined it with satisfaction.
At this moment, the magical artifact suddenly emitted the magical power fluctuations of a high-grade magical artifact. Not only was the flagpole as white as jade, but the banner surface, as black as ink, was also covered with densely packed second-tier demonic beast spirit imprints, among which was a second-tier high-grade demonic beast, the Crimson Sea Python, as its commander!
"Over the past seven years, aside from the initial donations from kind-hearted people, I've killed all these second-tier demon beast essences—especially this Crimson Sea Python, which is comparable to the late Foundation Establishment stage. If I hadn't calculated that it was severely injured and taken advantage of the situation, it would have been really difficult to kill it. After all, it possesses a trace of dragon bloodline, making it a strong contender even among high-grade second-tier demon beasts!"
"But it was all worth it."
Second-tier superior spiritual weapon!
The power in Fang Qing's hands was so great that even a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn't dare to take it head-on!
Not to mention, this "Hundred Soul Banner" spirit artifact is made primarily of living souls, making it a high-quality artifact that consumes relatively little magical power!
"Nearly a hundred second-tier sea beasts—equivalent to a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators—even with the size of the Azure Sea Sect, there are only a few hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators. If a hundred of them were killed, both Core Formation patriarchs would go mad!"
Fang Qing knew that it was best not to hunt demons again for the time being.
In fact, second-tier monsters generally possess intelligence.
He had already foreseen several traps set against his own territory, and that future hunts would become increasingly dangerous.
Apart from the second-tier high-grade Hundred Soul Banner, Fang Qing did not sell a large amount of demon beast materials during this rare opportunity. Instead, he used his own refined pills to buy a lot of them at low prices.
This is why the price of monster materials will inevitably rise after the gambling war ends!
In fact, this is a matter of course.
That third-tier demon king, the Sea-Covering Turtle, essentially drove all the second-tier demon beasts from the vicinity of the Little Universe Immortal Realm to this area. As a result, the potential for the future reproduction and development of demon beasts was diminished.
If we are defeated, the price will inevitably rise once this batch of monster materials is exhausted.
The other cultivators were not unaware of this, but they were living for the moment; they needed to immediately convert their materials into spirit stones to purchase pills, magical artifacts, and talismans—to enhance their strength, otherwise they might be killed in battle tomorrow.
Only a Core Formation sect like the Azure Sea Sect, as well as other Foundation Establishment major forces, would consciously acquire and stockpile a batch of such items.
Fang Qing, on the other hand, knew that his own business would not be in trouble, so he also had a long-term vision and other channels to ship his goods.
"Besides the second-tier high-grade spiritual artifact, we also acquired several second-tier high-grade spiritual talismans at a high price—among them, the Firebird Talisman." The asking price was relatively low, so it was considered a bargain. Although this fire attribute talisman is less powerful than those second-tier high-grade attack talismans here, it is quite extraordinary in ancient Shu.
""
"We've reached a certain limit; if we continue like this, our strength won't increase much further."
He sighed: "Furthermore—the great war has lasted for nearly ten years, and both the Azure Sea Sect, the Zhong family, and the demonic beasts have reached a certain limit—either they must wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop, or they can only make peace—"
Fang Qing mastered the Plum Blossom Divination, which allowed him to avoid misfortune and attract good fortune. As a result, Qin Ruxue never encountered any major dangers. At most, she was frightened a few times when the sea turtles attacked the island.
But the other cultivators weren't so lucky.
After he reached the Foundation Establishment stage, some of the familiar faces he had made with fellow Foundation Establishment cultivators on Little White Island disappeared.
Even Elder Tianxing was ambushed by the Zhong family during a sea patrol and died on the spot!
He became the Bihai Sect's highest-ranking and most accomplished cultivator to be lost since the war between the Bihai Sect and the Taibai Zhong family began!
Fang Qing strongly suspects that Zhong Lingxiu is retaliating!
He stepped out of his seclusion room and summoned Qin Ruxue, only to find her face filled with sorrow and a hint of sadness.
"What happened?"
Fang Qing asked casually.
"She was one of my senior sisters, who died on the front lines—"
Qin Ruxue was feeling down.
Although she was Fang Qing's concubine, she also had other social interactions while Fang Qing was in seclusion. She would refine formations for others in the sect and exchange cultivation experiences, and she had several close friends.
This time, it was a senior sister who also came from Zhen Island who died on the front line!
"Has the situation deteriorated to the point where even Foundation Establishment array masters are dying in battle?"
Fang Qing sighed.
Among all the arts of cultivation, formations are the most difficult and have the most uses, making them the foremost of all arts!
Therefore, array masters also have a very high status. A quasi-second-tier array master can be on equal footing with second-tier alchemists, talisman masters, and weapon refiners!
As for second-tier spirit plant masters? They only deserve to sit at the children's table!
Within the sect, they receive even greater protection.
But with even the formation masters dying in battle, it was clear that the front lines had suffered a crushing defeat.
"Retrieve the fragments of the sea turtle's shell and its essence blood—"
Thinking of this, he suddenly spoke.
"Young master?"
Qin Ruxue suddenly looked up, her eyes shining brightly.
"This war should end now."
Fang Qing answered solemnly.
A moment later, he looked at the fragments of the turtle shell and even the turtle blood and other items that were tainted with the demonic energy of the sea turtle, and activated the Plum Blossom Divination.
Now that I've reached the Foundation Establishment stage, I'm only one major realm away from becoming a third-tier great demon, making the situation much clearer—
Fang Qing quickly located a sea area, confirming it as the hiding place of the sea turtle.
His divine sense overflowed, imprinting the exact location onto a jade slip. He then handed it to Qin Ruxue: "Go and secretly deliver this to the sect. Remember to use this 'Mirage Pearl' to conceal your presence."
"Yes, sir!"
Qin Ruxue obeyed without hesitation and took a strange bead from Fang Qing's hand.
This bead resembles a fish eye, yet it carries a dreamlike, ethereal quality. Once held in one's hand, not only its appearance but also its magical aura begins to blur.
This spirit pearl was obtained by Fang Qing from a rare and exotic beast called "Shenbei," which was the only one among the dozens of second-tier demonic beasts he had killed in the past seven years.
The "Mirage Shell" is naturally skilled in illusion magic and can exhale its breath to form a natural illusion array.
It is even said that there are mirages of great demonic power, whose breath creates lifelike mirages that attract mortals and cultivators, who linger there, marry, and have children. Years later, when the great demon departs, they realize it was all a dream—
This bead naturally does not possess such power, but it can easily conceal one's appearance and magical aura. Even a Core Formation cultivator would not be able to detect anything unusual without carefully examining it with their divine sense.
Fang Qing did this because he didn't want to expose his family's secrets.
Although this is a great achievement, the sect may reward it handsomely.
But no reward is more important than one's own safety!
Furthermore—this mirage pearl is best suited for use in the ancient Shu kingdom!
His eyes flickered slightly: "Using this bead to conceal my aura, perhaps I can be a little more aggressive in Ancient Shu?"
Fang Qing is currently facing a bottleneck in his Qi Refining Dao cultivation, which is a good opportunity to further improve his Qi Absorption Dao cultivation!
This is also the advantage of having access to two worlds!