Vast Consumption of Spirit Stones

Eighteen at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, twenty-five at the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, and thirty at the Foundation Establishment Early Stage.

These prodigies possessed extraordinary talent. Not yet eighteen, they already had such cultivation. So long as they did not perish in the future, they would at least become Nascent Soul powerhouses.

No wonder these youths were so full of pride. They truly had the capital to be proud.

If it had been the Jiang Ping An of before, he truly would not have had any chance to compete for a spot in the top ten.

But the appearance of the "Earth Accumulation Art" had changed everything.

Perhaps he still had a chance to fight for it.

Jiang Ping An tasted the meat of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage demon beast. The flavor was ordinary, but it truly contained abundant energy.

Every bite was like swallowing a Blood Qi Pill and a Qi Gathering Pill.

Meng Jing sat beside him, stuffing herself with pastries. Her little face was full of smiles.

The pastries here were truly delicious.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, a Maid dressed in white suddenly approached and respectfully said to Meng Jing:

"Miss Meng, the Princess has summoned you to practice martial arts."

"Ah, is it time already?"

Meng Jing hurriedly stuffed another piece of pastry into her mouth, then turned to Jiang Ping An and said:

"Princess Sister wants me to practice martial arts. I'll come find you every day during mealtime from now on."

Meng Jing quickly wiped her mouth with her little hand and skipped away.

After her talent awakened, Xia Qing would personally instruct her in order to raise her strength as quickly as possible.

After Jiang Ping An finished the demon beast meat, he intended to return and cultivate. Then he suddenly remembered that he had not given Little White any pills today.

He asked someone where the mounts were kept and headed to the Horse Farm beside the Prefect Residence.

Though the other horses were handsome, they all paled beside Little White.

Little White was definitely not a horse. It merely looked somewhat like one.

When he fed Little White pills, Little White happily tossed its head, its white mane flying through the air.

"Young man, is this exotic beast yours?"

Just as Jiang Ping An was about to return to cultivate, a voice suddenly rang out and startled him badly.

Jiang Ping An abruptly turned around and saw a stooped Old Man.

The Old Man was slightly hunchbacked. He wore plain black clothes and carried hay in his arms. He was likely an attendant who fed the horses.

"Yes, sir."

Jiang Ping An did not act arrogant because of the other man's status. He had come from the bottom himself and did not believe he was nobler than anyone else.

"Sell this exotic beast to me. Three hundred thousand spirit stones. What do you say?" The Old Man placed the hay into the stable and spoke indifferently.

"Three hundred thousand!" Jiang Ping An was slightly stunned.

"That's right." The Old Man looked at Little White with open fondness.

Jiang Ping An was somewhat shocked. Even a horse-feeding attendant at the Prefect Residence was this wealthy?

Even Golden Core powerhouses rarely had so many spirit stones readily available, did they?

Jiang Ping An felt that he still understood far too little about this world.

"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't want to sell it."

Jiang Ping An directly refused. He was not short on money now, and besides, he liked Little White very much. It was fast and could serve as transportation.

The Old Man gave Jiang Ping An a deep look. Seeing that he was not trying to take the opportunity to raise the price, but truly did not want to sell, he silently sighed.

It seemed he had no fate with this exotic beast.

The Old Man raised a hand, and a small blue bag appeared in it, covered in extremely intricate runes.

"I'll give you a Demon Beast Storage Bag. It can hold demon beasts and makes them easy to carry."

"There are Storage Bags like this in the world?" Jiang Ping An was somewhat shocked.

It was his first time hearing that there were Storage Bags capable of storing demon beasts.

"How much does this Storage Bag cost?" Jiang Ping An guessed that such an item certainly would not be cheap.

Other Storage Bags could not hold living exotic beasts, yet this kind of Storage Bag could.

"It's a gift for you."

The Old Man casually tossed the Storage Bag to Jiang Ping An, then carried the hay away to continue feeding the horses.

"Thank you, sir."

Jiang Ping An needed this Storage Bag very much. He clasped his fists and gave the Old Man a deep bow.

There was no spiritual imprint on the Storage Bag, so Jiang Ping An left his own spiritual imprint on it.

The space inside was enormous. The flat area alone could hold over ten thousand horses!

Even without mentioning its ability to store living creatures, this capacity alone would cost tens of thousands of spirit stones.

Jiang Ping An wanted to thank the Old Man again, but he had no idea where the Old Man had gone.

Jiang Ping An silently remembered this kindness and tried putting Little White into the Demon Beast Storage Bag.

With a whoosh, Little White vanished.

Only after confirming that Little White could truly be stored inside and would not suffocate did Jiang Ping An feel at ease.

"I'm going to cultivate next, so sometimes I won't be able to look after you. I'll put some pills inside first. Five a day—don't eat too many."

Jiang Ping An placed several bottles of pills into the Storage Bag and reminded Little White.

Little White was extremely intelligent and nodded vigorously.

Jiang Ping An tied the Storage Bag at his waist and returned to his residence to cultivate.

The gap between him and those prodigies was far too great. He had to cultivate quickly to have a chance of catching up.

After activating the barrier, the surrounding spiritual energy gathered into the room.

Sitting on the Cultivation Platform, he used the energy from the Foundation Establishment Late Stage demon beast meat to charge at the Qi Refining Second Layer.

If those geniuses knew that someone among them was only now charging at the Qi Refining Second Layer, who knew what their expressions would be.

Crack~

After being replenished by vast amounts of spiritual energy and demon beast meat energy, the realm barrier broke open again, and he returned to the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Jiang Ping An did not stop. He swallowed three Spirit Gathering Pills and charged at the next realm again.

Spirit Gathering Pills were pills used by Foundation Establishment Cultivators for cultivation, each worth one hundred spirit stones.

An ordinary Qi Refining Eighth or Ninth Layer Cultivator could break through to the Qi Refining Tenth Layer after taking one Spirit Gathering Pill.

Yet Jiang Ping An, merely at the Qi Refining Second Layer, swallowed three at once.

If an ordinary Cultivator dared to do this, there would be only one outcome: their body would explode and they would die.

The energy stored by low-level Cultivators was limited. They simply could not store too much.

Because of the "Earth Accumulation Art," Jiang Ping An had no Meridians. Instead, he poured spiritual energy into his blood.

The higher his Body Cultivator realm, the more vast the spiritual energy his blood could store.

After swallowing three Spirit Gathering Pills, Jiang Ping An did not feel the slightest sign of striking the realm barrier, so he tossed another seven into his mouth.

Taking seven more at once was something even ordinary Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivators would not dare do, for fear that their bodies would explode.

As the Spirit Gathering Pills transformed into energy and fused into his body, Jiang Ping An felt the existence of the realm barrier again.

Crack~

Qi Refining Third Layer.

Jiang Ping An broke through again. The energy in the room surged wildly toward him, and he absorbed it like a vortex.

Ten Spirit Gathering Pills were worth one thousand spirit stones, several times more resources than his previous breakthrough had consumed.

Jiang Ping An was not worried because he needed so many resources. Instead, he was extremely happy.

Because none of these resources had gone to waste. They had all been stored in his body.

He continued.

Jiang Ping An did not rest. This time, he directly swallowed ten Spirit Gathering Pills.

Half an hour later, he had not broken through, so Jiang Ping An tossed another ten into his mouth.

Only then did he touch the realm barrier.

Breaking through below the Foundation Establishment Realm did not require any particularly high talent. Sufficient resources were enough.

It was just that Jiang Ping An needed a tiny, tiny bit more resources.

Twenty-two Spirit Gathering Pills brought him to the Qi Refining Fourth Layer.

Forty-five Spirit Gathering Pills brought him to the Fifth Level of Qi Refining.

That was nearly the price of half a Foundation Establishment Pill!

How many Foundation Establishment Cultivators had this many resources available to use?

Fortunately, Jiang Ping An possessed the Treasure Accumulation Basin. He could replicate Foundation Establishment Pills every day, then exchange them for Spirit Gathering Pills. Otherwise, even if he had obtained the Earth Accumulation Art, he would not have been qualified to cultivate it.

Old Li often said that "wealth, companions, techniques, and land" were a Cultivator's important resources. There was a reason wealth came first.

One hundred Spirit Gathering Pills successfully brought him back to Qi Refining Level 6!

This single breakthrough was equivalent to consuming one Foundation Establishment Pill.

If other Cultivators saw this, they would be so envious they might cry themselves to death.

In a nearby pavilion, Ma Wei, who had been cultivating, suddenly opened his eyes with a bewildered expression.

"What's going on? Why has the spiritual energy in the room suddenly decreased?"

It was not just him. The Cultivators nearby all sensed that the spiritual energy had diminished greatly.

They guessed that some genius must have been breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to absorb so much spiritual energy at once.

Within the courtyard where Xia Qing lived alone.

A small bridge arched over flowing water. Spiritual energy drifted in the air, multicolored flowers bloomed all around, and strange little white beasts lounged lazily nearby.

Boom~

A sudden clap of thunder rang out, startling the little white beasts so badly that they quickly burrowed into Xia Qing's arms.

Meng Jing opened her eyes excitedly. "Princess Sister, I sensed Thunder Power!"

That phenomenon just now had been caused by her connecting with Thunder Power.

Xia Qing sat at the tea table reading. Her beautiful eyes lifted slightly as she smiled.

"Of course. A Thunder Spirit Body is born in resonance with lightning. Once your cultivation reaches great success, you will be able to summon countless bolts of lightning with a single thought."

"Hehe, I'll show that Woodhead later. This time, he'll definitely be shocked." Meng Jing said with a smile, eagerly anticipating Jiang Ping An's stunned expression.

Upon hearing this and seeing the look on Meng Jing's face, the smile on Xia Qing's face suddenly vanished.

"Jiang Ping An has great talent as a Body Cultivator. If he is fortunate, he may have a chance to become a Nascent Soul cultivator in the future. But the gap between him and you is far too great."

Meng Jing's smile faded. "Princess Sister, what are you trying to say?"

"Your mother made the wrong choice back then. She fell in love with your father, an ordinary man, and now she has to bear so much that she cannot meet you."

Xia Qing paused, then said directly, "Jiang Ping An is not worthy of you. Do not let a momentary fondness delay a lifetime of cultivation."

"I... there's nothing between him and me." Meng Jing lowered her head, her expression impossible to see.

Xia Qing looked toward the sky. "There are countless prodigies in this world. Once cultivation officially begins the day after tomorrow, you will see even more outstanding youths."

"These geniuses are all top-tier in appearance, talent, and background. You will soon understand just how ordinary Jiang Ping An is. You are people from two different worlds. Keeping your distance from him will be good for both of you."

After Xia Qing said this, Meng Jing did not respond. She lowered her head, not knowing what she was thinking.