Cultivation Is Too Hard!

Cultivation Is Too Hard! County Academy, a corner of the Library Pavilion!

Sunlight slanted through the carved window lattice, casting mottled patches of light and shadow across the bluish brick floor.

A young man in white martial attire stood quietly within, tall and slender, his plain robes immaculate and unstained by even a speck of dust.

His brows and eyes were handsome, his features sharply defined. His jet-black hair draped softly over his shoulders, and his entire bearing was as tranquil as jade, carrying an aloof grace that set him apart from the crowd.

The young man held an ancient book in his hands, its yellowed pages curled with age, its ink marks archaic and simple.

His eyelids were slightly lowered, his gaze fixed intently upon the pages. His expression was serious and absorbed, as though all the clamor around him had nothing to do with him, leaving only himself and the ancient book in his hands.

His calm, handsome appearance made the young women passing by in search of books stop again and again. Their gazes drifted toward him unconsciously, and amid their hushed whispers, they could not hide their amazement and curiosity.

"Entry, Subtlety, Manifestation, Domain, Dao Unity, Origin Returning!!!"

"So artistic conception is actually divided into six realms!!!"

Ignoring the gazes drifting over from the girls in the distance, Chen An carefully studied the records in the ancient book, a sharp gleam flashing through his eyes.

The deepest insight he currently possessed was only the Mountain-Crushing artistic conception of Mountain-Crushing Force, and it was merely at the Subtlety Realm. Beyond that lay the four great realms of Manifestation, Domain, Dao Unity, and Origin Returning.

Yet merely reaching the Subtlety Realm had made him feel that his combat power had surged by at least tenfold.

He felt that if he had possessed the Subtlety Realm while at the second level of Qi Condensation, he might have had the strength to fight and defeat a Houtian Realm martial artist.

It was hard to imagine what utterly inconceivable abilities the artistic conceptions beyond this would possess.

"Entering the artistic conception cost one hundred origin crystals, while the Subtlety Realm cost another thousand. For the four realms after that—Manifestation, Domain, Dao Unity, and Origin Returning—could each one really cost ten times as much as the last?!"

"If that is true, then that really is..."

"Hiss!!!"

At the thought, Chen An could not help drawing in a slight breath of cold air.

One hundred crystals for Entry, one thousand for Subtlety. If the cost increased tenfold each time:

Manifestation would require ten thousand, Domain one hundred thousand, Dao Unity a full million, and as for the Origin-Returning Realm, its astronomical price was beyond imagination.

This was not cultivating artistic conception at all—it was plainly burning origin crystals!

Originally, he had thought the five hundred thousand balance sitting in his system would be enough to support his cultivation for a long time, leaving him with no need to worry about resources.

But looking at it now, he had still been far too naive!

Shaking his head and taking a deep breath, Chen An no longer dwelled on the matter.

Where the cart reached the mountain, there would be a road; when the boat reached the bridgehead, it would naturally straighten itself out. Once he used these five hundred thousand origin crystals to raise his cultivation, he would naturally find ways to make more money.

Putting away the ancient book in his hands, Chen An returned it to its original place on the shelf. Without lingering any longer, he turned and walked straight out of the Library Pavilion.

As he stepped through the Library Pavilion's gates, the evening breeze brushed against his face, carrying the faint chill of sunset.

Chen An raised his eyes toward the horizon, only then realizing that he had quietly spent more than half a day in the Library Pavilion. The sun was now sinking westward, rosy clouds staining the sky, and dusk was already near.

An hour later, after finishing dinner, Chen An finally returned home.

"System!"

Host: Chen An

Age: 17

Aptitude: Mid-Grade Martial Bone

Cultivation: Grandmaster Realm (Early Stage)

Current Balance: 496000

"Should I continue raising my artistic conception, or my cultivation?!" Chen An pondered as he looked at the balance in the system.

Originally, he had thought that five hundred thousand origin crystals should be enough for his cultivation in the short term, so he had not made any careful plans.

But after learning that artistic conception had six great realms, and that each advancement might very well cost ten times as much as the previous one—

In that case, even if he poured in all his origin crystals, he could at most raise four artistic conceptions to the Domain Realm.

Although artistic conception was powerful and could strengthen his soul and state of mind, making up for the hidden danger of an unstable mindset caused by his cultivation rising too quickly, cultivation realm was the foundation of a martial artist.

Without the support of cultivation strength, no matter how profound one's artistic conception was, it would be difficult to unleash its proper divine might and combat power.

"Since that is the case, I'll raise my cultivation first!"

"If my state of mind becomes unstable, then I'll raise my artistic conception!"

"That will be perfect!"

Having thought it through, Chen An took a deep breath, then looked at the system and commanded:

"System, consume 1,000 origin crystals to exchange for 1,000 years of cultivation time and cultivate the Azure Mystery Force-Congealing Art!"

Boom!!!

The instant his words fell, the air around him suddenly trembled. The vast and majestic origin energy between heaven and earth seemed to be drawn by an invisible force, crazily converging toward Chen An.

Rolling heavenly and earthly origin energy transformed into tangible white mist, winding around him layer upon layer and tightly enveloping his entire body.

The Azure Mystery Force-Congealing Art began operating on its own, rapidly converting the surging heavenly and earthly origin energy into innate true force.

One year, ten years, one hundred years, one thousand years...

[ Ding! One thousand years of cultivation time have been exhausted. Cultivation terminated! ]

A cold system voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

The surging heavenly and earthly origin energy instantly dispersed, while the self-operating Azure Mystery Force-Congealing Art slowly quieted and withdrew.

In the darkness, Chen An opened his eyes. Two streaks of silver light shot out from them, making the room flash brightly as though lightning had streaked through it.

"Four thousand and fifty strands of innate true force!"

Turning his inner sight toward his dantian, Chen An looked at the mere thousand new strands of innate true force he had gained after spending a full thousand years of cultivation time, and could not help furrowing his brow slightly.

A thousand strands sounded like a considerable amount, but calculated out, it meant he could refine only one strand of innate true force per year.

One had to know that what he had exchanged for was genuine closed-door cultivation time, equivalent to cultivating tirelessly day and night, constantly circulating his cultivation art without a moment's rest—yet his progress was still astonishingly slow.

According to the records in the Azure Mystery Force-Congealing Art, the Grandmaster Realm required ten thousand strands of innate true force to break through to the middle stage, and forty thousand strands to break through to the late stage.

To reach Grandmaster Realm perfection, one needed a full one hundred thousand strands of innate true force.

"Cultivating in the Grandmaster Realm is way too hard, isn't it?!!!"

Thinking of how one hundred thousand strands of innate true force were needed to break through to Grandmaster Realm perfection, Chen An's mouth twitched.

However, Chen An guessed that his aptitude was simply too poor, which was why he could condense only one strand of innate true force a year.

Otherwise, at his current speed of condensing innate true force, it would take nearly one hundred thousand years just to go from the early stage of the Grandmaster Realm to perfection.

Then how could there possibly be Great Grandmaster Realm, Martial King, and Martial Emperor Realm powerhouses beyond the Grandmaster Realm?!

After all, according to the books, even a Grandmaster Realm expert had a maximum lifespan of only two hundred and forty years.

In just over two hundred years, if everyone were like him, the path of martial arts would have been severed long ago.

"I wonder whether this world has any way to improve one's bones and physique?!"

Chen An secretly sighed. He had the system cheat in hand, yet his own innate bones and aptitude were too poor, forcefully dragging down his cultivation efficiency.

Given the same cultivation time, the results others obtained would be several times, dozens of times, or even hundreds or thousands of times greater than his.

Now, while he was only in the Grandmaster Realm, he could condense merely one strand of innate true force a year.

If he later stepped into the Great Grandmaster Realm, Martial King Realm, or even Martial Emperor Realm, where cultivation difficulty would soar layer by layer, would not the speed at which he condensed true force and broke through realms become so slow that it drove one to despair?

By then, even with a heaven-defying existence like the system, the number of origin crystals he consumed would surely be staggering.

His eyes flickered. Chen An made up his mind that in the future, he had to find a way to improve his bones and physique. Only then did he let out a long breath of turbid air and look toward the system before him.

"System, consume one hundred thousand balance to exchange for one hundred thousand years of cultivation time and cultivate the Azure Mystery Force-Congealing Art!"