Cinnabar Firmament Peak, Affairs Office.
After breaking through a major realm, sect disciples had to go to the Affairs Office to register.
After Chen Xuan registered, the Affairs Office replaced his Disciple Token and issued him the clothes of an inner sect disciple.
He happened to run into Li Junmo, who had also come to register.
"Junior Brother Chen."
Li Junmo spotted Chen Xuan and called out happily.
From Li Junmo's expression, he had probably condensed a Golden Spirit Sea. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so happy.
"Senior Brother Li."
Chen Xuan greeted him with a smile as well.
Li Junmo pulled Chen Xuan aside to ask him about the Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire.
Li Junmo was close to having enough Contribution Points for the Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire. Once he exchanged them for the Dao Technique, he would need to condense his own Mystic Fire.
So he had been asking fellow disciples who had mastered the Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire for advice.
He didn't look down on Chen Xuan just because he had only joined the sect six months ago.
After all, Chen Xuan had shown off his Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire during the Outer Sect Grand Competition.
Li Junmo felt that Chen Xuan's Mystic Fire was stronger than any he had seen before.
That was why he asked him so earnestly.
Still, Chen Xuan couldn't offer him much advice.
He had simply relied on his Mystic Fire to pull through.
So all he could do was describe what it had felt like when his Mystic Fire evolved.
Li Junmo didn't understand much of it, but he was still very grateful to Chen Xuan.
After parting ways with Li Junmo, Chen Xuan visited Jiang Qiong's residence.
Now that he had successfully broken through, he wanted to let her know, since she had helped him a great deal.
Jiang Qiong's residence.
The moment Jiang Qiong saw Chen Xuan, she asked excitedly, "Junior Brother, did you really win first place in the Outer Sect Grand Competition?"
The Outer Sect Grand Competition wasn't a particularly major event, but plenty of disciples still followed it.
Especially since this year's first- and third-place winners were both disciples of Cinnabar Firmament Peak, news of the competition had spread even more widely through the Cinnabar Firmament lineage.
So Jiang Qiong had heard about it.
When she learned that Chen Xuan had taken first place, she found it hard to believe.
He had been in the sect for only six months, yet he'd won the Outer Sect Grand Competition. It was terrifying.
"Yes, Senior Sister. I just finished my seclusion, so I came to tell you."
Hearing her, Chen Xuan smiled and nodded.
Jiang Qiong immediately pulled Chen Xuan into the courtyard.
"I heard you've successfully cultivated the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art, and even reached perfection in the first stage. Could you let me see?"
"Sure."
Chen Xuan didn't mind and immediately activated the Dragon Marks on his hands.
Jiang Qiong stared at the shimmering Dragon Marks and swallowed.
He really had reached perfection in the first stage.
His cultivation speed was simply too fast.
She seriously suspected that Chen Xuan had a special constitution.
Perhaps even the Myriad Dao Stele passed down by the Holy Land hadn't been able to detect it!
All right, that was a joke. She did trust the Myriad Dao Stele.
But Chen Xuan's situation really was abnormal, and she couldn't figure out why.
Next, Jiang Qiong got a look at Chen Xuan's Purple Imperial Dragon Flame.
She had also cultivated the Spirit-Devouring Profound Fire, but hers took the shape of a tiger and didn't look as impressive as the Purple Imperial Dragon Flame.
"Junior Brother, now that you've reached the Spirit Sea Realm, what do you plan to do next?"
Jiang Qiong asked.
"Keep cultivating and strive for the Dao Foundation."
Chen Xuan answered without hesitation.
"With your talent, reaching perfection in the Spirit Sea should be a piece of cake.
"The most important thing is Foundation Establishment. You should start planning early."
Jiang Qiong nodded and reminded him.
The Dao Foundation Realm could also be called Foundation Establishment: building the foundation of the Great Dao.
After Qi Gathering, cultivators broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm, where Spirit Seas were divided into three grades: upper, middle, and lower.
Dao Foundations also came in three grades: Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, Earthly Dao Foundation Establishment, and Human Dao Foundation Establishment.
King Body cultivators could directly take a Dao Foundation Pill and draw in Heavenly Dao Qi, completing Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
As for Spirit Body cultivators, just as they needed treasures like spirit items to condense a Golden Spirit Sea when breaking through to the Spirit Sea Realm, they also needed something special for Foundation Establishment: Heavenly Dao Qi.
The greatest difference between cultivators above the Spirit Body level and others was that they could draw Heavenly Dao Qi into themselves.
Heavenly Dao Qi was far more precious than spirit items.
Also, if a Mortal Body cultivator wanted to achieve Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, they needed not only Heavenly Dao Qi but also a spirit item—specifically, a Two-Pattern Spirit Item.
Jiang Qiong explained how difficult it all was to Chen Xuan.
Then she told him how to obtain Heavenly Dao Qi.
"Other than those with exceptional talent, who can draw in Heavenly Dao Qi directly when they break through, the only way to find it is to enter the Heavenly Dao Secret Realms.
"It's no easy task. Many Spirit Body and Mortal Body disciples in the sect regularly explore various Heavenly Dao Secret Realms after reaching the Spirit Sea Realm.
"So, Junior Brother, you should prepare for that too."
After Jiang Qiong finished, Chen Xuan asked what a Heavenly Dao Secret Realm was.
She explained that there were many secret realms in the world, and cultivators collectively called those where Heavenly Dao Qi had appeared Heavenly Dao Secret Realms.
If Chen Xuan wanted to learn more about them, he could visit the Library Pavilion at Cloud Sea Peak.
The books there recorded all kinds of cultivation-related matters.
They also described the locations and conditions of all the secret realms discovered in the Azure Cloud Realm.
Chen Xuan stayed at Jiang Qiong's residence for a while, then left.
After leaving, he headed to Cloud Sea Peak to look up information about the Heavenly Dao Secret Realms.
At his speed of refining pills and absorbing them, he could reach perfection in the Spirit Sea Realm very quickly.
So, as Jiang Qiong had said, obtaining the resources for Foundation Establishment was now his top priority.
He definitely wasn't willing to rely on a Dao Foundation Pill alone and settle for Human Dao Foundation Establishment.
He wanted Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment.
Chen Xuan arrived at the Scripture Repository on Cloud Sea Peak and began searching through the books.
Elsewhere.
Jiang Qiong went to visit her master, Elder Xie.
She had heard the news about the Outer Sect Grand Competition, but Elder Xie might not have.
So, when she arrived at his abode, she told him that Chen Xuan had won first place in the Outer Sect Grand Competition and had condensed a Golden Spirit Sea, reaching the Spirit Sea Realm.
Elder Xie was astonished. He asked her to recount the details.
Based on his earlier estimates, Chen Xuan shouldn't have made the top three in this year's competition, yet he had unexpectedly taken first place.
Jiang Qiong quickly told him what she knew.
The dragon-shaped Purple Imperial Dragon Flame had shattered the Supreme Unity Golden Sword outright.
And Chen Xuan had cultivated the Azure Heaven Dragon Transformation Art to perfection in the first stage in less than three months.
Elder Xie fell silent when he heard it all.
He had planned to take Chen Xuan as his disciple after he broke through to the Spirit Sea Realm.
But now, it seemed he wasn't worthy of doing so.
Taking on a disciple far more talented than himself, when he couldn't offer him any help, might not be a good thing.
After a long silence, Elder Xie sighed. "Forget it. I'd better not mislead the young. His future lies in ascending to the Spirit Sea World."
The Spirit Sea World was the upper realm of the Azure Cloud Realm, a Middle Thousand World.
Elder Xie didn't dare imagine Chen Xuan ascending to the Primordial World and entering a Holy Land. He only dared hope that Chen Xuan would ascend to the Middle Thousand World of the Spirit Sea World.
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