The Most Difficult Path of Qi Cultivation (Seeking Follow-up Reads!)

In the magnificent grand hall.

A burly man wearing a high crown and luxurious purple robes leaned back against a gleaming golden throne.

"Whoosh!" A crimson-red serpent, over a hundred feet long and bearing a single horn, wound its way through the hall. Its red dragon scales scraped slowly against the air, emitting a series of "crackling" sounds.

"Red Scale, behave!" The high-crowned man's gaze was like lightning. A shocking aura erupted like a thunderclap as he suddenly glared at the serpent before him.

Whoosh.

As the words fell, endless mist surged around the single-horned crimson serpent. In an instant, it transformed into a small snake as thin as a finger, coiling quietly around the throne where the high-crowned man sat.

"Come in," the high-crowned man said indifferently.

"Marquis." A burly man clad in magnificent golden armor strode into the hall and immediately knelt on one knee.

"What is it?"

"Reporting to the Marquis, Deacon Yu of Tianbao Mountain has sent word. The cultivator who controls that black sailboat magic treasure is named Lei Zhan. He... did indeed visit Qianqian Island six years ago," the burly man in golden armor said respectfully.

"Hmm. Bring me the intelligence from Tianbao Mountain along with the reports from the Marquis of the North Sea's estate," the Marquis of the North Sea said calmly.

"Yes." The burly man in golden armor flipped his hand, and two thin booklets appeared in his palm. He then respectfully handed them over.

"Very well. You may withdraw," the Marquis of the North Sea commanded.

The burly man in golden armor bowed respectfully, turned, and left the hall.

"Suspected to be at the ninth level of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map, cultivating both Qi and the God-Devil Body Refining? Suspected of having comprehended multiple Domain Realms of the Dao? He killed two Wanxiang True Persons in succession?" The Marquis of the North Sea flipped through the pages nonchalantly, his interest growing with every page he turned.

"Such deep comprehension of the Dao at the Purple Mansion level? Suspected of possessing Divine Sense? Could he be an Immortal reincarnated?" The Marquis of the North Sea's eyes held a thoughtful look. "That loose immortal of a million years, Immortal Juhua, has always walked alone, and his tribesmen long ago vanished into the passage of time. Such cultivators with few weaknesses are indeed troublesome. Besides, even if I were to invite the Celestial Immortal ancestor, victory would not be guaranteed..."

The longer a cultivator lived, the more terrifying they became. Loose immortals who had survived the three disasters and nine tribulations over millions of years were even more fearsome; even some Celestial Immortals risked falling if they faced them.

Although he was the Marquis of the entire North Sea Prefecture, he was still only a cultivator at the Void Return level. While there was a slim chance he could invite the Celestial Immortal elder of the Baili Clan, that ancestor was the foundation of the entire great clan and could not be easily disturbed.

Moreover, merely acting on someone else's behalf was not worth paying such a heavy price to provoke an existence capable of slaying a Celestial Immortal.

"Brother Shenrong, our life-and-death friendship... is not worth me dragging the entire Baili Clan into the mire," the Marquis of the North Sea said, placing the booklet aside and falling into deep thought.

"However, Brother Shenrong is desperate to avenge his son and is difficult to dissuade, yet he cannot find the whereabouts of Immortal Juhua. But even for the sake of revenge, to provoke a top-tier loose immortal capable of killing a Celestial Immortal without cause is extremely unwise."

"Now that this Lei Zhan has appeared, it is highly likely he is a disciple of this Immortal Juhua..."

"Forget it. Although Brother Shenrong is not considered core within the clan, even if I do not provide this intelligence, he could obtain it himself from Tianbao Mountain..."

The Marquis of the North Sea shook his head and stopped thinking about it. As the Marquis of the North Sea Prefecture, his duties were incredibly complex; why would he constantly concern himself with a Purple Mansion cultivator?

If not for Lei Zhan's special status and the request of a life-long friend he had known in his youth, he would never have used the Marquis estate's privileges to pay personal attention to this matter.

In a quiet room at Tianbao Mountain in the North Sea.

"The wine and food obtained at the cost of an Earth-rank magic treasure are indeed extraordinary. Not only are they delicious, but they are also beneficial to my cultivation; they are worth ten days of bitter training," Lei Zhan said with a smile, then sat down cross-legged.

The wine and food purchased for ten jin of elemental liquid were enough to satisfy Lei Zhan's cravings. Once full, Lei Zhan rented a quiet room here at Tianbao Mountain. Having obtained a large amount of elemental liquid, his priority was naturally to convert it into his own strength.

With a flip of his hand, a jade bottle appeared in Lei Zhan's palm. Inside the bottle was the more than 1,200 jin of elemental liquid he had received from selling his many treasures and magic items.

"Whoosh."

Lei Zhan opened his mouth, and the stopper of the jade bottle automatically popped off. Following that, the elemental liquid, like fine wine and nectar, flew directly into his mouth.

At the same time.

Within the endless void of his Purple Mansion, a lake floated silently. The lake was vast and boundless, and the liquid within was incredibly viscous, rippling like a pool of mercury.

As the elemental liquid entered his body and traveled to his Purple Mansion Dantian, Lei Zhan began to refine it frantically.

"Rumble..."

The entire Purple Mansion space began to tremble. As Lei Zhan continuously swallowed the elemental liquid, countless strands of elemental energy rained down, drizzling over the entire lake of the Purple Mansion.

One hundred jin of elemental liquid.

Two hundred jin of elemental liquid.

Three hundred jin of elemental liquid.

As Lei Zhan swallowed more and more elemental liquid, the light drizzle, previously as fine as ox hair, gradually became more rapid. Large, bean-sized raindrops pelted down, quickly turning into a torrential downpour.

As the rain fell, the elemental liquid, also resembling mercury, dripped continuously into the lake of the Purple Mansion.

Splash, splash...

Splash, splash...

The entire lake of the Purple Mansion received a massive influx of pure elemental power. The waves surged and churned, constantly expanding and spreading in all directions, continuously encroaching upon the surrounding void.

Five hundred jin of elemental liquid.

Six hundred jin of elemental liquid.

Seven hundred jin of elemental liquid.

Lei Zhan continued to refine, and the lake within his Purple Mansion grew deeper and more vast.

Time passed slowly, and the elemental liquid within the jade bottle grew increasingly scarce.

"The Purple Mansion has reached perfection."

In the quiet room, illuminated by the soft glow of a luminous pearl, Lei Zhan sat cross-legged on the jade bed. He opened his eyes, glanced at the nearly empty emerald-green jade bottle in his hand, and shook his head gently.

Merely breaking through to the perfection of the Purple Mansion consumed over eleven hundred jin of elemental liquid. If I want to break through to the Wanxiang level and expand this lake of the Purple Mansion into an ocean... Lei Zhan sighed inwardly.

If he relied entirely on cultivation to gather the massive amount of elemental liquid required for such a breakthrough, based on the speed of absorbing heaven and earth elemental energy as described in the Nine Directions Fragment, he could accumulate at most three hundred jin of elemental liquid in a year.

Furthermore, breaking through from the perfection of the Purple Mansion to a Wanxiang True Person, causing the lake of the Purple Mansion to undergo a metamorphosis into an ocean, would require at least ten times the heaven and earth elemental energy needed to advance from the early stage to the perfection of the Purple Mansion—a terrifying total of over fifteen thousand jin of elemental liquid.

Even without using elemental liquid and relying solely on slow cultivation, it would take at least thirty years!

"Fifteen thousand jin of elemental liquid... even for those Wanxiang True Persons looking to break through and become Primordial Spirit Daoists, the required amount is likely only around ten thousand jin!"

"However, although my Qi Refinement path is only at the perfection of the Purple Mansion, it is on par with the God-Devil Body Refining that utilizes the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map." Lei Zhan sensed the vastness of the boundless lake within his ethereal Purple Mansion space, a trace of gratification appearing in his eyes.

As someone cultivating the Nine Directions Fragment—a Qi Refinement technique suspected to be a fragment of either a second-grade or first-grade Golden Core manual—Lei Zhan was destined to walk an exceptionally difficult path.

Yet, while the threshold for this technique was high, the boost it provided to his strength was equally significant.

Under Lei Zhan's perception, the vigorous and pure Purple Mansion elemental power within his body, even without the use of Earth-ranked magic treasures, was sufficient to rival those at the middle stage of the Wanxiang level based solely on his cultivation at the perfection of the Purple Mansion.

"Elemental liquid... I'm lacking it! Magic treasures... I'm lacking those too!"

"If I want to obtain a massive amount of elemental liquid, I have to go on adventures and engage in slaughter!" Lei Zhan took a long breath and shook his head helplessly.

Of course, Lei Zhan still had two other paths he could take.

The first was to sell his treasures!

The three treasures bestowed by Immortal Juhua—not to mention the jade tablet—were all worth a fortune, whether it was the Great Teleportation Dao Talisman or the Sword Qi containing a full-strength strike from Immortal Juhua. They were worth at least several hundred thousand jin of elemental liquid.

But Lei Zhan would naturally not be so wasteful. These treasures were all tied to his own life; they were his trump cards!

Elemental liquid could be earned again if lost, but once these treasures were sold, there would be nowhere left to buy them.

The second path, naturally, was the War God Hall in the Water Mansion.

"Senior Big Bear previously said that my chances of successfully clearing the third level of the War God Hall were less than thirty percent. Now that my Qi Refinement path has reached the perfection of the Purple Mansion, it can rival my God-Devil Body Refining."

"As long as my comprehension of the Dao improves... or if I can comprehend the subsequent moves of the Red Snow Spear Technique, I will be able to attempt the third level of the War God Hall," Lei Zhan thought to himself.

Lei Zhan had remained at the ninth level of the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map for several years. Now that he was on the verge of fully comprehending the Dao of the Azure Sea and had delved deeply into the Way of Blazing Fire within the Domain Realm of the Dao, he had a premonition that the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map was actually the most likely to be the first to break through to the Wanxiang level.

But once the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map broke through, the remaining opportunity to challenge the War God Hall at the Purple Mansion level would be completely wasted.

Now that he was lacking treasures and elemental liquid, Lei Zhan naturally could not afford to be wasteful.

Today's Diary of a Failure, Part 2

Official commentary: I feel like this chapter is a bit filler! The pacing is a bit slow! But it was unavoidable to lay some groundwork.

The protagonist wants to cultivate the strongest technique, so the resources consumed will definitely be more than an ordinary person's! Commonly known as a "big eater"! The reason the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map is powerful is that it is a self-sufficient, solar-powered technique that can autonomously absorb the power of the sun and the moon. When breaking through major realms, it can even cause the Supreme Stars to descend a trace of True Water and True Fire to help forge the most perfect divine body.

However, the Qi Refinement technique the protagonist is cultivating is only a fragment, so naturally, it isn't that intelligent. He can only rely on external forces to smelt the strongest magic treasures and absorb the most elemental power to compare with the strongest divine body created by the Crimson Bright Nine Heavens Map. But even just the Qi Refinement path alone is enough to beat many people up.

As the story progresses and more uses of his "cheat" are revealed, it's not impossible for him to cultivate a second-grade Golden Core—or even a first-grade Golden Core comparable to the Body Refining path of the same rank—without the help of a World God.

Stay tuned, brothers!

Maybe I should find Lei Zhan a rich woman who can take care of him as soon as possible!

Key point: Please keep reading! Please keep reading! Please keep reading! There is one extra chapter coming in the second round of recommendations; I'll post it whenever I'm in good shape to write it. Thanks for the support, keeping up with the updates is really important! Thank you all!