Foundation Establishment Great Perfection

"Could there be a bug?"

He Sheng was deeply puzzled. He carefully examined the water droplets in the clock, arranged in upper, middle, and lower rows, then focused his thoughts once more on the minus sign beside formation expertise.

"We'll know if we try."

Whoosh.

His formation expertise rapidly regressed once more. He Sheng stopped it when it had just fallen back to the point of First-Tier Lower-Grade perfection.

[Art]:

[First-Tier Lower-Grade Formation Master: 1000/1000]

(Total practice time: two years, three months, eight days)

After this regression, the total practice time for formation expertise had decreased by 1,667 days.

If universal cultivation time were returned at double the previous rate, it should have increased by 3,334 days. Yet the water clock showed otherwise.

[Current total available cultivation time: ten years, eleven months, fourteen days]

"Only 2,500 days of universal cultivation time were added?"

He Sheng carefully calculated it. At the First-Tier Upper-Grade stage, cultivation time regressed at twice the rate.

But upon reaching the First-Tier Middle-Grade stage, cultivation time regressed at a rate of 1.5 times.

Clearly, this was no bug, but a fixed pattern.

To verify his idea, He Sheng added the universal cultivation time back into his formation expertise. After going back and forth several times, the pattern remained exactly the same.

Simply put, this was not some kind of multiple return. It was an exchange ratio between immortal art practice time and universal cultivation time—or perhaps, a Time Rate.

Taking the First-Tier Upper-Grade Formation Master stage as an example, universal cultivation time was returned at twice the rate when regressing it. When adding it back, universal cultivation time was likewise consumed at a Time Rate of two.

He had also tested that at the First-Tier Lower-Grade stage, formation expertise had a Time Rate of 1.2.

Thus, when he regressed his formation expertise back to the state of just having begun:

[First-Tier Lower-Grade Formation Master: 1/1000]

(Total practice time: one day)

The total universal cultivation time he received was:

[Current total available cultivation time: thirteen years, seven months, nine days]

After this round of testing, He Sheng gradually began to grasp the underlying principle.

"The reason the water clock divides things into the three major categories of [Art], [Method], and [Technique] is likely because the three are cultivated differently.

Technique represents spells and the like. Its cultivation is the simplest, relying entirely on one's own mana and not borrowing external objects.

Thus, its Time Rate is 1.

In other words, the exchange ratio between [Technique] cultivation time and universal cultivation time is 1:1."

But neither [Art] nor [Method] worked that way.

"Immortal arts naturally require vast quantities of external materials, and the path of formations is no exception. Whether refining formation disks or forging formation foundations, both consume enormous amounts of spiritual materials.

And the higher the formation's grade, the higher its requirements for spiritual materials naturally become.

That is why the higher the grade of an immortal art, the higher its Time Rate.

The water clock uses time as currency to regulate and balance its internal mechanism."

Having figured this out, He Sheng naturally gained a deeper understanding of the Time-Reversing Water Clock, this cheat of his.

"Cultivation methods rely on the spiritual energy of the outside world. When ordinary cultivators breathe and refine qi, they either need to consume spiritual food and spiritual pills, or cultivate where spiritual veins have formed. Otherwise, they simply cannot complete their circulation.

And the higher one's cultivation, the more spiritual energy is needed for breathing and refining qi.

So the Time Rate for [Method] should fluctuate as well."

[Clear Billows Water Origin Art, Sixth Layer (Beginner): 1/100]

(Total cultivation time: eleven years, seven months, seven days)

He Sheng glanced at the Clear Billows Water Origin Art's information and prepared to run a test as well, to see whether it matched his conjecture.

He immediately added one month of cultivation time to the Clear Billows Water Origin Art.

[Clear Billows Water Origin Art, Sixth Layer (Beginner): 51/100]

(Total cultivation time: eleven years, eight months, seven days)

He Sheng sensed the state of the mana within his body and discovered that not only had his newly broken-through cultivation completely stabilized, the mana in his dantian spiritual sea had increased by more than a hundred drops in one stroke!

Meanwhile, his universal cultivation time had decreased by two months.

[Current total available cultivation time: thirteen years, five months, nine days]

"In other words, at the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, the Time Rate is 2. That is, the exchange ratio between cultivation time and universal cultivation time is 1:2."

The unbroken string of experiments greatly improved He Sheng's command of the Time-Reversing Water Clock. Ideas for raising his combat strength immediately poured forth like an endless spring.

"Then according to the Time-Reversing Water Clock's assessment of my current cultivation, doesn't that mean I only need to spend around sixty months of universal cultivation time to raise my cultivation in one leap to Foundation Establishment Late Stage Great Perfection?!"

At a Time Rate of two, that meant he only needed thirty actual months of cultivation for the Clear Billows Water Origin Art to reach Sixth Layer perfection—the Great Perfection realm of the entire cultivation method.

An intermediate cultivation method could only be cultivated this far. As for Core Formation, it did not mention a single word.

"Thirty months may look like merely two and a half years, but that is twelve solid hours every single day. If Brother Piao cultivated the Clear Billows Water Origin Art for five hours a day as before, it would actually take six years.

It really is faster than Brother Piao's previous cultivation during the early and middle Foundation Establishment stages. But this is the result after I created a way to bolster cultivation method practice with the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm, so it is hardly surprising."

When He Sheng had previously used the Subtle Ripple Intent Realm to bolster his cultivation method practice, it had not only greatly enhanced the effects of running a Great Heavenly Cycle, but also drastically reduced the time needed to circulate his cultivation method. That was why he could achieve such results.

Mana cultivation realm was the foremost factor influencing combat strength. He Sheng always kept that firmly in mind.

Although he had originally wanted to study how to make himself into a monster that exploited the rules, he still had to first ground himself in practical concerns.

"If anything happens later, raising my cultivation to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection first will let me handle it with greater composure."

Once his mind was made up, He Sheng no longer considered anything else. He gathered his thoughts upon the plus sign behind the Clear Billows Water Origin Art.

Swoosh!

As though riding a rocket, the realm of the Clear Billows Water Origin Art began rising at breathtaking speed.

Beginner, minor accomplishment, proficient, major accomplishment, perfection!

[After two and a half years of single-minded cultivation, your Clear Billows Water Origin Art has reached the Great Perfection realm, and your cultivation realm has also advanced to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection.

Unfortunately, this is only an intermediate cultivation method and cannot allow you to advance any further.]

This line of cultivation information appeared brief, but He Sheng could feel the changes in his dantian spiritual sea.

His spiritual sea had expanded by more than double, while his mana had surged in one stroke to 9,600 drops!

Feeling the surging, vast mana within his body, He Sheng felt that his mana had doubled compared to when he had first entered the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

After all, according to the previous method of quantification, when he had first entered the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, his mana value had already reached 7,200 points.

Now, at Foundation Establishment Great Perfection, calculated from 9,600 drops of mana, his mana value had become 14,400 points—exactly double.

"With my current level of mana, I'm already several times stronger than when I first arrived here. If I fully activate Subtle Ripple Water Escape, I should be able to keep it up for more than an hour.

Escaping downstream for over two thousand li in a short time should not be a problem."

With such powerful means of fleeing, He Sheng naturally felt greatly reassured.

Although the mana fluctuations outside the water manor grew increasingly violent and the shaking within the manor had become obvious, he still calmed himself and focused his thoughts on the Clear Billows Water Control Art.

"If I pour all my remaining universal cultivation time into it, I wonder whether I'll gain something new?"

[Current total available cultivation time: eight years, five months, nine days]

He Sheng swept his gaze over the universal cultivation time. Then, with his mind tightening, the cultivation time invested into the Clear Billows Water Control Art began increasing wildly.