Three Breaths Up the Mountain, One Tael of Silver per Trip

"Recognized by the Heavenly Dao?"

Fat Dragon shrugged helplessly. "Then the requirements are rather high. First, the person founding the sect must be in the Early Golden Core Realm. That's a hard requirement."

"I looked into it. You can get around it by finding someone with Golden Core Realm cultivation to help establish the sect, then have them step down as sect master and transfer the position to you."

"For a second-generation sect, there's no cultivation restriction. The cost for that alone is around a hundred Spirit Stones."

"Beyond that, you must possess a mountain peak as the sect's foundation, and you need five disciples to establish the sect alongside you, among other things. It's extremely complicated. Altogether, it would cost at least two hundred Spirit Stones."

Chen Qiu nodded and did not ask further. Two hundred Spirit Stones was a bit too much. Founding a sect would have to be postponed for now; at present, they simply did not have the means.

He then turned his inner vision inward and looked at the panel shrouded in mist within his body.

"Name": Chen Qiu.

"Cultivation": Third Level of the Qi Refining Realm (1%).

"Entries": 'Rise at Every Step', 'Delayed Foundation Establishment', 'Vengeful Spirit Summoning'.

"Heart Method": 'Withered Wood Rejuvenation'.

"Techniques": 'Earth-Escaping Technique', 'Illusion Technique'.

"Spirit Beast": None.

"Faction": None.

"Kingdom": Great Xia Kingdom.

So far, his three entries had each existed independently, with no connection between them. If considered as an entry set, they clearly were not a particularly good combination. Fortunately, he would have many more chances to obtain entries in the future.

As long as he lived long enough.

The Earth-Escaping Technique and Illusion Technique were also techniques he had obtained from the Heavenly Dao secret manual. Upon learning them, they had already reached Major Accomplishment, making them exceptionally useful.

It was precisely thanks to those two techniques that he had been able to bring Fat Dragon out so smoothly.

From what he had learned from Fat Dragon, killing demon beasts could raise one's cultivation, but it was not a lasting method—or rather, it was merely a shortcut useful in the early stages.

When one's cultivation was low, killing demon beasts could indeed rapidly increase it.

For members of great Lineages, on the day they came of age, their clan would prepare a large number of heavily injured demon beasts. They could basically reach Qi Refining Realm Great Perfection in a single day.

Did that count as cheating?

Naturally, it did.

There was simply nothing one could do about it.

But later on, such as in the Foundation Establishment Realm and Golden Core Realm, trying to raise one's cultivation through killing demon beasts became exceedingly difficult. Demon beasts at that level had basically developed intelligence and watched out for one another. It was hard to find a lone demon beast of the same realm.

The most common method of raising one's cultivation was—

"Absorbing and exhaling spiritual energy."

By circulating a heart method, each full cycle within the body would draw the spiritual energy of the outside world into one's body. Every time the heart method circulated, cultivation progress would rise a little. The absorption speed depended on the grade of the heart method and the density of spiritual energy in the surroundings.

His heart method, Withered Wood Rejuvenation, was the only Yellow Grade, Middle Class heart method in this Minor World. It was considered quite decent.

Because it was a "Heavenly Dao heart method" produced by a Minor World, the moment he learned it, it had reached Major Accomplishment.

While traveling, he had sat down cross-legged and tried circulating his heart method to absorb and exhale spiritual energy. With the grade of his heart method, in an environment with normal spiritual energy density, breaking through to the Fourth Level of the Qi Refining Realm would take roughly three days.

That was not slow.

Much faster than he had imagined.

It seemed cultivating immortality was not all that difficult after all.

As though he had seen through Chen Qiu's thoughts, Fat Dragon, who was sitting opposite him, sighed helplessly. "Brother Chen Qiu, it seems you've developed a bit of a misunderstanding about the path of cultivation. What ordinary person at the Third Level of the Qi Refining Realm gets the chance to come into contact with a heart method?"

"Much less a heart method produced in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, one that enters the Major Accomplishment realm the instant it is learned."

"Both of those opportunities are extremely rare. With them, cultivation naturally becomes much faster."

"But in truth, the path of cultivating immortality is very difficult."

The two of them kept the things they could use and planned to take the things they could not use to the market to sell.

He did not take the heart method, choosing instead a blade-type spiritual treasure.

He had once luckily picked up a heart method himself. Though it was only Yellow Grade, Lower Class, and he had only cultivated it to Minor Accomplishment, it was certainly inferior to a "Heavenly Dao heart method" that reached Major Accomplishment the moment it was learned.

But... every cultivator only had three chances in their lifetime to switch heart methods at no cost.

Changing heart methods after that required paying a certain price.

Learning his first heart method had already used up one such chance. The remaining two chances were extremely precious, and he had no intention of wasting one to switch to a heart method of the same grade. If he were to switch, he should at least switch to a Yellow Grade, Upper Class heart method, right?

Nothing unexpected happened at the inn. After the two had eaten and drunk their fill, they scattered a handful of copper coins across the table and continued on their way.

They rented a horse at the inn, and the two of them set off again on one horse.

Chen Qiu did not know how to ride; he had never learned before. He could only sit behind Fat Dragon. Though he felt somewhat uncomfortable inside, for safety's sake, he could only wrap his arms around Fat Dragon's waist and watch the scenery whistle past his ears.

When the sun had climbed halfway into the sky—

"Whoa—"

Fat Dragon turned and jumped down from the horse, handing the reins to an inn attendant nearby. Then, with his hands on his hips, he looked at the tall mountain beside the inn and clicked his tongue in amazement. "We're here, Brother Chen Qiu. This is the market I told you about."

"It was built atop the mountain."

"If you can use Sword Flight, you can fly straight up. Or you can climb along the mountain path. If you can neither fly nor wish to climb, you can take the fast route beside it."

Outside the official road nearby, there was a winding trail that spiraled around the mountain. This was the path poor people took up the mountain.

Besides that, there was also a middle-aged man with a face full of beard, a rather short stature, and exceptionally thick body hair, standing there while holding up a sign.

"Fast route, up the mountain in three breaths, one tael of silver per trip."

"Up the mountain in three breaths?"

Chen Qiu swept a suspicious glance over the sign, then raised his head toward the mountain peak in the distance that pierced the clouds. It was thousands of zhang above the ground, already a mountain among mountains.

Up the mountain in three breaths? Even Sword Flight could not be that fast, could it?

"Heh."

Fat Dragon merely grinned beside him, waggling his brows. "Brother Chen Qiu, just try it and you'll know. All I can say is, it's absolutely unique."

Chen Qiu said nothing more. It was only one tael of silver, something he could afford. They had obtained quite a bit of broken silver and copper coins in the Minor World, so he was not lacking such small change. He casually tossed two taels of silver into the bearded man's hand.

Before he could say anything—

He saw the bearded man suddenly thrust out his right hand and grip his shoulder tightly. Then, Chen Qiu felt an incomparably powerful sensation of weightlessness surge up from beneath his feet. The scenery around him turned into countless specks of light, then, in less than a breath, instantly returned to normal.

When he opened his eyes again, he was already standing at the cliffside atop that great mountain.

A wooden platform had been laid out on the ground. Beside it sat a young man cross-legged, cracking melon seeds while reading a picture book. A sign had also been planted in the ground, marked with an arrow.

"Heaven-Question Market →"

Before he could figure out what was happening, he saw the bearded man beside him release his shoulder. The man then took a deep breath, sprinted toward the cliff's edge, and plunged straight into the abyss.