"From now on, I, Chen Qiu, will be your benefactor."

The sky grew darker and darker, without a glimmer of light in sight. Boundless black clouds stretched for who knew how many miles, pressing down over the entire wilderness. In the canyon, the yin wind howled like ghosts and gods roaring, chilling the soul.

Though not a single raindrop had fallen, the scent of rain was already in the air.

"This weather..."

Fat Dragon, slightly out of breath, looked up at the sky overhead and could not help muttering softly, "No matter how I look at it, this doesn't seem like normal torrential-rain weather, does it? Normally, with black clouds piled up for this long, it should have started raining ages ago."

"Could it be some ancient devil lord being born or something?"

Then, as if realizing something, Fat Dragon's expression changed slightly and he hurriedly spat three times.

"Peh, peh, peh!"

Chen Qiu glanced up but ignored Fat Dragon. Instead, he looked toward the remaining Human-Faced Spiders around him and tightened his grip on his blade again. These Human-Faced Spiders had already been frightened out of their wits by his slaughter, but they were still mindless ferocious beasts. Even knowing that charging forward meant death—

After shrieking in unison several times, they still rushed forward against the cold wind!

The slaughter began anew!

There was not much cultivation progress separating the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm from Qi Refining Realm Great Perfection. After about half an hour, Chen Qiu sensed something and turned his awareness inward.

Quite a bit of spiritual energy was surging through the meridians within his body.

His physical strength now far surpassed what it had been at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm. He could probably take on ten Fat Dragons at once. If that Seventh Elder of the Huang Family appeared before him again, there would be no need to summon resentful spirits—Chen Qiu could kill him himself!

Only—

He could vaguely sense that the spiritual energy in his meridians was clearly insufficient. Tonight, he had broken through several minor realms in succession. His meridians had widened considerably, but he had not absorbed any spiritual energy. It was like enlarging a container without putting anything inside it.

He had to fill his meridians with spiritual energy. Only then would his chances of successfully reaching Foundation Establishment rise greatly.

Attempting Foundation Establishment while lacking spiritual energy came with an extremely high chance of failure.

But—

Failure was exactly what he wanted.

"Huff!"

After taking a deep breath, Chen Qiu sat down cross-legged where he was. He focused all his attention within his body, circulated his cultivation technique, and slowly began gathering the spiritual energy in his meridians toward his dantian.

As the spiritual energy gathered, a Foundation Establishment platform gradually materialized above his dantian, shifting from illusion to solidity. The names of the traits he possessed slowly appeared upon the foundation platform as well.

Just as the Foundation Establishment process was halfway complete, the spiritual energy in his meridians was no longer enough to support it. With no more spiritual energy pouring in, the foundation platform that had nearly solidified instantly collapsed.

In almost an instant!

The aura of Chen Qiu's cultivation began plummeting at a rapid pace!

Ninth Level of the Qi Refining Realm. Sixth Level of the Qi Refining Realm. Third Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

In no more than the blink of an eye, Chen Qiu's cultivation had fallen to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

"Pfft!"

The backlash from his failed Foundation Establishment made a rusty taste flood Chen Qiu's mouth. He violently spat out a mouthful of scarlet blood, scattering it across the gray-yellow rocky ground before him.

"Brother Chen Qiu, are you all right?"

Fat Dragon, who had been sitting nearby guarding Chen Qiu as he cultivated, was startled out of his wits at the sight and immediately panicked. "Were you forcing a Foundation Establishment breakthrough? I thought you were circulating your cultivation technique to recover spiritual energy!"

"Brother, why are you in such a rush? You were still a mortal yesterday, and today you want to force your way into Foundation Establishment?"

"You don't have to push yourself this hard!"

"And why did you suddenly fall to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm? Even if Foundation Establishment failed, you shouldn't have fallen all the way back to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm!"

"I'm fine."

Chen Qiu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and carefully sensed the condition of his body. There was no serious problem. That mouthful of blood had only come because his physical strength had suddenly dropped, leaving his body unable to adapt for a moment and causing some capillaries to rupture.

Only then did he raise his head and look around.

Several dozen heavily injured Human-Faced Spiders still remained around them. These were all the Human-Faced Spiders left in this canyon. There had likely once been an entire Human-Faced Spider colony here, but he had slaughtered them until only this handful remained.

He had deliberately spared these several dozen heavily injured Human-Faced Spiders for this very moment.

With a flick of his hand, he signaled one Human-Faced Spider resentful spirit guarding him to rush forward and kill an injured Human-Faced Spider. The instant that Human-Faced Spider died, panels wrapped in mist began continuously popping up above Chen Qiu's dantian.

Cultivation surged.

Cultivation surged.

...

He had merely killed a Human-Faced Spider at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm, yet his cultivation rose like a rocket, instantly reaching the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

At the same time—

Spiritual energy suddenly began gathering before him, eventually forming eighteen Spirit Stones that fell from midair onto the ground.

"Very good."

Chen Qiu sat cross-legged in place and looked at the scene before him, smiling from the bottom of his heart. This was the happiest he had smiled since crossing over. It meant every one of his assumptions had succeeded. As long as he had enough time—

He could earn enough Spirit Stones to buy the entire cultivation world!

And because of the white trait "Never Lose Heart," the cultivation progress he gained from killing demonic beasts after failing Foundation Establishment increased a hundredfold. That was why, while at the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, he could kill a demonic beast at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm and directly rise to the Seventh Level himself.

It was just that each minor-realm breakthrough only gave him Spirit Stones. He did not receive another chance to choose one of three traits.

Thinking about it, that was only natural. Otherwise, these traits would not merely be white traits.

"This is..."

Fat Dragon stared in utter bewilderment and disbelief at the dozen or so Spirit Stones that had appeared out of thin air, as well as Chen Qiu's cultivation aura that had suddenly returned to the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm. He had no idea what had happened and felt as though his mind had gone blank.

"A small trick."

In an exceptionally good mood, Chen Qiu patted Fat Dragon on the shoulder and smiled. "To me, you are my benefactor. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have stepped onto the path of cultivation yesterday. But from now on, I, Chen Qiu, will be your benefactor."

"As long as I live, you will never again be captured by the Flower-Offering Sect and used as a supplement as you were before."

"Unless I start a Flower-Offering Sect myself."

After casually teasing Fat Dragon, Chen Qiu did not wish to waste any more time. The later minor-realm breakthroughs required far more cultivation progress. He killed another two Human-Faced Spiders at the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm before successfully breaking through to Qi Refining Great Perfection.

He received another twelve Spirit Stones.

Thus, in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, he had easily obtained thirty Spirit Stones.

Now familiar with the process, Chen Qiu swiftly attempted Foundation Establishment once more, swiftly failed once more, fell once more to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, and finally returned once more to Qi Refining Great Perfection at rapid speed.

From Fat Dragon's perspective—

Chen Qiu's cultivation was now like a roller coaster.

In the blink of an eye, his cultivation would plunge to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm. In another blink, it would return to Qi Refining Realm Great Perfection, accompanied by something like a rain of Spirit Stones.

An endless stream of Spirit Stones appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground.

"Thud, thud, thud!"

Another thirty Spirit Stones appeared out of nowhere and scattered across the ground. Fat Dragon, who had long been waiting beside them, swiftly stuffed all the Spirit Stones into his storage bag with sharp eyes. Only then did he guiltily glance up toward the sky above the canyon.

He was a little afraid that the two brothers would discover them.

Though he had no idea what kind of method Brother Chen Qiu was using, one thing was certain: once word got out that Chen Qiu could endlessly create Spirit Stones from thin air, neither of them would survive three days.