"From Now On, I, Chen Qiu, Am Your Benefactor."

The sky grew darker and darker, without a trace of light in sight. Endless black clouds, stretching who knew how many miles, pressed down over the entire wilderness. In the canyon, the chilling wind howled like ghosts and gods roaring, seizing the soul.

Though no raindrops had yet fallen, the air already carried the promise of rain.

"This weather..."

Fat Dragon, slightly out of breath, raised his head to look 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 dark clouds piled up for this long, it should have rained ages ago."

"It can't be some ancient demon lord emerging into the world or something, can it?"

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

"Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo!"

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

After letting out several shrill cries in unison, they still charged through the cold wind!

The slaughter began again!

There was not much cultivation progress separating the Eleventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm from Qi Refining Great Perfection. After roughly half an hour, Chen Qiu felt something and examined his body internally.

A considerable amount of spiritual energy was surging through the channels 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 fight ten Fat Dragons at once. If that Seventh Elder of the Huang Family appeared before him again, he would not even need to summon a Wraith—he could kill him himself!

Only—

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

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

Attempting Foundation Establishment with insufficient spiritual energy carried an extremely high chance of failure.

But—

Failure was exactly what he wanted.

"Whew!"

After taking a deep breath, Chen Qiu sat down cross-legged. He focused all his attention within himself, circulated his cultivation method, and slowly began gathering the spiritual energy in his channels toward his dantian.

As the spiritual energy gathered, a Dao Foundation platform gradually materialized above his dantian, shifting from illusion toward solidity. The names of the traits he possessed also gradually appeared upon the Dao Foundation.

Just as the Foundation Establishment process had reached its halfway point, the spiritual energy in his channels was no longer enough to sustain it. With no further spiritual energy flowing in, the Dao Foundation platform that had nearly solidified instantly collapsed.

Almost in an instant!

The aura of Chen Qiu's cultivation began plummeting at a terrifying speed!

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, splattering it across the grayish-yellow rocky ground before him.

"Brother Chen Qiu, are you alright?"

Fat Dragon, who had been sitting nearby guarding Chen Qiu's cultivation, was jolted with alarm at the sight. He immediately panicked. "You weren't forcibly attempting Foundation Establishment, were you? I thought you were circulating your cultivation method to recover spiritual energy!"

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

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

"And why did you suddenly drop to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm? Even if Foundation Establishment failed, you shouldn't fall 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 checked his physical condition. There was no major issue. That mouthful of blood had merely come from his body suddenly weakening; it had not quite adapted, and some capillaries had ruptured as a result.

Only then did he look around.

Several dozen heavily injured Human-Faced Spiders remained nearby. 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.

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

He lightly waved a hand, signaling a Human-Faced Spider Wraith guarding around him to rush forward and kill one of the injured Human-Faced Spiders. The instant that spider died, panels wrapped in mist began continuously popping up above Chen Qiu's dantian.

"Cultivation greatly increased."

"Cultivation greatly increased."

"..."

He had only killed a Human-Faced Spider at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm, yet his cultivation soared 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.

"Not bad."

Chen Qiu sat cross-legged where he was, looking at the scene before him with a heartfelt smile. This was the happiest he had smiled since transmigrating here. It meant that every one of his ideas had succeeded. So long as he was given enough time!

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

And because of the White Trait "Never Lose Heart," after failing Foundation Establishment, the cultivation progress he gained from killing demonic beasts would increase a hundredfold. That was why, while at the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, killing a demonic beast at the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm had directly brought his cultivation to the Seventh Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

It was just that each minor realm breakthrough only gave him Spirit Stones and did not give him another chance to choose one trait from three.

Thinking about it, that was only natural. Otherwise, these traits should not have merely been White Traits.

"This is..."

Fat Dragon stood to the side, his face full of bewilderment and disbelief as he stared at the dozen or so Spirit Stones that had appeared from 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 only felt his mind turn muddled.

"Just a little trick."

In quite a 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 would not have been able to embark on the path of cultivation yesterday. But from now on, I, Chen Qiu, am your benefactor."

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

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

After casually teasing Fat Dragon, Chen Qiu was unwilling to waste any more time. The later minor realm breakthroughs required much more cultivation progress. He killed two more 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, thirty Spirit Stones had easily fallen into his hands.

Now familiar with the process, Chen Qiu swiftly attempted Foundation Establishment again, swiftly failed again, fell back to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm again, and finally swiftly returned to Qi Refining Great Perfection again.

From Fat Dragon's perspective—

Chen Qiu's cultivation was like a roller coaster. In the blink of an eye, it would fall to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm; in another blink, it would return to Qi Refining Great Perfection. Along with it came something like a rain of Spirit Stones.

An unending stream of Spirit Stones appeared from thin air and fell to the ground.

"Thud, thud, thud!"

Another thirty Spirit Stones appeared from thin air, scattering across the ground. Fat Dragon, who had long been waiting at the side, immediately stuffed them into his storage bag with sharp eyes. Only then did he guiltily raise his head and glance toward the sky above the canyon.

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

Although 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 continuously create Spirit Stones from thin air, the two of them would not live for three days.