Late-Blooming Greatness

"It's nothing."

Chen Qiu did not explain much, merely smiling and shaking his head. "We were there for more than a day, I think. Let's head back to Heaven-Question Market first."

"A day?"

Scholar shook his head. "Two days have already passed. There are less than three days left before that 'Breakthrough' type secret realm near Windward City opens. The weather has been like this these past few days—we haven't seen the sun rise even once."

Very soon—

The group quickly returned to Heaven-Question Market. Scholar and his brother remained at their old spot, while Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon entered the city alone.

"Two days have already passed?"

Chen Qiu frowned in confusion. To be honest, he had truly lost all sense of time. Over the past two days, he had felt like a machine on an assembly line, endlessly attempting Foundation Establishment and endlessly failing, with barely any rest.

But... did that process really take two days?

And he had originally felt neither fatigue nor hunger. Yet once he learned that he had gone two days and two nights without sleep, a faint weariness suddenly washed over him. It was not strong, but this hunger—

"I've already reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, and I can still get hungry?"

"Of course."

Fat Dragon said helplessly, "The Foundation Establishment Realm merely extends one's lifespan. Compared to mortals, you get a full two hundred years—enough to support an entire Lineage. In many Foundation Establishment Lineages, only the patriarch is in the Foundation Establishment Realm."

"But it only extends your life. You still can't sever yourself from the smoke and fire of the mortal world."

"The sky has looked like this for the past few days. I didn't know two days had passed either. I only felt extremely tired—I never expected so much time to have gone by."

He raised his head toward the sky above Heaven-Question Market. Heaven-Question Market had been built atop the highest peak of the Heaven-Question Mountains, several thousand zhang above the ground. Standing here, the black clouds stretching thousands of miles seemed as though they were directly overhead.

"Come to think of it, this weather is truly strange. It gives you the reassuring feeling that everyone could be finished at any moment."

For the past two days, he had basically done only one thing: stuff the endless stream of Spirit Stones into his storage pouch. His expression had remained in a superimposed state of exhilaration and terror the entire time, leaving him no time at all to think about sleeping.

"Let's go."

Chen Qiu shook his head, intending to go spending tomorrow instead. "Let's find an inn, fill our stomachs a little, then get some sleep. We'll talk after we wake up tomorrow."

"Sure thing. Brother Qiu, aren't those two brothers coming?"

Scholar said he did not like entering Heaven-Question Market. He probably had some taboo or concern. No need to mind them."

"By the way."

He looked at Fat Dragon with a strange expression. "Didn't you always call me Brother Chen Qiu before? Why are you suddenly calling me Brother Qiu?"

"Ahem."

Fat Dragon straightened his expression slightly and said seriously, "When two walk together, the capable one is the teacher. Once someone is your teacher, he is your father for life. An elder brother is like a father as well. Now that you've become a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, naturally I have to call you Brother Qiu."

"Not bad."

After casually finding an inn and eating something, Chen Qiu and Fat Dragon found another inn nearby and rented two rooms.

After washing up, Chen Qiu was visibly exhausted, but he still sat at the table, poured himself a cup of hot tea to warm his stomach, closed his eyes, and turned his inner sight inward.

Above his Foundation Establishment, a panel shrouded in mist was slowly floating.

Though the traits on the panel had to be selected within ten breaths, the countdown did not begin unless he looked inward at the panel. This prevented situations where he made a life-or-death breakthrough in battle but had no time to inspect his body, causing the ten breaths to pass.

"Your cultivation has surged. You have officially entered the First Level of the Foundation Establishment Realm."

"Please choose from the three random traits below within ten breaths."

1:

"Trait Name": Nine Yin Power.

"Trait Grade": White Trait.

"Trait Effect": You possess nine yin-yins.

2:

"Trait Name": Late-Blooming Greatness.

"Trait Grade": Green Trait.

"Trait Effect": Once your remaining lifespan falls below ten years, you will gain three random traits.

3:

"Trait Name": Focus Power.

"Trait Grade": Green Trait.

"Trait Effect": If you learn the Lightning-Channeling Art, the power of that spell will be increased by fifty percent.

-

Looking at the familiar panel within his body, Chen Qiu sat in the chair, filled with emotion. Who would have thought that just a few days ago, he had been a strong young man painstakingly chopping firewood, not even at the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm?

A mortal among mortals.

Yet only a few days later, he had already become a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator.

In this somewhat chaotic world, he finally possessed a little confidence of his own.

And among the three traits before him, he barely hesitated before choosing the third.

The first trait would be a complete waste of one of his choices. He was not a woman, so why had he randomly gotten this trait? Or could men possess this trait too? What would that make him then? Wouldn't that be nine yins and one bull?

He simply could not imagine what kind of situation that would be. Better stay far away from it.

He actually liked the second trait quite a bit. He liked any trait that could grant more traits, but its activation condition was far too tortuous. After breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had a lifespan of two hundred years, with more than one hundred and seventy years remaining.

That meant he would have to wait at least another one hundred and sixty years for this trait to activate. By then, the yellow flowers would have gone cold.

The third trait suited him best.

This was also the first time he had seen a trait that boosted a particular spell. Choosing it meant he had to follow the path of a spell cultivator, otherwise the trait would be completely wasted.

It happened to suit him perfectly. The path he intended to take was that of a spell cultivator. With a Pink Trait like "Dantian Expansion" in hand, not taking the path of a spell cultivator would be a pure waste.

Sleep first.

Even if the sky fell, he would deal with it after waking tomorrow.

His mind exhausted to its limit, Chen Qiu stuffed all the storage pouches filled with vast quantities of Spirit Stones beneath his pillow before falling into a groggy sleep. Yet his right hand remained tightly clenched around his saber hilt.

Day broke.

Chen Qiu groggily walked to the window of his room. The sky had finally brightened. The black clouds overhead had finally dispersed sometime during the night. The stone road outside the window was wet, so it appeared that a heavy rain had fallen last night.

After washing up, he put on his clothes and walked out of the room. Fat Dragon had awakened at some unknown time and was already waiting outside, though the dark circles beneath his eyes showed at a glance that he had not slept well.

"Didn't sleep well?"

"Yeah."

On the main road of the Trading District in Area 7 of Heaven-Question Market, Chen Qiu brought Fat Dragon along on today's spending spree.

After failing Foundation Establishment 999 times in a row, he had obtained a total of 29,970 Spirit Stones.

This was an utterly astonishing number.

One had to know that almost all Rogue Cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm did not even have twenty or thirty Spirit Stones in their pockets. Disciples from major sects or great Lineages might have several hundred Spirit Stones on them, perhaps over a thousand if they had more.

But absolutely no Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator carried tens of thousands of Spirit Stones around in his pocket.