Late-Blooming Greatness

"It's fine."

Chen Qiu did not explain much. He merely smiled and shook his head. "We've probably been in there for over a day. Let's head back to Heaven-Question Market first."

"A day?"

The scholar shook his head. "Two days have already passed. There are less than three days left until that 'Challenge'-type secret realm outside Windward City opens. The weather has been like this all these days—I haven't seen the sun rise once."

Very soon—

The group swiftly returned to Heaven-Question Market. The 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. For the past two days, he had felt like an assembly-line machine, endlessly attempting Foundation Establishment and endlessly failing, with barely a moment's rest.

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

And originally, he had not felt tired or hungry. Yet once he learned that he had gone two days and two nights without closing his eyes, a trace of weariness suddenly washed over him. It was not particularly strong, but this hunger...

"Even though I'm already in the Foundation Establishment Realm, I can still get hungry?"

"Of course."

Fat Dragon said helplessly, "The Foundation Establishment Realm merely extends one's lifespan. Compared to ordinary people, you can live a full two hundred years—enough to prop up an entire Lineage. In many Foundation Establishment Lineages, only the family head is in the Foundation Establishment Realm."

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

"The sky has looked like this for days. I didn't realize two days had passed either. I only felt exhausted—I never expected so much time had 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, thousands of zhang above the ground. Standing here, the black clouds stretching for thousands of miles overhead seemed close enough to press against his scalp.

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

For the past two days, he had basically done only one thing: stuff an endless stream of Spirit Stones into his storage pouch. His expression had remained caught between exhilaration and terror the entire time. He had not had the leisure to think about sleeping at all.

"Let's go."

Chen Qiu shook his head, deciding to spend tomorrow instead. "Let's find an inn, fill our stomachs with something, and get some sleep first. We'll talk after we wake up tomorrow."

"Alright! Uh, Brother Qiu, those two brothers aren't coming?"

"The scholar said he doesn't like entering Heaven-Question Market. He probably has some taboo. Don't worry about them."

"Oh, right."

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, they are your father for life; an elder brother is like a father as well. Now that you're a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, naturally I have to call you Brother Qiu."

"Not bad."

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

After washing up, Chen Qiu was exhausted, yet he still sat at the table and poured himself a cup of hot tea to warm his stomach. With his eyes closed, he inspected his body internally.

Above his foundation, a panel wrapped in mist and clouds was slowly floating.

Although the entries on the panel had to be selected within ten breaths, those ten breaths would not begin counting unless he inspected the panel internally. There would be no situation where he broke through at a critical moment in battle but had no time to inspect his body, causing the ten breaths to pass.

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

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

1:

"Entry Name": Nine Yin Power.

"Entry Grade": White.

"Entry Effect": You possess nine yins.

2:

"Entry Name": Late-Blooming Greatness.

"Entry Grade": Green.

"Entry Effect": When you have less than ten years of lifespan remaining, you will gain three random entries.

3:

"Entry Name": Focus Power.

"Entry Grade": Green.

"Entry Effect": If you learn the spell 'Lightning-Channeling Art,' the power of that spell will increase by fifty percent.

-

Looking at the familiar panel inside his body, Chen Qiu, seated in the chair, felt deeply moved. Who could have imagined that just a few days ago, he had been a young and sturdy woodcutter, not even at the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm?

A mortal among mortals.

Yet after merely a few days, he had already become a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Realm.

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

Of the three entries before him, he chose the third almost without hesitation.

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

He could not imagine what that situation would look like at all. Better to keep it far away from him.

He actually liked the second entry quite a bit. He liked any entry that could grant him more entries, but its activation condition was far too tortuous. After reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had a lifespan of two hundred years, with more than one hundred seventy years remaining.

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

The third entry suited him best.

This was also the first time he had seen an entry that boosted a particular spell. If he chose this entry, it meant he had to walk the path of a spell cultivator. Otherwise, this entry 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 entry like "Dantian Expansion" in hand, not walking that path would be a complete waste.

Sleep first.

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

Chen Qiu's mind had already reached its limit. He stuffed all the storage pouches filled with massive amounts of Spirit Stones beneath his pillow before finally drifting into a groggy sleep, though his right hand still gripped the hilt of his blade tightly.

Day broke.

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

After washing up, he got dressed and headed outside. Fat Dragon had apparently risen long ago and was waiting at the door. The dark circles beneath his eyes made it clear 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 nine hundred ninety-nine times in a row, he had obtained a total of twenty-nine thousand nine hundred seventy Spirit Stones.

That was an incredibly staggering number.

After all, almost no Rogue Cultivators in the Foundation Establishment Realm had even twenty or thirty Spirit Stones in their pockets. Disciples from some major sects or great Lineages might carry a few hundred Spirit Stones, while wealthier ones might have over a thousand.

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