"I've reached the Late Qi Refining Period..."
Zhou Qing was filled with delight.
The moment he stepped into the seventh layer of Qi Refining, he had broken a certain rule governing cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots.
They could not reach the late stage.
Because their spiritual root aptitude was so poor, cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots cultivated slowly, often stopping at the Fifth Layer of Qi Refining or the sixth layer before reaching their twilight years at seventy.
And that was assuming everything went smoothly.
Of course, this so-called rule only applied to most cases.
What if a cultivator with a low-grade spiritual root had powerful backing-for instance, an elder in the Foundation Establishment Realm? And what if that elder was willing to lavish resources on him...
Then he would have hope of reaching the Late Qi Refining Period, or even the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Foundation Establishment cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots were rare, but they did exist.
Of course, such cases were exceedingly rare. Foundation Establishment cultivators had many descendants, and even if they needed to nurture a successor, they would choose the most promising.
The price of nurturing one junior with a low-grade spiritual root to the Foundation Establishment Realm would probably be enough to raise three to five Foundation Establishment cultivators with a Middle-Grade Spiritual Root.
Forty-six years old, seventh layer of Qi Refining... If I hadn't switched to the Mountain Sea Art midway, I probably could have reached it two or three years earlier...
Zhou Qing thought to himself.
The main reason was that he had earned a great many spirit stones by selling large quantities of healing and lifesaving pills, allowing him to buy more cultivation resources for himself.
Ordinary cultivators with low-grade spiritual roots did not enjoy such treatment.
Nor did Zhou Qing regret switching to the Mountain Sea Art.
Although it had cost him time, it had increased his chances of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.
Without the Mountain Sea Art, if he had foolishly attempted Foundation Establishment, he would probably have fallen at the Mana Trial outright. There would have been little point in that.
As for the body refinement technique he practiced in the simulation, it was called the Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art.
Both the Mountain Sea Art and the Mountain-Sea Body Refinement Art were likely legacies of the former Mountain Sea Sect.
[After reaching the seventh layer of Qi Refining, the first problem you faced was cultivation pills.] [Cultivators at the seventh layer of Qi Refining needed to take high-grade pills to continue advancing.] [But you were currently only a Mid-Grade Alchemist and could not refine high-grade pills.] [You already had a solution to this problem.] [Naturally, you would buy them from Pill Master Yun.] [Pill Master Yun had become a High-Grade Pill Master many years ago, and he was on excellent terms with you.] [You sought out Pill Master Yun and explained your intentions.] ["You've reached the Late Qi Refining Period?" Pill Master Yun sounded gratified and was happy for you.] [For cultivators in the Qi Refining Stage, the late stage was a hurdle.] [Once they crossed it, their status and standing changed.] [Even if they could not attempt a breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment Realm, they could still be called Senior Cultivators.] ["What kind of high-grade pills do you want?" Pill Master Yun asked.] ["Qi Nurturing Pills."] [You replied, "Fifty."] ["That many?"] [Pill Master Yun was slightly surprised and offered a reminder. "Every medicine carries some poison. If you intend to attempt Foundation Establishment, you'd best take fewer pills."] ["Understood."] [You nodded.] [You possessed the talent Pill Toxin Bane, which prevented most pill toxin from accumulating in your body. Pill toxin had a negligible effect on you.] [Of course, you could not reveal this.] [You successfully purchased fifty Qi Nurturing Pills from Pill Master Yun.] [In truth, you had a vague feeling that you were very close to becoming a High-Grade Pill Master.] [These fifty pills would last an ordinary Seventh Layer of Qi Refining cultivator several years, but for you, they would last only a few months.] [They were merely a temporary stopgap.] [Half a month later, Black Mountain Market's biennial auction went ahead smoothly.] Whether it was Black Mountain Market District, Listening Rain Market District, or another market settlement, each held an auction periodically to draw crowds and raise its standing in the surrounding region. [Over the past dozen years or so, you had attended several auctions under a concealed identity.] [This time, however, you did not intend to conceal your identity at Black Mountain Market's auction.] [As a Late Qi Refining Period Senior Cultivator and a Mid-Grade Alchemist, attending an auction on your own turf at Black Mountain, you felt there was no need to hide your identity.] [Besides, you were attending this auction only to buy resources and certain ingredients needed for pill refinement, nothing out of the ordinary.] The auction venue was inside a hall in the center of the Market Ward. [After your identity was verified, you entered without trouble.] ["Pill King Wang, you have time to attend this auction too?"] [A voice called out. It was You Rou, deputy leader of the Alchemist Alliance.] ["Leader You." You greeted her as well.] [You were fairly familiar with Deputy Leader You Rou. You had worked together during the years when the Mountain Sea Secret Realm emerged.] [You Rou invited you to a private box.] As a force with considerable influence in Black Mountain Market Ward, the Alchemist Alliance naturally had its own private box at the auction. [The box was safe and secluded.] [You readily agreed.] [You and Deputy Leader You Rou took your seats in the box, which covered several dozen square meters.] [Deputy Leader You Rou carried herself with poise and elegance.] [You knew a few things about Deputy Leader You Rou. She was also at late Qi Refining and was a High-Grade Pill Master.] ["Pill King Wang, I heard from Pill Master Yun that you've reached the seventh layer of Qi Refining?" Deputy Leader You Rou smiled with her lips pressed together, her voice gentle and lilting.] ["I was lucky," you replied.] ["With your pill-refining skills, Pill King Wang, now that you've reached late Qi Refining, you must be close to becoming a High-Grade Pill Master, right?" You Rou watched you with eyes as clear as water.] [Although cultivation and pill-refining skill were not directly proportional, the stronger one was, the richer one's mana and the greater one's control over divine sense, the more naturally those things enhanced one's pill-refining skills.] [You Rou had seen pills you refined before and knew that your skills had reached the peak of the middle grade. Having successfully broken through to late Qi Refining, it was only a matter of time before you became a High-Grade Pill Master.] ["Who can guarantee they'll improve in the art of pill refinement?" you replied casually.] ["That's true."] [You Rou did not press further. She leaned back in her seat, her tall, full figure tilting to one side with a hint of languor.] [Soon, the auction began.] ["Welcome, fellow Daoists, to this auction. I am Ouyang De, and I will be your host."] [A portly old man walked out and stood on the central dais, raising his hands toward the assembled cultivators in a slight cupped-hand salute.] ["Without further ado, here are the rules for this auction. Public threats, secretly inflating bids... Any conduct that disrupts this auction gives Black Mountain Market the right to expel you..."] ["The auction now officially begins."] [After the portly old man, Ouyang De, finished speaking, a gracefully built maid walked up carrying a tray.] [A black egg rested on the tray.] ["This is a Black Wind Eagle egg. The Black Wind Eagles raised by Black Mountain Market are far stronger than ordinary Black Wind Eagles..."] [At this point, a smile appeared on Ouyang De's face. "Not to mention that, several decades ago, the esteemed Foundation Establishment cultivator from Beast Taming Mountain purchased a Black Wind Eagle egg containing the Dark Demon Eagle bloodline at an auction here in Black Mountain Market..."] ["A Dark Demon Eagle?"] [You were startled. This was a spirit beast with an earth-grade bloodline, equivalent to the aptitude of an earth spiritual root. Reaching Foundation Establishment would be as easy as eating and drinking.] [An ordinary Black Wind Eagle, by contrast, had only a mid-grade bloodline.] ["Hehe, Ouyang De brings that up every time he auctions a Black Wind Eagle egg..."] [You Rou, seated beside you, chuckled.] ["May I ask, Leader You, which auction featured that egg containing the Dark Demon Eagle bloodline?"] [After thinking for a moment, you asked.] ["It should have been the auction twenty-eight years ago."] [You Rou answered with a smile, suspecting nothing.]