Inside the ancestral hall.
Li Conglong pressed his forehead against the blue-brick floor, not daring to raise it even a fraction.
He knew perfectly well that reaching the Ninth Level of Qi Refining and being addressed as Patriarch Li around Falling Moon Lake had nothing to do with outstanding talent.
It was entirely thanks to the damaged mirror before him.
Without that Jia Wood Method, which absorbed and refined wood-aspected Spirit Resources to advance his cultivation, how could Li Conglong have broken through several barriers within mere decades?
Without this heaven-sent immortal affinity, he, Ji Conglong, would have been an ordinary Qi Refining cultivator, long since reduced to clinging to life in the cracks between the Luo Household and the Xu Household. How could he have enjoyed his present glory?
Within the [Foundation Establishment Realm].
Jiang Yi sat cross-legged, a bronze lamp floating before him.
Its flame glimmered faintly, illuminating the scene inside the ancestral hall.
He watched Li Conglong quietly, a measure of regret in his gaze.
"His talent is mediocre, and his allotted destiny is meager too. He doesn't even have a five-percent chance of reaching Foundation Establishment."
Jiang Yi shook his head slightly.
Li Conglong had reached the Ninth Level of Qi Refining solely through the forced accumulation afforded by the Jia Wood Method. He was destined never to take that step into Foundation Establishment.
Even given another thirty years to attempt tempering Gang and Baleful Intent, he would never reach the threshold of forging a Dao Foundation.
"What a pity."
Jiang Yi murmured to himself.
When he had first bestowed the Jia Wood Method, he had never expected Li Conglong to achieve much. It had merely been a strategy of "feeding fire with wood."
But now, to pluck the [Heavenly Fire] Dao Fruit, he needed to