"So, is there any way to speed up cultivation?"
After dinner at home, my parents were too tired to stay awake any longer and went to rest.
Li Xingkong lay on his small bed, still quite energetic. But it was clearly the condition of the elderly in his family that gave him a boost.
"Some."
The system replied that, according to Li Xingkong's own progress, if he had followed the steps of Bone Tempering and Qi Refining his qi step by step, it would have taken him one or two decades to Great Accomplishment of Qi Refining and begin preparations for Foundation Establishment.
But now, by then, my family members will be in their seventies or eighties, and it will be difficult for elderly people of that age to start practicing spiritual cultivation, as their mental state will have deteriorated to a certain extent.
"As before, you can purchase a large amount of resources for the construction during the Bone Tempering stage."
The system then explained how to speed things up.
"If we use cooking as an analogy for your current Bone Tempering state, then the Spiritual Qi you're currently using is like first collecting ingredients, then washing and chopping vegetables, stir-frying them, and finally taking them out of the pot. Each step needs to be repeated many times during Bone Tempering."
"However, if you have already bought the groceries in advance, then you can skip this step of applying Spiritual Qi."
"If you use a lot of materials to assist in Bone Tempering, it's like opening a restaurant at the market during mealtime; you can skip the step of collecting materials."
Upon hearing this, Li Xingkong thought it made a lot of sense. If the steps of Bone Tempering with Spiritual Qi were separated into these steps, then just purchasing auxiliary materials would already increase the speed by nearly 1/5.
This is indeed a significant improvement. If it used to take 20 years to complete Bone Tempering, now it only takes 16 years.
"If you can get your hands on even better materials, then we can go even further."
Li Xingkong hadn't expected the system to finish explaining. He had thought the improvement was already significant enough, but it turned out there were other tricks up its sleeve.
"Materials are not all the same. The more refined the materials you use, the more time you will save."
"The carbon provided by coal is naturally not as high quality as that provided by graphene. Refining the raw materials is like saving a lot of time on washing and chopping vegetables."
"In other words, the raw materials greatly increase the time it takes for you to Bone Tempering."
After hearing the system's words, Li Xingkong's eyes lit up; this was undoubtedly good news.
"Okay, okay, let's organize the materials tomorrow and get started as soon as possible!"
He was already excited, and now he was even more thrilled. He didn't even want to sleep, but unfortunately, he still had to get some rest.
Physiologically speaking, he no longer needs to sleep. He can completely control the rest level of various parts of his body, and there will be no problems even if he doesn't sleep.
However, because the time span in dreams can be adjusted, sleeping is still a very important form of spiritual practice for him, and not just a simple form of rest.
People often say that a dream can last for ten thousand years. The sense of time in a dream is disconnected from reality. This is the biggest advantage of dreaming. By taking advantage of this, Li Xingkong can study for much longer each day than the average person.
Some people are born without the ability to dream; their lives are already much less than others.
Of course, learning in dreams is not without its costs. No matter where you are, you are the one learning, and it takes a toll on your mental energy.
So this thing isn't unlimited; at least for now, he can't study in his dreams for decades, his brainpower can't support him dreaming for that long.
The night passed quickly, and Li Xingkong began his investigation early the next morning.
Finding the right material is easy, but finding the most suitable one for your needs from among all the available materials is very difficult.
In the real world, there are countless types of materials. Even though the system has divided the required materials into very fine categories, Li Xingkong still has to choose the optimal solution for each type of material.
Currently, the required material systems are divided into several categories, which are classified according to aspects such as acid and alkali resistance, hardness, toughness, and strength.
No problem, it's about cultivating immortality, but the terminology still needs to follow the existing system.
There's no way around it; explaining it elsewhere won't make sense to others.
This time, we need a lot of materials, and they are of many different types. It's definitely unrealistic to expect one person to do all the purchasing.
Since we need help from others, we naturally need to provide a document that ordinary people can understand.
By the time Li Xingkong had finalized all the required materials, most of the morning had passed. It had to be said, this was indeed a physically demanding task.
Most of these materials are at the forefront of current materials science, such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and various alloys.
Li Xingkong, prioritizing quality over price, selected a pile of materials and then began verifying them with the system.
You won't find the problem if you don't check it; once you do, the problem is huge.
A significant portion of these materials can only be prepared in national laboratories in certain countries. These materials are only known by name and have never even left the laboratory.
Let alone Li Xingkong, some of these materials are even the envy of the Divine Land.
Other materials exist, but they are all controlled items, and in many international disputes, these have been used to restrict our access to them.
Materials that are difficult to obtain even with the combined resources of the entire Divine Land would be a joke if included in this document.
Therefore, Li Xingkong was too optimistic. With his current abilities, he could definitely get the materials himself.
But it's not worth it; running around and spending a lot of time just for a few materials.
Even if we acquire the preparation technology, we lack the raw materials and preparation equipment.
That would be a case of losing more than you gain.
Li Xingkong found himself facing another problem, and this time it couldn't be solved by force; he was short-handed.
So the current situation is quite awkward; the plan was set too high, and it can't be executed.
Li Xingkong and came up with two solutions.
One approach is to start recruiting now, then find a way to acquire the preparation process and equipment, and then find a sufficiently large site to industrialize the material preparation process.
Another option is to temporarily use ordinary materials as a temporary solution; every little bit of speed is helpful.
Neither of these two methods is ideal. First, hiring so many people and spending so much time on equipment only to have the output used by ourselves is not only time-consuming but also a waste of money, leaving us with no choice but to find a way to make money.
The second method is to use ordinary materials to increase the speed. Although it's slower, it's still faster than now. The problem is that what I want is to be even faster.
Neither is ideal, but if there's no other way, the second option is the only choice.
He's a cultivator himself, yet he's stuck on materials; he's practically the first person in the cultivation world to do so.
Li Xingkong couldn't help but think of the system; perhaps it had some solution.