Longevity: Starting with an infant's innate growth potential

Chapter 278 Late stage of foundation building
At night, the brightly lit room with its crystal chandelier cast two long, slender shadows.

"Xin'er, what do we need to prepare to collect a third-tier spiritual vein?"

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Zhou Ling looked at his wife, whose face was rosy, and asked with a smile.

In a few days, the expansion of the Longevity Domain will begin.

Zhou Ling still needs to make some preparations. Other resources are not a big problem, but if he can obtain a spiritual vein, he will definitely go and collect it himself.

Therefore, it is necessary to make preparations in advance.

Xin'er doesn't usually drink much, but tonight, after celebrating with everyone, she drank quite a few glasses.

Upon hearing Chen Ling's words, Wang Xin was taken aback at first, then said with a puzzled look, "Acquiring a spiritual vein is quite difficult."

"We need a specially made spatial artifact to collect the spiritual vein, as well as a vein-collecting array."

In reality, the Dao Alliance is relatively short of resources, and much of its spiritual veins are acquired through the expansion of its domains.

Once you become a third-tier array master, you'll never have to worry about resources.

The prestigious families would compete to hire him.

"A spatial artifact and a meridian-gathering array!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Ling frowned; he hadn't prepared either of these things.

Moreover, I wonder if the Heavenly Crafts Bureau or the Xuan Yuan Dao Academy can obtain such a valuable item.

"Xin'er, are you familiar with this meridian-gathering formation?"

Zhou Ling gently embraced his wife and asked.

"There are many types of meridian-gathering formations. I currently have a medium-sized meridian-gathering formation, which can be used in conjunction with spatial artifacts to gather third-tier spiritual meridians."

Wang Xinru replied.

Zhou Ling nodded, but he was only asking about it.

Furthermore, the progress of the Longevity Domain's expansion is unknown. If we want to enter the domain to collect spiritual veins, we'll need other array masters to help.

"I wonder how advanced Brother He's formation skills are now?"

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

After chatting with Wang Xin for a while, I learned about the general matters related to acquiring the spiritual vein.

They also inquired about some medicinal pills and prescriptions.

To his disappointment, there were no suitable pills for the Black Flame Fruit, so Zhou Ling directly absorbed and consumed both Black Flame Fruits.

After Wang Xin fell asleep, Zhou Ling went to the cultivation room.

With the internal assessment for the Chief Engineer of the Heavenly Crafts Bureau just a few days away, Zhou Ling was thinking of further improving his cultivation.

With the availability of third-tier Black Flame Fruit and other spiritual herbs, coupled with his [Spiritual Herb Stress] talent, Zhou Ling felt that reaching the fifth level of Foundation Establishment shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, we'll only know the specifics after taking the medication.

After all, his main cultivation method was the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique.

The magical power of the five elements must be broken through simultaneously.

Therefore, the difficulty is several times that of ordinary cultivators.

Similarly, once a breakthrough is achieved, one's strength will increase several times over.

Moreover, there is a minor bottleneck between the fourth and fifth floors.

It also presents considerable challenges.

Once the bottleneck is broken, the Qi Sea will expand successfully, enabling it to condense and store more spiritual energy.

If it fails, it may cause considerable damage to the Qihai meridian, and it will take a period of time to recover.

However, Zhou Ling possessed the Spirit Flame, which protected his meridians and Qi Sea.

Therefore, even if the bottleneck cannot be broken, it will not cause damage to the meridians or the Qi Sea.

If an ordinary cultivator were to practice the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique, even with good talent, advancing one level in three or four years would already be considered very fast.

However, Zhou Ling has talents such as [Spiritual Affinity] and [Spiritual Herb Stress] to assist him, so his speed is naturally much faster than others.

Originally, with steady and methodical training, reaching level one within a year wouldn't have been a problem.

However, in addition to the secret method of cultivating both spiritual flames, and the fact that he also possesses the Five Elements Spiritual Flame, with all of his spiritual flames reaching the third rank, and even the Qianyang True Fire reaching the fourth rank.

That's why he has such a fast cultivation speed.

Zhou Ling felt that it wouldn't take more than three years for him to have a chance to form his core.

Of course, to solidify and improve one's magical power, one must also practice the techniques.

Next, I need to cultivate the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique to the third level, reaching the perfect state.

Thus, as long as one's spiritual power is abundant enough and reaches the peak of Foundation Establishment, one can attempt to form the Core.

Of course, he was preparing to condense a Heavenly Grade Golden Core, so he only had one chance.

You absolutely must be fully prepared.

After all, there is only one chance to obtain a Heavenly Grade Golden Elixir. If it fails, it will affect one's Qi Sea and meridians.

Moreover, attempting to break through to the Golden Core stage will trigger a tribulation of lightning.

If the first attempt fails, the rules and decrees contained within the subsequent tribulations will also prevent the formation of a Heavenly Grade Golden Core.

Next time, it can only be a low-grade Golden Core.

Of course, at the current pace, it will still take some time before the golden core is condensed.

This period of time is enough for him to prepare properly.

Becoming the Chief Executive Officer of the Imperial Workshop is undoubtedly the next key step.

As the head of the Heavenly Crafts Bureau of Qingyun Immortal City, he controls all the resources of the Heavenly Crafts Bureau of Qingyun Immortal City.

This will be a huge change in his identity.

After all, whether it's a Taoist academy instructor or a Heavenly Craftsman's Guard, these titles, though prestigious, don't carry much pressure.

Consequently, they have little real power.

Therefore, becoming the Chief Justice will be the first position he obtains that grants him power.

With this power, the resources at his disposal also changed dramatically.

Upon arriving at the cultivation room, Zhou Ling sat cross-legged on a futon, then took out two Black Flame Fruits.

The family now possesses a third-tier spiritual vein, and with the addition of a spirit-gathering array in the cultivation room, the purity of the spiritual energy is now comparable to that of a mid-grade third-tier spiritual vein.

This poses no problem at all for breaking through the bottleneck of the minor stage of Foundation Establishment.

Moreover, with the magic array set up by Xin'er, the spiritual energy is very stable.

Don't worry about absorbing too much spiritual energy during the process and becoming weak afterwards.

After checking the state of his internal magical power and the surrounding spiritual energy, he confirmed that there were no problems.

He took a deep breath and popped the Black Flame Fruit into his mouth.

The texture is crisp, but slightly firm, like eating a peach that isn't fully ripe.

It didn't have much of a smell either.

However, as the jam went down his throat, Zhou Ling's gaze sharpened.

The Black Flame Fruit seemed to come alive, transforming directly into a massive, surging black flame, as if a fierce black flame had suddenly appeared within his body.

In an instant, Zhou Ling felt an immense and intensely hot power flow into his meridians.

Like a mighty torrent of black flames, it flowed through his entire body's meridians.

Zhou Ling felt as if his whole body was enveloped in a black flame.

The scorching, surging black flames gave one a suffocating, burning sensation.

Ordinary cultivators' meridians would find it difficult to directly withstand the vast spiritual energy of the Black Flame Fruit, but it had little effect on Zhou Ling.

Then, he began to circulate the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique, condensing spiritual power and enveloping it from all directions, absorbing the surging spiritual liquid in his meridians.

But what made his expression even more serious was that the black spiritual energy transformed from the Black Flame Fruit was not so easy to control and absorb.

It moved rapidly through his meridians like a black, fiery dragon.

Zhou Ling could only focus all his energy on circulating his cultivation technique to accelerate absorption.

[You are refining and absorbing the medicinal power of the Black Flame Fruit. Elixir Stress +1, Black Flame Fruit Medicinal Power +3]

As the system notification appeared, an indescribable surge of powerful medicinal energy suddenly erupted through Zhou Ling's meridians.

Zhou Ling's entire meridian system was instantly overwhelmed by the medicinal power of the Black Flame Fruit.

Even though his meridians had been tempered and refined countless times, at this moment, he still felt a sharp, intense pain.

Zhou Ling felt something powerful tearing at his meridians. The surging black flames, on the contrary, shattered the magic power he had gathered.

The black flames instantly melted over his entire body.

Immediately afterwards, a layer of black flames rose around him.

His entire body seemed to have been torn apart, and his meridians were twisted and deformed, as if they would be torn apart at any moment.

It's important to know that the medicinal power contained in a single Tier 3 Black Flame Fruit is already astonishing, and now, under the [Spiritual Herb Stress] talent, it has directly reached four times that amount.

This immense medicinal power is absolutely beyond the capacity of a Foundation Establishment cultivator to withstand.

The potent medicinal power continuously impacted Zhou Ling's meridians and limbs.

The intense pain made Zhou Ling look ferocious.

If it weren't for the fact that his physical body had already reached the peak of the second tier, he wouldn't have been able to withstand it at all.

[You are absorbing the medicinal power of the Black Flame Fruit. Resilience +1, Black Flame Fruit Refinement +30]

A moment later, the talent "The More You Frustrate, the Stronger You Become" emerged.

Zhou Lingcai suddenly felt a surge of cool energy within his body, enveloping the violent heat within him.

A wave of coolness made him feel relaxed all over, and the stinging pain around his body was greatly reduced.

In an instant, the originally extremely violent black flame medicinal power became extremely docile.

Enveloped by the spiritual energy within his body, it was rapidly refined, transforming into drops of pure spiritual liquid that flowed into his dantian.

It felt as if my whole body was being soaked in a warm current.

At the same time, the surrounding spiritual energy flowed into his body at a visible speed, and under the refinement of the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique, it merged with the medicinal power.

After completing one major cycle after another within the meridians, it transforms into drops of spiritual liquid that flow into the dantian.

Within a dozen breaths, dozens of drops of spiritual liquid were condensed.

However, the medicinal effects in his body were still extremely abundant.

Zhou Ling had originally calculated that a third-tier Black Flame Fruit would be enough to increase the amount of spiritual liquid by about thirty or forty drops.

With the [Spiritual Medicine Stress] talent, the effect can reach four times, which is extremely amazing.

It took about 15 minutes for the medicinal power in the meridians to be fully refined and absorbed.

Within the Qi Sea, the entire Qi Sea had noticeably expanded, and at the same time, an extremely rich and pure spiritual liquid had appeared.

"Finally, I've reached the fifth level of Foundation Establishment!"

Feeling the abundant spiritual liquid within his body, Zhou Ling couldn't help but laugh.

At this moment, he was brimming with powerful magical energy, which he could feel was more than 70% stronger than before.

Although he has entered the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, he is almost at the peak of the fifth level and is not far from the sixth level.

"There's still one Black Flame Fruit left, might as well eat it all! Let's see if I can break through to the late Foundation Establishment stage in one go?"

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

The effects of the Black Flame Fruit were much better than he had expected.

After all, this kind of black flame fruit is not common.

Moreover, the medicinal power it contains is so intense that it is beyond the ability of ordinary cultivators to refine and absorb.

Therefore, Zhou Ling decided to press his advantage and see if he could directly advance to the late stage of Foundation Establishment in one go.

However, before that, he still needs to stabilize the magical power within his body.

Two days later, after stabilizing his spiritual energy, Zhou Ling did not hesitate and consumed the remaining Black Flame Fruit.

Having had the experience of consuming the Black Flame Fruit for the first time, and with the improvement of his cultivation, his meridians and other aspects were tempered.

The spiritual power contained in the second Black Flame Fruit was equally surging under the [Spiritual Medicine Stress], but without the assistance of [Becoming Stronger Through Adversity], Zhou Ling still managed to refine and absorb it perfectly.

The process is just a bit longer.

However, with the assistance of a powerful physical body and divine sense, there is no risk involved.

Overall, it was quite easy.

However, it still took more than a day to fully absorb and refine the medicinal power.

Finally, they successfully entered the seventh level of Foundation Establishment.

This also greatly excited Zhou Ling. The two Black Flame Fruits, along with the talents of [Spiritual Medicine Stress Response] and [The More You Frustrate, the Stronger You Become], were probably equivalent to more than a year of his hard training.

This was something that was absolutely unimaginable for other cultivators.

Zhou Lingxuan immediately opened the panel.

[Spiritual Root]: Low-grade of the Five Elements 3/100
[Constitution]: Five Elements Thunder Body (82/100)

[Constitution]: Three Pure Ones Soul Body (2/100)

[Cultivation Level]: Foundation Establishment Level 7, 3/100
[Divine Soul]: 4,300 zhang

[Body Refinement]: Peak Second Tier 65/100
[Auspicious Items]: Five Elements Spiritual Flame, Five Elements Treasure Sword

·······.

"Foundation Establishment Level 7, now it's time to quickly upgrade the Five Elements Qianyang True Technique!"

"In less than two years, I can prepare to form my core!"

Looking at the panel, Zhou Ling thought to himself with delight.

Moreover, he already possesses the Jade Rejuvenation Pill; all he needs to do is find a spiritual object to assist him.

With his status as a member of the Taoist Academy and the Heavenly Crafts Bureau, collecting spiritual items to aid in achieving the Golden Elixir was not too difficult for him.

However, since he is of the Five Elements attribute, he may need five kinds of auxiliary spiritual objects at that time.

If you want to redeem it with points, you'll definitely need a lot of points.

Whether the Taoist Academy and the Heavenly Crafts Bureau can gather all five auxiliary spiritual objects remains to be seen.

"After the official competition, I'll ask my master to see if I need any auxiliary spiritual objects in my situation."

Zhou Ling thought to himself.

He was already quite satisfied with his current progress in cultivation.

Then he took out the sound transmission jade.

This retreat lasted for about five days.

There are already quite a few sound transmissions on the sound transmission jade.

The main inquiries came from two disciples of the Taoist academy about cultivation.

Zhou Ling didn't rush to answer these questions.

I plan to explain it to them in detail next time the class starts.

Among the telepathic messages were those from Qin Zhizheng and Lu Yunxi.

All of these are related to this official competition.

The outcome of this competition is of great importance, so Qin Zhizheng attaches great importance to it.

After all, Zhou Ling was promoted by his top leader, so he naturally hoped that Zhou Ling could become the new leader.

After all, Tiangong Company is now divided into several schools of thought, and the one in charge carries considerable weight.

Moreover, Zhou Ling also holds the identity of a Heavenly Guard.

His future achievements will definitely go far beyond just being upright.

The greater Zhou Ling's achievements become in the future, the greater the benefits will be for his faction and for him as a whole.

Therefore, before leaving Qingyun Immortal City, he hoped to see Zhou Ling take the position of Chief Administrator.

As for Lu Yunxi, her relationship with Zhou Ling goes without saying.

However, over the years, Zhou Ling has already surpassed her rank in the Heavenly Crafts Bureau.

He is still a second-rank steward.

However, this is normal. Generally speaking, it takes at least ten years to be promoted from a second-rank deacon to a third-rank deacon.

Cases like Zhou Ling's are extremely rare and exceptional.

As long as Zhou Ling can become the Chief Justice, then according to the agreement he and Chief Justice Qin reached...

Lu Yunxi will definitely be able to become a third-rank steward.

From now on, I will fully assist Zhou Ling in managing the affairs of the Heavenly Crafts Bureau of Qingyun Immortal City.

Therefore, Lu Yunxi was extremely concerned about Zhou Ling's performance in this competition.

(End of this chapter)