Immortality and Cultivation: I Have Too Many Talents

Chapter 67 The Difficulty of Foundation Building (10,000-word update, please subscribe)

Shen Xuan lived a very leisurely life in the days that followed.

Cultivate your skills, craft Water Escape Talismans, and improve your proficiency in Water Spirit Gathering Technique and Water Escape talent.

There were also more than five thousand spirit stones in the storage bag.

As the [Water Release] talent advances, the skill of crafting [Water Release Talismans] also slowly improves.

one year later.

Shen Xuan is seventy-four years old!
[Talent: Water Release Mastery (1/400)]

[Water Escape Talisman: Mastery (128/400)]

[Water Spirit Gathering Technique: Mastery (2/400)]

As his skill in creating Water Escape Talismans improved, his success rate in creating talismans increased, and the success rate of creating high-quality Water Escape Talismans also increased.

Shen Xuan calculated that he could earn about two hundred spirit stones a month just by using the [Water Escape Talisman].

In an ordinary cultivation family, the stipend for a cultivator in the late Qi Refining stage is about three or four hundred spirit stones.

He alone is equivalent to five or six times the number of cultivators of the same level.

despite this.

"Making talismans is still too slow!"

An income of over two thousand spirit stones a year seems like a lot.

After deducting rent, spirit-gathering array, food, etc., I can't save more than a thousand spirit stones a year.

He's a top-grade talisman master!
The situation for others is self-evident.

Of course, the Spirit Gathering Array costs more than 700 spirit stones a year, and most cultivators do not have this expense.

Shen Xuan is too old; to accelerate his cultivation, he must use a spirit-gathering array.

If things proceed step by step, who knows when he will reach the peak of Qi cultivation!

They might be over a hundred years old!
During this period, Shen Xuan went to see Ruan Siting several times.

I asked some questions about cultivating the [Water Spirit Gathering Technique].

More often than not, he was given guidance on the practice of the "Condensing Water to Transform into Edge Technique".

Help him to cultivate the [Condensing Water to Transform into Edge Technique] to a minor level of mastery.

Ruan Siting was fully aware of this and was quite grateful.

Over time, the two became friends.

Ruan Siting has reached the peak of Qi cultivation and is currently planning his foundation building.

"How difficult it is to lay the foundation for one's path!" Ruan Siting remarked with a sigh after a few drinks.

He told Shen Xuan.

In the Azure Water Sect, only one in a hundred people successfully establish their foundation.

This is still a disciple of the Azure Water Sect!
Wealth couple, law and land, both are indispensable.

One Foundation Establishment Pill costs 10,000 sect contribution points.

Many disciples, throughout their entire lives, accumulate only a little over a thousand contribution points.

Moreover, even if you manage to exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill...

No more than one in ten will be able to successfully build the foundation!

As for independent cultivators, it's even more difficult!
The Foundation Establishment Pill alone is enough to keep them completely blocked!
Without connections, even if you have reached the peak of Qi cultivation and are wealthy, you still cannot exchange for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

For ordinary cultivators, without Foundation Establishment Pills, it is very difficult to successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment stage!

Failure to establish a foundation results in either death or serious injury, and the path to enlightenment remains uncertain.

This is also why he was stationed at the sect's shop.

If you can recommend talented people to the sect and they perform well in the test, you can get several hundred sect contribution points.

Ruan Siting is now fifty-one years old and has reached the peak of Qi cultivation.

He plans to accumulate enough sect contribution points within seven years to exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills and attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.

Currently, besides cultivating and refining my physical body, consciousness, spiritual power, and soul, I'm also working hard to make money!
"Sect contribution points can be privately purchased with spirit stones. The exchange rate is approximately one to three."

In other words, the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill is approximately 30,000 spirit stones.

Moreover, this price is targeted at disciples of the Azure Water Sect.

"Can the Foundation Establishment Pills I obtained be transferred?" Shen Xuan asked with a glimmer of hope.

"Of course not!"

Ruan Siting said, "Foundation Building Pills are strategic spiritual items strictly controlled by the sect; how can they be transferred at will!"

"Brother Shen, you don't still have illusions about Foundation Establishment, do you?"

"Steward Ruan is joking. I'm already seventy-four years old and only at the seventh level of Qi Refining. How could I possibly have a chance to reach the Foundation Establishment stage?" Shen Xuan said with a sigh.

"What a pity. Brother Shen is quite talented in water magic, but unfortunately he didn't choose the right path and realized it too late!"

Ruan Siting looked at Shen Xuan with a sympathetic expression.

In his view, Shen Xuan had wasted his life without receiving guidance from a renowned teacher.

"I will need your guidance in the future!" To express his gratitude, Shen Xuan would bring a gift every time he visited.

A spiritual pill or talisman worth more than ten spirit stones.

Actually, he found them all among the stolen goods.

……

As the [Water Escape Talisman] became a bestseller in Zhao Chunsheng's shop, the reputation of Shen Xuan, a master of superior talismans, gradually grew.

Such things cannot be hidden from those who are interested.

Despite Zhao Chunsheng's best efforts to conceal it, he was eventually discovered.

Several cultivation families near Yunyuan Immortal City sent representatives to recruit them.

Shen Xuan politely declined all offers with a smile.

On this day, representatives from cultivation families came to visit again.

Two cultivators who had reached the peak of Qi Refining arrived. One of them had crimson eyes, suggesting that he had cultivated some kind of eye technique.

Shen Xuan frowned slightly.

In the [Insight Technique], both of them exude a murderous aura.

They claimed to be cultivators from the Zheng family of Mingyang Island, named Zheng Xiuwen and Zheng Xiuwu.

I hope to cooperate with Shen Xuan and order a batch of [Water Escape Talismans].

In response, the Zheng family is willing to provide the corresponding high-quality talisman paper and animal blood cinnabar.

All that is required is 30% of the Water Escape Talisman; the rest will belong to Shen Xuan.

The conditions are good.

After a moment's thought, Shen Xuan politely declined.

He looked down on the profits from making the [Water Escape Talisman].

Moreover, these two people gave him an uncomfortable feeling.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you two fellow Daoists. My talisman-making skills are still being honed, and I cannot guarantee a success rate of 30%."

Shen Xuan politely saw the two of them out.

After walking several miles, Zheng Xiuwen and Zheng Xiuwu turned back to look at Shen Xuan's residence.

"is it him?"

"Probably not."

Zheng Xiuwen shook his head: "This person is at the seventh level of Qi Refining, a genuine talisman master, but he doesn't have the strength to kill Hei Feng."

"It's been over a year, and we've contacted more than a hundred cultivators. Should we continue searching?"

"How can we not search! That person has a treasure map of the Water Mansion Secret Realm left by my Zheng family's ancestor!"

"It's all that Black Wind's fault! After obtaining the treasure map of the Water Mansion, he actually managed to get killed!"

"Shh, be quiet! The walls are listening! Let's talk when we get back!"

The two looked around and, seeing that no one was nearby, quickly left using magic.

Little did they know, Shen Xuan, who had used the [Invisibility Technique] and [Breath Concealment Technique], had been following them from a distance of more than ten feet.

Using his [Insight Technique], Shen Xuan heard their conversation clearly.

"A treasure map of the Water Palace's secret realm?"

Shen Xuan remembered that there was indeed a map of a secret realm in Jie Xiu Hei Feng's storage bag.

Even if it were true, Shen Xuan wouldn't go to the secret realm to search for treasures.

"The world is vast and full of wonders! The cultivation world is especially full of extraordinary skills and techniques. Shen Xuan, oh Shen Xuan, be cautious and safe first!"

Fortunately, Shen Xuan habitually concealed his aura, appearing to be only at the ordinary seventh level of Qi Refining cultivation.

That's how they escaped Zheng Xiuwen's detection.

Otherwise, being targeted by local Foundation Establishment families would be a very troublesome matter.

These island cultivation families, with a history spanning thousands of years, each have several Foundation Establishment cultivators in charge, making them quite powerful.

Shen Xuan is someone you can't afford to mess with these days.

Too many family cultivators have come to visit.

Shen Xuan simply hung up a plaque that read "Secluded Cultivation" and closed his doors to visitors.

In Yunyuan City, top-grade talisman masters are merely ordinary talents.

Their status is far inferior to that of a top-grade alchemist or a top-grade artifact maker.

Seeing that Shen Xuan was unwilling to accept their offers, the cultivation families gradually quieted down.

Shen Xuan is currently focusing on his cultivation.

Little did he know, Zhao Chunsheng brought him some explosive news.

"A swarm of black jade electric eels has appeared in the nearby waters!"

(End of this chapter)