Traveling through time to cultivate immortality: a life and death test

The Qi Refining stage is still mortal, and entering the Foundation Establishment stage marks the true beginning of the cultivation of immortality. Foundation Establishment forges the foundation for the path to immortality. If spiritual roots are the ticket to immortality, allowing one to sense spiritual energy, then Foundation Establishment is the seat upon which one truly enters the realm. Foundation Establishment doubles not only one's magical power but also one's lifespan, giving one more strength and time to explore higher realms. Ninety percent of Qi Refining disciples struggle through their lives, unable to break through, and like ordinary people, eventually turn to dust. Some suffer from worldly attachments, others from a lifelong regret due to a lack of spiritual innate talent. Still others die in depression due to a lack of opportunity to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Foundation-Building Pills are essential for overcoming bottlenecks in foundation building. Just as thousands of troops struggle to cross a single-plank bridge, one can see how challenging foundation-building is. Furthermore, the vast majority of Foundation-Building Pills are held by the sects, with only a tiny fraction finding their way to aristocratic families and independent cultivators. Consequently, so many aristocratic families and independent cultivators desperately strive to join the sects, primarily for the Foundation-Building Pills. Independent cultivators may enjoy freedom, but their path to immortality is even more uncertain, with the Foundation-Building stage holding them back for 99% of all cultivators. Foundation-Building Pills are rarely sold in the daily market or at major auctions, as they are so rare that everyone keeps them for personal use or to pass them on to future generations. No one would be willing to sell them, making them truly priceless pills.

The reason Foundation Establishment Pills are so precious is that their main ingredients, the Purple Orchid Flower and the Green Spirit Fruit, are extinct in the world, found only in the secret trial realms controlled by the major sects. Furthermore, these ingredients are becoming increasingly scarce over time. The only reason some Foundation Establishment Pills still find their way into the hands of independent cultivators is because several Yuanying-stage cultivators have secured them from the sects. Otherwise, independent cultivators would have no chance of advancing.

The recipe for the Foundation Establishment Pill was recorded in many books like the Pharmacopoeia, so it wasn't a secret at all. Liu Xing even specially recorded a copy of the recipe for future use.

The main ingredients of the Foundation Establishment Pill, the Purple Orchid Flower and the Green Spirit Fruit, both require a five-hundred-year age, while the other ingredients only need one or two hundred. While these ingredients are also precious, they can still be found. So, knowing this, Liu Xing paid close attention to the ingredients for the Foundation Establishment Pill. Sure enough, the main ingredient never appeared, but he did have a dozen or so of the ingredients on hand, just in case. Liu Xing always held onto the possibility that someday, his luck would turn, and once he had all the ingredients, he could refine the Foundation Establishment Pill himself.

Liu Xing knew his spiritual roots were poorly endowed, but the bamboo flute, which purified his spiritual energy, kept him from falling too far behind in his cultivation. However, he still lacked confidence in breaking through the bottleneck. So many talented Qi Refining disciples had failed at the Foundation Establishment stage, so he couldn't afford to be complacent. He decided to prepare a few more Foundation Establishment Pills to increase his chances of success.

While Liu Xing was collecting the recipes and herbs for the Foundation Establishment Pill, he was also planning to join the sect and obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill after completing the sect's mission. He could take two steps at the same time to achieve double insurance.

"Have you heard? Yue Lao San accidentally obtained a foundation-building pill. I don't know how the news leaked out. He was surrounded and killed by hundreds of people in the Pianduan Mountains yesterday." Liu Xing came to the tavern again to inquire about the news. He saw a cultivator with a red face and thick neck talking to his fellow Taoists. It was obvious that he had drunk a lot.

"Yue Lao San is a long-established independent cultivator, a great master at the twelfth level, and he also has a top-grade magic weapon in his hand. Who dares to mess with him?" A thin man next to him said in surprise.

"Foundation Building Pill, even if you know you will die, you have to fight for it."

"I heard that more than a dozen people died and countless were injured. The scene was bloody. Tsk tsk."

"What was the final result? Who stole the Foundation Establishment Pill?" The people around him asked anxiously, as if they were ready to chase after him as soon as they got the news.

"Yue Lao San blew up his own top-grade magical weapon and fled with serious injuries. Everyone is chasing him. If we don't give him a chance to breathe, he'll probably be in great danger."

“I don’t know who will get the Foundation Establishment Pill in the end.”

"How come Yue Lao San is so careless? How could such important information be leaked?" Some people still didn't quite believe it.

"I heard that it was his close friend Tan Hao who leaked the news."

"Hasn't Tan Hao been friends with him for decades? The two of them have been through life and death together many times. How could he do such a thankless task?" Some people were surprised and puzzled.

"Who knows? Maybe the plot failed, so they just exposed it..." Everyone was guessing, sighing, and secretly holding their storage bags tightly. No one in this world can be trusted.

Liu Xing wasn't surprised at this story; he'd read many similar cases in books. Many Foundation Establishment Pills were destroyed in battle, wasted, leaving people sighing in regret. If everyone were given the choice again, they would still rush for it without hesitation. No matter how many times they replayed the situation, the outcome would be the same. Thousands of troops cross a single-plank bridge, marching against the will of heaven. Who can escape fate?

Liu Xing was particularly interested in knowledge about miraculous herbs. He read countless classics and recipes, memorizing the shapes and properties of various medicinal herbs. He knew which herbs were suitable for refining certain elixirs, which herbs were suitable for certain stages of cultivation, the signs of maturity, and how to harvest them. He thought, if he ever came across a herb that might be useful to him, he wouldn't let it slip by blindly. Knowledge is power, and it's always good to be prepared.

He knew his spiritual roots were limited, so he needed to purchase numerous elixirs to improve his cultivation and overcome bottlenecks. Finished elixirs were highly expensive. For example, a bottle of ten Qi Gathering Pills, ideal for cultivators in the Qi Refining stage, cost a thousand spirit stones and were often sold out immediately. Most cultivators couldn't afford them, and the occasional one or two they found were used to overcome critical bottlenecks. Liu Xing had already pre-ordered them from Wanbaolou and had visited the market numerous times, but he had only managed to buy four or five bottles.

Alchemy, like talisman making, is a technical skill requiring ten years of dedicated practice. He didn't have the time to study alchemy right now; he would return to it after successfully building his foundation. However, this didn't affect his current study of alchemy; he could first accumulate theoretical knowledge, thereby gaining a more comprehensive understanding of medicinal materials and elixirs. He would occasionally treat alchemists to drinks, asking them basic questions about alchemy, sharing his experiences and solidifying his theoretical framework. These conversations sometimes amazed the alchemists at his solid theoretical knowledge, so much so that those unaware of his background might have thought he was some alchemy master teasing them. After a conversation, they realized Liu Xing was merely theoretically savvy, lacking practical experience, and smiled. However, the alchemists all said that with this foundation of knowledge, their hands-on alchemy practice would be much faster, saving at least half the time spent on trial and error. After all, a master alchemist uses countless herbs to train, a tremendous waste of time. This is why alchemists are so rare, and why both righteous and demonic forces strive to cultivate close ties. Ordinary people have a limited lifespan, so it is difficult for them to balance cultivation and alchemy.