Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age

Half a month later, the door to the cultivation chamber swung open, and Lu Chang’sheng walked out with a calm expression on his face.

Just as he had expected, he failed to break through to Foundation Establishment. Even though he reached the ninth stage of Qi Cultivation, with a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill, he still couldn’t take that crucial step forward.

"My Immortal Dao Spirit Root is just too mediocre. With this kind of Foundation Establishment Pill, there’s no way I can break through the bottleneck."

Lu Chang’sheng had already anticipated this prior to his attempt at Foundation Establishment.

In the Guangnan Domain, only those with a C-grade Immortal Dao Spirit Root are considered true seeds for Foundation Establishment. Theoretically, those with mid and high-grade D-grade roots can also succeed, but the chances are much lower.

Especially for mid-grade D-level roots.

Still, there was some benefit to having tried. At least now he knew his current Spirit Root wasn’t enough to push him to the Foundation Establishment stage.

So, he had hit a cultivation bottleneck. Fortunately, he hadn’t expected to leap into Foundation Establishment on his first try anyway.

"I need to be more cautious when consuming Foundation Establishment Pills."

During the attempt, he gained a subtle insight: breaking through Foundation Establishment actually draws on one’s very foundation. Each failed attempt lowers the probability of success, even if just a little.

Therefore, Foundation Establishment isn’t something to be taken lightly.

"If I want to be safe, it’s best to wait until my Spirit Root improves a bit, and then refine some high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills."

By then, he’d have a much greater chance of making the leap to Foundation Establishment.

Time flew by, and another half a month slipped away.

Lu Chang’sheng went about his daily cultivation as usual. He didn’t have any pressing need to learn new spells for now—the perfected Barbarian Armor Technique and Puppetry Technique were more than enough for most situations.

Now, he was no longer as clumsy when facing typical Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Ninth-stage Qi Cultivation magical power far surpassed the seventh stage, both in purity and amount.

The growth in Spiritual Sense made controlling his Puppet Beasts much easier as well.

His combat power was steadily climbing.

So, Lu Chang’sheng devoted more of his energy to Alchemy.

He needed to build up some savings to purchase materials for Foundation Establishment.

Consequently, Lu Chang’sheng ramped up his Alchemy sessions to the max, producing a steady stream of pills daily, flowing from his residence to Good Beast Immortal City and several surrounding Immortal Cities.

Since there weren’t any late-stage Qi Cultivators in the house, only Li Nangua had to run deliveries. Lu Chang’sheng felt assured about this.

After joining the Good Beast Sect, Li Nangua’s self-defense skills had skyrocketed. Coupled with his eighth-stage Qi Cultivation and the sect’s backing, barring extremely bad luck, nothing serious should happen.

Late-stage Qi Cultivators are considered experts in the Guangnan Domain.

"If I go all-in with Alchemy, my profits will skyrocket. By then, I’ll be able to trade for those few Foundation Establishment Pills."

The sect had previously promised him a quota of one Foundation Establishment Pill per year, but it wasn’t guaranteed forever—after five years, he couldn’t get any more.

Foundation Establishment Pill refining isn’t easy. In all of Good Beast Sect, only Huang Yun can make them now; the rest are leagues behind.

With Huang Yun about to reach his end, Good Beast Sect would basically lose its supply of pills. No way would they keep handing Lu Chang’sheng so many each year.

Even so, Lu Chang’sheng could still purchase Foundation Establishment Pills like any other elder, within the established rules.

One morning, Lu Chang’sheng ran into Zhong Mountain, who was wearing a troubled expression.

After asking, Lu Chang’sheng found out it was about the Little Fire Cloud Beast.

Recently, Zhong Mountain was upbeat every day. The Fire Cloud Beast had grown closer to him, shifting from "just eating his stuff" to "playing with him."

Things were progressing nicely. Many people guessed Zhong Mountain was one of the folks most likely to win over the Little Fire Spirit Beast—one of them!

Another person was also enjoying the Fire Cloud Beast’s favor—He Feng.

In fact, He Feng was even a cut above the rest.

"So, is it Fellow Daoist He Feng who’s overtaking you?" Lu Chang’sheng asked.

"No way! I’ll admit he’s got some talent, but compared to me, he still falls short," Zhong Mountain shot back in his usual boastful tone.

"Then why the gloomy face?"

Zhong Mountain sighed and said, "These past couple days, for some reason, the Fire Cloud Beast hasn’t been as close to me. Just days ago, I was spending evenings with it under the moon and among the flowers."

Lu Chang’sheng chuckled, awkward but polite.

By "evenings under the moon and flowers," Zhong Mountain meant he and the Fire Cloud Beast went to the gardens behind the main hall atop Beast Institute Peak.

That’s where Ning Yun the Fire Cloud Beast lives, kept by sect elders for retirement.

To Zhong Mountain, getting in there with the Fire Cloud Beast meant he’d earned its trust.

"Well—maybe it’s for the best. You can pull back a bit," Lu Chang’sheng said.

He was pretty sure this was the work of Old Fire Cloud Beast. When it came to tricking people, Ning Yun was a sly old fox.

Lu Chang’sheng originally meant to advise Zhong Mountain not to put in too much effort, but somehow got labeled as a hater.

"You just can’t stand seeing someone else do well, Daoist."

Lu Chang’sheng paused for a second. "My bad—but if there’s a problem, Daoist, there must be a reason. Do you think the quality of your offerings has slipped lately?"

Zhong Mountain’s eyes lit up, "You think so too? That’s just what I was thinking!"

Seeing Zhong Mountain like this, Lu Chang’sheng was lost for words. Was the Fire Cloud Beast just too sly, or was Zhong Mountain simply too much of a bootlicker?

"Are Foundation Establishment cultivators all this rich?"

Lu Chang’sheng mused to himself.

As far as he knew, Zhong Mountain had been treating the Fire Cloud Beast to top-tier pills at every meal lately.

Way too extravagant.

If even Zhong Mountain was indulging like this, then what about He Feng, who was supposedly even better?