Chapter 20: True Inheritor
“Second-Tier Demon Core, Azure Dragon Ginseng, Hundred-Year Stone Milk……”
Fang Qing listened with complete focus as the Foundation Establishment Pill Formula was explained, calculating inwardly: “Aside from the Second-Tier Demon Core, the other auxiliary materials are not especially rare. At most, their age requirements are high. There is still hope of gathering them all.”
His own aptitude was only mid-grade. A single Foundation Establishment Pill might not be enough for him to establish his foundation, so he had to be prepared.
“Foundation establishment has three gates—Essence, Qi, and Spirit. The Foundation Establishment Pill targets the three treasures of the human body, compensating for what Heaven lacks…… Therefore, among the auxiliary materials, the most important is one ingredient called the ‘Three Talents Flower’. It has the effect of transforming the three treasures, compensating for a cultivator’s deficiencies to assist in foundation establishment……”
As Elder Tianding explained in detail, Fang Qing’s heart stirred intensely.
‘This Foundation Establishment Pill is designed specifically for the foundation process, so the refinement itself involves part of the secrets of foundation establishment……’
‘Essence, Qi, and Spirit? I have two cultivation methods for “Qi”. If both are fully cultivated, there should be no problem…… That leaves Essence and Spirit?’
‘Essence is bodily strength and vital blood. Spirit is mental force, even divine sense……’
‘I can look for relevant body-refining techniques, as well as divine-sense techniques……’
Fang Qing immersed himself in the lecture, listening as if intoxicated. In truth, only Water-Method Pill Refinement offered such an opportunity.
Because these pill masters could assist Elder Tianding by pre-processing some of the materials.
Elder Tianding needed their labor, so he provided the Foundation Establishment Pill formula and refinement methods in advance.
If it were Fire-Method Pill Refinement, the more participants there were, the easier mistakes would occur. Usually, a single pill master handled everything from start to finish, and there would be no such benefit.
“Today’s discourse ends here. Half a month from now, Cold Spring Peak will open the furnace.”
After several hours, Elder Tianding flicked his sleeve, transforming into a streak of light and departing, leaving behind pill masters who still felt unsatisfied.
“So many requirements and intricacies just to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill. It truly is difficult……”
Fang Qing sighed with emotion.
According to the classification of the Qi Ingestion Path, the Foundation Establishment Pill was a Second-Tier pill. In theory, only Second-Tier pill masters with Foundation Establishment cultivation could attempt it.
But the world always had geniuses beyond imagination—pill masters who could refine Second-Tier pills while still in the Qi Refining stage!
“If I fail to establish my foundation in the future, I might have to walk that path……”
“Wait. There still seems to be Ancient Shu, which I can look forward to…… But for some reason, it feels like advancing to a Dao Foundation through the Qi Ingestion Path may be even harder than successful foundation establishment.”
By now, Fang Qing could be considered an expert among cross-world traders. He understood the differences between Ancient Shu and Jade Island very clearly.
Ancient Shu had mysterious Dao techniques, but cultivation resources were not abundant. Perhaps there were more metal-attribute and fire-attribute materials?
As for Jade Island, the cultivation methods were still unclear, but cultivation resources were extremely abundant.
“There are still Foundation Establishment Pills to look forward to here. Over there, they might not even have pills that assist in breaking through to the Dao Foundation. How could that be described as anything but miserable? Wait…… There is one kind of material that seems relatively abundant.”
Thinking of the bandit cultivator blood pills he had seized before, and then of the chaotic troops slaughtering cities in Ba Commandery, Fang Qing fell silent……
……
Half a month later.
Cold Spring Peak had been completely sealed off. All disciples who had not become ranked pill masters had vanished entirely.
Standing at the foot of the mountain, Fang Qing wore a solemn expression as he looked at the surrounding ranked pill masters.
Nearby were newly ranked pill masters like himself. Further up were Low-Grade First-Tier, Mid-Grade First-Tier, and High-Grade First-Tier pill masters.
At the spring eye on the mountainside stood several Foundation Establishment cultivators—clearly Second-Tier pill masters. Floating Cloud Daoist was among them, a middle-aged man with a strong scholarly air.
At the very peak, naturally, was Elder Tianding, overseeing everything.
“Foundation Establishment Pill refinement…… begin!”
Accompanied by a deep divine-sense transmission, the great work of pill refinement began in an orderly manner.
“All of you…… assist me first in refining ‘Profound Frost Water’!”
Fang Qing looked toward his group leader, who happened to be Xu Wusu.
At this moment, Xu Wusu’s expression was grave as he formed hand seals.
Streams of spiritual spring water continuously gathered and were refined……
“Drink!”
Fang Qing likewise formed seals with both hands and began controlling water.
Their group was tasked with refining “Profound Frost Water”, one of the three spiritual waters used to process Azure Dragon Ginseng.
Because Azure Dragon Ginseng’s medicinal potency was too strong, ordinary First-Tier spiritual water could not neutralize it. Specially prepared spiritual water was required.
According to the Foundation Establishment Pill formula, three different kinds of spiritual water had to be refined to perfectly separate and extract its medicinal effects.
These Qi Refining disciples would toil for half a month just to produce about one dou of “Profound Frost Water”. It then had to be inspected by the Second-Tier pill masters on the mountainside. Only after the quality was flawless could it be combined into Second-Tier spiritual water, after which the extraction of Azure Dragon Ginseng could begin—work that likewise belonged to those Second-Tier pill masters.
With such layered division of labor, Elder Tianding only needed to handle the most troublesome Second-Tier Demon Cores and the final integration of the various medicinal properties, greatly reducing his workload.
Moreover, multiple demon cores could be refined together!
Crash—!
Fang Qing saw streams of spiritual spring water rising, winding nine times and bending eighteen times. Intense medicinal fragrance spread outward, as if a medicinal spring were soaking the entire Cold Spring Peak.
They cooperated like an ancient assembly line, while he himself had become a factory worker tightening screws……
……
Several days later.
‘At first it felt interesting. Now it’s just boring.’
After finishing another batch of “Profound Frost Water”, Fang Qing looked toward Xu Wusu beside him.
This pill master sat cross-legged, having just finished restoring his true power. Seeing Fang Qing look over, he revealed a kind smile. “Junior brother, your water-control technique is truly exquisite. It even faintly makes this elder brother feel as though he sees the bearing of a Second-Tier pill master. Your future potential is limitless.”
“Not at all……”
In front of Second-Tier pill masters, Fang Qing had long since converted all his true power into Black-Water True Power.
In terms of controlling springs, it was far inferior to when he still possessed Ji Water true power.
Of course, because he had been deeply immersed before, his water-control techniques had indeed improved greatly. This kind of experiential improvement would not disappear just because he had changed his true power.
“By the way……”
Fang Qing asked the question he cared about most: “This time, how many pills do you think will be produced?”
The matter of Foundation Establishment Pills was always a hot topic among Qi Refining disciples.
Although Water-Method Pill Refinement took a long time, there were occasional chances to rest during the process.
Several nearby disciples gathered over. Though all were low-level disciples, each had connections. By pooling bits of information, they could guess most of the truth.
“I have a clan elder sister working at the Dragon-Transformation Pool. She said that over a dozen Second-Tier Horned Serpents were completed within the sect this time! Unfortunately, several lacked demon cores…… In the end, only eight were obtained.”
A Pill Island disciple spoke.
“Eight Second-Tier Demon Cores……”
Xu Wusu nodded. “The Foundation Establishment Pill is a Second-Tier pill. When an ordinary Second-Tier pill master refines it, being able to consistently produce one standard Foundation Establishment Pill from one demon core is already considered qualified. Slightly better ones can produce one inferior pill in addition to the standard one…… Only the extremely rare few who can produce two standard Foundation Establishment Pills are Second-Tier pill-refining grandmasters!”
“Our sect’s Elder Tianding possesses extraordinary skill. From one demon core, he can stably produce two standard pills, occasionally with an extra inferior one…… Sometimes, when he’s in excellent form, he can even produce three standard pills!”
The other disciples nodded repeatedly. A female disciple laughed. “True Inheritor disciples are proud and aloof. They would never accept inferior pills…… I actually hope Elder Tianding stably produces two standard and one inferior. That way, there will be eight inferior Foundation Establishment Pills for us to compete over……”
“Inferior Foundation Establishment Pills can still protect one from death if foundation establishment fails, but the success rate is much lower. We should still strive to become True Inheritor disciples.”
Xu Wusu shook his head, clearly not optimistic.
‘So that means there will be between sixteen and twenty-four standard pills this time? At most eight inferior ones?’
Fang Qing’s heart stirred. “How many True Inheritor disciples does the sect have?”
“Twenty-five. The sect’s True Inheritor disciples—one enters, one leaves. Only twenty-five seats are kept.”
Xu Wusu was very familiar with this. “Among these twenty-five True Inheritors, every ten years there is a combat tournament. The top ten can be listed as True Inheritors. Another ten seats are given to disciples with astonishing cultivation skills. The final five seats are recommended by the Council of Elders……”
“To win through combat and be listed as a True Inheritor—we have nothing to say. For cultivation-arts True Inheritors, one must cultivate a single art to at least quasi–Second Tier or even Second Tier to pass…… Only the final five seats recommended by the Council of Elders—sigh……”
A female disciple sighed.
Clearly, she had little hope in any of the three paths.
Hearing this, Fang Qing became thoughtful.
‘For a sect to develop, combat powerhouses are important. At the same time, it also needs production-type talents…… Giving ten foundation establishment opportunities to each is only natural.’
‘As for the final five Council of Elders recommendations—it looks like blatant favoritism, but in reality it draws in the majority……’
In this cultivation world, Qi Refining disciples were never the majority!
Foundation Establishment cultivators and above, who controlled the upper echelons of power, were the majority!
People inevitably had selfish motives. Opening this loophole instead united most Foundation Establishment elders.
Moreover, those selected through such recommendations—if they succeeded in foundation establishment—would already be qualified as candidates for Sect Master of the Azure Sea Sect. Their governance methods would naturally come with trusted aides. Simply by being able to unite the majority of Foundation Establishment elders and obtain votes, governing the sect would pose little problem.
‘Within the Council of Elders, a single Core Formation Ancestor could probably outweigh quite a few Foundation Establishment votes, right?’
After thinking it through, Fang Qing felt that this True Inheritor system was quite reasonable.
Of course, for him, it was extremely unfavorable.
At the very least, the five seats decided by elder voting were not even worth thinking about.
“Combat and pill refinement?”
He pondered inwardly. Without using methods from the Qi Ingestion Path, how strong could he be?
‘If both my Qi Ingestion Realm and Qi Refining Realm reach the ninth layer, winning the combat tournament might not be impossible?’
‘Aside from that, delving deeply into pill refinement also offers hope.’
“And…… True Inheritor disciples aim for foundation establishment. Therefore, those over sixty years old, or those who have already taken a Foundation Establishment Pill and failed, are generally not allowed to join the competition,” Xu Wusu added.
“Then that means at least twenty-five standard Foundation Establishment Pills are needed?”
A disciple calculated. “Even if Elder Tianding performs perfectly, there will still be one short……”
“Indeed…… Therefore, after this refinement, the sect will most likely initiate a ‘Grand Harvest’……”
Several Pill Island disciples laughed with schadenfreude. “Fortunately, assisting in refining the Foundation Establishment Pill counts as a mandatory sect mission for us. Otherwise, this time would truly be hard to endure……”