Chapter 73: Elder Doshu and the Foundation Establishment Information
After spending several hours, he finally reached the Main Platform. Without wasting time, An went straight to the building with the huge sign reading Scripture Archives.
Entering, he was surprised that the room was almost unlit, only the main doors and the large windows on the second and third floors provided natural light. Inside everything looked just like the Scripture Pavilion on the Outer Platform, absolutely everything was made of sturdy wood.
The entire interior space was filled with rows of shelves and small signs so that disciples wouldn't get lost. In the middle, against the wall opposite the entrance, stood a circular wooden staircase, completely covered in talismans, the staircase itself extended to all floors of the building.
"Ho! Ho! Look who we have here! Isn't it you, you brat An?" The moment he stepped inside, he immediately heard a familiar voice. Turning around, he saw an old woman sitting at a table with a smile and gleaming eyes.
"Oh! Old hag!" An involuntarily opened his mouth upon seeing her, this old ghost.
"Ha? What was that?" Raising both eyebrows, she half stood up, leaning on the table.
"I-I s-said, greetings, Elder Doshu!" He even paled, realizing how badly he had just messed up. Coughing into his fist, he showed a gesture of respect with his hands.
The thing was, when he entered his head was occupied with something else entirely, and the appearance of this old lady was unexpected for him.
"Hmph!" Only snorting, she sat back down at her table.
"So what do you want? Come on, speak up! Don't distract me from my work." Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked at him with a barely noticeable smirk on her face.
"I need any information about breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm… how it happens, whether anything auxiliary is needed for the breakthrough, whether a new technique is required..." Lowering his voice slightly and without taking his eyes off her, An began explaining the reason he had come here.
"The Foundation Establishment realm? What do you need that for? With your cultivation… Ha? Why can't I sense any energy emanating from you?" Concentrating, she finally noticed that she couldn't sense his cultivation, without any techniques.
'No... Using spirit sense would be inappropriate...' Out of curiosity, she almost used spirit sense to thoroughly scan him. But she stopped herself in time, understanding that this was inappropriate behavior within the Sect's walls.
"Um, it's just a technique I found in the Scripture Pavilion, and surprisingly, it fits me perfectly." An quickly found an excuse.
The thing was, his Qi Silence worked without interruption, even during cultivation cycles or when his mind was overloaded, he still tried to maintain a stable energy flow to sustain this technique.
"Hehe, sure..." Raising an eyebrow, she examined him again with a thoughtful look.
"What about my question?" Feeling the situation becoming awkward, An switched the topic back.
"Oh... Fine." After looking at him for a few seconds, Old Doshu exhaled and shook her head.
"I'll say this right away, what you're about to hear, don't you dare tell anyone. Understood?" The old woman waved her hand and created a barrier around both of them. She pointed her finger at An, waiting for his answer.
He only nodded, while simultaneously trying to read the information from the barrier around them. But he immediately realized that he couldn't understand anything, even the Qi flows gave him no information, as if he wasn't yet worthy of knowing what was contained within them.
"Breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm isn't as simple as it might seem. Although, it's unlikely anyone would think breaking through to a new realm would be simple… Hehe, there are always idiots, ah." Starting to speak, she immediately went off topic, but she caught herself in time; however, her eyes suddenly dimmed.
"Information and techniques corresponding to this realm are only available to Sects and clans. For this information to leak out and fall into the hands of cultivators of lower origins, outside Sects or clans... Forget about it! Only by swearing oath after oath, can you obtain the necessary information, and only a small chance at a breakthrough... Ptoo!" By the end, she even spat on the floor.
"The question immediately arises, how can someone without a clan behind them get a chance at a breakthrough while in the Sect? You need to have some weight, to be needed, not just meat for the next big conflict... Only after receiving approval from above, will you be added to the list. But here's where it gets interesting..." Old Doshu began to smile, but her smile was filled with pain and bitterness, as if remembering what she had to go through herself.
"Now, being on the list, you need to distinguish yourself so that the Sect is willing to allocate you the Foundation Establishment Pill, which will allow you to make the safe breakthrough..." She began tapping her finger on the table, continuing her explanation.
'Damn... I knew it. Of course there's a pill...' An nearly rolled his eyes.
"Hehe! You think that's all? Ha! The most interesting part is yet to come! To obtain the pill, you must sign a soul contract for fifty years. That means, for fifty years, you will serve the Sect. And that's not all! To obtain the method to continue your Qi cultivation, you'll need to sign another contract, also for fifty years! That means, you must serve the Sect for a hundred years, for a chance to cultivate..." By the end, nervous laughter occasionally seeped through, overflowing with anger and helplessness at the same time.
'This is even worse than I thought...' An's head began to sweat, understanding what kind of madness awaited him in the future, just to get a chance at a breakthrough.
"Um... What about breaking through without a pill? Is that possible?" He suddenly thought that in novels, people sometimes broke through without any pills, relying only on their own strength.
"Without a pill? It's possible, but the chance of success depends on the rank of your spiritual roots. For those with a third rank or better, like yours, about fifteen percent success without any pills. For the rest, even for the fourth rank, success is already below ten percent. But don't get too happy, these chances only apply if an elder above or at the Golden Core realm watches and controls your breakthrough, in other words, the chance of breaking through without a pill exists, but in reality, it doesn't..." Old Doshu took a deep breath, constantly tapping her long fingernail on the table.
"And the pill recipe? Is it possible to obtain it somewhere?" After a pause, An asked, still with hope in his eyes.
"Hehe! Even harder. If you're not a child of the heavens and your entire path is a golden straight road, then don't even hope to find this recipe anywhere. Even within the Sects, only a handful know this recipe... Eh..." The longer she explained, the more deflated she became.
"What if a disciple still manages to break through without a pill?" An understood that the only possibility for him was a breakthrough without any help, even if, according to her, the chance was zero. But he believed, tried to believe that his ability to see and read information from Qi flows, and his knowledge of energy itself gave him more than zero chance.
As for the pill, even with Master status, he realized he had no chance of obtaining the recipe, with his level of activity in the Sect. And searching for it or buying it, he knew that he didn't have enough spirit stones, and he didn't have that kind of protagonist luck.
Looking around, Old Doshu leaned closer and signaled for An to lean in.
"If a cultivator still manages to break through on their own, upon discovery, the Sect's Main Council will force them to swear an oath of service, under the pretext of obtaining a technique to continue cultivation..." With bitterness in her throat, she slowly and cautiously told him.
Hearing this, he frowned deeply.
"So my only available option is to break through on my own and, under duress, swear a fifty-year oath..." Asking the question, An was saying this more to himself, understanding that he really had no choice.
The old woman only nodded silently several times, fully confirming his thoughts.
An silently turned around and walked toward the exit, not even saying goodbye, but was suddenly stopped.
"Wait a second, first listen to how the breakthrough process itself goes… Who knows, it might come in handy…" She stopped him, shaking her head.
.
.
'The Heavenly Soul Sect, for equality and righteousness. Yeah, I believe that... Only by breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm, an ordinary cultivator's lifespan increases from 110 to 240 years. And the Sect demands 100 years of service from them... Damn...' Walking across the huge square toward the path to the Abodes, with his head lowered, he tried to understand what he should do now, what exactly to do to move forward.
'Fine... When I break through, and I will break through, without any pill! I'll be able to hide my energy with Qi Silence. But the problem is the energy during the breakthrough itself...' Even without understanding how exactly he would break through, he decided that doubting himself right now was unnecessary. But with this confidence, two problems immediately arose.
First, he knew that the energy of a Foundation Establishment cultivator and Qi Condensation were structurally different from each other, and his Qi Silence technique wouldn't work; he would have to spend time modifying it after the breakthrough.
Second, the energy release during the breakthrough. He understood that the disturbances in the surrounding Qi would be enormous, and he was sure that the formation around his plot wouldn't be able to eliminate the traces. And buying a new formation that could supposedly withstand his breakthrough and hide its traces, even if he sold his remaining organs and spent years preparing pills for sale, he still wouldn't have enough for the accumulated spirit stones.
'The Sacred Land!' Stopping in place, it dawned on him. He remembered that in two months, he would have to go to that place.
'So, I have two months to get as close as possible to the peak of Qi Condensation. And when I arrive in this Sacred Land, I'll try to break through. And whatever happens, happens...' Having devised a flimsy plan, An activated his Qi and rushed toward his plot.
….
"Miss, I take it you've confirmed that he is the same disciple from the alley that you met before?" Standing by the lake behind the girl, who was leaning over and feeding small golden fish in the pond, the man in the leather coat asked in a slow and calm voice.
"The moment he activated his Qi, my watch confirmed the similarity of the energy… But what's strange, the artifact only showed a partial match, as if his Qi had suddenly changed and mutated… which is very strange." Dusting off her hands from crumbs, she stood up and straightened her robes.
"This disciple is very strange… he’s on par with the Shepor family heir, and An is able to suppress him with just the energy from his cultivation… Interesting, isn't it." She put her hands behind her back and slowly began walking along the stone path laid along the water's edge.
"Then… What have you decided? Should we proceed immediately and capture him?" Walking alongside her, the man grinned and made a gesture with his hands, as if twisting something.
"No, Captain Scar. If something goes wrong, your Foundation Establishment energy could provoke the formation around the Sect. And who knows how the old men from this Sect's Council would react. We mustn't anger them." Shaking her head, she stopped and looked at the horizon.
The captain remained silent, even though he understood that Miss Mili could do whatever she wanted inside the Sect, even order everyone to act like monkeys, even the Sect Leader himself would be forced to obey her commands.
"Our only opportunity is immediately after Devil Bo's Tomb." Looking at the horizon, she exhaled.
"What about the tomb itself? What if he perishes before the Sacred Land closes?" With a puzzled expression, the man turned his head toward her.
"No need to worry about that. The teleportation this time will be group-based, meaning, all disciples of one Sect will appear in the same place. And as soon as I'm next to him, I'll only need a moment for my plan to work. Only a moment!" Taking a handful of seeds from a small pouch, she began scattering them into the water, attracting small fish.
"Group teleportation? Heh! Your brilliant mind, as always, is top-notch, Miss Mili! Just like your father's! Haha!" Grinning, he tilted his head back and began laughing loudly.
….
"Feathered one, catch!" Entering the back part of the plot, An took out several second-rank fruits and threw them at the feet of the rooster, who was using both wings to hold a wooden bucket filled with earth.
Seeing the fruits, the rooster exclaimed and, carefully setting the bucket down, quickly grabbed the fruits and carried them to his burrow.
'Why do I feel like I'll need to buy a beast pouch and take the chicken with me to the tomb…' Looking at the rooster, he felt that this time he should take this ball of fat with him.
He wasn't sure how long he'd be stuck somewhere unknown this time, and seeing that Baldi's cultivation was approaching the peak of the first rank, the idea of taking him along didn't seem bad, 'Perhaps there will be something there that will accelerate his cultivation... Hmm, why do I feel that's not the real reason.' Not understanding where this strange feeling was coming from, he shook his head and headed toward his pergola.
Sitting down on the cushion and throwing a glance at the flasks with pills, 'The remaining time, I'll dedicate to cultivation, training, and only a small part to refining pills, only to increase my reserves, as far as my remaining plants will allow.' Taking out all the remaining spirit plants from his pouch, he carefully laid them out on the floor.
Having sorted everything out, he closed his eyes and began a cultivation cycle.