Cultivation begins with ice harvesters

Chapter 95: Dao Foundation

Liu Zong was very perceptive and immediately returned his share of the spirit ice mine. In the face of absolute power, everything seemed to fall into place naturally.

While a ten percent share of the Spirit Ice Mine may seem small, in the actual distribution of spirit stones, there can be a difference of dozens of spirit stones per month, which adds up to a considerable sum over time.

Especially for rogue cultivators like Tong Bingfeng and Liu Zong, who have no elders to rely on, almost every spirit stone is something they have to fight for with their lives.

"Fellow Daoist Liu's hospitality is too kind of me to refuse. In the future, let's cooperate to firmly control the defense of this spirit ice mine."

"If we encounter a first-tier high-grade demonic beast or a wicked cultivator who has just completed the Qi Refining stage, I will naturally be the main force to deal with them."

Contentment brings happiness. Tong Bingfeng generously promised the smooth return of his 10% share, and of course, he did not greedily continue to demand more shares.

"Now that you have advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining and become a genuine late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, there is no need to continue wasting time mining spirit ice. I have already contacted Meng Lan to purchase two puppets specifically for mining veins."

With the spirit ice mine on track, the two resident cultivators naturally shifted their main focus to their own cultivation.

Although puppets are not cheap, and the daily mining of spirit ice requires a continuous input of spirit stones for control, as long as the time saved is converted into one's own cultivation, everything is naturally valuable.

"I have no objection; everything should be done according to Fellow Daoist Liu's opinion."

"However, after my cultivation advanced, I returned to the Spirit Ice Mine immediately. I still need time to solidify my cultivation foundation, so please forgive me, fellow Daoist."

Tong Bingfeng's mind was entirely focused on the large number of jade slips he had purchased in his storage bag, so he naturally did not want to waste any more time.

"Fellow Daoist Tong, please feel free to go into seclusion."

Liu Zong had no objections and readily agreed. Perhaps he was unwilling in his heart, but he could only bow his head in the face of absolute power.

After a cup of tea, Tong Bingfeng sat cross-legged on the futon in the stone room, eagerly taking out the jade slips he had purchased and carefully and patiently reading the contents recorded on them one by one.

Most of them were probably different from the crystal gourd he desperately needed to know, but he still didn't feel any impatience. Instead, he firmly imprinted them in his mind.

These descriptions of the growth habits of various spiritual creatures will be indispensable in the future process of hunting monsters and gathering spiritual herbs on the icy land.

After all, during his previous cultivation, Tong Bingfeng had focused his main efforts on acquiring various spiritual objects. He had not seriously studied or understood the descriptions of various rare treasures, and most of his common knowledge was learned from conversations with different cultivators.

Most of this information is rather crude, knowing what but not why, so Tong Bingfeng has an urgent need to improve his own understanding.

This time, the time gained by stabilizing his cultivation level was used entirely for in-depth reading and understanding of these jade slips.

Of course, if a description of the crystal gourd appeared on the jade slip, Tong Bingfeng would immediately shift his attention.

At this stage, he is quite interested in this kind of treasure that is qualified to attract the attention of the direct descendants of the Chen family and for which they are willing to spend resources. He also has a vague idea of ​​its specific effects, but needs more accurate support.

Day after day, night after night.

Tong Bingfeng seemed to be completely captivated by the contents of each jade slip, shutting off his senses to the outside world and focusing all his attention on memorizing the contents of the jade slips.

Each time Tong Bingfeng finished reading a jade slip, some unresolved questions in his mind seemed to be touched upon.

"So the birth of a companion spirit herb requires such demanding conditions: stable and rich spiritual energy, sufficient pheromone stimulation over a long period of time, and a lair of male and female demonic beasts that has been there for more than twenty years."

When he read about the growth requirements of companion spirit herbs, he finally understood the fundamental reason why various water-attribute spirit herbs were relatively rare after the monster's lair.

All three conditions are quite demanding, and the first one, stable and abundant spiritual energy, is actually the easier goal to achieve.

As for other spiritual herbs, once they mature, they will be devoured by demonic beasts, since these herbs are also beneficial for improving the rank of demonic beasts.

Typically, this kind of elixir is called a guardian elixir. For demonic beasts, the concepts of companion elixir and guardian elixir are completely different.

As time passed and the number of reads increased, the number of jade slips in the storage bag gradually decreased.

However, when I bought the jade slip to search for information about crystal gourds, I never found any related records, not even a single word about their basic growing environment.

Tong Bingfeng seemed to have forgotten his original purpose as well. As his knowledge of common sense increased, he maintained a calm and wonderful state of mind.

The jade slips slipped quickly through my hand, and only near the end did I unexpectedly glean a few descriptions from them.

"The Crystal Gourd is a unique spiritual object born in the icy region of the Northern Frontier. The gourd itself is a first-grade high-quality magic artifact, containing a breath of innate primordial energy that can assist cultivators in advancing to the seventh level of Qi Refining. If one can gather all five types of gourds (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth) from a gourd vine and simultaneously refine the five types of innate primordial energy at the great perfection of the ninth level of Qi Refining, it can assist cultivators in forging a foundation of at least the fourth grade of Dao."

"If one of them is refined when a cultivator advances to the late stage of Qi Refining, and the remaining four are refined at the same time, it can prevent the cultivator from forming a first-grade Dao Foundation."

Simple words and a simple picture accurately describe all the core functions of the crystal gourd.

After reading it, Tong Bingfeng felt waves of indescribable pain and inevitable regret welling up inside her.

The Dao Foundation is the foundation for a cultivator to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage. The lowest grade is one, and the highest is nine. Only those with a Dao Foundation of grade three or above have a chance to form a Golden Core in their abdomen in the future.

When he advanced to the seventh level of Qi Refining, he had already refined a mouthful of innate primordial energy from the water-attribute crystal gourd. Even if he refined it further, it would only provide a minimum level of protection.

The difference between a second-grade Dao Foundation and a fourth-grade Dao Foundation is like heaven and earth, an insurmountable gap for Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Advancing from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the seventh level is challenging and involves formidable bottlenecks, but there are various elixirs available in the market to aid in the advancement, though they are quite expensive.

Once the innate primordial energy within the water-attribute crystal gourd is refined, there is no possibility of replenishing it. After all, only the jade slip clearly records that only gourds grown from the same gourd vine can have such a heaven-defying effect.