Chapter 48

Since slaying Jing Wu Ming, Wang Ping has been in seclusion in this mountain's interior for two months.

In that battle, the Qing Mang Sword Spirit was damaged, the upper-grade magical artifact Vajra Pestle broke in two, and his meridians suffered injury from the shock of spiritual energy.

However, with the Blood Pill given by Tie Lanshan, his meridians healed within three days, and his spiritual power quickly recovered thanks to the replenishment of spiritual liquid.

Over the next nearly two months, he relied on the Blood Pill and Spirit Pill, fully dedicating himself to breaking through Qi Refining and achieving Body Refining Great Completion.

Thanks to the astonishing effect of the Blood Pill, Body Refining first broke through to Great Completion.

The most noticeable change was that his blood qi became more viscous; once it circulated, it produced a rushing sound.

His tendons and bones grew harder, and his strength seemed to have reached its limit.

Before, Wang Ping did not pay attention to changes in his own strength, but now he can intensely feel a mighty power contained within his body.

He seemed able to move a ten‑thousand‑jin boulder; Wang Ping knew this was no illusion—a Body Refining cultivator who reaches first‑stage Great Completion sees his strength increase to ten thousand jin.

At this point, a Body Refining cultivator's every punch and kick contains great force, able to withstand an upper‑grade magical artifact.

The physical body is the Body Refining cultivator's strongest weapon.

Wang Ping's Vajra Body is merely an ordinary Body Refining method; upon reaching Great Completion it is nothing more than ordinary ten‑thousand‑jin strength.

It is said that a formidable Body Refining technique can allow a cultivator to break this limit.

Even knowing this, Wang Ping is unwilling to train it—simply because he lacks time.

He originally trained Body Refining to gain some extra means against enemies, and later heard that achieving Qi Refining Great Completion raises the odds of Foundation Establishment.

At least the blood‑qi barrier can be of considerable help.

Most cultivators know that Body Refining Great Completion can improve Foundation Establishment odds, yet few actually achieve it.

One reason is that Body Refining consumes too many resources; the other is lack of time.

The golden period for a cultivator to achieve Foundation Establishment is only sixty years, and for most it is forty.

With that amount of time, even pushing Qi Refining to Great Completion is a struggle, let alone also training Body Refining.

If he did not possess a large amount of pure spiritual liquid, the Vajra Body technique would be the simplest kind, and he could not have reached his present Great Completion.

Before Foundation Establishment, the three gates—blood‑qi at least can add ten percent to his Foundation Establishment odds.

Next come the spiritual power and divine sense gates.

The only drawback now is that after taking the Blood Pill to break through, his internal blood qi contains many impurities, lacking the purity of blood qi cultivated with spiritual liquid.

He must spend considerable effort to purify his blood qi.

Compared with his Body Refining breakthrough, Wang Ping's path to Qi Refining Great Completion has failed.

The reason is simple: the drag of his low‑grade spiritual root.

In cultivation, whether breaking through a major or minor realm, the common requirement is a large amount of heaven‑and‑earth spiritual energy—and Wang Ping has that.

Whether it is a Spirit Pill or spiritual liquid, both provide him with pure spiritual energy.

Afterward, a large amount of heaven‑and‑earth spiritual energy must shatter the bottleneck in an extremely short time.

At this point, the importance of the spiritual root is once again demonstrated.

A heaven‑grade spiritual root yields 100% output, an extreme‑grade root over 90%, an upper‑grade root 80%, a middle‑grade root 70%, and a lower‑grade root 60%.

Wang Ping broke through the middle and late stages of Qi Refining; with his 60% output plus the method's bonus, the breakthrough proceeded smoothly.

Now, when attempting to break the bottleneck of Qi Refining Great Completion, his 60% output is utterly insufficient.

This is merely a minor bottleneck; if it were Foundation Establishment, this output would be nowhere near enough.

Why is the Foundation Establishment Pill so popular? Because it not only supplies cultivators with abundant spiritual energy, but also increases the output of heaven‑and‑earth spiritual energy.

In the mountain cave, Wang Ping hid his gloom; the breakthrough failed, and though he felt some disappointment, it was expected.

In cultivation, the method's bonus for breaking through bottlenecks is crucial for a cultivator.

According to the saying circulating in the cultivation world, an entry‑grade method boosts training by only a completed amount, a fine‑grade method by ten percent, a strong method by fifteen percent, a top‑tier method by twenty‑five percent, and a top‑notch method can reach fifty percent.

Today's breakthrough has made him determined to obtain the Qing Emperor Longevity Technique at all costs.

This fifty percent increase is not based on his low‑grade spiritual root, but on the enhancement of his original body.

By then, sixty percent plus fifty percent will equal a 110% output.

With this output, he need not worry about it during Foundation Establishment.

After finishing his cultivation, Wang Ping walked out of the mountain cave and flew straight to the peak.

He enjoyed the rare sunlight and the refreshing breeze.

One month ago, Tie Lanshan departed first, heading for the city built by the Gathering Treasure Pavilion.

As he said, the city's cultivators now gather in great numbers; he intends to go buy formation materials, craft some formations to sell, and seize this opportunity to make a big profit.

At the same time he is also seeking better phantom wood to craft an improved version of the Myriad Transformations Illusion Array for Wang Ping.

I don't know how he is faring now; as the foremost formation master among the hundred arts of cultivation, he surely will thrive.

Wang Ping's thoughts wandered; actually, as an artifact refiner, he could also do that, but they seldom deal with people and have no such opportunity.

As for whether Tie Lanshan would retreat and break his promise, Wang Ping wasn't the slightest bit worried; cultivators who have achieved something in the myriad arts would not allow themselves to do such a thing because of their inner principles.

Furthermore, if he really did that, when breaking through Foundation Establishment he would form a heart-demon, which would not be worth the loss.

So Wang Ping readily agreed at that time.

Now his body-refining cultivation has broken through, but his qi-refining breakthrough failed; the goal set two months ago is half completed.

Next, he intends to go to the market city to buy some pills that will help break through the bottleneck.

To use for breaking through the great perfection of qi-refining.

After killing Jing Wuming and obtaining his storage bag, Wang Ping's spirit stones on hand have exceeded forty thousand, and he also has some magical artifacts obtained from killing others.

Most are middle-grade, and there are also six top-grade pieces.

The forging style of these magical artifacts differs slightly from that of the Xichui region; Wang Ping occasionally studied them and also gained quite a bit.

Wang Ping estimated that even just the magical artifacts he doesn't need, plus the storage bag and other miscellaneous items, would likely bring in another ten thousand spirit stones.

Unbeknownst to him, he had already become a wealthy tycoon among Qi Refining cultivators.

Taking this opportunity, he can confidently purchase some refining materials; the Azure Gleam Sword can also be upgraded, and if he can refine it again into a perfect magical artifact, all the better.

Additionally, he needs to purchase the spiritual medicines, spiritual herbs, and even spiritual materials required to hatch the Heaven‑Flying Soul‑Devouring Butterfly.

After the previous battle, Wang Ping felt that outside of the Heaven‑Sealing Seal and the Azure Sword Circle, he needed to add some more trump cards.

Consumable talismans are his first choice; the jade pendant that Tie Lanshan crushed that night is one of them.

Its defensive power rivals that of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it lacks their staying power; it is of the consumable type.

Wang Ping always likes to straighten out all matters one by one, then arrange them in order.

For example, this time going to the market, first, purchase pills that help break through bottlenecks.

Second, gather the materials needed to hatch the Heaven‑Flying Soul‑Devouring Butterfly.

Third, purchase talismans and refining materials.

Fourth, and most importantly, obtain the Azure Emperor Longevity Technique at auction.

Having thought these through, Wang Ping then rode the wind and flew toward the market.