Chapter 155: Nine Days

After the two Jin Dan cultivators left,

Jiang Ding ran in one breath to the center of the array at the mountain peak, which was also the place with the strongest defensive array.

"One mid-stage Foundation Establishment, one peak Foundation Establishment!"

"I'm dead."

He made up his mind that if he didn't reach Foundation Establishment, it would be best not to step out of the door even once.

Although the Jin Dan cultivators had given their guarantee, many old cultivators whose lifespans were about to end feared nothing; common sense, sect precepts, and families could not influence them in the slightest.

He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and cultivated.

In an instant, through the flying sword, he sensed the dense metal-attributed spiritual energy particles around him, which, with every breath, flowed bit by bit into his meridians.

The cultivation speed was exactly the same as cultivating at the Tier 3 spiritual vein.

The limit of absorption was set right there.

"Reaching the peak of the Primordial Realm before the college entrance exam is beyond doubt."

After a long time, Jiang Ding opened his eyes and looked not far away.

"Paying respects to the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor!"

Liu Sanqi led twelve young girls, whose appearances were either naive, plump, or charming, to bow respectfully.

The twelve girls were divided into the three handmaidens of Spring, whose appearances were mostly quite cute, and they were generally shorter in stature.

The three handmaidens of Summer were lively and cheerful.

The three handmaidens of Autumn were charming and mature, with astonishing curves.

The three handmaidens of Winter were cold as ice.

These twelve people all had Tier 3 spiritual root aptitude and decent comprehension; together, they could form the 'Four Seasons Autumn Killing Array.' Although they were all in the Qi Condensation stage, they could pose a significant threat to peak Qi Condensation cultivators.

Furthermore, they had all mastered some skills of spiritual planters.

Do not think of them merely as handmaidens; in reality, they were all legitimate daughters from small families, and in terms of status, they far exceeded the royalty and nobility of the mortal world.

"Rise."

Jiang Ding did not want to reveal anything different in this place where he could not fully control everything, so he said softly: "Introduce Golden Spirit Mountain."

"Yes, Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor!"

Liu Sanqi stood up and said respectfully: "On Golden Spirit Mountain, there are ten mu of Tier 2 peak-grade spiritual fields and one hundred mu of Tier 2 mid-grade spiritual fields, which are already planted with various Tier 2 spiritual medicines. Every year, a batch will ripen and a batch will be replanted. The three handmaidens of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter are all apprentices of spiritual planters and can handle this matter."

"Selling the spiritual medicine to the sect every year can yield over 1,200 low-grade spirit stones."

Jiang Ding took a light breath.

That was over 120,000 spirit coins; many Foundation Establishment cultivators would struggle to earn even half of that in a year of hard work.

"The mountain is covered with spiritual trees, totaling sixty-seven Tier 2 spiritual trees and three hundred seventy-two Tier 1 spiritual trees, mostly metal-attributed. They cannot be cut down; the produce, such as leaves that can be used as spiritual materials and edible spiritual fruits, belongs to the mountain master."

"Every year, this can yield over 500 spirit stones."

"There is one spiritual spring, containing thousands of spiritual fish of various colors. A portion can be caught every year, yielding over 200 spirit stones."

"In total, Golden Spirit Mountain can yield over 1,900 spirit stones annually."

1,900 spirit stones!

Saving for seven or eight years without doing anything, most Foundation Establishment cultivators' entire net worth wouldn't compare to this. No wonder that woman in the golden palace dress wanted to kill him.

It was understandable, truly understandable.

"What is the price of a Foundation Establishment Pill?"

Jiang Ding suddenly asked.

"Ten thousand sect contribution points."

Liu Sanqi explained: "Theoretically, one spirit stone can be exchanged for one contribution point, but contribution points can be exchanged for spirit stones, while spirit stones cannot be exchanged for contribution points. Contribution points cannot be traded; they can only be obtained by making contributions to the sect."

"Since the Nine Heavens ruins were discovered by the Blood Slaughter Hall to have another entrance several decades ago, the key main ingredient for the Foundation Establishment Pill, Golden Jade Ganoderma, obtained from within has become increasingly scarce, and the exchange for Foundation Establishment Pills has become increasingly difficult, requiring more and more contribution points."

"The Wood Pulse alchemists open the furnace once every three years; sometimes even the seven great true disciples cannot obtain a single Foundation Establishment Pill, let alone others. This is also why Li Daoyuan of the Thunder Pulse, at the peak of Qi Condensation, went to guard the Yue Kingdom and then did something foolish..."

Liu Sanqi stopped at the right point.

As someone personally appointed by the Jin Dan cultivators, although his cultivation was only late-stage Qi Condensation, his status seemed incomparable to ordinary late-stage Qi Condensation cultivators.

"Tell me about these Nine Heavens ruins."

Jiang Ding had heard this name many times; it seemed to be something known to everyone in the Seven Feathers Sect.

"This place was found by the ancestor, True Person Seven Feathers, after experiencing a great immortal fate. It is rumored to be ruins formed by a heavenly immortal palace falling into a spatial rift. Within it are many rare medicinal herbs that have been extinct since ancient times, such as Golden Jade Ganoderma, and there are even thousand-year spiritual herbs and Tier 3 spiritual mines that Jin Dan ancestors crave."

"There are special restrictions within it; those at the Foundation Establishment stage and above cannot enter. The ancestor relied on this to avoid many crises back then and finally rose to prominence."

Liu Sanqi asked:

"Has the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor ever heard of the Void Void Crystal Copper left by the mid-revival ancestor a thousand years ago?"

"I have heard of it."

Jiang Ding raised his head and looked at him.

"This item was precisely obtained by the mid-revival ancestor from the Nine Heavens ruins back then. He managed to escape alive under the pursuit of multiple Foundation Establishment puppets and seized much Void Void Crystal Copper, thereby being valued by the Jin Dan ancestor at the time for his Tier 3 spiritual root and taken as a disciple."

"The mid-revival ancestor rose to prominence because of this, and thus left behind a piece as a memorial. It is unexpected that his descendants would steal and dig up his tomb; we disciples have nothing to say."

Liu Sanqi sighed.

"Why would the sect fall into a disadvantage in the Nine Heavens ruins? Is it because the disciples are inferior to others or what?"

Jiang Ding asked again.

"That is precisely the case."

Liu Sanqi smiled bitterly: "The Blood Slaughter Hall is rumored to be a branch of a Nascent Soul-level demonic sect from far away; their spells, techniques, and magic treasures are all mysterious and extremely strange."

"The inherited legitimate sons that appear every few generations among their three great Nascent Soul families—Blood Transforming Son, Poison Zombie Son, and Hundred Ghosts Son—are collectively known as the Blood Slaughter Three Sons. These three sons can sweep through the sect's younger generation; even if the sect's seven great true disciples join forces, they are no match."

"We can only rely on luck and use numbers to pile up, which is the only way we can collect some Foundation Establishment main ingredients every three years, but even that is becoming less and less."

"If this continues, and we cannot find a new source for Foundation Establishment Pills, I fear the number of Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect will become fewer and fewer."

"In a few days, it will happen to be the return of the disciples from the Nine Heavens ruins trial. Does the Little Martial Uncle-Ancestor want to go and watch?"

Liu Sanqi asked.

"No need."

Jiang Ding refused decisively.

He would not go out until he reached Foundation Establishment.

Even though Void Void Crystal Copper could add a stealth coating to the Sky-Sky fighter jet, thereby avoiding the spiritual sense scanning of Jin Dan cultivators and greatly enhancing his currently lacking sense of security.

Seeing that he had nothing else to order, Liu Sanqi bowed and led the people away to work in the spiritual fields on and off the mountain.

Jiang Ding took out the golden pendant gifted by the white-browed old cultivator and input his Primordial true qi.

A golden light flashed within it, revealing a golden lotus flower with sharp edges.

This item was the inheritance treasure of the Seven Feathers Sect's Metal Pulse, the carrier of the "Pure Yang Golden Lotus Book" inheritance, and also the control hub for the Tier 2 peak-grade Golden Spirit Mountain array.

It was also requested from the hands of the beautiful woman in the golden palace dress.

It had been specially refined by the white-browed old Daoist, so even a Primordial martial artist could control it a little, though it was relatively rigid.

As true qi surged into it, without needing to refine it, a piece of information was transmitted. First was the control of the array, which could simply set permissions such as action areas for various authorities, opening or closing arrays in certain areas, etc.

"The mountain peak, no one is allowed to step in without permission."

Jiang Ding set this condition without hesitation; the waist tokens of Liu Sanqi and the others would also receive relevant information.

If they deliberately stepped in and triggered the array to die, they could not blame anyone else.

Besides this, there was also a Tier 2 optical spiritual sense concealment array, which should have been left by the previous Metal Pulse master, Chu Fengxi; the vast majority of cultivators needed a considerable degree of privacy.

Jiang Ding could not judge whether these arrays had any monitoring backdoors; his array knowledge was shallow, and his realm was too low to understand this kind of Tier 2 array.

He had other methods.

His soul touched the rusty sword tip slightly.

It showed normal, he could return at any time, and there were no relevant reminders of being covered up.

Since arriving in this world, the rusty sword tip had never transported him while he was in a place where others could see him or where his spiritual sense could be scanned.

Of course, even if someone was there, he could force a crossing; this did not affect it.

"Not bad, for now, the Jin Dan cultivators of the Seven Feathers Sect have not shown any malice."

Jiang Ding breathed a sigh of relief.

After dealing with the hidden dangers, he flipped through the "Pure Yang Golden Lotus Book" in the inheritance for a while.

This was a metal-attributed inheritance, roughly equivalent to the level of 'Dharma', and only Jin Dan direct descendants were qualified to study it.

The difficulty was extremely high; for others, even people with excellent aptitude like Li Qingyun, it was extremely difficult, and they couldn't even enter the door without a year or so.

For him, a high school senior in the Immortal Sect who had received Immortal Sect education and whose grades were sufficient to get into a very good Dao cultivation department, he should be able to understand and cultivate it in two or three weeks.

However, he naturally wouldn't leave the Immortal Sect's supreme classics unpracticed to learn this; increasing his knowledge was enough.

Of course, out of respect for intellectual property rights, as long as the Seven Feathers Sect did not fail him, he would not violate the Seven Feathers Sect's sect rules and leak its inheritance, unless it was something he had seized or captured himself.

After setting up his Tier 1 optical spiritual sense concealment array, Jiang Ding's figure disappeared.

Although he had asked for leave from school in advance for these few days, the time was a bit long.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 156 =====