Chapter 148: Foundation Establishment Mid-Stage

The conversation ended.

Qin Ming took out five whole Yu Hua Spirit Lotus plants, along with some spiritual energy Rice and Ju Shen Tea, and entrusted Gu Qingzhao to send all these items to Su Yuqing.

"What about me?" Hu Fuqi gazed at Qin Ming with hopeful eyes.

Qin Ming smiled slightly. "Naturally, Hu Fuqi's share won't be forgotten."

He then took out one hundred jin of spiritual energy Rice and two Dao Hua Spirit Fish, selling them to Hu Fuqi.

Hu Fuqi was powerful in both cultivation and combat; befriending him was no bad thing.

Now that Qin Ming had the Everlife Vine, he could live for a very long time, so his current principle was to cultivate good relations with others.

"Hehehe, Qin Daoist is truly considerate. If that's the case, I suppose you don't lack for Spirit Stones."

"Then let me exchange this with you—what do you think?" Hu Fuqi pulled out a yellow jade slip from his storage pouch and handed it to Qin Ming with a smile.

Qin Ming took the jade slip in confusion, sent his spiritual sense to probe it, and his expression brightened instantly.

The words "Floating Light Illusion Technique" appeared before Qin Ming's eyes.

It was a burst-empowerment secret art that could unleash an extremely rapid escape speed for a brief time.

When cultivated further, the burst speed could, depending on the cultivator's condition, increase by two to three times over the original base speed.

Given Qin Ming's current escape speed, if he mastered this secret art, even at Foundation Establishment early stage, he could achieve a speed rivaling Foundation Establishment late stage.

Of course, according to the technique's description, once activated, the magic power consumption would multiply drastically, and it could not be sustained for long—otherwise, depletion of magic power would be disastrous.

Yet for Qin Ming, whose magic power was extraordinarily abundant, this was still a powerful secret art.

After pondering, Qin Ming decided the item was well worth it; though he already had the Yin Yi Shuangfeng for transportation, who would ever turn down an extra life-saving trump card? "Deal, Hu Fuqi Daoist." He immediately completed the exchange.

Next,

Qin Ming entrusted Gu Qingzhao to sell some of the pills he had recently refined.

Most were second-rank low-grade pills for Foundation Establishment, with a few second-rank mid-grade pills.

Gu Qingzhao and Shopkeeper Liao were delighted; with this batch of second-rank pills, they could now command respect.

The development momentum of Jingxue Pavilion was growing stronger by the day.

"Gu Daoist, please keep an eye out for any news regarding third-rank spirit seeds or spirit plants."

"Of course. If I encounter any, I'll have Long Yi notify Qin Daoist immediately." Gu Qingzhao knew well that after Qin Ming advanced to second-rank high-grade spirit cultivator, he would naturally aim higher.

Yet third-rank spirit plants were exceedingly rare—even in Canghai Xiancheng, let alone the entire Wei Kingdom's Immortal Realm.

After the banquet ended,

Qin Ming conversed with Chen Qiaoling for a while on the way of spirit plant cultivation.

Then he rose and took his leave from everyone.

For he had important matters to attend to.

…

Outside Canghai Xiancheng, Qin Ming summoned the Yin Yi Shuangfeng and sped back toward Wangyue Island at a whirlwind pace.

On the return journey, no complications arose—no hero rescuing a beauty, no ambushes or bandits—Qin Ming simply returned to his stronghold.

He opened the Mist Illusion Realm and flew toward the island.

After landing, he released the Xuan Shui Crocodile; the creature had been begging to go out, but had been cooped up in the spirit beast pouch for days—likely it would never again desire to accompany him.

The Wu family members were busy working in the spirit fields; upon seeing Qin Ming return, they all looked up toward the sky.

Qin Ming greeted Wu Jiang, then returned to his cave dwelling on the main peak.

This trip had been quite fruitful; the most important gain—the Wanmu Mother Qi—had yielded nearly half a bottle, dozens of strands in total.

His life-essence spirit plant, the Everlife Vine, should now grow significantly.

Most crucially, he felt his abundant magic power was beginning to show signs of breakthrough.

It would surely happen today.

Yet he did not rush to feed the Everlife Vine; instead, he first boiled a pot of supreme-grade spiritual energy Rice and ate it, then drank a large bowl of Dao Hua Spirit Fish soup—since he was choosing to break through his realm, he would do so with the most stable approach.

Only then did Qin Ming approach the Everlife Vine, open the jade bottle in his hand, and pour nearly half its contents of Wanmu Mother Qi into the plant.

Whirrrr! Instantly, the Everlife Vine emitted a soft glow, and its vines surged with countless new branches. Silver runes began swirling and dancing around the entire spirit plant.

In Qin Ming's vision, irrigated by the Wanmu Mother Qi, his life-essence spirit plant, the Everlife Vine, shot upward by several zhang in height.

Spiritual aura overflowed from its vines; silver spirit runes, each one mysterious and luminous, lit up across its surface.

Immediately, a vast torrent of plant essence and temporal power flowed from the Everlife Vine, continuously surging into Qin Ming's body.

Qin Ming activated the "Ancient Wood Everlife Technique," circled his meridians, and cultivated the "Ancient Wood Yu Changqing Body."

Boom! A dim silver rune flew from his third eye, forming behind him into a silver phantom of the Everlife Vine.

Qin Ming himself seemed to transform into an ancient tree, standing firm through the river of time, resonating with his life-essence spirit plant.

Waves of profound insights continuously flooded his mind.

The silver phantom of the Everlife Vine behind him absorbed the temporal energy and grew taller, swiftly reaching eight or nine zhang in height.

In an instant,

The efficiency of Qin Ming's spiritual roots in converting ambient spiritual energy doubled.

Several hours later, the cultivation progress of the Ancient Wood Yu Changqing Body surged to halfway complete.

Whishhh! The emerald liquid magic power within Qin Ming's body gathered increasingly dense; his dantian expanded from a small pond into a vast lake of magic power.

At this moment, Qin Ming shifted his intent.

The 【High-Efficiency Purification】 term leaf vanished from his consciousness; a wondrous five-colored aura descended upon him, entered his body, and began purifying the emerald liquid magic power.

Time passed slowly.

After consuming five 【High-Efficiency Purification】 term leaves, the emerald liquid magic power within Qin Ming became utterly pure, free of even the faintest impurity.

As ambient spiritual energy continued to be refined into liquid magic power, the storage capacity of Qin Ming's dantian expanded to the absolute limit achievable at Foundation Establishment early stage according to the Ancient Wood Everlife Technique.

Boom! Under the immense spiritual pressure from the outside, Qin Ming felt, as if by fate, that he had broken through some barrier; the Zhihu within his body was instantly filled with pure, emerald-green liquid magic power.

At that moment, he had clearly broken through successfully, becoming a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator.

Qin Ming closed his eyes and circulated his art, continuing to stabilize his realm.

At this moment, he resembled an evergreen ancient tree; the fluctuations of magic power lingering around his entire body brimmed with vibrant vitality, and with the withering and flourishing of the seasons, a fresh, grass-and-wood-like fragrance drifted over.

After a long while.

Qin Ming opened his pitch-black eyes, an indescribable sense of ease and delight filling both body and mind.

"This time, using the Yu Changqing Ancient Wood Body to cultivate and break through, it felt like everything just fell into place naturally. The mid-Foundation Establishment magic power has also been purified, and I didn't even need to use any breakthrough pills."

"Although my own spiritual root is only average, with the blessing of the Yu Changqing Ancient Wood spiritual body, it's clear that all the previous bottlenecks and shackles are gone."

Not only that, after breaking through to mid-Foundation Establishment, Qin Ming's lifespan had once again increased by about thirty years.

Generally speaking, breaking through a minor realm doesn't grant that much additional lifespan.

It's just that what Qin Ming cultivates is the Ancient Wood Longevity Art, and he also has the blessing of the Longevity Vine.

Qin Ming extended his divine sense outward to take a look. One look was fine, but the next look made him jump.

His divine thought at this moment could already cover a range of about fifteen li in all directions, comparable to perfect Foundation Establishment! Afterwards, Qin Ming directed his divine thought into his qi sea dantian.

"When I was at early Foundation Establishment, the liquid magic power within my body already far surpassed cultivators of the same stage, comparable to mid-Foundation Establishment."

"And now, after breaking through to mid-Foundation Establishment, my magic power surged several times over, expanding into a Zhihu, and the purity of this liquid magic power is incomparable to cultivators of the same stage — not even inferior to those late-Foundation Establishment sect prodigies who practice top-tier arts."

"It's actually quite a bit stronger."

"Sigh~ nothing beats the satisfaction of crushing them with realm advantage!"

"I now have a domineering body-tempering art, plus such overpowered, pure magic power — easily crossing stages to crush those late-stage sect prodigies shouldn't be a problem, hehehe!"

"However, I now possess a five-hundred-year lifespan, so I should mainly keep a low profile. Unless absolutely necessary, I should still avoid making enemies."

"For me, accumulating more good karma and steadily farming is the true path to longevity."

"However, those people I've written down in my little notebook, well then—"

(End of this chapter)