Chapter 624: Thirty Years

Thirty years later.

The summit of Sanshan Peak.

In the pavilion above the Yanggui Chi.

Miao Hongyu's face remained as exquisite as a young girl's, showing little difference compared to before.

Her cultivation, however, had reached the peak of the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage!

At this moment, she was tossing some Spirit Food into the deep pool below, with Zhong Wuyou beside her.

This man was already decrepit, and crucially, he carried an aura of decay, looking as if he were nearing the end of his Foundation Establishment lifespan.

【Martial Arts: Iron Shirt Fist Third Layer (1000/1000)】

【Skills:... Drunken Beauty (100/100), Second-tier Jade Bone (200/1000), First-tier Talismans (100/100), First-tier Artifact Refining (100/100)】

With the aptitude of Three Spirit Roots, if one reaches Foundation Establishment at forty or fifty, it would take about twenty or thirty years to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Mid-stage.

Then came the shaping, engraving the Array, quenching...

Sanshan Peak, the waterfall at Hou Shan, inside a Water Curtain Cave Abode.

Ever since he encountered a bottleneck in his cultivation, he turned his focus to studying the art of Artifact Refining.

And whether it be alchemy or Artifact Refining, having a rare Fire Seed naturally makes the work twice as effective with half the effort.

"According to my observations, that Elder Fang is indeed a cultivator who practices diligently, and... his background is very clean and clear; he has no other designs on our Sanshan Association."

Mentioning Aaron, even Zhong Wuyou couldn't help but be speechless; originally, he and the Association Leader were a bit worried that the other party was some well-hidden spy.

"Association Leader, this grand Auction House has concluded successfully, the revenue is..."

Then, slowly attempting Artifact Refining, it was indeed smooth sailing, though the direction was a bit unconventional.

"Ever since I maxed out the eleventh layer of the Mingyu Art five years ago, I've hit a bottleneck. Looking at this, it will take several decades to break through... and Spirit Pills for breaking through the Foundation Establishment stage are extremely rare."

The Black Sun Demon Fire burned fiercely. Under its incineration, those precious spirit ores—which were originally incomparably hard and claimed to take days to melt even under earth fire—were rapidly turning into ore liquid.

For a Guest Elder, one naturally cannot issue orders at will; one can only entice them with benefits.

"That is true... Elder Fang seems to have a deficiency in his own cultivation method, yet he covets the Youth Preserving effect of the 'Mingyu Art' and refuses to switch methods, constantly inquiring about subsequent news of the 'Mingyu Art'..."

Then he began trying to refine artifacts with the Black Sun Demon Fire. At first, he didn't control it well and truly burned up quite a few raw materials.

Fortunately, he had long since cultivated the 'Demon Flame Art' to the maximum level and had also developed many transformation methods such as Fire Birds, Fire Rockets, and Fire Dragons.

Roar!

Miao Hongyu continued to ask.

He scanned his Attribute Panel, feeling slightly helpless:

【Name: Fang Yu (Aaron)】

The most precious spirit fire on him was naturally the Black Sun Demon Fire.

I fear only a Golden Core Sect could produce such a thing!

That Elder Fang comes from a background as a Loose Cultivator and only knows how to practice diligently, ignoring the aid of resources. I fear that in the end, it will all be for nothing!

In Elder Zhong's view, among the entire Sanshan Association, the only one with any hope of reaching the Golden Core stage was likely the Association Leader, Miao Hongyu.

Zhong Wuyou spoke up. Thirty years of time, even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, is not short; it is enough to see a person clearly.

He even rarely performed Guest Elder missions, basically never leaving his Cave Abode, let alone the marketplace.

Controlling temperature and such, after trying a few more times, he gained experience.

After all, using Black Sun Demon Fire to refine artifacts is a luxury that even Nascent Soul old monsters wouldn't think of!

"The Association Leader has heard of this cultivation method too?" Zhong Wuyou asked curiously.

【Age: 358】

At this time, Miao Hongyu said: "Since it can be used, then use it more. Even a diligent cultivator has things they desire, right?"

Finally, a pitch-black long blade Magic Tool was completed.

【Spells:... Soul Searching Technique (100/100)】

If one cannot seize the opportunity, or gets stuck by a bottleneck for even a little while, then there is no hope of reaching the Golden Core stage in this lifetime!

Later, he gained experience. Using this Black Sun Demon Fire to refine defensive or flight Magic Tools was only average, but if he refined evil Demonic Dao Magic Tools like the 'Yin Fire Bead', 'Broken Blood Blade', or 'Black Blood Slash', it was truly incredibly useful.

"The friction with the subsidiary forces of the Qingding Sect... I have already dispatched an Elder to handle it..."

If this scene were seen by an outsider, their eyes would likely pop out.

Zhong Wuyou immediately shut his mouth.

Then spend another forty or fifty years breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

"Foundation Establishment Initial Stage peak... seems to have hit a bottleneck, sigh..."

Zhong Wuyou reported matters one by one.

Even when Zhong Wuyou intentionally leaked some secrets several times, the man couldn't be bothered to pay attention, looking completely uninterested.

Aaron sat cross-legged, staring at the pieces of precious ore in front of him, then his hands quickly formed seals, and a layer of pitch-black flame appeared: "Go!"

"That is truly a long time ago... I have indeed seen a 'Mingyu Art' cultivation method auction once." Miao Hongyu sighed: "It was right here in Dongmen Valley... Looking at it this way, this Elder Fang should have some connection to the person who bought the method back then; perhaps a descendant, perhaps a master and disciple, or perhaps even an enemy..."

Zhong Wuyou sighed.

Materials scorched by the Black Sun Demon Fire often carried some changes in their properties, which made him suffer quite a few losses at the beginning.

Aaron considered himself a novice in immortal cultivation. Letting him learn from others' experience was fine, but to break through to Second-tier Artifact Refining and Talismans on his own... it wasn't impossible, but he would have to spend several hundred years slowly studying the path first.

"As I am now, I should be able to attempt refining High-grade Magical Tools, but unfortunately, I don't have a Second-tier Artifact Refining Inheritance... let alone Artifact Refining, after Foundation Establishment, I can master First-tier Qi Refining spells, and I have already maxed out First-tier Talismans, but I am troubled by the lack of a Second-tier Talisman Master inheritance..."

But even Spirit Pills for the Qi Refining stage are incomparably precious; Spirit Pills to assist a Foundation Establishment cultivator in breaking through a bottleneck?

Then, it takes a vast amount of time to cultivate to the 'False Core' realm of the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, where one can attempt to break through to the Golden Core Stage.

However, to Aaron, these were all minor matters.

Aaron stroked the long blade, which was pitch-black with traces of blood-red lines, feeling somewhat helpless.

"Mingyu Art?" Miao Hongyu's expression froze.

The incident at Dongmen Valley was an eternal pain in the heart of the Chief, and he did not want to ask for trouble.

"What about cultivation level?"

【Cultivation Method: Mingyu Art, 11th Layer (1000/1000)】

【Realm: Foundation Establishment Initial Stage】

【Talent: Immortality】

"Uh..."

Calculating it this way, if one only cultivates on a Spirit Vein and does not encounter bottlenecks, and if everything goes smoothly, a person with Three Spirit Roots might have a chance at Golden Core after one hundred and fifty or sixty years of bitter cultivation, but there would only be one chance!

Zhong Wuyou smiled.

"This blade... can be considered a masterpiece among Mid-grade Magical Tools; it comes with abilities such as burning and fire poison, and has a miraculous effect on breaking a cultivator's protective barrier..."

The difficulty of immortal cultivation can be seen from this!

At this time, one would need Spirit Pills to increase Dharma Power or even assist in breaking through bottlenecks.

Aaron's hands constantly changed hand seals, fusing those streams of molten iron and drawing out threads to outline the shape of a long blade Magic Tool.

Miao Hongyu withdrew the palm she had been using to feed it and suddenly asked about someone: "What about that Guest Elder?"

But after thirty years of observation, time revealed the person's heart, and it was discovered that the other party was truly only focused on bitter cultivation and had no interest in other matters.

"Second-tier inheritances are hard to come by... even for Foundation Establishment spells, I only managed to exchange for a 'Soul Searching Technique' while communicating with a few fellow Taoists... because my Divine Sense is strong, it was quite easy to cultivate."

At this moment, Aaron felt that he had fallen into a bottleneck in every aspect.

(End of this chapter)