Chapter 167: Visiting Again

Returning to Yuntai Peak, Su Fan settled down temporarily. However, Su Fan couldn't stay on Yuntai Peak forever, because the spirit vein of Yuntai Peak was only first-grade low-tier, and it was already almost at its limit to support two Foundation Establishment cultivators and a group of Qi Refining cultivators.

Since the Eighth Uncle, Su Xianhua, successfully established his foundation, Great Elder Su Shi'an had spent most of his time in the Flowing Cloud Market built by the five great families of Yu County.

He claimed to be guarding the market, but in reality, it was because the spirit vein of Yuntai Peak could no longer support three Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The Su Family producing Foundation Establishment cultivators one after another was also something the family hadn't expected. Su Xianhua took a Foundation Establishment Pill and succeeded, and a few years later, Su Fan broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage on his own.

The time was too short, so the Su Family didn't have the chance to upgrade the family's spirit vein.

Of course, the family had already started preparing to upgrade the family's spirit vein, at least to upgrade the first-grade low-tier spirit vein to a first-grade mid-tier level.

This might require thirty thousand low-tier spirit stones. If it were in the past, the family would absolutely not be able to take out these spirit stones. After all, before, to buy the Foundation Establishment Pill, the family had emptied out decades of income.

But after the Clan Leader came out of seclusion, he obtained the senior's cave dwelling and killed three Foundation Establishment cultivators. Not to mention that third-grade spirit plant, just the things on the three Foundation Establishment cultivators were worth more than ten thousand.

Plus selling some pill formulas and such, gathering thirty thousand spirit stones was still possible.

However, before this, Su Fan, the Clan Leader, the Great Elder, and the Eighth Uncle, Su Xianhua, held a secret meeting together.

The family's spirit vein upgrade plan was paused.

Because the hundred-year monster beast riot was less than ten years away.

The Su Family had four Foundation Establishment cultivators: two at the first level, one at the fourth level, and the Clan Leader at the eighth level.

Once a great war breaks out in the future, the Profound Heaven Sect will issue a conscription, and the Su Family will have to send at least half of its Foundation Establishment cultivators, or even more.

Although Su Fan and Su Xianhua had established their foundations, the artifacts on them were all first-grade. If a great war really broke out, these artifacts would certainly not be enough.

Therefore, the Clan Leader and the Great Elder's intention was for the family to take out a sum of spirit stones to buy a few second-grade artifacts for Su Fan and Su Xianhua.

At the same time, they would try their best to buy some powerful spirit talismans. Compared to artifacts, spirit talismans are only one-time use, but in battle, they can often play an unexpected role.

After this meeting, the family immediately entered a state of tense preparation. With less than ten years until the great war, not only Foundation Establishment cultivators but also Qi Refining cultivators would be needed in greater numbers.

When the great war comes, the family will send at least a dozen Qi Refining cultivators.

Qi Refining early and mid-stage cultivators have no effect in the great war at all; only late-stage ones, in coordination with arrays, can exert a certain power.

However, in every great war, the casualties of Qi Refining cultivators are extremely heavy.

The Su Family's cultivators are not numerous. Over these ten-plus years, they have only increased by seven or eight, and most are in the early stage of Qi Refining.

Once these dozen or so late-stage Qi Refining cultivators suffer casualties in the great war, the blow to the Su Family will still be very great.

To ensure these people live as long as possible, the Su Family naturally has to spend a certain amount of spirit stones to arm them.

This is a not-so-small number. If it weren't for taking down that cave dwelling and the three Foundation Establishment cultivators before, to be honest, the Su Family really wouldn't have been able to take out anything good.

In fact, it's not just the Su Family taking action; the entire Zheng State's cultivation world has started to become tense. The storm is coming. If one looks closely, one can see that in every market, artifacts, spirit talismans, and such things have started to slowly rise in price.

After Su Fan stayed on Yuntai Peak for half a month, he left again. After all, the spirit vein of Yuntai Peak was insufficient, and he couldn't rely on spirit stones for cultivation all the time; that consumption would be even greater.

So he handed some artifacts he had on hand to his eldest brother and left, returning to the Taihe Mountain Range.

With Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could fly with a sword. For the distance of eighty thousand *li*, he only spent half a month.

Returning to the Taihe Mountain Range, Su Fan rented a cave dwelling again.

This cave dwelling was still on Yuntai Peak, but it was at a spirit cave halfway up the mountain, and the spiritual energy was much better than the cave dwelling he had been in seclusion in before.

Of course, the price was also higher.

However, it was indeed much better than the previous cave dwelling. The alchemy room and artifact refining room were connected to the earth fire pulse, and there were also a few *mu* of second-grade spirit fields.

Returning to the Taihe Market, Su Fan immediately started collecting various spirit herbs and then began to improve his alchemy skills.

Unfortunately, the Fire Origin Apricot would not mature for another ten years. Otherwise, one Fire Origin Apricot could save Su Fan ten years of time.

For second-grade spirit pills, Su Fan first considered the Zengyuan Pill. This second-grade low-tier spirit pill could increase the mana cultivation of Foundation Establishment third-level cultivators.

Su Fan's alchemy skills were still at the first-grade high-tier, but he was not far from a breakthrough.

In terms of time, it had always been tight, but fortunately, Su Fan had now broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, and in the future great war, his chance of surviving on the battlefield would greatly increase.

What he needed most now was to improve his cultivation, to reach the third level of Foundation Establishment or even the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment within ten years.

Of course, Su Fan also knew that this was very difficult. According to his aptitude, it would be quite good if he could cultivate to the second level of Foundation Establishment in twenty years.

The Great Elder was a two-spirit-root cultivator who broke through to Foundation Establishment eighty years ago, and now he only had the cultivation of the fourth level of Foundation Establishment.

Of course, these decades might have been because the family's resources were insufficient, so his cultivation speed was not fast.

But Su Fan knew that cultivating step-by-step, even with cheats and resources, I'm afraid he could at most reach the second level of Foundation Establishment within ten years.

Unless he immediately took a third-grade spirit fruit like the Fire Origin Apricot.

"So, cultivating step-by-step won't work. Even taking pills, ten years is not enough."

Su Fan understood his body's situation very well. If he could reach the third level of Foundation Establishment, with his dual cultivation of body and law, plus some powerful artifacts, he could fight against a sixth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator, or even defeat them.

By that time, in the great war, perhaps he could not only survive but also obtain merit points from the Profound Heaven Sect.

Born as a family cultivator, Su Fan naturally also had to feed back into the family. Now that he had peacefully cultivated to the Foundation Establishment stage, it was time to repay the family.

Before, he had put his martial arts methods and spirit refining methods into the family's Scripture Pavilion.

The spirit refining method had a good effect on cultivators, being able to improve divine sense. The martial arts method was the previous Qi-Blood Martial Dao.

Human Immortal Martial Dao requires absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to temper the body; mortals without spirit roots cannot come into contact with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Only Qi-Blood Martial Dao does not require spirit roots; mortals can practice it.

And once cultivated to a certain realm, the soul is nourished by the Qi and blood, slowly increasing, and ultimately one can also touch the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Even if one cannot practice immortal cultivation like an immortal cultivator, by constantly tempering the physical body, one will have the opportunity to shed the mortal body in the future.

If mortals practice martial arts, once the number reaches a certain level, they will have a certain ability to protect themselves, and they will no longer be slaughtered by immortal cultivators, monster beasts, or Demonic cultivators.

At that time, the family's mortals can also continue to expand. Once the number of people comes up, the number of spirit roots born will also greatly increase.

This martial art alone was worth no less than those Purple Mansion techniques.

In fact, many large families have their own means to let their own bloodline mortals have a certain amount of martial power.

For example, the Black Armor Army of the Liu Family in Yu County is an army formed by mortals.

A hundred people can even fight against a first-grade mid-tier monster beast.

Of course, it is said that the price is not small.

Mortals exercising their bodies—this world has it, but here in Zheng State, there don't seem to be any profound methods. Perhaps it's because immortal cultivators are deliberately suppressing it. ===== CHAPTER 168 =====