Chapter 109

He Pingsheng’s enhanced items weren’t just these.

Besides the items he obtained from Yu De, he also enhanced one Zhuyu Fruit, which became two supreme-grade Zhuyu Fruits after enhancement.

In truth, the Zhuyu Fruit doesn’t improve much after enhancement; the benefit is simply that one becomes two.

The thirteen leaves of Wudao Tea became twenty-six supreme-grade leaves after enhancement.

Wudao Tea is rarely used under normal circumstances.

Its main function is to assist cultivators in attaining enlightenment.

But enlightenment is still far too early for He Pingsheng.

He’s merely a Qi Refining disciple—what enlightenment could he possibly attain?

Enlightenment is something one considers only when reaching the late Core Formation stage, on the verge of Nascent Soul.

So these leaves are useless for now; keep them, and deal with them after reaching Core Formation.

The rest of the items—[Poison Pills], [Poison Sacs], [Poison Paste], and others—were all enhanced one by one.

There was also one particularly special item: a Snow Peng egg.

After he placed it in the Treasure Basin for enhancement, one became two, and golden runes appeared faintly on the original gray-white shell.

Though the runes were faint and the gold subtle, they were undeniably there.

This meant both the shell and the life within had been enhanced by He Pingsheng.

But he didn’t know what these two little things would become once they hatched.

Would they still be Snow PENGs?

Perhaps they would—but even if so, their bloodline would surely be elevated.

He Pingsheng’s life was extremely simple: daily tasks consisted of sitting in meditation, cultivating, and sleeping.

After his Fire dantian reached Qi Refining eighth layer, he didn’t continue advancing his cultivation base; instead, he turned to cultivate the remaining four dantians—Metal, Wood, Water, and Earth.

Once any one dantian broke through, the others faced no more bottlenecks during their breakthroughs, and cultivation became extremely fast.

He only needed to continuously accumulate energy.

Each dantian took roughly three months to fill.

After a year or two, He Pingsheng’s five dantians all reached eighth layer.

Yet this cultivation speed was still unusually fast compared to his natural talent and elemental affinity.

To avoid drawing attention, He Pingsheng turned to cultivate the [Nine Poison Golden Body] and [Xuanmen Stillness True Scripture].

He cultivated both body and spirit simultaneously.

In the blink of an eye, another year passed.

It had been exactly three years since the secret realm closed.

……

“Actually, cultivation speed has no fixed standard!”

“Slower is better!”

Under a gnarled pine tree on a peak of Xiuzhu Peak, amid the blazing summer heat, Grandmaster Yu Xuan chuckled as he imparted his experience to the juniors.

“Take He Pingsheng as an example—he’s only twenty-two this year and already at eighth layer. Do you think that’s fast or slow?”

Everyone burst into laughter.

Third Senior Sister Cheng Siyu said: “It’s slow—I reached eighth layer at sixteen!”

“I reached it at fourteen!”

“I’m dull—I only made it at twenty-one!”

The others chimed in one after another.

Yu Xuan shook his head. “No, no…”

“Though he’s only at Qi Refining eighth layer now, if he breaks through later, he might even reach Foundation Establishment before thirty!”

“How many people in this world reach Foundation Establishment before thirty?”

At this, everyone fell silent.

Over the years, only one person on Xiuzhu Peak had achieved Foundation Establishment.

That was Senior Brother Hou Muxian.

Hou Muxian only reached Foundation Establishment thanks to the [Water Elemental Spirit Apricot] He Pingsheng brought back.

The key point is, Hou Muxian is already over forty.

“Jiujiao… jiujiao…”

As they spoke, two white lights suddenly shot out from the clouds far across the mountains.

Less than three breaths later, two massive white birds landed beside He Pingsheng.

The two birds circled him affectionately, making the surrounding senior brothers and sisters drool with envy.

They were two Snow PENGs, hatched from the eggs He Pingsheng had enhanced.

Unlike ordinary Snow PENGs, these two had golden crowns on their heads.

Everyone assumed they had mutated; only He Pingsheng knew it was the Treasure Basin’s doing.

“Old Nine sure has it easy!” said Third Senior Sister Cheng Siyu. “He can just ride the Snow PENGs out—no need for paper cranes anymore?”

“Old Nine, can these things fly all the way to Mount Matou?”

Cheng Siyu looked at He Pingsheng.

He Pingsheng shook his head. “I don’t know—Master forbids me from leaving Xiuzhu Peak.”

“If they grow a bit more over the next two years, flying to Mount Matou shouldn’t be a problem.”

Snow PENGs are naturally strong flyers, let alone these enhanced ones?

Ordinary Snow PENGs don’t cultivate—they merely devour various spiritual insects in nature to raise their power, so their growth is limited.

Most Snow PENGs max out at Qi Refining fifth or sixth layer.

But He Pingsheng noticed his two Snow PENGs were different.

They could actually devour celestial spiritual energy from the heavens.

Starting this year, He Pingsheng began feeding them supreme-grade Qi-Condensing Pills, crushing them into small pieces and placing them in their mouths—and these two were able to digest them.

Now, both had reached Qi Refining second layer.

With continued cultivation, they held great potential.

“Senior Sister Cheng, aren’t you about to reach Foundation Establishment?” He Pingsheng’s question shifted focus back to Cheng Siyu.

Of the two [Water Elemental Spirit Apricots], one went to Hou Muxian; the other went to Cheng Siyu.

Cheng Siyu had hit a bottleneck at eleventh layer and couldn’t break through to twelfth—after swallowing the apricot, she quickly reached twelfth layer.

By now, she should be preparing for Foundation Establishment.

“Hmm…” Cheng Siyu nodded confidently. “Soon—I’ll give it a try.”

“I’ve already prepared the Foundation Establishment Pill—even if it’s low-grade.”

“I just don’t know if I can make it across.”

Qi Refining twelfth-layer disciples aren’t required to use Foundation Establishment Pills to break through.

The pill is merely an external aid.

Some prodigies can achieve Foundation Establishment solely through breath control and absorbing spiritual energy from nature.

But for ninety-nine percent of cultivators, Foundation Establishment remains a barrier, a bottleneck.

Foundation Establishment Pills can overcome this bottleneck, but they’re special—they’re not like [Water Elemental Spirit Apricots], which guarantee a level-up.

They only grant a certain probability of success.

According to centuries of cultivation records, low-grade Foundation Establishment Pills have only a thirty percent success rate.

Mid-grade: fifty percent!

High-grade: eighty percent!

If you have supreme-grade items, success is virtually guaranteed.

“Senior Brother He! Senior Brother He, are you here?” A male outer-disciple in outer-disciple robes ran over, anxious.

Everyone turned to look.

He Pingsheng said: “I’m He Pingsheng. Are you looking for me?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” The outer-disciple stared nervously at He Pingsheng. “Master Yu Ning ordered you to come quickly—there’s a senior from Tianfu Mountain here, and they specifically requested to meet you!”

Tianfu Mountain?

Senior?