Chapter 59: Bottleneck

"Huff..."

He Pingsheng took a deep breath, silently calculating in his heart when he could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage so he could slaughter that dog Yude.

However, it should still be quite far away.

"Wang Shixiong Xu!" He Pingsheng looked at Xu Kunlun and asked: "How much do you know about this mystic realm?"

"Is there a map?"

"Yes!" Xu Kunlun said: "There is definitely a map, but a map is useless inside this mystic realm; the map is just the distribution of the terrain inside, and every thirty years, the locations of the heaven-defying treasures are different!"

He Pingsheng asked again: "Are there any heaven-defying treasures inside?"

"There are many!" Xu Kunlun said: "The heaven-defying treasures inside can be said to be countless!"

"Think about it, Junior Brother, do these various spiritual roots and herbs need spiritual energy to propagate?"

He Pingsheng nodded.

Xu Kunlun said: "This mystic realm originally had several spiritual veins, and the outside is shrouded by a huge array, so the spiritual energy inside cannot escape and becomes increasingly dense!"

"Thus, a mystic realm was formed here!"

"Thirty years of accumulation, can you imagine how many spiritual plants are inside?"

"Of course, most are still first-tier spiritual herbs!"

"That is, the various materials for refining elixirs like 【Clear Spirit Pill】, 【Qi Gathering Pill】, 【Golden Bone Pill】, 【Pei Yuan Pill】, etc.!"

"These things are the most!"

"Next are second-tier materials!"

"In this mystic realm, there are also various materials for refining second-tier elixirs like 【Qi Gathering Pill】, 【Foundation Establishment Pill】, 【Tongming Pill】!"

"However, there are much fewer materials for second-tier elixirs than for first-tier elixirs!"

"Besides these, occasionally one can see some third-tier spiritual roots; those things are valuable!"

Xu Kunlun spoke excitedly, saliva flying, and when his mouth was dry, he hurriedly picked up the spirit tea and took a sip.

Zhao Linger beside him added: "Besides these, there is another relatively heaven-defying heaven-defying treasure, which is the 【Water Origin Spirit Apricot】..."

"It is said that someone found the 【Water Origin Spirit Apricot】 in the Heavenly Pool inside the mystic realm."

"Correct, correct, correct!" Xu Kunlun said: "The Water Origin Spirit Apricot is the real treasure!"

He Pingsheng was puzzled: "May I ask Wang Shixiong and Senior Sister, what is this Water Origin Spirit Apricot?"

Zhao Linger said: "The Water Origin Spirit Apricot is the ceiling of first-tier heaven-defying treasures; swallowing one allows a Qi Condensation cultivator to break through a layer without any obstruction!"

"I heard that when the mystic realm opened last time, someone fought fiercely to snatch a Water Origin Spirit Apricot, and six or seven eleventh-layer Qi Condensation cultivators died!"

He Pingsheng said: "That's not necessary... this thing is precious, but can it be more precious than life?"

"At worst, don't take it; there's no need to fight for it?"

"Cultivation is slow, but if two years don't work, can't you break through a layer in three or five years?"

"Er..." Zhao Linger touched her forehead.

Tian Xiaoqing smiled.

He Pingsheng said: "What are you laughing at?"

"Hehe..." Xu Kunlun said: "Junior Brother... you don't know!"

"For us cultivators in the early, middle, and late stages of Qi Condensation, it's just as you said; there's no need to worry during cultivation, as long as the spiritual energy is sufficient, or as long as there are elixirs, breaking through is just a matter of time!"

"Faster ones, break through a layer in one year!"

"Slower ones, it might take two or three years to break through a layer!"

"Of course, I'm talking about the situation where elixirs are sufficient!"

"However, Junior Brother!" Xu Kunlun looked at He Pingsheng with a smile: "You might not know that elixirs are not omnipotent!"

"Because when reaching the perfection stage of Qi Condensation, all cultivators, without exception, will encounter the first bottleneck in their cultivation!"

He Pingsheng echoed: "Bottleneck?"

"Correct!" Xu Kunlun continued: "Otherwise, if cultivation were so easy, wouldn't Foundation Establishment cultivators be everywhere? But the fact is exactly the opposite; the number of cultivators who can reach the Foundation Establishment stage is very small!"

"It's because of this Qi Condensation bottleneck!"

"Of course, I haven't stepped into the tenth layer of Qi Condensation yet, so I don't understand bottlenecks!"

"But I heard from senior brothers that once you reach the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, this bottleneck will come sooner or later; those with good talent encounter it later, coming at the twelfth layer!"

"Those with weak talent will encounter the bottleneck at the tenth layer of Qi Condensation!"

"And most will encounter the bottleneck at the eleventh layer of Qi Condensation!"

"Old brother..." Xu Kunlun looked at He Pingsheng with a smile: "Like your situation, with five spiritual roots... forgive me for speaking bluntly, I'm afraid you will encounter a bottleneck at the tenth layer!"

He Pingsheng didn't realize the seriousness of the matter at this moment, just asked curiously: "Bottleneck, is it very difficult to break through?"

"No!" Xu Kunlun shook his head: "Bottleneck, it's not that it's difficult to break through, it's that it's impossible to break through!"

"To break through a bottleneck, there are only two ways!"

"First, you find a heaven-defying object like the 【Water Origin Spirit Apricot】, swallow it in one gulp, and you can break through a layer of bottleneck!"

"Second, you have a great opportunity, suddenly realizing some great truth between heaven and earth, and you can also break through!"

"Anyway, it's very difficult; for most people in this world, a bottleneck is the end of cultivation!"

"And old brother..." Xu Kunlun looked at He Pingsheng with a smile: "Even if you break through one layer of bottleneck, it's useless!"

"If you encounter a bottleneck at the tenth layer, then the subsequent breakthroughs at the eleventh and twelfth layers will also be bottlenecks!"

Once these words were spoken, He Pingsheng fell silent.

This means that swallowing elixirs will be useless later?

Then how long will it take for me to reach the Foundation Establishment stage with my hard cultivation?

If I can't reach the Foundation Establishment stage, how can I take revenge?

The key is, what if there are three bottlenecks?

"Fine, stop scaring him!" Zhao Linger rolled her eyes at Xu Kunlun: "We don't know what the situation will be in the future, and it's not like people with five spiritual roots will necessarily encounter three bottlenecks!"

"Sometimes, those with single spiritual roots also have three bottlenecks, don't they?"

"This cannot be generalized!" Zhao Linger stood up and said: "Fine, let's not talk about this; it's better to cultivate well in the present; in the future, soldiers will come to block, water will come to cover, no need to worry about the future!"

"Correct!" Tian Xiaoqing said: "No need to worry about the future!"

He Pingsheng thought it was right.

He was only at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation now; who knows how long it would take to reach the tenth layer?

Besides, he was a man with a Treasure Basin; what was there to fear about bottlenecks?

"Wang Shixiong Yu!" He Pingsheng stood up and cupped his hands toward Xu Kunlun: "Junior Brother will go back to cultivate first; if I can't break through to the seventh layer, everything else is just talk!"

"That's true!" Xu Kunlun said: "You go first... by the way, I have spirit tea here, take it to drink... I'll give you two jin!"

"This is good stuff; drink more usually, it has a calming effect!"

As he spoke, he gave He Pingsheng a large bag of spirit tea. ===== CHAPTER 60 =====