Chapter 59: Bottleneck

“Huh…”

He Pingsheng took a deep breath and silently calculated when he could break through Foundation Establishment to kill that bastard Yu De.

But it should still be far off.

“Xu Shixiong!” He Pingsheng asked Xu Kunlun: “How much do you know about this secret realm?”

“Do you have a map?”

“Of course!” Xu Kunlun said: “There’s definitely a map, but the map is useless inside the secret realm—it only shows terrain distribution, and every thirty years, the locations of the heavenly treasures shift!”

He Pingsheng asked again: “What heavenly treasures are inside?”

“There are countless of them!” Xu Kunlun said: “The heavenly treasures inside are innumerable!”

“Think about it, younger brother—don’t all these spirit roots and spirit herbs require spiritual energy to grow?”

He Pingsheng nodded.

Xu Kunlun said: “This secret realm originally had several spirit veins, and it’s entirely enclosed by a massive array, so the spiritual energy can’t escape—it’s become increasingly dense!”

“Thus, this secret realm formed.”

“After thirty years of accumulation, how many spirit plants do you think are inside?”

“Of course, the most common are still grade-one spirit herbs.”

“Those are the ingredients used to brew elixirs like [Clear Spirit Pill], [Qi Gathering Pill], [Golden Bone Pill], and [Nourishing Primordial Pill].”

“These are the most abundant.”

“Next are grade-two materials.”

“Inside this secret realm, there are also ingredients for brewing grade-two elixirs like [Spirit Gathering Pill], [Foundation Establishment Pill], and [Clear Clarity Pill].”

“But grade-two elixir ingredients are far fewer than grade-one ones.”

“Besides these, you occasionally find grade-three spirit roots—those are valuable!”

As Xu Kunlun grew excited, spittle flew everywhere; when his throat dried up, he quickly drank a sip of spirit tea.

Zhao Linger added: “Besides these, there’s another extraordinary heavenly treasure—the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot].”

“Someone once found the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] in the Heavenly Pool within the secret realm.”

“Yes, yes!” Xu Kunlun said: “The [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] is the real treasure!”

He Pingsheng looked puzzled: “May I ask, Shixiong and Shijie, what exactly is the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot]?”

Zhao Linger said: “The [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] is the pinnacle of grade-one heavenly treasures—swallowing one allows a Qi Refining cultivator to break through a level without any obstruction.”

“They say that during the last opening of the secret realm, someone fought over a single [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] and six or seven Qi Refining level-eleven cultivators died.”

He Pingsheng said: “It’s not that serious… Even if it’s precious, how could it be more precious than life?”

“Just don’t take it—why fight over it?”

“Cultivation may be slow, but if two years aren’t enough, can’t three or five years break one level?”

Zhao Linger rubbed her forehead.

Tian Xiaoqing smiled.

He Pingsheng asked: “Why are you laughing?”

“Hehe…” Xu Kunlun said: “Younger brother, you don’t understand.”

“For Qi Refining cultivators in the early, middle, and late stages, as you said, cultivation is straightforward—as long as you have enough spiritual energy or elixirs, breaking through is just a matter of time!”

“The fast ones break a level every year!”

“The slow ones take two or three years per level!”

“Of course, I’m assuming you have unlimited elixirs.”

“But younger brother,” Xu Kunlun smiled at He Pingsheng, “you may not know—elixirs aren’t all-powerful!”

“Because at the peak of Qi Refining, every cultivator without exception hits their first cultivation bottleneck!”

He Pingsheng echoed: “Bottleneck?”

“Exactly!” Xu Kunlun continued: “If cultivation were this easy, wouldn’t Foundation Establishment cultivators be everywhere? But the truth is the opposite—very few reach Foundation Establishment!”

“Precisely because of this Qi Refining bottleneck!”

“Of course, I haven’t reached Qi Refining level ten yet—I don’t understand the bottleneck.”

“But my senior brothers say that once you pass Qi Refining level ten, the bottleneck will inevitably come—those with better talent encounter it later, often at level twelve.”

“Those with weaker talent hit it at level ten.”

“Most hit it at level eleven.”

“Younger brother…” Xu Kunlun grinned at He Pingsheng: “With your five-element spirit root… forgive me for saying it bluntly—you’ll likely hit the bottleneck at level ten!”

He Pingsheng still didn’t grasp the gravity, only curious: “Is the bottleneck just hard to break through?”

“No!” Xu Kunlun shook his head: “The bottleneck isn’t hard to break—it’s impossible to break!”

“There are only two ways to overcome it!”

“First, find an extraordinary item like the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot], swallow it whole, and break through one level.”

“Second, you gain a great fortune and suddenly comprehend some grand truth of heaven and earth—then you can break the bottleneck.”

“In short, it’s extremely difficult—for most people in this world, the bottleneck is insurmountable, the end of cultivation.”

“And younger brother, in your case, even breaking one bottleneck won’t help.”

“If your first bottleneck is at level ten, then breaking level eleven and twelve will also be bottlenecks!”

At these words, He Pingsheng fell silent.

So eating pills was useless?

Then how long will it take me to reach Foundation Establishment?

If I never reach Foundation Establishment, how can I avenge myself?

What if there are three bottlenecks?

“Enough, don’t scare him!” Zhao Linger shot Xu Kunlun a look: “We don’t know what’ll happen later—having five-element spirit roots doesn’t guarantee three bottlenecks!”

“Aren’t there single-spirit-root cultivators who also hit three bottlenecks?”

“You can’t generalize!” Zhao Linger stood up: “Enough talking—focus on your current cultivation. When trouble comes, deal with it—don’t worry about the future!”

“Exactly!” Tian Xiaoqing said: “Don’t worry about the future!”

He Pingsheng thought it made sense.

He was only at Qi Refining level six—how long until level ten?

Besides, I’m the man who owns the Treasure Basin—why fear bottlenecks?

“Yu Shixiong!” He Pingsheng stood and bowed to Xu Kunlun: “I’ll return to cultivate. If I can’t break through level seven, all else is meaningless!”

“That’s true!” Xu Kunlun said: “Go ahead… Oh, I have some spirit tea—take it. Here, two jin!”

“It’s a good thing—drink more often, it calms the mind!”

As he spoke, he handed He Pingsheng a large bundle of spirit tea.