[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-treasure-immortal-basin":3,"chapter-the-treasure-immortal-basin-the-treasure-immortal-basin-chapter-59":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","The Treasure Immortal Basin",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2355242,4608,"Chapter 59: Bottleneck","the-treasure-immortal-basin-chapter-59",59,"\u003Cp>“Huh…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng took a deep breath and silently calculated when he could break through Foundation Establishment to kill that bastard Yu De.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it should still be far off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Xu Shixiong!” He Pingsheng asked Xu Kunlun: “How much do you know about this secret realm?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Do you have a map?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng asked again: “What heavenly treasures are inside?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are countless of them!” Xu Kunlun said: “The heavenly treasures inside are innumerable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Think about it, younger brother—don’t all these spirit roots and spirit herbs require spiritual energy to grow?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng nodded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Thus, this secret realm formed.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“After thirty years of accumulation, how many spirit plants do you think are inside?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, the most common are still grade-one spirit herbs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Those are the ingredients used to brew elixirs like [Clear Spirit Pill], [Qi Gathering Pill], [Golden Bone Pill], and [Nourishing Primordial Pill].”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These are the most abundant.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Next are grade-two materials.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Inside this secret realm, there are also ingredients for brewing grade-two elixirs like [Spirit Gathering Pill], [Foundation Establishment Pill], and [Clear Clarity Pill].”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But grade-two elixir ingredients are far fewer than grade-one ones.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Besides these, you occasionally find grade-three spirit roots—those are valuable!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Xu Kunlun grew excited, spittle flew everywhere; when his throat dried up, he quickly drank a sip of spirit tea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Linger added: “Besides these, there’s another extraordinary heavenly treasure—the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot].”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Someone once found the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] in the Heavenly Pool within the secret realm.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, yes!” Xu Kunlun said: “The [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot] is the real treasure!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng looked puzzled: “May I ask, Shixiong and Shijie, what exactly is the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot]?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng said: “It’s not that serious… Even if it’s precious, how could it be more precious than life?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Just don’t take it—why fight over it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cultivation may be slow, but if two years aren’t enough, can’t three or five years break one level?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Zhao Linger rubbed her forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Xiaoqing smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng asked: “Why are you laughing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hehe…” Xu Kunlun said: “Younger brother, you don’t understand.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The fast ones break a level every year!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The slow ones take two or three years per level!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, I’m assuming you have unlimited elixirs.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“But younger brother,” Xu Kunlun smiled at He Pingsheng, “you may not know—elixirs aren’t all-powerful!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Because at the peak of Qi Refining, every cultivator without exception hits their first cultivation bottleneck!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng echoed: “Bottleneck?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Precisely because of this Qi Refining bottleneck!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course, I haven’t reached Qi Refining level ten yet—I don’t understand the bottleneck.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Those with weaker talent hit it at level ten.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Most hit it at level eleven.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng still didn’t grasp the gravity, only curious: “Is the bottleneck just hard to break through?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No!” Xu Kunlun shook his head: “The bottleneck isn’t hard to break—it’s impossible to break!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“There are only two ways to overcome it!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“First, find an extraordinary item like the [Water Yuan Spirit Apricot], swallow it whole, and break through one level.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Second, you gain a great fortune and suddenly comprehend some grand truth of heaven and earth—then you can break the bottleneck.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“In short, it’s extremely difficult—for most people in this world, the bottleneck is insurmountable, the end of cultivation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And younger brother, in your case, even breaking one bottleneck won’t help.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If your first bottleneck is at level ten, then breaking level eleven and twelve will also be bottlenecks!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At these words, He Pingsheng fell silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So eating pills was useless?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then how long will it take me to reach Foundation Establishment?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If I never reach Foundation Establishment, how can I avenge myself?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What if there are three bottlenecks?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Aren’t there single-spirit-root cultivators who also hit three bottlenecks?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Exactly!” Tian Xiaoqing said: “Don’t worry about the future!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He Pingsheng thought it made sense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was only at Qi Refining level six—how long until level ten?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, I’m the man who owns the Treasure Basin—why fear bottlenecks?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“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!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s true!” Xu Kunlun said: “Go ahead… Oh, I have some spirit tea—take it. Here, two jin!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“It’s a good thing—drink more often, it calms the mind!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he spoke, he handed He Pingsheng a large bundle of spirit tea.\u003C\u002Fp>",1004,"2026-06-21T04:08:57.694Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","cca2a45fe3d7565b418bf2d7b61dc772579c35c3b5488e4722e4324c99e97884","the-treasure-immortal-basin-chapter-60","the-treasure-immortal-basin-chapter-58",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-treasure-immortal-basin-cover.jpg"]