Immortality and Cultivation: Starting with Improving Spiritual Root Aptitude

However, if one could obtain two Foundation Establishment Pills at once, the situation would be completely different.

I wouldn't dare say I'll be 100% successful at foundation building, but I'm absolutely confident I'll succeed more than 90%.

The reason is simple: Foundation Building requires passing through the "Three Barriers of Foundation Building", namely the "Qi and Blood Barrier, the Spiritual Consciousness Barrier, and the Mana Barrier".

Let's start with the Qi and Blood barrier.

Wu Fan was not yet sixty years old, an age when qi and blood decline. He cultivated a fire-attribute technique and, with the aid of body-refining techniques, his qi and blood were far more vigorous than that of ordinary cultivators of the same level. This hurdle was basically no problem for him.

Next, let's look at the spiritual consciousness barrier.

This hurdle might be troublesome for other cultivators, but they can manage to get through it with the help of aids like Concentration Incense and Concentration Talisman.

Wu Fan was born with a divine sense far exceeding that of ordinary people, which was already evident when he broke through to the early stage of Qi Refining.

Even if he were to be on the safe side, he could simply purchase a few more spiritual items to enhance his spiritual awareness afterward, and he would still be able to pass this test without any problems.

Therefore, the only thing left to overcome is the final hurdle: the 'magic power barrier'.

The so-called "power barrier" is, as the name suggests, the crucial step for Qi cultivators to condense the misty power in their dantian into "liquid true essence".

The better a cultivator's spiritual root, the more spiritual energy they possess, and the more they can draw upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to assist them during the condensation process, thus greatly increasing efficiency.

This is why cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Roots and Earthly Spiritual Roots basically do not need to rely on Foundation Establishment Pills and can establish their foundation independently on their own.

Even with a superior spiritual root, the success rate of foundation building on one's own is over 50% to 60%, but if one can supplement it with a foundation building pill, the success rate will be even more secure.

However, cultivators with mid-grade spiritual roots are extremely prone to failure when condensing liquid true essence without the help of Foundation Establishment Pills.

Ultimately, the problem lies in the lack of spiritual energy within oneself, forcing one to rely solely on the power of one's dantian to sustain the condition.

This process is extremely lengthy, and the mana in the dantian is easily depleted; ordinary restorative pills are merely a drop in the ocean.

This is precisely why there are pills like Foundation Building Pills that can accelerate the condensation of magical power and transform mist into liquid.

If one's magical power is still insufficient to condense true essence after taking one Foundation Establishment Pill, one can immediately take a second one to help the pill's medicinal power continue to boost the process.

In this way, cultivators with mid-grade spiritual roots can basically pass the mana barrier steadily, and the success rate of foundation building can reach 80% to 90% or more.

While it may seem that the Dan Hall's practice of distributing the pills in two separate batches saves on Foundation Establishment Pills, this may not actually be the case.

If a disciple fails to establish a foundation on the first attempt, even with experience, the difficulty of establishing a foundation on the second attempt will not be significantly reduced. If he fails again, he will waste two Foundation Establishment Pills.

Rather than doing that, it would be better to give two pills at once, so that the disciple has the greatest chance of successfully establishing his foundation, and thus avoid wasting the foundation-building pills.

Of course, Wu Fan knew in his heart that this was just his perspective as a lower-level disciple.

In the eyes of the Dan Hall's higher-ups, saving a Foundation Establishment Pill is a good thing, since the probability of failing to establish a foundation twice is extremely low.

More importantly, this distribution rule ensures that the sect firmly holds the right to distribute Foundation Establishment Pills.

Moreover, the spiritual plants required to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill can only be cultivated by relying on spiritual veins of the third rank or higher.

Apart from major sects and top families, ordinary cultivator forces simply have no ability to cultivate such talents.

Although second-tier spiritual veins are not entirely undesirable, for example, a second-tier high-grade spiritual vein can be forcibly raised to the third-tier level by using a spirit-gathering formation.

Even so, for families and forces with only second-tier spiritual veins, once they manage to create a third-tier spiritual energy field, they will naturally prioritize using it as a cultivation ground. How could they possibly be willing to use it to grow spiritual herbs?

Even if you really put your mind to it, you won't reap any rewards overnight.

After all, the spiritual plants required for Foundation Building Pills are of extremely high age, especially the Five Elements Fruit, one of the three main ingredients.

This tree is a spiritual root of heaven and earth, and the five-element fruits it bears are a condensation of the innate five-element primordial energy.

After being planted, it takes a hundred years for it to mature for the first time, and then it takes ten years to bear fruit once a year.

Ordinary forces would never be willing to expend so much resources.

Even if we were willing, we wouldn't have enough spiritual veins and space to grow all the main medicinal herbs.

If you only cultivate one type of crop, you'll still be held hostage by major sects in the end, and you'll still have to rely on others.

It's a waste of effort; it's more cost-effective to just buy Foundation Building Pills directly.

It is precisely because these medicinal herbs are difficult to cultivate and are firmly controlled by powerful forces that the market price of Foundation Establishment Pills remains high.

If the sect distributes two at a time, it's hard to guarantee that some disciples won't sell the extra one for profit after successfully establishing their foundation, thus disrupting the sect's order.

It must be said that this tactic reveals a certain financial acumen.

Although every ten years, Falling Star Valley releases a small number of Foundation Establishment Pills into the market for auction, giving independent cultivators and small families a chance.

However, those independent cultivators and small families simply do not have the financial resources to compete with Foundation Establishment families. Even if they manage to acquire a Foundation Establishment Pill by chance, they may not be able to take it away safely.

This is precisely why Wu Fan went to great lengths to join the sect back then.

For a rogue cultivator to attempt Foundation Establishment is truly as difficult as ascending to heaven.

For this reason, Wu Fan's attitude towards the top scorer in the assessment became indifferent.

If he had the chance to compete for it without having to use the power of the Five Elements Pearls, he would give it a shot.

However, if it required revealing the secret of the Five Elements Beads, he would immediately give up.

The Five Elements Beads are his greatest trump card, and their extraordinary abilities must never be exposed to anyone, even if the chance of exposure is only one in ten thousand.

Therefore, his core goal in this Dantang assessment was not to win first place, but to secure a top-three finish, aiming for third place and maintaining a top-eight finish.

For him, the fact that the top three rankings would each grant him a Foundation Establishment spiritual item bestowed by the sect was enough.

As soon as Wu Fan made up his mind, he was about to get up and stretch when a low growl from Zhao Fu suddenly came from outside the training room.

He raised his hand and waved it lightly, and the heavy stone door slowly opened inward, and a lithe tiger pounced in immediately.

At this moment, Zhao Fu had a perfectly sealed letter in its mouth, its huge head kept rubbing against Wu Fan's legs, and its thick limbs occasionally tugged at his sleeves. Its silly appearance was incongruous with its huge body that was more than ten feet long.

If an ordinary mortal were standing here, they would probably have already broken bones and tendons from its affectionate actions. However, Wu Fan's cultivation had reached the late stage of Qi Refining. He simply turned slightly to the side and steadily avoided it. With a hint of "disdain," he raised his hand and pushed its furry head away, taking the letter from its mouth.

The envelope was sent by my cousin, Wu Xiaowan.

Unfolding the letter, familiar handwriting came into view. Between the lines, the author expressed her second uncle's longing and concern, as well as Wu Xiaowan's own care. Finally, she asked him if he planned to go back for the family's ancestral worship this year.

As Wu Fan touched the letter, a warmth rose in his heart, mixed with a touch of loneliness.

He had been away from home for several years and had not visited his parents' graves for a long time, which he deeply missed.

He was originally going to Falling Star Valley Market to purchase the items needed for Foundation Establishment. Falling Star Valley was on the way to Qingxi County, where his family lived, so it was a good opportunity to go back.

Thinking this, he folded the letter and put it away carefully, having already decided to go home on the way.