Yunmeng Immortal Clan

Sitting atop a cloud-riding steed, Song Daoxuan, who had reached the tenth level of the Qi Refining stage and was at the pinnacle of cultivation, was beaming with pride. Dozens of Qi Refining cultivators from the Song clan followed closely behind, heading towards Qingfeng Lake outside the Qinglian Islands.

Several days passed in this way, traveling day and night without rest, and finally arrived at Qingfeng Lake.

The scenery above Qingfeng Lake is beautiful. It is said that hundreds of years ago, it was a desolate place. Later, the family discovered a spiritual spring here and sent countless people and resources to excavate and expand it.

Later, this spiritual spring expanded and grew larger, and now it has transformed into a blue spiritual lake, in which some spiritual fish have also been born.

The Azure Dragon Carp is somewhat similar to the dragons in the cultivation world, and its body is as green as jade, hence the name. The Azure Dragon Carp is a renowned delicacy in the cultivation world, capable of cooking up a feast that cultivators crave. The Azure Dragon Carp has a unique effect on clearing the turbid qi from the body of cultivators, and its growth period is three years before it is harvested.

The red blood snapper is entirely red, like a ruby. This fish matures in one year. Although the flavor of the spiritual dishes it produces is not as good as that of the Azure Dragon Carp, it has the unique effect of quickly replenishing the blood and qi of injured cultivators and promoting rapid scab formation.

Purple trout, with purple patterns all over its body, is the most abundant spiritual fish in Qingfeng Lake. To put it bluntly, it is a common fish that can be cooked into spiritual dishes that any cultivator in the cultivation world can afford. However, its taste is naturally far inferior to that of Azure Dragon Carp and Red Blood Snapper.

When Song Daoxuan arrived at Qingfeng Lake, some family cultivators who had been stationed there for many years had already received the message from their families, so they had vacated rooms for these family cultivators to live in.

"My name is Song Zhiyu. Welcome to Qingfeng Lake!" An elderly man in a blue-patterned robe, who was at the head of the group, cupped his hands in greeting to the family cultivators who had come from the Qinglian Islands. His attitude was very polite.

"You're too kind, Nineteenth Uncle." Song Daoxuan returned the greeting to Song Zhiyu with a slight smile. The other family cultivators following behind Song Daoxuan also returned the greeting.

The man before me, known as the Nineteenth Uncle, was at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage. He had been guarding Qingfeng Lake for decades, disliking killing and having no interest in the battles of the cultivation world.

However, some time ago, late at night, a group of thieves secretly took out a kind of extinction net and covered Qingfeng Lake. These thieves took advantage of the weak defense of Qingfeng Lake, so even though they knew it was the territory of the Song family of Qinglian Island, they still tried their best to plunder the spirit fish in the lake and then leave in style.

This is how calamity cultivators are; they are different from demonic cultivators. Demonic cultivators kill to seize treasures, cultivate demonic arts, and forge demonic artifacts.

In short, the Robber Cultivators are a group of bandits with cultivation levels. They kill people casually, only for money. Most of these Robber Cultivators are rogue cultivators from the martial arts world.

"That night, one of our Dao-generation cultivators on Qingfeng Lake discovered the group's intentions and promptly lit a communication talisman. We quickly surrounded the group of cultivators, but unexpectedly, seeing the situation was turning against us, they attacked us. After a fierce battle, we barely managed to kill the group of cultivators, but many of our family cultivators on Qingfeng Lake were killed or wounded. This battle was extremely brutal!"

"It is certainly the right thing for the family to send you to replenish these losses, but I do not believe that only this group of tribulation cultivators are coveting the spirit fish in Qingfeng Lake. These tribulation cultivators are the most vengeful and will not give up until they achieve their goal!" As he said this, Song Zhiyu's expression even became somewhat resolute.

"Fellow clan members, the coming period will likely be quite arduous. The spirit fish pond at Qingfeng Lake remains a crucial source of spirit stone income for the clan, and its loss is unacceptable!"

"Nineteenth Uncle, what are you saying? It's all for the sake of the family!"

"Everything for the family!"

"Everything for the family!"

................

On a bamboo house overlooking Qingfeng Lake, a gentle breeze stirred, ruffling Song Daoxuan's flowing hair. The scenery of Qingfeng Lake was picturesque. Gazing at the beautiful lake, he remained calm, lost in thought.

"I'm already over thirty without even realizing it, and I'm still all alone."

However, he only sighed for a moment before returning to the small pavilion and taking out an alchemy furnace from his storage bag.

This alchemy furnace was left behind by Song Chuanyuan. After his death, he left this alchemy furnace to Song Daoxuan. However, this alchemy furnace is only a first-order alchemy furnace.

This furnace has been used to refine elixirs countless times.

Cracks have begun to appear on the surface of the alchemy furnace, suggesting that it has reached the end of its lifespan.

At the heart of the alchemy furnace, there are countless black impurities, which are known as alchemical ash.

"Logically speaking, this ash should also be one of the factors affecting my success rate in refining pills. After all, some professional alchemists will arrange for their apprentices to clean it up, but I dare not easily come into contact with such a highly poisonous substance. It seems that I need to buy a brand-new second-tier pill furnace to prepare for refining so-called second-tier pills in the future, and I need to find a suitable apprentice alchemist."

Cultivators who consume large amounts of pills will accumulate a small amount of pill toxins in their bodies. However, even this small amount of pill toxins can be neutralized by certain antidotes. Otherwise, if it accumulates in a cultivator's body, it will definitely have a significant impact on their cultivation progress. Therefore, cultivators are terrified of pill toxins.

Compared to the most potent poisons on the cultivation world's rankings, erysipelas is somewhat milder.

"A disciple who is good at alchemy must be a person with spiritual roots. However, once he becomes too deeply tainted by the poison of pills, his path to immortality is basically cut off."

Song Daoxuan cultivated alone at Qingfeng Lake for a period of time, refined some pills, and then went to Yunmeng Market.

I saw Old Man Ge, who was leisurely humming a little tune.

"Senior Ge, are you buying some pills?" Song Daoxuan called out.

Ge Tongli glanced at Song Daoxuan, his expression suddenly changing drastically. What a joke! He's at the Great Perfection of the tenth level of Qi Refining, while I've been stuck at the ninth level of Qi Refining my whole life. This kid has actually grown to this level.

"Yes, yes! You little rascal, I had high hopes for you from the start. I knew you were destined for greatness, that one day you would soar like the Kunpeng in the heavens. You're so young, yet you've already reached this level of cultivation. How confident are you in achieving Foundation Establishment?"

Upon hearing this, Song Daoxuan shook his head and said, "I truly have no clue. As for Foundation Establishment spiritual items and Foundation Establishment Pills, where are they so easy to find!"

Ge Tongli patted Song Daoxuan on the shoulder:

"Don't be discouraged. With your talent within the family, obtaining a Foundation Establishment Pill and successfully establishing your foundation shouldn't be too difficult!"

Upon hearing Ge Tongli's words, Song Daoxuan couldn't help but smile bitterly to himself, knowing full well his own cultivation aptitude.

By using the Qi-Gathering Gourd to attract the power of the Moon's Essence, he condensed a drop of Moon Dew, which barely improved the spiritual root aptitude in his body, making his cultivation speed comparable to that of a cultivator with four spiritual roots.

In the world of cultivation, the five spiritual roots are the lowest grade of cultivation aptitude.

But what about the four spiritual roots? The four spiritual roots are called pseudo-spiritual roots, which means that the probability of reaching the Foundation Establishment stage is extremely low.

These cultivation sects wouldn't even waste a single Foundation Establishment Pill on a cultivator with four spiritual roots; they simply treated these pseudo-spiritual root cultivators as discarded pawns of their sects.

Three spiritual roots are considered average aptitude. Only with the help of Foundation Establishment Pills can cultivators with three spiritual roots have a chance to successfully establish their foundation. However, without Foundation Establishment Pills or Foundation Establishment Spiritual Objects, there is still hope of establishing one's foundation.

However, even in the cultivation world, cultivators with the so-called three spiritual roots can still fail to establish their foundation, even with the help of Foundation Establishment Pills.

Only cultivators with the Earth Spirit Root have an almost absolute guarantee of successfully establishing their foundation.

Song Daoxuan is now in his thirties. Over the years, he has not relaxed at all on his path of absorbing the essence of the moon and the purple aura of the morning glow. However, sometimes he secludes himself for a long time, which greatly reduces the rate of energy absorption.

If I want to have a 90% chance of establishing my foundation, do I have to rely on my Qi-gathering gourd to raise my spiritual root aptitude to a level comparable to an earth spiritual root?

According to this process of gathering Qi, Song Daoxuan was only able to barely obtain the second drop of Taiyin Hualu when he was around forty years old. Then he cleansed his roots and bones, raising his spiritual root aptitude to a level comparable to three spiritual roots.

Then, at the age of fifty, he was able to raise his spiritual root aptitude to a level comparable to that of an earth spiritual root, and only then did he have complete confidence in establishing his foundation independently at the age of fifty.

"Those who cultivate immortality, without the help of the Youth-Preserving Pill, will age and their appearance will inevitably change. If one breaks through to the Foundation Establishment stage at fifty, although their lifespan will nearly double, their aged appearance will be fixed there!"

"Although high-level cultivators don't care about their appearance, as someone who has been reborn, I can't help but care about my looks like the other cultivators in this world. Besides, lifespan is the most precious thing for cultivators. While it's most stable to reach Foundation Establishment at fifty, the path after that is basically cut off!"

"If I still had the same five spiritual roots without the Qi Gathering Immortal Gourd, even reaching the Foundation Establishment stage would probably be the greatest wish of my life. But now that I have the Qi Gathering Immortal Gourd, I have a feeling that my cultivation in this life will definitely not be limited to the Foundation Establishment stage. How could I bear to reach the Foundation Establishment stage at fifty, wasting the lifespan of a cultivator and cutting off the possibility of cultivating to a higher level?"

He heard what Ge Tongli said.

Song Daoxuan cupped his hands slightly and said, "My spiritual root aptitude isn't very good, and my family isn't willing to waste too much effort on me. So, there won't be any Foundation Establishment Pills wasted on me. After all, at the last Cloud Dream Immortal Gathering, only three Foundation Establishment Pills were auctioned off, and the price wasn't cheap. So, I'd like to ask you, senior, if you have any news about Foundation Establishment Pills?"

Upon hearing Song Daoxuan's words, Ge Tongli couldn't help but laugh:

"There's indeed no news about Foundation Establishment Pills. Recently, a rogue alchemist was preparing to refine a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills, but despite all the preparations, he's missing one crucial ingredient. Do you know which ingredient it is?"

"Mysterious Ice Flower?" Song Daoxuan blurted out these three words unconsciously.

"I won't beat around the bush anymore. Our Great Li Dynasty has a vast territory, but there are only three places where there is real news about the Xuanbing Flower: one is by the Yunyao Immortal Pool in the far north, the second is on the top of the Storm Snow Mountain in the far west, and the third is the snow-covered land of the Yunling Mountains in the northern part of Yunmeng Prefecture..."

"This Xuanbing Flower is extremely difficult to cultivate. Only a few of the major cultivation sects have managed to cultivate it, having exhausted all their efforts. Ordinary cultivators who want to find this second-tier medicinal herb, Xuanbing Flower, have to go to this place. But unfortunately, these three places are all extremely dangerous locations in our Great Li cultivation world."

Yunyao Immortal Pool is a place that can produce third-tier demonic beasts, including dragons comparable to Core Formation stage cultivators.

The storm-swept snow mountain is filled with ceaseless storms, devoid of even the slightest sign of life. For ordinary cultivators to venture into it would be a matter of almost certain death.

"As for the snow-covered areas of the Yunling Mountains, although they are less dangerous than the previous two treacherous places, they are still not good places. The cliffs are steep and monsters roam everywhere. Even if you have reached the Foundation Establishment stage, you can't say that you can walk freely in the Yunling Mountains. Not to mention cultivators like you who are at the critical stage of the tenth level of Qi Refining. Once you go there, your life or death will depend on fate."

"I heard that in order to obtain the Xuanbing Flower, the Zhuxi Sect sent people to set up martial arts schools in places inhabited by mortals. Although these people did not have spiritual roots, they practiced some methods to strengthen their bodies. Then, they used these martial arts practitioners to climb the Yunling Mountains to pick the Xuanbing Flower..."

At this point in Ge Tongli's speech, Song Daoxuan interrupted him.

"What's the point of sending these mortals to pick the Mystic Ice Flower? We cultivators wouldn't even dare to set foot in such a place. Are we just going to use people's lives to pay for it?"

"Heh! You're right. It's about risking lives. Sending out a thousand martial artists, even if only one of them actually manages to pick the Xuanbing Flower, it's just a waste of nine hundred and ninety-nine lives for the Zhuxi Sect. But obtaining one Xuanbing Flower allows them to refine a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills. A batch of Foundation Establishment Pills could potentially bring several Foundation Establishment cultivators to the sect. For a so-called cultivation sect, that would be a real profit!"

Upon hearing this, Song Daoxuan felt a chill run down his spine. Although he had cultivated for decades and was well aware of the cruel nature of the cultivation world, he was still deeply saddened to hear from Ge Tongli that human life was so cheap.

"Since the Mystic Ice Flower is so rare, you probably already know what happened next. The plan for that rogue alchemist to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill ultimately came to nothing..."

At this point, all the pills that Song Daoxuan had refined were replaced by Ge Tongli with glittering spirit stones.

"To be honest, the path to Foundation Establishment is inherently difficult. For rogue cultivators like us, we're just groping and struggling in the cultivation world, and it's hard to achieve anything significant. As I've gotten older, I've come to see these things more clearly..."

"It's just unfair. Why should we rogue cultivators have to be trampled underfoot by cultivators from those major sects for our entire lives!"