First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

"They say that entering a wealthy family is like entering a deep sea, but the waters of this major sect are just as deep," Xu Mu sighed as he looked at the rising sun.

What Yan Qing said contained a great deal of information.

Fortunately, it seems that he won't be affected so far, so he can continue to lie low and maybe even watch a big show.

However, before that, it's safer to strengthen your self-protection capabilities.

They might have to run away in the end.

Once you leave the sect, it will probably be much harder to obtain cultivation techniques and spiritual herbs. So you need to accumulate more resources so that you don't end up with nothing after becoming a rogue cultivator.

……

At noon, Xu Mu, as usual, went to the canteen in Beimu Village for lunch.

Since Lao Yu was framed, he has stopped going to Nanyun Village for meals and instead only goes between two places, Beimu Village.

After all, we're more familiar with this area, which reduces the chances of getting into trouble.

At this moment, Senior Sister Mo Yao walked over and sat down opposite Xu Mu with a sullen expression.

Xu Mu realized something was wrong and quickly asked, "What's wrong, Senior Sister?"

Mo Yao sighed, "I've broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining and wanted to ask Venerable Chen Xuan to help me get a Foundation Establishment Pill, but Venerable Chen Xuan said that resources are becoming increasingly scarce and outer disciples may not be able to get Foundation Establishment Pills."

Xu Mu was taken aback: "Why are you nervous? Is it because you couldn't snatch any Dao essence in the secret realm?"

Mo Yao shook her head: "That's not the reason. As for the specifics... Master Chen Xuan didn't say much."

Xu Mu frowned. Could it be that the internal struggle for resources within the sect was starting with the outer sect?

That's true. In the eyes of those senior disciples and elders, outer disciples are nothing more than consumables and cattle. They wouldn't even blink an eye if their benefits were cut.

"Junior brother, what should I do..." The senior sister's face was full of helplessness.

She had cultivated for decades, hoping that the Foundation Establishment Pill would enable her to establish her foundation.

She finally managed to meet the requirements, only to be told that they were no longer available, leaving her helpless.

Xu Mu, feeling helpless, asked, "How old is Senior Sister now?"

As a result, she glared at her senior sister fiercely.

Xu Mu quickly chuckled and said, "I just meant that if there's still time, it's fine to take a few more years to mature and break through at 81."

Mo Yao fell silent; it seemed that all she could do now was to reflect.

Xu Mu explained, "Many people take Foundation Building Pills, betting on that one or two percent success rate."

However, I believe that Foundation Establishment Pills are meant to help those who are just one step away from breaking through, rather than to allow those who are already lacking in cultivation to defy fate.

Therefore, it is only right to spend more time cultivating. After all, as long as you successfully establish your foundation, you can increase your lifespan by two hundred years, so why be impatient? Impatient people are more likely to fail.

"Perhaps in a few years, the sect's situation will improve, and you'll be able to naturally achieve Foundation Establishment. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Mo Yao nodded as she listened, feeling a little better.

It's safer within the sect, and a slower pace of cultivation isn't a big deal; in fact, it can increase the success rate.

Only those rogue cultivators who live hand to mouth need to rush, even at the cost of stepping into the demonic path; it's a mindset completely rooted in short-lived existence.

"You're right, at least I still have seven or eight years to reflect."

As Mo Yao spoke, she breathed a sigh of relief, her mood calming down considerably.

This is perhaps the true importance of mindset.

On the path of spiritual practice, one will inevitably encounter various difficulties, temptations, and comparisons, which can easily cause one's mind to waver, leading to wrongdoing and ruining one's spiritual journey.

Mu Changfeng was just too hasty.

He couldn't resist gambling on Foundation Establishment Pills as soon as his injuries healed. He couldn't accept the failure and was in a hurry to find other solutions. Now he is wanted by his sect.

Xu Mu only learned about these sect rules after he left.

Foundation Establishment Pills are so precious; if we give one to you, we can't give it to anyone else. And you just ate one and ran away? How could the sect allow that?

Before consuming the Foundation Establishment Pill, outer disciples can leave the sect on their own without being pursued; after all, a worker is a worker no matter where they are.

But it's different if you take the Foundation Establishment Pill. Even if you don't succeed in establishing your foundation at the time, you will have a greater chance of comprehending the Dao later. So you should contribute to the sect until you die.

Other sects would not accept a disciple who would betray them if they could not even reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

It's easy to imagine how difficult Mu Changfeng's path is right now.

He either becomes a rogue cultivator, constantly on the run from the sect's wanted list, or he joins an evil sect.

Given his personality, he would obviously not be content to be a rogue cultivator with no resources.

The so-called cultivation of immortality is actually a game of competing for resources.

This is no different from robbing food and treasure in the mortal world. The small ones occupy mountains and become kings, while the big ones establish kingdoms and become emperors, possessing all the resources of the world. It's the same principle.

There's nothing new under the sun.

……

"The main ingredient of the Spirit Gathering Pill is a second-grade Spirit-Nourishing Fruit, and the auxiliary ingredients are spirit stone powder, the leaves of a first-grade Danxia Grass, the petals of a first-grade Ziyang Flower... and the medicinal ingredient is a first-grade peony."

At night, Xu Mu hunched over his desk and wrote down his prescription for elixirs.

This is a prescription that he adjusted himself, the one most suitable for him to take.

A skilled alchemist never has a fixed formula; instead, they "prescribe the right medicine for the right ailment."

The proportions of ingredients are adjusted according to each person's constitution to achieve the effect of yin-yang harmony and five-element balance, so as to maximize the efficacy of the medicine and reduce erysipelas.

Generally, the main medicine will not change, but the auxiliary medicine and the guiding medicine will need to be adjusted according to individual circumstances.

Whether the adjustment is successful or not depends on the individual's alchemy skills. As the toxicity of the pills accumulates, it often determines how far one can go on the path of cultivation.

Xu Mu had been studying alchemy for a year since he learned it, and it took him a long time to finally adjust the formula.

After finalizing the pill formula, the next step is to fence off a piece of spiritual field in the back mountain, buy some seeds, and plant them ourselves.

This place is located within the inner sect, but it is not under the jurisdiction of any peak; it is purely for the residence of pharmacists.

Xu Mu had asked other herbalists and the new field keepers, and they all said that it was permissible to cultivate a medicinal field on one's own; at least, there was no rule in the sect that forbade it.

However, they all advised Xu Mu to save his energy, saying that spiritual herbs can't be grown just anywhere, and if this place could grow spiritual herbs, it would have been cultivated long ago.

Xu Mu did not refute, but simply smiled and said he would give it a try.

He was always seen as an oddball by others, and seeing his persistence, no one tried to persuade him anymore.

The next day, Xu Mu went to the back mountain and used his "spiritual energy hand" to wield seven hoes at the same time, starting to till the land with great effort.

The principle of controlling a hoe is the same as controlling a sword. After farming for twenty-three years, his skill in controlling objects has become superb, and he can control more and more hoes.

The key lies in mental strength.

The stronger one's mental power, the more items one can control.

There are no shortcuts or special techniques to enhance mental strength; it can only be achieved through daily practice.

He can now control up to seventeen hoes at the same time, but the precision required will decrease accordingly.

Therefore, he usually only controls seven rounds, and is currently aiming for eight.

With seven hoes and his soil-turning technique, he reclaimed about an acre of land in half a day.

Although there are many rocks on the mountain, they can be turned over by soil-turning techniques.

With the help of magic, tilling the land is not difficult; the difficulty lies in how to make the medicinal herbs grow.

What Xu Mu had to do was return to his old profession—fertilizing.

Using mere mortal excrement as fertilizer is naturally ineffective for the medicinal herb.

So for the first two years after he started, his harvest was barely enough to get by, and he received a little bit of talisman money as a reward. It was practically like he was working for free.

Any other disciple would have given up long ago.

But he didn't. Instead, he observed his own elixir and others' elixir every day, comparing and studying them carefully. He also searched all over the mountains for usable materials to experiment with.

The weeds that grow on the sacred mountain, though not considered medicinal herbs, still possess some spiritual energy.

Some were burned to ashes, while others were mixed with excrement and rotted together.

It took him five years to obtain a relatively mature fertilizer formula that allowed the first-grade spiritual herbs to survive and grow.

It's impossible to increase income; the medicinal herb isn't like ordinary rice. It's good enough if it can even keep people alive.

Even setting aside the possibility of increasing income, this fertilizer is already quite ineffective for second-grade spiritual herbs, since the materials are still too ordinary.

Now that Xu Mu has learned alchemy, he plans to study how to use alchemy techniques to make fertilizer and see if he can create high-grade fertilizer.

This medicinal herb field in front of him is his experimental field. The focus is not on the harvest, but on researching fertilizers.

Once he has fertilizer that can be mass-produced, he can farm anywhere, and he won't have to worry about how to obtain resources after leaving the sect.