Trading system, I exchanged vegetables for golden pills.

That Senior Qi was undoubtedly a Foundation Establishment Grand Perfection cultivator.

But how could someone at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment be so severely injured?

How difficult must that task be?

Ye Chen suddenly felt that his mere Foundation Establishment cultivator was not up to the task...

What exactly is the mission in the Sakura Country? Even if it's an assassination mission, it's not worth it, is it?

Trading a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the Great Perfection stage for someone else is really a bad deal.

Unable to contain himself, Ye Chen asked, "Commander-in-Chief, what mission did Senior Qi undertake? With his high level of cultivation, why was he injured?"

Black Wolf took a deep breath and shook his head: "You can't know that yet, and I don't know much either, but I can assure you it's related to the sacred beast of the Sakura Kingdom!"

"A sacred beast? You don't mean some eight-headed serpent, do you?" Dongzi asked in surprise.

"You bumpkin, that's called Yamata no Orochi!" Zhao Tianlong scoffed.

Dongzi nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, yes, Yamata no Orochi, it means the same thing, isn't that sacred beast from mythology?!"

Black Wolf nodded and then shook his head: "It's said to be true, but no one has actually seen it. The only person who has actually seen it is Senior Qi. Alright, that's enough for today. Go back and rest. We have a mission tomorrow."

Black Wolf stood up listlessly, no longer wanting to say anything more.

Everyone had no choice but to return to their rooms.

This place may be deep in the mountains, but it still has a little bit of spiritual energy.

Even if you force yourself to cultivate, you can still cultivate a little bit.

Some people have already discovered this and started practicing it.

People are very self-motivated when it comes to cultivation; they don't need to be forced by others.

While others were cultivating, Ye Chen was refining his body.

He wouldn't compete with others for that little bit of spiritual energy; once he started cultivating, those around him wouldn't even get a taste of it.

Although he still had more than ten spirit stones on him, these things were still very precious, and Ye Chen was reluctant to use them later on.

Keeping it might come in handy in case of an emergency someday.

The system's adoptive father hasn't distributed any more spirit stones, which has made his life a bit tight.

Besides, even if he absorbs the remaining dozen or so spirit stones, it will only be icing on the cake for his current cultivation level.

Besides that, all he had left was the Spirit Gathering Pill for cultivation.

But Ye Chen didn't want to do that unless absolutely necessary.

Just as he had thought during his cultivation practice, it was better to absorb as much spiritual energy as possible from heaven and earth.

In some ways, cultivating by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth is better than cultivating by taking elixirs.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth contains something indescribable.

After all, it is the essence of heaven and earth, and this indescribable thing must be beneficial to cultivators in some invisible way.

Especially after he established his foundation in the Heavenly Dao, Ye Chen sensed this in the depths of his being.

This benefit may not be very obvious now, but it should become more and more important over time.

If he wants to go far, he can't rely too much on the Spirit Gathering Pill for cultivation.

The Spirit Gathering Pill can be used to replenish spiritual energy, which is great and convenient. You can't find it anywhere else on Earth, so it's an absolutely wonderful thing.

However, Ye Chen would not use it for cultivation.

Replenishing energy and cultivating are two different things.

Therefore, Ye Chen no longer relies on Spirit Gathering Pills for normal cultivation.

Of course, special cases like the Profound Origin Golden Elixir body refinement are exceptions...

The above is merely his personal, gut feeling, without any theoretical basis to support it.

When it comes to cultivation, just follow your instincts!

The only thing Ye Chen is interested in right now is cultivating in a spiritual vein, because that level of spiritual energy would be more useful to him.

Sharpening knives does not miss woodcutters.

He seemed to have been neglecting his physical training and cultivation, but in reality, he was preparing for a powerful breakthrough.

Body tempering and cultivation are inherently mutually reinforcing.

After his body refinement level increases, he can absorb more spiritual energy when cultivating in spiritual veins...

The next day, everyone got up very early, or rather, they didn't sleep at all.

Everyone witnessed the burst of spiritual energy at sunrise, demonstrating that as cultivators, they all possess a certain understanding of the laws of nature.

In the morning, everyone started their training early for the new day.

Carrying 20 kilograms of weight, 20 kilometers of mountain cross-country!

This will also be my daily physical training routine every morning from now on.

For cultivators, it's quite normal to push themselves a little harder.

Having better physical fitness is always beneficial.

If you toughen your muscles and bones and starve your body, you'll become tough.

For many, this was their first time running like this.

Although I persevered in the end, I was almost completely exhausted.

They were all exhausted, like dead dogs.

Although they were cultivators, they were no different from raw recruits.

So this is definitely going to be a high-intensity challenge for everyone.

"Instructor, we are cultivators. What's the point of us doing cross-country runs in full gear like ordinary soldiers? Isn't this just making things difficult for us?"

Zhao Tianlong couldn't help but curse.

He was the only one who dared to speak like that; everyone else was very obedient.

Instructor Wang, unperturbed, looked at the group and asked, "Is that what you all think?"

Everyone in the room remained silent at this moment, and no one said anything, but they all seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Instructor Wang continued, "It's true you are cultivators, but if you can't even complete tasks that ordinary soldiers can do, how can you carry out missions? How can the country trust you to carry out missions?"

"Do you really think you're invincible just because you're cultivators?"

"Let me tell you, even a well-trained soldier could kill you!"

"Cultivation only gives you a head start; if you slack off even slightly, you won't even know how you died."

"You have a long way to go. Only those who have truly matured have the right to be picky, understand?"

As he spoke, Instructor Wang's expression became extremely serious.

This was the first time anyone had ever seen Instructor Wang with this expression.

Zhao Tianlong pursed his lips, but didn't complain anymore.

Everyone understands the principle, but putting it into practice is a different story.

Instructor Wang didn't continue rambling, but instead changed the subject:

"You'll have one hour to rest. During this time, I'll explain some wilderness survival skills to you. Over the next two days, you'll have to trek 200 kilometers across mountains to reach the next campsite, without any supplies!"

Hiking 200 kilometers? Good heavens, are you kidding me?

Won't this cause blisters on your feet?

The training camp was indeed packed with practical stuff; it was incredibly dry.

It's practically about teaching everyone some real skills in the shortest amount of time.

Of course, you can't teach too much in half a month; it's just getting people started.

Many things still depend on individual effort and practice!

The same nine years of compulsory education produces all sorts of different people.

Wilderness survival skills are undoubtedly very important for cultivators.

Surviving in the wild is also a considerable challenge for cultivators.