Immortality begins with equipping a worn-out talisman pen.

Chapter 85 Qi Refining Level Nine

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng was overjoyed.

This was a truly unexpected and delightful surprise.

He originally only wanted to find out the whereabouts of Foundation Establishment materials, but he never expected that he could use this opportunity to enter the Hundred Arts Alliance.

If one could truly join such an organization, not only would acquiring Foundation Establishment materials become much easier, but in the future, one would also have an additional avenue for obtaining resources such as talismanic inheritance, alchemy, artifacts, and arrays.

"In that case, I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Han."

Li Mufeng clasped his hands in a respectful gesture, silently remembering this favor.

The two chatted for a while longer, and seeing that it was getting late, Li Mufeng got up to say goodbye.

However, at that moment...

The Sniff, which had been huddled in his sleeve, suddenly poked out its furry little head. Its two round little eyes looked into the distance, and its nose twitched as if it had smelled something extremely tempting.

Its body leaned slightly forward, looking eager to try.

Upon seeing this, Han Qinxue's eyes immediately revealed a hint of fondness.

"Is this Fellow Daoist Li's spirit pet? It certainly seems to possess a remarkable intelligence."

Seeing that the Sniffle was getting restless, Li Mofeng's eyelids twitched slightly, so he raised his hand and gently tapped it on the head.

"Don't be ridiculous."

Sniff immediately shrank back, looking aggrieved.

Li Mufeng tucked it back into his sleeve and bowed to Han Qinxue.

"My spirit pet is unruly; I hope Fellow Daoist Han will forgive me."

Han Qinxue simply smiled and didn't take it to heart.

Only Li Mufeng remained calm, but a slight ripple stirred within his heart.

Just now, he noticed that the Niffler was trying to use Earth Escape Technique, and the direction it was facing was none other than the Han family's Cold Iron Mine.

To elicit such a reaction from the Niffler —

It seems that there is something unknown hidden in that mine.

Upon returning to Fuyuan Residence, before even entering, Li Mufeng saw the gatekeeper from next door come to report.

"Master Li, my master requests your presence here for a chat, saying he has important matters to discuss."

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately got up and walked towards Xu Zhiyuan's residence.

As soon as he entered, Xu Zhiyuan greeted him with a big smile.

"Fellow Daoist Li, good news! I've already put you in the queue with your master."

""

"But I wonder how well Fellow Daoist Li has prepared the spiritual materials?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mufeng was overjoyed, and the weight that had been hanging over him finally lifted a little.

However, he soon gave a wry smile.

"The auxiliary ingredients are almost ready, but the main ingredients are still nowhere to be found."

Upon hearing this, Xu Zhiyuan seemed to have expected it, and waved his hand with a smile.

"This is normal."

"The main ingredient of the Foundation Establishment Pill is a rare treasure that is hard to find in the entire Yue Kingdom. It is not an easy task for a rogue cultivator to gather enough spiritual materials for a whole batch on his own."

Therefore, most people choose to refine Foundation Establishment Pills together with other cultivators.

""

Li Mufeng nodded slightly; he was naturally aware of this.

The Foundation Establishment Pill is extremely difficult to refine. An ordinary second-level alchemist is considered qualified if he can produce two pills in one batch. Only a senior second-level alchemist like Master Sun, who has been immersed in the alchemy for many years, has the hope of refining three pills consistently.

This is why the more famous an alchemist is, the more people seek their elixirs.

Many alchemists who have just broken through to the second level have no opportunity to accumulate experience because no one dares to risk using precious foundation-building materials; while those alchemists who have been famous for a long time are often in high demand, with appointments available for more than ten years.

This is also why Li Mufeng asked Xu Zhiyuan to act as a go-between early on.

Let's settle things with Master Sun first.

As for spiritual materials, they can be collected slowly while waiting for the alchemy to be refined.

When the time is right, we can gather the necessary spiritual materials for a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills together with other cultivators.

Of course, joint alchemy does not mean that the main ingredients can be omitted.

How a batch of Foundation Establishment Pills is ultimately distributed depends on the value of the spiritual materials each person contributes.

The main ingredient is the most precious; the more money you invest, the more likely you are to have priority in obtaining the pill.

Now that Master Sun's path has been opened, Li Mufeng finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At least, the most crucial step has been arranged in advance.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries with Xu Zhiyuan, Li Mufeng got up to take his leave and returned to Fuyuan Residence.

Sitting cross-legged on the futon, he slowly closed his eyes and began to circulate the "Boundless Vast Ocean Technique" again.

Now that Master Sun has taken care of things, all that's left is to gather the spiritual materials so that we can start refining the pills.

He was one step closer to Foundation Establishment.

Six months later, in a quiet room.

Li Mufeng slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and the spiritual energy in his dantian surged like rivers flowing into the sea, eventually returning to calm.

Qi Refining Level Nine, achieved!

Feeling the increasingly powerful magical energy within his body, Li Mufeng finally smiled.

After decades of arduous training, he finally entered the final stage of the late Qi Refining realm.

Taking advantage of his recent breakthrough and the clarity of his mind, Li Mufeng immediately took out talisman paper and spiritual ink, and began to circulate the "Heavenly Origin Qi Talisman Making Method". His brushstrokes were as smooth as dragons, and in no time, a Zhenyue Talisman with flowing spiritual light was completed.

A heavy, mountain-like aura slowly emanated from the talisman paper.

Now, his mastery of talismanic arts is comparable to that of a mid-grade second-tier talisman master.

In terms of alchemy, with the help of the equipment slots, he has also successfully entered the level of a first-grade high-quality alchemist.

Over the past six months, everything has been steadily progressing in the direction he envisioned.

In addition, with Han Qinxue's recommendation, he also successfully joined the Hundred Arts Alliance.

As a senior first-tier high-grade talisman master, he may not be considered top-tier within the alliance, but he is still quite well-known.

With the help of exquisite talismans, Li Mufeng gradually exchanged several Foundation Establishment insights with the cultivators in the alliance.

When ordinary cultivators collect Foundation Establishment experience, they usually only select jade slips that match their own spiritual roots and cultivation methods, so as not to bite off more than they can chew.

But Li Mufeng accepted all comers.

Whether it's the foundation-building insights left by cultivators with fire, water, or wood spiritual roots, he'll take them all if he can exchange them.

Although the members of the Hundred Arts Alliance had some doubts about this, they didn't think much of it.

After all, Li Mufeng was nearly sixty years old. In their eyes, he was just eager to establish his foundation and wanted to learn from others and try his luck.

On the contrary, many people were happy to see this happen and brought out their Foundation Establishment insights, which were usually kept on a shelf and almost ignored, to exchange for high-quality talismans.

Back in the quiet room, Li Mufeng looked at the light screen that appeared before him.

Foundation Establishment Success Rate: 22%

A look of satisfaction flashed in his eyes when he saw the number.

Over the years, he has never stopped equipping low-level water-attribute monster cores.

Unbeknownst to him, his water elemental root sensitivity had already exceeded fifty points, and he was only ten points away from becoming a top-grade elemental root.

Based on the extensive Foundation Establishment experience he collected, a cultivator with a superior spiritual root has only a 40% to 60% chance of successfully establishing their foundation without any external assistance.

A single Foundation Establishment Pill of normal quality is enough to increase one's strength by about 20%.

In addition, there's the increased success rate of Foundation Establishment granted by the equipment slots, and the added benefits from the Foundation Establishment experience accumulated over the years.

If everything goes smoothly and he can eventually obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill of normal quality, his success rate in establishing his foundation will likely exceed 80%.

Eighty percent is still too low, but fortunately this is not my limit.

I can continue to collect insights on Foundation Building.

If more experience jade slips can be found, there is still room to improve the success rate.

Besides that, a new idea gradually emerged in his mind.

Since equipment experience jade slips can improve skills, can the foundation building pill refining experience jade slips also be used to improve foundation building pills?

If that's the case, then combined with a second-tier alchemy furnace and equipment slots that improve the success rate and quality of alchemy, it would be even better.

Perhaps, by refining Foundation Establishment Pills himself, he has a better chance of producing high-quality Foundation Establishment Pills than those senior second-level alchemists who have been immersed in the art of alchemy for many years.

Thinking of this, Li Mufeng's heart stirred.

But he quickly suppressed the thought.

Currently, his revealed identity within the Hundred Arts Alliance is merely that of a first-tier high-grade talisman master.

If he were to suddenly start collecting Foundation Establishment Pill refining tips and even inquire about second-tier pill furnaces, it would be too conspicuous and inconsistent with his identity, easily arousing suspicion.

It seems we need to find another way to resolve this matter.