"Foundation Establishment Stage can alsopete in rigged matches?"


    Zhou Yi looked on in confusion. A few days ago, there was a match between Xuan Jing and another true disciple, where their spellcasting was so breathtaking and their strength so formidable that the recording magic artifact was widely circted within the sect.


    Today, facing Lin Yushu, the spells were weak and floppy, and he didn''t use any magic artifacts, not even disying a third of his strength.


    Although the Jiaolong Fan is a top-grade magic artifact, the user Lin Yushu is too weak to be a match for Xuan Jing.


    At this moment.


    Nearby conversations reached Zhou Yi''s ears, many discussing Lin Yushu with words tinged with envy and jealousy.


    "Uncle-Master Xuan Jing is so unlucky, to encounter the Freeloader Real Person."


    "Even Patriarch Hongyu has spoken out, who would dare to win against him, dare to disregard the patriarch''s face?"


    "How I envy him!"


    "Uncle-Master Lin is a role model for us all. If you can''t catch Patriarch Hongyu''s eye, you can still rise to Moon Viewing Peak or Miaole Peak!"


    "The other patriarchs are not too shabby either. Do you know of the Dragon Yang method?"


    "..."


    With these words, the chatter ceased instantly, and the fellow disciples around that person scattered, fleeing in all directions.


    "???"


    Zhou Yi was full of question marks, now quite certain that Lin Yushu was one person, and it seemed he had practiced some kind of Body Refining Technique, transforming from short, fat, and ugly to his current appearance.


    Patriarch Hongyu is the only female among the five Nascent Souls of the Dan Ding Sect, and somehow she took a liking to Lin Yushu,ter officially announcing to be Daopanions.


    Since then, Lin Yushu earned the nickname of the Freeloader Real Person, making many fellow disciples envious and jealous.


    "Can one also cultivate in this manner?"


    Zhou Yi vaguely realized, all roads lead to the path of immortality.


    ...


    During thetter half of the sectpetition.


    Several Golden Elixir True Monarchs arrived, to prevent disciples from getting carried away during the spell battle and causing casualties.


    Zhou Yi nced from afar and turned into a flying light that headed straight for the third floor of the External Affairs Hall.


    Xiao Yuan asked, baffled, "Brother Zhou, won''t you wait for thepetition to end before taking on another demon extermination task?"


    "Indeed, it was watching thepetition that made me realize how far behind I am from my fellow disciples."


    Zhou Yi responded with a smile, "Only by ceaseless effort, day and night, can I hold onto a sliver of hope to win the prize of a Core Formation Spiritual Object."


    "That''s the right attitude, Junior Brother!" Xiao Yuan took out an External Affairs jade slip and said, "Years ago, there was a disciple with the surname Zhu who also joined as a Loose Cultivator. He intended to ck off at the Cliff of Reflection without any ambition and ended up dying at the hands of the Demon Head!"


    Zhou Yi suppressed a smile as his Divine Sense swept over the jade slip, noticing that the merit reward for the ck Skull Demon Head had increased to 15,000.


    "Brother Xiao, this Demon Head doesn''t seem strong. Why is the merit reward so high?"


    Xiao Yuan exined, "The ck Skull hasn''t appeared in nearly a hundred years, and its life or death is uncertain, making its whereabouts difficult to track. In recent years, this Demon Head has also killed fellow disciples, hence the increase in merit!"


    "Then I''ll choose the ck Skull." Zhou Yi epted the mission and turned into a flying light, leaving the Dan Ding Sect.


    Only on m v|le|mp|yr


    ...


    Ten yearster.


    After sessfullypleting the first cycle of the Spirit Refinement Art, Zhou Yi once again dissolved his Dao foundation.


    Twenty yearster.


    Zhou Yi cultivated the Water Spirit Art, rebuilt his foundation three times, and joined the Dan Ding Sect to receive the Spirit Condensation Art.


    Half a yearter, he took on a demon extermination task and left the sect to pursue and kill the ck Skull Demon Head.


    Another fifteen years passed.


    Upon his third re-cultivation, Zhou Yi found his Dao foundation growing even more solid, and despite expending mana to elerate its dispersal, the time it took to disperse his power was getting longer.


    ...


    Hermit Cave.


    Zhou Yi took the fourth Foundation Establishment Pill and sessfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm, calcting the years that had passed.


    "Thirty years have gone by in the blink of an eye, and due to the scarcity of metal-attribute medicine, the speed of recultivating the Golden Light Technique is far slower than that of the Qingmu and Water Spirit Cultivation Techniques."


    "It''s been nearly a hundred years since I first began recultivation!"


    "Having joined the Dan Ding Sect this time, I can obtain the Dragon Nine Changes and buy an eagle and a tiger from the sect beast garden to cultivate with."


    After a hundred years of arduous cultivation, Zhou Yi''s gaze held a distant and aged look as he rose and walked out of the meditation chamber.


    The spiritual fields were filled with hundred-year-old Spiritual Medicines, among which five millennium-old Spirit Ginsengs were thriving under the care of the Ginseng Dolls.


    The Blood Vine Demon upied an acre ofnd, constantly spurred by the Creation Dew, growing several hundred zhang long, twisting and coiling within the fields, bearing many blood-red translucent Spirit Fruits.


    The Turtle Prime Minister showed no sign of aging, his limbs fully transformed into human hands and legs after being forcefully fed hundred-year Spirit Ginsengs, bing an old man with a giant turtle shell on his back.


    "Immortal Master, you have concluded your retreat. Shall we eat something good today?"


    Zhou Yi gave him a nce and spat out the Mountain and River Cauldron, which spun and grew to the size of a grinding disc.


    After a century of refinement, the Mountain and River Cauldron, having devoured countless essences of the Five Metals, had finally advanced to an upper-grade Magic Artifact, regrettably with little impact on his strength.


    "After reaching upper-grade, progress bes increasingly difficult. The Spiritual Treasure Art is not suitable for individuals to refine treasures, it should be used by sects and families to refine Sect-Defending Spiritual Treasures that are passed down for thousands of years."


    Zhou Yi instructed, "Go catch a few big fish and bring them back. Tonight, we''ll eat fish stewed in an iron pot!"


    "Immortal Master, I''ll go now."


    The Turtle Prime Minister immediately beamed with joy, his whiskers trembling, finally able to change his taste.


    During Zhou Yi''s period of seclusion for recultivation, all formations and prohibitions in the cave were activated, preventing the Turtle Prime Minister froming and going—he would only munch on Spirit Ginseng when desperately hungry.


    Decades without a taste of meat had left him terribly craving it!


    ...


    On the surface of the Luoshui River, a building ship sailed slowly.


    At the bow stood five blue-robed Daoists, the leader being a white-haired old man with the deepest Mana, who had already reached thete Qi Refinement stage.


    There were also many richly dressed mortals on the deck, respectfully standing behind the five men, their deference tinged with obsequiousness.


    "Uncle Dong, are you sure the notes from the old ancestor are correct?" The young man named He Zheng, whose cultivation was barely at the secondyer of Qi Refinement, spoke.


    "A hundred years ago, after the old ancestor slew demons on the Luoshui, he spent over a decade unable to locate the spiritualnd. He then recorded the matter. Someone of the old ancestor''s caliber, nearly at Core Formation, if he had determined that there was a spiritualnd in Luoshui, then it surely wasn''t wrong!"


    The white-haired Daoist He Dong said, "Now that our ancestralnd has been destroyed by the Demon Head, only by finding a new spiritualnd can the He family continue to prosper."


    The young He Zheng asked with confusion, "Why don''t we go to Daze Marketce? The Spiritual Energy there is abundant; cultivation speed is faster. Perhaps in the future, one could break through to Foundation Establishment and y the Demon Head to avenge!"


    "Humph! Is the marketce of the Dan Ding Sect free?"


    He Dong said coldly, "It''s just exploitative on a normal day, but now that the two major sects are waging war against each other, heading to the marketce is just delivering one''s life on a silver tter!"


    "Uncle Dong is right!"


    Another cultivator of the He family, He Li, said, "Little Zheng has been cultivating for a short time and is yet to witness the true nature of the Dan Ding Sect. They are possibly even more ruthless and vicious than the Heavenly Demon Sect, but they don''tg behind in squeezing Loose Cultivators."


    "Without Loose Cultivatorsboring in farming, how could the disciples of the sects live so leisurely and carefree?"


    He Dong spoke solemnly, "If Loose Cultivator families want to continue to prosper, they must find a piece of spiritualnd. Have you ever heard or seen any family powers appearing in the marketce?"


    He Li nodded, "The marketce is extremely vignt against Loose Cultivators, fearing that one day a genius would emerge, ascending all the way to Golden Core and Nascent Soul, breaking Dan Ding Sect''s absolute rule over Cloud Continent."


    After listening to his uncles'' discussions, He Zheng lost any remaining good impressions of the Dan Ding Sect.


    Furthermore, with the copse of his family''s spiritualnd, it all ultimately traced back to the Dan Ding Sect''s initial provocation, leading to the Heavenly Demon Sect invading from the south, with the He family suffering from the fallout of the battle between the two great sects.


    The mortals on the ship, upon hearing the cultivators speak of spiritualnds and sects, Golden Cores and Nascent Souls, all showed an envious look, resenting that they did not possess Spirit Roots themselves.


    These individuals were the mortal members of the He family, who had enjoyed glory and wealth for hundreds of years because their family had continuously produced cultivators for generations. Another four or five hundred years would have allowed them to be called a millennium-old noble family.


    At that moment.


    A figure flew out from the water andnded at the bow, saying,


    "Uncle Dong, there are Mana fluctuations beneath the water nearby, seemingly the aura of aquatic demons, we should not be far off!"


    He Zheng, overjoyed upon hearing this, took out the Deep Blue Banner, which had a single-horned ck dragon embroidered on it.


    "Heaven has not forsaken the He family, that water demon surely knows the location of the spiritualnd. Let us follow it into the water together. With the talismans and Magic Artifacts left by the old ancestor, even aquatic demons in thete Qi Refinement stage can be easily in!"