Chapter 99 - 82: Arrival of the Treasure?_l
As cultivating spirit grass requires one year before harvesting, Lin Yi planned to first advance his cultivation level to the complete ninth stage of Qi refining. After that, he would start preparing for foundation establishment. Upon reaching the foundation establishment stage, he would have enough confidence to start alchemy.
The transition from Qi refining to the Foundation Establishment stage is the first major challenge that cultivators face. The difficulty of breaking through to the middle and later stages of Qi refinement is not even one percent of that of foundation establishment.
This is a critical step to officially enter the Immortal Way. Once crossed, your lifespan doubles, and you become a true cultivator who can fly with swords and roam the heavens.
In the inner sect, he saw many middle-aged cultivators stuck at the great perfection stage of Qi Refinement. This underscored the difficulty of the breakthrough, and for many cultivators, this critical step could hold them back for decades.
Lin Yi started by taking out a spirit stone to test the effect of the Spirit Gathering Array inside his cave mansion. As expected, upon placing the spirit stone and activating it, the entire cave mansion was instantly filled with dense spiritual energy, even denser than in the superior cultivation caves in Qing Yun
City.
He calculated the rate of spirit stone consumption, which appeared to be more cost-effective than using the caves in Qing Yun City. More importantly, this was his own cave mansion where he could cultivate as he wished.
After removing the spirit stone from the Spirit Gathering Array, Lin Yi planned his trip to Golden Sword Peak. He summarized all the things he needed to do, considering that each round trip with the sect’s regular flying boat requires a spirit stone.
He intended to first head to Golden Sword Peak to learn the farming practice, then purchase seeds for three kinds of spirit grass. In addition, he also planned to go to Qing Yun City to buy an affordable flying artifact.
After all, if an emergency arises, he couldn’t be waiting for the sect’s public transport flying boat.
As for breaking through the eighth layer, he planned to cultivate on his own and not use the effect of “Color is Void” temporarily, because he wanted to verify whether the “Grain Wisdom from One’s Mistakes” had a cumulative effect.
Although the “Grain Wisdom from One’s Mistakes” title could also result in enlightenment, his failure to break through did not bring a significant enlightenment effect, possibly because the setback from failing was too small.
Therefore, he planned to use continuous failures to see if the same failures encountered again and again would gradually accumulate, eventually reaching the state of enlightenment he achieved when breaking through the Technique of Transforming Cloud into Wind.
Inner Sect disciples of Liu Yun Sect can bring in some servants, as long as they are registered at the Affairs Hall. Each disciple can bring two individuals, who could either be outer sect disciples or other people.
Of course, at the time of registration, they also need to undergo a divine soul check by the Affairs Hall to ensure they are not spies from rival sects.
Now that he had acquired his own cave mansion and could bring people in, Lin Yi, however, didn’t plan to bring Lady Yuan Yuan in, although her presence would be very beneficial for cultivation.
For himself, it didn’t matter, as in his eyes, Lady Yuan Yuan from Flower Moon Place was just an assistant to accomplish the effect of his title and he would not develop any feelings towards her.
However, from the perspective of seniors in the sect, they might not take it lightly. Many disciples already envied him for getting into the Inner Sect, and would surely spread the fact that Yuan Yuan was actually from Flower Moon
Land.
Especially Gold Sword Zen Ren, who was upright and strict with his disciples. If this matter caused a Golden Core Real Person to develop resentment towards him, the loss outweighed the gain.
“Zhi Ling, would you like to stay home on your own, or come out with me?” Lin Yi asked, looking at Zhi Ling, who was playing nearby.
Zhi Ling tilted his head in thought, pulled a face as if something occurred to him, and chirped a couple of times whilst pointing towards their dwelling.
Lin Yi couldn’t help but laugh. Truly a socially awkward little marten, “Alright then, have fun at home. I’ll activate the defensive array for you.”
He walked into the cave mansion, inserted a few spirit stones and activated the defensive array. The defensive array of his cave mansion could withstand attacks from the high-levels of Qi Refinement.
Then he quickly left the area of the cave mansion and went down the stairs to the ferry platform of Jin Qiao Peak. There were already a couple of cultivators waiting there. They gave each other a quick glance, nodded in acknowledgment, but didn’t greet one another excessively.
After a long wait, a flying boat finally showed up. After declaring their respective destinations and paying with spirit stones, the flying boat departed for the next peak.
The flying boat stopped wherever there were people waiting on the ferry platform of the next peak, just like a public bus.
By the time it reached Golden Sword Peak, the flying boat was full. Lin Yi disembarked and made his way to the Scripture Palace.
After learning the Wind Transformation Technique last time, he had not used his merit points to learn other spells, so, with an additional hundred points for joining the sect, he had now accumulated four hundred merit points.
The cost for renting his cave mansion and medicinal field would be deducted from his merit points after six months. This was a privilege for new disciples.
According to what he learned from the Inner Sect Handbook, every peak’s Scripture Palace was managed by the sect, and the Golden Core Real Person’s lineage would not intervene, because all the secret techniques in the Scripture Palace were public inside the Inner Sect.
For example, to learn the secret techniques created by Gold Sword Zen Ren or some other foundation-building cultivators in Golden Sword Peak lineage, one needs to become their disciple and obtain personal instruction.
Of course, some cultivators choose to publicly teach the cultivation techniques they have created themselves in exchange for a share of merit points..