Longzang

Chapter 43 is a bit of a pain for the teacher.
Seeing that Cui Yu was so cooperative, Ji Liuli was very satisfied and said, "If you have any precious medicines, let me see them before you take them. Try to find as many kinds as possible, because each kind of precious medicine has a different effect on your foundation of cultivation, and how you combine them will make a big difference. This is also related to your future choice of path of cultivation, so it is very important."

Cui Yu nodded solemnly.

After examining Cui Yu, Ji Liuli went to check on Bao Yun.

While practicing the "Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon" painting, Bao Yun's visualization at this time was five zhang (approximately 16.6 meters), slightly smaller than Cui Yu's. However, she possessed extraordinary talent and abundant fortune, and her visualization was still expanding, far from reaching its full potential. Moreover, the visualization was filled with various strange phenomena, resembling a world of gods and demons.

Compared to Cui Yu and Bao Yun, Wei Yuan's progress seemed quite slow, which greatly displeased Ji Liuli, who decided to take a more aggressive approach.

After class, Wei Yuan, as usual, followed Ji Liuli to the council hall. Ji Liuli found all the medicines in Xu Henshui's medicine cabinet, casually concocted a powder, poured it into a wooden tub, and then said, "Take off your clothes, what are you waiting for?"

Wei Yuan gritted his teeth, took off his clothes, and stepped into the large vat that resembled a container filled with blood plasma. He immediately shivered upon entering. This blood plasma-like medicinal soup was even colder than the frozen sea.

An hour later, Wei Yuan's face had turned blue from the cold, and the medicinal soup in the bucket had turned into clear water.

Upon re-examining Wei Yuan, Ji Liuli let out a surprised "Eh." She circled Wei Yuan, examining him carefully.

After the examination, Ji Liuli frowned and pondered for a long time before shaking his head and saying, "That's strange. Why has your constitution become weak again? I should have already cleared out a lot of impurities last time."

Ji Liuli pondered for a moment, but had no clue, so he said, "You go back first, I need to check the records first."

"Is the problem serious?" Wei Yuan asked.

Ji Liuli looked up at Wei Yuan's earnest yet anxious face and said, "It's not a big problem, it's just a bit of a hassle for you, teacher."

"Huh?" Wei Yuan didn't understand.

While pondering the prescription, Ji Liuli waved to see Wei Yuan out of the council hall, saying, "This is not something you need to worry about. Go back and cultivate diligently, and don't slack off!"

After leaving the Council Hall, Wei Yuan did not immediately go home, but instead went to the nearby Bo Si Hall. Bo Si Hall was the place where the Tai Chu Palace stored its books, and it consisted of a continuous series of palaces. When Wei Yuan entered the main hall of Bo Si Hall, he saw several reception desks set up inside, with a disciple on duty behind each desk.

Wei Yuan arrived at the reception desk where beginner-level books were distributed. He handed over his identity jade token and said, "I would like to borrow the cultivation insights from the 'Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon' painting."

The disciple was somewhat surprised and asked, "This is a universal cultivation technique. Didn't your teacher teach it to you?"

However, he only asked casually and did not intend to interfere with Wei Yuan's cultivation. After receiving the identity jade token, he hurriedly went into the back hall. A moment later, he returned with two pieces of jade paper in his hand and said, "This is the insight written by the Moon-Swallowing True Monarch who created the 'Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon' painting. The other is the cultivation insight of several disciples who have achieved the highest level in the past. It should be helpful to you."

"You can borrow it for seven days, and you may copy it, but you must not divulge it. The rent is seven taels of immortal silver, which has already been added to your account." Wei Yuan took the two pieces of jade paper, and once again deeply felt that the immortal silver was not enough to spend. Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about food for the first month, but he would need to buy more Qi-drinking pills when he ran out in the second month. Although the allowance given by True Monarch Burning Sea seemed like a lot at first glance, given the prices in Taichu Palace, it probably wouldn't last long.

Wei Yuan then remembered something and asked, "Senior brother, do you have any information about the Cleansing Heart Pill?"

The senior brother's expression immediately changed: "Heart Cleansing Pill? Why are you asking about that? It's not something you can even think about!"

Wei Yuan said, "I just overheard my elders chatting and they mentioned that the Cleansing Heart Pill is extremely precious, so I was a little curious. I wonder how much it costs for one immortal silver coin?"

"Immortal Silver? How dare you ask that! Can the Cleansing Heart Pill be bought with Immortal Silver?"

After a few sarcastic remarks, seeing Wei Yuan's serious expression, the senior brother said, "The Cleansing Heart Pill has the effect of clearing away the illusions of the primordial spirit. It not only strengthens the foundation but also enhances comprehension. It's a sacred medicine for young disciples to improve their foundation. One Cleansing Heart Pill can potentially raise a Human-rank Dao Foundation to the Earth-rank. It's said that three Cleansing Heart Pills can advance a High-grade Earth-rank Dao Foundation to the Heaven-rank. The higher the Dao Foundation rank, the harder it is to improve, and the fewer effective medicines there are. The Cleansing Heart Pill can even improve a Heaven-rank Dao Foundation. Do you think you can buy it with Immortal Silver?"

The senior disciple spoke for a long time, glared at Wei Yuan, and continued, "The Creation Temple can only open a few batches of Cleansing Heart Pills every three years, totaling no more than a hundred pills. The palace stipulates that they can only be exchanged with merit points; no other means are allowed. If measured in immortal silver, hundreds of thousands would be a minimum! On the other hand, if Cleansing Heart Pills could be exchanged for immortal silver or treasures, do you think these pills would even end up in the mouths of ordinary disciples like us? This path to heaven was specially reserved by the palace for everyone!"

Wei Yuan knew the Cleansing Heart Pill was precious, but he never imagined it would be this valuable. When Zhang Sheng took out three Cleansing Heart Pills, he only casually mentioned a name before giving them to Wei Yuan. Thinking of this, Wei Yuan felt a heavy weight in his heart, truly unsure how to repay him.

Upon returning to his residence, Wei Yuan immediately began to carefully study the two notes.

Having spent three years with Zhang Sheng, Wei Yuan knew very well what his teacher wanted: to always strive to be number one, and to consider second place a grave disgrace. Aside from his vanity, love of boasting, and lack of money, Zhang Sheng had no other flaws. Perhaps there were others, but Wei Yuan hadn't yet discovered them.

Wei Yuan entered the Taichu Palace with the title of first place in the unified examination and received the blessing of the patriarch, so he was originally quite arrogant. Little did he know that his cultivation would be met with a sudden blow. He could not complete the visualization diagram for a long time, and there was no way to talk about extraordinary phenomena. Half a month passed, and he was not only overshadowed by Bao Yun and Cui Yu, who were also cultivating the Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon, but many of his other classmates had also surpassed him.

As the leading immortal sect, Taichu Palace is a gathering place for geniuses. Even the most ordinary cultivation techniques can be perfected, and almost everyone possesses extraordinary abilities. Therefore, having extraordinary abilities is not unusual, but there is still a distinction between them. Among the six universal cultivation techniques, anyone who only cultivates the most basic template will definitely be at the bottom, and will also be known for their low comprehension and lack of talent.

For example, Wei Yuan's jade toad, even with a lotus flower blooming on its head, wouldn't make it into the top half of the class. Cui Yu's toad was entirely blue-green, its color completely changed, and it even had a sword-shaped epiphyllum growing in front of it, with a celestial sword in its mouth. Bao Yun was even worse; her visualization was a chaotic mess of demons, utterly exaggerated.

Over the past few days, Wei Yuan has come to understand: what do the disciples of the Tai Chu Palace compete in? They compete in extraordinary phenomena!
Therefore, under immense pressure, Wei Yuan dared not be stingy with his immortal silver and went to the Bo Si Hall to borrow books for reference. Although the "Jade Toad Gazing at the Moon" was a universal cultivation method, and Zhang Sheng and Liu Li could both provide guidance, Wei Yuan had already noticed that the problems he encountered in his cultivation seemed to be different from others, so it would be better to read more books.

As Zhang Sheng once said, "The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade." Although others may not be as good as oneself, it is always beneficial to look at the shortcomings of others.

Moreover, Zhang Sheng has not appeared since he last met Master Fenhai, seemingly not wanting to see him.

After a sleepless night, Wei Yuan carefully read through the two reflections and indeed discovered some problems.

(End of this chapter)