Shennong Sequence

Moreover, the threshold for obtaining innate treasures is extremely high—money and assets are merely one of the entry tickets. Often, even if you have a lot of money, you may not be able to get what you want.

After all, some auctions, despite being heavily promoted, are too far away in the Imperial Immortal City. By the time the news reaches them, the auctions there have already ended, leaving no chance to bid and nowhere to buy.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yun couldn't help but sigh softly, feeling that the path to finding innate resources was still full of thorns.

At this point, Zhao Yun's previously smooth-sailing cultivation path in the early stages of Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment was completely blocked.

I once again truly felt the difficulty of cultivating the Great Dao!

It makes sense that those cultivators who have also reached the Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Dao are stuck in this realm and unable to break through for a long time.

The fundamental reason is that the Foundation Establishment stage is merely the threshold for entering the path of cultivation. Every subsequent step forward is extremely difficult, requiring the crossing of numerous insurmountable barriers.

Just like before, when Xin Ruyin was in the "Dragon and Tiger Intercourse" realm, if he hadn't had the help of the Yin-Yang Harmony method, he could only continue to refine the old foundation of Water and Fire Harmony, and would have had difficulty getting a glimpse of the Yin-Yang Fire.

Most of the other Foundation Establishment cultivators are solitary, unable to find a Daoist partner who matches their own path, or a companion to cultivate alongside. They often waste their time in this realm.
Even if a few cultivators who have reached the Great Dao Foundation Establishment can join forces with those who have reached the Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment and barely ignite the Yin-Yang Fire, the compatibility between the two foundations is ultimately limited, and the final cultivation effect is far inferior.

But this is only the predicament of the "Dragon and Tiger Intercourse" realm. Now that he has just entered the "Lead and Mercury Extraction" realm, he needs innate substances to create the origin. Where can he find these?
Not to mention the later "Nurturing Yellow Sprouts" stage—when lead and mercury are extracted, intermingled and refined to form true nature, and then the true nature is used to nurture yellow sprouts, the growth of yellow sprouts will only have more demanding requirements for resources and Daoist essence, and the difficulty of cultivation will increase exponentially...

Therefore, the profound mystery of this Great Dao and the difficulty of traversing it are indeed unimaginable for ordinary people!
No wonder the Wanling Yudao Sect can produce hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators every year, but it is difficult to even produce a single Golden Core cultivator.

In fact, to some extent, once one can condense a Great Dao Golden Core, a gap in life level is completely created between them and ordinary cultivators—at least in the cultivation world, there has never been a Great Dao Golden Core cultivator who died due to the exhaustion of lifespan.

In contrast, many other cultivators, whether they condense a false core, a true core, or a high-level golden core, die of old age when their lifespan is exhausted, and countless others die in battle or while exploring secret realms.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yun felt an even greater sense of urgency, but it also strengthened his determination to find innate resources and break through the "Lead and Mercury Mining" realm.

Another six months have passed quietly, like sand slipping through your fingers.

Seeing Zhao Yun's predicament of being unable to truly collect lead and mercury due to the lack of innate materials, Xin Ruyin gradually felt anxious and worried.

After all, entering the "Lead and Mercury Extraction" realm means refining the innate potential deep within the physical body.

If one were to settle for second best at this moment and attempt to refine acquired lead and mercury, then one's foundation would be permanently fixed at the acquired level, with no room for maneuver!

It's absolutely impossible for her to change her water and fire foundation to a yin-yang fire foundation like she did back then.

Therefore, the choices made in the "Lead and Mercury Extraction" realm, seemingly merely a matter of choosing between acquired and innate qualities, actually concern the fundamental direction of future cultivation—one wrong step leads to a lifetime of shackles. This weight is enough to trouble any cultivator, even someone as resolute as Zhao Yun, who once frowned and pondered a way out while meditating late at night. Furthermore, Zhao Yun submitted a job transfer application to the Daoist Treasury, becoming the manager of the Precious Medicine Treasury.

The reason for this choice is that during his time in the treasure vault, he had collected a portion of each of the thousands of substances in the vault. He had thoroughly analyzed the original structure of all substances at the Foundation Establishment stage and below, and was able to condense them on their own using the material transformation method.

Staying in the treasure vault will not only make it difficult to gain anything new, but will also only waste time and opportunities for cultivation.

Therefore, Zhao Yun voluntarily applied for a change of position, wanting to work in another warehouse to analyze more of the rare treasures of the myriad worlds that he had never analyzed before, and to supplement the structure of various substances by enriching the original information of the inner world;
At the same time, it can also collect a tiny bit of high-level matter that is above the Foundation Establishment Realm and cannot be fully analyzed or created at present, and store it in the inner world, waiting for the future cultivation realm to advance, and then analyze it!
Furthermore, when Zhao Yun realized that this innate substance was truly unattainable, he gradually made up his mind.

With just him and Xin Ruyin working hard, it's not impossible for them to obtain innate materials within a hundred years. Moreover, cultivators who have reached the Foundation Establishment stage of the Great Dao have a lifespan of at least five hundred years, not to mention that they can return through reincarnation in the future. But the key is that they do not belong to this ancient era. After a hundred years, the Wanling Yudao Sect will lift the mountain closure, and at that time, these people from the future will be sent back to their original time and space.

Even if we obtain innate substances after a hundred years, so what?

Ultimately, it can't bring back the future, so it's not very meaningful.

Therefore, instead of wasting a hundred years in this ancient era, it is better to collect lead and mercury according to the acquired essence, energy, and spirit, and first push up the cultivation level.

At least the higher the realm, the wider the scope of application of the material transformation method, and even the greater the progress in the growth of the inner world.

Moreover, as one's realm deepens, one's understanding of the true meaning of "The Golden Register of the Great Dao: Dividing the Soul, Nourishing the Spirit, and Gathering All Beings" will become more profound, and the various secret techniques one can perform will become increasingly perfect.

Just as Zhao Yun made this final decision in his heart and prepared to cultivate, he suddenly heard Xin Ruyin's footsteps outside.

"Don't rush to collect the lead and mercury from the Acquired Three Flowers! Just now, Gongshu Tianming, who will lead us into the ruins of the Myriad Spirits Imperial Dao Sect in the future, sent a message saying that he wants to send us a piece of innate jade!"

At this point, Xin Ruyin paused slightly, "However, he has one condition: he wants us to help at least ten people condense the Foundation Establishment of the Great Dao!"

"They're dreaming!"

Zhao Yun scoffed, "Even if the entire Wanling Yudao Sect were to exert all its strength, drawing upon the Dao of Heaven and Earth and gathering resources from countless realms, it could only cultivate a hundred or so Great Dao Foundation Establishment cultivators each year!"

"If we truly possessed such vast resources, I could have already gathered innate substances to condense innate essence, innate vital energy, and innate spirit, striving to reach the realm of nurturing the Yellow Sprout and condensing the Great Dao Golden Core. Why would I still be fixated on a single piece of innate jade?"

Xin Ruyin pinched Zhao Yun, "That's how negotiations are—you ask for the moon, I'll negotiate to the bottom." (End of Chapter)