The road is vague

Chapter 104 Major, Minor, and Concurrent Studies
Seven days later.

The treasure ship sped all the way, left the territory of Zhongshan Kingdom, and arrived at Saiwaiying in the oasis of the Gobi Desert.

This used to be the logistics transit base of the Qian Kingdom Legion, but now it is the outpost of the Qian Kingdom.

"Acting Sect Leader."

Li Mo, Jiang Sheng, and Shi Yongjie bowed respectfully upon seeing Sima Fu.

Sima Fu chuckled kindly.

"I've just heard about your situation from Jiang Wanhu. It's true that you've boosted the spirit of our Lingmu Sect this time, especially Junior-Junior Brother Li Mo, who achieved excellent results in this exchange meeting. I'll record this truthfully after we return to the sect. Junior-Junior Brother Li Mo will surely have a bright future."

"Thank you, Acting Sect Leader!"

Then the three of them left their military status that day and boarded the treasure ship bound for Lingmu Gate.

The treasure ship first took several days to enter the territory of Muzhou in Daqian Kingdom, and then took several more days to finally return to Lingmu Gate.

Li Mo took this opportunity to comprehend the spell of summoning thunder beast.

After getting off the treasure ship, the pure spiritual power of Qingming Mountain rushed towards him, and Li Mo suddenly felt relaxed and happy. Only then did he fully feel the difference between inner disciples and outer disciples.

"Acting Sect Leader!"

The monk who was on duty at the Feizhou Post Station hurried forward to pay his respects.

After gesturing for exemption from formalities, Sima Fu turned to Li Mo, Jiang Sheng, and Shi Yongjie.

"You will enjoy three days of free time during this period. Rest a bit before reporting to your respective halls."

"Yes."

Li Mo was about to leave when he heard Sima Fu say again, "Nephew Li, come with me."

Under Li Mo's puzzled gaze, he followed Sima Fu into a cave. Looking at the furnishings inside, he realized that this might be the private cave of the acting leader.

"Haha, there's no need to be restrained, nephew."

Following the other party's instructions, Li Mo sat on a cushion and took the spiritual tea handed to him.

"Your master, Lu Qi, and I are like brothers and close friends. Your master is still traveling abroad, so as your uncle, I can teach you some basic common sense for Foundation Establishment disciples. For example, regarding the supplementary and concurrent cultivation techniques and the spiritual eye ability during the Foundation Establishment period, does your nephew have any concerns?"

Li Mo was very surprised when he heard this.

"Junior Brother, there are indeed a few things I don't understand. I would like to ask for your guidance, Uncle Master!"

Then he slowly said, "According to Master, after the Foundation Establishment stage, one can choose to practice a concurrent or supplementary technique. However, my nephew was only at the Qi Training stage at the time, and Master left in a hurry, so he didn't explain in detail. I would like to ask Uncle Master to clarify."

Sima Fu smiled gently when he heard this.

"The main cultivation method of our Lingmu Sect disciples is the Eye of the True Spirit. This is beyond doubt. By improving the main cultivation method, we can improve our cultivation realm, the properties of the method, and the accompanying supernatural powers. This is the consensus of the cultivators in various countries in the Central Plains today."

Sima Fu poured tea for Li Mo as he spoke.

"After a cultivator advances to the Foundation Establishment stage, they will face the choice of practicing a concurrent cultivation method or a supplementary cultivation method. The difference lies in that practicing a supplementary cultivation method requires changing the way one cultivates their energy. Essentially, one must master the cultivation method's attributes and accompanying magical powers. This allows one to successfully cultivate the various methods that come with this cultivation method system in the future. This requires the cultivator to devote approximately 70% of their energy to accumulating mana on the primary cultivation method."

Having said that, Sima Fu paused slightly.

"That's why Master-san doesn't approve of you practicing other techniques concurrently. Looking at the history of Lingmu Sect, those who have successfully practiced other techniques may have achieved temporary success, but in the long run, most of them ended up in regret. The reason is simple. We are now in the Dharma Ending Age. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth is not as high as in ancient times. The speed of accumulating mana is simply not enough to support us to focus on cultivation."

Sima Fu chuckled.

"However, if you only practice one main technique, the speed of accumulating mana will increase, but you will also face the problem of a weak foundation. In the future, whether you are fighting with others or breaking through bottlenecks, you will face many difficulties."

Li Mo took it to heart and nodded thoughtfully.

Seeing that Li Mo had understood, Sima Fu continued to explain.

"As for secondary cultivation techniques, it's about mastering the technique's attributes without seeking magical powers or a comprehensive understanding of the system. This only requires 10% to 20% more energy than the primary technique. Therefore, most cultivators in the Foundation Establishment stage often choose to cultivate one or two secondary techniques to enhance their foundation. For example, your master, Lu Qi, secondary-cultivated the 'Seven Apertures Returning to the Origin Technique' and the 'Qi and Blood Dual Generation Technique', making him invincible in battles. If we're solely talking about fighting techniques, there are probably only one or two people in your sect who can compete with him head-on."

Li Mo vaguely heard something else.

Lu Qi’s main cultivation technique is not the Eye of the True Spirit, but the Six Meridians Cloud Sword!
"Thank you, Master, for clearing up my confusion."

Then Li Mo continued to ask questions.

"As for the question about the spiritual eye ability, I do have some doubts. Logically, the spiritual eye ability should change with each advancement. However, after I advanced to the Foundation Establishment Stage, although my spiritual eye has improved compared to the Qi Training Stage, it hasn't undergone a significant qualitative change. I would like to ask Uncle Master to clarify this."

Li Mo knew that since the other party had brought up this issue earlier, it was probably common sense among the foundation-building cultivators of Lingmu Sect.

Sima Fu stroked his beard and smiled again.

"The problem is very simple. You, my nephew, have not yet mastered the supplementary cultivation method. If you want to unleash the myriad uses of your Spirit Eyes, you need to view everything in this world from a different perspective. Any supplementary cultivation method will cause your Spirit Eyes to undergo fundamental changes. Therefore, although every disciple of the Spirit Eyes Sect has mastered the Spirit Eyes, each Spirit Eye sees something completely different!"

Having said that, Sima Fu diligently poured tea for Li Mo again, which made Li Mo quite uncomfortable.

"And when you reach the Golden Core Stage and your main and secondary cultivation techniques are fully established, you can combine them with your own insights. Only then will the True Spirit Eye be able to exert its true effectiveness and demonstrate the power of our sect's magical powers."

Li Mo suddenly realized.

It seems that the most important thing for him now is to master a supplementary skill.

But unfortunately, the "Seven Apertures Return to Origin Technique" cannot be practiced just because one wants to. Especially after hearing that his second senior sister had gone astray because of it, he became even more cautious.

But fortunately, he has just been promoted to the Foundation Establishment Stage, so this matter can be considered in the long term and there is no need to rush.

So Li Mo expressed his gratitude to Sima Fu again. However, Sima Fu did not stop there.

He continued to talk, telling Li Mo many things that a cultivator in the Foundation Establishment Stage should pay attention to and experiences, which benefited Li Mo greatly.

It was not until the evening that Sima Fu's conversation finally came to an end.

"By the way, nephew, I heard from Jiang Wanhu that you harvested a thousand-year-old snow lotus in the secret realm. Is that true?"

Li Mo reacted quickly and took out the jade box immediately.

"Indeed, this thousand-year-old snow lotus was a lucky find for me. I was planning to ask the senior brothers and sisters in the Alchemy Hall to use it as the main ingredient to refine a furnace of Soul Gathering Pills after I return. However, if you, Uncle, need it, I am willing to offer it to you in return for your guidance."

"Haha, nephew, please don't think too much. How could my uncle covet your opportunity?"

Sima Fu made a gesture of blaming, but then he changed the subject.

"Alas, but our sect is currently in a turbulent time. Ever since the great catastrophe over thirty years ago, we have been devoting all our efforts to cultivating a second Nascent Soul cultivator to serve as our successor. However, we are stuck at this Nascent Soul bottleneck..."

Speaking of this, Sima Fu sighed repeatedly.

"To be honest, nephew, my uncle's cultivation level is still a little short of the Great Perfection of the Golden Core Stage. So he is preparing to refine a furnace of elixirs recently, and he still needs a few thousand-year-old spiritual herbs with extremely cold properties as auxiliary medicines. This thousand-year-old snow lotus is indeed what my uncle urgently needs. So for the sake of our sect, my uncle has no choice but to ask for this today."

Li Mo immediately expressed his willingness.

But in his heart he felt contempt for himself.

Fortunately, this uncle-master did not continue to flatter, otherwise Li Mo would have been disgusted by his own hypocrisy.

"Don't worry, nephew. I won't take advantage of you for nothing. How about this: every year, from the newly-baked Spirit Gathering Pills, I will set aside two for you until I have ten. Any more will be useless to you. In addition, I have two mid-level spiritual talismans here. I believe that will be enough to compensate for this thousand-year-old snow lotus. What do you think, nephew?"

Li Mo breathed a sigh of relief. This uncle-in-law was quite generous.

He took the two talismans from Sima Fu's hand with a look of joy on his face.

"Master is so thoughtful. This is absolutely perfect!"

He agreed happily.

After leaving Sima Fu's cave, Li Mo immediately looked at the two mid-level talismans in his hand.

A mid-level primary divine movement talisman and a mid-level intermediate fire meteorite talisman.

Two talismans, ten spirit-gathering pills, plus the experience sharing of a late-stage Jindan cultivator, he definitely did not suffer a loss in this transaction.

Considering that refining the Spirit Gathering Pill requires purchasing auxiliary medicines, paying labor costs, and the failure rate, he can even be said to have made a lot of money in this transaction.

It’s just that these Spirit Gathering Pills need to be paid in installments over five years.

But Li Mo originally planned to study the art of refining weapons and puppetry to consolidate his realm, so there would be no problem if he paid for the Spirit Gathering Pill in installments.

"God Travel Talisman, Fire Meteor Talisman."

Li Mo felt the tremendous spiritual power contained in these two mid-level talismans, and couldn't help but feel a little surprised.

This is much more than the magic power required when he releases intermediate-level primary spells, which makes him wonder, could these two talismans be made by a Jindan cultivator?
"When I'm on patrol in the future, I might run into danger. These two talismans might be able to produce unexpected results at the critical moment."

Li Mo then went to the market at the foot of the mountain.

He first purchased a large number of medium and low-level basic refining materials needed by weapon refiners, and then purchased a batch of medium and low-level spiritual wood and parts needed by puppeteers, intending to use them as consumables for future practice of weapon refining and puppetry, and sold some basic materials that were not used.

In addition, he had also purchased some materials in the Saiwai Camp before, but the quantity was limited due to military rank restrictions.

Since he had returned the storage bag of Dongfang Magatama, apart from the top-grade magical binding rope from the second Ruoyu substitute puppet of the Lu State Zaizao Sect, all the other gains on his body were accidentally obtained from the cave in the Baili Mountains.

But he doesn't plan to sell his windfall here to avoid getting into trouble.

As for the foundation-building pill, it would be harmless if it was sold here.

That's it.

Li Mo came to the pharmacy where he had sold Foundation Establishment Pills twice before.

After half a stick of incense time.

When Li Mo left the pharmacy, he recalled the shopkeeper's stunned expression when he heard that he wanted to sell the third Foundation Establishment Pill, and suddenly felt funny.

So he also bought a large number of auxiliary spiritual medicines needed for refining the elixir, as well as a large number of auxiliary spiritual medicines needed for refining the Qi Gathering Pill.

The Qi Gathering Pill is a pill for the Qi training stage, and the Spirit Gathering Pill is a pill for the foundation building stage.

You should know that he had quite a few Piaomiao Demon Pills for the Qi training period on him, more than twenty in total. Therefore, he spent nearly two thousand spirit stones just to buy auxiliary spiritual medicines. In addition to the large number of auxiliary spiritual medicines for refining Qi Gathering Pills, he not only spent the spirit stones he got from selling the Foundation Establishment Pills, but also lost more than two thousand spirit stones!
in this way.

After Li Mo made a large purchase, he had used up all the low-grade spirit stones except for a dozen medium-grade spirit stones.

But only three days later.

Li Mo brought more than twenty bottles of Qi Gathering Pills to sell in large quantities!

Because they were in a hurry, after Li Mo bargained, he finally took away more than 6,000 spirit stones, took the transfer order from the Special Service Hall, and boarded the flying boat that was about to sail to Anle City.

This almost instantly emptied out all the spirit stones of the pharmacy, forcing the owner to step in personally and urgently allocate a batch of spirit stones.

(End of this chapter)