Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 441 Foundation Establishment Level 8
After their conversation, Tani returned to the Xuanjian Sect's mountain gate.

The next day, he returned to the meeting place and brought news of the leader of the Xuanjian Sect.

"The chief is willing to send people to Xuan Guang Island to mine Soul-Severing Crystals, but Fellow Daoist Song needs to pay a deposit of 30,000 spirit stones. In addition, each Soul-Severing Crystal will be sold for 30 spirit stones. If the final amount mined is less than 30,000 spirit stones, it will still be sold for 30,000 spirit stones."

A Soul-Severing Crystal costs thirty spirit stones, and a hundred of them only cost three thousand spirit stones, which is less than the cost price of a Yin Soul Pearl.

“Okay, I agree.” Song Xian agreed without hesitation, and with a flick of his wrist, he took out 30,000 spirit stones from his storage bag.

Although he didn't know how many Soul-Severing Crystals could be exchanged for a Ghost Crystal in the Blood Moon Alien Realm, he figured that the price was definitely worth it, since it was something that could help ghosts cultivate.

Tani accepted the spirit stone: "The Xuanjian Sect's leader intends for the transaction to be conducted once a year. I wonder what Fellow Daoist Song's opinion is?"

“A year is definitely not enough. It would take me more than half a year to make a round trip. I intend to trade once every five years. No matter how many Soul-Severing Crystals they collect, I will buy them all.”

Tani pondered, "If it's five years, I'm afraid they'll raise the deposit."

“Spirit stones are not a problem. How about this: let’s make our first deal a year-long one. After a year, I will come to collect the Soul-Severing Crystals and see how much they have mined. Then we’ll see how things go.”

"Alright, then I'll tell their leader the terms."

Tani responded and left. He returned the next day and said that Xuanjian Sect had accepted the spirit stones and agreed to the conditions.

.........

The wind howled, the rain poured down, and the sea surged with waves, one after another, seemingly endless.

Song Xian emerged from the seabed, glanced at the blood moon hanging high above, and sped off in the southwest. By dawn, he arrived at a sea reef, landed, and with a flick of his wrist, took out the Blood Soul Banner.

A flash of light appeared on the banner, and Number One emerged from within, bowing to him: "What are your orders, envoy?"

Song Xian handed over all the Yin Soul Pearls and twenty Soul-Severing Crystals he had refined over the years to it, instructing it to take these Soul-Severing Crystals to the White Wolf Clan leader in the Eastern Wilderness to exchange them for crystal cores.

Number One agreed to the matter and disappeared in a whirlwind.

Watching its figure disappear from sight, Song Xian sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and began to cultivate his martial arts.

He planned to leave Number One in this foreign land from now on, entrusting him with full responsibility for the trade here, so he did not go to the Eastern Wilderness with him.

He let Number One handle this transaction independently to see if he was capable of handling it on his own.

……

Time flies like water; in the blink of an eye, several months have passed.

Song Xian hid in a stone cave on a sea reef, practicing the Desolate Heaven Expansion Knowledge Technique day after day.

On this day, he was refining his sea of ​​consciousness as usual.

Suddenly, a vibration came from inside the storage bag. He opened his eyes abruptly and immediately realized that the strangeness was caused by the Blood Soul Banner in the storage bag. He was overjoyed because this strange movement was the same as when Number One broke through to the Ghost General cultivation back then.

When he took out the Blood Soul Banner and used his divine sense to investigate, he indeed found that the ghost in the second layer of restrictions was surrounded by black light, and countless black gases were surging into its body from all around.

As time went by, a lot of black gas merged into the light around him, gradually becoming one with him. His appearance gradually changed until he transformed into the shape of a ghost general.

Once everything had settled down, Song Xian's mind stirred, and a flash of light appeared on the banner. The ghost that had already advanced to the level of Ghost General emerged from the second layer of restrictions, its gaze fixed on him. Then it bowed down, knelt on one knee, covered its face with its palm, and paid its respects.

At the same time, a slightly hoarse bubble sound rang in my mind.

"Greetings, messenger."

"Did your master order you to obey me?" Having learned from his experience with Number One, Song Xian didn't waste any words and went straight to the point.

"Yes."

"When did you become aware of your master's existence?"

“Our master has always been by our side, from the moment we were born.”

Seeing that he couldn't get anything of value out of it, Song Xian got tired of arguing and said, "From now on, your name is Number Two."

.........

Several months later, Number One finally returned to Rock Reef Island. It had completed the mission well, exchanging all one hundred-plus Yin Soul Pearls for Ghost Crystal Cores. In addition, it reached a new agreement with the White Wolf Clan leader.

After seeing the Soul-Severing Crystal, the White Wolf Clan leader expressed his willingness to exchange two hundred Soul-Severing Crystals for a low-grade first-tier crystal core.

Two hundred Soul-Severing Crystals cost only six thousand spirit stones, while a single Yin Soul Pearl costs several thousand spirit stones, and four pearls are needed to exchange for one crystal core.

Clearly, trading with Soul-Severing Crystals is much less expensive than trading with Yin Soul Pearls.

After Song Xian took the crystal core, he gave Number One a new instruction: to go to the Eastern Wilderness to find a more powerful trading partner.

He has now found the Soul-Severing Crystal Mine, and a large number of Soul-Severing Crystals will be in his hands in the future. However, the White Wolf Clan is not strong enough to absorb so many Soul-Severing Crystals. He needs to cooperate with a more powerful force to trade a large number of crystal cores.

However, this does not mean abandoning the White Wolf Clan. The White Wolf Clan can be considered as a backup option. Until a more reliable partner is found, the White Wolf Clan will still be needed.

Even if we find a stronger force to cooperate with in the future, we can still give some of the goods to the White Wolf Clan. In short, we can't put all our eggs in one basket.

The more partners one finds, the more initiative one gains and the stronger one's bargaining power becomes.

In addition to sending Number One to the Eastern Wilderness to develop new partners, Song Xian also left Number Two behind, letting it guard the reef as a liaison between him and Number One.

This would not only save him a lot of time, but also avoid the risk of being discovered by the ghosts here.

Whenever Number One exchanges for a ghost crystal core, he gives it to Number Two, and he only needs to pick up the goods through Number Two.

Leaving behind two generals, Song Xian departed and returned to the South China Sea.

.........

The weather was fine and sunny, and the breeze was intoxicating.

In the northern part of the Muhe Grassland, outside the gate of the Xuanjian Sect, Song Xian descended in a beam of light. From there, he traveled to the South China Sea and spent more than half a year in the Blood Moon Alien Realm. This round trip had taken nearly a year and a half.

Not long after, Tani emerged from within: "Fellow Daoist Song, you have finally arrived. The Xuanjian Sect has excavated more than 1,300 Soul-Severing Crystals on that island in a year, and they are just waiting for you to collect them."

Hearing this, Song Xian couldn't help but feel disappointed. The efficiency was much lower than he had imagined. More than a hundred people could only mine a little over a thousand Soul-Severing Crystals a year, which, according to the exchange rate, was only enough for six low-grade ghost crystal cores.

"Could you talk to the leader of the Xuanjian Sect and ask him to add more people to mine?" "Manpower is not the problem, the key is that we can't supply food and drink. A round trip to Xuanguang Island on a second-tier spirit ship takes more than half a year, and a ship's worth of food is only enough to feed a hundred or so people for more than half a year. If there are more people, it won't be enough to feed them."

"Couldn't we send two spirit ships to transport the grain together? That way, we could double our manpower."

“It is possible, but the more spirit ships there are, the higher the risk. Fellow Daoist Song, you know that these second-tier spirit ships are not cheap, and the Xuanjian Sect doesn’t have many in total.”

Upon hearing this, Song Xian stopped insisting.

After all, the number of Soul-Severing Crystals on Xuan Guang Island is limited. If there are many people, they can mine them all sooner, while if there are few people, they can mine them slowly. However, the total number of Soul-Severing Crystals that can be obtained remains the same.

More than 1,300 Soul-Severing Crystals, as previously agreed, each cost 30 spirit stones, for a total value of 40,000 spirit stones.

The Soul-Severing Crystals were about the size of spirit stones, and more than a thousand of them could easily fit into a high-level storage bag. Song Xian paid the spirit stones, took the Soul-Severing Crystals, and arranged a meeting place with Tani for their next transaction before leaving.

Instead of returning directly to Bianxi City, he made another trip to the Blood Moon Alien Realm, handing over more than 1,300 Soul-Severing Crystals to Number Two, instructing him to find Number One in the Eastern Wilderness and exchange them for Ghost Crystal Cores.

He did not wait for the return of the second one, but went straight back to the South China Sea.

.........

After returning to Bianxi City, Song Xian first summoned Jiang Zichen, Huang Ye and others to learn about the sect's recent situation. His trip took nearly two years, and upon learning that everything in the sect was in good order, he was relieved.

Afterwards, he summoned Qi Xiaobai and told him about the Purple Infant Fruit he had obtained on this trip, instructing him to find the recipe for the Primordial Spirit Pill and then refine it.

Qi Xiaobai gladly accepted the order. For an alchemist, the opportunity to try refining new pills is something they would be eager to do. Mastering more pill refining methods can only be beneficial to them.

Song Xian also believed in his alchemy skills, and therefore decided to hand over the Purple Infant Fruit to him.

In fact, with his cultivation level, it would be quite difficult for him to refine pills like the Yuan Shen Dan. Song Xian had a better option: he could ask Han Yuan for help.

However, if you go to Han Yuan first, you may need to pay a portion of the refined Yuan Shen Pills as a reward. This is the rule in the cultivation world, at least 20% of the effort fee.

There's only one Purple Infant Fruit plant, and who knows how many Nascent Soul Pills it can produce? We have to hand over 20% of it, which isn't worth it.

Secondly, it wouldn't sound good if word got out that he had a Foundation Establishment stage alchemist in his own family, yet he had to ask a rogue cultivator outside for help. It would make it seem like he didn't trust Qi Xiaobai at all.

Although the Yuan Shen Dan is a rare item, it is not a divine elixir. It can only enhance a cultivator's spiritual sense, but it does not directly help with cultivation level. As for how many points of spiritual sense it can help increase, it is probably very limited.

Song Xianxiu possessed the Desolate Heaven Expansion Technique, which increased his spiritual power by 20% with each level he advanced. This effect was far superior to that of the Primordial Spirit Pill. Therefore, even though the Purple Infant Fruit was completely wasted and he ultimately failed to refine a single Primordial Spirit Pill, it was not a big deal for him. Thus, he entrusted the task to Qi Xiaobai to try.

.........

Life was uneventful. After Song Xian returned to the mountain gate, he spent his days either in the cultivation room or in the secluded chambers of his residence. Time flew by, and several years passed in the blink of an eye.

In the dimly lit cultivation room, he sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, cultivating his Qi as usual. At a certain moment, he suddenly opened his eyes, and a genuine smile appeared on his lips.

At this moment, spiritual energy surged out of his Linghai acupoint like a flood, flowing through his limbs and bones, and the spiritual energy around him was rising.

After a while, the spiritual energy that had been surging like a ferocious beast finally stopped and returned to the spiritual sea acupoint.

His cultivation finally broke through to the eighth level of Foundation Establishment, and his spiritual power reached 2200 points.

This breakthrough was entirely within his expectations, but he still couldn't help feeling happy.

After calming down, he closed his eyes again, but instead of continuing his meditation and cultivation, he entered the Niwan Palace and used his divine sense to enter the fragments of the Tree of Memories to examine Dong Xuanchen's memories.

Each breakthrough in his cultivation level helped him unlock more memory fragments, and this time was no exception.

He controlled the flow rate and quickly scanned through the memories that Dong Xuan had sealed away.

During this period, Dong Xuanchen did not have any particularly special experiences. Every day, besides cultivation, he studied puppet making.

He also went out with others to search for treasures, but the results were mediocre.

Even after unlocking his memories, Dong Xuanchen still failed to cultivate the Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Power within the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

This disappointed Song Xian somewhat. He had hoped to find a shortcut to cultivating this supernatural power through Dong Xuanxuan's memories, but he hadn't expected that Dong Xuanchen had made no progress over the years.

Of course, Dong Xuanchen didn't do nothing; he was searching for treasures that could collect yin and yang energy.

He spent a lot of effort finding people to refine a lot of Yin Soul Pearls and Yang Abyss Pearls. The former can gather Yin energy, and the latter can absorb Yang energy.

He placed the Yin Soul Pearl and the Yang Abyss Pearl together in a secret room, released the Yin and Yang energies stored inside, and then cultivated in the room, but the effect was mediocre.

The reason is that he cannot absorb and refine the Yin and Yang energies. He cannot retain the Yin and Yang energies in his body, so he cannot achieve the Yin-Yang harmony described in the Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Power. Without harmony, there is no way to materialize and unfold it.

After years of effort yielding no results, Dong Xuanchen eventually gave up cultivating this supernatural power and instead turned to cultivating the Gate of Revelation in the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

Just like cultivating the Taiji Yin-Yang Divine Power, cultivating the Gate of Revelation is also extremely difficult. The reason is the same as his inability to absorb Yin and Yang energies; he also cannot sense the faint fluctuations in space.

Up to this point in his memory, he was still completely clueless about cultivating the Gate of Revelation.

After quickly reviewing Dong Xuanchen's memories of the past ten years, it was already late at night. Song Xian left the cultivation room and returned to his residence. A disciple came up to him and bowed, saying, "Sect Leader, Uncle Qi has arrived and has been waiting in the waiting room for a long time."

He nodded and entered the hall. Qi Xiaobai saw him arrive, stood up with a smile and bowed, taking out a black bottle from his hand: "Sect Leader, the Yuan Shen Pill has been refined."

"Oh?" Song Xian took the medicine bottle, opened it, and saw that there were nine round, purple pills lined up inside.

"Junior Brother Qi, you've worked hard." Song Xian didn't ask him how many he had refined in total. Since he had entrusted the Purple Infant Fruit to him, it meant he completely trusted him, and there was no need to ask about the quantity with some doubt.

He believed that Qi Xiaobai would not show favoritism and secretly hide the refined Yuan Shen Pill.

"I still thank you, Sect Leader, for giving me this opportunity to try my hand. The successful refining of the Primordial Spirit Pill this time has made me feel that my pill refining skills have reached a new level. It's just a pity that, since it was my first time, I wasted a lot of materials. If I had more Purple Infant Fruit, I would definitely not have wasted so much material and would have been able to refine more pills." Qi Xiaobai replied with a smile.

He had actually obtained the recipe for the Primordial Spirit Pill long ago, but because he was not confident, he had not started making it. In the past few years, he had been using other pills to test his skills until he felt that his skills were good enough to refine the Primordial Spirit Pill. That's why it took him so long to refine it.

"Thank you for your hard work. Here, take this! It will be good for you too." Song Xian poured out a Yuan Shen Pill from the medicine bottle and handed it to him.

"This..." Qi Xiaobai was tempted, but too embarrassed to reach out and take it.

"Don't be so polite, Junior Brother Qi. This is what you deserve. Strengthening your divine sense will also benefit your alchemy."

"Then thank you very much, Sect Leader." Qi Xiaobai did not feign reluctance and reached out to accept the pill.

The two chatted for a few more minutes before he took his leave.

(End of this chapter)