Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 294 The Sprouts of One Hundred and Eight Toads
Inside the cave.

Fang Shu was completely naked, without a single piece of clothing.

He sat cross-legged inside the medicine cauldron where the pills were stored, with charcoal burning beneath it, turning the entire cauldron a deep red.

A rich medicinal aroma was constantly emanating from the medicinal liquid in the cauldron, causing the live fish in the cave's waterways to continuously roll to the surface, inhaling and exhaling this medicinal fragrance.

At this moment, Fang Shu's blood and qi were surging to the extreme. If it weren't for his tough body, he would have already bled from all seven orifices and had to quit the state of taking medicine and cultivating.

Suddenly, a series of banging sounds rang out from his body.

Fang Shu raised his palm and slammed it hard against his chest, while making hand seals and chanting incantations to forcibly calm the increasingly agitated blood and qi within his body.

He then slowly opened his eyes, made a grasping motion, and a shimmering silver pill appeared in front of him.

Fang Shu slowly uttered, "This is the last one."

More than a month has passed since he went into seclusion to cultivate. He has already consumed seventeen of the Innate Bone-Changing Pills that he purchased for two merit points.

The efficacy of this pill truly lives up to its reputation as a top-notch product for strengthening the body and nourishing the vital energy. It allowed Fang Shu's Dragon Whale Nourishing Technique to improve significantly without the need for further cultivation, and it also subtly refined the Cordyceps Spirit Root within his body.

However, there is still a hurdle to overcome before Fang Shu can cultivate the true energy of the Hundred Toads.

This made him vaguely realize that perhaps only those with the legendary spiritual roots of heaven and earth, or at least those with superior spiritual roots, could cultivate the Hundred Toad True Qi.

For someone with only average spiritual roots like him, it was far too much of a stretch.

"I can only hope that this batch of pills will truly have a transformative effect, just as described in the ancient notes," Fang Shu thought to himself.

The Innate Bone-Changing Pill has a wonderful effect when taken for the first seventeen pills, but the effect is limited. Only after taking all eighteen pills will the full medicinal effect be activated.

Fang Shu was hoping that he could take advantage of the accumulated medicinal power to break through the shackles and cultivate the Hundred Toad True Qi!
Immediately, he calmed himself down and slowly began to recuperate.

After sitting quietly for about three days, he skillfully and casually swallowed the eighteenth Innate Bone-Changing Pill.

Once this pill enters the stomach, it will not dissolve. In fact, if the user does not actively use their true energy to refine it, it will be excreted in the same way it was ingested.

While Fang Shu was retrieving the elixir, he overheard the old alchemist reminiscing about an interesting incident that happened inside the temple.

It is said that there was once a prodigy in the temple, who was proud, had good comprehension, and had powerful backers, but lacked natural talent.

So, before he even reached the Foundation Establishment stage, his backer spent a huge sum of money to exchange for a batch of Innate Bone-Changing Pills for him. But unexpectedly, when the prodigy was taking the pills, he carelessly let one of his family's spirit pet dogs swallow it.

I thought the whole batch of pills would fail because of this, and all my efforts would be in vain. But who would have thought that the old dog was quite intelligent? Knowing that it had caused a great disaster, it didn't dare to refine the pills inside its body, so it obediently excreted them intact...

As for how this amusing incident ended, the old alchemist smiled but remained silent, only saying that the prodigy later successfully established his foundation and never encountered any further problems.

On the altar in the cave, Fang Shu was completely focused on the pill in his abdomen.

Gurgling!

As his true energy surged, the shimmering silver pill slowly melted, and streams of medicinal power immediately seeped into Fang Shu's body, flowing throughout his entire body along with his blood.

Finally, after the pill was completely refined, Fang Shu felt a burning sensation all over his body, and all the medicinal power that had accumulated in his body over the years began to stir.

He immediately felt as if there were burning coals in his chest and abdomen.

Unable to contain himself, he caused his blood and qi to surge violently. With a thud, he actually shattered the medicine cauldron he was sitting on using only his physical strength.

The medicinal liquid used as an adjuvant in the cauldron fell from the altar and flowed into the waterway inside the cave, causing the fish to splash and fight over it.

Even though these medications were only intended as supplementary treatments, they were still too potent for the live fish, causing many of them to float belly-up in the waterway.

Fang Shu himself felt as if his belly was about to flip over, and his body felt like it was about to explode.

Immediately, he began to dance and perform the Dragon Whale Nourishing Technique on the altar, using this technique to dissolve the surging medicinal power within his body and transform it into his own true energy, so as to open the Hundred Toad Barrier.

Every little bit, every thread!
Fang Shu's true energy, which had been stagnant for a long time, finally began to grow slowly but steadily.

He endured this rigorous training on the altar for seven days straight.

On the seventh day, the true energy in his body was already extremely close to that of the Hundred Toad. He even felt that the efficiency of the Cordyceps Spirit Root in his body in absorbing and releasing spiritual energy had increased by more than 10% compared to before taking the medicine!
Such a spiritual root, although it is still of medium quality, is not far from being of superior quality.

However, the importance that the Hundred Toad True Qi placed on physical bones and foundations ultimately exceeded Fang Shu's expectations. Even with the help of eighteen Bone-Changing Pills, he still felt that the final hurdle was difficult to overcome.

So, Fang Shu made a snap decision, suddenly grabbed a handful of spirit pills from his seed bag, stuffed them into his mouth, and then extravagantly threw a hundred taels of mid-grade spirit stones onto the altar, crushing several of them with his foot!
He scoffed inwardly, "Insufficient foundation and innate talent? Then I'll use spirit stones and spirit herbs to forge a solid foundation!"

He forcibly ingested the thousand-year-old elixir, not by holding it in his mouth, but by swallowing it directly.

A surge of equally pure spiritual energy instantly erupted from his abdomen, causing his internal organs to tremble.

After those mid-grade spirit stones were crushed, their spiritual energy also surged up and, with the support of the formation, rushed in, penetrating his body.

Under such a pincer attack from both inside and outside, Fang Shu's spiritual pressure intensified. He felt as if his body was being repeatedly hammered in a furnace, risking shattering and collapsing.

But this scene, though dangerous, was within his expectations.

With the help of the Dragon Whale Nourishing Method, Fang Shu had already refined his physical body to the perfect state of the Six Tribulations, making him no less capable than the so-called immortals of the bedroom martial arts.

It was precisely because he possessed such a powerful physical body that he dared to push himself to such extremes.

With such a heavy bet, the true energy within his body indeed surged once more, beginning to expand in wisps.

As Fang Shu increasingly felt as if his physical body was about to explode, his true energy also drew ever closer to Bai Chan.

This situation deeply shocked him.

Finally, Kung Fu pays off.

With a snap, a sound like a bubble bursting appeared inside his body. His ninety-nine toads of true energy shattered the last barrier, successfully transforming into a hundred toads.

Gurgling! And even after breaking through this constraint, the true energy within Fang Shu's body did not stop increasing.

After crossing the threshold, it surged forward with tremendous force, growing at a rate far exceeding that before.

In just half a day, Fang Shu's true energy increased from one hundred to one hundred and two. Seeing this, he gritted his teeth again and, apart from keeping three thousand-year-old spirit pills for his own survival, consumed the rest in sequence.

Furthermore, he crushed another ten taels of mid-grade spirit stones on the altar, releasing a large amount of pure spiritual power.

Such abundant resources, though not as heavy as the entire spiritual vein required to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage, are still unimaginable even to the scions of noble families within the temple.

However, Fang Shu didn't seem to care much about the cost.

The purpose of accumulating so much wealth is precisely to be able to make a big splash at crucial moments!

With a massive influx of resources, his true energy increased once again, eventually reaching a total of one hundred and eight toads before stopping again, seemingly having encountered another threshold.

Fang Shu could vaguely sense that above the 108 Toads, there was another realm. If he could cross it, the benefits he could gain would surely be even greater!
Unfortunately, both his physical body and his wealth had been almost completely depleted during this cultivation, leaving him with no energy left to advance to the next level.

For a moment, he thought to himself, "I have a total of fifteen merit points. After deducting one for my second uncle, one for my senior sister Fang Lu, and one for my master, and three for expenses, I still have nine left..."

"Perhaps after the seclusion ends, I can go to the temple to exchange for some tonifying and strengthening medicine, solidify my foundation, and see if I can still climb a little higher?"

But in a moment of reflection, he reluctantly put those thoughts aside.

The Innate Bone-Changing Pill was already the most advanced foundation-strengthening pill among the five internal organs. If he hadn't exchanged it for the foundation-building insights of his predecessors, he wouldn't even know about this medicine.

Not to mention that there is no second batch of Innate Bone-Changing Pills in the temple, even if there were, he had already taken it once, and the second time would have little effect, and it would just be like a candy bean.

Unless... he can ask the Foundation Establishment Immortals in the temple to help him go to regions like the Vast Ocean Immortal City, where there are Refining God Immortals, to purchase even more powerful elixirs and medicines, only then will he have any hope of breaking through the barrier of the 108 Toad True Qi again.

Fang Shu shook his head, not indulging in such wishful thinking.

He thought to himself:

"Only those with the spiritual roots of heaven and earth can possess the true energy of the Hundred Toads."

Above that, perhaps only those disciples of immortals and Taoist sages can accomplish this.

He, a peasant from the mortal realm, has now, through various fortuitous circumstances, cultivated to the level of 108 Toads, which is already a breakthrough from the shackles of his own innate constitution, far exceeding the imagination of the disciples of the five sects of Mount Lu. He should know when to stop.

As soon as the thought settled, Fang Shu calmed his mind and began to slowly gather the surging true energy around his body.

Seven days later, he finished his practice and then withdrew from his meditative state.

After breaking through the Hundred Toad Realm, Fang Shu immediately sensed the increased activity of the spiritual energy around him upon opening his eyes, far surpassing what he experienced before his seclusion.

He also felt completely refreshed, and his internal energy circulated extremely smoothly, twice as much as before.

Taking into account the thickness of his true qi, if he were to fight someone, his magical power would probably be more than three times that of someone at the same level, based solely on his true qi.

One person can take on three!

With a joyful stride, Fang Shu looked at the messy cave dwelling without finding it chaotic at all.

He waved his sleeve, gathering up all the broken fragments of the cauldron.

Then he tentatively took out the peach blossom cloud and used the cloud-restricting spell he had already mastered to manipulate it.

As a result, Fang Shu was surprised to find that when he used the true energy of the 108 Toads to control this cloud of smoke, its effects were comparable to the Seven Tribulations level mentioned in the Cloud Forbidden Technique.

He had not yet broken through to the Foundation Establishment stage, yet he had already mastered a cloud-riding technique equivalent to the Foundation Establishment level!
If he were to reach the Foundation Establishment stage and fully master this Cloud Restriction Technique, the cloud-riding effect he would unleash would be at the top level among the Seven Tribulations, or even comparable to the Eight Tribulations!
Fang Shu was invigorated and said happily:
"Is this the power brought about by the accumulated strength and the true energy of the Hundred Toads?"

In an instant, he realized that his previous decision to invest heavily in resources at any cost was indeed a wise one.

After carefully reviewing the benefits brought by the Hundred Toads True Qi, Fang Shu's mind gradually calmed down.

But as he strolled to the altar, his mind was still filled with joy, as if he had been drinking.

According to various assessments within the Daoist talisman, his chances of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage are already as high as 99%!
Such a probability, unless one incurs divine wrath and is struck by lightning, is practically a foregone conclusion.

Fang Shu even considered whether he should start building his foundation right now.

Unfortunately, even the legendary Dao vein foundation building still requires the assistance of spiritual veins, and the spiritual energy and pressure required cannot be built with spirit stones.

Even if it could be built with spirit stones, the necessary array formations would be beyond Fang Shu's capabilities. At least as far as he knew, none of the five sects of Mount Lu possessed such methods; they could only honestly gather and refine spirit veins, relying on the power of heaven and earth to build their foundations.

Fang Shu felt at ease and thought unhurriedly, "I'll wait for the Foundation Establishment Conference to be held. After receiving the spiritual vein reward from the temple, it won't be too late to establish my foundation."

Coincidentally, he also heard that at the Foundation Establishment Conference, even the Five Internal Organs Master would make an appearance to personally preach and teach the Dharma to these Foundation Establishment seeds.

The teachings of someone who has achieved alchemy are bound to be insightful and comprehensive. Even if the speaker only talks about the method of establishing a foundation on the spot, the various points mentioned will still help Fang Shu to identify and fill in any gaps in his knowledge.

After thinking it over, Fang Shu suppressed the urge to build his foundation.

He sat down cross-legged, intending to use the remaining time to properly cultivate his skills.

If there is any free time, I will try to use the Hundred Toads True Qi to refine the white bone relic and see if I can transform it into a white bone flying sword or a white bone jumping pill according to the sword technique inheritance.

but.

In the days that followed, while Fang Shu was cultivating, his mind would often wander to his own Gu worms and the blood in his body.

Whenever he meditates and cultivates his Qi, his blood resonates with his Gu worms, giving him the idea of ​​refining Gu!

At first, he thought it was just that he had been practicing Qi cultivation for too long and had neglected Gu techniques, which had caused his distracting thoughts.

As a result, the more he secluded himself, the more impulsive and difficult it became for him to suppress the urge to refine Gu poison.

But when he actually started refining Gu, and those sixth-tribulation Gu worms, and even near-seventh-tribulation Gu worms appeared, he felt genuinely dissatisfied, as if something was missing.

This sudden urge to get involved bothered him until the very day of the Foundation Establishment Conference.

It wasn't until he was about to leave that he belatedly realized:

"Alas, is this the budding of the Gu lineage?"

(End of this chapter)