From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 43, Fifth Floor
Qin Chuan had a very fruitful day, with a smile on his face all day. After returning home that night, he couldn't wait to take stock of his many "trophies" that he had acquired for free.

Although Guo Shanshan and Liu Shichang's downfall was related to him, he was able to take advantage of the situation, which was an unexpected bonus.

A thought suddenly occurred to him:
"Entering those vital immortal sects like the Immortal Trial Division and the Xie Zhi Academy would be as difficult as ascending to heaven, and relying on confiscating property to quickly increase one's strength is probably wishful thinking. But throughout the year, there are quite a few immortal officials who violate the heavenly rules. If we can get some information in advance and wait outside those people's caves or government offices, we might be able to get another advantage like we did today."

Although this business doesn't sound very glamorous, and it's practically like scavenging for scraps, it's undeniably a risk-free and highly profitable venture.

The amount of Dharma essence that peeked out from under the fingernails of the two abbots was worth nearly a thousand taels of Dharma. Such feedback made it impossible for him to ignore this "blue ocean".

"Let's try to extract the 'Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique' from this tattered futon and see just how profound the methods practiced by Foundation Establishment cultivators really are?"

Qin Chuan chose the most precious futon he had acquired that day.

"refining!"

Such Foundation Establishment Realm immortal techniques are extremely rare and precious, far more valuable than pure Dharma essence, so he chose to refine them without hesitation.

The Heavenly Furnace trembled slightly upon hearing this.

Qin Chuan lightly covered the futon with his palm, and the invisible Great Dao Furnace instantly absorbed all the Dharma essence contained within it, taking it into the Niwan Palace Furnace.

This refining process is estimated to take three hours.

This once again confirms that as Qin Chuan's cultivation level improves, the speed of refining and reprocessing also increases.

Three hours passed.

The barking of dogs outside the window gradually subsided, the crowing of roosters rose and fell in the alley, the stars were sparse, and the sky was beginning to glow with a gray-white dawn.

boom!
When the time came, Qin Chuan looked inward at the Heavenly Essence Furnace in his Niwan Palace. The moment the furnace lid was lifted, countless golden characters burst forth, forming a profound and mysterious incantation, which was then fully integrated into his cultivation.

[Refining successful; the furnace master has obtained the first three levels of the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique.]

[Cultivation Technique: Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique]

The advanced Taoist arts of the Heavenly Court are divided into thirteen levels.

The first nine levels correspond to the nine levels of Qi Refining.

The last four layers correspond to the four stages of foundation building: before, during, after, and at the completion stage.

This method was created a thousand years ago by the great immortal Kong Mo of the Blessed Land of Rooster Crowing. It is a top-level immortal technique for gathering and refining the spiritual energy of the five elements of heaven and earth to build an immortal foundation.

During the Qi Refining stage, one must first integrate the five elements of true Qi to forge the Five Elements Immortal Foundation.

The higher the quality of the Five Elements True Qi cultivated during the Qi Refining stage, the higher the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

If a cultivator can condense all five elements of true qi to a level comparable to the ninth level of Qi Refining before breaking through the barrier, the success rate of Foundation Establishment can reach 70% by utilizing the principle of mutual generation of the five elements.

After establishing the foundation, there is a greater chance that a 'Minor Five Elements Divine Power' will emerge within the Dao Seed.

After creating this skill, the Immortal Kongmo offered it to the Heavenly Court, and it has now become a required practice for many high-ranking celestial officials.

As the general principles flowed through his mind, Qin Chuan immediately felt a surge of abundant spiritual power arise in his dantian, far surpassing the level of the "Neiyuan Gong," "Yimu Qingtian Jue," and "Ranmu Lihuo Jue" he had previously cultivated.

This is the experience of the third level of the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique.

At this moment, even though it was only the first three levels of the mental cultivation method, he was able to directly control the wood and fire energies that he had originally cultivated, causing them to swirl and merge in his dantian.

The next moment, propelled by these two streams of pure true energy, his Immortal Foundation Technique broke through to the fourth level, perfectly matching his current cultivation level.

That's not all.

Qin Chuan instinctively sensed that since he had already upgraded the two major techniques to a high level and they were of excellent quality, he might be able to try to push the Immortal Foundation Technique to the fifth level—that is, help him break through to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

Rumble—

Both techniques have had their internal energy enhanced, and when they are activated, they surge and flow powerfully.

However, as Qin Chuan continued to advance his Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique, his need for spiritual energy from heaven and earth became extremely terrifying.

The spiritual energy in the He family compound was simply insufficient to support his breakthrough to the fifth level of Qi Refining.

He immediately realized the key point:
"Although the quality of my Yi Wood and Li Fire energies far surpasses that of ordinary beings, no matter how high the quality, it is still just a grain of gold; while the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique requires transforming all of one's power into this kind of 'true gold,' which consumes a massive amount of spiritual energy..."

Cultivation relies most fundamentally on spiritual energy resources!
The He family mansion could no longer satisfy him.

Qin Chuan suddenly realized why most cultivators could only rely on slow and painstaking effort:
Because ordinary Qi cultivators don't get much spiritual energy resources.

If he has no other means of support, he can only give up quick success and accumulate experience slowly.

Fortunately, he still had some resources at hand that could help with his cultivation.

With a flick of his wrist, the elixir bottle and wine pot that had been hidden inside the room came into his hands.

It was after the chanting ceremony that Ji Yuqi, the host, and another fellow Daoist gave him this "Qi Gathering Pill" as a token of gratitude for sharing the Daoist Ancestor's insights. This "Qi Gathering Pill" is a precious elixir that enhances spiritual energy; one bottle is equivalent to two or three months of arduous cultivation for an ordinary Qi cultivator.

Gum!

Qin Chuan took the elixir and continued his breakthrough.

boom!
With abundant internal energy flowing into his body, the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique, which had been gradually stagnating, regained its momentum...

An hour later.

The elixir bottle was empty, and the spirit wine was all gone; Qin Chuan's cheeks flushed slightly with wine.

boom!
Suddenly, a powerful aura erupted from his dantian.

The fifth level of the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique!

Fifth level of Qi training!

Breakthrough achieved.

After reaching the fourth level of Qi Refining, cultivation is no longer about the transformation of spiritual energy, but rather a process of continuously refining spiritual power.

With each breakthrough, the quality of spiritual energy and cultivation level double, until the ninth level of Qi Refining is reached, which meets the requirements for Foundation Establishment.

call--

Feeling the surge of spiritual energy within his body, which had increased three to four times, Qin Chuan opened his eyes and looked at the empty pill bottle and wine pot. Instead of feeling much joy at his breakthrough, he fell into deep thought:

"These elixirs and spirit wines are worth no less than one or two hundred spirit essences, and such a huge amount has been consumed just from the fourth to the fifth level. If one wants to cultivate to the ninth level of Qi Refining without having to endure the arduous process, how much spirit essence resources would one need?"

A Taoist priest who works in the fire industry earns only two dollars a month, and even after becoming a full-fledged priest, he earns no more than four dollars.

This means that even without eating or drinking, one would need to save up two years' worth of salary just to make a breakthrough—and that's only for the fourth or fifth level.

The further you go, the greater the cost becomes.

Unless one is wealthy, lives in a high spiritual area, and owns a private cave dwelling.

He also heard that there was a "reception cave" in Jiuchuan County, specially prepared for high-ranking celestial officials, with extremely rich spiritual energy.

Many cultivators, due to insufficient spiritual veins in their homes and inability to afford to buy a residence in a spiritual area, can only spend money to rent a place for a few days in order to break through their cultivation realm.

Take a deep breath.

He glanced at the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique that had already been entered into the panel:

"It seems we can directly add points to the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique, but how much mana would that require?"

Looking at the current progress of the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique, it's currently at the beginning of the fifth level.

This is no longer magic, but rather one's own cultivation.

Qin Chuan tentatively invested 10 points of Dharma Essence into it.

But see.

The crystal ball, symbolizing progress, rippled slightly, like water droplets.

"No progress at all?"

After a long while, Qin Chuan finally gleaned a sliver of data from the slight fluctuations in progress: a 0.2% increase.

This means that to break through to the sixth level of the Five Elements Immortal Foundation Technique, at least five thousand Dharma Essences are required.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a Foundation Establishment Realm Immortal Technique.

And this still didn't solve the problem of spiritual energy.

Because he thought of something.

Even if one's cultivation level increases, it still requires spiritual energy to replenish it.

Otherwise, what use is it to have a high level of understanding but no real cultivation?

Take, for example, the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique. Although he has reached the required level and can use it, how big is the gap between him and a true Foundation Establishment stage cultivator?
Cultivation requires consuming real spiritual energy resources to transform them into power.

He was thinking:

"Where can we find so many spiritual energy resources? Should we take on a few more positions as spiritual plant consultants to make money?"

(End of this chapter)