Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

Over the past decade, the number of missions undertaken by the Xuan Yang Sect has doubled.

While acquiring high-grade medicinal herbs, demon corpses and demon cores, and refining ores, the sect also distributed a large number of pills and magical artifacts to enhance strength.

The strength of the sect's disciples has steadily improved.

The entire sect was thriving.

It was as if a golden age had begun.

All the disciples stuck at their bottlenecks are putting in their best efforts to earn battle merits and trying every possible way to become stronger.

Is the sect kind-hearted?

Definitely not. If the sect were truly benevolent, it wouldn't be withholding the distribution of Foundation Establishment Pills. No matter how hard the lower-level Qi Refining disciples try, they can only remain at the Qi Refining stage.

The sect will not support too many Foundation Establishment cultivators.

The Xuan Yang Sect's territory has limited resources, and the number of Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators it can support is also limited.

When a sect allocates a large amount of resources, causing the number of Foundation Establishment or Golden Core stage cultivators to increase, that's when war begins.

Chen An had already guessed that when the sect war began, Foundation Establishment Pills would become the target of all Qi Refining Peak cultivators' desperate struggles, and countless corpses would pile up into mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

For a small number of influential figures within the sect, death represents new life. Regardless of victory or defeat, as long as someone dies, more resources will be freed up and fall into their hands.

In the Crimson Dragon Mountains, there are millions of Qi Refining cultivators. No one cares about their lives. These people only need to put in their best effort to charge into the war, gain more battle merits, and exchange them for a small number of Foundation Establishment Pills.

For freedom, for family interests, for the yearning for immortality, everyone will be drawn into this crisis.

Through his connections, Chen An discovered that the Yu family, a Golden Core cultivator family, was the most prestigious weapon-refining family in the Xuan Yang Sect. They possessed numerous weapon-refining secrets, and their treasury contained countless treasures, making them one of the wealthiest families in the entire sect.

If war breaks out, the price of the large number of low-level magical artifacts held by the Yu family will increase exponentially. Even if the Yu family does not participate in the war, they will still make a fortune.

The only families that can rival the Yu family in wealth are the alchemist families of the Xuan Yang Sect, with the Shangguan family being the most prominent, followed by the Wu and Luo families.

It seems that Chen An's only option is the Yu family.

Rather than waiting for the sect's arrangements or joining other unfamiliar families, Chen An would definitely prefer to join the Yu family.

Three days later.

Chen An went to the mission hall to report for duty and receive the token unique to Foundation Establishment disciples.

The number of disciples coming and going to the Hundred Refinement Peak Mission Hall has increased several times compared to ten years ago. In the past, ordinary disciples rarely received suitable missions from the Mission Hall, and the missions that really earned spirit stones were all arranged in advance for those with connections.

Now, the sect has many tasks, and even ordinary disciples can make money, especially the one-stop business of collecting demon souls, demon cores, and demon corpses, which has made many ordinary disciples very rich.

The early disciples developed independent cultivation outside the sect, making a fortune by reselling monster materials.

At that time, Chen An was riding the wave of opportunity and made a small fortune, but it didn't attract much attention.

As for those with no background and poor skills, they won't live to spend the spirit stones they earn.

Soon, the reselling business was taken over by family members or Foundation Establishment elders within the Xuan Yang Sect.

With more people doing business, price wars break out, and the earning of spirit stones returns to square one.

Chen An sensed something was wrong early on and decisively cut off his contact with the rogue cultivators, making a small profit without attracting the covetousness of others.

Lower-level cultivators still found it easier to obtain resources such as spirit stones, magic tools, and pills than in previous years.

The elder on duty in the mission hall was a nominal elder surnamed Wang. Chen An had only met him once in many years when he visited the mission hall. On that occasion, the other elders treated him with utmost respect, highlighting his extraordinary status.

This time, when Chen An came to collect his disciple's token, he was greeted by Elder Wang.

Chen An cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, Senior Brother Wang."

"Junior Brother Chen, not bad. You actually managed to persuade the Yu family to refine your token into a defensive magic weapon." As he spoke, Old Wang took out a token engraved with Chen An's name from his storage bag.

Chen An paused slightly, then reached out and took the token, asking, "May I ask, Senior Brother Wang, what are the differences between these tokens?"

Seeing Chen An's confusion, Elder Wang explained, "Ordinary Foundation Establishment disciple tokens are like scraps compared to yours, unable to unleash much power. But your token, Junior Brother Chen, is a mid-grade defensive magic weapon made with materials from high-grade magic weapons. Even ordinary high-grade magic weapons are not as precious as this mid-grade defensive magic weapon."

"The benefits don't stop there. Ordinary Foundation Establishment disciples' tokens can only be used to open a cave dwelling fifty miles away from a second-tier spiritual vein in my Xuan Yang Sect. But your token, Junior Brother, doesn't matter even if it's a little closer to a spiritual vein."

Chen An was surprised. Approaching the second-tier spiritual vein, opening up a cave dwelling? The secluded valley where Chen An broke through to the peak of Qi Refining was a second-tier spiritual vein of Hundred Refining Peak.

If Chen An had been able to cultivate near the second-tier spiritual vein at all times, even with fewer pills, he could have reached the Foundation Establishment realm before the age of thirty-seven.

With the addition of a spirit-gathering array in the cave near the second-tier spiritual vein, Chen An was even confident that he could reach the Foundation Establishment realm before the age of thirty-four.

Within the same sect, there are completely different treatments for cultivation; this is the difference between disciples from powerful families and ordinary disciples.

The cave dwelling of the alchemist Lu Nian was only forty miles away from a second-tier spiritual vein, which was already considered a privilege for an alchemist.

Chen An, on the other hand, was able to establish his position much closer to the spiritual vein.

Yu Peiyao's identity is not simple.

It wasn't as easy as Lu Nian made it sound.

It's not just what Chen An investigated; if they were just Qi Refining stage disciples from an underutilized branch of the Yu family, how could they possibly mobilize so many resources?

When Chen An was cultivating in the Qi Refining stage, he completed countless sect missions and killed many cultivators of the same realm outside the sect.

Finally, in order to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill, he even participated in the sect's trial grounds, where he competed with disciples from the other two major sects of the Jin Kingdom, killing countless people.

Only Chen An himself knew the hardships he endured.

"Thank you for informing me, Senior Brother Wang. I understand now." Chen An cupped his hands in greeting again.

Old Wang took out a jade tablet and handed it to Chen An, saying, "Junior Brother Chen, this is my communication jade tablet. You can ask me anything you don't understand at any time."

After expressing his gratitude, Chen An left the mission hall, fiddling with the communication jade token given to him by Elder Wang as he pondered the pros and cons.

As we were about to leave the no-fly zone, a graceful figure in blue appeared in the middle of the road.

This touch of green stood quietly in the middle of the road, like a splash of green suddenly added to a landscape painting, blocking the way perfectly.

Yu Peiyao looked at Chen An curiously, while Chen An was also observing the girl in front of him, with some guesses in his mind.

Yu Peiyao withdrew her gaze, overcame her nervousness, and said in a calm tone, "Greetings, Senior Brother Chen. I am Yu Peiyao. The disciple token you just received in the mission hall was personally crafted by me."

Chen An took out the token from his storage bag, weighed it in his hand, and said softly, "Junior Sister is very beautiful, and the magic weapon she crafted is also very good."

Upon hearing the praise, Yu Peiyao blushed and said, "Uncle Lu must have told you about me, right? Does Senior Brother Chen have an answer?"

"Junior Sister Yu shouldn't have three spiritual roots, right?" As soon as Chen An said this, the surrounding air seemed to be enveloped in silence.

Will a pie fall from the sky? Will it suddenly land on Chen An's head? Chen An has never eaten one, nor has he ever seen one.

With such a beautiful woman and the background of a Golden Core family, it's easy to find even better and more talented Foundation Establishment disciples.

If someone has the potential to reach the Foundation Establishment stage, even a Golden Core expert would be tempted to take a concubine.

Why not?

Is it because the sect war has begun, and you're in such a hurry to reach the Foundation Establishment stage?

not necessarily.

There was only one answer, and Chen An had just figured it out.

Yu Peiyao is missing more than one Foundation Establishment Pill.

Other Foundation Establishment prodigies wouldn't use a large number of Foundation Establishment Pills to cultivate a useless vase with no future.

Yu Peiyao's body trembled slightly, and she said with a hint of helplessness, "Senior Brother Chen is indeed as smart as Uncle Lu said, but I didn't expect you to expose this lie on our first meeting."

"I'm not very lucky. I have four spiritual roots. Half a year ago, I tried to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm. I swallowed five Foundation Establishment Pills prepared by my family, but I failed."

"I know that even with two or three more Foundation Establishment Pills, it will still be very difficult to establish a foundation."

Chen An slowly said, "So you lied to Senior Brother Lu?"

Lu Nian did not lie to Chen An because Lu Nian's favorability rating remained unchanged, so it could only be Yu Peiyao who lied to Lu Nian, and Lu Nian only found Chen An by chance.

Yu Peiyao's voice returned to calm as she said, "The sect war is about to begin. Senior Brother Lu will not lose out by joining the Yu family and obtaining a top-grade magic weapon."

Chen An inwardly scoffed, but he gained a better understanding of the girl in front of him. At their first meeting, his favorability rating was 30, but after a few words, it rose to 40. Yu Peiyao was not angry that Chen An had revealed her spiritual root aptitude; on the contrary, her favorability rating increased.

Intelligent and emotionally stable.

It doesn't matter if they don't become partners. Someone like Yu Peiyao can still become a business partner as long as there is a shared interest.