I proved immortality with thunder magic.

Yuanfu Peak, an unnamed courtyard.

When Zhou Tai returned to his residence, he finally couldn't hold back his anger any longer.

His face was ashen as he gritted his teeth and said, "Xiao Chenglong, is it? You'd better not die easily, otherwise I'll lose one of my sources of amusement after I reach Foundation Establishment!"

He is just very shrewd, not without a temper.

The humiliation Xiao Chenglong inflicted on him today was beyond what was acceptable; how could he not be furious?

It was only because he was so shrewd that he didn't react at the time.

However, after this incident, he harbored a deep grudge against this spoiled second-generation immortal and would definitely teach him a lesson if he had the chance in the future.

After a period of anger, Zhou Tai gradually calmed down.

He didn't get the Azure Feather Crane Egg today, and was instead humiliated, which served as a wake-up call for his recent smooth sailing.

Don't be fooled by how fast he's making money now; his cultivation level is steadily improving.

However, if he fails to successfully establish his foundation even for a single day, everything he has gained will ultimately benefit others.

Those cultivators with real status and position wouldn't even consider him a nobody.

Only after successfully establishing his foundation and becoming an inner disciple can he truly be considered a significant figure in this Spirit Beast Mountain.

Moreover, if he successfully establishes his foundation, there will be another great advantage: no one will care about the fact that he started cultivating late.

For a Foundation Establishment cultivator, whether he achieves Foundation Establishment at fifty or seventy years old, the difference is not significant, especially since he possesses the rare Lightning Spirit Root aptitude.

At that time, he might still have a chance to gain the favor of a powerful cultivator and become a disciple of a strong master.

Just as Zhou Tai was reflecting on himself, Hu Qianqian returned from the Spirit Beast Hall.

Upon seeing Zhou Tai again, she immediately blamed herself, saying, "It's all Qianqian's fault. If Qianqian had informed Senior Brother Zhou sooner, he wouldn't have left empty-handed today!"

Zhou Tai was speechless at her performative personality. Coupled with his bad mood today, he wasn't in the mood to play along and simply waved his hand, saying, "Alright, I'm not blaming you for what happened today. It's just bad luck that I ran into that kind of spoiled brat!"

After thinking for a moment, he added, "Keep an eye on the Spirit Beast Hall for me. If there's any news, just send me a message."

Hearing his tone, Hu Qianqian knew he wasn't angry with her, and she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, nodding and replying, "Qianqian understands. Next time, Qianqian will definitely inform Senior Brother Zhou more quickly."

Then, knowing better, he took his leave and left, no longer getting in Zhou Tai's way.

After this incident, Zhou Tai became even more low-key. Apart from feeding frogs at Leihe Peak and Bishuitan, he rarely left Yuanfu Peak anymore.

quack!

One day, a joyful croak of a frog suddenly rang out in the courtyard of the valley.

Zhou Tai, who was resting, heard the croaking of a frog and quickly went downstairs to the pond.

The Thunder-patterned Frog Yuanbao in the pond was croaking happily, its joy clearly visible to the naked eye.

It turns out that after sleeping for several days, it finally succeeded in advancing to a mid-grade first-tier demon beast.

Zhou Tai looked at his beloved pet barking happily and a joyful smile appeared on his face.

He had raised the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao from a cub to adulthood, and it had previously rendered him great service. Seeing his beloved pet's cultivation level break through, he was as happy as if his own cultivation had broken through.

He smiled and waved to the frog in the water, saying, "Congratulations, Yuanbao."

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao suddenly opened its mouth and spat out a blue-white arc of lightning that shot towards him, flying past him a few feet away and blasting a shallow crater in the ground.

This scene startled him greatly.

Only after seeing the Thunder-Patterned Frog Yuanbao croak loudly did I realize it was joking with me.

Thinking about how he had just been tricked by a frog, his face darkened, and he glared fiercely at the frog in the water, saying, "You little idiot, that joke isn't funny at all!"

Although the power of that attack was not as great as the Lightning Strike, it was only slightly less powerful than the Lightning Serpent Dance.

Unlike the Thunderfrog, which is gifted with the ability to absorb and digest lightning power, he is not born with such talent.

If I had been hit by that arc of lightning, I would have been seriously injured, if not killed!

Seeing his expression, Thunderfrog Yuanbao seemed to realize that he had caused trouble. He immediately shut his mouth, obediently jumped to his feet, and hugged his feet to admit his mistake.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Tai snorted coldly and said, "Hmph, now you know you're wrong? From now on, without my order, you are not allowed to display this ability in front of anyone, understand?"

He had been raising frogs for many years, and had raised at least five hundred to eight hundred Thunder-patterned Frogs. How could he not understand what Yuanbao's ability just now represented?

Other Thunder-Patterned Frogs, after advancing from a low-grade Tier 1 demon beast to a mid-grade Tier 1 demon beast, may also awaken attack spells, but the power of those spells is at most comparable to a low-grade Tier 1 lightning attribute spell like "Thunder Arc Finger," and may even be inferior.

Many Thunderfrogs only become stronger through their talent for absorbing lightning, without awakening any new spells.

Therefore, Yuanbao the Thunder-Patterned Frog absolutely did not want other disciples of the Spirit Beast Mountain to know about this innate spell, otherwise, if it reached the ears of Zhang Yuanjing and Sun Jianghai, it would be hard not for them to have second thoughts.

quack!

Thunder-patterned Frog Yuanbao is an obedient and good frog. After hearing its owner's words, it immediately shouted in agreement.

Having the bearing of a frog king, it was already well-versed in the art of concealing its talents, knowing the principle that frogs that stand out die first.

Everything Zhou Tai did was for its own good; how could it not be grateful?

Time flies by in the mountains, and before he knew it, Zhou Tai had already celebrated his fifty-seventh birthday.

At fifty-seven years old, his cultivation level was still at the sixth level of Qi Refining, but he was very close to breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining.

Two months later, after taking a Three Treasures Jade Dew Pill, his cultivation level naturally broke through to the seventh level of the Qi Refining stage, officially entering the late stage of Qi Refining.

After breaking through from the mid-stage to the late-stage of Qi Refining, my magical power increased dramatically, as did my divine sense.

Because he had consumed a lot of Three Treasures Jade Dew Pills over the years, his spiritual sense had gradually increased. Now that he had broken through to the late stage of Qi Refining, the range of his spiritual sense suddenly increased to 32 feet!

This level of spiritual power is already stronger than that of cultivators at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage. Many cultivators at the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage can only project their spiritual power about 25 or 26 feet outwards!

The surge in his divine sense greatly boosted Zhou Tai's confidence in drawing a first-grade high-level thunder talisman. Shortly after his breakthrough, he began collecting resources and started experimenting.

Zhou Tai currently possesses three types of first-tier high-grade thunder talismans: Thunder Spear Talisman, Thunder Explosion Talisman, and Chain Thunder Strike Talisman.

Among them, the Chain Lightning Strike Talisman is the most difficult. Even though he had a foundation in drawing lightning strike talismans, he didn't dare to make this kind of lightning talisman his first choice.

Therefore, the first-tier high-grade thunder talisman he chose to try was the thunder spear talisman, which he considered relatively simple.

The power of this Thunder Spear Talisman is roughly equivalent to the first-tier high-grade thunder attribute spell "Thunder Spear Technique". It has a strong single-target killing power and is most suitable for dealing with some targets with strong defense.

It is worth mentioning that after breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refining, Zhou Tai also began to learn those first-tier high-grade lightning attribute spells, but his focus was still on drawing talismans.

That day, while Zhou Tai was trying to draw the Thunder Spear Talisman, he suddenly received a message from Aaron Kwok, whom he hadn't heard from in a long time. It turned out that the other party had returned to the mountain gate.

After reading the message, Zhou Tai lost interest in drawing talismans. After pondering for a moment, he replied to the other party, inviting them to come over for a chat.

While waiting for Aaron Kwok to arrive, Zhou Tai carefully considered the matters they would discuss upon meeting.

After he broke through to the late stage of Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment was no longer an unattainable goal.

Although he is 57 years old now, his qi and blood are not declining too rapidly because he has been practicing the "Turtle Spirit Health Preservation Exercise".

Three years later, he was confident that he would break through to the eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, and he would definitely be able to cultivate to the ninth level of the Qi Refining stage before the age of sixty-five.

At that time, with the effect of the "Turtle Spirit Health Preservation Exercise" in delaying the decline of qi and blood, and by purchasing one or two spiritual items that greatly increase qi and blood, he can restore his physical body's qi and blood to the state before the age of sixty, without delaying his normal foundation building.

The problem now is, where can he obtain the foundation-building spiritual item?

Over the course of more than a year, Zhou Tai had also subtly inquired about this matter with Li Hongzhi, his collaborator.

However, Li Hongzhi's answer was very disappointing.

According to Li Hongzhi, even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator like himself, obtaining another Foundation Establishment spiritual item is an extremely difficult and luck-dependent matter.

Foundation Establishment spirit items typically only appear at the auction held every ten years in Bailongfang Market.

But at that time, there were countless people eyeing these Foundation Establishment spiritual objects, including many wealthy cultivation families.

Even if Zhou Tai makes money very quickly now, he may not be able to compete with those cultivation families in the future.

Moreover, the next auction will be in two years. By then, Zhou Tai will definitely not even have the cultivation level of the ninth level of Qi Refining, and his wealth accumulation will not be up to par, so it will be virtually impossible for him to buy a Foundation Establishment spiritual item.

Therefore, if he wanted to obtain a Foundation Establishment spiritual item, he had to find another way.

He had originally planned that if Aaron Kwok didn't return in another year or two, he would take the initiative to contact him for help.

After all, compared to his shallow foundation, the well-informed Aaron Kwok must know better how to obtain a foundation-building spiritual item.

Now that Aaron Kwok has returned ahead of schedule, he naturally wants to seize the opportunity to ask about this matter in advance.

Time passed slowly as he pondered, until the wind chimes outside the door suddenly rang, startling Zhou Tai awake.

He composed himself and strode towards the door to greet the distinguished guest.