A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Rogue Cultivator

What exactly does Wang Li want to do by providing Li Huayuan with the improved map of the forbidden area?

Firstly, he still remembers the humiliation Fu Yunzi caused him! How could he not swindle that old bastard out of his fortune?

If someone can still lose even when they're "calculating with intention but not with intention," then their cheap teacher is truly an incapable son of a bitch.

Secondly, if the plot doesn't change too much, ten years later, the fake Nascent Soul stage Qiong Laoguai from the Hidden Moon Sect will use his three "Invisible Needle" talismans as bargaining chips to tease Old Li and Fuyunzi; Wang Li will naturally have to get involved. Talismans of that level pose a huge threat even to those in the mid-to-late stages of Core Formation, and can even take down one or two Core Formation stage cultivators by surprise.

A must-have for any monastic trip!

This can be considered as preparation for the trip to the Chaotic Star Sea!

Thirdly, since the forbidden area is to be closed for sixty years, let's gamble big and bring along the leaders of the seven sects, especially those at the Core Formation stage. The treasures possessed by Core Formation cultivators are definitely more valuable than 99% of the goods available in the market.

It would be nice if Old Li took the lion's share while he huddled in the back and drank some soup.

So, from this moment on, all the Core Formation stage cultivators leading their respective factions to participate in the Crimson Trial were already part of Wang Li's plan?!

More or less.

If someone is sitting comfortably on the sidelines and doesn't even dare to plan against a few Core Formation stage cultivators, what's the difference between them and a salted fish?

Chapter 51 Waiting and Alchemy

The materials for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill have been collected by Yellow Maple Valley.

However, this doesn't mean that the rewards from the Foundation Establishment Pill will come immediately.

The alchemy masters of Yellow Maple Valley still have to refine pills, and the entire sect has to carefully allocate resources based on the number of Foundation Establishment Pills produced. There are many complicated matters to attend to.

It will take at least half a year for Wang Li to finish taking these two Foundation Establishment Pills.

In other words, if he were to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill and attempt to establish his foundation now, it would inevitably cause a lot of trouble; therefore, refining the pill is fine, but the time for taking the Foundation Establishment Pill must wait.

So how should Wang Li spend this relatively free time?

He cultivated a large quantity of spiritual herbs and materials needed for five types of Foundation Establishment pills: Qi Harmony Pill, Spirit Gathering Pill, True Essence Pill, and Essence Tempering Pill. Simultaneously, he diligently practiced the Flame Manipulation Technique in the Earth Fire Chamber, enhancing his affinity for flames and control over earth fire. He also studied the alchemy notes of Li Huayuan and ancient cultivators. All these efforts were to prepare thoroughly for refining Foundation Establishment pills and other Foundation Establishment pills.

Incidentally, he also cultivated the first three levels of the Azure Origin Sword Technique.

Three months passed quickly.

Because some of the spiritual herbs harvested from the forbidden area are specifically suitable for the Foundation Establishment stage, such as the two kinds of spiritual herbs that Uncle Chen requested, Wang Li has as many as seven of them. With the addition of some other spiritual herbs, they can be used to refine the Qi Refining Pill.

To this end, he made a special trip to the herb garden of his senior brothers, including Senior Brother Ma, who were in the Foundation Establishment stage. He generously took out over two thousand spirit stones and more than twenty fine high-grade magic artifacts, gathering the necessary auxiliary ingredients to refine seven or eight batches of Qi Refining Pills (each batch typically yields twenty to thirty pills).

Isn't that a bit too high-profile?

In order to avoid attracting attention and arousing suspicion, Wang Li would buy only two or three kinds of products from each household, and most of them were inferior products that were still a few years away from being fully ripe.

Besides, what's wrong with being high-profile?

Now that he has the backing of Old Ancestor Chen and his cheap master Li Huayuan, who in Huangfeng Valley would dare to come and ask him all sorts of questions, or kill him to steal his treasures?

Take Senior Brother Ma, for example, who has a notoriously bad temper and never gives a pleasant look to Qi Refining stage disciples.

At first, he didn't take Wang Li seriously and was quite unhappy that Wang Li only called him "Senior Brother Ma". But when Wang Li took out the tokens of the two Core Formation Ancestors and proved that he was a disciple of Li Huayuan, his temper subsided a lot!

For example, a senior brother surnamed Ye, after learning that Wang Li was a disciple of Li Huayuan and had received much help from Old Ancestor Chen, deliberately lowered the price of the spiritual herbs in his herb garden. He also addressed Wang Li as Junior Brother Wang without any attempt to hide his closeness.

In short, as long as he doesn't provoke the Linghu lineage, or the six Core Formation stage elders—Hong Fu, Hui Ming, Lei Wanhe, the Huang family, and the Feng family—he can disregard the sect leader's feelings.

Of course, etiquette and manners are still necessary. One should not act recklessly just because one has a powerful backer; that would be wrong.

The topic then returned to the preparation of the spiritual herbs and elixirs.

Besides having the Refining Essence Pill ready, Wang Li had also gathered the raw materials for the Condensing Essence Pill, which was recorded in the ancient pill formula and was suitable for use in the late Foundation Establishment stage. Among the fifty-six spiritual herbs, more than a dozen were the main and auxiliary materials for refining this pill. These herbs were harvested from several stone palaces. It was just enough to refine two batches of Condensing Essence Pills as recorded in the ancient formula.

In addition, there are the raw materials that were missing before refining the Qi-Harmony Pill and the True Essence Pill. Most of them have reached the required age after three months of cultivation. In another two months, we can try to refine three batches of each.

Both types of pills are mainly used in the early and middle stages of Foundation Establishment. However, they can still be used in the middle and late stages, but the effect will be greatly reduced and become weak.

As for the Spirit Gathering Pill, it seems we'll have to wait a while.

Even if you purchase spiritual herbs from the herb gardens of many Foundation Establishment stage senior brothers at high prices, and use small bottles to accelerate their ripening, it would still take at least half a year to prepare enough raw materials for one batch.

Waiting idly is clearly not Wang Li's style.

First, lay the foundation; it's not too late to accelerate maturity after it emerges.

So, for the rest of the time, Wang Li continued to stay home and farm. Until his fire control techniques with the Flame Manipulation Technique improved, until he could still control the earth fire enhanced with "fire sand" with ease, and until there was still about a month left before the Foundation Establishment Pills were distributed, he began to go inside every few days to refine pills.

Among the thirty-six earth fire chambers built of Wushi stone, Wang Li became a frequent visitor to the best earth fire chamber for alchemy, number eighteen, and the slightly lesser number nineteen.

He possessed the Crimson Sun Furnace, a high-grade magical artifact, which was needed for alchemy.

He possessed an earth fire that was three times more powerful than the Foundation Establishment True Fire, which was needed to refine high-quality pills.

He prepared more than a hundred portions of materials for refining the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Considering the rarity of the materials and the fact that he was just a novice, Wang Li didn't dare to go all in at once. Instead, he decided to refine the herbs one by one, carefully considering each one. This way, even if he failed dozens of times, he wouldn't be too heartbroken about the loss of the spiritual herbs.

How can a complete novice quickly become a master alchemist?

Investing in resources and spiritual herbs is the fastest way to improve, bar none.

At first, the dragon head was skillfully moved up and down, adjusting the slight differences in height; after confirming that everything was correct, eight beams of red light were then emitted in succession onto the dragon head switch in the earth fire chamber. The dragon head absorbed the red light, and its mouth immediately opened slightly, spewing out flames as thin as a hair. As the dragon's mouth opened, the air in that earth fire chamber gradually became hot and dry.

Then, a levitation spell was cast, suspending the Crimson Sun Furnace steadily in the center where the eight dragon heads were aligned. Preheating and temperature control were crucial preliminary steps, and Wang Li paid meticulous attention to them.

Sensing that the temperature inside the Crimson Sun Furnace had reached its most stable point, Wang Li flipped his left hand, and a small, exquisite dark green jade bottle appeared in his palm. Inside the bottle was the precisely measured amount of medicinal powder he had prepared earlier.

He controlled the small bottle to feed all the powder into the Crimson Sun Furnace, and repeated this process more than ten times. More than ten kinds of auxiliary materials and wildflower honey entered the furnace without any mistakes. The first step was completed.

Next, while controlling the gradual increase of the ground fire, we ensured that the furnace body was heated evenly, thereby ensuring a stable rise in the internal temperature of the Chiyang furnace.

During this time, the furnace lid would be opened occasionally to add new medicinal powder. Of the thirty-one medicinal herbs needed to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, not a single one could be omitted, the dosage could be corrected, or the heat level could be altered. The medicinal herbs added at different heat levels were also clearly different. The requirements for each detail were truly stringent.

The aroma of medicine quickly wafted out.

However, it is still early before the final condensation of the elixir, so we must not lose our composure and cause problems with the timing.

Over two hours, he gradually increased the intensity of the earth fire, constantly and slowly rotating the Crimson Sun Furnace to ensure even heating. Before he knew it, the furnace had become a massive fireball, and the aroma of the medicine grew increasingly rich. When a rustling sound emanated from within the furnace, Wang Li's eyes lit up, for that was the sign that the medicinal powder was beginning to condense into a pill.

But something went wrong. He had been very careful, yet the furnace still emitted a muffled sound of failed alchemy.

The first attempt to refine the Foundation Establishment Pill ended in failure.

Disappointment was inevitable, after all, it was a material for refining Foundation Establishment Pills, which cost three or four thousand spirit stones.

"I've done a great job with the ingredients of the elixir, the control of the fire, and the stability of the temperature inside the furnace; the Crimson Sun Furnace is certainly up to standard in terms of its ability to withstand flames; and with the help of the Hundred Flower Honey, the chances of successfully forming the pill should be very high! So, where exactly did things go wrong?"

He repeatedly perused more than a dozen jade slips, each containing relevant data recorded at various stages.

After careful reflection, deliberation, and summarization, Wang Li finally found the reason after repeatedly stumbling in the same place four times in a row.

Then came another seven or eight more failures, each with its own set of setbacks and difficulties, due to different reasons.

An ordinary alchemist would have lost his composure long ago.

The loss of nearly 50,000 spirit stones is not something everyone can bear. Even a well-off Core Formation cultivator, with all their assets combined, often only has between 100,000 and 300,000 to 400,000 spirit stones. Some poorer early Core Formation cultivators even feel the pinch for a piece of low-grade iron essence worth 7,000 to 8,000 spirit stones.

Fortunately, Wang Li successfully formed a pill on the thirteenth and subsequent attempts.

At this point, with the seven days coming to an end, he decisively left the Fire Chamber.

Upon returning to the Spirit Valley Plantation, they immediately summoned the listless lark and chameleon and comforted the two little guys for a while.

Why do you look so sickly and weak?

There was no other way; he needed to refine pills, and someone had to water the plants. So, without a doubt, he conscripted these two. Wang Li could water the plants in minutes with just a few spells, but these two…

At first, during the training, they couldn't understand no matter how I taught them. Later, I rewarded them with a thousand-year-old Ganoderma lucidum, and they suddenly understood.

The exploitative practice of "wanting the horse to run but not feeding it" is clearly unreliable.

Even though the two children had figured it out, watering was still hard work, after all, it was thirty acres.

And it has to be done twice a day.

"Hey, there are snacks for you. If you don't get up soon, I'll give them to Xiaobai."

Huh? There are snacks?

The little boy's spirits suddenly returned: Boss, I can still work overtime.

Wang Li was very satisfied with this, and thus rewarded each of them with a Foundation Establishment... Waste Pill.

Don't assume that a Foundation Establishment Pill is truly useless just because it's been refined into a flawed pill. After all, it contains the essence of numerous precious spiritual herbs. Just because humans can't enjoy it doesn't mean that special-type demon beasts can't. These are all highly nourishing tonics.

"Hiss..."

Seven small, golden pythons, covered in mud, also smelled the fragrance and eagerly emerged from the spirit field, stretching and contracting their necks as they approached Wang Li's field: Master, how could you forget us?

"Get away from here, wash yourself clean before you come and rub against my pants leg."

With a few flashes, they arrived at the cave beneath the waterfall.

From a corner of the spirit field where dozens of spiritual herbs were planted, a cowardly little mouse was plucked out. Its soft white fur was rubbed and smoothed; hmm, the feel didn't seem to have changed much. In other words, it hadn't evolved yet.

He casually tossed it aside: "Keep it up."

He has to come back every seven days, so the small bottle of green liquid can't be wasted.

After four rounds of this process, by the time he received the two Foundation Establishment Pills that the sect was supposed to give him, his success rate in refining Foundation Establishment Pills himself was already over 90%. The two occasional failures were due to fluctuations in the external earth fire. At the same time, he only had sixteen portions of materials left to refine Foundation Establishment Pills; his alchemy technique also changed from carefully refining one portion at a time at the beginning to now putting three or four portions into the furnace at the same time.

I reckon it will take another two or three days to convert them all into Foundation Establishment Pills.

"It's time to lay the foundation."

After harvesting this season's spirit grains, he placed several communication talismans announcing his seclusion outside the plantation's main array. Those who needed him would come to his door another day. The spirit grain garden was then entirely entrusted to the two little ones and the seven little mudskippers.

Three months should be enough for him, who is at the peak of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining, to establish his foundation.

Unlike Han Li, who had to retreat to the Earth Fire Chamber, a place devoid of spiritual energy, to find peace, Wang Li possessed the Spirit Valley Plantation Array and was protected by Chen and Li, both Core Formation stage cultivators. With prior warning via communication talismans, no one would be so tactless as to disturb him. Disturbing someone's cultivation was a highly taboo matter.

In this way, the small bottle of green liquid can be used to its fullest potential.

Chapter 52 Foundation Building

Inside the cave, Wang Li, who had set up a soundproof barrier, sat cross-legged on a futon woven from spiritual herbs.

On the left are three brightly colored Earth Origin Fruits, and on the right are sixty-seven shimmering blue Foundation Establishment Pills.

First of all, let's give a thumbs up to Old Wu.