chsdbacks Chapter 12 The Scheme of the Foundation Establishment Pill
Chapter 12 The Scheme of the Foundation Establishment Pill
During his journey to the Crimson Forbidden Land, he must seize enough opportunities to pave the way for his future breakthrough to the Foundation Establishment stage!
However, there is only one core element for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Foundation Building Pill!
In the cultivation world, Qi Refining cultivators attempt to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm through only two paths:
Firstly, one must rely on their own talent and accumulated experience to overcome the bottleneck. The chance of success on this path is so slim it's almost despairing! Among a hundred Qi Refining Grand Perfection cultivators, only two or three can succeed through this method! And once they fail, at best their meridians are damaged and their cultivation regresses; at worst, their magical power backfires, and they perish on the spot!
Secondly, there is the method of consuming Foundation Establishment Pills. The effect of this pill is to provide a gentle and sustained medicinal power when a cultivator is breaking through a bottleneck, protecting the meridians, stabilizing the dantian, and significantly increasing the chances of breakthrough! One Foundation Establishment Pill can increase the success rate to 30-40%! Two pills, 50-60%! Three pills, over 70%!
No one will complain about having too many Foundation Establishment Pills!
However, its rarity is commensurate with its efficacy!
The Spirit Beast Mountain refines Foundation Establishment Pills in extremely rare quantities each year! The main ingredient for refining them, "Foundation Establishment Grass," has a growth cycle of several decades and requires extremely demanding growing conditions! The Spirit Beast Mountain dedicates all its resources to cultivating it, but only a few dozen Foundation Establishment Grasses are obtained, yielding approximately twenty pills per year.
Twenty!
How many Qi Refining disciples are there at Spirit Beast Mountain? Not counting the peripheral servants, there are no fewer than a thousand formally admitted disciples! And this is only the number on the register! Every year, new disciples, those who advance from outer sect to inner sect, and even the old disciples who have been stuck at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining for many years waiting for an opportunity... countless eyes are fixed on these mere twenty Foundation Establishment Pills!
There are too many monks and not enough porridge!
Therefore, the sect has established extremely strict rules for the distribution of Foundation Establishment Pills. The lion's share is always taken by those with powerful connections: the direct disciples of the sect elders, the direct descendants of cultivation families within the sect, and those with vested interests in the higher-ups... This group takes the majority, and only then do ordinary disciples receive the remainder.
Ordinary disciples can only obtain Foundation Establishment Pills through two methods:
Firstly, meritorious service. One must demonstrate outstanding performance in sect missions, either by defeating powerful enemies in external battles or by finding urgently needed elixirs during explorations of secret realms. Only after accumulating sufficient merit will the sect bestow upon one a Foundation Establishment Pill.
Secondly, the Grand Competition. Every five years, Spirit Beast Mountain holds a Grand Competition for Qi Refining stage disciples, with the winner receiving a Foundation Establishment Pill as a prize. This path seems fair, but in reality, it's incredibly fierce! Over a thousand disciples compete for a mere handful of spots, and those with powerful connections also participate! These individuals possess superior magical artifacts, more talismans, and higher-level cultivation techniques; for ordinary disciples to defeat them is virtually impossible!
Chen Fan calmly assessed his own situation:
In terms of background: he was a "nominal disciple" of True Person Chiyun. This title might be impressive in the outer sect, but the word "nominal" reveals the truth. True Person Chiyun had three direct disciples, seven or eight registered disciples, and more than ten nominal disciples! Chen Fan was merely one of them, and one of the few remaining. True Person Chiyun's willingness to grant him the remaining power of the Profound Soul Grass was already out of consideration for their parents' past relationship. Foundation Establishment Pill? He didn't even have the right to ask for it!
In terms of merit: Having been in the Spirit Beast Mountain for several years, the sect's tasks he has performed are few and far between, mostly mundane tasks such as patrolling the mountain, gathering herbs, and feeding beasts. Such insignificant merits would be hard to earn even a Foundation Establishment Pill after ten years!
In terms of strength: Although he possesses the advantage of divine sense granted by the "Great Evolution Prison Suppression Scripture" and his newly acquired magical artifacts and talismans are of good quality, his magical cultivation is ultimately limited to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, not yet at its peak. If he were to encounter those heavily armed core disciples in the sect's grand competition, the outcome would be unpredictable.
Three roads, each one fraught with thorns!
After much thought, the only thing that can still be hoped for is the soon-to-be-opened Crimson Forbidden Land!
The Mysterious Soul Grass that True Immortal Chiyun seeks is an essential item for Core Formation cultivators, and its value is extremely high! If he can bring this grass back from the forbidden area, True Immortal Chiyun will fulfill his promise and bestow upon him some reward. Although True Immortal Chiyun has never explicitly stated what the reward will be, given the wealth of a Core Formation cultivator, bestowing upon him a Foundation Establishment Pill would not be difficult.
Furthermore, other spiritual herbs obtained in the forbidden area can also be exchanged for Foundation Establishment Pills at the sect's exchange point. According to sect rules, the harvest from the forbidden area is converted into merit points based on rank and years of experience. Sufficient merit points can be exchanged for Foundation Establishment Pills. Combining these two methods, if everything goes smoothly, one might obtain two Foundation Establishment Pills!
With two Foundation Establishment Pills, the success rate of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage is approximately 50% to 60%.
Even with such a probability, Chen Fan still felt it wasn't safe enough! He always left himself enough room for maneuver in his actions. Three Foundation Establishment Pills were his line of safety! Only a success rate of over 70% was worth risking everything for!
However, given his current situation, obtaining three Foundation Establishment Pills is virtually impossible!
Unless... another encounter occurs within the Crimson Forbidden Land!
Chen Fan suppressed this thought for the time being. It was too early to consider such matters now. His immediate priority was to advance his cultivation to the Great Perfection of the thirteenth level of Qi Refining within this final year!
Solidify the foundation of the third level of the "Dayan Zhenyu Jing"!
Cultivate the Ironclad Armor to the late stage of Tier 1!
Meanwhile, continue to accumulate spirit stones and replenish talismans!
The only way to obtain the Foundation Establishment Pill is to proceed cautiously and act according to circumstances.
He closed his eyes and continued to circulate the solid but slowly growing vortex of magical energy in his dantian. Four hours of arduous cultivation had only just passed the halfway mark. Outside the window, the setting sun cast long shadows, slowly shifting across the mottled stone wall.
Under the windowsill, the armored creature rolled over and continued its deep sleep.
Chen Fan stood firm as a mountain, painstakingly transforming the power of the Qi Refining Pill, thread by thread, into his own cultivation.
There are 365 days and nights remaining until the Bloodstained Forbidden Land opens.
……
Two months later, the once-every-five-years sect grand gathering of Spirit Beast Mountain arrived as scheduled.
When the message arrived from the peak, Chen Fan was meditating in his stone chamber. A communication talisman transformed into a streak of fire, piercing through the stone door's protective barrier and hovering three feet in front of him. The indifferent voice of True Person Crimson Cloud emanated from the talisman: "The sect will hold a grand competition for Qi Refining stage disciples in half a month. The winner will receive a Foundation Establishment Pill. Nominal disciples of Fire Cloud Peak are also welcome to register."
The flames dissipated. Chen Fan slowly opened his eyes, staring at the spot where the talisman had vanished, remaining silent for a long time.
It's held once every five years. In the last competition, his cultivation was only at the seventh level of Qi Refining, not even qualifying him to register. The sect's rules stipulated that registrants must be at least at the tenth level of Qi Refining. Now he's at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, qualifying him. But should he participate?
He did not make a decision immediately, but spent three whole days weighing the pros and cons repeatedly.
The advantage of the competition lies directly in the Foundation Establishment Pill! The Foundation Establishment Pills bestowed annually by Spirit Beast Mountain are already scarce, with the majority being distributed among the elders' personal disciples and the offspring of cultivation families. For ordinary disciples, obtaining even one is virtually impossible. The Grand Competition is one of the few paths that doesn't prioritize lineage, relying solely on strength. A single Foundation Establishment Pill is highly sought after in the market, worth at least a thousand spirit stones, making it difficult for even independent cultivators with sufficient resources to acquire one.
However, the drawbacks are also obvious.
During the grand competition, he will inevitably reveal some of his strength. His magical artifacts, talismans, spirit insects, and combat techniques—once these trump cards are displayed in full view of everyone, they can no longer be hidden. The forces within Spirit Beast Mountain are deeply entrenched, and the infighting among disciples is far more brutal than it appears on the surface. Having his secrets exposed will make his future journey through the cultivation world much more dangerous. Furthermore, although the grand competition is said to be "limited to a point," swords have no eyes, and every year disciples are seriously injured or even perish on the stage.
After weighing the pros and cons repeatedly, a decision was finally made:
join!
The reason is simple: he needs Foundation Establishment Pills! The Crimson Forbidden Land is about to open. If he can obtain one in the Grand Competition, and then exchange one or two more with spiritual herbs from the sect after returning from the Forbidden Land, he could potentially have two to three in total! Three Foundation Establishment Pills would give him a success rate of over 70% in establishing his foundation! Such a probability is worth the gamble!
On the day of registration, Chen Fan changed into a clean Taoist robe and went alone to the main peak.