Cave Refuge

"Remember those past entrepreneurial ventures? You know very well how they ended up. Do you still expect him to teach you? Forget it!

To tell you the truth, he used the supplies you left behind for investment, and invested them with Ye Liuyun, effectively becoming a shareholder. Ye Liuyun is really promising, rarely makes a loss in business, and always provides a share of the profits after each success.

Your dad saved up this dividend money and ultimately used all the dividends Ye Liuyun gave him, along with some supplies, to finally purchase the house next door."

When she revealed his secrets, Mr. Thompson couldn't help but blush, then he said directly, "Don't worry about how I made my money, whether I made a lot or not. I just went ahead and bought the house next door."

"Yes, yes, you bought it. You're the greatest."

Watching his mother coddle his father like a child, Dong Tianyu could only stand aside with a smile, unable to interject.

It made sense, too. If before the natural disaster Dong Tianyu had always lived with his parents and they saw each other every day, they were all very familiar. But since the natural disaster, because of his own cave reasons, he often had to leave, returning his parents to a world of just the two of them before his birth, which naturally became like this over time.

However, ultimately, his parents were also getting older. They were not like those in their twenties who could, even on the streets, stick together without regard for others.

The three of them chatted and laughed as they headed to New City District. During the conversation, Dong Tianyu used his Divine Sense to check his parents' health and found that they had already reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Cultivation Stage and could break through to the Foundation Building Stage at any time.

Unlike others practicing the Martial Path, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson practiced the Longevity Skill, which Dong Tianyu provided. This method wasn't a top-level method, but for some, it was even more precious than top-level methods.

After all, most top-level methods either require a certain talent or consume a lot of supplies during practice.

The Longevity Skill, on the other hand, was different. Firstly, it required no particular talent for cultivation; even those with the poorest talent could continue to practice if they just extended the cultivation period.

Secondly, it required very few cultivation materials, almost none. However, this also meant that practitioners lost out on methods that allowed for rapid, side-effect-free cultivation level advancements through the use of strong, compatibility drugs.

Third, the Longevity Skill is an authentic Daoist method, so there's almost no risk of deviation during cultivation.

Fourth, although not suited for combat, with each breakthrough, the cultivators would gain an extension of their lifespan.

One could say that aside from the slow cultivation speed, the Longevity Skill has no other flaws.

For Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, the extension of life and combat power were not the most crucial issues. The most important were the talent for cultivation and the difficulty of practice.

The Longevity Skill perfectly addressed these issues, which is why Dong Tianyu chose this cultivation method for his parents.

Since his parents had already reached the Great Perfection of Qi Cultivation, Dong Tianyu naturally wanted to help them break through.

When Dong Tianyu himself advanced from the Qi Cultivation Stage to the Foundation Building Stage, he had not encountered any difficulties and did not use any Foundation Building Pills that often appear in novels. When his cultivation level reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Cultivation Stage, he naturally progressed to the Foundation Building Stage.

Qi Cultivation Stage, Foundation Building Stage, Golden Core Stage, Nascent Soul Stage, Divinity Transformation Stage, Body Integration Realm, Transcendance Tribulation Stage, Mahayana Realm.

The Qi Cultivation Stage, as the name implies, is about refining and taming the external Spirit Energy for personal use.

The Foundation Building Stage involves compressing the Spirit Energy in the body into a liquid state.

This practice actually fits well with modern science; there have been experiments where a mass of air, with continuous compression, ultimately turned from nothing into a liquid under strong external pressure."

To break through from the Qi Cultivation Stage to the Foundation Building Stage, the key is to compress the Spirit Energy in the body into a liquid form. However, as all beginnings are difficult, once the first drop of liquid appears within the body, the subsequent Spirit Energy absorbed will be assimilated by the liquid, increasing the volume of the internal liquid.

Each realm requires changing the Cultivation Method, such as having specific techniques for the Qi Cultivation Stage, and unique ones for the Foundation Building Stage. Each major phase has its distinct methods for cultivation.

The reason for practitioners with different Cultivation Levels to cultivate different techniques is simple; their bodies cannot endure beyond their current capabilities.

For instance, if you asked a Cultivator in the Qi Cultivation Stage to practice a technique from the Mahayana Realm, let's not discuss whether that practitioner in the Qi Cultivation Stage could understand the technique from the Mahayana Realm.

Assuming he could understand and also successfully cultivate it, but as soon as a practitioner from the Qi Cultivation Stage uses a Mahayana Realm Cultivation Method for cultivation, the surrounding Spirit Energy will desperately rush into the practitioner's body. If a Qi Cultivation Stage practitioner employs a Mahayana Realm technique, once they begin their cultivation, that practitioner will inevitably be burst by the intense inflow of Spirit Energy.

Yet, some may argue that one should only level up minimally when attempting to cultivate beyond their current realm, just practicing the technique of one level higher.

Ancient practitioners weren't narrow-minded; they weren't foolish, so since even modern ordinary people can conceive this idea, ancient cultivators surely also knew of this method. Yet, ancient practitioners didn't choose this path.

Despite Dong Tianyu not understanding this, neither he nor his parents, Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Thompson, indulged in cross-level cultivation. The reasons behind this are mostly taught by someone else once most people enter society.

Ancient practitioners, be they from righteous factions or demonic sects, needed to quickly enhance their Cultivation Levels to vie for dominance.

Each level of Cultivation corresponds to specific Cultivation Methods, which were developed through several attempts by predecessors to ensure they are the most efficient while remaining within the bounds of what most ordinary people can endure.

The rapid cultivation techniques of the demonic sects essentially involve sacrificing bodily health to gain stronger absorption powers for Spirit Energy, which is, in essence, using the Cultivation Level of the Qi Cultivation Stage to practice Foundation Building Stage techniques.

The Longevity Skill cultivated by Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Thompson differs as this technique doesn't belong to any higher tier, meaning even if Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Thompson break through to the Foundation Building Stage, their cultivation method remains as the original Longevity Skill.

This is also why, despite the various benefits of the Longevity Skill, most people unconsciously shift their focus quickly away when choosing a Qi Cultivation Stage technique.

Only a very few individuals opt to cultivate the Longevity Skill.

Of course, this pertains to the Cultivation World, but in the present times on Planet Blue Star, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson lack alternative techniques to choose from.

Under normal circumstances, the Qi Cultivation Stage is divided into ten levels. Theoretically, once one's Cultivation reaches the tenth level of Qi Cultivation, one can attempt to advance to the Foundation Building Stage.

After all, the sole criterion for a successful breakthrough is whether one can compress the gaseous Spirit Energy inside their body into Liquid Spiritual Power.

Even if only a single drop of Liquid Spiritual Power is successfully compressed, it counts as a success because once there is Liquid Spiritual Power in the body, even if it's just a drop, this drop will automatically absorb and assimilate the Spirit Energy within the body.

Certainly, since it involves compressing the Spirit Energy within the body into a liquid, some feel that the accumulated Spirit Power at the tenth level of Qi Cultivation is sufficient, hence they choose to break through directly.

However, others feel that the cultivation at the tenth level is inadequate, hence they do not attempt a breakthrough but continue to cultivate; after all, the more Spirit Power accumulated within the body, the higher the chances of a successful breakthrough.

This is also why, in the Cultivation World, there are practitioners who reach the eleventh or twelfth level of the Qi Cultivation Stage.

Nevertheless, unless the quantity of Liquid Spiritual Power significantly leads, the techniques it empowers have a qualitative difference in potency compared to those fueled by gaseous Spirit Energy.