NOVEL NEXT Ch. 137
Chapter 137: Foundation Establishment Stage Core Building
Foundation Establishment Stage actually had core buildings?!
Damn it, then why didn’t I have one during the Qi Refining Stage? Are you looking down on me, the Old Ancestor of Qi Refining?!
Though Ji Yuan was grumbling in his heart, he was still extremely delighted.
Core building—just hearing it sounded like something amazing.
Meditation Room, it actually increased Divine Sense. There really was a building that could enhance Divine Sense!
In Ji Yuan’s eyes, Divine Sense was like radar or a detection map—if your Divine Sense surpassed your opponent’s, then you could detect them before they found you.
By then, whether to fight or flee would be entirely under your control.
Moreover, if one’s Divine Sense vastly outpowered the other’s, they could even tear through the opponent’s Divine Sense defense and invade their Sea of Consciousness, exerting overwhelming suppression.
So this Meditation Room, which enhanced Divine Sense, truly lived up to being a core building of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
And yet it had to be activated in advance—was this exploitation round two after already draining me once?!
These golden buildings really were something else.
With a thought, Ji Yuan chose to activate it.
The panel immediately popped up with text again.
【Would you like to spend "51 mid-grade Spirit Stones, 314 low-grade Spirit Stones, and 3 Spirit Stone Fragments" to activate the Meditation Room?】
Looking at this string of numbers on the panel, it looked suspiciously familiar.
Ji Yuan reached into his storage pouch.
Damn it, wasn’t this his entire fortune in Spirit Stones?!
They even counted the three Spirit Stone Fragments he had tossed into the corner and forgotten about—this truly was going to cost him his whole net worth to unlock!
For a moment, Ji Yuan felt heartache. Had he known, he would've spent it all earlier on Everything Island.
If he had only 3 fragments left, wouldn’t the unlock have only cost him that?
But alas, hindsight was always too late.
Although reluctant, Ji Yuan knew the importance of this building.
This wasn’t just some building—this was his plug-in!
Nothing was more important than enhancing one's plug-in.
So Ji Yuan ultimately chose to "Activate." As he made his decision, he watched as all the Spirit Stones in his storage pouch slowly began to vanish.
No!
My Spirit Stones!
The previous text on the panel vanished, replaced by the image of a room—but the image was sealed with chains. As the Spirit Stones disappeared, so did the chains.
Would the building’s effects become available once all the chains disappeared?
That meant this building didn’t require upgrade conditions—it just needed money.
Soon, Ji Yuan realized he was too naïve.
This golden building was still a golden building.
Aside from the unlock condition, it had separate upgrade requirements.
【Meditation Room: Lv0 (Current)】
Still starting from Level 0—damn!
He had thought it would be Level 1 upon unlocking.
【Meditation Room: Lv1】
【Effect: Meditation tempers the Divine Soul, increasing Divine Sense by 80% of the current realm. Usable even during the Qi Refining Stage.】
【Upgrade Requirement: At Qi Refining Peak, kill one Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator. (Not Fulfilled)】
Good heavens.
It was truly straightforward and brutal.
Whether the effect or the upgrade requirement—Level 1 gave an 80% boost, and even Qi Refining cultivators could have Divine Sense. Didn’t that mean he now had the same external buff effect as Feng Yichen?
The upgrade requirement too—
It actually required him at Qi Refining Peak to kill a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator? Wasn’t that climbing the heavens?
To be fair, Ji Yuan had no intention of risking his life.
His first reaction to this requirement was to let the Loyal Great Toad cripple the opponent, then he could throw a technique from afar and finish them off.
As long as a Qi Refining Peak like him killed the Foundation Establishment Stage opponent, it counted. The panel didn’t say how the kill had to be done.
Naturally, Ji Yuan wanted to take the safest approach.
All in all, this task—was worth it!
Tempering the Divine Soul, enhancing Divine Sense—what a monstrous method!
While chatting with Dong Qian before, Ji Yuan had learned that Divine Soul could only grow naturally as one's realm advanced.
Or it was naturally powerful at birth.
Aside from that, there was no other method.
Unlike comprehension, which could be boosted with heavenly materials and treasures, the Divine Soul had no such enhancements—not even cultivation methods could help.
And yet, for cultivators, the Divine Soul was extremely important.
Whether it was manipulating multiple artifacts after Foundation Establishment, or using puppets and similar techniques, all required a powerful Divine Soul.
The Meditation Room had to be upgraded!
It seemed he now had another task—Ji Yuan was already thinking about who to kill. But after some thought, he realized that because he was too cowardly—ahem, too cautious—he never left the house.
So he didn’t even have a single Foundation Establishment enemy.
Sigh.
To make it worse, the few Foundation Establishment cultivators he knew were all friends who had treated him well—this sense of safety was just too comforting.
After fantasizing happily for a while, Ji Yuan temporarily set aside the Meditation Room.
Killing a Foundation Establishment Stage cultivator—who knew, the opportunity might show up sooner or later.
He then turned back to the panel. He hadn’t forgotten—he had just upgraded the Pill Refining Room to Level 2, and it was while checking the effects of Level 3 that he accidentally discovered the unlockable Meditation Room.
【Pill Refining Room: Lv3】
【Effect 1: Success rate of Tier-1 pills +60%, Tier-2 pills +40%, Tier-3 pills +20%, Tier-4 pills +5%】
【Effect 2 (Select Day Foundation Establishment): Can obtain one Two-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pill every six months.】
【Upgrade Requirements: 500 mid-grade Spirit Stones; 3 Nine Apertures Meridians-Opening Vine; 1 Profound Ice Fire Lotus; successfully refine one “Exquisite Pill.” (Not Fulfilled)】
The Level 3 Pill Refining Room truly had significantly boosted effects.
Effect 1 was a standard upgrade.
Based on this, Ji Yuan speculated that a Level 1 Pill Refining Room primarily supported pill refinement during the Qi Refining Stage, while the current Level 2 version aided in Tier-2 pills.
As for the not-yet-reached Level 3, it should be focused on aiding pill refinement for the Golden Core Stage.
The required mid-grade Spirit Stones for the upgrade had increased drastically, and as expected, the final condition involving the Exquisite Pill likely referred to a Tier-3 pill.
No need to rush, no need to rush.
The current Level 2 Pill Refining Room was more than sufficient for his use.
Closing the panel.
Ji Yuan was in great spirits. Not only had the Pill Refining Room reached Level 2, but more importantly, he had acquired the method for refining the “Foundation Establishment Pill.” Judging by his pill refining experience,
when it came to crafting Foundation Establishment Pills, he had at least reached the stage of mastery, hadn’t he?
Moreover, with the Level 2 Pill Refining Room providing a 20% success boost for Tier-2 pills, Ji Yuan was no longer particularly worried about refining Foundation Establishment Pills.
Next was the newly unlocked Meditation Room.
The core building for the Foundation Establishment Stage had also been opened.
Now he just needed to find a suitable Foundation Establishment cultivator to kill. He just didn’t know who the lucky one would be.
Suddenly,
Ji Yuan remembered a certain mission he had seen multiple times in the Thousand Mechanisms Hall.
A Class A mission.
That mission specifically required a Qi Refining Stage cultivator to kill a Foundation Establishment early-stage cultivator.
The mission reward was one One-Pattern Foundation Establishment Pill, plus 1000 Contribution Points.
Maybe he should go kill that one?
That way, he could fulfill the panel’s upgrade condition and obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill as well. The price, however, would be exposing his strength to the entire sect.
Then he would become a rising star like Feng Yichen, famous for slaying Foundation Establishment cultivators while still in Qi Refining.
Was it worth it?
The profit was great, but so was the risk.
Ji Yuan decided to think it through carefully.
With the Foundation Establishment Pill already mastered, Ji Yuan sat peacefully in his home on Hatchling Dragon Island, enjoying a rare moment of tranquility.
He had already planned not to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, and now it seemed even more unnecessary. All he needed to do was wait another year or two,
and then acquire the Millennium Illusory Spirit Grass.
Now it was time to consider another issue—
Cultivation Method.
Ji Yuan was still cultivating the Azure Sea Tide Technique, a widely circulated technique from the Yunyu Marshlands, and he had already cultivated it to perfection—perfection meaning Qi Refining Peak.
So after Foundation Establishment, he would definitely need to switch to another cultivation method.
On the matter of switching techniques, the Water Dragon Sect surely wouldn’t be stingy. With a disciple about to reach Foundation Establishment, they couldn’t possibly limit them by withholding cultivation methods, right?
With time on his hands, Ji Yuan headed out to the Water Dragon Sect’s Scripture Repository.
He began searching for a suitable water-based technique.
He wandered inside for most of the day before coming out.
As it turned out, just as he had expected,
the Water Dragon Sect indeed didn’t hold back on techniques. The cheapest Foundation Establishment cultivation method cost only 100 Contribution Points. For a disciple of the sect—any disciple, really—it was practically free.
The same applied to Ji Yuan. Even if he spent just a month doing a few random missions, he could easily earn more than those 100
Contribution Points.
However—
The technique might be cheap, but it was just like the Azure Sea Tide Technique: one could only cultivate it up to Foundation Establishment Peak.
Its name was Creation Profound Water Technique, and though the name sounded majestic,
Ji Yuan didn’t redeem it.
He didn’t want to practice another mediocre water method. He wanted a better technique—not necessarily something that could lead him straight to Nascent Soul Stage, but at least one he could cultivate up to Golden Core without switching again.
A weak cultivation method naturally produced weaker strength.
For instance, the spiritual energy in one’s dantian would be inferior to others’.
Moreover, constantly switching cultivation methods damaged the dantian. It was like the dantian had just gotten used to one method’s “shape,” only to suddenly be forced to adapt to another. It would be uncomfortable, and in extreme cases, cultivators had even gone mad from it.
So Ji Yuan looked at higher-level techniques, ones that could go straight to the Golden Core Stage.
Naturally, the price wasn’t cheap.
Each of those techniques started at 5000 Contribution Points—and there weren’t many. Ji Yuan saw only a dozen or so, covering all five elements, with water-based methods being the most numerous.
According to the senior guarding the Scripture Repository, the sect had three techniques stored above that level—methods that could lead directly to the Nascent Soul Stage, true great opportunities.
However, those three techniques were not available to the public. To acquire them, one had to perform meritorious deeds for the sect and be rewarded.
Ji Yuan didn’t even dare dream of that.
Leaving the Scripture Repository, he had already made up his mind.
Exchanging for a Golden Core Stage cultivation method through the sect was feasible, but it would cost too much time and effort.
With that time, he might as well go explore outside and see if he could acquire one himself.
Secondly, before his Foundation Establishment, when he went to ask Li Changhe for a Foundation Establishment Pill, he could ask whether Li had a transferable Golden Core Stage cultivation method.
After all, his father was a Golden Core Elder—he should have a few at hand.
If he didn’t, and neither route worked, and Ji Yuan was about to break through, then he would have no choice but to first redeem a Foundation Establishment Stage method from the sect to use temporarily, as a stopgap.
Wait until after Foundation Establishment to make further plans.
In any case, cultivation methods would never pose a real problem for him—at most, it was just a matter of quality.
After leaving the Scripture Repository, Ji Yuan also made a trip to Everything Island.
He came to find his familiar companion, Bai Piao.
“Brother Piao.”
Upon entering and seeing no outsiders, Ji Yuan smiled and cupped his hands in greeting.
This time, Bai Piao was finally not lying around idly. Instead, he was tending to a potted plant on the table.
Seeing the visitor, he looked up, showing a hint of surprise on his face.
“Brother Ji, it’s been a while.”
Previously, though Ji Yuan had said to wait a few days—just a few days to obtain a Tier-2 Demon Core—
Bai Piao certainly didn’t believe he could really get one in that short a time. There weren’t many disciples in the Water Dragon Sect capable of that.
So now that over a month had passed, Ji Yuan had finally come.
That actually fit Bai Piao’s expectations.
“No helping it—this Demon Core wasn’t easy to get.”
Speaking of it, Ji Yuan’s smile faded, and he lowered his head. “I nearly had to sell everything just to scrape together one.”
“Brother Ji, that's already quite a feat. I have no way at all to get a Demon Core like this.”
Bai Piao shrugged helplessly.
Ji Yuan had come specifically to trade for that Black Coffin, so he took out one early-stage Tier-2 Demon Core—a beast he had slain with his own hands.
Parting with it stung a little, but thinking about how it was to increase his strength, his heart felt much better.
“The item I want is still here, right?”
“It is. I said I’d keep it for you, and I did. A few people asked about it, but I didn’t sell.”
Bai Piao spoke casually as he activated the formation inside the room.
Ji Yuan immediately responded, “This Demon Core of mine—several shops wanted to buy it from me, but I saved it just for Brother Piao.”
“Brother Ji, you’re a good man!”
“We’re good brothers!”
The two spoke with mutual admiration, both putting on deeply touched expressions.
Once Ji Yuan handed over the Demon Core, the Black Coffin landed smoothly in his hands. But as soon as he stored it in his storage pouch, he noticed something strange—his Yin Ghost Flag seemed to react.
The Yin aura within the Yin Ghost Flag appeared to be stirred by the Black Coffin.
Was there some connection between the two?
Could this have something to do with the inheritance of the force known as the Yin Ghost Sect?
Ji Yuan couldn’t help but stir with curiosity. “Brother Piao, may I ask where you obtained this Black Coffin?”
Having just withdrawn the formation, Bai Piao looked a bit unsettled.
“The south. That place—I'm never going back. Brother Ji, take my advice: don’t go there. Seriously, don’t.”
“I won’t. I don’t have your courage, Brother Piao.”
Ji Yuan chuckled awkwardly. “I just recall you mentioned last time that this Black Coffin was unearthed from the Ten Thousand Corpses Family, so I was curious where that Grave of Ten Thousand Corpses is located.”
“The south, within the territory of Joy Palace, there’s a city called ‘Great Love City.’ In the southwest corner of that city, there’s a place called Ghost-Seeking Escape. That’s where I dug up this Black Coffin.”
Bai Piao answered truthfully.
Ji Yuan silently took note. Go? He certainly wasn’t planning to go now. Ghost-Seeking Escape—even the name sounded ominous. No way he was going.
Unless the Yin Ghost Flag gave him some surprise later, giving him no choice but to go.
“Thanks, Brother Piao.”
“No need. Next time just call me Brother Bai.”
With that, Bai Piao returned to tending the potted plant in his hands.
When Ji Yuan first entered, he had already noticed it—it was a Flowerless Clear-Zero Tree. Though it bore no flowers, every leaf grew to look like a blossoming flower, extremely beautiful.
So some cultivators in the cultivation world treated it as a bonsai.
“What are you doing with it, Brother Piao?”
Hearing Ji Yuan finally ask, Bai Piao couldn’t hold back. He raised his head proudly and asked in return, “Brother Ji, haven’t you noticed anything unusual about this Flowerless Clear-Zero Tree?”
“Unusual?”
Ji Yuan scrutinized it closely, then noticed—
“A flower bud?”
He pointed to one of the branches.
“Exactly.”
“I cultivated it. How is it?”
Bai Piao grew even prouder.
“Excellent, truly excellent.”
“To think Brother Piao had the skill to make a flowerless tree bloom.”
Ji Yuan sincerely gave him a thumbs-up.
Then Bai Piao, as if having found a kindred spirit, pulled Ji Yuan into a long conversation about planting techniques—from the blending of spiritual soil to grafting, from pest control for spiritual plants to breeding them.
Thanks to his nine years of compulsory education from his past life, Ji Yuan could only barely keep up with a few responses.
The cultivation world truly had many talents.
Though Ji Yuan himself farmed too, he never cared much, and the one who really did the digging back on Misty Island was still Tu Yue.
But Bai Piao was different—he truly loved farming.
For instance, Ji Yuan would buy formations like Rainkill Formation meant for killing, but Bai Piao bought Cloud and Rain Formation purely to provide “artificial rainfall” for his Spiritual Field.
“Brother Piao, I really must go feed the pigs now.”
Only on his third attempt to excuse himself did Bai Piao reluctantly let go.
“To have met Brother Ji today is truly one of life’s great fortunes.”
Bai Piao spoke with great seriousness. In particular, Ji Yuan’s insights on grafting and cultivation had benefited him a great deal.
After agreeing to continue their discussion another time, Ji Yuan finally took his leave.
After leaving Everything Island, Ji Yuan headed straight for Misty Island, not even returning to Hatchling Dragon Island.
One day later, at the edge of the Fish Pond on Misty Island—
Ji Yuan first took out the Black Coffin. The moment it appeared, a dense Yin aura surged in all directions, even frightening the fish in the pond into a frenzy of flipping and splashing.
The Loyal Great Toad squatting nearby took the chance to flick out its tongue, snatching up an early-stage Tier-1 Spiritual Fish and swallowing it whole.
“Gwah—” Ji Yuan ignored it. He immediately brought out the Yin Ghost Flag, and as soon as the two Yin Ghosts were released—
The two leapt forward and, from their posture, it seemed like they were kneeling before the Black Coffin, kowtowing as if pounding garlic.
“Damn, is this something serious?”
Watching the bizarre scene, Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel slightly surprised.
But he had already examined the Black Coffin—just as Bai Piao had said, it was a solid structure, with absolutely nothing inside. Could it be...
Were the Yin Ghosts reacting to the aura?
Ji Yuan commanded the Yin Ghosts to begin absorbing the Yin aura within.
Only then did the Yin Ghosts start to respond. But they merely huddled around the edge, nibbling cautiously, far from the frenzied devouring they exhibited when encountering typical Yin-Type Items.
Ji Yuan had no other choice. As long as they ate, it was fine—fast or slow didn’t matter.
Afterward, he dug a small cave into the nearby mountainside, placing the Yin Ghosts and the Black Coffin inside to let them feed and evolve on their own.
Upon returning to Misty Island, Ji Yuan was now utterly penniless—not even a single Spirit Stone remained, worse off than before.
Starting from scratch again would be slow.
So he set his sights on his remaining Foundation Establishment Pill—it seemed time to sell it. He would also use the opportunity to purchase more materials for refining Foundation Establishment Pills, especially the Millennium Qinghui Grass.
But to sell this Foundation Establishment Pill, he definitely had to go through an auction.
Only there could he fetch a high price.
After asking around, Ji Yuan indeed found out there was an upcoming auction, and it was a fairly large one—held in Qingye City, where Du Wanyi was stationed.