41: Retreat

After Lin Feng and Yin Bo divided the spoils, Lin Feng saw Yin Bo off before he had time to examine the gains from this outing. As the saying goes, 'a man cannot get rich without ill-gotten gains.' Lin Feng checked the Storage Pouches of the three men, having already sent one away. Lin Feng put the spoils into two Storage Pouches.

Lin Feng checked them and found that the three Late Stage Qi Refining Cultivators had over a thousand Spirit Stones on them. After giving away a thousand, Lin Feng still had nine hundred Spirit Stones. Besides the Spirit Stones, there were several jade bottles in their Storage Pouches. Lin Feng opened them and found that they contained various essences of blood.

After careful study, Lin Feng discovered that these essences of blood included both Cultivator and Yao Beast blood. It seemed these were used for their Cultivation. Besides the essences of blood, Lin Feng also found some Medicinal Pills for healing and Cultivation.

All three men had Magical Artifacts. Besides the hairpin Magical Artifact, the Cultivator Lin Feng killed first had a Flying Sword Magical Artifact in his Storage Pouch. The black-clothed man, whom Lin Feng and Yin Bo jointly killed, had two Magical Artifacts in his Storage Pouch: one was a blood Ruyi, and the other was a blood-colored cloak.

Lin Feng continued to examine them and found that all three had Cultivated a blood Dao Cultivation Technique. Lin Feng saw that they all Cultivated a blood Dao Cultivation Technique called "Blood Condensation Soul Refinement Art," which focuses on the dual tempering of essence of blood and Soul.

However, the copy Lin Feng had only contained the part about condensing essence of blood into powerful blood beads. As for how to nourish the Soul with essence of blood, there was no method described. It seemed these individuals who Cultivated blood Dao Cultivation Techniques were likely only low-level Disciples of the Blood Demon Sect, and merely pawns.

This Cultivation Technique primarily involves refining the essence of blood of others to strengthen oneself. Early-stage Cultivation is very fast, but in the Late Stage, especially after Foundation Establishment, more and more essence of blood is needed. This made Lin Feng realize why the Blood Demon Sect had always existed but lacked the power to overthrow the Four Great Sects in Great Xin. The amount of essence of blood required in its Late Stage was too great, making it difficult to Cultivate to a profound Realm.

Lin Feng studied the three Magical Artifacts he obtained and found that activating them not only required the consumption of magical power but also one's own essence of blood. Lin Feng disliked this point. He had already witnessed the hairpin Magical Artifact.

Lin Feng tried to activate the blood Ruyi Magical Artifact; it consumed a lot of essence of blood. Fortunately, Lin Feng had the captured essence of blood, which he could use from the bottle as a substitute. Its power was stronger than ordinary high-grade Magical Artifacts, capable of emitting a blood-colored ribbon to attack enemies.

As for the blood-colored cloak, it required both magical power and essence of blood to temporarily double one's speed. This was a treasure for escaping. All three Magical Artifacts required the consumption of essence of blood, no wonder only one Cultivator was willing to use them at first; it was simply too draining on oneself.

After organizing these spoils, Lin Feng turned his attention to the blood heart lotus from this Qingyun Mountain Range expedition. Lin Feng had consulted some ancient texts and found that it had the effects of strengthening the foundation, nourishing the origin, and supplementing Qi and blood.

Additionally, because it supplements Qi and blood, this item is extremely suitable for Cultivating Body Refining Cultivation Techniques. After consumption, the speed of Body Refining Cultivation will greatly increase, especially the lotus seeds of the blood heart lotus, which are of great help to Lin Feng's Cultivation of the "Iron Bone Soul Forging Art." As for the lotus root and petals, they can also be consumed directly, as they contain pure spiritual power, which can greatly accelerate a Cultivator's Cultivation.

Lin Feng tried consuming the petals and found that the spiritual power contained in this item was enough for Lin Feng's Cultivation for a month, even with Heaven Rewards Diligence reaching its maximum daily buff. It might be because the magical power contained in this item was extremely pure; Lin Feng's Cultivation speed also increased significantly, and with the entries' buff, it was ten times his basic Cultivation. This was two times more than consuming Medicinal Pills, and with the entries' buff, the increase was even greater.

Since he had this item, Lin Feng planned to immediately go into secluded Cultivation. He first called Xiong Hu and his two companions, giving them all the Talismans he had. He asked them to help him submit a batch of Talismans to the Talisman Pavilion in ten days, and sell all the remaining Talismans, then come to him next month for the handover.

The three looked at the two thousand Talismans in their hands with shock, which quickly turned into ecstasy. They only submitted five or six hundred of these Talismans in a month; the rest were for them to sell. They could make a good amount of Spirit Stones. Even their two-tenths share would far exceed their Cultivation needs.

All these Talismans, except those for Lin Feng's submission, were to be sold. This was enough for the three of them not to need Spirit Stones for three months. They immediately guaranteed to complete the task, and Lin Feng nodded in satisfaction, letting them leave.

Lin Feng planned to go into secluded Cultivation for a month to see the effects of the blood heart lotus. During this month of secluded Cultivation, Lin Feng received the maximum Heaven Rewards Diligence buff every day. Although Lin Feng's Realm did not advance during this month, his magical power greatly increased. This was the longest period of Cultivation and the greatest accumulation Lin Feng had experienced since entering the Cultivation World.

Lin Feng was already seventeen years old, and he had been at Qi Refining Level 7 for about half a year. Due to the Heaven Rewards Diligence buff, Lin Feng felt that he could Breakthrough to Qi Refining Level 8 within six months to a year.

Considering that he could Breakthrough to Qi Refining Level 8 soon, and Foundation Establishment would only take a few years, Lin Feng thought it over. He now needed to prepare for Foundation Establishment. With Lin Feng's Aptitude, and the fact that he didn't have a true backer within the Sect, even if he made great contributions, no one would go to great lengths to help him apply for a Foundation Establishment Pill.

And it was unlikely for him, a Qi Refining Cultivator, to apply for it on his own within the Sect. Even a righteous Sect values background and exchanges of benefits. No one would truly favor his Five Elements Spiritual Root.

Therefore, Lin Feng began to plan on refining Medicinal Pills himself; he wanted to become an Alchemist. He wanted to refine Foundation Establishment Pills himself. Lin Feng made this decision because he had inquired about Foundation Establishment early on.

Lin Feng had previously inquired about Foundation Establishment from Ye Qingfeng. The reason he asked Ye Qingfeng was that Lin Feng had only recently returned to Liuyun Market. Ye Qingfeng had finally Breakthrough to Qi Refining Level 9 after all these years in Liuyun Market, and he had already begun preparing for Foundation Establishment, so he was very clear about matters concerning Foundation Establishment.

Lin Feng learned from Ye Qingfeng that Cultivators with Heavenly Spiritual Root, Earthly Spiritual Root, or mutated Spiritual Roots have no Bottleneck and can Breakthrough directly. Only those with True Spiritual Root and below need Foundation Establishment Pills to assist in their Foundation Establishment Breakthrough.

True spiritual root cultivators, if well prepared, can generally succeed in Foundation Establishment with one Foundation Establishment Pill, with very few cases of failure. Four Spiritual Root Cultivators usually find it difficult to succeed with one Foundation Establishment Pill and typically need to try two or three times to succeed. As for Lin Feng, with his Five Elements mixed Spiritual Root, it's hard to say.

It was difficult for Lin Feng to apply for even one Foundation Establishment Pill in the Sect, let alone multiple. Therefore, Lin Feng had long given up on the idea of obtaining Foundation Establishment Pills from the Sect. Lin Feng decided to refine Foundation Establishment Pills himself.

To refine Foundation Establishment Pills, one must become an Alchemist. Therefore, Lin Feng planned to learn Alchemy and become an Alchemist. This was currently the most urgent of the myriad Cultivation arts Lin Feng needed to learn.