Mortal Alchemy

"Before thirty-five?"

Chen Ping fell into contemplation.

He was twenty-three years old and at the tenth level of Qi Refining.

That left him twelve years to establish his foundation, and that was just the optimistic view.

If Mu Xingling broke through to Foundation Establishment before that…

Chen Ping's heart sank to the bottom. Looking at it this way, wanting to establish his foundation before Mu Xingling was basically impossible.

But he could only do his best and leave the rest to fate, improving his cultivation at any cost to establish his foundation!

Establishing a foundation before thirty-five would allow him to ascend to the Eastern Xuan Sect.

Exceeding thirty-five, even if he established a foundation, he would not be able to ascend to the Eastern Xuan Sect and would have to stay in the Mu family to continue toiling away.

Chen Ping had already seen two such Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Mu family, one was the Left Hall Master of the Pill Hall, and the other was the old man on whom Mu Huadie relied.

Chen Ping cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Senior Brother Xu."

Xu Fengshan earnestly advised:

"This is news that everyone knows. It's normal that you, Junior Brother Chen, are usually so engrossed in alchemy and cultivation that you have little social interaction and don't know these things."

"Junior Brother Chen, now that you want to break through to Foundation Establishment, you should pay more attention to interpersonal relationships, otherwise how will you establish your foundation? Let's not talk about the Foundation Establishment Pill, but you should at least get one or two Foundation Establishment spiritual objects, right?"

"Without the interpersonal relationships of friends and family, how can you collect Foundation Establishment spiritual objects on your own?"

Chen Ping felt bitter inside and cupped his hands, saying, "Junior Brother is grateful for the lesson."

He actually understood this principle long ago. Now he had to consider the matter of Foundation Establishment Pill materials. He had no friends, family, or backing. How difficult would it be to obtain Foundation Establishment Pill materials?

He could only try his luck at the black market and auctions.

"Junior Brother, I'm going back to the alchemy room to refine pills." Xu Fengshan waved his hand and left. For his grandson's sake, he had emptied his family fortune and still owed a lot of debts, refining pills day and night to earn money to repay them.

Chen Ping took a deep breath. If he couldn't break through to Foundation Establishment, his end would be even more miserable than Xu Fengshan's.

Once he broke through to the eleventh level of Qi Refining and submitted this year's task, he should go to the black market and auctions to see what he could find.

"Seclusion!"

……

Chen Ping also went to the alchemy room and opened the restriction.

He immediately took out Yuan Qi Pills, Spiritual Sense Pills, and Body Tempering Pills, swallowing them one by one to refine and cultivate.

Although Mu Xingling had cultivated with him once, opening up the bottlenecks of the eleventh and twelfth levels of Qi Refining for Chen Ping, Chen Ping's cultivation method had fifteen levels.

He could now feel the bottlenecks of the last three levels. Spiritual Sense Pills and Body Tempering Pills were indispensable. Swallowing and refining them now to strengthen his foundation could also wear down the bottlenecks of the later stages, making it much easier to break through to higher cultivation levels in the future.

Three months later.

Inside the alchemy room, two pill furnaces were refining pills.

Chen Ping sat cross-legged, his eyes closed, his expression calm.

"Bang—"

A powerful burst of energy erupted from Chen Ping's body, creating a huge wave of air in the alchemy room that overturned many things.

Chen Ping opened his eyes, his face filled with a smile: "Eleventh level of Qi Refining."

Breaking through the bottleneck, coupled with Mu Xingling's memory, and sufficient resources, Chen Ping smoothly broke through to the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

The purple cyclone in his body had become much stronger.

Chen Ping immediately took out a Yuan Qi Pill and swallowed it, feeling the speed of refinement:

"Hmm… this speed is still one pill a day…"

It wasn't half a pill a day as he had imagined.

He then carefully sensed how far he was from the twelfth level of Qi Refining.

"If I refine one Yuan Qi Pill a day, it will take a little over a year to reach the twelfth level of Qi Refining."

One Yuan Qi Pill was equivalent to one month of spiritual energy for his five-elemental mixed spiritual root to meditate. In other words, without Yuan Qi Pills, Chen Ping would have to meditate for more than thirty years to have a chance to enter the twelfth level of Qi Refining in this lifetime.

But this was only theoretical, because once a Qi Refining cultivator passed thirty-five years old, their physical functions would begin to decline. Normally, Chen Ping would never be able to cultivate to the twelfth level of Qi Refining in his lifetime.

Chen Ping took a deep breath, his eyes flashing: "…Then I'll be able to cultivate to the twelfth level of Qi Refining when I'm twenty-four next year."

This was not only due to the benefits of abundant resources, but also the greatest benefit of Chen Ping's cultivation method not having any pill toxins.

"If I wait until I cultivate to the twelfth level of Qi Refining, how about I switch cultivation methods at that time, so I can break through to the Foundation Establishment stage at the twelfth level of Qi Refining!"

But after thinking about it, Chen Ping shook his head and gave up this plan. Not only was his five-elemental mixed spiritual root slow to cultivate, but the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment was lower than others.

The fewer the spiritual root attributes, the faster the cultivation, the fewer the bottlenecks, and even the probability of breaking through to Foundation Establishment was higher.

The twelve-level cultivation method only theoretically came with a 30% chance of establishing a foundation.

Even a favored daughter of heaven like Mu Xingling, so young, and with a Foundation Establishment Pill, failed to break through to Foundation Establishment.

If Chen Ping wanted to successfully establish his foundation, it was better to honestly cultivate to the fifteenth level of Qi Refining to increase the probability of success.

The shadow of breaking through to the tenth level of Qi Refining was too great, and Chen Ping almost went crazy and lost his life.

Not to mention such a major event as Foundation Establishment!

Although Chen Ping didn't have to submit tasks with others at the end of each month, he was still used to coming out to breathe at this time, returning to the dojo to meet Mu Luofei, and trading spirit stone pills, Yuan Qi Pills, alchemy materials, and so on.

"Should I use the Turtle Breathing Technique to conceal my true cultivation…" Chen Ping thought about it, but he didn't need it yet.

It would be better to use it when he broke through to the thirteenth level of Qi Refining.

Chen Ping handed over all of this year's tasks to the Left Hall Master, returned to the dojo, and Mu Luofei happened to be walking over from Xu Fengshan after receiving Essence Qi Pills and other pills.

Mu Luofei summoned her white jade flying boat and called Chen Ping on board:

"Junior Brother Chen, let's talk about the transaction on the boat."

Chen Ping boarded Mu Luofei's flying boat.

Mu Luofei controlled the flying boat and drove out of the Mu family. At the same time, many people from the Mu family were also heading in the same direction as Mu Luofei.

Chen Ping was a little surprised: "Senior Sister Luofei, what's going on?"

Mu Luofei's face was indifferent: "Uncle Li Erniu is getting married, and the grand ceremony and banquet is tomorrow. He sent out invitations and asked us to go."

Chen Ping was silent for a moment: "…I didn't receive an invitation."

It was a good thing that Li Erniu had only entered the Eastern Xuan Sect recently and was giving up on Mu Luofei to get married.

Mu Luofei said lightly: "Perhaps he forgot about Junior Brother Chen, but that's not important."

Immediately, Chen Ping made a transaction with Mu Luofei for pills and medicinal materials.

Chen Ping originally wanted to inquire about Foundation Establishment spiritual objects with Mu Luofei, but after thinking about it, their relationship wasn't good enough for that.

And Mu Luofei's mood wasn't as indifferent as it seemed on the surface, and she didn't even notice that Chen Ping had already entered the eleventh level of Qi Refining.

But after she calmed down, she was also shocked.

……

Night.

There were many streamers in the sky, heading towards the Li family on Yunya Island.

Mu Luofei drove the white jade flying boat, lying inside pretending to rest, watching Chen Ping sitting on the deck meditating and cultivating, Mu Luofei's beautiful eyes suddenly shook:

"Junior Brother Chen… you're already at the eleventh level of Qi Refining?"