Living steadily in the world of gods and mystery

On the second day, Chen went to the Hall of Merits to receive the Spirit Stones for the mission.

The Foundation Establishment elder responsible for the Hall of Merits was surnamed Luo and named Shen. He was one of the six mid-stage Foundation Establishment elders of the Returning True Sect, looking quite old with wrinkles all over his face, his eyebrows drooping, his back hunched, and every time we met, he was drunk.

At his age, he would normally be enjoying his twilight years within the sect, responsible only for some minor administrative tasks.

He was the one who had accompanied Chen during his initiation ceremony.

"Fellow Daoist Chen, it has only been two years since you established your foundation, right? I heard that this time you killed a second-order demon beast by yourself. A young hero indeed, well done!"

Chen felt somewhat mortified upon hearing this.

He was already forty-eight years old, nearly fifty, yet in the eyes of the other person, he was just a youngster.

"It was nothing but a battle for survival," Chen said with a cupped fist salute. "If the demon beast didn’t die, then I would have."

"You speak the truth. Alas, many times combat is such that in moments of life and death, it can bring out a person’s potential and unleash tremendous fighting prowess. Back in my day..." The old cultivator began to prattle on about the past.

Chen had no choice but to listen patiently, responding with brief and cursory comments.

The old cultivator prattled on for a while before he suddenly remembered to attend to the matter at hand, apologizing, "Look at me, getting old and fond of rambling on. I imagine you younger folks might not enjoy listening to it. Let me take care of this for you right now."

"Not at all, not at all. Your words of experience are of great benefit to me," Chen said.

"Haha, you are insincere!" The old cultivator had a childlike personality and spoke without restraint, chuckling as he spoke.

Facing such a forthright old cultivator, what could Chen do but force a chuckle or two in response?

The old cultivator took out a booklet and a brush from his storage bag, walked to the table, spread out the booklet, moistened the brush with his mouth, and tremulously marked a check after Chen’s name before handing over three top-grade Spirit Stones:

"Take these. We’re settling this face to face, so don’t come back later trying to trick this old man. That one person, you know, was given his and he absurdly claimed he wasn’t, as if I’d gone senile. And that other fellow, utterly unreliable – an upstanding appearance on the surface, but a thief and a philanderer behind the back, disgraceful, utterly tarnishing the sect’s reputation."

Seeing him begin to ramble and curse again, Chen, unable to bear it, quickly found an excuse to take his leave.

...

Once outside, he immediately rushed to a meat shop within the sect.

This place always had demon beast meat on sale, but Chen had never bought any before. After finding out the prices of various meats, he realized that over the years, Feng Qi had been selling him second-order demon beast meat without giving him any discount.

The price he paid was exactly the same as in the meat shop.

Which was really not very generous.

Chen summoned the shopkeeper, and after some haggling, managed to sell about 20,000 jin (approximately 11 metric tons) of pure meat from two storage bags at an 80% price, netting over three top-grade Spirit Stones.

Just this one second-order demon beast had brought him an income of five top-grade Spirit Stones, not to mention there was still over one ton of second-order demon beast meat left in his storage bags.

Compared to that second-order snake demon from before.

His income had more than doubled.

His once flat wallet was now slightly plump again, and after leaving the meat shop, he turned into a magic artifact shop. He had intended to buy a large-capacity storage bag but found that they didn’t have any; the largest was already the five-directional bag.

"Seems I’ll have to make time for another trip to the Artifact Sect. I also need to purchase a better second-order magic artifact... Alas, still short on money," he silently calculated.

He currently had only fourteen top-grade Spirit Stones on hand.

He wondered how much would remain after buying a large-capacity storage bag?

Once magic artifacts reached the second order, the price difference between each grade was significant. A common second-order low-grade magical instrument only needed one or two top-grade Spirit Stones, a mid-grade would cost at least ten and upwards, and for a top-grade, you’d need forty or more.

Even at his wealthiest, he never had more than forty stones.

Low-grade magical instruments were of no use to him; if he were to purchase one, it would have to be mid-grade or better.

"Fortunately, there is no rush for these things; I’ll wait until after this year is over," Chen thought to himself. He usually didn’t rely on magic artifacts, preferring close-combat. Acquiring a magic artifact was merely to diversify his offensive options.

...

Scripture Pavilion.

Whoosh!

Chen was flipping through a catalog while drinking the offered tea.

The Returning True Sect had a total of four Body Refining Techniques.

Immortal Muscles Jade Bones Body: A superior body refining method that doesn’t harm the body. Upon mastery, the bones become as hard as crystal and jade, the body as flexible as an immortal’s, and it fortifies the body with a layer of soft yet strong energy capable of defending against spells and secret techniques. However, the cultivation process is slow and can be combined with medicinal baths for practice.

Pure Yang Immaculate Body: The body becomes free of impurities, prolonging life and providing a light, agile form, moving as if a breeze has swept past. Practice requires abstinence from sexual activity.

Monstrous Elephant Skill: Grants immense strength and vitality. Practicing this technique causes the body to grow beyond the size of regular humans, with record holders growing over ten feet tall and having a monstrous appetite. Regular medicinal baths are recommended for practice. Caution is advised.

Sun Refining Body Skill: It utilizes the power of the true fire of the sun to temper the body. It yields faster results, and upon completion, the body becomes as strong as metal, impervious to water and fire, and resistant to damage by magical artifacts. However, this technique is extremely dangerous and should be approached with utmost caution.

Of these four body refining methods,

Chen immediately ruled out the Sun Refining Body Skill and the Pure Yang Immaculate Body.

The former was too dangerous and not within his consideration; the latter required celibacy... which was an impossible demand!

He couldn’t condemn his lovely wife and concubines at home to a life of chastity, that would be too cruel.

Next, he didn’t hesitate to eliminate the Monstrous Elephant Skill.

A height of over ten feet...

Whether he could accept it was one thing.

Zhou Hong and Zhang Shuniang probably could not... cope with it.

So, the only technique suitable for him was the Immortal Muscles Jade Bones Skill.

"Alas, the Returning True Sect offers far too few choices for body refining techniques," Chen sighed in his heart.

He got up to register with the gatekeeper of the Scripture Pavilion, swore an oath, and paid a steep price of one top-grade Spirit Stone, which pained his heart. He just hoped it would be worth the cost.

After obtaining the cultivation technique,

he rushed home immediately and instructed Zhou Hong and Zhang Shuniang not to disturb him.

Then he moved to the quiet room and closed the stone door behind him.

He took out the Transmission Jade Slip and read it,

and the details of the cultivation technique appeared in his mind.

This was a static cultivation technique for body refinement; it strengthened the physical body by tempering it with one’s own spiritual power. It was divided into three layers: Immortal Muscles, Vigorous Organs, and Jade Bones. Each layer was relatively independent—able to proceed simultaneously as well as be refined separately. Upon reaching the ultimate integration, innate strength would naturally emerge.

Chen Li found this technique to be even more wonderful than the abstract description in the catalog.

When practiced to the Immortal Muscles stage, one would become impervious to heat and cold, low-grade magical instruments could hardly cause injury, physical strength would greatly increase, and the five senses would be enhanced, with keen hearing and sharp eyesight.

Upon reaching the Vigorous Organs stage, the organs would become resilient, their functionalities significantly boosted. One could go without sleep or rest for half a month without feeling fatigued. The final Jade Bones stage, however, was not as miraculous, merely tempering the bones.

The latter part of the technique also came with an additional recipe for a medicinal bath.

"This could indeed complement basic swordsmanship!"

He withdrew his spiritual sense and tossed the fragmented jade slip to the side.

Strictly speaking, his swordsmanship was not truly a body refinement method but rather a technique for combat. The body refinement aspect was incidental, akin to practicing martial arts, which naturally strengthens the body.

"However, this medicinal bath... sigh!"

Thinking about the dozen types of spiritual medicines in the recipe, some of which were Second Order spiritual medicines, he couldn’t help but sigh deeply, finally understanding Feng Qi’s pain—that there was never enough money.

He was still planning to save up to buy a large-capacity storage bag and magic artifacts!

"Yet, this medicinal bath is not a necessity, just slower without it. Let’s start practicing and see how it goes. I’ll worry about it if it doesn’t work out."

After thoroughly understanding the cultivation technique,

Chen Li took a Body Tempering Elixir and felt a warm sensation growing in his abdomen. He sat cross-legged and began his first true body refinement session.

...

Time passed quickly, like flowing water.

Winter departed and spring arrived, followed soon by summer.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had gone by.

"I didn’t expect the breakthrough to the Second Order of Foundation Establishment to be so smooth..."

In the quiet room,

Chen Li exhaled deeply.

A look of joy on his face.

He had assumed there would be bottlenecks, but encountered none at all. Everything flowed naturally, everything fell into place without effort.

Fortunately, he had gotten used to it.

"A few days ago, I went to visit Guo Xingquan, but he was still in seclusion. It seems I’ve stepped into the Second Order of Foundation Establishment first, no longer at the bottom."

In the entire Returning True realm, there were quite a number of people at the Second Order of Foundation Establishment.

Over thirty individuals were at various stages of Foundation Establishment in the Returning True realm,

with one at the late stage, six at the mid-stage,

and the rest at the early stage, most hovering around the second or third layer. The Second Order of Foundation Establishment had become the mainstream level, forming a broad base of the pyramid structure.

"It must be the effect of the Max Level Longevity Skill. All along, I’ve rarely encountered bottlenecks, only at some major milestones where I would pause for a few days, and the longest stuck period never exceeded three months," Chen Li felt pleased.

The benefits of the Max Level Longevity Skill didn’t stop there. When the Qi Cultivation section reached max level, spiritual power could automatically regenerate, and at the Foundation Establishment stage, it directly granted him a Divine Skill, also his sole Divine Skill:

"Immunity to All Illnesses"

This skill might seem inconspicuous but extended his life by more than twenty years.

However, given that he already appeared to be a young man, he did not look much younger.

Chen Li opened his game panel.

"Lifespan: 49/290 years"

His lifespan had grown by another two years.

His gaze swept over the panel and then moved on to other items.

In the past six months, he had maxed out Penetrating Vision Skill and Ice Skill. Looking over the spell catalog, apart from Cleaning Skill, Far Sight Skill, Insect Repelling Skill, Earth Listening Technique, Hemostasis Healing Skill, and Disease Expelling Skill, all the other skills were max level.

"It looks a bit odd. I should max out these few skills when I have time," Chen Li thought to himself.

Fortunately, these were all low-level skills and not very difficult to max out.

Moreover, the Immortal Muscles Jade Bones Skill had already reached the proficiency level.

This body refinement method progressed very slowly since it was a static skill that consumed a lot of spiritual power. Often, he could not practice more than three hours before his spiritual power was exhausted, advancing only two or three points each day.

It was just a little faster than basic swordsmanship.

Chen Li wasn’t in a hurry. He cultivated methodically every day. At this stage, his main focus was on tempering his bones, while he refined his muscles and organs less frequently. His attacking power was already sufficient, but his skeletal strength was inadequate, too fragile. If he exerted his full force, he was prone to fractures.

As the days passed, his bones began to crystallize subtly. The enamel surface became more dense and sturdy. Upon internal viewing, his bones glowed faintly, radiating a hazy light.

Although he had not tested it,

he could clearly feel that his bones had significantly strengthened compared to before.