In the Lin family's estate, Lin Yang, a genius of the younger generation, had reached the twelfth level of Qi Condensation at the age of twenty-five, just one step away from breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Even within a cultivation family like the Lin family, there were only two Foundation Establishment elders in total.
If another Foundation Establishment cultivator could be added, it would be a significant event for the entire Lin family.
Therefore, Lin Yang was highly valued within the clan, with the family's Foundation Establishment elders taking turns to guide his cultivation and prioritizing the supply of various resources.
The Qi Condensation disciples within the clan were all expected to serve Lin Yang's path to Foundation Establishment.
However, how difficult was the transition from Qi Condensation to Foundation Establishment? Out of a thousand Qi Condensation cultivators, perhaps only one or two hundred could cultivate to the twelfth level of Qi Condensation in their lifetime.
Among these one or two hundred cultivators at the twelfth level of Qi Condensation, only a few could ultimately break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
Firstly, the number of Foundation Establishment Pills was limited, and the raw materials were controlled by the Four Great Sects.
The Foundation Establishment Pills produced annually were prioritized for their own disciples, with only a small amount of the pills flowing out to be contended for by various families and rogue cultivators.
Even if one was fortunate enough to obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill, consuming it did not guarantee successful Foundation Establishment, as the failure rate was very high.
The more times one failed, the lower the chance of success.
To increase Lin Yang's chances of successful Foundation Establishment, the Lin family's higher-ups were almost accommodating to his every request.
As for Lin Yang's usual indulgence in women and his fickle nature, no one bothered to hold him accountable for such minor matters.
Only Lin Yang himself knew that he was not a genius at all, but rather possessed extremely mediocre aptitude.
All of this was due to a fortuitous encounter he had during an expedition.
On that occasion, in an ancient cultivator's cave dwelling, he found a cultivation technique called "Qi Yin Dual Cultivation Art."
This technique had low requirements for cultivation aptitude and was a method of absorption.
During cultivation, it required constantly seeking out women, absorbing their primal yin through intercourse, and then refining it into one's own spiritual power.
Through continuous absorption, his cultivation progressed rapidly, allowing him to cultivate from the sixth level of Qi Condensation to the twelfth level in just a few years.
To ensure a continuous supply of women for his absorption, his own brothers specifically helped him scout for suitable women in various locations.
...
The efficacy of the Blood-Removing Muscle-Regenerating Powder refined by Xiao Fei was excellent. The rat recovered five to six tenths of its condition after only one application of the medicine.
He would look for opportunities to try it on humans later.
At this moment, Xiao Fei sat on his bed, holding a spirit stone in each hand. The spiritual energy within the spirit stones was continuously extracted and refined, transforming into spiritual power.
"Poof, poof!"
With two soft, faint sounds, the two spirit stones in his hands turned to powder one after another.
Xiao Fei slowly concluded his practice. Having used up two more spirit stones, he was left with only one.
The grain in his spatial dimension had only been harvested for one season, yielding about a thousand catties. Selling it all would only fetch him 6 spirit stones.
After buying two Four-Leaf Purple Flower Grasses this month, his spirit stones were insufficient.
This situation was unsustainable. He still needed to save spirit stones to redeem his second sister. As his cultivation increased, his consumption of spirit stones would also accelerate.
Furthermore, the "Evergreen Technique" he possessed could only cultivate to the fourth level, and he needed to find further cultivation methods, which would also require considerable spirit stones.
Regarding cultivation techniques, he had inquired. There were several bookstores in Star Moon City that sold Qi Condensation stage cultivation techniques, but they were very expensive and required him to save a substantial amount of spirit stones.
After pondering for a while, Xiao Fei's divine sense entered his spatial dimension. Since reaching the third level of Qi Condensation, his consciousness had transformed into divine sense.
Now, his entire body within the spatial dimension was composed of divine sense, which was much more substantial than his previous consciousness-based body.
The Four-Leaf Purple Flower Grass he had transplanted into the spatial dimension had already produced seeds, and it was estimated that they would mature in about ten more days.
The dozen or so ginseng plants he had planted earliest in the spatial dimension had produced many seeds a few days ago. Xiao Fei had picked them and planted them in the spatial dimension, and they had now sprouted.
The newly planted batch of ginseng, having absorbed sufficient spiritual energy, had already undergone some mutations and showed a tendency to transform into spiritual ginseng.
Xiao Fei walked to the edge of the large rice paddy. The rice stalks were now beginning to form ears. With the spatial dimension's tenfold speed, the harvest would be ready in another six or seven days.
At this moment, he noticed a rice seedling in the center of the paddy that was significantly taller than the others and had not yet formed ears.
He walked to the center of the paddy to inspect it. This seedling was robust and tall, with thick leaves and well-developed roots. The surrounding seedlings were already close to wilting due to their inability to obtain sufficient nutrients.
Most importantly, this seedling exuded a dense spiritual energy.
"Is this going to mutate into spiritual grain?"
Xiao Fei gently stroked the leaves, excitedly speculating.
He had always wanted to cultivate spiritual grain or other spiritual herbs, but no one was willing to sell him seeds.
Just like the Four-Leaf Purple Flower Grass, people kept the seeds for their own use and only sold the mature herbs. This greatly increased the cost of propagation.
If this seedling mutated successfully, he would be able to cultivate spiritual grain in the future.
After all, spiritual rice could sell for one spirit stone per catty, whereas his current grain only sold for one spirit stone for 150 catties.
Moreover, he had seen others sell spiritual rice that was crystal clear and looked delicious. He had been craving it for a long time.
A few more days passed, and the rice in the spatial dimension had matured and was ready for harvest.
However, the mutated seedling in the center had still not formed ears; instead, it had grown even taller.
Xiao Fei spread out the harvested rice in the spatial dimension to dry before taking it to the market for sale.
This time, the two thousand catties of rice sold for another 12 spirit stones, enough for him to cultivate for a month with a small surplus.
In the past few days, due to the lack of spirit stones for cultivation, although he had still meditated and absorbed spiritual energy, his progress had been extremely slow, almost negligible.
The spiritual energy that roamed the heavens and earth seemed to have a deep hatred for him, as if he had killed their fathers and stolen their wives, always avoiding him.
Each time he cultivated, he could only use his divine sense to forcibly capture and draw the spiritual energy into his body, making the efficiency naturally unable to be fast.
It was no wonder that the number of cultivators in the world was so scarce; the process of cultivation was too arduous.
Cultivating with spirit stones was fast, but it was too expensive.
After selling the grain, Xiao Fei, with 12 spirit stones in his pocket, felt a lot more at ease.
Xiao Fei hummed a tune as he entered the inn. Green Bean Eyes was still holding the golden-haired rat.
Upon seeing Xiao Fei enter, it actually nodded to him, which made Xiao Fei feel flattered, wondering if it was time to pay rent again.
Fortunately, Green Bean Eyes merely nodded. Xiao Fei also gave a silly smile and a nod before entering the backyard.
In the inn's backyard guest room, Huang Feifei was sewing a piece of clothing for Xiao Fei. Seeing Xiao Fei return, she quickly got up and held it up to his shoulder to measure.
"Feifei, how has your cultivation been these past few days? Have you made any progress?"
"No, it's still the same. Am I particularly stupid?"
Huang Feifei had been asked by Xiao Fei several times without any progress, and she felt she was disappointing him greatly.
"It's alright, we'll take it slow. Sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth takes a long time in the early stages."
Xiao Fei empathized, having cultivated for several months without being able to sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, only managing to do so after consuming an Enlightenment Fruit.
"I used several months before..."
"Ah, you mean sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth? I could do that from the beginning. It's just that my cultivation has always been stuck at the first level of the technique, with no progress."
Xiao Fei's words suddenly caught in his throat, and he realized he had been talking about two different things with Huang Feifei.
"When did you sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth?"
Xiao Fei then realized that Huang Feifei had already embarked on the path of cultivation.
"It was within the first two to three days of starting cultivation. I sensed many points of spiritual light surrounding me, communicated with my consciousness, and then these points of spiritual light surged into my body."
Huang Feifei was even more clueless than Xiao Fei regarding cultivation matters and asked with a bit of insecurity, "Am I cultivating incorrectly?"
Xiao Fei felt his mouth dry and a sense of blockage in his heart.
Why was it that when it came to his own cultivation, the spiritual energy seemed to have a vendetta against him?
"It's alright, just keep cultivating. It took me several months to reach the second level of Qi Condensation back then."
Xiao Fei could only force himself to change the subject from his earlier statement.