After successfully cultivating the secret transmission-level technique, the Golden Flame Art, Qin Ping’s aura had completely stabilized at the Foundation Establishment stage.
It was at this moment that Qin Ping’s eyes, which had been closed for nearly a full day, finally opened. Beams of excitement and joy shot out from them.
During this breakthrough process, not only had the intensity and total capacity of Qin Ping’s spiritual power greatly increased, but thanks to the feedback from his realm advancement, his physical body and spiritual soul had also received a significant boost.
“Foundation Establishment! I’ve made it!”
Although Qin Ping had been extremely confident about breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, now that he had truly succeeded, his heart was still flooded with immense joy.
This was the Foundation Establishment stage! A realm that had held back countless Qi Refinement cultivators, a realm countless people dreamt of, and he had reached it without any risk whatsoever!
One must understand that the Foundation Establishment stage represented the top-tier combat power in Qingshi County! Back then, just the loss of a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Murong had shaken Qingshi County for a long time. From this, one could imagine the status a Foundation Establishment cultivator held in Qingshi County.
Qin Ping’s breakthrough to Foundation Establishment now meant he had truly stepped into the top tier of Qingshi County. Moreover, his combat power would definitely surpass those who had broken through using a Foundation Establishment Pill. Adding the strength of his animal companion, Qin Ping’s overall combat capability could now rank among the very forefront!
Furthermore, after breaking through to Foundation Establishment, his lifespan had also surpassed five hundred years! This was another extremely joyful thing for Qin Ping; in this life, he had no desire to live such a short life and die again.
Foundation Establishment was his first step on the path to breaking through the limits of mortality and achieving eternal life!
And after breaking through in realm, the efficiency of his [Plant Growth] ability would also increase substantially, making the process of nurturing spiritual herbs more and more efficient.
This improvement was the key to Qin Ping’s next step: nurturing a second-tier bee colony. Only after breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage, with a significant increase in his spiritual soul and power, did he qualify to begin nurturing a second-tier bee colony.
This was because upgrading to a second-tier bee colony required not only the five-hundred-year Blood Ginseng and two-hundred-year Glow Grass to refine the Bloodline Mutation Potion (Enhanced Version). Once he started nurturing the colony, he would also need five-hundred-year Blood Ginseng mixed with Hundred Spirit Grass to brew the honey needed to raise second-tier bee larvae into adult bees.
If Qin Ping were still at the Qi Refinement stage, simply nurturing the five-hundred-year Blood Ginseng would consume most of his energy and time, which would not be worth the effort.
So, even though Qin Ping could have attempted to mutate the bee colony to the second tier before his Foundation Establishment breakthrough, he still chose to wait until after breaking through to begin the transformation.
“Now that I’ve broken through to Foundation Establishment, with my current combat power and the characteristics of my [Farming Domain], ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators might not be able to hurt me anymore…”
The improvement in his survival ability was what made Qin Ping happiest.
“Once I’ve nurtured the second-tier bee colony, I’ll go bring Old Man Zhou back. I wonder if my current cultivation level will give that lazy old man a huge shock…”
Bringing Old Man Zhou back was the first thing Qin Ping planned to do after nurturing the second-tier bee colony. Only after that would he look for new animal companions, second-tier resources, spells, and so on.
It should be fine for Old Man Zhou to stay in the mortal world for two or three years. But if the time dragged on and Old Man Zhou’s resources ran out, his lifespan would likely deplete rapidly.
Therefore, within a year at the latest, he had to bring Old Man Zhou back. Qin Ping had long prepared some honey with nourishing effects on the body. Once Old Man Zhou took and refined it, it should extend his life by seven or eight years.
Next, after familiarizing himself with the power of the Foundation Establishment stage, Qin Ping also sparred with Crow Crow a few times.
After several satisfying and intense sparring sessions, Qin Ping not only greatly improved his control over his own power but also gained a deeper understanding of combat at the Foundation Establishment level.
The combat power of the Foundation Establishment stage was far beyond what the Qi Refinement stage could compare with. All attributes—attack, defense, speed—had seen substantial improvement. Another particularly important point was that Foundation Establishment cultivators could fly through the air without support!
Now, even without relying on the Wind Riding Flight technique, Qin Ping could fly freely. However, his flying speed was still considerably slower than that of a flying-type spirit beast like Crow Crow.
After breaking through to Foundation Establishment and thoroughly familiarizing himself with its power, Qin Ping decided to take a few days off.
During this time, using his Foundation Establishment flight ability and the Wind Riding Flight technique, Qin Ping traveled to many places within the Misty Mountain Range, witnessing many bizarre creatures and plants of the cultivation world.
Just the Misty Mountain Range alone contained plant, animal, and insect species beyond Qin Ping’s previous knowledge.
Qin Ping increasingly realized the vastness of the cultivation world. The saying “reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles” perfectly applied here. What Qin Ping saw in books was far less shocking than experiencing it firsthand.
And this was just the Misty Mountain Range! A place not particularly rich in spiritual energy.
Qin Ping truly couldn’t imagine the boundless variety of life forms in those spiritually rich, vast beast domains and forests. It was a pity that his current strength was still far from being able to set foot in those places.
For those places, let alone Foundation Establishment cultivators, even Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators had to be extremely cautious, otherwise, they would certainly risk falling.
Furthermore, Qin Ping also came to understand more deeply that not all animals would develop a strong fondness for Druids.
Throughout this time, Qin Ping discovered that the more violent-tempered and higher-intelligence an animal was, the lower the possibility of it developing fondness for a Druid. Conversely, those with gentle temperaments, or animal cubs, tended to have a very strong liking for Druids.
After returning from traversing the Misty Mountain Range, Qin Ping felt that his mental state seemed better. The fatigue accumulated from long-term cultivation had also been dispelled, and his [Farming Domain] had become even more condensed.
“Indeed, as long as safety is guaranteed, occasionally wandering around the cultivation world is not a bad thing. Cultivation also requires cultivating the mind!”
The Dao heart was the most crucial means for cultivators to control their transcendent power, a subject that absolutely could not be neglected on the path of immortality.
Returning to his territory, Qin Ping threw himself back into cultivation, continuously tempering and strengthening his spiritual power using the tempering of the Beast King’s Flame.
However, compared to cultivation, Qin Ping devoted more energy to nurturing the Blood Ginseng, Glow Grass, and other complementary spiritual herbs.
Qin Ping estimated that to select the best three to five types of second-tier bee species, picking the best from the best, he would need to nurture at least three batches of five-hundred-year Blood Ginseng…
More than three months later…
After unremitting day-and-night effort, Qin Ping finally succeeded in nurturing three batches of five-hundred-year Blood Ginseng, Glow Grass, and the complementary medicinal ingredients!
“Truly not easy! Even after breaking through to Foundation Establishment, it still took me this long!”
After completing the nurturing of the ingredients, Qin Ping didn’t delay at all and immediately began the process of refining the enhanced version of the Bloodline Mutation Potion.
Thanks to his previous successful experience in refining it, and having practiced beforehand to prepare, Qin Ping smoothly refined the Bloodline Mutation Potion (Enhanced Version) in just half a day!
