Chapter 139 - Writing the Foundation Establishment Passage
Chapter 139: Writing the Foundation Establishment Passage
In just two days and one night, the vast and majestic essence power disappeared.
The density of essence power in the Essence-Gathering Formation was also decreasing rapidly.
Wang Tong opened his eyes and felt that it was a pity.
Given more time, he might be able to achieve a breakthrough.
Prior to this, he had never cultivated in a place with such abundant essence power before.
Not only did this place make him feel good, but it was also very helpful in increasing his cultivation.
After lamenting for a moment, Wang Tong swiftly got to his feet and went to Wangdan Pagoda.
The two Sages were nowhere to be seen. The 18 Meditation Plane disciples had gone up to the third floor too.
When he opened the door, he saw Zhang Kui playing with his puppets on the first floor.
“Has Master Chen come out of seclusion?” Wang Tong asked.
“Nope,” Zhang Kui replied nonchalantly. “Just wait.”
“Alright.” Wang Tong responded with a sheepish smile as he turned and left.
He was not angered by Zhang Kui’s cold attitude toward him. As a matter of fact, that was the standard treatment he received from the disciples of the sect.
Even though he was the Commander of Dao Cheng Division, he was a nobody to the disciples of the immortal sects.
The latter, especially inner disciples who had left the mountains and ventured into the world, looked down on rogue cultivators like Wang Tong.
This was normal. Disciples from the immortal sects disdained Wang Tong, not just because he was a rogue cultivator.
Wang Tong could not be considered a cultivator to begin with. He was a lackey for Pulao Kingdom.
Real cultivators, even if they were only rogue cultivators, would focus on cultivation and steer clear of worldly affairs.
The contempt disciples from the immortal sects had for the dynasty cultivators was mutual. Wang Tong didn’t like the former either.
Chen Jingzhai was an exception. Unlike other disciples, he didn’t put on airs.
Wang Tong felt much better after comparing Chen Jingzhai with the other disciples.
Upon emerging from Wangdan Pagoda, Wang Tong met the Commandery Governor and the butler from the Commandery Prince Mansion.
Both Wang Tong and the Commandery Governor heaved a sigh of relief after learning that Commandery Prince Hong Yi would bear the loss.
This time, Donglai County suffered a huge loss by activating the Essence-Gathering Formation.
Since Commandery Prince Hong Yi took the initiative to cover up the deficit, the higher-ups would most likely not question him.
In Wangdan Pagoda, Hong Fu went down to the first floor to meet up with Zhang Kui.
Two of the maids sent by Commandery Prince Hong Yi went down with her.
“Oh?” Zhang Kui looked at the three girls and commented with a smile, “All of you have improved in your cultivation.”
“I have finally broken through to Level 7 of the Meditation Plane,” Hong Fu replied while beaming.
Level 7 of the Meditation Plane was considered the Advanced Meditation Plane.
Back when she was in the mountains, she consumed elixirs and cultivated with the help of spiritual stones. But, even then, she only managed to reach Level 6 of the Meditation Plane.
Her cultivation improved at a snail’s pace during these two years while she was away from the mountains. But, to her surprise, she managed to achieve a breakthrough now in the blink of an eye.
Hong Fu, who was usually as cool as a cucumber, couldn’t help but feel exhilarated at her achievement.
Entering Level 7 of the Meditation Plane indicated that she was a step closer to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Plane.
The other two maids were still at the Beginning Meditation Plane, but they had improved by one level.
They were also grinning from ear to ear. They were raised by the Commandery Prince Mansion as presents to others.
They did not come from noble families and had very little talent. They would have gone to the Aspirant Cultivators Academy if they were talented.
Therefore, the chance to improve their cultivation this time was considered a rare opportunity for them.
Their improvement was not solely because of the abundant essence power but because they were guided by the aura emanated by Chen Jingzhai as well.
Otherwise, with essence power alone, they would not have been able to increase their cultivation so quickly.
The two Sages surmised the actual reason behind their improvements, but the girls were unaware of it.
Zhang Kui said to Hong Fu, “Congratulations on achieving a breakthrough in your cultivation. Keep up your hard work. We stirred up quite a huge commotion this time, but Little Master-Uncle has yet to come out of seclusion and should not be disturbed. I want to take the six junior brothers to set up a new pagoda in another county.”
“Senior brother, are you not going to wait for my Young Master to emerge from seclusion?” Hong Fu asked with a frown.
“My departure to another county is pre-planned. So there is no need to disturb Little Master-Uncle over this,” Zhang Kui said while shaking his head. “Besides that, we have received too many orders. So I need more disciples to help me.”
After Eastern Ocean Royal House made their order, the other celestial families from various places also sent people to make purchases.
The huge demand forced Zhang Kui to find a way to improve production.
No matter how optimal Wangdan Pagoda was, it could not accommodate any more casual disciples.
Sage Qing Hui had already informed the sect. In three days, more disciples would be sent over.
Hence, leaving Wangdan Pagoda and opening up a dedicated Puppet Pagoda was imperative.
Hong Fu could not convince him to stay. So, she allowed him to leave.
That afternoon, Sage Qing Hui left with Zhang Kui and six casual disciples.
They went to Dongyang County, a neighbor of Donglai County.
Similarly, on Cultivation Street, they found a large pagoda and began setting up their production line.
They manufactured and sold the same type of puppet.
They did not begin to sell them immediately, as all puppets had to be supplied to the palace first.
Only after that would the other celestial families get their hands on the puppets.
After two days, 36 carefully selected casual disciples from Puppet Hall arrived in Dongyang County.
Lord Qing Yang had personally made the trip, returning after escorting the disciples there.
Aside from escorting them, he also had to deal with choosing Puppet Hall’s seal.
This was the anti-counterfeit seal that Chen Jingzhai suggested to Headmaster Mo Bei.
After all, they were manufacturing large quantities of ungraded and Grade 1 puppets. It was not difficult to reverse engineer and counterfeit them.
In order to prevent other parties from using such methods against the Luo Sheng Sword School, it was imperative for them to have an anti-counterfeit seal.
Headmaster Mo Bei took this very seriously. A few Nascent Zhenjuns had been researching this together for several days.
Only then did they manage to create a small seal using Puppet Hall’s Inheritance Sky Scripture as the base.
Only inner disciples of Puppet Hall could print this seal on the puppets.
The inherited puppet techniques of Puppet Hall contained within the seal could not be counterfeited by outsiders.
The only problem was that Zhang Kui needed to print the seals on the puppets individually.
The once very easy assembly now had an additional process that only he could do.
Hence, Zhang Kui contacted two other inner disciples of Puppet Hall.
With such huge benefits, his two junior brothers rushed over without hesitation.
It had been 33 days since they began making puppets.
On Day 34, Chen Jingzhai opened his eyes on the fifth level of Wangdan Pagoda.
He did not rush to get up. Instead, he sensed the condition of his body.
He did not pay much attention to the breakthrough in his cultivation. Instead, he was preoccupied with analyzing the changes that had occurred in his body.
He murmured, “There are 36 official deities, including the Heaven, the Underworld, and the Five Element Continents. Along with them are 108 subordinate deities, which include flesh, tendons, blood, five zang organs, and six fu organs.
“The power of flesh is stored in various acupoints while spiritual power is stored in the divine mind. Therefore, I can control every aspect of them perfectly.
“The power of my flesh is akin to a magic treasure. The spiritual power I have is pure and abundant, like that of an Essence Power Pearl.
“Moreover, every single bone in my skeleton is one step closer to transforming into a celestial bone.
“I feel different. Everything has changed drastically!”
Chen Jingzhai was overwhelmed with joy after examining his body. Many thoughts flashed in his mind.
He had an extraordinary physical body to begin with. This time, he managed to activate the spiritualization of his acupoints, further enhancing the harmony between his flesh and his spirit.
His body was refined and strengthened from the inside out.
With the power of his flesh alone, Chen Jingzhai was comparable to Chu Jingsong.
On top of that, the spiritual power in his body was refined, and thus, it was rich and abundant. Moreover, it had the miraculous effect of nurturing the growth of celestial bones.
Everything was perfect.
Without a doubt, the current Chen Jingzhai, who was at the Intermediate Foundation Plane, could crush his old self at the Beginning Foundation Plane.
He even felt that he could defeat a Golden Core Sage without the aid of magic treasures.
As he thought about magic treasures, Chen Jingzhai summoned the Great Heaven Mirror.
This mirror had been residing in his formation pattern acupoint. Stored in his core was the Five Bamboo Sword.
While he was cultivating, the mirror once again traced the pattern of the Heaven and Earth Formation and developed some changes.
These changes could not be spotted with the naked eye. However, Chen Jingzhai was aware that the space inside had been expanded.
The Heaven and Earth Formation was also called the Space Formation. Therefore, he was not shocked by the expansion of space.
The improvement to the Five Bamboo Sword was surprising. Its grade seemed to have increased. It emanated the might of a Grade 3 item.
At first, Chen Jingzhai thought that his senses were playing tricks on him. Upon careful inspection, he confirmed that the grade of the sword had indeed improved.
The improvement of a magic treasure meant that its Origin Power had been increased, pushing its upper limit to a whole new level.
Furthermore, the Five Bamboo Sword seemed to have gained greater sentience.
It actually went straight into Chen Jingzhai’s backbone when he put it back into his core.
Chen Jingzhai never thought that the Five Bamboo Sword could actually be stored in his celestial bone.
Since it was not a bad thing, Chen Jingzhai was not bothered by it.
After understanding the changes that had occurred to him and mastering his new powers, he stood up and prepared to leave.
Only then did he realize that his height had increased quite a bit.
He coalesced a water mirror and looked into it. His face in the mirror had not changed much compared to his old self.
However, his temperament was even more outstanding. He looked otherworldly.
Pouting, Chen Jingzhai dismissed the water mirror with a wave. Then, he sat down again and meditated on one of the techniques he had learned.
When he actively cultivated, all the acupoints in his body resonated at the same frequency. As a result, the power of his Absorption Method increased by leaps and bounds.
Chen Jingzhai frowned in pain. He could not absorb any more essence power.
He took out an empty jade slip and wrote down his Foundation Establishment passage.
Then, he activated his special talent and looked at the freshly written jade slip.
[Method: Foundation Establishment passage]
[Origin: Created by Chen Jingzhai]
[Effect: The cultivator can create all things and develop an independent world within his body with the help of the seal characters. It also allows the cultivator to spiritualize all their acupoints. After absorbing the essence of the heavens and the earth, the cultivator can get 129,600 spirit deities. Their body will be an excellent vessel for both talismans and formations. With the spirit deities guarding over the cultivator, both their physical body and divine mind will be fortified.]
[Flaw: The cultivator can refine the passage through the digestion of Innate Qi and various treasures of different attributes.]
Chen Jingzhai felt extremely helpless when he read the information revealed by his special talent.
Cultivating a sky scripture required an immense amount of resources to begin with. However, he had been earning money for those resources through his alchemy.
Initially, he thought that his money and resources were sufficient to support his cultivation of the Foundation Establishment passage. However, he had to discard that thinking now.
He did not expect the Foundation Establishment passage that he created to be so powerful.
If he wanted to level up, he actually had to consume Innate Qi and various treasured items as fuel for his cultivation.
If he cultivated normally, even with the help of Essence Power Pearls, the essence power he would produce would most likely be just a drop in the bucket of the fuel he needed to level up.
To make matters worse, he had to transform all his acupoints into spirit deities if he wanted to continue to improve his cultivation.
All 129,600 acupoints and seal characters had to be transformed into spirit deities.
He wondered how long it would take before he could succeed in this mission. Even if he managed to spiritualize all his acupoints, he had no idea how to proceed with his cultivation. After all, he had no clue when and where he could begin his Golden Core passage.
At that moment, Chen Jingzhai was tormented with regret.
He had set himself up for a difficult time!