Rebuilding the Immortal Cultivator Clan

Because he was deeply immersed in seclusion, Li Zhirui wasn't very aware of the outside world's news; he now wanted only to quickly improve his realm and push himself to the peak of Foundation Establishment Perfection in order to strive for a breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm.

However, to maintain a relatively fast pace of cultivation, it was essential to rely on external forces!

And this external force was Spirit Pills.

In this regard, Li Zhirui could be said to have an unparalleled advantage.

As a second-order Alchemist, as long as there were enough Spiritual Medicines, he would never have to worry about a shortage of Spirit Pills.

Furthermore, Li Zhirui had a space capable of cultivating Spiritual Medicines - provided he had enough Spirit Stones, he needn't worry about a lack of ingredients at all.

In this cycle, Spirit Stones were the most fundamental link, which was why Li Zhirui had sold all the surplus Spirit Pills he had before retreating into seclusion. Coupled with his previous savings, he now had hundreds of thousands of Spirit Stones!

Such a vast number could definitely push his cultivation to the peak of Foundation Establishment Perfection in a short time.

If Li Zhirui were to publicize his cultivation speed, it would surely attract the attention and shock of countless cultivators, because even the direct disciples of a great power like Shen Leishan might not cultivate much faster than Li Zhirui.

Yet one must understand, to become the direct disciple of a great power, the first requirement is to possess extremely high aptitude and talent!

Li Zhirui had no advantage in this aspect; his comparable cultivation speed was entirely dependent on massive resource investment.

And this was something even those great powers could not achieve, since they could not possibly nurture just one direct disciple, let alone the numerous Inner and Outer Sect Disciples.

Nonetheless, producing Spirit Pills required Li Zhirui to make time for alchemy. Fortunately, it wasn't possible for him to be cultivating non-stop every day - not because he wasn't willing, but because his meridians simply couldn't withstand such grueling intensity.

Besides, alchemy was, in and of itself, a form of cultivation for Li Zhirui, wasn't it?

It was precisely within this cyclical system that Li Zhirui's cultivation improved so rapidly, approaching Foundation Establishment Perfection in just a few short years.

During this period, he maintained the frequency of emerging from seclusion once every six months and would only stay outside for one day before returning to continue cultivating.

In that one day, Li Zhirui would supplement his two spirit pets with Spiritual Objects, accelerating their cultivation speed.

It was just a pity that, being Devil Beasts, their cultivation speed was inevitably slower than that of cultivators, so they hadn't broken through yet.

Li Zhirui wasn't particularly concerned about this, because the benefits of cultivating the Wanling Sutra lay in the number of Contracted Spirit Beasts and their breakthroughs after reaching the third order.

One should know that whether for cultivators or other beings, once they break through to the Golden Core Realm, the difficulty of advancing increases greatly, as breaking through a minor realm might require more mana than all previously accumulated mana combined.
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But cultivating the Wanling Sutra had an advantage: the breakthrough of a Spirit Beast would bring a certain amount of mana feedback to the cultivator!

If, by that time, both Da Qing and Xiaoqing managed to break through the third order, the feedback of mana would allow Li Zhirui to skip several years' worth of early Golden Core cultivation, effectively saving him many years.

After playfully spending a while with his two pets, Li Zhirui took out the family's recent news; seeing the continuous rise in the family's strength within the Jade Slip, he felt genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart.

Especially the increase in Qi Cultivators gave the Li family, this 'nouveau riche', a hint of becoming a major power.

As for whether they could grow into a true Golden Core power, it would depend on future developments, particularly the emergence of Foundation Establishment Cultivators and Golden Core Cultivators.

"What a pity, the Yuanming Sect restricts families from purchasing Foundation Establishment Pills." Li Zhirui sighed, suddenly remembering that he still had two Foundation Establishment Pills in his hands, momentarily hesitating, unsure whether to sell them to his family or not.

Not to sell would be somewhat hard to justify, but if he sold them, how would he explain it?

After all, those two Foundation Establishment Pills were Water Refined Pills, which were greatly different from Fire Refined Pills. Anyone with clear eyesight could tell that these were crafted by him.

After some consideration, Li Zhirui decided to suppress the thought. The secret space was his greatest secret; not a hint or even a guess of its existence could be allowed to surface.

"Perhaps the family is already trying to figure out a way to purchase Foundation Establishment Pills in Myriad Thunder State or Green Mountain State?" Li Zhirui murmured to himself.

Previously, with Li Shiqing unable to move, the family's power was lacking. Even if they managed to purchase Foundation Establishment Pills from a distant place, they could encounter ambushes on their way back, leading not only to the loss of property but also potential casualties.

But now, besides Li Zhirui and Li Shilian who were in closed-door cultivation, the family already had two mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Li Shiren and Li Shiting, and five early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators, Li Zhizhun, Li Zhiyue, Li Zhixuan, Li Zhihe, and Li Zhilou, making up a total of seven Foundation Establishment Cultivators.

Together with their Contracted Spirit Beasts, that was fourteen at the Foundation Establishment level. Even if only half were dispatched, they should be able to safely deliver the Foundation Establishment Pills back to Da Rong Island.

What Li Zhirui didn't know was that the family was already preparing for this matter.

After a small-scale, secretive discussion, it was finally decided that Li Shiting and Li Shiting would lead the team, accompanied by Li Zhiyue and Li Zhixuan, to jointly head to Green Mountain State, conceal their identities, split up to attend auctions, and try to win as many Foundation Establishment Pills as possible in one go.

Considering how the Yuanming Sect didn't want the Li family to acquire Foundation Establishment Pills, being discovered by them while attempting this could put the Li family at risk of their retaliation. Therefore, purchasing as many Foundation Establishment Pills as possible to cover several years' needs would mitigate this kind of risk.

"Focus on your cultivation." Then he turned to Da Qing and said, "If you feel bored, you can also go out and take a walk, clear your mind."

However, these words were in vain to Da Qing, for due to its racial nature, it could remain still for decades, even a hundred years.

But it is precisely because of this that Da Qing had a very good mindset. To put it more loftily, it possessed a bit of a grand master's temperament.

As for Xiaoqing? It had matured a lot but still lacked steadiness in character, so it was lively and active, requiring Da Qing's suppression to keep it in line.

After handing over a large amount of Spiritual Objects that he had prepared to his two beast companions, Li Zhirui turned and returned to his quiet room.

Chi!

Just as he was about to close the door, Da Qing suddenly spoke up.

On hearing this, Li Zhirui was taken aback and then smiled, saying, "When will I come out of secluded cultivation? I'm not quite sure myself, but it might be when I break through to the Golden Core Realm."

It was because Da Qing had just checked the storage bag and found that the quantity of Spiritual Objects was several times more than before, which led it to ask this question.

Li Zhirui's response was not to brush off the question but was indeed his actual plan!

He was now at the Foundation Establishment Perfection stage, eligible to challenge the Golden Core. Of course, he wanted to strive for the breakthrough in one fell swoop, for the chances of success diminished with each attempt; the weaker the force, the more exhausted one becomes. This decrease in probability was something Li Zhirui did not wish to face.