As the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" circulated, the originally black True Essence in Ding Yun's lower Dantian, the Bei Ming Wu Liang Sea, rapidly vanished, depleting almost all the True Essence within her body.
Only then did a single green lotus seed form.
To nurture the lotus seed and continue cultivating the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" smoothly, Ding Yun had to multitask. She circulated the "Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture" to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth with one hand, and continued to cultivate the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" with the other.
Consequently, the situation that unfolded was that immeasurable spiritual energy transformed into a torrent of spiritual energy, integrating into Ding Yun's body and converting into the True Essence of the "Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture." This True Essence was then entirely absorbed by the green lotus seed birthed by the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong."
Before long, the green lotus seed successfully sprouted and eventually took root within the Bei Ming Wu Liang Sea of her lower Dantian. It grew into a lotus flower, beginning to bloom.
First grade, second grade, third grade.
In the blink of an eye, it transformed from a single lotus seed into a three-grade green lotus, swaying gracefully within the Bei Ming Wu Liang Sea.
Simultaneously, Ding Yun could clearly feel that the damage from her previous qi deviation had been completely healed, and her lifespan should have also increased.
[Host: Liu Yan (Ding Yun)
Lifespan: 101 (17/101)
Cultivation Methods: Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture - Qi Refining Perfection (+), Creation Yuan Hui Gong - Third Layer Perfection (+)
Skills: Spring Wind and Rain Technique - Minor Accomplishment (+)
Water Condensation Technique - Twelfth Layer (+)]
"Lifespan one hundred and one. I previously used twenty years of lifespan to test the golden finger. That means, if I hadn't consumed that lifespan, my current lifespan should be one hundred and twenty-one years. The third layer of 'Creation Yuan Hui Gong' can only increase lifespan by one year, one month, and one day. Given the nature of the immortal cultivation artifact not displaying decimal points, it's reasonable that the days are also not displayed.
Therefore, besides increasing lifespan, the 'Creation Yuan Hui Gong' can also repair bodily damage. Because this cultivation method repaired all the fundamental damage to my body, it allowed me to return to the normal lifespan limit for the Qi Refining realm, which is one hundred and twenty years. This is quite reasonable."
By slightly backtracking based on the results displayed on the data panel, Ding Yun had a general understanding of the cultivation method's effects.
Considering that such a commotion had already occurred, and it would be more troublesome to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm on another occasion, she might as well seize the opportunity and break through directly.
However, it was already late, and breaking through on her own would be too slow; there wouldn't be enough time to succeed before dawn. Therefore, Ding Yun resorted to the pay-to-win immortal cultivation artifact again.
And she prioritized upgrading the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong."
After all, this cultivation method could increase lifespan.
Clicking it the first time only cost three years of lifespan, and then the cultivation method upgraded, increasing her lifespan by thirty years. This gave Ding Yun the confidence to click it a second time.
The second click cost twenty years of lifespan.
However, it increased her lifespan by three hundred and sixty years. After these two increases and decreases, Ding Yun's lifespan reached four hundred and sixty-eight years, nearly approaching the lifespan of a Golden Core True Monarch.
The "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" broke through to the fifth layer.
However, because the main functions of this cultivation method were concentrated in creation and increasing lifespan, Ding Yun did not feel any change in her realm. She only felt that in addition to the increase in lifespan, she had also mastered the ability to use the power of creation contained within the five-grade green lotus in her Dantian to nourish the roots of all things and create their origins.
It wasn't that it lacked offensive capabilities.
It was a pure support ability. When used on plants, it could promote their growth, enhance their quality, and speed up their growth, and so on. When used on animals or people, it could help them heal injuries, restore damaged origins, and even pure bloodlines. In short, it could basically only help others.
At the same time, due to the limitations of Water and Wood spiritual roots, the cultivation of the two methods could not be too unbalanced. Therefore, after the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" reached the fifth layer, it could not be further improved. She had to first improve the "Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture."
Only after the two were relatively balanced could she continue to improve.
Therefore, Ding Yun naturally continued to click the plus sign behind "Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture," and after clicking it four consecutive times, she successfully reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.
Her lifespan, however, was consumed by a full thirty years.
The four clicks corresponded to early, middle, late, and Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, respectively. The first click consumed three years of lifespan, the second consumed five years, the third consumed ten years, and the fourth consumed twelve years.
A total of thirty years.
However, it wasn't without gains. In addition to successfully breaking through to Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, her lifespan also increased by eighty years.
This was because the theoretical lifespan limit for the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment realm was two hundred years, an increase of eighty years compared to the Qi Refining realm. Ding Yun had achieved a perfect breakthrough to Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment.
Therefore, it was natural to gain eighty years of lifespan.
[Host: Liu Yan (Ding Yun)
Lifespan: 518 (17/518)
Realm: Foundation Establishment Great Perfection
Cultivation Methods: Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture - Foundation Establishment Great Perfection (+), Creation Yuan Hui Gong - Fifth Layer Perfection (+)
Skills: Spring Wind and Rain Technique - Minor Accomplishment (+)
Water Condensation Technique - Twelfth Layer (+)]
She had to admit that with ample personal lifespan, or rather, with a lifespan-extending cultivation method that was effective enough, this golden finger was quite useful. In such a short period, Ding Yun had successfully reached the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, a realm that even the highest-ranking ancestor of their Liu family had not attained, and had also gained over five hundred years of lifespan.
If it continued like this, wouldn't she become an immortal in minutes?
However, Ding Yun did not do so. She could clearly sense that the spiritual energy within a radius of thousands of miles was almost depleted by her absorption. Continuing to spend lifespan without sufficient spiritual energy to absorb would likely consume a lot more. Her five hundred years might not be enough.
Moreover, her current Foundation Establishment realm was sufficient. For her next breakthrough, it would be better to find an opportunity to break through in the ocean.
A good cultivation and breakthrough environment was conducive to reducing lifespan consumption.
With this thought, Ding Yun quickly rushed out of Bixiu Lake, used her True Essence to clear the water from her body, and then stepped out like a shooting star, hurrying back to the Liu family courtyard.
An hour later, she dutifully went to her mother's place.
She had a meal with her, and they chatted for a while.
Meanwhile, the eight great aristocratic families within Jiyun City, due to the massive absorption of spiritual energy the previous night, were all rushing to convene their elders for private discussions.
Some thought someone had passed by and broken through to the Golden Core realm.
Some thought someone was cultivating evil arts.
Others were delusionally hoping for some treasure!
Of course, more were condemning the cultivator for being too unethical. Their region was already a desolate and remote place with relatively thin spiritual energy. After being depleted of spiritual energy within thousands of miles by that person, it would take at least half a year for the surrounding spiritual energy concentration to recover.
Wouldn't this affect their cultivation and breakthroughs?
However, they only dared to voice such complaints in private, because no one believed that the cultivator who caused such a commotion was an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator. They, the cultivators of this small place, could not afford to offend such a person. Therefore, they ultimately decided to send people to investigate the area where the spiritual energy had disappeared.
It would be best if they could understand the situation.
If they couldn't understand the situation, it didn't matter.
As long as they didn't offend anyone and bring trouble to the family.
It was also normal for such misunderstandings to occur. The True Essence condensed by Ding Yun's "Bei Ming Wu Liang True Scripture" was about a thousand times more potent than that of others, so the spiritual energy required for absorption was naturally also more than a thousand times. Furthermore, the condensation of True Essence far surpassed ordinary cultivation methods, requiring even more spiritual energy. In terms of total quantity, it could be comparable to that of a Nascent Soul Venerate. Who could underestimate someone who sensed this?
The cultivation world was very cruel. If a weak cultivator encountered a powerful cultivator and the latter was displeased, any trivial excuse could lead to their demise.
And no one would dare to say anything.
Therefore, apart from those who were reckless, the vast majority of weak cultivators would choose to stay as far away as possible when they sensed an energy pressure far exceeding their own.
This was to avoid misunderstandings or being affected. The residual energy from a battle between Nascent Soul cultivators could easily kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
After some probing, the local eight powerful families generally concluded that someone must have been cultivating or breaking through at Bixiu Lake, which caused the huge commotion last night. That cultivator had probably already left.
Apart from the local spiritual energy loss, they had no other losses and could only consider themselves unlucky.
After all, could they even pursue this matter?
Because ordinary people could not feel the changes in spiritual energy at all, and the eight powerful families were afraid of offending the unknown cultivator and dared not say anything, the matter quickly subsided.
Everyone acted as if nothing had happened.
After digesting the gains from her breakthrough, Ding Yun cultivated several offensive spells and Water-Wood escape techniques. She then decided to press on and quickly go out to find a sea area to break through.
She specifically informed her aunt about this.
Then, she went to the clan to request permission to go out.
Logically speaking, it was not a problem for clan members to request permission to go out. Some cultivators with high cultivation or status could leave without permission. Ding Yun was merely going through the motions.
However, to her surprise, as soon as she mentioned wanting to go out, the elder in charge of registration suddenly changed his expression and asked, "You want to go out? Where to?
Your cultivation has just broken through, why would you run around outside instead of staying in the mansion to stabilize your cultivation? It's been unstable outside recently, you should stay home."
"?"
Ding Yun was confused by his refusal. She hadn't heard of any recent dangers outside, nor had she heard of any regulations that required cultivators who had just broken through to stay home and stabilize their cultivation.
Besides, a minor breakthrough from the third to the fourth layer of Qi Refining, what kind of cultivation needed stabilizing? It was more common to need to stabilize one's cultivation if a breakthrough failed or encountered problems, but Ding Yun hadn't said she had any issues with her breakthrough.
Wasn't this simply speaking nonsense with his eyes open?
Therefore, Ding Yun immediately spoke her mind and questioned him:
"Nineteen Elder, is this a new rule in our mansion? Also, I had already stabilized my cultivation before I came out of seclusion, what else is there to stabilize?
Are you alright?"
"There is no rule in the mansion, but I am doing this for your own good. Do you remember the pressure that suddenly appeared the other night? Who knows if it's good or bad!
Recently, our elders have been minimizing going out.
Why are you running around carelessly and causing trouble!
If you are not permitted and sneak out, do not blame the mansion for punishing you according to the ancestral law for defying elders!"
Nineteen Elder casually found an excuse and directly forbade Ding Yun from going out in the form of an order and a threat. Ding Yun was both confused and somewhat conflicted about whether her cultivation that night had such a significant impact.
Since she did not want to fall out, she did not argue further. She asked again approximately when she would be able to go out, and after concluding that she could go out in a month if nothing happened, she left.
In a few more days, the person sent to inquire about whether Yang Xiao Zhenjun wanted concubines would return. Nineteen Elder, fearing that Ding Yun's departure would delay matters, naturally had to forbid her from leaving and simultaneously placate her with the assurance that she could go out in a month, lest she become suspicious.
Regarding this, Ding Yun still felt that these changes were due to the magnitude of her breakthrough's commotion, so she didn't think much of it and quickly returned.
Upon returning, she went out and bought some medicinal seeds and a pill furnace.
That elder only forbade her from leaving the city gate, not from leaving her house. Buying things outside the house was not obstructed by anyone. Since she had nothing to do for the next month anyway, Ding Yun planned to use the power of creation condensed by the "Creation Yuan Hui Gong" to cultivate some medicinal herbs for alchemy.
There is a common saying in the cultivation world: the wealthiest in the world are alchemists, and the poorest are sword cultivators. There is another saying: the poor cultivate the way of the sword, the rich enter the gate of alchemy.
Cultivating the way of the sword has low entry requirements. A sword can be used for a lifetime. Those who are even poorer can cultivate heart sword qi and not even need a sword. At the same time, its destructive power is relatively strong. Many who are ashamed of their poverty but pursue power generally choose the path of a sword cultivator. And once they enter the path of a sword cultivator, it's like diving into a deep sea, and spiritual stones become a luxury, and they will never become rich.
Although the entry requirement for cultivating the way of the sword is low, after achieving success in cultivation, which sword cultivator doesn't want a powerful natal sword once they have some spiritual stones? And such natal swords are a bottomless pit. Theoretically, as long as there are sufficient resources, even immortal swords can be condensed.
Coupled with the deep love sword cultivators have for their swords, they will do their best to buy various spiritual materials that can help their natal swords advance with any spiritual stones they have. Therefore, the poverty of sword cultivators is notoriously known throughout the entire cultivation world.
After all, no matter how precious their natal swords are, they cannot be used as spiritual stones.
Robbers are too lazy to even make a move when they encounter sword cultivators.
As for alchemists, to start alchemy, practicing and failing are indispensable. Which alchemist hasn't wasted hundreds or thousands of batches of pills before starting? Even after starting, failures in daily alchemy are common.
Having a fifty percent success rate is already praiseworthy.
Are the wasted items medicinal herbs? No, the wasted items are all spiritual stones! Without some family background, it's not enough to squander.
But as long as this skill is mastered, it's very easy to earn spiritual stones. There are plenty of people who will bring large amounts of spiritual stones and medicinal herbs to seek alchemy services. Therefore, the extravagance of alchemists is also quite famous in the cultivation world.
Ding Yun's golden finger can only consume lifespan, and cannot earn spiritual stones. She also knows that in the cultivation world, although cultivation is very important, spiritual stones are actually quite important. These two are like power and wealth in the mortal world, indispensable.
Furthermore, her cultivation method can also promote the growth of medicinal herbs. Selling medicinal herbs directly is not as profitable as refining pills and selling them herself, without any middlemen taking their cut. And she is not afraid of her alchemy skills being poor, if she is not good, can she not use lifespan to improve?
Therefore, she took this opportunity to learn alchemy during her free time.