Cao Sheng

Chapter 18 Meeting Too Late

But now that someone had spoken it, there were still those who didn't believe. A few born troublemakers chimed in: "If he had that ability, would he still lead you? Who would believe that? What are you thinking? Whoever seizes houses from over there will surely claim them as their own, the more the better. Where would there be a share for you? Do you really think pies fall from the sky?"

"It's better to be clear-headed and content, face reality, and properly secure our cave dwellings. That's the way to go."

"Stop dreaming. Be careful not to end up with nothing, losing both your wife and your soldiers."

"Quick, stop him! Don't let him blow up our cave dwelling."

Those who had previously guarded began to waver. Looking left and right, they didn't know where to turn.

At this moment, Mo Qi, inside the cave, also began to waver. It wasn't about whether to continue his breakthrough, but whether to cultivate in the forest outside. Since everyone knew now, hiding or not was the same.

However, cultivating outside was too risky, as too many unpredictable factors could suddenly arise, affecting his cultivation was a minor issue; there was a possibility of qi deviation and damaging his foundation.

"There's no need to stop him, nor is there a need to blow up the cave," a voice, slightly aged but full of vigor, suddenly rang out.

Following the voice, a robust, somewhat tall old man with white hair and a weathered face parted the crowd and walked in. Some immediately recognized him: "Sect Master!"

Wu Fan waved his hand and walked directly to Mo Qi, sizing him up. "What's your name?"

"Mo Qi," Mo Qi stood up and bowed. As Sima Shan had said, the Lingxiao Sect had no hierarchy; everything depended on strength. But at this moment, the aura emanating from the old man made him involuntarily bow.

Wu Fan suddenly remembered that Han Yang had mentioned this Mo Qi. It seemed he truly had a discerning eye.

"You don't have three heads or six arms either," Wu Fan remarked, looking Mo Qi up and down again, speaking in a rambling manner.

Mo Qi felt a bit embarrassed by the scrutiny and lowered his head. "I truly don't have much talent."

"Alright," Wu Fan waved his hand. "The reason you blow up cave dwellings every time you break through is because you haven't grasped the proper method. Let me teach you some control techniques, otherwise, if you lose focus, it won't just be cave dwellings you blow up; my entire Lingxiao Sect could be destroyed by you."

Mo Qi smiled sheepishly.

Then, Wu Fan stood with his hands behind his back, sometimes walking, sometimes still, demonstrating how to control divine power with divine sense, especially how to guide divine sense during breakthroughs, even going into meticulous detail about breathing, posture, and hand gestures.

After listening, Mo Qi felt a great sense of enlightenment, thinking, "Why didn't you come sooner? If you had come earlier, I wouldn't have been so troubled."

Seeing that Mo Qi seemed to have gained some understanding, Wu Fan withdrew.

As he reached the cave entrance, without turning back, he said with his back to Mo Qi: "By the way, I see your internal spiritual energy is abundant. I don't know what height you can break through to, but you must stop when you reach the Great Perfection of Condensing Spirit. Foundation building is about establishing the foundation of cultivation. You can succeed by building your foundation with your own spiritual energy, but the foundation will be weak, and the height of your cultivation in the future will be limited. To build a solid foundation and to grow stronger and faster in cultivation, it is essential to seize the fortune of heaven and earth and use the spiritual energy of all things to build your foundation. Therefore, with your fortune, breaking through on your own would be too much of a waste."

He then left without looking back.

Mo Qi didn't fully understand everything that followed, but he clearly heard the part about stopping at the Great Perfection of Condensing Spirit. Fine, he would worry about that when he reached Great Perfection.

Mo Qi truly grasped Wu Fan's guidance. An hour later, a rumbling sound echoed within him, and golden light flickered around his body, as if countless small holes had opened, projecting numerous beams of light. After several dozen breaths, the light dissipated, and the explosive sounds within his body ceased. Mo Qi had broken through to the eighth stage of Condensing Spirit.

Only then did the surrounding people re-examine the current situation. Last night, they were only focused on their anger and had overlooked the rise of a fierce beast beside them.

In one day and night, he had continuously broken through from the first stage of Condensing Spirit to the eighth stage, and still showed no signs of stopping.

Not to mention the Lingxiao Sect, which had never seen such a phenomenon since its founding, perhaps the history of the four great sects had never recorded such a thing. Was this still human?

Putting aside other matters, when had Sect Master Wu Fan ever personally visited the cave dwelling area? It was obvious that he had come for this cultivation prodigy.

At this moment, many people's thoughts had quietly shifted. Many still harbored anger, but they had to forcefully suppress it.

Bai Li Bing stood at the cave entrance, lost in thought, pondering something. Finally, she sighed and returned to her own cave dwelling to cultivate.

A few more hours passed, and as expected, Mo Qi broke through to the ninth stage of Condensing Spirit, and then to the tenth stage—Great Perfection.

However, at this moment, as he scanned his divine sense, he suddenly discovered a sharp, slender object in his soul sea, spinning and leaping at the vortex of the sea surface, ceaselessly.

He casually pointed a finger, and with a *duo di* sound, a stream of energy shot out, passing over the heads of the people at the cave entrance, through the forest, through countless walls and mountain bodies, across the ocean, over the Tianxiang Mountain barrier, and finally pierced through the main hall's roof beam.

All the peak warning bells rang, all cultivators were urgently assembled, and Tianxiang Mountain immediately entered a state of martial law.

After searching for a long time, they discovered that the attacking enemy was an invisible arrow of energy.

Mo Qi suddenly opened his eyes, a sharp glint shooting out, his aura like a rainbow. "Who is willing to go with me to seize houses?"

"I am, Jin Dan," "I am, Li Kaishan," "I am, Qiu Yunping," "I am, Luan Cheng." ... A crowd of respondents quickly gathered.

However, some people quickly retreated, fearing that their boundaries were not clearly defined. This was rebellion! It could lead to death. Forget it, they would just continue to live peacefully in their cave dwellings.

And so, a king led a group of laborers and headed towards the residential area in a grand procession. Though called a grand procession, in reality, there were only a little over twenty people.

A group stood menacingly in the courtyard, but apart from Mo Qi and Jin Dan, almost everyone else felt uncertain. They had already noted the location of the courtyard gate upon entering, prepared to flee at any moment.

Sun Jian, the sharp-mouthed and sallow-faced man from before, led the people of the residential area and stood in a line, facing the challengers with a stern demeanor.

Sun Jian looked at Mo Qi with disdain and smiled. "It's you again. Have you forgotten the pain because the wound hasn't healed? It seems the injury wasn't deep enough. It's okay, if you don't learn your lesson, your Grandpa Sun can teach you a lesson, again and again, each time more profound than the last." His arrogant demeanor boosted the morale of those around him. They all burst into laughter, unrestrained and arrogant, which shattered the courage of some on the opposite side. Two people behind them, closer to the courtyard gate, had already quietly slipped away. The others, though forcing themselves to stand their ground, were lamenting inwardly, and a few had even wet their pants.

However, this time, to Mo Qi's surprise, Sima Shan did not appear at all.

Although he resided in the affluent district, he had paid considerable attention to the impoverished district since last night. The continuous explosions last night, Mo Qi's sudden challenge, the subsequent explosion, and the subsequent silent flow of spiritual energy made him think of a shining star slowly rising.

He actually didn't want to occupy too many houses. It was just that the established rules of the Lingxiao Sect were like this, and he couldn't break them. Moreover, he didn't want to be labeled as self-righteous, so despite having the strength to occupy ten houses, he only took two.

Mo Qi sneered, "Enough idle talk. Let's settle this with our skills. However, my words remain the same: I only want you to give up the extra houses you've occupied. I have no intention of driving you out."

As he spoke, he formed a hand seal with his right hand, and a ripple erupted. In the center, a vortex spun rapidly, and this time, within the vortex, dozens of Mo blades stood side by side, like a neatly arrayed army, extending the Mo blades straight forward.

Those who recognized the technique on the other side gasped.

The "wealthy people" finally became serious. They finally realized that the current Mo Qi was not the Mo Qi from a few hours ago. As the saying goes, one should look at someone with new eyes after a month apart, let alone an hour.

The "wealthy people" no longer dared to hesitate, forming hand seals and casting spells. Flying swords and magical artifacts all flew towards Mo Qi.

Mo Qi pointed his hand, and all the Mo blades flew out from the vortex, meeting the flying swords and magical artifacts. Amidst the explosions, the flying swords shattered one after another.

A few magical artifacts still wobbled towards Mo Qi. Mo Qi flicked his finger, and a stream of arrow energy shot out, striking down a magical artifact. He flicked again, striking down another. In an instant, magical artifacts littered the ground, as did people, all injured by the spiritual energy that had rebounded.

The outcome was decided in the blink of an eye!

Those behind Mo Qi were stunned!

A few who were still conscious rushed forward and began kicking and punching the people lying on the ground: "Take that for being arrogant! Take that for being arrogant!"

The others were also awakened and joined in the assault...

"Stop!" a stern shout rang out, and Sima Shan slowly walked out from the house.

His aura still caused everyone to halt their actions.

Sima Shan walked directly to Mo Qi and stood before him. "They gave you a way out just now. Don't be too ruthless. Furthermore, I hope you keep your promise and don't drive anyone out."

Mo Qi still had some faith in this person and nodded. "Of course, as long as they are willing to give up the extra houses, there will be no problem."

"Good, I am willing to give up my extra house," Sima Shan said with a resounding voice.

The people on the ground slowly stood up and dejectedly said, "I am willing to give up my extra two houses."

"I am willing to give up my extra three houses."

...

Most astonishingly, Sun Jian alone occupied ten houses. Mo Qi mused, was he planning to keep concubines in them?

That evening, the cave dwellers received a message: everyone could move to the residential area and occupy a room.

Many moved.

However, a small portion still didn't believe it was true; an even smaller portion believed it was true but worried they might be asked to move back tomorrow, so they decided to wait and see. A very small fraction believed it was true but simply didn't move because they were accustomed to living in cave dwellings. For example, Wang Duanwu.

Mo Qi immediately found Bai Li Bing a large, bright room adjacent to his own.

Mo Qi's status in the residential area had suddenly elevated significantly. He was now followed wherever he went, appearing like a tribal leader. Everyone respectfully called him "Brother Mo." Mo Qi then remembered Brother Zhou. Just as he was feeling elated, he immediately became dejected.

For the next few days, besides cultivating the Divine Mind Vajra Art, he also went to chat with Sima Shan. The two hit it off exceptionally well and felt they had met too late.

They talked extensively, from their backgrounds to cultivation, and finally to foundation building. This was what Mo Qi wanted to know most at the moment.

Sima Shan explained everything without reservation.

In the Nine Gods Cultivation Realm, the common foundation-building methods chosen by cultivators were Star-Moon Foundation Building, Divine Wood Foundation Building, Earth-Fire Foundation Building, and Asura Foundation Building.

Divine Wood Foundation Building utilized the spiritual energy emitted by thousand-year-old divine woods to aid in foundation building. There were four Divine Wood Foundation Building sites in the Nine Gods Cultivation Realm, located within the spheres of influence of the four great sects, allowing them to complete Divine Wood Foundation Building at any time. Smaller sects were not permitted entry.

Earth-Fire Foundation Building used the spiritual energy of flames from the depths of the earth to aid in foundation building. There were three Earth-Fire Foundation Building sites in the Nine Gods Cultivation Realm: Flame Mountain, Ice Devouring Valley, and Ice-Fire Island. Among these three locations, Ice-Fire Island had the most potent spiritual energy. All three sites opened once every sixty years, for only three hours each time, but their opening times were staggered. Approximately twenty years from now, the next Earth-Fire Foundation Building site to open would be on Ice-Fire Island.

Asura Foundation Building involved a sealing platform where the Asura Realm connected with the Human Realm. Every thousand years, spiritual energy would flow out from the Asura Realm. If cultivators went to that sealing platform at that time and borrowed the power of the flowing spiritual energy, they could complete foundation building. However, only three hundred years had passed since the last spiritual energy outflow. There were still seven hundred years until the next outflow.

Star-Moon Foundation Building involved absorbing the essence of spiritual energy from the sun, moon, and stars to assist cultivators in completing foundation building. However, under normal circumstances, the power transmitted by the sun, moon, and stars was too weak to provide assistance. Only under certain fortuitous circumstances, such as the alignment of nine stars or a solar eclipse, when the spiritual energy transmission from the sun, moon, and stars suddenly surged, could it assist in foundation building if a rare treasure was used as a medium to capture it.

There was another foundation-building method called Soul Spirit Foundation Building, which relied on devouring human souls to gain assistance and solidify the foundation. This method was generally adopted by cultivators from the Savage Demon Realm. Righteous cultivation sects considered this practice immoral and shameful. If anyone in the Nine Gods Cultivation Realm used this method for foundation building, they would be attacked by everyone.

In comparison, Star-Moon Foundation Building provided the strongest assistance. Legend had it that the sun, moon, and stars were the foundation-building aids of extraterrestrial cultivators, and in the current world, only under circumstances like the alignment of nine stars could one steal a trace of spiritual energy from extraterrestrial cultivators.

Star-Moon Foundation Building was equivalent to replacing the spiritual energy of the mortal body with extraterrestrial spiritual energy as the foundation. The cultivation that grew from this foundation would naturally be extraordinary.

The second strongest foundation-building aid was Asura Foundation Building, followed by Earth-Fire Foundation Building, and finally Divine Wood Foundation Building.

For the disciples of the four great sects, because the opportunity for Divine Wood Foundation Building was readily available and could be accessed at will, they sometimes chose to attempt other foundation-building methods, foregoing their sect's resources.