Xuantian Immortal Cultivation Record

This trip yielded two Enlightenment Realm fish, one of which was particularly extraordinary, greatly pleasing Zhang Yuanjing.

He emerged from the deep pool, re-entered the river, and then ascended from the river into the air, landing on a cliff. Looking down at the rushing river below, he silently circulated his magical power, evaporating the water from his body. His heart was filled with the great joy of his gains, and he couldn't help but feel exceptionally cheerful. He raised his head and let out a long啸, finally stopping after a long while.

After calming his emotions, he lowered his head and pondered. The white sand and black stones at the bottom of the pool possessed the characteristics of yin and yang alternation and ice and fire transformation, undoubtedly extraordinary treasures.

And those Enlightenment Realm fish must have discovered the wonder of this place, hiding within it to cultivate, thus gaining such cultivation and spirituality.

Now, although the strange stones were gone, the deep pool in the mountain could still serve as a natural trap to lure red-finned fire-纹 fish. His inner core could also be of great use.

With his plan decided, he summoned his flying sword, leaped up, and flew back to his cave abode on a streak of sword light.

He first summoned Zhang Xuan, Zhang Jun, and Zhang Yu, telling them that he would be entering seclusion for a period of time, instructing Zhang Xuan to supervise Zhang Jun and Zhang Yu in their cultivation. At the same time, he bestowed upon them the low-grade and mid-grade Hundred Spirit Pills he had refined over the past year.

He also instructed Zhang Xuan that the Zhang Clan's fishing team should not go to catch red-finned fire-纹 fish for the time being, and to wait until he came out of seclusion. He also told her about the deep pool hidden in the mountain, asking her to lead experts to explore it thoroughly and dig a water drainage tunnel from the bottom of the pool, even if it sloped upwards, as he had his own way of drawing the water out of the pool. He also instructed them to build a water gate according to the size of the deep pool's entrance, install it properly, and not damage the surrounding terrain.

After dismissing the three, he tightly closed the cave abode and began his secluded cultivation. Over the past twelve years, by consuming large quantities of red-finned fire-纹 fish, his cultivation had progressed extremely rapidly, equivalent to fifty years of ordinary hard work, and he was now on the verge of reaching the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage. However, this咫尺之距 had troubled countless cultivators.

From the Foundation Establishment stage onwards, each realm had a concept of Great Perfection. Only by honing one's cultivation to a state of perfection, where further progress was impossible, could one break through the realm barrier and achieve a new leap forward. However, the cultivation of each major realm, in the end, was a matter of accumulating bit by bit, day by day, requiring slow and steady progress to fill the gaps. Moreover, the further one went, the slower the progress and the more difficult the improvement.

If the foundation was unstable or the base was weak, when cultivating in the later stages, it would be like a sieve. Spiritual energy entering the dantian might not accumulate even a trace. Therefore, at such times, the superiority of one's heritage became apparent. Without good cultivation methods, ordinary rogue cultivators would have their path blocked after reaching the late Foundation Establishment stage, and unless they obtained great opportunities, they would not be able to reach the state of perfection, let alone break through the realm.

However, even with top-grade cultivation methods, this step was extremely difficult. No matter how talented one was, without special opportunities, one would have to endure long years of tempering. Those who cultivated slowly, or lacked sufficient external medicines, often had no hope of achieving perfection before their lifespan ran out.

Since using fish larger than three feet for cultivation last year, red-finned fire-纹 fish smaller than three feet and without open bloodlines were almost useless to Zhang Yuanjing. Even the large fish in the Savage Blood Realm gradually weakened in effect later on. Continuing to cultivate in that way would take at least several years to reach Great Perfection. However, with the Enlightenment Realm fish, the time could be greatly reduced.

Zhang Yuanjing took out the late-stage Enlightenment Realm fish. As soon as the fish emerged from the spirit beast bag, it immediately howled wildly, its two-foot-long tail thrashing violently, struggling desperately, its eyes flashing with a fierce look, and the two-inch-long light red fleshy thorns on its head emitting a red glow, with a powerful aura faintly emerging.

Zhang Yuanjing was startled and quickly reached out to press hard on the fleshy thorns. A vast force of thick earth surged out, suppressing the red glow. After a few breaths, the red glow gradually dimmed and disappeared. The fish exhausted its energy, its eyes turned white, its breath was weak, and it lay still.

Seeing that the fish was dying, Zhang Yuanjing quickly took out a long knife, cut it open, cleaned it, and obtained more than three hundred pieces of crystal-clear fish meat the size of his palm. He grabbed a piece, swallowed it, and sat down to circulate his energy. The water and fire spiritual power contained in this meat was a hundred times stronger than that of a four-foot fish. It took him a full four and a half hours to refine it completely, obtaining a ball of pure thick earth power.

Zhang Yuanjing was neither happy nor sad. He took another piece of fish meat, swallowed it, and continued to circulate his energy. After refining it, he used the Thick Earth Transformation Technique to cultivate and refine the three spiritual herbs needed for the Benefit Spirit Pill. Four hours later, he swallowed the fish meat again and circulated his energy.

Repeatedly like this, after six months, the flesh of this late-stage Enlightenment Realm fish was completely consumed. The thick earth power in Zhang Yuanjing's dantian had turned dark gold in color, resembling gas, liquid, mist, and water, indicating that he was only half a step away from the state of perfection where spiritual power transformed into liquid.

However, this change in the dantian was only one aspect. The key was still the expansion of the void in the Niwan Palace. Only when that void had expanded to its limit could this state of perfection be truly achieved. When would it be considered the limit?

According to what Wu Yuankui had said before, once the pure spiritual power that had settled and condensed in the dantian no longer flowed upwards to the Niwan Palace, it meant that the Niwan Palace had reached the cultivator's limit. After that, continuing to cultivate would cause the dantian to transform into a sea of spiritual liquid, and this would be the state of perfection. Therefore, spiritual power was the foundation of everything. The so-called refining qi to transform into spirit meant first splitting the Niwan Palace and then nourishing the spirit. Without vast and pure spiritual power, the Niwan Palace could not be opened, and naturally, one could not break through the realm barrier.

Therefore, he took out the imitation Yin-Yang Creation Furnace and refined four furnaces of Benefit Spirit Pills, obtaining twelve low-grade Benefit Spirit Pills and eight mid-grade Benefit Spirit Pills. He also took out the early-stage Enlightenment Realm red-finned fire-纹 fish, skinned it, and removed its internal organs, obtaining more than two hundred pieces of fish meat, but the spiritual power contained within was less than half that of the late-stage Enlightenment Realm fish.

At this time, his dantian was already like liquid and gas. No matter how he refined the fish meat, the dantian did not change, but every time he refined two pieces of fish meat, a pure stream of spiritual power would rise up and directly enter the Niwan Palace, merging into that void. After sixty or so streams of spiritual power entered the Niwan Palace, the progress slowed down, and he needed to refine three pieces of fish meat to get one stream of spiritual power to fly into the Niwan Palace. After another thirty or so streams of spiritual power entered the Niwan Palace, he needed to refine four pieces of fish meat.

By this time, the fish meat was exhausted, and nearly four months had passed. At the same time, he had also swallowed four low-grade and four mid-grade Benefit Spirit Pills.

At this time, his Niwan Palace was a vast expanse, like the chaos before the creation of heaven and earth, with magical things gestating within, or like a void, boundless, endless, motionless, silent, and indescribable. Although there was nothing, this void was real, unlike the illusory, gigantic, and tiny state when he had just entered the late Foundation Establishment stage.

His divine soul was also more than twice as strong. When he stretched out his divine sense, it expanded to a range of more than ten miles, and the surrounding scenery was all within his sea of consciousness.

Zhang Yuanjing walked out of the cave abode, facing the clear wind over the river, and sighed slightly.

The difficulty of Great Perfection lies not only in the slow improvement of cultivation in the later stages, but also in the feeling that no matter how much one improves, one can never touch the end, and the resulting self-doubt and wavering.

The predecessors only had one sentence about this, which was "when the water flows, the channel is formed." But for the cultivator who is in this torment, he can't help but think that he is doing useless work, that he is taking the wrong path and using the wrong method, so he wants to find the so-called "method to break the situation" and the so-called "shortcut." In this way, the state of mind is broken, and it is no longer possible to reach the realm of Great Perfection.

Since he had been instructed by Wu Yuankui, he would not make such a mistake. No matter how upset he was, he only needed to calm his mind, and he would be fine.

He scanned with his divine sense and found that Zhang Xuan was not in the village, and Zhang Jun and Zhang Yu were honestly practicing in the old house. To his surprise, Zhang Yu's cultivation had already broken through the fifth level of Qi Refining. Zhang Jun was as slow as ever, and the third level of Qi Refining was still a distant dream. He shook his head, did not disturb the two, but turned his qi into sound and called Zhang Cheng over.

"Zhang Cheng greets Immortal!" Zhang Cheng had an extremely high talent for martial arts. Before the age of thirty, he could already be called a top expert. Especially his profound internal strength, compared with some famous宿 aged forty or fifty, was not much inferior.

However, he was somewhat lacking in warmth and etiquette. Knowing that Zhang Yuanjing had just emerged from seclusion, he did not offer a proper greeting, but only bowed dryly.

"Is the deep pool that I mentioned to your elder sister ready?" Zhang Yuanjing didn't care about these things. He casually asked a few questions about the village and went straight to the point, talking about fishing.

"Reporting to Immortal, it is ready. The water gate and drainage ditch are ready and can be used at any time," Zhang Cheng replied respectfully.

"Well, very good. When your elder sister returns, go out to fish in the river. This time, it will be a little longer. Prepare more food and fishing nets," Zhang Yuanjing instructed.

"Yes, please rest assured, Immortal!" Zhang Cheng replied forcefully.

Zhang Yuanjing looked at Zhang Cheng's slightly weathered face, and his heart moved. He asked, "Cheng, you are almost thirty, right?"

Zhang Cheng was stunned. After a few breaths, he stammered, "Returning, returning to Immortal, this little one is twenty-nine and will soon be thirty."

"Good, at thirty you should be established, you should take care of this family. Is your sister's marriage settled?" Zhang Yuanjing asked.

"This, my mother mentioned it many times in the past, but my sister denied it. Later, once she was forced too hard, my sister threatened to die, and my mother dared not mention it again. Immortal, please, please advise my sister!" Zhang Cheng said a few words, suddenly knelt down, and begged.

"Oh, is that so! However, with your sister's character, it is indeed not easy to find a suitable one. How old is she? Thirty-four?" Zhang Yuanjing knew something about Zhang Xuan's private affairs, but he never asked about them. Today, he felt that his stay here would not last long, and he was moved for a moment, so he asked a few more questions.

"Immortal's memory is correct, it is indeed thirty-four!"

"I know about this, I will advise her."

Zhang Yuanjing made up his mind that since he had formed a cause and effect with the Zhang siblings, he must have a satisfactory ending. As soon as this thought came up, he felt that something in his heart had been cleared, transparent and clear, relaxed inside and out, and his mana seemed to be humming in harmony, showing a kind of unprecedented harmony and freshness.

He immediately understood that it was through this understanding that his state of mind had been improved. Going to Great Perfection was now without any obstacles!

Three days later, with the help of that deep pool, the inner core's golden liquid, and ten blue-faced貂, Zhang Yuanjing set up a huge trap, luring more than a thousand red-finned fire-纹 fish. It took him a month to carry out a massive瓮中捉鳖, and he caught another early-stage Enlightenment Realm fish, but it was not the one that had escaped last time. In addition, he also captured thirty-two fish from four to nine feet long, and more than five hundred and seventy fish from one to three feet long, almost sweeping away the large fish in the Mengshan River and two hundred miles upstream and downstream.

Before entering seclusion again, Zhang Yuanjing specially called Zhang Xuan to talk.

"Zhang Xuan, if I remember correctly, you are thirty-four years old, right?"

Zhang Xuan originally thought that Zhang Yuanjing had something important to tell her. Unexpectedly, he directly asked about herself. In addition to being surprised, she felt uneasy, so she lowered her head and replied, "Returning to Immortal, Zhang Xuan is indeed thirty-four years old."

"Well, these years, you have independently supported the Zhang family and raised your younger siblings. It has been really hard for you," Zhang Yuanjing weighed his words and said slowly, "Thirteen years have passed in a flash. You have made enough sacrifices for the family and should consider your own life's events!"

Zhang Xuan's heart skipped a beat, her face felt a little hot, and then she thought of something, her face suddenly turned pale, and she suddenly raised her head, her lips trembling, and asked, "Immortal, is there something wrong with Zhang Xuan that makes you dissatisfied?"

"Something wrong?" Zhang Yuanjing laughed and quickly waved his hand, saying, "You misunderstood. You have done very well these years, and I am very satisfied. If it were not so, how could I have been bothering you here without leaving! I think that you are, after all, a woman, and ultimately happiness lies in marrying and having children. How can you always be single like this? Do you have someone you like?"

Zhang Xuan's face softened a little. When she heard the words "someone you like," two red clouds could not help but surge on her face. She quickly lowered her head, not daring to look at Zhang Yuanjing's gem-like eyes.

After a few breaths, she asked somewhat suspiciously, "Immortal, did my mother come here and say something to you?"

Zhang Yuanjing shook his head and said, "Your mother has not come here. It's just that I need to go into seclusion again recently. Considering that cultivators have always been ignorant of time, but for you mortals, time flies like an arrow, and some things, if you don't seize the opportunity, it will be too late to regret it in the future.

"So I want to advise you not to focus only on family matters, but also to care more about your own life's events. You have been running around for me for more than ten years, and you have been of great help to me. I also hope that you can have a good home, and it is not in vain to have formed this cause and effect!"

The blush on Zhang Xuan's face faded, and a hint of resentment floated up. She said with an extremely firm tone, "Thank you for your concern, Immortal. Zhang Xuan will seriously consider this matter, but currently has no plans to marry."

Zhang Yuanjing felt unbearable, but he could only sigh helplessly, change the subject, and talk about some arrangements after his seclusion.

A few days later, Zhang Yuanjing entered seclusion again. After half a year of hard work, after refining the early-stage Enlightenment Realm fish, the pure thick earth power in the dantian finally no longer jumped into the Niwan Palace. However, after several months, the thick earth power in the dantian that was on the verge of liquefaction was always one step away from turning into true golden liquid.

If he were a rogue cultivator without inheritance, or a monk from a small or medium sect with an incomplete inheritance, he would at this time doubt himself, thinking that there was a defect in the technique or that the path was wrong, and then interrupt his cultivation and look for other opportunities.

However, as a cultivator from the Xuantian Sect, he had long been familiar with this situation and did not have any restlessness. Instead, he adhered to his original intention and still cultivated wholeheartedly, refining one after another red-finned fire-纹 fish that only had Savage Blood Realm cultivation, without any anxiety because of the lack of effect.

In this way, time passed continuously in extreme boredom.

Two and a half years later, there was finally movement in his dantian again. A surge of extremely pure and potent Earth element power suddenly emerged from somewhere within. At first, it was only the size of a strand of hair, but in the next instant, it grew into a small, inch-long fish, radiating golden light. It swam lively within the viscous mana, darting up and down, left and right, churning the dantian upside down. Then, with a burst of force, it leaped up, rushing along the main meridian from his chest and abdomen, crashing into the Niwan Palace. With a soft "buzz," the Niwan Palace seemed to expand several times in an instant before abruptly stopping.

In that instant, the spiritual energy in his dantian also underwent a dramatic change, completely transforming into a pool of golden liquid, like a mass of cold, dark magma, or like mellow, golden wine, mesmerizing to behold.

Since leaving the Mustard Seed Space of the Thick Earth Sect and arriving at Mount Meng, after more than twenty years of continuous effort, his cultivation had finally reached the Great Perfection of the Foundation Establishment stage.

At this time, Zhang Yuanjing was already two hundred and thirty-two years old.