Chapter 286: 12th Stage of The Qi Refining Realm!

Back at the Qingzhou Sword Sect, both Ye Wenxiu and Liu Mu were waiting anxiously.

"Senior Brother Liu, do you think that master will be met with any danger?” asked Ye Wenxiu. He was sitting on a stone stool in a small courtyard. In front of him was Liu Mu, who was in the horse stance, not too far away.

Before Liu Mu had a chance to answer, Ye Wenxiu murmured, "Master should be alright, no? He was even able to slay a late-stage Foundation Building Realm cultivator with a single sword strike."

Liu Mu's legs were trembling, and beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. Before long, he stood up straight and sighed. He then picked up a branch and wrote on the ground: ‘

Yes, yes, master will be fine.’

Ye Wenxiu let out a sigh of relief, then smiled. "Junior Brother Liu, actually, cultivation doesn't require such strenuous physical training. Only martial artists need to do that,” he said. “You don't have to practice the horse stance. Master will surely teach you a cultivation technique when he’s back so you can start meditating properly.”

‘Being a little stronger won't hurt,’

wrote Liu Mu, his eyes solemn. Everything he had experienced had planted a seed in his heart: he needed to become stronger! Only by being strong could he not be a burden to Fang Chen. When he was strong enough, he’d be able to shoulder a bit of his lord's worries.

“You can actually learn many things from martial artists,” a voice suddenly sounded. “A martial artist who has drowned himself in battles for many years has a better battle sense than a cultivator who spent a hundred years in meditation.”

Liu Mu and Ye Wenxiu were surprised to hear a voice, then overjoyed when they realized who it was.

Ye Wenxiu immediately stood up and bowed. "Master!"

"Mhm.” Fang Chen nodded with a faint smile. “After I am done here, you two will stay and cultivate in the Qingzhou Sword Sect."

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Fang Chen smiled and took out his tools and materials and began to craft talismans at the side. At the same time, he multitasked, practicing the water, earth, wood, fire, and metal energies at the same time.

He had come to learn that the Five Elements Technique was very versatile and that it could prove useful even if one was at the Nascent Soul Realm.

Doing so many things at once caused his spiritual energy consumption to skyrocket, but it was fine since it was continuously being recovered as he used it.

Ye Wenxiu and Liu Mu respectfully bowed and left the courtyard.

***

By the time several days had passed, the news spread all around the empire that an earth-shattering event had taken place and that a mysterious cultivator had defeated Immortal Sea Dragon at the Heavenly Southern Sect.

It was also said that this mysterious cultivator was suspected to be a senior member of a sect of mysterious sword cultivators!

In Spirit Void City, within the Ye Family.

Ye Wenxiu’s father was rushing into the clan’s courtyard, his feet scrambling. He was accompanied by many of his cousins, all of whom were the backbone of the Ye Family’s second generation. "Father, Father!"

The Ye Family Head walked out with a furrowed brow. "What's the matter?"

Ye Wenxiu’s father was beside himself with excitement as he said, "Father, I’ve received a piece of news that said that Senior, the sword cultivator, had come face to face with Immortal Sea Dragon at the Heavenly Southern Sect!"

The Ye Family was taken aback.

That wasn’t exactly good news. What is he so excited about?

Ye Wenxiu’s father took a step forward and whispered a few words to the head, causing the head’s face to freeze in shock.

"If that’s really true then Wenxiu has been blessed with an extraordinary master. My Ye Family is poised for prosperity!" murmured the head.

"Absolutely!" Ye Wenxiu’s father affirmed firmly. "The news must be true; who would dare spread false rumors about a Golden Core Realm ancestor?"

The Ye Family Head laughed heartily. "Wonderful, wonderful.

Hahaha

!"

***

Qingzhou Sword Sect.

The brush in Fang Chen's hand shattered as his Nine Tribulations Cinnabar and the Thunderous Wood Talisman Paper were completely exhausted. He was completely out of materials now, so he had to put crafting Purple Lightning Talismans on hold.

Fang Chen rubbed his finger over his ring—inside were nearly 200 peak-grade Purple Lightning Talismans, which were worth a lot of spirit stones. He also had about 6000 low-grade spirit stones inside.

Fang Chen’s eyes were filled with joy. "I can buy a lot of materials with these,” he mouthed.

After several days of uninterrupted cultivation, his spiritual energy reserves had increased significantly.

"Time for that last, final step" muttered Fang Chen. He waved his hand gently, creating a golden figure in front of him.

The golden figure was about ten feet tall and it held a golden blade. It was a miniature version of the Immortal Sea Dragon’s giants.

This was his limit after days of practice. If he wanted to reach the level of Immortal Sea Dragon, he reckoned he’d need to reach the grand complete stage of the Foundation Building Realm, which would take a few years of cultivation, even a decade, maybe

Fang Chen let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "I'm still far behind in comparison to a Golden Core Realm cultivator.”

He began to disperse and conjure the golden figure repeatedly until his spiritual energy was completely depleted.

His majestic and profound spiritual energy began to recover. Suddenly, the surrounding spiritual fluctuations began to intensify.

Fang Chen stood quietly, allowing countless streams of spiritual energy to rush into him, filling his 12th immortal vein. His body was like the vast expanse of heaven and earth, and inside him were eleven fully-formed immortal veins, piercing through it like pillars.

As the seconds flashed by, the cultivators of the Qingzhou Sword Sect sensed the unique spiritual energy fluctuations in the air.

Zhong Yue had been informing the disciples of key points they needed to know before they set off to the Sea Dragon Sect when he suddenly sensed the spiritual energy fluctuations in the air. "It's coming from the sect leader’s courtyard," he murmured, frowning.

"These fluctuations...” thought one of the 12th stage Qi Refining cultivators aloud, “they seem to be just like the ones we experienced when we entered the 12th stage.”

"They’re somewhat similar, but not quite. The sect leader can’t possibly be at the Qi Refining Realm. We can’t sense his exact cultivation, but he must be at the early Foundation Building Realm at the very least, right?” said another cultivator, his tone thoughtful as he looked in the direction of Fang Chen’s courtyard.

"Perhaps he is cultivating some kind of immortal technique?" suggested Zhong Yue "With his abilities and background, the immortal techniques he knows must far exceed our imagination."

The others nodded in agreement, thinking that his words were reasonable.

Sixteen hours passed before the commotion Fang Chen was causing subdued.

The 12th immortal vein had been fully formed.

Just when Fang Chen was thinking that it was all done, his twelve immortal veins suddenly went through a strange, special change. There was a flash of golden light that circled the immortal veins for a brief moment, and then they all turned completely golden in color.

Fang Chen could feel that his immortal veins were now more resilient than ever—they were ten times as strong as they previously were.

Immortal veins represented the foundation, the most crucial aspect for cultivators at the beginning of their cultivation journey—a solid foundation would affect every aspect of a cultivator’s journey, from the quantity and quality of spiritual energy to even the cultivator's physical body.

Just by advancing from the eleventh stage to the twelfth stage, Fang Chen’s strength had been bolstered by much more than when he had advanced all the way from the first stage to the eleventh stage! His spiritual energy reserves had increased by more than tenfold.

“Introduction to the Three Thousand Daos seems to have mentioned this; the foundation forged by the technique could be divided into five types: Copper of Desolate, Iron of Strength, Silver of Wealth, Gold of Supremacy, and the Source of Authority," murmured Fang Chen. "Have I reached the fourth stage? That’s pretty excellent—but if I can forge the fifth type of foundation... that will lay an ever better footing for my future cultivation!"