Chapter 299 - 277: A World of Difference

Chapter 299: Chapter 277: A World of Difference

For nearly half a year, Chu Mu had been temporarily residing in Jingmen City, fulfilling the rewards he had promised.

Spiritual Artifacts, Puppets—he did everything in his power to uphold his end of the bargain.

His once-abundant resources were gradually depleted in the process.

During this time, he also found a moment to visit the Blood Killing Pavilion.

He placed a bounty on thirteen of Zhao Hong’s blood relatives.

His move was audacious, and the reward was lavish.

His intention to eradicate the problem, root and stem, was perfectly clear.

In this frontline region, Chu Mu’s name was already the subject of wild speculation due to the recent major incident.

This new bounty only added more fuel to the fire, intensifying the uproar.

However, as for the clamor and gossip from the outside world...

...few Cultivators would ever care what others thought.

And Chu Mu was no exception.

In the courtyard, Chu Mu sat cross-legged. Before him levitated a Pill Furnace as translucent as jade. At a glance, it looked just like the Magical Treasure Prototype Pill Furnace he had refined for Ji Ming.

However, this Pill Furnace was a size smaller, and within its jade-like translucence, one could see faint, flickering wisps of fiery red.

As he raised his hands and formed seals, Array Prohibition Patterns became visible, inscribing themselves upon the Pill Furnace.

The Pill Furnace spun, its fiery red glow intensifying.

Finally, its original jade-like translucence transformed into a body that was completely, brilliantly, red and clear.

"Done!"

Chu Mu let out a low cry. A fiery red light flowed over the Pill Furnace before it slowly descended to the ground, settling into a calm, crimson glow.

’A Top Grade Spiritual Artifact...’

Chu Mu exhaled softly. The lingering afterglow of Spiritual Radiance in his eyes slowly dissipated, and a trace of human emotion returned to his expression.

"Brother Mu."

Behind him, a door that had been shut for months slowly opened, and Xu Yuan, who had been healing his injuries for all that time, emerged.

"How are your injuries?"

Chu Mu turned and asked.

"I’ve made a full recovery."

"It’s all thanks to the Soul Cleansing Pill you gave me, Brother Mu..."

"Oh, right, Brother Mu. You mentioned before that you had something for me to do. What was it?"

Chu Mu said, "When I came here, Wangcai was still in the middle of its transformation. I still have some matters to attend to, so I need you to go back first and look after it..."

"Wangcai broke through?"

Xu Yuan was stunned. "To Tier Two?"

Chu Mu nodded. "I transplanted a new bloodline into it, and it broke through naturally..."

"A Demon Beast’s breakthrough and transformation usually takes a very long time. You should go back first..."

"Also, remember to keep an eye on..."

Xu Yuan, still astonished and clearly confused, asked, "Transplanted a bloodline?"

"A bloodline is..."

He stopped mid-sentence. As he looked at Xu Yuan, the "Longevity Turtle Spirit Technique" suddenly surfaced in his mind.

As far as he knew, for someone with a Wasted Spirit Root Talent, reaching Foundation Establishment was practically impossible.

Possessing all Five Elements meant his Magical Power was bound to be impure. Furthermore, Xu Yuan’s cultivation had been built almost entirely on elixirs, and he had relied on them to forcibly break through every bottleneck he encountered.

With such impure Magical Power, the complementary relationship between his Essence, Qi, and Spirit would inevitably be affected, impacting his entire being.

Although Xu Yuan also practiced a Body Refining Technique, Body Refining only treated the symptoms, not the root cause.

The fundamental problem remained, and there was basically no solution.

This meant that for Xu Yuan to reach Foundation Establishment, he not only had to face the inherent difficulty of the breakthrough itself but also this massive, unbreakable bottleneck.

He was familiar with the medicinal power of the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Under these circumstances, unless Xu Yuan could pop Foundation Establishment Pills like candy, his chances of reaching Foundation Establishment were practically nonexistent.

Without reaching Foundation Establishment, one would forever remain at the very bottom of the Cultivation Immortal Realm.

After a hundred-odd years, it would be ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

’If the path of a human is a dead end, what about the path of a Demon?’

’His inspiration for transplanting Wangcai’s bloodline had come from... the concept of a human cultivating a Demon’s bloodline...’

Chu Mu’s gaze was profound, making Xu Yuan’s heart flutter with unease. After a long moment, Xu Yuan forced himself to ask, "Brother Mu, what’s wrong?"

Chu Mu pondered for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, the scroll containing the Longevity Turtle Spirit Technique appeared in his grasp.

"This is bloodline cultivation. Figure it out for yourself."

With that, Chu Mu handed the Jade Scroll over.

Then, with a stir of his Divine Sense, a Cyan Wolf Puppet landed in front of him.

"Take this Puppet."

"Ah, Brother Mu, this is too valuable!"

Xu Yuan didn’t even have time to inspect the Jade Scroll before he started waving his hands in refusal. He had personally witnessed the terrifying power of this Cyan Wolf Puppet.

It could slaughter Qi Cultivation Realm cultivators as easily as killing chickens—it was horrifyingly powerful!

"Just take it."

"Also, I’ve already arranged for the Flying Boat in the city that goes to Water Heaven Workshop. Just give them my name when you get there."

"Alright, I’ll head back then."

Xu Yuan put away the Puppet and dared not say another word. He returned to his room to pack a few things and then left as Chu Mu had instructed.

After the courtyard gate closed and silence returned, Chu Mu looked at the Pill Furnace before him again, his eyes filled with a complicated mix of emotions.

’Bloodline cultivation...’

After a moment, Chu Mu shook his head, suppressing the worry in his heart.

His gaze shifted, focusing once more on the Pill Furnace before him.

It was a Top Grade Spiritual Artifact, its internal structure modeled after the Magical Treasure Prototype Pill Furnace.

With a flick of his sleeve, dozens of Jade Boxes appeared before him.

All the Spirit Medicines for the Gong Palace Pill recipe had been gathered.

He had studied the Pill Recipe for a long time and already knew the Spirit Medicines in the formula by heart.

He glanced at the negligible progress in his cultivation displayed on the Light Curtain Panel. With a flicker in his eyes, a wisp of Great Sun True Flame ignited, illuminating the Pill Furnace.

The translucent crimson became even more vibrant.

The refining process for the Gong Palace Pill flowed through his mind. With a calm expression, Chu Mu used his Divine Sense to guide the rare Spirit Medicines into the Pill Furnace one by one. Billowing Spiritual Qi and medicinal power steamed forth as the various Spirit Medicines slowly began to merge under his control.

Several days passed. The crimson glow of the Pill Furnace slowly faded.

The lid of the furnace floated open, releasing a cloud of hot steam. At the bottom, several pale green pills were still spinning.

With a sweep of his sleeve, the lid fell shut, and the pills at the bottom floated out one after another into his hand.

There were eight Gong Palace Pills in total, two of which were One-Patterned.

’Six sets of Spirit Medicines in total... which means I can form... about fifty pills...’

Chu Mu mused to himself. The Spirit Medicines required for the Foundation Establishment Realm generally needed to be around two to three hundred years old. While not exceptionally rare, they were by no means easy to collect.

After all his efforts, he had only managed to gather enough for six batches.

’The medicinal efficacy of this pill...’

Chu Mu pressed his lips together, glancing at the Great Sun Scripture’s Cultivation Skill Level on his Light Curtain Panel. He then swallowed a pill, sat cross-legged, and began circulating his Magical Power to refine its medicinal effects.

About six hours later, he slowly opened his eyes.

The Light Curtain Panel appeared before him.

[Name: Chu Mu]

[Skill: Basic Blade Technique (Returning to the Essence) 1358/10000.

Fireball Skill (Returning to the Essence) 10000/10000...]

[Great Sun Scripture: Tier Two, First Layer: 1350/10000]

[Alchemy: Tier One Upper Grade (5328/10000)...]

[Artifact Refining: Tier Two Upper Grade (5323/10000)...]

[Spiritual Radiance Value: 9528.6%]

Years had passed, and the very first cultivator technique he had ever learned seemed to have reached true Perfection.

The value for Returning to the Essence was maxed out, unable to advance any further.

He had once tried to alter the Fireball Skill’s Magic Inscription structure, but as his arsenal of techniques grew larger and more powerful, the spell itself had become increasingly obsolete.

Thus, he had long since set it aside and ignored it.

As for his Alchemy Skill, it had been neglected ever since he started focusing on the Artifact Refining Skill. Only in recent years, after reaching the Foundation Establishment Realm, did he find some spare time to pay it any attention.

The two Alchemy Inheritances he obtained from Ji Ming, along with some Alchemy Formulas and Pill Books he had collected himself, had barely managed to bolster the foundation of his Alchemy Skill.

Now, according to the Light Curtain Panel’s assessment, he was a Tier One Upper Grade Alchemist.

His Artifact Refining Skill, on the other hand, had leaped to Tier Two Upper Grade long ago, thanks to the Artifact Refining General Outline inheritance.

His focus had now shifted to the Rune Refining System to further deepen the foundations of his Artifact Refining Skill.

As for the Great Sun Scripture, despite being in the Foundation Establishment Realm for many years, his progress had been negligible.

If he were to cultivate arduously on his own, even with dense and abundant Spiritual Qi, the progress was so small that without the Light Curtain Panel, it would be almost imperceptible even to himself.

According to the values shown on the Light Curtain Panel, a month of arduous cultivation yielded him only about five points of progress.

At this rate, with his level of talent, even if he did nothing but focus solely on arduous cultivation, it would take him about 167 years to break through from the Early Stage of Foundation Establishment to the Middle Stage.

The Foundation Establishment Realm only granted a 300-year lifespan. Several decades had already passed, and spending nearly another 170 years just to reach the Middle Stage of Foundation Establishment...

’This seems... truly meaningless.’

But this Gong Palace Pill...

Chu Mu compared the numbers. A single Gong Palace Pill provided about fifty points of progress, equivalent to nearly a year of his own arduous cultivation.

For someone with talent like Xu Yuan’s, it would probably be equivalent to several years of hard cultivation.

’What if it were a Celestial Spirit Root...?’

Chu Mu had a fanciful thought but immediately shook his head.

A cultivator with a Celestial Spirit Root Talent was one of heaven’s chosen. For them, the effect of this pill would likely only equate to a few days of cultivation progress—ten days at the absolute most.

Moreover, a talent like that would be treated as the most precious of treasures, whether in a Sect or a Clan. At least in the Foundation Establishment Realm, they would certainly not be permitted to use elixirs.

The only exception would be something like a Pill Pattern Elixir, which had extremely low impurities and exceptionally potent effects.

For the vast majority of Cultivators, Qi Cultivation was the starting point, and Qi Cultivation Perfection was likely the end of the road for ninety-nine percent of them.

Foundation Establishment was a pipe dream, and Golden Core was the stuff of legends.

And from what he knew, the Golden Core Realm... For a Celestial Spirit Root, as long as they didn’t perish or suffer crippling injuries along the way, they would face no bottlenecks and were guaranteed to reach the Golden Core Realm through normal cultivation!

The legendary Golden Core Realm was merely the starting point for a Celestial Spirit Root!

As his thoughts wandered, Chu Mu couldn’t help but sigh. You really couldn’t compare one person to another.

’The difference between heaven and earth...’

’It truly is a chasm as wide as that between heaven and earth!’

He gave a self-deprecating smile, put away the Pill Furnace, and did not continue refining.

The rewards he owed had not yet been fully paid.

He took out a Jade Scroll, on which was recorded the compensation he still needed to provide.

Some had provided their own Spiritual Materials, hoping for a superior custom item; others had changed their requests; and some even forwent their reward, asking instead for him to help improve their existing Spiritual Artifacts...

The requests were varied and diverse.

Of the eighteen Foundation Establishment cultivators he owed, he had already compensated sixteen.

Only the rewards for the last two remained: one Puppet and one Magic Robe.

The requests were simple and clear. For the Puppet, the Foundation Establishment cultivator who requested it had naturally provided a considerable amount of Spiritual Materials, including the Divine Soul of a Foundation Establishment Realm expert and a fist-sized Soul Condensing Stone.

After all, while Puppets were a part of Artifact Refining, a Tier Two Early Stage Puppet was far more valuable than an Upper Grade Spiritual Artifact that required a cultivator’s control...

...