The next day, Qi Yuan was still fast asleep.
Suddenly, a crisp voice rang out.
"Eldest Senior Brother, when did you get back?"
Qi Yuan jolted awake from his slumber.
Tidying himself up briefly, he walked out of the room, grogginess still lingering on his face.
"Returned last night," he said, eyeing Jiang Lingsu. "Junior Sister, how did you know I was back? You didn't peek at me while I was sleeping, did you?"
Jiang Lingsu bristled with exasperation.
She sorely wanted to say that upon waking this morning, she had found the garbage pile in her courtyard rummaged through.
Yet on second thought, saying so might easily bruise her senior brother's pride.
Calming herself, she said, "Eldest Senior Brother, isn't your cleaver still tied up in the courtyard?"
She glanced at the kitchen cleaver tied with a rope, lingering there like a pet.
Qi Yuan cast a glance at the cleaver, looking suspicious.
In wiping out the Black Mountain Sect, he had reaped immense gains.
Of course, his greatest haul was that he had emptied the Black Mountain Sect's Library Pavilion.
As for other spirit stones and spiritual items, he had fled too hurriedly to take very many.
Even so, what he had acquired was worth a fortune, and the cleaver had feasted to its heart's content.
After all, Qi Yuan's current personal combat power was merely comparable to a fresh Foundation Establishment cultivator.
His ability to cut down Origin Core cultivators relied entirely on the power of the cleaver.
It was just like in the *Investiture of the Gods*, where possessing a formidable magic treasure allowed one to challenge foes far above their level.
The same applied to Qi Yuan.
In the short term, even if he exhausted all the spirit stones, the boost to his personal strength would be limited.
What he lacked most were cultivation techniques and Foundation Establishment.
Therefore, he had poured most of the spirit stones and treasures into the cleaver to enhance its potency.
Now, the cleaver was even more terrifying.
Holding it, Qi Yuan was fully capable of going toe-to-toe with late Origin Core cultivators who were unversed in profound Daoist arts.
Having been fed so many spirit stones and spiritual items...
Why was it still...?
Qi Yuan sorely felt like burying his face in his hands.
Could it be that just as a dog could never resist eating filth, a cleaver could never resist rummaging through trash?
Or was his junior sister's garbage pile simply richer than his own?
Seeing Qi Yuan remain silent, Jiang Lingsu continued, "Eldest Senior Brother, didn't you go off to establish your foundation? Did you succeed?"
She looked at Qi Yuan, seemingly trying to discern something.
Hearing this, Qi Yuan's face instantly fell.
"I... failed. Sigh, establishing a foundation with a first-grade Foundation Establishment spiritual item is just too difficult."
Jiang Lingsu sighed inwardly at his words.
The higher the grade of a Foundation Establishment spiritual item, the greater the combat strength after breaking through and the higher the probability of future realm breakthroughs; yet for a cultivator, higher wasn't necessarily better.
If one's talent was lacking and they forced a breakthrough with a high-grade item, failure was always a possibility.
The Great Dao numbered fifty, of which heaven manifested forty-nine, leaving one to escape.
Even establishing a foundation with the lowest-grade spiritual item still held the potential to reach the summit.
For most ordinary cultivators, their Foundation Establishment spiritual items were of modest grade.
What suited oneself was best.
A Supreme Elder in Jiang Lingsu's clan had established his foundation using an eighth-grade spiritual item—shabby by any standard—yet that elder ranked among the top three in strength within the clan.
"Eldest Senior Brother, do not force it. The spiritual item that suits you is the best.
"Though the Yellow Flower Fruit is a first-grade spiritual item, it's... really nothing special," Jiang Lingsu consoled him.
Hearing that, Qi Yuan nodded in agreement. "You're right. The Yellow Flower Fruit doesn't suit me. I want Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment!"
Jiang Lingsu: "..."
She herself had only achieved Earth Vein Foundation Establishment, and in the lower three grades at that.
As for Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment?
Jiang Lingsu had never even laid eyes on such a supreme genius.
After all, Heaven Vein Qi could not be captured without a Primordial Spirit, and even a Primordial Spirit was not guaranteed to capture it.
Only upon reaching the Yin God realm could one give birth to a Primordial Spirit, traveling across realms and roaming the Great Void.
Furthermore, the Primordial Spirit here was vastly different from divine souls or divine sense as Jiang Lingsu understood them.
This senior brother of hers... was truly bold in his delusions.
Without a Yin God or Yang God powerhouse among his ancestors, he still dared dream of Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment?
However, Jiang Lingsu cast a thoughtful glance toward the palace atop Seven Colors Peak.
"Eldest Senior Brother, this is a Law-Nourishing Pill. It can calm your magic power. Having just failed a breakthrough, your magic power must be unstable, so you should take one. That way, you'll be able to attempt another breakthrough in the short term.
"It... well, it's not expensive. It's a specialty of my clan, worth only a few spirit stones." Jiang Lingsu held out a delicate white porcelain bottle with her slender, scallion-white hand. Inside rested a single medicinal pill.
Qi Yuan froze for a moment. "Junior Sister, are you my Doraemon?"
She could always pull strange things out of her sleeves.
"Huh?" Jiang Lingsu was baffled by Qi Yuan's bizarre words.
Qi Yuan took the Law-Nourishing Pill.
[This is a Law-Nourishing Pill. When a cultivator fails Foundation Establishment and their magic power becomes disordered, they need to temper their power before building up for another breakthrough attempt.
The Law-Nourishing Pill neutralizes and replenishes magic power, capable of infusing an amount equivalent to ten high-grade spirit stones.
However, this Law-Nourishing Pill still possesses quite a few flaws and can be improved.]
Qi Yuan was stunned.
Replenish magic power equivalent to ten high-grade spirit stones?
That was a thousand low-grade spirit stones!
This Law-Nourishing Pill really was worth only a few spirit stones—but high-grade ones!
Qi Yuan looked at Jiang Lingsu. "Junior Sister, I accept your kindness. In the future, if anyone tries to hack at you, your senior brother will block the blade for you!"
This was a genuine woman of wealth!
He had to hold tight to this golden thigh... no, fair, slender thigh!
Jiang Lingsu chuckled softly. "Eldest Senior Brother, you had better protect yourself. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt."
Jiang Lingsu was like an ordinary member of the living masses, possessing plenty of virtues alongside not a few flaws.
Of course, she wasn't entirely ordinary either—she had an awful lot of money.
As if recalling something, Jiang Lingsu's expression turned grave. "It's fortunate that you returned, Eldest Senior Brother. Yesterday, the Black Mountain Sect was wiped out. I fear the winds of change will sweep across all of Great Shang!"
"What? The Black Mountain Sect was wiped out?" Qi Yuan's eyes widened. He felt his acting was surely good enough to win an Oscar statuette. "Who was the culprit? Did they use a saber or a sword?"
"Eldest Senior Brother, the things you focus on are far too bizarre." Jiang Lingsu suddenly fixed her eyes on Qi Yuan. "The wiping out of the Black Mountain Sect... couldn't have anything to do with you, could it?"
Hearing this, Qi Yuan's superb acting instantly collapsed. "No, it wasn't me!"
"You're acting guilty! It couldn't really be you, could it?" Jiang Lingsu burst out laughing, though she didn't take it seriously.
Eldest Senior Brother was eccentric and half-mad, obsessed with games and full of strange quirks.
A personality like that probably required electroshock therapy to cure.
What a pity that the world had undergone great upheavals, and major realm breakthroughs no longer triggered heavenly lightning tribulations. Otherwise, watching Eldest Senior Brother get struck by lightning would surely be quite amusing.
After chatting with her senior brother a while longer, Jiang Lingsu returned to her room.
An ordinary-looking mirror appeared in her hand.
"Qi Refinement perfection... huh."
This mirror was called the Kunqian Mirror, one of the many sub-mirrors of the Qiankun Mirror, capable of seeing through a cultivator's cultivation.
It showed that Qi Yuan's cultivation was at Qi Refinement perfection.
……
"You dumb cleaver, why did you go rummaging through the trash again!"
Qi Yuan sorely wanted to slap the cleaver.
Yet he feared hurting himself in the process.
"Today, I need to head outside to see which way the wind blows and check the aftermath of the Black Mountain Sect's destruction!"
Anyone who killed people regularly ought to know that while returning to the scene of the crime was forbidden, keeping an eye on the murder case from afar shouldn't be a problem, right?
In any case, there were no police around here, and Old Demon Black Chicken was still in seclusion!
Chapter 39