Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

Golden Talisman Pavilion,

That late afternoon, Mei San sneaked into the shop with furtive steps.

Upon entering, he sidled up to Xiao Huan and whispered, "I'm looking for your shopkeeper."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Xiao Huan was the elder of the two beauties.

She was already quite accustomed to this kind of sneaky behavior from visitors. Find adventures on empire

"May I ask if you're here for a transaction?"

"Yeah, one of my ancestors was a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. Before he passed away, he left behind several refining notes. We, the descendants, have no talent, so we can only trade them for some spirit stones to spend," Mei San seemed to say with shame.

"Please take your number plaque, turn left after you enter, and there's a guest lounge. You can wait there for a while, and when it's your turn, you can go in."

Xiao Huan skillfully took a wooden plaque from below the counter and slid it across to Mei San.

"Huh? Are there a lot of people coming here?" Mei San looked surprised and couldn't help but ask.

"Not many lately. Today you're number forty-three," Xiao Huan responded lightly, maintaining a professional and delicate smile on her face.

Mei San's face reddened as he grabbed the wooden plaque and walked toward the back.

After turning past the side door of the shop and walking a dozen steps, he entered a simply decorated room.

The room was about a hundred square meters, and there were thirty or forty chairs placed inside.

When Mei San entered, there were already seven or eight people seated in the room.

The room was very quiet, no one was speaking, and Mei San shrunk his neck as he quietly walked in, randomly picking a chair to sit down, and began to wait silently.

It wasn't long before,

a young attendant entered the room, and without a word, someone immediately got up and followed the attendant out.

After a long wait, those in front of him had gone, and finally, it was his turn.

Mei San followed the attendant through a hallway to the innermost room.

Thump, thump!

The attendant knocked on the door.

"Come in," a warm voice called from inside the room.

"Go on in," the attendant said to Mei San.

Mei San nodded appreciatively at the attendant and then pushed the door open and walked in.

"Sit!" Zhao Sheng indicated the chair in front of him.

Mei San nodded repeatedly with a smiling face and sat down across from Zhao Sheng, then carefully pulled out a yellow jade scroll from his bosom and placed it on the table in front of him.

Seeing it was a Jade Scroll, Zhao Sheng's spirits lifted immediately; anything recorded on a Jade Scroll was no trivial matter.

Following protocol, he didn't inquire about the origins of the Jade Scroll, nor did he check the content inside. Instead, he directly asked the visitor.

"Taoist friend, may I ask what is recorded inside this Jade Scroll? Is it a Cultivation Method, Elixir Recipe, secret news, treasure map, or something else?"

Mei San said, "Senior Zhao, this Jade Scroll was left by my ancestor, and it records a Cultivation Method called 'Fire Cloud Skill.' My ancestor was able to cultivate to the Foundation Establishment Realm with this very method."

As Zhao Sheng picked up the Jade Scroll, his Divine Sense swept across Mei San's body, sensing that his cultivation was very low, at merely the Qi Refining Second Level.

He pressed the Jade Scroll to his forehead, his divine sense probing inside, and in a flash, countless details about the Cultivation Method flooded his mind.

Moments later, Zhao Sheng took down the Jade Scroll and fell into contemplation.

Indeed, the scroll recorded a Fire Element Cultivation Method, with very detailed accounts of steps for refining spiritual energy, transporting spiritual power, refining meridians, and nourishing the spirit as part of the cultivation.

However, Zhao Sheng was still unable to confirm whether the Cultivation Method was genuine.

After all, the Cultivation World had a longstanding tradition of fraud, with few honest people and too many swindlers, to the point where fools were nearly extinct.

Altering elixir recipes, fabricating Cultivation experiences, forging spells, and treasure maps were just child's play.

More sophisticated methods of deception involved cutting and completely fabricating Cultivation Methods, deriving hundreds of 'different' methods from a single one.

In the Cultivation World, falsification and counterfeiting had become a hereditary craft for some cultivator swindlers.

But those weren't the cruelest of practices.

The thing that countless cultivators hated most was that the cultivation methods were real, but someone had deliberately altered, erased, or even intentionally set cultivation traps in the most crucial parts of the methods.

There were many, very many cultivators who did this. It could be to prevent leakage of secrets, or it could be to deliberately harm others.

Imagine this,

After killing someone, someone searches the corpse and finds a cultivation method named "Fire Cloud Skill."

Ninety-nine percent of the content of the method is true, but at the upgrade to Foundation Establishment, the record prescribes the Nine Revolutions, claiming self-establishment upon completion.

But in fact, the Nine Revolutions had been tampered with, and following it not only failed to establish the foundation but would cause the cultivator to explode and die.

In the Cultivation World, every year there are countless cultivators who practiced false methods and ended up meeting with various tragedies.

But I digress, back to the main point.

Seeing Zhao Sheng silent, Mei San grew anxious inside.

He naturally knew about the other's concerns and hurriedly revealed his origins and family background, even explaining the reason for selling his ancestral cultivation method.

When Zhao Sheng heard that the other party was selling the method to join the Origin Return Sect, he felt very curious.

"Isn't the Origin Return Sect known for admitting anyone with a Spirit Root into its gate?"

Mei San smiled bitterly and said, "Senior is not aware, it's not difficult to enter the Origin Return Sect, but cultivating requires Spirit Stones! Besides, there are too many disciples in the sect, and the number of Essence Blood Pearls is limited. Right now, it's like too many monks and not enough porridge; the disciples are nearly fighting to the death over it."

Zhao Sheng had also heard a little about the current state of the Origin Return Sect, so he naturally knew that the other party was not lying.

The rapid expansion of the Origin Return Sect's power was rare in the recent tens of thousands of years of Tianzhu Realm history.

In just a few years' time, the number of disciples exceeded fifty-thousand, so naturally, the resources within the sect couldn't keep up.

Zhao Sheng was very curious, watching as the Origin Return Sect grew like a balloon day by day, why the powers of the Ten Great Sects of Central Continent hadn't chosen to suppress it?

After all, in any world, the upper classes are extremely vigilant about any person or force that might threaten their own position, and they often choose to snuff out or co-opt such threats in advance.

Could it be that the Origin Return Sect has already been "co-opted"? Or is it just a "white glove" put forward by some top force?

Or perhaps...

For a moment, numerous possibilities sprang up in Zhao Sheng's mind.

"Senior, Senior?"

Mei San's call brought back Zhao Sheng's wandering thoughts.

"I'll take this Cultivation Technique Jade Scroll. What would you like to exchange for it?"

After coming to his senses, Zhao Sheng finally decided to take that cultivation method.

Upon hearing this, Mei San's face lit up with joy, and then he cautiously said, "Senior, I heard that you can refine Essence Blood Talismans?"

"Hmm, you want an Essence Blood Talisman?" Zhao Sheng nodded, his gaze sharp as he looked at the other party.

"Yes, I want the Essence Blood Talisman!" said Mei San very affirmatively.

Mei San's request somewhat troubled Zhao Sheng.

It wasn't that Essence Blood Talismans were difficult to refine, but he was afraid that once he started, he wouldn't be able to stop.

Zhao Sheng was very clear about how large the supply gap for Essence Blood Talismans was.

In the past two years, every Talisman Master in the Talisman Cultivator Enthusiasts Association had been visited by Foundation Establishment Cultivators of the Origin Return Sect, not once but dozens or even more times.

Zhao Sheng was no exception, especially a certain individual surnamed Wei who considered himself an old acquaintance, repeatedly visiting with a thick-skinned persistence that was nearly unbearable.

However, Zhao Sheng did not want to outright reject them.

After all, one has to respect the Ancestor for the sake of the Origin Ancestor's face.

Just as other Golden Core Perfected Masters monopolized certain industries in Pocket World City, the Origin Ancestor monopolized the talisman industry.

In other words, the greatest backer of the Talisman Cultivator Enthusiasts Association was the Origin Ancestor.

Of course, ever since the Origin Ancestor was forced to leave Pocket World City, the backer of the association had changed.

However, the connections built up over hundreds of years couldn't be erased in a short period.

Even now, a considerable number of talisman cultivators from Pocket World City had been taken in as disciples by the Origin Return Sect.

Zhao Sheng had also been invited multiple times to join but had declined each time.