Cultivating for a hundred lifetimes to ascension

In the Cultivation World, when a Foundation Establishment Cultivator's cultivation reaches the late stage, they could refine Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire and store it inside their Dantian.

Refining Spiritual Fire is preparation for ascending to the Golden Core!

At the Foundation Establishment Perfection, if a cultivator could merge the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire into their Spiritual Power, successfully imbuing their spiritual power with some characteristics of the Spiritual Fire, their chances of ascending to the Golden Core would significantly increase.

Depending on the Five Elements, the Heaven and Earth spiritual items that cultivators refine also vary.

However, unlike ordinary cultivators, those who have practiced the Golden Core Technique, upon advancing past Foundation Establishment, cultivate spiritual power that is more refined than ordinary spiritual power.

Starting from the early stage of Foundation Establishment, one could attempt to refine Heaven and Earth spiritual items.

Therefore, after reaching the Foundation Establishment Perfection, these individuals have a much higher chance of experiencing a qualitative change in their core spiritual power than ordinary cultivators do.

Now, Zhao Sheng had finally become one of these exceptional individuals.

And the Heaven and Earth spiritual item he needed was called Primordial Heavy Water.

Primordial Heavy Water, as the name implies, is known for its "heaviness," with a single drop weighing a thousand catties.

It is the essence of Kui Water, often found beneath the depths of a Ten Thousand Feet Sea Abyss. It is extremely rare in the Central Continent, completely untraceable in ordinary rivers and lakes.

Only across the Dragon River that traverses the Central Continent is there a slight presence in a few of the deepest parts of the riverbed.

A quarter-hour later, beneath Cliff Mountain,

Zhao Sheng alighted within a complex of palace buildings, passing through halls and crossing courtyards. Red-robed disciples he encountered along the way all paid their respects, and Zhao Sheng nodded in acknowledgment to each.

As a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, although he had just joined the Origin Return Sect, he had already taken up the profession of a Steward in the Ten Thousand Talisman Hall, a position many levels above that of a Qi Refining disciple.

Zhao Sheng soon arrived in front of a three-story hall.

There was a noticeably larger crowd here than in other areas, with thousands of red-robed disciples coming and going, creating a bustling scene.

Zhao Sheng looked up at the plaque above the hall: Merit Hall!

Inside the hall, he found the arrangement quite peculiar. Hanging in the center was a long scroll with the words "Infinite Merit," and behind it was a screen. Both sides of the hall were painted white but covered with dense arrays of runes.

Upon closer inspection, these images were not simply painted on but were layers of constantly shifting lights and shadows,

There were lights casting images on the walls, each character and image clear and distinct.

The Merit Hall in the Origin Return Sect, like the Good Deeds Hall in other Cultivation Sects, served as a place for posting bounty tasks.

In the Merit Hall, everything was quantified in terms of 'merit.'

Whether it was a talisman, a Cultivation Technique, a bounty task, or the exchange of teachings for a profession, everything could be converted into a certain number of merit points and displayed within the Merit Hall for the sect disciples to choose from.

It could be said that in the Origin Return Sect, merit was everything.

This approach by the Origin Return Sect gave Zhao Sheng a strange sense of familiarity, making it seem less like a Cultivation Sect and more like a clearly priced shop.

As long as one had enough merit, even the position of Sect Leader could be bought.

The walls on either side of the Merit Hall were divided into several categories, and Zhao Sheng walked under the Cultivation Technique section.

Looking up, the first three rows in this section were in large golden characters, neatly arranged and very clear. The text below them occasionally shifted with the flow of light, but those in the top three rows never moved at all.

Zhao Sheng read the top line, which was the name of a spell: "Mystic Soul Transformation Body," followed by a line of smaller text: "Blood Soul Scripture" Nascent Soul Chapter.

Just from the name of the scripture, Zhao Sheng was shocked, then he looked at the merit points required for exchange. Instead of numbers, there were two big characters: Infinite!

Beneath "Mystic Soul Transformation Body" was the "Taiyi Spirit Crossing Technique," which was not infinite, but had the suffix "one million."

The third tag was "Clear Void Transformation Technique" fragment, also with a concrete number: nine hundred ninety-nine thousand!

Beyond that, the text turned to ordinary black ink, the first item listed still quite significant: "Golden Crow Burning Sky Technique," priced at eight hundred thousand.

For Zhao Sheng, these were still astronomical figures.

Seeing these numbers and thinking about his purpose for joining the Origin Return Sect, Zhao Sheng wondered what his expression looked like at that moment, probably not great.

Briefly setting these thoughts aside, Zhao Sheng turned and walked to the back of the hall, approaching the counter where bounty tasks were issued.

"I want to issue a reward task," Zhao Sheng said as he unfastened a green jade token from his waist and placed it on the counter, his tone calm.

Behind the counter, a young man in a black robe saw the green jade token and immediately broke into a broad smile and said, "Senior Uncle, what task would you like to post? What is the reward?"

Zhao Sheng thought for a moment, then said, "I wish to offer a reward for Primordial Heavy Water, eight thousand spirit stones for a drop. The task has no time limit."

The man acted swiftly, setting up the task quickly and broadcasting it through a rune-illuminated mirror to the task board in the front hall.

"The task has been posted. Senior Uncle, do you have any other requirements?" the young man in the black robe asked, lifting his head again with a smile.

Zhao Sheng asked, "I would like to undertake a task for Merit, particularly in the talismanic aspect. Could you show me which ones offer high merit rewards?"

The young man in the black robe tapped the rune-illuminated mirror a few times, then handed it to Zhao Sheng.

"Senior Uncle, please have a look!"

Zhao Sheng took it and saw that the top line in golden characters read: Blood Refining Talisman, quantity: unlimited, reward: two Merit Points per talisman.

Below that inscription in black ink read: Third-rank Treasure Talisman, attribute not limited, quantity: one, reward: one mid-grade Spiritual Artifact.

Zhao Sheng scrolled further, taking on seven or eight tasks to draw Second Order True Talismans.

After handing back the rune-illuminated mirror, Zhao Sheng also said, "That will be all for now. Besides, prepare essence blood for a thousand people. I need to refine Blood Refining Talismans."

The Blood Refining Talisman, unlike ordinary talismans, was not difficult to make but required the user's essence blood as a catalyst for refining.

"Alright, please wait a moment, Senior Uncle," he replied.

...

Day turned into night, seasons changed, and two years passed.

Ding!

A clear sound of a copper chime suddenly emanated from deep inside the cave mansion.

Waiting outside the talisman room, leaning against the wall and dozing off, Wei Ling was suddenly awakened and hurriedly stood up straight, walking softly to the door, and whispered, "Master, what are your instructions?"

A mild voice then came out from the talisman room, "This batch of Blood Refining Talismans is ready. Take them to the Merit Hall."Nôv(el)B\\jnn

No sooner had the voice fallen than the talisman room's door suddenly opened, and a thick stack of blood-colored talismans flew out, landing precisely in Wei Ling's hands.

Bang!

The next moment, the door of the talisman room closed again!

Seeing this, Wei Ling could not help but curl her lip and turned to leave.

Once outside the mansion, Wei Ling released a Spirit Eagle over ten feet tall.

Wei Ling climbed onto the back of the Spirit Eagle and then patted its neck.

Whoosh!

The Spirit Eagle flapped its giant wings, lifting off the ground and swiftly flying down the mountain with Wei Ling.

Shortly after, at the task counter in the Merit Hall,

Wei Ling slapped a thick stack of Blood Refining Talismans onto the counter and said, "Task delivery, two hundred Blood Refining Talismans! Little Wuzi, you count them."

Faced with the haughty Wei Ling, Liu Wu dared not dally, and without counting immediately swept the Blood Refining Talismans into a storage bag.

"No need to count! Not one is missing. With Master Zhao's unmatched talismanic cultivation among his peers, it's simply not possible for him to fail in refining. Sister Wei, if you can inherit Master Zhao's mantle, your future will undoubtedly be boundless," he said.

"Humph, as if I needed you to tell me that! Same as usual, another batch of Blood Refining Talismans," Wei Ling said haughtily.

To become a disciple under her master, she had nagged her grandfather for two whole months to personally plead on her behalf.

It was only because her grandfather had a deep relationship with her master that she was reluctantly accepted.

However, it had been almost half a year since she became a disciple, and aside from passing down an Introduction to Talisman, her master had taught her nothing else.

This made Wei Ling feel quite frustrated!