CHAPTER 77: CHAPTER 6: MAKING THE MOST OF WHAT IS AVAILABLE

"What kind of expression is that?" Lin Jing looked at the squinting dragon carp.

"Blub!"

The dragon carp clenched its fins, full of confidence, thinking it could defeat the green-robed gorilla from earlier in the day.

Let it come next time!

Does the Squirrel Devouring Dragon Painting make sense?

It should be the Carp Devouring Dragon Painting!

"The Dragon Race has always been proud and arrogant. Its bloodline has indeed fully awakened," Elder Shen Song transmitted.

"Alright then..." Lin Jing laughed, it’s fine!

As long as you have the strength, pride and arrogance are not bad traits!

Seeing the dragon carp so spirited, he could hardly wait to break through to Foundation Establishment and contract with it!

Now, with this top-tier beast fire, refining pills in the future should be much easier.

Furthermore, the dragon carp with the fire qilin bloodline, after transforming into a dragon, should have no problem countering the power of the Ice Soul Gu.

The power of the Ice Soul Gu... he could soon control it too!

"But Elder Shen Song, why are you still here?"

Divine Pine Dao replied, "I just said I didn’t want to stay in the Hidden Dragon Academy, but I never said I was leaving Hidden Dragon City!"

"So, did Elder see our impressive feat of defeating that Foundation Establishment cultivator?"

"Defeating a Wood Cultivator, what’s there to boast about? If it weren’t for the three months of training I gave you with the wooden people, why don’t you try challenging a Foundation Establishment cultivator who practices fire techniques?"

Lin Jing shook his head and said, "Elder, you’re such a killjoy."

"I don’t know if I’m a killjoy, but if you don’t put out the fire soon, you’ll be sweeping up ashes," Elder Shen Song reminded, as the dragon carp was too excited, and its beast fire spilled out, setting the wooden house ablaze, flames shooting up into the sky.

"Who’s setting fires in Hidden Dragon City!" A passing Foundation Establishment guard saw this, quickly flew over, having shouted for so long about the dry weather being a fire hazard, he thought it was just talk, but didn’t expect someone would actually dare set a fire at night!

...

The next day, after verifying his identity and paying a fine of five Spirit Stones, Lin Jing re-entered Hidden Dragon Academy.

After inquiring everywhere yesterday, he learned that classes at Hidden Dragon Academy are rare, sometimes there might not be a single class for several months, and whether to teach or not depends entirely on the mood of the teachers in the academy.

Besides the occasional lecture to attend, students spend the rest of their time in closed cultivation, or trying to stir things up to make themselves famous.

Lin Jing entered the academy this time to find the techniques for Foundation Establishment in the library!

The Hidden Dragon Academy’s library can be accessed by anyone who has mastered the Hidden Dragon Secret Techniques, and the level of access depends on the level of mastery of these techniques.

"Go on in."

The library’s guardian was an old man, who, after inspecting the Hidden Dragon Seal, let Lin Jing in. If it were the Beast Taming Sect, the guardian might not be an old man, but possibly an old ape, old tortoise, or old bird.

"Found it!"

At this time, Lin Jing was the only one in the library, making it exceptionally quiet.

Lin Jing discovered that the library didn’t contain regular magic but instead had books related to alchemy, artifact refining, feng shui, medicine, and agriculture.

These books were not introductory knowledge, and their content was quite profound. If an ordinary loose cultivator found one and studied it thoroughly, they could become a master in that field.

But today, he wasn’t interested in these. Lin Jing stepped forward and picked up a book titled "Wood Spirit Foundation Establishment Technique."

One of his purposes in coming to Hidden Dragon Academy was to find a superior Foundation Establishment technique!

In the Beast Taming Sect, there are very few Foundation Establishment techniques, and disciples mainly rely on the "Foundation Establishment Pill" to break through. Foundation established in this way makes progressing to Core Formation very difficult, ordinary talents might stay in the Foundation Establishment Stage their entire life, only those with special opportunities might hope to achieve Core Formation.

The best Foundation Establishment technique in the Beast Taming Sect is the Demon Path Foundation Establishment Pill, made from Demon Pills. This pill is extremely difficult to refine, with few compatible Demon Pills, usually only worthy of being refined for disciples at the true inheritor level.

However, even the Demon Path Foundation Establishment Pill is only the best in the Beast Taming Sect and is considered a lower-tier Foundation Establishment technique in the entire Celestial Essence Ancient Country.

A truly superior Foundation Establishment technique can allow cultivators with mundane bodies to acquire postnatal spirit bodies after Foundation Establishment, greatly increasing the likelihood of achieving Core Formation, and even providing a slight chance of reaching Nascent Soul!

For example, the Pavilion Master Hua from Snow Moon City was able to cultivate a postnatal fire spirit body by using a special Foundation Establishment method.

Of course, if one possesses an innate spirit body, an innate special constitution, there’s no need for such complexity; directly establishing a Foundation is equally extraordinary in potential!

Lin Jing came here, not for any postnatal spirit body. Generally speaking, without special opportunities, a person can only have one physical constitution and cultivate one cultivation technique, otherwise, it will cause chaotic meridians and True Qi in the body, leading to madness.

He already has the Longevity Body, without fortuitous encounters, it’s almost impossible to cultivate a second constitution.

Although he also wanted to cultivate multiple constitutions like that "Three-Body" Prince Gu, he knew the chances were minuscule. Without great opportunities and a strong background, it’s not worth thinking about.

This time he’s seeking the Foundation Establishment method... for the Pine Leaf Mouse, as for himself, he’s only at the seventh layer of Qi Cultivation, still a long way to go.

"Wood Spirit Foundation Establishment Method."

"After Foundation Establishment, one can cultivate the Acquired Wood Spirit Body, making them affinity with plants and wood, achieving twice the results with half the effort when practicing Wood Techniques."

"Requirement One, practice Wood Attribute Cultivation Technique, reaching the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation."

"Requirement Two, use Wood Ganoderma over a hundred years old, Laurel Leaves, Heart of Ten Thousand Trees, source wood essence ore, supplemented by..." Lin Jing read to the end and frowned.

"Finally, use a special fire of Wood Attribute to refine the Wood Spirit Foundation Establishment Pill."

"Requirement Three, at the Gui Water Treasure Land, consume the Foundation Establishment Pill."

"There will be a chance to cultivate the Acquired Wood Spirit Body."

"Whether one can cultivate the Wood Spirit Body is directly related to the strength of the cultivator’s mana and the quality of the Foundation Establishment Pill."

"This method can only be used by mortal human cultivators."

"Chicken ribs."

Lin Jing found that the first floor of the book tower had many methods for Foundation Establishment into acquired spirit bodies.

These advanced methods, hard to find in external sects, were available here for free perusal.

However, Lin Jing looked carefully and realized that even if people knew about them, without the academy’s help, it would be hard to meet all the conditions. For example, this Wood Spirit Pill only had the formula, not the refining method.

"None, none, none." Lin Jing flipped through, finding aside from advanced Foundation Establishment methods for acquired attribute spirit bodies, there were also some lesser ones, like becoming extraordinarily strong after Foundation Establishment, having purer True Essence, or increasing lifespan by ten years. All still considered normal.

There were also methods to change gender once after Foundation Establishment or to drastically change body shape and appearance, also unclear whom they were meant for.

"As expected, the Foundation Establishment methods on the first floor are not suitable for me, the Pine Leaf Mouse, or the Dragon Carp."

"With my current level in Hidden Dragon Secret Techniques, I’m not enough to ascend to the second floor."

"Forget it, I’ll grab a book on alchemy to study first. If the second and third floors don’t have suitable Foundation Establishment methods for the Pine Leaf Mouse, I’ll just create a formula myself. Using the Blood Refining Pill to refine a Foundation Establishment Pill specifically for the Longevity Technique of the Cyan Emperor, to establish its foundation!"

Lin Jing took down an alchemy book, preparing to memorize it. This plan was difficult to execute in the Beast Taming Sect, but now, with the Hidden Dragon Secret Techniques capable of simulating magic, it’s like bringing a low-level Bodhi Grotto Heaven. As long as he continues to make a name for himself, creating such exclusive Foundation Establishment Pills may not be out of reach.

He slowly browsed through the alchemy book, and just then, another person entered the book tower, at the ninth layer of Qi Cultivation, wearing a scholar’s robe. Lin Jing looked at him, slightly stunned, as this person saw Lin Jing, his face darkened.

"Tang Monk... no, Beast Taming Sect’s Lin Jing!"

"You’re that scholar from Bodhi Heaven who didn’t get the Bodhi Tree." Lin Jing also recognized him.

"You’re not yet at Foundation Establishment?" Lin Jing, though not trained in appraisal techniques, had a strong mind and decent perception, almost comparable to a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with Spiritual Sense. Plus, the scholar hadn’t hidden his cultivation, so it wasn’t hard to judge his level.

"So what!" Xu Zhizhi swung his hand in annoyance, glaring at Lin Jing: "Sure enough, you’ve come to Hidden Dragon Academy too. I remember the Grotto Heaven incident vividly, where you leveraged those Mechanical Creations to your advantage, but outside, they’re nothing."

Lin Jing chuckled, "No need for such anger, wasn’t the Snowfield Cultivator given to you? Besides, I just beat one of the academy’s Foundation Establishment with no mechanical techniques yesterday."

Xu Zhizhi retorted stubbornly, "Fang Shilin, son of Changchun Valley’s Valley Master, an inheritor of a local power, received special admission considerations to the academy. Without such, he would’ve never entered the academy; defeating him is nothing!"

"With the literary artifact bestowed by my teacher, I could likely defeat him across realms!"

Sensing Xu Zhizhi’s lack of confidence, Lin Jing said, "So, it seems we special enrollment cultivators are the true prodigies within the academy?"

Xu Zhizhi nodded.

"Naturally! What do you plan to do?"

"So it seems, you, the lady alchemist of Pill Furnace Sect, and the little sword cultivator of Celestial Sword Sect have already made a name for yourselves?" Lin Jing pondered, "You’re right! My Mechanical Bamboo Spear isn’t of much use now, best let its last rays shine. Reputation gained from bouts of magic is transient; for fame to be long-lasting, it must be carried by ’artifact’."

"I plan to manufacture a batch of Mechanical Bamboo Spears to auction at the Lotus Pavilion, an artifact requiring no cultivation from the user, capable of suppressing Qi Cultivation Cultivators, surely it will sell well!"

"I suppose there’s no talk of ’intellectual property rights’ here, I plan to use Brother Xu’s defeat to advertise this product, linking it to our reputation."

"When someone uses the Mechanical Bamboo Spear, those who see will think, oh, this was made by genius Mechanic Lin Jing, who once used it to dominate the academy’s prodigy Xu Zhizhi and others in the Grotto Heaven..."

Xu Zhizhi: ???

"You wretched scoundrel!!!" His eyes widened.

"Brother Xu, no need to get agitated, it’s not shameful to be defeated by me. Once I ascend the Prodigy List, it will be a noble thing to have once rivaled Lin Jing!"

"I will kill you!"