Longevity by Grinding Skills

Chapter 532: Chapter 532: Immortal Cultivation Is Not About Striving for Temporary Gains

Such as the Nine Heavens Thunder Magnetic Clouds at the edge of the Nine Heavens Gangfeng Layer, eternally washed by Celestial Thunder, or the Profound Ice Kui Thunder Crystals formed in the core of magnetic storms deep within the polar regions.

The second was Profound Vault Pure Qi. This qi nourished the Grotto Heaven World Space, allowing it to hang high and pristine, untainted by worldly impurities.

This qi originated from the void beyond the heavens, in places where starlight converged and condensed. It was the aura contained within the Star True Essence, which was nurtured by certain extremely rare types of Star Meteorite Iron.

It was an evolution of qi where destruction and vitality intertwined, all to ensure the Grotto Heaven’s potential and grant it the characteristic of growing with both destruction and creation coexisting.

’The public Secret Realms provided by the Sect, the Nine Thunder Pool and Celestial Wind Cliff, do have Thunder Essence Profound Stone and Profound Vault Crystal Sand to gather. But those mass-produced items are nothing more than Middle and Lower Grade Root Qi used by ordinary Foundation Establishment Cultivators. If I were to rely solely on these to condense my Divine Sky Cave Heaven, it would be no different from crippling my own potential...’

Xu Yunfan mulled it over.

’If I’m going to perform Qi Collection, I must venture into the more dangerous Forbidden Realms to find a more compatible and powerful Root Qi.’

However, on second thought, Xu Yunfan considered that he was currently lying low within the Primordial Sect. As long as he didn’t go out unnecessarily, why would he need to endure such hardships? He just needed to slowly accumulate Skill Level and max out each stage of the Divine Sky Scripture. Then, he should be able to condense the Grotto Heaven on his own.

Of course, Xu Yunfan wasn’t certain of this yet. He would have to test everything himself.

He was still young. Foundation Establishment Cultivators had a lifespan of three hundred years. Counting the years he had spent in secluded cultivation, he was only in his eighties.

He could completely afford to spend forty or fifty years to advance using his Attribute Panel.

’I certainly don’t trust the "opportunity" True Monarch Qing Yuan gave me. But the Root Qi for condensing the Grotto Heaven Embryo is the very foundation of my, Xu Yunfan’s, Dao path. I can’t afford to be the slightest bit careless or make any compromises.’

And by cultivating diligently and improving with the Attribute Panel, he could naturally forge the most flawless Dao Foundation possible.

Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but let out a breath. The atmosphere among the Three Sects was currently strange and tense. With the Puchen Pure Land performing the East Wilderness King Buddha Fruit Position Reception Ritual, there was no way the Primordial Sect and the Wansheng Sword Sect would just sit back and watch.

If they succeeded and the Puchen Pure Land established an Earthly Buddha Country in the Eastern Wilderness, wouldn’t they become the sole dominant power?

Who could stand for that?

It wasn’t as if the Puchen Pure Land was the only one with a Daoist Lord.

「Half a month later.」

Deep within Divine Sky Peak, inside a secluded Grotto-residence.

Xu Yunfan sat cross-legged on a cattail cushion in the center of the Quiet Chamber, his expression as calm as still water.

Ever since he had spoken with Lu Chuan that day and made up his mind to lie low and cultivate in seclusion, he had barely taken a single step out of his Grotto-residence.

He left all matters on Divine Sky Peak to be handled by the attendant Daoist Children and rejected all visitors with the excuse, "In secluded cultivation, please do not disturb."

This was no empty excuse. If he wanted to avoid taking risks and rely solely on cultivation to grind Skill Level, he naturally needed to focus completely.

His time was tight.

Xu Yunfan did indeed pour all his energy into his cultivation, the core of which was the Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture.

However, the cultivation process was not the walk in the park he had anticipated.

Although the Attribute Panel was miraculous, clearly marking the Skill Level progress for his Divine Sky Scripture, at first, Xu Yunfan had been full of anticipation. He thought that as long as he circulated the Cultivation Technique and cultivated diligently without stopping, he could watch the progress bar grow steadily like a stream flowing into a river.

Reality, however, hit him like a Heavy Hammer.

Just as he had observed, the Skill Level for the Divine Sky Scripture on his panel increased at a terrifyingly slow rate. It took ten to fifteen days of diligent cultivation to gain a single point of Skill Level.

Every day, he followed the essentials of the True Scripture. He used a Thunder-Attracting Array to draw the qi of the Nine Heavens Thunderbolt to Divine Sky Peak, guiding wisps of free-roaming thunder essence from the summit into his body. He would then circulate, refine, and temper it over and over again through his meridians and Dantian.

Xu Yunfan could feel his Magical Power slowly becoming purer and his Dao Foundation subtly solidifying. But when all this was converted into a number jumping on the Attribute Panel, the process was agonizingly slow.

On average, every ten to fifteen days—sometimes even longer—the number representing the Divine Sky Scripture’s Skill Level would grudgingly tick up by a single point.

He had calculated it precisely. It took one thousand Skill Points to go from Minor Achievement to Great Success. At this rate, to reach the Great Success Realm required to condense a Grotto Heaven Embryo, it would take 27 years if he gained one Skill Point every 10 days.

If he went by the longer estimate of 1 point every 15 days, it would take 41 years.

In the worst-case scenario, it might be even slower.

Twenty-seven to forty years.

This might not seem unacceptable for a Foundation Establishment Cultivator with a three-hundred-year lifespan.

Xu Yunfan had tried to comfort himself with this thought.

Patience was the cornerstone of achieving Longevity.

But having grown accustomed to rapid progress, he was naturally unused to his cultivation speed suddenly slowing down.

Most importantly, if he wanted to cultivate to Foundation Establishment Perfection, advancing the Divine Sky Scripture to the Perfection Realm required five thousand Skill Points.

The thought of this made Xu Yunfan feel a sense of endlessness, giving him the impulse to immediately leave seclusion and fight for opportunities outside.

What was worse, based on the consistent patterns of the Attribute Panel and his own cultivation insights, he had a clear premonition. As the Cultivation Technique’s Realm increased, the barriers between each level would become more and more solid, and subsequent progress would grow increasingly difficult.

It was highly likely that after breaking through to Great Success and condensing the Grotto Heaven Embryo, the time needed to accumulate even one more point of Skill Level would increase by double, or even several times over.

This meant the time consumed by that next stage of 5,000 Skill Points could be several times greater.

The thought that he might need to spend a hundred, or even one hundred and fifty or two hundred years, just to reach the 5,000-point threshold for cultivating the Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture to Foundation Establishment Great Perfection made even Xu Yunfan, with his resilient Dao Heart, feel that the road ahead was dauntingly long.

’Cultivating to become an Immortal, only to break through at the last moment of my life?’

Xu Yunfan couldn’t help but be struck speechless.

But he was no longer the naive greenhorn who had just set foot on the path of immortality.

Chu Chengnan’s fate, his own situation, and True Monarch Qing Yuan’s schemes...

All of these were like sharp swords hanging over his head, constantly reminding him that impatience was a trap, and steadiness was the King’s Dao.

If he recklessly pursued rapid progress, he might enjoy a brief moment of triumph. But without enough time to make his own plans, he feared he would be crushed by others when he tried to ascend to the Golden Core realm.

Those Golden Core True Monarchs in the Taihua Spirit Ruins Realm were simply too despicable and shameless.

They especially loved to get decked out in full Divine Armor and camp the Newbie Village, preventing anyone from leaving.

Besides, he had yet to fully grasp the situation within the Primordial Sect, and he was completely ignorant of what secrets True Monarch Qing Yuan’s so-called "great opportunity" concealed.

The relatively isolated environment of Divine Sky Peak was, conversely, the safest breeding ground for cultivation at this moment.

Secluding himself here to cultivate, while seemingly moving at a turtle’s pace, actually carried the lowest risk and was the best way to avoid being dragged into some unknown vortex.

Besides, the Divine Sky Nine Heavens Profound Vault Undying True Scripture was not the only thing he was cultivating.

This long stretch of time was not merely an expense for him; it was capital to be fully utilized.

The true value of the Attribute Panel lay in the fact that he could cultivate multiple Cultivation Techniques and skills simultaneously!

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