Spring passed and autumn came; two years flew by in a flash.
Inside the Quiet Chamber, Bai Zichen slowly concluded his Cultivation.
'The effects of the Qi Replenishing Pill are still too potent for me,' he thought. 'It takes a full week to completely refine one, and some of its medicinal power is wasted in the process.'
'It would be best to have a Third-Layer Qi Refining Cultivation before starting to take them. Only then could I perfectly match this kind of Elixir. But time waits for no one. To guarantee a spot, I must reach at least the Qi Refining Third Layer and surpass my peers in Cultivation.'
Bai Zichen had grown much taller and appeared somewhat thin.
Two months ago, after advancing to the Qi Refining Second Layer, he had consumed his first Qi Replenishing Pill.
As of today, he had just finished refining the second one.
But each Qi Replenishing Pill was equivalent to three months of arduous Cultivation for him. If he could take them continuously, he was confident he could reach the Qi Refining Third Layer within half a year.
This was the advantage of having abundant cultivation resources and relying on elixirs.
The reason Bai Zichen was so anxious to raise his Cultivation, even at the risk of forcing his progress, was that the opportunity at the Five Mountains Temple his uncle had mentioned was now set in stone.
It turned out that the towering Stele on the third floor of the Five Mountains Temple was a rare Exotic Treasure, an Inheritance Treasure from a Sect called the Naihe Sect, located in a bitterly cold and distant land.
The Naihe Sect was a Nascent Soul Major Sect whose methods for training disciples were vastly different from other Sects. They would record a large number of Cultivation Methods and unique Magic in Inheritance Steles, and each Stele would then give a comprehensive score to every disciple who came before it.
Based on the evaluation, it would bestow different Cultivation Techniques.
Although it was unclear why an Inheritance Stele from the Naihe Sect, located thousands of miles away, would appear in Five Mountains True Man's Cave Mansion, experts from the Qingfeng Sect had determined that the Stele was still functional. It could withstand at least five hundred more inheritances before reaching its limit and turning into a worthless rock.
After discussions among the Qingfeng Sect's upper echelons—which really meant the two Core Formation True Men—they decided to allocate some of the spots to the Cultivation Families in the Black Mountain Range.
Whether it was to win over hearts or to reward the merit of discovering the Cave Mansion, this move greatly boosted the morale of the Cultivation Families. They hailed the Qingfeng Sect as brilliant and proclaimed that their Ancestor had a promising future in reaching the Nascent Soul Realm.
As agreed, fifteen Clans were chosen, and each was given two spots—the Bai Clan being one of them.
The requirements for the Inheritance Stele were simple: anyone under the age of twenty who had embarked on the path of Cultivation could go and try their luck.
The rewards varied based on the score, which was likely determined by one's Spiritual Root talent and Cultivation Realm.
This was why Bai Zichen was striving so hard—for one of those two precious spots.
'There's still a year until the Inheritance Stele is opened,' he thought. 'I must secure a spot. How can I miss an opportunity that's right in front of me?'
Initially, Bai Zichen had been quite confident about getting a spot. There weren't many Cultivators his age in the Clan, and the few whose Cultivation surpassed his were already approaching twenty. In terms of potential, he was a cut above, so a spot was practically in the bag.
But who would have thought that good fortune follows disaster? At the Spirit Awakening ceremony two years ago, six Bai Clan Members with Spiritual Roots were discovered at once, providing a much-needed infusion of new blood for the sparsely populated Bai Clan.
Most critically, a pair of siblings discovered on a remote estate both possessed Dual Spirit Root Talent.
Even Clan Leader Bai Xianzhong was alerted and personally tested their Spiritual Roots again.
Dual Spirit Root Talent meant that as long as they didn't meet an untimely end, reaching Qi Refining Great Perfection was only a matter of time.
They even had a sliver of a chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Stage—though, of course, it was only a chance.
Aside from those with a Celestial Spiritual Root, who would dare claim they could succeed in Foundation Establishment without external aid or a Foundation Establishment Pill?
The siblings did not disappoint. They studied under Elder Honggu, and the older sister, Bai Ling, had already broken through to the Qi Refining Second Layer at the beginning of the year. Her younger brother, Bai Wei, was two years younger but was also said to have recently found his breakthrough opportunity.
This situation threw Bai Zichen into a panic, and he could no longer afford to sit back and wait.
With similar Cultivation and age, the Elders would naturally give the spots to the disciples with Dual Spiritual Roots. This was what led him to consider a different approach: suppressing his rivals through sheer Cultivation level.
"Brother Chenn, you're finally out of seclusion! I've been waiting for almost an hour!"
As soon as Bai Zichen stepped out of the Quiet Chamber, he saw Bai Ying sitting in the courtyard, tossing a piece of pastry into his mouth. There were already three empty plates in front of him.
After emerging from the shadow of his mother's death, Bai Ying had gotten even chubbier over the past two years. His greatest hobby had become experimenting with all sorts of roasted foods to satisfy his appetite. According to him, since he had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, why bother with arduous Cultivation? Wasn't it better to enjoy life?
Decades of arduous Cultivation without reaching Foundation Establishment would only lead to a pile of yellow earth a century later. It was better to be like him, enjoying fine food, good wine, and beautiful women from an early age. The life of an emperor among mortals was easy for a Cultivator to achieve.
When he was old enough, he planned to marry several wives and concubines, have many children, and fulfill his duty of continuing his family line.
It was a mystery where Chubby, at such a young age, had developed this "lie flat" mentality, which was completely at odds with the overall atmosphere of the Bai Clan.
Bai Zichen picked up the clay teapot from the small stove and poured himself a cup of hot tea. "Didn't you say a while ago that you were going out with your father to see the world at the Qingfeng Sect Market? Why do you have time to come see me today?"
Like he was presenting a treasure, Chubby took out a roll of silk cloth and spread it on the table. "I think there's going to be fierce competition for the Stele spots next year. There's an eighty percent chance they'll use a tournament to decide the winners. So I was thinking, Brother Chenn, you should prepare a Magical Artifact in advance. You can catch them by surprise and defeat that annoying pair of siblings!"
Bai Wei had mocked Chubby for his lazy appearance a couple of times, and that's how their grudge was formed.
"I begged my dad to copy down this list of Magical Artifacts and their prices from the Treasure Pavilion in the Market. Brother Chenn, take a good look and see which one suits you. I'll bring it back for you when I go in a couple of days. I guarantee we'll catch them completely off guard. If you don't have enough Spirit Stones, I'll lend you some. You can pay me back after you've made it big."
Bai Zichen didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Chubby's imagination was truly something else, even dreaming up a tournament.
"It's a competition within the Clan; the Elders will make the decision. There's no need for it to escalate to a tournament. Besides, the Inheritance Stele doesn't care about your Combat skill. Even if you defeated every Clan Cultivator in the whole Black Mountain Range, your score from the Stele wouldn't be any higher."
But tossing it aside would hurt Chubby's good intentions, so Bai Zichen examined the silk cloth carefully.
The list detailed over thirty Low-Grade Magical Artifacts, more than ten Mid-Grade Magical Artifacts, and five Top-Grade Magical Artifacts. In terms of variety, it was far richer than the collection in the Bai Clan's Artifact Refining Hall.
The two Artifact Refiners trained by the Bai Clan were only at the Tier One Mid Grade level. So, while refining Low-Grade Magical Artifacts was fine, their success rate with Mid-Grade Magical Artifacts was quite low.
To reduce costs, the two of them only chose to specialize in refining the few Magical Artifacts they were personally skilled at, which resulted in the Clan Members having an extremely limited range of Magical Artifacts to choose from in the Artifact Refining Hall.
"If you ask me, a tournament is the best way. It makes it clear who's strong and who's weak. Otherwise, it's just 'he said, she said,' and no one can convince the other!"
"In the end, it will all come down to the Clan Leader's decision."
At Chubby's suggestion, Bai Zichen pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.