Chapter 50: Foundation Establishment Techniques!
Seeing what Li Ling was focused on, the Joy Sect disciple chuckled sultrily and pointed to the books. "If Sister is here to buy a Foundation Establishment technique in preparation for later, I can give you the summary of these five techniques, especially their strengths and weaknesses."
Li Ling nodded and lifted his head. "Please do."
The young lady pointed to the first technique. "This is the Five Elements True Dao. It is considered the successor to the basic Qi Circulation Mantra, standing as the most circulated and most basic Foundation Establishment cultivation method on our Tianming continent."
"Its strengths are that it can be practiced by anyone, compatible with all types of spirit roots, physiques and dao hearts. However, its weaknesses are that it has no special advantages against any other techniques, leading to an average Foundation Establishment experience."
Li Ling nodded as he noted that the manual was wreathed in a five-colored light, from red to blue, to green, to brown and then to gold. He considered this technique as a good option if the other four did not fit him, but naturally, he was not too keen on practicing something average.
The young woman then gestured to the second technique. "This is the Verdant Genesis Art. It is an elite wood element technique that focuses on a mixture of support and longevity, granting more than one and a half times the same lifespan increase per realm compared to other techniques. It is also a strong technique for practicing some of the Hundred Arts of Refinement, like talismans, spirit planting and alchemy to a lower extent."
This manual had a soft green aura that seemed to invigorate the body, making ailments and illness hiss and leap backward in fear. Li Ling directly eliminated this technique without even considering it for a second. Once again, if he had any other type of system, especially the proficiency, check-in or lifestyle types, he would choose this or a variant of it for sure.
As it was now, longevity and support were meaningless to him and his goals.
Seeing that Li Ling was nonplussed, the young woman giggled and brought attention to the third technique on display. "This is the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra. It is a very powerful yang-based technique that is perfect for young men with virgin bodies to practice, granting them fierce combat power, strong recovery in battle and scorching magic power."
The young lady smiled at Li Ling knowingly. "If you have any male relative or cauldron you want to promote to enhance their value for dual cultivation, this is the premier art to use."
Li Ling showed strong interest. This technique was definitely on his checklist because if he could pair it with the blood aura from the Blood Asura Descent, his killing power at Foundation Establishment would truly be fearsome for his targets.
Not to mention, he liked the solar-flare-like thread of elemental energy that coiled around the manual.
Seeing that Li Ling still did not say anything, she moved to the next technique. "This is the Green Mountain Pure Scripture. As you can tell from the name, it is the special Foundation Establishment technique of the Qing Shan Sect, strong in its ability to grant its users slightly better regeneration, defense and lifespan, but it comes with a strong requirement for spiritual energy compared to others."
Li Ling raised an eyebrow but was not surprised. As the main enemy of the Qing Shan Sect who had been fighting them for centuries, it was obvious that whether through espionage, torture or treachery, the Boundless Joy Sect would have details of at least some of the lower-level techniques of their main foe.
But to sell it openly... how cruel.
Indubitably, the Qing Shan Sect also had the unique method of the Boundless Joy Sect through the same means, but they couldn’t sell it openly. Not only would other righteous sects chastise them, but did the Qing Shan Sect want to create yang-plundering demonesses in its own land?
And what if those demonesses, after achieving success, went to the Boundless Joy Sect to continue their path? Wouldn’t they be creating new enemies for themselves?
Yet the Boundless Joy Sect did not fear the reverse. They were happy to promote the method of their foe to rogue cultivators, because there was no way the Qing Shan Sect would accept or trust such fellows purely on principle despite whatever talent they might have.
Hah, score one for the Joy Sect.
The Green Mountain Pure Scripture was still not something that Li Ling considered useful. Its detriment of needing more spiritual energy was nothing to him who used the Infinite Slaughter System to advance, but the advantages that came as a result of it were not great enough.
No wonder the Qing Shan Sect was merely a low-middle rank sect.
Finally, the young woman at the counter brought attention to the final technique on display. "This is the Dark Water Chant, a water element technique that requires one to cultivate in special environments, but grants one access to a very special type of magic power: Dark Water Magic Power."
"This magic power is special because it has extremely powerful defensive and obscuring properties, allowing its user to block thunderous attacks of great power and also escape any situation through cloaking themselves, granting strong lifesaving properties."
Li Ling glanced at the manual that had a dark blob of what seemed like water on its surface. He once again ruled this technique out because it was not compatible with him in any way. Not only was it not of his natal element, but it also focused on defense, something which he did not have high requirements for.
Don’t get it wrong, strong defense was important for a person who emphasized combat power like him, Li Ling understood that. The issue was that on his list of priorities, defense was low because he had a hundred better ways to substitute it with something else, especially daoist arts.
If this Dark Water Chant had been an earth element technique, he would have snapped it up without thinking. As it were, it seemed like his only real choices were between the Five Elements True Dao, the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra and the Green Mountain Pure Scripture.
"How much are they?" Li Ling inquired calmly.
"The Five Elements True Dao is worth 1000 spirit stones, the Verdant Genesis Art is 4500 spirit stones, the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra being worth 2000 spirit stones, the Green Mountain Pure Scripture is 100 spirit stones and the Dark Water Chant is 3000 spirit stones." The young woman stated with a smile.
Huh?
Li Ling was confused by this pricing that seemed to be all over the place. Since he was determined to purchase anyway, he decided to inquire directly rather than speculate using his own worldview.
"Can you tell me why the prices are set as such?" He asked rather politely.
With a giggle, one of the other young ladies came to join after finishing up with her own customer, also at Qi Refinement Perfection. "This Sister, the reasons for the pricing are trade secrets. How could we share them so easily?"
Li Ling was silent for a bit before smiling. "Sure, that makes sense. I will purchase the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra."
The first Joy Sect disciple who was dealing with Li Ling rolled her eyes charmingly, and pushed the other one aside. "Cao Xian, don’t disturb my customer!"
She then turned to Li Ling and bowed slightly in apology. "Forgive my Junior Apprentice Sister, dear customer. As for your question, I will be happy to answer for you."
Cao Xian pouted and leaned on the counter lazily, allowing her rather attractive figure to be on display. However, this was not done with the intention to seduce, but was rather done naturally due to comfort, as it was only women here... or so they thought.
"Boring~! Senior Sister Fei, you like talking too much!" Cao Xian remarked rather rudely before chuckling.
Senior Sister Fei ignored her and continued speaking to Li Ling. "The base price for most Foundation Establishment-related items starts at 1000 spirit stones when being sold in official markets, set by the Five Elements True Dao’s own intrinsic price in circulation."
"As for the Solaris Azure Meditation Method, we priced it at 2000 spirit stones to make it affordable to Qi Refinement Perfection cultivators seeking to advance, be they free males or females with male slaves. For the Verdant Genesis Art, we priced it at 4500 spirit stones because it is the most unique of the methods here and any technique that promotes longevity is heavily sought after." She added calmly.
"Peh, after all, we need male cauldrons, right? So make the one that makes males more delectable and tasty relatively cheap and we get endless resources for the future! As for that longevity art, we only even sell it because we don’t need it at all, or we would lock it up in our sect’s vault. A good longevity art that even enhances one’s ability to make money, since when was there such a good deal in the world?" Cao Xian commented on the side with a nonchalant look.
Senior Sister Fei nodded. "Junior Sister Cao is right. As for the Green Mountain Pure Scripture, we sell it at a hundred spirit stones, not because it has any problems, nor because it has poor demand. It is sold at that price to spite the Qing Shan Sect, selling their main technique for the price of a simple Qi Refinement technique."
Li Ling was left speechless while Cao Xian snickered. This truly reminded him of the saying ’hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ in terms of the fact that when a male typically plans to harm an enemy, he plots physical harm, but when a woman plans to harm an enemy, she usually utilizes emotional hurt.
Just thinking about how the upper echelon of the Qing Shan Sect must be seething with hatred, Li Ling felt a little bad for them.
"Finally, the Dark Water Chant has strong lifesaving capabilities, so it is slightly more valuable. If it weren’t for its requirement of a special type of environment to cultivate, its price would be even higher." Senior Sister Fei concluded with a sigh.
"Thank you for the information. Here are 2000 spirit stones for the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra." Li Ling replied with a nod, reiterating his selected purchase.
After purchasing the technique, Li Ling casually inquired if there were any Core Formation techniques for sale, but both Joy Sect disciples looked at him as if they were seeing an idiot. It was one thing to sell Foundation Establishment techniques to the public in a store, but Core Formation methods were auction-only or luck-based acquisitions.
Li Ling took his acquisition and checked to see if there were any Foundation Establishment-specific daoist arts he could buy, but as Senior Sister Fei said, Foundation Establishment-related items started at 1000 spirit stones. With his mere 500 remaining spirit stones, he couldn’t even afford the Foundation Establishment’s most basic Spirit Sense Control technique, which was the advanced version of the Object Control Technique.
With a sigh, he left the Joyous Number 5 Pavilion and headed to one of the largest cultivation grounds in the marketplace, meant for short-term stay rather than long-term rental. It was a rather sizable mini-estate with around fifty small courtyards within, each numbered due to position and quality.
He paid for the forty-ninth room and for only one night, as he only needed a place to handle his upcoming growth. Once settled within, he went to the cultivation chamber, activated the grade 1 Isolation Array and sat on the meditation mat without fanfare.
Then he spent the next few minutes going through the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra, making sure it was initiated onto the Infinite Slaughter System’s panel successfully before grandly waving his arms.
"Let the upgrade begin!"