Chapter 114: Becoming an Apprentice
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Time flies, the grand ceremony of Tianmo's promotion to Yuan Ying has not yet begun. In Wan Gui Ku, a small celebration for Leidong's successful foundation building has started. However, it is only held within the internal level of the foundation building period, and Lei Qing'er is an exception.
The ceremony was simple, Lei Dong only burned incense and bathed, facing the main hall where Wan Gui Lao Zu sat upright, he made three kneels and nine kowtows. Then he personally poured tea and presented it, respectfully calling out "Master".
Wan Gui Lao Zu gave Lei Dong a big gift package, including: a mid-grade spirit tool storage ring, a red envelope containing 1,000 mid-grade spirit stones, 200 small Five Elements Pills suitable for early-stage foundation-building cultivators, and a Small Heavenly Spirit Pill that helps break through the bottleneck of early-stage foundation-building.
This gift package is indeed generous. Among the foundation-building cultivators, lower-grade spiritual instruments are usually not very valuable. In terms of functionality and power, some higher-grade magical instruments can be comparable to lower-grade spiritual instruments. Therefore, the value of lower-grade spiritual instruments is still inferior to that of higher-grade magical instruments. However, the problem is that not every Qi-refining disciple can possess a higher-grade magical instrument. The number of higher-grade magical instruments preserved in the storage of Wan Gui Old Ancestor and passed down to the present is only in the tens. This shows the rarity of higher-grade magical instruments.
Only super sects like Leidong have the qualifications to use high-grade artifacts during the Qi Refining stage. As a result, many small sects, aristocratic families, or rogue cultivators who coincidentally advance to the Foundation Building stage will exchange their mid-grade artifacts for low-grade spiritual instruments.
As for mid-grade spirit artifacts, their might and effect far surpass those of high-grade mystic instruments, reaching the level of top-grade mystic instruments. Therefore, although their value is far inferior to that of top-grade mystic instruments, it is still much higher than that of high-grade mystic instruments, generally ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of spirit stones. However, for foundation-building cultivators, during their cultivation, low-grade spirit stones can no longer keep up with their progress. They often exchange goods or purchase them, mostly using mid-grade spirit stones as a unit of measurement.
Therefore, the value of medium-grade spiritual equipment is mostly between 100 to 1,000 middle-grade spirit stones. However, this storage wristband belongs to the higher end of medium-grade, with extremely high quality. Its value is approximately around 400-500 middle-grade spirit stones. A small Wu Xing Dan pellet is equivalent to one middle-grade spirit stone, so 200 pellets would be worth 200 spirit stones. As for the Small Tian Ling Dan, it's even more expensive than the Di Ling Dan used during the Refining Qi stage, and although there's only one, its value surpasses that of 200 small Wu Xing Dan pellets, approximately requiring 300 middle-grade spirit stones to purchase, and it's still hard to buy.
Compared to Qi Refining stage cultivators, alchemical pills and magical instruments are relatively abundant. The resources that can be used in the Foundation Building stage are much scarcer. After all, whether it's refining spiritual instruments or alchemical pills, the materials required are extremely high-quality and rare. Only a giant sect like the Yin Sect can barely supply them.
Many foundation-building cultivators outside can use mid-to-high-grade spiritual equipment, and that's already considered very good. The vast majority are equipped with low-grade spiritual equipment. It's also because of this that foundation-building cultivators place more emphasis on cultivating their techniques than Qi-refining cultivators do. After all, if one's technique is strong, its power cannot be underestimated. Of course, if they have excellent spiritual equipment to aid them, that would be even better. Desperately cultivating techniques is just a helpless move. Li Chang'an was able to accumulate assets worth tens of millions of spirit stones in this life only because he served as an executive in the Yin Sect.
However, this time it was also a violent satisfaction. The gift of Wan Gui Lao Zu is not thin at all, equivalent to two thousand middle-grade spirit stones. Of course, the reason why there are so many is also because Wan Gui Lao Zu remembered that he had promised Leidong to help with the foundation construction in the past, but failed to do so as compensation.
The small banquet in the Wan Gui Cave was not grand, but it was exceptionally lively. A group of foundation-building cultivators surrounded a table, initially being reserved. However, after the Old Ancestor Wan Gui drank a few cups of wine and left his seat, these fellow disciples began to go wild. This is not surprising, as the Wan Gui Cave has a short history, and there are still some Qi-refining cultivators. But foundation-building cultivators are extremely rare.
In just five short years, three more junior sisters and brothers have been added. The total number of siblings has reached eight. Even the oldest, Zheng Yang, is only over 70 years old. However, due to his cultivation, he ages extremely slowly, looking like a middle-aged man in his 40s. For example, Ding Yuanyan has been cultivating diligently since childhood and achieved foundation establishment at the age of 11. She also pays attention to maintaining her appearance, making her look like she's still in her early 20s. If nothing unexpected happens, she will maintain her vitality for a very long time, and at most, her temperament will become more mature. This is also one of the benefits of cultivation - not only can you achieve longevity, but you can also maintain your physical vitality.
In this world, seniority is often determined by strength. Among a group of fellow disciples, even with an age difference of over forty or fifty years, when sitting together, there isn't the slightest bit of separation, and they enjoy themselves immensely.
Wang Kang and Wu Di had a good impression of Lei Dong, repeatedly toasting him with wine to congratulate his promotion. Especially Wang Kang, who directly invited Lei Dong to accompany him to Hei Hu Zhai to help out, and in the end, he would get a 10% share of the profits. Lei Dong had heard about the Hei Hu Zhai matter some time ago, and was somewhat moved by it. The small Ling Stone mine may not have been very attractive to Wan Gui Lao Zu, but for himself, it was an excellent opportunity to make a fortune.
He had been thinking about how to bring up the matter with Wang Kang, but unexpectedly, he invited himself at this banquet. With his current cultivation base, Wang Kang's offer was already extremely generous. If successful, the final profit would be at least 500,000 spirit stones. It seemed that Wang Kang valued his combat strength and also thought that Lei Dong was a reliable person to work with, so it was only natural to return favors.
Without much hesitation, he agreed to come. After attending the Tianmo Yuanying celebration, he went straight to Heihu Village. Originally, a Lei Dong of this level could attend or not attend the Yuanying celebration. But Lei Dong came for two reasons: first, he wanted to broaden his horizons, after all, with his current cultivation level, he couldn't always rely on the Wangu Ghost Cave and compete with his fellow disciples for resources; second, Lei Dong was extremely curious about Tianmo and wanted to see his extraordinary demeanor.
Wang Kang also took the opportunity to invite a few junior brothers and sisters to join the battle together, everyone would benefit from it, even Ding Yuanyan agreed. Wang Kang also knew that Tianyin Palace couldn't possibly send out Golden Dan cultivators to such a small conflict. Unless they wanted to go all out against Yinyue Sect. After all, once both sides sent out their Golden Dan elders, things would escalate quickly.
This is also the rule, some of the unwritten rules that are tacitly acknowledged by all the top-level sects in the world. Struggles can occur, but they must not be used to bully the weak. As the world is still relatively peaceful today, among the eight top-level orthodox and evil sects, although small frictions have never stopped, there has been no large-scale war for a long time. Under the tacit agreement of each sect, small frictions are also controlled within a controllable range and will not be escalated into a war between two major sects without reason.
It's just that this time, Wang Kang came back to mobilize reinforcements, but he could only bring some foundation-building cultivators. If they were to send Wan Gui Lao Zu to bully the people of Tianyin Palace, the other side would definitely not agree, and things would get out of hand. This is also the way for large sects to survive. If they encounter friction, they will send out their Jindan or Yuanying to bully others, slaughtering low-level disciples from other families at will. Then, the other side can do the same thing. After a long time, both sides will be severely injured and unable to recover. They may even be replaced by those medium-sized sects that have been accumulating strength for a long time, and it's possible that they will be completely wiped out.
Especially Yuanying cultivators, who are often used as a deterrent force for a sect and cannot be easily moved. Once moved, it will trigger a chain reaction, or even set off a disaster.
With a group of seniors, drinking and laughing for half the night. Lei Dong only left after that, exerting his internal energy to expel all the alcohol. Just thinking about going home to cultivate again, he heard Ding Yuanyan's gentle voice transmitted into his ear.
Lei Dong nodded slightly, his feet tapping lightly on the ground, and his body transformed into a faint, blurry ghostly shadow that flashed out of the Wan Gui Cave and shot straight up into the sky. Taking advantage of the moonlight, he caught a glimpse of Ding Yuanyan's slender figure, like mist and smoke, flickering in and out of sight, drifting forward with the night wind, leaving behind only a wisp of delicate, ethereal fragrance. Lei Dong's body flashed rapidly through the air, hotly pursuing her.
