I Have a Compass for Opportunity

This is the domineering aspect of body cultivation; there is no need to rely on external items—the body itself is the strongest magical artifact.

Only by perfecting a Grade B body cultivation breathing skill can one barely enter the realm of Bone Casting.

Liou Yuan can’t even imagine how difficult it is to advance in the Body Cultivation Realm.

Fortunately, Liou Yuan has another technique called "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill," a Grade C top-grade cultivation technique in body cultivation.

It will undoubtedly continue to enhance his Bone Casting Realm.

Coincidentally, perfecting the "Five Mansions Star Gazing Breathing Skill" also signifies that this cultivation technique has reached its limit.

"It’s time to transition to foundation-building techniques."

The first thought in Liou Yuan’s mind was to switch to the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill."

"I must definitely cultivate the ’Geng Metal Refining Form Skill.’ I have cultivated the ’Five Mansions Star Gazing Breathing Skill’ till now, and my Body Cultivation Realm has reached a certain height; it’s impossible to abandon this path for nothing."

"With this Grade C technique as a cover, I can also cultivate the ’Longevity Scripture’ freely and boldly."

Liou Yuan had already planned to cultivate both the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" and the "Longevity Scripture," so he didn’t need to ponder much. He closed his eyes and began recalling the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" inheritance he obtained from the Cultivation Skill Pavilion.

"Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" was implanted into his memory through the Inner Sect Skill transmission method, making it impossible to forget.

The cave abode fell into a brief silence. About a cup of tea’s time later, Liou Yuan opened his eyes again, filled with contemplation.

"To cultivate this ’Geng Metal Refining Form Skill,’ I must find a place abundant in Geng Metal Spiritual Qi."

"This could be quite challenging."

The cultivation manual of "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" states that to cultivate this skill, one must seek a place extremely rich in Geng Metal Spiritual Qi, be it at the core of a deeply buried metal ore vein or where spirit weapons such as swords and knives gather. The cultivator harnesses a unique breathing technique to gather pure Geng Metal Spiritual Qi from the surroundings, drawing it into the body and integrating it into the meridians.

The "Qi Collection Chapter" of the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" lists many places where Geng Metal Spiritual Qi can be gathered.

Ordinary ore veins, like the Cyan Jade Iron Ore Vein Liou Yuan found earlier with the Fixed Star Compass.

Cyan Iron is merely a lower-grade material for magical artifacts in the Qi Cultivation Realm, and the vein itself is not large. Such a degree of an ore vein yields slow progress for cultivating the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill."

Because the entire vein barely yields a few strands of Geng Metal Spiritual Qi.

One must seek out large-scale ore veins, and the higher the quality, the better.

Moreover, there are places where spirit weapons such as swords and knives gather.

Those places are even harder to find than high-quality large ore veins.

Whether it’s ore veins or places where spirit weapons gather, Liou Yuan has no leads, which halves his enthusiasm for originally being ambitious to cultivate foundation-building techniques.

"Sigh, the higher the quality of the foundation-building technique, the greater the requirements for cultivation conditions."

"If it were a Grade D foundation-building technique, the requirements wouldn’t be so high."

Liou Yuan laughed lightly; not only does the "Geng Metal Refining Form Skill" have requirements for cultivation conditions.

The "Longevity Scripture" also has high demands.

To practice the Longevity Scripture, one needs to absorb the Wood Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth.

That Wood Spiritual Qi only emerges during the spring season when all things revival, making it possible to be born between heaven and earth, with extremely harsh conditions for gathering.

Using the Qi Collection Skill from the Longevity Scripture, one barely gathers a trace in a year.

Only ten traces of Wood Spiritual Qi can entirely transform the Spiritual Power within the body into Wood Spiritual Qi.

This means that if Liou Yuan collects Qi according to the routine, it would take ten years to enter the Longevity Scripture.

Alternatively, he could go to places where mountains and marshes are lush with vegetation, find a thousand-year-old spiritual wood to gather some, or even better, find a ten-thousand-year-old spiritual tree, which could provide a good amount of Wood Spiritual Qi.

"A thousand-year-old spiritual wood, ten-thousand-year-old spiritual tree, this is even higher than the demands of ’Geng Metal Refining Form Skill,’" Liou Yuan smiled bitterly, rubbing his forehead.

Naturally, the higher the demands on cultivation conditions, the higher the quality of Qi Mansion achieved by cultivation.

One of the crucial conditions for establishing a Foundation is condensing the Qi Mansion. Qi Mansions vary in quality, and the quality of the Qi Mansion determines the cultivator’s strength and the upper limit of their future cultivation path.

From low to high, the grades are Ninth Grade, Eighth Grade, Seventh Grade... First Grade.

Grade E foundation-building techniques can only condense up to Seventh-Grade Qi Mansion, mostly yielding Eighth-Grade and Ninth-Grade.

Grade D foundation-building techniques can condense up to Sixth-Grade Qi Mansion, mostly yielding Seventh-Grade Qi Mansion.

Grade C foundation-building techniques can condense up to Fourth-Grade Qi Mansion, mostly yielding Fifth-Grade and Sixth-Grade.

Grade B foundation-building techniques can condense up to Second-Grade Qi Mansion, mostly providing Third-Grade and Fourth-Grade.

Only Grade A foundation-building techniques have the possibility of condensing a First-Grade Qi Mansion, at worst a Second-Grade Qi Mansion.

What quality of Qi Mansion can ultimately be condensed depends on three factors.

First, it depends on the quality of the foundation-building technique cultivated.

Even the same quality foundation-building technique has different levels: top-grade, high-grade, middle-grade, and low-grade.

The higher the quality of the cultivation technique, the higher the chance of condensing a high-quality Qi Mansion.

Second, it depends on the cultivator’s Star Acupoint qualification.

The Star Acupoint is crucial for condensing the Qi Mansion; the higher the Star Acupoint qualification, the higher the quality of the condensed Qi Mansion.

Third, there are miraculous treasures that can improve the probability of condensing a high-quality Qi Mansion.

Of course, those treasures that can improve the probability of Qi Mansion condensation are as rare as elixirs that increase qualification, almost extinct.

The quality of Qi Mansion is just as important to cultivators as Star Acupoint qualification in the Qi Cultivation Realm.

For foundation-building cultivators of the same realm, those with a higher quality Qi Mansion naturally have an advantage in battles, being superior in both True Essence magnitude and Divine Sense intensity compared to those with a lower quality Qi Mansion.

Additionally, the quality of the Qi Mansion influences the cultivation speed of the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Among the same foundation-building cultivators, some reach late-stage Foundation Establishment in ten years, while others can’t achieve it even in a hundred years, mainly due to differences in Qi Mansion.

Among the Grades A, B, C, D, and E foundation-building techniques, only Grade A techniques can condense a First-Grade Qi Mansion, highlighting the transcendence of Grade A foundation-building techniques.

Foundation-building techniques differ completely from the breathing skills cultivated in the Qi Cultivation Realm.

There are three parts of Grade A breathing skills in Five Extremes Mountain, but not a single Grade A foundation-building technique.

Not only does Five Extremes Mountain lack them, but across the five thousand years of history of the Cyan Feather Realm, not a single Grade A foundation-building technique can be found.

There’s not even a legend of cultivating a Grade A foundation-building technique, with the best being Grade B top-grade.

Thus, Grade B top-grade is already the highest level foundation-building technique.

And the First-Grade Qi Mansion only exists in legends.