The Paladin in the Abyss

Chapter 40 - 35 Foundation Establishment 3 Methods

"I’m sorry, Bruto, that foolish boy, just hasn’t got the hang of it yet; it’s difficult to explain the gist of it to you in a sentence or two," Barrend’s large hand landed heavily on Bruto’s head, causing the latter to cover his head with a look of grievance. "I’m now a senior craftsman, and there’s a rest day coming up in four days. I’ll come with you then.

However, I need to report this to the Craftsmen Committee first and apply to review their mining records to find the most likely spot."

"Then it’s settled, we can use these next few days to rest and build up our strength," Lancelot reached into his pocket, "Ah right, there’s one more favor I need to ask of you."

Confronted with the old Dwarf’s puzzled gaze, he placed three clear blue gemstones into Barrend’s hand.

"I need a single-hand longsword for fighting in relatively confined spaces; this is the upfront payment," he explained.

"How can this be!" Barrend refused to accept, "You are our savior; I must refuse the money."

"I will be commissioning many more weapons and pieces of equipment from you in the future," Lancelot patiently explained, "If you refuse payment every time, it will only make me feel guilty and turn to other blacksmiths."

"Alright then." Barrend took another look at the beautiful gemstones and finally accepted them. "You truly are an honorable human. So, do you have any special requirements for this sword?"

"Hmm... I hope it’s a bit longer, so I can also wield it with both hands. It will be a frequently used weapon, so there’s no need for fancy decorations. I don’t require any enchantments either, as that’s likely out of my budget and the production time might be too long. Therefore, as long as its performance is good enough, that’s all I need."

"Understood, four days’ time is more than sufficient then."

Lancelot nodded, bowed to Barrend, and then rose to leave with Kalalin and Isabella, while Bruto planned to stay here tonight to spend some quality time with his old man.

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Three days later, just before dawn.

Lancelot was sitting in the master bedroom on the first floor of Hagrid Manor, performing Circulation Transfer with neither urgency nor delay.

He was in a very mystical state, as if he had a peculiar perspective where he could clearly sense every movement of wind and grass within a hundred feet around him.

Kalalin was tossing and turning in a bedroom on the second floor, not sleeping well. Bruto, on the other hand, was sound asleep in another bedroom on the first floor, completely unaware that he had rolled off the bed onto the floor.

Isabella, a nocturnal creature, was reading a book in the living room. A few days ago, Kalalin took her to visit some Vampire neighbors, who showed friendliness towards the young Isabella, as he had expected.

Kalalin borrowed some books from them, intended for the young vampire to understand her own condition, such as the one she was reading now, "Night Bloodline," which contained details about the main subtypes of Vampires, research on controlling hunger, and various precautions for being a Vampire.

Kalalin believed that this knowledge was extremely important for the young Isabella. After all, for a Vampire to ignorantly walk into the sunlight and then shriek as they turned into ashes was an utterly foolish way to die.

Lancelot took advantage of the rare few days to calm his mind and cultivate properly, meanwhile planning the path of his future cultivation.

Previously, the True Qi in his Dantian was completely full, a sign of Middle Rank Qi Cultivation Great Perfection. After today’s cultivation, he noticed a strand of True Qi lingering in his Meridians, flowing slowly like the water in a stream, meaning he had officially reached the High Rank of the Qi Cultivation Realm.

Next, he would face the first major hurdle on the path of Spiritual Cultivation: Foundation Establishment.

According to the materials left by Han Tianzun, the Dantian is like an ocean. When a Spiritual Cultivator reaches the Great Perfection of the High Rank in the Qi Cultivation Realm, the body’s Meridians are like great rivers, filled with rushing True Qi.

To promote to the Foundation Establishment Stage, one must allow the ’river water,’ that is, the True Qi in these rivers, to overflow the banks formed by the flesh and use the True Qi formed by nature’s spiritual energy to wash over one’s body, creating a treasure body capable of carrying the ’Tao’ and truly stepping into the world of Spiritual Cultivation.

There are two common methods for advancing from the Qi Cultivation to Foundation Establishment Stage. One is the most primitive method, relying on day after day, year after year of cultivation, absorbing nature’s spiritual energy. Once accumulated to a certain degree, a quantitative change will induce a qualitative transformation, and Foundation Establishment will follow naturally.

The reason this method is called primitive is that it’s extremely slow. Without accumulating over thirty years, it’s impossible to succeed. Aside from the forebearers who founded the path of Spiritual Cultivation millions of years ago and Loose Cultivators seeking only to extend their lifespans without any affiliation, only they would use this method.

After successfully breaking through, one approaches fifty years of age. Even though they gain additional life span, the Golden Core is out of reach, and their path to seeking Tao may well end at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

Another method is used by the vast majority of cultivators who’ve successfully established their foundations, relying on an Elixir known as the Foundation Establishment Pill.

This broad bean-sized Elixir greatly enhances the activity of True Qi, allowing cultivators at Great Perfection of the High Rank Qi Cultivation Realm to attempt Foundation Establishment, significantly compressing the time needed for cultivation and creating possibilities for challenging higher Realms later.

The only problem is that the various medicinal ingredients required for refining this Elixir do not exist in this world, at least not in the disgusting place called the Abyss.

Han Tianzun, who granted him the legacy and claimed to be "extreme in the Alchemy Dao," passed down the complete set of Alchemy Dharma Methods and even included an analysis of various Elixir principles and how to create Pill Recipes with existing materials. But that could only be done after Foundation Establishment, when the Divine Sense can be projected outward to inspect items.

Lastly, there’s a theoretically viable method that no one has ever tried: using the Spiritual Power from Spirit Stones to forcibly break through to Foundation Establishment. Han Tianzun anticipated the problems Lancelot might encounter and specifically mentioned this method in the bamboo slips he left behind.

According to Han Tianzun’s estimates, this method would require consuming about one hundred Upper Grade Spirit Stones to establish a foundation. In the world of Spiritual Cultivation, this is an insane number. The price of one Foundation Establishment Pill is about twenty thousand Spirit Stones, which is also two Upper Grade Spirit Stones.

Therefore, while this method is theoretically feasible, no one has ever tried it.

However, this was the method that held the most hope for Lancelot. The Earth Crystals he obtained from killing the Sandworm Lord last time had seven or eight pieces that reached the level of Upper Grade Spirit Stones. Gathering one hundred of them would not be easy, but at least it was possible.

If Spirit Stones were stripped of their monetary attribute, they were just items used for recovery in battle, as well as the energy source for mechanisms, Formations, and prohibitions. They didn’t serve well as a means for Lancelot to store wealth.

In fact, with the life extension blessings from the Elves, Lancelot could also succeed using the first method, but if possible, he still wanted to improve his strength as quickly as he could. After all, this was the Abyss, and if one day a wicked wind blew past and a seemingly innocuous Abyssal worm suddenly turned into a Barlow Flame Demon, he at least wanted the ability to escape.

Speaking of escaping, it was necessary to mention some of the Cultivation Techniques that Han Tianzun had left him.

Han Tianzun said that the world was different, and Lancelot would need to explore the later stages of cultivation on his own, but that was for the stages after the Body Integration Realm. He still left Cultivation Techniques for the early and middle stages for Lancelot.

He would gain access to higher level techniques once he reached the appropriate Realm, but the techniques he could currently see fell far short of his expectations.

Why were there so few attack-type techniques like ’Gathering Qi Slash’, and mostly various ’survival-type’ techniques for running away?