Fang Jinyu could be so certain because he remembered that in the female lead Su Yier's pond there was an old fish… oh, an elder cow chewing young grass of a Nascent Soul stage ancestor. Before Su Yier was about to shatter her core and form a nascent soul, he had repeatedly warned her of several matters to be mindful of, among which it was mentioned that if shattering the core to form a nascent soul went awry, in mild cases the nascent soul would flee, splitting from the physical shell, and in severe cases one would directly reincarnate.

Although a problem in shattering the core to form a nascent soul would prevent one from stepping into the Nascent Soul stage, one still ultimately touched that level, so for cultivators who reached this realm, heaven and earth would grant them three chances.

That is, they could reincarnate three times.

The little girl before him now very much resembled someone who had a problem while shattering the core to form a nascent soul and then returned through reincarnation.

Fang Jinyu had nothing much to explain to her; he simply brought her back to Xiaohe Peak, taught her how to control the formation around the cave dwelling, and then began his closed-door cultivation.

Although he had left Xiaohe Peak in person, the cave dwelling he had lived in for a while would naturally not be abandoned just like that.

For this, Fang Jinyu had specially spent several thousand spirit stones to set up a formation.

It was named the Mountain Momentum Formation.

By borrowing the momentum of the mountain to form a defense, it could not be broken except by Foundation Establishment cultivators.

And this type of formation required no special mana from cultivators to maintain; it was enough as long as the spirit stones were sufficient. Because of this, even mortals could operate it.

From what Fang Jinyu knew, within the courts of the mortal world, the residences of those high officials and noble families mostly had this type of formation.

Then, Fang Jinyu began his closed-door cultivation.

Having had no chance to try this 'pill-popping' cultivation before, only now, stuffing one spirit pill after another into his mouth, did Fang Jinyu taste the joy of cultivation.

At the same time, he finally understood why the prices of these spirit pills were all so high.

Aside from assured demand and supply falling short of demand, the most fundamental reason was that cultivation was the very root of a cultivator! Good spirit tools indeed brought great power, but did they help with improving one's own cultivation?

The immortal path is long, yet a cultivator's lifespan is limited. Raising one's cultivation greatly in a short time was the root of everything.

* * *

Then, half a month later, Fang Jinyu ended his closed-door cultivation.

Because his cultivation had already broken through—now at the second layer of Foundation Establishment, much earlier than the estimated time. And this cultivation level might not be high among Foundation Establishment cultivators, but for a cultivator of his age without a background, it was already decent enough.

Many Foundation Establishment cultivators without a background only broke through to the second layer of Foundation Establishment when they were over seventy years old.

Then, Fang Jinyu sold part of the remaining Little Entering the Dao Mysterious Spirit Pills, exchanging them for spirit stones, and contributed the other part to the Tianling Sect, exchanging them for Merit Points.

Because for Foundation Establishment pill formulas to be borrowed, as well as the corresponding qualifications to exchange for spirit herbs, everything was done in batches.

Fang Jinyu had previously only obtained the most basic authority.

This was also why Fang Jinyu hadn't refined the Spirit-Summoning Pill, which clearly had better effects, but instead only refined the Little Entering the Dao Mysterious Spirit Pill, applicable only to the first layer of Foundation Establishment. It was simply because, to borrow the former, Fang Jinyu needed to raise the pill success rates of several pills similar to the Little Entering the Dao Mysterious Spirit Pill to thirty percent!

That is, to become a standard Foundation Establishment alchemist.

After all, this was the fundamental reason the Tianling Sect encouraged its disciples to train in alchemy, opening its doors wide with convenience and providing all sorts of benefits!

And Fang Jinyu exchanged for Merit Points because the spirit herbs needed to refine pills like the Spirit-Summoning Pill could only be exchanged using Merit Points.

Furthermore, within the Ten Directions Xunzhen Scripture, there was a divine ability of no small power that could only be cultivated upon reaching the second layer of Foundation Establishment. Most of the spirit materials needed to cultivate this divine ability could be exchanged with Merit Points.

As for the remainder that couldn't be exchanged, Fang Jinyu planned to search for them in the Lingdu Secret Realm.

* * *

Half a month quickly passed, and Fang Jinyu finally waited for the day the Lingdu Secret Realm opened. He couldn't help but feel a tumult of emotions. Once upon a time, he had nearly lost his life because of this thing. But now, though he had indirectly offended a certain love-brained Golden Core cultivator, as long as he hid within the sect, the other party couldn't do anything to him.

The Nascent Soul stage ancestor's rules were ones no one dared to violate.

When the Sect Leader had summoned him earlier, Fang Jinyu took the chance to ask, and then obtained an answer within expectations.

Furthermore, the Sect Leader had implicitly hinted at the time that though the ancestor ordinarily paid no mind to sect affairs, never inquired about anything, was rather easygoing and approachable, without any airs, and even, when the mood struck, would transform his appearance and bestow a few small opportunities upon Qi Refining disciples, there was one prerequisite—the rules the ancestor had laid down back then must not be violated!

This involved some matters from the Nascent Soul stage ancestor's youth, but the Sect Leader didn't say.

Perhaps he didn't know, or perhaps he dared not say.

The Lingdu Secret Realm would be open for only a single day from start to finish, so there was no need to prepare anything. Fang Jinyu arrived early, and he didn't conceal his cultivation, only activating the Precept Bead.

The Lingdu Secret Realm was situated between two mountain peaks. Ordinarily, nothing could be seen there; it was said that the Nascent Soul stage ancestor had once obtained a rare object there by chance, then used it to open this realm.

At this moment, there weren't many people here, only three, and quite coincidentally, he knew two of them.

Because, just like his predecessor, they both had close relatives who had sacrificed themselves for the Tianling Sect.

But unlike his predecessor, these two both had some background within the sect, because one had married into a cultivation family, and the other had married a woman from a cultivation family.

And these two cultivation families were not ordinary minor families; both had Golden Core great cultivators in residence.

"Senior Brother Zhang, Senior Sister Xu." Seeing that these were people his predecessor had known, Fang Jinyu thought it over—not greeting them would be unreasonable—so he went over and clasped his fists.

"We pay our respects to Uncle-Master Fang." But these two were startled and hurriedly paid their respects.

Because they were both only at the ninth layer of Qi Refining; even with the backing of their families, they didn't dare put on airs before a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Unless they were direct descendants of the family.

"The two of you must not do this. We've known each other for seven or eight years; though we can't be called childhood playmates, we can still be considered friends, can't we?" Fang Jinyu said.

After all, pleasantries were actually quite easy to speak, if one wanted to.

"In that case, how about we call you Brother Fang, and Brother Fang addresses us as junior brother and junior sister?" Xu Tingyu's gaze shifted, and then she spoke gently.

"Then let it be so!" Fang Jinyu didn't mind either way.

Seeing Fang Jinyu nod, joy couldn't help but appear in Xu Tingyu's eyes, and then she asked, "Brother Fang, I heard that you comprehended the formula true meaning of Wind Thunder Attraction, and then broke through by accumulating mana?"

The matter of his predecessor being rewarded with a superior-grade formula was something they both knew. Moreover, once one made a move, the gap in mana between those of the same realm was clear at a glance.

Mana cultivated through a superior-grade formula unquestionably crushed mana cultivated through an inferior-grade formula.

Zhang Wenye, who was beside them, immediately became interested upon hearing Xu Tingyu ask this, but he didn't speak, merely looking toward Fang Jinyu.

"Precisely so. It's no exaggeration to say that, regarding the Wind Thunder Attraction of the Qi Refining stage, within the sect today, there should be no one who comprehends it more deeply than I." Facing these two slightly probing gazes, Fang Jinyu spoke with feigned arrogance. He did this intentionally—after all, this method of breaking through existed in legends, but it was still only in legends!

And Fang Jinyu did this not only to spare himself some unnecessary trouble, but also to test whether he could intercept a certain opportunity. It had nothing to do with Su Yier, but it was closely related to her neurotic master!

Right now, taking open revenge was something Fang Jinyu dared not do. A second-layer Foundation Establishment cultivator challenging a Golden Core stage—aside from admirable courage, it would still be a sign of water in the brain.

But when it came to some small underhanded tricks, Fang Jinyu not only dared, he dared to do even more outrageous things!