‘One Life-Reducing Mortal-Shedding Pill demands a cost of thirty years, and can only be taken before the Golden Core stage—this price is absolutely not small. That said, since I took one pill, Du Man'er can only shed her spiritual roots down to four attributes, but for her, that should be just right.’

Fang Jinyu couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.

Although triple-attribute spiritual roots do have a higher chance of establishing a foundation than four-attribute roots, you still have to live long enough to reach Foundation Establishment!

Losing thirty years of life in one go deals no small amount of damage to the body.

Let alone a full sexagenary cycle all at once?

If the sixteen-year-old Du Man'er took two Life-Reducing Mortal-Shedding Pills, she would at most live another ten years, and she would turn from a blossoming maiden into a white-haired crone.

Yet, Fang Jinyu himself was still hesitating over whether to take it.

This pill was heaven-defying, but it cost thirty years of life!

Even a Golden Core cultivator would ache for quite a while over that.

And he wasn't a cultivator who lacked opportunities and had no other choice!

Still, after some thought, Fang Jinyu chose to consume the pill.

Because hidden in the memories of his predecessor was a complete superior-grade cultivation formula.

The Ten Directions Xunzhen Scripture!

His predecessor's parents had obtained it by chance. Originally, they had intended to hand it over to the sect, but later, for some unknown reason, they suddenly made their then-young child memorize it by rote and then destroyed it.

And this Ten Directions Xunzhen Scripture, naturally, could only be cultivated by those with wind and lightning dual-attribute spiritual roots.

Coincidentally, among Fang Jinyu's wind, fire, and lightning triple-attribute spiritual roots, his wind and lightning were both high-lower (lowest level form a high rank spiritual root) grade, but fire was only medium-lower grade.

In the past few days of cultivation, Fang Jinyu had also felt the drag caused by the "fire" attribute in his spiritual roots.

Spiritual root attributes are divided into four grades: Peak, High, Medium, and Low, each subdivided into upper and lower. Medium-lower was actually passable, not truly poor—otherwise his predecessor wouldn't have cultivated to the ninth layer of Qi Refining in his twenties—but… it couldn't compare to Fang Jinyu's other two, whose attributes were not low.

Although switching cultivation techniques would take a long time, and might even cause a sharp drop in cultivation, compared to the final rewards, the benefits clearly outweighed the drawbacks.

Because across the Nine Wastelands, there was a ranking of superior-grade formulas.

The Tianling Sect's Wind Thunder Attraction didn't even make the top one hundred.

The Ten Directions Xunzhen Scripture, however, ranked ninety-third. Although there was no record of anyone achieving the Nascent Soul stage with this scripture, those who had reached the Golden Core stage through this superior formula were too many to count, and quite a few had made considerable names for themselves across the Nine Wastelands.

Immediately, Fang Jinyu began closed-door cultivation.

And this session lasted a full two months!

When he emerged, Fang Jinyu had already completed the technique switch. This was naturally thanks to the cheat on him.

During those two months, nine instances of Insight +1, six of Divine Ability Comprehension +1, and five of Mana +1 not only kept his cultivation from plummeting but actually allowed it to improve slightly.

The feeling of having a cheat is just too good!

‘Although I lost thirty years of life, after these several Charm +1 boosts, I don't seem to have aged much? That's an unexpected delight.’

As Fang Jinyu circulated his mana a bit, he could distinctly feel a sense of robustness, and could even see faint traces of lightning flickering across his skin.

‘Truly worthy of a superior-grade cultivation technique that ranks among the top one hundred in the Nine Wastelands! But from now on, I need to press on with cultivation and strive to reach the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment within thirty years.’

Fang Jinyu was brimming with ambition, then headed once more for Li-Character Spirit Medicine Peak.

Although he no longer needed to hoard Merit Points to exchange for the Foundation Establishment chapter of Wind Thunder Attraction, the craft of alchemy was still essential. Without this skill, Fang Jinyu had no confidence in reaching the ninth layer of Foundation Establishment within thirty years.

After all, his cheat could only be used once a day.

The odds of gambling on Mana +1 were not as good as gambling on Alchemy Insight +1.

One instance of Mana +1 could only save him a little over a month of bitter cultivation, while a single superior-grade spirit pill suited to his current realm could save him several years of hard work!

Otherwise, the status of alchemists in the cultivation world wouldn't be so high.

Arriving at Li-Character Spirit Medicine Peak, Fang Jinyu prepared to continue trying alchemy. He didn't need to buy more spirit herbs; he only needed to rent an alchemy room.

* * *

And this time, he finally succeeded in refining a pill.

Qi-Boosting Origin-Supplementing Pill.

This was a very common pill at the Qi Refining stage, with wide applicability. Higher-stage Qi Refining disciples could use it to recover mana; lower-stage disciples could use it to increase mana. It was even indispensable at times when breaking through bottlenecks, because it could reduce the damage taken from a failed forced breakthrough.

Fang Jinyu pressed on. By the time he'd used up the hundred portions of herbs he'd bought earlier, though his success rate was only ten percent, he ultimately obtained eighty-five Qi-Boosting Origin-Supplementing Pills.

This pill couldn't be called expensive, but it certainly wasn't cheap either.

Back when Fang Jinyu had shoveled poop for a month, he could only afford a single Qi-Boosting Origin-Supplementing Pill.

He kept five pills for himself and sold the rest to the sect, earning sixteen hundred spirit stones. To encourage its disciples to practice alchemy, the Tianling Sect took no intermediary fees—buying at whatever price they sold for—conveniently helping both the Qi Refining disciples in need and those disciples seeking to practice alchemy.

‘Alchemists really are rich.’

Fang Jinyu couldn't help but sigh. Only when one could stably maintain a thirty percent success rate across ten types of pills could they be called an alchemist. One could imagine just how wealthy each of those alchemists was.

‘Too bad that underground market was a scam, and by now it's surely gone. Otherwise, I could have profited a bit more from it.’

Shaking his head slightly, Fang Jinyu prepared to go buy another hundred portions of herbs.

Improving alchemy skill, apart from self-realization, required much practice. And this process was undeniably a money-burning one.

Just as he stepped outside, however, he found Du Man'er already waiting for him for some time.

“Uncle-Master.”

Seeing Fang Jinyu, Du Man'er immediately broke into a smile.

Fang Jinyu examined her for a moment. In terms of appearance, Du Man'er now looked considerably more mature than before; previously she had the look of a sixteen-year-old maiden, but now she had taken on the appearance of a young wife.

Clearly, she had already found that opportunity of hers and taken the Life-Reducing Mortal-Shedding Pill.

Because after two months, Du Man'er's cultivation had already reached the second layer of Qi Refining.

This utterly convinced Fang Jinyu that she was the newly emerged female lead, possessing a worldly standing equal to Su Yier's—a damned Child of Fate.

“Congratulations on breaking through the shackles of your innate talent. Judging by your appearance, you must have obtained a Life-Reducing Mortal-Shedding Pill, right? Though this pill is good, the cost is tremendous. Last time you ran that errand for me, I hadn't yet given you a reward. Take this bottle of Qi-Boosting Origin-Supplementing Pills; I imagine it can help you break through to the third layer,” Fang Jinyu said, putting on a sighing expression.

Now that it was confirmed, he naturally had to maintain a good relationship—not seeking her repayment, only that she not cause him trouble. Or if someday she came into a magical treasure she didn't need and conveniently gave it to him to settle karmic ties, he'd be very happy with that too.

After all, a cheater who would shatter her core and form a nascent soul in just over ten years—Fang Jinyu truly couldn't afford to provoke her!

Although he had some guesses about the two female leads' fate energy, they were just guesses, so Fang Jinyu simply applied Su Yier's power-advancement template onto Du Man'er.