Chapter 38: Inner Sect Grand Competition

Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

After Li Ming chose the [Soul Refining Art], he went to the entrance of the treasure vault and waited.

After Chen Qingke and Fang Yuan had also finished choosing the treasures they wanted, the three of them went to the golden core elder to register the treasures.

“Soul Refining Art?”

The golden core elder removed the restriction and handed it to Li Ming.

“Yes,” Li Ming nodded.

The golden core elder fell deep into thought.

It was rare for qi refinement stage cultivators to cultivate their divine soul.

However, he did not say much. Every cultivator had their own path.

Moreover, he did not know much about Li Ming’s Soul Refining Art, so he could not really give him any advice even if he wanted to.

Soon after, the golden core elder removed the restriction on the magical artifact which Fang Yuan had chosen that looked like a pagoda.

At the bottom of the pagoda was an exquisite lotus platform with a total of seven floors. It had an antique feel to it and was emitting a precious light. It was very extraordinary.

“This is one of the best magical artifacts in the treasury. It’s excellent in both defense and support.”

The golden core elder smiled in approval.

Originally, these magical artifacts could only be left there, so it was naturally a good thing that they could shine in the hands of the outstanding disciples of the sect.

Fang Yuan held the pagoda in his hands and was extremely excited.

In any case, the top three could choose whichever treasure they wanted. He did not envy Li Ming at all now. With this top-grade magical artifact, his strength would improve greatly.

Compared to Fang Yuan, Li Ming was much calmer.

As a body cultivator, he did not need many magical artifacts in the first place.

However, the divine soul was different.

Today, in the secret realm, he was able to accurately detect the location of the other cultivators as if he had seen through everything.

A powerful divine soul was a dimension-reducing attack.

Therefore, he chose this Soul Refining Art without hesitation.

After Li Ming and Fang Yuan finished registering their treasures, the golden core elder looked at Chen Qingke.

At this moment, she was holding a bundle of navy-blue soil in her hands. The soil still carried a certain fragrance, and it was filled with tiny particles that reflected a black light.

It looked like an ore that had been dug out from the mountains.

“Elder Song, this is the treasure I’ve chosen.”

Elder Song’s expression froze when he saw the soil.

Quintessential magnetic soil.

This was also a rare treasure, and its nature was extremely special, possessing countless wonderful uses.

From Chen Qingke’s expression, she clearly knew the origin of this soil.

“Swish!”

Elder Song waved his hand and removed the restriction on the treasure that Chen Qingke had chosen.

With that, she could now take and use it freely.

Chen Qingke was overjoyed when she received the quintessential magnetic soil. She immediately stored in her storage bag.

Perhaps this treasure was not that useful to others, but it was extremely precious to her.

This was because the special properties of the quintessential magnetic soil were of great help to her constitution.

After obtaining the treasures they wanted, Li Ming, Chen Qingke, and Fang Yuan all looked satisfied.

Elder Song turned around and said as he closed the vault and led them out of the tunnel, “Since you’ve received your treasures, you may return.”

The three of them thanked the elder and left.

…

After Li Ming and Chen Qingke returned to the main peak, they also returned to their cave abodes.

The two of them stood at the fork in the road in the bamboo forest.

“Senior brother, I’ll be going into closed-door cultivation when I return this time.”

“The next time we meet, I might already be a foundation establishment cultivator.”

Chen Qingke’s eyes shone with confidence.

For all cultivators, the barrier from the qi refinement stage to the foundation establishment stage was definitely the most difficult one to overcome.

Becoming a foundation establishment cultivator was no different from a carp leaping through the dragon’s gate. Every aspect of them would undergo an earth-shattering change.

Breaking through to the foundation establishment stage was not only the first mountain pass on the long path of immortality, but also the most urgent goal for all qi refinement cultivators.

Of course, it was not an easy task to reach the foundation establishment stage in one go.

Talent, resources, techniques, diligence, luck, will… None of them could be missing.

There were even many qi refinement stage cultivators who were stuck in the qi refinement stage their entire lives, unable to successfully establish their foundation and wasting their time.

However, Li Ming also had a lot of trust in his junior sister. He felt that she must have made sufficient preparations and had complete confidence before deciding that she would enter closed-door cultivation to break through to the foundation establishment stage.

“Then I have to congratulate you in advance,” he said with a smile.

“Senior brother, you have to reach the foundation establishment stage as soon as possible as well,” Chen Qingke said expectantly. “When the time comes, we’ll participate in the inner sect grand competition together. The rewards we can obtain there are even more generous.”

Li Ming nodded.

In fact, although they were also inner sect disciples now, they were essentially just reserves for inner sect disciples.

Only when one’s strength reached the foundation establishment stage could one be considered to have officially entered the inner sect.

Otherwise, they would not even be qualified to participate in the sect’s inner sect grand competition.

Under Chen Qingke’s gaze, Li Ming pondered.

“I will definitely participate in the inner sect grand competition.”

Li Ming thought to himself, “After all, a martial dao foundation establishment cultivator is still a foundation establishment cultivator. He should be able to participate in the competition.”

He was also looking forward to seeing how strong he would be after he reached the foundation establishment stage.

After all, up until now, there had been no precedent for body tempering in the sect. He did not even have a standard for reference.

And the inner sect grand competition would be the best touchstone.

The inner sect grand competition was not as small as the inner sect trial.

That was the sect’s annual competition for the elite inner sect disciples to compete amongst one another and have a written test. Whether it was in position or scale, it was much bigger than the inner sect trial in the secret realm.

Even the threshold to enter was the foundation establishment stage, which showed how grand it was.

Naturally, with the competition’s standards being so high, the rewards were more generous as well.

“Mm-hm.”

After bidding farewell to Li Ming, Chen Qingke quickly returned to her cave abode to cultivate in seclusion.

Li Ming also felt some pressure.

The inner sect grand competition was a contest between elite disciples.

Therefore, he had to reach the foundation establishment stage before the sect competition. The more his strength improved, the better.

After returning to his cave abode, Li Ming came to his room and first checked his biggest gain from the inner sect trial.

The [Soul Refining Art].

He opened the Soul Refining Art and read it all the way to the end. He gradually understood it.

This cultivation technique was indeed for cultivating the divine soul.

However, it was not complete. It was only a fragment.

Its greatest effect was to condense the divine soul, making the divine soul tougher.

To condense the divine soul, one must at least have an extremely powerful divine soul.

However, the problem was that the soul of an ordinary cultivator was too weak and could not be condensed.

Even if it was forcefully condensed, the effect of the condensed divine soul was almost non-existent.

Thus, this incomplete cultivation technique was of little value to others.

It only talked about how to condense the divine soul, but did not talk about how to strengthen it.

How could ordinary people have such a foundation?

Therefore, Li Ming estimated that this cultivation technique should have a chapter on strengthening the divine soul, which was the most important part of this cultivation technique.

The divine refining chapter strengthened the divine soul, while the soul refining chapter condensed the divine soul. The two complemented each other and eventually cultivated a powerful divine soul.

When he thought of this, Li Ming understood.

It was no wonder that even though this Soul Refining Art was a rare cultivation technique for cultivating the divine soul, it could only be placed at the outermost layer of the treasure vault.

Without that part about divine refining, ordinary people would not be able to cultivate this technique.

That being said, the complete version would at least be placed in the middle section of the sect’s treasure vault as a reward for foundation establishment cultivators.

However, this time, Li Ming had picked up a bargain.

Because the Soul Refining Art was just right for him.

After all, with the opportunity gift of the purple entry, his soul was already very strong and could be condensed as much as he wanted.